OSG22 - Exemplary cats

[AlanSHB]

It's too late now, but this is exactly the circumstance I mentioned earlier where I would have prosecuted a war of population aggression against the rocks. The goal being to stunt their population growth curve so severely that they were no longer a player.

Trading 20 cats (and regrwoing them if need be on a poor world) for 20 rocks is a gigantic advantage in the early game when you have the opportunity.

Should be interesting with the silicoid establishing a base on the interior though, and that's almost worth letting them do it. Good luck to the mighty cats, you're going to need to scamper a bit.

 

[dathon78]

Guys, I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to bow out of this one. I brought some darn bug back with me from Ohio this weekend, and it's taken hold. I don't want to make some weedy decision because of a fuzzy brain, and once I'm better I'll be playing catch-up at work.

The only piece of advice I would give is not to panic. Yes the rocks are pretty cozy, but we have more planets, better planets, and a faster growth curve. So get some defenses up for insurance, and look for a good time to strike, as opposed to striking too early before we have the means to back it up. Just don't wait too long either I guess what I'm trying to say is don't let the rock's proximity push you into attacking prematurely.

Best of luck!

dathon

 

[RefSteel]

Guys, I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to bow out of this one. I brought some darn bug back with me from Ohio this weekend, and it's taken hold.

First, to dathon: Here's hoping you feel better soon!

Second, to the team at large: I should be able to play the turns and post a report later today.

And third, to dathon again: Did you mean that you need another skip, or that you need to drop the SG entirely?

 

[sargon0]

I think we have to assume Dathon will not be available for this SG now. Hopefully he will recover soon and any commentary later would be welcome but joining in late would be disjointed even if possible.

As the remaining team is somewhat inexperienced in moo SG and unfamiliar with each other's style of play, I would encourage discussion and good reporting, without delaying turns too much, to try to ensure we are working to the same goals. I would echo Dathon's last commentary about the land we possess and the timing of any action.

Let's hear it for the rookies!

 

[RefSteel]

Rookie discussion is GO!!!

Okay, I agree: No war until we're ready. That rule needs a corollary though: I haven't started the turnset yet, and will need a little more intel to be sure, but I believe I can keep the Silis from colonizing "our" UR if they make a play for it. If so though, they would lose at least one ship in battle, and the 'Coids are Xenophobes, which doubles the relations cost and halves the rate of recovery. My feeling is that we can better afford the diplo hit than the "loss" of that planet, but considering the current diplomatic situation in the galaxy, I want to make sure you guys agree.

 

[sargon0]

I think we should defend "our" UR planet to stop or at least delay the Silicoids colonizing it providing we do not need a heavy military build up with resultant maintenance to achieve it. I think the key is when will we be able to colonize it? IT+20 should come in during your turnset and show us our options. A good deposit on Inferno or Toxic if available would give us a key short term goal, whether colonizing or invading. The other consideration I had was the next vote. If we alienate the Silicoids too soon before we have grown sufficiently we may be at risk of a vote loss but it will be sometime before they could snatch the UR and we could reclaim after the vote before it is too developed.

We still do not have a decent gun, do not know about planetary shields and will be a while before we have decent engines so play friendly for now. Keep an eye out for the birds and their allies though.

 

[dathon78]

I think we have to assume Dathon will not be available for this SG now .... joining in late would be disjointed even if possible.

Yes, I am completely out of this SG, for exactly this reason. Back to bed

dathon

 

[RefSteel]

Sorry to lose you for this one, dathon. Here's hoping the bug is banished soon. We'll kill some birdies for you. (When we're in position to do it successfully!)

Mrowr? My motherr named me afterr the Second Yalara: "The Grreat Expanderr," she said! "Trripled the numberr of Mrrshan worrlds!" she said. My motherr can be a little dense, I'm afrraid. Mrrref the First is now best known for the "Great Mistake," expanding to the wrrong worrlds altogether, orrdering colony ships for Phyco and Mu Delphi when we should have been learrning how to rreach the lynchpin worrld of Kailis! And yet even with my name of ill omen, I have arrisen to be Yalara myself: Mrrref the Second, Fifth Yalara of Fierias! How can I but be humbled by this rresponsibility, by this obligation? By over one hundred million Silicoids within four parsecs of our worlds!!! I must laborr to rrestore the name of Mrrref to grreatness ... because you just know some otherr motherr, somewhere, is going to give anotherr poorr child my name!

Spoiler tags just to cut down on the length again:

Spoiler :

2380: My firrst purrpose is to aid Iranha and especially Rhilus in theirr development. We need our best worrlds rready to contrribute to the empire, and Rhilus is ourr nearrest worrld to the spiteful birrds. Sadly, Paranar is a little planet in a nebula, so we may neverr be able to defend it adequately. May it be long ere the Alkari learrn to extend theirr rrange that farr! Also, of courrse, we continue pourring much of ourr rresearch budget into the new FPL facility at Nep-Tech (that's the Fusion Prropulsion Laborratory at the Neptunus Institute of Technology, obviously). Once we've gotten them starrted there, the long rresearch worrk ahead should go more smoothly and inexpensively, while we concentrrate on more immediate rresearch concerrns - especially in the field my namesake too-much neglected: Planetology.

2381: Ourr brrilliant rresearch teams have developed Hyperr-X Rrockets! Last yearr, they claimed there was only a 1 perrcent chance that they could succeed so soon! If only they'd been this efficient when studying Barrren technology forrty yearrs ago! Since ourr weapons technicians so enjoy rrocket rresearch, I ask them to worrk on the Scatter Pack V varriety. The only otherr options they could come up with were Merrculite Missiles or returrning to the Fusion Bomb prroject they prroposed earlier. I'm pleased with the Scaterr plan though: They should be verry useful against the Alkarri!

2382: Ourr dirrector of securrity informed me that an unknown spy destrroyed thrree of Paladia's factorries! I wonderr why he kept winking and mouthing something like "isda aka-i."
Now, this is interresting. If my scannerrs are corrrect, the Darrloks will be arrriving at Tau Cygni shortly. Perrrhaps the Silicoids will have betterr things to do than trry for Willow afterr all!

2383: Ourr rresearcherrs are the best!!! Terrraforming came in on the second possible yearr!!! And there's betterr news still: They're rready to rresearch Contrrolled Inferrno Envirronment!!! They also suggested Toxic landings as an option, but we all knew Inferrno was what we wanted! Purrrrrr!
Ourr scouts also managed to get a good scan of Nyarl, the Minimal 40 the Meklarr and Darrloks have been trrading back and forrth. It currrently holds 32 million Meklarr and their 132 factorries. And forr some rreason, my militarry advisors are thrrowing some kind of parrty.

Aha! So that's why: The Silicoids' giant Krraken is leaving! At a guess, it's bound for the blue starr in the middle of Meklarr space, now that the rrocks and machines are allied. I don't see any colony ships with it orr headed in that dirrection eitherr ... and if the alliance is brroken before the Krraken gets there.... Purrrrrrrrr.
Oh, and the Darrloks have taken the orrbit of Tau Cygni afterr all. This is going to be interresting to watch....

2384: The Darrloks seem to be sending a small fleet to Neptunus - thrree Venom destrroyers and thrree Colony Ships. We have a base up, but I don't like this. I have orrdered anotherr, just to be sure. The shifterrs have alrready sent 37 transports to the rrocks' Tau Cygni as well. I think I'd rrather see the Silicoids win this fight ... with heavy losses, of course ... but what will be will be.

2385: The Alkarri no longerr have any alliances. The Meklarr and Darrloks were rreluctant to end theirr birrdie alliances when I asked, but they rreconsidered and brroke them on theirr own overr the past few yearrs. We are building a pawfull of Laser 2.0 fighterrs at Neptunus in case the Darrloks are using bombs orr missiles orr something, while making sure ourr second base is finished in time. I also believe the huge Silicoid Krraken is headed for the rradiated ultrra-rrich worrld of Misha between Meklon, Nazin, and Ursa. Since we can't fight that ship, especially not so farr away, I don't see any rreason that should change ourr strrategy.

2386: Grrrrrrowl. I hate not having Imprroved Scannerrs. I think the Darrloks are about to arrrive at Neptunus, but they might be heading for Paranar, which would be disastrrous. More Laser 2.0s are being assembled, just in case.

2387: I was rright afterr all! Those trreacherous Shifterrs arrrived at Neptunus! Theirr Venom destrroyers have 2-rracks of nukes, and theirr colony ships carrry heavy laserrs.

Ourr helpless Scout 1s immediately rretreated, but the Laser 2.0s moved in to engage the enemy! Our cunning pilots, hunting cats all, nimbly evaded the enemy's missiles, and ourr bases shrreded one of their colony ships! Our fighters were about to close and finish the job on the otherrs when the cowarrdly Darrloks turrned tail and beat a hasty rretreat! Victorry is ours!!! Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrowr!!!
Our victorrious Laser 2.0s will now trravel to Willow, to furrther discourrage Silicoid incurrsion on our ultrra-rrich planet! It's also well-located to dispatch them to otherr worrlds ... such as back to Neptunus, if need be.
Hrrm ... but the Darrloks didn't lose all their battles this year. Tau Cygni now belongs to them, with 17 survivors. Poorr Silis.

2388: I have noticed that Nyarl has a missile base in place, so the Meklarr might manage to hold onto the planet for a while. QX-537 is no longerr allied with ourr enemies eitherr, so I open up a trrade agrrement.

Unforrtunately, he won't considerr a smallerr agrreement than 95 BC. My commerrce advisorr prroposes incrreasing ourr Darrlok trrade agrreement as well, but as they demonstrrated at Neptunus, they are a trreacherous people, and might ally with the Alkarri and declare warr on us almost without warrning. My commerrce advisorr's advice was therefore not taken, and he has been rreassigned to pilot the Scout 1 starrship overr Misha, also known as Deep Space Thirrteen.

2389: A quiet yearr, perrhaps prresaging grreat events to come: The calm before the storrm! Yet perrhaps it only means my time is waning. I have rruled nine yearrs, and I hope rruled well. I must seek another who shall rrule afterr me....

2390: Though ourr scientists have claimed there was a chance of their doing so for the past couple of yearrs, no new techs came in. I guess they can't worrk mirracles all the time! So ends my rreign in peace. Emperror d0om the Second shall rreplace me, and be crowned Sixth Yalara of Fieras this verry yearr. May forrtune and victorry ensue!

So ends the Chronicle of Mrrref II.

Some final notes:
-We've got a small but not-inconsequential amount in the treasury. I've been setting Fierias to feed this every turn, and mostly dumping it into Rhilus to get the place standing up ASAP, but you can do with it what you wish. I reset Fierias to research before handing the game over, so you can decide if and where you want to continue reserve-feeding yourself.
-ECM2 and IIT8 are both in the percentages. We have a nice nest egg in all the other fields, and we are investing heavily in (Yay!) Controlled Inferno.
-All of our planets are fully terraformed to +20. Neptunus, Iranha, Fieras, Paladia, Phyco, and Mu Delphi are maxed out completely. Of these, only Mu Delphi lacks a missile base (Neptunus has two) and all the bases are upgraded with our Hyper X missiles.

The map:

Orion and the homeworlds are marked as before. I doubled the size of our war fleet (not saying much) with Warp 2 popguns, and they're now sitting on Willow (our UR!) with the others. If you need them for a quick-response force, remember to send the Laser 2.0s separately from our old Wolverines, which would slow the whole fleet down to Warp 1. The Huge Silicoid Kraken was last seen moving in the general direction of Misha ("the other Ultra Rich"), taking advantage of a Meklar alliance. If we can get the Machines to break this alliance shortly before the ship arrives, it could result in a crash landing. Wouldn't it be just terrible if that happened? (I wouldn't worry about it too much however, nor give anything away for it. That Huge ship will be obsolete by the time we're ready to go to war, and maybe even by the time it can get back to Mrrshan space.) Finally, please be aware that, based on their movement since last turn, None of the ships presently visible in transit on the map or command screen are en route to any of our worlds.

I think that's all, so it's time for the Revenge of Rookie Discussion! (And I'm off to get all my old images rehosted). Here's the save:

 

[sargon0]

Good turns RefSteel (and write-up naturally) with lots of good news . Good to see Inferno available and pushing it along nicely; Willow will rightfully be ours!

Scatter-pack V's will be nice for swatting small birds over our planets but hopefully we will soon find a gun upgrade to be able to shoot them down anywhere we see them, hunting season allowing. Computers and construction can start to catch up now and they are about to pop; force fields needs to advance and is progressing nicely. Diplomatically things are changing and hopefully for the better, although we now have 2 upstarts on our doorsteps. Let them squabble until we are ready.

Developing very nicely.

 

[RefSteel]

1. Thanks, Sargon!

2. Here's my contribution to Rookie Strategic Discussion(TM), at extreme length, in case I haven't written enough on this turn set already:

Though things are starting to look up, we're far from safe, and the Alkari really worry me. If you can hold Rhilus and Neptunus and bring in Inferno tech without giving up Willow, losing the vote, or abandoning research in the other fields, I'll consider it a job well done, regardless of everything else. Hopefully, we can max some of our developing worlds and get some more techs to (or close to) completion, but if the Alkari send their Death Fleet, or if alliances start breeding like rabbits, anything beyond holding the line and surviving is gravy. You might do some minimal hide spying on the Alkari again just to see what they're up to, but only because it might help with overall defensive strategy.

First and Foremost: Watch the diplomatic situation carefully! There's a vote coming up at the end of your turn set, and we will be nominated, and we won't have a veto, barring something incredible. If an A.I. cheese alliance crops up, we need to find a way to end it (while honoring the RBO prohibition on spectator wars). If we could get peace with the Alkari somehow, that would be terrific (but not decisive; once again, watch out for near-election alliance cheese!) ... unfortunately, cats and birds rarely get to make peace.

Second Thing to Watch: Sirian would call our present defenses cardboard cut-outs, and with reason. At least until we can get real defenses into place, you'll need to be aware of enemy fleet buildups nearby, and especially any fleets that appear to be headed for one of our colonies, so as to stand up emergency defenses. Keeping some reserve on hand will help with this too, even if it's spent (e.g. on maxing exposed worlds until the emergency arrives) and fed up again every turn. Our Laser 2.0s will be useful as a rapid response force, but they're too weak and too few to handle much on their own, and still need some warning to arrive in time at their destination.

Also, this has probably been emphasized enough already, but: Don't go on the offensive! We can't afford it, either economically or diplomatically.

Good luck! The hope of the kittens rides with you!

 

[d0om]

Right, looks good! scatter pack 5 should make our nebula worlds pretty safe since anything coming in will take a massive pounding.

I really don't like not having some spying intel on our enemies, and there is always the chance of some free tech! (the way spying works, having 1 spy at all times is much much more cost effective than spying more than that; each spy costs twice the previous spy as well as lowering your chance of success per spy via the "confess" mechanic)

Anyway I will try to play sometime today, if not I'll do it tomorrow.

Glory to the Mrrshan!

(I suspect that getting people to declare war on the alkari then bombing some birds to get relationship boosts might be a good plan before the vote?)

 

[RefSteel]

Quick reply before I go to bed (way later than I should) - timezones, heh.

Heads-up: I believe Rhilus is not in the Nebula, even though it looks that way on the map (as far as I can tell, star color in battle screens is definitive, and they were blue at Rhilus, purple at Paranar). Scatters will help, but first we have to pull in the tech (and build/upgrade bases) of course.

Apologies: I'll remember for the future and try to at least get a spy planted going into your turnsets when one isn't present already.

Very Important Request: Please don't try to bomb the Alkari. Our empire is still struggling, and production spent on attack (as opposed to defense) ships would be better spent just about anywhere else right now. As for the vote, if we can get other races to go to war with the Alkari, we won't need any other diplo benefits. We'll almost certainly be opposing the birds in the elections, and races at war vote against their enemies.

 

[d0om]

When I say "bomb the Alkari" I just mean send some defence ships (possible missile boats) over to kill a few people while they have nothing else to do., not Build a huge ship filled with bombs to obliterate the planet Wars can end unexpectedly though, so some war killing to boost relations permanently can be a good thing.

If you fiddle with the spy settings and upkeep costs you can avoid it costing anything at all really, with the way MoO does rounding. And knowing that your opponent can/can't penetrate your planetary shields, has no missiles better than nuclear etc is very important information to know; striking when you have a shield > missile advantage is much better than waiting for them to get some better missile tech!

 

[sargon0]

The problem with even limited action against the Alkari, whether softening attacks or espionage, is it could convince them and their allies to turn their attention to us and presently the birds have no enemies to impress. Getting intel makes sense though. We will need reserves for Willow when founded.

I would continue building up and catching up in tech but consider our advice then play your game. Good luck.

 

[d0om]

in my experience a damaging raid on an opponent is more likely to get a peace declaration than retaliation, since you have showed your superiority. (and the AIs respect might!)

 

[d0om]

Message begins:

Spoiler :

2390: The empire is mine to command again!

I notice that several planets are building factories, with no-one to man them. I adjust spending to tech and +1pop, as well as sending 1 pop from each of our full colonies to take advantage of the free growth that offers.

Spying on the evil alkari is started.

2391: I increase our trade with the Darlocks to 500BC. Since the Meklar are allied to the Silicoids and the Alkari, getting the Darlocks to be on our side seems like a priority. The Silicoids refused any increase in trade agreement.

Plague hits Keeta(Meklar) That will teach those Meklar for allying with the Alkari.

2392:Spying report in on the Alkari. The bad news is they have BCM 4s and sub-light drives. That means they will compleatly own us in a fair fight since we have BCM 1s. They are at -1/+4 Att/Def compared to us. On the weapons side they only have Hyper-X rockets, so if we can get class 5 planetary shields we should be immune to their attacks. I leave a small ammount spying on them hoping for a lucky infiltration to boost our computer tech level, well worth the 0.8% of spending. Alkari have lost their alliance with the Meklar though

Industrial Tech 8 pops(14%) choice of tech 7 or Waste 60%. I pick waste since we lack any.

2293:Alkari are allied to the Meklar, again. (grr) Place a large investment in Waste 60%.

Alkari call me up, asking for peace which I accept.

2294:I start a minimum trade agreement with the Alkari to try to ferment friendly relations. EMCII at 16% now.

Some Silicoids fleets inbound to Firma(I hope) rather than elsewhere in our domain! 1 Whale, 10 Mako, 2 Colships flying around.

ECMII pops, finally! Choices are ECMIII or BCMIII. BCMIII is the better tech, but it won't open up the next tier for us. Since we are at peace at the moment and have no beam weapons, I choose ECMIII (that will show us if we have Robotic Controls IV or not.) If we don't get lucky and steal a better battle computer from the alkari backtracking for BCMIII at some point will be neccessary.

2295:Invest in EMCIII to give it a good start. A breathless Mrrshan agent runs into the room screaming "The Alkari have neutron blasters!" before fainting.

Advise against any agression with the alkari for the moment, with their shield3 they will only take half damage form scatter packs too. Perhaps some form of scatter pack boats ambushing them in a nebula will work, if it comes to that.

Spies in other empires will soon report giving us a more complete picture of how we stand.

2296:1% on inferno bases!

2297:5% inferno, 3% shields, 5% Scatterpack!

A scientist cat runs into my command center with a singed tail, Inferno base compleate! Choices are Toxic, Bio Toxin Antidote and Radiated tech. I choose radiated since that will give us complete enviromental control.

We are 5th in Technology, Alkari, Meklar, Darlock, Silicoid are ahead of us. Only the Bulrathi have lower tech.

2298:Silicoid tech report comes through, they have Duralloy, Sub-light, stailizer and Warp Dissipator of note.

Warp dissipator is worth remembering if we go against them, missile boat fleets might work best. (Although thats all we can make anyway!)

I order up an inferno base colony from Fierias.

Invest in radiated bases a large deposit, so getting Misha becomes a possibility!

Jackpot! hit an infiltration on all areas with the Alkari. I pick computers hoping for a battle computer (Weapons would have been Hyper-Vs most probably rather than neutron beams) Sadly, its just ECM I. Oh well, still more tech level.

The Meklar dial us up asking for a much larger trade agreement (625) I don't want to offend them so I accept.

2399:Equalise tech spending since everything has a deposit, and is important to us. More transports set off to Darrian from max pop worlds. Probably enough en-route to max it out now.

High Council is convened us and the Silicoids are nominated.

Silicoids: 5 to Silicoids
Alkaris: abstain (5)
Bulrathis: abstain (1)
Darlocks: abstain (5)
Meklar: 4 to Silicoids
Mrrshan: 9 to silicoids

0 Mrrshan, 18 Silicoids (29 total)

(since 2/3 of 29 is 19 its safe to vote for the silicoids giving them 18/29 votes for relationship boost)

Inferno colony ship is produced! (I order it to Willow ETA4 just in case the next player forgets!)

That is the end of my rule, may the Mrrshan propser for ever!

Summary:We finally made peace with the Alkari (they asked US for peace?) and strengthened our trading with the other races (at the Meklar's request)

Inferno tech is now ours and an inferno colony ship has just been built and ordered to settle Willow. Radiated tech is next, and will allow us to get Misha. (or at least to invade misha later )

Our spies managed to steal ECMI from the Alkari, which was less than optimal, but pretty good considering the Alkari have a huge computer tech lead on us.

Our planets are nearly all maxed out, I have been sending a lot of pop from maxed out planets to developing ones (1 pop every time it hits max pop).

The vote passes fine with everyone abstaining other than the Meklar and Silicoids, who vote for the Silicoids. I vote Silicoid too for the relations boost giving them 18/29 votes. (9 were ours)

Now that the Silicoids are our rivals in the vote, and the Alkari are at peace perhaps we should focus on retaking from the Silicoids what is rightfully ours?

(PS spying on the alkari is still on espionage, you might want to change that if we decide not to attack the alkari anytime soon.)

sargon -> up now
RefSteel -> on deck
d0om - >just played

(that right?)

 

[RefSteel]

Great work, d0om! Some quick commentary:

Though I didn't want to make them back on my turnset, our huge new trade agreements make all kinds of sense now that we have peace with the Alkari! I assume Mrrref II's Commerce Advisor has been recalled to the capital from his deep space "assignment" now and replaced with a different pilot. ... Right? ... What do you mean, "Who?"? (Faint long-range transmission from former Commerce Advisor Trradorr: "Get ... me ... off ... this ... rrrrrrock!!!") Oh, well. Not important. ("Aiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!")

High Council is convened us and the Silicoids are nominated.

That'll teach me to try to predict council nominations ten years in advance. "Almost certainly the Alkari" indeed. If this trend continues, I do believe our first target will be the rocks, as you suggested. (When we're ready, but we're much closer now than we were.)

sargon -> up now
RefSteel -> on deck
d0om - >just played

(that right?)

Looks right to me.

Note that the save attached to d0om's post is the correct one, for 2400, even though its title is 2390.

 

[sargon0]

Nice progress Doom. I like the economic, diplomatic & tech improvement during your turns. I do not like the pop movement or the large trade deals. Pop growth is free but the last pop can be slow to grow and you are losing his production and factory production until replaced. Trade is now a whopping 10% of our production – I do not think the relations gain is so big, so certain or so necessary to justify this and recovering this trade deficit is a long way off even if relations do not sour. You would not offend the AI by refusing a trade boost.

I must also apologise. Picking ECM2 over BC3 was a terrible move which will affect us for many years – sorry guys. I was trying to rush towards Robotic Controls IV after missing RCIII but leaving us with only BC1 makes it hard to fight, even for cats. You are right, Doom, we may have to backtrack for BC3 at some stage, slowing computer tech even more.

Obviously I will try to build up Willow quickly and my philiosophy with UR’s is they never operate at less than 100% reserve boost from founding to victory. They build factories, defenses, ships or pump reserve; they never tech. Any spare reserve can go to artifacts planet or any new acquisitions or emergencies, of course. I will try to improve our tech position particularly. Diplomatically I will see how it develops – I do not think us cats can keep this many friends for long and I think our opponent may well change again making it difficult to know who not to annoy.

 

[Sullla]

I must also apologise. Picking ECM2 over BC3 was a terrible move which will affect us for many years – sorry guys. I was trying to rush towards Robotic Controls IV after missing RCIII but leaving us with only BC1 makes it hard to fight, even for cats. You are right, Doom, we may have to backtrack for BC3 at some stage, slowing computer tech even more.

Well, you made my little comment from earlier look intelligent! More seriously, don't beat yourself up over it. That's why we play the game, to learn from the little mistakes and get better. There's nothing wrong with the logic of picking a cheaper, less-desirable tech now to get access to a better tech at the next level sooner. The problem with this specific case is that the Computers tree breaks against you for not snapping up Battle Computer III here. Let me explain...

On the first rung of the tree, you have a choice between ECM I, Deep Space Scanner, and Battle Computer II. (Obviously, some of these options will be missing in most games.) My preferred pick on this rung is Battle Computer II, since then you can move on to Improved Robotics III, in the ideal case. In this particular game, you guys had Deep Scanner as the only initial option. That meant that your ranking for the second rung of the tree should probably look like this:

1) Improved Robotics III
2) Battle Computer III
3) ECM II

The Robotic Controls speak for themselves, I think; Robotics III is one of the biggest early techs in the game. The reason why you want BCIII is because on the third rung of the tree, you're going to want to pick Improved Space Scanner if it's available. Then, on the FOURTH level of the tree, your ideal pick would be Robotics IV, and you're looking at going all the way to BCV before getting an upgrade - ouch! The only scenario in which sargon's logic works out is if Battle Computer IV is present on the third tier, and Improved Space Scanner is NOT present. In every other situation, it's better to take BCIII, even if it's more expensive.

The good news is that you guys are the cats, for whom low Computer levels isn't a big deal. Even with no upgrades, your missile bases have attack level 6! Not bad. So hang in there, keep the strategy discussions going, and you'll do fine.

 

[sargon0]

Thanks for the encouragement Sullla, I will certainly look to make the most of the position we are in and learn lessons from the choices which this game presents you with.

Talking of choices, your computer tech preferences reminded me of an older post I read some time back regarding other renowned players preferences. The computer tech preferences for us learners are now:

Sirian (large map): ECM1 -> BC3 -> ISS
Zed (small map): DSS -> RC3 -> BC4
Sullla (medium?): BC2 -> RC3 -> ISS

So which first computer tech do you pick? Well check for your favourite player (and maybe map size). Of course Sirian was emphasizing that when developing a large number of colonies you may prefer delaying RC3 with more expensive factories (except Meklar) whereas Zed was emphasizing rapid growth with few colonies. Not to show any preference but in general I like Sullla’s computer path. However I think the main lesson is that you need to have a plan for future options and how it will affect your game and adapt to your individual circumstances - a constant challenge and great fun.