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

[bvanevery]

Details worse than I am

worse than I am

My 2316.  Are we all following Morgan to hell in a hand basket?  Is this kind of peace worth it?  Well, remember what I said about making only 1 atrocious enemy at at time.  I'm not really fighting the Caretakers.  I'm worrying about everyone else, and I'm not really sure how well I'm doing against everyone else.  I don't always necessarily know how to play my own mod.  A start where I'm only doing 3 cities for a very long time, is unusual for me.  Sure they're pretty good cities, and I'm the Governor, and I have a pile of Secret Projects to my credit, so I'm doing something right.  But the world seems to be slipping forwards...

Details blown off

blown off

Look, Zak.  I'm slack.  I really feel like building more than warmongering.  So I've taken forever to prosecute a war I could clearly win.  No hard feelings but, I'm busy, y'know?  I don't have time for your ideological rubbish.  If you make problems for me, you'll just be on my list of local bases to take over.  At least you're of some use that way.

Why don't you go kill the Caretakers yourselves, if you think it's so bloody convenient.

[bvanevery]

Details didn't see that coming

didn't see that coming

MY 2317.  The AI loves to fixate on sea bases.  I hadn't seen any Cultist activity in the area, but then again, I had no reason to look.  They got a photon armored garrison out of that.  I just really... think this whole aspect of the game is a drag.  What is responsible for the most rage quits in the past, before I stared modding the game?  Probe teams.  Totally overpowered in the original game.  Not as bad in my mod, as let's face it, this is a brand new size 1 sea base with precious little in it.  But the stock AI is still geared up to be super annoying about this, and it's succeeding.

Details give me my due

give me my due

The irony is that I did see their foil probe team coming from the opposite direction.  I deliberately played them, knowing they'd stop their movement right in front of my base.  Where my marine detachment unit would summarily pick them off, possibly capturing them.  I've captured several foil probe teams this way, and 2 are even en route to my home waters.  But they take a long time to move around.

Details look at their profit

look at their profit

The Cult doesn't know C6 Photon/Wave Mechanics yet.  But they're making my trance photon garrison design, all the same.  Well at least it'll be a bit overarmored, and thereby take a long time to produce.  I guess I'd better put my 1 probe team in the water, to keep this sort of nonsense from happening again.  It'll be some time before either my captured foil probe team heals up, or my other ones arrive.

Details still cookin'

still cookin'

Not much difference in the power output of the stock binary.  So how is the culprit Windows 10.  Pretty sure I've played this game for years on this laptop without it becoming a hot plate.

[bvanevery]

Details glub glub

glub glub

MY 2320.  It's fun to watch others suffer.

Details access

access

Only now, have I completed rails to every land city of my empire.  In a recent iteration of my mod I slowed down the speed of rail construction quite a bit, as it was quite overpowered before.  This rail system actually took some effort to accomplish.

Details brute force

brute force

I've determined that I want to win the race to the Space Elevator, which is quite expensive.  So, I have my 3 oldest cities all working on it.  Meanwhile I will retake the sea base the Cult took from me, using my most modern weapon.  It'll probably be destroyed in the process.

[bvanevery]

Details made me feel dumb

made me feel dumb

MY 2324.  I was too lazy to check on whether other factions were close to completing the Space Elevator.  Fortunately I researched the tech for the Cyborg Factory this turn.  I'm too lazy to check on whether anyone else knows the tech.  I'll settle for whether anyone's working on it.  F5 says, nope!  Must all be me.  So it's not urgent.  Just as well, because I have other nagging needs.

Details bust a move

bust a move

I start work on a nuke, because I can.  It will take surprisingly few turns to complete.  Assuming the mindworms don't come in droves again to bother me.  53 eco-damage, gotta love it.  After all that nice eco-friendly prep I did, one little mine or two, just derails the whole thing.  You won't find that in Thinker mod or The Will To Power mod!  This is the harshness of the original game.  I even toned down Capitalist to be -2 PLANET instead of -3.

Details pain

pain

I actually lost my nice new expensive ship, almost destroying my own photon garrison.  I killed a Usurper plane that landed there, and the garrison.  Next year they're rushing another Trance Photon Sentinel and it starts all over again, without my expensive ship.

Details don't worry be happy

don't worry be happy

I will sulk and spit out some cyborgs.

[bvanevery]

Details Morgan sux

Morgan sux

MY 2325.  What's with this guy?  Build your cities somewhere better, duude.

Details deluge doldrums

deluge doldrums

I got popped again.  My rails were broken again.  That means I couldn't bring any units back to wipe out mindworms.  I killed their 2 biggest stacks with what I had on hand, but the remaining 3 big worms I see, I'll just have to take the hits.

Details denied

denied

After all this low intensity probe team drama, it ends with the Usurpers blowing apart the wounded battle ogre and the Artifact that were left in the city.  I was intending to gain that Artifact myself, hopefully.  It's quite possible that the AI spitefully analyzed that and preempted.  It's well known to take pot shots at your Artifacts with Conventional Missiles if you give it the opportunity.

Details pittance

pittance

I finally pay to make people a little bit happy.  I'm tired of having occasional drone riots in my core 3 cities.  I've built so many facilities, this actually puts a lot of my population into a Golden Age!  I could turn this into a pop boom, if I just do something out of character for Lal.

Nah.

I rush all my Tree Farms though.  Give 'em a reason to stay happy.

[bvanevery]

Details Morgan signs off

Morgan signs off

MY 2327.  The dividends of shameless worker and environmental exploitation are paying off.  I won't be having to fight Morgan.  In fact, I got him to sign a Pact.

Details belated sense

belated sense

I could honestly switch to Knowledge at this point, to placate Zhakarov.  I'm not actually fielding military units outside my territory, and I've got overwhelming happiness anyways.  Also I sorta forgot, -3 POLICE means you can have 1 military unit per city running around on campaign, before people start complaining.  I thought I was going to get 1 drone, which is actually -4 POLICE.

Details peppered

peppered

The Usurpers really want after this sea base.  They threw a Conventional Missile at it, killing an old ship that wasn't worth nearly as much as the CM.  I've started to build Flechette Defense Systems everywhere, but I don't have appropriate garrisons to go with it.  Spore launchers are actually great garrisons against missiles, if you have a high PLANET rating.  Of course I do not.  That's the price of keeping Morgan happy.

Details don't drown me bro

don't drown me bro

I finally have a city in danger of sinking.  I rush its previous production and queue up a Pressure Dome.

Details waiting for someone to love

waiting for someone to love

With Morgan no longer hostile, I could have the Manifold Nexus if I want it.  I didn't get the Space Elevator and early orbital insertion capability, but I could make a Drop Colonist and just do a lot of hops to get to target.

A disadvantage of global warming though, is the Nexus eventually sinks.  There's really nothing you can do about it other than reverse the planetary trend.  You can't, for instance, raise land to save it.  Once it's gone, it's gone.  It doesn't come back if you try to raise land after the fact.  The current altitude of the nexus is 325 meters.  That's not a lot of margin for error.

[bvanevery]

Details a new capability

a new capability

MY 2328.  I don't remember seeing the AI fire a Fungal Missile before.  I made them available quite a bit earlier in my mod, and cheaper, as I don't think they're much of a threat.  Well now I suppose we'll see!

[bvanevery]

Details what hope have we

what hope have we

MY 2329.  Should I switch politics, pop boom, stop eco-damage, and get in a war with the Cyborgs?  Or should I accept that this is how we roll, and wipe out Cha Dawn?  Or should I wipe out Aliens and seek Diplomatic Victory?  Or build Orbital Power Transmitters and seek Economic Victory?  I got that capability a few turns ago, but without either the Space Elevator or the Cloudbase Academy, I'm not feeling too bullish on building enough of them.  Plus militarily, I hardly seem to be able to handle simple garrisoning.  Hmm, needing more productivity, is a good argument for a higher PLANET rating.

Details new product

new product

I dunno, with all these Tree Farms I recently built, maybe a new round of Genejack Factories wouldn't be so bad.  I'll soon have the Neural Amplifier to keep the mindworms off.

Details middling spaceman

middling spaceman

I can't remember when Solar Shades become available, but I've got the capability.  Got all sorts of space techs I'm not using, for lack of productivity.  Let's make Planet a little safer for polluting!
 

Details Aki you ninny

Aki you ninny

Fortunately we don't have to care what you think.  You're the problem around here.  Gonna get a drop of 333 meters.

[bvanevery]

Details nuclear armed

nuclear armed

MY 2329 ??!?  My turn counter did not advance this year.  I actually reloaded my saved game to check.  This is with the stock binary and must be some kind of bug.  Wonder what gives.  This isn't the 1st time this game either.  There was one or two other times I was suspicious of this, but I just sort of blinked, stared, and edited the dates on my AAR entries.

Well now I have a nuke.  Technically a quasi-nuke.  Way worse than a nuke really.  It leaves huge honkin' holes in Planet's surface.  Using one of these is a major atrocity, even if you've repealed the U.N. Charter.  It's a quick way to make enemies out of everyone.  Factions that didn't get nuked are capable of eventually liking you again, if you behave yourself, but otherwise it's fight fight fight forever.  When I've done games with a lot of nukes, I've almost never been able to consistently make peace afterwards, because you keep needing more nukes to wipe out more stuff.

The only way I know to cheat fate, is to save up a huge nuclear stockpile, preferably with at least Quantum reactors to hit multiple cities at once.  Then destroy the whole world in 1 turn.  I don't have the manufacturing capacity for that sort of thing, and it's pretty out of character.  I've been too groggy lately to roleplay Lal, but I haven't completely given up on the idea.

Details sign him up

sign him up

This was the point of switching to Knowledge, making sure that Zhakarov wouldn't be a pill.  Could you please go usefully kill something, like some Caretaker scraps?

[bvanevery]

Details conscious action

conscious action

MY 2330.  With the cyborgs' probe team action in this final corner of the Monsoon Jungle, the Caretakers are finally and officially kicked off the land.  Even though I had a road to it, it was too far away for me to get to from my capitol.  I just could never spare the troops, as I had all these advanced facilities to build.  I think the Caretakers and the Consciousness have been in a low grade probe team war about these 2 cities forever.  The Consciousness would be expected to get the upper hand, because they are one of the +1 PROBE factions with somewhat cheaper costs for mind control.  They've also repeatedly taken some fringe Cult bases.

Details Planetary orientation

Planetary orientation

I'm pretty advanced.  One of the liabilities of being advanced, is you keep coming up with new shiny toys to build in your cities.  These toys are useful to my "increased productivity agenda" though.  They will greatly lessen my eco-damage as I crank out more factories.

Details show me

show me

I get a nice little map read of Planet.  I could have done this long ago with a Sky Hydroponics Lab, but I've been busy.  It's not like I didn't know the lay of the land, but this turn I should be able to see exactly what kinds of terrain improvements various factions have developed.

Details mo' science

mo' science

I am of course, slick.  +4 RESEARCH will do that.  Of course, the University starts off with +3 RESEARCH, so the other half of the equation is my excellent economy, highly centralized research facilities, big populations in my 3 core cities, and the Network Backbone.  There's a reason I haven't been cranking out troops.  I've been busy getting ahead!  I didn't mean to, but it just kept on piling up and I thought, buying all these labs seemed like an advantage.

I could probably win the game by Transcendence if I wasn't morally opposed to it.  I'd only do it if I was hardcore role playing a freak like Cha Dawn.  I think the death of human individuality is pretty evil.  I can't believe the positive nonsense this game spins it as.

Details probe war

probe war

This could make it harder for the Usurpers to bother me at sea.

[bvanevery]

Details so demanding

so demanding

Even the title screen is demanding a lot of power.  That would seem to indict the graphics system somehow.

Details the screen sucks power

the screen sucks power

Power usage is often at "High".  Task switching also often seems to spike it, sometimes to "Very High".  Maybe it has something to do with compositing, and it runs really really badly by brute force?

[bvanevery]

I don't think a better graphics driver is available, so I might be stuck with the overheating.

Details conflict with Morgan

conflict with Morgan

MY 2336.  Are we really this late in the game now?  This sure has been a tiny empire.  Maybe it's just my advanced research.  The benefits of the Manifold Harmonics are too good to pass up, so I guess I'm not going to be friends with Morgan much longer.  And I might have to do an about face with Aki and Cha Dawn as well.

Details make me some voters!

make me some voters!

Wow I really am advanced.  It's not that easy to get to these techs in my mod.  I certainly don't need to go pell mell through the research anymore.  So maybe I'll just chill out and go all Thought Control about everything.

[bvanevery]

Details slight drippiness

slight drippiness

MY 2337.  I wonder if I really will become the world's eco-police, now that I have a practical stake in it. 

Details if you don't take them home

if you don't take them home

I coolly captured an Artifact from the Cult last year, in that sea base they took from me so long ago.  I don't know that it makes it all worthwhile, but I'll take a free tech.

Details shoot 'em down

shoot 'em down

I've got way too many things to think about building.  I don't think anyone else has even made a nuke yet.  Let's check that belief.  Hmm, the Cyborgs have 2, and Morgan has 1 in production.

Details minimaxing

minimaxing

Having different denominations of supply crawlers available, prevents waste of minerals and time.  It doesn't matter how expensive you make a supply crawler, it'll all go to Secret Projects when you cash it in.

Details 'bout time

'bout time

Finally I liberate the sea base the Cult stole from me.  Only took a Tachyon Cruiser.  Let's see if they'll talk peace now.  Nope.

[bvanevery]

Details oh you sneak

oh you sneak

MY 2339.  I'm technically so far ahead, that I have trouble being all that mad.  I should probably build defensive probe teams before someone decides to steal from me.  I am lazy.

Details overpowered marines

overpowered marines

The Tachyon Marines make their 1st showing.  The clearing of the Caretakers from my coast has begun.  Now I've got 1 powerful land, sea, and air unit.  What an empire!  Pretty minimalist on the offense.  I've also got a nuke and a funky fungal missile.  Tectonic missile coming eventually too.  Maybe I'll bridge to the Planet Cult continent?

[bvanevery]

Details more secret projects

more secret projects

MY 2340.  Wow this is really getting up there.  Aside from the Dream Twister making pretty much invincible offensive mindworms, Soporific Gas Pods is a tech I deliberately delayed until late game to "soft retire" it.  That is, make it so late in the game, that gaining it would hardly matter.  I can just brutalize things if I actually want to.  Yet I'm still just making a bunch of supply crawlers to complete even my existing Secret Projects.

Details stupid

stupid

My expensive Tachyon Marines, and my Missile Needlejet, both blew up attacking Isles of the Deep.  Maybe there's a point to R-Bolts after all.