The Clean Death of Us All - SMACX AI Growth mod version 1.52

[bvanevery]

Details turn that frown upside down

turn that frown upside down

MY 2390.  Citizens Against Frivolity,  a post-decadence political movement, has picketed my private mansion.  They point out the extreme waste of our budgeting process, mollycoddling all manner of very happy citizens at great public expense, when the most simple of entertainment resources would suffice.  It's as though no one is allowed to be proletariat anymore.

Details how much is happiness

how much is happiness

They also point out, the fear of a market crash is a bogeyman of years past.  We don't operate as though that's our reality anymore.  We sit around on huge piles of cash that do nothing.  We have the social justice infrastructure to budget anything we want.  All we need do, is decide how many citizens are supposed to be happy.  And the rest, we can pocket it.

Details what we actually need to spend

what we actually need to spend

We were shocked to learn, that reducing our happiness spending to the minimal fiscally responsible value, made no difference to the happiness of our citizens at all.  It seems they all took Basic Income and became painters long ago!  It makes sense, that with such large populations supported partly by off-world farming, that our cities would enter a virtuous cycle.

Details malcontent

malcontent

Only our recently captured Cyborg base had any complaints.  We promised them a Rec Commons and similar amenities "soon".  Our 3 cities surrounding the Manifold Nexus are unhappy, but only because we have prioritized military defense and not the basics of human comfort.  We made similar promises of comfort, which are easy enough to keep.

Citizens Against Frivolity, has saved us over 3000 credits per annum!  We present them with the Withering Of The State award, one of our civilization's highest honors.

[bvanevery]

Details bow to the inevitable

bow to the inevitable

The Cult attempted to reinforce their vulnerable secret project, but mindworms simply aren't a credible garrison force.  We now no longer need fear any foreign probe.

Details when we're done with you

when we're done with you

We ignore Cha Dawn, as we intend to divest the Cult of all secret projects.  They have little other basis for power.  Certainly their mindworms are no threat to us anymore.

Details minor target

minor target

War planners remind us that Chiron Stigmata is the home of the minor wonder, the Planetary Transit System.  We completely forgot about it, since we almost never colonize anymore.  Even when we do, our cloning vats grow new colonists so fast, that it hardly matters.  Their favorite food nowadays is typically roasted fungi!

Details for prestige

for prestige

Are we just capitalist collectors now?  Was this part of their historical culture?  Could we have left it to them?  Do we remotely care?

[bvanevery]

Details for toughest mindworms

for toughest mindworms

We're not sure what to build in a city with 60 minerals.  Having a little empathy supplies the answer.

Details ground control

ground control

A more powerful punch against mindworms, is probably more important than shooting more of them.

Details field test fail

field test fail

The quick antigrav tank holds up rather poorly against mindworms in practice.  It killed a smaller one with almost no injury, but a bigger worm left it crippled.  We'll either need to abandon it or send in a protective garrison.

Details doing the work

doing the work

We devise a civilian 60 mineral option.

Details blocking them up

blocking them up

Sometimes a quick, cheap anti-mindworm defense is needed.  It won't hold up to much of anything else, but it may not have to.

[bvanevery]

Details it's getting very near the end

it's getting very near the end

MY 2391.  For the ecosystem stalling, we're out of time.

Details bolstered

bolstered

The Cult may have finally fielded a garrison that can resist our currently deployed weapons.  We are in a hurry to end this struggle, so we accept a casualty.

Details we need to make more money

we need to make more money

Details we don't actually need anything

we don't actually need anything

This concludes overt military necessity.  Covert actions to take the secret projects of allies and people we have treaties with, would be covetous.

[bvanevery]

Details for the times they are a changin'

for the times they are a changin'

Citizens For Transparency, probably a Cult funded astral turf movement, has been picketing the capitol non-stop since the leak about the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm.  They contend, no probe team can possibly harm us now, so why the policy of wide-ranging covert operations?  Internally we've found we do have a vulnerability to Algorithmic Enhancement, that inexplicably, other factions never seek to exploit.  But we can't announce this in public so we've lost the moral ground.  And they want to know, why are we listening to the wise pronouncements of Brother Lal anyways??!  Is he our Commissioner or our Chairman?

The people are happy, so what's with all the police in the streets?  Why do they carry big stun guns?  What's with all the warmongering?  Do we control Planet now or don't we?  Isn't the average Cultist just a hapless, poverty stricken, marginalized dupe, who must do Cha Dawn's biddding or be thrown to the brood pits?  They should all be our comrades in arms!

We deftly pivot our policy in the face of such public pressures.  Signing a Treaty with the Cult isn't crazy, if they'll have it.  It may take a few more cities worth of persuasion, but we can do that within the parameters the people espouse. 

And secretly, we fear what we're about to unleash on Planet's ecosystem.  We cannot leave this transition to the Morganites.  If refraining from overfishing the oceans, recycling carbon plastics and so forth, or even petting the occasional mindworm larva will make this transition easier, so be it.  Any advantage compatible with our Socialist principles, should be employed.

I will miss merely thinking what everyone must do though.

Details chin wag

chin wag

It's a good time to speak to the Cult about world peace, having just squashed another one of their important cities.

Hi Cha.  Can I call you Cha?  I'm going to call you Cha.  Cha, did you notice our recent and shameless turnabout on public policy?  Were you impressed?  You're the largest potential constituency on Planet.  Wanna talk peace?

Details don't kid yourself

don't kid yourself

Try to stay focused.  Look at my 2 fingers.  Peace, Cha Dawn.  How 'bout it?

Details mollycoddle him

mollycoddle him

Riiiight, we too had a conversation with Planet this morning.  It's remarkable how consistent Planet is in its point of view and pronouncements.

Details yes of course you bow to me!

yes of course you bow to me!

I think our shameless pivot is working.  Well timed.

Details he's a pain, sure

he's a pain, sure

I won't sell him down the river, but it's time for you two to stop squabbling.

Details thought you'd see it our way

thought you'd see it our way

I suspect they won't sign a Treaty unless they're no longer at war with our buddy Zhakarov, so I press the point.

Details productive negotiations

productive negotiations

That was the last I could get from him, but it's a significant start.  We have a basis for world peace.  He really swallowed our conquests of his major centers!  I wonder if I trust him?  Well I don't have to.

[bvanevery]

Details grumpy tyrant

grumpy tyrant

I wonder if I can just tell others to stop fighting with Cha Dawn?  I don't think it's worth the conversation.  It would have gone better before we did our pivot.  "Conqueror" Marr really likes bossing people around.

Details cybernetic repressionists

cybernetic repressionists

We actually don't want the Cyborgs to stop fighting the Cult, for now.  If the Cyborgs lose their capitol, we can pick up 2 more secret projects.  Nothing we need, but we love these kinds of enforcement opportunities.

Details no crawl zone

no crawl zone

We pull our gravships back to our borders, and block access to our developed terrain.  The Cult doesn't like to attack us anymore because our hypnotic trance defenders are too strong.  Instead, they typically take the cowardly approach of chewing up our forests.  This just creates more work for the Formers Union, so we endeavor to put a stop to it.  It's not that we don't trust the Cult, we just don't trust them.  Yet.

Details prepare for the worst

prepare for the worst

70 minerals is an awkward price point to design units around.  Advanced reactor designs usually have a minimum cost above that.  We wanted to make AAA artillery pieces but there's no way to get those within budget.  We settle for conventional artillery instead, providing a light anti-mindworm armor jacket for fieldwork.

Details the abysmality is upon us

the abysmality is upon us

We grit our teeth and hope we have prepared well.

[bvanevery]

Details the shoe falls

the shoe falls

MY 2392.  We've completed the Singularity Inductor, and so far, have not suffered any indignity from it.  But Morgan is now talkative, and demands action from us.  This is a delicate moment, as in practice, it could be the choice between war with the Usurpers, and war with him.  It would not happen immediately, but it would send us down that road.  We know that if we eliminate the Usurpers, I become Supreme Leader, so we have strange motives.  I acquiesce.

Details you backed the wrong horse

you backed the wrong horse

The Usurpers have an ally?  I'm shocked.  Well they just handed us Alpha Prime.  We didn't see this coming.  We might very well have a Treaty with Cha Dawn, faster than we imagined.

Details but Capitalism sucks

but Capitalism sucks

Socialism is peer pressure, Morgan.  Everyone else on Planet is doin' it.

[bvanevery]

Details Zhakarov you cad

Zhakarov you cad

Citizens For The Advancement Of Science, a possible astral turfing front for our long quiet ally the University, demands to know why we've allowed the Morganites to nearly reach research parity with us.  They claim it is counterrevolutionary.

To which we say, Meh.  We don't need new things, we need merely build the things we already know how to build.  The compulsion to exploit workers using new technologies is an old one, and we do not easily fall for it.  Still, we have to admit that our bellicosity is rather unnecessary.  Even if the Morganites wanted to challenge us, they could not possibly do so.

And so we pivot again.  In this manner, we avoid any possible surprise from our long term ally.  If Morgan ever chooses to go against us, he will do it alone.

Details antiwar demonstrations

antiwar demonstrations

In our move towards near pacifism, we notice a small amount of civil unrest.  Since all our forces are within our own borders, we know it is not foreign adventure, whipping our people into a slight froth.

Details warhawks

warhawks

Rather, The People hate our gravships.  Who knew?  They see them as symbols of militant oppression.  Boy they sure have all gone soft!  They'll be singing kumbaya with Cultist tunes next.  A mindworm for every household.

Details bullywugger you

bullywugger you

How about that, Cha?  I'm calling you Cha.  Our interests are surprisingly aligned now.  Talk peace?  No?  Talk nothing?  Fine.  Be that way.

[bvanevery]

Details locust blaster

locust blaster

The Singularity Inductor has induced small amounts of ecodamage in various cities, that we cannot mitigate, because we have already built every facility possible for such.  On the positive side, the higher minerals budgets allow for more effective ordinance.

Details hardbody

hardbody

We lost 3 R-Bolt gravships to this modern AAA defender, which is merely weakened.  As the people hate our fine gravships, we calculated this as an acceptable loss.  But the job is not done, and no further "big gun" gravships are in range.  Leaving them on patrol duty to guard against Cult trampling of our land, they are not available to jump into theater.  Even if they were, their performance would suffer quite a bit after orbital insertion.  That might be acceptable as the people really hate gravships, but it is so wasteful.

Details limited means

limited means

We simply do not have strong weapons to drop into theater.  We are not used to fighting an adversary of more equal quality.  We have quantity, but it all remote, and we want action now.  What we have in theater already, is probably what we have to work with.  These units can, however, be field upgraded.

Details a hot knife through butter

a hot knife through butter

We reason that the key to victory, is negating their AAA defense.  The dissociative wave cannon accomplishes that.  We do not, however want to engage mindworms, as then this expensive and exotic capability would be wasted.  So it must be a R-Bolt gun.  We hope that's a large enough armament to do the needed damage.  At least we are only attacking 1 weak unit.

Details pay the piper his due

pay the piper his due

The Drop R-Laser Skybase is a current, if anachronistic, design that we can certainly live without, in the name of expediency.  The main benefit of upgrading it, is we only have 4.  2 of which are in theater.  So the application of our cash, is at least 50% effective, if we have no further difficulties from the Cyborgs.  It's a pretty penny, but this is what it takes to perform remote conquerings on demand.

[bvanevery]

Details fraugh

fraugh

It performs poorly, even against non-AAA armor.  An Aerospace Complex is a formidable defense.  I don't believe drop probe teams can intervene to sabotage that, as they are non-combat units.  Not that we have any anyways.  It would be another upgrade game.

Details improved odds

improved odds

Actually the 1st gravship nearly took the defender with it, so we are in better stead now.  This one dies as well, "heroically", with mixed feelings on behalf of the population.  But the defender is so drubbed, that it may pose no further threat.

Details get on the flight deck airman!

get on the flight deck airman!

We noticed our 3rd Wave pilot was sipping beers in the mess.  Repairs more finished than not, we order him into battle.  He toasts what's left of the stronger defender and tells great war stories about it, a major propaganda victory for us.

Details worth a shot

worth a shot

An Elite pilot with a bad armament and underpowered reactor, is sent to finish off the nearly dead AAA defender.  It is a surprisingly even match.  He dies.  Another of his comrades follows him.

Details placement

placement

Our 3rd pilot has the luck, of being 3rd.  We give her a medal, the Order of Someone.

Details back door

back door

We are out of gravships in theater, but not options.  Only mindworm defenders remain, and this is the kind of fighting we were well prepared for.  We drop a simple R-Laser hovertank outside of the air defense screen and zip in.  It... dies.  There's a reason we upgraded such units to an Empath design, but it nearly kills a Great Boil on the assault.

Details fungal zoom

fungal zoom

We send another, by a different direction, taking advantage of fungal highways and our gravship to arrive quickly on target.  It... well it dies again.  Its performance was so poor, that we question the wisdom of the entire antigravity sledding program!  But it's ok, really, because...

[bvanevery]

Details how it is done

how it is done

...we stopped making those inferior designs several years ago.  We do have proper Empath units.  It crushes the spore launcher, at the cost of 50% wounds.

Details police everything

police everything

A 2nd hovertank utterly splats the wounded Great Boil.  The 1st hovertank zooms into the base, rested and refreshed, as liberated Cyborgs throw garlands and rose petals at their feet.  We consult our beloved Aki on the outcome.

Details we're easy about it

we're easy about it

After all, we got what we wanted.  Cheap upgrades and cheap maintenance costs.  You really shouldn't ever ally with an Alien.  It's bad for your health.

Details of course we concede your inferiority

of course we concede your inferiority

Now let's talk whirled peas.

Details peace in our lifetimes

peace in our lifetimes

There.  See?  Not so hard.  World nearly stabilized.  Just pesky Aliens.

Details magnanimity

magnanimity

With a Treaty signed, we kick out their spy.  We could have just allowed it to fry itself against our Hunter-Seeker Algorithm next year.  But somehow, we suspect that the presence of enemy units, can cause belligerence from the Cult.  We'd rather not have that.  We hope the Cult does not believe that it's still assaulting a Cyborg base.  We've flown the appropriate flags to show that it has changed hands, but mindworms can be mindless.

[bvanevery]

Details ah democracy

ah democracy

To celebrate our near unity among humans, and the relative dearth of Planet activity in the face of our industrial expansion, we decide to knock some fiery junk out of orbit!  But many people like looking at the fiery junk in the evening sky, and insist we leave it alone.  As a reminder of who we once were.


In the halls of my great mansion, I am confronted by one of my many wives.  A fairly good one... relationships are so complicated nowadays.  As our populations got larger and larger, we both gained and lost.  I am surrounded by many people who think similarly to me, even look similarly to me.

Details self reflection

self reflection

"Why, Lal, why?"

"Pardon?"

"Why must you be at war with the poor, pathetic Usurpers?"

"Because they are pathetic?"  I tried to sip my sherry harder.

"No I mean you could have done this, 30 years ago.  50 years ago!  Instead you've alienated Morgan, ignored Zhakarov, clashed with Aki, and stolen from Cha Dawn.  You put goons on the streets, and handed everyone little blue books to read!  Why have you done any of it, Lal?"

"...I..."

"You could have been Supreme Leader!  You're not trying to unify humanity!!!"  She stormed out.  She's that way.

I sat stunned, and a bit drunken.  I've been afraid, for ever so long, that there's nothing really to me.  I know politics, I know games.  I know brinksmanship.  I've been pulling the levers of power for so long, that I don't know what it means to stop.  I don't even know if I can handle world peace.  What is a Peacekeeper keeping, when there's peace?  Doesn't peace mean, I'm not needed?

[bvanevery]

Details quiet one

quiet one

The next day, I gather myself.  I intend to inform "Conqueror" Marr of my resolve.  But per usual, he is not listening.  I shall attempt contact by covert channels.  That often gets attention.

Details water snake

water snake

We only have 1 probe team ship left from the old days, and it's at the extreme of our empire civilization.  It's going to take awhile to sail to our recalcitrant Alien fellow.  We considered upgrading it, to a modern drop design, but a new lobbying group Citizens Against Progress has recently taken to our streets.  They decry the wastefulness of needless technological upgrades, and the amount of money that could instead be put in hands of ordinary workers.  "Money"... didn't we go to Basic Income decades ago?  And isn't that basic income rather large?  Well it may not be mansion large but it's still large.  We suspect another Cultish astral turfing campaign, but as a democracy, we have to entertain such notions.  We patiently educate the people on the virtues of our current system as best we can.

Details drop in intelligence

drop in intelligence

Citizens Against Progress has nothing against the use of old units for the legitimate functions of government.  In fact for the old coots who usually populate their meetings, it's a bit of a lark.  Riding around in ancient probe team chasses and whatnot.  "Stick it to those scabs!  Beat them with your wooden handles, ye men!"  Well if they must go on safari we'll oblige.  We drop a boatload full of them into Morganic territory, expecting to ride the rails and make contact with Marr next year.

[bvanevery]

Details the peace that couldn't hold

the peace that couldn't hold

MY 2293.  I can say that I'm surprised, but I can't say I'm shocked.  They wanted Alpha Prime as badly as we did, for the same reasons.  I can't imagine them having the resources to actually take it, but we did have to shift our defense screen to capture this far flung outpost in a hurry.  It will be halfway a test of our true mettle. In the worst event, we have so many drop reinforcements available.  And Citizens Against Progress reminds us, we have never tested our Psi Gates.  Maybe we march Cultist prisoners through them first...

Details loyalists

loyalists

Zhakarov cannot provide meaningful assistance, as I believe Cha Dawn pushed him into the sea, long ago.  But we appreciate the gesture of token support.  Fear not, Zak.  This escapade is likely to gain us a nice sea port.

Details hammer of the anti Green

hammer of the anti Green

Morgan, on the other hand, could take a sea base, or kick the Cult off his continent.  I won't dissuade him from such courses.

[bvanevery]

Details industrial ritual

industrial ritual

This place is a magnet!  Is it because the Xenoempathy Dome resides there?  Or did it just have excessive industry from the Singularity Inductor?  We do not recall.

Details nothing a Demon Boil can't destroy

nothing a Demon Boil can't destroy

I wonder why we never capture anything?  This is our only captured mindworm, and it is ancient.

Details least resistance

least resistance

We intended to give ourselves a sea port, but the logistical limit of our Wave gravship, opts for a contiguous inland base.  We take hardly a scratch.

Details the correction

the correction

Right, we know you can't fight.  Be at peace now.  I can't get him to stop fighting either the Morganites or the Cyborgs.  He points the finger at them, and signs off.

Details it's fine, I handled it

it's fine, I handled it

My buddy, ally, Zhakarov.  In my home waters.  What does he want?  Wants war, snivels for money.  Gets neither from me.  I ask him to knock it off.

Details go DESTROY something then

go DESTROY something then

Loser.  Where are Citizens Against Progress when you need them?