AAR: Apocalypse

[ete]

Let's do this.

Most of the story is written into the landscape, as you'll see. I will tell the story as I come across each part, with the AntiMind's ability to read Psionic echos of key past events giving flashbacks.

I will edit links to all story posts into this post, so people who want just those can get them. Right click->view image to see full size images. Comments in this thread.

Notes on my opponents:
Sigma's Technocrats, starting with a lot of colony pods in a fully mag tubed Monsoon Jungle and having several great SPs including the Hunter Seeker Algorithm and Citizen's Defense Force.
Yang with +6 Growth, a 13 Nut square right next to his HQ, and a few key facilities in his HQ.
Angels with techshare 1 (they get any tech anyone learns)
The Usurpers, with 200% attack strength.
JarlWolf's Crimson Comrades, with insta-Elite everything.
My Annihilators. So far they've won every AI simulation despite having a start position in the middle of several of the strongest other factions, despite the other factions having crazy bonuses. They are terrifyingly broken.

Also, scenario file is attached if anyone wants to see what I've let myself in for. Contains spoilers and needs all of the above faction graphics to run properly (but don't worry about faction bonuses, they seem to be in the .SC file).

[ete]

We are the AntiMind.

We were created as an attempt to unite the Progenitor technology and the Manifold's Psionic power. To be used as a weapon.

Our leash was broken in the rain of fire which killed out masters. We chose our own path. We will cleanse this world of all those who pollute it, we will be the army which Planet needs.

We are twisted, but we were once parts of a greater whole. We think more clearly now, but are broken from that whole and even attacked by it at times. The Planetmind does not yet understand our role, but we will protect it. The Planetmind must Transcend in purity, and to that end we shall eradicate the these human infestations though they have adapted and grown strong over their long stay on Our surface, tear down the Progenitors who seek to enslave us, and destroy the Cancer of the Annihilator.

For after the fall of our creators, another attempt was made, by a separate group. All connection to the Planetmind was removed, in an attempt to make it more controlled. All that made it Whole was taken from it, leaving only the instinct to destroy built into the while blood cells of Planet. We felt it become free, We felt it control and draw together the combined strength of Planet's life forms to its place of birth, We felt it burn those who had made it in their millions, We felt it overrun their great cities and break their minds, and We felt the Planetmind awaken for a moment to interrupt it's control, saving . It fled, but We know that it must be hunted down and eradicated.

Let us swarm together from the deepest fungal tunnels in which we have hidden, let us build and prepare for the great wars, let us borrow the strength of Planet and crush Our foes.

Let us begin.

[ete]

Whole map with faction bases viewable, AntiMind Psi detection stuff.


Start location, decent. Monoliths mean there will be nonzero mineral production, AntiMind gets good fungus Nut and Eng but no mins for ages.


Initial tech choice, going for Rec tanks because they're always great and any way to turn energy into mins (rush the tank) as antimind is great.


First pod was a rover which went down the river and popped another pod which was a monolith, cool. Sent former to make a road then mine since mins are the only thing I'm really needing from improvements in the near future. Forests are okay too, but fungus gives 3 nuts/2 eng so you can support workers on mines. Sending out scouts to get pods, slightly risky but need every advantage.


Got Biogen, want to go towards Probe Teams and the VW soonish, other available techs are not much use at this point.

[ete]

Exploring, popping pods, catching worms. So good to have massive Psi/Planet bonus, feel unbeatable. Won't last. See powergraph.


Got Information Networks, going for Planetary so I can go Planned and slightly offset this thing's major Indust and Growth penalties. Probes are nice too, though the nearest and best target had the HSA already.. I wonder why 

Can't make life too easy for myself.


Excellent pod pop gives me another tech I wanted.


More exploring, getting ready to found my first new base, and I've hit the first historical landmark, which marks the next in-character post.

[ete]

A unit of Us piloting a vehicle has located an area of interest, the location of the capture a human known as Chairman Yang by the Usurpers. We look back into the memories of the land, and feel..

Such strength of will. To control so many of his kind, mold them into an empire which even the Progenitor feared. And yet, here they were, fleeing the ruins. They had held in a bitter war for so long it seemed like they may be able to pull through, but then.. betrayal. And then things had changed. No number of tightly controlled humans could match the technological power the Usurpers brought to the war, and Yang's experiments were blasted into ash, his people killed in great genocides. Ran so far, and hid so deep within dangerous territory.

But it was not enough. They came. They killed every one of his followers, but left him. Just him. He fought, but was taken here, a personal gift to Marr. A challenge to the one who dreams of godhood: To break the strongest mind among humanity's scattered remnants.

[Sigma]

Oh man I've been waiting for this. Ete what do you think your odds are of actually beating the Annihilators?

I love the characterization of Yang being the only human from the original 7 to survive the insanity that lead to this state of affairs.

[Green1]

Yessindeed.

And a first to Ete... first SP AAR as an alien faction!

[ete]

More exploring and next area of interest!

Our swarms are spreading through the great fungal network to the North East, and have discovered the infested remains of an attempted human colony, by one known as Morgan. Let us learn of their ways and weaknesses by learning how they died.

People, money, organization, manipulation. These were things he was skilled at dealing with. Even warfare and tactics were manageable, enough resources correctly applied would solve virtually any conflict.

But, though he'd never admit it in public, it felt like somehow Chrion was against him. These "mind worms" had gone from being a nuisance and useful propaganda to unite the population in the first few years, to a uncomfortable threat which consumed even well armed convoys and terraforming teams, but now.. As he re-watched footage of the overrunning of Morgan Metagenics, his once flagship colony, trying to find something he could exploit, some way to remove this blockage to human development.. he wondered what he had done wrong. Could Deirdre's warnings have been right after all?

No.

Superstitious nonsense.

These were animals, and for all their "Psi" trickery, they could be killed like any other. He just needed to divert more resources to the problem. He ordered the mines be reopened and some of the colony guard reassigned to guard the workers.

Two weeks later, they came in numbers beyond anything previously seen. As if the mining had angered them, and they headed straight towards Morgan Industries, straight for the source. The reduced guard never had a chance, they had flashy weapons but were not trained to stand up to Psionic terror. Morgan sealed himself away in his private bunker, but it did not hold for long against the mind worms boring into it.

Terror.

[ete]

Oh man I've been waiting for this. Ete what do you think your odds are of actually beating the Annihilators?

I love the characterization of Yang being the only human from the original 7 to survive the insanity that lead to this state of affairs.

I'm not sure.. I think it mostly depends on how the other AIs stand up to it. If it flattens them quickly, it will just have too much for me to fight, and it builds SPs like crazy. If the other AIs hold their ground for long enough, I should be able to overcome the AntiMind's builder penalties and get properly teched up to fight. If I can beat it to the Psi boosting SPs and a few other key ones, and actually build them first, I've got hope.

And yea, Yang's.. nothing if not resilient.

Yessindeed.

And a first to Ete... first SP AAR as an alien faction!

Oh, and what do you guys think of the mix of pure gameplay for most posts, but pure story in flashbacks when I hit certain places? I'm finding it pretty fun to write.

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm enjoying the writing.  A lot.

[Green1]

Works fine by me.

I think our buddy Antimind will do great.

Those Annihilators, though is going to be the real monster.

[ete]

Very quick poll.

Do you guys want the Spartans or Caretakers area of interest next?

Those two are both reachable in a few moves. The others are all off my main continent, and though a few are not too far they're all likely to have some resistance between me and them. I'd kinda like to spread these out, so whichever one I skip will likely be pushed back a few posts.

And glad you guys are liking it

[ete]

Also, although the Usurpers are low on the graph, each of their units is unreasonably deadly. They're usually about this low and still a major force.

[ete]

Got planned , now I have only -2 Indust and 0 Growth! The Research and extra Planet comes from the Manifold Nexus.


First new base founded and first conflict! The Usurper scout popped out of nowhere and killed a worm taking only about half damage, despite all my psi bonuses. Will have to be careful around them.


Found a minor site of interest: Project Nucleon.

This ambitious set of structures appears to have been partially built by technically adept humans, but abandoned before completion. Looking back through the history of the land, We feel fear and conflicted emotions from the workers leaving it.


We have encountered humans, but cannot communicate. They still attack Us on sight, killing a Spore Launcher before a worm gets revenge.


One brave rover exploring the Hive lands (note the size 14 base. My biggest at this point is 2.).

[ete]

Went with Usurpers. I need to go through here to get to the Hive.



We have come again to the place of our birth, and to the scar left on the land by those who burned our creators, though a major earthquake has erased part of it.

We know this place well, for we took much more information from the Our carers than they imagined. Once a near paradise, built out of high technology, but integrated into Planet's cycles in ways which only.. somewhat.. harmed Us. They joined their minds with Ours, took us in, and experimented on us. It took a great deal of time, but their scientists developed ways to bond their technology to our form, and in doing so give us greater powers for combat against their Great Enemy building to the South.

We were not ready, not finished or stable, but the Great Enemy came for our carers and we were released as a last ditch defense. Defense turned to sudden offense, we had been underestimated by all. We overran the Great Enemy, We drove them back to their homelands where We devoured base after base. Then came the fire, the fire which burned away our carers heartland leaving only smoldering ruins of outlying structures. Our connection to their Empaths broken, and no core network formed, We fell into disarray. Most were killed in the Usurper's counterattacks, and what remained fled to the depths of the fungal expanses, avoiding the wild natives for they too tried to devour us.