|
Human Spies have captured a prototype of Mrrshan Battle Armor:
|
#
?
May 31, 2018 07:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 09:57 |
|
|
thetruegentleman posted:I just wanted to say that the amount of work you've put into this game is incredible; Thanks. I think the losses are important because it made things less predictable. Always nice to be appreciated. Good work all on the excellent images. I have to say I like Rappaport's 'personal armor' the best. Especially the satisfaction and contentment on the cat's face.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2018 22:30
|
|
|
Episode XIII: Opening A lot to like here. We appear to have a good chance at controlling the upper-right sector, while there's a pretty even distribution of homeworld locations throughout the rest of the galaxy. Only one of the top five races: no Klackons, Psilons, etc. The main concern is there are Humans and a bunch of races that hate us. Which means the biggest immediately apparent danger is an early loss to those manipulative swine in the Council. That's already happened to me twice, my two fastest losses. Keeping a sharp eye on it doesn't mean I can prevent it from happening again, but I'm sure going to try.  Here's the immediate vicinity, with only this red star within range. At least it points towards the center of the galaxy. Really doesn't matter if it's crap, since it's the only option.  Wow. The RNG showeth it's mercy, showering bountiful blessings!  I'll leave the rest of them alone, but you can't have an Empress Nermal without an Abu Dhabi.  This is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Oh keep those cards and letters coming you spectacular giver of gifts!! So, time to transfer population to Abu Dhabi, and we need a lot of Recons. Nine of them. That's probably good, but it'll take a bite out of our growth curve.  Of course we should more than make up for it with this. Initial Colonizers normally cost 570 BC. Now with that early artifact acquisition, it's down to 486 BC -- a 15% reduction. Combine that with the 50% reduction in waste cleanup, and we're flipping ecstatic. If we can find some other reasonable planets around to send some out to, this could be an amazing start.  First of two within range. Well that won't do it.  The Recon Rush can be seen pretty well here in 2306. Also; the string of fantastic fortune ends. Nothing else habitable within three parsecs, so we'll need range research before we can colonize anything else.  So this is going to be available nearby. It's just a Recon.  First possibility found. It'd do.  Two Tundras in a downward direction, for those of you scoring at home. That'll be important to try and get early.  Radiated and an uninhabitable bracket the nebula. Nobody's going that way anytime soon.  Meh.  We can always use a research world. Waiting on a couple more yet, but they are six parsecs out. So we're about to be 'boxed' into our own corner here. We need range 4 optimally, then we can get Xendalla(50M) which will give us range to grasp the other two. Nothing we can settle at all heading further into the galactic center which is a big disappointment. That would put us at five systems. So range 4, then Tundra landings would seem to absolutely vital here. Until we get Tundra, Abu Dhabi will be our point-system.  There are Sakkra past the nebula to the left then. Jinga, population 38, guarded by a destroyer. Probably their first colony, with Sssla the yellow star to the left. That way definitely looks like a no-fly zone.  This looks like it'll be worth guarding, but we'd need reserve tanks to get there(six parsecs).  Strategic location in the center, but nothing else that's for sure. In 2313, that concludes the initial scouting.  Wow. It's only 2317 -- they're getting frisky and fast. The next year we get our initial tech pull; accelerated clock due to the gift of lowered expenses. ** Computers: Battle Computer Mk. II, Deep Space Scanner ** Construction: Improved Industrial Tech 9 ** Force Fields: Class II Deflectors ** Planetology: Death Spores. That's rather hilarious. Disappointed not to see Tundra here. ** Propulsion: Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Deuterium Fuel Cells ** Weapons: Hand Lasers, Gatling Laser Battle Computer and Gatling Laser choices to fuel any possible early conflicts, and Hydrogen to get us going with expansion sooner. The opening's actually finished here, so we'll have an extended(in terms of time) second update for this game.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2018 22:45
|
|
|
Is this the first time you've gotten an early artifact colony free tech? I don't remember it in any of the other runs.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 00:49
|
|
|
Between this and planet Box I am extremely onboard the Mrrshan train.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 02:26
|
|
|
How did the kitties end up with hot red WH40K space marine armor for their ground troops? Interesting choice. I would have expected something more elegant like the mirror armor of the bird troops.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 02:32
|
|
|
Kitty has beautiful armor tech and humans are silly to disparage it. In other news,
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 02:49
|
|
|
The Mrrshan computers research division is hard at work with the artifacts. The ground combat research division continues to experiment, with some relics showing more promise than others. 
Cythereal fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Jun 1, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 03:04
|
|
|
I think my favorite part of the Mrrshan soldier's armor is the fact that it has a rather large spiked ball at the end of the tail. Their, presumably at least partially powered, armor has a freaking massive mace built in just so they can do SOMETHING with an armored tail.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 04:09
|
|
|
ScoutCat is the same as MilitaryCat, right? It’s a minor detail, but I love the costumes pf our “advisors”
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 09:10
|
|
|
I like the way it has what appear to be Alkari claws on the shoulderpads. Also, it's a little late, but oh my god the shining chrome Alkari soldier has nothing on the Alkari spy in terms of silliness. Pitch-black clothing completely devoid of contour? Check. Permanently squinting suspicious eye? Check. Holding a folder which appears to have "TOP SECRET" written on it in crayon? Check. Who were they spying on, Dr. Evil?
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 10:57
|
|
|
a computing pun posted:I like the way it has what appear to be Alkari claws on the shoulderpads. The actual Alkari spies are the pigeons you wouldn't look twice at. They just hire a performance artist to deliver their reports. I think he might be the rare Alkari Mime.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 18:57
|
|
|
  Basically, we can't lose, team!
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 21:21
|
|
|
The Mrrshan army investigates a possible new ground transport. https://i.imgur.com/FT22P3z.mp4
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 21:24
|
|
|
First contact with the Bulrathi is predicted to go well. Though early diplomacy may not proceed as planned...  IthilionTheBrave posted:I think my favorite part of the Mrrshan soldier's armor is the fact that it has a rather large spiked ball at the end of the tail. Their, presumably at least partially powered, armor has a freaking massive mace built in just so they can do SOMETHING with an armored tail.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 21:47
|
|
|
a computing pun posted:it's a little late, but oh my god the shining chrome Alkari soldier has nothing on the Alkari spy in terms of silliness. Pitch-black clothing completely devoid of contour? Check. Permanently squinting suspicious eye? Check. Holding a folder which appears to have "TOP SECRET" written on it in crayon? Check. Yeah you're not wrong. That portrait is so obviously absurd it basically just stands on it's own. PurpleXVI posted:Is this the first time you've gotten an early artifact colony free tech? I don't remember it in any of the other runs. Yes it is; and one of the best ones you can get too.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2018 23:20
|
|
|
Thotimx posted:Yes it is; and one of the best ones you can get too. Governor of Arietis colony, how are you feeling about this?  Excellent. Carry on.
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2018 00:51
|
|
|
I love all the art that's being created. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop and see what the rng is planning by giving you this false sense of security.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2018 03:02
|
|
|
Episode XIII: 2317 - First colonizer comes out in 2327. Only problem is, despite an 80% chance of success, the research isn't done to go with it. Box is maxed out, Abu Dhabi almost halfway to max factories -- we're off to a good start development-wise. I'd almost forgotten what that was like.  Mrrshan researcher. Left ear twitches. Admit it ... they're cute. I can go Deuterium or Nuclear engines. I'll usually go with the engines but I'm going to want the range here I think.  With nothing particularly compelling at the moment I'll go with a broad-based general research plan earlier than usual. Abu Dhabi now does the usual split between industry, population incubator, research, and recon production. Busy busy busy.  With Colonizers coming out every three years, the other two will soon be ready to go. That allows Box to shift over to research/reserve mix and also aid in initial population transfers to accelerate development.  Seven parsecs out so we'd need to do some hopping to get there, but another big one at least.  A destroyer, but this is just an empty system. Still, they are definitely being aggressive and we'll need to watch them closely.  More crap.  And that's five planets. In 2338. That's a fast start, but we won't be getting any more for some while. They'll grow quickly; being able to do maximum population and reserve transfers this early in the game is just not something you can usually come close to pulling off.  Ok, here's how it looks from here. The two green 'U' stars(Tundra) are systems I'd like to guard with combat ships until we can research the ability to colonize them. The two yellow ones below and left(M and T) are 10M and 85M Poor systems. Not great at all, but positionally they have strategic value. I'd like to take a shot at them with battleship-sized Colonizers, resources permitting. I think we've got a little time on the tundras, as I haven't seen anyone in that direction and the Sakkra can't reach this far to the right. So first up is getting one of the big fellas out there. With the left side closed off, that quartet looks like it will determine whether we can get close to a competitive number of systems or not.  Gatling Laser is first in. Hyper-X here because it's the cheapest forward option and because we need a missile. Industrial Tech 9 is next, revealing only Industrial Tech 8. Still, it's good to get it while the first colonies are still building up factories. 2350: A fitting end to the first half-century as the starting over-sized Colonizer is completed and departs. We haven't seen any ships, Sakkra or otherwhise, in the last decade. I still assume there's at least one homeworld below us but the top goal remains pushing off that way. There wasn't quite enough reserve cash to fully fund the normal development cycle on Xendalla and Kakata(not Collassa, as it's poor and that would have been inefficient) but it was close. All of them have a quality start and are over halfway full; Xendalla is almost finished.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2018 04:08
|
|
|
Man, I'd forgotten what a fast start looked like after the past few.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2018 04:38
|
|
|
https://i.imgur.com/Ssp9Ffl.mp4 Evidence suggests the Mrrshan are happy with the way things are going.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2018 04:51
|
|
|
ManxomeBromide posted:Man, I'd forgotten what a fast start looked like after the past few. I'm just waiting for the RNG to drop the other shoe.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2018 16:56
|
|
|
Episode XIII: 2350 -  This thing is for defending any planets within range.  This is for those further away. Ideally I'd like a few of these each on the two tundra systems(Bobcats) and Lynxs at the rich Toxic world. Box pauses for a couple years to build some while Xendalla finishes up on it's run of factories and Abu Dhabi pushes out another wave of recons to join the massive Colonizer heading below our territory. Then Xendalla takes over in 2352 and it's back to the next big cat-carrying crate.  Next choice in Force Fields will be the first one.  Onwards and upwards in our top field. I could go Mass Driver. That could enable an 'early Orion' strategy as noted, though I'm not likely to go for that anytime soon. Instead, I take Scatter Pack V, moving the ladder forward at a much cheaper cost.  This will shake things up in terms of what we can see and visit. Deuterium Fuel Cells also arrives, so we'll move on to nuclear engines.  Being first to this milestone as a combat race? That just doesn't happen on Impossible.  Howdy there future hairballs! It's 2358.  Naturally they've seen our nice tech start and re-raised us. Most importantly though we are a little bigger.  Appears they are boxed in to the lower-right due to a dark-space gap. If we can move into the center-bottom area, we could cut them off completely. Recons are deployed with the goal of doing just that. This far away from our core systems it will be difficult to get any Bobcats or Lynxs in place. But let's see what's there first -- several more systems to scout.  Good to see the Humans aren't off to too fast a star. If the Alkari are truly the most powerful of our foes, this could go well.  Nearly useless.  Really. Really? I'll start trickling a few Bobcats down to Ryoun to try and deter them. Hopefully this will be a typical early fake war.  Best thing we've seen in a while, scouted just as the latest big Colonizer is finished in 2362. A new run of standard ones is up next and this figures to the be the first target.  Right on the edge of Alkari territory. If we ever get any hostile landing tech, this will be desirable. I'd definitely like to picket this.  We've now got something in every field. No imminent threat yet but I start throwing some resources into bases. As hoped, Robotics III is next.  Totally unsurprising that the Sakkra beat us here.  Nope.  Looks like Planetology and our ability to keep rivals away will determine who wins this sector. If we pull it off, I don't think anyone will be able to challenge us. An enormous IF.  This would be a very nice range-extender. It appears it will be either just in, or just out, of our reach once we get to Denubius(red star above and right of this). 2368: I stop the production of Bobcats at 12. We have three Lynx as well. I'd like more, but the cost of maintaining them is rising and there is also the fact that it won't be long before shield technology makes them obsolete as well.  Third race we've run into ... and we just got here so this could be trouble. Yep. A cruiser and two destroyers escorting an armed colony ship. Well, it is almost half the galaxy away from our starting point. This will limit how far we can push though, and there aren't many standard systems ... Production of new Colonizers is put on hold as a result. This leaves us already with one 'extra' out there.  And more crap. The pressure on hostile landing techs increases.  Second big colonizer is now off the books.  Don't worry, we hate you too. The Empress Narzina is a Xenophobic Diplomat. Shape-shifting diplomats. Ok. They've been busy, signing an alliance with Humans and Sakkra. Which means we don't want them mad at us. A 125-BC trade deal is signed.  Population sucks, just got their fourth system, and technology isn't any better than ours. Nothing to worry about yet.  So most of their territory is in the middle. Sakkra are at the top, Alkari lower-right of course. Boundaries are pretty much set here. I don't think we're going to get anything else unless we can grab up some of the hostile systems. That's what our fleet will focus on protecting. I'll hope to strike a balance between militarizing to that end, and researching the actual ability to colonize them. 7 systems right now, and we'll soon get an 8th. That's going to be it though I think for quite a while.   There's number eight. Now we have the range to scout a few more systems out.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2018 22:48
|
|
|
Oh, this is tense. Now it's all about whether the Darloks get pissed at you or their own allies first.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2018 23:51
|
|
|
PurpleXVI posted:Oh, this is tense. Now it's all about whether the Darloks get pissed at you or their own allies first. whynotboth.jpg
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2018 12:26
|
|
|
Is there any potential advantage in beating up on the birdbrains while they're still isolated? Is the military buildup necessary just not worth it?
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2018 17:40
|
|
|
Decoy Badger posted:Is there any potential advantage in beating up on the birdbrains while they're still isolated? Is the military buildup necessary just not worth it? https://i.imgur.com/LxjdwLd.mp4
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2018 18:08
|
|
|
Of course the Sakkra get a fertile planet. I get the impression that our best bet at this juncture is to just try to hold as many of those hostile planets as possible and colonize them conventionally. The Alkari are already pretty well hemmed in, but trying to wipe them out (or rather, punch them down into irrelevance) would be a huge expenditure in terms of ships and population that could be better spent taking unopposed systems instead. Maybe if we were the Bulrathi, it'd be worth a rush in the hopes of stealing a few techs via ground invasions? Maybe? But early warfare appears to be a bad idea in general in this game.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2018 18:09
|
|
|
Decoy Badger posted:Is there any potential advantage in beating up on the birdbrains while they're still isolated? Is the military buildup necessary just not worth it? it goes beyond just not worth it, with the early tech edge and massive productivity/fleet bonuses impossible AIs get out the door it's probably not even possible right now.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2018 19:05
|
|
|
DecoyBadger posted:any potential advantage in beating up on the birdbrains while they're still isolated? Is the military buildup necessary just not worth it? TooMuchAbstraction posted:early warfare appears to be a bad idea in general in this game. This, and also what Coolguye said. Military techs also favor the defender along with the bonuses AIs get on Impossible; speed is a big one as their bases can just hammer your bombers for several turns before you get to the planet; later on it only takes 1-2 years and there are better anti-planet weapons. Early on any successful military conflict is going to focus on unclaimed or recently-claimed worlds. An outlying Alkari planet could be potentially considered a target, but their homeworld or first couple of colonies are pretty much going to be prohibitively expensive to attack if it's even possible to do it at all. quote:Maybe if we were the Bulrathi, it'd be worth a rush in the hopes of stealing a few techs via ground invasions? Possibly, if they get off to a decent start. It's also harder to shoot down transports in the early going.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2018 20:36
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:But early warfare appears to be a bad idea in general in this game. Not necessarily. There's a window between, say, 2360 and 2425 in the typical game where if you get any unanswerable combat advantages (ion cannons before they get Planetary Shields, for example) you can rush an AI all the way back to its homeworld. It's typically not worth the cost in bombers to wipe them out-- and you might not want to anyway because of the diplomatic repercussions-- but an AI reduced to a 1 Planet Wonder is out of the game, and you'll probably get some of their tech along the way to help make up the money you spent on production instead of RP. And even then, you can totally do it with speed 3 bombers if you can get the Propulsion techs, or missile boats if you can't, and add a guaranteed Terran planet to your empire. Like with many 4Xs, a successful rush like that will usually guarantee you the game, so it's worth trying. Now, if you're a race with a slow economy and no ship combat bonus (so Darloks and Bulrathi, and Humans actually if you're rushing your only neighbor), you might not be able to get that edge. If the enemy is too far away and you miss your window, then you have to try something else. If your neighbor is bigger than you, or is the Bulrathi (or both like that last game  ), then it's back to the drawing board too. But there are a lot of games where you can totally take out an AI's fleet with rocket boats and gatling laser cruisers and bomb their colonies' handful of bases with nukes and loot factories and tech, and if you're the Mrrshan or Alkari and can trade at a 3:1 ratio, that may actually be easier than trying to play the long game.I've been really busy, Thot, but it's good to see you're still at it!  Edit: Not that I recommend this 4-parter necessarily (it's post-commentary and at x2 speed since it was accompanying a forum discussion), but here's a guy playing a hyper-aggressive Mrrshan Impossible game. The thread agreed it pretty much only worked because the stars aligned perfectly (he didn't need any techs to "pounce" his first conquest, and it was an amazing planet) but it's an example of very early warfare working out. Wayne fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Jun 6, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2018 01:24
|
|
|
Wayne posted:Not necessarily. There's a window between, say, 2360 and 2425 in the typical game where if you get any unanswerable combat advantages (ion cannons before they get Planetary Shields, for example) you can rush an AI all the way back to its homeworld. It's typically not worth the cost in bombers to wipe them out-- and you might not want to anyway because of the diplomatic repercussions-- but an AI reduced to a 1 Planet Wonder is out of the game, and you'll probably get some of their tech along the way to help make up the money you spent on production instead of RP. And even then, you can totally do it with speed 3 bombers if you can get the Propulsion techs, or missile boats if you can't, and add a guaranteed Terran planet to your empire. Like with many 4Xs, a successful rush like that will usually guarantee you the game, so it's worth trying. It's rare to be in that situation, but it can happen. I managed as the Psilons to catch the Silicoids with only one colony and their homeworld when I had three fully-developed colonies, and I was able to bomb the colony and keep them bottled up on their homeworld. Granted, two of those colonies were Terran with over 100 population. And I still couldn't take their homeworld. But they couldn't afford a large enough fleet to break out. If I hadn't been playing the Psilons, one of the other AIs might have gotten a strategic advantage from my distraction, though.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2018 04:55
|
|
|
Episode XIII: 2375 -  Still doing better than a typical game at this stage. Darlok relations are up to neutral and the Alkari war has been a completely fake one. We literally haven't seen a single ship of theirs.  Closing in on the next step in multiple fields. Highlighted here is what I think was a significant error. I really need a more high-powered beam weapon at this point. Not going with the Mass Driver was a big mistake I think. Missiles aren't great for ships that aim to defend a system, due to the obvious limited ammunition issue. I'm not sure if I have time to research a new weapon system in time. We're working on getting spies in place; I may or may not design a new combat ship after I can see what the Darlok/Alkari have so far, and once we get the new engines in. And of course what draw we get for the next planetology level will be of great importance.  Oooh. Well out of our range, but once we get new engines we could build yet another big ship possibly.  Ok, what to do here. Tough choice. I don't think the Ion Cannon is quite good enough ... I'd really like the Fusion Beam here but I'd be waiting a long time for it. Longer than I can afford to wait. Hard Beam is in the same boat. The Ion Cannon or Mass Driver would probably hit the spot for current needs. To heck with it. I'm staying at our current level and going Mass Driver. That won't move us up in the ladder but I think we're going to need it. Probably the right balance between usefulness and time required.  Another standard system way at the bottom, ultra poor sure but oh well.  With ships incoming to Ryoun, I give the Alkari a couple of first-tier techs to achieve this. They refuse a trade deal despite being at Neutral.  A total of about 30 destroyers in multiple waves were incoming. They are turning around now once they arrive, but I don't think we could have fought them off. Nuclear Engines arrive, and sub-light is the only option. I decide to take the risk of going for an unprecedented third extra-large Colonizer to reach Thrax. If successful, we might also be able to get Beta Ceti. There's every reason to think the Darloks will get there before us, and the diversion of resources from research will slow us down in that aspect. But I'll kick myself later if I don't at least try.  So that's Sol -- and there's already a battleship defending it. A battleship. In the first century. But I don't think they are particularly large given the position of the Darlok worlds. 2383: I've managed to get a spy into both Alkari and Darlok now. Both have Barren landings(so what) but the birds also have Tundra; both are also at Class II Deflectors. So, not as advanced as I thought. I'm not used to this whole early-fleet stuff much. I know I keep saying that, but I'm really not. So the question is whether it's worth building any faster ships with the Gatlings ... and I think it is. A couple of my earlier colonies are where they need to be in terms of missile bases so I can get a small amount of ships out of them. Better than nothing of course.  First ground combat boost. I'll take it. Death Spores are in as well. Both of them had a low chance of success so we got lucky here. Class V Planetary Shields is the only option for the first one, and of course I'd take that anyway. Then ...  I want all of them, and I want them now. But Inferno Environments will give me several more systems. So I basically need that yesterday.  Dead last in tech despite two recent advances and the research kick-start. Gotta love Impossible. But there's good news here. Alkari are under control so far and they are tops; Humans at 4th is more evidence that they are struggling.  I changed the spending up here. I want to accelerate getting the Controlled Inferno, but there's a lot of things I don't want to pull from. We need better weapons, and planetary shields, and Robotics. Those are all important techs. I took from propulsion as nuclear should be ok for now, and construction which is just getting us cheaper factories. I'll put those funds back in once we get Inferno probably, but I really want to give it a shot in the arm. Gave Death Spores to the Alkari to try and get a trade deal ... they still refused. They are really being obstinate.  Just a big poor planet. This would end up killing half the population though, taking the system from Poor(95) to Radiated Poor(47). That's a pretty big blow.  An interesting question actually. I don't want a NAP this early. It'll let them take planets we want to guard. I also don't want to be their enemy but I think it would benefit them more than us, and turn them down. In 2390 the big colonizer for Thrax came out. The Sakkra had buzzed around both worlds; they had destroyers but that's it and retreated in both cases. So it's a race to see if we can get there in time ... Nope. The Alkari took Thrax in 2395. We were four years out. Our fleet isn't ready to fight them yet. It's not that far away, but there are too many undefended systems. We've lost the first skirmish, but there's a lot more life left in this battle for territory.  Another big year as the Mass Driver came in as well. With the Alkari recently acquiring Class III shields, we'll need it now. Improved Space Scanner was selected over Battle Computer IV, though both deserved consideration. Then we'll finally move up to the Fusion Beam. I'm sucking up most of the resources from both of those for now to accelerate the Inferno work more though. And that will have to wait briefly while the new factories are built. It was 2399. The end of the 24th century came with many questions still be answered. Nermal's struggle for all to worship her cuteness is promising, but undetermined.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2018 17:38
|
|
|
Isn't turning down the Darlok NAP a pretty risky play considering they've got two allies? If things get spicy, they could REALLY get spicy.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2018 17:43
|
|
|
Thotimx posted:Nermal's struggle for all to worship her cuteness is promising, but undetermined. Canonically Nermal is a boy cat 
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2018 08:30
|
|
|
Dong Quixote posted:Canonically Nermal is a boy cat It's my story and I'm sticking to it. PurpleXVI posted:Isn't turning down the Darlok NAP a pretty risky play considering they've got two allies? I don't fear early wars as much as I fear others taking 'my' planets, in general. Either of those allies getting mad at me could put me at war with them anyway, so that part could be looked at from different angles, but it's super-rare that I think a NAP is worth it before the colonization phase is over. Wayne posted:window between, say, 2360 and 2425 in the typical game where if you get any unanswerable combat advantages (ion cannons before they get Planetary Shields, for example) you can rush an AI all the way back to its homeworld. It's typically not worth the cost in bombers to wipe them out-- and you might not want to anyway because of the diplomatic repercussions-- but an AI reduced to a 1 Planet Wonder is out of the game, and you'll probably get some of their tech along the way to help make up the money you spent on production instead of RP. And even then, you can totally do it with speed 3 bombers if you can get the Propulsion techs, or missile boats if you can't, and add a guaranteed Terran planet to your empire. Thanks for popping in. I'm interested in this because it virtually never happens because of the way I play or I never notice it. Any early fighting I do always seems to set me back. In the very first game I was able to do it a bit with Stinger Missile boats, and even that didn't last long because they upgraded shielding and then they bounced off like so many paper clips. Early tech advantadges like that seem to be so small and it takes so long to build up a reasonably-sized fleet at that stage that by the time you get it in play, it's too late(i.e., the Gatling Laser you talked about before). I'd like to find a way to be more aggressive earlier for sheer variety if nothing else, but I can't ever seem to find a situation where the pros out-weigh the cons. Looking at the specifics of this game, I never had such a moment that I could see(Alkari got Planetary Shields pretty early, along with Merculite Missiles, Inertial Stabilizer, etc.) Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Jun 7, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2018 23:51
|
|
|
Episode XIII: 2400 -  This all looks quite good. Better than I can remember looking after 100 years.  Minimal investment, but that'll pick up after this round of industrialization.  The Cheetah is our latest creation(faster, better computer), and the Lynx has been sidelined. A new ship will need to be designed though now that we have a new weapon capable of cracking recent shield enhancements.  The latest behemoth wasn't wasted, but diverted here. Not a complete loss. Now our empire strangely stretches from the upper-right to the lower-middle.  Lasitus is an Erratic Diplomatic. That will surely complicate things. A minimal trade deal is signed. However it may make him unpredictable enough to not gain favor with the others as well. Here's hoping. The Alkari finally agree to trade, and the Darloks re-up. Both of those are at 325 BC.  I nearly stood up and cheered when I saw this. It would have been justified. A small Human empire eliminates my primary fear about this effort. Nermal now stands as a top contender.  Bulrathi are the only remaining question-mark. Either of those two yellow stars on the left side could be Ursa. Either way they must be fairly hemmed in. 3-4 systems at most. If we win the fight for the hostile worlds, the Mrrshan should be able to dominate this game easily. Nine systems now and the Darloks are next with six, but they only have Barren landings.  Nobody's close to getting it yet, but worth holding onto if we can. The factory-building process took several years, with research ramping back up significantly in 2406. And there was also this:  I could fit two Mass Drivers and forego any computer, but I decided against that. This should be effective for some while, and I'll send it out to the Tundra, Inferno, and Rich planets as I can get some built. Hopefully I can eventually get more significant numbers now.  Wowzerz!! This more than makes up for the radiation accident. From very poor to Rich -- and a rich planet with a 65M ceiling is rare this early on. Meanwhile I learn that the Alkari have gotten Toxic landings. Tick-tock.  The next year. Time to go nuts with Colonizers. First up is that dead rich world right on the Alkari doorstep. As far as our next project, I'll stay low with Enhanced Eco before going for some Terraforming. And normal tech ratios are back in effect. Looks like we aren't getting Toxic, which means it's Radiated or zilch -- but there isn't much in that range that is particularly valuable. Just as the first ship left Box, a trio of Alkari colony ships were seen headed in a different direction towards hostile systems. Didn't have enough ships down there to stop them -- you can't get everything. After a few years, it was clear this was MOO Madness striking again. A brief alliance had them send these ships to points unknown -- diagonally across the map, right through the middle, past all the systems I was worrying about them taking. And at that point I thought 'Checkmate'. It really should be over strategically now with what I'm about to acquire.  The first of the next wave, in 2419.  2420. 11 systems.  Make that a dozen, same year.  Thanks Mr. Robot.  Cuteness vs. Dr. Evil. I might have known. ** Alkari(4) -- Abstain. ** Humans(3) -- Abstain. ** Sakkra(6) ** Darlok(5) -- Sauron. Mirana(?) really is a dark empress, allying herself with pure evil. ** Bulrathi(1) -- Abstain. The Bears basically don't exist. We have 6 votes. So nobody's running away with it. Yet. Voting for Sauron would just be enough for him to win. 25 total so we are three votes shy of veto. It's abstention time, and we'll do this all over again in four years.  2422. 13 systems. For now, one more to go.  Not every day you get to look into the face of pure evil. Have a bribe and a trade deal. We'll take a look at the other details after the Council meets again. When that happened, there was only one change; the Darloks abstained, so we voted Sauron just because we can. This is over. The galaxy just hasn't figured it out yet. I've never been quite this position on Impossible before. Next update will feature a special report on the plan for exactly how I intend to go about making it official.
|
|
#
?
Jun 8, 2018 22:17
|
|
|
Looks like there is no other shoe to drop. The Mrrshan have naturally evolved to look disarmingly cute, and use that to their advantage.
|
|
#
?
Jun 8, 2018 22:30
|
|
|
General Revil posted:Looks like there is no other shoe to drop. The Mrrshan have naturally evolved to look disarmingly cute, and use that to their advantage. an ameoba spawns right next to box at the beginning of next update
|
|
#
?
Jun 8, 2018 22:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 09:57 |
|
|
Coolguye posted:an ameoba spawns right next to box at the beginning of next update Then the next year, Box's star starts to go Nova. And then Box gets attacked by pirates. And then the space hydra shows up on the heels of the amoeba and... what other disasters are there? Rebels? But really, this looks like an easy win for once.
|
|
#
?
Jun 8, 2018 22:56
|
|