Ljosalfar IN SPACE!: Bobchillingworth hugs a fungus

[Bobchillingworth]

Um






Well, that was certainly fortuitous.



Mist might have had a point about pods being silly overpowered, you can even get two results at once from them:




They are really fun though. I'm eagerly anticipating the next turn just because my rover gets to open another.



Here's what the pod map revealed:




The weird looking volcano-thing in the center is Mount Planet, which gives like 5 commerce a turn, in addition to some production and a food.


My land is incredibly food-poor- only food resources are a few DNA and like a single spot of +3 food Space Shrubs (seen next to the Rover).



I set my research for Planatary Datalinks next, which will give me +2 science in my capital from a free Node building.

[Bobchillingworth]

My great pod luck continues:







I also found another Unique Feature-esque landmark:





I think it gives up to +7 hammers after I research a certain technology.

[Bobchillingworth]

No pictures for turn 5, because all I did was shuffle some units around. One of my boats survived a sea Worm attack without a scratch, which was improbably fortuitous




This turn, I started off my burning a Worm spawn point:




Sorry Worms, I'm sure you can build more elsewhere



In the south I have discovered four more pods, although one (not pictured) is in the ocean and therefore unobtainable at present. Here's a picture of the region:






I have annotated it for a couple notes on how movement works in this mod, or at least how I think it is working.



You can only move from a low level of terrain to the terrain level directly above it, like climbing stairs. The terrain goes from basic flat land (simply has no elevation listed in the mouse-over description), to highlands, to ridges.


For whatever reason, my land is almost all highlands or ridges, mostly highlands. The red boxes show the only flat tiles I have found so far. So my Rover won't have any difficulty driving up to the snow-capped ridge with a pod. But I don't think that a unit could disembark onto that same ridge from the coast.


Ridges never get fungus blooms through random spreads, which may or may not limit how much of my land I can cover with fungus later on- I'm not sure if I can plant it there anyway. Highlands only get fungus at FC 60+. So my land should remain largely fungus-free for a long time. Even my coastline will likely have minimum fungus, since I have a long line of "trenches" (the black streak can you see under the pods) protecting the shore, and fungus never spreads over those either. Essentially this looks like a great start for somebody who wants to avoid fungus, and a very confusing start for an eco-faction player who prefers to spread fungus everywhere to raise the FC and make use of their leader bonuses.


One other point of interest in the screencap is on the east, where you can barely make out a zone of blocked trade. That's the work of a Mindworm- when they decide to garrison a Worm spawning site, they'll block all trade around it. I only have found two spawning sites so far, that one and a sea-based spot to my north.

[Bobchillingworth]

Lame pod:





Actually, I got enough gold for several more turns of 100% research plus a map revealing another pod. So not bad at all. Really hope I get one of the free wonder results soon though

[Bobchillingworth]

Okay, this is just getting silly:






Tech allows access to a 2-move, 2-strength unit which is very cheap but receives no defensive bonuses, and a Command Post building which is basically a barracks and monument combined.

[Bobchillingworth]

Bah, boring pod:






I really wanted a free wonder- actually, I'm surprised that nobody else has one yet.


It looks like I'm on either an island or a peninsula. Either way, my land continues to be barren and barely hospitable. As far as I can tell, this mod lacks a start equalizer, so I suppose it shouldn't come as a great surprise to me that I don't have enough food at my capital to work even half my tiles. The Unity Cryobay "secret project" would really come in handy here, but I'm sure Nic will build it sooner than later (provides a health bonus in your capital, +2 food per turn, +2 population).




On a separate note, I have played a bit more Planetfall in SP (which is really fun, if you set the difficulty to Immortal), and I think I have developed a minimally decent comprehension of how to play the mod (albeit not optimally).


One of the mod's aspects which quickly becomes apparent is how friendly it is to the ICS playing style. There are no cottages which only develop slowly into decent tiles. Farms use the cottage growth mechanic, but they add food over time, and Planet maluses plus a general lack of happiness resources discourage steep vertical growth. Instead for at least half the game the best source of commerce by far are windmills, which can provide up to five or six commerce on standard tiles, and which you can begin producing as soon as you research a single cheap early tech. All a new city has to do is work a couple windmills and it will pay for itself. Network Nodes adding +2 beakers and every city getting a free specialist also encourage filling the land (and seas) with as many cities as possible. This is an especially potent strategy as the Hive, since double production on flamer and infantry units means that even a small filler city can contribute militarily.



In terms of combat, Planetfall gives the defender enormous advantages. Bunkers provide +1 food wherever they are built and can perform ranged bombardment of invaders. The AI loves to spam them along ridges, and I think it has the right idea. Infantry units all chug along slowly at one tile a turn, and the defender doesn't have to worry about commando units or 6-move mounted as appear in FFH. Collateral outside of bunker bombardment for much of the game comes from Siege Tanks, which are relatively cheap 2-move, 3-strength units which can take bombard or barrage promotions. Just spamming opponents to death with tanks seems to be an entirely viable strategy, provided your enemy doesn't have a large stockpile of helicopters.


Of the non-tank units I have used so far, the Genite line seems most promising. Genities are strength 4 infantry who all start with the equivalent of the March promotion. They then upgrade to Invitros, who have the same ability but an impressive 7 strength (in a mod where few units are over 8), and finally Cyborgs, who have 9 strength and heal and have some other abilities I forget. I am somewhat worried about Mist beelining and then spamming Genites.

[Bobchillingworth]

Optimal pod result #5:






Supplies means I get to complete a free wonder. Since my supplies unit is ocean-faring, it also means that I get to do this:





And open another pod next turn (provided a sea worm doesn't zoom in out of nowhere and devour my supplies IBT).




So, assuming my unit survives the journey back home, here are the wonder options:



Unity Mining Laser, +1 production from mines. I won't bother with this- I have good land for mining, but not enough food to work many, and I intend to focus on +4 commerce windmills instead.


Unity Mapping Thing (not actual name), reveals entire world map. Pretty cool, but it looks more and more like I'm on an island, which means I think I'm about out of land-based pods to beeline. And I'm not advanced enough yet to claim any Ocean ones. Won't be for a while. And I'm not planning an immediate rush on anybody, so not sure this is worthwhile.


Unity Library (requires an 11-turn tech), provides one free technology. Normally it would be a no-brainer to pick this, but there just aren't many good technologies I could grab for free at this time. The most expensive is only 360 or so beakers, and it's a tech I'll probably just bulb with a Transcendent anyway. Plus having to spend 11 turns researching an otherwise mostly pointless tech to get a wonder someone might grab first doesn't seem like a great idea.


Unity Cryobay (requires a 5-turn tech), gives +2 population instantly for every city, plus a settled Great Doctor in the capital (+2 fpt, +1 bpt, +3 health). I'm leaning heavily towards this. My capital's greatest weakness is not having enough food to work all of its otherwise potentially very productive hills, and having the instant population growth and food bonus will go a long ways toward resolving that issue.

[Bobchillingworth]

Supplies unit still alive. This is the sort of middling result I've been lucky to avoid receiving from pods so far:







Although to be fair, that will end up being a pretty sweet location for a sea colony, a billion turns from now.

[Bobchillingworth]

Some pics from the Blitz:



Confirmed that I'm on an island-




That's good. I don't want to get rushed, and the best sea units for a long time will be Isles of the Deep (3-move water Mindworms), which are on my tech path.

This means I'll be emphasizing research which unlocks Planet bonuses and water tiles.

Island is overall pretty barren though. May be some hidden resources I am unaware of, but Planetfall doesn't have too many of those.



I was able to safely bring my Supplies to port- the turn after Mist built the Unity Cyrobay


So built this instead:





Which revealed the world (see minimap):




I'm going to load up my last save & see if I can get a giant overview of the world stitched together using the program Sareln recommended since I think I'm right now the only person who has seen what the map looks like (please correct me if I'm wrong & Mardoc posted an overview already). If I get frustrated with the stitcher or can't make it work for whatever reason, I'm happy to share my screen caps or my latest save + password, if someone else wants to have a go at it.


I also learned where most of the other players are located, either exactly or roughly. Since we are playing with public diplomacy, I simply suggested they rat each other out regarding where their competitors are situated, and I'd inform them of what resources were nearby. Seems to have worked about as well as intended =)



I don't have a picture for it here, but another advantage of having the entire world map is that I get to see both where all of the remaining pods are as well as where worms are currently blockading (but not where their spawn points are located). Since most of the pods are in the ocean, this means I know not only where they are, but also which I can safely capture with a boat.

Because I want to get a jump on capturing these pods as quickly as possible, plus I want a coast guard and the ability to start settling some of the nearby islands, I'm presently researching this tech:




The highlighted units are great. Strength 3 is pathetic vs. other ships, but all boats fight with the same strength vs. Mindworms, so it will suffice for now. And their free promotion is very useful, because it means I can take this:




Once I have Empath Song, I can begin running around and capturing Isles of the Deep with my patrol ships. Now, the tech which unlocks Empath Song is expensive, but I have a couple ways of obtaining it more quickly. First, I'm currently running an Empath specialist, so I have about 50% odds of getting a Transcend great person who can bulb the tech (I could alternatively get a Great Merchant due to points from my wonder). That's my preferred option.


Alternatively, I've already been making good use of my map knowledge:





There aren't a lot of coastal pods left which aren't garrisoned by worms, but I'm making a determined effort to capture as many as I can. If I can manage to bring this supply trawler back home intact (and that's a big if), then I may be able to rush the Unity Library to complete the Empath Song tech. In my ideal scenario, I bulb the tech and then use the Library to grab the 600-something beaker tech which follows it to simply build Isles of the Deep directly, but idk how likely that is to shake out. Were I able to pull that off, that might be a game winning move, as I'd be able to start swarming the map in Worms before anyone has comparable defenses ready.


I was fairly transparent about my plans with the other players, during our blitz chat. Everyone was being reasonably candid (I think :P), and I personally find games to be more fun when people aren't afraid of sharing a least a little bit about their strategy and experience. Or at least that makes games more fun which use a new mod, or novel rules. There may not be many mysteries left for BTS, but I think we're all still to various degrees fumbling about with Planetfall.



For reference, the Trawler's current position:




Still a few more turns until it's out of the danger zone.



Finally, my capital as of the latest turn:





The unimproved hill it's working will soon sport a +4 commerce windmill. I think I'll build a boat next to see if I can claim any nearby ocean pods, and then produce another former and colony pod before switching to heavy boat production.





Coming next: Image stitch (if I can make it work), and maybe a few thoughts on the mod itself, based on what I have experience so far

[Mardoc]

(please correct me if I'm wrong & Mardoc posted an overview already)

Nope, not at all. I literally generated the map once, directly as a PBEM. All I saw was Selrahc's start, and what screenies have been posted so far by others.