OSG 29A - The Charismatic Introverts

[RefSteel]

This is Team A's playthrough of our latest Orion Succession Game, OSG-29! If you'd like to sign up but your name's not on the roster, let us know in the SG planning thread!

Settings:

Difficulty: Impossible
Opponents: 5
Galaxy size: Medium
Race: Humans
Patch: 1.40m
Variant Rule: We may never use the "Audience" button to conduct diplomacy! (It's okay to agree to deals proposed by the AIs themselves; we just can't initiate our own diplomacy.) Moreover, we may never vote for an AI race at the High Council. It's up to the aliens to draw our charming diplomats of their shells; we won't initiate any diplomatic action with them!

Roster: (Order to be determined by first to "got it" the first time through the order.)

DaveV
Haphazard
Ianus
Mardoc
Sullla

Please sign in here to confirm!

Haphazard has posted the starting save, but I believe he's also played the first 20 turns, and will post a report with the new save below!

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the thread, RefSteel. I had some time and was eager to start digging a deep hole get started, so hopefully no one minds me grabbing the initial turns. If I have done something disastrous...well, there is always that 2300 save file.

I rolled a galaxy with the parameters that had been discussed: Medium galaxy, 5 opponents, impossible, Humans. Sol was in the southeastern quadrant of the galaxy and had two stars within initial range: a yellow only 1 parsec away towards the galactic core, and a red at 3 parsecs in the opposite direction. I decided to send the colony ship to the yellow star -- coreward, best odds of a good planet, and close enough to not lose much time if it turned out poorly. If it should somehow be an AI homeworld...well, someone else can roll a starting save. The scouts were sent to the other reachable system and to a green star at 4 parsecs distance that might come into range if the yellow was colonizable.

Darrian turned out to be an excellent planet, a Terran 90. Here's a map of the galaxy (from the end of the turnset at 2320, after scouts have spread out, but essentially the same):

Five yellows in a group in the center-west, and three in the north center. Homeworld placement ought to be interesting. The other strong races are absent from this galaxy, but the rocks are around to grab hostile worlds.

With Darrian so close to the homeworld, population could be moved in a single turn and arrive immediately; also the maintenance burden of the colony ship was lifted faster than normal. I have never had a second world this close to the homeworld before, and found myself a bit short of population -- I am used to having the homeworld grow for a couple more turns before the colony ship arrives. I kept Sol at about 40 pop and sent off the growth each turn; having it arrive the next turn was a nice change, like having fast warp engines already.

I spent one full turn building scouts and part of a second turn, then went back to full factories at Sol. Our scouts spread out across the region, finding a mix of habitable and hostile worlds. The other reachable planet is quite a gem:

Definitely want a colony ship for that very soon. But first we need more factories. I continued industrializing Sol at max rate. I considered switching to a colony ship before the end of 20 turns, but decided to continue building factories instead. Sol still has unemployed pop and the build time was dropping, not quite a turn per turn of factory building but dropping. Here are our worlds as of 2320:

Sol is about to reach max factories for its current pop...but we can move pop from Darrian in a single turn, so continuing to max factories will pay off quickly. But so will setting that fertile planet; not sure if I made the best choice here.

Scouting results for our region:

Two radiated ultra-rich worlds in our close neighborhood...and rocks in the galaxy. We also have a desert and an arid that we can reach with a bit more range, and another big terran planet in the corner that should be safe until we can get to it. For hostiles that might be accessible in the near-ish future, we have one tundra world.

Nothing has been spent on tech yet; I did not see the need with a good world already in range waiting for a colony ship. Not sure when would be the best time to open the fields and see what options we have in the first rungs.

The scout at Uxmai in the southeast corner should head to the star directly north; since those worlds are so far in the back lines I only built one scout for those two worlds.

[Mardoc]

Looks like a solid start!

I love it when there are several strong options available, and this definitely counts.
We could stay put and focus on maxing out our current planets.  Pro: Guaranteed return on investment.  Con: not enough to win in the long run
We could hurry and build the colony ship for the back lines Fertile planet (and hopefully the Terran is also in range)  Pro: more citizens, more factories.  Con: relatively secure planet that will be there for us later if we want
We could research Controlled Tundra to break out toward the middle of the galaxy.  Pro: Bypasses need for range.  Humans are Good Planetologists, so it's likely to be available.  Con: at least a second-rung tech which could take a while
We could research improved range: hopefully range 4.  Pro: lets us start claiming contested worlds.  Con: Not guaranteed to be available.

My first reaction is that it's a good time to open up at least Propulsion research, maybe also take a look at Construction and Planetology?  We're going to want tech relatively early so we're not stuck in the corner; if we are to have any chance of getting that tech with trickle research, we need to start.  Plus it would be helpful to know our options.

I would still have the majority of our production go towards factories for now; at least Sol ought to be able to max out fairly soon.

After Sol maxes (in what, 5 turns?) then it should start working on colony ships.  Grab the Fertile planet while we wait on range, then press toward the galaxy center as soon as range tech comes in.

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So is that a reasonable plan of action?  I'm at home today waiting on HVAC service, so I should be able to play my turnset pretty soon, but I don't want to start until I've gotten at least a little feedback.

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On a technical note, it seems that alt-tabbing between the game running in DosBox and Firefox doesn't work very well.  I can't seem to maximize the game window again, and eventually it stopped responding to input.  That wouldn't matter much except that I like to write my report as I go.  Any suggestions?  I can certainly work around it if I have to; maybe taking notes and writing after my set would work.

[Sullla]

Checking in. I was able to download kyrub's patch and the savegame file without any issues. Looks like a solid, unremarkable start so far haphazard. There are a couple things that I would stress after looking at the save:

* We have an excellent position here. There are no yellow stars close by and the southeast corner will be cleaned up by us without a contest. We'll want to emphasize pushing north and west as much as possible to secure worlds in that direction. Oh, and to alleviate some of those worries on the first turn: the AI will never start right on top of you in Master of Orion. They must be at least a minimum distance away; I think the player always gets 7 parsecs of grace room near the start.

* Paladia is a Desert 45 planet just north of Sol and Darrian; it's only 4 parsecs away. This is the key planet we want to shoot for, as it opens the path north and also to Phantos, the Arid 60 planet off to the west that we've scouted (current 6 parsecs away but should drop to 4 parsecs if we colonize Paladia). Meanwhile, haphazard didn't mention another important detail: the Terran planet in the extreme southeast corner is Uxmai, a Terrain 100 world! We have our homeworld, a Terran 90, a Terran 100, and a Fertile Steppe 55 in our immediate corner. Very nice potential core here.

* I agree that we need more factories before swapping the homeworld over to colony ship production. With the nearby Steppe planet already in range, this looks like a pretty straightforward path to me: build factories for a few more turns, then open Propulsion research (hopefully taking Range 4 if available) and then trickle research into more range tech while building a colony ship for the Steppe planet. Hopefully we have Range 4 available and it will finish around the time we complete the colony ship. (Don't forget to build more Scout ships in advance of range tech finishing, and have them in position to go explore more planets! I like to squeeze a few out of the second planet to avoid slowing down the homeworld.)

On succession game planning: I tend to prefer having a set order instead of the "anyone grab the save" setup, but I'll defer to the team consensus here. I'd suggest going 20/20/15/15/10 turns for the initial trip through the order, and then 10 turns apiece after that. Who's up next?

[Mardoc]

Ok, I've got it.  Will aim to play and report in the next couple-few hours.

On succession game planning: I tend to prefer having a set order instead of the "anyone grab the save" setup, but I'll defer to the team consensus here.

Agreed.  'anyone grab the save' works for games like the Long War SG where the state of play doesn't change quickly, but if 90 turns passed between turnsets here the empire would be unrecognizable.  MOO just moves faster.

I figure we'll play it by ear for the first rotation only, then stick to that order afterwards.  And also try to keep you and Ianus from being back-to-back - which doesn't actually leave many variations now that Haphazard and I have claimed our positions.
Played: Haphazard1

Got it: Mardoc
On Deck: Sulla or Ianus
Warming up: DaveV
Last: Ianus or Sulla

I'd suggest going 20/20/15/15/10 turns for the initial trip through the order, and then 10 turns apiece after that. Who's up next?

OSG-28 went with 20/15/15/10/10; I'd kinda prefer to go with the shorter turns since so many of us are relative newbs.

[Ianus]

Checking in. I'm happy to play next or wait for the tail end of the rotation.
As for tech obviously range is important to allow us to claim as much territory as possible (more is ALWAYS better) and in a case like this where a relatively low-level environmental control tech is acting as a gateway to expansion that should be pursued strongly as well. In this case I would emphasize Planetology and Propulsion 50/50 for at least the first round of tech and then re-evaluate once we see if Controlled Tundra is available.

[Mardoc]

TL:DR

Maxed out Sol.  Settled the one planet we can reach.  We only had Range 5 available so I spent a lot on that; it's about to pop.  Also started research into Improved Terraforming 10 and Factory Cost 9; not sure those were the best but at least they're cheap enough that they'll be fast

An excerpt from Pax Humanis: The Early Years:

At the beginning of the 24th Century, humanity had not yet been united in purpose.  Instead a rather haphazard arrangement of competing power centers remained.  The old nations of Earth, independent Belt miners, the burgeoning Mars colony, and even the religious cult of Darrian existed in a rather rough mutual tolerance, enforced by the threats of Mutual Assured Destruction, a complex web of treaties, and the ability of the solar system to absorb the energies of ambition and growth.

This pattern of unfocused growth allowed humanity to increase its capacity for great deeds, increasing the population and building centers of production throughout Sol.  The cult of Darrian even gathered enough donations to settle the nearby star of Alpha Centauri, promptly renamed in honor of the great leader, who died en route.  However, in the absence of central command, none of the great Research Projects were begun, the stellar military was not yet established, and even migration patterns were uncoordinated.  In the later years, Darrianites began to flee the theocratic regime, returning to the home system.

[OOC: don't actually object to any of your moves, haphazard, it's just the way the story seemed to fit]

In 2320, a cabal of researchers from Olympus Mons University (the so-called Mars Docs) began to exert power through a combination of hypnotically phrased research papers and thuggish graduate students.  Modern humans still shudder at the mention of the 'Symposium' and the 'Seminar'.

For the first few years, while the Mars Docs tightened their grip on power, the competing power centers failed to see the threat, and instead continued to focus their energies on children and industrial might.  By the year 2323, they felt secure enough to try a first demand for grant money, investing 62 BC into improved power storage materials.  Although some Earth-based researchers claimed to see potential in hydrogen fuel cells, the Martians knew that would be a false path and instead focused research on Deuterium.


In 2324, having built enough laboratories on Mars to research in comfort, the research budget was slashed again.  Spending on additional lab construction could only result in the hydrogen claimants wasting money, after all.  Instead the resources of Sol were focused on finishing exploitation of all known mineral reserves and building housing for the Darrianite refugees.

By 2325, the Mars Docs finished establishment of complete control of Sol, and forbade the creation of new production and housing facilities.  In order to stem the flow of Darrianites, they relocated their labs to Darrian itself; with improved distribution times, they would shortly overthrow the theocracy and consolidate their rule over all mankind.  The new focus of Sol would be on colonization of Endoria and Uxmai.  

A brief study was performed on distances from Endoria to Uxmai, with the unfortunate realization that settlement of Uxmai would have to wait until the endless research into Deuterium Fuel was completed.  However, the Docs were confident.  Deuterium was so obviously the correct path; it wouldn't be much of a delay to wait for the research to complete.


The next few years were uneventful.  Sol pushed resources into the colony ship.  When this completed, the Mars Docs moved back home and increased their research budget yet again.  Some money was found for the creation and distribution of additional scout ships in anticipation of improved range, and Sol banked money into the planetary reserve to send after the Endorians to establish the new colony in a more organized and faster fashion than the undirected colonization of Darrian.


In 2331, a strange transmission was received at the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence Institute.  Not only did extraterrestrial intelligence exist, but they bragged at their control of six worlds to the human 2!  

By 2332, Endorian colonists touched down.  17 million Darrianites immediately set off to escape the bonds of the Ph.D's from Mars, while considerable extra funding was also directed toward Endoria.

In 2333, unrest continued to build.  The Mars Docs claimed power on the basis of their superior research skills, yet they were still far from producing any tangible results.  'This calls for increased funding', they claimed, and directed more and more of Sol's budget into the black hole of their laboratory complex.  Meanwhile, underground research papers began to circulate.  The Hydrogen Alternative claimed that humanity could have already spread onto Uxmai and Paladia if the Martian cabal was not blind to the possibilities of Hydrogen.  This paper, in addition to its surface message, contained the first recorded anti-hypnotic subliminal messaging in recorded history.
Olympus Mons University ran out of facilities for Deuterium production and research, and began to divert some of the grant money into Construction and Planetology research as well
[OOC: we were spending so much on research in the absence of any colonization opportunities, it seemed like a small cost to get us started here]

Researchers debated the relative value of the available options, but ultimately settled on the options most likely to show fast results.  Something tangible had to be shown to the people of Earth, soon, in order to halt the underground research papers and the rapidly organizing undergraduate mobs.


Meanwhile, alien cat people arrived to the far West of the galaxy, with armed ships escorting colony ships.  They quickly chased away the human scouts.



However, in 2335, with as yet no results, the Mars Docs lost their iron grip on humanity.  "We were so close!" they complained.  "Next year we would have had Deuterium, or certainly the year after that!"  It didn't help; their tenure was revoked.




Save attached.

Who's next?

[haphazard1]

Fun writing, Mardoc! Beware the demands of grant funding!

Instead a rather haphazard arrangement of competing power centers remained.

I see what you did there.

I thought I mentioned Uxmai, though not by name ("big terran planet in the corner"); I will try to be more specific in future.

A set rotation once we have completed the first run through the roster sounds good to me. Hopefully our empire will be much larger the next time I am up to play.

Edit: Crossposted with Mardoc adding pictures.

Meklar have 6 systems already?

Also, thanks for the info on start spacing and homeworlds. Useful to know. I have seen AI homeworlds within initial navigation range of one another, was not sure if that could happen to the player.

[Mardoc]

Hmm, now that I think about it I should have started the new colony ship at Sol last turn instead of pushing research quite so hard after already being in the percentages. Hope we don't lose Paladia because of that! Next emperor should certainly cut down the research budget and get colony ship(s) started ASAP, probably on the inherited turn.

Was very uncertain about Improved Terraforming 10 or Improved Eco Restoration. IT10 at least gets us to the next rung quickly and might let us have Tundra, but IER would have been guaranteed profit. Any thoughts there?

Also, I probably should have pushed research harder earlier in my set so that I wouldn't run out of things to do with Sol. Didn't realize that Uxmai was out of range until midway through, though .

[haphazard1]

Let's see what is in the next rung for planetology. Terraforming+10 is a great tech and it's cheap; we can always come back for Improved Eco if we do not have better/more urgent options. A chance at Controlled Tundra so we can grab that world is worth trying, I think.

Having to go for range 5 was a bit of an unlucky break. But such is MOO. We do have some very nice worlds in our region with all these terrans, plus the fertile steppe. Just have to keep the Meklars from borging the entire galaxy. And now the kitties have shown up. Well, someone was going to be to our west with that cluster of yellows, or more likely several someones.