ACDG4 Game One: The Sword of the Righteous

[Mart]

Yes, contact Gaians.
I would first check the mood. Then exchange techs if she's willing. Then ask for Treaty, even give a tech if she agrees for that. from Treaty maybe to pact.
I have impression, that first contact is very much opinion shaping when with AI, so preferably we should behave nice.
And then also ask for commlinks.
Vyeh, you play the turn, since I cannot save the midturn from your save.

[vyeh]

Originally posted by mart7x5
Yes, contact Gaians.
I would first check the mood. Then exchange techs if she's willing. Then ask for Treaty, even give a tech if she agrees for that. from Treaty maybe to pact.
I have impression, that first contact is very much opinion shaping when with AI, so preferably we should behave nice.
And then also ask for commlinks.
Vyeh, you play the turn, since I cannot save the midturn from your save.

Posted 2299end3 save

Contacted Gaians.

Gaians - ambivalent [oh, oh]

"So the familiar face of Brother Lal. ...
"Information on Biogenetics (D1) could prove quite useful ... Can you transmit it to me as a personal favor?"

"Begin transmission" [Note there was also an option "And will you reciprocate ... Doctrine: Flexibility']

Gaians - magnanimous [Good!]

"...Treaty..."

"Agreed. ...'

"Splendid ...
"... any further business?"

"... proposal.
"...Pact ..."

"what do you offer?"

"... goodwill and friendship ..."

"No. ..."

Then I checked on commlinks. She doesn't have the frequencies for Alaron, Montigue or Joechim.

Summary:
(1) We gave her Biogenetics at her request.
(2) Her mood changed from ambivalent to magnanimous.
(3) We signed a Treaty.
(4) She refused a Pact.
(5) She doesn't have any of our missing commlinks.

If I don't hear from either of you in 24 hours, I'll hit end turn and implement the research strategy I posted earlier.

[Mart]

You may try now the following trick:
Contact Gaians again, and if she does not offer Pact herself right away, propose it. It often works.

[Mart]

I just checked, Gaians refuse to talk again.

Have we decided for a tech? Gaians have Centauri Ecology, so we may go for Information Network and hope for exchange.

[vyeh]

Originally posted by mart7x5
I just checked, Gaians refuse to talk again.

After I had checked the three missing comm frequencies, I got the following message from her: "My apologies Brother, but I simply haven't all day to talk."

Originally posted by mart7x5
Have we decided for a tech? Gaians have Centauri Ecology, so we may go for Information Network and hope for exchange.

Only if Darsnan hasn't messed with the beginning tech. I was given the option of demanding Doctrine: Flexibiltiy for Biogenetics, so we know the Gaians have that tech.

Posted 2300 (beginning) save

Current faction dominance:

"Forest expands near U.N Headquarters"
Provost Alaron authorizes Virtual World.
CEO Montigue authorizes Human Genome Project.
Colonel Joechim authorizes HGP.
Sister Joan authorizes HGP.
Sister Joan convenes Planetary Council to elect chairman.

Votes:
Gaians 8 - Lal
Hive 18 - Lal
Uni 16 - Joan
Morgan 12 - Joan
Spartans 18 - Joan
SotR 30 - Joan
PK 22

I contacted all of the Joan votes (by clicking on the icon) to see if I could get any of them to change their votes for us. They all refused to speak to me.

We voted for ourselves. Final results: Joan 76, Lal 48. Joan is elected chairman.

Tactical situation around #1:


Tactical situation around #2:

At #2, a SotR troop transport attacked a Hive troop transport, which had moved onto the tile with us (nice that they defended it!). SotR troop transport was destroyed! Hive troop transport suffered 20% damage.

Tactical situation around Plex Anthill:



We were given the following choice of techs to research: Doctrine: Mobility, Centauri Ecology, Information Networks, Applied Physics.

Note that Group 2 (Industrial Base, Social Psych) from one of my previous post is missing.

I chose Information Networks. Not only did mart7x5 request it, but it is the only one out of the four techs offered on the Industrial Automation b-line.

We got Information Networks and were given the following choice of techs to research: Doctrine: Mobility, Planetary Networks, Industrial Base, Social Psych.

Note that Group 1 (Centauri Ecology, Applied Physics) is missing.

I chose Industrial Base, because if we steal technology from Sheng-Ji Yang Base this turn, Group 2 will be missing the next time and we will not be able to choose Industrial Base. Since Planetary Networks (the other offered tech on the Industrial Automation b-line) is in Group 3, we will be able to choose it next time.

For the posted save, I activated all of the counter-battery units in turn (I didn't move them). Since the counter-battery units have deep radar, that allows us to see all units within two tiles of them.
As you can see, we can now contact any faction. Do you want me to try to contact any of them before we start moving units?

[vyeh]

Some things to note:

(1) With the discovery of Information Networks, our tech cost has risen from 12 labs to 26 labs. With 3 labs accumulated and 14 labs/turn generated, we expect the next tech in 2302.

(2) At the end of the last turn, the Hive only had Doctrine: Loyalty. They now have Industrial Base, Applied Physics, and Nonlinear Mathematics in addition to Doctrine: Loyalty. Their tech cost is the same as ours, 26 and they are generating 19 labs/turn with 12 accumulated. They expect their next tech in 2301.

(3) At the end of the last turn, SotR had Doctrine: Mobility, Biogenetics, Applied Physics, Planetary Networks and Nonlinear Mathematics. They now also have Industrial Base and Doctrine: Loyalty. Their tech cost is 98 and they are generating 33 labs/turn with 44 accumulated. They are researching Centauri Ecology and expect to discover it in 2302.

(4) The Hive's forces have increased by 5 Scout Patrols and 2 Alien Artifacts.

(5) The SotR's forces have increased by 6 Impact Infantry Units and decreased by a Probe Team and a Troop Transport.

(6) The Hive's energy reserves have increased from 10 to 120 energy credits.

(7) The SotR's energy reserves have increased from 10 to 116 energy credits.

(8) It will cost us 22 energy credits to mind control the SotR impact infantry adjacent to Observation Post #2 and 11 energy credits to mind control the SotR synth police adjacent to #2. It will cost us 36 energy credits to mind control the inpact infantry adjacent to Plex Anthill.

(9) If we kill the mindworm near #1, we can gain 40 energy credits.

[Mart]

i can check diplomatic possibilities.

Hive
Asked for tech trade:
Biogenetics for Applied Physics
Information Networks for Doctrine Loyalty
and that is it, possible would be also to get non-linear math
we can also get a loan of 40 EC for 52Ec (1/turn)
then we can buy non-linear math for 150 EC.
Chairman closes the commlink

Gaians refuse to talk

University
Vendetta

Moorganities
Vendetta

Spartans
Vendetta

SotR
No change.

=====
There is also another possibility.
Our Pact with Hive is quite strong, so we could probe Hive for the 2 remaining techs:
- Industrial Base
- Non-linear math
using probe teams from observation posts. This would get us first of all Industrial Base and allow to switch further to Industrial Automation B-line.

[vyeh]

Originally posted by mart7x5
Hive
Asked for tech trade:
Biogenetics for Applied Physics
Information Networks for Doctrine Loyalty

Applied Physics and Doctrine: Loyalty would really push back the time when we acquire supply crawlers. We should do the tech trades after we get Industrial Automation.

Originally posted by mart7x5
possible would be also to get non-linear math
we can also get a loan of 40 EC for 52Ec (1/turn)
then we can buy non-linear math for 150 EC.

We have the opportunity to subvert three impact infantry units for 22 * 2 + 36 or 80 energy credits, and we still have two opportunities to steal non-linear math from the SotR. Again, I think we should wait.

Originally posted by mart7x5
University
Vendetta

Moorganities
Vendetta

Spartans
Vendetta

SotR
No change.

Looks like our only diplomatic options lie with Gaians and Hive.

Originally posted by mart7x5
=====
There is also another possibility.
Our Pact with Hive is quite strong, so we could probe Hive for the 2 remaining techs:
- Industrial Base
- Non-linear math
using probe teams from observation posts. This would get us first of all Industrial Base and allow to switch further to Industrial Automation B-line.

After probing, the probe teams would go to Great Clustering (if they survived). We'd lose the opportunity during the turns they are moving back to #1 and #2 to mind control units and use them for probe operations against any bases in the unknown territories facing #1 and #2.

In this turn we will be probing Sheng-Ji Yang Base before we capture it. In two turns or less, we'll be in position to capture Working Man Hold (and we should probe before we capture it). Let's see what happens with those two tech steal opportunities before we decide to probe the Hive.

By that time, the Gaians may be talking with us again, and we might be able to trade for non-linear math with them.

Mead, what do you think?

[Mead]

Originally posted by vyeh

***

Mead, what do you think?

Infiltrate Hive if we have not yet done so.

I rechecked in SP and infiltrating a Pact mate does not break pact. (plus infiltrating should be relatively risk free to the probe team and may result in a morale upgrade).


Focus on getting to crawlers as soon as possible even if this means delaying getting impac and other techs.

Might we end up skipping impac weapons and going straight to missile?



Concentrate on Crawlers, then get massive forces, and then probe Hive. Once we do that enough, the Hive should turn against us and declare vendetta. Then we can capture enough of them to make them a submissive pactmate. [note if Hive, for whatever reason turns on us early, or our position becomes endangered otherwise, we'll need to probe impac out of self defense]





Mead

[Mart]

probing for Industrial Base will speed up the Industrial Automation.

Having crawlers too early doesn't help much either. We should have already several bases. Now we have 4, but 8-10 is a good aim. Crawlers should not slow down building colony pods. but it depends on playstyle

Meanwhile, we may take loans where possible, so we hurry up colony pods. Since it is a unit, I think the best time is at the end of the build, 2-1 turns to go, where majority of minerals cost 2EC/1mineral

And one more thought:
- Univ often has Planetary Networks quite often
- Morgan has Industrial Economics often early too.
- Morgan sometimes gets Industrial Automation early also
In this case, we can plan for probing these techs when our costs of research go high. We might consider getting Flexibility or Initiative, if we can trade/probe it.

I wouldn't be afraid of getting a bit more techs, I agree, sometimes it slows IndAuto, but often the opposite is true - overall development is slowed down by not getting other techs quickly

[Mart]

are spoils of war on?

[vyeh]

Originally posted by mart7x5
are spoils of war on?

Darsnan didn't mention it. Since spoils of war off is the default, I doubt it. We'll find out when we capture Sheng-Ji Yang Base.

Originally posted by mart7x5
Having crawlers too early doesn't help much either. We should have already several bases. Now we have 4, but 8-10 is a good aim. Crawlers should not slow down building colony pods. but it depends on playstyle

We have 4 colony pods in production (2 will be completed in 2 turns, 1 in 3 turns and 1 in 4 turns, long before we have Industrial Automation).

Originally posted by mart7x5
Meanwhile, we may take loans where possible, so we hurry up colony pods. Since it is a unit, I think the best time is at the end of the build, 2-1 turns to go, where majority of minerals cost 2EC/1mineral

I agree with taking loans. The colony pod at Worker's Nest will cost 44 ec to complete. The one at UN Headquarters will cost 31 ec to complete. We have 118 ec. If we borrow 40 ec from Hive, we'll have 158. I was thinking of subverting 3 SotR impact infantry and 1 SotR synth police at a cost of 91 ec. That leaves us 10 ec short (but we'll gain some 40 ec when we kill the mindworm at #1).

Originally posted by mart7x5
probing for Industrial Base will speed up the Industrial Automation.

Originally posted by mart7x5
I wouldn't be afraid of getting a bit more techs, I agree, sometimes it slows IndAuto, but often the opposite is true - overall development is slowed down by not getting other techs quickly

I was thinking we should do massive tech trades after we get Industrial Automation. Given the previous discussion of producing colony pods and our initial military units, we don't need any particular tech for the next few turns.

Originally posted by Mead
Infiltrate Hive if we have not yet done so.

I rechecked in SP and infiltrating a Pact mate does not break pact. (plus infiltrating should be relatively risk free to the probe team and may result in a morale upgrade).

I would prefer not to use the intel units at #1 and #2. As you will see in my proposed moves in the next post, they are very useful for building up our forces through mind control. Let's send up an intel unit from the south when we can free one up from garrison and transport duties.

Originally posted by Mead
Might we end up skipping impac weapons and going straight to missile?

Missile requires Synthetic Fossil Fuel, which requires High Energy Chemistry (which requires Industrial Base and Applied Physics) and Gene Splicing (which requires Biogenetics and Ethical Calculus, which requires Social Psychology).

[vyeh]

Proposed moves:

Observation Post #1: Load counter-battery unit (CBU), observer (O). Move loaded intel, troop transport (TT) 1 square W (1 mp). Unload CBU. Intent: Will attack wild MW for 40 ec. Get intelligence before deciding how to attack.

Observation Post #2: Load CBU. Move loaded intel 1 square NE (1/3 mp), mind control SotR impact infantry (II, 22 ec). Move loaded intel 1 square east (1 mp), mind control SotR II (22 ec). Unload CBU. Intent: Shape of border suggest there is an enemy base 3 squares E of Observation Post #2. Unloading the CBU with its deep radar ability will allow us to check that out.

Plex Anthill: Load hardened CBU. Move loaded intel 1 square S (1/3 mp), mind control SotR II (36 ec). Intent: Will fire CBU. Using CBU with deep radar ability to scout.

Worker's Nest: Re-home Great Clustering TT. Load all observers onto the 4 TT and 1 intel (not the veteran, we're saving that one for stealing tech). Move 4 loaded TT and 1 loaded intel 1 square E (do not investigate monolith). Intent: Moving observers to attack position.

Summary:
(1) Mind control 3 impact infantry (4-2-1) for 80 ec.
(2) Move CBU's at #1, #2 and Plex Anthill for deep scouting purposes.
(3) Move observers at Worker's Nest into position to attack Sheng-Ji Yang Base.

I like the proposals about getting the loans and speeding the colony pods. I'd like to do those at the end of the turn. In line with Mead's suggestion of getting massive forces, I think 80 ec is a good price for three top of the line units that we can't produce.

I'll implement these moves and post a mid-turn save in 24 hours unless I hear from you.

[vyeh]

Note to Darsnan:

During turn 2299, when we contacted The Hive, he downloaded his latest map. It included The Holy Fire at (6, 76). How did that happen?

[vyeh]

Posted 2300 1st mid-turn save.

CBU Observations:

#1: Stack at (28, 6): SotR troop transport, progenitor rover, impact infantry, impact rover; Spartan scout patrol.


#2: Morgan Energy Monopoly (58, 2), Morgan impact rover (56, 4).


Plex: No new information.

Tactical situation around Worker's Nest:


We now know where the Spartan and Morgan territories are.

Proposed moves:

# 1: Unload observer (O). Fire CBU at SotR/Spartan stack (28, 6). Attack wild MW with O. Intent: Soften up SotR/Spartan stack. Get 40 ec from killing MW.

#2: Load CBU. Move loaded intel 1 sq. SW (1/3 mp). Mind control SotR Synth Police (11 ec). Move loaded intel 1 sq. SE (1/3 mp). Unload CBU. Load O. Move loaded TT 1 sq, E (1 mp). Unload O. Move unloaded TT 1 sq. NE (1/3 mp). Load impact infantry (II). Move loaded TT 1 sq. SW (1/3 mp). Unload II. Load O. Move loaded TT 1 sq. SE (1/3 mp). Attack SotR impact rover with O. Fire CBU at Morgan Energy Monopoly. Intent: Occupy bunker two squares away from Morgan base. Will move mind controlled units onto monolith for upgrade. Destroy threatening impact rover. Determine units inside base through reconnaissance by fire.

Plex: Fire CBU at Working Man Hold. Intent: Soften up units. Keep damaged units from recovering.

Worker's Nest: Fire 3 CBU's at Sheng-Ji Yang Hold. Unload O's. Attack Sheng-Ji Yang Hold with O's until there are no defenders. Steal tech with veteran intel. Intent: Destroy all Sheng-Ji Yang defenders after softening them up. Steal tech with intel unit that has the best chance of surviving.

If I don't hear from anyone in 24 hours, I'll implement these moves and post another mid-turn save.

After the attacks are resolved, we have the following to do:
(1) Occupy Sheng-Ji Yang Base
(2) Move Southern Observers to Plex Anthill in preparation for an attack in a subsequent turn.
(3) Borrow ec from Hive.
(4) Rush build two colony pods.