The "While We Wait" Game

[Skanky Burns]

The password to the minigame is vigilant.

Anyone who wants to play this one can. Cheers!

Originally posted by Maniac
Thanks. :-) I've played since the save was waiting for a few hours already. I couldn't resist. I hope you guys don't mind, as I played a possibly rather unorthodox opening.
Here's the presend file:

http://apolyton.net/upload/view.php?file=3088_ACDGMinigame-Sparta2102presend.zip

As you can see, I already immediately used our two CPs to start bases two tiles from each other.
Reasons:
1> The sooner you build the bases, the sooner you get resources from them. Every turn matters in the beginning.
2> With this positioning, they both are on rivers. And one energy extra can really make a difference early on.
3> They both have access to a bonus tile (nut and min).

Rover was chosen as the production for Parade Ground, because if I built a scout instead and next turn had to begin on a CP, the CP would have been finished before the base would've grown. Also this way we'll soon have a second exploration unit.
Unfortunately I haven't see any Unity pods yet in the neighbourhood. :-(

http://apolyton.net/upload/view.php?...105presend.zip

Originally posted by Maniac
A pod was popped with 25c in it.
Also Parade Ground finished the rover. That rover has located another pod which will be popped next year.
Production to Parade Ground is set to a colony pod for now. Though perhaps changing it to a former in two turns when we get CentEcol would also be a good idea.

Btw, if anyone else wants to play, go ahead of course! :-)

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Yeah, I'll give it a whirl if I happen to see the save game before anyone else interested.

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Did a little exploration. A dimensional rift from a pod in the north cloned our other rover, and the southern rover popped us a unity foil.

Originally posted by Maniac
Wow brilliant. Our exploration future is assured.

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
MY 2109 - continued exploration with our three rovers and foil, didn't pop anything. Decided to hurry the colony pod at Sparta Command with 20 credits to get the pod on the move ASAP, the base will grow to 2 next turn. That means we need to decide on a base location.

Note: I'm not sure if we'll get the pod without abandoning Sparta on the next turn, but I decided to hurry regardless - if we need to delay production, it'll be my fault, but it's only a few creds so I took the risk. And I won't be turnplaying anyway with the real game.

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
MY 2110 - It appears my fears proved true, it does check the production before checking the pop. I took a 3nut1min worker off to ramp up the psych and counter the drone from 2 pop, and a colony pod will be finished in 2111. Two pods popped, only mineral and nut resources revealed. Our foil found a wormie down southeast. Also chose us a new tech, I went for Applied Physics to get Laser.

Now we need to decide on a base location:


Personally I am not an ICS proponent, so I'd put the third base three squares southeast of the southern reaches of the Sparta Command area, on the coast, so that the two bases won't overlap. The location would cover three nut resources, one erg resource and two rivers, plus lots of lush land. (The rover is covering the other nut res.)

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
MY 2111.

The rover in the south encountered a Peacekeeper scout patrol. I didn't reply their hail, but I'm fairly sure that you'll agree that this opens up an excellent opportunity to practice our momemntum trait.

We'll have laser in a few turns and can then start churning out Recon Rovers. I'm not quite sure what our bases should produce in the meantime - scout patrols to police and defend might be a good idea? I left the ColPod orders in since the other one will be finished in 3 turns and the Sparta Command CP won't reach >10 mins finished when I switch it next turn.

The rover at the dunes popped some solar collectors and has finished studying that part of the continent, the northernmost rover found out that the isthmus isn't really an isthmus at all and it's now also free for war operations.

I also sent the SpaCom CP on its merry way, it's heading to the location I specified in the above post.

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Mission Year 2112 - the two rovers at north are heading down south, the other will report at Sparta Command, the other will study the area directly northeast of Sparta Command, where the Peacekeeper holdings probably lie. The southern rover tried to pop a pod but got blocked by a PK scout patrol, we shall see what'll come out of this stand-off (should've probably demanded withdrawal from them). The CP is on it's way, SC will produce a scout patrol in a few turns, we'll have Laser in four turns and our other base will go to pop 2 next turn, will produce a CP in 5 turns (that'll stretch when I'll have to divert a worker to psych).

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
2113 - just a continuation of previous plans, nothing special. I'm itching to kick some Peacekeeper butt though

Who knows if it will continue or not though.

[Kassiopeia]

2114. I used the nifty river between Sparta Command and Parade Ground to take our scout patrol to police there, as PD now has more pop than Sparta Command for the time being. SC will churn out its own Scout Patrol in a few turns.

I sent our free rover at the PK border deep into their territory to both provoke them and to see what they've got there. The foil ran into the southern polar area, I'll probably bring it back north alongside that island string.

Laser in three turns, IIRC.

[Maniac]

Hi Kassi, I had a look at the latest turn MY 2114. Things are looking good.
I was wondering, what would you think of moving that CP one tile further to (68.78)? That way we'd have an extra energy in our base square.
Also what would be your opinion about working that nutrient bonus near Sparta Command, and instead working that mineral bonus by Parade Ground?
(Though of course I haven't seen what you've done during MY 2114, so perhaps you already placed the second PD worker there. )

[Kassiopeia]

I don't honestly remember what I did on MY 2114... I'll consider those things when I get 2115. One tile further... you mean on the river? Sure, why not.

(This is why I'm not a good turnplayer, I don't have the tendency to stop by and consider the small things )

[Kassiopeia]

2115. Okay. The pod was already moving to the square you mentioned, Maniac, against my previous plans. Weird. Well, all is well. I sent our new CP to the same direction, there should be another nice base site along that coast. I also redirected the workers as you suggested.

Now, initial intel would show that the PK's might be restricted to only one base. Also, my explorers discovered something very interesting within their territory: the Borehole Cluster.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Now, initial intel would show that the PK's might be restricted to only one base.

Hmm, would it be worth going after him right now then? We'd have to build some laser or impact rovers, while right now the only payback could be one or two bases. He should have Biogenetics though. How about researching to PlaNets and probes and see if we can... err... "acquire" that tech?

[Kassiopeia]

Hmm, you mean letting the prey grow fat before hunting it down? Or better still, milking it for all it's worth? Those boreholes won't be of much use before we can have the min and erg restrictions lifted, either.

We'll get laser in three turns. I think I did see a PK CP leave UN HQ up north. We could pull back from PK territory and leave it at that, and maybe expand with a few more bases. If they wish to declare vendetta, vendetta it is.

[Kassiopeia]

2117. Screenshot:



Red circles signify what I think might be good base locations. Parade Ground will grow in pop in eight turns, the CP will be finished in nine.

[Googlie]

The 2118 turn was in the general forum - here it is (unopened)

[Zeiter]

Yeah, I think we should leave Lal to himself for now. Let him fatten up, as you say. We could even add to plumping him up by giving him some techs so that he'll have several for us when the time comes to collect some tech from him. Kind of like how one gives techs to submissives. I don't think we need to be too worried about making him too strong (although it would probably be a good idea to withhold NLmath and High energy chemistry from him until he's a submissive. That will just make the conquest easier and more painless.)

[Kassiopeia]

2118. Sparta Command finished a scout patrol, I set it to build a former. We finished researching Applied Physics though so we might consider Recon Rovers. I selected IndBase as next tech, aiming for IndAut.

My general idea regarding terraforming for now is to plant forests and crawl them for minerals, and build a road network between bases to make deploying forces swift. Fort Superiority is building a colony pod, Parade Ground is building a scout rover though I'll switch that to a former asap.

[Kassiopeia]

2119. Did some exploring. Took a good hard look at the population growth and policing abilities of all bases and decided to produce at least one more colony pod from each of them. The coast with rivers and rainy squares has lots of ideal base spots.

[Kassiopeia]

2120-2122. Not much. Exploration with the rovers mainly. Oh, there was one thing. A haphazard scout party ventured off east of UN Headquarters deep into PK territory. They discovered the wreckage of the Unity, completely untouched. In 2122 they managed to recover a scout chopper which is on its way to Fort Superiority. In 2123 I hope we'll get the nav beacon.

We also had a dimension rift clone one of our rovers down south. Refitting these guys with real weapons ought to pay off with the inevitable clash with the PKs.

[Kassiopeia]

2124. Popped 150 credits and the nav beacon from Unity. Lal is getting grouchy, so a withdrawal from PK territory is probably imminent. Hurried the CP in Sparta Command to speed things up.

Screenshot, notice the locations of the other factions in the minimap:

[Maniac]

I had a look at MY 2127. Things are looking good.
Btw, a little tip. I noticed you don't use stockpile energy in the build queue after unit productions. If you would, we'd get a few extra credits after every unit produced. Every bit helps to defeat our opponents.