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And the good fortune is still going strong... I'm surprised the Psilons are so far down the rankings.
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Aug 1, 2018 22:37
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This is going way too good. I predict a quick council loss.
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Aug 2, 2018 21:38
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It'll be hard not to have veto power with 9 planets. So of course that will happen.
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Aug 2, 2018 23:24
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Everyone's so positive … even when things are going well. Episode XVI: 2375 -  Never gets old to see the Psilons have the smallest empire, yet be crushing everyone in tech anyway.  A recently-signed NAP with the Mrrshans to help maintain positive relations. I've decided to do a couple things to improve my play a bit in this game. One relates to trade here. In the past I've sort of just guessed at when I'm going to be able to double trade agreements. ** Pro Tip: The most a trade deal can be signed for is one-fourth of the smaller of the two economies involved. Based on that, we'd need to be at 1.2k annual production to double the Mrrshan deal to 300 or more, and 1.4k to boost the Psilon arrangement.  Here's what the eggheads have so far. Now this is important because I tried doing some tech trades, but there is only one thing both races want: Tundra Environ. They're offering either Hand Lasers or other stuff I'm researching right now and isn't of immediate help. I don't think it's worth it, since it would rob us of a current strategic advantage. Note that while we are well behind them in tech at the moment, they have no hostile landing advances yet. Same for the kitties. I have to think it won't be that long before they get something along those lines, it's quite rare for it to take this long, but I sure don't want to help them expand. Right now we have a pair of Toxic and a pair of Dead systems picketed by Recons, along with the tiny Radiated system in our corner. I don't expect to get all of those but the longer it takes the better, and there are almost-certainly something in the Tundra/Barren range that they aren't picking up elsewhere in the galaxy because they can't land there. I'm sure not about to speed that process along for them. Also, it appears that everyone is allying and ganging up on the Klackons, just like they did last time. It's good to see such early wars between the other empires, even if nothing eventually comes of them ... and it also means I want to keep making nice.  The first shield advance and reduced waste are coming in soon. Haven't made the slightest progress on Toxic landings, which is by far the most expensive thing going, and minimal movement on the next range boost as well.  Our income is not quite high enough to boost the trade deals, but it will be soon. We're almost up to break-even on the current ones. The reserve is starting to grow slowly(Ursa and Kailis contributing), with the other systems a mix of fairly well-developed and needing-assistance stages. Also, this seems a good point to blather on a bit about the other aspect I want to improve. Since fairly early on in this LP, I'll been using a methodology of building missile bases based on the average tech level. I.e., in the previous shot you can see that would currently be at 2.7 -- I'd want that many bases per 100 million in maximum planet size, with multipliers for rich/poor/artifact/etc. systems in order to represent their value. Most of the systems would then aim for 1-2 bases, with Kailis and Ursa at 3, then ramping up as tech increases. This has resulted in things being roughly in a range that has worked in terms of being a balance between deterrence/defense and the cost involved. However, it also means that depending on the robotics level, how much I invest there has varied widely and sometimes it's been too high. I've decided to use a specific spending level to aim for as the guide instead; 10% in general but I'll drop it a bit for the Bulrathi to 8% since we ought to be able to defend ourselves better against any invasion. Deterrence is valuable enough that I don't want to go too low. Right now that math would give me about 30 bases to spread throughout the empire, with four at the most. I think I'll want to start putting some funding into that soon, but not yet.  Our first ecological improvement. Meanwhile, Klackon transports are inbound to Zhardan. Twice our number, so there is a bit of danger here. I'll have to be careful. Next up is Industrial Tech 8 or Duralloy Armor. I could go either way with this, but I decide to take the cheaper factories. Might come back for the armor if we don't get a better one fairly soon.  Another wealthy(if small) Toxic system is discovered in 2379.  Invasion of Zhardan Almost literally unbelievable. I'm getting an awfully large amount of bad luck on these battles. I had more transports coming in but they didn't get there in time. Still, I should have lost 13M troops here on average. Now I can only hope they'll be content with taking one system.  The irony drips.  Just their third system. If they keep ticking everyone off, they may never become a real threat. Erratic Ecologists. I've got half a mind to just try to take Zhardan back anyway, since they are at war with like the entire galaxy and might declare on me just for the fun of it. Yeah, I think I'm going to do that. Not even going to bother with any diplomatic efforts here. I can yank 30M troops from Vulcan(poor). If they're killed, well I didn't lose much.  The 'relief force' from Firma, which is going to have it's first missile base up soon, recaptured the system the very next year. Umm, barely. I think there's something else going on with the ground combat rolls though, because we lost almost as many as we killed again despite the racial edge and no difference in tech. Even so, this should be an automatic war now. "Prepare to perish beneath the wake of the Klackon storm." "Contact has been broken with the Klackon empire!" LOL. Sorry, couldn't hear you there, transmission must be breaking up ... *click*. Seems like their initial invasion was of the bs/cheese/range-cheating variety. Also, an armed Meklar colony ship showed up at Arietis(Dead), but couldn't land there. More good news for us. 2381: Proteus and Talas both hit their factory maximums. The economy is starting to really mature now.  A yellow start just off-set from the middle of the galaxy? That's particularly dastardly. Kholdan is one upper-left from here, they also have the green one below it(Tao). Looks like this is part of the reason why they've had problems; the other being the Mrrshan to their left. Meanwhile more Klackon stuffs including a few destroyers heading for Zhardan. We may well lose it again ... looks like our transports from Vulcan probably get there the same year. Deep Space Scanner is in. I'm sure I don't have to tell you by now what the choice is here, since Robotics III is available. Then the Klackons take Zhardan again in 2386; we take it back the next year, once again arriving just too late. However this time they'll have to send a more sizable force to keep the pressure on I think. The fact that they don't have the range with their fleet yet is our saving grace here at the moment. Only question is whether or not that lasts long enough to get defenses up.  So far so good on the diplomatic front aside from the bugs.  Now I have to decide how greedy I want to be. This is good enough to be worth deploying, except against the Psilons who I don't want to fight anyway(they have Class V shields, the jerks). I think it's worth starting to switch investment to Planetology now and going for those toxic landings so we can grab up more systems. Next up in weapons is Merculite Missiles, a considerable boost to our base defenses which are slowly but steadily getting built up, but if we can add a few more planets we will be in a really good position. I'm not at all sure about the call here but I think it's the right time for it. The fact that the Klackons are out of range and under so much pressure, combined with our good relations elsewhere gives me a reasonable amount of confidence that we can afford to be more aggressive.  Same year(2387); we redoubled with the Mrrshan about a decade or so prior.  All good stuff here really, as Industrial Tech 8 is in. I still want to push for Toxic though. I'll take Battle Suits, and split off most of the funding for the moment.  The situation here is heating up. The Klackons are sending in Avenger-class cruisers now. Don't know exactly what they have. Nearby Firma has just finished its complement of bases. I don't want to start shipbuilding just yet but it may not be long. If I had another decade, Zhardan would probably be able to get a few bases up and try to defend itself. Not yet though. We may well lose it again. I wish the Klackons would fixate on something else, goodness knows they have enough other enemies.  The next year the Klackons bombard Zhardan ... with a colony ship. Also, it looks like the Psilons are coming for Berel. That's more of a concern. I throw everything we have at them(Industrial Tech 8, NPG, even Tundra since we haven't found any more in their neck of the woods). It isn't enough to get them to sign an alliance. Berel is mostly developed so I'll try to throw up a base and we'll see what kind of weapons their ships have ... and whether they're willing to fight for the system. The next wave of Klackons to hit Zhardan is a disaster; 17M killed for 4-5M Bulrathi. That's more like it.  Yeah this probably isn't going to end well. One base couldn't even take out one of those Star Wings before getting destroyed by the others. I'd need time to get more going to have any chance of fending them off that way.  Irridium(Range 6) is in and I see no need of this immediately. More diversion to Planetology ... and more scouting as well.  Here we go. Took quite a bit longer than the last couple of games. I think it's safe to say this is the first time I've seen a Bulrathi vs. Mrrshan council ... ** Psilons(4) -- Shandra. Jerks. ** Mrrshan(7) ** Klackons(1) - Shandra, naturally. ** Meklars(4) - Abstain. There's some justice, at least. ** Sakkra(5) - Bullux. We haven't even met them yet, but thanks! Looks like the lizards are a reasonable player in things, at least so far. We have 7 as well, which I think would be just enough to give the Mrrshan the throne if we voted for them. It'll end 12-5 in their favor out of 28, as we abstain. Notably, the Klackons are the only really irrelevant race, even though they keep trying to stick their nose in our business. Also, their Avengers have either returned or been scrapped ... apparently they figured out we're too far away.  At least as of right now, the eggheads haven't invested in much tech for their troops. Their fleets are a bigger threat than their armies. We only lost a handful here, but you never know when they'll lose patience and start bombarding. One of the problems with being relatively large, is you also make a great target.  Took nearly a century to run into them anywhere. This is Dolz, 90M pop. and it appears they have Duralloy armor, which isn't surprising. 20 bases. Just a scouting expedition.  Zhardan really has a freaking bulls-eye on it this galaxy.  Well, isn't that not the least bit exciting. Let's all meet and pointlessly discuss who we aren't going to confirm as High Master ... after slaughtering another 14M Psilon troops. Which now have Zortrium armor. Tick-tock. ** Psilons(4) - Abstain. That's better. ** Mrrshan(6, -1) - Interesting. Perhaps their fighting with the bugs is taking a bit of a toll. ** Klackons(2, +1) - Shandra. ** Meklar(4) - Shandra. Grrrr. ** Sakkra(5) - Bullux. We still have seven, which makes us tops. Same exact vote total at last time, though achieved slightly differently. One century in the books. It's been a little tense and is likely to remain so, but soon we'll find out if we are going to get another wave of additional systems. If we manage to pull that off, then Shandra and the belligerent eggheads and bugs can pretty much surrender.
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Aug 4, 2018 20:42
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Wait, the Mrrshan are fighting the Klackons, but the Klackons are still voting for the Mrrshan Emperor? 
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Aug 4, 2018 21:15
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PurpleXVI posted:Wait, the Mrrshan are fighting the Klackons, but the Klackons are still voting for the Mrrshan Emperor? Something to do with Klackons being Erratic, perhaps? "Our astrology charts tell us to skin some cats for the next decade, but they're just such swell guys that I can't help but vote for them"
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Aug 4, 2018 22:28
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nah that's just a matter of them hating thot more. erratic doesn't affect council votes.
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Aug 6, 2018 18:38
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What he said. It's an amusing idea, but the erratic thing doesn't actually impact the voting. Episode XVI: 2400 -  It really is a unique thing playing against the Psilons. Less than half our number of planets(although they are all standard so probably fairly good ones) and they continue to out-research us.  The distribution will return to normal soon once we get what we're gunning for right now.  Most of the production is going into research, but missile base defenses and the reserve are getting a bit of attention as well. Everything is pretty well-developed at this point. Trade is starting to become a significant boon, and we need to have an economy at 2.4k or higher before being able to boost it more.  We could land there if it wasn't out of range(9 parsecs, limits of our scouts). A good defense of Zhardan eliminates a sizable Klackon force at minimal cost. We're holding so far. To get to Maretta, we need to snag those two dead systems along the bottom of the galaxy.  Here's a closer look. We're aiming to add up to five systems now(two Toxic(P) which are both rich, two Dead(E), and then the newly-discovered Tundra(U)). It'll take us quite a while to get to them all, since we are still on snail-slow Retro engines. Then again, so are the Klackons, and the Mrrshan/Psilon are on Nuclear so we aren't THAT far behind the curve yet.  That'll only take a couple years or so. We've got this.  For once this is actually true(though they've done more suffering than we have). But sure thing. Their leader calls himself Ixitixl, apparently because he doesn't know many letters. A minimal 25 BC trade deal is signed, my usual 'just to have one' agreement with erratic powers. I stop the espionage efforts that I had just started a couple years ago, and which yielded nothing.  Now we're in business. We need four of these; Maretta can be handled, once we get within range, by the one spare Tundra-capable ship I've had floating around in space for decades. The next choice is Soil Enrichment or Bio Toxin Antidote. The Psilons already have death spores on their ships, which makes this a pretty tough call between two valuable techs that we will not be getting for quite a while. I think the economy is the way to go here, and opt for Soil Enrichment. Either one could potentially come back to bite us. We've lost contact again with the Klackons; they've lost Tao, their closest system. I'd investigate and try to snag it if I wasn't already rather busy elsewhere. Toxic colonizers aren't cheap; it'll take 3-5 years each, so close to a decade until we start seeing results. That's a long time, and the Psilons have recently grabbed Radiated landings so nothing is safe from them. The race is on, and it's even more important to prevent the eggheads from expanding than it is to do so ourselves.  Ok. So you bothered to come talk to us in order to make it clear that you don't want to talk to us. Heard.  Thanks to the joy of MOO alliances, I thought they were in the lower-right as that's where I kept seeing their ships early on. Nope. That one in the middle is Tao. If they hold it, the Klackons have only Kholdan and maybe they get wiped out. That would actually bad, since then everyone would have to find someone else to fight Of course, I'd hope for and nominate the Mrrshan, but you never know. The cybernetics are Xenophobic Expansionists. They hate everyone and want to take their territory. That's a good combo for being at war with them, which I don't want. A max trade deal is summarily rejected by M5-35. The vital secrets of Deep Space Scanner and Hydrogen Fuel Cells convince them to sign it shortly afterwards. Then they say 'we expect you have come to offer amends' shortly before signing a Non-Aggression Pact. They aren't making a whole lot of sense, but at least we're off on the right foot. The only thing they're willing to trade us is range tech worse than what we already have, unfortunately. It's been a really bad game for tech trades; I haven't gotten a single useful one yet. Good thing we are doing well on other fronts.  The very next year, as the Mrrshan snag Tao now. We'll lose the trade deal but the NAP should stay in force. That could be useful later on.  Things are getting hairy diplomatically. Meanwhile our first pair of toxic-capable Colonizers are finished and depart for their destinations.  Also in 2306, I sign this in response to a larger transport force headed to Berel. This should get them off our case, at least for now. Their only war is with the Klackons, who are no longer a real issue. The next year, Class III Deflectors arrive, and Class IV are up next. No choices yet in that entire tree, no planetary shields ... it's a good thing we haven't needed them. Then comes Robotics III, which has a very short prototype phase; we had about a 1 in 16 chance of getting this when it arrived. I'm not complaining. Should get us close to the point of boosting our trade agreements again. Improved Space Scanner is the only choice and I'm quite happy with that. Also(2308 here), the last colonizer heads out from Berel. It is now time to wait ... and hope.  43M to 40M at the start. Some people just don't know when to quit.  They are faster than us ... but we are almost there. The white star is Toxic, the blue on uninhabitable. Nice of them to send their colony ships out this way instead of somewhere closer to them.  We start reaping the rewards in 2412. Those Psilon colonizers arrived the same year. Sorry about your luck -- or actually, not sorry.  Settling a dead world over a century in before anyone else gets to it is really unusual. This is mostly just good fortune, but I'll not look a gift horse in the mouth.  My, it's a festival of rich Toxics! This one is out of range, but we're booming enough that it seems appropriate to build a batteship-sized vessel to claim this. After looking a bit more closely though, I decide against that. We're almost to the point of fitting it on a cruiser hull; 410 space required, 390 available, and we've got a new construction tech coming in soon. That might get us over the hump. Better to wait.  So far we haven't lost a one.   And another possibility.  Let's get ready to say hello to some new temporary friends.  Pure hubris. Aggressive Ecologists, allied with the Psilons, and we sign a nice big trade deal with them.  Picture's now basically complete. I'm puzzled why the Psilons haven't been more aggressive with their colony ships, and I want to check out those purple stars on the right, but the Mrrshan remain the largest rival with everyone else being kept in check quite well. This is really turning out very well for Bullux's Bulrathi.  For Class III Deflectors. Finally, we have a better engine. The Sakkra and Psilons have some cool toys, but they want Robotics III for them. There's nothing we need bad enough to give that up.  Battle Suits and Merculite Missiles arrive at the same time. Industrial Tech 6 is the highly unexciting first pick, and here it's time to start thinking about a fleet. I think the Fusion Beam will work nicely, and I can come back for a bomb or the Stingers later if I feel like it.  We don't have much, but this is just to show that I was able to put on the reserve tanks on some colonizers now. They'll get there a lot faster with the new nuclear-powered engines as well. We've got at least those two targets in the upper-left, and ships are headed to scout out five more systems so I'll probably get a couple spares in the pipeline here just to be ready.  14 now.  Their economy isn't big enough to boost trade any further, but hey we get their relatively piddling support here now. The galaxy only gained a single vote in the last cycle.  They aren't nearly big enough to keep us from winning this diplomatically ... if we can swing enough of the others our way at some point. Meanwhile the Klackons are nearly irrelevant, but they support is based on the fact that we aren't at war with them anymore. Everyone else is.  Their unlikely alliance with the cats will need to be broken, one way or the other.  Interesting. They've been on our side till now. We have eight. That means this time I can vote for Shandra without consequence. The galaxy remains divided but honestly right now I think it's a case of when Bullux ascends to the throne, not if. I have to think the Mrrshan eventually do their usual stupid suicidal attack on the wrong person after the bugs are eventually eliminated, and we should be able to take control in the aftermath. I might just have to wait for it.
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Aug 8, 2018 20:30
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This is kind of tense. I get the feeling your grip isn't super-secure, and like you're dealing with a lot of xenophobes and erratics.
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Aug 9, 2018 00:00
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PurpleXVI posted:This is kind of tense. I get the feeling your grip isn't super-secure, and like you're dealing with a lot of xenophobes and erratics. I feel like that helps the player a lot. The AI seems less likely to form a super bloc if they all distrust each other, and every turn they spend not killing the player is a reprieve.
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Aug 9, 2018 01:39
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Not to be redundant(and also to say I expect/hope to be resuming here shortly), but this kind of thing really does work both ways. In the previous game for example, a bunch of Xenos very clearly didn't work out well for me. They ganged up there too … against us :P. I think it's better for the Bulrathi that there are less of them this time around.
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Aug 20, 2018 23:39
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The combination of erratic behaviour and spite-based behaviour seems to form a system with self-organizing criticality - too many xenophobes and the galaxy can turn on you in an instant. Can be interesting to play, but with the election mechanics seems to effectively be a "gently caress you, you lose" RNG roll. I think a rule where xenophobes cannot vote for someone if they voted against them in the last election might help prevent that sort of loss, but early Human wins seem to rely on that.
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Aug 21, 2018 16:13
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Episode XVI: 2425 -  Our economy's caught up with the others, and technology is headed that way ... except for the Psilons. We're on good terms with them though, and when the time comes we can likely just steamroll them through sheer numbers.  Trade is pretty much as high as it can be for now. The Psilons deal can't be boosted much because of their economy not being big enough to support a whole lot more.  Soil Enrichment is definitely the big prize coming up here, and even in that case the majority of our systems are now hostile ones so it'll probably only give us 80M or so in additional population, maybe one more vote in the Council.  Base-building continues gradually, slower than usual but we're getting away with it so far and it allows more investment in research. Five of the current 14 systems have less than 20M population right now, and a few others aren't fully-developed yet as well. There's still a lot to do in filling out and maximizing the empire.  And we're still not finding more unclaimed territory either.  And another one ...  The way we are spreading to all corners of the galaxy virtually now, it's going to take a long time to get colonist transports there(they still move at Warp 1). That's a fantastic problem to have though of course, but Crypto will be waiting 12 years for their additional bear-power to arrive from Proteus, through a nebula. This world re-establishes contact with the Meklar, and we sign a new trade deal with them. It is 2429. That's everyone except for the Klackons, who of course still have a hate-hate relationship with the rest of the galaxy. The next range increase should take care of re-establishing relations with them anyway. We also sign a NAP with the Sakkra. I don't think there's ever been such a wide-spread galactic love-in before in this LP. Non-Aggression Pacts with lizards, cybernetics, and felines ... and the Alliance with the eggheads. That should really help Emperor Bullux when we they all start getting concerned about how big we've become - which I think is not far from being a thing.  The Psilons have used our alliance to reach Beta Ceti. We weren't going to get it anytime soon, lacking Radiated Landings on our tree. This is probably the only time I've ever thought it was relatively safe to have them get another system.  Our fourth consecutive non-choice in this field. Also in; Dotomite Crystals(Range 7). We could get more range, the Warp Dissipator that I never actually use(though it can be helpful in long fights) ... or Fusion Drives. Yeah I think doubling the speed of our ships and tripling that of our transports is pretty important. It's also the cheap option.  This could prove to be quite lucrative in time. The new range tech gave us contact with these wonderful guys ...  We literally didn't even have a chance to TRY and discuss anything with them first. Ok then. And warnings? We've been unable to talk to you at all, and vice-versa, for decades. What in the name of Orion are you talking about?!? Good thing I don't really care whether we're at war with them like everyone else is or not.  At least for the moment, there's only more left to grab. A couple more possibilities at the top of the galaxy remain to be scouted, one out of range though. We only beat the Sakkra to Rhilus by a year, and they snagged Esper, the small nearby Inferno, well before we could get there. Could well lose Rhilus to an invasion given how far away it is -- it'll take over a decade again for more population to get there. Either way, while I always want more systems, I really have the sense of 'it's about time' here. Finally one of the other empires got off it's behind to claim these systems that I never should have had a chance at in the first place, literally on the opposite side of the galaxy.  Here's what appears to be the final post-expansion map. The green and purple stars at the top are the only question marks; all the other open ones are either Orion or not inhabitable. ** Bulrathi(17) ** Mrrshan(8) ** Sakkra(6) ** Psilon(5) ** Meklar(5) ** Klackon(1) Somebody is eventually going to take Kholdan, but as it is we have 40% of the available real-estate to ourselves. Even if the lizards do take Rhilus away form us, we'll still have twice the territory of anyone else. We also have four rich, one ultra-rich, and only one poor system.  2435. I also spot 72M Sakkra transports headed for Rhilus. Yeah, they're going to take it ... and hopefully our, much later, colonists won't make them too mad when they arrive. Atmospheric Terraforming is next, which is exactly what we need. The combination of the two will dramatically boost the size and productivity of our now-hostile worlds, making everything in the empire fertile. Once that hits, we'll see a major boost in the economy.  The Psilons wanted Battle Suits for this. We haven't gotten any of the improved cleanup techs, and we need some. We also managed to acquire +20M Terraforming, a small boost, from the Sakkra for range tech. I tried to get a Battle Computer upgrade as well, but the price was too high for my liking.  Industrial Tech 6 showing up gives me another choice. Not all that much of one though. Reduced waste wouldn't help a huge amount now that we have Improved Eco. Industrial Tech 5 moves things forward but for minimal gain. I think we need the armor boost now; it's only 3.2k so just a fraction of pushing higher, and we're quite a bit behind in that area. Soon we discover that the green star at the top is an empty, uninhabitable system. Eventually I'll probably get the range to reach that purple one, but for now what we have is what we have.  We've got the fusion beam in now, and no other empire has yet managed to discover the Repulsor so I think we can consider building effective ships ... once we get some computing in at some point. I'd like to fill in some gaps now. Anti-Matter Bomb first, which will be relatively quick, and then the Fusion Rifle to ensure our ground troops will be well-equipped in the wars I expect are to come.  After our troops landed on Rhilus ... and were beaten ... the Sakkra said nothing directly. As you can see here our agreements remain intact, but they are none-too-pleased.  These are about to land on a planet with 9M population, and a maximum of 10M. Brilliant!!  Took a while to get the next scanner in, but it's here and now we'll have some warning of any attacks. While I'd really like the battle computer, robotics must always come first.  This will work though. They wanted the Fusion Beam for it, which is fine with me. They've already got similar weapons tech to that anyway, if not better. We also snag the PDS from the Mrrshan for range tech. Let's see what's changed in the High Council voting, as it meets again midway through the 25th century. ** Psilons(3) -- Bullux. Thanks for wasting your transports and losing a vote, fellas. ** Mrrshan(8) ** Klackons(1) -- They're still in 'we hate the felines, but we hate the bears even more' mode. ** Meklar(4) -- Abstain ** Sakkra(6) -- Shandra. Figures We have a full dozen(12) now. We abstain again, making the count 15-3 out of 34 total. If we got the Sakkra back on our side and the Psilons get that fourth vote back, that'd be 22 for us. That's almost enough. With continued growth on our end, it's probably just sufficient to put us over the top. The XenoMachines are less likely to come our way. Something is bound to happen with the Klackons eventually and then another war will almost certainly break out, but winning sooner rather than later means repairing our relationship with the lizards.
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Aug 21, 2018 21:12
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I'm assuming the Sakkra aren't isolated enough diplomatically that you could win against them, rather than winning them over?
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Aug 21, 2018 23:46
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They're allied with the Meklars, who are allied with the Psilons also. But more to the point, the time required for a military buildup to take out an enemy on the other side of the galaxy when we have Nuclear Engines would not exactly being the fast way of doing things.
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Aug 22, 2018 06:47
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Episode XVI: 2450 -  The Sakkra and Mrrshan are the military powers of the galaxy right now, which is keeping them on top. Size-wise, economically, technologically ... all those indicators point to a pretty balanced situation between the Psilon/Sakkra/Mrrshan/Meklar.  Our first advanced bomb is coming in soon as well, but these engines are the most vital. After that, the longer-term view will see an eventually major economic explosion with atmospheric terraforming and improved robotics. When the new drives arrive I want to start building some warships; we've got the rich systems and might as well use them, esp. now that we have a healthy reserve(almost 5k). Still some catching up to do in research though so that will remain the primary focus.  The Psilons are of the most interest here. That purple flag towards the upper-right is Esper; they took it from the Sakkra after the lizards snagged it from us. That gives the eggheads six systems, and right in the middle is the continually fought-over Tao, where an impending invasion threatens to plunge the Psilons and Mrrshan into a more serious conflict. Managing our allies is going to be a bit tricky potentially; we want them strong enough to help, but the stronger the Psilons get the more dangerous they will potentially become. I really don't want them much bigger than they are if it can be avoided.  The invasion of Tao failed, and not only didn't it cause a war but the Mrrshan and Psilons formed an Alliance. Go figure. And then this.  The Anti-Matter Bomb arrives first. We unfortunately have missed out my favorite mid-game system, the Anti-Matter Torpedo. Our Merculite missiles mean the Stinger wouldn't be enough of an upgrade for me to want to go back for that. So I think it's time to move forward: Fusion Rifle for the ground troops, or the Megabolt Cannon. I think the Megabolt system is one that's been under-represented in this LP, largely because of the versatility of the torpedoes. It's half the size of a Heavy Fusion Beam and much more accurate, even if it does less damage. I bank on the idea that our ground troops can hold out for the time being, and make that our next choice.  Our first espionage success in I can't remember when. Definitely the first this game. Can't see much of the spy behind the framing window, but it's rather astonishing to even consider a creature that size being sneaky.  Same year: GY 2454. You know the RNG is taking it easy on you when stuff like this happens. I've been transferring funding to Vulcan for a bit now to accelerate research, and now I'll be able to extend that effort for almost three years extra.  Oh, it's that time again.  Yep, sure is. Last four shots are all from the same year. Normally we have about another 30 years before this nonsense. And the Klackons are still out there. But we've been plenty fortunate. It's unlikely that the handful of bases we have at Zhardan will be enough to stop this fleet, esp. without planetary shields. We'll get a look at the Mrrshan designs though, and that should prove enlightening. I do order an increase in base-building from the convenient and leisurely pace we've been maintaining on all systems. We're mostly to our budgeted allotment, but it appears it's time to get all the way there with a little more haste. If they want to pick a fight, let's do it properly ...  Now the kitties will have to deal with the eggheads, the bugs, as well as our bearkind. It'd just be too darn bad if we manage to get the whole galaxy ticked at them so they'll side with us in the Council, wouldn't it ... Also, what is it about Zhardan in this game? That system has had a magnet on it. First the Klackons, now the Mrrshan.  The next year. Now we're ready for our first combat ship. But why not wait one more, so we can see what the Mrrshan have before committing? Pickings are slim so we'll take Reajax fuel cells(range 9), +2 for us and the only thing moving the field forward. Meanwhile, more Psilon transports are headed for Tao, where they still control the airspace. Zhardan So the Mrrshan smashed Zhardan's defenses as expected. Hard Beams and Neutron Blasters for them, minimal shielding, and our bases did pretty well. We'd just need more of them, or better-protected ones, to fend off this kind of attack. And perhaps ironically, we get more deflectors in and Class X Planetary Shields are the next pick. It'll be a while till we get that and we might well lose some systems, but it'll go a long way towards making us more secure.  Here's what I'm going with for now. If I was making a bigger ship I'd probably put shielding on it, but with the Mrrshan fielding lots of Hard beams it would be of limited use. The Sentinel just tries to be a start in giving us additional anti-ship firepower. I don't think we need the bigger heavy version of the fusion beams ... these won't be spectacular or anything, but as mentioned they are a start until I can get megabolts finished and going. The alternative was going with a cruiser-sized ship with better defenses; I just don't think we can do enough against the weaponry we're facing for that to be worth the cost. Three of the four rich systems are ready to build these, we'll get several a turn to start. Meanwhile, Tao is destroyed and resettled, and a sizable Mrrshan invasion of Kholdan fails. They're sending troops to Zhardan too. In other words, things are heating up. Everyone is at war with both the Mrrshans and Klackons now, and they are at war with each other. Shandra started it ... earlier than I wanted, which could complicate things. I also get some faster colonizers going, naturally.  Now we'll pay for not going for the Fusion Rifle(though we wouldn't have had it yet). This invasion started with basically even numbers. We won it almost 2:1, instead of 3:1, because of that. Our Battle Suits helped. But you'll have to come stronger than this, Mrrshan. They have the numbers to do so, and our greatest strength here is frankly that we can afford to lose Zhardan. In 2460, 26M more Mrrshan arrive ... and take just 9M Bulrathi with them. I'm transferring in funding and investing in eco spending there. Seems a pretty good use of resources given how many of the enemy our guys can take with them, and with their ships in orbit I can't just transfer in more troops. So far, it's enough. They may just lose patience and nuke the planet, but as ever I'm playing for time. The longer I keep the kitties bogged down there, the stronger we're going to get and the more time our friends ... which is most of the galaxy ... have to gear up. On the other hand, at the rate they are shedding population in this process it looks likely that the Sakkra will overtake them as the second council nominee next time around.  Bingo. 2461. This should be soon enough for us to get the latest population boom by the next vote. If GuavaMoment still lurks around here, he might be interested to know that Doom Virus is soon. We didn't have a choice, which means we missed Advanced Soil Enrichment and didn't hit the trifecta there. Can't complain too much about getting two out of three though. However, I backtrack a bit and get Bio Toxin Antidote first, just in case. Also worth noting; the Mrrshan control Kholdan's orbit now. The end may indeed be coming soon for the Klackons. If the cats take out the bugs, that'll just poison everyone else's opinion of them so much the more. 150+ destroyers are headed for Kailis, one of our largest systems. Our bases there(16 of them) might be able to handle it, but I send what ships we have built so far to join th efight. And well over half of our systems, 10 of the 16, get to work on the atmospheric investment.  We took out 41M, with 22M of ours in defense. They were willing to send a larger group, plus it wasn't the best luck for us on the rolls. At least we made them pay a price for it. For now there's nothing we can do -- need the fleet to get built up and that's going to take a long time. In more positive news, the Psilons are not being silent in all this. They have ships headed to nearby Galos, a Mrrshan world. We'll see what we can do once they start throwing their weight around. Many things are uncertain, and the situation changes every year. A handful of destroyers are headed to Ursa. They won't be a threat, but somebody clearly hid the catnip or something. 2464 Battles Drakka, Kailis, and Ursa were all attacked in 2464. Our bases held them off at two of the three; their numbers were too many at Kailis, however. Our ships won't do too terribly against theirs it seems, although with their gunnery they are better -- we just need more numbers. Planetary shields would be enough to keep them at bay as well, but we won't have those for a while. I found that with transfers from the reserve, I could still build 5 bases/year on Kailis despite the damage from the bombardment. That should be enough to at least whittle down the Mrrshan ships, who aren't particularly fast. 23 of 50 were destroyed in this way with the first batch; they bombarded again but did less damage. Then another half-dozen bases finished the job, with Mrrshan transports incoming to a nice surprise. The boredom is most definitely over.  All kinds of stuff going on here. Psilons have chased a minimal Mrrshan task force away from Zhardan; I think we can get there first, or at least as soon as they do, and retake the system. Meanwhile it looks like the eggheads have a decent chance at grabbing Galos, and Tao keep changing hands with the Meklar and Sakkra the latest to feud over it. At this point the Mrrshan fleet is the largest in the galaxy by a small margin, so they are far from being defeated but it still doesn't look good for them. We succeed in retaking Zhardan(barely) and discover the unspeakable joys of Industrial Tech 9. They clearly won that exchange, and this has to be like the 5th time or so this system has changed hands. I'm hoping it's the last. I also take another look at tech exchange options; there was some good stuff on offer, but everyone wants Atmos/Soil Enrichment. I'm not willing to cough that up to anyone who I'm not confident is going to be a long-term ally. We did grab Stinger Missiles in exchange for Fusion Drives with the Psilons. Figure they're going to have better than that soon anyway, and it gives us a little more punch with our bases to help ward off the Mrrshan.  Industrial Tech 5 arrives, a small cost-saving measure but we've got a number of planets building factories at the moment so it'll help some. Andrium is the cheapest way forward and we could definitely use better armor as we ramp up the fleet.  Jerks.  This was better news.  Of course. I thought the Psilons would stop their transports, but they left, chased off by Mrrshan destroyers. But we do retain it for now, and the rebellion on Firma is put down.  We only steal the best stuff. And what's up with the Thanos eyes? Is this spy supposed to be the personification of evil?? Also, Megabolt Cannon is in. We're doing enough ground fighting that I think I need to get the Fusion Rifle before moving on to the next tier, which is going to be Pulson Missiles. So really it's just a case of which we need more. Stingers + planetary shields(eventually) should be sufficient for now. I definitely want a new ship to use the new gun, but we're almost to prototype on the next robotics so I want to wait for that.  Round and round the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel ... they brought enough ships that we couldn't confront them yet. And now they have battle suits which will give them better success in the future. We'll get it back eventually.  Christmas comes early in 2474, on the eve of the vote. We had a less than 5% chance of getting this. The Advanced Space Scanner is next. As expected, it is Sauron who is nominated opposite us. They actually have almost twice as much as anyone else with all the people the Mrrshan are throwing around. I thought about bribing the Meklar ahead of time, but with the lizards plus two races we are at war with there just weren't enough votes there. ** Psilons(4) -- Bullux ** Mrrshan(5) -- Sauron ** Klackons(1) -- Sauron ** Meklar(4) -- Sauron ** Sakkra(7) That's a lot of lizard-supporting sycophants. We have 14 of 35 votes though, so they can do nothing we do not approve of. Effectively this is an even split, but long-time readers of the thread will realize that we have a clear path laid out for us in terms of how to win this. The enemy of my enemy is my friend ...
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Aug 27, 2018 11:13
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If it makes you feel better, they had Armored Exoskeletons, so the battle suits won't help them at all.
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Aug 27, 2018 14:19
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I like to think the guards see the bear spy, but decide they aren’t being paid enough to get in his way.
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Aug 27, 2018 16:15
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BurningStone posted:I like to think the guards see the bear spy, but decide they aren’t being paid enough to get in his way. This is like the story of the half-orc rogue that put all their points into Intimidate instead of Stealth. "YOU NO SEE GRUG." "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say!"
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Aug 27, 2018 16:38
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Our spy bears are trained in the finest spy school.
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Aug 27, 2018 18:25
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Of course I'm still here hoping you wipe out the someone with a doom virus.
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Aug 27, 2018 21:29
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OAquinas posted:If it makes you feel better, they had Armored Exoskeletons, so the battle suits won't help them at all. Both better and worse actually -- I feel kinda dumb for getting those two flip-flopped in my head. TooMuchAbstraction posted:his is like the story of the half-orc rogue that put all their points into Intimidate instead of Stealth. "YOU NO SEE GRUG." "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say!" I endorse this theory. GuavaMoment posted:Of course I'm still here hoping you wipe out the someone with a doom virus. Unlikely given how profitable it can be to do Bulrathi invasions. But it's always good to have the option, and there's still at least one more game left for a chance at that.
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Sep 1, 2018 22:44
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Episode XVI: 2475 -  Basically caught up in tech now, and once the factories are built we should be back on top of the economic situation. We had a bigger fleet, but most of our destroyers were lost at Zhardan a few years back. Had almost enough, but not quite, to stop the Mrrshan. Who, by the way, are basically just give the galaxy the middle finger and daring us to collectively stop them. We will, but at least they are making things interesting.  That recent space battle with the Mrrshans is keeping relations in check. We're big enough that it's becoming harder to stay on good terms with everyone, so the challenge here is make everyone happy until we're ready to wage a more substantive war. Nobody's economy is big enough to double the trade deals again yet. Well, ours is, but none of the others are.  Better fuel cells and the bioantidote are coming soon, but this is going to be the most important one. Normally we have about 2.5k(and more soon) going into research, but for now it's all about the factories. The plan from here on is simple but will still take a bit to achieve; ** Keep the peace with everyone else ** Finish the industrial expansion with the recent Robotics IV acquisition ** Build more bases and get the planetary shields up so that our defenses are secure ** Terminate the Mrrshan with extreme prejudice, using the additional votes and goodwill built up to hopefully end this thing in the Council. If not, kick anyone's arse who objects.  This is similar to the Sentinel, except it has 3 Megabolts instead of 2 Fusion beams and a lower-level computer. I could have a Mk IV but then I'd need to take one of the weapons off, and I think the extra weapon is more useful.  It didn't take long to max out our worlds, but the Mrrshan were hatching new plans as well. I don't think our bases have a chance of taking out this many, but I did a crash program on Kailis to boost their numbers as much as possible.  We now have two ECM advances. We've gotten both of them the same underhanded way. Meanwhile I send our first Gladiators to Zhardan. I don't want to take it back yet, but I figure it might distract them and they have some transports incoming that we can eliminate. Kailis Lost about half our bases, but the buildup worked! I estimate that was about 20-25% of their fleet, knocking them back to merely having one of the largest. Drakka They didn't give up. 2481, the very next year, they sent another task force including a couple of the their latest, the Puma-class battleship, at Drakka. I had only a year of warning, but it was enough. Even without the shields, we are holding. And we snag another tech from the Klackons, which is always nice.  Same year, and it's time to start fighting back. They'll got a handful of destroyers incoming, but we have almost 40 in position(and we don't want the Psilons to take it, just as importantly). The reason I waited until we have a half-decent chance is that I only want to do this one more time; if they just take it back soon after, I'm just donating tech to them. The Mrrshan fleet is now only average, and while we're still near the bottom the Sakkra have been busy and lead that race by a goodly margin. Things are changing quickly.  Troops from Toranor easily capture the planet(losses were about equal on both sides), but it wasn't nice of them not to leave any blueprints lying around for us. Let's hope this is the last shot of Zhardan changing hands.  17M Meklar somehow failed to beat 3M Mrrshan here. Tao is definitely our next target, but for now I don't think we're ready to strike out further. Shandra continues to send more attacks our way.  This isn't quite a doubling, but it's close. We're blowing up cat-corvettes often enough that I think we'll be able to keep the peace. Ursa The latest defense of our homeworld in 2485. We'd almost equalled the Mrrshan in fleet size, but then they built some more. That was definitely not perfectly done, but once again our defenses prevail. When you get them begging for peace like that, you know you are doing well.  We're actually not going to take this right now ... because if you look just above it, you can just barely see Meklar transports incoming. But it's nice to have the option. I'm not sure who destroyed it, but it continues to be something everyone wants to fight over. In 2490, a significant Mrrshan fleet arrived at Zhardan. Most of our ships were there as well. It was time to throw down, and see if we were ready to match their fangs. The planet wasn't nearly ready to get bases going, so once again the fate of this system hung in the balance. Zhardan Battle I don't really have a good answer for countering that Mrrshan first strike. They're really tearing up our destroyers with it, but here we had enough to absorb the blow. It did take down the majority of our fleet though. This is becoming a grind. In terms of ships, that hurt us worse than the Mrrshan. Also, with everyone else bored with Tao, we do colonize it this time.  We're doing a lot of framing these days. This is actually a nice thing to get right about now. I plan on eventually getting a bomber going, and this would really help in the speed department. Soon the biggest fleet I've yet seen, 4 Puma battleships and 250 destroyers, hit Ursa. I added more bases while they were en route, but it still wasn't enough. We only did fairly minor damage.  This and Andrium Armor came in after the battle. Too late. Tritanium Armor and the only next shielding option, the Cloaking Device, are chosen.  Ouch. We don't have enough ships right now to fight off that size of a force. For the moment we won't be bulding any more either, so we can divert to building the shields. Once they are up, our planets should be basically invincible to the Mrrshan beam weapons. We steal Industrial Tech 7 from the Klackons, while the cats target Vulcan for a bit of factory sabotage. Also the Fusion Rifle arrives soon after, which should make our troops once again the bane of the galaxy.  We'll move forward with the Pulson Missile. We're fine on bombs and it's time to push higher.  That's not good. Our relations are still fantastic with them, so this is basically an empty threat.  Dang. I'm just rolling in the stolen(and mostly useless) techs this game. Nice to poke these guys though.  We had almost no population left ... but I'm profoundly ticked that they got this kind of a tech haul when most of our factories were destroyed. This is a dark day for the Bulrathi. This will not be allowed to stand. When we do eventually go on the offensive, it's going to be more painful due to the armor and missile techs here. They didn't have jack for missiles. Oh, and the Klackons destroyed Tao. Just to add to the fun. At the same time, four rich systems finish their planetary shields. That underscores our determination that this will not happen again.  I couldn't care less about our improved range, but getting Star Gates is nice. In a couple years the Mrrshan fleet foolishly abandoned Ursa. Did they think we'd forget about it? We wasted no time ... Ursa Invasion Oh sure, you get six techs for taking it, we only get four for taking it back. They are decent ones, nothing I want to use right away though. But still irritated. The fleet will be divided between Ursa and Zhardan for the time being, the only two systems with no defenses. Hilariously, a single, ancient Warcat cruiser is en route ... 7 years out. Having one of our best rich systems, Guradas, struck by an industrial accident is a rough blow as well. Fortunately, the damage was minimal. And the espionage successes continue with Controlled Inferno(who cares ... Mrrshan). The Psilons made peace with the felines ... until we called them up and told them that was in no way acceptable. Going into the vote that will conclude the 25th century, the Sakkra and Mrrshan look dead-even to me on population. I smell the chance for a possible win here if it's the Mrrshan, so I bribe the Sakkra and Meklar to make them more likely to support us. Didn't have to give up anything too valuable to push them to Relaxed.  I was right!! It was worth it. This could be it ...  It's not much, but they are reliable. They have truly been Honorable allies for a century.  We can count on the bugs joining them, but if we get everyone else that should do it.  8 for Shandra now. That's not even close to enough. The lizards and cybernetics will tell the tale.  M5-35 properly shows his gratitude.  And so does Sauron! An amphibian puts Bullux's Bears over the top. With all our bad blood and history, this is most precious.  Our 15 make it a landslide. We don't even have to conquer Shandra's felines -- we can have the New Republic mop up any vestiges of resistance for us. It took a while, but the Mrrshan just couldn't help themselves. Their attack on us, though they had their moments to be sure, ultimately spelled their doom. Diplomatically they painted themselves into the corner. The friendly starting situation and the Klackons ticking everyone else off at first were also mightily helpful. The Bulrathi are victorious! This leaves only the shadowly Darlok waiting to complete the journey ...
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Sep 2, 2018 21:05
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I look forward to seeing how the Darlok playthrough goes.
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Sep 2, 2018 21:13
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Congrats on your victory! It was clearly pretty inevitable at this point, but it's nice that you didn't have to close out the Mrrshan war to secure it.
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Sep 2, 2018 21:26
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Congratulations!
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Sep 3, 2018 16:08
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Congratulations! It's like you were given the win on a platter compared to the last few attempts!
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Sep 4, 2018 14:50
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Decoy Badger posted:Congratulations! It's like you were given the win on a platter compared to the last few attempts! How to tell you're playing on "Impossible" mode: when losing your homeworld to a ground invasion as the Bulrathi in which multiple techs useful to ground combat are stolen still counts as being given the win on a platter.
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Sep 4, 2018 18:22
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Thanks everyone. ManxomeBromide posted:How to tell you're playing on "Impossible" mode: when losing your homeworld to a ground invasion as the Bulrathi in which multiple techs useful to ground combat are stolen still counts as being given the win on a platter. I legit laffed at this. I sort of did it to myself a bit, by going light on missile bases in this game(because of being Bulrathi) and not really adjusting it that much when I didn't get planetary shields. That's a lesson learned. But the point is till very valid, and humorous.
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Sep 5, 2018 05:47
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We have finally come to the last playable race. Darlok Preview ** Diplomacy -- The worst there is. Only the Humans are dumb enough to trust them ... or perhaps they don't, but they'll happily take their credits anyway. Relations default to Unease, a step below the default Neutral, with everyone else. ** Economics -- No strengths or weaknesses at all. ** Military -- Nothing here either ** Research -- A bit above-average. They are Good in computers, average in everything else. Not the best or worst in anything. The Darlok Advantage doesn't really fit into any of the above categories. It lies in their spectacular spying ability. They get a +20 bonus to Security rolls, and +30 to spying rolls. Overview The classic way to play as Darloks is to steal most of the tech you need, concentrating on one or two areas to research. More specifically, they're good at Computing which also benefits their spying abilities. We're going with Huge galaxy(the only size I have yet to conquer in this LP), which will make things even more difficult as we'd benefit from early contact; you can't steal from those you haven't met. With no economic, military, or even diplomatic plus, we'll either make devastating use of our espionage or we'll almost certainly lose badly. This is a very double-edged race to play, but also has the most unique strategy associated with it after the Silicoids IMO. Coming Attractions After I win as Darloks, however long that takes, the LP will conclude with one special 'challenge' game. In it, I will essentially take my revenge upon MOO, in a speed challenge against the Average difficulty. More specific rules will come at that time, but the basic idea will be winning by conquest on Huge galaxy in the shortest possible time frame. The 'standard' experience will be demonstrated, and we'll see how different it is from the impossible setting. This game will go at a somewhat slower pace, documented in stupefyingly dense detail. You've seen me do battle with the worst that the game can throw at me. Each side has gotten their licks in, thankfully I've been able to be victorious a little more often than not. Now witness the pain I inflict as I crush the galaxy with no artificially enhanced obstacles in my way. When we get to that point, I'll upload the save so others can try to match or exceed me ... if they dare. I will also put up a poll for people to choose the next retro game I will LP next, at that time.
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Sep 5, 2018 05:50
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Darloks in a Huge galaxy on Impossible. If you pull this off, you might just be the greatest of all time at MOO
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Sep 5, 2018 07:25
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Decoy Badger posted:Congratulations! It's like you were given the win on a platter compared to the last few attempts! You really can't overstate (though I'm probably getting pretty close ) how important the map generation is to how a given 4X game is going to go. There's a long-running thread on the CivFanatics forum just dedicated to people posting maps with starting resource bonanzas because that and that alone decides whether a high-score run is going to be possible or not. And in MOO1, because it's such a simple game, the abundance or paucity of good planets in "your" turf can be the sole deciding factor in whether a game is a nightmare or a cakewalk, even on Impossible. That's why I was asking Thot to upload saves whenever he gets a bad map, because at some point that's the only way to get an actually challenging game.But anyway! Another good run, Thot, and definitely looking forward to the Darloks.  They're my favorite race, and my first game of MOO way back in '96 was them (how could teen Wayne not pick the sinister Nazgul-looking dudes?) in a Huge galaxy on Average. I did win but it was a horrible slog, sometime in the 2700s with me versus the Psilons and both of us basically had all the techs. To this day I've still played them the most and I'll go to bat for them being probably 7 out of 10 in the rankings instead of the 9 or worst conventional wisdom puts them at. But then I guess I have better luck with spy RNG than most, heh. They're absolute trash in MOO2, though, that's for sure. 
Wayne fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Sep 5, 2018 |
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Sep 5, 2018 14:38
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Great game, Thot. I always have a hell of a time with the combat-focused species, since most wars are ultimately decided by logistics in 4x games, and falling behind early tends to mean you stay behind if you have to sink your resources into a defensive war. I started up a Darlok game in anticipation of your next run: large galaxy, easy difficulty (I'm bad at this game and worse with th Darloks, don't judge me). Naturally, I find myself sitting on my own on the south half of the map with a poo poo-ton of absolutely mouth-watering planets around me, and end up leading in production and population by the time I meet my first neighbor. I probably spread myself kind of thin rushing all those colony ships, but the Silicoids seem content with our trade deal and this artifacts planet is helping me get ahead in computer tech so I can start rampantly stealing poo poo.
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Sep 5, 2018 15:06
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The Darloks are fun to play on lower difficulties but I assume the Impossible maluses on espionage combined with their lack of any other bonuses will make this extremely rough going. Good luck.
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Sep 5, 2018 23:08
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Angry Diplomat posted:I always have a hell of a time with the combat-focused species, since most wars are ultimately decided by logistics in 4x games, and falling behind early tends to mean you stay behind if you have to sink your resources into a defensive war. Absolutely. Wars are horrible investment sinks in and of themselves: BC you put into ships and bases isn't being converted into RPs, ships you lose or scrap are just gone (the latter giving you a pittance for the reserve at least), and you'll probably take some diplo hits with your enemy's allies, which can in a worst-case scenario cascade into making you a galactic pariah because the AIs forgive each other much more quickly than they will you. What you get in exchange for all that is land, which eventually contributes your economy. But the thing is, in MOO1, if your map lets you peacefully expand you're almost always better doing that, and if you can't you're in a lot of trouble anyway because you're probably going to end up in a war at the worst possible time (when the AI bonuses have the strongest relative advantage over you and your diplomatic options are limited). In a lot of games going to war before the one that wins you the game is a bad idea if you can avoid it. That's what really drops the Darloks in the tier system: they're the hardest race to avoid those wars with because everyone hates them. To return the favor a bit, Thot, I generated 2 Darlok maps with your settings and played just enough to see who the neighbors are. #1 looks like a pretty easy one, might be good for practice. #2 is... interesting. ZIP here.
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Sep 6, 2018 05:05
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Well, I just had my homeworld spontaneously go fertile in the same year that the Sakkra homeworld was destroyed by a supernova. Thanks, RNG  e: the Sakkra homeworld is also entirely surrounded by systems with no habitable planets. There but for the grace of God go I. Angry Diplomat fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Sep 6, 2018 |
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Sep 6, 2018 14:35
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Angry Diplomat posted:Well, I just had my homeworld spontaneously go fertile in the same year that the Sakkra homeworld was destroyed by a supernova. Thanks, RNG Imagine starting up a game, only to discover that you have 10 turns before your sun goes supernova, and you have to research improved range/landings to be able to reach any habitable planets.
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Sep 6, 2018 20:18
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Thankfully that never happens(there's always one habitable system in range of the player). But for the AI … all bets are off. My favorite is when they have an uninhabitable and the Guardian next to them.
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Sep 6, 2018 20:58
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Thotimx posted:Thankfully that never happens(there's always one habitable system in range of the player). But for the AI … all bets are off. My favorite is when they have an uninhabitable and the Guardian next to them. Are you sure? I was playing a game a few weeks ago and the only technically habitable planet within reach of me at the beginning was Orion. I quit the game and started a new one
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Sep 6, 2018 21:44
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Do you have the original CD? The 1.0 mapscript was buggy (surprise surprise, right? ) and the "at least 1 habitable in 3, no alien homeworlds closer than 7" rule wasn't fixed until 1.2. GOG should already be at 1.3, though, and that's what most people have. That being said, Orion is subject to some unique rules (I think it's actually generated first, as in a star is chosen to have Orion before rolling the probabilities for biomes and such) and there are mapscript bugs with saving and reloading autosaves (when you hit "Continue" from the main screen instead of Load Game) so you might've hit one of those.TooMuchAbstraction posted:Imagine starting up a game, only to discover that you have 10 turns before your sun goes supernova, Random events don't start until turn 50, so the game shows you a little mercy! That Meklar game supernova I posted awhile back was a 2352, though, that's the worst I've ever seen. 
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Sep 6, 2018 23:16
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