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[baruk]

2130
No surprises

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

No riots, no mind worm attacks this turn.
Both cities grew and the research hospital was completed without further incident.


Our fourth city was founded:

 Virgin Soil has access to a monolith and the sought-after rocky mineral bonus square.

This year's pod-pop in the southern seas provided Zakharov with a kelp farm:


Scouting of The Hive has revealed that Yang now has plasma technology (High-energy Chemistry):

 This means that impact troops will now be almost useless at taking his cities, bolstered as they are by perimeter defences.

Sea exploration
South of Fugu:

I have an interesting choice next turn - the gun foil can either head south-west to look for Morgan on Cylonhead, or it can head east to prepare for another pod-pop.

The far south:

My isle of the deep picked up the alien artifact again, setting a course for Gaia's Landing.

The home front:

- Nessus Shining completed another trance scout patrol, so Fallow Time's garrison was able to return home. The unit that was victorious against last turn's mind worm heads towards the new colony.
- I put Virgin Soil's 10 starter minerals towards a former, which I then hurried for 13 credits. This seems a better choice than a recycling tanks, as I want to complete the mine on the rocky minerals square as soon as possible.
- Note that building the new colony on the border with Yang allowed me to steal several workable squares from his HQ. An idiosyncrasy of the territory code.
- Gaia's Landing grows to three population next turn, so in preparation I've had to turn the monolith worker into a doctor to prevent any drone riots.
- [Diplomacy] Sold Planetary Networks to Lal for 25 credits. No-one else will talk to me..

[baruk]

Summary 2121 to 2130

The Tech Chase

  We gained seven techs in ten years. Two from research, four from trade and one from a pod. Also in that time, the research
rate doubled from 17 labs in 2121 to 34 labs in 2130.
 The next breakthrough, in Ecological Engineering, is now due in 2134.

Diplomacy

 In 2123 we signed a truce with Yang.
 We encountered the Spartan, Believer and University factions, agreeing to a pact with the University in return for joining them in a vendetta on the Believers. We signed a treaty with the Spartans

Spending Review

2123
- Sea former, Gaia's Landing hurried for 28 EC
- Impact rover prototype, Nessus Shining hurried for 57 EC
2126
- Colony pod, Nessus Shining hurried for 24 EC
- Network Node, Gaia's Landing hurried for 98 EC
2130
- Former, Virgin Soil, hurried for 13 EC

The Ongoing Unity Pod Lottery Project

2122 Isle of the deep swallowed the pod
 Captured by gun foil, along with two mind worms that were on board.

2124 Materials pod
 Completed a Network Node in Fallow Time.

2125 100 energy credits

2126 Alien artifact

2127 Mind worm
 It ignored my captured mind worm unit and disappeared into the fungus.

2128 Data pod
 Industrial Base tech.

2129 Materials pod
Completed a Research Hospital in Fallow Time.

2130 Kelp farm

The Yang Question

 Acquirement of Non-Linear Mathematics from the Spartans in 2121 really put the cat amongst the pigeons strategy-wise. Could I use a belated rover rush to knock out Yang? I was a little dubious, and tried keeping my options open. The truce with Yang in 2123 I took as an opportunity to safely expand, whilst at the same time completing the impact rover prototype just in case.
 By 2128 I was about to found my new city, and I considered using its starting 10 minerals as the basis for hurrying a second impact rover. I could then obtain a third impact unit by upgrading the scout rover for 60 creds. I was uncertain if three impact rovers plus a small mind worm would have been enough to capture a Hive city, so when I lost a rover in 2129 (along with the discovery of Hive plasma troops a turn later)  the matter was settled - there is no point going after the Hive until I have overwhelming force of arms. I will go back to building quietly until the next opportunity presents itself..

[PTTG??]

How are you comparing to the other empires on the power charts?

[GlyphGryph]

I feel that once you finish your planet ocean scan and return with your ships, the mindworms and seaworms should be enough to knock Yang down, so long as you tower pump those that need it first at least once. Am I way off base here? Are his defenses stronger than I imagine, maybe?

At the very least a police of harassing his units and a slow push would provide potential for your mindworms to grow, perhaps with a couple defensive units to hold the enemy back... though obviously building defensive units would slow things down back home, so I don't know. I guess you're waiting for overwhelming technological superiority?

[baruk]

How are you comparing to the other empires on the power charts?

Reasonably well:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's heavily influenced by tech trading, the UN would probably be bottom of the heap without my help.

I feel that once you finish your planet ocean scan and return with your ships, the mindworms and seaworms should be enough to knock Yang down, so long as you tower pump those that need it first at least once. Am I way off base here? Are his defenses stronger than I imagine, maybe?

At the very least a police of harassing his units and a slow push would provide potential for your mindworms to grow, perhaps with a couple defensive units to hold the enemy back... though obviously building defensive units would slow things down back home, so I don't know. I guess you're waiting for overwhelming technological superiority?

I have four mind worms at the moment, which doesn't yet feel like enough. We'll see how things stand after a little more scouting and pod-popping. Patience seems to be an important part of this strategy, assembling your forces captured from pods in the far-flung corners of the globe is rather time consuming.
The harassing/slow push approach seems like the way forward, as my brood will need some training before they're capable of taking Hive cities. Research is going quite well at the moment, so it may be that I have the option of speeding my conquest with high tech weaponry (chaos gun is four techs away).

[baruk]

2131
Encroachment

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Since last turn:
Yang contacted me, asking me politely to withdraw the mind worm I've been using to scout his cities. No ultimatum yet. A Hive laser squad then turned up a couple of squares south of Nessus Shining, as if to say "Two can play at that game!".
The communication ended with this message:

Perhaps this means everything will be peaceful for the next few turns..

Sea exploration and pod-popping
 My gun foil ran into a Spartan transport foil carrying two military units south of Fugu.

 After resisting the urge to sink it with my Isle of the Deep, I instead grabbed the adjacent unity pod, which provided me with map data. Next I deployed a mind worm onto a nearby island to collect another pod, this one providing a nutrient bonus and nothing more. Disappointing.
 The gun foil will start looking for CEO Morgan next turn. It uncovered another floating unity pod, which I expect to be snapped up by the Spartans.

The home front

- The Hive scout patrol sitting next to fungus fought off a native mind worm, sustaining 50% damage in the battle.
- The threat of the Hive laser squad may mean that I have to upgrade my scout rover to impact after all. I'll set aside 60 creds for this purpose. Energy is tight so this means I'm unable to hurry the children's creche in Fallow Time this turn.
- [Diplomacy] No-one would talk to me! Time to give the comms a rest for a few turns.
- [Terraforming] There is now a road connecting Virgin Soil to Nessus Shining. Also, my first kelp farm was completed near Gaia's Landing.
- I haven't enough money for a research hospital in Gaia's Landing, so instead I hurried a rec commons for 34 creds:

The building should be completed first, wiping out the drone before any riots break out.. I'm fairly certain.

[baruk]

2132
Upswing

Since Last Turn
- Both Hive units moved out of sight. The Spartan transport foil headed west, ignoring the unity pod.
- Mind worms landed on Fugu, next to Bunker 118.
- The rec commons finished, removing the drone as I'd hoped.


Pod-pop
 My gun foil picked up the unity pod ignored by the Spartans:

A great result. Note that when this is built my upkeep costs will reach 9 creds a turn. Before long I may have to cut research in favour of economy to keep me afloat.

Sea exploration

- One isle of the deep heads towards the south pole to look for more unity pods, the other heads north to drop off an alien artifact.
- No sign of the Morganites yet.

The home front

- My formers have made a start on a road to the rocky mineral square. Meanwhile the sea former has started work on a second tidal energy collector.
- The scout rover moved east, retreating after it ran into the Hive laser squad.
- The scouting mind worm has left Hive territory, according to Yang's wishes.
- Hurried a children's creche in Fallow Time for 36 creds.

Diplomacy round-up
 Everyone suddenly started speaking to me once again.
University - I gave away Centauri Ecology for free when asked, which ought to improve Zach's mood. I then sold him Lal's comm link for 20 creds, followed by Gene Splicing and Non-Linear Mathematics for 50 creds. Possibly a dubious move - he may sell his network nodes to cover the debt, but I feel that energy is of greater priority than my ally's research potential right now.
U.N. - Sold them Gene Splicing for 25 creds.
Sparta - Sold them Yang's comm link for 20 creds.
Total: 115 EC

The Big Bang
 The next big project on the horizon is the switch to a Democracy/Planned/Children's Creche growth boom strategy, probably sometime in the next ten years. To keep the boom going, you need surplus food, which we happen to have in abundance due to the Gaian ability to subsist on fungus. However it will need a considerable energy investment to be effective, as maintaining order in rapidly growing cities will require deployment of rec commons and hologram theatres. I will assess the situation again in a few turns.