2108 end turn + 2109 discussion

[Chaunk]

Industrial Economics! Free market () put into full swing. Centauri Ecology is our next target (Although I was severly tempted to go for Planetary Networks and then indauto one turn earlier than planned, but didn't.). We'll get our next tech in 5 turns unless we can pop 4 pods in three turns or find an extra labs point from somewhere. Tech cost is 54, tech per turn is 12 at 30/0/70. We have 4 accumulated at the start of this turn.

Moved MorInd scout NW, and discovered a mind worm! Little surprised by that, it usually means we have active opponents somewhere nearby, but I think we can rule that out? I moved the independent scout north to cover MorInd just in case. Probably unnecessary but we can't afford to lose a base at this stage.

Eastern scout moved north.

Chairman Yang now leads in all categories except tech, where we lead. That includes energy by the way, we only have 96 e.c. and an income of a measly 1 per turn.

Next turn, we should probably set sliders to 50/0/50 so as to increase our income. We'll still be getting CentEcol in 5 turns (2113).

[Chaunk]

Our end turn view, including mind worm

[Chaunk]

Power chart 2108. Risers this turn:
Gaia - first tech?
Hive - could be anything... probably a tech I'd think?
Uni - Could be a tech, more likely a new base though I think.
Morgan - IndEcon
Pks - first tech?

Non movers-
Angels and Spartans. Both being lazy this turn

[Whoha]

think the gaians have any native units yet?

[Chaunk]

All but certianly. A single mindworm though wouldn't have much effect on the power graph, so it's hard to tell. 100e.c.s has up until now been roughly equivilent to a probe team or a rover, so it seems likely that the angels have popped a unit or two from pods. Or possibly the game only counts e.c. power in units of 100, and we've just dropped below that. We'll find out in a few turns if that's the case.

[arginine]

What are the odds of a popped pod giving a transport? If the odds are good, we might want to try popping pods on the coast. A single transport will be enough to reach other factions and, we can push off getting doc: flex for quite a while.

[jtsisyoda]

Excellent!

Agreed on the 50/0/50 next turn. With the increased energy of FM, inefficiency losses are increased, too. I concur on the 30/0/70 for this turn, though, to make sure we still get CE in 5 turns.

If we want to try to push it to 4 turns, I suggest 50/0/50, but working the energy bonus. The net node's effective bonus is +60% (5+3) in that situation. We'd need more pods, though. One every turn, actually. Not likely.

Good choice on Cent Eco. Roads will help the CP's scoot about and the crawlers converge.

That worm's appearance is a little strange. It's early, though, so our scout should be ok. Assuming that, I suggest the southern scout go SW along the river, the eastern scout pop the pod, and the western scout continue N.

Should we try for a node with the pod pop? We don't want to delay the CP too much. I suppose we could disband a scout there to help it along. We could also do the expensive early rush of 4 ec's per min for the first ten mins (set to E-bank, rush to ten, switch to CP). This would be equivalent to buying a Node for 40 ec's or less... a real bargain, actually.

Considering our cash situation right now, I suggest rushing fully to completion for most things, as a general guideline. Right now, rushing so it barely completes just delays the next rush-buy.

[Chaunk]

Well growth is (IIRC) 5 turns, so NetNode next turn leaves 4 turns of full mins income (4*3=12) and an extra turn of just the base production when we've got a doctor set, so we'd have 13/30 produced. The CP would then cost ~50 ec to rush to completion, which is nothing I think, when compared to the gains from the net node.

In other words, yep lets definatly try for a net node from the pods. This is the last turn to do so though I think.

If we get a net node, then we need to look again at out slider situation, but we're getting past the stage where an extra few labs points from pod popping is useful. It might be now worth changing to a "No pod popping except within a base radius" policy after this last try for a node?

CwJ on scout movement. The inde scout moving north was entirely a precautionary measure, which will probably be unnecessary. Better safe than sorry though I think at this stage, so we'll have to see how the western scout fares at the end of this turn. If it's heavily damaged then I suggest recalling it, and disbanding it towards the CP in MorInd or MorMet if we manage to pop another net node.

[jtsisyoda]

If we disband a scout, I prefer rushing the CP, then disbanding the scout toward a former. That way we don't have to wait as long for the former to get to 10 mins.

With our good energy income, you might be right about the pod lab points. Having two more bases soon will definitely make that true.

[Chaunk]

Disbanding the scout towards the CP in MorMet (assuming a net node) would save us ~20 e.c.s. Towards a former in the same situation it saves us a turn and 5e.c.s. Is one former turn worth 15 e.c.s?

If we don't pop a net node, then absolutly, towards the former not the CP. Just trying to cover all bases in "if... then" scenarios

[#endgame]

Soon I'll have forming to do!

-- CTO #endgame

[jtsisyoda]

Ok, Chaunk, I see what you mean. That's cool.

endgame, look at our map and see if you can come up with an efficient road network. We want CP's and crawlers to have good mobility. Flat squares take the least time to road-- just one turn. Rolling is two and Rocky is 4 turns, I think. Add a turn for a river. Is forest just +1 cost to roading, too? I usually road, then forest over it, rather than the other way around (although there are exceptions).

[AndiD]

Forest roading is always 3, and 4 for forest +river.

[Chaunk]

Always road and then forest. The terraforming cost is massive otherwise...

Turns up, but I might not be able to play for another 10 hours or so. Jt, if you want to jump in then feel free.

[jtsisyoda]

Ok, I'll go ahead and open it. I'll post an almost-complete turn for discussion. Then I'll be at work until 4am GMT, so Chaunk, you can open it and do the finishing touches. No need to wait that long. (Barring some crisis!) :fingers crossed: