Defending with Gaians

[Mead]

Once, a long time ago, years, I had Uni unexpectly go submissive to me. I was like 3rd on the power chart, it took one of my bases, then submitted once my units approached that base.

There were two things that surprised me:

1. I was shocked at how much tech I got from Uni. I was so far behind I must have got about a dozen techs.

2. Uni later broke the Pact after someone else tech probe Uni and framed me.

Mead

[breffie]

I always play Gaians, or almost always. There's no reason to avoid a war with the Hive or the Spartans, especially not if they aren't sharing continent with you. They'll sooner or later stab you in the back regardless of how much you please them. So it's better to not give in to their threats at all unless they happen to have a bunch of offensive units within your borders already (a few scouts doesn't count). While both the Spartans and the Hive tend to have a ton of units garrisoned in their bases, they don't know how to make proper use of them. (the 20 penetrators that could easily have wiped out my entire defense in a few turns are used for mysterious purposes that probably only Chairman Young himself understands). When the war get's more intimate probe teams are important. Especially against the Hive to get rid of their perimeter defenses. Usually I simply send in probe team after probe team until no more fascilities are left to destroy. When there's no other fascility than the perimeter defence left to destroy it will be destroyed without any special orders. And if the captured base is above the size of 5 I often make them all specialists since I'll probably disband the base eventually anyway (as the Hive tends to build the bases way too close to eachother). It's also a good idea to steal technology from both the Hive and the Spartans as they generally are ahead in military technology and unwilling to make a fair trade.

[Verrucosus]

Originally posted by breffie
... (the 20 penetrators that could easily have wiped out my entire defense in a few turns are used for mysterious purposes that probably only Chairman Young himself understands). ...

I could imagine the Chairman being so fond of ceremonial flyovers at The Hive that he doesn't allow them to be deployed elsewhere.