AAR: Cha Dawn and The Cult of Planet - Will to power

[bvanevery]

Think you meant Hologram Theater costs 3 maintenance.  I changed that in my mod to 1 and also cheapened HT to 50 minerals.  So Virtual World is not as valuable in my mod.  I actually changed AI's rating of the SP so that it won't go after that if better SPs are available.

SPs all start at 300 minerals in my mod.  "Expensive midgame" in my mod is 500 minerals, like the Planetary Energy Grid.  No supply crawlers, no factories, no thermal boreholes, no condensers.  Those come late game.  Well, Genejack Factory might come late midgame if one is Build focused.  It's Tier 5, other ones are Tier 6.

[lolada]

Part 3

The Cult infrastructure

The Cult had a number of issues in first century on Chiron that were difficult to solve. Expansion was relatively slow, defense inadequate and attempts to build larger so called secret projects failed. Main culprit was low population limited by infrastructure if not by food access. This was about to change in following decades.
In M.Y. 2182. while researching Polymorphic software applications for distracting enemies, military researchers created something unintentionally much more valuable. Holograms intended for military purposes could be modified for general purpose use – specifically, for entertainment and population control. Facility, in its final form represented futuristic Hologram Theater. It was quite expensive maintenance-wise (3 energy credits), but the boost to colonist psych was amazing – estimates predicted that base populations could be increased by 40% after Recreation Commons. Construction costs were relatively low and amounted to 60 minerals or 120 energy credits.




Then in M.Y. 2189. Children's Creches finally became a reality on Chiron. Colonists accustomed to life in new environment and life slowly got better in all aspects. People started to devote more to larger families and organized approach to child care was necessary. The Cult sponsored education – so called Ethical Calculus was applied. Parents were instructed to produce many children, a system of incentives developed, and Children's Creche was afterwards mandatory for every child. There children would receive the best care and education possible in ideas promoted by The Cult. Meanwhile the parents would still have enough time to efficiently work.  System proved excellent, family people were more happy and content with accommodations and even rebellious incidents slightly decreased.
In this system Ethical Calculus and Children's Creches produced sustained increased growth while happiness and entertainment was handled with Recreation Commons and Hologram Theaters. Exactly what Cha Dawn wanted for a long time – increased productivity and more workforce. Soon, large Secret projects like The Living Refinery will be possible.

As usual Dawn of Planet was first to lead.

Children's Creche was built in record time. Hologram theater followed next while the population grew faster than ever.

Cold dead fingers

M.Y. 2195. Cultists Trance Gun Skimship was cruising near fourth! Drones sea base when contact was made with Conquerors Marr Transport Foils. Arrogant aliens had one request and they didn't ask politely:



There was only one possible answer crew could give, others would lead to explaining cowardice to Prophet, and fight broke out.


The odds were not on side of Gun Skimship, but the crew managed to prevail. Usurpers Transport Foil sank to bottom of the ocean. Good riddance, it could have been used for potential invasion. Cha Dawn and Inner circle considered battle plans.



The Cult had 10 operation bases in M.Y. 2195. Two northernmost, Seers of Chiron and Consecration Pits, were closest to Tau Ceti Mantle and most likely to be attacked. Missile speeder 5-1-2 was dispatched to bolster defense. One captured mindworm also was kept in nearby fungus in case aliens landed. On potential of attack, circle concluded, that it was unrealistic. Tau Ceti Mantle defenses were unknown – base was clearly significantly larger than even Dawn of Planet. Possible attacking force would include minimum 4 strong attackers, likely 6, supported by 1-2 strong defenders and transport logistics. The Cult had no any Transport Foils nor Gun Skimships to protect them. Additionally, bases on Chiron were mostly automated, it was logical to presume aliens ones as well, and there was real danger that Probe teams could take back control of the base even if conquered. The Cult had access to Probe technology and knew potential danger of Probe teams.

War in South

M.Y. 2197 Provost Zakharov voice was breaking on communication channel – he was betrayed by Foreman Domai and University Base under surprise attack. Unprepared, base quickly fell followed by fall of Baikonour base. Naive Provost was in huge trouble. He practically come begging for help to wise Cha Dawn. Cha Dawn could have no worse opinion of greedy Foreman and Pact of brotherhood with Provost was agreed. Provost would share technology with The Cult who would declare vendetta and joined the war. High Energy Chemistry technology was transferred to Cult Datalinks – that upgraded Cult armories with Plasma Steel Armor (3). Significant upgrade over now obsolete Synthmetal armor. The Cult was officially in war with the Drones. Provost was kind to share his maps to help war effort.



Provost had one significant edge – technology edge, which was coincidentally Foreman's biggest weakness. Foreman was friendly with Provost while naive Provost shared technology – the moment Provost refused to share, Foreman decided to take it by force. Foreman's strength was in surprise attack and huge industrial production. He also exploited well University's weakness to Probe teams and stole all the technology he could. Hardworking drones were favorites to win the war.



Provost bases were at a time in disarray – losing headquarters caused huge inefficiency problems. Luckily, Provost had sturdy defense in Photon-Wall (5) armored defenders that were two generations ahead of the armor The Cult just got from University. High-tech defenders should be able to hold aggressive drones at bay for awhile. Zarya-Sunrise was trying also to organize defense versus Probe team incursions.

[lolada]

Foreman's secret and the fifth faction

University's map reveal source of power of industrial might of the Drones. Lucky Foreman could not crash-landed better, next to Borehole Cluster, the best mineral and energy resource producer known to men.  Foreman used it well to build multiple secret projects and expand his empire to 20 bases, double of what The Cult had.



Single thermal borehole produces 6 minerals and 6 energy. Typical productive early tile produced 2-1-2 of resources, mines produce 0-4-0, while for example productive Garland Crater tiles produce up to 2-4-0,  if supported by Condenser. Condenser technology was not yet developed on Chiron, but it was known from Earth. Boreholes had two downsides, they produce no food and cause big ecological damage. It was known that mindworms aggregate and attack human settlements when fungus fields are under significant stress.


Maps also revealed fifth faction west of the Foreman's domain. Provost didn't manage to establish communication with them. Cha Dawn dispatched single gun skimpship to make contact.

Centauri Empathy

M.Y. 2200 marked the year of significant progress, secrets of Centauri Empathy were revealed – Biologist announced success in effort to finally breed Mindworms in captivity. Cha Dawn already had plans for personal bodyguard and much more beyond that. Mindworms could became the key behind The Cult military power, fearless and without mercy, creatures could overcome even perimeter defenses without issues, where ordinary soldiers were doomed to fail.



Centauri empathy opened path to many applications. One was in infrastructure building, allowing roads to be built through fungus fields. Earlier, invasive builders would put fungus fields under stress and it would unstoppably spread and ruin any roads within days.



Economy of the Cult was  still Simple – with more options appearing as The Cult spread. Newest one was ideal of even more dedication to the Planet at great cost of industry and growth. Some deluded fools might consider Cha Dawn eco-lunatic and expected him to adopt Green economy, but in reality he was visionary and pragmatic. There would come time when Green economy will be the best choice, for now growth of The Cult was priority.

And last gift of the Centauri Empathy was insight into telepathic communications. It would be possible to train special humans talents into „Empaths“, capable of communacating maybe even with the planet mind itself. Secret Projects, Empath Guild was initiated in Dawn of Planet:



Formers were on the way to build mines on nearby rocky hills and more workforce was on the way. Hologram theaters and Recreation common attracted people and held productivity high. It didn't take long to up the production to he point of causing some serious ecological damage around the base. Cha Dawn monitored situation carefully, he wanted to know how long would it take planet to recoil and react.



First Planetary Council

M.Y. 2012: Damaged Gun Skimship made contact with Datajack Rose of the Data Angles, another faction survived from the U.N.S. Unity. Provosts map were as accurate as his technology discoveries.



Data angels appeared to be doing well on Chiron, they were busy meddling with cybernetic augments in their own world. Not much came out of the first meeting – large distances between factions certainly didn't help.

Three years later, in M.Y. 2105 first Planetry Council was organized by Deirdre Sky.


Deirdre was convincing with flattery backed up by real goods. Cha Dawn voted in Deidre's favor for large sum of 275 energy credits and one technological advancement. It was the vote against Foremai Domai, double win in, Cha Dawn thought. Money will be well used to speed up works needed to complete special project in Dawn of Planet.



Elected as the President of Planetary Council Deirdre was going to get the most out of trading deals between factions and she would have a veto on any future Council decisions. The real power of Council was not yet clear, Aliens were significant force on the Chiron and they didn't attend. Furthermore humans were already clashing over resources and ideologies killing each other.
Post council, Cultists and Gaians signed a Treaty of friendship. New era on Chiron started, things were going to get much more interesting soon.

Map of the world

Deirdre traded her world maps which gave Cha Dawn new insights into Chiron and state of diplomacy.


Apparently, Gaians were already fighting versus Caretaker Aliens. Decision: Manifold base was under Gaians control, while Caretakers controlled Autumn Grove in far south. Did the aliens surprise attack Gaians? Its inconceivable how they managed to conquer that specific base. Eastern part of the continent was weirdly uninhabited, likely the war broke out and stopped colonization efforts.

The Ruins were located there as well.

These alien Monoliths were placed in a pattern, covered by fungus fields. Strangely , in between the Monoliths, fungus was not to be found – almost like it evaded the  focal point. Cha Dawn didn't yet understand the mysteries of The Ruins, but he was sure all of it tied somehow with fungus, Progenitor race and Planet. Planet itself appeared to be reacting to intrusion, almost as alive, but perhaps unconscious,  and its dormant defense mechanism might be native mindworms. Cha Dawn couldn't wait to discover more.

The map of The Cult – M.Y. 2105.

First Colony pods were headed for Garland crater edges. Engineers found a new way to significantly reuse resources and Recycling tanks were in order in every base. They would increase the base yield by 1-1-1, doubling its productivity and speeding up both growth and productivity.
Each base would build first Recycling tanks, followed by Recreation Commons – which would be enough to support 3 citizens with police unit. Then Children's Creches and Hologram Theaters were enough to support the population up to 5 citizens - Dawn of Planet current stage. Inner bases started to upgrade its infrastructure while the outer had extra task of preparing new colony pods and formers. Headquarters, Dawn of Planet, was deep into its secret project, Empath Guild.

[bvanevery]

Haha Drones are gonna keel yew.
 

[lolada]

  Gww they got airforce way faster than me. Not a pretty sight  . Gonna be tough game.

[lolada]

Part 4

Rushing facilities was cheap compared to training  units, for mere 60 credits 30 turns of work was overcome.


The Cult had over 10 bases and credits were becoming readily available. Recycling tanks would double productivity of Concordat of Worms and following that Recreation Commons would turn rebellious citizen into productive ones.  Recreation Commons was usually rush built as well. Size 3 base gather enough food to be able to work a mine for 4 extra minerals of production, typical base having not less than 6-7 minerals per turn. That was plenty of production to invest in Children's Creches, Biology Labs and formers.

On southern front good news! Provost announces liberation of University base.

Intelligence reports that as only a minor setback, Foreman's power charts are going through the roof. Several more sea bases were established around cultists continent and Drones likely stole all the technology they could from poor Provost. Reports also account a new Caretakers sea base to east.

The Advent of Supply Crawlers



Supply Crawlers were the colonists way to gather extra resources in the field in harsh environment and the lack of workforce. The machines were huge, clumsy and slow, but could sometimes withstand an attack from mindworms. Their use was mainly efficient for extracting resource from mines – which were mono-resource tiles as Crawler could only be built to extract one type of resource at a time. Rarely they could also be used to deliver nutrients or energy from bonus resource tiles. With current technology, it would take 30 Chiron years to pay off the Crawler due to its prohibitive cost of 120 minerals – most base governors rather built infrastructure. Usually Crawler would have been built after key infrastructure.
It was also realized by engineers that supplies and crawler itself could be well used for hurrying big secret project, like The Empath Guild that was in the works in headquarters. First Supply Crawler had exactly that one purpose – to deliver 120 minerals to the ongoing Secret project. Secret projects known to The Cult costed between 400 and 800 minerals and completing them was rather painful and slow. The advent of Supply Crawlers meant that The Cult could at least somewhat compete with industrial power of the Drones. Time showed that the Drones still managed to build most of Secret Projects anyway.

Pact of Brotherhood


Provost was mostly on his own in the war versus Foreman Domai, The Cultists had a few naval skirmishes only:  Gun Skimship was subverted by unsuspected Probe Foil  and later even Domai’s sailors managed to find and destroy the only Cultists Sea Former in far north. Nothing could be really done at a time as Domai had clear naval supremacy. Even creating ports for The Cult was difficult due to possible Probe team attacks. Cha Dawn still regularly contacted Provost to confirm their friendship.


Typical base and the elusive Isle of the Deep

In far north new guest arrived for the first time. Aliens, on the same shore as Conqueror Marr’s Transport Foils, but this time they were native. Isle of the Deep was a kind of sea-base mindworm creature that apparently could transport mindworms. It would be intriguing the capture one, but The Cult had no nearby ships at a time. Subsequent effort to capture one in the wild unfortunately failed. Mindworms landed intelligently spread apart, because if stacked – it was known, when losing battle they would both died – presumably it had to do something with their psi-connections.


Missile Rover attacked and luckily capture the worm, then got stuck in fungus field. Captured worm was also unable to act immediately and 1-1t-1 trance defender moved in to protect both. Attacking worm had no edge over Scout due to  trance training, even though the battle happened in fungus field, and whole episode was successfully executed.
Consecration Pit was typical 3-sized base in the Cult. Thanks to Recycling tanks base square was strong resource produces and base could grow quicker and build Recreation Commons. Later as population grew in number it was even harder to have two citizens productive, but then energy credits were more plentiful for rushing infrastructure. Even not too far from Dawn of Planet slight inefficiencies lead to energy loss – something that would be usually patched by Children’s Creches positive influence.

Biodaptive resonance – Spore Launchers!

M.Y. 2213 new dots about the planet and aliens came to light. Chiron was home to strange special effect, a field that somehow resonated with living creatures and the most sensitive ones could even feel its presence.

It was proven that this field had stronger interaction near fungus fields and with lots of knowledge, training and luck talented individuals could describe it and eventually the way to precisely measure it was found. New ways of detecting and  extraction energy in fungus led to breakthrough and fungus was almost good resource source with its 1-1-1 yield. Some bases started first fungus resource extraction operations over working plain 1-1-0 grass fields.
Matching patters with alien’s bioligy revealed new information as well – aliens on Chiron were able to manipulate the fields in quite unique way. Conqueror Marr used it aggressively to increase strength of his attacks by 25%, while Guardian H’minee bolstered his defense by same amount. Any war versus aliens would be that much harder.

Humans could be trained as well in manipulating the field; the ability was called Empath Song and it was offensive in nature; these units would gain significant advantage over native lifeforms. Lastly, maybe the most important revelation was successful breeding of Spore Launcher creatures. Cha Dawn knew about great police effect of mindworms, but real-world application was lacking as those were very expensive to breed. Spore Launcher was much simpler creature and breeding it costed only 40 minerals compared to 90 of mindworm.
The things went even better from there – thanks to their range attack Spore Launchers could harass and sink enemy ships and they were very sturdy when attacked. There was still no aviation on Chiron, but breeders were sure one could even down the aircraft with its spores. Perfect defense for every base.

[lolada]

Probe team troubles

These were the first of tens of armored probes that passed though the channel.


These ones belong to Caretakes aliens to west, luckily, as red colorings was at first wrongly mixed up with enemy Drone units. Caretakes were on the way to harass Conqueror Marr. The Cult started to organize its own probe defense using mostly cheap infantry chasis 0-1-1, but it was too late.



Cha Dawn instinct was to refuse – yet probes were there maybe minutes away and nothing could be done about stopping them stealing the tech and more. This won’t be forgotten. Order was immediately given, every coastal base must have protection from probe incursions.
Naturally, Cha Dawn contacted Provost to talk about Probe team issues and Provost was again generous.

And generosity never forgotten.

M.Y. 2223. The map of The Cult

Decade after alien threat went relativelly peacefully and The Cult prospered.


Garland Crater was terraformed, with farms at first. Each inner farmed tile turned to 2-2-0 tile, if mined it would turn to 1-4-0; loss of food made mines unsustainable at time. Cha Dawn and inner circle made plans to fully colonize continent and get close to Drones sea bases – at which point effective warfare could be led.
Deirdre complete The Empath Guild project and her having now monopoly on it forced Dawn of Temple to redirect resource to The Command Nexus. Command center in each base would be a great boon to The Cult army. Supply Crawler, worth 120 minerals, was being assembled in Remain in Light base, next to Dawn of Planet. Intelligence reports that other factions also redirected their resources to remaining available secret projects.

M.Y.2227 – Field Modulation and fungus resource extraction

Improvement over findings on Biodapative Resonance brought in new fruits – energy extraction from funguls field is improved and fields are now of 1-1-2 yield. Another Secret project becomes a possibility, manipulation of Resonance field opens up the option of Climate control. The project is expensive at 600 minerals, but it is possible alternative to currently built Command Nexus in Dawn of Planet.


Then Deirdre came in with trade request. President of Planetary Council was accustomed to favorable deals already, but Cha Dawn accepted it anyway. The Cultist’s were backward in Discovery technologies and Cha Dawn knew what those lead into. The Internet on Earth was huge encyclopedia of knowledge that propelled humans to Chiron. Information Networks (D3) would lead to first Network Nodes in The Cult.



Talks didn’t end there and Dreidre offers another unrefusable offer.


The promise of Centauri Psi could not be ignored. Any Centauri technology revealed mind boggling new secrets about the Planet and Cha Dawn himself had great interest in it. Guardian H’minee was no friend and the Prophet remembered his threats too well. Deirdre also claimed Guardian H’minee care for the Planet involved removal of human race, by force, and Cha Dawn had enough reasons to believe so.
It would be a war on two fronts, but war it is, Chad Dawn decided. Delaying it, afterall. could be even worse; if Gaians actually lose the war, The Cult would be in real trouble. Provost Zakharov wasn’t doing well in his war and it was just a matter of time when Drones would turn to north.

[bvanevery]

Did you lose Reputation, making that Pact?  I forget what the rules are on that sort of thing.  You definitely lose Reputation if you don't make a Pact, if you simply agree to go wail on someone you have a Treaty with.

[lolada]

Oh i have no idea - i'll see if i can come back to this, i should have saves before and after the war. Likely i did.

In general i care about Reputation a bit early in the game, but not too much. - Alpha Centauri diplomacy and its options are quite limited. There are no casus belli and its usually the best thing to provoke AI to attack instead - and when thats not possible you have to break truce or treaty. I am not clear of lengths of truces/treaties and the ways to break them - something to explore as i play more.

Another thing i found in all previous games is that AI just doesn't care - once player get strong enough - they won't share techs with you because player is "too advanced" and they won't even make pacts/treaties same as in early game. Then they always find some reason to declare vendetta - or they maybe get bought in a war. Even if you ally one AI, its just a matter of question when they would request to aid them in their war  - and then you again have same issues. The best diplomacy seem to be to ally some AIs when they ask for it and fight others with opposing ideologies. Staying neutral usually leads to war with everyone  . AI hates it when you befriend their enemies and it leads inevitably to conflict.

[bvanevery]

Being stronger than an AI faction can shut it up.  But if that's the case, who needs diplomacy?

[lolada]

I checked integrity in saves and i appear to be "Faithful" level all the time. Levels are:   Noble, Faithful,  Scrupulous, Dependable, Ruthless, Treacherous, Wicked, Infamous. Looks like that war declaration didn't knock down a level.

Part 5

Centauri PSI

Centauri Psi technology opened up new important insights into Chiron mysteries. New understandings first lead to key breakthrough, increased nutrient extraction from fungus field. This discovery,founded on top of previous Centauri technologies, made it possible to fully sustain humans in fungus fields. Current yield of 2-1-2 was comparable with rainy river tile with built in solar collector.


From this point on new sustainable bases could be built near fungus fields with zero terraforming investment; settling and development process sped up significantly. Fungus had its limitations, growth was not fast and mineral income low,but energy extracted at this point was actually quite significant. Bases relied on bonus nutrient resource and mines to increase growth and production.

Sealurks




Deirdre and Gaians found out about another elusive sea native lifeform – Sealurk. Even better they provided Cha Dawn with living specimens and The Cult can now breed Sealurks in captivity. Sealurk appears to be predator, unlike Isle of the Deep creature that was not aggressive by itself. It could move quickly through fungus sea patches  and its as terrifying as better known land mindworms. They will be great weapon of The Cult in war versus aliens and Drones. Sealurks soon proved to have one big advantage over conventional ships – they are immune to probe teams! They are also as good in offense as in defense, something that usually was not the case with ships. Defense mattered in these wars as enemies had naval supremacy.

Manifold Nexus

Caretakers map was on the screen in the front of Cha Dawn: the seat of power of Guardian H'minee was in the Monsoon jungle, near equator region. Northern part of the continent was sparsely populated, but Guardian had also significant naval power through several sea bases. That was the main threat to The Cult.



In far north Deirdre mapped the location of Manifold Nexus.


Deirdre intel suggests Manifold Nexus is one of focus points of Chiron Resonance field. Caretakers settled a base nearby - it is believed that aliens study of Nexus significantly improve their research and planet capabilities. That was of great significance to Cha Dawn – he could learn a lot if could get hold of Manifold Nexus.
Caretakers proved very adaptable in combat and their understanding of The Planet (+30% due to +2 Planet rating) and manipulation of resonance fields (+25%) made them very resilient in combat.Prototyping of new weaponry was ordered. First 1-4-1 Silksteel defenders and Chaos speeders 6-1-2 were trained in The Cult. Probe teams were also in positions in coastal cities ready to counter incursions. Cha Dawn was looking further into the options of taking Manifold Nexus under its own control.

Prometheus virus

Soon after the war declaration intel reported huge outbreak of deadly virus in monsoon jungles. Somewhat good news, several alien bases were severely affected and their population halved.

But the fear of disease spread to The Cult’s inner circles as well, what if it spreads?! Medical care was still after so many years mostly improvised. This worry had its place as the future will inevitable show. As for aliens, they will likely renew their population quick enough thanks to plentiful food sources in the monsoon area. It is the most fertile land on the planet afterall. 

The Weather Paradigm

Few years before the war start Guardian H’minee first completed The Command Nexus project – great military operation that through distributed Command Centers boosted the morale and training of all Caretaker’s units. Dawn of Planet was forced one more time to change its priorities, this time to The Weather Paradigm project – theorized about in newest discovery of Resonance field manipulation.
Decision was made to rush hurry the project with Supply Crawler resources and all of the energy The Cult had at a time. Hopefully that would be enough before the Drones build the project and monopolize Chiron’s climate.


And soon after Cha Dawn and The Cult had completed first Secret Project.


The Weather Paradigm improved productivity of cultist’s bases through significantly faster land terraforming. Engineers also have done their job well on advanced terraforming techniques: Thermal Boreholes, Condensers and Solar Echelons were finally available for buildings. These resource extractors caused significant ecological damage, but that was something Cha Dawn was already studying for some time.



While building The Weather Paradigm, Dawn of Planet was already causing stress on nearby fungus fields. Cha Dawn made it his own experimental project. The ecological damage grew slowly up to a point, until years later – after Network Node was fully operational, one of the fungus field uncontrollably bursted into growth and destroyed nearby farm and solar collector field. Fungus itself spread to a tile and stayed rooted there – and ecosystem near Dawn of Planet appeared to recover.

Experiment showed to Cha Dawn that resources could be extracted to a point, scientists marked it as “clean mineral point”, where The Planet itself wouldn’t react back. Pragmatically, both thermal boreholes and condensers could be exploited, augmented by resources from fungus fields, and all this while carefully monitoring the stress on fungus fields. Any earlier, now wasteful unneeded terraforming done, could be removed to reduce eco-damage. And thus, the plan was made to allow each base to work on one thermal borehole and when possible, one condenser field.Rest of the resources mostly came from fungus fields. Garland crater was made an exception as it was to be used for its remarkable mineral deposits.

Secret Project overview

Reports on secret projects witnessed Foreman Domai industrial supremacy. He managed to complete most of the projects. Notably he was now also in possession of unknown Manifold technologies and was on the way to build The Manifold Harmonics project. Cha Dawn was certain it is the project of great value, that Foreman likely won’t even fully understand or be able to use.


Caretakers had two important secret project completed, both boosting their army capabilities; and Deirdre used The Empath Guild to control Planetary Council.

Nothing could be done more about secret projects at a time and Cha Dawn turned to domestic issues. First Spore Launce was bred in a biology lab – great achievement! That was Mankind’s first successful breeding of native life form. Fully grown Mindworm was also bred in Dawn of Planet now, this one would be more mature, due to Biology lab improvements, and even more terrifying. First Sealurks would also soon be ready to patrol the seas.



On intel side probe teams finally manage to break Conqueror Marr’s protection and infiltrate alien datalinks in newly built base. Tau Ceti Mantle was well protected and previous Probe team was executed there. Marr was surprisingly in a pact of brotherhood with Data angels, but the purpose of that unholy alliance was never understood. His constant war versus Caretakers probably one of the reasons The Cult had no issues with his attacks. The Cult and The Usurpers were at war for quite some already.



Intel also managed to spy one interesting battle between Conqueror Marr and mindworms. Marr was paying the price to his planet exploitation.



Efforts to infiltrate Guardian H’minee and Foreman Domai were also in the process – but both had naval supremacy over Cult as well as good Probe base protection.

[lolada]

Part 6

Native police

First bred Spore Launcher was sent to base that was known to have rebellious drones.



The Cult's Police rating allowed only one unit to quell unrest, but fearsome effect of Cha Dawn's native guard was double. Each Spore Launcher, or mindworm for that matter, could quell up to two drones. That was the one advantage that cultists had even over Gaians – nobody could use native mindworms to such effect. Every base was ordered to breed at least one Spore Launcher police creature; plans were to increase police powers even more in the future – that way all cultist bases could grow up to size 7 and bigger without unrest.

Garland Crater – M.Y. 2245.


Terraforming was in full swing in Garland Crater, where convoy of Formers quickly farmed whole crater. In the middle of the crater Condenser was already completed and climate started to shift – the full power of The Weather Paradigm was in use. Condenser increased rainfall and crater tiles were now producing 3 nutrients and 2 minerals. Colony pods with settlers were on the way to settle Crater edges, it would be a waste to settle in crater.

It was planned afterwards to mine each Crater field turning them into productive 2-4-0 tiles. Condenser tile itself produced 4 turns and 2 minerals. The area had one downside, it was close to Drones sea bases – Domai for some reason settled almost all of his bases very close to the coast. At least drones now couldn't gather the resources from the nearby land. Sea bases had one big weakness – their mineral production was lacking, not that this would slow industrious Drones much.

Channel skirmishes

Concordat of Worms and Trance of Purity coastal bases had already trouble with Caretakers naval power. Attempts to counter alien probe teams with own probes utterly failed. Foil probes were quite hard to produce and overtaking alien ships expensive enterprise. The Cult didn't yet strong economy needed for extensive probe team actions. For that reason coastal bases raced to finish Biology Labs and produce Sealurk creatures – they will be the antidote to Guardian H'minee harassment. 


Northern bases focused their production on colony pods – Prophet orders were to finish colonization of the continent. At a time Cha Dawn was planning to allow a variant of democratic society, naturally with him still in power behind scenes,  to promote population growth. But that plan never came to fruition as democratic society was vulnerable to probe attacks and the wars didn't seem to come to an end.

Several years later, when first Sealurks were ready for battle, power balance started to shift slowly.


Sealurks had significant advantage in own territory, especially in fungus fields, but Caretaker's planet expertise and defensiveness always assured them some chances of victory.  Sealurks also were fewer in number and some died during attacks, but Channel was eventually secured.

Southern front – Provost troubles

Provost was not in the best mood in last talks with the Prophet. Foreman conquered three of his eastern bases and was further advancing. Cultists couldn't really cross the seas and help in battle, but they could offer some energy credits. Provost was kind enough once again to trade his technology in return.



Photon-wall  armor (5) was 25% upgrade over latest Silksteel armor (4) that cultist experts developed on its own.  Provost used his advanced particle physics expertise to augment Silksteel armor with type of stealth technology, making Photon-wall armored troops significantly harder to target. A worthy upgrade indeed, even tho it didn't seem to cut it in his own war. Technology is worth it only so much without means of production.

In Channel, skirmishes continued – coastal bases were now guarded by Spore launchers. Between Spore Launchers and Sealurks Caretakers ships couldn't freely terrorize coasts anymore. Spore Launchers also were very effective in stopping base bombardments. They did have one important downside – bombardment of enemy probes were quite ineffective. Probes were very disciplined units resistant to native attacks.


This was the end of the last Gun Skimship of The Cult:


Sealurks were immune to such manipulations. Good news came from research labs – Fusion laser applications passed practical tests and first prototypes are in production. Fusion laser ( is significant upgrade over Chaos Guns (6).  It was still mainly used for mobile counterattacks and mounted on Rovers as cultists could not really invade enemies.



Cha Dawn was looking at a way to attack many coastal bases near cultists continent. Drones had several and Caretakers had two to the east – but technology wasn't available on Chiron. Any unit trying to cross the sea and attack would practically drawn before it could break the base defenses. „Marine detachment“ ability developed with latest tech allowed effective ship boarding, but it was of little use as Sealurks were going to be used instead. Ships with Marine Detachment were vulnerable to enemy foil probes, there was no use in giving enemies control of even better ships to strike back.

M.Y. 2254 Map of The Cult



U.N.S. Unity wreckage sight was colonized in the middle of 23rd century. The land was barren, but it had some access to fungus fields that, now, could be used to sustain the bases. Quite the remarkable progress compared to first days on the Chiron.
To south Garland crater was colonized and mining operations progressed quickly. Each mine only took 4 years to build – thanks to The Weather paradigm climate manipulations.  East, west peninsulas were settled as well and colony pod was prepared to settle last north site near Fungus tower fields.

First blood – University demise

M.Y.2256: It all went quickly after University lost eastern bases – Domai's power overwhelming. University Base and Baikonour fell once again and Provost was captured, never to be seen again.



Drones will hopefully need some time to contain University drones in conquered bases; infrastructure was destroyed as well. Still, with University out of the way they will be able to fully concentrate on The Cult. Their research  did not show signs of slowing, new bases would produce plenty of energy as Provost bases were partly settled on very valuable Uranium fields.


Thermal boreholes and condensers



Newly settled bases developed quite quickly. Typical base could would work a food tile, usually fungus and work one citizen on thermal borehole producing lots of minerals. There was one flow in the system: terrain wasn't really fertile causing growth to be relatively slow. In need of nutrients citizens would have to move away from working thermal borehole if the base was to grow. Bases with bonus nutrient resources could use utility of Condensers to avoid these problems.

Drones incursions – M.Y. 2266



In M.Y. 2266 Drones landed its first unit on continent – single Chaos Drone Battery. It first retreated when attacked, but mindworm moved quickly through fungus and finished the job. In own territory mindworms had significant edge and could usually win battles regardless of Drones technology. It was first of many incursion that became larger and larger. Drones were targeting newly settled southern bases; The Cult built soon after two more bases to control the land. No bases were settled on coast to avoid potential ship and probe attacks.

Next incursion in M.Y. 2271 caught The Cult by surprise. This was the first real loss in the war. Luckily Colony pod and defenders were on the way to resettle the base and secure the area.


North also had its share of problems, every now and then Caretakers probe teams threatened to break the defenses.


The Cult was fighting very cost effective in this attrition war. Alien 0-4-4 Foil Probe team was much more expensive than cheap 0-1-2 or 0-1-1 Probe defender, who else had 3:2 odds to win the battle. Territory bonus proved to be very strong factor. Defenders in time learned its best to have two defender probe teams per base as aliens attacked sometimes with several probes at a time.

Aliens also used territory bonus to its own advantage well. Sealurks trainersem emboldened by victories in Channel proceeded to harass aliens in their waters and they all died in fail attacks or counterattacks. Fungus terrain on sea didn't provide combat protection for Sealurks so attacks were ineffective unless coordinated with larger number of units. At 80 minerals per Sealurk The Cult couldn't do yet much in offensive war.

[lolada]

Part 7

M.Y. 2272

Those pesky Drones had even more to attack – some of the units hid in fungus field. Cultist poured defenders to area and invasion was cleared. Colony pod arrive soon after to fortify area. To the north Garland crater was fully operational and formers moved to terraform newly settled southern bases.



To the north surprise!  Defenders weren’t able to control the channel and Domai decided to hit Usurper aliens instead – they were in war with pretty much everyone at some point. Conqueror Marr can't seem to stop making enemies. This made situation even more difficult. Newly taken base was well defended and it immediately start producing new units.



In the same period one of Cha Dawn's ecological experiments produce fungus growth again. Planet reacts, now the mine was destroyed. Dawn of Planet had Thermal Borehole nearby built. Prophet was curios that The Planet didn't react with worm attacks yet as he was fully expecting it.



Next in domestic news military scientists announce invention of ever better armor suits for cultist soldiers. The Cult was getting used to military operations all the time in second half of 2200s. Probability sheath (6) was designed with the help of escaped University scientists. Scientists somehow found a way to manipulate fundamental particles to arrange its structure on impact. Pretty much nobody understand physics of how the armor worked, but soldiers sure liked it.



That was not all – Cha Dawn used his diplomatic skill and great relations with Lady Deirdre to get new military technology.



Advanced military algorithms brought in SAM (surface-to-air missile) weaponry and deep radar abilities that allowed units to scan the area 2 tiles around them.  Deep radars were useful in ship applications and base defenses, as for SAM – The Cult was not aware that anyone on Chiron were close to air force. It seemed that Gaians prepared ahead of time.



Full-scale advanced military operations could be now led from command centers of the cult including refitting industry for military purposes. The measures were reminiscent of full mobilizations during Earth World Wars. The cost for civil industry was great so Cha Dawn restrained from it for now.

After 4 years of fighting Domai's invasion was finally fully eradicated.


M.Y. 2278 The Cult – Core cities



Core cultist cities at M.Y. 2278 had developed basic infrastructure and population of 4, 5 or 6 citizens and often were working on one thermal borehole. Careful measures were made to preserve planet's ecology and so far only transgression was made in Cha Dawn's personal experiments. Cities with finished infrastructure built military units. Those working on thermal boreholes and several fungus fields produced lots of energy would also build advanced infrastructure like Network Nodes. Cultist researchers were becoming equal to best on Chiron.

Air terror

M.Y. 2278. was the year when first Needlejets were spotted. Badly damaged Chaos Speeder was blown up to pieces in an instant.
Fusion powered Needlejets 8-1-12*2 had huge range of 12 tiles and could quickly travel across sea and any land terrain. Cha Dawn was now grateful to Gaians who provided him with <AAA> SAM units capable of shooting down needlejets. Domai refrained from attacking bases directly as expensive needlejets could be brought down, but in following decades many formers, probes and weak units were blown up.. For a long time southern part of the continent was poorly developed due to constant air threat.



Drones were also developing their sea operations – first Cruiser type ships were operational. Intel reported that the Drones were also attempting to coordinate their efforts to build „The maritime control center“ – that would make their ships even stronger. The Cult nowhere near had these capabilities and couldn't even start working on such a project. Talks with Gaians later revealed they had Cruiser capabilities as well, but they were unwilling to give up the technology as they were also interested in building this secret project.



Skirmishes

North had seen its fair share of small fights. Spore launcher and Sealurks mostly manage control threats to its bases. Guardian H'minee didn't have the numbers nor the technology of Drones. Artillery didn't require expensive armors and it significantly increased chance of winning naval fights.




Artillery worked as well vs. Drones ships; land artillery had extra advantage in fights. The problem was that Drones controlled the seas and Sealurk trainers were in real danger, outnumbered every time when they dared to trespass near Drones sea bases. Drones had large number of now obsolete Plasma Steel Armor ships that counter more expensive Sealurks.

[lolada]

Part 8

M.Y. 2281.

The Cult probe teams finally find a crack in Drones defenses and infiltrated their datalinks. Probe teams were killed on their way out – Foreman fundamentalist politics makes him tough opponentr, but his research will be slowed. He relies on his immense energy production and it worked well for him as he later adopted Knowledge value to counter lack of research focus.
Intel reveled that Domai was busy building Aerospace Complexes in most of his bases. His Needlejets will be even more powerful soon;  Aerospace Complexes also function as 100% defense bonus vs. air units so any idea of winning the war through air force attacks was already given up.



Probe teams didn't give up that easily, but attempts to mind control any bases turned to failure anyway.


Free Drone Central was really weird place – with only 3 citizens huge production was mostly automated. Use of supply crawlers and thermal boreholes produced more minerals than Cult had in any of its bases. Luckily, The Maritime Control Center was slowly built, because the base supported lots of units. Foreman might have gone overboard with military production at expense to his secret projects capabilities. The city did grow large later when supply crawlers brought in plenty of food.



M.Y. 2282 Gaians lose Forest Primeval – they seem to be in big trouble. Counterattack were to na avail, Guardian H'minee defense is superb.


Same year was followed by more bad news – Drones started to build The Xenoempathy Dome, secret project that delve into secrets of Planet. Chad Dawn could follow the progress thanks to recent infiltration; it will take a long time to complete such project. Orders were given for producing Supply Crawlers in preparation to building one such project – if The Cult manage to learn technologies needed. It was worth a try; probe teams will also try to steal technology from its enemies, including Caretaker aliens.



Then followed new invasion smaller invasion. The Cult also had ready Probability Sheath (6) armors and defenders could be equipped in time. Drones had no luck breaking the base defenses.


Social changes




Cha Dawn after long thought decided to support fundamentalist movement in The Cult in these troubling times. The key decision that led to this change was adaptation of Knowledge values that significantly boosted research and efficiency at expense of economy and probe capabilities. Probe vulnerability was especially worrisome as Drones could steal entire bases together with supported units. Fundamentalist had two other advantages, Morale and Industry boost, latter being especially valuable.  The Cult's industry was not yet strong enough and army couldn't rely only on mindworms and sealurks. Cha Dawn wanted to adopt Green economics as well, but industry hit was simply too hard at a time. Planned economy was considered as well, but ultimately due to sheer size of The Cult and possible efficiency loss it was decided against it. Loss of efficiency would also cause more drones in the empire and that was unacceptable.

Centauri Meditation

When in need good friends come indeed. Deirdre proved once again a valuable ally.


Gaians were once again step ahead of The Cult in Planet understanding. Centauri meditation gave further insight into native life and PSI powers. The Cult could now attempt to breed first Isle of the Deep lifeforms – though passive in nature, these creatures could fight as well as Sealurks and transports up to 4 units. Remarkable achievement of native life – it was also that harder to breed.
Second breakthrough was in Chiron Ecology, Gaians developed Centauri Preserves. These facilities had significant positive impact on Planet and could counter ecological damage by humans. Native lifeform breeding could be as well done in Preserves making them even stronger in battles.
Trained empaths also became a reality – large scale training was developed to turn groups of citizens in Empath teams. Using telepathic powers Empaths could help the psych of colonies and in time they completely replaced medical personnel. It didn't look impossible that in future every cultist could become an empath - Chiron was making impossible things look natural and normal in mere 200 years.
Last, and most importantly for Prophet – new knowledge opened up option of completing The Xenoempathy Dome project – developing better understanding between humans and Planet.



The Edicts base was selected as production site and first supply crawlers delivered resources. Concentrated effort should surely be enough to complete the project before Drones.
Probe teams to south crack down drones defenses again – tech is stolen. Domai sure knows how to engineer his way to success – even through genetic engineering.



Cha Dawn wasn't a stranger to tinkering with life and The Cult soon started to build first Genejack factories in its bases. Production increase was immense and it was exactly what was missing all these years. Some people won't be happy, but measures will have to be found if the wars are to be won.

[lolada]

Gaian fail

Intel caught up on one of the battles in Gaian territories. Deirdre tried to counter attack and liberate fallen bases with Fusion rovers. But Gaians weren't accustomed to battling yet and aliens easily won most skirmishes. If she's to survive Deirdre will have to up her training skills.



Few years later – she loses  another base.



M.Y. 2290. The Xenoempathy Dome

Relatively quickly after starting on project, The Edicts base, with some energy credit rushing managed to complete The Xenoempathy Dome.


Thanks to Dome The Cult's native life forms became even stronger. Now, with Biology Lab, Centauri Preserve and Dome any native units were bred with +3 lifecycles. Not every bad had Centauri Preserves, those were quite complicated and expensive facilities. Another unexpected benefit came in fungus understanding – double speed of planting fungus was very valuable. Once barren U.N.S wreckage site was turning into resourceful fungus oasis, each tile producing 2-1-3 yield. Last fungus energy extraction upgrade was the result of Centauri Meditation discoveries.



Air power

M.Y. 2290 Gaians prove a good friend once more – for 150 energy credits they trade away Doctrine: Air Power. That seems to scare away Guardian H'minee who likely was fed up of naval loses. To Cha Dawns best knowledge, Caretakers didn't even manage once to succeed in attempts to infiltrate The Cult's datalinks. Fragile truce was made – Cha Dawn didn't expect much of it, but it will allow war effort to concentrate more to south front.



The Cult ordered first needlejets productions. Interceptors with SAM attack would hopefully be able to suppress Drones air attacks in south. As for Penetrators, they could be used to primarily sink enemy ships; Drone bases were protected with Aerospace Complexes and air attacks would be most often suicidal.



M.Y. 2294 Drones invaders this time are equipped with new generation of reactors! That makes their units 20% cheaper and they did soon started to invade in greater numbers. Invasions also include armored probe teams. Defenders were ready this time.



Cultist also develeop new technology, Cha Dawn hoped for new reactors as well, but under guidance of Universities talents – Unified field theory - Theory of everything was announced. It was the holy grail of Earth physics attempt, never proven.



Military applications of tachyons was in new Tachyon (10) bolts weapon systems. They would quickly become new weapon of choice in The Cult.



Cybernetics in future society was electronic dream well integrated with planet, but suffered from one great weakness – its freedom and technology wouldn't tolerate policing. It was impossible to adopt in The Cult as lack of Police discipline would lead to very problematic drone rebellions intolerable in times of war.
Dawn of Planet was already having trouble policing its citizens. It unfortunately slowed The Theory of everything completion. The project would be of great value in 25 energy production city.



Gaians were at same tech level – their first Tachyon units soon ready. Hopefully that would help them stop Caretakers  advance;  they already lost all of their northern bases. Last Rose of Summer was quite a stronghold and good production center.



M.Y. 2302. Thought Control

Beginning of new century brought a revolution to the world of cultists.



Advances in matter compressions made it possible to create densest ans smallest material ever – obvious application being in new impenetrable Neutronium armor. But Cha Dawn went a step further.



Combination of psi telepathy and matter manipulation through new technologies made it possible to direct one's thoughts. Once deemed unthinkable and impossible, thought control became reality. Benefits were significant: army discipline and police methods vastly improved, probe protections as well – everything that The Cult needed in these troubling war times. Population wide thought control required a lot of support resources, but that was acceptable price. Bases were ordered to produce second Spore launcher police guard – thoughts needed a nod in right direction after all.
To Cha Dawn's knowledge Deirdre, Domain and Guardian H'minee preferred Eudamonic society – and he didn't mind that; pleasure and comfort would make them only weak and Chiron is not the place for such. Roze of Data Angels will surely adopt Cybernetic society. As for Conqueror Marr, he was a mystery.