MY 2167 Planning Thread

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Maniac
Open the commlink menu on the right. Rightclick on Yang, and then click the option that asks to withdraw troops. Even works under solar spots IIRC.

Aha - I'd forgotten that.

(And invoking the parallel diplomacy gambit, Yang will withdraw)

But I still say that we should try and frame Morgan - the longer term benefits of an almost perpetual Morgan-Hive war far outweigh any short-term disadvantages to us - we can always use the capture-return of a Hive base to sue for peace in the future if Yang gets nasty again

[Modo44]

Originally posted by Googlie
But I still say that we should try and frame Morgan - the longer term benefits of an almost perpetual Morgan-Hive war far outweigh any short-term disadvantages to us

True. And it frees the transport for you-know-what.

Originally posted by Googlie
- we can always use the capture-return of a Hive base to sue for peace in the future if Yang gets nasty again

Will it work? I know it gets tougher each time in Civ3, up to a point where no talks happen, ever. Is it easier in SMAX?

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Modo44
Will it work? I know it gets tougher each time in Civ3, up to a point where no talks happen, ever. Is it easier in SMAX?

I sim-tested it after the last one we did a turn or so ago, and it certainly worked every iteration for a second time. (I didn't go beyond that, though)

[vishniac]

Î'm scared of a vendetta against Yang, not to talk about Lal, while we're still against Morgan and the Gaians.

Couldn't we frame Morgan, then, if successful, ask a troop withdrawal?
Can we leave fundamentalism to regain the favor of Yang, or do you really want war?
I know it's hard to take time to discuss that when we must soon give the turn.

[Modo44]

Since Yang leaves when asked, I say we tell him to leave before we try to frame Morgan. This way we will have it easier, should that fail. And yes, I think leaving fundamentalism is a viable option, if the framing works. We can, and should keep trying to win Yang over as long as he does not declare vendetta openly. If he does, he dies.

So for now:

• Ask Yang to leave.
• Frame Morgan.
• If Framed succesfully, switch off Fundy - go Frontier.

As to being afraid of Yang, what Googlie says is enough to convince me. Even if we go back to war, we will have the option of ending it quickly.

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Modo44
Since Yang leaves when asked, I say we tell him to leave before we try to frame Morgan.

I agree. Get those units back into Laborers' Throng, then try the frame-up.

If unsuccessful, and if Yang declares vendetta, we can always send our two B-4's at MT on a bombing run

[Googlie]

Just to avoid confusion - Maniac, you're playing this turn, right?

(I've opened and closed it several times, not by saving, but just by exiting)

[Maniac]

Oh, I thought you were gonna play it.

I'll download the turn now (forgot to download it to my laptop...), and play some. I probably won't be able to do everything though, so someone else will probably have to do the latest tweaks before sending on the turn.

However our SMAX ownership has greatly increased lately, so I assume this won't be a problem.

[Googlie]

Ignore this post

[Maniac]

I had to play in a rush because my faculty's network node closes soon... Therefore I didn't make a full report of everything I've already done, just the highlights:

• The Hive has withdrawn from our territory!
• We succesfully framed the Corporation!!! Oh, and 11 credits wired to our reserves.
• The veteran B-6 destroyed that veteran plasma sentinels in Vander Eudaimonics. 70% damaged.
• B-6 over at Gagarin Memorial flew out to kill that crawler-artifact stack. Mission succesful... and artifact captured and teleported to Fort Liberty!
• Fungal Tower flamed. 60 credits acquired.
• Skanky's Sileni started worm hunting and already had success (a worm appeared inside the IH base radius ). No capture though, but got 20 credits worth of planet pearls.
  
  Now follows the bad news:
  
• Popped a pod with the Disco Volante while it had only 3 MPs left, and an IoD appeared. I'm afraid it might be attacked next turn... The probe is elite and has trance ability, so it'll survive for sure, but will of course be damaged, and have less MPs as a consequence.
• Err... I'm afraid we lost a commando B-4 while attacking the second Vander Eudaimonics defender. I thought it would be an easy killing since it was green, but apparently not... A second B-4 then rallied to finish the job, and it killed the defender along with two attorneys (but is now also 90% damaged ). Vander Eud is now empty and ripe for the taking. This defeat is a an example of the point I'm trying to make though: we don't have the forces to invade Terrapeso. To destroy those plasma sentinels we need commando B-6s. As of now, our air force mainly consist of hardened and commando B-4s. So we have to make a choice I think: invade Terrapeso, or popboom.

I stopped playing the turn then with lots of stuff still to do for the simple reason I have no idea what our plans are.

Do we want to withdraw the Gaian taskforce to have more units for a Corporate invasion, or do we want to continue with their current mission of harassing the Gaians?

What do we want to produce in our bases?? Further aircraft in FB, OA & FS, or civil production (eg formers)? I've set most bases that had finished their production to crawlers (we can never fo wrong with those in case we don't know what to do), but we might want to change their production, depending on our decision.

I won't be able to come online again before the deadline passes, so someone else will have to complete the turn.

[Modo44]

Originally posted by Maniac

• The Hive has withdrawn from our territory!
• We succesfully framed the Corporation!!! Oh, and 11 credits wired to our reserves.
• The veteran B-6 destroyed that veteran plasma sentinels in Vander Eudaimonics. 70% damaged.
• B-6 over at Gagarin Memorial flew out to kill that crawler-artifact stack. Mission succesful... and artifact captured and teleported to Fort Liberty!
• Fungal Tower flamed. 60 credits acquired.
• Skanky's Sileni started worm hunting and already had success (a worm appeared inside the IH base radius ). No capture though, but got 20 credits worth of planet pearls.

GREAT!!!

Originally posted by Maniac [*]Popped a pod with the Disco Volante while it had only 3 MPs left, and an IoD appeared. I'm afraid it might be attacked next turn... The probe is elite and has trance ability, so it'll survive for sure, but will of course be damaged, and have less MPs as a consequence.

Hey, it lives, right? Good enough and no biggie.

Originally posted by Maniac [*]Err... I'm afraid we lost a commando B-4 while attacking the second Vander Eudaimonics defender. I thought it would be an easy killing since it was green, but apparently not... A second B-4 then rallied to finish the job, and it killed the defender along with two attorneys (but is now also 90% damaged ). Vander Eud is now empty and ripe for the taking. This defeat is a an example of the point I'm trying to make though: we don't have the forces to invade Terrapeso. To destroy those plasma sentinels we need commando B-6s. As of now, our air force mainly consist of hardened and commando B-4s. So we have to make a choice I think: invade Terrapeso, or popboom.

Good point. We would need B-6s exclusively for that. Maaning, a possible invasion has to be delayed. We can still prepare an offensive task force to strike either Yang or Morgan as needed, so I think that should be done in any case.

Originally posted by Maniac
Do we want to withdraw the Gaian taskforce to have more units for a Corporate invasion, or do we want to continue with their current mission of harassing the Gaians?

I say we move them back home for the inevitable backstab by Yang. Remember the old plan of taking 2 bases and making a choke point against the Hive? It seems it was a good prediction of our best move...

Originally posted by Maniac
What do we want to produce in our bases?? Further aircraft in FB, OA & FS, or civil production (eg formers)? I've set most bases that had finished their production to crawlers (we can never fo wrong with those in case we don't know what to do), but we might want to change their production, depending on our decision.

Formers, then structures. Whatever happens, we have enough units to pass 1 or 2 "civilian" things in most bases.

Now, I could finish the turn, but I have no clue about the reloading. I never played a PBEM in SMAC or SMAX, and would not want to mess things up...

[Modo44]

Ok, I downloaded the save now, and will finish the moves described in this thread. Hopefully without causing any major disasters.

Actions taken:

• Finished moving the Crawlers as suggested.
• Moved the fleet away from the Gaians. Two teams of two ships each (some parnoia onboard ).
• Moved the healthy B-4 from MT to Sector Craterwest.

[Modo44]

It says the turn is complete now. We have 311 credits in reserve, running -3 per turn. We could trush two or three Crawlers, or upgrade some units (mostly to Non-Lethal Methods, preparing for the popboom?). Actually, we can do the Crawlers and upgrade some units and have cash left.

Should we switch some builds to infrastructure/Formers already? There seems to be an awful lot of Crawlers going up - Crawlers that might have trouble finding places to use. And even if not, they take turns to make - turns that hold up other things. The thing is, Googlie, you can't survive on potential infrastructure that could be built quickly. You need to actually start building it at some point.

Suggestions?

EDIT: The deadline is, in my case, tomorrow morning at around 9 AM. This is comfortable, so I will finish it if nobody else does. I suggest rushing at least two Crawlers and upgrading some MPs to Non-Lethal Methods. I would not know with which ones to start upgrading, so it would be better if others could do that. Good night.

[Googlie]

I've downloaded the turn - now that someone else has saved a midturn I can save it then open it on my rig without a double-play message being given

So I can finish it and post it

[Googlie]

Some additional moves:

• Put the FL crawler to work at the mine
• Flew out MT’s B-4 to provide air cover for the returning fleet (to see if mayhaps any Morgan vessel was hiding) and turned up a slew of Hive troops massing in the fungus (see below)
• Gave orders to some Tomcat crews that were just lollygagging around (2Nuts strand – put them on forest planting (where would a road go there?); Tomcat FB (at Messena) on roadbuilding
• Changed a couple of build orders – FL and Ironholm from a Former (2 turns) to a Fungiformer (3 turns) – we’ll more than recoup that extra turn when they halve the time in clearing fungus prior to forestation

Final save in next post, before hitting "turn complete" and sending on