Warning: insanely long report. I kept the window open while I played. And these were some crucial turns, so I made sure every decision would be good enough for my teammates. Patroclus gave me an opening and I barged right through. All the details are here to play along. [end foreword]
Ok, first I check out the R screen and note what the enemies have researched. Sil: Shield=9, Missile=10, ground +15, BC4, RC4, ASS, EC6, PSV, RB, DS, +30, R7, MD, M10. Psi: Shield=10, Missile=4, ground +15, BC24, RC4, EC35, PSV, RB, DS, Tox, R59, WD, NB, FB. Pardon the shorthand--that's the way my notesheet looks. Our income is 6177 before spending any additional reserve, so I reduce espionage vs the Silicoids to 1.2%, enough for 2 spies per turn.
We are researching RC4, Zort, RB, Soil, W4, and AMT. W4 is at 26% with 1 click--that's enough, no need to burn more RP on it. RB was on one click and RC4 on three, good since we'll steal them soon enough. I emphasize Zort because I want to boost our troops and have the extra armor ready for our Warp-4 ships. Just to 9%, to take advantage of interest.
A lot of our planets are gradually building useless bases. I saw this happening in the past several saves but I didn't want to shout about it. I don't see the point in building bases when our shields and missiles are crap, and I don't see the point in building bases on Escalon ever. I increase our effective production about 10% by nearly halting base construction, though I do let a few almost-finished frontline bases finish.
We are still burning 6% of our prod on base maintenance, more than half of which I consider paranoid. Our reserve is a measly 641 and the B key tempts me.
Apparently we have engaged Psilon fleets in the past five years, but *I* don't know their ship designs. Whether their mediums carry Spores, for example, makes a big difference in where to go next.
Sssla is short seven factories (sabotage?). I build them.
I let Celtsi, the backyard UPoor, build facs until RC4 makes them prohibitive, at which point I will plowshare it into a popfarm.
Gorra is breeding. It is more efficient to send it pop from Kholdan and have Kholdan breed while Gorra exploits its URich bonus. I do that.
The radiated and the two toxics surrounding the upper nebula look appetizing, but war with the Silicoids makes me not want to defend them. We should get a range tech soon and then conquer the Silicoid outcrop at Reticuli. This would also make the infant colonies in the corner safer.
I decide then that I'm not going to build a colony ship this turn, so I scrap the colony design to make an obscenely expensive huge, just to protect the BC in the docks from popping too soon.
The ship design screen is munged. Mac import incompatibility? It does not show the Stabilizer on Patroclus's large bomber design, and has the Special 1 grayed out. But with 1139 space remaining! So, if willing to forego the Stabilizer I could put a sick number of bombs on a large hull. It displays the Attack Level as -1 on the design screen, but 3 on the fleet specs. Of course I redesign and hit CLEAR, which zeroes everything correctly. The new joke design is 4934 BC, so none will pop. I put Volantis back into ship production. I imagine whatever I design with Zort, W4, etc. will be more than the 3500 the Ion 3s cost right now.
I send 21 pop from Sssla and 12 from Toranor up to Darrian; that's how much they can recoup in one turn. Laan and Drakka aren't close to filling back up, so I leave them on ECO.
The fighter stack on Gorra doesn't need to stay there. F8 turns up nothing. It will reach Rha in 2 so I send it. This will free the stack currently on Rha to move onward to Regulus.
Looks like everything. I save (afraid of lockups) and bravely hit N. [I save every turn actually, but no lockups.]
Three Star Streaks (Def 3/3, Att 0, HP 27, Sh 0, Spd 2, 3 Fus Beam) appear on Rha long enough for me to scan them. Unknown spies destroy one missile base on ENDORIA, hitting us where it hurts. I do not bomb Rha. No tech breakthrough!
Our valiant troops capture Rha's 243 factories with 10 survivors. Death Spores, Planetary Shield V, ECM 3, and Fusion Beam are our reward.
No Dissipator, no Cells, no Robots. I'll just have to smash Regulus now. One colony ship and nine Star Wings are en route to Rha. I imagine our 150 ion smalls will handle them.
I have to time this carefully because I don't want too many pop in transit in 2524. I still can't send men at Regulus because it's unscouted. Rha is 10/90+ with 36 due to land. I send 44 more from Drakka. Sadly they won't arrive in 1 because Fusion Drive didn't hit. I leave Drakka on ECO, since there aren't any purple ships in the neighborhood. I can raise a shield PDQ if needed.
I send Rha some of our feeble reserve and put it mostly on defense--a shield plus one base will stop Fusion mediums so our fleet can move forward. I let Gorra overflow a little and put some into shipbuilding. Next turn it will be maxed. When we get real techs and Volantis launches whatever it's building, I'll put it on RESERV and direct that into Gorra.
A Psilon appeared in the top nebula, but it's just a futile colship destined for Reticuli.
The Silicoids have turned up with Advanced Eco (10/1). :baffled:
Ok, we need more pop in Psilon space. Celtsi is now on 89 facs. I send 45 of its 90 pop to Kholdan. They'll land in 4, in time for the vote; can't send them farther safely. I send more men from Kholdan to Drakka--again, as far as they'll get in time at Warp 2--and leave it breeding.
Save again. Zort at 21% and W4 at 27%.
Of course I forget to leave something with a scanner at Rha.
The Psilon Colship and 7 Star Wings shoot green beams from range 2. Must be heavy fusion, probably 1 per ship. strange they didn't retreat. Ah, and the Star Wings have Ion Cannons as backup, again probably just 1 from the feeble damage. Oh, and they're speed 1. We obliterate them with one shot and one more for the Colship which finally tries to retreat.
Regulus is 68 pop, 256 facs (nice ratio, easy meat), Shield 10, 20 nuke launchers. Ok, now I can scan them. Star Wing=Def 2/2, Att 4, HP 27, Shield 1, Spd 1, HFB+IC. Colship=Def 1/1, Att 4, HP 100, Shield 0, Spd 1, HFB. I could probably just hit A but for the team's sake I'll go through the grind. Ion smalls attract the first volley. And a second. I move them forward 2, then back 2 diagonally to keep them on the screen. Next turn they'll R. Ok, I should have moved them manually, then hit R. STOOPID computer. Meanwhile our 79 nuke bombers run a big circle to avoid being hit; they're faster than the missiles. When they get back, they do a thundering 2. No need to sweat keeping them alive, though I guess I get a few hundred extra for scrapping the whole stack. Our mighty fleet knocks down 2 of the 20 bases.
Dismal failure.
Our research breaks through at last. I would rather have dissipators but obviously I need to build something NOW to deal with the Psilons before they can actually damage us.
Why didn't I write this down? In a solo game, I would just know. Well, given the choice between Industry 8, Armored Exo, and 40%, I do know we don't have Suits because Duralloy popped on my turn. Since we'll be invading A LOT, I think we need Exos. Plus with 5/1 in hand and 10/1 available from the Coids of all places, 40% is not that big a savings over 60%. Given the joyous choice of R7, R8, or Warp 5, I take Impulse Engines. We will steal useful range tech faster than we could research it (silly insects). W5 is also the only way forward in case--no, I shan't even say it--and we need something like Gates to mop up.
Ok. We're not going to learn or conquer another consequential ship-design tech soon, so I redesign. I also scrap what's left of the obsolete nukers. I don't build Sporers because they don't kill bases and we need to kill bases to take factories and tech. Besides, they're cheese.
Our Tech levels here are 15-22-22-25-19-23, if you want to play around with the spreadsheet. We can fit an AMB on a small, with Fusion/Spd 2 or Sub-Light/Spd2/Zort, but no way to get Spd 3. One more level of Construction would do it, but even if I'd taken IT8, no guarantee it'd hit. I think small Spd2 AMBers will perish too quickly, and BC0 bombers are basically useless against ECM5(Psilon) or 6(Silicoid). Medium designs are:
Attack 3 Shield 0 Def 7/7 HP 18 Warp 4 Spd 4 3xAMB 96BC
Attack 3 Shield 1 Def 5/5 HP 36 Warp 4 Spd 3 3xAMB 107BC
Attack 3 Shield 4 Def 2/2 HP 18 Warp 4 Spd 1 2xAMB 100BC
These all seem pretty feeble. Shield 4+3xAMB+Warp 4 is not possible, and we need warp to get them into Psilon space before they're obsolete. Strapping on a Scanner would raise the to-hit from 20% to 30%, a huge gain. So it looks like the best dedicated bomber would be a large:
Attack 4 Shield 4 Def 1/1 HP 100 Warp 4 Spd 1 18xAMB 567 BC
Of their 180 bombs, 54 should hit for 0-30 each, or 810. Psilon bases won't crack Shield 4, so no armor or maneuver. We'll need something else to break rocks, but we should have better tech by then.
The other design is a huge Auto-Repair HFBeamer. The HFBs will do something like 1 each per turn against Shield 10 (when they hit, which is 80% since ECMs don't jam them), so two of them will take down one base before timeout. Throwing some bombs on seems necessary, and the issue is how many. After much thought, I decide that firepower is more important than combat speed and settle for:
Attack 4 Shield 5 Def 1/1 HP 1200 Warp 4 Spd 2 8xHFB IC 25xAMB
Back to planets. Darrian is TFd and makes facs, awaiting immigrants. Beta says MAX and starts TFing. Celtsi breeds. Laan will remax its pop; I put the rest into tech. Rha TFs while working on its shield. 35 more from Drakka will fill Rha (it has 243 facs, we need at least 122 pop to use them) and 35 more from Kholdan will replace them. There's nowhere else I can send pop. Denubius, but I don't feel our current tech will crack it. The first Silicoid target should be small and rich or large and poor, with fewer than 30 bases.
I redirect the fleet at Regulus to Collassa. I think this is Not Cheese, unlike directing them to remain at Regulus. Maybe Collassa is Ultra Poor with no shield, who knows.
Gorra makes two bombers and sends them to Rha (in 2). Volantis makes a huge and sends it to Drakka (in 2). Talas and Firma don't build just yet.
Shows how much attention I was paying to earlier reports.
Collassa is Inferno, 53/150. And because the Psilons settled it late, it has no bases and three Wings to defend it. Inferno, 100 max!?
2423: I send 65 from Rha to Collassa, replaced by another 24 from poor Drakka (down to 48 but with 65 en route). Drakka keeps breeding and gets another 14 from Laan (in 2) which will replace them in 1. Rha is getting its shield and a base up this turn, so I send the fighter stack to Collassa.
Having all these scouts on the core worlds confuses me. I think they're warships I forgot to launch.
I slow Talas and Firma down so they don't build before our troops hit Collassa. I gave Exos a jump start last turn (so they can interest their way up cheaply); this turn I pour most of the RPs into Enrichment to get a %.
IBT: Six large purple Monitors launch missiles at our poor scout at Trax. I let the scout die to verify; the missiles were launched from column I and hit, so they're probably merculite 2-racks. Psilon mediums retreat from Collassa. I still don't bomb. The horrifying GNN logo comes up and tells me Darrian is controlled by at least 27 million rebels. This is strange because it didn't rebel last turn when its pop was 21. It's annoying because this is 2424. I can't get enough men there before the vote, so I'll send them in 2425.
2424. Our large bombers are at Rha. I send them to Regulus, plus a huge and 50 small escorts from Collassa, leaving the earlier model bombers at Collassa in case it raises a base. Rha breeds and gets reinforcements from Drakka, which will be back up to 110 when the blimps land. Celtsi and Kholdan will be remaxed too.
I want to send the new huge to Mentar, but Mentar's out of range! It looks like Ukko-Mentar is slightly more than 4pc. I send since Denubius is hopeless and Ukko is the only target in range. Enrichment is at 12%.
IBT: Ukko is Terran, 120/352, with 29 merculite bases. It is guarded by one Monitor, Def 3/3, Att 3, HP 150, Sh 2, Spd 2 (IS), 2 M10x5 + 3M10x2. I get two shots in for about 60 per before I have to retreat.
18 mediums guard Regulus. The Ion 3 has such firepower I wonder if I can kill them all before they reach my bombers! Conveniently, I don't have to--after killing 10, they try to retreat (5 escape). Success! All 19 bases go down with one volley of bombs to spare. Ocean, 80 max.
We steal BC4 and R5, both badly needed, but not the crown jewels.
Vote time. Geode 12 for himself. Mrrs 4 for us! Alkari 2 against, Psilons 4 against, and I abstain our 17. Guess there was no danger after all.
[continued, was too long, but save was already attached here]
Toranor is captured. Come on lucky Industrial Tech 6! Yes! New choices are Armored Exoskeleton, and Reduced Industrial Waste 40% I choose Zortrium Armor however. I like armor techs they improve missile bases, huge auto repair ships, and ground combat all together.
I accidentally sent the Scout 2 from Drakka with the SoD, which makes it miss Rha this turn!
Our choices are the obsolete Barren and Toxic, 10/1 (which we can steal from the Silicoids), and Atmospheric, which I select.
, IS, ARS, BS. Our escort laughs at that, but the 33 bases are hard to laugh at. Maybe they'll target our bombers?
Thanks!
I can't single out any one player for the surfeit of bases.
I think I am out of my league playing with you guys... (I am learning quite a bit though... 
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