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Lokapala posted:Those factions Anyway, I'll keep the voting open for another couple days, so people have time to weigh in. We'll see where things are at on Thursday before I declare an exact time. To help the process, here's how the vote breaks down so far (unless I miscounted) Sponsors Franco-Iberia: 6 Polystralia: 8 Brasilia: 2 PAC: 1 Slavic Federation: 1 African Union: 2 ARC: 1 Kavithan Protectorate: 0  Crew Random: 1 Refugees: 0 Engineers: 9 Artists: 11 Scientists: 0 Cargo Random: 1 Arsenal: 0 Raw Materials: 0 Machinery: 16 (Holy crap, you guys really want that free Worker) Laboratory: 3 Hydroponics: 1 Spacecraft Random: 1 Tectonic Scanner: 11 Contintental Surveyor: 6 Lifeform Sensor: 0 Retrograde Thrusters: 3 Fustion Reactor: 0 Orbs fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Feb 24, 2015 |
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Feb 24, 2015 21:51
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Just the idea of a Pan-Asian nation-state-like entity so soon that isn't "someone conquered it all" is just weird to me.
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Feb 24, 2015 22:26
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habeasdorkus posted:Really? There's definitely stereotyping at play, but at least to me it feels less egregious than SMAC. For example, Daoming is partly the caricature of the Asian math wiz and stoic Asian, but she's also subverting traditional stereotypes of Asian women being submissive and deferential. And if you read the fluff in the second post she's against the type of social stability and control that currently marks the PRC government, and diametrically opposed to the Space Maoist Yang. I meant the factions themselves, rather than their leaders. The factions basically go: "Asia is just China and... what else is around there? Korea? and some other nations, I guess" - nevermind that some of these countries hate each other forever and ever (or are at least very sensitive on the subject of being colonized/conquered/otherwise "unified" with some of their neighbours). Also nevermind that Asia is a huge continent that's not limited to its South-East. "Russia is forever and always the Soviet Union! Just nicer this time!" - how about the fact that Slavic unity was never a thing and was invented as a rationale for imperialism in 19th century? Or hey, the Caucasus region and it's tensions that are solved in 200 years time - that's truly magical, since it was never managed in the last 200 years. "Africa is that place with warlords and hunger! And lotsa resources, maybe!" - yeah, a unified Africa makes about the same amount of sense as Pan-Asia. Not to mention the painful approach of "A huge continent with a complicated history and over 50 different countries? Yep, it's just a big blob of one same thing." "Europe is this place with beautiful culture and history!" - this is one of the most eye-gouging. So... there's no worthy culture other than the Western one? I especially liked the descriptions of the Canon and great philosophy preserved as opposed to historical curiosities and crude expressions. Should we take it to mean stuff like Hegel's convoluted writings are in there, but not a single work of original Buddhist philosophy that he was, ahem, "inspired by"? "There's one country in Latin America and it's Brazil!" - by the way, why not make Latin America the continent that blobbed up into one entity? That would've make a bit more sense than the others. Or did they mean that's what happened and it's just called Brasilia now? And I like how the Latin America-inspired faction is basically benevolent military dictatorship. Very subtle! "India is that place with way too much population and exotic religions!" - I would love to hear the sermons of the religion that managed to unify Indian thought on that matter. That'd be a first in.... what, 5000 years? And then we get the somewhat less  "Corporate America, gently caress yeah!" and "I guess there are those nice guys in the ocean down under?" Which, the last one might be on par with the others, but I know very little about history of that region and corresponding social issues, so, eh. Let them be the least horrible one!
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Feb 25, 2015 17:29
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SIGSEGV posted:Just the idea of a Pan-Asian nation-state-like entity so soon that isn't "someone conquered it all" is just weird to me. Remember that this is after a nuclear war, massive ecological devastation, and collapse of the global economy. Most of the factions are supposed to be European Union style organizations, not big new nations in and of themselves.
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Feb 25, 2015 17:35
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I'll vote for Polystralia, with engineers and Machinery, and equipped with a Tectonic Scanner. Additionally I'll toss in a suggestion to rename Firaxite to Elerium if the name bothers you.
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Feb 25, 2015 19:39
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I'll end the voting some time tonight, say... 7 EST? Sure. Then we can get this party started. 
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Feb 26, 2015 19:57
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Chapter 1: Here's To New Beginnings  Friends, it has been a true pleasure working on this endeavor with you over the past decade. As we celebrate Freeland's tenth anniversary, let us welcome our guests of honor at this banquet, the brilliant Daoming Sochua and her entourage. Sadly, they can only be here via satellite comm link, but it's the thought that counts! We'll send you guys the best leftovers, I promise.  "The people of Tiangong honor your ancestors." I'd like to take this opportunity to reflect on what we've been through since we got here. I still remember when we first landed, together with the finest engineers, machinery, and scanning equipment money can buy, full of excitement and energy... only to find that everything is made of fungus. The air. The trees. The river. I wouldn't be surprised if this planet's core is made of fungus.  This planet has a fungal biome, and we got a delightfully awful starting city position (which I did not improve with my choice of landing tile, but we'll get to that). This is gonna be great, you guys.  Now, there were some useful resources, of course. Bugs that secrete medicinal ooze. Titanium. Petroleum. I'm not sure how fields of stones that float are useful quite yet, but by God, we will find a way!  It hasn't been easy working these fields, I know. I put in my shifts just like the rest of you. But it is a drat sight better than what we had, even if taking a breather outside would probably involve inhaling a fatal amount of fungal spores.   The PAC landing, with minimap included for location reference. We're not on our own either, of course! Our friends in the Pan-Asian Cooperative arrived less than a year after us, after all. And our scouts continue to find resource pods sent from Old Earth.    Let us take a moment to honor the memory of those who came before us and did not survive. Discovering that derelict settlement left by a previous expedition was a rollercoaster experience. I hope their souls will take some small comfort in knowing we will try our best to avoid their mistakes.   This planet is not without beauty! If any of you haven't been to visit the the Ranjani Pass yet, you owe it to yourselves to go. (With security escort, of course. Those giant flying bugs look pretty nasty, though they haven't attacked us yet, I assure you.) The canyons there are a phenomenal sight, and I'm sure thinking of the plate tectonics involved with the region will make the geologists out there blush.   It has been long enough for the scientists of Freeland to develop spore-resistant vehicles, and so the time has come for us to fulfill our duty. We must strike out into the wilderness and find areas for our people still waiting in cryogenic stasis to settle. I hope they will be proud of the unique character of our fresh new nation.   As the evening goes on, I will take suggestions from the scientific community on where best to apply our know-how next, from others on where to settle, and so on. I look forward to meeting a wide array of you colorful folks. Should give me a good idea what kind of people we have become. Alright, I believe I have gone on long enough. I would like to propose a toast. To new beginnings. Cheers! So, there are a few things you can vote on at this stage. Only the first is really necessary, but I'll take suggestions for everything. --The most important is our first Virtue. Because of the bonus from exploring the derelict settlement, we got one early. Should we focus on Might, Prosperity, Knowledge, or Industry? Do some sort of spread? Regardless, we have to take the first one to unlock the rest of the tree, so we have to take one of these first:     --Research priority. Right now, the options are all about adapting what we already know to a new environment, but if you want me to explain any of them in greater detail, just ask. Chemistry allows us to build Laboratory and Recycler facilities. It also gives us the means to construct petroleum wells. Petroleum is useful for many things, but particularly for building and launching satellites. Ecology lets us build Miasmic Repulsor satellites to repel clouds of miasma, as well as Vivariums (granting an increase in food) and Ultrasonic Fences (to keep out native life forms.) Engineering unlocks the Combat Rover unit, as well as Thorium Reactors and Repair Facilities. Reactors produce more energy, while Repair Facilities let us build units faster by replacing and recycling parts. Genetics gives us access to the Pharmalab and Cytonursery, both of which increase Health (the game's happiness equivalent). The Cytonursery also increases Science. Physics gives access to the Ranger unit, which attacks from a distance. It would also allow us to build Observatories to increase science output, and Launch Complexes to improve our orbital infrastructure. Each field also has “leaf” technologies which are further specializations that usually yield powerful bonuses, but we have to research their associated branch tech first. They also unlock more techs deeper in the web. For example, to research Computing, we would first need to get either Ecology or Engineering (only one is necessary, which can make for an interesting tech web). --Where to settle next, and what to call the settlement. --What to build in Freeland. The current options are a Colonist, another Worker, Explorer, Soldier, a Clinic (bonus to Science and Health), an Old Earth Relic (bonus to Culture), or one of the four "developments", which convert Production into Food (Agricultural), Culture (Social), Industrial (Energy) or Research (Science), all at a 25% rate. Orbs fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Feb 28, 2015 |
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Feb 27, 2015 02:44
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My votes go to Industry for sweet, sweet production speed and energy bonuses, and Genetics for the Pharmalab. It really cannot be overstated how important Health is in this game, the bonuses it gives are amazing.
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Feb 27, 2015 02:47
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Industry and Chemistry. There's a lot to love in Industry, and everything you get from Chemistry is something you'll want up and running ASAP.
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Feb 27, 2015 02:51
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For a young settlement, nothing beats Growth! Gotta go fast! Engineering for research.
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Feb 27, 2015 02:52
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I say Industry and Ecology. Looks like a pretty nasty world out there.
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Feb 27, 2015 03:07
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Industry does seem like a good idea. We probably need something aside from just focusing on that, but I'll be damned if I can decide what, though I'm thinking Physics because for a leader who loves his booze, clearly he would also love some satellite broadcast sports coverage. You know, a soon as we get sports.
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Feb 27, 2015 04:20
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Industry and Chemistry. Production bonuses help a lot, especially at the beginning of the game, and Chemistry gives buildings that give Science and Production bonuses, both very helpful the earlier they get built.
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Feb 27, 2015 06:22
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My Alpha Centauri sense says to go for early recycler tech, so Chemistry should work. Go for Industry, but grab a Might virtue or two if we run into serious early opposition. e: Build an Old Earth Relic, that sounds nice, and try to build a colonist early to settle on the coast. Name the colony Neo New Zealand. my dad fucked around with this message at 11:52 on Feb 27, 2015 |
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Feb 27, 2015 11:02
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Industry and Genetics. Let's build a Clinic first. If we build a new colony, let's name it Rēkohu!
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Feb 27, 2015 16:12
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Beeline for Growth for the free colonist, so you can put of researching Pioneering and be sure to grab one of the prime spots nearby. Build an Old Earth Relic for the early culture boost.
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Feb 27, 2015 17:37
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Forgot to say to build an Old Earth Relic. Early culture and border growth is essential.
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Feb 27, 2015 23:50
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Dear lord, I'm a dummy. I thought leaf technologies were the techs that literally had the leaf icon next to them that are way out on the upper edge of the tech web. Also, I have no idea what techs should be prioritized, although it seems like the thread hasn't reached any consensus either. On a whim, Chemistry does seem like a good choice for the early science boost and the Recycler. Build an Old Relic first before the Clinic. And hell, let's go Growth despite the fact that Industry seems to be the winner already.
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Feb 28, 2015 01:38
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Ted_Haggard posted:Beeline for Growth for the free colonist, so you can put of researching Pioneering and be sure to grab one of the prime spots nearby. Build an Old Earth Relic for the early culture boost. He already researched pioneering 
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Feb 28, 2015 01:52
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It turns out investigating that derelict settlement gave us enough Culture for two Virtues. I don't know if that will affect anyone's voting, but I figured it would be good to know. If people want to double down on Industry, here are the Virtues that are unlocked by the first: Fungal baths. Those are totally a thing in Freeland. Looks like we could unleash the crying Lenins early too.  It looks like most of the regulars have weighed in, but I'll keep this open until Monday, just in case.
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Feb 28, 2015 17:42
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Might as well also grab Commoditization.
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Feb 28, 2015 19:18
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Eh, Central Planning is more useful at first unless you've got a lot of resources immediately available. All of tier 1 industry is worth grabbing, though.
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Feb 28, 2015 19:22
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Yeah, we only have 1 basic resource in our city radius at the moment (the fiber). Maybe when we've settled an area more abundant. Maybe grab Foresight as well? Or Frugality.
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Feb 28, 2015 19:38
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Let's go for Central Planning, since it seems more useful than the alternative at the moment. We can grab commodization later.
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Feb 28, 2015 19:40
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Central planning. 
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Feb 28, 2015 20:26
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industry and scalable infrastructure
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Feb 28, 2015 20:50
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The Kathian, Hutama and African Union extra-texts are AMAZING. Holy hell, they're 100 times better than anything in the game. That's what SMAC had that people compared this to do: identity. Every leader was persuasive about their philosophy, even the always-attacks-you Miriam or the aesthetic despot Yang. I had zero idea that Hutama was a comedic host, a reluctant leader, or recovering from unpopularity. It would've helped if they read their quotes.
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Feb 28, 2015 21:25
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Golden Bee posted:The Kathian, Hutama and African Union extra-texts are AMAZING. Holy hell, they're 100 times better than anything in the game. That's what SMAC had that people compared this to do: identity. Every leader was persuasive about their philosophy, even the always-attacks-you Miriam or the aesthetic despot Yang. I had zero idea that Hutama was a comedic host, a reluctant leader, or recovering from unpopularity. I'm particularly fond of Kozlov's speech too. I don't know if the people who wrote the articles are different from the people who wrote the quotes in the game, but it seems like it. Or at least that their inspiration mostly ran out. I also don't know why they had the same person read everybody's quotes. They already had individual actors to record the diplomacy screen lines... It couldn't have been that much harder to get them to say some two or three sentence quips. I love this game, and that's why it breaks my heart how much better it could have been.
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Feb 28, 2015 21:57
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Cythereal posted:Eh, Central Planning is more useful at first unless you've got a lot of resources immediately available. All of tier 1 industry is worth grabbing, though. Actually yeah, Commoditization could probably wait until the second or third city. Changing my vote for Commodititiadsvdvd to Central Planning.
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Mar 1, 2015 06:47
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Night10194 posted:Central planning.
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Mar 1, 2015 23:50
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Chapter 2: The Augmented   The people have taken to assembling for their daily work shifts around a curious monument: a statue of the Buddha, sculpted from scavenged parts of our spacecraft. No one seems to know who made it, or why they put it smack dab in the middle of city hall, but I have to admire their craft and ingenuity.  By BanHunLek, a metal shop in Thailand. Today, people have gathered around it an hour before the Central Planning committee is due to hand out the assignments. It's to discuss one thing, of course—the nature of the ship that crashed to the east.   The explorer team sent to the site should be transmitting their findings any minute. In the meantime, I should prepare some kind of welcome for our new neighbors.   The Kavithan Protectorate has landed practically on our doorstep. There's a whole drat planet out there, you religious nutters! At least the American Reclamation Corporation had the decency to land some distance away. I don't trust those slimy bastards for a second, but they should make valuable trading partners.   Ah, the transmission has arrived! …  Wait, what? Survivors? Goodness. Bring them back here for now! The hospital should be operational by the time they get here. We'll make it work.  The survivors say they want refuge, huh. Well, I'm not opposed to it, but our resources are already stretched pretty thin. I don't want to turn away people in need, but it might be better for both of our people just to give them some spare tools and let them strike out on their own. But tell them we're considering it. The Committee will decide after we've taken care of their wounds... assuming our doctors even know what to do with their bodies. Don't tell them that last part.  Seriously, look at that bullshit. This is going to be amazing.  Also, you might notice I've almost finished a Clinic. I had started one earlier, switched to the Old Earth Relic when the thread voted on it, then found it only had two turns left when I switched back. But we'll need to decide what to build after that, if you're so inclined. The options are: Colonist, Explorer, Soldier, Worker, and Trade Depot. The Depot would allow Trade Convoys to other cities, which have fantastic benefits, but we have to have a line of sight unbroken by miasma hexes to them first.The primary question, however, is what to do with the Augmented. This game has a ton of quests like this, with various rewards for taking different options. For the purposes of this LP, I will also be using responses to help guide our faction's choice of Affinity, the ways humanity reacts and changes in response to the new environment, a vague equivalent of futuristic social engineering choices. Not solely, of course, and not with this quest alone, but I'll be keeping it in mind.
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Mar 2, 2015 17:46
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Grant them refuge. At least this bunch had the courtesy to join up with an existing settlement. And yeah, always irritating when an AI lands right on your doorstep. In my experience, nine times out of ten this happens shortly after you plonked down an outpost right next to where they landed or when you had a colonist moving towards their landing zone.
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Mar 2, 2015 17:49
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Grant them refuge, of course! We've got plenty of room for everyone!
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Mar 2, 2015 17:51
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I foresee war with the Protectorate in our future. Aside from that, tell those weirdos to find another civilization to bum supplies off of.
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Mar 2, 2015 20:39
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Nosy_G posted:I foresee war with the Protectorate in our future. Not necessarily, Kavitha is a pretty peaceful AI and extremely loyal. If it was the space Americans, Russians, or Brazilians, on the other hand...
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Mar 2, 2015 20:40
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Cythereal posted:Not necessarily, Kavitha is a pretty peaceful AI and extremely loyal. Who said they would be the antagonists? 
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Mar 2, 2015 20:41
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What's better than being human? Transhuman! Also, we need to Colonist spam and expand ASAP to keep those weird cultists from stealing our rightful land! Of all the stars in all the sky, why did they have to come here? Also also, I will cut anyone who says we should name the city anything other than Jimboomba. 
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Mar 2, 2015 22:57
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Some very nice green goo and floaty rock deposits to your north-east for a city (the geothermal + worm goo to your south-west would also be good if not for all the fissures rendering over half the tiles unusable) so there's some solid opportunities for going Harmony or Purity (you always want at least Supremacy 3 regardless because FREE ROADS!). No glowy crystals in sight though which is a pity so probably not a great idea to shoot for more than Supremacy 3. Also wow, I've never seen an AI capitol come down so close to the player's capitol before; I didn't think the spawn algorithm allowed the AI to come down that close, probably going to have to prep for an early war which is always fun. Cythereal posted:Not necessarily, Kavitha is a pretty peaceful AI and extremely loyal. If it was the space Americans, Russians, or Brazilians, on the other hand... The problem I've found with Kavitha is the insane rate at which they gain territory plus their tendency to expand a lot results in them claiming giant wads of land, usually parts that I wanted 
Neruz fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Mar 3, 2015 |
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Mar 3, 2015 01:36
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Neruz posted:Also wow, I've never seen an AI capitol come down so close to the player's capitol before; I didn't think the spawn algorithm allowed the AI to come down that close, probably going to have to prep for an early war which is always fun. I've seen a few Youtube LPs where that has happened. It usually never ends well. But then, I've seen LPs where the players get gang-raped by the local
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Mar 3, 2015 02:19
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Honestly I don't know how anyone could ever lose even to frenzied aliens; not only do Ultrasonic Fences make it impossible for aliens to attack your city but they almost never attack cities anyway so the only way to actually suffer casualties is to walk into their territory without sufficient military support. That said, if you come down nearby a couple of big nests (it seems like larger xenomass deposits spawn more aliens faster) you can be in for one hell of a grind. Neruz fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Mar 3, 2015 |
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Mar 3, 2015 02:22
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