SMAX Hive Scenario: Bonfire in the Sky

[Darsnan]

BACKDROP: In MY 2433 several factions discovered the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. After much investigation it was determined that the ships star charts were intact, and that the hyperdrive engine could be cloned.
By MY 2452 the first fleet of scoutships had been built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the ancient Progenitor ships star charts. The results were mixed: some scoutships returned with exciting news of “Eden-class” planets, while other scouts return with tales of planets who have degraded over the eons. Still other scouts fail to return at all…
By MY2475 the "Diaspora of Man" had begun in earnest, with interstellar colony ships being sent out to the far reaches of the Milky Way as fast as they could be built.
However once at their destinations, some peoples found the life of a colonist was a difficult and arduous task, and in some cases overwhelming, either from poor planning, or from the planet being more difficult than first gauged. This happened often enough that the Peace Keepers had set up a fleet of starships specifically designed for the transport and relocation of refugees from worlds that weren’t as hospitable as first thought.
There were also several other starships which belonged to the relocation fleet, however they never showed on any roster, nor did the Peace Keepers even acknowledge their existence. Crewed by Hive personnel trained in the methods of riot police, these ships were at the beck and call of planetary governments, and were employed primarily in the forcible removal of minority factions who either wouldn’t or couldn’t take a hint that they were unwanted on their current planet. Once removed from their planet of origin, the UN had set up a protocol whereby these unwanted peoples were humanely moved to a new planet, and that said peoples were allowed to pick which planet from a list of standing fallow planets.
The Hive had come up with its own version of this: instead of allowing the refugees to choose from the standing list, they instead used these transports as scoutships, exploring previously unmapped regions of space. If they found an Eden-class planet, they claimed it for themselves. If they then found a lower class planet, they “encouraged” the refugees to resettle to this newly discovered world, and then just backdated the standing list with the newly discovered planet. The system worked: the planetary governments, who footed the bill for the relocation, didn’t care where their unwanted went, so long as they were gone. The Peace Keepers were happy in that they didn’t have to be involved in what amounted to an unpopular and darker side of the ongoing galaxy-wide colonization effort. And the Hive was happy because essentially they were getting paid to explore new environs, with the side benefit of adding new planets to the Hive domain.

The Harbinger was a ship that belonged to the Black List. It had recently stopped off at a planet whose world government consisted primarily of the Conscsiousness and their close allies the University and Morganites, and who had deemed that there was no need for the minority factions consisting of the planet-loving Cultists and Gaians, nor of the bible-thumping Believer colony. At the request of the Consciousness government, in the same sweep the Hive had collected up other undesirables who fell into two primary groups, those labeled as Drones, and the others collectively considered brigands, or Pirates. Once the Hive Special Operations groups had herded the refugees aboard the Harbinger, the mindgames began: each Faction was segregated and isolated into generic holding pens, with no communication with anyone save their Hive Overseer. To all intents and purposes each Faction was entirely alone, and were completely dependent on their Hive Overseer for any additional circumstances that inevitably cropped up. In this environment the Overseer then doled out both rewards and punishments, all selectively tailored to condition the Factions to be responsive to their individual Overseer: everything was geared to break down the psyche of the refugees, so when it came time for them to be introduced to their new world, they would view it as a Paradise and eagerly grab at it.
The Harbinger, after exploring several dead solar systems on the fringes of known space, had decided to explore a small cul-de-sac of promising stars, and on their third solar system they had hit paydirt: a nominally habitable world, it fit the criteria as a perfect dumping ground for their cargo, and after a little “negotiating” with the various Factional leaders, each group had been transported down to the planet’s surface, with those Factions who had proved more tractable being rewarded with their choice of landing locations. Those who had been more obstinate, such as the devout Believers and rebellious Drones, were unceremoniously dumped a safe distance away from the other Factions.
While the process of colonization had been going on the Harbinger had also been scouting the solar system for any anomalies that might prove worth investigating, as artifacts of previous civilizations had been discovered in other quadrants, both in space as well as on planetary surfaces. In this case the search had proven fruitful, as some sort of artifact was discovered orbiting another world in this solar system.
The Harbinger, once its cargo had unloaded, proceeded towards the world in question: as data accumulated it appeared the world was a gas giant, with an eccentric orbit taking it well out of the normal paths traveled by the other worlds in this solar system. To an observer on another world (such as the one where they had just disgorged their carago) the gas giant would appear as a bright star, alternately brightening and growing dimmer depending on where it was in its orbit.
As the Harbinger traveled across the solar system a strange thing occurred: another artifact appeared on their screens! In this case it became apparent very quickly that the artifact was another spaceship. It also became apparent very quickly that the spaceship was not of human origins, and that it also was headed right towards the artifact the Harbinger was targeting. The Harbinger’s captain, taking the view that possession is nine/tenths of the law, quickly accelerated his ship towards the artifact, only to find the alien spaceship increasing its speed as well. The two ships bore down on the prize, moving into orbits on opposite sides of the gas giant, closing swiftly towards their prize. Just as both ships were clearing the fringes of the gas giant, the artifact, which had appeared to be a derelict single-seater spacecraft, sent out a scanning pulse, probing the two oncoming spacecraft. Immediately after this the small spacecraft jumped to life, and shot down into the ever-thickening cloud layers of the gas giant. Almost immediately a chain reaction within the gas giant began, one that the sensors on the Harbinger determined would very quickly lead to the gas-giant becoming a proto-star, and if the captain didn’t react quickly, would also consume the Harbinger in its initial burst of radiation.
The Harbinger frantically spun about, accelerating hard and attempting to break out of the gravity well as quickly as possible. However it became apparent very quickly that they would not be able to break clear of the gas-giant before it erupted……

Overseer Shin sat down in the now-empty cargo hold that had served as the housing unit for the Believer Faction they had just transported. He and his crew had been charged with cleaning up and organizing the bay for the next group of refugees that they would pick up. The work had gone relatively quickly: it wasn’t just the thought of the Watcher Eyes that dotted the walls of the bay and of who might be monitoring them, but also of the thought that once this was done there were no other pressing duties for the foreseeable future. Shin had been meticulously generating a list of serviceable items the Believers had left behind when the Harbinger’s emergency claxon had sounded. Shin and his work detail were about to leave the bay when the bay’s cargo doors slid closed, trapping them in the area. Shin looked around, seeing only the empty bay, and the accessway to the launching area. Of course - they could ride out the emergency in the planetary shuttle! Shin quickly hustled his people down to the shuttle, herding them into what had only a few hours previous been the last link to civilization the Believer faction had seen before being delivered to the newly discovered planet. No sooner had the door closed than a horrendous rending sound drowned out everything else, and the bay of the Harbinger was ripped opened by the first gouts of energy from the newly forming proto-star. The shuttle tumbled free, and was quickly swept away by the huge surge of energy erupting from the now boiling gas giant’s surface. Shin had only a glance of this before the shuttle’s polarizing shield slammed down, masking off both the visible and invisible radiation. What he had seen of the Harbinger in that instant though was enough to tell him that the ship had been completely destroyed, and that the only reason he had survived was because the shuttle was designed to withstand the temperatures of orbital re-entry, and thus had been impervious to the heat and blast that had destroyed the Harbinger.
Shin took the controls of the shuttle, trying to stabilize it against the maelstrom that howled outside. As the gas giant receded, the shuttle became more manageable, and finally Shin was able to relax as the initial surge of energy from the proto-star left them in its wake.
The polarizing shield, a facet of the resonance armor which had saved their lives, automatically lifted as the levels of radiation and visible light dropped to acceptable levels. What Shin saw as the shield lifted filled him with a deep sense of dark irony: in the center of the viewing field lay the planet Shin and his team had just deposited the refugees on to. It appeared that he would again get to meet those people he had just “assisted” in finding a new planet to call home. Only this time the circumstances would be significantly different.
Shin, deflated with this turn of events, leaning back in his seat to try and make sense of everything. As he did so his communicator came to life, interrupting his reverie before he could even begin to sort out the events of the last few hours. Idly Shin wondered which of the Factions on the planet below were calling him, and if even an offer of succor was too much to expect under the circumstances. Shin punched the communicator, only to be confronted by a strange reptilian-like alien. The visage on the screen fuzzed and wavered, and Shin could see smoke emanating from several panels behind the lizard-like creature. Even with the difference of alien body language Shin could tell the alien held a malignant apathy towards him, a loathing of pure hatred emanating from the creature as it glared back at him. The creature, a small trickle of blood dripping from a gash on its forehead, rasped and hissed something into its communicator, and an eerie, tinnish voice echoed out of Shin’s communicator, “this will be settled on the planet below”. Without another word the communication screen blanked out.


After the shuttle had landed on the planet surface, Shin sat outside on a rocky outcropping, gazing up at the alien sky. The new pseudo-sun, Bonfire was what Shin’s people were calling it, was rising in the east, and Shin wondered what had really happened at Bonfire: had it been some kind of trap designed to destroy anyone snooping around this solar system, or was it truly a bonfire, designed to signal someone else in the galaxy that trespassers had entered this solar system? Shin’s mind was already numb at the turn of events, however he, as leader, didn’t have time to dwell on how horrible their predicament was. And truly it could have been worse, as at least they had the modicum of supplies that his team had packed away in the shuttle: it would be enough to start a colony, to give him and his people a glimmer of hope on this forlorn little world…….



Directions

1) In your alpha centauri/Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "BitS", and download and unzip the attached files into it.
2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "BitS" and choose the scenario “BitS”. The game will automatically load up with the Hive.

Enjoy!

D

[Darsnan]

This is another attempt at making an alphax.txt file specifically for a waterworld (i.e. >80% water), with the intent of getting the AI to play better in this environment. The alphax.txt file for this game has been heavily modified, with some of the more notable modifications as follows:

#RULES

- Base defense has been increased to 40%: since the AI is typically on the defensive, then this will assist the AI moreso.

#TERRAIN

- Farms require Centauri Ecology in order to be built.

- Solar Collectors require Industrial Base.

- Mines require Industrial Economy (I believe it was Maniac who first came up with this idea, in order to encourage the AIs to plant forests instead).

- Forests only take 3 turns to plant.

#RESOURCE INFO

- ocean squares give a 1/1/1. Still experimenting with this one.

#WORLDBUILDER

- the worldbuilder section has been unbalanced in order to exclusively build waterworlds. If you decide to use this alphax.txt elsewhere (or rip the worldbuilder from it) it is recommended you use it exclusively for Large/ Huge waterworlds with high erosion.

#CHASSIS

- Speeder chassis has been moved to New Missile tech: this is to prevent the AI from building bunches of 1/1/2 units in their sea bases. Note there is an amphibious rover available with Nonlinear Mathematics, so you the human can reverse-engineer this to your hearts content.

- Needlejet moves 6 squares

- Copter moves 6 squares

- Gravships move 5 squares, and are now available with Monopole Magnets.

- Hovertanks are now available at Fusion.



#ABILITIES

- the cost has been reduced to zero for the Clean Reactor, with the end result being the AI will now use this on their chassis.
- Heavy Artillery has been restricted to the infantry chassis only, in order to prevent the AI from placing it onto Hovertank units.

UNITS

- There are 47 units spread throughout the tech tree. Some of these I'm still experimenting with, while others have definately found their niche (you'll know which ones when you encounter them! ). The other reason for so many is that it pears back the number of poor designs the AI builds (or another way to look at this is that I am using a big cluestick to beat the AI into playing better!). Some of the units are as follows:

- Infantry chassis Former which is immediately available and is cheapened to two rows of minerals: no more encountering an AI 40 turns into a game and the first thing they ask for is Centauri Ecology (meaning they’ve done no terraforming at all!). The AI puts these to good use.

- Aircraft carriers available with Doc: AP.

- Submarines available with Superconductor: in this environment (i.e. a waterworld) this tech is now more than just a side avenue from Doc:AP.

#FACILITIES

- Robotic Assembly Plant is available with MMI.

- Empath Guild: moved to Eudomania.

- Cloudbase Academy: moved to Monopole Magnets. Because of the CBA's worth (i.e. free aerospace complex in each city), then this, along with the gravship chassis at monopole magnets, now makes for an interesting choice: does the player beeline for MMI and choppers, or does the player now beeline for Monopole Magnets and gravships?

- Virtual World has been moved to Social Psychology: this is an attempt on my part to, um, "water down" the techs involved in the traditional beeline for Ind Auto. Overall I think this is a good change, as it gives the AIs a better shot at it than previously.



Factions

- several factions were aquatized for this scenario.


- several factions have been given the “Free Market, nil” option. This I think is a better solution to the issue of the AI not knowing how to employ FM correctly (as opposed to giving a faction impunity to FM).

- the alien Ypunag are originally from the Network Node, and I snagged them via Maniac’s posting in the Creation forum here at ‘poly. This faction has been heavily modified in an attempt to make them into a sincere “alien menace”.

[GooglyBoogly]

Cool, a new scenario!

I would look into it, but am still updating my datalinks, so I'll have to give this one a pass for a while.

thanks for the work Darsnan!

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by GooglyBoogly
Cool, a new scenario!

I would look into it, but am still updating my datalinks, so I'll have to give this one a pass for a while.

thanks for the work Darsnan!

We each contribute in our own ways to the game we enjoy so much.

Its good to see someone digging into the datalink files: when your done would you mind if I used some of your work in any of my upcoming projects?

D

[Lazerus]

Ah first time in ages i've played smax and there's a nice Hive scen to play with woo ... lots of land raising to do in this waterworld for my armies of formers ... oh well time for the Chairman to put these malcontents back in their place.

Hopefully i'm not massively rusty and get my arse kicked since i remember some of your souped up AI were a nice challenge Darsnan


Just had a look at the aliens .txt and oh my this is going to be a rough re-introduction lol

[Darsnan]

Good to see you again Lazerus,

Originally posted by Lazerus
Hopefully i'm not massively rusty and get my arse kicked since i remember some of your souped up AI were a nice challenge Darsnan

IIRC you were a very good Hive player, so you should be a very good test of how well I sculpted this game!

Originally posted by Lazerus
Just had a look at the aliens .txt and oh my this is going to be a rough re-introduction lol

Think of it as a challenge! Actually what I tried to do was make them a greener version of an alien Hive. I then also had to make them a challenge to play against. After numerous iterations of playtesting this is what I arrived at. Didn't leave any room for negative social effects, unfortunately.

It will be interesting what you think of the additional units I stuffed into this game, as well as the other aspects that I've modified (such as the greeting quotes, etc.). If you can post an AAR I'd appreciate it, as any feedback would then allow me to improve any future scenarios that I make.


D

[Lazerus]

I see you're still using the modified alien graphics heh, i've just had several wtf is that ?! moments with scouts and formers pushing through the narrow fungus areas.

2532 and i've got the WP and 4years away from IA with 18 pop and 2 pods out.
Pacted with the Drones against the Gaian/Cult(unknowingly) duo then looked at the power graph and contacted them two who were suprisingly good willed towards peace treaties even with me now being in planned. Took loans from them both to get a few more formers rushed out and traded with the cult to get gene splicing - my usual rush to eco engineering for raised mineral restrictions, hopefully this doesn't throw the tech beeline off but i'm not playing with a chart anyways so likely will get lost at some stage.

Just realized i can raise land with the WP (lol i know, it has been that long) so with most squares forested now for the crawlers it's time to push all formers to the beaches since i'm cramped for land.
So far so good

[Lazerus]

Oh and so far i've managed to restrain my urge to nerve staple every base because 3 of them rioted with a growth i hadn't kept a close enough eye on we'll see how long that lasts if i lose these treaties or get the PTS though


2537 and casting my eyes over the drones he's built 4 formers and has been pushed more towards forests, some solar/farms about but otherwise the extra mins are helping him. He's investing heavily in synths and perim defenses rather then colony pods which is really pulling his growth back though, i've already got over double his 12 pop. Dee has got a mind worm and a ship near free drone central which has caused him to start building scouts for some reason.
Still need to find where Gaians, Cult are on the map so i can try and infiltrate them.
Aliens are rocketing on the power charts with my tech

Just bumped into Miriam and got an instant vendetta, yay, the evil wench also helped the hippy duo to win the council election, rigged! lol nice doing that though if it's going to occur early.


I like the strength of Miriams first hit at 2250
Totally overwhelmed 1 of my bases which had a sensor, ogre, 4 synths and 2 scouts in it. Luckily i sold some recycling tanks and managed to mind control it back so now i've got a chunky 13+ 4-3-1, 4-2-1, 4-1-2 mix of units with a mag tube soon going to connect them to a monolith to get that front line sorted for now.

[Lazerus]

Have you playtested the difficulty when the WP is banned ? I think my ability raise land early and give myself a continent has severly reduced the problems i'm going to face. I'm double the AI on the powergraph at 2562 with air power, PTS and WP.

Time for another break.
ps, a sunspot came and i couldn't resist stapling everybody with all those gaian ships about i know what you're like with these cruiser probes

[GooglyBoogly]

Originally posted by Darsnan
....
Its good to see someone digging into the datalink files: when your done would you mind if I used some of your work in any of my upcoming projects?
D

Go ahead and use it as you see fit. The same goes for anyone else who is thinking of making a scenario/mod. Just please preserve any credit references where applicable.

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by Lazerus
Have you playtested the difficulty when the WP is banned ? I think my ability raise land early and give myself a continent has severly reduced the problems i'm going to face.

Thats a good comment. I never actually got the WP while playtesting (went the Command Nexus/ Vritual World/ Maritime Control Center route). Do you think that on a waterworld the WP should be moved to a level 2 or level 3 tech, say maybe Cenaturi Empathy?

Originally posted by Lazerus
ps, a sunspot came and i couldn't resist stapling everybody with all those gaian ships about i know what you're like with these cruiser probes

Rmember those were Googlie's creation, not mine. However I will take credit for the SP-88's, the subs, and the attack carriers.

Originally posted by GooglyBoogly
Go ahead and use it as you see fit. Just please preserve any credit references where applicable.

Thanx! And if I use it I will definately give credit.


D

[Lazerus]

Originally posted by Darsnan
Thats a good comment. I never actually got the WP while playtesting (went the Command Nexus/ Vritual World/ Maritime Control Center route). Do you think that on a waterworld the WP should be moved to a level 2 or level 3 tech, say maybe Cenaturi Empathy?

Yeah i'd say cent empathy or meditation would cause the aliens to get it more times then the player. Being able to raise land and then have magtubes come much earlier has meant i'm whizzing around with hordes of formers slamming down boreholes and raising land with ease.

The Hive doesn't really need the VW at all so i just ignored it and let the AI take it (hologram theatres they'll be lucky to get a tv per base to avoid being corrupted by Morganite decadence )

It's 2577 and i've got MMI next turn, robotic assembly plants for me is effectively game over for the AI now as i'm going to have too many minerals for them to compete with. Got the council awhile ago since with the PTS i outvoted the hippy nutcase trio and domai cancelled out sven.

I think Domai/Miriam need to be tweaked to expand abit more, the drones crippled themselves early with hordes of 2-2-1 and little else and although Miriams initial assault was quite a tough one (if she came abit earlier she'd be a heck of a challenge) she's now in a similar position and begged for peace once i got some noodles to take a few of her bases.
The pirates look to be struggling, he's got air power and is 10years away from cent eco but only took advantage of your immediately available formers by building 4 of them so he's quite weak.

Cult/Gaians are doing much better then the others with their free facilities, air power, plenty of bases and making use of your inserted units such as the SP88 and starting to expand into the sea now.

I like the +40% base defense, combined with the sensors and miriams plasma defensives i had to hit a few formers and troops out of bases before my missile noodles could hit the bases and their decreased range meant i had to push forward a few CPs of my own to keep setting up outposts.

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by Lazerus
Yeah i'd say cent empathy or meditation would cause the aliens to get it more times then the player. Being able to raise land and then have magtubes come much earlier has meant i'm whizzing around with hordes of formers slamming down boreholes and raising land with ease.

Thanx for the feedback! I think what your saying makes a lot of sense, and that the WP is a much more valuable SP on a waterworld. I'm looking at my tech chart, and I see Doc: Init (which is also very important on a waterworld because of the MCC) at a level 4 tech. If I put the WP opposite it at Eco Engineering, then there is more of a likelihood an AI will get one or the other of these valuable SPs.

Originally posted by Lazerus
The Hive doesn't really need the VW at all so i just ignored it and let the AI take it (hologram theatres they'll be lucky to get a tv per base to avoid being corrupted by Morganite decadence )

Sorry - its the Gaian in me - I thought my people needed it for the educational programming it provided.....

Originally posted by Lazerus
I think Domai/Miriam need to be tweaked to expand abit more, the drones crippled themselves early with hordes of 2-2-1 and little else and although Miriams initial assault was quite a tough one (if she came abit earlier she'd be a heck of a challenge) she's now in a similar position and begged for peace once i got some noodles to take a few of her bases.

Without the WP its more of a challenge facing those hordes, as they can really focus and come on in unrelenting waves.

Originally posted by Lazerus
The pirates look to be struggling, he's got air power and is 10years away from cent eco but only took advantage of your immediately available formers by building 4 of them so he's quite weak.

Yeah, in some of my playtesting I encountered the same thing. I thought I had fixed it, as in thelast two playtests of the scenario I didn't encounter that issue. There may be some randon event that is triggering this, like podding a comm freq or something.

Originally posted by Lazerus
I like the +40% base defense, combined with the sensors and miriams plasma defensives i had to hit a few formers and troops out of bases before my missile noodles could hit the bases and their decreased range meant i had to push forward a few CPs of my own to keep setting up outposts.

Yeah, increasing the intrinsic base defense is one of my standards now, as you have to dedicate more units to attacking bases than previous, which of course helps the AIs.

You haven't mentioned the unique unit I gave the Aliens in this one, so I'm assuming you haven't played far enough to encounter it yet.

D

[Lazerus]

Well 2607 and in true Hiverian style a total conquest victory as the entire planet is washed in blue.

IIRC i was first to eco engineering so i don't think the AI will get the WP on there, although it will slow the player down.
The armoured sam probe cruisers are a nice unit, total pain nicking away any loose grav ships i had or with the amount of cash the cult and gaians had just hitting a base with dozens of probes and then mind controlling it.

The aircraft carrier units were also well used by the AI doing a similar job to the land units in shooting down my gravs.

The AI seemed abit lost as to what to do with the fighter units, although it did encourage Dee to spam out 4-1-8-SAM noodles which again were irritating swarming out onto my units.

The seawolf MK1 is too late in the tech tree imo, it didn't get used at all even by the AI

Which unit was unique to the aliens ? It's late now and i gassed my way through them quite quickly

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by Lazerus
Well 2607 and in true Hiverian style a total conquest victory as the entire planet is washed in blue.

First off, congrats to you on your victory: sounds like you haven't lost a step in regards to playing the Hive.

So essentially it took you 107 turns to complete a military victory. I find it extremely interesting that, after all the work I've done trying to get the AI to play better, that I really haven't slowed down an elite human player one iota. Did you at least find the game interesting, or enjoyable?

Originally posted by Lazerus
IIRC i was first to eco engineering so i don't think the AI will get the WP on there, although it will slow the player down.

Yeah, I've been thinking about my initial reply in this regards. I do believe your initial comment regarding the WP is correct, and that it needs to be addressed in regards to a water world environment.

Originally posted by Lazerus
The armoured sam probe cruisers are a nice unit, total pain nicking away any loose grav ships i had or with the amount of cash the cult and gaians had just hitting a base with dozens of probes and then mind controlling it. The aircraft carrier units were also well used by the AI doing a similar job to the land units in shooting down my gravs.

Yup. Since the AI doesn't use AC very well, why I had to come up with some kind of counter to hack away at a human's AC: these, along with the SP-88 and Attack Carriers do a fine job in this regard.

Originally posted by Lazerus
The seawolf MK1 is too late in the tech tree imo, it didn't get used at all even by the AI

Really!?! At Superconductor you think this is too late in the tech tree? I've typically thought it a good fit at this tech, as it comes right after Doc:Init, and right before Doc:AP, and plus it makes Superconductor a more desireable offshoot tech now by adding the submarine feature. I have thought before about putting the Seawolf at Doc:Init (which IMO is the only other logical place to put it), but on a waterworld this then makes this tech overpowering, what with it already having the MCC and the Cruiser chassis.

Originally posted by Lazerus
Which unit was unique to the aliens ? It's late now and i gassed my way through them quite quickly

PM sent.


D

[Lazerus]

Originally posted by Darsnan


First off, congrats to you on your victory: sounds like you haven't lost a step in regards to playing the Hive.

So essentially it took you 107 turns to complete a military victory. I find it extremely interesting that, after all the work I've done trying to get the AI to play better, that I really haven't slowed down an elite human player one iota. Did you at least find the game interesting, or enjoyable?

It was definately an interesting change since i went for gravships as my main weapon of choice (with some kamikaze choppers bouncing along for the ride in true valkyrie fashion) but even with total air power if you delay and let them grab aerospace complexes you face quite a fight taking the bases and with the fact you can't just lazily scoot around picking off weaker bases since the AI is actively hunting you in the sky.

Originally posted by Darsnan
Yeah, I've been thinking about my initial reply in this regards. I do believe your initial comment regarding the WP is correct, and that it needs to be addressed in regards to a water world environment.

When given the option i'd much rather spend the time terraforming and stay on land then actually take to the seas, maybe other players will be more willing to get their feet wet but some, like me, probably need more of a cattle rod in the back lol so the WP is the game breaker in this case. I wonder if somebody could try playing the game by spamming down a few kelp farms and going ICS with the PTS on the seas and see how that works out, granted fewer minerals *shudder* until you get robotic factories but there'd be a heck of alot of opportunity for earlier specialist cities.

Originally posted by Darsnan
Yup. Since the AI doesn't use AC very well, why I had to come up with some kind of counter to hack away at a human's AC: these, along with the SP-88 and Attack Carriers do a fine job in this regard.

Definately, very good niche you've found there for the AI

Originally posted by Darsnan
Really!?! At Superconductor you think this is too late in the tech tree? I've typically thought it a good fit at this tech, as it comes right after Doc:Init, and right before Doc:AP, and plus it makes Superconductor a more desireable offshoot tech now by adding the submarine feature. I have thought before about putting the Seawolf at Doc:Init (which IMO is the only other logical place to put it), but on a waterworld this then makes this tech overpowering, what with it already having the MCC and the Cruiser chassis.

Perhaps it was the tech route i was on then, i went for MMI first and then veered over to grab the CBA at monopole magnets. It was only after i had those that i got superconductor on my route to applied relativity going for the supercollider (and oddly straight onto theory of everything). Thus by this point that unit was quite obsolete.

Originally posted by Darsnan
PM sent.


D

ahhhh

I think the aliens need to actually be given more of a boost (eep i know, perhaps i was just lucky as they were starting to beat down on the cult at the same time as myself) as i found Dee to be by far the biggest challenge with her large bases. The aliens were constantly asking her to pact vs me and looked to be giving her techs for doing so she had the best of both worlds in an industry with free tech.

Plus i always had the backup option of just gassing the aliens whereas i held off against Dee until near the end.
I gassed her once by mistake, she gassed me 3 times, so i gassed her back 10, she gassed me a few more and from then on it was autogas mode to the point where my submissive drones cancelled pact and had to be taken out aswell

[Lazerus]

Where's the rest of the big Hive contingent went ?
Appreciate the scen !