For I Have Tasted the Fruit: The private logs of Academician Zakharov

[Commodore]

Santiago.

[Selrahc]

Great! Now I have to do a post about Santiago's Secret Waterski Troops.

[Selrahc]

Tension!

[Selrahc]

The sea... vast, mysterious... and full of wealth! And the nations of Planet send their trade across it without a thought. Well, the sea doesn't care about them, so it lets them pass. But we can give the sea a little hand in teaching the landlubbers a lesson in humility. Captain Ulrik Svensgaard, "The Ripple and the Wave"


The sea in Planetfall really is a source of infinite wealth. In most Civ 4 games, there is an eventual pressure on places to settle. In Planetfall, this really isn't the case. In all the games I've played so far, the sea has been waiting there for somebody to settle whenever they want late game expansion cities.

The big negative with Water based expansion is that it takes quite a lot of tech investment before it becomes possible and profitable. This means that it's going to be the thing you do when you start to run out of land based settlement options rather than your initial focus. Unless you're playing the Pirates obviously.

The water tiles of Chiron have the following base yields:
1-0-2, Coast. Same as coast in normal civilization games.
2-0-0, Ocean Shelf. The "grassland" tiles of the sea.
0-3-0, Ocean Trench. The "hill" tiles of the sea, also a good place to hide your fleets.
1-1-0, Ocean. The "plains" tiles of the sea.

The improvements that can be built on water tiles include Marine Labs, which connect up the various resources found in the sea. Kelp, which is initially just worth +1f, Sea Mills for +2e and Mining Platforms(trench only) for +2m.

If you're seriously pushing for a sea economy, Biodomed is the only civic to use. It gives +1 energy to Kelp, which will also end up with +1 energy from Bioreactors. This makes Kelp the only improvement to really build in a water based empire, much as Aristofarms are awesome in FFH. Every non-trench tile gets a kelp, every trench tile that will be worked gets a mining platform. Simple.

What techs are needed for use of the water? Well at a minimum you'll need Centauri Hydrology(125) to work water tiles, then Doctrine Flexibility(250) is needed for Aquaformers. You'll also eventually want Recycling Tanks(250) for Biodomed civic and Algaculture(500) to build Kelp farms. Algaculture gives a free sea colony pod, but it takes Pressure Domes(1000) to unlock general building of sea colony pods. I'd consider those techs the bare essentials to start sea colonization efforts, but you'd be well advised to grab Doctrine: Initiative(1000) as soon as possible to unlock Mining Platforms, or your bases will be very production starved. Doctrine Initiative also unlocks the first offensive naval vessels, Gun Foils and Submarines. And sea colonies don't start getting really profitable until Bioreactors(2000) starts adding 1 additional energy to each kelp tile. Once all those technologies(5125) have been researched, Sea Bases start to become as attractive as land bases. That's certainly not going to happen before the end of the midgame.

Militarily, ships are quite fast. With at least 4 move, ships are able to zip around a lot faster than road less land units. Taking advantage of that and making marine transports to help with coastal invasions is probably going to be important. The other thing about sea units is that they're often invisible. With the "Deep Pressure Hull" special ability ships will be invisible as long as they stick in trench. This leads to the potential for devastating marine sneak attacks. Submarines are also available very early, and they can only be detected by units with a scanner special ability selected. All in all, water combat can be as frustrating as facing Nox Noctis in FFH. Except everyone has Nox Noctis. Of course ships don't *have* to take invisibility promotions. There are some interesting special abilities they could take instead. "Precision" gives ships an assassin-like ability to strike the weakest units in combat, and will generally be taken by submarines to nip in and finish off survivors.

The unfortunate thing about sea colonies is that the Native life of planet is even more horrendous when fighting at sea. Boats are a lot more expensive to hire than cheap worm fighters on land, and Isles of the Deep and Sealurks can zoom in and attack from a long way away. Couple that with the fact that a lot of enemy navies will be invisible and you have a really difficult little problem in knowing how much defence to give your sea bases. I've had most luck in keeping roving navies centrally located to rapidly recapture lost cities.

All in all, the Sea Colonizing aspect of the game means that with proper investment any faction can have as much territory as they want, but the tech required means that the early-mid game is probably still going to be dominated by land based skirmishes. Sea combat is rather terrifying, and the more I look at it the more convinced I am that invading "Bob Island" is going to be a difficult prospect...

Next up: Secret Projects

[Maniac]

Congratulations! I decided not to continue playing your turn, as you didn't say if you wanted to do anything with the Creator you also received.

[Selrahc]

Time to start bringing this back up to date again. Quick checklist of my current objectives.

[strike]1. Get Unity Library for Memetics.[/strike]
[strike]2. Finish off Colony Pod for second base.[/strike] Progress: Colony pod en route to a Silver/Nut bonus/Energy bonus/Alien Artifact/river location.
3. Make a big stack of Genites and Siege Tanks. Go wreck somebodies day. Progress: 4 scout patrols completed with funds to upgrade.
4. Get Knowledge/Democratic/Planned civic combo. Progress: Knowledge, Planned unlocked. Waiting on Datajack to bulb Planetary Networks for Democratic, due in 5 turns.
5. Set up some sort of alliance. Bob is running away with the game, so I'm not sure I can catch up alone. Progress: Sareln seems to be interested in a missionary. Mist is currently in a hot(well.. warm) war with Nic, could make friends by Genite/Siege tanking one of them.

[Selrahc]

T53 update, with a few things coming into fruition.

Firstly, Renewable Energy comes in.


Renewable energy is the "Cottage" technology. It unlocks one of the core economic tile improvements, the Windmill. The windmill is slightly odd, in that it gives a fluctuating amount of energy based on the height of the terrain. +1 on flat, +2 on hills and ridges.

I set the next research to Ultraponics. Another unglamorous quick early tech that unlocks a tile improvement. Greenhouses are a planet-neutral farm, that eventually transitions into a combined Food/Energy improvement. The tech is a gateway onto "real" farms, which I'll be needing in the relatively food poor environements. It's also noteworthy that Ultraponics unlocks Algae Labs. My original capital location will be worth sending a Colony pod towards soon.



Here is a first look at my second city. A really nice little location. Lots of riverlands. Lots of resources. Lots of 2 food-base tiles. This looks like a really prime commerce base for the future. I've got a former improving the silver, and it will move on to improve the Alien Artifacts soon. The Nutrient tile is *already* a 4-0-1 tile, before being improved. Once I build a farm on it, it will basically work to fuel the cities food needs single handed allowing most other tiles to work riverside windmills. With an Eden, the Nutrients will eventually become an 8(!) food, 1 energy, +1 happy tile. Yeouch. The Energy, Alien Artifacts and Silver definitely are also handy though.




Meanwhile, I'm pushing the capital towards being my production centre. With a +35% production bonus from Planned, and the Grenade fruits fuelling growth it should be good to work quite a few mines.

As you can also see in that screenshot, I've generated my next Datajack. Planetary Networks will be bulbed next turn, and I'll be swapping into Democracy/Planned.

A religion, Silver and Alien Artifacts makes for a great early happiness situation. I can have size 6 cities already, and more with a little infrastructure in place.



The dark shadow above me however, is the presence of the worms. Completely surrounding me, and foxing my last few attempts to send out scouts. Igor has already barely escaped death to retreat and lick his wounds, and one of his friends died in at attempt to head to a pod. Any movement outside of my borders is going to have to be conducted in force.


Of course, I do have a force planned.... My cities are working on the genite/siege tank horde of doom as we speak. I'm planning on getting an 8 genite/4 siege tank force together in ~ten turns, to leave borders and go hurt somebody. Probably Nic.

[Selrahc]

[SIZE="3"]Secret Projects[/SIZE]

There are really three distinct phases of wonder creation, albeit with blurry edges.


Picking through the Wreckage: Unity Components
Some really powerful wonders, but lorewise it makes sense. If the balance wasn't borked by Supply pods, this would give some really interesting early game play as people balance expansion against powerful wonders. One of the negatives of Expansion era play is the loss of these wonders.

• Unity Cryobay
  +2 population in all bases. Free great doctor.
  Like the Hanging Gardens, but coming even earlier and without slavery to recoup its hammers. Getting it built at a time when it helps rather than hinders your expansion is a delicate balancing act.
  
• Unity Library
  Free technology
  Obviously depends heavily on how big a payoff you can generate. I could have potentially gotten even *more* free beakers out of this wonder by quickly teching Holographics, lightbulbing Planetary Networks and taking Nanominituarization(2000). Rewards deep well planned beelines with a jackpot payoff in beakers... Making it potentially the most powerful of the early wonders.
  
• Unity Observation Deck
  Reveals World Map
  As Bob is showing, this thing is a hell of a boon too. Negotiation potential in this format is high, and just knowing the lay of the land is great. This is even ignoring the power for hut popping.
  
• Unity Hydroponics Bay
  Free Hydro Plant in every base. Enables all Ecology Civics. Provides Fresh Water to every plot in empire.
  Another strong contender for "Most powerful", this thing has a lot of effects that will be an incredible boon all game long. Early access to terraforming and fresh water everywhere just *screams* to play a game full of
  
• Unity Mining Laser
  +1 mineral from mines
  On the other hand, Unity Mining Laser is a bit bleh. A decent but underwhelming boon. Nic hoped to cascade this into producing Hydroponics, but that obviously hasn't worked out. If built naturally, I imagine this would be one of the later ones built.
  
• Unity Reactor
  +100% credit generation
  Sort of OK? Most of the time thanks to Stockpile Energy, your gold rate won't be needed. However, if you're looking for slush funds to upgrade units, this wonder could work nicely. Trouble is, throwing valuable early game hammers at this might impact your early soldiering career negatively. Also gives Great Scientist points.
  

The art of Governance: Early/Mid wonders

A wide variety in here between the almost useless(Maritime Control Centre, Planetary Datalinks) and the quite nice(Planetary Council, Hunter Seeker Algorithm). Nothing nearly as jaw dropping as the Unity Bays though. (N.B, I've left out Psych and GPP bonuses from these)

• Human Genome Project
  Free Doctor and Scientist Specialist in City.
  Requires Bioengineering(250) and an Infirmary. 200 minerals.
  Mist surprised everybody in the PBEM by building this. It's an interesting choice, that signifies an intention to generate a lot of great people quickly.
  
• Chiron Preserve
  +1 Civilizational Planet Rating.
  Requires Environmental Economics(500). 250 minerals.
  Marginal. Planet Friendly civs should be way over +1. Planet Unfriendly civs should be way below +1. This is for those dithering between the two, aiming to keep just about Planet Positive to avoid mindworm spawns, without foregoing city growth and tile improvements. It can work to keep that kind of civ in the green for hundreds of turns... but it's a cheap build, and the likelihood is that a planet friendly civ will grab it due to their tech priority.
  
• Hunter-Seeker Algorithm
  +50% EP. All units at the base and all bunkers get the HSA promo, allowing them to see Probe teams.
  Requires Nanominituarization(2000). 400 minerals.
  Which means they can easily kill probe teams, and it ends up being simple enough to keep bases clear of spies. The thing is, I don't think spies are a big enough thing to be worth the effort... This is more of a denial wonder for if you are pursuing a spy strategy and don't want to be shut down.
  
• Command Nexus
  +2 xp on all units.
  Requires Factionalism(500). Requires lvl 4 unit and Command Centre. 200 minerals.
  I've said before that I don't think XP is all that useful in Planetfall, but at just 200 minerals this is well worth a build. It's barely more minerals than a general city improvement.
  
• Longevity Vaccine
  Gives 3 Longevity Vaccine resources (+1 health)
  Requires Retroviral Engineering(1000). 350 minerals.
  Not really worth much. Very blah.
  
• Maritime Control Centre
  +1 energy in all coastal squares.
  Unlocked at Mass Drivers(3600). 500 minerals.
  Comes pretty late. Expensive to build. Has a pretty marginal effect. Blah. Blah. Blah.
  
• Planetary Council
  +100% GPP generation in Base. Enables council votes and guarantees eligibility for Chairman.
  Unlocked at Planetary Networks(1000). 350 minerals.
  Pretty good wonder for generating great people. Enabling the council is a mixed blessing, but hey, gives something fun to squabble over.
  
• Planetary Datalinks
  Gain all technology known by three or more rivals.
  Requires Cybernetics(3600). 500 minerals.
  I'm unsure on this one. With just 4 opponents and a tech tree that allows heavy diversity in paths taken, I don't think we'll have three agreeing on a tech much after the early game. And this isn't unlocked until fairly late... Hum. It *might* give a good payoff for a dedicated beeline. Then again, I'd call it likely that at least one civ will be destroyed by the time this is unlocked, maybe two. And with Bob probably taking the Planet path... yeah. I'm going to say that at least in this game, this wonder would be a waste.
  
• Citizens Defence Force
  +25% defence in every city. +100% great general emergence in borders.
  Requires Cloning(2000). 400 minerals.
  Like Chicken Itza, Crossed with the Great Wall. I'm underwhelmed, but I suppose it could save your bacon in a defensive war. More than 400 hammers worth or troops? Eh....
  

Gazing at the Stars: Late Wonders

All of these wonders come from techs of 5200 beakers or more, so are probably at the end of a beeline of some sort, or are in play very very late. There are only a few that really warrant special effort to grab, but they can be nice incidental boons for going down a certain tech path.

• Voice of Tolliman
  Adds +1 Planet rating or sets Planet rating to +1, whichever is most favourable. +25% GPP in all bases.
  This wonder I think is kind of a cop out. If transcendence looks to be achievable, you can abandon an anti-planet gameplan at the last minute, then push into Transcendence. You big coward. Fight the damn worms! That said, it's interesting enough. As with the Chiron Preserve, the actual mechanical effects of a +1 planet rating aren't huge, and the global +25% won't matter in an era of Rejuve Tanks. So the only real reason to build this is the chance to jump ship.
  
• Planetary Transit System
  Dimensional Gate in every city
  As with the Nexus in FFH, this is a workmanlike wonder that will be a really nice boon in late game warfare, where getting the high numbers of troops produced to the place they're needed is very important.
  
• Clinical Immortality
  No unhealth from population in this base, +1 nut from Doctors in all bases, +2 food from doctors and great doctors in this base.
  Kind of a complicated implementation, but this is the wonder that lets you create one very large base, as long as your happy cap keeps up. In my late game test runs, I didn't find this wonder useful since it was pretty easy to grow anyway with uber farms. Potentially more useful to planet huggers, but they're unlikely to be dabbling in this part of the tech tree.
  
• Space Elevator
  +200% trade route yield. +4 air unit capacity. Can airlift 3 units
  3 minor, sort of useful bonuses. It has the same code as the Space Elevator in BTS, so can only be built equatorially. It's most practical function is to send out reinforcements to distant locations, so plant it somewhere near your production centres.
  
• Supercollider
  +100% science. Enables Nuclear Attacks
  Comes far too late in the game for the +100% science to be the draw. And seriously... screw nukes. They're a big headache.
  
• Telepathic Matrix
  No anarchy. Minimal wait between civic/religion changes. +1 happy all bases. +2 planet in base. -50% war weariness all bases.
  Decent. Basically the Cristo Redentor, with some tacked on happiness things. Certainly worth building, although I'd say there is less need to juggle civics in Planetfall than in BTS.
  
• Nano Factory
  -33% hurry costs
  Coming at the tech which enables hurrying with cash, this is useful if a little boring.
  
• Subspace Generator
  Requires 4 dimensional gates
  This wins you the game so, uh.. build it.
  

NEXT: In honour of Igor, it's the lispers edition: Thpecial Abilitieth or Thpecialithts or Thantiago. (But not Thinder or Ethpionage)

[Mardoc]

NEXT: In honour of Igor, it's the lispers edition: Thpecial Abilitieth or Thpecialithts or Thantiago. (But not Thinder or Ethpionage)

I think ith time for the Thurvivalisth.

[Mardoc]

Was looking around at SMAC videos today, ran across one I think you might find useful in the diplo thread for the current situation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3-3D_FDE...=endscreen