Thinking about Pirates

[bvanevery]

Details gross

gross

Ok I'll be honest.  I hate this game.  The Morganic empire just grosses me out.  It's unwieldy, it's sloppy, it's all-powerful, and it would take forever to clean up.  Now maybe there are ways.  But I just can't see putting myself through the motions.  I quit.

More than anything, I really really hate the level of tech leakage in the game.  It deprives me of agency; none of my own research matters.  I still don't have Doctrine: Initiative, despite maintaining an appropriate Explore Conquer focus the whole game.  I'm the freakin' Pirates!  Probably all that tech largesse from others, warped my tech costs.  So that I never reach what I intended.

I could go try to buy it from Aki, as she completed the Maritime Control Center recently.  Surprisingly, Morgan doesn't have it.  So tech in this game, is not entirely determined, in the AI factions.  But I don't really have a role in it.  Not unless I beg beg beg, with the sole exploiting objective of reaching parity and then getting ahead.  I really don't feel like it.  It's boring.

I didn't expect tech leakage to be the big issue I'd have with Thinker.  But it really is ruining a lot of the game.  There's no point to anything if I know I can rubberband at any time.  Like why is Yang my puppet?  Simple: I begged for techs to defeat him.  My powerful friends had such techs in abundance, so the game reduces to exactly one thing: make powerful friends.  That's boring.

Yang didn't die because I used clever combat tactics against the AI.  Yang died because I exploited tech trading.  No other reason.

I'm not sure what kind of "house rule" or "strategy" I'd come up with, that would avoid the temptation of the sugar daddies, and still prove something.  I could insist on being Amish?

Hmm.  What happens if I put Thinker under illegal chemical weapons apocalyptic stress?  Will there be a deluge?  Or will I just get creamed with mindworms and no deluge?  Will it harm the mega factions more than it harms me?  In the stock binary, the global warming apocalypse tends to degrade and slow down AI empires, but it doesn't destroy them.  A rather disappointing phenomenon in that regard.

If I'm anti-social, never make peace, and run around destroying everyone's thermal boreholes and supply crawlers, will I live to tell about it?  With nukes coming so early, boy that sounds risky.  This game I took the safe bet, which was completely eliminating 2 factions likely to toss nukes.  And it took so long.  And it empowered Morgan and Aki.

Hmm.  I suppose I could start stealing from any ally more powerful than myself.  Rather than ask, just steal.  Then they'd stop being my ally.  Then if they're my neighbor, I could keep stealing from them.  Then they'd go to war.  Then I'd chop them down.  It might prove something.  Might get me a nuke in the face too though.

[bvanevery]

I'm a bit tired of the Pirates now, but I'm determined to keep all of this as 1 thread.  Maybe I was too much of a reactionary about potential nuke threats last game.  Maybe completely eliminating factions and making long distance war, is a bit extreme, just to try to create some safety.  Maybe concerns can be more balanced.

Details checking the validity

checking the validity

Opening the game without making 2 serious mistakes, would be a good thing to explore.  I should not have split my early colonization.  I should not have "stretched up" the coast to Yang, as it just made me more vulnerable.  What I did do right, is establish a power center / anchor on land that had excellent resources, to face off against Yang's growing empire.  That was situational.  Here I'm checking the situation, to make sure what direction I really should be spreading.

It looks like I should go south, into this sort of V pocket.

Details how random is random

how random is random

For random opponents, this cast and crew has stayed awfully consistent.  The Morganites, the Hive, and the Cyborgs have been in all 3 games.  The Peacekeepers and Spartans have been in 2 games.  I think the Gaians are the only new face.  Makes me wonder how "random" opponent selection actually works.

[bvanevery]

Details eXplore

eXplore

MY 2102.  I've used 2 turns trying to get a better position in this "V" for my capitol.  I am thinking in terms of a "perfect circle" that fills up the V.  I did not want a capitol at the top of the V.  There's probably only open ocean up there, and no substantial resources or Ocean Shelf bearing minerals.  It also wouldn't be close to enemies, for purposes of harassing them.  And it would be bad for my EFFIC once I start conquering nearby enemy bases.  Power is better held a bit more towards the center.  Provided you have the strength to actually exert power.  Which is my intent: I'm not trying to hide away in a corner and just build.

The Gun Foil did the scouting.  1 of my sea colonies has followed it exactly, to maximize the speed at which it moves south.  The other colony has slightly explored the right flank, but has kept close enough to produce a unified empire.  This energy special that my Gun Foil and sea colonist are sitting on, may be where I want my capitol.  It will depend on what's revealed to the south next turn.  The 2nd colonist, I've kept close enough so that if I want to use it to build my capitol here, I can.  Leaving the 1st free to penetrate slightly farther south.

[bvanevery]

Details settled for it

settled for it

MY 2103.  Taking too long to settle one's empire is one of the serious mistakes.  One that I'm determined to avoid in this game.  That said, I don't think I really had a choice about moving south at the beginning.  I was dropped in not very good water.  This is an ok position from a centrality standpoint, if not ideal.  If I don't find anything better, I will settle my 2nd base in range of that patch of nutrients.  It won't be greatly helpful immediately, but I can plant trees on it.

[bvanevery]

Details who's to say

who's to say

MY 2104.  2 games ago, I thought I did better with the Build focus, rather than the faction default of Explore Conquer.  For instance, I actually got to Advanced Ecological Engineering, so that I could mine my Oceans.  Never happened last game.  I also had a great deal of difficulty getting Rec Commons last game.  On the other hand, this game I'm determined not to avail myself of sugar daddy tech exploits.  Some kind of "house rule", not quite decided yet, to simulate a version of Thinker that has somewhat closed these abundant tech trading loopholes.  I really can't stand the idea of my success being only that of a sycophant.  That's just the AI factions playing the game, not me.

Details nook

nook

This natural harbor is awfully cute, so I'm going in.  I accept the 1 turn delay for the superior position.  I will be doing land exploration here.  If there are good resources somewhere, then I'll put a land anchoring base on it, to keep anyone from interloping.  On the other hand if there's no one for miles and miles and miles, I won't worry about it.

[bvanevery]

Details I've got a neighbor

I've got a neighbor

MY 2111.  The monolith indicates someone else's exploration.  Looks like I did the right thing as far as settling the center of this "bowl".  The Command Center production is a completion scumming setup.  It will most likely be changed to something else at the last minute, before it goes to 10+ minerals.  Unless of course it completes.

I've got a fair amount of money already.  An arguable mistake I made last game, is not spending my cash as aggressively as possible when I acquired it.  I think I thought I was holding out for a Secret Project.  This time my expenditure is fine so far.  The other Gun Foil and the Transport both got rushed.  I am SUPPORT limited though, so I don't necessarily want to rush anything else right now.

It's best to complete sea colony pods with completion scumming if at all possible, when the base goes to size 2.  Generally I don't start on sea colony pods until the base is size 2, to take advantage of that.  You won't get a completion event on a colony pod or sea colony pod if the base is size 1.

[bvanevery]

Details scummed!

scummed!

MY 2117.  It's all in the timing.  This is how you get Pirates set up fast.

[bvanevery]

Details who it is

who it is

MY 2119.  So it's a very near neighbor.  I need to remember that the Spartans are not likely to become the most technologically advanced faction in the game, and not overreact.  Morgan and Aki are the real ones to worry about.  The Hive, well it's hard to say.  In my 1st game they proved very capable of munging a lot of territory.  I don't think they're inherently a research powerhouse.  I think they just got gigantic, without me intervening.

Balance.  Balance.

Details passive aggressive settlement

passive aggressive settlement

I block up their sea access.  It could backfire in that they might go for some kind of naval invasion, but if I diligently make this a strong point, it should work.  I'm also thinking that isthmus would be the right place to put a land colony, to get access to whatever ocean is on the other side of that ribbon of land.  It might just be a lake, or it might be the southern hemisphere.  Again, it would require me to hold it.  I also have to get it settled before Santiago contacts me and exerts her claim to the area.  Ergo, I rush the colony pod, which I was thinking of doing anyways.

Maybe my house rule will be "don't ally with strong tech builder factions, and don't trade with them".  I could conceivably ally with the Spartans.

[bvanevery]

Details SOB go away!

SOB go away!

MY 2122.  I'm about to settle my isthmus when this jerk shows up in the way.  I hope he's just wandering and hasn't settled here.

Details exactly not

exactly not

That is precisely the person I want nothing to do with right now.  And I'm not happy that you're here either.

Details this is fair trade

this is fair trade

It's too early in the game to be standing on some kind of Amish principle.  Morgan can't have amassed much in the way of technology yet, if I actually have low level stuff he wants.  Maybe "tech for tech" would be an acceptable way to do things, and I don't have to ever ally with him.  That would stop him from bestowing techs on me.  He could still offer silly cheap prices on a lot of techs at some point, but we're not at that point.  Later on, I could resolve to just steal from any faction giving the farm away like that.  But for the present, there's the practical matter that I can't steal from anybody yet.

He insisted on getting Doctrine: Flexibility out of me.  Then he begged off.

Details does it work

does it work

I'm surprised the AI has already gone Free Market.  I wouldn't expect that to be a successful strategy at the beginning of the game.  It certainly wouldn't be for me, as any human player.  The AI has all those buffs on Transcend though.

[bvanevery]

Details got my isthmus

got my isthmus

MY 2123.  Now I just need Santiago not to overrun it.  I decide I'll crawl the shore southwards to avoid speaking to her for as long as I can.  I consider changing my research focus to something more aggressive, but then I remember that in the stock tech tree, B1 Industrial Base is how you get Synth armor.  So my Build focus is already the right thing for maintaining a defensive stance.

[bvanevery]

Details how to work the land

how to work the land

MY 2124.  Setting up a more expensive prototype of something to be completed, and working on that until you are about to go to 10+ minerals, is a good tactic.

Details not so much

not so much

Sadly, it's just a little lake.  It doesn't even have a supply pod in it.  All I've done is succeed in putting myself between the Spartans and the Morganites, which hardly sounds like an objective.  Well, that could work out if I actually ally with the Spartans, but that's very much up to them.

[bvanevery]

Details howdy doody

howdy doody

MY 2127.  I don't think I like actually meeting all these people in my backyard.  It's a little claustrophobic for a Huge map.  Well at least I'll be able to interfere with some factions later on.  I wonder if Yang becomes the monster at the opposite end of the map though?  Then we might get an answer to the question, who gets a nuke in the face, if you're at a great distance.

Details an amazing jerk

an amazing jerk

He was like that my 1st game too!  Fine, execute me.  See if I care.

[bvanevery]

Details sustainable exploit

sustainable exploit

MY 2129.  It's also good to keep a "lead" city while you're popping pods out at sea.  If I had colonized in the oceanic direction, then my spawning capitol would have been blocked off.  I wouldn't get completions there.  I might get completions at a more forward base, but this is working, so I kept the arrangement.  I do have Rec Commons available now, but clearly, I need to do a lot more settlement.

[bvanevery]

Details inevitable

inevitable

MY 2145.  I run into Santiago on the other side of the continent.  Suddenly there was just a city next to me.  Nothing I could do about it.

Details my unfortunate treaty

my unfortunate treaty

Great.  I'm in the way of Santiago's invasion route.

Details guess I defend

guess I defend

Hope my greed for the isthmus wasn't a fatal flaw.  Better see what Morgan has to say about it.  I've got Lal badgering me from afar as well, and I've noticed he's got Recon Rovers.

[bvanevery]

Morgan readily agrees to a Pact.

Details is he sugar

is he sugar

Fair trade so far.  And he doesn't have anything else, so we're at parity.

Details do some dirty work

do some dirty work

Even if he turns out to be militarily worthless, he can at least distract and confuse the AI as to its targets.  In other words, better you than me!  I hardly feel guilty since Santago's gonna come gunning at me to get to you, real soon now.

Details sad little Morgan

sad little Morgan

I spread better initially than Morgan does.  Pity that doesn't stay true the whole game.

Details gimme stuff

gimme stuff

I actually got my Synth armor already.  I just haven't prototyped it.  The other things I need, are in different parts of the tech tree.  Build will have to wait.