OSG 26 - The Bearperor Returns

[RefSteel]

I don't think that this is aggression. This is like the Psilons sending all those large ships everywhere. The AIs are done with Scout blockades and are out to explore all uncolonized worlds they can. Of course that doesn't solve the problem of a Huge ship hanging out over our new colonied but it is not there specifically to bomb out our colonies. At least not yet. It is most likely there to hold the planet until a colony ship can arrive. Kill it if you can, but killing a huge is serious business, especially when we are trying to expand.

No worries: That's just a cruiser (large) - not a dreadnought - and I agree with your assessment of its strategic purpose. I wouldn't build a cruiser of our own to face it until we see what its loadout looks like though. If it's an unshielded missile boat, warp-2 fighters are definitely a good answer. If it has shield 2 or better, good targeting, and beams, we may just have to let it have its way for now and find a way to work around it - and prioritize weapons research a little more! (Heavy lasers can cut through shield 2 and even 3, but not very efficiently - and it takes a lot of basic lasers to scratch a shielded cruiser.) There's also a chance it'll just continue on its way if we ignore it, or evaporate since it's surely relying on an alliance with somebody. We know we have a use for the Dead colony ship whether the Sakkra hang around there or not. (Can we get it there before the Jug - sort of like your earlier suggestion for Dolz, Psillycyber? Might be worth a try...) I can't really say the same for a laser cruiser at this point in the game.

[EDIT: Also, my crude screenshot-read and guess about its destination agrees with Thrawn's.]
[EDIT 2: Unless it's coming from Sssla, which I think is more likely actually, unless you saw it moving last turn.]

[Psillycyber]

Oh man, I think I am about to make the fateful decision to invade the Silicoids. They finally got Primodius. My reinforcements were 2 turns too late. The thing is, they are at war with 3 other races: Psilons, Sakkra, and Alkaris. OK, the Alkaris will probably be our opponent, so they will vote for themselves no matter what. But the Psilons and Sakkra might be swayed to our side. And the Silicoids will not vote for the Alkaris no matter what since they are at war...right? If we go to war with them too, they will abstain, right? Can anyone clarify what the AI behavior is in this situation? Or would they really vote for the Alkaris, with whom they are also at war? If so, that would be just dumb, dumb, dumb, and I should probably not invade.

Edit: I should clarify: the Silicoids had 1 shark at Primodius along with 2 colony ships. This was too early for them to be the same colony ships that Ianus chased off. They must have 2 pairs of 2, I bet.

I expect they will go for Gienah next, but I should have sufficient forces to stop them there.

[Psillycyber]

Also, the Juggernaut does not appear to be going for Artemis after all. Probably Celtsi, actually. Probably enabled due to the cheese alliance with the Sakkra. It will take forever to get there, so no worries!

[Psillycyber]

OK, I can postpone the decision to invade a little bit by sending Keeta's transports to top-off Porridge first. And then we can choose to invade from Porridge (a 3-turn trip) with 40+ million if we want.

[RefSteel]

And the Silicoids will not vote for the Alkaris no matter what since they are at war...right?

Wrong, unfortunately: If the Silicoids are at war with the birds AND US, they will vote for the Alkari, guaranteed.

[EDIT: This is indeed the general rule for AI voting. They will always vote against a race with which they are at war, but if there is more than one, and one of them is the player, the race they vote for will be the AI.]

[Psillycyber]

OK, in that case, I will not be invading the Silicoids any time soon. They might be our only friend. Maybe the Meklar will abstain. We'll see. I think it will take the Silicoids AND the Meklar abstaining to survive the vote, really.

Oh my god, what is the AI thinking??? I've just met the Alkari and got a look at their graphs, and they are waaaaay out in front of everyone. You all should be DOGPILING the leader, not sucking up to them!

[Ianus]

How many planets do the Rocks have? Do we even care about their votes? Also attacking the rocks will make us very popular with everyone else.

[Psillycyber]

How many planets do the Rocks have? Do we even care about their votes? Also attacking the rocks will make us very popular with everyone else.

The rocks have 2 planets, plus their new planet of Primodius, so 3. Yes, pitiful, I agree. But we might need their votes come election time.

Well, actually, the more I look at it, the more I come to think it might not matter. Here are the population graphs:



If I had to guess on the voting ratios, they will be:
Us: 4
Alkari: 8
Sakkra: 3
Psilons: 1
Silicoids: 1
Meklar: ???

If the vote were held today, the Alkari would get 12 out of 17 votes, or 70%. That's with the rocks voting for us. That's not counting the Meklars, who, if they abstain, could swing it in favor of a no-decision.

Let's say I attack the Silicoids. That puts the Alkari at 13/17 of known voters. That would put more of a burden on the Meklars to even out the vote. And do you think we could really peel the Psilons and Sakkra away from the Alkari? Should I try making the request that these two cancel their alliances with the Alkari?

[Psillycyber]

This is how I feel right now about the Alkari cheese alliances:

[Ianus]

These aren't really cheez alliances as they have lasted for quite a while now. Also bear in mind that the Psilons ARE Diplomats, they just haven't behaved erratically yet.
And the most important thing to remember: this is a Large map, and it sounds like no one has gotten into the west yet, except maybe the Meklar but we don't know that yet. The vote may be some time off, and in order for it to be here now someone will need to get a lot more planets changing the dynamic of the election. I REALLY don't think that 3 planet Silicoids will make much difference on a Large map.