How to beat SMACX AI Growth mod version 1.42

[bvanevery]

Details guard duty

guard duty

MY 2276.  Roze used an X Missile Needlejet on me.  I didn't see any message about a chemical attack though.  I'm not sure what happens, as I'm not sure the AI has ever managed to do it to me.  I don't have any AAA units because I wasn't expecting any enemies to be able to hit me with planes.  And for the most part, that expectation is correct.   However things could change soon, now that I'm bridging to Roze's capitol.

I'm building Aerospace Complexes everywhere.  It's spendy but I have the productivity.  I will build Sky Hydroponics Labs and get my population up.  Then try to vote myself Governor.  The Cyborgs are less popular than they used to be, but I think they still have enough allies to win an election, so I need to be careful.

Miriam keeps giving me piles of older units.  I won't have any problem invading Roze once I get this land bridge completed.  I only need to stall her for maybe another turn.

The ships I sent against a Cyborg sea base, have proven ineffective.  They didn't die, but they weren't able to break the defenses either.  They limped away to safety, pretty wounded.

MY 2277.  Darn it, one of their previous sallies killed the Artillery that was guarding my Formers from Roze's ship.  It shelled my Formers and made me start my bridge terraforming all over again.  So now I have to stall with even more junk.

[bvanevery]

Details bridge over the river whatever

bridge over the river whatever

MY 2278.  Using every infantry based Former I had, I managed to get the bridge built before my one remaining Artillery got shelled to pieces.  Now they can all die, although I'd prefer they didn't and I think they will all escape.  I'm interested to see what kind of response my movement onto the Rocky terrain between us is going to draw.

MY 2279.  When the X Needlejet attacked gain, I definitely saw a +50% Nerve Gas bonus.  Maybe it's time to stop what I started, especially if I can get Roze to use the chemicals and get Sanctions against her.  I need the Governorship to prevent a veto though.  I don't think I've got enough votes yet.

[bvanevery]

Details it could be mine now

it could be mine now

MY 2280.  The Hive kicks the Believers out of the Monsoon Jungle.  I wonder if they've been using chemicals and that's a depopulated base?  I do see Miriam making an X Gatling Needlejet nearby.  Well I'll see if I soon have surplus Colonists from anywhere.  I'm spending 20% on PSYCH lately, so I've got more room to go vertical.

[bvanevery]

Details fry you

fry you

MY 2283.  Probably time for Roze to surrender.  I should end it with her.  I don't need her X units hitting one of my cities.  Last year I upgraded my frontline units expensively to AAA Probability Police.  Now I can do it cheaper.

[bvanevery]

Details the trashing

the trashing

MY 2287.  I'm overrunning the Data Angels with expendable mindworms.  I find they do ok with -2 PLANET.  They may die, it's often a battle of attrition, but they do a reliable amount of damage and I have the industrial capacity.  I do wonder if mindworms have become relatively overpowered in my mod, and if I should increase their expense.  I haven't even bothered to make the new Fusion and Chaos units, because mindworms are cheap and work fine.

Details rumble in the jungle

rumble in the jungle

Yang seems to like mindworms too.  We finally are having a bit of a battle in the Monsoon Jungle.  Sure took awhile.

Details tradeoffs

tradeoffs

I finally switched to Knowledge.  For the longest time I was only Democratic Capitalist, because I didn't want any of the disadvantages that the Values choices would give me.  Now I've accepted the loss of police units, in exchange for a better PLANET rating.  I'm a little annoyed that I just made a few expensive AAA Probability Police units, but at least I didn't do it everywhere, and I'll get over it.  I don't have quite the money coming in that I used to, as I'm putting 20% into making people happy.  So, not really any money for unit upgrades at present.  Not a problem yet, as Roze is the only truly nearby enemy and I'm clobbering them.  Their X Needlejets are gradually getting killed on the ground.

[bvanevery]

Details I know more than you do

I know more than you do

MY 2288.  Zhakarov sees the wisdom of having a knowledgeable ally.

Details put the excess children on the Isles

put the excess children on the Isles

Surprisingly, he knows something that I don't.  This is a consequence of my recent purification of the Explore tree.  I'm not studying Explore, so it's not likely I would learn E4 Centauri Meditation.  Don't know why he did either, as he's Discover focused, but hey whatever.   I won't be getting the Xenoempathy Dome, as I decided it's too powerful to be given early to just any old faction.  Nowadays you have to really work for it.  I do get Isles and Empath Song.  No Empaths, they come much later with Eudaimonia.  They give economic advantages and I don't want Build oriented factions easily getting stuff in the Explore tree.

Glad he actually traded.  He wouldn't take my money.

[bvanevery]

Details sweeping out the trash

sweeping out the trash

MY 2289.  I've depleted 5 of Roze's cities of defenders, using mindworms as sacrificial shock troops, then following up with untrained goons that Miriam gave me.  I've also used probe teams to destroy all their production next turn.  These are walk-ins.  I hope either Miriam or Zhakarov takes them, since they're both allied with me.  I haven't committed any atrocities.  Clearly, I could have completely obliterated Roze if I wanted to.  I just want her to surrender and become my vassal.  I don't want to level up any more cities, I've got quite enough, and better sites than her scrawny worthless empire.  I've previously destroyed every single improvement in those cities, they're completely worthless.  It's almost as wrecked as you can get without committing atrocities.  Only thing worse I could do would be tearing up the terrain improvements.

Details Miriam got the memo

Miriam got the memo

MY 2290.  I wish Miriam could have been bothered to take the other 4 cities laid open for her.  They're still empty.  Meanwhile Roze picks at a couple of my wounded units in the field with her X Needlejets.  They're launching from sea bases and I haven't bothered to make anything to deal with them.  I suppose I could send the old Impact Cruisers over to shell them.  Ho hum, conquest is never done.  Hmm, I actually lost 2 ships going up against her Gatling Cruisers.  Oh well.  Everyone can do their part in the dying.

[bvanevery]

Details starvation tactics

starvation tactics

MY 2291.  Roze doesn't have a single unit left in her land cities.  I also killed 2 planes because they foolishly landed on land.  I've got enough spare units to try to starve some of her cities into submission.  If I can just get a few of her cities down to size 1, then they'll be destroyed as I take them over.  I won't be responsible for them, and I won't have committed any atrocities.  If I do this enough times, she may finally surrender and become my slave.

Meanwhile I'm building a lot of Flechette Missile Defense Systems.  I don't like surprise missiles landing on my head.  I don't think anyone else actually has that capability yet.  It could change though; in particular, I expect the Cyborgs to get them.  They're stomping the Morganites into oblivion, and nobody's been really opposing them.  All I've managed to do with my ships is slightly hassle them, as their own fleet has been large enough and tough enough to send me back home wounded.

[bvanevery]

Details a slight help

a slight help

MY 2293.  The Believers deign to take one of the cities I've been holding for them.

Details wipeout

wipeout

I'm able to knock a base down to size 1 and destroy it.  My probe teams got stuck in a sea base that didn't have a Transport, so I temporarily lost the use of them.  Halting defensive unit production is actually counterproductive because then I don't have something to kill to knock down the size of the base.  Although, that's only true because the Believer AI isn't doing any kind of job of invading.

Roze thinks she's still in this fight, so I wipe out another city.  And still she wants money!  So I do it again.  And she wants money!  I've run out of size 2 cities with a unit in them, so further destruction will have to wait until next year.

[bvanevery]

Details now I make some food

now I make some food

MY 2294.  In most of my recent games, I've learned B5 Advanced Ecological Engineering long before now.  I don't usually feel any need to build Aerospace Complexes and Sky Hydroponics Labs, because I usually get all of my food from Hybrid Forests.  These will still help with unhappiness though, and the money can't hurt either.  I don't really need Super Formers as I've had excessive numbers of Clean Formers the entire game.  I can upgrade all my farms to Soil Enrichers but otherwise, terraforming just isn't important anymore.

[bvanevery]

Details took them long enough

took them long enough

MY 2296.  The Believers take over the big city I was starving to death.  I'm now moving my mindworms and speeders to the Monsoon Jungle as I no longer need them to mop up the Data Angels.  My Formers are busy making nice terrain for some new cities, so I don't know how much progress I'll actually make through the Jungle.  Yang is pretty spammy down there.

[bvanevery]

Details you would like to surrender

you would like to surrender

MY 2297.  Roze still thinks I owe her money!  This is getting pretty ridiculous.  She's only got 2 tiny land bases and 6 sea bases left.  Unfortunately that's probably enough to make me build a navy or Marines or something.  Right after I get done building everything else, yeah, sure.

Details try to negotiate in good faith

try to negotiate in good faith

MY 2298.  Still wants money.

[bvanevery]

Details the world ender

the world ender

MY 2299.  Well if I was ever going to commit atrocities, now would be the time.  It's just so easy to win that way though.  Thought Control is now available, but I'd rather keep researching.

Details rockfighting the coast

rockfighting the coast

Over time, Miriam has given me a few planes and a few marines.  They're pretty feeble but so are the defenders.  With enough group effort, I take some losses but knock one of the sea bases down pretty low.  If only Miriam would get on the ball and finish this off?

[bvanevery]

Details naval stalemate

naval stalemate

MY 2300.  The Cyborgs are now deploying Fusion Cruisers and killed one of my ships for the first time.  I'd say the old Fission fleet doesn't have long to finally make an impact on one of the sea bases.  Probably it doesn't work.  Some of my larger cities have finished their Hybrid Forests, so I'm starting to make Conventional Missiles.  I haven't done that style of warfare in a long time, since it's pretty boring pushing the CMs all the way across the map.  However they could be effective, given my excess of productivity.

[bvanevery]

Details burgeoning population

burgeoning population

MY 2301.  I elect myself Governor, deposing Aki-Zeta5.  The Believers' population had grown larger than the Cyborgs', so I had a feeling the latter would abstain from the voting.  That puts me in charge.  I hold the veto, so now I should be able to Reinstate the Atrocity Prohibitions.  I've played other games where I've chemical and biological-ed everyone to death, and I don't feel like having that be this game.  It's really quite an easy way to win.  The game would have gone a lot faster if I had just trashed the Data Angels with X weapons and Obliterations.

Details unanimous!

unanimous!

Getting everyone to agree upon something in this game is highly unusual.  I wonder why they were so much more willing to have atrocities at the beginning of the game?