Advice for Morgan

Hydro · March 29, 2003, 12:29

I’m playing Morgan in a PBEM and it feels…alien. I’m an eco weenie at heart and Morgan doesn’t come naturally. So, here’s the deal – I feel like I’m not playing Morgan correctly and not utilizing his advantages. I’ve read all of Vel’s outstanding advice but it still doesn’t seem to be gelling.

Situation: Large planet, average everything. Morgan, Sparta (the other PBEM), Zak, Aki, Yang, Dee, and Lal. Tech is semi-directed (choose Explore/Discv/Bld/Conq) – I am on Build/Discover right now. I am on a largish island by myself (which is good). Aki is on a smallish island with 5 max bases, pop 12. Zak is on a small island with 5 bases, pop 16. I haven’t met Dee, Yang, Lal, or Spartan’s yet, although I know the Spartans have been trading tech with Zak and Aki because of the dialog I trade with the Spartan PBEM. I’ve been able to trade one tech with Zak and none with Aki – both are seething and hate me.

It is 2169 and I have 10 bases and 20 pop. I’m running FM, and haven’t gotten Ind Auto yet (grrrr!). I’ve built WP and will finish HGP this year, which will help my nasty stability problems. No one else has completed any SPs. Lal has the pop lead, and Zak is leader in tech. Zak, Aki, and Santiago are an incestuous tech team, and they are leaving me out (bastards!). My energy output is 30, which isn’t bad (I think).

If the power graphs count for anything, Zak leads and I’m a very close second with Lal, Aki and Santiago. I lead in nothing since I just spent 400 energy to buy the HGP. Dee and Yang have about 1/3 the ‘power’ that anyone else does due to their apparent isolation; they must be on a small island since both do relatively well as an AI.

The main problem now is social stability (from FM) and minerals for industry. Morgan is pathetic with his –1 support on early bases, which hurts a lot. That means I can’t go Dem for a long time or I’ll have no minerals at my small bases. The max base size w/o rec commons seems to be one, which is a major problem that I think HGP will fix. Five out of my 20 pop are non-productive doctors.

My plan is this – please give advice here if there is any:
· Use the HGP get my citizens productive, finish rec commons to I can grow bases to size 3 or 4. Smaller bases (size 1 and 2) will crank out colony pods until their portion of the continent is full, then the start defensive and infrastructure.
· Continue base expansion to 18 (the next cut point for bureaucracy drones), which should fill out my continent. Small Morgan bases make huge amounts of energy – they just have a problem building due to low minerals.
· Keep a core of 4 or 5 bases building infrastructure, with at least one working on a SP (I have no hope of getting VW – the Spartans will get that one).
· Build a transport and two more probes (2 built already) to steal tech from Aki, who is on an island 1 hex from me. She has not been friendly, so I’ll return the favor. I’ll try to frame Zak or Santiago, if I can (or should I just steel the tech? I think Morgan would take the risk for the subterfuge advantage).
· Since I have no weapon techs, so build a few infantry defensive probes (I have 2 regular probes now); upgrade coastal defenders to synthmetal. Make stealing laser or impact a priority, along with trance
· Use the WP to build my land up so my bases are NOT adjacent to the sea (longer term project).
· Once I get Ind Auto build at least 1 supply crawler per base and get mineral prod up to at least 10 per base; these will also block hexes by the coast to prevent invasion. I foresee a ring of crawlers in my future

So, that is my economic and development plan. I’m not sure it will work – it depends on how much time I’m given before nasty things start happening to me. I think that, given the seething nature of local politics, my Morgan will have to be harsh. Aki (truce) and Zak (treaty) will hate me even more when I go wealth, so I think I may have to steal them blind and then subdue at least Aki, who is too close for comfort. Having only one hex of sea between us should help the transports, probes (yeh!!) and impact rovers do their jobs (after she is infiltrated, of course). That is a long way off, though.

Any advice? I just hope Masterbuilder isn’t lurking out there or I will have tipped my hand!

lethe · March 29, 2003, 15:44

You are in the perfect position to start getting high minerals without ecodamage.

You need to cause a fungal pop in a base radius due to eco damage, easiest way to do it is by rehoming lots of crawlers to that base.

All tree farms, hybrid forests, centauri preserves and temples of planet built AFTER the first fungi pop due to eco damage raises the clean mineral limit by one. For all bases. So if 10 bases builds tree farms after the pop clean minerals go from 16 to 26.

Planet rating only raises or lowers existing eco damage, but clean mineral rating decides when eco damage starts at all. So with enough of the four facilities built in your empire AFTER that fungal pop you can have hundreds of minerals while running FM and get no eco damage at all.

Which also makes going wealth less of a necessity, which hopefully buys you more build time before going after Zak and Aki. In general I find blitzing exceedingly early or waiting for Air Power and decent builder strength before going to war being the two strategies that work. Going with a late rover war, like gatling rovers or such never works out for me.

I am lyric just because I recently learned the real eco damage formula, and took my normal morgan base from 20ish minerals to 120ish minerals in the mid game. (I've almost never been able to build lots of the mineral multipliers in combination with nessus mining stations before.)

And once you have Doctrine: Air Power it's time for nerve gas mayhem.

Bkeela · March 29, 2003, 23:20

I would be interested to hear how it all turns out, Hydro.

Sikander · March 30, 2003, 05:08

Your energy production sounds really low. You say that you are running FM with 10 bases and 20 pop, yet your energy output is only 30? You should have way more than that from your base squares alone. Do you have formers yet? If so get them going in order to increase energy and minerals via forestation. If you have probes, consider holding your bases with armored infantry probe teams rather than infantry. You'll save one min per base on support, and the APTs are pretty useful throughout the game to garrison bases against enemy probes, etc. Plus probe teams can leave your area without causing unrest.

Mongoose · March 30, 2003, 08:16

I took that 30 to be net ec generation, not gross energy production, Sikander. Consider - 10 base squares - 51 raw energy, 5 doctors, 15 other pop at 1.5 energy/square = 51+22= 73 raw energy. Inefficiency loss of 12%...-8...65 raw energy. since the labs get the rounding benefit of the bases enerating odd amounts, at 50 - 50 allocation, 30 ec and 35 labs sounds reasonable to me.

Hydro, I think the rush of the HG was a misallocation of resources. You could have rushed almost 8 rec commons (with 10 mins accumulated) for the same 400 ec, or a like number of recycling tanks.

I recommend against instigating a war with Aki before the discovery of D:AP and Bioegineering. Switching to Wealth is going to set Zak against you. I don't think it prudent to take on three other factions without noodles or clean garrisons. Should you not get D:AP timely, Aki will destroy most of your crawlers and severly crimp your mineral situation if you are trying to support large numbers of units.

If you do decide to probe Aki, get your probe team as high a morale as you can through infiltrations and then try to frame the Spartans. If successful, you'll probably prevent your opponent from ever being able to obtain a Borg pact.

I recommend trying to improve relations with the Borgs, commerce is good! You'll not be able to make good friends with Dee unless you eschew Market for Green. Lal will probably hate you just for being above him on the power graph. You need a friend somewhere.

How can Santi be part of the incestuous tech trading team when the Spartans are being played by the other human?

Hydro · March 30, 2003, 15:32

The 30 energy is my profit after expenses. Now it is up to a whopping 34 after HGP and getting my non-working ¼ of my pop productive again. My pre-HGP size 1 bases had either no minerals or one or two, and it would take a hideously long time to build rec commons at theses bases, even after rushing when they had gotten 10 minerals accumulated. Another problem is that after 9 bases my first citizen was a drone, and that is bad. Now I can expand to 18 bases without any real fear of unrest. Another advantage of HGP – when I build rec commons I can go to pop 4 without riots and not build expensive holo simulators (at 2 energy each plus construction that is serious for early bases).

My terraforming is going rather well with WP, and almost every base has a former. I’ve not built them at my last few bases since they had all the improved squares they needed (one farm/solar and a forest, as applicable). Now my formers are racing to improve some of my interior territory, and extend my reach for future sites. All those fungus and rocky hidden nutrient squares will be uncovered soon and forested. My first sea former will be out soon too – it will also serve as a pseudo scout when its initial terraforming duties are done. My early forests are spreading nicely, obliterating the bad, evil fungus.

Good idea on the rec tanks. I’ve neglected those except at my core bases. I will now remedy that situation since my drone problems have been alleviated.

I looked at armored infantry probes, but they seemed prohibitively expensive when a size 1 base is producing one or two minerals per turn. When the bases get to size 2 (without riots) this will no longer be a problem. Then I’ll take your advice and scrap the scouts and rely on the infantry probes. Another possibility is a transport with a few probes, which means I could explore a little – I feel very cut off and vulnerable since I don’t know where the Spartans, Gaians, or PKs are hiding. Maybe I’ll find elusive Hive and Gaians, or PKs, too. I’d rather the Spartans stay far away from me, thank you.

My war plans were very far off in the future considering I have no weaponry techs. I have had no luck being ‘nice’ to either Zak or Aki. In particular, Aki has been seething since I met her (it?). Zak has started to be seething recently, too. I have one whole energy in trade with Zak. Wheee.

As to the Tech Trading Axis of Evil, the PBEM Santiago found a pod with Zak’s frequency and immediately traded two or three techs. Zak gave Santiago Aki’s frequency for free, and then more techs followed. Repeat this pattern for 30+ years and you get the picture. I traded Zak Ethical Calculus for Doct: Flex, but that is it. Zak has told me to pound salt otherwise. When I try to call Aki every 10 years or so she ignores me. What galls me is that EC was then traded to Santiago, who then traded it to Aki. Later Zak traded Info Networks to Santiago, giving the PBEM Spartans both VW and the ability to get Impact. Boo, hiss. Then she traded Nonlin Math to Aki and Zak for more tech. I’d REALLY like to steal this from Aki so I have some defense. With my research set at Discover/Build I may never get any weapon techs for a long time, and I am dead meat if Santiago lands a single transport full of impact rovers. If I’m lucky I can buy them off, but my synthmetal probes/infantry will get pasted pretty bad. Did I mention my capital is at the edge of the ocean, and that inside is WP? This makes me very nervious.

Thanks for the advice. I’ll post Masterbuilders’ and my ongoing narrative on the Fiction forum ‘soon’. Right not we are at MY 2170 and our text is over 140 pages long…

MariOne · March 31, 2003, 08:57

Hey, shouldn't it be *unfair* to seek for public advice in a *PBEM*????

Quote:

Originally posted by Hydro
Another problem is that after 9 bases my first citizen was a drone, and that is bad. Now I can expand to 18 bases without any real fear of unrest.

I'd carefully check this assumption using the datalinks-provided formulas.
If your FIRST citzen was a drone *in* your 9th founded base (or *after* founding 9 bases?), then probably you have triggered your first Bureaucracy Warning with your 7th base, as the first extra-B-drones are NOT usually generated in the new bases which trigger them, but in one of the existing ones.
Thus, you might find out that every base will have an extra-drone by the time you have 14 (or maybe even 12) and not 18.
Anyway, with the HGP, and investing in RecCommons, you'll be able to tackle higher levels of B-Drones. Just expand till you see you can manage them, no point in setting a pre-set limit.

As with Blind Research you are not guaranteed when you'll get IndAuto, and you have the WP anyway, go for Condensers (with a Farm)!
Even before crawlers, they allow faster growth, and to sustain a 4sized base with the other 3 workers on a forest or even one mine (only on a special, before EcoEng of course). BoreHoles are instead a waste w/r to FM-forest (pre-restrictions), just ensure you get online some for when you obtain EcoEng.

Should you fill up your land before getting HabComplexes-IndAuto (or if the several Drones induced by a new base make no more convenient founding new ones), IF the PBEM rules don't explicitly deny it, remember that you can add a CPod to a base beyond its Hab limits (produce it in a smaller, faster-growing, less worthy base, and add it to a well-established & infrastructured slower growing big one: the lost citizen will be regenerated in the small base far quicker than the big one would have grown on its own).
Seeing that Morgan HabLess size is 4, that extra citizen would prove crucial to allocate an inefficiency&drone-immune specialist (technician or librarian) in the base. A Condenser will allow to support 3 foresters and a specialist in a RecTanked base. When you'll finally get crawlers put one on the Condenser and you'll sustain 3 foresters and TWO specialists.

____
PS: one alternative in case a big base has an excess nutrients which would lead it to hit the hab limit anyway, is to make it produce its own Hab-Bypass-Pod (when the food tanks are almost full), wait very few turns (eventually just 1) till it grows again to 4, and then add its own pod (makes me eerily think of Finn long-distance runners auto-emo-trasfusions .... that way in singleplayer I usually have 24-sized base dozens of turns before STS-HabDomes)

Flubber · March 31, 2003, 16:58

I was suprised you only had 10 bases but that often depends on terrain and fungus.

I would say start building bases. My response to low hab limits is to build as many bases as my territory will allow. Ind auto allows sustainable specialist bases-- so this tech is a priority.

Main_Brain · April 2, 2003, 05:14

But if the PBem Opponent trades with the Two Techhouses..
it seems dangerous to turtle up..
*Imagines Morgan being the only one without D:AP*
*shudders at the thought of dozens of exploding crawlers*

Hydro · April 2, 2003, 09:35

Thanks for the advice, all. I know soliciting advice for a PBEM is like an open letter, but then my games with MasterBuilder are pretty open. We write about our yearly events and e-mail them to each other, so not a whole lot is kept secret. We are role playing after all, and we ‘win’ by this role playing. Sometimes we’re friends, and sometimes not. I find this a lot more fun than the cut throat death races that other PBEM’s seem to be (not that there isn’t a lot of Machiavellian maneuvering on our games).

Flubber - you're probably right on the number of bases. My plan at each base was to build a former (rushed; roads, forest, sensors, and farm tiles are critical), then a scout. The first two bases build one pod, then RC and RT, then projects. Others cranked out pods (occasionally rushing to get it out a few years earlier). My last few bases haven't build formers since I had plenty of improved terrain by then. Three formers and a scout destroyed by worms were replaced, which is expensive for early bases. Is there a way to improve this?

MariOne – My drones showed up after constructing the 10th base. I'll review the drone formula. I'm not too worried now that I have HGP and hope to fill up most of my continent. I'll consider pod-booming, but that seems a tad expensive right now (size one bases produce a lot of energy at +3 eco; the only reason not to is if bureaucracy gets too bad). My last tech was Gene Splicing (no Ind Auto for me, apparently) so all those rainy farm tiles I prepared just in case are paying off now.

Main_Brain – Looks like you were prophetic. In MY2173 my neighbor Aki invaded with a laser infantry. I have no weaponry tech (due to no trades and blind research) so I'm desperately upgrading defenses to synthmetal, calling in reserves, and getting my probes to that theatre (good thing I built two). It looks like the AI decided my target for me and the need for finesse (framing) is gone. Next up, a transport and lots of probes with Aki as the target. I NEED impact (and anything else I can steal from Aki, like other tech, money, or maybe a base). Bribing her laser infantry sounds good since then I can build that unit; I many not be able to afford it since her capital is so close.

Major Guz · April 2, 2003, 10:17

Keep in mind, that probe teams do not count as police units for crowd control. I know, you are in FM where no police is allowed, but I just wanted to say that.
In a game I played recently I had my police units all counted out and for a moment I forgot that running FM will disable police. Ouch.
In sea bases I tended to build foils with armor, but they don't count for police duty as well. (When using ships for defence in a sea base the +25% for being in a base really pays off when facing IoD or SeaLurks early).

Good luck with your game and keep us posted

CEO Aaron · April 2, 2003, 19:01

Get those recycling tanks out, pronto. When I found a base as Morgan, the FIRST thing I build is tanks, _then_ my first former. You NEED the extra mineral from your tanks to counteract the support penalty, until you can get IA. I agree with 'goose when he points out that rushing the HGP was a mistake. You _can_ rush build SP's, but only using the crawler upgrade trick. Upgrading them with straight cash is prohibitively expensive, as you are discovering.

Holding Aki's solitary laser infantry shouldn't pose too much of a problem. Don't bother with weapon techs for the moment, just stave her off with well placed Synthmetal and a sensor beacon or two. Meanwhile, build a probe foil and infiltrate her, so you can keep an eye on her production, and find out when she starts deploying those impact rovers you're dreading. While one of your bases is pushing out that foil probe, the rest need to be building pods, tanks, the odd former, and _nothing_else_. You're playing catch up, and the only way to do so is to get the most use out of HGP that you can, since you paid so much to have it.

Hydro · April 2, 2003, 19:14

War with Aki update:
Good news - Aki didn't attack my former, which was adjacent to the infantry she landed
Bad news - she upgraded the infantry to impact.
Good news - I upgraded a scout at the nearest base to synth, will upgrade a second next turn, and will build a third syth after that.
Bad news - in combat between impact and snyth, the synth will get slaughtered
Good news - I have two probes that will be able to subvert the infantry next turn
Bad news - I probably don't have the cash - 75 or so by next turn (upgrading is expensive). I probably made an error upgrading the scout since I could have kept the cash to bribe. Oh, well.
Good news - The surviving formers and its friends will be able to build a sensor next turn (and maybe the infantry will attack the defenseless formers). That is what he was going to build before the nasty cyborgs showed up (Bad Aki! Bad!)
Bad news - this sort of war of attrition is very bad for Morgan. All this effort for one blasted infantry. What would happen if a few showed up (no bribing)? Answer - I'd be stewed.

More later...

CEO Aaron · April 2, 2003, 22:37

A field upgrade for a computer opponent? Never seen that before. Were I you, I'd pull my formers out of range and have them make my beacon behind my base. And don't worry, one impact infantry is not going to knock over a base with 3 synth defenders, at least, not before you get someone else over there.

I don't know if this violates PBEM ettiquette, or even if it is possible, what with password protection, but is there any chance of you attaching a save for us to see your situation?

Hydro · April 3, 2003, 00:20

I have the saved turns, and I have no problem letting folks see. I welcome any friendly advice! Here is MY2175. I can attach other turns if you'd like.

My password is: Morgan (clever, eh?)

In MY 2176 the infantry didn’t move (again). I can bribe it from Aki for apx 175 energy, and it may be worth it to get impact infantry for a little defense. I sold Gene Splicing to Zak for 100 energy, so I have a bit of cash on hand. He wouldn’t trade, so this is the next best thing.

BTW - I was wrong about the upgrade. I checked the previous turns and it was impact. I semi assumed that because it didn't move in MY 2175 it must have been laser. Oops.

Alex · April 3, 2003, 10:18

Hm, interesting situation, Hydro. With some luck, you'll be able to get IndAuto from Aki. Let us know how it goes.

CEO Aaron · April 4, 2003, 18:36

After requesting your savegame, I haven't actually taken time to examine it, I'll do so at the earliest opportunity. However based on your last post, I _will_ say that subverting their laser infantry is certainly worth it, since stolen techology is automatically prototyped, in addition to whatever tactical benefits it offers. I'm not certain whether it allows you to build the unit type without the attendant technology, but at the very least, you will be able to crank out laser infantry once you discover/steal applied physics.

Does anyone know if units with higher morale cost more EC's to subvert? Is there a formula out there?

Hydro · April 4, 2003, 21:43

Yes, I'm quite happy with my new subverted 4-2-1 with very nice morale, thank you (much better than anything I could build). I also noticed, as you mentioned CEO Aaron, that I can build them without prototyping AND impact rovers, too! I'm not sure that's legal, though. I'll have to check to see if the impact rover needs to be prototyped or not. Regardless, the theft was worth EVERY bit of 169 energy since I just erased any military disparity, got a nice impact infantry, and was freed from prototyping. Sweet.

The next question: take the war to Aki or not? Right now I think no, unless she has a base in revolt that is begging for new management. I will, however, steal her blind of cash and energy. That will be just deserts for her war mongering ways.

PS - Just checked: impact rovers do NOT need to be prototyped. This means I don't get the morale boost with a prototype, but I also save a boatload of cash.

CEO Aaron · April 5, 2003, 00:31

Well, I've opened your game, and to me your position looks very tenable. You don't share a landmass with Aki, so I don't recommend prosecuting a war with her, at least until you've settled that southern peninsula below you. Fill out your continent, and build up your infrastructure, and destroy her on your own terms.

The fact that you remain in the front runners in overall rating, despite the other faction's tech lead bodes very well for you. With (as far as I can see) only 4 bases, Aki poses no significant threat, just go head and infiltrate her to keep an eye on her production for signs of an impending invasion, then you can build up until you get IA, at which time you can begin to contemplate a major offensive.

Hydro · April 7, 2003, 12:42

Morgan update:

My 2183. I now have 12 bases, and RC and RTs in almost all of them. Santiago (the other PBEM) bought my comm freq from Zak and called up. I bought Secrets, Plasma, and NonLin Math from her for 110 energy. I think that is a bargain, especially since Plasma and trance are key early defensive techs. It will save me 21 years of research at my current tech rate (breakthrough in 7 years).

It turns out Aki isn’t the pushover I’d hoped. The AI has a defensive probe in nearby bases, and infantry all over, blocking probe landing. Grrr! Now my poor unarmored transport is plowing its way through endless sea fungus just waiting for an isle to show up, at which point it will die. This is not going as planned – lesson: don’t assume the AI is totally stupid. If the transport lives I’ll infiltrate and maybe steel a tech or two, if she has one I don’t have. If not, I’ll steal energy.

My last few techs have STILL not been Ind Auto! I’m keeping my blind research on Build/Explore unit I get it (maybe switch to Build only?). Then, I’ll switch to Explore so I have a shot at the Empath Guild. I’d really like to contact Lal (the largest faction with 60 pop to my 25, according to the Spartans), Dee, and Yang to trade tech and get a few friendship treaties.

In the meantime I’m ripping out fungus to prepare my tightly packed base strategy, and build bases all through the unoccupied portion of the lower continent. It should go pretty fast with 3 formers working with the WP. Soon there will be at least 3 bases will be cranking out CPs, and hang the drones (although HGP helps a lot)! I want the base square energy! My target is still about 18 bases.

Three core bases have or are building net nodes. One is accumulating minerals for projects, others building extra probes and some defenses. Worms have been a vexing problem – I can’t wait to get trance!

Formers to the west raised some land to expose an energy special (forest that puppy!), and I might have gotten a land bridge to a huge continent, too. I’ll find out soon!

Signed – CEO Morgan

Flubber · April 7, 2003, 16:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Hydro
Morgan update:

Santiago (the other PBEM) bought my comm freq from Zak and called up. I bought Secrets, Plasma, and NonLin Math from her for 110 energy. I think that is a bargain, especially since Plasma and trance are key early defensive techs. It will save me 21 years of research at my current tech rate (breakthrough in 7 years).

Thats a good deal-- I am suprised at your opponent for trading you HEC although if the AI has it they may want to get something for it before the AI trades with you . . . Generally I don't like trading the prereqs to airpower .

AS for the research savings, yes and no. Acquiring additional techs will slow your research by increaasing the lab cost of the next tech you start researching. Therefore your next tech may take 10 years to research ( assuming no change in labs production) instead of the 7 it might have taken otherwise. The tech cost is a function of how many techs you have compared with the other factions and I have seen quite significant jumps in this cost from tech to tech.

Also, in directed research games, I often skip non-linear and secrets for quite some time since obtaining them will slow reseach on paths you consider to be more important-- Playing blind though, I will grab any tech available.

CEO Aaron · April 7, 2003, 17:26

For Morgan, Secrets of the Human brain is _VITALLY_ important since it immediately affords Trance, useful for more efficiently using crawler upgrade tricks after IA, and it is a pre-requisite tech for Neural grafting, which you need to get one of Morgan's holy-grail techs: Bio-Engineering and the attendant Clean Reactor. Typically these are techs I'll grab shortly after IA, on my way toward tree farms. Non-linear mathematics is eminently skippable, though sometimes depending on the map I'll postpone Air power til after I get Fusion reactors, which means skipping synthetic fossil fuels in lieu of Non-math and Superconductor.

As for getting IA, once I have all the pre-requisites out of the discover tree, you'll find me on PURE build tech research until I get it. Don't get me wrong, explore techs are grand, but I'm of the opinion that tech is only as useful as you infrastructure's ability to implement it, which is why IA is such a priority for me.

Hydro · April 7, 2003, 20:03

Semi-blind research is like a pod lottery for Forrest Gump: you never know what you’re going to get. As such, I am pleased to get any tech, particularly when they are directly beneficial to me. Plasma armor if just fine, thank you, against early rover weenie rushes. Likewise, trance is invaluable for anyone, particularly those who are experiencing the joys of –3 Planet when under free market (reduces attack to a coin flip, almost, and your defense is the same; the result is severely degraded worm defense).

As to tech trading, Santiago had already drained the AIs dry. She had traded two techs and gotten five in return from Aki and Zak. Santiago is now the tech leader on Chiron. Imagine that? Santiago securing a significant tech lead through diplomacy of all things! At least when this trade is done I’ll be closer to even.

Santiago is now clearly #1 in the power charts. I need to do something to goose Morgan soon or I may start falling seriously behind. And, of course, that means infrastructure and expansion!!

BTW – my valiant transport with two probes is about to get killed. Aki pulled up a foil in the fungus. I may get the two probes out before she strikes, but it will be a near thing. Infiltrating her is a prime objective, plus stealing what I can is good too (tech or energy if she has no tech I care about – I’m not picky). I may have to build a foil to counter her foil. Having her bombard my terraforming is not acceptable.

Right now IA is the target. You don’t see the value in Empath Guild? If not then b-line (such as it is with blind research) seems to be the order of the day after IA.

CEO Aaron · April 7, 2003, 23:41

It's not that I don't think the Empath Guild is a worthwhile, it's that your ability to crank it out in short order is MUCH greater when you're running weath and upgrading crawlers with cash. EG cost 200 minerals. You can either spend 25 turns putting 8 minerals per turn into it, OR you can spend 32 credits to switch to wealth, pop out 2 supply crawlers for a mere 60 minerals, then upgrade them for 90 credits each, finishing the project in about 1/5th the time. To say nothing of the additional production that getting a few forests crawled for minerals while you're waiting for Centauri Empathy to get researched.

MariOne · April 8, 2003, 05:53

Quote:

Originally posted by CEO Aaron
tech is only as useful as you infrastructure's ability to implement it

A concept never stressed enough.
To be engraved on every SMACer's mouse!

Hydro · April 8, 2003, 07:33

Perhaps I wasn't clear: the tech goal is IA. The question was what to do AFTER that tech is acquired.

CEO Aaron · April 8, 2003, 14:26

Ooooh. Sorry, I misunderstood your post. In that case, Centauri Empathy is one of the tech's I normally get soon after getting IA. I'm too lazy to recall whether you're playing Alien Crossfire or not, but one Secret Project that can _really_ help Morgan is the Planetary Energy Grid. Once you've picked up IA, it's a quick pair of techs: Progenitor Psych and Adaptive Economics, and getting free Energy Banks everywhere will only magnify Morgan's signature quality, namely being hip deep in energy. I find that the extra ECs I get every turn from having completed this project is significantly helpful in keeping my cashflow going to finish rush building all the others.

Nevertheless, the Empath Guild is a very good SP as well, I often use it to save me the hassle of infiltrating every single faction, though usually by the time I've built it, I've infiltrated all my immediate neighbors. And of course, if you win the governor election, the extra commerce doesn't hurt at all. There's really not a single early game SP I would consider bad, or not worth taking. The one I wind up sacrificing to the AI most often is the Command Nexxus, simply because my wartime strategy is to fight defensively until I can get the Chop n' Drop going, where morale on my infantry isn't really relevant.

The first tech I recommend going after once IA's under your belt is Environmental Economics, so there's lots of reasons to stay on the 'Explore/Build' tree. Side techs to be gotten include Synthetic Fossil Feuls (provided you've grabbed High Energy Chemistry at some point) and thence to Doctrine:Air Power.

Alternatively you may find it profitable to trade for a few weapon techs and get ready to stage a ground invasion of Aki's territory, with the goal of subjugating her and getting all her tech, then returning her bases and getting yourself a nice submissive for future trade income.

Which brings up this idea: Crank out one or two sea formers at some point soon, and start seeding kelp in that morass of sea fungus off your western shore. Once it has a few turns to take root and spread, you'll have much less trouble navigating out to her island for any mischief you might have planned.

Hydro · April 9, 2003, 08:54

In MY 2186 I finally got AI, and it has already made a huge difference. So, with that out of the way I now have my tech set to Explore (from Build/Explore). I have made the strategic decision to try for Centauri Empathy, and also potentially for Ecological Engineering (mineral restrictions lifted) and Enviro Eco. Tech advances went from 7 to 14 turns (5 new techs: 3 from Spartans, 1 from Cyborgs, and IA), then to 11 when I went wealth. That will decrease when I get the last RCs up, and one more planned NN completed next turn. After that I will have to rely on new bases (which will produce awesome amounts of energy thanks to +4 economy) and pop growth.

I have one sea former working for a few decades, and you’re right that I need one in my western sea. First, however, I need an impact foil to kill the Cyborg foil. It would not do to have my former slaughtered. Due to stealing impact I will NOT have to prototype my 4-2-4 foil, which is a good thing (looks like that ~170 energy was well invested). It will stay in port and be supported by sensors and the base. I’ll keep an eye on the Cyborg foil, too.

Good point on Adaptive Eco. That could also come from my Explore tech, although that isn’t clear in Alien Crossfire. I got Prog Psych a while ago, so I think I have all the prerequisites. First, however, is cranking out supply crawlers to spike mineral production, get a couple of blooms, clean up the mess, and repeat. Extra crawlers will be used to finish SPs, with cash used to fill in holes.

It is unlikely I’ll get to infiltrate more than my immediate neighbors. It seems that other factions are widely separated, and transports take a long time to get anywhere. This would be different if I were Gaian – IoDs are wonderful for exploration. I can’t do this as Morgan, though (until I go Dem/Green/Wealth, at least). I’d like to say Hi to the Hive, Gaians, and especially Peacekeepers.

An invasion of the Evil Cyborgs will have to wait until my industrial abilities are better (meaning lots of crawlers, at least 2 per base). Then making an army will not be so expensive. Until then I’ll make a few transports and ferry over probes to drain her of tech (she has 3 I don’t have) and energy.

One new development: the Spartans found the huge Peacekeepers. They’re licking their chops to absorb the 70-pop PKs, who are 3x bigger than any other empire in this game. This is bad. I’m not sure what to do about this except drive my strengths (industry, economy) through the roof and expand like mad. A GA pop boom would be good, too, as would Planetary Transit System (stability of small bases, plus a SP-driven pop boom of all those small bases I’m planning).

Hydro · April 14, 2003, 13:12

Here is a PEBM Morgan update. It is MY2193. My pop is 35 with 12 bases, and my energy surplus is 50 with about 90 tech points (11 yrs/breakthrough). I got IA (yeh!) about 10 years ago and my bases have been cranking out crawlers, which harvest minerals, mostly in forest (min restrictions aren’t lifted yet; I'm building mines where I can). I have a total or 18 techs and am set to Build/Explore, which should give me good chance of Env Eng, Env Eco, and other key building techs. I’m running frontier/FM/wealth. Now that crawlers are cranking up the minerals I’ll go Dem very soon to boost efficiency and growth. Who cares if I have –3 support – crawlers will make up for it easily.

Attempts to do nasty things to the Cyborgs have not been terribly fruitful. My second swarm of probes-by-transport stole Polymorphic Software (the other probe failed), then the transport died when a Cyborg foil killed it. So, I’ve gotten 2 Cyborg techs now, but it has been expensive since it cost me 2 transports. Cyborg territory is swarming with troops so I am happy to leave them alone, for now. I’ll be able to overwhelm them when my productive base peaks.

The other significant item is that I built the Empath Build. It is amazing what a few well placed crawlers will do! I haven’t been able to use it since we have been in sunspots for a long time. When that is over I’ll have a nice long chat with Lal, Dee, and Yang. I’d LOVE to get a nice, lucrative trade agreement with all of Lal’s huge juicy cities.

I raised some land to get a energy special out of the sea, and get a nearby base off the coast (amphib attacks are bad). After exploring a bit with formers (preparing for a new base) I saw someone else’s boundary color! It looks like Gaians, but I don’t know since it is SMAX (the other border is green; my boundary color is Drone red, go figure). I’m building more trance scouts and an impact rover and probes plus sensors just in case. I do not want to be swarmed with mindworms right now. An empath scout rover sounds good, too.

Base expansion slowed to a halt while I’m cranking out crawlers. I’m still planning on lots of new little bases (maybe 4 more with extra land for resource harvesting in the middle), and maybe the Transit System project to keep them big and stable (-1 drone for size 3 or less bases is very nice for Morgan) while I get RCs and RTs done.

Lastly, the Spartans have had some significant setbacks. Santiago ended up at war with Lal after stealing tech. Shortly thereafter Lal bribed away 2 of Santiago’s forward bases, including one with her rover teams. They’re scrambling right now to make up for the loss, and it will be tough. The really bad thing is that now Lal has impact and plasma armor due to subverted units – that was the Spartan’s main strength since the PKs had nice, big bases with scouts as defenders and laser for offense. In a side note to the Spartan PBEM player I recommended cheap infantry probes to stop Lal’s espionage blitz.

If anyone’s interested I can post my latest turn. I would enjoy any feedback!

CEO Aaron · April 14, 2003, 15:03

Don't bother with building transports and probe teams, just go to the design workshop and make a probe team on a foil chassis instead of a rover chassis. Then when you run into Aki's impact foil, you can just subvert it and be on your way. She's got 4 coastal bases you can probe right from the water.

One other thing: When you're ready to take on Aki in an assault, don't bother building transports, just raise up a land bridge for your ground forces to walk over. Note that you'll probably want to build up some good defensive points behind the land bridge, with bunkers and sensor beacons, then let Aki break herself on your fortifications, before going in to clear out her bases. One bunker, one sensor beacon, 2-3 artillery 2-3 rovers and 2 highest armor garrisons should do the trick.