OSG-25 with kyrub's patch (1.40m)

[alzgamer]

Lurker: Could you post powerbars screenshot, please. And Darlok techs.

 

[Catwalk]

Thanks for the request alzgamer, I'll make sure to include them! I weren't able to finish my turns tonight, so I'll post a few turns worth of playing for now without pictures.

Spoiler :

2390

- Design two impressive new warships: The Pea Shooter and the LotsOfSpace. One is designed for shooting peas, the other is designed to use lots of space. Thought about putting a battle scanner on a medium design instead, but didn't think it'd be worth the extra cost.
- Phyco and Moro will produce one Pea Shooter each, Homeworld and Zoctan will produce LotsOfSpaces and Jinga will spend a bunch of turns finishing up on factories.
- Research set to 61 points, should be plenty to later let us switch to full on research while getting max interests on all projects.
- Phyco set to produce a missile base, better to be safe than sorry.
- Funding a spy against Meklar and Klackons, stopping funding on Sakkra. All set to espionage, except our Psilon spy.
- Sending one pellet against Centauri.
- Psilons refuse to sign an alliance with us. They offer us Range 6 for Warp 3. While this is not a very good deal, Range 6 is useful to us and I don't mind the psilons fighting their enemies more efficiently. They then trade us Hand Lasers for Range 5 and BC 2 for RIW80 before getting tired of talking.

IT
- Silly bugs spent a lot of cash doing miniscule damage rather than stealing valuable tech from us.
- Galactic census is in, nothing surprising here.
- No stabilizer
- Our new Meklar spy seems to be dead already, along with our Psilon spy. The Psilons were kind enough to inform us that one of our diplomats inadvertently fell and broke his neck while trying to get a candy bar from dispenser. These things happen.
- Centauri seems to be unguarded, and a meager 4 transports are en route.

2391
- Darloks trade me IIT9 for Hyper-V rockets. Shouldn't harm us much, and every little bit of production helps us.
- Pea Shooters sent to Drakka and Gienah.

IT
- Klackons attack! They've brought 5 medium bombers and 2 colony ships to the battle vs 28 fighters and a missile base. I'm sad to report that we're having a very hard time damaging their medium bombers. The bombers take out our lone missile base easily, the colony ships then stick around to be riddled with bullets by our fighters and retreat after losing one. 2 factories destroyed, along with the missile base.
- Centauri explored, Ocean 63. 32 pop, 10 factories.
- 69 sakkra fighters en route to Moro. I can't imagine they'll pose any threat with BC 1 equipped.
- Still no stabilizer...
- Both of our new spies got nuked on the first turn again. Klackons acquired BC 4 and Warp Dissipator since last we checked, those techs can harm us if put to good use. Meklar got their hands on BC 5 and Planetary Shield 5.
- Ryoun has managed to put a missile base, repelling the Meklar cruiser in orbit.


2392
- I decide against invading Centauri for now, we desperately need a modernized fleet before scaling up our war efforts.
- I pre-fund a missile base at Moro, just in case I get cold feet.
- I keep spying, undeterred by the massive espionage blunders I'm met with. We may have to give up spying on the cyborgs, BC 5 means their Computer level is way higher than ours. I add a Darlok spy to our network, just for fun. They might have weak Computer tech, and I want to see what they're packing.

IT
- Klackons attack Moro again, this time with 11 bombers and a colony ship. I take out the colony ship while the bombers take out 6 factories and run off. Klackons also attack Phyco with a single bomber, disposed off easily.
- Espionage breakthrough against the Meklar! Sadly, my two top picks (I made a cheat sheet ahead of time!) Computers and Planetology are both unavailable. Construction gives us Duralloy Armour, Force Field gives us Deflector 3 or Planetary Shield 5 (already being researched), and Weapons gives us Ion Cannon. I don't think either of these is very useful, so I decide to go for ship miniaturization with Weapons [EDIT: Looks like I ended up deciding on Construction instead and got Duralloy]
- Our spies keep dying like frontline soldiers, but encouraged by our recent success I keep funding more.
- I accidentally build another 11 Pea Shooters.
- No Stabilizers...
- Surprisingly, Darloks have absolute crap for Computers. I'm going to fund more spying on them for sure, Deflector 5 or RIW60 would be nice to have.

 

[Catwalk]

Delayed again I'll play tomorrow, promise!

 

[ToddMarshall]

Well, I should be able to play Tuesday night, so I suppose I no longer need a skip.

 

[Catwalk]

Trying to decide between these three designs for our newly invented stabilizers:

Leaning towards the destroyer. It'll be defense 9 with the alkari bonus, still plenty to dodge almost anything. Only way to put battle computers on a fighter is to use nuclear engines, and we need the speed. Anyone want to volunteer a suggestion?

 

[alzgamer]

Lurker Is medium with Ion Cannons instead of NPG no good?

 

[Catwalk]

I messed up in the report above, I decided on Construction instead of Weapons. So Ion Cannon is not an option. I'm a strong fan of NPG though, and I think Ion Cannon takes a fair bit more space. But good thinking, I didn't even consider that.

There's also the option of medium with nuclear engines, 5 guns for 101 credits vs 4 guns for 108 credits.

 

[Zed-F]

Speed > guns.

 

[ToddMarshall]

I haven't had time to keep up with what our opponents have for ships, but I think I'd go with the medium shown, but definitely NOT with the 5 gun medium with warp 2.

6.75 NPG on the fighters for the same cost as 4 on the Destroyer, but 2 levels higher Battle Computer, and a little more durability (about 25% more HP)... Really, I don't know. This one really depends on how easy to hit their ships are and what they are going to be shooting us with, but one of the first two listed choices for sure.

 

[Catwalk]

Yeah, I'll go with the medium. We definitely need better targetting, our fighters are missing way too much.

 

[TheArchduke]

At this cpu tech level, I also fear without BC II we will not hit much.

Go with the medium design. Speed is especially important for the strategic map.

 

[Catwalk]

Many apologies, but I'll have to skip and possibly sit out. Things are rough at home at the moment, and I'm having a hard time focusing on gaming. Whoever is next, please continue from the last position and disregard my report above.

 

[ToddMarshall]

Good thing I hadn't read it then...

OK, how about we do this. I'm up and will play tomorrow. Assuming there is something to shoot at by then, Zed can follow me. Sound good?

 

[RefSteel]

Good thing I hadn't read it then...

OK, how about we do this. I'm up and will play tomorrow. Assuming there is something to shoot at by then, Zed can follow me. Sound good?

Sounds like a plan to me!

Catwalk, I hope things improve in Real Life soon, whether or not it results in more time for gaming!

 

[ToddMarshall]

OK, obviously I didn't get it done last night, I'll get it done either after work today or tomorrow at the latest. Sorry for the delay.

 

[alzgamer]

Lurker

Go-Go-Go, Birdies

 

[ToddMarshall]

Lurker

Go-Go-Go, Birdies

Awesome, I see we have discovered hand lasers. Those should come in handy!

 

[ToddMarshall]

Progress has been made, but the turn is not finished. Sorry, trying to juggle a couple of beta tests this weekend...

 

[ToddMarshall]

I'm having issues at work (nothing to worry about) that are keeping me at the store extra hours the next couple of days and they are going to prevent me from getting a report posted till sometime thursday night. I appologize for the inconvenience.

EDIT: Will try to have the game up later. Sorry, life's suddenly gotten very busy.

EDIT: I'm nearly done with the turn, but will be out of town for 2 days shortly. Sorry this took so long, but it's been a VERY stressful turn trying to hang on to all our planets... I will have the report posted, but it will be Monday. You can, 100% count on it being posted Monday night, baring death, dismemberment, or an internet outage.

EDIT: Report's actually first draft written now. I just need to upload the 30-40 pictures and clean up the report, both of which are on the desktop at home. I hope it'll come close to being worth the wait. It was a fun, if sometimes stressful and frustrating set of turns.

 

[ToddMarshall]

Preturn Analysis - We're at war with everyone except the Psilons and Darloks. I'd like to stay friendly with the Darloks if possible, as we have enough on our hands right now. Therefore, I dial up the Darloks and do this:

While I'm doing diplomacy with the Darloks, I also make this deal:

More miniaturization and for Hyver-V(apoware) Rockets, why not?

OK, now, time to see what I can get done with the Psilons...

That should boost our spying!

Next up

Err, I mean...

Could be useful, and for Range 5, it's a steal.

And finally...

You can never have too many Battle Computer choices.

Hmm, that last picture is more visually pleasing, maybe I'll try to remember to screen them that way in the future... OK, Moving on...

I'm pretty sure Catwalk was planning to go on the offensive vs someone (Klackons?) during this turn set, but, seriously, warp 3 nuclear bombers is not my idea of a good investment, even if they only have planetary shielding of 3... for the moment. Yeah, pellet guns are effective vs that, but imo, that's just rather inefficient. I'd rather invest in bases at our two forward planets for the moment and wait for a better opportunity. After all, the Klackon's rarely build fleets capable of wiping the player out. Time is on our side. I think we're best off to wait for merculite missiles and hope they don't develop planetary shields in the meantime (if they do, the nuke bombers are pretty much useless anyhow). At least merc boats will be useful vs ships too. OK. on to the game.

2390: I turn spying up to 8% of budget. We're now ahead of the Sakkras and Klackons in computers, and not that far behind the Meklars, so I spy on them all equally. I leave 1 click on the Darloks and Psilons to hide spy.

Planetarily, I leave the 3 back line planets on research or factories, and the front line ones are finishing factories and building bases. OK, That took a while, but now, it's time to clock next turn!

IT - Espionage breakthrough vs the Sakkra! I'd written Construction/Planetology/Weapon as my priorities from them, so I took Construction, knowing I'd get this:

More good news!

Obviously, I select Warp 4 next, except, wait... Waddya mean there's no warp 4 in my tree... that's gotta be a mistake. I try blinking... It doesn't help. Warp 4 obstinately persists in not showing up on my list of research choices...

I debate a while between range 8 (more range than we'll ever need) and warp dissipators, which might be useful in trade. The downside is, especially for us birdies, warp dissipators are not fun to fly against... In the end, I went for the dissipators. We'll have plenty of chances to get more range later (I think...)

2391: I check the Psilons, but they already have Stabilizer, and the Darloks... we have no technology which interests them, so they either have it, or their tech level is just generally very bad...

I design a new ship, but do not build it yet. This is what I came up with, based off our discussion up thread. I sacrificed 1 maneuver for a level of Battle Computer. It's a good deal I think.

The Klackons unfortunately have BCIV now, which will make stealing harder.

Again, I don't make any fleet yet. Lets see what we're up against first!

IT: Combat!

We manage to kill 3 of their bombers, and lose one arrow in return, then, this happens:

Joy. Not that I really fear the Darloks, it's just we have enough on our hands as it is.

2392: I take a click out of spying on the Meklars, who now have BCV and put another click into the Darloks, so we can get a spy on them quicker. I briefly toy with making some ships now, given how useless our fighters are at anything besides being decoys, but decide against it, because their bombers are almost equally useless at the moment. I go with the more bases = good plan.

IT - Another round of battle at Morrow. See the above picture? It looks just like that except our side has 1 more base and 1 less arrow, their side has 1 colony ship, not 2, and 11 bombers, not 5... We lose 2 bases, they lose 4 bombers. Not a really good trade for us...

Aaaaand, more battle

Easy pickings.

2393: The Sakkra have a large fleet headed in... I hope they don't have merculite missiles in that fleet, otherwise we might lose the planet... I decide to cave in and make some frigates from the homeworld for reloc there now...

Time to check in on the Psilons...

Oh, those interest me VERY VERY much, what do you want for those?

Couldn't refuse that. Now we can actually damage those pesky shield 4 bombers!

IT - Combat?! WTH, I've been watching the whole time and I NEVER saw these ships coming... I loaded up the save from the previous turn later, and... There are 2 Sakkra stacks incoming, and this stack is NEITHER of them... I went back a turn further... Nope, no sign of this stack existing. I have NO idea what was cloaking these ships, but oh well...

End result: They have one survivor Flee. We have 8 Arrows and both bases survive.

Meklar (Darlok?) spies do this:

And finally, the GNN Guy shows up with some actual good news:

Continued next post...