Ljosalfar IN SPACE!: Bobchillingworth hugs a fungus

[Bobchillingworth]

Okay, I am predictably finding this more work than I am willing to put up with. If someone is willing to perform a map stitch, send me a PM with your email, and I'll forward you the latest save + password.

[Bobchillingworth]

Nobody wants to attempt a stitch? If you are interested, you could just post here instead of sending me a PM. Whatever.



Anyway, some bad luck on the great person front:






So, no Centurai Empathy bulb. On the plus side, I was able to bring my supply trawler safely home (unless a Isle of the Deep is lurking in like the one fogged tile it could attack from, but we won't worry about that).


I'm building research to go great guns for the Unity Library tech. Assuming I obtain it, I'll rush it and get a free technology. My best options are:



Centurai Empathy, for reasons already mentioned


Aqua-something-or-other, a tech which enables me to plant kelp (+1 food on water tiles), gives all ships +1 moves, and most importantly gives me free Sea Colony pod.



I think I lean towards Centurai Empathy, just because I'd rather have boats which can capture Isles of the Deep than boats which are faster but weaker in combat. The free Sea Colony pod would be cool, but also very expensive to defend and properly establish.




It is also possible that I could be beaten to the Library. In that case, I could research the tech which unlocks the Unity secret project which gives your capital +100% gold, and then rush it + settle my Great Merchant. The other Unity project I could rush gives a free Hydroplant in every city, which is also useful.



If I don't settle him, Great Merchant will probably eventually bulb the industrial tech which unlocks the Planned civic. Either that or golden age.

[Bobchillingworth]

Got my supply trawler home just in time:





Settled second city:





After the Lab finishes I'll build a scout trooper and then use this city as a Former and Colony Pod pump for the foreseeable future.

[Bobchillingworth]

Hello, person who will be playing a turn for me. Here are my instructions- they are very simple, because all you need to do is move a single unit.


For my turn, just move the Former 2E, so that it can reach the unimproved Rare Moist DNA at my second city next turn. That's it.



PW is darkd23

[Bobchillingworth]

Used the Merchant to bulb this tech:






Which led to a civics change:





I'll want to settle the Crater site fairly soon, +7 production means I can just build science there for several turns and get a good benefit out of it.

[Bobchillingworth]

My instructions for turn 33 (instructions for turn 32 two posts above):



Move my former at Gaia's High Garden (my only former) to the unimproved Moist DNA (brown) within the city BFC, begin constructing a lab. You can see the former doing so in the picture in my previous post.


Use the Great Tycoon in my capital to bulb Industrial Automation. Revolt to the Fundamentalism and Planned civics (also seen in my previous post).


It doesn't really matter what builds or techs you set, since I'll be in anarchy for this turn, but place research on the tech which unlocks water tiles and reveals a new resource (thermals vents, or something like that). Set the capital to build a Former.



No changes anywhere else.




Thanks!

[Bobchillingworth]

Finally got some material for an update.



First, Sareln completed Unity Hydroponics, and somebody else finished the Human Genome Project. I took a screen cap of the events log, but it didn't come out for some reason.



Losing the Hydroponics Bay sucked, although I was several turns away from even having the tech for it, so really not much of a loss. It's probably the strongest of the various Unity wonders, since you get free Hydroplants (+2 health, +1 commerce for river tiles), all the environmental civics unlocked, and fresh water in every tile you own. That's a whole lot of bonuses for just 80 hammers.


This might be a good time to note that, as super-powered as these wonders are, with the way pod luck and individual priorities have turned out this game, every player has secured one. Which strikes me as being pretty fair.




Anyway, this left me with a supply trawler and no production rush target. The most expensive building I could rush now is a 67-hammer Perimeter Defense, but I have zero use for one. Most expensive useful building arriving in the near future is an Empath guild, but that's only like 50 hammers. There is still the Unity Reactor, which gives +100% capital energy, but I don't think my capital will ever produce much, I don't want the +2 great scientist points, and I don't want to spend 6 turns teching the otherwise completely useless (for me) tech which unlocks it.



So I just merged the Trawler in my capital as a Technician, +2 hammers per turn thanks to running Planned.




As for the Human Genome Project, I'm honestly stumped why anyone bothered. Must have been Nic, with his wonder production bonus, but still. The wonder is 100-something hammers, arrives at an otherwise mediocre tech, and you need a 26-hammer Infirmary to build it. In exchange you get a free doctor and scientist specialist. Great Scientists are meh, Great Doctors are admittedly pretty awesome, but I don't see why anyone would build it so early. Especially given how crowded the other continent is going to be- those guys need to focus on claiming land.



Speaking of which, the diplomatic situation has gotten interesting. With Nic and Mist allegedly fighting a hot war, and Selrahc presumably producing Genites in preparation for a rush, my four opponents may retard each other's growth. Nic is possibly in some trouble here- you don't want to fight Yang in the early game, and Nic is Selrahc's closest target, and Nic occupies the best region of the landmass but has the weakest military leader and a central position, so the others all have good reason to pile in on him.




Oh, and check this out:





Pretty neat. Thanks to having world vision, I can see which seemingly-dry tiles have suddenly sprouted "Fresh Water" tags. I accidentally hit "enter" too early, so I only marked about 2/3 of them, but now I can track Sareln's borders as he expands =)

[Bobchillingworth]

Blitz pics:


I built a Cargo Foil and a Rover and used them to pop several pods.















I also got a Supply Trawler (third one!), which I eventually brought back to my capital and made into another technician, from lack of alternative uses (Unity Reactor fell before I could have possibly rushed it).

One of my new Unity Foils died, but it managed to destroy an unguarded spawning spot near me first, so not too bad.



My empire:




One colony pod will settle a spot on my island's interior which unlocks Mount Planet, while the other will take Garland Crater. A dumb mindworm is bothering me, I think another spawning spot opened up near the pholus ridge. My capital will spend several turns producing Empathy Gunboats, other city will alternate between Formers, cheap garrison units and Colony Pods.


My tiny armada:




Unity Foil has a pod nearby I'm going to see if I can reach, while the cargo ship will endeavor to drop my Rover off on the continent with all the other players, so that I can grab the research bonuses from opponent known techs.



Finally, from today's turn:




What's up with the potential tile yields being displayed? The tile is the flat / rainy square with the "mill" sign on it; it also has a nutrient bonus (+2 food). Those tiles never usually give so much production from a mine. It also says +4 commerce from a windmill, which again is way too high.

[Tasunke]

heh, I read that tag as "Orc" ... and I was a bit confused

[Bobchillingworth]

Haha, got to pop two more pods (and meet Sareln):




Meh.





This is getting silly. That's my fourth Trawler so far. Of course there are no longer any Unity projects to rush, and I'll be amazed if I can get this thing home intact. I would have just sent it on a suicide mission to open more pods, but there aren't any unguarded ones close by.




Oh also I can see that some of the pods in the oceans East of Mist have sprouted Nutrient Bonuses. Since I'm pretty sure Pods can't spawn on resources, it seems he has been producing sea-faring vessels. Something to watch out for.