Lordship of Development - volume II

[binTravkin]

If we are going for Boreholes, should we start building one or two then?

Yes as soon as any of the formers has no oders!

[Chaos Theory]

We do need more formers, and we should start on a borehole, but realistically, we don't need to start sooner than ~8 turns before we get EcoEng, since we can build them pretty quickly, but our tech will take a while.

[livid imp]

Originally posted by binTravkin
3.To East we have quite a bunch of sea and 2 AIs on a continent too far to even make them consider landing any force on ours, and giving that they have no reason to do it and no skills in doing it.

I thought that Morgan was to our east ....not that they would be attacking anytime soon.

Originally posted by binTravkin
4.To North we have Hive who poses a little threat right now, but which can be eliminated very quickly after building Sea Former (sunk the landbridge).

Sinking the land bridge will be a time consuming process, plus the sea former could be attacked before finishing. Discussing convetional defense is still a good idea.

Originally posted by binTravkin
Do you think that Spartans are so stupid to come for us when they need to defend their homes at first.
Hive is more liklely to be going for Spartans (due to small distance)

First, the Hive and Sparta are under treaty. Unless some crafty faction were to frame them for some covert action , they would not be top on Yang's conquor list.

Originally posted by binTravkin
And finally - after we get EcoEng, and particularly Env Eco and BioEng, we can decide where to go next, because those techs give us great strenght, even military (considered building Neural Amplifier for native armies?).

Yes the NAmp is a very important SP for us, but we must secure some IoDs to really make it shine. Between IoDs and the land bridge problem, Doc:Flex is my top priority tech, but we have it coming already. Once we have enough IoDs and toppled the land bridge, we may not even need plasma armor.

The option to leapfrog Doc:Flex-->Doc:Init and thus build the MCC, is to further strengthen our future control of the seas using IoDs is valuable. I just don't see it as valuable as pushing for the NAmp or Doc:AP.

[Chaos Theory]

Morgan is probably diagonally across Yang, to the northwest.

The sea former *could* be attacked, but probably won't. Besides IoDs, what would attack it? Once started, it should take 6 or 8 turns.

The Hive seems like the aggressive type. I don't think the treaty between them and Sparta is particularly strong.

The Neural Amp is nice. For it, we need SotHB and then Neural Grafting. I still think boreholes are a higher priority, as with Environmental Economics they will greatly boost our research rate.

[binTravkin]

Sinking the land bridge will be a time consuming process, plus the sea former could be attacked before finishing. Discussing convetional defense is still a good idea.

And WHO will sink it?
Do you see from Hive infiltration screens thay have any attack foils?
And even if they had - why would an AI consider attacking former instead of popping a few pods (i've noticed this in many of my SP - if AI hasn't got lots of fleet, he'll be rather going to pop pods)?
Also - do you see any port near that location (for fleet to be transfered immediately)?

How much a "conventional defense" costs?
Let's say we put a synthmetal sentinel and MW there - they 2 cost the same amount as a Sea former, but they will be destroyed in not more than 2 turn when standing up to Hive Impacts.

Sinking is the cheapest and most long-term defense that we can have (as AI rises land VERY rarely and not for attack purposes)!

First, the Hive and Sparta are under treaty. Unless some crafty faction were to frame them for some covert action , they would not be top on Yang's conquor list.

Believe me, they will be either the 1st or 2nd on this list, I was AI diplomacy advisor once, remember?

Treaty doesn't mean much if someone steals SP Yang wants, is close to him, and much weaker.

We are 3rd on this list as we are very weak, but still close, sinking the bridge will make us last ones in this list (AI counts land access as very important, but not for diplomacy - he can have V'dtta, but will rarely transport troops and transport efficiently and in big numbers).

The Neural Amp is nice. For it, we need SotHB and then Neural Grafting. I still think boreholes are a higher priority, as with Environmental Economics they will greatly boost our research rate.

Yes, first we go for Env Eco, then consider Doc:Ini or Neural Graft. We DO NOT NEED to research D:AP!

[Illuminatus]

People, look at Angel diplomacy thread. I see an opportunity to get IntInt and Calculus, what do you say?

[Chaos Theory]

Looks *very* interesting. I have to wonder how the Spartans would react to us if they knew we have Doc: Loyalty, but the more desperate they are, the better. They'd only give us 1 tech with substantial drawbacks, but they'll give the Angels 3? Very odd.

[binTravkin]

They'd only give us 1 tech with substantial drawbacks, but they'll give the Angels 3? Very odd.

They're desperate to get it + want to worsen our relations..

[binTravkin]

I have a better plan - tell Angels, that Sparta has Eth Calc and tell them to change conditions of the deal such:

1. Soc Psych -> Eth Calc

And no D:Mob, so the deal (S : DA) sounds

EthCalc + Doc:Flex for Doc:Loy

I think Spartans will accept

The deal (G : DA) will then be:

Doc:Loy for EthCalc + Doc:Flex, so DA will effectively be our dealmakers ( )

If DA don't agree to this, add Soc Psych from our side to this deal!

so it's
Soc:Psy + Doc:Loy for EthCalc + Doc:Flex


AND do it FAST, so they have not much time to think and we do not lose this UNIQUE opportunity


About IntInt - you can read about it in Research goals thread - we will trade this project for EcolEng + something as we don't really need CDF

So we switch our research to EcolEng and make this AWESOME deal and later trade for IntInt with Spartans!

[Chaos Theory]

Just a few hours left before I need to play the turn, though we don't necessarily need to offer anything this turn to enable a trade like this.

[Illuminatus]

I am dizzy, but sofar I understand we will research Ethical Calculus. Am I correct?

[Chaos Theory]

I don't know anymore. However, EthCalc is not on our list of techs we can start research on this turn.

[binTravkin]

I am dizzy, but sofar I understand we will research Ethical Calculus. Am I correct?

Read my cmart offer another time - Eth Calc will be transfered to DA by Spartans, then to us:

Deal sounds:

We give DA Doc:Loy and D:Mob and if they do not accept, add Soc Psych to sweeten up, they request EthCalc + Doc:Flex from Spartans and give em Doc:Loy, that's all folks!

Spartans get:
Doc:Loy

DA get:
Doc Mob, Doc Flex, Soc Psych (?), Eth Calc, Doc: Loy

We get
Doc Flex(!), Eth Calc (!!)


We research EcolEng!

Please, diplomats, take on this deal project, it could be VERY good to us with those 2 L2 techs!

You can of course change the terms, but the goal is to get EthCalc & Doc:Flex for giving Doc:Loy! (it is profit to both us and DA)

[Illuminatus]

If we disagree on this matter, I believe it is best to choose Doc: Flex, as a manner of gaining time to decide what will we choose (we will get from Angels in couple of turns, and by then we can decide what to research, Eth: Cal or EcoEng). I don't believe Spartans will give Eth: Cal to Angels. I don't think we can predict Angel and Spartan reactions. Angels will want to build CDF, which may be a very importan tech - it grants free PDs in every base, and since choppers cannot attack bases, and building a fleet of needles to cover for choppers is expensive (and remember, they can attack every other turn lest be sacrficed) land attacks are viable option for assault of bases. CDF can double effectivness of armor, and if in 10-20 turn we find ourselves under attack (or in offense) you will find that doubling armor defense strength with indestructible PDs will be very valuable - Plasma+PD nets a strength powerful enough to withstand attack of land units, or causing them to lose much health during the assault.

[Chaos Theory]

We cannot research EthCalc this turn. The only real choice is EcoEng or HEC, and pretty much everyone has said EcoEng.