Completed Let's Multiplay Alpha Centauri - Binary Dawn - Game 5

[Kalin]

NEWSFLASH: ATLANTIS CONSTRUCTS STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN!

Breaking news! The Program of Accelerated Action for Sustainable Space Industrialization has been expertly fulfilled on schedule with the completion of the Atlantis "Axis Mundi" Space Elevator, very much despite the feeble efforts of the so-called Spartan Federation to impede our peaceful progress, true to character, as the mutinous filth this accursed faction ever was is consigned to nothing but ignominious failure! Meanwhile, the miracle of engineering now pierces the Chiron sky like a modern-day Tower of Babel [Believe-net purity filter override] connecting the surface and celestial realm for spectacular enricho-enlightenment of our beloved United Mankind. Although the financial sacrifices associated with its construction were steep indeed such costs are assuredly nothing compared to the priceless advantage of transporting Unity personnel and heavy equipment directly into space for a mere fraction of the cost of the exorbitantly wasteful and now-obsolete rocket-based delivery of yesteryear.

The spire of the structure provides everything from docking terminals and space habitats to research laboratories and monitoring stations. As the brilliant golden age of orbital development begins in full it is expected to serve as the main central hub for assembly and deployment of both power transmitters and defensive platforms, ensuring safety and security as the needs of our citizens are met with utmost industrious dedication to the Mission. Experts already predict an increase of economic output by two hundred per-cent in Atlantis alone, a figure set to mult-

******

Lal killed the pompous news-feed, swept back a full glass of fungal gin and looked out the plasmoid ultra-secure window of his presidential residence. A long way from his humble beginnings, his brilliant palace, embedded in lush gardens and blessed with the very finest amenities, was nevertheless little more than a exorbitant tomb, patrolled, as always, by the ever-vigilant Harmonium Guard. He had endured close to a century of reprehensible "cease fire" in this hellish existence, a farce of duplicitous "diplomacy", a play dressed up as some pretentious peace perpetual, as if true stability could ever be achieved without complete consensus, utter obedience to the Mission.

He, alone, was Garland's successor - chosen custodian of the U.N.S. Unity - and it was his obligation, his sworn duty, to reintegrate the mutineers, to help them overcome the flaws in their thinking. If that meant knocking a few heads to get everyone in line, then so be it. He had endured far too long, and now, at long last, Sparta had given him the perfect pretext. Finally, the charade would be dropped.

"Enough play", he muttered and swept back a second glass, curiously meted full, as he opened the secure vid-link. This ends now.

"Brother-Comissioner!" answered Major Howard, head of the newly crated Space Marines. Bionically enhanced, fueled by combat drugs, primed with empathic morale-boosting mantras, psionic wards and equipped with the latest in utterly illegal chemical agents, the new Paladins of Peace had been trained - or perhaps more aptly, produced - at record-haste speed for a grim, deadly purpose. Intended specifically for operations conducted in conjunction with the Elevator, these drop troops constituted a culmination of human ruthlessness. At least they had once been volunteers, Lal reminded himself, and with a mutiny one hundred and twenty-six years into the making some unconventional methods were quite frankly called for to bring the drama to a close.

"Good friend", Lal said calmly, "I take it your men are ready?"

"Fifteen Space Marine chapters await deployment, Brother." Howard replied. "The Spartans have anticipated everything. The entire Federation is on high alert - their navy, having already sunk a number of our outer perimeter scouts, is perfectly poised for interception and anti-submarine warfare. Satellite data and empathic infiltration further indicate significant anti-air installations and near-complete Valkyrie coverage. Dropping within their territory would be difficult, if not impossible. Fungal drop locations are also likely to be subject to xenofaunal ambushes. In addition, Fort Liberty and Parade Ground have been heavily fortified. Continuing the operation would be... If you forgive me for saying so, most unsound."

"Thank you", Lal replied calmly. "Nevertheless, I want you to prepare to launch all pods."

"But Brother-Comissioner-"

"Not to worry", Lal interjected, raising a hand in calming, apologetic motion. "Upon meditating on our predicament, a sudden revelation came to me. In light of this, I have made certain.. Alterations."

Howard blinked, paused for a second as his neural-link received the new instructions, before simply nodding in understanding.

"We will need time to readjust."

"Of course - but the targets are feasible, yes?"

"Yes Brother. Of course. Naturally, there will be fallout. The factions, and the people..."

"...shall all be reminded that their greatest duty is to serve the Mission, and nothing else."

"Comply or die?" Howard asked humorously.

"Crudely put, old friend. But yes. Death is the punishment for mutiny. I don't suppose there is a problem?"

"No, Brother." Howard replied. "Frankly... It was long overdue."

Spoiler

 

[Kalin]

DEDICATED LOYALISTS PLEDGE COMMITMENT TO PEACE MISSION!

NEWSFLASH - Following most reliable reports of excessive depredations and obviously premeditated violations of our most Beloved Charter, the ravenously consumerist, speculative and shamelessly conspiring entities of Morgan Prospecting, Morgan Housekeeping, Morgan Budishii College, Morgan Marina, Morgan Baywatch and Morgan Office Towers have all been put under direct Mission Command as per the illustrious directions of Most Honored Commander Howard, in turn on behalf of our beloved First Citizen and Brotherly Brother Pravin Lal himself, saviour of mankind.

Although the specific renegade persona of "CEO" Morgan is yet to be located, the administration for World Peace remains hopeful Mr Morgan, also called the "good old colleague" will present himself and yield unconditionally to the rightful authority of the High Commissioner, vested in him by none other than the United Nations council and Captain Garland himself.

As the perfectly rational and most called for crusade for harmonious peace continues unabated the Union for Universal Concordance remains most hopeful that all irrationally enraged factions will realize the folly of their ways and turn to Brother Lal for immediate counseling.

 

[Hellraiser]

Good to see Gravy trading away librarian tech and some other tech to Kalin backfire on him Those librarians speeding up the Space Elevator research pissed me off immensely, although I think this was just lack of foresight (or Morganic greed fully in character) on Gravy's part and not deliberate action to make my TURNs hell. Man I hate planning defenses for orbital drops.

I guess that plane there explains why that carrier was built. Either that or it is the AO school of pilot martyrdom from 4 games ago

 

[Kalin]

Mix of both.

Lost all of the suicide jets and a ton of troops (overestimated the impact of drop artillery - they barely grazed their targets) but now I have the Virtual World, Cyborg Factory and Living Refinery. The latter might actually be the best one as it helps me overcome my inherent inability to field proper armies. Did Gravy actually collude against me? Probably not, but the opportunity to attack was there so I took it. Whole operation was complicated by last-turn Morganic scrambling of units and upgrades to level 6 armour defenders meaning my move was definitely anticipated.

 

[Hellraiser]

No he didn't, I actually didn't bother contacting him besides tech deals. Considering the distance/situation the room for aid/plotting was very small if any. Too far to send troops and I had to get them aeroclubs and defenders up first anyway. I expected you might go for the projects, it is what I did to brozil way back when after all.

 

[baud]

head of the newly crated Space Marines

they're stored in boxes?

 

[Grimgravy]

Mr. Morgan stands defiant against Lal's unprovoked aggression! While admittedly fighting a losing battle, corporate security has scored a number of small victories and has seeded the spoils to the resistance. Governor "I am by no means a cruel despot" Lal, showing his true colors and succumbing to greed well beyond that of anything seen in the Morgan corporate sphere, made a grab for Mr. Morgan's superior products and then proposed the world unite behind him as planetary leader! Ah, the hubris! Before such vile aggression, Morgan industries, was fully in support of the the governor, the UN charter, and his plans for peace. How different the present and future would be had Lal not submitted to his baser desires? How could Lal abandon his principles and turn his sword on a steadfast ally and proponent of peace? His wife is surely turning in her grave! Mr. Lal you have turned the hopes for a bright future to ashes. For shame, governor, for shame!

Spoiler

While I count making Hellraiser's turn hell a small victory, it was not planned. I was simply pursing my peaceful builder plan. A lack of foresight, for sure. Greed, no. I have been in a losing position since planetfall and have been trying to stay neutral / play peacemaker ever since. I, incorrectly, since Lal and I (and likely Miram) could take on the rest would build my economy and we would roll Sparta and the Hive when the time came. Ah well, now I minor probe team successes (hopefully making Kalin's turna little hell, as small victories and await my eventual demise.

 

[Kalin]

Drunk-posting. Massive ITZ going on. High powered turns. Gravy's probes are a bitch to kill - elite + neural amplifier bonus (yeah it gets added in probe combat if you use PSI armour on them, brutal). Carriers with rape choppers and troops. Sudden sneak attacks. This game is crazy right now. Will try to post something coherent tomorrow if I wake up.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

if alpha centauri is so good why isn't there an alpha centauri 2?

 

[Kalin]

if alpha centauri is so good why isn't there an alpha centauri 2?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

if alpha centauri is so good why isn't there an alpha centauri 2?

 

[Kalin]

head of the newly crated Space Marines

they're stored in boxes?

Because of you I named my shell drop units "Crated Space Marines" - they're regular dudes with basic reactor, drop pods and trained ability so I hit elite. Can drop them and upgrade them in a single turn. Haxxy? Probably. But that's how it's done in the big leagues.

 

[Hellraiser]

if alpha centauri is so good why isn't there an alpha centauri 2?

Same reason why Civ VI is shit and only Maxies play it.

 

[Kalin]

RECORD OF THE CAMPAIGN FOR UNIVERSAL CONCORDANCE

*******

Fact-checked and verified by the Commissariat for Truthful Information
Produced by the Department of Inter-System Communications
Uploaded to Datalinks in accordance with the Transparency Principle

*******

M.Y. 2225 - M.Y. 2226

High Commissioner and Planetary Governor Pravin Lal, on behalf of Mankind, in light of the strategic possibilities of the rapidly constructed Space Elevator, reviews scenarios for enhanced security operations to facilitate global compliance with the lawfully adopted Universal Concordance Directive. The extremist and near-impenetrable Spartan terrorist organization is not seriously considered by Mission Command - though every effort has been made to make it appear so. Considerations to strike the Human Hive to secure the Command Nexus and Xenoempathy Dome are paused given fruitful diplomatic discourse with Chairman Yang. The Children of God are not considered given most cordial relations.

Morganic map data had until now remained partially obscured, composed of outdated reports collected during the Campaign for Perpetual Peace. With the launch of the first Peacekeeping orbital defense pod in M.Y. 2225 a complete view of corporate territory confirms previous assumptions of insufficient readiness; a lack of perimeter defenses, Aerospace Complexes, fortifications and interceptors. The pragmatic decision to cut Morgan's booming business empire down to size and place his powerful projects under direct Mission control is covertly adopted to prevent possible defiance of Mission authority. Preliminary plans emphasize conventional assaults. As a final alternative in case global scrambling would invalidate physical persuasion, the Space Elevator could still deploy eighteen orbital energy platforms.

M.Y. 2227 - M.Y. 2228

Colonel Santiago launches a sneak attack as the Elevator goes up. Unity scout ships are sunk by superior Barbarossa-class cruisers denying visibility in the disputed northern ocean. Morganic field upgrades have altered the situation negatively, though considerable material aid from the Human Hive worth roughly eight hundred and seven million energy credits arrives just in time to allow mass-upgrades and outfitting of the Space Marine Paladin chapters. The unprecedented scale and scope of the enterprise depletes total stockpiles and reserves comparable to approximately one point six billion energy credits. The High Commissioner is most grieved by Morgan's selfishness, forcing him to once again employ barbaric nerve gas.

Key objective, Morgan Prospecting, is seized. The capture of the Virtual World throws several Morganic bases into chaotic drone riots. At the same time, the controversial nature of the grand campaign is more readily accepted by Loyalists with the advent of the newly stylized Unity Matrix. Immediate purity protocols are enforced in Morgan territory, stipulating death penalty for usury, narcotics production and peddling, illicit sexual relations, peddling of cyber-smut, human brain augmentation, abortion, cannibalism, bionic recreational augmentation and private organ-legging. Liberated populations are introduced to the wonders of asceticism and vegan diets.

Terms of compliance are rejected by Morgan; Peacebringers are assaulted in retalitory strikes from Morgan Corporate Security, utilizing nerve gas missile rovers, probe team subversion and psychic terror warfare. Global commerce grounds to a halt. Paladins are replaced by Harmonium Special Forces to contain the elevated threat. Battle Cruiser Submarines engage advance Spartan nanometal ships with mixed success and Peacebringer missiles are launched from the mainland against incoming Spartan targets.

M.Y. 2229 - M.Y. 2230

A vote to unite behind Pravin Lal as Supreme Leader of Mankind is rejected. Instrumental in sabotaging the proposal is Chairman Yang, who notably votes NAY and scrambles anti-drop defenses. Mission Command launches additional defense pods and successfully destroy all Spartan and Morganic installations in orbit, thus achieving total space supremacy. Morgan operatives appear to have probed all of our technology sharing military blueprints on needlejets with all factions. Morganic counter-attacks now include nerve-stapled terraformers flooding liberated territory in what ancient cultures once termed "zerg rushes", obstructing Harmonium forces and sabotaging infrastructure amidst staggering losses. Mission Command responds by aggressively dismantling captured Morganic tech labs, factories and miscellaneous infrastructure to support the Harmonium. Morgan Human Resources is defined new key priority target on account of its Neural Amplifier. The base is besieged but holds out defiantly. Morgan Legal is destroyed.

Loyalists spot fully loaded Spartan troop transports and isles of the deep heading towards the Utopian continent. Further scouting reveals a considerable fleet and loaded missile copter carrier. Faced with the threat of invasion and possible loss of the Space Elevator, full liberation of the depraved Morganites is deemed untenable - an emergency scorched earth campaign is approved by the High Commissioner and Morgan Myconid Mansions as well as Morgan Solar Spire are obliterated with roughly one hundred and twenty thousand mutineers executed. Mission Command redirects all available forces to now fortify Arcadia, Utopia, Hyperborea and Atlantis bracing for aerial nerve gas bombing.

 

[Storyfag]

Liberated populations are introduced to the wonders of asceticism and vegan diets.

The madman is going too far. He must be stopped.

 

[Hellraiser]

TRAITORS OF MANKIND AND COWARDS DESERVE PAINFULL DEATH

This is the FEDERAL NETWORK at 2000 hours, 201 days in the 133rd year of the Spartan Era. Remember, work hard and work long just like a Servitor would, as every canister of Eugenic Gas produced means one less treacherous bloodline taints Mankind’s genetic heritage. *sounds of painful choking followed by a crowd cheering and clapping*

Federation President Santiago, Colonel of the Federation Army, Conqueror of the Heavens, Burner of Witches, Slayer of Aliens and Champion of Freedom, delivered a powerful and inspiring speech today, to mark the first anniversary of Assassin’s Redoubt’s fall.

The Serpent has been known ever since I, Corazon Santiago, have revealed its true nature to Planet. It lashed out and devoured Morgan Industries soon afterward, which despite a valiant and noble effort proving the purity of their bloodlines, is but a shadow of itself, ever threatened by Lal’s Orbital Terror Squads and on the brink of collapse.

Sadly Assassin's Redoubt has shown us that despite Lal’s heinous acts committed in broad daylight against Mankind, there are those too weak, stupid and cowardly to join Freedom’s Final Battle for Survival. Miriam Godwinson, the Whore of Proditoria, has entirely unprovoked attacked the people of Assassin's Redoubt, who never in the City’s history even contemplated harm to the false believers. They failed two years ago. Last year they just barely succeeded, and from the void the servants of darkness with whom they allied came to murder the noble people of Assassin’s Redoubt.

This crime shall not go unpunished. Assasin’s Redoubt will be avenged. BURN DOWN HISTORY! KILL THE EMPATHS! STRIKE DOWN THE SPACE ELEVATOR! CRUCIFY THE WHORE! SET MANKIND FREE FROM THE FORCES OF CIVILIZATION’S DECLINE!

CRUCIFY THE WHORE! CRUCIFY THE WHORE! CRUCIFY THE WHORE! CRUCIFY THE WHORE!

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN...

>>THE CRIMES OF MIRIAM GODWINSON
VAULT-CO BLOG ON DEFENDING AGAINST ORBITAL DROPS
EUGENIC GAS BREWING AT HOME, FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

In a brilliant display of Spartan efficiency the Federation Court of Central Laconia has begun Miriam Godwinson’s trial in absentia, ending it just 3 hours later with a solid and just verdict. Spartans, Helots, Morgan exiles, True Believers who abandoned Miriam and even Servitors gathered in front of public holoprojectors to watch the Federation Court announce its decision. Miriam Godwinson, the treacherous whore of Proditoria, has been found guilty of the following crimes:

Promotion of inferior bloodlines

Eugenic sabotage

Satanic worship

Cowardice of the third degree

Treason against the species and freedom

Enjoying degenerate works of fiction

Alien breeding

Lack of faith

Conspiracy against Helot productivity

Destruction of critical federal infrastructure

Collaboration with the U.N.

Betrayal of own sovereignty

Blasphemy against the Federation

Despicable lack of vision and foresight

And thus Miriam Godwinson has been sentenced to execution via crucifixion. Given the number of charges pressed against the Whore of Proditoria, the court took 2 hours to read the justification of the final verdict. Here at the federal network we have asked our experts to elaborate on some of the crimes mentioned by the judge.

Humanitas Erectus, True Believer exile, Crusader of God – We learned she watches and enjoys satanic media such as the "Chilling Adventure of Sabrina" as part of her secret devil worship. The very thought fills me with disgust!

Richard Goliath, Federation Navy Lieutenant, Hero of the Conluvian Campaign – The high treason she committed against the friendship the federation was committed to and against mankind itself, resulted in the sinking of the Federation flagship, the Duarte Class Aircraft Carrier known as the “The Heart of the Tempest”, which was on course to liberate mankind from the Serpent Lal’s Orbital Thought Police.

Jacob Highergame, Chief Federation Sociologist, SPARTEX Market Analyst – The promotion of social degeneracy by Godwinson’s government threatens the purity of the species, encouraging it to tumble down into disgusting weakness and cowardice.

Fedir Metalcraze, former Assasin’s Redoubt Militia Commander, Rover Tire Expert – The scum collaborating with Lal has to pay for the lives lost in Assasin’s Redoubt. The cross is too merciful for the bitch. She should rot for weeks in an inkvine tank.

While Miriam Godwinson remains currently at large the Federal Justice System is sure that she will be captured and subjected to the sentence so that justice can prevail.

”Would you like to know more?”

The TURN is 133. I got janior’d (again) 2 turns ago.

That is to say Kalin managed to convince oldbonebrown into being his good goy and taking the nerve gas instead of him, in a stupid war declaration nobody sane should ever have bothered with. At least last game janior already got ITZed before he decided to act as a meatshield, and he was sandwiched between two factions anyway, so it was whatever since he had no chance to grow or do anything anymore.

A bunch of stuff happened next. Pact with Miriam got broken, ships got called back disrupting my glorious naval offensive, a turn later my ships got attacked, lost my Duarte Class aicraft carrier (but not the multiple Valkyrie squadrons aboard at least) and some ships. Worst thing out of it was I had to go back with what I had to take care of my eastern flank, and resources also had to go there and not towards the great BATTLE FOR FREEDOM, killing some LARP in the womb (Miriam is also guilty of the crime of LARP abortion). And Kalin, who’s navy was utterly crushed by mine as I pushed deeper towards his projects, got a get out of ITZ (or prospect of ITZ) free card out of it. And since he has that get out of ITZ free card now...

...he is of course pop booming and building. Who could have possibly predicted such an outcome?



Meanwhile I am gassing the believers, because I can’t do anything else for the near future as otherwise I get a drop troop chain reaction wiping out huge chunks of my faction (orbital insertion defense is retarded, but I’ll save my bitching about that for the post game discussion). Believers are currently building only shit that could let Lal drop crated spess marines on me and nothing else (a very shortsighted strategy for a lot of reasons), so I have to kill them to stop that. This is how I lost one good base already, all it takes is one fuck up and I can lose a lot more. And this is pretty much how the j... I mean UN will win.

We both try kill each other, while Kalin builds his way to victory using all the projects he built and stole, and using his current pop advantage. If I manage to deal with the Believers, who currently just build crap designed to allow drop troops to flood me, Kalin will be too big and have too much new tech by that time and I will never catch up. Indeed nobody will catch up, and the game’s outcome is more or less decided now. Morgan is almost dead, Yang would need to catch up a lot which I don’t see happening, he's far anyway and this works to Kalin's advantage with the space elevator and orbital insertion.

Despite some losses I am still top in military. The chart is quite misleading regarding the actual power balance, as for example while janior 2.0 has almost 100 population less than me (I have 258 now) and is making at best 1/5 of my energy income per turn, despite also going 100% econ, making him much weaker overall compared to me than just the ~20% gap like you would guess by the chart.

Kalin has about 314 pop after obliterating some of the Morgan bases he captured. And he still has all of this:

Having said all of that it should be quite obvious why I never wanted to attack the believers, because this scenario would happen. Unfortunately...

...oldbonebrown lacked imagination.

Also implying SPARTA not STRONG . Eugenic gas is too merciful as a punishment for this insult.

Mistakes were definitely made on my side, in planning my offensive against Kalin (the pact braking never should fucked up my plan that much), in defense preparations for the coming war with Kalin (I could have secured the eastern flank, though in a 2v1 scenario doesn’t matter much, Lal win would still be obvious) and in diplomacy. Just like with janior I shouldn’t assume people will act in their best interest (non-zero chances of Believers winning are better than a guaranteed Lal victory) or that they have the balls to say “fuck off” to people making threats.

Even if that last bit was not a bluff from Kalin's side, invading the Believers would lose anyone this game, as the balance of power (post morgan-itz) was very close so giving people reasons to ally with your enemy was a bad idea. Which is why I just went straight for Kalin.

It was always a risk somebody would interfere against me, but I figured people would at least stay out as long as the space elevator exists and is still everyone's problem. I also figured I'm doing everyone a favor by being a target and keeping Kalin busy, so they would at least stay out and turtle up or build. That and honestly that was the best and only shot to deal with the UN domination, the risk had to be taken before everybody else got dropped upon from orbit, like Morgan did. In a pure builder race there was no chance to come out on top eventually.

Also like with janior I gave oldbonebrown tech as gifts (including fusion power, although everyone else already had it at that point) to show I have no ill intentions, apparently PBEM first timers view that as a sign that I want to invade them, because obviously I would want to make life harder for myself by reducing my tech advantage before I attack them.



While I did use a lot of lessons from last game to do better this game, seems I didn’t utilize any learned from janior diplomacy it seems.

Anyway I lost one base, besides losing on the 100 energy per turn it made me (used to get above 1000, now it is 950), and on the facilities/industries, it supported a lot of units which got reassigned to... my only sea base that has almost no mineral production, and a fair number of units got disbanded on my turn due to no minerals. Not a killer blow by any means, but definitely something I would rather very much not see happening, even if at that point the UN ITZ was cancelled anyway.

Also killed troops besieging Assassin’s Redoubt earlier following the sneak attack (Gaugamela it wasn’t as I wrote in the turn tracker, of course failing to realize it would doom the base a turn later due to an unlucky interception fuck up vs just one locust swarm attack and nothing else), sunk some transports loaded with troops and more or less obliterated the churchnut navy as a response to the initial treachery. Miriam has just a few ships left here and there.

Gassed two believing bases but did not destroy them unfortunately just left them with 2-3 pop, killed more population overall than I lost though, it is something I guess. Not much to do besides gassing churchnuts, either that or I definitely eat drop troops jumping all the way across the map. Might as well engage in casual churchnut genocide before the the obvious outcome of a UN victory happens.

Oh and forgot to mention, as practically everyone but Miriam was sanctioned already, I just embraced the atrocities myself despite the charter never being repealed. Almost a millennium of sanctions ahead of me. Only had 30 commerce from Miriam anyway at that point, down from 300-ish commerce total before the space elevator rape of Morgan happened, so stapling and using gas was not a hard decision to make. I got janior’d by Miriam a turn later anyway so it would be 0 commerce anyway. Morgan and Yang already had sanctions. When even Lal breaks the charter, no wonder everybody else just ignores it

Unless someone claimed Sparta for the next game I would think I would go with them again, unless the miraculous happens (two or three asteroid strike events killing Kalin’s key projects). Initially I planned to go with Lal again or Miriam for the first time, but Sparta just seems more appealing overall. Thought at least I would go down in a proper apocalyptic war of superpowers (the other reason I started it) and thus reaching a satisfying conclusion to the SPARTA STRONG LARP, instead I deal with a proxy doing most of Kalin’s work for him, while he instead pop booms again and techs in relative peace. Quite disappointing, although a number of lessons were learned.

 

[Storyfag]

TRAITORS OF MANKIND AND COWARDS DESERVE PAINFULL DEATH

Link is broken

 

[baud]

TRAITORS OF MANKIND AND COWARDS DESERVE PAINFULL DEATH

Link is broken

here you have it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrftOicdj7E

I'll even embed it for you:

 

[Hellraiser]

Storyfag, I fixed the link, not sure why it got fudged up in the first place.

 

[Kalin]

LACONIA PENETRATED - MUTINEERS EXECUTED EN MASSE!

NEWSFLASH - In midst of the furious war unleashed by Mother Miriam's miraculous intervention that saved untold loyalist lives, a single squadron of Watcher missile needlejets has successfully penetrated Spartan airspace in a daring one-way mission, tearing a hole in the enemy anti-drop zone just large enough for rapid orbital insertion. Quick to capitalize upon the most noble and commendable sacrifice of our martyr pilots, Harmonium Space Marines slammed down hard through the proverbial hymen of Laconia and descended upon dumbstruck terrorists, genejacks and helots alike to mete out extreme justice.

After destroying Hawk of Chiron and its inhabitants, our beloved brothers of Peace and Unity pushed south, exterminating the far more populous naval base Fort Survivalist before arriving at Sparta Command. As the main bulk of Spartan forces remained tied up across the sea in brutal chemical warfare with the Children of God, they could but watch and despair as our dedicated lads concluded their assault with a final swift blow to crush the head of the Spartan beast. With the loss of both their military headquarters and Planetary Energy Grid, the shattered "Federation" shall soon be utterly expunged, finally putting to a close mankind's longest mutiny to date.

Spoiler

 

[Kalin]

Most enjoyable turn for me, naturally. Very tense build-up. The Space Elevator was my long-term goal even from before the conclusion of the war against TROYTRON and Absinthe. I specifically pursued the extermination of the latter because I needed Grimgravy on my side and could not risk the two of them striking out on their own. A secondary concern was a University-Spartan pact. Typically a small faction shouldn't be troublesome, but Zakharov is just too good at teching.

For most of the game Morgan was my greatest ally. The backstab might well be the worst stunt I ever pulled in our SMAC games, though I recalled his betrayal in the previous game and convinced myself to go through with it. I was very worried Morgan would try to win through some trickery if I got dragged into war with Sparta. When I decided to use gas and end my excellent commerce I was very determined to also ruin it for everyone else, so it was nice to see him counter-attack with chemical rovers. Of course, he is still in the game and I might lose Morgan Planetfall, but all in all I could live with such a loss now.

The plan to ally with agentorange did not exactly work out as expected - he followed my advice on what to build and did lend me a big pile of credits to help pull off the big drop attack, but then he failed to commit to the plan to attack Sparta with nerve gas needlejets and voted NAY in the Supreme Leader vote. Possibly he was remaining a TRVE ally of Sparta as leading me into war with Morgan would spread out my forces for the impending Spartan attack. Alternatively, he pursued his own agenda.

Had not oldbonebrown heeded my calls to launch the sneak attack on the passing rape copter fleet things would be very different. At first I was not aware he took out the carrier (his style of diplomacy can be... poetic). Spartan retribution was of course harsh, destroying among many things the Maritime Control Center. I always thought Hellraiser would conquer it anyway to throw me off in regards to ship range during his attack. I wanted him to attack Miriam so bad as the two of them still enjoyed commerce, that is why I provocatively launched missiles from Children of God bases. All in all, worked out great though.

As for the elevator, it is of course absurdly OP. With +200% econ in the base and the massive buff to satellites it's good enough on its own. They really should have limited the drop-anywhere ability to units that are located in the base with the project. As it is, all units can drop anywhere. What I did above is how Merc should have played back in the day instead of dropping the game itself. All you need to do is to take out a single beta orbiter interceptor and the house of cards crumbles. Like Hellraiser pointed out they are notoriously dumb units which will rush to defend against attacks any chance they get. This is also how they get your bases gassed, because when they lose battles against air units with nerve gas ability the base then suffers population loss. Only good defenses are Aerospace Complexes plus extremely active patrols to stop anything from reaching your bases - which is a pain to set up - and good old offense, which might well have worked without friendly zealot martyr intervention.

 

[Hellraiser]

Kalin was it the plane north of Eternal Reward, that one pop base on the one tile island? I thought I destroyed that plane during last TURN, but on my last screenshot of the area from the turn just before the RAEP it was still there and it seems I already moved all my shit by the time the screenshot was made. So I am not sure if it was just a brainfart and I forgot to deal with it (could have cockblocked it with units to save Hawk of Chiron) or if that was another plane with me not seeing it due to not having coverage over the area from which it flew to the base.

As I already said, dibs on Sparta again next game. Unless I missed Absinthe or TROYTRON saying they want Sparta next game. Then Lal or Miriam, if Lal is taken. Gonna still try to hold out for a while (and gas Janior 2.0 more, he deserves it) as unlike Lal last game, surrender/mass suicide doesn't fit SPARTA, but obviously ITZ OVER FOR SPARTACELS. Lost like 500 energy per turn from this attack, which is brutal. Definitely not going to make a comeback after that one.

Not surprising it happened, was really just a matter of time. Was surprised it didn't happen sooner since I didn't consider this kind of attack aiming kill off my interceptors as a possible threat and didn't try to avoid it until janior 2.0's locust of chiron got lucky, leading to the loss of Assasin's Redoubt. Panic and horror ensued upon the realization that I did not consider suicide runs on my interceptors, which led to a sell off of all network nodes to fund upgrades and later selling off research hospital, and creches, and hab complexes. Too many things I had to do simultaneously, which again was why I never wanted to go after Miriam, my TURN time went from 1 hour to 2 hours per TURN because of getting janior'd and needing to figure out how to deal with his shit together with Peacekeeping shit.

I did briefly evaluate the idea of taking the maritime control center for myself considering it was a transport cruiser away from my coast, since +2 moves by itself gives a lot of synergies with what I planned, even if I already had a bunch of naval yards built. The long term never checked out since it was obvious everyone would just gang up on me if I started a war against the Believers, Kalin for sure, and I knew that was unwinnable if that happened.

Orbital insertion is too good. If the space elevator didn't give orbital insertion it would be ok, doubled econ at a base and the satellite discount is quite strong, a third bonus on top of that and one so horribly good at that is just too fucking much. Kalin already explained the core of the orbital insertion defense issue while I was still writing this post. I think it is less of a problem in unmodded SMAC since it comes at some late game weird tech I don't even get half of the time because the game ends sooner (Hab Dome tech?). In general I am in favor of moving it to the tech that grants orbital insertion/gravships, so that at least that bonus is negated and there is a chance for symmetry in power projection capability (as long as people catch up in tech or steal it). That's a tech after Tachyon Bolt and 2 techs after quantum reactors which IMO is late enough that people should already have aerospace complexes, copter/jet tech and the means (including industry/economy) to prepare for it without EXTREME measures.

To get 21 (minus one I already had) bases equipped with aerospace complexes I would need to spend 3360 energy if I had an INDUSTRY rating of 0 (it is worse for Sparta as they get -1 INDUSTRY, but that's the trade off for Morale/Police), on top of getting perimeters and defenders where I lacked those and on top of finishing whatever construction I had in progress. Interceptors would be ok if the SMAC implementation wasn't trash, they can and will defend even if they have worse odds than another defender (AAA high defence infantry) and they get no fucking bonus, even my best interceptor would have 1:1 odds at best despite tech parity, and that's just shit for something meant to DEFEND FFS. I realized it back when I tried to come up with nerve gas defense in test scenario that led to AAA psi defence in my game as University, tried testing interception first as a countermeasure, it was so fucking bad. Surprising they don't get +100% on defense or that attacking units don't get an attack penalty if intercepted by scrambled interceptors. What was Firaxis thinking?

 

[Grimgravy]

The backstab was low! I played Morgan as friend to all, enemy of none all game. The hammer fell right after I made a public call for peace! The closest I came to collusion was trying to orchestrate an alliance of "Children of the Playground" to try and steer the Giants of UN and Sparta toward peace. I knew none of the little guys stood a chance of victory unless the Giants beat each other up and then we collectively jumped them (still an unlikely and daunting prospect). Sadly both the other children decided to betray me. Yang's dubious dealings with Lal and the Miram not taking a stand against Lal. I really appreciate oldbonebrown and his peaceful take on the Believers. But I don't understand the whole Lal's bullying me. He killed my buddy Zakharov. He stuck a knife my buddy Morgan's back. Eh, I'll still do what Lal says to save my own bacon. I tried playing up the God aint no coward and you got to fight the evil in front of you angle to no avail. I feel his role play fell apart there at the end in that regard. Otherwise it was great. Satanic Deirdre was nice too. Good game, all!

 

[Kalin]

Well the game died soon after our posts due to repeated crashes on oldbonebrown's turn (wouldn't let him end turn, quite bizarre, expected the usual psi crashes but not that). For the new game I've been thinking it would be cool to give the "SMAC in SMAX" mod-within-the-mod for Thinker a try, naturally with our own house rules and balance changes (as far as possible). Also as it's now possible why not go with a boosted start (big bunch of extra formers, colony pods, maybe credits?) while purging all SMAX tech, abilities, facilities and projects. Back to basics, so to speak, except not really, but yeah really. Also will probably add Steve Rambo hacking audio clip to Information Networks. Vital stuff.

 

[Demo.Graph]

You could also try playing without secret projects at all (except the two Transcendence ones). Or maybe limit yourself to SPs with a single-base effect (Merchant Exchange, Supercollider). It would be interesting to see how MP game would turn out when played on an "equal footing"