[MoO] MOO2 v1.40 Repulsive Uncreative Challenge Run

[Harv]

Welcome to my challenge run! Some time ago, one of my friends asked me if we can succeed with the Repulsive / Uncreative combination. I did not choose the ideal build to start, but here is what I rolled a couple of weeks ago:

Lazy settings - Huge Galaxy, Average Age, 8 Players, Pre-Warp

Race Build:
Kustom UnKreative Klackons
-6 Repulsive
-4 Uncreative
+6 Unfication
+6 Subterranean
+6 Production +2
+2 Rich Home World

We already mentioned this is not the ideal build. For example, we might have done much better to replace Subterranean with Telepathic. However, we are rolling with what we rolled and we are treating this map like a puzzle to solve. (A couple of weeks ago, we ran afoul of a hole in our tech build and we gave the game a rest instead of grinding through the ending and betting we could win the vote before losing too many colonies - and chalk the experience up as a lesson.)

Here is the start:

Spoiler :

 

[Harv]

Part 1, Turn 58 - Initial Exploration and First Contact with the Bulrathi

Something interesting about an Uncreative run is sometimes it forces a different play. In this case, for a very long time, my standard play was to build a Research Lab, then Auto Factory, then Freighter Fleet, then Colony Base. Checking the research tree, we found neither Research Labs nor Auto Factories. We can still build a Colony Base.

Exploration seemed to be a whole lot of junk. We followed a lot of the same paths we took before in order to best preserve the normal lack of map knowledge. We explored:
Thog - K - Toxic 3A LG, Asteroids, Gas Giant
Zoctan - M - Toxic 10P, Asteroids
Wormhole to
Akrab - G - Gas Giant (kind of central on the map)
Pax - G - Toxic 13A, Barren 3P LG
Wormhole to
Niallar - K - Tundra 10P, Barren 10A, Gas Giant
Mizar - K - Desert 10A, Swamp 20A HG, Gas Giant, Terran 24R Gems, Gas Giant - Mizar is guarded by a Space Crystal
Sadak - G - Radiated 10P, Asteroids

Notation is Type followed by maximum population with Subterranean and the mineral content and specials or gravity.
If we include 4 Black Holes, this marks 12/71 Systems.

Colonization:
T20 Kholdan Prime - Radiated 3A LG
T36 Pax Prime - Toxic 13A
T57 Niallar 2 - Barren 10A

Research:
T6 Nuclear Fission at 44%
T12 Chemistry at 20%
T25 Cold Fusion at 48%
T31 Physics at 50%
T37 Electronics at 50%
T58 Tritanium Armor at 38% (We missed rolls at 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34 and 36% as if the RNG was bent on having us invest more population in research.)

Kholdan Production:
T7 Freighter Fleet 5
T13 Ant 1 Scout Ship (25 BC)
T20 Colony Base
T33 Ant Colony 1
T40 Ant 2 Scout Ship (25 BC)
T53 Ant Colony 2
T58 Freighter Fleet 10

Leaders:
T21 Gizmo - This was a lucky break, because on our home planet, research points are very expensive. We are also Repulsive, so we will take anything.
T54 Galis the Financial Guy - We dismissed him right away, because it will be many turns until we can make a profit from him. By throwing him back, we increase the chance an AI empire gets him and he might come back in 25 turns or so with an extra level.

Events and Xenopolitics:
T56 Gnol is now UR
T58 First Contact with the Bulrathi

Unsurprisingly, the Bulrathi are ahead of us in the tech race. They have Anti-Missile Rockets and ECM Jammer. The do not have Tritanium Armor, so that puts us about even. We quickly designed a Destroyer costing 124BC with ECCM Nukes.

Right now, these Destroyers are nowhere near enough to take out that Space Crystal and bust open the game. Researching Merculite Missiles will help. At 27 Turns, this will take us to about Turn 85.



Here is our map:

Spoiler :

Turn 58
3 Systems
4 Colonies
20 Population

 

[Harv]

Part 2, Turn 110 - Exit Bulrathi. Enter Darlok.

Research:
T78 Merculite Missiles at 14%
T85 Optronic Computer at 38%
T87 Optronic Computer at 52%
T98 Neural Scanner at 42%
T104 Biospheres
T108 Fighter Bays
T110 Deuterium Fuel Cells captured from the Bulrathi at Sadr 5

Exploration:
T59 Cursa K - Asteroids, Terran 6A LG, Gas Giant, Asteroids, Gas Giant
T63 Tesuji K5 - Radiated 3UP LG, Arid 5R Gold, Gas Giant, Swamp 4R, Barren 13P
T65 Sadr B5 - Radiated 13A, Asteroids, Asteroids, Asteroids, Desert 6R HG
T68 Ursa M4 - Toxic 3P LG, Terran 14A HG, Asteroids, Gas Giant

Production:

Spoiler :

T59 Army Ant 1 at Kholdan
T59 Army Ant 2 at Pax
T60 Freighter Fleet 15 Kholdan
T68 Colony Base at Pax
T78 Freighter Fleet 20 at Kholdan
T79 Army Ant A3 at Kholdan
T79 Refit Army Ant A1 at Niallar
T83 Outpost Ship at Pax
T84 Refit Army Ant A2 at Niallar
T89 Agent 1 at Kholdan
T89 Agent 2 at Kholdan
T90 Freighter Fleet 25 at Kholdan
T91 Transport at Niallar
T96 Refit Army Ant B1 at Niallar - Long Range with 3 ECCM MIRV Nukes
T97 Refit Army Ant B2 at Niallar
T98 Refit Army Ant B2 at Niallar
T103 Star Base Kholdan
T103 Colony Ship Pax
T106 Freighter Fleet 30
T107 Transport

Colonization:
T68 Pax 2 Barren 3P LG
T87 Outpost at Ursa Prime
T93 Captured Ursa 3 - Terran 12A HG
T107 Tesuji 2 - Arid 5R Gold
T110 Captured Sadr 5 - Desert 6R HG

Leaders:
T81 Gizmo is now Level 2
T87 RIP Ruola the Weapons Officer
T96 Sparky joined us for 200BC. He brings Advanced Damage Control.

News, Events, and XenoPolitics:
T64 - The Bulrathi have started to spy on us. We give them approximately 1.36% chance per turn of success if we just ignore them. We also have no buildings and no tech that will win them the game if they obtain it.
T87 - We opened the war with the Bulrathi by destroying their two BattleCruisers and retreated to our Outpost Base at Ursa Prime.
T88 - We then proceeded to destroy the Ursa Starbase and started our bombing campaign.
T88 - We also had first contact with the Darlok. We quickly put up a couple of Agents to defend against the incoming onslaught of spies.
T93 - Ursa Captured with 1 Population. We will assimilate it T143.
T101 - The Long-Range Army Ant B's defeated the Star Base at Sadr. We started another bombing campaign.

We showed two discoveries of Optronic Computer on T85 and T87 because the RNG delivered us a space-time anomaly that had to be fixed by Sparky the Gadgeteer. The anomaly showed up when we were arriving at the Ursa System. Losing our main system and all of our food production for an indefinite amount of time, 5 Turns plus a 14 turn half-life, is kind of game breaking. Our options were to either attack right away instead of building the outpost and delaying the attack. The other way around was to not make our 38% research roll and get Optronics two turns later.

Major Reload Count: 1 - Reason: Space-Time Anomaly

We did the workaround. We eliminated the Bulrathi and scored big. We have Deuterium Fuel Cells. We appear to be winning the espionage war against the Darloks, which is amazing. They had two spies in our territory and they are down to zero for some reason. They will be back.

We had 52 turns of contact with the Bulrathi. They were spying on us for at least 46 of those turns and they got nothing from us.
We had 22 turns of contact with the Darlok and so far they got nothing from us. As a bonus, we now have the means to strike back at them!

With the Bulrathi eliminated, we now have access to their home planet and effective +1 Farmers and HG Workers. Our Collective is getting better. The Darlok will contribute +1 Tolerant Workers. It has been pointed out to me that Unification Tolerant Production +1 is better than Unification Subterranean Production +2. Now we have access to either option.

Our Situation:
6 Systems
8 Colonies
42 Population - 39 Bugs, 3 Bears

3 Army Ant B - LR ECCM MIRV Nuke Destroyers

Our map:

Spoiler :

[/spoile

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[Harv]

Part 3, Turn 158, Exit Darlok, Enter Psilon

Apparently it took an entire 48 Turns to eliminate the Darlok and some more rules and lessons were learned.

Research:
T112 Space Academy at 28%
T117 Fusion Drive at 30%
T121 Planetary Missile Base
T133 Planetary Supercomputer at 13%
T143 Alien Management Center
T144 Fusion Rifle
T149 Alien Control Center
T155 Cloning Center
T157 Class 1 Shield

Major Production:
T127 Starbase Pax

Colonization:
T112 Niallar Prime - Tundra 10P
T118 Zoctan Prime Outpost - We are using this to be able to reach Corvus with Transports. It is also hard for the Darlok to reach with their stealthy ships.
T119 Tesuji 4 - Swamp 4R
T122 Captured Corvis - Toxic 5P LG
T127 Tesuji 5 - Barren 13P
T147 Captured Nazin Prime
T149 Tesuji Prime Radiated 3UP LG
T158 Captured Getta Prime

Exploration:
Whynil G4 - Asteroids, Terran 18A, Asteroids, Barren 7A
Priapus G2 - Asteroids, Gaia 28R Artifacts - Guarded by a Space Hydra
Zirkel G4 - Radiated 16R HG, Tundra 7P LG, Gas Giant, Gas Giant - Wormhole we did not explore into Psilon territory
Muchos M1 - Radiated 7A
Gorrra K4 - Asteroids, Swamp 8P LG, Desert 7UP LG, Barren 10A
Trethon M3 - Radiated 10UP LG, Asteroids, Terran 30R Natives
Rhea M1 - Barren 16A HG
Gatto M3 - Radiated 3P, Gas Giant, Barren 10A
Algeiba G5 - Barren 10A, Toxic 10UR HG, Gas Giant, Ocean 10A, Gas Giant - Wormhole
Qui - Gas Giant
Jurgum M4 - Barren 13A, Radiated 10UP LG, Toxic P LG, Gas Giant

Leaders:
T121 Crass available at 90BC
T123 Hired Crass and we sent him to the Kholdan System
T129 RIP Aquasaurius

News, Events, and XenoPolitics:
T114 Agent 001 was killed defending our empire from the Darlok
T122 Destroyed 2DD and 1 Cruiser at the Carvus System, stating the war with the Darlok.
T123 Destroyed 4 Darlok Transports at the Corvis System
T129 Destroyed 1DD and 1 Cruiser at the Nazin System and we had to retreat
T135 Destroyed 2 more Darlok Cruisers


Here is the rule we are trying to understand. It looks like we can build an Outpost in a system if there are no enemy fleets to oppose us. We needed the Outpost in the Nazin System in order to be able to send Transport ships. It looks like if there are Darlok ships to oppose us then we cannot build the Outpost. We will have to keep this in mind for times we need Outposts to make range for Transports.

Turn 158
10 Systems
17 Colonies
95 Population

Here is the map:

Spoiler :

Psilons appear to be......
250 in Construction
650 in Chemsitry
900 in Computers - So they also have Planetary Supercomputer and Holo Simulator
900 in Physics
I did not see anything in Power.
1150 in Social
80 in Biology
900 in Force Fields - Right now we have no response to Autofiring Armor Piercing Mass Drivers

There are also a few space monsters we can kill while waiting.

 

[Harv]

Part 4, Turn 190 - An Uneasy Peace

Research:
T162 Anti-Grav Harness
T169 Planetary Radiation Shield
T176 Stealth Field
T183 Pulsar

The Black Ants - Spy versus Spy:
T163 Spy lost against the Elerian
T164 Pulson Missile stolen from the Elerian
T176 Spy lost against the Elerian
T180 ECM Jammer stolen from the Elerian
T185 The Elerians stole Anti-Grav Harness
T189 Spy lost against the Elerian

We are a total of 8 spies out of 12 spies built. We lost 1 spy to the Darlok war and 3 spies to the Elerian. We gained Pulson Missile and ECM Jammer and lost AG Harness. That puts us about 650RP ahead in the espionage game at the cost of 4 spies. We seem to be defending against quite a few.

Exploration:
Zona B - Empty
Ishtar K2 - Radiated 10A, Tundra 7P

Leaders:
T171 Gizmo is now Level 3 - Researcher 15, Engineer 6
T180 Rashiki hired for 220BC
T186 Sparky is now Level 3 - Ordinance 15, Engineer 9

News, Events, and XenoPolitics:
T159 First contact with the Elerian
T170 - The Psilons destroyed Ant 4 while exploring the Ishtar System. They have Nile and Tyranno.
T172 Pirate Raid - They stole 495BC

We took this time to build up as many Star Bases as we can so we can build up our fleet - and also research our way to Class 5 Shields. That will give us some protection against AP Mass Drivers. The Radiation Shields will help as well. With that little time delay, we really should be taking out the Elerians.

Turn 190
10 Systems
17 Colonies
136 Population

Here is the map:

Spoiler :