Into the Hornets Nest

[Darsnan]

This is the SPDG turntracking thread for the game "Into the Hornets Nest". This game is a follow-up to the

Sword of the Righteous game, so please review this thread first as a prologue to this game.

The next round of the ACDG Game: After your successful mission on Sanctuary your forces have been evacuated and are now homeward bound on a Peace Keeper Interstellar Transport. However something goes critically wrong on the transport, and it is realized that the transport is no longer space-worthy, and that you will need to find a friendly space port in order to effect repairs. Unfortunately the only reachable inhabited solar system is Calon, which is currently controlled by a Hive Splinter Faction known as The Horde. You consult with the Peace Keeper High Command, which informs you that after your “involvement” in the Sanctuary situation, that you are persona-non-grata in Hiverian space, and that to be caught by the Hive will probably mean permanent incarceration, if not certain death! The orders given to you are clear: crash land the transport onto Calan 1.0, avoid contact with the local Hive garrison units, and remain near the space transport until an evac can be effected.
However a funny thing then happens in the final few hours as your crippled transport approaches Calon 1.0: you receive a communiqué from the remnants of the original Spartan owners of Calon 1.0, who are collectively known by their charismatic Leader, Maquis. The Maquis have somehow learned of your approach, and they have a proposition for you and your soldiers: they claim that they have enough arms to lead a succesful rebellion against The Horde and its allies on Calon 1.0. If you will assist them in this uprising, then they will give your troops shelter from the Horde and assist you in leaving Hiverian space once the battle is won. The Maquis also seem to be intimately familiar with your modus operandi on Sanctuary, as they are also attaching a caveate to their conditions in which they specify that if you conquer any enemy bases, you must then turn over those bases within 5 years of conquering them. The Maquis also state that if you choose not to help them, that they will then be forced to turn over any captured PK units to The Horde…
By the time you receive this communication fro the Maquis you are within the magnetosphere of Calon 1.0, and so dare not try to broadcast to the PK High Command, lest The Horde intercept the communiqué and learn of your immanent arrival. You are therefore left on your own in this decision. On the one hand you have your standing orders to avoid local contact as much as possible, however with this you cannot guarantee that where the spaceship lands will be in safe territory, and it could very well mean that all your soldiers, who you have loyally fought side by side with you through the campaigns on Sanctuary, could fall into the hands of the Hive! On the other hand you could lead an orbital assault onto Calon 1.0 and assist the Maquis Rebellion, which you have to take at face value can succeed….
Since the PK High Command has been denied you, you decide to consult the Datalinks in order to determine what the odds are for an orbital assault are. The Datalinks responded with the following:

There are no known successful orbital assaults in recorded history. The accepted historical and military reason for this is that of the 5 great parachute assaults in World War 2 on Earth, only two (Sicily and Normandy) were successful, and the other three (Crete, Dnieper, and “Market Garden”) ended in the near complete dissolution of the committed airborne units.
The lessons learned from the disasters were clear: that those soldiers who entrust their lives to silk parachutes and static lines are essentially dicing with death.
This same analysis can then be applied to explain why orbital assaults against highly industrialized worlds, while technically feasible, have not been attempted due to the overwhelming combined odds of the physical laws of orbital insertion, the planetary spatial defenses that are currently available, the planetary ground based defenses that are currently available, as well as Murphy’s Law.

You glumly look this Datalinks info over and digest its portent, however the Datalinks then spits out another response:

Military history has shown time and again that trusting to well-established military axioms then leaves the established commander completely unprepared when the enemy does something completely illogical, or responds out of desperate necessity.

You digest this, and then sit down and present the two options to your group commanders: either take you chances by congregating your drop troops around the wreckage of your space transport, or descend onto the planet in an orbital attack onto the Horde, and assist the Maquis in reclaiming this world! Several questions are raised, including a very astute one regarding the odds of success versus descent locations. The Datalinks are then consulted again, and it is confirmed that in World War 2 the parachute assaults at Crete and Dnieper the troops were dropped right onto their objectives (which then ended in immediate disasters), whereas at Normandy the drops were dispersed with the intent of coalescing their forces afterwards. This then decides the situation with your commanders, as it becomes clear that to simply “ride it out” with the transport wreckage to the planet surface will only allow the enemy to pinpoint your position and probably annihilate them, and so it is much better for your troops to randomly drop onto Calon 1.0 and then focus onto specific objectives from there. All of your commanders nod agreement that accepting the local Spartan’s offer is the best offer on the table, and so as your interstellar transport nears its death spiral into the atmosphere of Calon 1.0 you key the following response to the Maquis: “Sometimes all that is needed to light the torch of Freedom is a spark: watch for our sparks in your skies!” You hit the send-message button, and then enter your own personal orbital insertion pod, hoping that the message is received by the Maquis, and that your pod lands in their territory!

[vyeh]

Here is the initial situation, for those of you who want to follow along.

Initial Situation, MY2217

World Map


Faction Information


Faction Dominance


(1) PK's start with Biogenetics and Centauri Empathy.

(2) PK's start with 350 ec's.

(3) PK's start with Colony Pod, 8 UN Observers, 8 UN Troop Transports, 7 UN Intelligence Teams, 7 UN Counter-Battery Units.

Tactical situation around spaceship wreckage


Tactical situation around Silverbird


Tactical situation around Plex Anthill

[vyeh]

2217, Initial Observations

(1) Besides us (PK), there are the Gaians, Golden Horde (Hive), Morgan, Spartans, Believers, and Pirates.

(2) In addition to Impact Infantry and Impact Rover, available with Nonlinear Mathematics, units available with early technology also include the Progenitor APC Mk 1, 2-3-2 (cargo 1), 250 mins, available with Applied Physics and Synth Defender, 1-2-1, 20 mins available immediately.

(3) According to the power bars, we're roughly equivalent with the Morgans, the Believes and the Pirates, which are all inferior to the Hive, which is inferior to the Spartans, which is inferior to the Gaians.

(4) The Spartans lead in tech and wealth; the Gaians lead in military, population and overall; and the Hive leads in territory.

[Darsnan]

Hi All,

please note the following:

1) I will be going on vacation in a couple of days, so will be offline till late April.

2) I am officially retiring as a CMN, so if you are going to want any more follow-up games in this series, you will need to start looking for a CMN now. FYI.


Hope you have fun with this game, and Good Luck!


D

[vyeh]

Originally posted by Darsnan
1) I will be going on vacation in a couple of days, so will be offline till late April.

Have a good vacation!

Originally posted by Darsnan
2) I am officially retiring as a CMN, so if you are going to want any more follow-up games in this series, you will need to start looking for a CMN now. FYI.

Aren't you the last of the breed? There aren't that many CMN listed under the creation forum, and I haven't seen their posts for awhile?

Originally posted by Darsnan
Hope you have fun with this game, and Good Luck!

Thank you for setting up the game. It looks fascinating.

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by vyeh
Have a good vacation!

Thanx - I will!

Originally posted by vyeh
Aren't you the last of the breed? There aren't that many CMN listed under the creation forum, and I haven't seen their posts for awhile?

Dunno. Been a while since I talked to many SMAC'ers other than you or Hydro, though.

Originally posted by vyeh
Thank you for setting up the game. It looks fascinating.

I hope so. I won't give away what the references were that influenced me in building this game (other than the obvious reference to the WW2 French Maquis), but hopefully you will enjoy this game.

I also had a really strange crash of the game that corrupted the map file. Once the game gets along and you have the world map I'll post the corrupted map file: really strange in that the bottom ten rows of the map had their elevation set to deep sea trench!


D

[vyeh]

2217 Observations, 2nd set

From the red city grid lines and the territory boundaries, we can infer several bases:

Unknown Gaian base 1 (106,38)
Unknown Gaian base 2 (106,46)
Silverbird Park (Gaian) (111,51)
Unknown Gaian base 3 (105,59)
Unknown Hive base 1 around (84,74)
Unknown Hive base 2 (94,76)
Unknown Hive base 3 (92,84)
Plex Anthill (Hive) (101,77)
Sheng-ji Yang Base (Hive) (106,72)
Working Man Hold (Hive) (98,92)

Until we identify the bases, the shorthand for Unknown Gaian base x is Gx and for Unknown Hive base x Hx.

[vyeh]

2217 Observations, 3rd set

(1) We have the comm frequencies for the Gaians and the Hive.

(2) The Hive has a population of 51.

(3) The Gaians have a population of 26.

[vyeh]

2217 Observations, 4th set

(1) North of the spaceship wreckage is a monolith. 4 squares from the monolith is a nutrient bonus sea square. Being able to draw on these resources would give a base an advantage. The tiles 2 sq. WNW, 2 sq. WSW, 2 sq. SW, 2 sq. SSW and 2 sq. SSE of the CP are unknown.

(2) There are three roads leading out of our landing area. They go North, West and South. Unlike our previous mission, there are few roads, let alone mag rails. These are obvious avenues for our advancement and for enemy attack.

(3) The road going North goes through G1.

(4) 4 squares South we encounter G2.

(5) 5 sq. SE of G2 is Silverbird Park, which is not on any roads, although there is a river.

(6) Continuing on the road from G2 5 sq. South, 1 sq. SW is G3.

(7) 4 sq. SW, 7 sq. S of G3 is Plex Anthill.

(8) Plex Anthill is where the three roads join, giving it strategic value. There is a road going East from Plex Anthill.

(9) Sheng-ji Yang Base is 5 sq. NE of Plex Anthill.

(10) Going on the road West of Plex Anthill 3 sq. W, 1 sq. NW is H2.

(11) Approximately 6 sq. E of H2 is H1. Although H1 is not connected to H2, there is apparently a road going into H1.

(12) Continuing on the road from H2 3 sq. S, 2 sq. SW of H2 is H3.

(13) 6 sq. SE, 1 sq. S of H3 is Working Man Hold, which may or may not be on a road connecting it to H3.

(14) Obviously, Plex Anthill is our first target. Control of Plex Anthill gives us interior lines of communication. From there we want to explore the road going East and push out our perimeter along the roads leading West and North of Plex Anthill.

[vyeh]

2217 Observations, 5th set

(1) The spaceship wreckage is centered around (7,9). 2 sq. S is an elite UNTT. 2 sq. SW, 1 sq. S is a CP.

G1
(2) 3 sq. SW: commando CBU. 1 sq. W: G SF (speeder former).

G2
(3) 2 sq. WNW: veteran I. 3 sq. NE: elite UNTT. 2 sq. SW, 2 sq. S: hardened CBU. 3 sq. SW. 1 sq. S: veteran UNTT. 5 sq. SW: elite O.

Silverbird Park
(4) base: G SF, green G SD (synth defender). 1 sq. W: hardened CBU. 1 sq. S: elite O. 3 sq. SE: hardened CBU.

G3
(5) 3 sq. NE: elite I. 3 sq. SE: elite I. 2 sq. SW: elite O. 4 sq. SW, 1 sq. S: hardened CBU. 2 sq. W, 1 sq. SW: hardened CBU. 2 sq. SW, 3 sq. W: elite I. 4 sq. W, 3 sq. NW: elite UNTT.

H1
(6) E (2 sq. W, 2 sq. NW of H5): elite I.

H2
(7) 4 sq. N, 1 sq. NW: elite I. 3 sq. N, 2 sq. NW: elite O. 2 sq. NE: elite O. 2 sq. WSW: commando UNTT.

H3
(8) 2 sq. SW: veteran UNTT.

Plex Anthill
(9) 3 sq. E: elite I. 2 sq. NE: veteran UNTT. 2 sq. NNW: hardened CBU. 3 sq. NW: elite UNTT. 2 sq. SSW: elite O.

Sheng-ji Yang Base
(10) base: H SF, disciplined H SD. 1 sq. S: elite O.

Working Man Hold
(11) base: disciplined H SD, H SF. 1 sq. S: elite O.

Total PK's:
UNTT: 4 elite, 1 commando, 3 veteran.
CP: 1
CBU: 1 commando, 6 hardened.
I: 6 elite, 1 veteran.
O: 8 elite.

[vyeh]

Posted PK DG2, 2217mid1

2217 mid1 moves

Spaceship wreckage
(1) Move UNTT 1 sq. SW (1 mp), 1 sq. W (2 mp). Monolith on nutrient bonus revealed 2 sq. SSW of CP!


(2) Build "U.N. Headquarters." Because of the bug we discovered in Sword of the Righteous, the base has 3 pop., headquarters, recycling tanks, recreation commons 2 excess nuts, 5 excess minerals, 5 excess energy, 1 excess ec, and 3 labs.

Diplomacy
(3) Contacted Hive. Initially solicitous, declared vendetta. Now obstinate.

(4) Contacted Gaians. Initially quarrelsome, declared vendetta and remain quarrelsome.

Plex Anthill
(5) 2 sq. SSW: Moved elite O 1 sq. N (1 mp), attacked Plex Anthill (H SD), 3-2, 50% dam.

(6) 3 sq. NW: Moved elite UNTT 1 sq. S (1 mp), 1 sq. SE (1/3 mp), attacked Plex Anthill (H SF), 24-5, 20% dam., moved into Plex Anthill (1/3 mp), seized 30 ec.

(7) 3 sq. E: Moved elite I along road 2 sq. E, 1 sq. NE, 1 sq. E, 1 sq. SE, 1 sq. E, 1 sq. SE, 1 sq. S. Encountered Spartans - Ambivalent. Spartans asked for Centauri Empathy. Asked for Doctrine: Flexibility in exchange. Spartans refused. We refused to give Centauri Empathy. Spartans suggested Treaty. We accepted. We ended transmission and contacted them again. They asked for Centauri Empathy. We asked for 75 ec. They said no. We said no. They suggested Pact. We agreed. They gave us their world map.

[vyeh]

2217 Observations, 6th set

(1) The Spartans have 4 techs: Doctrine: Mobility, Doctrine: Flexibility, Planetary Networks, Nonlinear Mathematics.

(2) The Spartans have 500 ec. They are generating 13 ec per turn and spending 1 ec per turn (on the Recreation Commons at Sparta Command).

(3) Sparta Command has a population of 3. The other 12 bases have a population of 1.

(4) Of the 13 Spartan bases, 8 are land bases and 5 are sea bases.

(5) The Spartans have 6 Speeder Formers (SpF), 6 Synth Defenders (SD), 4 Transport Foils (TF), 11 Sea Formers (SeF), 2 SP-88, 2 Progenitor Gunships (PG), 2 Cruiser Probe Ships (2 CPS), 2 Attack Carriers Mark 1 (AC1), 7 Seawolf Mark 1 (S1), 1 Fighter Escort Mark 1 (FE1), 4 Impact Rovers (IR), 7 Impact Infantry (II), 4 Drop Assault Tank (DAT), 5 Drop Shock Infantry (DSI), 5 Drop Scout Speeders (DSS), and 1 Drop Probe Scout (DPS).

[vyeh]

2217 Observations, 7th set

World map

(1) While there are some blank spots, the Spartans' map gives us a good idea of the strategic situation.

Hive

(2) In the center is the Hive on a grid of mag rails.

Spartans



(3) To the East are the Spartans.

(4) We are between the Hive and the Spartans.

(5) To the Northeast are the Gaians.

(6) To the Southeast, West and Southwest are the Believers.

(7) To the North and South in the seas are the Pirates.

(8) To the Northwest are the Morganites and the spaceship wreckage.

(9) There are no land bridges between the spaceship wreckage and the other factions or the rest or our forces.

[vyeh]

Posted PK DG2, 2217mid2

2217 mid2 moves

Fecundity Tower
(1) (2 sq. E, 1 sq. NE) Move elite I 1 sq. SW (1 mp), 1 sq. W (1/3), infiltrate Fecundity Tower (1/3 mp), I returned to Plex Anthill: mission complete.

Razorback Wood
(2) (3 sq. SE) Move I 2 sq. NW (2 mp), infiltrate Razorback Wood (1 mp), I returned to Plex Anthill: mission complete.

[vyeh]

2217 Observations, 8th set


Hive
(1) The Hive have Biogenetics, Nonlinear Mathematics and Doctrine: Loyalty. They need 62 labs to research their next tech; they have zero accumulated; and they are producing 50 labs per turn. They haven't chosen their next tech.

(2) They have zero ec's; they are producing 31 per turn; their maintenance is 10 ec per turn (6 rec commons, 1 nanohospital) for a net income of 21 ec per turn.

(3) The Hive has 36 bases. All bases have recycling tanks and perimeter defenses and all bases are population 1 except The Hive, Great Clustering, Worker's Nest, Sheng-ji Yang Base, Working Man Hold and People's Teaming which all have 3 population and a recreation commons. The Hive has a nanohospital and a headquarters.

(4) The Hive has 36 Speeder Formers (SpF), 36 Synth Defenders (SD), 9 Sea Formers (SeF), 8 Drop Assault Tanks (DAT), 13 Drop Shock Infantry (DSI), 6 Drop Speed Scouts (DSS), 1 Drop Probe Scout (DPS).

Gaians
(5) The Gaians have Biogenetics, Nonlinear Mathematics and Centauri Empathy. They need 62 labs to research their next tech; they have zero accumulated; and they are producing 43 labs per turn. They haven't chosen their next tech.

(6) They have10 ec's; they are producing 32per turn; their maintenance is 9 ec per turn (5 rec commons, 2 children's creche and 2 network nodes) for a net income of 23 ec per turn.

(7) The Gaians has 16 bases. All are population 1 except Gaia's Landing, Lily of the Valley, Memory of Earth, Silverbird Park and Garden of Paradise which all have 3 population, a recycling tank and a recreation commons. Gaia'a Landing has a headquaters, a children's creche and a network node. Silverbird Park has a network node. Garden of Paradise has a children's creche.

(8) The Gaians have 15 SpF, 16 SD, 2 SeF, 20 mindworms (MW), 2 DAT, 8 DSI, 4 DSS.

Whoever is downloading the saves (Mead?), I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts. I see three basic approaches. In all three cases, eliminate the Hive bases between us and the Spartans (freeing up the Spartans to take on the central Hive bases) and then:

(a) Take all the forces NE into the Gaians and eliminate the Gaians;
(b) Take all the forces S into the Believers and eliminate the Believers; or
(c) Split the forces and do both (a) and (b).

[vyeh]

2217 Observations, 9th set

Drop Assault Tank
(1) Irreplaceable, the Spartans have 4, the Hive 8 and the Gaians 2. It is 8^x-3r-2. Special abilities: Drop and Nerve Gas. It is built on a slowed tank chassis (meaning every non-road land square costs 1 mp to enter).

Drop Probe Scout
(2) Irreplaceable, the Spartans and the Hive each have 1. It is 0-3r-2. Special abilities: Cloaked and Drop. It is built on a slowed tank chassis (meaning every non-road land square costs 1 mp to enter).

Drop Scout Speeder
(3) Irreplaceable, the Spartans have 5, the Hive 6 and the Gaians 4. It is 6^-3r-2. Special abilities: Drop.

Drop Shock Infantry
(4) Irreplaceable, the Spartans have 5, the Hive 13 and the Gaians 8. It is 8^x-3r-1. Special abilities: Drop and Nerve Gas.

Mindworms
(5) The Gaians have 20.

Impact Infantry
(6) Although no one has them, the Spartans, Hive and Gaians are all building them. It is 4~x-2-1. Special abilities: Amphibious and Nerve Gas.

Impact Rover
(7) Although no one has them, the Hive is building them. It is 4~x-1-2. Special abilities: Amphibious and Nerve Gas.

Synth Defenders
(8) The Spartans have 6, the Hive 36 and the Gaians 16. It is 1-2-1. It has no technology prerequisites and costs 20 minerals.

[vyeh]

2217 Observations, 10th set

(1) The Gaian territory is completely fungus, with several bases off the road network. Xenoempathy Dome is critical. This requires Centauri Meditation.

(2) The spaceship wreckage is on an isolated continent. Doctrine: Flexibility is critical.

(3) Since we're restricted to one permanent base, supply crawlers (Industrial Automation), pop-booming (Ethical Calculus and Industrial Economics), restriction-lifting technologies (Gene Splicing, Ecological Engineering, Environmental Economics) and clean reactors (Bio-Engineering) are critical.

(4) To get the technologies we need, any facility that increases production of labs (Network Node - Information Network, Biology Lab, Research Hospital - Gene Splicing) are helpful.

(5) With our one base on the coast, the kelp farm/tidal harness combination can be augmented by Aquafarms (Progenitor Psych) and Thermocline Transducers (Adaptive Economic Systems) once we have Gene Splicing and Environmental Economics.

[vyeh]

Posted PK DG2, 2217mid3

2217 mid3 moves

Blast Rifle Crag
(1) (2 sq. NNE) Move elite I 1 sq. SW (1 mp), 1 sq. N (1/3).

Plex Anthill
(2) Change production to mindworm.

(3) (2 sq. NNW) Move CBU 1 sq. SE (1 mp).

(4) (2 sq. NE) Move UNTT 1 sq. W (1 mp), load CBU, move UNTT 1 sq. S (1/3 mp), 2 sq. E (2/3 mp).

Sheng-ji Yang Base
(5) (1 sq. S) O attacks base (H SD), 3-2, 40% dam. O attacks base (H SF), 18-5, 40% dam.

Working Man Hold
(6) (1 sq. S) O attacks base (H SD), 3-2, 20% dam. O attacks base (H SF), 24-5, 20% dam.

Industrial Crawler
(7) (2 sq. SW) Move UNTT 1 sq. NE (1 mp), attack base (H SD), 1-1, 80% dam. and promoted to commando.

People's Teeming
(8) (2 sq. WSW) Move UNTT 1 sq. SE (1 mp), pop pod, materials pod completes MW at Plex Anthill, move UNTT 1 sq. NE (1 mp), bunker captured.

(9) (2 sq. NE) Move O 1 sq. S (1 mp), bunker captured.

Razorbeak Wood
(10) (2 sq. SW) Move O 1 sq. NE (1/3 mp), O attacks base (G SD), 96-35, 0 % dam. O hasty attacks base (G SF), 256-35, 0% dam.

Silverbird Park
(11) (1 sq. S) O attacks base (G SD), 96-35, 0 % dam. O attacks base (G SF), 384-35, 0% dam.

(12) (1 sq. W) Move CBU into base and seize base. Gained 30 ec.

UN Headquarters
(13) Change production to Biology Lab and hurry for 100 ec.