Terraforming questions

[551262]

Well, I actually started another game just like it. This time I expanded the terrain from an L-shape (with the Garland Crater at the short leg) to more of an O-shape. It takes awhile to terraform up, then terraform as needed, but I think by the time Tree Farms start coming around, it pays well.

[551262]

Aaaand I guess I should talk about it some more....

Here's an overall view of the map in question:



I roughly doubled the original size of the starting landmass and as a result, I did fairly well, I guess. Marr had pacted with Fungboy so they were a bit of a problem but I was biding my time waiting for Advanced Spaceflight, as you do end up holding onto Plasma Shard weapons for quite some time -- I think it's about a hundred turns or so.

Funny because Marr once brought out fourteen needlejets to within striking distance of one of those little island things. It's the one to the northeast with three boreholes, two crawlers and two bases. While his noodles were investigating the local landscape I realized I didn't have enough interceptors on hand (I only had four or five) to respond and they were out of SAM rover range. But then I remembered I had about eight 13-4-6*2 AAA cruisers standing by to cut off any "dropoffs", so I quickly mustered them and took out the oceanic bases that were his launching pads. By the time the needlejets had to return to base there weren't any in range, so one of them attacked and the remainder crashed. I got a good laugh out of that. (Which reminds me, during one of my earlier Huge Map of Planet runs to experiment with the Geothermal Shallows, I boxed in a couple of needlejets belonging to another faction so he couldn't return to base. I wait like six turns and none of them crashed.)

Anyways. Western view, center closer in, and eastern view:



Headquarters. This is why I love the Garland Crater.


Long ago I had steamed ahead far of every other faction. Most of the game in fact. I got nearly all the SPs except the Planetary Transit System (I only worry about that if I'm playing as Lal) and the Human Genome Project (bleh, again only if I'm Lal).

Here's once again the model of a outlying bastion:



I think it holds promise. Nothing to sneer at, and a great launching pad for needlejets, patrol center, naval port, etc.

As I said last time, those perimeter lookout bases take FOREVER to get in place, get facilities, enough minerals to do stuff with, and are generally a hassle. Once they DO get to a useful size, then this is what they look like:



The Pirates' +1 mineral for ocean shelf squares is moot in the deep ocean, but you can still get 3-3-0 in a kelp+mining platform+aquafarm+subsea trunkline+Advanced Ecological Engineering. A lot better than just 1-0-0 like everybody else gets. (Kelp+tidal harness+Aquafarm+Thermocline Transducer nets you 4-0-4, whereas a shelf square would have 4-1-4.) Bring lots of 0-3r-4 Super Clean sea formers (or better, 8r, but ...) The most you're going to get in terms of minerals in the ocean is 3-6-0, which is kelp+aquafarm+mining platform+subsea trunkline+mineral bonus+advanced ecological engineering.

When I finally decided to upgrade my regular old boring probe teams to something kick-ass, I built them as 0-?-2*4 Enhanced Deep Radar. It turns out that having Psi Defense could be quite profitable if you have the Neural Amplifier because the unit gets a +50% defensive bonus...I also noticed quite an improvement in probe team effectiveness with the Algorithmic Enhancement. (I've never used the Polymorphic Encryption ability though. Easier to just stack units...as stacked units cannot be subverted. I don't know if a 1-4-1*2 AAA Secure garrison unit will enhance the PROBE resistance of a base like the Covert Ops Center will, though.) This meant directly targeting Perimeter Defenses was fairly profitable.

I also got curious. What if I boxed in an alien base, so that no escape pods or colony pods could escape...



Turns out that his units spawn on yours I guess, and get wiped out before they can do anything.



Heh. I haven't seen some of the others I guess, as I've never played Fungboy, Marr, Roze, Prime Function, or the Foreman to completion, only the Pirates and Caretakers. Heck I don't think I've played Sister Miriam or Yang to completion either, so...

[franklinmaya]

will likely be on transcend difficulty for future games.