Democracy in Peril (3) - Turn Thread

[Googlie]

Players, in turn order, are:

Tau Ceti - Morgan
Qantaga - Peacekeepers
Flubber - Drones

Starting year is 2102 (I played 2101 with no unit movement in order to set passwords - but I did found the 4 Axis factions 3 bases each)

Yang has the Empath Guild, and has called planetary elections. His 3 slaves have voted for him (Aki is the other candidate).

Passwords have been sent to all

2102 has been sent to Tau Ceti

Good luck,

G.

[Tau Ceti]

Thanks for setting this up, Googlie! 2102 to Qantaga.

[Flubber]

I am assuming that since an election has been called, we all have each otehrs commlink and can communicate at the outset or should we limit ourselves to communication once we actually meet. It will make a HUGE difference to my drones given the long period of no research .

[Qantaga]

Since the election has been called and Yang has been elected governor, we have obtained each other's commlinks legally by in-game methods, so immediate communication should be appropriate.

I do want to tell you both that I welcome any and all suggestions you might have for me in the running of my empire and in any way that I can aid you in our quest to save democracy.

I am certain that I will have many strategic questions for you both as we go, so I hope you will excuse my inquisitiveness.

Googlie, thank you very much for setting up the game for us.

2102 has been sent to Foreman Flubber.

[Flubber]

Turn 2103 to tau

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Since we have immediate contact we can strategize toward common goals. Obviously Industrial Auto is HUGE but it would nice if one of you can get Centauri ecoology for me as soon as possible.


I think the we should

1. Have the drones stay out of the beelines that are most important (Ind Auto) and restrictions lifting since getting gifted all the precursors would slow down my research immensely. Instead I propose the Drones follow a weapons beeline to impact weapons. I think on balance the Drones could help get Ind Auto a few turns sooner but at such an increased tech cost that its impractical. Contrast that with having some good weapons available and a Drones faction that retains some ability to research (again off-main beelines) at a reasonable rate

2. Accept tech from you only when there is an immediate purpose to that tech or if it aids leapfrogging up the tech tree.

3. Gift you guys the military techs ONLY when you are ready to build those units

4. Build a fair number of units to be gifted over as needed-- I could gift you units for which you would not have the tech

5 Have you two figure out the best beeline up to Ind Auto-- I figure we should almost be there by the time I start research in 2111 LOL


More generally i see the Drones as the industrial engine of this alliance, with both the Pks and the Morganites having better abilities as the research engine.

The above is just one possible approach but my thought is that the Drones can contribute in tech on the weapons front while you two contribute Ind Auto.--

Just some thoughts-- I hope to hear other alternatives from you both soon but the reality for tech is that I have no decisions to make for a few years anyway But I want to hear plans. As I understand this, the AI should be a challenge so working together is the key-- No idea too crazy since i think the best way is to brainstorm this.

As for what I said above. . . adopt some, all or none of my suggestions since all they are is suggestions. . .

lets get the ideas flowing to whip some AI butt

[Tau Ceti]

2103 to Qantaga.

Agreed on IndAuto. I am working on IndEco now and will go FM as soon as possible. It would probably be beneficial for Qantaga to go FM as well (possibly even Flubber?), as you can both handle the early drones well. I can start work on CentEco after IndEco is ready.

[Flubber]

Tau

The Drones can go FM early days (2 content workers even without police are nice) and in fact I will ask for that tech when you get it and when I have enough cash for the switch. The extra energy is worth it until its exploration time

More generally though, what do you two think of my idea of having the two better researchers on the main beelines and the Drones on the weapons beeline? My thinking is that the number of techs the Drones would need to be gifted just to be helpful on the Ind Auto or restrictions lifting beelines are so many (given 10 years with 0 research) that any benefit the Drones add would be at the cost of slowing Drone research dramatically. But if the Drones stay tech-poor for a while, they should be able to get Impact & HEC relatively soon .

Other questions

1 Are we a noble alliance or will we gas our enemies into the dirt?
2. Is it possible to make peace with ANY of the axis? I did get a truce with AKI and Zak.

[Qantaga]

2103 sent to Flubber.

Flubber, I think you are on the right track with your research plans. There is no need to slam our tech rates by passing techs until we need them and I like your idea of Tau and I running towards IndAuto and EnvEcon while you try to grab some weapons for us.

I did not get offered CentEco, so I chose InfoNets. I will send that to Tau once I have it. The two of us should be able to coordinate the jump to crawlers fairly efficiently.

I will switch to FM as soon possible.

As to your other questions, I would prefer to play the game as noble allies and not commit atrocities. Of course, survival is the key concern, so I may change my tune depending on how strong the AI comes on.

As far as peace with the AI is concerned, I imagine we can maintain truces with them, but I doubt it will last for long once conflict begins. I would also be wary of the AI launching surprise attacks while they are in Truce. Just my personal opinion, with no true basis in fact.

[Flubber]

2104 to tau ceti


The land looks particularly harsh -- from what I can see of your lands it appears that 80% of all our lands are arid-- I don't see a monolith anywhere and the best we have are some specials-- I assume that this is part of the "challenge". The drones on this land without tech help would have a VERY tough time.


Only 6 more turns until I can actually research something

[Googlie]

LOL - remember the game's parameters.

Yang's evil henchman, Haraad Ashandi, is pulling the puppets' strings.

So you might find an ally among the Axis powers, but the question is, can they be trusted? Or will they betray you? And from among them each of you has at least one implacable enemy.

(but in one of the other of these scenarioed games, one of the slaves broke ranks, so sweet talking and tech bribing might just work)

I think the spirit of the game would be broken if you resorted to gas - after all, you three are the great democracies of Planet fighting repression and unethical research - wouldn't you be stooping to Yang/Ashandi's level if you used nervegas?

(as an aside, I wish Firaxis had programmed it so that if a democracy used nervegas it got instant 3 drones per base or something - so that a player would have to change to police or fundy to do so)

Anyway, have fun

Googlie

[Googlie]

Hmm - Flubber.

I popped a monolith immediately south of your start position on the test play and again just now, and a second pod pop gave me a rover on the test and a transport this time round.

You do have some aridity, but that's 'cos you are on mineral mountain (look at your elevation) and there are some rivers to be found.

G.

[Flubber]

Hey googlie

I have only popped one pod thus far so monoliths could be coming in future pops. My first pop was a nut special and that made me relatively happy since it was adjacent to another nut special (so I have my pod producing base ). Popping a rover or a transport would be pretty great too.

In this type of game I do not mind the terrain THAT much since centauri ecology will mean forests VERY soon after formers.

[Tau Ceti]

2104 to Qantaga.

Most of my terrain looks quite arid too, but there is a promising-looking rainy/river area around.

[Qantaga]

My territory is also very arid, but I did just find the headwaters of a promising river.

2104 sent to Flubber.

[Flubber]

2105 to Tau

and I just found a river as well-- I should found bases 2 and 3 next turn even though the terrain is awful. My HQ goes to size 2 in 6 turns IIRC so I hope to get another pod moving then

I see that Ind Ec is due in 3 turns and Inf net in 12 or so -- both of those should be much faster as the next bases get down.

On my end there is not much to coordinate since my researchers all got drunk and disorderly and have to stay in the drunk tank but they will be busting out soon