Turns of SMAC succession game #2: Lal's World

[Avenoct]

Here we go!

If you don't know what this is about, check the signup thread here: Signup and Rules
I'm going to upload turn 2115 and a curious start (2101) I decided not to use.

Smack-->Quantaga-->JohnD-->Arima-->Scipio

How do you like the upload method compared with emailing?

Happy Crawlering,

Smack

[Avenoct]

A much tougher start...should we use it instead?

[Arima]

I like the first one more, from a playing perspective, but the second one would be more intresting to play. I don't really care.

Would it be possible that you could post a brief summery of the turn, including tech researched, and such?

[Avenoct]

Of course! You're absolutely right. I rushed to post the thread, but here's my notes from turns 1-15.

Turn 1: We, the Peacekeepers find ourselves on what looks like a large, but not huge landmass. It certainly looks large enough to host another faction (for better or worse)

Headquarters Auto-built (no 'look first'). Scout NW, CP South to explore the larger part of the island.

Scout pops pod with Zak's commlink. About as good as it gets! We call up Zak, who trades info-nets for our starting tech. He also has Mobility

Working on: Scout

2102: Scout finds minerals on a rainy river square to our nw. Again..just about the best thing ever.
New scout built..explores se. CP sw.

2103: Scout1 finds another mineral deposit to HQ's ne. CP w. Scout2 se

2104-15: no notes, but here's the deal: We popped 2 rovers, 3 techs (physics, mobility, industrial base), a bunch of monoliths, a few nutrient bonuses. We founded 2 more bases, first to the sw, then to the se.
More importantly, it seems we are alone with the JUNGLE !.
We have yet to discover a tech through research. This is b/c we keep discovering free techs which pushes up the cost. This is actually quite a pain. We are researching Bioethics (formers). Zak won't give up his Planetary Networks b/c he wants the VW all to himself. Zak has offered Yang's Commlink, so you might want to get that.

Because we have the jungle all to ourselves, and because our research thusfar is painfully slow, I suggest bee-lining for running Dem-FM-Wealth asap. Also, see if you can comm-trade for Social Psych. Lal is just a beast in the jungle, this is why I started the second game posted above.

Sorry for the shoddy turn-posts. I should have set a better example!

-Smack

[Qantaga]

Hello everyone! I just got in from a long drive home after a week on the road. I am downloading the turn and will play it shortly. I'll post the next turn (with my game notes) either later on tonight or by tomorrow morning at the latest.

I am looking forward to this. Thanks for setting us up, Smack.

[Qantaga]

First, let me say that this is a lot of fun. I am looking forward to watching this game develop.

On to the game:

Smack, you must have the golden touch when it comes to Unity Pods. I popped a Nut. bonus and a Solar Panel pod (one panel only). Other than that, I popped an earthquake, which wiped out three jungle squares , but did give us some Rainy squares and a little more workable land on our island. I also popped two pods with worms. So, teach me your pod-popping strategy.

Also, nice job getting us started, Smack! We do indeed have the Jungle on an island all to ourselves.

I had two major priorities, getting Colony Pods out the door and getting Formers to work.

You will notice that I have spread our bases out quite far from each other. Our island near our HQ is very arid, with no good base squares. So, I sent Colony Pods to the Jungle as a priority to get start those bases growing ASAP.

I have begun the Weather Paradigm in UN HQ, with the idea that, once we complete it, we can drill to aquifers to make the land near our HQ much more receptive to bases and growth while taking advantage of the Jungle now. There is one more Colony Pod moving into the northern part of the Jungle to take advantage of a Jungle Nut. bonus square, so feel free to place it anywhere you choose.

Smack was right about our tech discovery rate. Once we got CentEco, the next tech rate was 28 years. However, with the founding of three new cities, we will have PlanNets in three turns. I chose that one because, with it, we are now only two techs (IndEcon and IndAuto) from Crawlers.

There is a worm in close proximity to our newest base, UN Enforcement Base (our farthest base to the SW). We also have a Rover getting close to deal with that problem. However, because of the worm, I chose to build a Scout Patrol as the first unit for that base instead of rushing a Former, so that base will need a Former.

The University is way out in front right now, with The Hive a distant second. We are in fourth place on the power chart, close behind Morgan and pretty close to The Hive. This is mainly due to my taking a few extra turns to get those bases set up in the Jungle. Sorry about that, but I am certain we can make up the ground.

The turn is attached for johndmuller to download. Good luck.

Any advice, analysis or criticism is welcome.

[Avenoct]

RE: To Post or to Email?

I'm suggesting that we email the turns to the next player ordinarily. If you happen to be going out of touch after you email your turn, it would then be good to also post it (upload it). Secondly, if we see that the game is stuck, it's acceptable to simply skip someone. Don't even bother getting consensus about it....if the game is stuck, unstick it.

The reasoning is that some people won't remember to download the turns from the thread, so gettting it to their email is better for them.

[If you'll notice I'm not being very democratic (though I would be otherwise). MP games take a certain bludgeoning to keep moving. In this sense decisions are best made by making judgements immediately, then looking for evidence, as dumb as that sounds ]

Playerlist for email: I'll email each of you the next player's email (to avoid posting and attracting junkmailers).

-Smack

[johndmuller]

Sorry if I've been holding this game up; I just found out a little while ago that I was playing in it, so while I might be sorry for your'alls inconveniences, I don't feel too guilty. Once I read throught the comments, I'll play the turns and send it on/post (if I can figure out what the procedure really is). PS, as for me, I'd appreciate the email when it is my turn (but not the cc: on other's turns). Also, I'll be offline from Thursday afternoon through Monday AM plus or minus; feel free to skip me then.

[Qantaga]

johndmuller, I will be the one sending turns to you and I will be happy to e-mail them to you. I will need to get your e-mail address, though, so you can either post it here or send it to me at Qantaga@aol.com (I can't really use the e-mail through Apolyton because it is painfully slow sometimes) Thanks.

Also, Smack, will we be going to 10 turns apiece on the second round through or stick with 15 turns each for the duration of the game?

[Avenoct]

I had in mind sticking with 15 turns ad infinitum.
I liked the original format in that the time to play each round was approximately even, but 10 or less turns seemed like not quite enough time to build up a strategy/adjust to the last turn.

JohnD. You were drafted..

-Smack

[johndmuller]

Qantaga, my e-mail is johndmuller@msn.com; I've already downloaded this turn however from the thread, so you needn't bother now. I'm attaching the MY2145 file here unless it doesn't "take", (in which case I'll do it again) and also sending it to Arima (if I can get the address from somewhere) and also to Scipio (whose address I think I have from the SMAX succession). I agree that too few turns leave something to be desired, but too many and/or too long a time to take the turn also is a problem, especially if under the threat of being skipped. Perhaps it would be best to set a "target" of 15 (or whatever number) and a player could take less if they had time constraints. We don't seem to have too many players in this game; I remember the SMAX succession game where my second turn was hardly recognizable there having been so much done since the first round.

Anyway, my "Report to the General Assembly for the period MY2130-45"
I spent most of this turn doing infrastructure projects, particularly Recycl Cntrs and Formers and lately starting on Net Nodes; everything looking good in that department. We are now 2nd overall, leading in Pop & Territory; however, the #1 University will probably have trouble with the Hive as they share a fairly small landmass. Don't know where anyone else is yet, but we are building Doc: Fex, so sailing will soon be possible if we care to. I turned off the Auto Designer (left the auto prune on as I don't think it does any bads) and made a few other adjustments to the preferences; seems like it is a good idea in this kind of game to check the options out each turn to avoid nasty surprises due to other peoples' preferences. It can also get you by having the effect of changing your own options for your next new game.

We had several worm fights right off the bat; we won, but it sidelined our rovers for a while. More worms (someone used up our pod luck it seems, just one AA; all the rest worms), we killed them all, except for the one which ate our Scout a few turns ago. Watch out for that mindworm (as it has already tasted human blood) at (0,44) near Criminal Tribunal, to which base it seems to be heading (for its demise); although the jungle has a lot of rocky and/or fungus tiles which slow down the rover, the worm is seemingly going to advance to its doom at 1 of 3 places next turn giving us some ec's. A new mindworm has also appeared at (8,40) where it does not seem to be an imminent threat, but probably will advance on Court of Justice or Social Council. Just built a Command center in the Jungle at Criminal Tribunal, starting to make a few garrison units there to use in the neighboring bases and/or soon to be new ones. As far as I know, none of our military units have received monolith upgrades, but perhaps before my time...

We researched Infonets early in my administration and I followed the suggestion to go on the Ind Auto track with Ind Econ. We are now ready for a new round of pop increase (and/or we need the HGP or a trade for Social Psych to get Rec comms); we just finished Ind Econ, but weren't offered Social Psych (@#%$#%$*!) or even Ind Auto; our scientists, independent minded cusses that they are, are researching Doc Flex instead - 11 years estimated, but there are lots of Net Nodes and some solars in progress so it should be less. Still, we will probably need to send out some Colonies to get rid of surplus pops. I held off on Planned (expecting to go with it when we got Social Psych) to focus on infrastructure instead of doing ICS. Perhaps we can get by with specialists for a while, but I think its only Doctors until there are 5 pop units and we seem to be topping out at 3, so the 4th would have to be a Doctor, which is sort of a waste. Bought the Hive's comlinks from Zak (he said we could get Ind Auto (maybe Econ, but good stuff in any case); just got maps though - check it out, Zak is probably going to get zapped by Yang shortly - justice for the scam he pulled on us.

We used one AA to speed the WP a little as the AI was starting to make it. The HGP would be nice to relieve our pop pressure, but one of the AI's started it a while back (5 years?) and we don't have any intel to know how far along it is. We do have 2 AA's though, so that would take care of 120 of the 200 it costs and we could probably win the race that way.

Good Luck to (the next) Commissioner Arima,
Commissioner JDM

[Avenoct]

I like that format Johndmuller, makes for an almost story-like read. I've emailed you Arima's email address, and now have all the emails for this game.

I agree with your first paragraph detailing the handling of turns. Also, if we make it (as if it's a question) to the late-game, we might indeed wish to go to 10 or even 5 turns / round especially if we discuss strategies so that we have some cohesive plan of action.

-Smack

[Arima]

Double Post
See Below

[Arima]

Hello. Sending my turn momentarily to the next, also posting on thread to see how bad I messed up:

An overview of MY 2145-2160
As I sit back in my chair starting typing this, I realize that I didn't do very much. I worked on infastructure, building various network nodes and energy banks.

However, in 2155, Morgan somehow built the HGP. I stare in shock at the screen. So I started a project that the computer wasn't working on: The Virtual World. I figured that will help our drone problems out a bit.

In 2156, Believers built the Command Nexus. I stare in shock at the screen.

Also, in 2156, I got a call from my good friend Chairman Yang. He wanted Flexability, and I asked for Loyalty in concern. He said no, and therefore I said no. Then he asked for a loan of 128 credits, which I granted. Hopefully, that pays off.

And that's it. My luck in the Pod lotto wasn't much better. I poped two worms, and they took out my Unity Rover.

And that pretty much concludes my turn, unless you count me not realizing that if I established another base, I'll get inefficiency drones. Also, drone riots are starting to break out in the size four bases, so I'm assigning specialists.

As for techs, I got Doctrine: Flexability, and started on Social Psych (finally!!!) Tech is down to 9 turns.

[Scipio Centaurus]

2160
----
Our bases are growing too fast and our empire is spreading horizontally beyond the capacity of our existing infrastructure to support it (we need rec commons & VW). There is great unrest among the citizens. Accordingly, I have implemented the following changes;

1> I have ordered our largest bases to reduce nutrient production to minimum subsistance levels - to discourage growth past current population levels. Mineral production is to be the primary focus at these base for the near term.

2> I have also ordered our largest bases to immediately switch to the production of new colonies - to alleviate current overpopulation. [Jungle bases often have to spew colony pods to compensate for all the growth from NUTs]

3> I have altered our annual operational budget to provide for a substantial increase in the amount of energy expended in support of the psychological welfare of our people (SE ratio = 30/40/30). [This mix should be targeted for readjustment as soon as rec commons and/or VW (NNs) come on line]

4> I have ordered an immediate doubling of the on-call psychological counseling staffs at both U.N. Criminal Tribunal and U.N. Disaster Relief - our two most remote (and drone plagued) bases. These two bases should be first on the list for rec commons and hologram theatres (or NNs if we get Virtual World).

I am also proposing the following plan, which I believe will provide a more satisfactory solution to our longer-term growth problems. Simply put, I recommend that we move our HQ to a more centrally located site in the interior of the mainland (U.N. Criminal Tribunal and U.N. Disaster Relief are so far from U.N. Headquarters that they are picking up an extra drone each). I don't think I need to point out the obvious strategic advantages to having our HQ in a more centrally located inland position. I will leave the final decision on this to later administrations, so that the plan can be debated in open committee. However, I will take the liberty of founding a centrally located base near one of the monoliths. If the HQ relocation plan is approved, the HQ can then be painlessly built in that base during some later administration.

-----

Our bases all seem to have adequate resources available to support near-term growth - especially in the jungle which is pretty much pre-formed anyway. Therefore, I am switching a couple of formers to condensor production (we have WP... might as well use it!) in the more arid eastern end of the continent. Also a few formers will begin building a road network, and a couple more will begin prepping new base sites expanding outward from a central point. I'll leave the thermal boreholes to another administration - maybe after mineral restrictions are lifted.

-----

Went into design workshop and put together the basic naval designs (incl a probe skimship). I am switching U.N. Social Council to production of the prototypes of these vessels. Tranport Foil first, as we need to make contact with the other factions.

2161
----
Tweaked SE budget to 20/40/40. We pick up 5 years on breakthroughs and still make positive energy credits. We'll see how it plays out.

2162
----
U.N. Criminal Tribunal and U.N. Disaster Relief have each produced a colony pod (packed full of rioting malcontents!) and are currently prototyping a probe team and laser squad. Someone will prototype the recon rover shortly.

2164
----
Morgans build The Merchant Exchange at Morgan Industries.
We learn Social Psych (woohoo!!!).
Working on Industrial Automation.
We are offically a naval power. Launch of tranport foil at U.N. Social Council.

2165
----
Founded the base that I am proposing for our new HQ.

2167
----
Oops! Just received some intel that the Spartans have eradicated the Gaians... indications are that Lady Dierdre and her staff got away in an escape pod - gotta keep a close watch on Colonel Santiago obviously.
We now have a probe team operating out of U.N. Criminal Tribunal.

2168
----
Our transport located Fort Survivalist (Spartans) on the continent directly to the north of our own. Contact was made with Colonel Santiago, who was in a cooperative mood. She gave us 30 ec for Zak's commlink. She politely informed me that she had developed impact rovers and then demanded SocialPsych to help her with some 'emergency'. I offered to trade it to her for Non-Linear Math. She balked... and considering the mysterious events surrounding the sudden disappearance of Lady Dierdre, I gave SocPsych to her - not a killer tech at least. Colonel Santiago then offered us a Treaty of Friendship which I signed on our behalf.

2169
----
U.N. Disaster Relief produces a Laser Squad. I immediately dispatched the unit to 'investigate' a monolith.
Built our first condensor, between U.N. Headquarters and U.N. Social Council.

2170
----
"What do I care for your suffering? Pain... even agony... are no more than information before the senses"
We complete the Virtual World!
Looks like U.N. Headquarters and U.N. Social Council are experiencing GA. We're not even running Planned.
The Transport Foil located Defiance Freehold (Spartan) and a Unity pod just off the NE shoreline of our continent. I'll leave the pod for someone else to play with. Wouldn't want to humiliate myself by sinking my own tranport.

2171
----
U.N. Social Council launches a Sea Colony Pod

2172
----
Located another Unity pod...
Drones rioting at U.N. Disaster Relief, so I rush built the Rec Commons there.

2173
----
Founded U.N. Ocean Authority. Our first seabase.

2174
----
A second Transport Foil (U.N. Court of Justice) is now in the water.

2175
----
Road network is nearly complete.
Two condensors are online.
A CP is in position on the east shoreline, pending completion of a sensor array.
Two CPs in production.
A couple of recon rovers in production.
A couple of Sea Formers in production... but I hear you don't like Sea Formers, eh Smack?
Probe Skimship in production.
Since most bases now have rec commons, I set the SE budget back to 40/20/40.
We learned Industrial Automation this turn. I accidentally went ahead and picked the next tech (non-linear math) to research. Smack, you can choose a different tech by pressing SHIFT+R. I'm sure you know that, though.
Not a peep from Zak or Yang.
From the powerchart it looks like the Gaians are still kicking around somewhere.

[Avenoct]

Team Lal:

I won't be able to finish the turn untill 8:30 pm est, but I did start 2175:

First order of business: Call Zak.

Zak says he's feeling all funny and wants to destroy Miriam! I tell him that's a marvelous idea and we pact. We trade IB and IA for Opticomp, Polymorph, and Loyalty. Zak's holding out on Superconductor, which we will finneagle from him presently.

I decide to push my luck and call Santiago, who is seething, probably getting herself pumped up for another conquest, this time with us. She tries to tell us that diplomacy is not her best language, but I insist. She places demands, I retort with demands (call her bluff). Well, she simply refuses to trade tech and actually stormed out of her Comm-room (I could hear her walking away cursing our name). Things don't look good with the Spartans. I'm very tempted to steal Non-Linear from her, but will assess later.

-Smack Out

[Avenoct]

While I like the proposed headquarters site in terms of our continent, my imperialist advisors tell me that we will be taking over the Spartans operations in the Uranium Flats. There is also the matter of that unexplored landmass to the east. If we nabbed both of these sites, as ICS as that sounds (and that's what the Imperialists are paid for), our current HQ will suffice.

Probe Team, Rec Commons, Crawler, Crawler, Rover, CP, CP, Formers, Sea Formers, Scout P.
U.N. Humanity base founded in se on the well placed sensor.


2176: Spot the Gaians to our South, between our island and Zak. What a great position for a pact-sister....
Seapod with independent unity rover.

2177: Morgans build the PTS: Completed: CP and Formers
Seapod with materials: Crawler at U.N. HQ done
Zak has SoHB, High Chem, Non-Linear Math, Subatomic Theory, Superconductor. He won't talk to us, his pactmate! Once we get these, it's time to build up for some conquest.

2178: No World News: Completed: Two Crawlers
Seapod with materials: Crawler at Humanity base done
Infiltrated Santiago with probefoil: We're in big trouble: She only has Non-Linear and SoHB that we don't have, but already has 12 Impact squads, is working on Impact foils, batteries, speeders. If she invaded us now, we'd die.

2179: Rumor of a Believing foil going down to an IOD SW of the jungle. That pins her to the southern half of the map, as expected.
Completed: Rec Commons, 2 Crawlers, CP
Reserves: 80 SE: Vanilla 40/20/40
Seapod with a Unityfoil, Pod with Nuts in EastIsle

2180: Completed: 2 Crawlers
Seapod with AA (don't I have the luck?)
Our economy is just so bad. I can't figure it out.
Asked Santiago and Zak for trade....no dice.

2181: Completed: 2 Crawlers
Took a BIG risk: I was irritated that we were sandwhiched between University and Spartans who have recently made a Treaty. I used our probe foil to Frame Zak for stealing Spartans Tech. We succeeded! Spartans are now out to kill Zak. We have High Energy Chem. (Wish we'd gotten Non-Linear, but hey, this is darn good. Of course, now I can't call either of them (they'd ask us to beat on the other one.)

Searching hard for Morgan. He might help us catch up in the tech race. I'm letting our reserves grow a bit so we can fight off any mini-invasion, should one arrive.

2182: IoD drops off two mindworms on the west coast, right in front of a rover of ours: Bag, 40 credits and a now-disciplined 2-1-2.
Completed: One Crawler.

2183: Completed: 3 Crawlers, Probe Team, Sea Formers (chuckle)
Founded UN Information in Jungle SW, UN Equality V in NW to complete our island hold. Now we need Democracy.

Prototyping 1-3-1 at Information Agency, working on Probes for a possible probe invasion of Zak. Nice 7 Ecodamage at HQ (21 mins/turn). We have yet to get the much-awaited pop that means our future tree farms are all ecodamage-reducers...mineral-limit increasers.

2184: No News or Completions

Finally get a boat over to meet Deirdre. We trade tech for: Ethical Calc, Gene Splicing, and her World map, which is quite handy.

Finally, meet Morgan. Trade Opticomp and Loyalty for SoHB and his map (I'm map obsessed this game since we were in the dark for so long).

2185:

Stole Non-Linear from Santiago: Tried to Frame Miriam and lost, but got the tech. Since we have 1-3-1's, we should be able to resist the Spartans quite handily. Our Economy is on Track finally, and you are primed to now choose a tech to learn immediately next turn. You could go for governor, but I suspect we'd lose...we're not too popular. It's time to get Green and efficient, get some superior weaponry and take out some faction or other. Good luck!

2185: It's up to you. I'm late for class! I know that was only 10 turns, but it took awhile..I'd say, play up to 15 turns. 10 was all I had time for.

[Edit: See comments on this turn continued in my post below. Also, I eliminated the odd 1, 2, 3 versions that were attached before...it's now just 2185. Not sure, but I think my shareware zip program archived the turns? --Smack]

-Smack

[Scipio Centaurus]

I just wanted to mention to my successors that I had intended to check our SE budget to see if we could get away with running a 50:0:50 mix for awhile, but forgot to do that. It's definitely worth looking into.

Also, to my immediate successor, re: acquisition of non-linear math... don't forget about our two alien artifacts (in the jungle bases). In a pinch these can be used to pick up techs instead of accelerating SPs.

[johndmuller]

Just took a peek so I wouldn't be too surprised when my turn comes around again. There were 3 files there, so I just looked at the first one (the one without the .1 or .2 suffixes); what are the others? Seems that things are going nicely, but I'm wondering what all the Psych is for; like Scipio says above, the 50/0/50 split would work. As it is, it looks like it is set up for FM (which would seem to work pretty well), since we aren't currently actually using any police.

Anyway (getting out of back-seat driver mode) Good Work.


Note:
I will be unable to take turns from Thursday (Aug 30) PM until Monday night (unlikely) or Tuesday (Sept 4) PM (more likely). Hopefully, I will get this next turn in time to play it, but no big deal either way. As far as skipping my turn after Thursday, you all can make whatever judgement calls it takes as far as when to play on or when to wait.

I'm sorry for any delay or decision-making burdens this may cause.
John

[Scipio Centaurus]

The psych energy allocation is a vestige of my own administration, I'm sure. (I didn't get my last note posted in time).

When I took over we had 3 bases at size 4 with no rec commons or hologram theaters - and a bunch of red happy faces as you can imagine.

I had to jack our psych budget up tp 40% to act as a psuedo-rec commons at our bases - killed off all but 2 drones. By the end of my turn we had built 5 rec commons and 5 network nodes (w/ VW), so I dropped the psych budget to 20%, but I believe we don't really need to spend anything on psych as long as we keep up with the drone-quietening facilities in a timely manner.

The exception would be if we decide to run FM as you suggest.

- Scipio

[Qantaga]

I just grabbed the turn, but it will be a couple of hours before I can play it. johndmuller, I will definitely have the turn to you tonight, so you will at least get in this turn before you have to leave.

[Scipio Centaurus]

Labor Day weekend this weekend. I am perfectly willing to wait for any player(s) that will be away from their 'puters, enjoying one last big summer fling!

- Scipio

[Avenoct]

Eesh, I really should have explained our situation better. I had an important appointment in which I installed myself as an employee of the Computer Science department. I was having a blast with the turn and would have loved to have made the last 5 turns of the 15, but had to run.

Basically, I think our SE allocations were like 60/30/10 or something. This was temporary for 2 turns to get Non-linear from Santiago before we researched it.
Make sense?
I do this a lot in SP games. It's risky, but often doable. Basically, if you are faced with good tech choices (that your neighbors won't give you presently) or bad ones, you take the good choice and hope to either trade or steal the 'good' tech. When you achieve this you are prompted to choose another tech. I view entering the tech-choose window for free as about the highest goal in terms of tech, for each time you do so you are enabled to change course in response to current events.

Thus, I could have studied polymorphic software (for instance) which maybe noone had, or study non-linear, which everyone had. I choose non-linear, tried to trade for it, realized I'd have to steal it, and did so, right at the end of my turn. But, I couldn't get our lone probefoil (this strategy is MUCH better done with multiple probes, but I risked it) in position by the date we would have researched the tech, so I slowed down our research...hence the 60/30/10 or whatever it was. This was only for a couple turns and netted us bountiful EC's with the Golden Ages.

On Labor Day: If half of us will be away, maybe we should suspend 'Chapter 2: Santiago Pays through the Teeth' 'till next week? Personally I'll be here giving myself some crash courses in Java to test out of a class.

Sorry for the mucked up end of my turn. We gained a zillion techs and all comm-freqs during my governorship. We started a war between Zak and Santi, but have fallen in against Santi ourselves.

-Smack

[Qantaga]

Smack,

I just sent you an e-mail, but I am posting here in case you are checking here first.

I have not loaded the game to take my turns yet. This game is a lot of fun and I know that I would hate to give up 5 of my turns. So, why don't you go ahead and finish the last 5 turns of your reign.

Also, since johndmuller is leaving Thursday, and may even need to do some packing tomorrow night, I will propose a one-time switch in turn order. johndmuller can take 2190-2205, then I will take his spot from 2205-2220. Then, we can go back to the regular order next time around.

I also agree that we can wait for everyone to return from the Labor Day weekend before skipping turns.

[Avenoct]

Then it's John D's turn. I'm through for the day, and am quite happy with the 10 turns I took.

-Smack

[Qantaga]

Ah, I misread your post, then. I thought you would like to finish off your turn. I will go ahead and take my turn. I will have it to johndmuller tonight.

[Scipio Centaurus]

Originally posted by Smack
I had an important appointment in which I installed myself as an employee of the Computer Science department.

Congrats on the job. Less time for SMAC/X now?

On Labor Day: If half of us will be away, maybe we should suspend 'Chapter 2: Santiago Pays through the Teeth' 'till next week? Personally I'll be here...

I'll be around...

Sorry for the mucked up end of my turn. We gained a zillion techs and all comm-freqs during my governorship. We started a war between Zak and Santi, but have fallen in against Santi ourselves.

I think war with Santiago was inevitable... and sooner rather than later, judging by her past behaviour. Your turn play seemed brilliant to me, especially the diplomatic machinations (heh heh!). I would have maybe tried to convert one of our AAs to non-linear math before risking the tech theft, but WTH... tech theft is what probefoils are for. I'm glad we're on military tech parity with Santiago, before she has a chance to launch an invasion.

- Scipio

[Qantaga]

Wow! Where do I start? I could write several pages, but I'm sure you all just want the highlights , so here goes:

2186 - For my first act, I hit "Turn Complete" on 2185. Immediately, at the start of 2186, Santiago brought an Impact Rover up next to UN HQ and demanded D:Loyalty to end our Vendetta. I felt weak and ashamed as I humbly handed the tech over. That wasn't enough for the heartless wench. She laughed and demanded Gene Splicing as well. I wanted to resist, but all we had was a Scout Patrol in UN HQ and the 1-3-1 Plasma Prototype had not been completed yet for upgrade, so I had to hand that tech over as well. Upon turning that one over, she pledged Blood Truce.

I took advantage of the next decade to build our infrastructure and terraform as much as possible.

At the start of 2186, thanks to Smack's previous tech advances, I was able to immediately get EcoEngineering. I then chose EnvEcon for the next tech to lift our resource restrictions. I ran the next few turns at a 30/0/70 rate to discover it as soon as possible. I then moved it back to 50/0/50 (where it is now) to generate more credits.

2187 - I popped three pods, two with AAs and one that had 8 worms in it. Needless to say, that Rover went down quickly.

2191 - Zak pronounced Vendetta on the Hive. Zak is in big trouble. The Hive took over his eastern-most base and Zak is probably not long for this world.

2191-2195 - I was concentrating on Energy Banks, Creches (for the big Lal boom when someone is ready for it) and Command Centers to offset the morale effects of running Wealth. I was also trying to protect myself from any Santiago advances. I built several Boreholes and drilled to acquifers.

2195 - I used a Probe Skimship to take over one of the Spartans' Impact Skimships (undetected).

By now, I also found a couple more AAs, so we are overflowing with them.

2197 - I used a Probe Team to take that evil Spartan Impact Rover (undetected) that had been sitting on our peninsula north of UN HQ. I then used it to immediately take out two Recon Rovers that Miriam had landed on our peninsula.

Deirdre raised her island and her territory is now a part of our island.

2198 - Discovered EnvEcon. We can now build Tree Farms, but we still haven't had the fungal "pop" that we need before building them. We are now researching SynthFossilFuels and will have it in 9 turns.

Also, in 2198, I stole Superconductor from Santiago. She captured our Probe Skimship and declared Vendetta, but that was inevitable. We should be ready for her now. We have an Impact Skimship patrolling the straits between our territories. I have destroyed 3 Transport Foils each loaded with 2 Gatling Infantry units, so keep an eye out. We also have a Probe Skimship up there with another on the way. There is a Gatling Skimship or two that will be operational soon.

I couldn't resist cashing in one of the AAs. We got Intellectual Integrity with it, so UN HQ is working on the Citizen's Defense Force now.

Zak called up, desperate for help. I knew he was on his way out, so I wanted to take advantage of our pact before Yang eliminated him. I traded with Zak for Adv.Military Algorithms and Adv.Subatomic Theory.

johndmuller, you may need to take a look at the worker distribution in the bases. We had a few worms come ashore and I had to shift workers around to protect our Crawlers and destroy the worms, so the distribution may need a little work.

Also, Miriam has an artillery somewhere offshore of our western-most base, UN Equality Village, and is destroying enhancements. A Gatling Skimship will be coming out of one of our southern bases very soon and you may want to send it west to take out Miriam before sending it up to help with the war with Santiago.

We do have an AA stranded on an island a good way to the southeast of our HQ that you will need to retrieve.

We are still running Wealth, so you may want to switch that around to a more military setting when you get ready to take on Santiago.

Again, any suggestions, comments, etc. are welcome.

Good luck!

[Avenoct]

100 turns in 3 days? Pretty good pace for an MP game.

Sounds like I cut out right before things got tough. I'm already primed for the next turn. At this rate we'll play a game a week, rather than a turn a week.

-Smack

[Scipio Centaurus]

Santiago's got tons of forest square on her island; she's built a base in the middle of the alien ruins; she's built another base in the uranium flats; she's intimidated at least 3 techs away from us...

I'm impressed.

Smack, did you 'accidentally' load up your aldeberaan mod for this succession game?

- Scipio