ACDG5: The Wardroom

[vyeh]

Our decision to go for Doctrine: Mobility and Doctrine: Flexibility was justified when our gun foils popped Industrial Base and Information Networks and the Morgan comm frequency (we were able to acquire Industrial Economics from Morgan). These are three of the prerequisite techs for Industrial Automation.

Morgan will discover Industrial Automation in a few turns. After that, maybe Morgan will trade Planetary Networks to us.

We have High Energy Chemistry, so our defense is 3.

Only the first one to discover Secrets of the Human Brain gets the free tech. We acquired Secrets of the Human Brain from Morgan.

So far, we've researched Centauri Ecology, Doctrine: Mobility, Doctrine: Flexibility, Applied Physics and High Energy Chemistry.

Centauri Ecology has been useful to have a placeholder for a secret project. We've only built one former.

If we had gone Doctrine: Mobility, Doctrine: Flexibility and not moved HQ away from the sea, we could have had foils 6 turns earlier. We could probably have traded for Centauri Ecology.

With the Believers and Spartans a short transport foil trip away, I think researching High Energy Chemistry and Nonlinear Mathematics makes sense.

Although we don't plan to attack, having good weapons allows better defense by allowing us to counterattack.

[Nahkrinoth]

Can we get another turn going?

[Bodissey]

It is under way. Real life can be a real nuisance.

[vyeh]

BEFORE ENDING TURN:

(1) Move HQ crawler 1 sq. S of North along road to forest square 1 sq. W of HQ and crawl 2 min (frees up monolith for North's growth in 4 turns).

(2) Move HQ scout guarding crawlers 1 sq. SE and hold.

(3) Rush East plasma sentinels for 19 energy credits (7 min).

BETWEEN 2123 AND 2124:

(4) HQ will build Human Genome Project (we haven't gotten any warnings about an AI being close to completing it). Switch to Recycling Tanks.

(5) East will produce Plasma Sentinels. Switch to CP.

FOR 2124:

(6) East gun foil moves 1 sq. N, 1 sq. NE, 2 sq. N (to uncover black squares).

(7) Currently there is one bureaucracy drone located at BRCM (in the psych multi-function display in the base control screen, the first citizen is a drone on the unmodified line). BRCM CP builds "Seaview" (feel free to choose another name). Check on bureacracy drones and report where the new one appears.

(8) Change production to Recon Rover (we will swap the HQ scout currently guarding the crawlers for this Recon Rover).

(9) South recon rover moves to BRCM, re-homes and moves to East.

(10) East plasma sentinels moves to monolith 1 sq. NE of HQ and investigates it.

(11) Move both HQ (independent) former droids 1 sq. E along road into HQ and 1 sq. SW along river and plant forests (this will produce a 1-2-2 square for crawling).

(12) Easternmost North gun foil continues to explore our eastern shore.

(13) Other North gun foil moves in a north easterly direction.

(14) South gun foils move in a westerly direction.

(15) Rush North Recycling Tanks for 56 energy credits.

(16) If there has been no material pod filling its production queue, rush Seaview recon rover for 25 energy credits (full payment).

Note:

Remember our rules for popping pods.

(1) If the gun foil is less than 80% healthy, rest the gun foil for the turn.

(2) Protect against getting a materials pod by choosing an expensive unit or facility if the nearest base has less than 10 mins in the production box. (Change South to a 0-3-4 sea colony pod; East and BRCM could have a 0-3-4 sea former: HQ could have a 0-3-2 rover former.) If you don't pop a materials pod, change the production back.

(3) If supply pod is not in xenofungus, make sure gun foil has at least three movement points remaining (it will lose 2 mp if it pops a mind worm).

(4) If supply pod is in xenofungus, you can pop the pod with just one movement point remaining.

[vyeh]

I'm calling for a vote on our research direction in the Voting Booth.

Which tech should we pursue next, whether by trade or research:

(1) Superconductor, which would give weapons rating of 5
(2) Planetary Networks, which would give us probe teams and Planned Economy
(3) Ethical Calculus, which would give us children's creche and Democratic

Please cast your vote in the Voting Booth and debate here.

[vyeh]

We should go ahead and attack. The whole point of healing that gun foil and promoting it was to make it better able to harvest mindworms for 10 ec. If we lose it, we can switch South to a (2)-3-4 plasma hoverboat (these cost the same as a (1)-1-4 gun foil).

FOR 2124:

(1) South gun foil near Sunken City moves 2 sq. NE, 1 sq. N (so it is next to the monolith) and attacks IoD.

(2) If IoD wins, switch production of South to (2)-3-4 plasma hoverboat.

(3) Move both HQ (independent) former droids 1 sq. E along road into HQ and 1 sq. SW along river and plant forests (this will produce a 1-2-2 square for crawling).

(4) South recon rover moves to BRCM, re-homes and moves to East.

(5) East gun foil moves 1 sq. N, 1 sq. NE, 2 sq. N (to uncover black squares).

(6) Currently there is one bureaucracy drone located at BRCM (in the psych multi-function display in the base control screen, the first citizen is a drone on the unmodified line). BRCM CP builds "Seaview" (feel free to choose another name). Check on bureacracy drones and report where the new one appears.

(7) Change production of Seaview to Recon Rover (we will swap the HQ scout currently guarding the crawlers for this Recon Rover).

(8) East plasma sentinels moves to monolith 1 sq. NE of HQ and investigates it.

(9) Easternmost North gun foil continues to explore our eastern shore.

(10) Other North gun foil moves in a north easterly direction.

(11) Westernmost South gun foil moves in a westerly direction.

(12) Rush North Recycling Tanks for 56 energy credits.

(13) If there has been no material pod filling its production queue, rush Seaview recon rover for 25 energy credits (full payment).

Note:

Remember our rules for popping pods.

(1) If the gun foil is less than 80% healthy, rest the gun foil for the turn.

(2) Protect against getting a materials pod by choosing an expensive unit or facility if the nearest base has less than 10 mins in the production box. (Change South to a 0-3-4 sea colony pod; East and BRCM could have a 0-3-4 sea former: HQ could have a 0-3-2 rover former.) If you don't pop a materials pod, change the production back.

(3) If supply pod is not in xenofungus, make sure gun foil has at least three movement points remaining (it will lose 2 mp if it pops a mind worm).

(4) If supply pod is in xenofungus, you can pop the pod with just one movement point remaining.

[Bodissey]

As I have stated in the voting booth, I do think probe teams (both land and sea) are of utmost importance. Therefore Planetary Networks must be pursued.

[Nahkrinoth]

If we're spending a lot of research and resources on combat we might as well start picking easy targets. I doubt we'll be able to stay friendly even if we want to.

[vyeh]

I don't think there are any easy targets ...

Take a look at Morgan bases. It looks like there are free perimeter defenses.

I think either the Spartans or the Believers will probably declare vendetta on us in the near future. Take a look at their moods.

Anyway, my first target is that Believer base near Sunken City.

[Nahkrinoth]

North and HQ are going to grow in 3 turns. It doesn't look like we have much developed that our workers can use.

Are we going to go the farm, solar, mine route or are we going to forests and tree farms? We should discuss overall terraforming goals.

[vyeh]

Congratulations on two veteran units.

From the screen shot, it looks like all the units moved according to instructions.

Assuming that the North rushed Recycling Tanks and Seaview rushed Recon Rovers:

BEFORE ENDING 2124:

(1) Change production of HQ to Recreation Commons.

Could we have a 2124_end save?

Could you note with your end save that a bureaucracy drone has appeared in HQ?

BETWEEN 2124 AND 2125:

(2) North will produce Recycling Tanks. Set production to former.

(3) Seaview will produce recon rover. Set production to Recycling Tanks.

FOR 2125:

(4) Seaview recon rover moves to HQ.

(5) HQ scout in HQ moves to BRCM.

(6) Independent scout in BRCM moves to Seaview.

(7) East plasma sentinels moves 3 sq. W.

(8) East gun foil moves 1 sq. NW, 1 sq. W into Seaview, re-homes, and moves 1 sq. E, 1 sq. SE (this saves 1 min in support).

(9) BRCM recon rover moves 1 sq. E, 1 sq. N and attempts to move another sq. N.

(10) Damaged veteran South gun foil moves 1 sq. N and repairs on monolith.

(11) Undamaged North gun foil moves in north easterly direction.

(12) Damaged North gun foil rests.

(13) Undamaged South gun foil moves west.

(14) Morgan should have finished researching Industrial Automation. Contact him and see if you can get him to trade Planetary Networks or Industrial Automation.

Notes:

(1) Remember our rules for popping pods.

(2) Moves (4) - (6) are a packaged deal. The recon rover will cover the crawlers and be a mobile reserve.

[vyeh]

Lt. Nahkrinoth,

That is the reason for the forests we've been planting around HQ. We've already moved one crawler to a forest freeing up a monolith for North's second worker. The second forest square will be completed at the end of 2125, in time to free up a monolith for HQ's third worker.

Until we lift resource limitations, a 2-2-2 monolith is the best we can do for a square that contains no resource specials. Since a crawler can only exploit one resource, it makes more sense for a worker to exploit a monolith, thus harvesting all three types of resources, and put the crawler on a square that has 2 units of the type of resource we want to harvest (a rainy square or farmed moist square for nutrients; a forest for minerals; a river forest for energy).

There are two river squares near HQ. If they are forested, they can be used to crawl either two minerals or two energy.

We're a long way from tree farms. We'd have to research Ethical Calculus, Gene Splicing, Ecological Engineering and Environmental Economics.

Mines don't make much sense. Until we have Ecological Engineering, the most minerals we can get from a non-mineral special is 2. A forest is a better alternative since it can be built in half the time of a mine (4 turns versus 8 turns).

Assuming we have a rolling square, the farm/solar combination takes 10 former turns.

Concerning terraforming strategy, don't forget sea terraforming. The Freshwater Sea starts with 2-0-0. A Mining Platform would add 1 min. A Tidal Harness would add 2 energy.

[vyeh]

Note that there is a Believers Plasma Coastal in Sunken City.

FOR 2125:

(1) Seaview recon rover moves to monolith 1 sq. NE of HQ and investigates.

(2) HQ scout guarding crawlers moves into HQ and holds.

(3) Other HQ scout in HQ moves to BRCM.

(4) Independent scout in BRCM moves to Seaview.

(5) Seaview worker put on newly planted forest.

(6) East gun foil moves 1 sq. NW, 1 sq. W into Seaview, re-homes, and moves 1 sq. E, 1 sq. SE (this saves 1 min in support).

(7) BRCM recon rover moves 1 sq. E, 1 sq. N and attempts to move another sq. N.

(8) East plasma sentinels moves 3 sq. W.

(9) Undamaged North gun foil moves in north easterly direction.

(10) Damaged North gun foil rests.

(11) Damaged veteran South gun foil moves 1 sq. NE.

(12) Undamaged South gun foil moves west.

(13) North changes to (2)-3-4 Plasma Hoverboat (we're going to use it to plug up Judgment Seat).

(14) Retire (1)-2-4 Synthmetal Coastal and 0-2-2 rover former from Design Workshop.

(15) Move North worker to monolith on fungus square.

(16) Move HQ crawler 2 sq. SE of North into North, re-home, move 1 sq. S of North and crawl 2 mins for North.

(17) Move HQ crawler 2 sq. NW of HQ 1 sq. NW and crawl 2 mins for HQ.

(18) Morgan should have finished researching Industrial Automation. Contact him and see if you can get him to trade Planetary Networks or Industrial Automation.

Notes:

(1) Remember our rules for popping pods.

(2) Moves (1) - (4) are a packaged deal. The recon rover will move South to confront the Spartan unit.

(3) We will team East plasma sentinels and both recon rovers as a task force to confront the Spartan unit.

(4) Moves (15) - (17) are a packaged deal. We're going to shift two or three crawlers from HQ to North so North can put out Plasma Hoverboats to deal with the Believers and the Spartans. If we can sink any transports delivering invaders to our land mass, we will be a lot more secure.

Issues:

(1) Somehow, I don't think there will be any complaints about massing our most advanced units to greet the Spartans.

(2) At this point, I believe the most effective defense is a sea defense and North is the base in the best position for sea patrols against the Believers and the Spartans until we establish Sunken City.

(3) At this point, the recon rovers and the plasma sentinels are just going to contain the Spartan unit. We don't need to declare vendetta if we can fence the Spartan 2-2-1 with our 1-3-1 plasma sentinels. The recon rovers are there in case Sparta declares a vendetta. I would expect that we will lose one rover in killing the 2-2-1 Commando (+) Spartan.

(4) Two (2)-3-4 plasma hoverboats in the right places will seal off the Believers: one just east of Judgment Seat and the other sealing off He Walked on Water. I do not propose declaring vendetta.

(5) If the Believers declare vendetta, we could ignore them except for the two blockading plasma hoverboats.

(6) If the Spartans declare war, I would suggest that we go for unguarded transports and work on destroying terraforming improvements around Sparta Command.

[vyeh]

Well, we've met units of the other factions.

Concerning the Spartan unit on our land mass (a 2-2-1 commando), I can't imagine there will be much debate about sending our most advanced units to "greet" the visitor. I do not suggest declaring vendetta; if we can fence off that unit with our plasma sentinel, we can wait until we have a probe team and subvert it.

I think it is imperative we send out advanced sea units to patrol the waters between Spartan sea bases and our land masses. In addition to building (2)-3-1 plasma hoverboats for the same price as our (1)-1-4 gun foils, we can also upgrade our (1)-1-4 gun foils for 50 credits, which is a bit steep, but useful to remember if one of them is in Spartan waters when vendetta breaks out.

The first priority is to sink transports carrying troops. We can also hurt the Spartans without risking our units by going after terraforming improvements around Sparta Command.

We haven't traded High Energy Chemistry to the Spartans (if only she had been willing to part with Planetary Networks), so we could probably sink one of their ships if we keep our plasma hoverboats in pairs.

Concerning the (2)-3-4 Believer plasma hoverboat, I'd like to plug up Judgment Seat and He Walked on Water. She may get upset and declare vendetta on us, but we can protect against the one ship by exposing only units that have plasma armor and eventually boxing in that ship.

I'd like to hear your thoughts. I'm calling for votes on our response to the Spartan land unit on our land mass and the discovery of the Believing coastal unit.

[vyeh]

Let's wait until the Virtual World is built. Maybe Morgan will be in a better mood. Let's not sell anything so we have something to trade.

BEFORE ENDING TURN:

(1) Contact our treaty partners Deidre and Zakharov. Try trading for Planetary Networks. No matter what, try to get pact. Let them name price. We'll give tech or 100 credits, but we won't declare vendetta. If we get Planetary Networks (or any other tech) or pact, please report and post a new end save.

BETWEEN 2125 AND 2126:

(2) Zoom out so you can see both the Believing plasma hoverboat and the Spartan laser squad. See where Spartan laser squad goes.

(3) See where Beliving plasma hoverboat goes.

FOR 2126:

(4) Move damaged South gun foil to monolith and investigate.

(5) HQ (independent) former droids move 1 sq. SE and plant forest (this is for South's second worker).

(6) HQ crawler 1 sq. W of HQ moves to 3 sq. NW of HQ and waits.

(7) North crawler 1 sq. S of North moves to 1 sq. W of HQ and crawls 2 min for North.

(8) HQ crawler 2 sq. SE of North with 1 movement point moves to North, re-homes, moves 1 sq. S of North and crawls 2 min for North.

(9) HQ crawler 2 sq. SE of North with 1/3 movement point crawls 2 min for HQ.

(10) Seaview recon rover moves 3 sq. E and 1 sq. N.

(11) BRCM recon rover remains 2 sq. away from Spartan laser squad (if laser squad has moved away, move 2 square; if it hasn't moved, move 1 square; if it has moved closer, remain at current location; we don't want to contact laser squad until we have both recon rovers and plasma sentinels concentrated).

(12) East plasma sentinels move 1 sq. N.

(13) BRCM former moves 1 sq. NW (to prep a square for BRCM's second worker).

(14) Seaview gun foil moves 1 sq. S and moves so it ends up next to the Spartan laser squad if possible (we want to keep an eye on the Spartan laser squad's movements).

(15) Undamaged North gun foil moves in an easterly direction.

(16) Damaged North gun foil rests.

(17) Westernmost South gun foil moves 1 sq. W, then 1 sq. SW (to uncover every possible unexplored square).

(18) Move East worker to farmed canyon square.

(19) Hurry Recreation Commons at HQ for 38 energy credits (full payment; otherwise we'd have to turn a worker into a doctor to avoid a drone riot).

Notes:

(1) Remember pod popping rules.

(2) A pact gets us maps, so it is worth a tech or 100 credits. Obviously if we spend 100 credits on Deidre, we won't have 100 credits for Zakharov.

(3) Between turns, if you look close enough, you can see AI units moving.

(4) In moves (6) - (9), the three crawlers switch places to enable one HQ crawler to re-home to North. Note the same crawler is involved in moves (6) and (9).

(5) In moves (10) and (12), we're moving up two units to join the unit closest to the Spartan. In move (11), we want the forward unit to end up 2 sq. away from the Spartan. If it ended up next to the Spartan without being stacked with the plasma sentinels, the Spartan could attack at 2-1 odds.

(6) The Seaview gun foil wants to end up next to the Spartan. Since it is a sea unit, the Spartan can't attack it.

(7) The westernmost South gun foil can reveal more squares by going to the limit of its movement. Depending on elevation, it can see up to two squares inland.

(8) The farmed canyon square SE of East is a 2-2-0 square, which is as good as the freshwater mineral bonus nutrient.

(9) We need to hurry the recreation commons at HQ or change a worker to a doctor because HQ will increase in size. HQ already has a drone at size 2 even with a garrison and the Human Genome Project. At size 3, it will have two drones, which will put cause a drone riot.