Game Discussion, Turn 2121 - 2140

[Googlie]

I'd switch OA to a probe team and SC2 to a 2-1-2 (or we could use the 10 minerals at OA to kickstart another Network Node or Command Center instead of a unit? - although we do need probe teams commissioned to staff that trannie)

[Zeiter]

Okay, probe team at OA and 2-1-2 at SC2 then.

Next turn, we:
*Call up Zak again and try to buy Lal's commlink
*Let SCC Invincible repair
*Continue exploring/pod popping with rovers
*Hope that the Morganites or Data Angels have bought our commlink from Yang

Do we need to start thinking about what we will say to either team if they contact us next turn? I wonder if this deal would work:

1. Have Morganites give us IA in exchange for a promised trade of gene splicing.
2. Contact Zakharov, trade IA for gene splicing (would he be willing to do it? I would think so. We could test it in the simulator, perhaps.)
3. Contact Morgan again, deliver gene splicing as promised.

Morganites would gain gene splicing
Zak would gain IA
We would gain both!

If the Morganites wouldn't be up for that (such a deal would require them to really trust that we wouldn't take IA and run) we could throw in something else to sweeten the deal, like doc:mobility. C'mon, if you were the Morganites, you'd think trading IA for gene splicing+doc:mob would be a pretty sweet deal, would you not?

[Googlie]

I see that our 48 hour limit expires in about 1 hour.

Was Maniac going to finish and post the turn? (I can't - with my desktop - as I get the reload message even when I use Maniac's midturn save)

I'll assemble my laptop and sign on there, and use my own midgame sav (where I popped a mineral but no cloned rover, so no disbanding necessary with that one)

G.

[Drogue]

Because of the ruling and the changes needed (wrt which save to use, etc.) you have a 24 hour extension if you need it. Obviously it's better not to sue it, as it would show others that something has happened, but if you need it, it's there.

[Googlie]

Made it with 10 minutes to spare ( )

Maniac's prolly sound asleep right now !!

I have a clean turn via my laptop where I replicated everything done on my desktop except that I didn't sell Yang's commlink to Zak (nor did I change to planned in the middle of the turn), so I just completed that one as it's the same as Maniac's but without the cloned rover

G.

[Googlie]

So here are the complete moves taken during the 2125 turn:

• We now have Planetary Networks and are embarked upon Nonlinear Mathematics, with 5 lab points carried over (whatever that means - I'm not sure if we got 1 from getting the tech - wasn't that what Kody said earlier?)
• Olympus Academy founded - probe team put into production there
• Moved SCC Invincible east as suggested (only 3 turns) as Zeiter is right, we do know there's a Hive base there, so why waste moves confirming the obvious (plus, it avoids the automatic Yang commlink call to ask why our troops are frightening his chickens ... oh, wrong game!!)
• Rolling Thunder moved 1 tile north, and saw that there's a Unity pod just to its east. Popped the pod (a minerals special) and found Zak sitting offshore in a transport with a 1-1-1 disciplined scout .
• Zak wanted Yang's commlink number (refused it), then wanted Doc Flex, but wouldn't trade Gene Splicing for it. Woudn't Treaty, nor trade, so we mutually hung up.
• Moved R-112 and Chiron Knights in tandem one tile southwest then 1 west, prepping for popping that pod to their northwest
• Changed the worker at SC2 to work the crater tile for a 1-2-1 benefit.
• Changed production in SC2 to a 2-1-2 Recon Rover (name needed?) to get the benefit of the Command Center's +2 morale plus its own prototyping +1 morale)
• I left the sliders at 40/10/50 (6 income, breakthru in 12, at 11 labpoints per turn) - versus - 60/0/40 (9 income, breakthru in 17 at 8 labpoints per turn) It just didn't seem to make sense to take an almost 50% hit on research for a measly 3 credits

[Kassiopeia]

Good work. I hope our turns will be a bit faster after this one, otherwise we'll never get above average. (Not that I can complain since I don't play )

[Googlie]

Meeting with Zak:

[Googlie]

Some thoughts on R-112, Chiron Knights and SCC Invinvible

The 2 Rovers

Do we try to pop that pod next turn (ie with one of the 2 rovers' second movement points) relying on its mate to bail it out of any trouble (a mindworm won't appear in either of the 2 adjacent forest squares, but perhaps in either of the two fungus squares adjacent to that pod)

We're OK if it's a single mindworm event, but screwed if it's a multiple one (as the rover can only take out 1 of them with its second movement point)

I'd suggest that we move the weaker rover (R-112 I believe) north and northeast into the fungus to try and draw out a mindworm there that can trhen be attacked by Chiron Knights. That would end the turn with both rovers on the tile just southeast of the pod, with all mp's left for opening it next turn and rdealing with any threat.

And if they are damaged, there's that monolith just 3 tiles away to recuperate and repair at.

Naval Affairs

I'd be inclined to still move SCC Invincible next turn its 3 movement points east - at least we'll see if there is a landbridge hidden by that black seafog that's obscuring the view of the crew. After that it can recuperate and we can decide whether to move south in search of intelligent life, or proceed up our eastern coast towards where we think the University is.

[Googlie]

And here's our bases and production status for 2125:

[Zeiter]

Clipping together all of the important info into one or two screenies like that is great. Really saves on the load time.

You think we should wait one more turn to pop that southern pod? I think if a mind worm appeared, our rover could take it. They are both high morale. And the chances of it being a multiple event are pretty slim. We aren't at perihelion, are we? If we aren't then we don't have much to worry about.

I think this could be a good base site for the eastern coast. It's only 4 moves away from OA, and it has some good workable tiles in its radius (including that min special.)

[Googlie]

I like the idea of a base there. After SC1 has coompleted its former I suggest it farms that central tile at 60:18 (all 3 bases can use it) then build a road from OA to prep the new base site

(actually, if it lingered there for 4 moves and built a sensor array also at that central tile, it would add protection to all 3 bases within its 2-tile radius, and the former still could complete the road to the coast before OA's colony pod was ready)

Meanwhile, what do we do with Rolling Thunder? Wait to see what Zak does next, then react? Or just continue exploring our coastline north regardless?)

And we can rush SC3's colony pod next turn and pull Shinsengumi off garrison duty and move them down the Crater Lakes and then up the Rio Grande to bolster our Northeastern Expeditionary Force

[Zeiter]

Do you think that Zak might try to disembark that scout on our continent? I wouldn't think so, at least I hope not. Then we're going to either have to:
1. Demand a withdrawl (and get into vendetta probably)
2. Destroy it (and get into vendetta)
3. ZOC block it so that it can't get to our bases, and just wait and see if Zak withdraws it voluntarily. The bad thing is that that ties up a rover that we could be using for police duty/exploration.

So, we could wait a turn and see if Zak sails away (although that wouldn't necessarily guarantee anything, as Zak could just be sailing a little south in order to disembark closer to our bases.)

Or, we could just move our rover to the north and continue exploring, and hope that Zak doesn't disembark. I guess that's perhaps what we could do. Then, in a few turns, the Shinsengumi brigade will be coming up that way to intercept the scout if it tries any funny business up there by OA.

It's a pity that we couldn't get a treaty out of him. Maybe we can try again soon.

(actually, if it lingered there for 4 moves and built a sensor array also at that central tile, it would add protection to all 3 bases within its 2-tile radius, and the former still could complete the road to the coast before OA's colony pod was ready)

Sounds good. Let's see...8 turns for the farm and sensor array, 1 turn to move, 2 turns to road between OA and SC1, 1 turn to move, 2 turns to road, 1 to move, 1 to road, 1 to move, 1 to road.

I got 18 turns in all. That should work.

Rushing SC3's CP sounds good. Maybe we should just leave our energy allocations with an emphasis on econ production for a few turns. At this stage, it might be more important to get things rushed and hurried (as well as getting ECs for commlinks and switching to planned) than to get fast research. And the more quickly we get new bases founded, the more labs we'll get anyway.

BTW, I noticed that our boundaries with the Hive have been slightly redrawn. Yang must have built another base somewhat close to our territory. Actually, now that I look closely at it, it doesn't make any sense at all! It looks like Yang would have had to plant a base on land south of where our foil is right now in order to get the boundaries to behave that way. But as far as I can tell, that seems to be ocean. And our boundaries seem to have extended abnormally far towards Yang's territory. Because our territories now meet each other. Yet, we didn't plant any new bases to the south. Can you guys figure it out?

[Maniac]

Originally posted by Googlie
Maniac's prolly sound asleep right now !!

Nah. It was 3.30, and I had just gotten out of bed, preparing for work starting at 5 o'clock.

Originally posted by Zeiter
BTW, starting this thursday, I'm going to be posting a lot less. That may be a good thing or a bad thing.

Oh that's a pity. Is it a temporary or permanent thing?

BTW, I noticed that our boundaries with the Hive have been slightly redrawn. Yang must have built another base somewhat close to our territory. Actually, now that I look closely at it, it doesn't make any sense at all! It looks like Yang would have had to plant a base on land south of where our foil is right now in order to get the boundaries to behave that way. But as far as I can tell, that seems to be ocean. And our boundaries seem to have extended abnormally far towards Yang's territory. Because our territories now meet each other. Yet, we didn't plant any new bases to the south. Can you guys figure it out?

Yeah I've been wondering about that as well.

***

Edit: I've got a small question, as the discussion about production orders got me somewhat confused: Are we planning to send a transport with one or two probe teams to Yang?

[Zeiter]

Edit: I've got a small question, as the discussion about production orders got me somewhat confused: Are we planning to send a transport with one or two probe teams to Yang?

As of now, we're just sending one probe team, but we could increase that to two by switching SC2 production to a probe team. I don't believe we'd lose any minerals for retooling. Although do we need two probe teams just now? Why don't we just send one probe team over there right now to infiltrate the datalinks. Then we can build another after that one is finished and send two on the second run. If we send two probe teams on this first run, and we steal tech, we're going to get into a war with Yang, and I don't know if we want that just yet. Although we could try framing the Data Angels...

Oh that's a pity. Is it a temporary or permanent thing?

Semi-permanent, I'm afraid. This thursday I start work at a temporary job that runs for a few weeks until school starts, and then I've got school for the rest of the year. I still might be able to pop in briefly once a day, and then on the weekends catch up a bit, but I definitely won't be as active as I am now.