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I really have not figured out the pirates so I thought I would give them a try in a SP game while my internet was acting up and I could not see if I had any MP games. I decided to impose a number of restrictions to make the game harder
-- I could build no more than 4 bases and pod booming was not allowed
-- I could NEVER attack any unit of any faction that was in its own territory
-- I could not GIFT anything to anyone or give in to any extortion demands ( very useful to get pactmates or make friends when playing pacifist)-- if they would not trade then no deal
-- Probe teams COULD steal tech but no more than 2 from each faction-- I did not permit myself to probe control units
-- I could not build any SP that comes with a level 1,2,3 tech-- I believe my first project was the CBA-- and the key project was the Cloning vats since it allowed my bzses to boom to maximum size.
I figured these limits would prevent me from rolling over the AI militarily-- Obviously I could not conquer anyone LOL. Secondly I wanted to foreclose the option of gifting my way to friendship.
The combination worked in a sense as I had a war going with at least 2 factions for most of the game. I won by Transcendence in 2299. Basically I had no choice but to play builder . I established 2 sea bases and 2 on land ( 1 on each of 2 small islands bordering the seabases) and just built. My capital was my SSC and at one point had 30+ sea trawlers bringing in energy.
The hardest part was protecting my sea trawlers. Morgan was in the jungle and led the early tech race and was in air range of my bases and trawler field while domai established a seabase within range from the south. There was no good way to protect the crawlers ( normally I would just empty their close bases of attackers) but thankfully neither Domai or MOrgan got serious about attacking them until the late game ( I managed to stay at peace with both of them until I had a good tech lead). BY then I had the 4 reactor and armored a wall of them to prevent too much destruction. Interestingly, no aircraft EVER attacked a base of mine (other than a wild locust).
I did fear PBs and there was a window where Morgan was building them and I was vulnerable .. . BUt I had flechettes up pretty quick after he started and I tossed up 8 ODPs before he completed his PB. I ended the game with 4 bases between sizes 20-22, a trawler fleet of somewhere near 24 and about 50 total satellites.
AS a challenge it was an ok game. The inability to probe rape someone was big . You really had to figure if a tech was worth it if stealing it means you are unable to steal another from that faction. It would have been a much easier game without that restriction since Morgan had a number of vulnerable bases and I could have easily probed a bunch more techs from them.
I did see the AI sacrifice units for the first time in my experience. While the bulk of the AI planes would fly up and down my wall of trawlers without attacking, the AI on a couple of occasions suicide attacked my trawlers with a ship and then followed up with a successful air attack. I had never before seen an AI unit attack against such overwhelming odds for the purpose of allowing a subsequent unit to attack with favorable odds.
Overall, it was still an easy win but by limiting what I could do, it made for a more interesting game. UNrestricted I would have easily chopped and dropped the entire MOrgan empire since I had choppers before they even had planes--
I am thinking what I should do for my next challenge and I may do an OCC again or perhaps a no trawlers or no formers game-- let me know if you have a new and interesting challenge
-- I could build no more than 4 bases and pod booming was not allowed
-- I could NEVER attack any unit of any faction that was in its own territory
-- I could not GIFT anything to anyone or give in to any extortion demands ( very useful to get pactmates or make friends when playing pacifist)-- if they would not trade then no deal
-- Probe teams COULD steal tech but no more than 2 from each faction-- I did not permit myself to probe control units
-- I could not build any SP that comes with a level 1,2,3 tech-- I believe my first project was the CBA-- and the key project was the Cloning vats since it allowed my bzses to boom to maximum size.
I figured these limits would prevent me from rolling over the AI militarily-- Obviously I could not conquer anyone LOL. Secondly I wanted to foreclose the option of gifting my way to friendship.
The combination worked in a sense as I had a war going with at least 2 factions for most of the game. I won by Transcendence in 2299. Basically I had no choice but to play builder . I established 2 sea bases and 2 on land ( 1 on each of 2 small islands bordering the seabases) and just built. My capital was my SSC and at one point had 30+ sea trawlers bringing in energy.
The hardest part was protecting my sea trawlers. Morgan was in the jungle and led the early tech race and was in air range of my bases and trawler field while domai established a seabase within range from the south. There was no good way to protect the crawlers ( normally I would just empty their close bases of attackers) but thankfully neither Domai or MOrgan got serious about attacking them until the late game ( I managed to stay at peace with both of them until I had a good tech lead). BY then I had the 4 reactor and armored a wall of them to prevent too much destruction. Interestingly, no aircraft EVER attacked a base of mine (other than a wild locust).
I did fear PBs and there was a window where Morgan was building them and I was vulnerable .. . BUt I had flechettes up pretty quick after he started and I tossed up 8 ODPs before he completed his PB. I ended the game with 4 bases between sizes 20-22, a trawler fleet of somewhere near 24 and about 50 total satellites.
AS a challenge it was an ok game. The inability to probe rape someone was big . You really had to figure if a tech was worth it if stealing it means you are unable to steal another from that faction. It would have been a much easier game without that restriction since Morgan had a number of vulnerable bases and I could have easily probed a bunch more techs from them.
I did see the AI sacrifice units for the first time in my experience. While the bulk of the AI planes would fly up and down my wall of trawlers without attacking, the AI on a couple of occasions suicide attacked my trawlers with a ship and then followed up with a successful air attack. I had never before seen an AI unit attack against such overwhelming odds for the purpose of allowing a subsequent unit to attack with favorable odds.
Overall, it was still an easy win but by limiting what I could do, it made for a more interesting game. UNrestricted I would have easily chopped and dropped the entire MOrgan empire since I had choppers before they even had planes--
I am thinking what I should do for my next challenge and I may do an OCC again or perhaps a no trawlers or no formers game-- let me know if you have a new and interesting challenge
Actually, I have been working on a Challenge involving the Pirates that I am looking for some feedback/ second opinions on. Its slightly more difficult than a regular SP at this point, but it has some, um, rather "unique" characteristics to it. Would you be interested in playtesting this and providing feedback on it? 
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