Trance/Empath/Plasma Psions --worth it?

[Pfeffersack]

Yea, if you want to get a combat bonus, you are apparently going to have to play Miriam... and if you are playing Miriam, you should probably be popping lots of psych chaplains, using them for tech, and going for massively powerful Helions anyway...

... or paint poor Miri green Inspired by the discussion here I tried and so far, it a fun and sucessful game. You need to overcome the initial -1 PV in each base and you cannot use some of your goodies (happiness, chaplains) as much as you could as a Terraformer, but it is far from being impossible; I have already reached +2 PA (after ~150 turns).

Regarding the fanatical attack, I can confirm both that you get it, when having a state religion and attacking wild NL and as well, if you attack someone w/o a state religion. That should be changed, IMO.

Attached is a save showing both cases. If you let display odds for the selcted siege tank vs. the NL infested base "Amnestiedorf", the bonus gets displayed. If you declare war on Lal and move the siege tank S-SW-SW, "Gleichheitsdorf" comes in sight. Again you will see the bonus when showing combat odds here.

 

[Pfeffersack]

That +25% fanatical attack really makes going Green with Miriam an option (even if reduced to cases with different religons only). You can of course enjoy it on the Terraformer route as well, but I think 25% in PSI combat count a lot more, as you can't get a real strength advantage by pure tech progress.

Related to a Green strategy in general, I sometimes find delaying Nuclear Physics or to a lesser extend Doctrine Initiative on purpose useful - that way you can longer build the cheap Scout Patrols and Foils, which are very useful in fighting NL because of the sheer numbers in which you can build them (in case of the SP, you also have the advantage that you can take Empath Song, which is forbidden for lower Flamethrower line units)

 

[Maniac]

You can consider pro-Planet Believers as Chardinists aiming for a Noosphere.

 

[Gavinfoxx]

You can consider pro-Planet Believers as Chardinists aiming for a Noosphere.

Ah! Maniac finally replied! What do you think of my other ideas / problems / suggestions / bug reports in this thread?

Also, you coulda helped us out... I had to go searching online for a whole 30 seconds before I found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin

Sheesh! Making it hard on us!

 

[Maniac]

Everything you posted is working as intended. Well, except for Empath Song not giving a bonus to Psions. But as that actually solves a potential exploit with Plasma Shards, I think I'll keep it like this. I'll give the Psion the native (red button) Empath Song promotion though. Otherwise they would be worse at fighting native life than their predecessor the Hyperian.

 

[Pfeffersack]

Everything you posted is working as intended. Well, except for Empath Song not giving a bonus to Psions. But as that actually solves a potential exploit with Plasma Shards, I think I'll keep it like this. I'll give the Psion the native (red button) Empath Song promotion though. Otherwise they would be worse at fighting native life than their predecessor the Hyperian.

So it is really intended that Miriam gets a fanatical attack bonus vs. opponents w/o state religion at all (including "barbarians")? Especially the case vs. barbarians feels strange for me - that bonus compensates what you lose because of a negative PA up to -8.

 

[Gavinfoxx]

And also, can you at least update the descriptions of the various options (Plasma/Empath/Trance = bonuses VS psi units, not bonuses TO psi combat)?

 

[GeoModder]

And also, can you at least update the descriptions of the various options (Plasma/Empath/Trance = bonuses VS psi units, not bonuses TO psi combat)?

That's a task for the forum member keeping himself occupied with descriptions... or, barring that, you could do it and attach it here. After review it will be either included or excluded.

 

[Maniac]

So it is really intended that Miriam gets a fanatical attack bonus vs. opponents w/o state religion at all (including "barbarians")? Especially the case vs. barbarians feels strange for me - that bonus compensates what you lose because of a negative PA up to -8.

Why is that a problem?

 

[Pfeffersack]

Why is that a problem?

At least the way the ability is described ("+20% against factions which don't share the believers State Religion") is problematic from my point of view. Before the discussion here, I had not realized that this works vs. wild NL as well. Technically, the barbarians are a faction, yes, but I don't think many players perceive them as one.

Gameplaywise you might be right, you can turn it the other way round what I have posted above - it helps the Believers with their Terraforming business, because they can go deep in the reds w/o suffering in PSI combat like others. OTOH, it also makes them surprisingly effective when played green.

 

[Maniac]

I can add to their trait description: +20% vs wild native life, after they have chosen a state religion.