ACDG6: Operations

[Mart]

Psych allocation works best when there are facility that give 50% to psych. But I think, that something like 2 EC per psych, when it can allow for additional worker giving maybe 1-2-2 on forest is worth it. With specialists, it depends which one.

[vyeh]

The battle ogre has performed one last service, contributing 55 minerals toward the rejuvenation tanks. Together with 143 minerals from the radar rover supply and 2 purchased minerals, we have all 200 minerals necessary to build the rejuvenation tanks.

We currently have 20 credits and an income of 27 credits per turn.

We're no longer in a pop boom. We've moved to the magic +2 economy (extra energy every square).

We will have to stay in +2 economy until we have a reasonable income without the extra energy for every square. We are currently building a thermal borehole on an energy bonus.

Hydro, did you mean cash the alien artifact? We used the ogre for the rejuvenation tanks, so we could have the rejuvenation tanks next year.

I'm pretty sure we can get the weather paradigm.

I don't think psych allocation will work. It costs 4 energy to produce 2 psych which will turn one drone into a worker or one worker into a talent (which is what we need to remove the doctor).

If a doctor is working a square, it can produce at most 2 energy. Although a 1-2-2 forest looks attractive, there are two problems:

(1) only 4 bases out of 14 have forests; and

(2) psych allocation may allocate 4 psych to some bases, but allocate 3 or 5 psych to other bases (leading to wastage).

Once we've built the rejuvenation tanks, we can see what various levels of psych will do, but I suspect it won't help.

[Hydro]

Yes, I meant the artifact. If pressed that is an alternative.

[Mart]

We are too early then to pop boom further. We would need decent income in each base to be able to have maybe 20% allocated and enough for psych.
Any chance for free hologram theaters, with network nodes? I need to check where here is VW. That would be 2 drones and +50% psych. We might grow to 6-7 with it...

[Hydro]

VW is WAAAY down the tech tree (D5, optical computers), and it is a very expensive SP in SMAniaC (500 mins, as I recall). Maniac thought it was very powerful so put it later in the game.

We'll have to live with the unrest due to our large number of bases and capture bases. Perhaps we could consider holo theatres where appropriate.

I think a bigger problem is too few formers, which fortunately we're correcting. Now, on to capture the WP!

[vyeh]

The issue isn't too few formers. It is the -2 support.

We really can't have more formers unless we have more minerals. With our bases at 2 workers and a doctor, we really need crawlers to harvest minerals.

I wish we had built a forest at Aurora first instead of the mine.

I'm not sure whether building a borehole at Darwin was the best move or if it would have been better using those formers to build forests.

Weather paradigm increases the effectiveness of our formers by 50%.

[Hydro]

Yes, WP is a very good SP.

However, formers do help optimize resources so they do pay for themeselves. Building forests on flat Jungle gets you 2-2-2 (with our SE) and with a farm/solar maybe 4-1-2. Many of our tiles are unimproved. Building more formers will pay for itself, even if -2 support is problematic for min production at early bases.

We're trading mins for energy with our SE. So be it.

[vyeh]

There are only 6 bases (Sands of Time, Adonia, Aurora, Cytosino, Darwin and Faralia) and the expansion base west of Illuminatus that could use a forest.

After that, more terraforming won't help unless we have crawlers.

Maybe it would have been better to use the 24 former turns that are going into the borehole for 6 forests.

Some of our formers are working on roads. Once they are done, they will be available to improve tiles.

At this point all of our bases can only work two tiles. If these two tiles are optimized, then further improvement of tiles is only useful if we are planning to put a crawler on it.

We're not looking at formers in a vacuum. We didn't want to give up too many secret projects.

After looking at the terraforming situation, I'd like to revise our ranking of secret projects. If we lose the weather paradigm, we can build more formers.

I think the command nexus becomes more important. Not only does it save us from building a command center, it also saves maintenance cost and denies the free command centers to potential adversaries.

I have less problem with giving adversaries a terraforming advantage. When we take their bases, the improvements become ours.

Besides, formers are cheaper than command centers.

I would propose that if we see another faction getting close to building the command nexus, we should seriously consider building it first even if there is a risk of losing the weather paradigm.

[Mart]

The Rejuvenation Tanks should make 3 workers per base. And then we could pop boom sooner, as formers would terraform tiles faster. It would translate for better production and energy income. Lack of WP would "hit" us right away. Lack of Command Nexus only in the case of conflict.
I would like to get CN, but now maybe WP is giving benefits sooner. In case of loosing CN, we might get maybe 2 Command Center facilities and during peace time manufacture military in these two bases. Getting CN conquered might be one of early objectives. But that is all speculation.

[Hydro]

Note that CN means all our military unit instantly fully repair when they take a turn of rest. That is pretty powerful.

But, CN does have a more limited application than WP. A few ideas: raise land to the east to create a land bridge to take out the Templar once and for all. This is particularly useful is they acquire tech we want. Or we can keep them as a subject faction.

With -2 support our bases do have mineral problems, so perhaps that gives and edge to WP. We'd need fewer formers, which saves mineral support.

[Mart]

Templars as subject faction is good idea. We would force them into Pact, then maybe even return some bases as a gift, for additional commerce. Our bureaucracy drones will be less problematic and we get more EC.
And there are votings, that each faction gets 1 vote. Useful when Templars listen to us.

[Hydro]

Subject factions do probe, so we'd need defensive probes. Giving them tech is an issue since they will freely sell to others, or give into a demand.

But I do like the idea. Having a perminant ally is helpful.

Right now we have other issues, however. The Templar are not likely to get any bigger on their tiny island with pitiful resources.

[Mart]

On my Genesis_map, that I posted in the map creation contest (also 30x60), I was playing once with Templars. They were near together with Empaths, who eliminated them - or caused their escape to a small island, like 4 or 5 tiles. There were near some sea monoliths, they managed to raise terrain, build land bridge to another continent and threaten Cycon, took 2 their bases. Effectively they grew to powerful faction again.

How about not making a land bridge? We wait till we can assemble few sea transports. Then we will force them into submission. Unless they raise terrain first... They can also threaten/be overrun by Atlanteans.

I have to check, what's their current attitude.

[vyeh]

I don't think the rejuvenation tanks will give three workers for the captured bases.

We weren't getting three workers when we had a talent from SE and recreation commons.

Conquering command nexus assumes that we're in conflict with the faction that has command nexus.

I'm not saying we should give up on weather paradigm.

I'm asking whether you would take the risk of losing weather paradigm if we got a warning that a faction was on the verge of completing command nexus and we had enough crawlers to immediately build one secret project.

If we built weather paradigm, we know we'd give up the command nexus.

If we built the command nexus, there is a chance that the faction about to build the command nexus would switch to another military secret project, e.g. polymorphic def system (CDF).

Concerning the Templar, we need to figure out whether we are builder, hybrid or momentum.

When they immediately declared vendetta, they were a threat. On an island, we can ignore them.

We're a pop boom faction. Why would we return bases in a jungle?

All our bases are stable, with recreation commons. No base is costing more than it is earning.

We have a good road network so all of our bases will be defensible.

[Hydro]

Considering how close all the other factions are, the aggressive Ghosts, and that our allies Rose and Aki might break off at any time I think we have to be hybrid.

As to the SPs, a lot depends on whether the Cyborgs cash out their minerals for other purposes or complete a project we're not immedately interested in.