Turn Planning/Reports

[Googlie]

[Mr. President]

Flubber says that the Ethical Calculus deal has not been consummated. Did we have a technological error?

[Archaic]

I couldn't get confirmation of what tech I was supposed to send them in time, so I didn't send one. I thought I'd included that in my post above, reporting on the turn, but it seems not. That's what I get for trying to do 3 things at once. *Sigh* Send them my apologies and promise them that they'll have it next turn.

[Mr. President]

Don't worry about it - it's no big disaster.

[Minute Mirage]

Originally posted by Googlie


You can learn a lot from your new pactmate's intelligence services.

Re-open 2139 (the turn that you confirmed the Pact with PEACE)

Now click on the commlinks tab, and then right click on Drogue. This brings up the basic intelligence that every faction has on each other.

But look just above the row of symbols at the bottom, and you'll see the Peace logo. Click on that, and suddenly you are tapping into the PEACE infiltration network.

From that you can see that the Cyborgs have only met the Pirates (whom they are pacted with) and have the commlinks for the Angels and the Believers. They have not yet been in contact with the Hive, Drones or yourselves - (otherwise there would also be an "informal truce" label with those they have contacted)

(likewise any other faction, not having met you, could do the same and right click on your name then click on the PEACE logo to tap their infiltration data on you)

Not a cheat - nor a bug, but indeed a feature that was covered in one of the early releases by Firaxis (pactmate 'sniffer' packets, I believe)

So, to summarize, the Cycon couldn't have assisted the Hive in their research, or it would have shown

G.

I didn't know that, thanks. I had assumed that messing with the commlink buttons of the factions we haven't met yet is forbidden but it seems this isn't so? Or is it only OK if a faction you have met has met the faction whose commlink you're playing with?

On a related issue, you said earlier that it's acceptable to check what techs you have that an another faction doesn't have by offering these techs to them in the trade screen. Is it OK to do this to factions we haven't met yet, i.e. the Hive, the Cyborgs and the Drones?



Now, if we still assume that the Hive has gotten techs from somewhere we are left with three choices: the Pirates, the AI or the Drones. If the Hive has met them, the AI is actually a possibility, considering the tweaks Googlie has given them. The Drones are not very likely, considering their slow research. Perhaps we should ask the pirates what techs they have traded with the Hive, and how they think the Hive reached Industrial Automation so quickly. They might lie, of course, but I'd still feel wiser if I knew what they have to say.

[Minute Mirage]

Originally posted by Archaic
It's possible that the Pirates, knowing that we don't really pose a threat to them, Pacted with us only for the Commerce income, and the potential to exploit our superior research. Hell, it's probably more than likely that's their only reasons. And I'd say they already had infiltration on us, and so knew we were coming close to Gene Splicing.

That's possible, but there's no harm done so far. We also benefit from the increased commerce and we haven't traded Gene Splicing yet. I'm a bit worried about the infiltration aspect, because the Pirates do have probe foils and we don't have probe defenses of any kind.

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Minute Mirage

I didn't know that, thanks. I had assumed that messing with the commlink buttons of the factions we haven't met yet is forbidden but it seems this isn't so? Or is it only OK if a faction you have met has met the faction whose commlink you're playing with?

It is allowed to pry into all factions, whether met or not

On a related issue, you said earlier that it's acceptable to check what techs you have that an another faction doesn't have by offering these techs to them in the trade screen. Is it OK to do this to factions we haven't met yet, i.e. the Hive, the Cyborgs and the Drones?

As above, it is allowed to investigate techs for all factions, whether met or not

G.

[Minute Mirage]

Originally posted by Googlie


It is allowed to pry into all factions, whether met or not



As above, it is allowed to investigate techs for all factions, whether met or not

G.

Once again, thanks for confirming this.

Ok then, here are the techs we have and the other factions don't:

Hive:

Industrial Base
Social Psych
Doctrine: Mobility
Doctrine: Flexibility
Ethical Calculus
Secrets of the Human Brain
Gene Splicing

Cyborgs:

Ethical Calculus
Secrets Of The Human Brain
Gene Splicing

Pirates:

Biogenetics
Ethical Calculus
Secrets of the Human Brain
Gene Splicing

Drones:

Biogenetics
Doctrine: Mobility
Doctrine: Flexibility
Secrets of the Human Brain
Gene Splicing


This means that the Hive has indeed traded techs, because they haven't researched Industrial Base yet. We're also the only human faction to have researched Gene Splicing.

[Minute Mirage]

I don't have many comments regarding the turn 2140, except that I'd still rather build a farm than a solar collector in the square (77,37). I'd also like to build some probe foils in University Base sooner or later.

[Archaic]

Turn summary

Former switched to farm from solar collector in (77,37). The "accumulated turns" were not lost, and the farm was completed as of this turn.

University Base has begun production of another Supply Crawler. This was rushed for 26 credits to give us a 10 min overrun again.

A 0-1-1 Probe, the "Librarian", was designed, but not begun production anywhere.

All bases which finished construction have begun creating more crawlers.

Zoloto Gold production switched to a Former from Supply Crawler (We need more Forests for these things to crawl)

Our scout at (11,27) has sighted a monolith. It's likely that another faction may be nearby.

Pirates have all the commlinks.

Hive now has Doc. Mobile.

[Minute Mirage]

I'll just post some random comments based on my observations of turn 2141:

The Pirates have signed a treaty with the Drones and a pact with the Hive. This means that they are now pacted with all the human faction except the Drones and we can't by any means be certain of their diplomatic leanings.

Some spy information on the Hive:

They're pacted with both the Pirates and the Drones.

They have researched or otherwise obtained the following techs:

Biogenetics
Information Networks
Applied Physics
Doctrine: Mobility
Centauri Ecology
Planetary Networks
Doctrine: Flexibility
Doctrine: Loyalty
Ethical Calculus
Industrial Economics
Industrial Automation
Gene Splicing

They are researching Ecological Engineering.


Archaic, I wonder if it's prudent to use the in-game communication channels? If I've understood it correctly, the messages are somehow visible in the save file.

[Googlie]

[Archaic]

I'm going to have to get over that nasty habit. While I generally assume people are going to play fair and by the book, frankly, I don't trust Tass as far as I could throw him.

[Minute Mirage]

Archaic, I trust you will be playing the turn? The 48 hour limit is soon approaching.

[Archaic]

I didn't even know the turn was ours. If you're able, could you play it? I won't be back home with my SMAC/X for another 6 hours or so from this post.