OSG-38 - Renaissance Psilons

[haphazard1]

Second half of the turn set was not nearly as good as the first half.

2425

Design a speed 4 scout, start building one at Proteus. A star in south center is unclaimed, probably no planets but worth checking

2426

Rocks crush our small force of Nimbus 3.0 and destroy our colony at Toasty
Monitor design has lots of 2-range beam weapons (heavy ion, probably
Start more defense spending at all worlds without planetary shield and at least 5 bases (except Nature)

2427

Rocks did not colonize Toasty for some reason; they had a col ship so no idea

2428

IRC4 completes; choose BC6 as a big upgrade and to advance the tree

IIT6 still some ways off, so start factory refits and building
All worlds except Nature and Longlast now have a planetary shield and at least 1 base

2429

Humans now have Ion Rifle for even more ground power
Rocks now have Class X Planetary Shield and Bio Toxin Antidote

2430

Scout arrives at Seidon; as expected it has no planets
Lots of factories are building everywhere with Nature providing some minimal science

- RefSteel (on deck)
- shallow_thought (waiting)
- haphazard1 (just played)
- DaveV (UP!)

[RefSteel]

Nice turns, haphazard!  Even with the setbacks, we're still in this thing, and well-positioned to push forward!

With range 9, Increasing our strategic options certainly isn't a bad thing, even if I'd have preferred to get a Stabilizer first; it's just that it's going to be a while before that can come to fruition. I like the pick of Battle Computer Mark 6 too; we're overdue for a computer upgrade, and that would be a big one!

I entirely agree with what shallow_thought said, and do agree with SpaceOWL that one great use of new Robotic Controls tech - especially while we have outdated IIT - is just to free up the population for other duties like invasions!  In particular, with II6 so close, I wouldn't build any more factories except at rich Uxmai until our new factory tech comes in; we need the population and production both elsewhere more urgently than building expensive factories!  In particular, Tao - for now! - (and even Denubius, though there it will likely soon be too late) still hasn't finished its Class X planetary shield.  If we can hit Tao soon, we should be able to conquer it.  Once that shield finishes though, we're going to be helpless to attack the rocks unless we build tons of bombers.  Note also Thrawn's warning from earlier in the thread:  We may not have any bomb upgrades coming any time soon - it's the Psilons' biggest tech weakness.  (Radiated Anraq still has no planetary shield at all; if that's still true once we make a play for Tao, we might even be able to destroy the colony entirely and get the Silicoids out of our back lines!  That, like Denubius, may be looking too far ahead though....)

Losing Toasty is unfortunate, but not devastating; we can build it again.  There was never any hope that a few fighters could hold off a huge ship once the Silis decided the peace treaty was at an end.  I'll bet our Ultimatum can still wreck any ship they have one-on-one.  Be careful if you go after Anraq though:  Nine merculite bases can destroy the Ultimatum, at least if we don't pay attention and/or don't (or can't; e.g. if they get the Class-V stage of their planetary sheild into place) destroy the first few bases fast enough.

Be aware that all the combat ships in our fleet are old though:  If you want to build new ships to assist in an attack (no matter where or on whom) or on defense, the only design I'd say definitely shouldn't be scrapped yet is the Ultimatum itself.  (If we're going to hit the Silicoids though, we don't have time to build another Huge ship first though, old or new; we need to strike ASAP or not for a long time to come!)

Good luck with the turns, DaveV!

[haphazard1]

Trying to manage some offense before the rocks get better shields up sounds good, RefSteel. I probably should have done that. I made several mistakes during this turn set. Not having our Ultimatum in place to defend Toasty is one; it had been at Nature to fend off the rock fleet there and did not get back in position in time.

Hopefully DaveV can do a better job with some offense. I am better at the building side of the game than the warfare side.

[DaveV]

Hopefully DaveV can do a better job with some offense. I am better at the building side of the game than the warfare side.

Ha! I am always fighting my tendency to sit passively in my corner while the AIs out-tech, out-grow, out-arm, and outvote me.

Got it, I expect to be able to play sometime today.

[Commodore]

Following with interest, although I've never played. Are there defenses against these insanely dangerous council votes, or is it just an RNG death gauntlet that happens every few (25?) turns?

[DaveV]

Thrawn understates the problem: the AIs will sign alliances with one another at the drop of a hat but you (the player) need to cultivate their favor for many years before you can persuade them to break an alliance. And after all those years of sucking up to an AI, they may declare war on you out of the blue.

In the Final War scenario where you defy a council victory, all the AIs will share tech and there is absolutely no way you can ever be at peace with any of them. Yes, the human can play more skillfully but the AIs have ridiculous production and research advantages.

Of course, Thrawn is a much better player than I am, so YMMV.

[DaveV]

Back to the game:

2430:

First thing: check F8 for any incoming fleets. Since there are none, it might be time to go on the offensive.

Although we're at peace with the Silicoids, I don't expect it to last for long. They also have some hostile worlds that are very close to our systems, Tao in particular. I start a colony ship on Paradise to re-establish Toasty. I also cranked up the missile base spending; it's dangerous to have a small number of bases because the AIs can sabotage them at the worst possible time, leaving the planet undefended.

2431:

I send half the population of Mentar and Nature to Tao, hoping to win the combat next turn.

2432:

The fleets are not too scary, it's just a matter of whether I can bomb out the bases.



I did (in about 7 rounds, so we can't handle many more bases than this), and all the troops were able to land safely.



We took a lot of losses, but the planet is ours:



As well as a bonanza of tech:



Of course, the Silicoids aren't going to ignore an invasion:



The RNG decides to nullify a few beakers:



And I asked the humans to join the war against the Silicoids. I guess that's not going to happen:



2433:

The colony ship from Paradise arrives:



And I send 25 colonists from Paradise to get the planet going.

2435:

The Ultimatum chases a few Sharks away from Tao. Several other fleets followed and retreated.

2436:

Our spies steal a tech from the humans. I'll usually pick Computer tech since that makes future steals more likely, and our targeting computers suck.



A small improvement.

2438:

The Meklars offer peace, I accept.



At the same time, our spies steal IIT6 (Edit: IIT8? We're still researching IIT6) from them.

2439:

Another steal from the Meklars:



2440:

A slow-moving human fleet finally arrives at Paradise. They don't have anything that can scratch our shields; I fire at the Dreadnoughts, the ship with the lowest initiative, and kill 17 of them before they can retreat.

Good luck, RefSteel! I have another large design under construction in the Uxmai shipyards, but you are of course free to redirect that investment into a different ship.

[shallow_thought]

Oh, that's a good set. Peace with the Meklar and a load of tech nicked. Big question for us seems to be how we crack those PSX shields now ...

[haphazard1]

Nice turns, DaveV. Some tech stolen and captured, Toasty re-established, and Tao taken over. Lots of good news.

That range 9 research choice is looking worse and worse. Did the new range bring anything into contact, or any new stars we could scout? Probably not at this point in the game with the rocks being everywhere.

[shallow_thought]

Nice turns, DaveV. Some tech stolen and captured, Toasty re-established, and Tao taken over. Lots of good news.

That range 9 research choice is looking worse and worse. Did the new range bring anything into contact, or any new stars we could scout? Probably not at this point in the game with the rocks being everywhere.

I think we'll value having Range 9 when it comes in, perhaps even more so because the rocks have so successfully cut us off from half the galaxy. But yeah, it's purely for the diplo contact, and hence a few more vote levers (appendages crossed). I'd really value having Inertial Stabilizer if we didn't have ARS, and we may need it eventually, but I don't think lack of it has cost us much so far.