OSG-35 - Social Distancing

[shallow_thought]

Hmm.  

I'll try to post a got it later today.

[shallow_thought]

Got it.

"After due consideration, you are re-instated as chief organizer pro-temp. While you are clearly still insane, having an imaginary friend does not actually violate the terms of your office, as it does come from within your own mind.

In fact, having someone capable of ignoring reality may be useful.

Also, no-one else wants the job."

So, Mr. Bear and I left the peace of the recovery center and went back to work.

[shallow_thought]

Wow. I guess the good news is that I'm a bad enough player that I've seen situations like this before. Not been able to do much about them, mind, but at least I've seen them. And the Meklars are erratic. We can hope for random peace (again).

So, most planets go to MAX their factories, we'll throw some ships over Keep Out and see what happens. But yeah, I think that the best we can hope for is a spud that will keep the Meklar busy.

T2441
-----
Meklar  arrive at Keep Out. 11 Heavy Blast cannon will 1-shot our Tarantula at 50% hits. Retreat and scrap.



But the Mask 3s run around and none of the Hyper-Xs hit, and between them and our Hyper-Vs, we kill the colships and the Annihillator. I'm pleasantly surprised. They have another one in orbit at Jinga though. Zone defence from Nazin it will have to be ... and yes, we are going to pretend to be Alkari for a while.

On tech, I'm prioritising weapons - as Ref says, we need to get two techs in as fast as we can.

T2442
-----
Enhanced Eco in at lowish odds. Nice. I choose IT40 next, but we won't be seeing it for a while.



Urgh. There are bears incoming at About Time. I suspect I should have spotted that last turn, although I'm not sure what i could have done about it given the need to meet the Meklar threat. Another base please, and some Mask 3.0s from Waters Edge.

T2443
-----
Well, we lost 3 or 4 (out of 10 or 11) of our bases and 25 Mask 3.0s. Yuck. Oh well, hopefully that's it from the bears for a while (they pushed their attack and lost everything).



We get Class III DS (I didn't notice if that took effect before the battle). Planetary V is available, and I pick it.



All this means that Nazin,. About Time and Waters Edge are building fighters or bases. Which is bad. We need RP! Scatter Vs would actually help right now, and are at 10%.

T2444
-----
RIW60 in at 19%. I bet the game is saving the bad rolls for weapons. Zortium is the only choice.

The Alkari declare on us (they have alliances with the cats, who are about to hit Water's edge again. And there is another Meklar fleet coming to Keep Out, although it's smaller than the previous one - still got an Annihillator with it though.

I pump weapons to get up to 31%, even stopping at 9 bases at About Time for the moment to get more boost.

T2445
-----
At Keep Out, the Mask 2s draw missiles, while the Mask 3s kill the Annihillator. Not too bad. A spy destroys 9 factories. You know how Sullla always goes "oh no, a spy destroyed some factories" in a jovial way in his videos. Yeah. Not so much here - we need every BC.

Scatter Vs in (they were not on our planet for the battle - I checked). Well, we may have had no guns so far, but we are now spoilt for choice (note that the only one in our tree previously was Gatling). I bring up the manual and mutter to myself for a while, actually considering whether Hard Beams might be better (cheaper) in our current situtaion, but go with Fusion Beam.



In other "news", the bears are back at about time (scatter-packs should deal with them), and the Alkari are sending 26 Pelican smalls somewhere - probably Keep Out. I actually start another base at KO, so we can double our firepower (which has just quintupled, so things are better).

I need to get serious about tech choice. Much as I'd love PSV, we've already got Energy Pulsar seeded, which might be useful against bombers, and we need those Fusion Beams.

T2446
-----
The cats come, and die. The bears come and die. SP5 may have a short window of dominance, with DS6 on the horizon, but it's nice while it lasts.



T2447
-----
The Alkari have come past Keep Out (at pace!), so it looks like we need a base on Gion? Well, at least we have some reserve. Had. I'm going to gamble and rely on that base. A 2t transit time away from the weak spot at Keep Out is too long for the Mask 3s.

T2448
-----
Two missile bases at Keep Out deflect a minor Meklar thrust (helped by the fact they fired all their Hyper-Xs at ships despite the fact that I retreated immediately).

The Alkari Pelican is a laser fighter, so I didn't need a second base at Gion. In fact, it's a warp 4 or 5 fighter with a tactical speed of 1. But two lasers! Madness .




T2449
-----
The Meklar come on again at Keep Out the same old way, and we kill their Annihillator the same old way. It costs us a few Masks each time though, and we don't have the production to spare.

There's another Meklar fleet around (have we seen a Tornado before?). Possibly on its way to Nazin? Other than that it's oddly quiet.



In a fit of possible madness I decide that we could gamble on not having PSV for a while, but will need more pop (and production) to go on the offensive, so start to seed IT40. For the first time this set, every planet is building research (one should probably be feeding the reserve, actually, but I leave it as is).

We remain at war with the whole galaxy that we've met, so I suspect that we're dead at the vote. Let's see ...

T2450
-----
The bears destroy both the bases at Gion with spies. That actually hurts, as there may be Alkari coming back. Will it matter?



It's the Meklar versus the BEARS. My beloved, cuddly bears. Am I allowed to vote for them? I suspect not.




Meks: 7 Meks
Alkari: 6 abstain
Cats: 2 Bears
Rocks: 6 Meks
Bears: 7 Bears
Darloks: 6 abstain

You can do the arithmetic to decide if that made a difference.

Nope.

Overall, that could have been much worse. Our Mask 3.0s were effective against the Meklar huge design (for now) and missiles held off the Bulrathi - with ease, once upgraded to scatter-packs. Techs came in early, and we had good choices at the next tiers. Whether we will ever be able to make use of them is uncertain, but at least it remains a possibility. Our overall production and tech are still mediocre, and it's not a great sign that we're third (or worse) in pop, tactically convenient as that was. But we're alive with no lost planets.




"We remain uncertain as to whether 'Mr Bear' was a pure hallucination, a side-effect of putative Bulrathi psychic mind-control, or some actual, invisible beast walking amongst us. The last seems inconceivable, but so does the possibility that the damage - including claw marks - to the security bots was caused by the fragile form of the one who has lead us for the last ten years. In the end, one of the communications techs had to physically enter the room and restrain him; the tech is now undergoing complete personality reconstruction. Only such extreme action prevented our votes at the council being given to the Bulrathi. As it is, we were narrowly able to maintain our correct, isolated position of abstention.

This sudden relapse into madness, after multiple successful defenses of our hard-pressed worlds, could hardly have come at a worse time. But someone else must now step forward. Or be pushed."

[shallow_thought]

Oh, and forgot this again:


- Ianus
- shallow_thought (JUST PLAYED)
- Arnuz UP
- utwig On deck
- Cyneheard
- RefSteel

[Bionic Commando]

Looks like a very solid turn set overall. You were able to deflect a superior invasion force, maintain holdings, and boost the economy.

What does the group think about going IT40 over Bio Toxin Antidote? Pairing BTA and PSV makes your planets really sticky to invading fleets. But, IT40 is a strong choice as well and will boost your economy. It's probably the right choice, but I would definitely have been tempted by BTA.

[Arnuz]

2451
Build factories where missing, 1 base per year at Gion, keep propulsion exploiting the bonus. Start sending the 40 Mask 3s south, at About Time.

2452
The big alkari fleet was directed at About Time.

We lose 8 Mask 3s against all their Sky Hawks and 220 Pelicans. I'm actually considering whether it wouldn't be better to leave their outdated ships hoping that they don't scrap them.Propulsion 7%, I keep topping up it and weapons.
In the interturn, Alkari fleets zip around our portion of the cosmos way too fast for me to calm down or do anything.

2453
Karma, baby!

The Meklar fleet with tornado/24 ajax/colony is aimed at our capital! I send the Keep Out defence fleet there. Another alkari fleet is going for Waters Edge.

2454
Another massacre of Alkari pelicans for only 8 Masks. I manage to kill the Meklar colony ship before they retreat too despite - horrour! - the defence bases being unupgraded!
Propulsion unlocks at 19%, and I rejoice. Among dotomyte crystals, iridium fuel cells and impulse drives I choose the latter despite its cost, we need the speed to deliver bombs quickly. I'm not sure if the range techs would help miniaturizing our drives though. However, that will take a while, it's now the turn of weapons and planetology to max their bonus. I decide to seed shields next, our missile bases are still very delicate and we need them solid if we want to surpass this phase.

A meklar fleet with an 'Annihilator' huge is coming for Nazin, Jinga has a 'Nemesis' huge in orbit. I immediately set the capital to upgrade its defence, things are relatively calm, but if these new designs finally sport some decent defences we might be out of luck still. I drop the defence spending in Gion after it's back at two bases, until we can terraform it that colony wouldn't be able to defend itself seriously anyway.

2455
An unknown spy destroys Keep Out's two missile bases. Oh joy.
A Bulrathi fleet aims at About Time, while a small Mrrshan one at Waters Edge. I buy 15 more Masks.

2456
The Mrrshan fleet is repelled losing all its fighters. In a very happy turn of events we unlock weapons at only 10% and...

I love shield halving weapons and I'd go for hard beams - it'd be our first - but until we miniaturise quite a bit they won't fit our fighters, so I decide to go for the bombs first. I keep seeding shields and propping up planetology. Next I believe we would benefit from computers, our automation level is worthy of apes, and we're the masters of computers!
An alkari fleet is aiming at the now undefended Keep Out, I send there our fighters and scant reserve, which lets us build a single missile base this turn.

2457
The alkari all die, including their nuclear bomb colony ships. The bulrathi have some nice toys:

Only their Claw leaves alive, for the loss of less than a handful of Masks. I reduce shields to the top-up level and start on computers.
The strategic map presents an issue: the Meklar huge and a new Alkari large are landing in the same turn at Nazin and Keep Out, respectively. After mulling I split the fleet in two, one third at Nazin.

2458
The Meklars look like what we'd be in 20 or 30 years from now:

Not good enough for our capital, the Annihilator and colony ships die.
The new alkari large is scary:

We lose 13 Masks 3s before being able to kill it, a number of these would wreak havoc on our defences. I keep propping up planetology and force fields while seeding computers.

2459
Our cybernetic friends get what they deserve:

Not that this will hold them back long.
Unexpectedly, the birds come with a peace offering. Such impertinence! How dare they break silence? I accept because that's the fastest way I know of to get them to leave us be and even more impertinence happens:

Unbelievable. I decree that this technology not be used, and rather wait for our own much better planetary improvement tech instead!

Unfortunately, a meklar huge is aiming towards Sand Line where I've managed to only deploy the outdated Mask 2s on time. The the fate of Phantos might well be replicated soon in our domain.

All this recent contact has drawn my mental reserves, and I am for immediate reconditioning through reconfinement. May the next leader bring us to the deserved solitude and silence!

[Cyneheard]

Looks like a very solid turn set overall. You were able to deflect a superior invasion force, maintain holdings, and boost the economy.

What does the group think about going IT40 over Bio Toxin Antidote? Pairing BTA and PSV makes your planets really sticky to invading fleets. But, IT40 is a strong choice as well and will boost your economy. It's probably the right choice, but I would definitely have been tempted by BTA.

BioToxin? Uh, no. Not even close. We have no IT at all. +40 to every world is way better than Bio-Toxin.

If we had IT+30 I'd have thought about it and probably still said no.

Omega V or Megabolt were much better choices than Hard Beam (Megabolt is probably the best gun in the game anyway) - Hard Beam doesn't unlock the next level since they're the same tier as Fusion Beams. Minituarization is going to be an issue period. Fusion Beams + Omega V should be plenty to start invading worlds.

[shallow_thought]

Looks like a very solid turn set overall. You were able to deflect a superior invasion force, maintain holdings, and boost the economy.

What does the group think about going IT40 over Bio Toxin Antidote? Pairing BTA and PSV makes your planets really sticky to invading fleets. But, IT40 is a strong choice as well and will boost your economy. It's probably the right choice, but I would definitely have been tempted by BTA.

Thanks. I'm always tempted by BTA, but I haven't seen any death spores around (yet ). More important (as Cyneheard said), we had no IT at all (at the time ), so we it felt like a no-brainer.

Another massacre of Alkari pelicans for only 8 Masks. I manage to kill the Meklar colony ship before they retreat too despite - horrour! - the defence bases being unupgraded!

I stand ready to be corrected, but my understanding is that bases are automatically upgraded to the latest weapon, shields and battle computer  (the OSG agrees). You have to pay the upgrade before you can build any more bases, but those you already have are magically better as soon as the tech comes in.

But that's not important - great set! Given that we have fusion beams and the way that the Meks have been developing shields, I like the choice of Omega-V over Megabolt (great gun as the latter is). As always, important to keep going up the ladder. As I said in my report, I was tempted by Hard Beam, but one of the factors that made me pick Fusion instead was that we will be able to fit the normal Fusion beam on a fighter before we would have been able to fit Hard Beams.

I also like the choice of Impulse Drives. With no Fusion drive (and no Inertial Stabilizer, and no ARS for lumbering huge bombers) it was pretty much a must have.

Regardless of the way we got it, I think we need to take advantage of IT10 ASAP, although I appreciate the sentiment .

[Bionic Commando]

BioToxin? Uh, no. Not even close. We have no IT at all. +40 to every world is way better than Bio-Toxin.

If we had IT+30 I'd have thought about it and probably still said no.

That makes sense. BTA has potential defensive utility, but IT40 has certain economic value. Even in this crazy bunker-down scenario, the certain economic value vastly out weights the alternative.

This one's been really interesting. Can't wait to see how the team progresses!

[Arnuz]

I stand ready to be corrected, but my understanding is that bases are automatically upgraded to the latest weapon, shields and battle computer  (the OSG agrees). You have to pay the upgrade before you can build any more bases, but those you already have are magically better as soon as the tech comes in.

But that's not important - great set! Given that we have fusion beams and the way that the Meks have been developing shields, I like the choice of Omega-V over Megabolt (great gun as the latter is). As always, important to keep going up the ladder. As I said in my report, I was tempted by Hard Beam, but one of the factors that made me pick Fusion instead was that we will be able to fit the normal Fusion beam on a fighter before we would have been able to fit Hard Beams.

I also like the choice of Impulse Drives. With no Fusion drive (and no Inertial Stabilizer, and no ARS for lumbering huge bombers) it was pretty much a must have.

Regardless of the way we got it, I think we need to take advantage of IT10 ASAP, although I appreciate the sentiment .

Eh, the leader's gone crazy so his decrees are possibly for review, but I'd stick with it for the RP it's not such a great difference anyhow, planetology shouldn't be terribly far away.

Yes I tend to consider impulse the first engine with which many fast tiny bombers could work against decent missile defences, with omega V. Destroyers can fit that without an incredible amount of miniaturisation IIRC.

Do you go by memory for the gun size or is there a resource out there with lists?