Third time's the charm - Mardoc plays the Pirates [SPOILER]

[Mardoc]

T65 - another Isle appears. This time it can't reach the Empathy Song boat, so we might actually capture one. Of course this does rather inhibit our explorations, but hopefully it'll be worth it.

Consciousness borders appeared just to the SW of Fleet in Being. We'll have to send over a deep radar to check it out, but I think it's another coastal burg. Sareln, you're probably back on top of the 'easy kill' list...

Factionalism due in 5. And what is it with all these people guarding their bases with just a single Rover? It really wouldn't take long at all to build a raiding party of a couple transports, choppers, and maybe a gun foil or Isle for stack defense.

[HidingKneel]

T65 - another Isle appears. This time it can't reach the Empathy Song boat, so we might actually capture one. Of course this does rather inhibit our explorations, but hopefully it'll be worth it.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Speaking of which... how high is your psi potential (or whatever the term is), and how much native life will that buy you at the moment?

I forget... are you playing with base razing on or off?

I suppose building rush units is one way of REXing, if you plan to keep your conquests. In which case... what kind of units are best for garrisoning bases on land? Marines, or will you need to look into some other techs?

[Mardoc]

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Speaking of which... how high is your psi potential (or whatever the term is), and how much native life will that buy you at the moment?

Don't remember the exact number, but it's 2 native life at the moment, and well along to the third. Currently gaining Psi at a rate of 4/turn, which is a new one controlled every 18 turns, but that should improve a lot when we get the monument and Fungal Gin hooked up.

I forget... are you playing with base razing on or off?

Off...but there's that 'pillage base' command available to turn bases into money. Reduces size of base by 1, extends riot by 1, grants a lot of cash. Need to test this, I suppose, to find out just how much it's worth.

I suppose building rush units is one way of REXing, if you plan to keep your conquests. In which case... what kind of units are best for garrisoning bases on land? Marines, or will you need to look into some other techs?

I think this mostly depends on the foe; my guess is a combination of siege tanks for collateral and something fast for actual damage would be the best at holding. Or, well, perimeter defenses for collateral, which are now unlocked for us. Given the existence of siege tanks, a defense needs to be somewhat active, can't just stay in a base and expect to win.

Anyway, you've got your finger on the main reason I'm hesitant. It's one thing to capture an undefended base and hold it long enough to pillage to the ground. It's another to plan to wipe someone out or win the land war and force stalemate.

It just feels...wrong...to let people get away with defending bases with a single Str 2 no defensive bonuses unit. But I suppose they're really defending them with the implicit promise of revenge, more than anything else.

[Mardoc]

[Mardoc]

At home, little news. We've made it to the 2nd-last of our desired civics this turn. Still need to pick something from the Power/Knowledge/Wealth column; I expect Knowledge to make the most sense, but there's a chance of Power instead. I can't see Wealth ever being worth it, the production bonus is more than offset by the military unit production penalty, and I doubt we'll be building much that isn't a military unit. Even colony pods count as those!


Abroad, things are more interesting:

I don't see any way we intervene in this war quite this early . We've got far too much peaceful expansion to do first. At the moment, we're preparing three colony pods, since it seems that three formers is enough and the military situation is still essentially uncontested. We'll be building more foils shortly, of course, to go hunting for more worms, and Iskender, and scout for more coastal prizes.

Founding the city4 site in 2 turns, after that the land site is probably ready next, and then I want to go claim that Fungal Gin site. After that, I'm not sure, but probably another South Sea site. The resources we'll shortly be claiming ought to dramatically boost all our base size caps - happy, health, and Planet, all three.

Also, Sareln with Factionalism/Police state is interesting; maybe he's doing it for the same reason we are, the colony pod boost, or maybe he intends T90 to be a big turn for Consciousness land area at Maniac's expense. I note he's doing better than we are at base spam, already up to 5 of the suckers! Hopefully our slow start is compensated for by our tech lead and extreme free space, and the military possibilities.

[Mardoc]

Missed showing this off yesterday:

In other news, we've got Alien Artifacts hooked. But I think I'll delay growing the cities to use the extra happy until the colony pods finish up - three of those are due, all in three turns . Which of course will be a sign that we're way overstretched and due for some military production anyway.

And, Sian's a leetle bit confident, at war with Dierdre, one city up (I think Falling Water is a conquest, not a Morganite base name), but spending hammers like so:


I'm pretending I don't see it, since he seems to be exploring rather than fighting. Don't know if he believes he's invisible, or just that we will be friends. Going to offer him Reef for Pharmaceuticals this turn, too.

[spellman]

Remind me again which upgrade gives invis in trenches?

[Mardoc]

Remind me again which upgrade gives invis in trenches?

That would be Deep Pressure Hull. Although I think subs might get that ability naturally, and Biodomed gives that effect once you make it deep enough into the tree.

Btw - I confirmed Sian's capture, not build, by the fact that first, Dierdre's down a city, and second, she no longer has a little star by her religion icon. Since that's public info, or close to it, I don't see any problem sharing it in the diplo thread.

[Bigger]

Why isn't his sub invisible? How come we can see it?

[Mardoc]

Why isn't his sub invisible? How come we can see it?

I have guesses, but nothing conclusive. Either it's because he's inside our culture - or because he didn't take Deep Pressure Hull and subs don't get it for free. Maybe they're just a Str 4 unit in the naval branch with a cool animation if they don't take that special ability.

Or, um, a bug. Maniac's already proved those exist .