OSG 29B - The Socially-Awkward Diplomats

[RFS-81]

- What tech(s) were newly available in propulsion?  It might not have been clear from the discussion above, but Pulsar and Dissipator are at the same level in the tech tree; when I mentioned I thought Dissipators were really good, I thought I said it was just a note for future reference for other games, and that I didn't think I'd go back for them (that is, wouldn't pick them next when they wouldn't advance the tree) but I suspect I didn't make that clear enough.  If I read corrrectly that we're teching WDs now, that's okay - they're certainly good to have - but I think we would probably have been better off pushing forward for better engines in this case.  (Perhaps with Range 9 first if possible, as Thrawn suggested, though there's a bird-in-the-hand issue there if Impulse is in our tree.)

I'm sure it was clear enough, I just didn't remember anything beyond some vague WD = GOOD association. The other options were range 7 and Impulse Drive.

- Especially with the game so well in hand now, you played your set much better than I was able to in perhaps the most important respect:  Passing the save on to the next player quickly!  Great job finishing the conquest of Cygni as well of course, plus holding off the aliens and developing our empire and technology!

Well, you set it up for me quite well!

[RefSteel]

Report on my turns edited into this post above! It's pretty long with a ton of pictures, including many of the tech screen so you can see what I was doing there, and I wrote it in a weird style because I like trying new things with my writing. Hopefully it's fun to read! (And maybe informative?)

Thrawn's analysis above is excellent as usual. Choosing techs is a really important part of the game, and understanding why vets make the choices they do (rather than just which techs we choose in a given game) is a good place to learn to get better at the game, as these are often key strategic decisions.

Another example that I think is implied by Thrawn's list of which techs he'd pursue for the future (upthread) but should be stated explicitly: Ideally, at any given time, before a tech choice opens up, you'll already know what techs you want most in each field given your current situation, and have a sense for how best to respond in case the immediate ones you're seeking aren't available. You don't need a complete flowchart of possibilities, but understanding your empire's situation and what it needs (and the utility of the different techs in the tree) is central to the strategy of the game, so that when Neutron Blaster completes and there's nothing in the Stinger tier but Hard Beam, regardless of what the optimal answer might be, the question isn't, "What do I pick?" but "Should I take a quick detour for cheap rockets so our bases have something resembling teeth, or can I afford to forge forward immediately toward the cool stuff further up in the tree?"

[shallow_thought]

Interesting how important the RNG can be when invading. As part of poking around Ref's save last night I wanted to see what was in the weapons tree, so I loaded the game, maxed weapons tech and hit "next turn" a couple of times. In the background, our troops took Cygni easily...

I wish that the UI gave an indication of tech levels when you're choosing - I certainly can't always remember what is on which level. I've started to play with the manual open at all times so I can quickly check the table at the back. Fortunately (unlike the OSG) the manual was a free download along with the GoG version of the game. As Ref says, being on top of things rather than re-thinking from scratch every time a new tech comes in would probably be good. Still working on that myself...

It's a little concerning that we don't have any good missiles (and won't for a while), but fusion-beam armed defenders should handle the Meklar. Those designs are terrible. I'm almost more worried about the Alkari - their tech is behind, but they may have designed their ships better.

[shallow_thought]

Re what comes next, we have nothing to worry about. We are practically at tech parity and have a huge industrial base. PS10 is good enough to prevent heavy losses in case an enemy fleet shows up before we can react, and our soon to be built fleet will be able to easily take care of the rest.

Yes, my worries are simply about winning as elegantly as possible, fast but with minimal losses. Our production capacity is good enough to cover any tactical errors (which are unlikely to be an issue anway if Thrawn is playing the next turnset). The birds declaring war is actually convenient - I think that their colony is the first target once we've secured Cygni? And they have some juicy propulsion tech...

How do you suggest balancing the fact that we've got two great econ techs (RC4 and Advanced Soil) in the pipeline, but it's probably about time that we went on the offensive?

[shallow_thought]

It's simple - RC4 allows us to extract up to half a planet's population with minimal production loss - which is perfect because a shortage of population is usually the bottleneck for invasions. In this case we have enough population to conquer the galaxy, but still not much of a fleet and only warp 2 for transports, so I'd start invading, quickly max the rich and ultra rich and get them to produce small bombers and neutron gun fighters (much better cost-value than huge ships). Planets will build enough factories to keep their population occupied but won't rush to getting maxed, instead investing production in the key techs that we need, most notably engines. Gaias will help max faster naturally while we tend to the other needs.

The inefficient way would be to keep the population on the planets, unemployed and without natural growth, while building expensive factories that will only remain unmanned once the invasions start

I love this. The perspective flip that doubling your factory limit can be as much about freeing up your existing pop as raising the production cap. So elegant, so obvious with hindsight.

It's all a bit 19th century - automation and better food freeing up all those young men to help expand the growing power's borders. Who gets to play Austria and France to our Germany?

[TheArchduke]

Back in action in some hours.

[RefSteel]

Argh - I'm sorry we didn't manage to get you one last set; we'll have to try to close it out without you in the proper fighting spirit then! Have a great trip; I hope to see you when you get back!

[TheArchduke]

Will play my set tomorrow evening. Will do planning during the afternoon.

[RefSteel]

TheArchduke? Any progress? I know the next two players are away (Thrawn probably until after the game, shallow_thought until Saturday) and RFS-81 played most recently, but it would be good to get the save moving again. (I could potentially swap with shallow_thought if you finish the set soonish.)

[shallow_thought]

TheArchduke?  Any progress?  I know the next two players are away (Thrawn probably until after the game, shallow_thought until Saturday) and RFS-81 played most recently, but it would be good to get the save moving again.  (I could potentially swap with shallow_thought if you finish the set soonish.)

Turns out that I do have Internet access, so I would have no trouble downloading the game to have a look, but wouldn't be able to actually play until Sat/Sun if at all. Given that my weekend schedule is unpredictable (it depends on the British summer weather ), I'm happy to swap regardless if you can play then instead, and pick up (if necessary) early next week.