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

[HidingKneel]

Looks like we missed out on Ascetic virtues .

As for the tech plan... I don't have a great sense for what should be a priority. I guess if REX is the goal, then unlocking little bonuses from resources makes a lot of sense. In which case I'd mainly prioritize by how much the techs cost, which seems to be the order you've suggested (after pressure dome, at least).

Balancing health/happiness bonuses makes sense, since it'll let you settle on a target "base size". But I could imagine planet happy being more of a priority, once you really get into the native life business.

Plus, it's already handy to have to explain my thinking. Trying to explain myself forces me to organize my thoughts.

I imagine I'd have played XXII pretty differently if I'd actually tried to explain some of my teching decisions out loud.

Regarding the thread title, I'd say that the second time was already the charm for Mardoc and the Pirates.

Also very true...

[Mardoc]

Thanks for the kind words, Ichabod. But hopefully this time is charmed too .

We had a second turn today!

First up, some bad news: we have competition for the oceans now. Oh, and won't be getting that religion, but I'm not convinced that's a horrible loss, given the cost of spreading it. No, the main thing about this tech falling is the increased pressure to REX faster.

And, it looks like Maniac decided to build the Planetary Council? It's got to be him, the Data Angels can't join the council without an invite, and there hasn't been time for that. I think I must be missing something, because I can't see why he'd want it in lieu of, say, 10 Siege Tanks to defend against Sareln. Or three colony pods. Or...well, a lot of other possibilities.


Decided to continue with Pressure Dome despite missing the religion, mostly because Marines will increase our security dramatically. Str 4, with innate +50% ocean defense, should be stronger than just about anything that attacks us at sea for a good long while, and they're only 26 hammers. I'll feel much more comfortable with them as the token garrisons than with Flamethrowers, anyway



Current projects are still mostly growing and military. I think that when this round finishes, we'll start on a round of Aquaformers, and then resume colony pods. I'd do colonies now, except that unlocking Mining Platforms also unlocked a horrible backlog of places to put them - I want a couple in every city at least. At four turns/platform, and 7 cities, you can see how that adds up. Plus, I'm sure we'll be able to use the formers once we start expanding again.

But yes, one round of formers, and then we'll grab the marked cities, and see where we stand. I expect it to be a pretty good position .



But the very good news of the turn: the demographics are starting to look wonderful. And this is before we get caught up on mining the seas, and with ourselves poised to explode into another set of new cities, mind:


I'm particularly pleased by our food yield, since that will fuel our next phase of expansion. But that MFG is pretty sweet too, especially when I know it'll about double once we get our mining platforms up.

[Mardoc]

As for the tech plan... I don't have a great sense for what should be a priority. I guess if REX is the goal, then unlocking little bonuses from resources makes a lot of sense. In which case I'd mainly prioritize by how much the techs cost, which seems to be the order you've suggested (after pressure dome, at least).

My gut feel is that most of the buildings cost too much for their bonuses. They're pretty well balanced compared to each other, but not compared to building Energy and Colony pods. Especially when you've still got room to expand. The free specialist in every base, with the Knowledge free beaker, and the foreign trade routes already worth 2 and 3 energy/turn, both also seem to push toward REX.

Balancing health/happiness bonuses makes sense, since it'll let you settle on a target "base size". But I could imagine planet happy being more of a priority, once you really get into the native life business.

Yeah...I want Psionics yesterday. If it weren't 1300 beakers, I'd probably be researching it already.

Still, the Monolith and the Fungal Gin ought to help a lot. We just need to get Formers to them

[Mardoc]

Okie-dokie, I'm back. But we've hit a lull in the turns, there's nothing much to report from either of the last two. Formers are all mid-project, as is our tech and our builds. Basically we're in the same spot as last report, only a tad closer to something happening again.

[Mardoc]

We've finally got a turn again!

Pretty much the same as last turn. With one notable bit of progress: our first mining platform!



Finished a second elsewhere, but don't really think it's necessary to show them both . Finally we're getting some results from Doctrine: Initiative. Still have an absolute ton of platforms to put up, but we're well started. Four aquaformers at the moment working on platforms, and I intend to build at least two more before resuming serious production of colony pods.

Oh, I suppose there was one other thing. Pressure Dome is in. That will be quite nice, too: the ability to build Marines, and to hook up our Hydrothermal Vent (as soon as we have a former free). Next turn, we'll backtrack for Superconductor, and move on from there.

[Mardoc]

Well. Sareln and Maniac are at war :D

I figured it was coming, given the brouhaha in the diplo thread, but I thought they'd hold off until T90 at least. This is probably the best way it could turn out, though; Sareln wanted the war if Maniac's to be believed, which means he was better prepared. Caught by surprise, some of that advantage goes away.

Sareln's not only #1 MFG, but he's #1 by a wide margin - something like 60 hpt to our 40 (which is #2). Maniac can potentially convert his energy production into hammers and thence to military to narrow the gap. Maniac should also have a definite visibility advantage, due to espionage. On balance, I'd say they're evenly matched. Which is fortunate, because those are the two factions that can most easily afford to neglect research and catch up later.

But I definitely intend to stay out. There's no chance that there's anything easy to pick up; we'd have to build an entire army first. And even if we do help dismember someone (probably Sareln, due to position), there's still the question of keeping our conquest. Much better to let the two of them fight, and aim to race ahead, by spending 80 hammers/base instead of the several hundred in army that would otherwise be required. And hope that we can do better than Sian and Iskender

The Pirates will keep investing in growth, and navy. And woe be to the faction who tries to settle the sea. :aar: But on land - no profit in it. Unless one of them starts to collapse; maybe then it'd be worth throwing in a handful of Marines, and making sure to pillage our hypothetical conquest to nothing ASAP, before it's taken away from us. Only if the situation is such that a handful is enough, though! I figure odds of that are very low .

[Mardoc]

No turns in a week, then two in a day! Well, I won't object to making up for lost time.

Speaking of lost time; I think you'll be able to see that I still don't think four aquaformers + 2 land formers are anywhere near enough. We're still not putting much into colony pods, despite the Hive's ability to steal our ocean, because I think there's little point until our former capacity catches up.

Seven will probably be enough, though, to let us swap to a balanced approach - mixture of colony pods, formers, and military, rather than these wild swings. Because only Dreadnought is working unimproved tiles (the trenches), and we've only two resources that need hooked beyond that; the hydrothermal vent and green algae. After that, we'll be caught up to our current need for improvements, and therefore need to increase the demand .

[Bigger]

oh, public diplomacy is lovely. I'm enjoying the fireworks between Sareln and Maniac, and I'm glad we aren't involved <grin>.

[Mardoc]

Hey Mardoc, should I be facing extinction, would you be willing to give me a base on a safe spot in exchange for espionage data on whoever you like?

WTF, Maniac? You had full graphs on Sareln, probe teams roaming his territory, and yet still T1 of the war you're surprised badly enough to want to throw in the towel? Bet you wish you'd spent the 234 hammers of that Planetary Council on something actually useful, like 11 Siege Tanks or 9 Choppers!

The trouble is, how do you pay me for the risk? You can only put the info here, where everyone learns it. And can I really afford to make Sareln an enemy? I'd need to think about it for a while, except I don't really think you're facing extinction anyway.

You've got time, and the ability to produce 2 units/turn/city, and bunkers for collateral, and Spectres to use it. And 'mobile hideouts' so you can afford to trade space for even more time. Just last turn you were talking about MAD. Or is the great spy going to admit he was caught by surprise?

In any case, I'm certainly not going to say yes to him in public. No, if he gets a city from me, it'll be under the table, built and renamed something Data Angelish and gifted all in the same turn. Built somewhere I don't want for myself, just strong enough to enable him to support some Probe teams.

The bigger question is, is it worth 80 hammers? Now? Sareln might very well end up with 9 already grown and improved cities, and a land border with Yang to use the remnants of his army on. If we want to stay competitive, we need to be well beyond that by the time he finishes Maniac. If he finishes Maniac.

What exactly would we get by saving him? One more city to trade with, possibly the infliction of extra WW on Sareln, public reports in the diplo thread on his spying (as long as he keeps the deal), and potentially a faction stealing our tech. Or, if not ours, certainly somebody's - providing another source of free tech to Sareln. That's not worth it, I think.

And, supposedly, "constantly being a thorn in Sareln's side with probe teams". That *would* be worth it, if Maniac holds the grudge long enough.

I think on balance though, saving Maniac isn't real high on my priority list. Especially if Iskender ends up doing it himself.

My peaceful intentions went out the window when you took that base Maniac .

Oh, yes, there you were, peacefully building away, accidentally queuing up a siege tank every time you meant to build a Former, and when Maniac invaded you just happened to have a nasty army ready to go

Jeez, Sareln, don't insult our intelligence! You were on a peninsula, and so your choices were to expand through Maniac, to fight me for the ocean after a long delay to tech the appropriate techs, or to hunker down with a small but efficient empire until late game. Of course you chose to take on Maniac! Just quit with the blame game; it's not like this is real life and war has to be justified :

[Mardoc]

I'm glad we aren't involved <grin>.

The more I think, the more I agree with you.