Clash of Titans, Pirates vs Usurpers (SMAX)

[Vendetta]

Does Psi armour work on air units? If you have a Morale advantage you could use that to gimp an enemy's weapon superiority on intercept.

[houser2112]

And no I'm not running Free Market, ever; Wealth is possible, but I'd rather have +2 Research.

Morgan is one of my favorites to play, and being able to throw scads of money into research is very effective, even if your Research isn't boosted. If research is something you like to do, I've found Free Market and Wealth to be decent options.

[Karza]

Does Psi armour work on air units? If you have a Morale advantage you could use that to gimp an enemy's weapon superiority on intercept.

Psi armour can be fitted into aircraft, though Adrian doesn't have that available yet. However, psi armour is high enough tech that it runs into the cost problem I mentioned. A 30-1-16x4 needlejet costs 60 minerals, whereas 30-psi-16x4 costs 200 minerals for example. The "armour = triple the cost" rule seems to hold.

[Vendetta]

Yeah, I couldn't remember how high up the tech tree it was either.

Given that, and the increased cost, I don't think it really justifies it's presence unless you're so monstrously industrially powerful you can do it as a vanity project, and then only if you also have the Neural Amplifier secret project (which offsets the attacker bonus in Psi combat with an equivalent 50% defender bonus).

[Pablo Sanchez]

I played a low-difficulty (as I'd never played the game) of SMAC as the Gaians, using a native-type army to take over my continent and then sit back to get to Transcendence. One problem I had in the late game was the governors in a few of my cities became obsessed with building Isles of the Deep and sentinels. Even after I manually set them to produce more useful stuff, as soon as they finished with that they built more sentinels/IoDs, and it didn't matter what priority was set for the governor. Weird.

[Vendetta]

I don't use the Governer. It might mean extra fiddle (though you can save up to eight preset build templates to reduce that), but I've never liked the way the AI does things, either city governers or automatic formers.

[Pablo Sanchez]

I don't use the Governer. It might mean extra fiddle (though you can save up to eight preset build templates to reduce that), but I've never liked the way the AI does things, either city governers or automatic formers.

Come to think of it, the automated formers also made some weird decisions, like after I conquered a heavily built up island from Miriam they completely covered it in mag-rails but that was the only area in the world where those got built.

[Adrian Laguna]

One problem I had in the late game was the governors in a few of my cities became obsessed with building Isles of the Deep and sentinels. Even after I manually set them to produce more useful stuff, as soon as they finished with that they built more sentinels/IoDs, and it didn't matter what priority was set for the governor. Weird.

The AI tends to go for quantity over quality because they can't make quality units worth shit. So when you put it in charge of your cities, it tends to try and do the same thing.


Did anyone notice there was no update this weekend? Well, figuring that it's better late than never, I'm working on it right now, which probably means it will be up in two or three hours (I get distracted easily).

EDIT - Fuck, I didn't finish. It's almost 4am, I have school tomorrow, I can't keep going, sorry.

[Adrian Laguna]

This is last weeks long overdue update. I'll see if I can make another one later this weekend. I changed the background of my Photobucket to something thematically appropiate. Do tell if you like it or not.

BTW - I just noticed that the last thumbnail in the previous update does not lead to the correct image. I find it odd that nobody commented on it.


In 2307 Nautilus began implementing a program for establishing a local defense force capable of withstanding attacks from both native life and possible Usurper incursions in the event of war. It was decided that a bare minimum of two garrison brigades with the most advanced defensive equipment, and an an air defense wing would be provided by each base. The more productive bases will in addition be expected to provide naval flotillas or amphibious assault brigades, so as to something of a counter-attack force available. Port Svensgaard is used here as a model. Since it only has one garrison brigade, it will build an air defense wing, and another garrison brigade. Being an industrial powerhouse, it will in addition provide a naval flotilla.




That same year Cutlass Cay was founded. It has a very nice name, and Nautilus planners have high hopes for this base. Its access to abundant mineral resources will likely make it a major industrial centre, and its proximity to Usurper territory makes it a potential focus of action in future conflict.




An assault wing cleans out the last of the Fungal units, easily destroying a Spore Launcher great boil.




Worm attacks on Crossbone Way City are also defeated.




Thirty years of peace have apparently dulled the senses of the Pirate nation, and rampant unchecked and unregulated speculation in the financial, commodities, and real estate markets eventually spiralled out of control in a rapid and catastrophic crash. The government of Nautilus was forced to spend 74% of its energy reserves, totalling 754,000,000,000 energy credits, to save the economy.




Safe Heaven is attacked by an Isle of the Deep, an aquatic vector of the Mind Worm composed of thousands of individual tubules which secret a tough sticky substance that hardens to form a shell which keeps the boil together and afloat, while giving it the appearance of a wandering island. The garrison bravely defends the base, and despite taking severe losses, it is able to fend off and destroy the intruders.




Due to recent economic trouble, Usurper energy reserves surpass Nautilus'. However, thanks to the quick, if expensive, actions of the legislature the economy remains healthy and the coffers of the treasury should refill in a few years time.




Safe Heaven is attacked again, this time by flying worms. The gallant garrison unhesitatingly rushes to the defense of the base once more and rapidly burns them out of the sky.




An Isle of the Deep was spotted between Port Svensgaard and Deadman Tavern. The latter base's air defense wing was despatched to sink it before it neared any settlements. A cloud of locusts rose-up from it, and after a fierce and close run air-to-air engagement, the battered aircraft returned to base.




In 2315 a new family of materials known as Silksteel Alloys are developed and readied to enter production. Armour made from them is expected to be 33% more effective than the currently used Plasma Steel.




That same year, the Usurpers build The Planetary Datalinks at The Lord's Truth. It gives the faction that builds it any technology known by any other three factions. It is almost entirely worthless, and only useful for providing a bit of extra energy to the Usurper's energy grid, and a higher game score.




A Fungal Bloom, complete with Fungal Tower, appears near Provision Point. Locust swarm over and destroy a wing of Missile Tacticals sent to intercept it.




Invaders (amphibious unit) armed with Resonance Lasers stage an amphibious assault and catch a Locust swarm nesting. It is destroyed with light casualties.




The Provision Point garrison destroys takes revenge for the air wing taken out the previous year, destroying the still mauled swarm on the ground in a daring raid from their home base.




Further attacks take a heavy toll on the garrison, but it holds and the Locust swarms are butchered. (Note: "Marine" means the ability to take over warships in combat, not amphibious capability, only ships should have it, but the Pirate's racial ability mistakenly gives it to every unit.)




A Resonance Laser armed attack wing destroys the last swarm without much difficulty.




The Invaders return to finish the job, easily destroying the Fungal Tower and eliminated the Native threat to the area.




An Isle of the Deep boil and Locust of Chiron swarm appear north of Safe Heaven. The two R-Laser assault wings are sent to destroy the threat, despite being under-strength from the battles near Provision Point. They take heavy losses, but the Worms are stopped short of the base's Perimeter Defence.






That ends a decade of turmoil and near endless fighting against wave after wave of Fungal Blooms and Native attacks. No base defences are breached, but tens of thousands of people die as unsuspecting victims working the land, or as brave soldiers resolutely confronting the threat. The local defense plans implemented in 2307 are credited in a large part with the efficacy of the response, and lack of casualties into the hundreds of thousands. Analysis concludes that the largest industrial centres represented the main focus of the attacks, suggesting that Planet's natural defences are reacting negatively to terraforming efforts, resource exploitation, and the polluting effects of industry. Also it has become apparent that the Fungus extends below the surface of Planet, perhaps going as far down as the mantle. As such clearing surface fungus is no safe-guard against future Fungal Blooms. A home guard will need to be kept even in the innermost settlements.


In 2320 breakthroughs in Orbital Space Flight make it possible to construct missiles, strategic weapons, and orbital farms.




Conqueror Marr immediately demands that the technology be shared, citing "Tau Ceti" accords that Nautilus is not party to. Despite strong reluctance to hand over such vital research, Nautilus is still not prepared to go to war with the Usurpers. In an effort to off-set the loss in advantage in that field, Svensgaard asks that Marr share his people's knowledge of Superconductors. Marr, perhaps weary of gaining nothing and being forced into costly war, agrees.




Seeing that Marr can be reasoned with, Captain Svensgaard hazards the suggestion of a trade agreement. He declines, citing the Pirate's ability to control sea trade to their advantage as detrimental to his efforts.




A nasty viral plague breaks out at U.N. Headquarters. It is contained thanks to the Research Hospital there, but thousands die before effective treatment becomes available. The origins of the virus are still being investigated.




Strategic Analysis of 2321:

Nautilus performs research at almost twice the rate of the Usurpers. There is currently but one technology that they have and we don't: Applied Relativity. The technology gap should disappear entirely within a decade or two.






Nautilus's economic position is clearly stronger than that the Usurpers.






Both factions are focusing their industrial efforts into domestic infrastructure.






Nautilus' armed forces have grown over the past years, but still remain small and self-defence oriented.




The most dangerous arm of the Usurper's war machine is without a doubt their large, well developed, and Air Force. They boast 52 attack wings, giving them a 3.5-1 advantage against Nautilus' air defences. That is not, however, the most worrisome aspect. They appear to have started to build strategic weapons. Pirate research into the technology of these weapons, which are so fearsome they have been dubbed "Planet Busters", suggests that with a Fission warhead they would be capable of destroying everything within a 500km radius. The Usurpers cannot be allowed to field such powerful devices without an equivalent or larger force on our side to serve as deterrence.

[Karza]

Further attacks take a heavy toll on the garrison, but it holds and the Locust swarms are butchered. (Note: "Marine" means the ability to take over warships in combat, not amphibious capability, only ships should have it, but the Pirate's racial ability mistakenly gives it to every unit.)

That's something I haven't noticed before. I wonder if that ability actually works or does it just mistakenly display the "marine" tag? Would be kinda cool if you caught an enemy ship in port and the marine detachment ability kicked in . The ability working like that would actually make more sense than the way it's supposed to work .

[Ford Prefect]

I like the new background Adrian, very pretty. Also, who is that red, spikey headed dude that appears in screens about cities?

[Adrian Laguna]

I like the new background Adrian, very pretty.

Yeah, and it's also fitting for a sci-fi game.

Also, who is that red, spikey headed dude that appears in screens about cities?

It's a nerve stapled drone. You can nerve staple your drone population by clicking on it, which means the city will not experience revolts for 10 turns. However, nerve stapling is an atrocity, it's never explained why, but it sounds unpleasant. If atrocities are forbidden then all the other players will embargo you for those 10 turns.

[Adrian Laguna]

I added a link to the video of the Planetary Datalinks Secret Project.

[Samuel]

Presumably nerve stapling involves you finding the areas of a citizen's brain responsible for feeling and shutting them off.

[Pablo Sanchez]

I have been playing some more and arrived at the conclusion that I am basically hopeless at this game. All the same, I would like to see more AAR!

[Samuel]

I have been playing some more and arrived at the conclusion that I am basically hopeless at this game. All the same, I would like to see more AAR!

Welcome to the club! We probably can ask Adrian what we have to do to do better at higher levels, but it is probably the inability to balance war and peace and do long-term planning.

Love Planetary Datalinks by the way. Has one of my favorite quotes

" Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
-- Commissioner Pravin Lal, "U.N. Declaration of Rights"

[Adrian Laguna]

I have been playing some more and arrived at the conclusion that I am basically hopeless at this game. All the same, I would like to see more AAR!

Just keep practising in the lower difficulties, you'll get better. Reading Velociryx's Guide also helps immensely, however since its ultimate goal is to make you a better player in against human opponents, it might just make the game too easy. A simple trick that I have not used in this AAR is to using supply crawlers, which you obtain with industrial automation. Aside from letting you get one type of resource from squares not being worked by citizens, supply crawlers (or rover, or ships, or aircraft) can make your Empire function as a coherent whole instead of a collection of city-states. You can use a city's crawlers to move its resources to another city. So a Secret Project that might take 30 turns to build might instead take 10 because a few other cities are contributing their mineral output.

We probably can ask Adrian what we have to do to do better at higher levels, but it is probably the inability to balance war and peace and do long-term planning.

That is probably it. You can see that early in my AAR I said that I would focus on infrastructure so as to overcome the Usurper's massive size, and that consistent strategy has been paying dividends over the long run. I also avoided getting suckered into a land war in Asia. My allies were left hanging out to dry, but it kept the Usurpers busy at no cost to myself.

[Vehrec]

I this thread, and would like to play this game some time. I've been reading up, and it seems like you'll be wanting the Cloudbase academy and the Living Refinery ASAP, as well as getting the Universal Translator, because everyone loves free techs. I hope that one day, the Pirates will land upon that distant alien world and conquer it in the name of sex, drugs and booze.

[Adrian Laguna]

Working on an update, no promises on when it will be done, but I'm hoping it's tonight.

I've been reading up, and it seems like you'll be wanting the Cloudbase academy and the Living Refinery ASAP, as well as getting the Universal Translator, because everyone loves free techs.

The Cloudbase Academy is a very powerful SP, but I've already built Aerospace Centres in most of my bases, so it's really not a must have.

The Living Refinery's worth really depends on what SE choices you can run and the attributes of your faction. The way I'm running the Pirates, +2 Support will just mean I can support 2 free units per base instead of 1, that's not exactly a huge deal. It might be worth it to deny it to the Usurpers, though. They can currently support 4 units free per base, with The Living Refinery, they could support one extra unit per point of population above four. That would mean hundreds of freed-up minerals.

[Vendetta]

Having the CBA would, of course, allow you to scrap and recycle the aerospace commands you've built, eliminating their upkeep and giving you more booty per turn (as well as a lump sum for doing it).

[Adrian Laguna]

Well FUCK, just as I was finishing my update, I lost all of it. Yes all of it.

God mother-fucking dammit.

It was a big post too, 31 images, and quite a bit of fluff. I'm sorry, but there might not be an update in a while, I'm really bummed over this.

[Ford Prefect]

That's alright Adrian. Take you time and rebuild it when you're ready.

[Pablo Sanchez]

It was a big post too, 31 images, and quite a bit of fluff. I'm sorry, but there might not be an update in a while, I'm really bummed over this.

I wrote a few AARs on the Paradox forums, and this kind of thing has happened to me, so I know how you feel--it is a stone bitch. One thing that can help when writing long updates is to do it before hand in wordpad or something, so you can save it.

[The Yosemite Bear]

looking forward

however wouldn't the SDN be better characterized by Academitian Prophet Wong?

[Adrian Laguna]

That's alright Adrian. Take you time and rebuild it when you're ready.

I wrote a few AARs on the Paradox forums, and this kind of thing has happened to me, so I know how you feel--it is a stone bitch. One thing that can help when writing long updates is to do it before hand in wordpad or something, so you can save it.

Thanks for being understanding, guys.