Turns of Democracy in Peril

[johndmuller]

Darius,
Thanks for the thought, but it will probably be over by then as the MW is adjacent to the (empty) base; since there are no facilities to eat, it will probably just deep six the base, so you may be able to tell just by looking at your maps (although I don;t know exactly how updated the maps are when you get them in gift/trade, if it seemed to be there, clicking on it should give you the true scoop I would think).
J

[knowhow2]

turn to daius

nothing special happened this turn. I forgot to change my name.

[Darius]

John, I moved my chopper into my most northern base. It's still two turns from reaching the IoD or the MW. Unfortunately, as my turn ended, I witnessed your base wink out of existence.

KH2: Love the new avatar! Much better than that creepy old Cult thingy.

I infiltrated the Hive! Lost the probe, though. Here's some of what I found out.

16 bases
753 energy reserves
Techs they have and I don't: Nonlinear Math, Cyberethics

Scout Patrol 1/1/1 1 active, 0 in production
Transport Foil 1 active, 0 in production
Alien Artifact 4 active
Impact Foil 4/3/4 0 active, 1 in production
Impact Speeder 4/2/2 0 active, 3 in production
Scout Rover 1/1/2 46 active, 0 in production
Impact Infantry 4/3/1 2 active, 4 in production
Plasma Sentinels 1/3/1 16 active, 2 in production

So they're not much of a threat right now, until they get more transports in the water, or get drop troops. I will complete two more probe foils next turn. Next stop: Cyborgville.

Turn to John.

[johndmuller]

MY 2158 turn to Commissioner Knowhow2

Good work with the probes, Darius. I will have a foil probe myself in a few turns and I guess I will look for the Spartans if you all haven't infiltrated them yet. I think they are the ones off my east coast, but all I can see are the base boundary lines, so I'm not sure. They are for sure off my west coast somewhere but exactly how close is unknown; my shipyard is closer to the west though, so I may go that way.

[knowhow2]

My connection with hotmail seems to be out for the moment. I send the turn as soon as it establish again. Sorry.

[knowhow2]

Okey connection up and running again.

MY 2158 to Darius

Darius,

thanx. the avatar is a soccerteambanner. my favourites called IFK Gothenburg. also I sent the tech Eco Eng.

5 turns to go for next break through - SFF.

......

[Darius]

John, I've decided not to risk my chopper against the IoD. I don't want to lose this unique intelligence-gathering asset.

Probe foils en route to Cyborg headquarters.

Turn 2159 to JDM.

[johndmuller]

MY 2159 turn to Commissioner Knowhow2

Darius, no problem, the IOD only had 1 MW on it and that presumably got used up eating my base (indigestible human proteins, you know). However, feel free to pop on over and scan to the west if you are bored. I will probably go there when my foilprobe is ready, but advance intelligence might help (or convince me to go the other way). That doesn't count for making pacifist drones, does it? Speaking of which, where is the border when it comes to combat ships?

Darius: I've been getting funny colors again; its not a big problem in this game, some of knowhow2's flags are black on black, but in another game, all of my flags are black on black and that is a problem. I think it would probably change if I started another new game of SMAX (perhaps with the standard set of characters), but IIRC, I thought you indicated that you might know something along those lines. Is that true? Any suggestions.

When I get my next tech, I was thinking about going for one of these: Bioengineering, Optical, Adaptive Doc. or Non-Linear (to have a decent weapon - its not on one of our paths); any preferences? (can't guarantee I will follow them though )

[knowhow2]

turn 2159 to darius

John, I think you should go for Bio-eng, it would be nice to finally be able to make larger numbers of troops soon.

4 turns till SFF is complete.

[Darius]

Yes, having my chopper outside a base does create pacifist drones. (I think for ships and aircraft, you get drones just from being outside a base; you don't even have to go outside your borders.) But I have the Human Genome Project (or whatever it is that gives me an extra specialist) so I just turn one worker to a doctor and I'm all set. I'll cruise up your way after I check out the Cyborgs.

I don't know much about the changing colors. This is the first game where I've experienced it, but I've seen it in several others I've started since this one. I have also had the black on black flags and it is really annoying.

Regarding techs, after I infiltrate the Cyborgs, maybe I will go back and liberate Nonlinear Math and Cyberethics from the Hive.

2160 to John.

[johndmuller]

MY 2160 turn to Commissioner Knowhow2

Just so you know that I'm doing my part as the Eco-Thoughtless Industrialist, I am happy to report that the strip mining operations in Morgan Mountain Resources (the largest on Planet!) have triggered another fungus outbreak. I think it represents another >pop<, however, once again I didn't get an "interlude", so I don't know for sure (maybe you don't get those interludes in MP - I made sure that the "interlude" preference was on a turn or two ago and it was still on this turn, although I read somewhere that in MP some settings are irrevocably set to certain values); at least it was an undeveloped tile this time.

If it was a >pop<, then likely I've had my two free ones and I'll start getting MW's or worse from now on; however, if it was, then I will also be getting the ED reduction effects from now on for the "good" facilities too. I am also building ED immunity with each >pop< while the native life that sprouts is still not too strong or numerous; the ec's from killing worms will come in handy too, not to mention the revenge factor for the poor lost souls at MMM base and the sinking of the innocent unity foils.

As you can see, I had nothing meaningful to report this turn.

[knowhow2]

turn to darius.

everything is running smothly

[Darius]

Knowhow2, you and I are both doing Synthetic Fossil Fuels. You will discover it one turn before I do. It is important that you offer it to me as soon as you get it. Then I can switch to Doctrine: Air Power and discover it in one turn. If you forget, then I will discover SFF again next turn, and we will have to start from nothing for Air Power. (Actually, I temporarily slowed my research to discover it one turn later, just in case.)

Knowhow2, my chopper is heading for one of your bases for repairs after scouting a route to a Cyborg base.

I discovered a University base to my southwest, ripe for the probing.

Turn 2161 to John.

[johndmuller]

MY 2161 turn to Commissioner Knowhow2

Rebuilt the base that was defiled by those vile creatures (will research "Unscrubber" technology and attatch some to MMMM's glorious smokestacks as a monument to those lost colonists).

ProbeShip lanuched; unfortunately Cap'n Skipp wants to explore the Arctic Ocean on the way west; those spooks really don't follow orders well sometimes.

Man, even with a Cmd Cntr and BioEnh Cntr, I still can't build decent troops; I may have to go off Wealth, light up my cigars with $20 bills instead of $100's - we don't have Power yet, do we? (rhetorical question) - I think I could handle the 1 off my economy better than the 2 off my morale.

PolyM SWare coming up next turn; let me know if you want it.

[knowhow2]

MY 2161 to darius

I really wanted to get SFF next turn so I switch a hole bounch of my crawlers from mineral to energy and pushed labs to 90%, breaktrough next turn. I'll sent it to you, darius right after it.