Discussion turns 2121 to 2130

[Hercules]

These are important points you raise and I think we aught to have a Foreign Affairs (no not Flubber's contacts (ahem) in every port) thread: ( topped) when I can manage it.

[Hercules]

Hi Maties.

Not much happening but some questions need answering

first Ms R built base at 33, 49
I rush transport at Sealurk for 11
scout set out for brief explore of HMB
schooner in the west moved most of their moves
We have treaty with the PUT
the Borg are breeding like rabbits

Contacted Miriam, she would sell Allpied Physics for 100ecs

Questions
The schooner in the NW has 2 moves left. Do I pop the pod or explore
around the pod in preparation for next year.?

Former at Margaritaville, Move towards solar at 56,66 or wait to be
picked up by finished transport from Sealurk ?

Do we rush the Sea colony ?

Do we rush the party boat?

If we popped the pod we might get some cash goodies to help us rush.

What next at Margaritaville ? Colony or Rec Com.

any news form the PUT. if you read the comm, they indicate the have INd
Ec and may be willing to trade. What news here?

On the other I could just be patient and do a lot next turn.

[johndmuller]

2123 move

Cap'n Herc's Questions:

-Schooner Col. C. Santiago (at 35,45): I would recommend waiting/extra-exploring before popping that pod because if it pops an IoD it also uses up an extra mp leaving you without a move to attact it, or ("Awwkkk . . . *^$%#in' Chicken . . . Awwkkk!!") retreat.

'Rita's Land Former (at 56,62): there are many options:
-a-build Sensor there or at (55,61) - we will be seeing random Sealurks and the extra protection of a sensor will come in handy if all we have in the base is a green Scout. (Note: we might want to rotate our military units through monoliths when we get a chance);
-b-build road (connecting the river (natural road) we are on to the rest of the archipeligo)
-c-use forthcoming transport to move former to island to East of 'Rita (this would waste several turns doing nothing);
-d-move to (56,64) - then either defungus-forest-road there or on to (56,66) to level-forest or whatever;
-e-use forthcoming transport to move former to island to SouthWest of Sealurk (this would waste several turns doing nothing and would leave us needing another former for Rita eventually - would prefer having separate former for Sealurk - no need to skimp on formers);
-----Cuspidore recommends building sensor, then road, then either -c- or -d-'s defungus-forest-road option

Rush SeaColony at Tripoli? I would say no, (and yes to rushing the last 4 next turn), but the Cuspidore is known to be a cheapskate when it comes to rushing units (he much prefers rushing facilities);

Rush PartyBoat at Liars? I would say no again, but we are about to need a doctor to keep the drones away, so we need to build a CP there or a RecComm to avoid the inefficiency, so there is some reason to hurry, but I think it costs too much just for that - our pop will still be growing, even with a doc. BTW, why did you send the new PartyBoat over this way if you were thinking of rushing this one?

If we popped pod . . . (in future, please specify which pod you are talking about)
- assuming the one in the NW) Patience, we could get them next turn too, without the risk of throwing away the Santiago. It also doesn't make expensive rushing any better of a deal. If I offer you "goodies" in TG-1 to attack Darsnan, will you do it?
- If you were talking about the one on HMBoot Island, I would have built a rover first, before the RecComm, then popped the pod with the scout, having the rover in the base ready to jump out and take on any NL that might appear. That all being part of my readiness plan to deal with the DataJacks on the West. At the moment at least, it is still possible that there is an isthmus there, although I would guess we aren't connected as the borders of the tiles at (37,59), (38,60), (37,61) & particularly (36,60) look like they have been messed with, probably by Googs adjusting the terrain in Genesis. Far be it from me to argue about a RceComm, however, so by all means choose your own course of action.

Build at 'Rita I would be thinking of a LandFormer, followed by a Scout or vice versa, depending on how long before we need Doctor. I would do those two things before thinking about ICS type stuff, but that's debatable I supppose, and as the boat doesn't control drones, the Scout or RecComm are needed to deal with them.

News from Put Flubber: if you don't already know, they need only the Docs: Flex and Mobility from us (and all 3 comm freq's) at present. IndustrialEcon for Doc:Mobility sounds good to me.
---------------------------

Note that the Borg have Miriam's commlinks, so they must have met somehow, it would be interesting to know the circumstances. We could play dumb score some cheap brownie points with them by telling them that Sister M is off their SE coast - it wouldn't cost us anything since they probably already suspect/know this and it might open their mouths for the rest of the story, particularly whether Miriam has boats or not.

If you are going to build the RccComm at HMBoot, I would consider rushing the remaining 4 mins of the first row this turn (for 16 PoE's) - if not, I would definitely rush the remaining 1 next turn (and subsequently partially rush for the next few turns, say by finishing off a row per turn).

What is your plan for the PartyBoat now at (51,61)? Never mind, I see it is heading for Coder's Pit at (33,49). Perhaps you could adjust it's course to skim HMBoot Island's Northern tip and get a little more exploring in on the way.

[johndmuller]

2124

Cap'n Herc's preliminary message from email:

Ahoy maties,

Bit of a disappointment from the pods. zilch.! Sea colony finished and I suppose en route to sea base 1where the minerals are nearby. SeaFormer from 'Rita has finished terraforming now option of continuing to original destination or heading to min tile near new sea base 1 site..

76 to finish party boat ( better than I expected).
22 to finish scout at Sealurk

Note Borg base Aurora. It is a unity chopper but is it the Borg's, the Uni's or miriams.

As to the rushing, I'm not too thrilled to either pay double for the scout or rush the Party Boat at that price, but you're the one with the last call. If you do rush any of them, how bout throwing me a bone and rushing the RecComm at Rita for 4 Pieces of Eight to finish off its row?

Don't forget the Stockpile Energy in all those bases with units pending, especially at Tripoli and SeaLurk and any other base that will be finished (or rushed) for next turn.

I thought I saw that chopper or whatever it is there, last turn too; it looks as much like Miriam's as anything, but I don't know why it would be there two turns in a row.

As much as I like the original plan (which I take to be going to (56,68) and doing a Kelp/Solar), I think that given the effed up state of the terraforming schedule down there, it is probably better to do Kelp/Solar for the min special at (60,70) next. When the land former is finished doing everything at (54,70), you might consider moving it to the nut special at (56,72) for a forest. We'll probably need another SeaFormer in that precinct reasonably soon to do everything we need to do over there - which I see as including the min and nut specials at both Tripoli and the new base (Tripoli's sea min special also needs defungusing and putting a solar on that nut speciall we are on top of now at (58,70) will take the largest amount possible, the full 8 turns).

BTW, my isp is seemingly entering one of its less dependable cycles, making my connections and especially my email somewhat flakey, so I would appreciate it if you tried to post your messages as well as emailing them and if you added my other email address (xxxjohndmuller@hotmail.comxxx) to your distribution list temporarily.

[Hercules]

Tripoli: Rec Com started
Sealurk: Seaformer started
Rita: Probably pay another 4 P of Es for the row
Liar's lair: Doctor, and Drone riots but we knew this would happen
Henry Morgans Boot: maybe add some P of Es to production of scout.

Exploration: FMS from Lair still exploring now beside Pod for pop next turn
Santago: 3 moves left. which way move along coast towards 40, 40 or head 34. 40 ( I favour this)
The Revenge regained 4 moves and went in search of the PUT. No luck yet
THe Farragut has 3 moves. So do we wait until it gets 4 moves and stronger or explore, and which way. To move east towards the Lairs FMS or change course and head north looking for new factions.

No news on the Diplomatic front Miriam and the PUT haven't met yet.
Roze won't speak to us.

[Hercules]

I mean Rover at Henry Morgans Boot.

[Mark123jansen]

Just a quick question, are there any plans towards building an SP like the WP in Tripoli or anywhere else? cause right now we have an advantage in minerals at least over the borg, why wait till other factions get their mines up and running and start building all the good SP's?

[Hercules]

Personally I 'm all for it. I just want to get the Rec.Com in place.

[Mark123jansen]

ok just checking

[Hercules]

Some important issues to think about (quickly) this turn.

Tripoli: to rush Rec Com or not in order to start SP turn after. Reason High Min
It will cost 42 min to rush.

Liar's lair: To rush party boat; it will cost 56 but we need to follow up infilration
(hopefully) with tech steal from Roze. Also we need to start Colony pod to reduce drone.

HMG: more a question of, do we move scout back to pop pod with rover almost ready or explore island further. Also former ready for new task

'Rita: we could rush Rec. Com for 28

New base established at Parrot Landing: high Nut count.

Me, Cap'n Calico Hercules. I 'm inclined to wait one more turn (to acheive infiltration) before possible exchange with Roze. But acquiring Ind Econ would give us an edge with the PUT negotiations.

[Hercules]

Well I 'll wait another while for feedback.

So far just Mark has responded and he'd be in favour of trading with roze for Ind Econ.

[Googlie]

Just a general note:

Chppers don't get popped from pods until the discovery of SFF, so someone now has that tech

(Or from the Unity Salvage Site, as was commented on in another thread)

G.

[Hercules]

Somethings to think about for next turn.

Notice Datatech Scout at 20, 64 so their territory is of good size.

The most important thing to note is the change in the balance of power in the power chart.

The Hive have discovered Ind Auto. In my view and from what we can surmise from our maps (the location of PUT and the guessed general location of the Hive or the Drones), the Hive may well have met with the PUT, (hence their concern in our diplomacy discussions re our possible contact with the Hive).

[Hercules]

con'd

The Drones have also shot up well.

We will complete Progenitor Psych next turn. So what are we going to research next. What will be our likely options? (The Cycon finish Ind Base in 2, last time I looked so what are they going to research).

Re Sealurk production and transport out there at 58, 48. Do we bring it back to transport land former from near Rita to island near Sealurk to forest and scout to pop pod or continue one more 3 tile move north ( before returning to Sealurk).

I think we are getting to a size where we need a terraforming programme. A pirate responsible for workers and formers scheduling.

Views.

[johndmuller]

Sorry for lack of participation, but I'm still having a very flakey ISP experience and downloading anything is rather a pain in the a$$ (so it wouldn't be advisable to count on me to upload the turns); even posting is pretty hit or miss, but hopefully it will get better. This same thing happened a month ago, which was a real PIA since I had to persevere to play the turns and do all the misc. up/downloads, but this time I'm just going with the flow and not forcing anything.

I would have recommended against some of that spendthrift rushing of units, but I hadn't gotten the turn downloaded, so I didn't know whether or not you were bankrupting us or if you had some decent income to go with it. I'm still sticking with my general rule that rushing units with much more than a row to go at this stage of the game is unadvisable, but I know that is a matter of opinion.

Originally posted by Hercules
Liar's lair: Doctor, and Drone riots but we knew this would happen

This does beg the question of why (knowing it would happen), we didn't do anything about it? I realize that this is old news, but I am sort of non-plussed by your lack of remorse - methinks that a certain negligent Cap'n needs to dive in and bring back a shark's still-beating heart to keep the crew's grumbling from getting out of control.

Regarding trading the Doc:Flex to Roz: it seems to run contrary to the supposed consensus on the subject. Personally, I don't care that much one way or another, but given the propensity of the AI to trade stuff and to be relatively easy to probe, if we trade it now, it is highly likely that some of the other humans will get their Doc:Flex from that copy (directly or indirectly) rather than trading for it from us or researching it themselves. Certainly we should trade it to the Borg if we are going to turn it loose to the AI. I would think that the ideal thing would be to trade it to a lot of factions at more or less the same time to minimize the risks.

Regarding SP's: I'm still skeptical about actually getting one (especially such a popular one as the WP) without dedicating at least 3 bases to the task - at this stage that would mean building cheap boats and deep sixing them at the SP base for their scrap value. I mostly hate it when an important base is tied up in a long drawn out SP project, perhaps even getting strung along by other factions completing the SP first forcing us to switch to a (more expensive maybe) SP that we may not even want that much. Of course, if you can pull it off, more power to you, but if you stagnate Tripoli in the vain pursuit of an SP . . . . If you're gonna use a bunch of bases to build one, you don't have to build it in the best base, but unfortunately our best bases seem to also be the ones that are centrally located.

I don't believe you've said what you plan to do with the Party Boat you were so hot to rush (Infiltrate Miriam - Steal the IndustEcon from Roz - Ram a Sealurk?)