2129 - Native life kills would-be defender of a northern CyCon city. City will build defender next turn. 2130 - Gaia destroys that city. This is my first indication Gaia has units north of me. Another vulnerable base scrambles to build a defender, which will be complete next turn 2131 - Gaia kills that other vulnerable city. Wonderful timing. This is perhaps the native life from 2129, captured. Now I need to ponder exactly where you are. Sightings of your units indicate you are to my east, but given the Monsoon Jungle, map design would say you are north. In any case, CyCon needs to turtle while my other factions prosper. I'm pleased to see my former survived against a rover. Furthermore, since you have "scout" rovers rather than "unity" rovers, I know you have Doc: Mobility, and that you are actually producing units, rather than relying on pod pops. This means I can afford to suffer at CyCon for the sake of my other factions. Interestingly, I still can't see the Gaian border, which means if I can handle the units at hand, reinforcements might not come for a while. Alpha Prime is rushing a laser infantry to deal with the unity rover I expect to greet it next turn. This will give me an actual ability to kill units. An eastern CyCon base, Kappa Hills, is now defended by two units so that unless Gaia has two mind worms, one of which I can't see, the base will survive a turn and receive further reinforcements then. Alpha Prime finished a CP this turn, so I need to put it somewhere safe - south seems to be my best bet, despite initial indications Gaia is to the south. I'm also worried about Gaian probe teams right now, though I know from Who's Who that none of your factions has more than 49 energy right now. There's a pod northeast of my western former. I should pop it and hope for the best. The worst might surprise you and hinder you, and I'm willing to take the gamble. 2132 - Looks like Gaia had quite a few units near my bases. Not sure how you got those, but I'll find out when it doesn't matter so much. CyCon's pretty screwed up now, thanks to at least 2 rovers and at least 2 mind worms north of it. Stupid pod west of CyCon had an energy bonus - absolutely worthless right now. Stupid high-morale Gaian worms. Won handily, though (10-7 -> 6-0). CyCon is really pressured, to the point that obliteration is a real possibility. I have an artifact I would have really liked to have spent on a project - instead I need to burn it for a military unit. The most extravagant unit I can make is a 2-2-1, for 24 minerals normally, but 40 since this is a prototype. Ah well, better than letting Gaia steal the artifact. Western CyCon base (Sigma Complex) is undefended right now, but can afford to be, since there is no way a rover or worm can get there, short of a transport foil on the west. Therefore, I will expose it for now, to go after the annoying rover north of HQ. The only hard decision is whether to expose the 2-1-1 or 1-1-1. I'll go with the 2-1-1, since I expect Gaia's taken advantage of the monolith to heal and upgrade. CyCon is now in full survival mode - I'm going to try to get Gaia to overcommit to obliterating it, while my other factions prosper. All three bases will build military units next turn, thanks to an influx of energy from my other factions, and burning an artifact. Western former was lucky and managed to pop another nearby pod, spreading xenofungus over some of the jungle, not that I can use it for a while. It can also serve as an advance scout now. The Free Drones hit 10 bases, well over the bureauc limit of 7, and will reach 11 next turn. The Peacekeepers are at 8. Incidentally, every single Free Drone base is building a Rec Commons, to handle the influx of drones. 2133 - Noticed Datajack Roze has the biggest army. That probably just means she has plenty of police, though she only has 7 population... maybe she popped a Battle Ogre? Flubber wouldn't build useless troops, so either he got them free, they are police, or they've spotted me and are ready to attack. Also noticed that Flubber doesn't continually forward ECs. I won't tell him for a while - I like the advantage it gives. I see Gaia's unity rover headed west and nailed my former, and is now very damaged. I'll see what I can do to permanently take care of it. I can block the path to the monolith, assuming nothing else can come by to kill my blocking 2-1-1. This will also keep me relatively safe from mindworms. If Gaia foolishly stacks units on the monolith, so much the better - collateral damage, or just more units that I can see and kill. Alpha Prime is now defended by just a single unit, but it's a 2-2-1, and worms can't surprise the base. A laser rover would have poor odds against it, and I hope Gaia doesn't have impact rovers near me. On the other hand, the southern base Xi Ellipse is fairly exposed to mindworm attacks, and needs reinforcement. Sigma Complex on the west is weakly defended right now, but mind worms can't surprise it. I need the troops elsewhere. Such are the tradeoffs necessary when under pressure. I'm so happy I have a sensor right in the middle of my three bases. With that defensive edge, I should be ready to go back to building after one more set of troops. Lal gets SotHB in 2 - I'll be able to adequately defend myself from mindworms with that, and a few CyCon upgrades funded by pactmates. It looks like SotHB hasn't been discovered yet, so I might get the free tech, too! 2134 - Stupid native mind worm decided to chase a Peacekeeper colony pod. Now it's caught it and will kill it at the end of the turn. That's the second failed attempt to go west, but there's a juicy monolith there. I see Morgan found Lal. Now I need some defense. Oh well. I'll see if I can catch any further intruders behind his unity rover. I also need to beware of Gaia coming from the east, now. At least Morgan's using a unity rover, which might indicate an overall lack of military capacity. I'll also need to defend new northern Peacekeeper bases, and try to pop those exposed pods ASAP. I wish I had Applied Physics from Aki right now to set up the scout rover and ambush it, but it'll come soon enough. For now, I'll act as though I'm ambushing, and maybe even be able to do it with hand weapons. Morgan might want to pop some exposed pods, but I think ZoC will hinder him for at least one turn. Yay, Lal has Pholus Ridge! Unfortunately, it seems pretty barren. I'm splurging and paying 33 ECs to hurry a prototype synthmetal garrison for Lal, since I'll need those to defend. I also need more sensor arrays in the west. If Morgan tries to attack an exposed former with the unity rover I see, he stands a good chance of losing: He attacks at power 1, with 20% damage. A former defends at (1 * .5 * .875 * 1.5 * 1.25) = .82, with no damage. SotHB next turn, and I get to mock Deirdre with it :) CyCon: Hmm, no Gaian units in sight. I wonder if they're hiding in fungus. If they are, I can find out by risking a mere scout patrol. Attempted to move to the monolith and failed, so nothing's there. I'm reluctant to stray too far from my cities with my 2-1-1, though, since I'll need units in the near future to expand, and I need units now to defend. Alpha Prime is switching to a probe team both for probe defense, and so I can deliver a nasty surprise if needed to incoming armies. Drones: I'm setting up for some pretty dense ICS. I played Drones vs Morgan last night in TCP/IP and blew away my opponent with pure numbers of bases. I'll be annoyed if Flubber drops a transport of rovers on my shore, but he's taking a pretty big risk to do that. 11 bases now (B-limit is 7) and still very few b-drones. I should consider going Planned, like I did last night, to explode across the map. However, in this game, commerce is more important. Also, the Drones are doing a good portion of my research. The PTS is key to my Drone game. I know! I'll time a switch to Planned to just after I cash in crawlers for a SP. Completely legal, and I get the benefits of an SE quickie, since I'm inclined to switch anyway. 2135 - Ah, didn't notice that Secrets icon on the F9 screen, on the far left. Roze got SotHB in 2122, and I forgot all about it. I'll keep the secret for now, then. I'm happy Morgan impaled himself on my former, though I was ready if he didn't. Upgraded 5 CyCon scout patrols to 1-1t-1. Mindworms should be a problem for a while. Domai's gearing up for a project. Exactly which one is up in the air, and depends on what's still available when I'm ready. 2136 - Morgan completed the HGP. I might have liked to have built it, but it's no biggie. However, if he has the highest population, and had time to complete a SP, I wonder if he has relatively few, large bases... Roze found Lal, from the same direction as Morgan. Yes! Attention drawn away from Domai! One or both of Roze/Morgan are likely north of Lal, east of Domai. Now I just have to deal with the attention Lal will get. Now that I have everyone's comm freq, I'll look into elections. Flubber seems to have the higher pop, but I have the x2 votes of Lal. Furthermore, if he could win handily, he would have already called elections. My votes right now: 20 + 5 + 14 = 39 Flubber's votes right now: 12 + 16 + 8 = 36 I should win, but it's a little close. I'll check carefully before calling elections. Lal will gain a pop point in each of the next 3 turns. On the other hand, Domai will briefly lose some to colony pods. I *really* don't want to call elections, then have them snatched from me, so I'll wait a couple of turns. I can be patient in getting infiltration. Crap, noticed Roze has a Unity Mining Laser. That means she knows where Domai is, anyway, I'll keep a good sensor net to keep from being surprised. and explains how Flubber found Lal (though chance would explain that, too). Need probe defenses, though not too hastily. Moved synthmetal garrison out to defend former making a sensor. It should have slightly better than 50% odds of winning if attacked. 2137 - Ah well, the garrison lost (10-10 -> 1-0). Good thing I have another en route. The Mining Laser *should* lose if it tries to go after my former. If it doesn't, it'll heal 10%. I'll have a garrison in place in one more turn, but I'm not sure if I should attack the Mining Laser with a hasty penalty, 4 morale levels' difference, and against defensive terrain, even with a 10-2 advantage in health. Interesting, Flubber popped a fungal bloom a few turns ago. My votes right now: 22 + 5 + 14 = 41 Flubber's votes right now: 13 + 17 + 9 = 39 Damn, even closer now, but I have a bunch of Drone bases prepped to grow in time to call elections next turn. My projected votes next turn: 24 + 5 + 18 = 47 Rushed some PK garrisons where needed 7 Drone bases finish production! Current base counts: PK 9; CyCon 3; Drone 13 Elections next turn! 2138 - Flubber's mining laser didn't heal - attacking it with a weak unit is a possibility! My hasty v. green synthmetal trance garrison vs Roze's veteran unity mining laser: Attacking strength: .5 Defending strength: 1.87 Health: 10-1 Let's see what happens: Victory 5-0! (based on my understanding of combat, that's probably the most likely outcome) Stupidly forgot to prevent drone riots in a base in the excitement over upcoming elections. Had a PK former fall through a dim gate, then pop fungus far from my base. Sigh... Narrowly killed some random native life Morganic probe team spotted thanks to a new sensor! Stupidly, it seems like it's exerting a ZoC. Unless it retreats, though, I should nail it next turn. It could still be annoying and waste some pods. My votes right now: 24 + 5 + 18 = 47 Enemy votes right now: 13 + 18 + 9 = 40 That's a good enough edge. Elections time! Discovered growth doesn't happen until after voting. Oh well, that just means Flubber can't surprise me with a burst of population. 45 - 0 right now, and Flubber can only muster 40 votes! Infiltration time! 2139 - Yay, elected! Too bad it was controversial... Looks like I have a chance of catching Morgan's probe team... Flubber's Angels look pretty weak... Gaians have just 6 bases!! Morgan has a more respectable 11 Angels have just 5!! I might run away with this game... On the other hand, Gaia's not too far from air power. I'll need to cope with that. No impact weapons to worry about for a while Exiled PK former needs to build an advance sensor to the northwest. Ouch, Gaians have 3 artifacts! Morgan is north of the CyCon in the jungle... oh well. Perhaps he has another jungle? Probably not. I'll have to piece together map data to figure out everything, of course. Will have to worry about Angel probe foils. Morgan and Roze each got some of the Unity Wreckage... interesting. Yay tremendous commerce!!! Did some extensive analysis of the data at each enemy city's base radius and managed to connect all the cities in each faction and constructed a map depicting them in a scenario. Managed to find exactly where Roze is because of the beacon Mt. Planet is. I have a good idea where Morgan is, but it's hard to pin down since the Monsoon Jungle is huge. Deirdre, on the other hand, can't be where I thought she was - east of Aki. Without elevation data and with weak distinguishing characteristics, I'm not sure where she is. I guess I'll have to look harder. Gaian terrain seems remarkably flat. Gaians seem to be at the southeastern side of a continent - that would fit with being east of Aki. 2140 - Yay, Morganite probe moved just where I wanted! Splat! Gaian mind worm strayed into range of a secret sensor array. It has nothing soft to attack, but has a fair chance of winning against my trance garrisons. If nothing else attacks with it, though, I'll have a unit ready to counter-attack it should it survive. Domai gets Eco Eng, and can research Env Econ! Drones are now power-mineral producing, as size 2 bases are stable, and can quickly spit out C-pods when nearing two nutrient rows. Also, my nutrient boxes are a little depleted from a recent growth spurt. My combined income is over 100/turn, but I've hit a bit of a lull in production ready to hurry. Need to make more crawlers to get a SP. 5 active, 3 in production for Drones. IoD landed a mindworm or two after Domai's turn. Annoying, but nothing I can't handle since it's before 2150. 2141 - Not much 2142 - Got Neural Grafting as Lal, now working on Bio-Engineering and Domai is working on Env Econ. Tech rates are 8-9 turns, speeding up slowly now and faster once my former force builds up. Two great techs that tech great together! Unfortunately, the CyCon research rate is still negligible, but I might be able to snag a decent tech with her in 10 years or so. Finally confirmed that Morgan is north of Aki, by sighting his border. Still, the shape of the jungle looks pretty odd. Calculating risk of Gaian mind worm attack: Mind worm strength = 3 * 1.125 * 1.1 = 3.71 Trance defender strength = 2 * 1.5 * .875 * 1.25 = 3.28 Discovered nasty recon rover + scout sneaking up on my east, confirming suspicions that Gaia is to my east. Recon rover strength = 2 * .875 = 1.75 Trance defender strength = 2 * 1.25 * .875 * 1.25 = 2.73 Interesting that Lal can see Morgan's border, but Aki can't, even though everyone has everyone's commlink. Hopefully no CyCon losses besides the former, since I look reasonably well defended. Drones should get WP soon if no one else does first. Finally managed to spend most of my energy reserves. I'll give him something to think about with another base. 2143 - Morgan's getting antsy again. I'll try to exploit ZoC to aggravate him. CyCon is positioned to destroy Gaian intruders, should they become adjacent to bases. I'll need rovers to deal with troops that refuse to approach my bases. Or probes. Just remembered Domai has an artifact - WP next turn! Production put into WP: 12 minerals from switching production away from a crawler 50 minerals from an AA 21*2 minerals from crawlers cashed before switching to Planned 6 minerals rushed at 4 ECs each 10 minerals normal production Total of exactly 120 minerals Switching to Planned for insane production and a former-boom. This directly adds 2 years to the time until Env Econ, which is quite acceptable. 3 turn formers at 4 min bases are very attractive. Planned also has the nice perk of actually letting me kill some worms that invaded in 2140. 2144 - Yay, Deirdre spent to get the WP, but I'll get it first, so she'll have to pick something else, and has committed to building a SP! Unfortunately, it looks like she only used one artifact... need to check last turn to see what was used. PKs are filling in enclosed area with bases, rather than pushing towards enemy territory. Furthermore, I have Pholus Ridge on my south, barely used, and the Ruins on my west, entirely unused. Very oddly, Morgan cashed two artifacts towards the Merchant Exchange, yet is not completing it this turn. Also oddly, he seems to be using an unnecessary doctor in that base. Current population: Lal 17; Aki 6; Domai 21; Deirdre 14; Morgan 21; Roze 14 Having all very green units as Aki kind of stings, when opposing troops are disciplined or better, in general. Fortunately, Dee has a quite limited number of high morale troops, as they have to be trained hunting mind worms. I noticed Dee's rover moved up to my base, then had to turn back, since it would likely lose an attack. He might think I didn't notice, but I did... Consideration of the future: Dee's going for Synth Fossil Fuels, attack value 6. To counter this, I have a few options: High defense - HEC + II or Silksteel Psi - 3:2 isn't so good when I have the base +25% and sensor +25%, yielding 3:3.125 before morale 2145 - Lost track of that Morganite rover from two turns ago. If it turned back, fine, but I doubt that's the case. 8 years until Dee gets Synth Fossil Fuels. Another turn or two to prototype it, and then I need to have defenses in place. About 10 turns from now until I can get Cent Empathy, unless Aki can get it... Aki can research it in 5 years now, maybe one less if a new base is productive! It's cute to see the Gaian units running around that think I can't see them... Current population: Lal 16; Aki 6; Domai 25; Dee 16; Morgan 23; Roze 14