OSG 15a - Puissant Psilons
- Thread starter Zed-F
- Start date
Quiet turns. Finish factories, research:
Mk IV --> ECM IV (RCIV is next)
Zortium Armor --> IIT5 (Armored Exo next)
Range 8 --> Warp Dissipator (Range 9 next)
AMB's --> Stingers
Sakkra's come calling on my second turn, gushing over how much they love our trade. Second to last turn, the Lizards glass Kronos; we're about to be put out of contact with the Silicoids. Here's the vote:
Us:
Humans (2)
Alkari (2)
Bears (6)
Rocks (4)
Sakkra:
Sakkra(9)
Us (7)
On my last turn, I noticed that the Lizard fleet left Kronos, there's nothing inbound there, and there aren't any col ships orbiting any planets, so I ordered a col ship at Ajax; it will be ready in two turns. If we get lucky, we can poach the planet.
Roster:
Zed
Dathon <-- Just played
StuporMan <-- UP NOW
ignatius <-- On Deck
dathon
Mk IV --> ECM IV (RCIV is next)
Zortium Armor --> IIT5 (Armored Exo next)
Range 8 --> Warp Dissipator (Range 9 next)
AMB's --> Stingers
Sakkra's come calling on my second turn, gushing over how much they love our trade. Second to last turn, the Lizards glass Kronos; we're about to be put out of contact with the Silicoids. Here's the vote:
Us:
Humans (2)
Alkari (2)
Bears (6)
Rocks (4)
Sakkra:
Sakkra(9)
Us (7)
On my last turn, I noticed that the Lizard fleet left Kronos, there's nothing inbound there, and there aren't any col ships orbiting any planets, so I ordered a col ship at Ajax; it will be ready in two turns. If we get lucky, we can poach the planet.
Roster:
Zed
Dathon <-- Just played
StuporMan <-- UP NOW
ignatius <-- On Deck
dathon
Preturn: Send defensive fleet over Ajax to Kronos to defend our next acquisition.
First turn we get a breakthrough in Planetology, we are finally researching Radiated. I notice we have a large reserve and I start putting some of that into our Artifacts world. I chase away a Silly colship from one of our future Radiateds, and on the turn our colship arrives at Kronos, I chase away a Sakkra fleet from there too (glad I sent the ships first). Xengara had finally been retaken by the Lizards so we briefly lost contact with the Rocks. Once we settled Kronos we came in contact with every race. I put a minimal trade in with everyone, and notice we are the only ones not at war with at least 3 other people. It looks like we will be in good shape to take over the galaxy once we get ready to attack (read better engines).
Computers hit at the halfway mark and we go for RCIV. Shield V falls 2 turns later (despite being higher %) and we start Personal Absorbers. Kronos FINALLY got all its cleanup done near the very end, and I starting pumping reserves into building its factories.
We have a bunch of techs about to pop, hopefully we can start researching a better engine soon. That is all we lack from being able to take over the universe. Remember to pump reserves into our new colony Kronos to get it up to speed, you may also want to send some more colonists from the closest colony (and pump pop there), others will take far too long at our current engine levels.
We should be relatively safe from war declarations for the immediate future. With each AI active in 3 wars and no alliances in play, we should be able to pick and choose our battles as we wish.
Stup
First turn we get a breakthrough in Planetology, we are finally researching Radiated. I notice we have a large reserve and I start putting some of that into our Artifacts world. I chase away a Silly colship from one of our future Radiateds, and on the turn our colship arrives at Kronos, I chase away a Sakkra fleet from there too (glad I sent the ships first). Xengara had finally been retaken by the Lizards so we briefly lost contact with the Rocks. Once we settled Kronos we came in contact with every race. I put a minimal trade in with everyone, and notice we are the only ones not at war with at least 3 other people. It looks like we will be in good shape to take over the galaxy once we get ready to attack (read better engines).
Computers hit at the halfway mark and we go for RCIV. Shield V falls 2 turns later (despite being higher %) and we start Personal Absorbers. Kronos FINALLY got all its cleanup done near the very end, and I starting pumping reserves into building its factories.
We have a bunch of techs about to pop, hopefully we can start researching a better engine soon. That is all we lack from being able to take over the universe. Remember to pump reserves into our new colony Kronos to get it up to speed, you may also want to send some more colonists from the closest colony (and pump pop there), others will take far too long at our current engine levels.
We should be relatively safe from war declarations for the immediate future. With each AI active in 3 wars and no alliances in play, we should be able to pick and choose our battles as we wish.
Stup
Those guys are sleeping giants, who could any turn wake up on the wrong side of the bed!
2460
2461
2462
Kronos draws the Mining event!!!! I send over pop from Ajax as we will hit pop/fact break-even somewhat sooner than expected ...
2464
2467
2448
Kronos builds its first base!
2449
Sakkras destroy Sol, contact with Humans lost
2450
radcol at 32%
Kronos is maxed out and fortified with 9 bases. A placeholdership "2b radcol" is standing by at Paranar which should be enough to finish two ships in one turn. I've left some def spending on in most colonies.
Roster:
Zed <-- UP NOW
Dathon <-- On Deck
StuporMan
ignatius <-- Just played
All hail to the Mighty Zed!
ignatius
- sent scouts to the two yet unclaimed unexplored planets (probl. Orion and a dud, but still)
- put up placeholder at Paranar for two RadCols
- set up moderate defense spending in our core as all our colonies are in range for at least one of our neighbours
2461
- Alkaris declare out of the blue - and they are allied with the Sakkras
- I phone the Sakkras for help and they agree. Now the Alkaris are at war with the whole galaxy.
- Send some reinforcements to Kronos
2462
Kronos draws the Mining event!!!! I send over pop from Ajax as we will hit pop/fact break-even somewhat sooner than expected ...
2464
- Warp dis. hits, range9 next, queue: impulse drives (sigh)
- stingers hit, hard beam next, queue: omega-v, fusion rifle, megabolts
- radcol at 10%
- stop spying at Sakkra
2467
- Xengara destroyed (again), with Sakkra, Human and Bulrathi fleets incoming.
- radcol at 21%
2448
Kronos builds its first base!
2449
Sakkras destroy Sol, contact with Humans lost
2450
radcol at 32%
Kronos is maxed out and fortified with 9 bases. A placeholdership "2b radcol" is standing by at Paranar which should be enough to finish two ships in one turn. I've left some def spending on in most colonies.
Roster:
Zed <-- UP NOW
Dathon <-- On Deck
StuporMan
ignatius <-- Just played
All hail to the Mighty Zed!
ignatius
Wow, mining event is a real boon. Since we are about to have 2 rich colonies, we might can consider trying to take a world or three before we can get impulse drives. We already have great weapons, shields, armor, and comps and IS means we can move at speed 2 instead of 1 in battle. We also have auto repair and repulsors which can make our larges durable enough to take down fleets or deliver bombs.
The only bad side is that our fleets will crawl across the galaxy. This won't be as awful as it could be since nobody has better engines at this point.
I normally would wait for better engines, but normally we can choose our tech order. In any normal game we would have had Impulse for a long time and would already be building our death fleet. I am quite sure we are going to win this game, the question is can we improve our time by starting to conquer now or wait for engines. I have a feeling a conquering a few worlds would increase our victory time greatly, but others may disagree.
Stup
The only bad side is that our fleets will crawl across the galaxy. This won't be as awful as it could be since nobody has better engines at this point.
I normally would wait for better engines, but normally we can choose our tech order. In any normal game we would have had Impulse for a long time and would already be building our death fleet. I am quite sure we are going to win this game, the question is can we improve our time by starting to conquer now or wait for engines. I have a feeling a conquering a few worlds would increase our victory time greatly, but others may disagree.
Stup
I don't think it would be worth it to try for a genuine full-scale invasion just now. To build a retro fleet which is competitive with what our opponents currently have in the field (and for it to reach the battlezone) will take quite some time and ressources, which IMO are better spent to stand up our two radiated fast and speed up reasearch at our artifact world. I would guess that any time we might save upfront, we will lose later by delaying Impulse even further and having the construction of our impulse fleet slowed down by the upkeep for the soon to be obsolete retro fleet.
Maybe we should consider making a play for Xengara and Sol instead, the spuds in the east, where we might be able to sucessfully snap in a colship with moderate escort (and heavy diplo use) at some point as you and dathon managed to pull off with Kronos. Of course, the chances for such a stunt to succeed a second time are slim, OTOH such an operation would be cheap and can be attempted with our existing fleet over Kronos which is no longer needed, now that the planet is fortified (plus a colship and maybe a single bomber to wipe out baby colonies). Its job would mainly be to shoot down colships and retreat & return, letting the AIs do the real fighting until an opportunity opens and then to "defend" the new colony with alliances and threats.
Another reasonably cheap option would be a limited punitive operation against Altair as we are already at war with the birds. They have no PS, no ECM and only Hyper-X ATM and are at war with anyone else. Our existing MBs should be effective against their bases - add a handfull of bombers (preferably using two different slots for decoy effect) and we have at least a shot at getting the planet, and if not, it will still boost our relations with anyone else.
As both tactics would probably involve repeated hit&retreats with MBs, there are also ethical issues to consider. And I still think that, all in all, no matter what we end up doing, it won't make more than a couple of years difference for a conquest victory, so the only real benefit would be to make the game more interesting.
ignatius
Maybe we should consider making a play for Xengara and Sol instead, the spuds in the east, where we might be able to sucessfully snap in a colship with moderate escort (and heavy diplo use) at some point as you and dathon managed to pull off with Kronos. Of course, the chances for such a stunt to succeed a second time are slim, OTOH such an operation would be cheap and can be attempted with our existing fleet over Kronos which is no longer needed, now that the planet is fortified (plus a colship and maybe a single bomber to wipe out baby colonies). Its job would mainly be to shoot down colships and retreat & return, letting the AIs do the real fighting until an opportunity opens and then to "defend" the new colony with alliances and threats.
Another reasonably cheap option would be a limited punitive operation against Altair as we are already at war with the birds. They have no PS, no ECM and only Hyper-X ATM and are at war with anyone else. Our existing MBs should be effective against their bases - add a handfull of bombers (preferably using two different slots for decoy effect) and we have at least a shot at getting the planet, and if not, it will still boost our relations with anyone else.
As both tactics would probably involve repeated hit&retreats with MBs, there are also ethical issues to consider. And I still think that, all in all, no matter what we end up doing, it won't make more than a couple of years difference for a conquest victory, so the only real benefit would be to make the game more interesting.
ignatius
Interesting times...
Tech: We got RC IV (-> BC V), IIT 5 (-> Exoskeleton), Personal Absorption (-> Class X Planetary Shield), Radiated Bases (-> Terra +40), Range 9 (-> Impulse) on my turn. Hard Beam is in %ages, Omega V bombs will be next. I bumped up research on propulsion since that is our current bottleneck, taking RP from everything but Planetology; we are currently burning full steam ahead for Impulse Engines.
Colonization: Colonized Tyr and Klystron, both pumped with reserves and fed pop from Paranar. Tyr is fully terraformed and rapidly working on factories. Klystron has now got a few factories built and should switch to terraforming soon or immediately in order to get more pop pushed from Paranar. All other planets have re-maxed factories after RC IV came in.
Military: I opted not to build a warfleet, instead building a few spare colships for poaching. Xengara is currently in Sakkra hands and looks like it will stay that way for a bit as no strong fleets are incoming there at the moment. We have poached Sol but it is not secure. The lizards, rocks, and bears all have significant fleets with huge ships incoming. We would have to warn those fleets off with diplomacy if we hope to keep the world... not sure whether that is considered an acceptable move at this point. I leave it to the next ruler to decide how much pop to send from Ajax and Kronos, as well as how much cash to inject Sol with.
There is another spud world to the southeast of Sol, which I believe used to be a Silicoid planet. Altair also looks like it might be vulnerable to a sufficiently powerful AI fleet, should one head there.
Roster:
Zed <-- Just played
Dathon <-- UP NOW
StuporMan <-- On Deck
ignatius
Tech: We got RC IV (-> BC V), IIT 5 (-> Exoskeleton), Personal Absorption (-> Class X Planetary Shield), Radiated Bases (-> Terra +40), Range 9 (-> Impulse) on my turn. Hard Beam is in %ages, Omega V bombs will be next. I bumped up research on propulsion since that is our current bottleneck, taking RP from everything but Planetology; we are currently burning full steam ahead for Impulse Engines.
Colonization: Colonized Tyr and Klystron, both pumped with reserves and fed pop from Paranar. Tyr is fully terraformed and rapidly working on factories. Klystron has now got a few factories built and should switch to terraforming soon or immediately in order to get more pop pushed from Paranar. All other planets have re-maxed factories after RC IV came in.
Military: I opted not to build a warfleet, instead building a few spare colships for poaching. Xengara is currently in Sakkra hands and looks like it will stay that way for a bit as no strong fleets are incoming there at the moment. We have poached Sol but it is not secure. The lizards, rocks, and bears all have significant fleets with huge ships incoming. We would have to warn those fleets off with diplomacy if we hope to keep the world... not sure whether that is considered an acceptable move at this point. I leave it to the next ruler to decide how much pop to send from Ajax and Kronos, as well as how much cash to inject Sol with.
There is another spud world to the southeast of Sol, which I believe used to be a Silicoid planet. Altair also looks like it might be vulnerable to a sufficiently powerful AI fleet, should one head there.
Roster:
Zed <-- Just played
Dathon <-- UP NOW
StuporMan <-- On Deck
ignatius
Seems you forgot our variant here ... I almost fell for this too, the other time, when switching over from OSG16.
How shall we proceed now? I would suggest to redo the turnset from the moment you switched research, if you happen to have save at hand - or from the beginning otherwise. It's not that there turned up much spoiler info at this stage of the game.
ignatius
Ok, I redid my turnset.
I didn't get Range 9 on my turn but it is at 4%. Hard Beam is at 17%. Otherwise everything is as it was before.
In the poaching department, things worked out even better for us this time. I have gotten Sol, and it looks like we ought to be able to hold it without diplo tricks unless someone sends a new fleet our way; our existing colship escort at Sol should be able to fend off all currently inbound attackers. I would recommend sending a sizeable amount of pop from Ajax and Kronos to Sol, but I have NOT yet done that as I wanted to leave exactly how much in the next player's hands. I have also not sent any funds from our reserves to Sol.
Additionally, Xengara looks more poachable this time around. The Sakkra still established a colony on Xengara but this time the bears sent their huge to Xengara rather than to Sol, and they should wipe out the colony next turn. There's also a stack of bear larges inbound, due in 2 turns. Once they leave, we might be able to sneak in our own colony ship.
I'm not sure about Rotan, which got spudded last time. This time the Sakkra have taken it from the Silicoids but I'm not sure for how long they will be able to hold it. However, Berel to the east of Rotan has recently been glassed and might be poachable. Also, Altair has a substantial fleet of Sakkra mediums inbound and may get glassed shortly -- keep an eye out for this. We currently have a couple spare MB1.1 ships kicking around at Kronos, which you might want to send east to buttress our poaching forces in the area. It's a fair bet that our navy is too obsolete to stand up to anything more than a tiny force, however.
I didn't get Range 9 on my turn but it is at 4%. Hard Beam is at 17%. Otherwise everything is as it was before.
In the poaching department, things worked out even better for us this time. I have gotten Sol, and it looks like we ought to be able to hold it without diplo tricks unless someone sends a new fleet our way; our existing colship escort at Sol should be able to fend off all currently inbound attackers. I would recommend sending a sizeable amount of pop from Ajax and Kronos to Sol, but I have NOT yet done that as I wanted to leave exactly how much in the next player's hands. I have also not sent any funds from our reserves to Sol.
Additionally, Xengara looks more poachable this time around. The Sakkra still established a colony on Xengara but this time the bears sent their huge to Xengara rather than to Sol, and they should wipe out the colony next turn. There's also a stack of bear larges inbound, due in 2 turns. Once they leave, we might be able to sneak in our own colony ship.
I'm not sure about Rotan, which got spudded last time. This time the Sakkra have taken it from the Silicoids but I'm not sure for how long they will be able to hold it. However, Berel to the east of Rotan has recently been glassed and might be poachable. Also, Altair has a substantial fleet of Sakkra mediums inbound and may get glassed shortly -- keep an eye out for this. We currently have a couple spare MB1.1 ships kicking around at Kronos, which you might want to send east to buttress our poaching forces in the area. It's a fair bet that our navy is too obsolete to stand up to anything more than a tiny force, however.
