Completed Let's Multiplay Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PBEM) - Game 2

[Kalin]

Believing reinforcements have arrived!

Superior Archangels make short work of shoddy satano-communist jets! With the path cleared, the Host of Heaven launch "extra-enhanced witnessing", crushing Hive forces and dramatically reducing enemy production capabilities. U.N. Planetary Trust is hit hard, but still contains throngs of demonized Hiveling soldiers. Fortunately, no Peacekeepers were harmed during the assault - all who failed to escape the rule of the twisted Chairman had been so thoroughly nerve-stapled that every last trace of their humanity was long since gone.

More slaughter as brand new Divine Charioteers air drop to re-take U.N. Humanity Base, which had curiously been left undefended by the horde. As it turned out, the base was surrounded by several Hive rovers, either by chance or as part of an ambush. Nearby choppers easily purged the wretches, allowing the faithful to deprive the Beast of its prize. With no means to hold it, however, they naturally did the only sensible thing.

The sensible thing™

(Remember, they were Hive citizens now - not an ounce of Peacekeeper thought remained in their tortured brains)

In other news, the Almighty was most displeased with the Gaian betrayal. Merely two years ago, they eagerly accepted hefty payment to break their pact with the Hive and provide the faithful with landing and refuelling rights. Violating this sacred promise because the possessed Chairman issues some "threats" is hardly acceptable.

For the crimes of allying with the Hive and cancelling our own pact, Gaian formers have been decimated, Song of Planet has been disciplined and Razorbeak Wood and The Flowers Preach have both been completely obliterated! Let this mighty witness remind our "pacifist" friends whom they really ought to fear!

"And fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

- Matthew 10:28, 23rd Century New Revised Authorized Conclave Bible

Finally, holy fire scorches the now heavily fortified Laborer's Throng, known to house the sole enemy Planet Buster!

Lord God willing, the fiery inferno is but a preview of the immensely more powerful Holy Flame taking the whole base to Gehinnom.

Spoiler

So much killing this turn I lost track halfway.

The turn overall went well but apparently Kalin managed to gas The Leader's Horde reducing it to 4 pop, I am intrigued by how he did it as he shouldn't have anything in range (possibly did a suicide run with jets or choppers?). This is what I get for skimping out on upgrading the garrison there, should have dumped energy into that last turn. Despite that, the Revolution Class Ballistic Thermonuclear Deterrent will still finish in that base on my next turn.

Yep, my Host of Heaven flew out from Song of Planet to launch a kamikaze martyr bombing run! Glorious carnage, but the primary objective to disrupt the production of "Revolution" was of course a failure. Trust the Hivelings to keep on working amidst mass-slaughter, fear of the Chairman and Asiatic racial work ethic is a frightening combination.

 

[Hellraiser]

Well, hiding those rovers was a fuck up.

This is shaping up to be quite the apocalyptic conflict.

 

[Nevill]

Drop troopers are a cheat.

The Believers seem to be vastly overpowering their opponents, and they have all the good SPs, too. Here is hoping the Hive manages to hold. The only hope for them to stay competitive now is either mass Buster bombings or Cloning Vats.

 

[Hellraiser]

Drop troopers are a cheat.

The Believers seem to be vastly overpowering their opponents, and they have all the good SPs, too. Here is hoping the Hive manages to hold. The only hope for them to stay competitive now is either mass Buster bombings or Cloning Vats.

Contrary to what Kalin has shown, the losses were not that bad, besides the drop and raze which did hurt. Attritions is starting to kick in and unless something new arrives on Landmass Prime this turn, he probably won't make any major successful attacks on his next turn on the western front.

 

[Kalin]

Mostly killed cheap units that turn, but the results were still double-plus good. That said, the onslaught does of course continue - the expeditionary units are mostly spent, and things do not look good on the western front. Recently, the Hive has even started renaming Peacekeeping landmarks, and most humorously attempted to reinstate the U.N. Charter to protect the 100% blasphemous and unlawful gains. The proposal was supported by the Hive and the Spartans, but opposed by the University, Believers and Peacekeepers. The latter even used the executive VETO for good measure. ITZ continues, in other words.

Planet Busting has been stalled by back-and-forth maneuvering, with either side emptying bases to prevent them from being targeted. Currently, my Sacred Flame of Purity is in Time of Salvation and makes sure that Laborer's Throng, Society Grid and U.N. Education Agency (which was briefly liberated and lost) cannot launch any Revolution missiles against New Eden. Two such missiles are located in the now nervestapled bastion of Hive heresy called U.N. Mountain Authority, providing cover of most of northern Landmass Prime. Mind Worm response has been quite mild so far, only three boils have tried to interfere with the Lord's work.

Edit: It should also be mentioned that my initial plan for the second buster was to transfer it first to Providence Island, then southwest down to the Peacekeeping New Quake Colony, which is just in range of Socialism Tunnels. Nuking that base would get rid of the accursed digital devil known as the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm and also completely wreck the crater, putting a serious dent in enemy production and defense. Sadly, the Hive has infiltration, and the New Quake Colony is within nuking-range from U.N. Mountain Authority. There just isn't any way to make the master plan work, so back to the drawing board once more.

 

[Hellraiser]

Well, starting a war on this scale without infiltration would be idiotic. Especially when the whole reason for it was that you will get these damn things, and try to use them against me first chance you get.

 

[Hellraiser]

Do note that Kalin's above screen showed only Believing combat, I am mostly busy killing Peacekeeper garrisons, formers, crawlers and such.

As of 2270 there have been just 3 attacks, one of which by the peacekeeping fusion missile chopper. Kalin's attacks were a missile strike killing my Chaos Fusion rover that took a major Peacekeeping base last turn, plus killing my unlucky probe team which found his cheeky silksteel garrison lurking around for some reason no doubt nefarious.

I liberated one former UN base last turn, which Kalin took with his drop rover a turn earlier (why he did not raze it like the last one is a mystery, possibly did not expect me taking it back so fast). He's currently investing in more choppers everywhere and decided to skip dumping minerals into more PBs, favouring more choppers, with just two more PBs building and an ETA of 7 turns on the first of those (possible sooner because rushing). Meanwhile my third PB will be done next turn and that base can finish another PB before any of Kalin's. ITZ quite funny that way.

TBS is busy spending his energy on ECM/AAA fusion garrisons to stall my advance. At some point I may decide its simpler to just nuke those, and thus finish evicting the capitalist menace off Landmass Prime. That will just leave me with the whole Global Thermonuclear War thing to worry about, but ITZ not going anywhere so there's no need to worry about that

Peacekeepers are down to 4 bases on Landmass Prime plus some trash colonies that are overshadowed by much younger and bigger Hive colonies. While my target of conquering the whole continent by this year is off, Operation Black Friday is certainly a success. The question is of course, what is Kalin brewing.

 

[Kalin]

The drop rover ran out of moves.

Also, that silksteel infantry stepped outside because I thought you might nuke the base if it got too crowded with units.

(Oh, and by the way, which of my bases did you inflitrate? One of the Morganite ones? I thought I had the rest covered with Purity Patrol counter-intelligence, shame on me for being sloppy!)

 

[Hellraiser]

The drop rover ran out of moves.

(Oh, and by the way, which of my bases did you inflitrate? One of the Morganite ones? I thought I had the rest covered with Purity Patrol counter-intelligence, shame on me for being sloppy!)

Nope, it was your little isle north of landmass prime (west of New Eden). When TBS finished M/M Interface. Pacts give infiltration so I knew you had no probes there and my inconspicuous fisherfolk finished making a round-trip from the south of landmass prime around the eastern edge. It was actually a backup in case the M/M Interface theft on Quake Island would fail, but I had two probes on the foil bound for Quake Isle so the risk was low. TBS had probes in all his coastal bases but those far in the back.

Once I saw that team succeed I used the fisherfolk to infiltrate your base. Lucky me, as you finished a probe team there some turns later plugging that particular hole.

Unfortunately I did not make screenshots of it, so no Dataleaks legendary thread.

 

[Kalin]

Martyrs of the Lord imitate the glorious witness at The Leader's Horde, double-tapping Paradise Swarming with purifying charges of Novichok-47. The choppers will likely be blown asunder in retaliation, but the pilots can rest easy knowing their deaths will come at a hefty price for the enemy: roughly one million Hiveling thralls, give or take. Truly a great day for the peaceful followers of Christ!

In the west, the Hive has destroyed the Mal'akh Scout Ship which valiantly liberated and razed U.N. Ocean Authority, as well as a Mal'akh Silksteel Guardian Foil, though not without suffering air losses in the process. In response, the Host of Heaven destroyed a Hunluan Dragonfly Gunship, a considerably damaged Hunluan Raider Elite Rover Company and some particularly nasty Hiveling characters masquerading as Paragliding Enthusiasts. In addition, our last Archangel Needlejet Squadron shot down the Adaba Ti Alafia bombers responsible for the destruction of the Mal'akh Guardian. Counter-attacks are expected, and the horde draws ever closer to the few remaining Peacekeeping strongholds.

Meanwhile, Hercules is approaching perihelion, and the Mind Worms, re-classified as being primarily pawns of the counterfeit dragon Satan, are getting uppity in New Eden.

 

[Hellraiser]

The year is 2271, the name of the place, Landmass Prime.

Meanwhile in Seat of Pro(s)per Thought:

Kalin's hax results in silksteel troops gifted to the peacekeepers suddenly appearing in my base. Because bugs.



The Brazilian Slaughter please disband those, no dishonorable moves with it. Or else we rollback and use the....



....time machineeeee.....

In other news:

Communist Revolution strikes, guts capitalist profits by eradicating 16 pop worth of fat cats and various trechearous garrisons hiding next to the city. Note UN Planning Authority which was dekulakized shortly after the nuclear strike! Also I murdered all those Believing misguided crusaders.

The name Fallout Forest turned out to be oddly prophetic. There goes your enclave of demokwacy, I removed that landmark as it was no longer true what it said nor in your territory. At least volt gulf now looks like a gulf.



Socialism marches on towards progress, despite some gas bombings, which were not unlike the nazi terror bombings of London in WW2. Failing to cause any strategic damage, just all show etc.

Now lets see if Hercules perihellion and PB detonations cause Planet to go apeshit.

 

[Hellraiser]

*$#&#$(#$#&$#*$@&@##@*$@$($#&$#*$#*#$*)&#$#)*$#*!(@*Y$)&$!!!
#*$#*#*%#(%#*%#))!!!
!!*&$(%#)#*$#)$#&$#!

##$(#%&#$#($#&%#($#

 

[Kalin]

Following the savage Planet Buster attack on U.N. Equality Village, only two Peacekeeping bases now remain on Landmass Prime.

Brother Lal's military forces are in shambles and most of the Believing reinforcements have [redacted] withdrawn to regroup.

Judging by the facts alone, it would seem that the struggle for the continent is already lost. This, however, would ignore the vastly more important element of FAITH!

There is one ultimate game-changing component that will soon lead to the utter destruction of the Hive: the will of the Almighty Lord God!

Led by the Holy Spirit, our Disciples of Elijah mount their Chariots of Fire to carry out the Divine Will!

Like fire and brimstone from Heaven our zealous brothers and sisters descend upon the satanic stronghold U.N. Aid Station! Every single inhabitant is put to the sword monofilament cyber-machete!

The base itself is stripped for supplies and then demolished, all with the full blessings of Brother Lal. If the Peacekeepers can't have the base, then neither shall the Hiveling horde! Nothing is left for the ravenous enemy to despoil.

In the east, meanwhile, the Lord's Chosen launch Operation Full Flaming Vengeance, attacking Chairman Yang's precious Sea Collective.

Righteous missile bombardment, chaos gun salvos and Novichok-47 enrichment delivers powerful witnessing to the Hiveling scum!

Soon after the attack, enemy leet-speak hackers start flooding the Datalinks with lies and profanity, claiming an entire Host of Heaven squadron was sucessfully "destroyed" by the enemy AAA defenders.

True Believers obviously recognise this pathetic attempt to bolster satanic morale for what it is, remembering that the Lord's Crusaders are under divine protection and cannot even be harmed to begin with!

Classified Mission Records

With the Hiveling "Guards of Peace" blasted into submission, several Mal'akhim Raiders sail into the smoldering base, completely unopposed by the dumbstruck survivors.

As with U.N. Aid Station, Divine Justice is swift and final - not a single Hiveling is left alive to pollute Planet with wretched communism. Yet another brilliant victory for the Thousand-Year Kingdom!

OOC Comments

Doing my best to diminish Hellraiser's gains by means of good old genocidal butchering. Really lucky my scout cruiser could stealth its way south unmolested. Sadly, Hellraiser is pulling back some of his troops to reinforce the east (not much use for them on the soon-to-be-gone western front). I already had to evacuate some troops in Gaian bases - the terms of the Gaian Neutrality Act were "re-negotiated" - since they came into range of a Revolution missile.

Oh yeah, and hats off to Hellraiser for infiltrating Providence Island, particularly since we were still allied at the time. Neglecting mini-Eden like that was a huge mistake on my part. At the beginning of the vendetta I really thought he still lacked infiltration, relying on info from the Gaians and Peacekeepers. Catching that probe team in the fungus near the Morganite bases and seeing those fisherfolk lurk around New Eden before the invasion only helped reinforce the idea, not to mention the comment on how Brozil shared details of the nooka project.

The one advantage I have right now is yehzah, can't really compete with the industry rating, but I can rush production and upgrade units. If only there was some way to kill Shodan in Socialism Tunnels. Things would be so much easier with the killer AI removed.

 

[Hellraiser]

I see you got a new base there in the west, specifically so you could do that. Go figure, that base did not have an aerospace complex nor a fighter.

Speaking of probes, I did this last turn FYI, besides the nuking:

Hive eXtreme-tourism enthusiasts have been camping out deep inside Believing territory for years. They decided to visit a nearby settlement to learn what was going on in the world in those years. Disguised as pilgrims spouting religious drivel about the end being near, xenofungus being the devils spunk and fluoride in your drinking water, they entered the settlement with ease.

Little did they knew that the silly supersititous folk will gift them the knowledge of Organic Superlubricant, recommend by sister Miriam herself to enhance both laser weapons and congress of the flesh.

This unexpected gift boosted the R&D effort of the Hive, allowing great advancements in Advanced (duh!) Spaceflight to be made in record time.

 

[Kalin]

Used my snazzy drop colony pod to build it! Pity the base is now besieged by mind worms.

Also, nice thievan, I was sure the University would get Advanced Spaceflight first!

 

[Hellraiser]

Used my snazzy drop colony pod to build it! Pity the base is now besieged by mind worms.

I figured you used that, you were building them for some reason after all.

 

[Kalin]

"For our holy and blessed struggle is not merely against flesh and blood,
but against the principalities, the powers and the authorities of this dark world,
against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly realms!"

— Ephesians 6:12, New Accurately Revised Conclave Bible


Armageddon has come and nearly all the prophetic requirements for the establishment of the Thousand-Year Kingdom have long since been fulfilled. Just as the joy of the faithful increases with every resolved nano-issue between us and Paradise, so does the desperation, fear and hatred of our ancient foe intensify, for he knows only too well that his well-deserved judgement has never before been so close at hand. Fearful of the punishment he is about to receive, Satan thus wages a furious war against the Lord's Believers, assaulting us both physically and spiritually with the full might of his two armies - the Hiveling horde on Planet and the demonic host in the spiritual realm. His goal is to snare, seduce, pervert and slaughter every faithful Believer, until all of Planet is united in his wretched rebellion against the Throne of the Lord God. It was not for nothing that Saint Peter commanded us:

"Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary the devil moveth about as a roaring boil of worms, seeking whom he may devour.
Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that your brethren throughout the world endure the same kinds of suffering."

— Peter 5:8-9, New Accurately Revised Conclave Bible

Yes, the minions of Satan are indeed mighty, but always keep in mind: their powers are like nothing when compared to those of the Master Builder! While the losses of our Congregation may be upsetting, even shocking to some, the Scriptures categorically teach that only through overcoming difficulties and by suffering with Christ may we become his true co-rulers. We have never claimed that true Believers are immune from physical harm - that would, after all, defeat the whole purpose of free will and the Trials of Job - but on the other hand, Satan and his wretched minions have no power to kill the soul. Even if we would fall, even if our flesh is burnt from our bodies, we know what our eternal reward is, for as Saint John prophesied:

"And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God,
and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.
They came to life and reigned with the Messiah for a thousand years."

— Revelation 20:4, New Accurately Revised Conclave Bible

Therefore, continue to fight Satan with all your might, and keep your faith burning like the Holy Flame!

The end is nigh, your reward is truly just around the corner! Let us all fight Satan and triumph!

Spoiler

Hellraiser's evil choppers intercepted my Templar Fleet, sinking my jolly little invasion force heading for Laborer's Throng. Mighty upsetting stuff, I thought I was in the clear when he didn't mention it in the turn-tracking thread, so I was really looking forward to razing that base and avenging the worst atrocity since Pearl Harbor. No such luck!

Things have gone better on Landmass Two, where Hellraiser obliterated his Monsoon Fort to keep it from falling to yours truly. With the defenders mopped up, there are no more (known) Hive units on the continent. The war in the west rages on, of course, and the Peacekeepers will likely lose their last bases this turn. The good thing is that my genocide campaign purged some 60-70 population.

Since Brozil's army is basically gone, I will now probably face the full flaming fury of the Hive. Our choppers are facing off on Landmass Prime and in the Sea of Leviathan in true Airwolf-style, and heck, Hellraiser even launched a suicide raid on Time of Salvation, the base where I keep my precious nooka. More such suicide choppers are likely incoming, and it wouldn't surprise me if he scored some nasty victory this turn. Need more yehzah, need better tech and I need it yesteryear.

 

[Kalin]

Praise the Master Builder! After twenty years of toil and suffering under the demon of poverty, the unwashed masses of Planet have finally seen the light - or at the very least, an important part thereof! As of 2274 A.D. the Global Prosperity Pact stands triumphant after decades of demonic Hive sabotage, proving once and for all the superiority of the Holy Free Market over the adversary's wasteful and savage "planned" economy. Our income has already been boosted by hundreds of thousands of energy yehudimzahav per year, bringing unrivalled prosperity to our mighty Fortress Zion. (This, of course, does not mean that we should tithe any less to our congregation - we are talking about the Lord God's yehzah, after all, and we are scripturally bound to give the Almighty and His Priestly class their rightful shares.)

As the famous economist Yuris Yuripoulos proclaimed in Earth's final century: "Adam was the first stakeholder and market investor, and finance capital existed from 5000 B.C. when the Lord God made the world." Amen brother! Let us rejoice as the Lord God's eternal blessings of wealth and freedom are bestowed upon all of mankind as it was originally intended! Well, aside from the communist Hiveling horde, of course, but then again, could those demonized, utterly sinful creatures really be called human in the first place? Verily not!

(Vicious rumours of Believing bribes and threats to secure the Council vote are naturally just that - foul lies from Satan himself! Fight him, shun him, pay him no need!)

In other news, zealous air raids by the Host of Heaven have punished the wretched citizens of Deep Community. A handful of survivors still remain to tell the tale of the Lord's fury, but the base itself has been rendered completely insignificant. Unfortunately, the enemy has made some progress on Landmass Three, having successfully conquered U.N. New Quake Colony and U.N. Isthmus Town. In addition, the Hive have completely destroyed Brother Lal's private ITZ Bunker. It remains to be seen if the Peacekeeping contingency plan has been compromised, or if the U.N. leadership may yet evade the horde and begin anew across the ocean.

Akshun overview

Northern Landmass Three

 

[Hellraiser]

I expected that to cruiser to die. My biggest disappointment, as if sea units were already not shit enough (no multiple attacks like rovers/hovertanks) they can't be upgraded with nerve gas.

Deep Community getting gassed was not surprising.

Brother Lol is playing the stalling game as usual, since his power of Bureaucracy makes him only good for that. I hope an Isle of the Deep murders that cruiser colony pod.

Peacekeepers are down to two sneaky colony pods somewhere and four bases. Marine Agency, Settlement Agency (my drop rover will take it unless a chopper found it and killed it in Isthmus Town), that base in the north of Landmass Prime (with both Hive and Believing Planet Busters in range of it) and the one in the west of Landmass Prime (TBS stacked a shitload of defensive crap there).

I would expect TBS to die like a man fighting, but he rather run to make more money off commerce and do nothing else for the rest of the game.



I'll see what else Kalin killed when my turn arrives. My Plasma Shard units are entering the field in bigger numbers so the situation will change slightly.

EDIT: Surprisingly little. Also TBS razed his pop 15 base on Landmass Prime, probably fearing I will take it soon. He settled a sea base near Kalin's ex-Morganite turf on Landmass Two.

Landmass Three has been purged of Peacekeepers, as predicted by Kalin above. Landmass Prime will follow soon, not much left to conquer.

 

[Hellraiser]

Buzz TV Nodecast Headlines
Sol 16/07/2276 19:00 HST

Greetings Citizens of both the Hive and of Planet seeking the Truth that shall allow mankind to transcend.

The major story today is of Victory, the complete Dekulakization of Landmass Prime and Landmass Three! The savage Neo-Kulak overlords of the Peacekeeping State have became so terrified of our victories over their inferior, greedy forces, that they burned down their own cities, killing millions of their exploited proletariat to deny them the liberty of socialism. "Brother" Lal, Neo-Kulak supreme, has ran away in a colony pod to the eastern coast of Landmass Two, near Morganite bases now occupied by the zealots.

With the primary objective of Operation Black Friday finally achieved, parades have been held all across the Human Hive. Some could of course question the logic of using valuable military hardware for such superfluous purposes under the state of Thermonuclear War. However Citizens you must know the truth, the Believers are on the verge of collapse. Their military assets exhausted, following multiple failed attempts at invading Landmass Prime. Their covert air drops have been prevented by our Aerospace Complexes, sensor networks, Dragonfly patrols, Fungal Guard patrols. Annihilated shortly after landing.

The Believing fleet does not exist. It has been sunk. Including the invasion force sent to seize our north-eastern coastal cities, the factories of which are operated by minimum skeleton crews under the threat of Planet Buster strike.

The Believing air force is a shadow of its former self. It has suffered heavy casualties in skirmishes above the Sea of Leviathan, during suicidal terror raids on our great cities, swatted out of the sky by Aeromobile and regular Aerial Guard of Peace. It suffered a tremendous loss during the raid of UN Marine Agency, where two chopper squadrons and one cruise missile battery have been annihilated by out single Hunluan Dragonfly squadron, in addition to the Peacekeeping garisson and the base itself.

Our Aerospace protectors have both the numerical advantage and that of firepower thanks to the new Lei Sheng Plasma Shard Cannons. The heavy losses suffered by the Believers cannot be replenished. Our Great Robotic Factories produce new Lei Sheng Dragonflies and Raiders faster than the Believers can produce their inferior Fusion Laser-armed equivalents.

Just recently a believer base harbouring their weapon of desperation, the "sacred flame of purification" Thermonuclear Planet Buster, has been wiped from the face of the Planet by a single Lei Sheng Dragonfly squadron, the very first to enter the field.

The foe is on the defensive, hastily assembling new kinds defensive troops which will still be no match for our superior forces. The teeth have been knocked out, time to break the limbs of the Believing Beast and go for the kill.

propaganda off, kind of

The past few years have been less intense than the early stages of the war. Kalin tried to push the initiative and did inflict some losses, but ultimately besides the gas raids, he has had little success. He managed to airdrop some rovers on Landmass Prime near the Leader Horde. But luckily I anticipated that and have sabotaged the old road network just turns before and blocked it with silksteel rovers, which killed his fusion laser rovers while defending. Also cleaned up some sneaky rovers found during patrol runs over fog of war.

With TBS on the defensive and seeing Believing movements and production west of the Gaians, I knew I not only had but I needed to move my forces east to counter any raids or invasions.

He possibly tried dropping up north from Song of Planet, but realised that the 8 tile range is just one tile short of land. I picked off nearly all of the land forces by now, which he had few of.

TBS razed his bases which was an unfortunate move. You see he had a ton of units and nothing left to support it with, he wanted to send some colony pods to Kalin's turf but most of those and of his formers were disbanded due to his sole land base getting overtaxed with support. Especially after I noticed that and gassed said base to deny him even more minerals. He's now down to one base which makes the commerce he feeds into Kalin's economy negligible. At the same time razing his two bases saved me the trouble of attacking them.

I had three major victories the past few turns. The first one was finding that damn transport cruiser at best 2 turns away from landing on my northern coast, near the empty bases (since there's a PB in range of them). I expected it to be nearby and my chopper patrol found it hiding in the fungus. There were three units aboard.

The next one was the previous turn. Basically I had a gas chaos chopper cruising towards Lal's last (at the time) sea base which Kalin showed on the shot above. I load my turn, eager to gas it and I see Kalin put this inside it:

It was like Communist Christmas, the timing could not have been better. Chopper got good rolls and killed everything and essentially eliminated Kalin's air support west of New Eden. Which allowed me to do this a turn later, as I could move my new shard chopper without fear of interception:

I attacked the base harbouring the second Believing PB with my shard copters. Nearly got it but ran short of just one move (if I plotted the course a bit less cautiously I could have had that one more attack). This was like going elephant hunting, where you kill all the lions, tigers, hippies, teen campers, park guards and burn the fucking jungle down. Only to see the elephant has suffered just a scratch and that you ran out of ammo. I have no idea if Kalin could move it safely after that or if it instantly exploded. Probably the former since it had fuel.

Our choppers are still duking it out airwolf style over the Sea of Leviathan, but I am replacing my loses far faster.

Oh and yes, this is where Brother Lol is hiding, after I gassed or conquered everything else:

Of course the base is out of minerals and taxed with support.

 

[Hellraiser]

Buzz TV Nodecast Headlines
Sol 19/07/2277 19:00 HST

Greetings Citizens of both the Hive and of Planet seeking the Truth that shall allow mankind to transcend.

Another success for the forces of progress has happened today. The Fungus Preservation Guard vessel "Great Barrier Reef" has taken control of the new Believing Sea Base called "Retribution Base", although the name is merely a theory as the base was freshly erected in secret mere days earlier. The datalinks of the base as well as its location and prior intelligence obtained by Hive operatives indicate the purpose of the base was to be used as a staging area for Believing Planet Busters capable of reaching Re-Education Camp Prime*. Unluckily for the zealots they have failed to locate our fungal guard patrol cruiser within the vicinity of the base, while leaving the base without any sort of garrison probably fearing that troops movements would attract the attention of our Dragonflies.

Hive intelligence officials have confirmed that they expected the base to be erected in that location for years, as the strategic nature of Re-Education Camp Prime and its Cyborg Factory makes it a prime target for Thermonuclear attack. Preventive measures have been taken including the relocation of the Revolution Thermonuclear Deterrent from Yang's Overlook to Re-Education Camp Prime following tell-tale signs confirming the Believing plans of nuclear attack**.

When satellite imagery from the Red Dawn station confirmed the existence of the sea base, the fungal guard cruiser was barely just within striking range. Pushing the fusion reactor to its limits, the ships rushed towards the base before the Believers could reinforce it. Aerial scouts went ahead to confirm the presence of enemy copters blocking the seas and kill such if they were detected. Only this single vessel could take the base before the Believers could man it. It succeeded.

After their heroic assault baffling the zealot workers, the crew has executed the reactionary forces aboard refusing to surrender. Afterwards the base has been renamed to "The Sea Gallows" in honour of the popular war poster "Tick Tock Miriam".

This is not the sole victory this year. The Planetary War of Peace or Planet War raged on. The second great victory was deep beyond the Monsoon Jungle. A heroic Hunluan Dragonfly squadron sneaked past Gaian bases and Believer forces stationing in them, heading east in hope of intercepting the third and newest believing Thermonuclear Terror, which was suspiciously stationed in former morganite territory. Analysts predicted that the dreadful weapon will be heading west, trying to sneak into a Gaian base and strike against the easter coast of Landmass Prime. They were right, the missile was spotted relocating west towards Gaian territory through a base called Noah's Rainbow, a believing backwater of no strategic value with only a token garrison. The prey was spotted and vulnerable, the hunter in position ready to take the kill. The Dragonflies soared and Noah's Rainbow and the horrifying tool of barbarism within it were gone. The Thermonuclear threat has shrunk!

Meanwhile Dragonflies have made bombing runs on New Eden, repaying the zealots of their crimes against the peaceful progressive people of the Hive. Their cities are in flames and this is a mere taste of things to come. Even the new photon wall squads of the Believers proved no match for the Thunder Shards and massive casualties have been inflicted on the Believing industry and garrisons.

Lastly Hive engineers have pioneered our very own Photon Wall armour, vastly superior to that of the Zealots***.

all those *

*UN Headquarters was given a new name, as did all other former Peacekeeper bases.

**This was something I expected for a long time. Two things made me believe this was Kalin's plan. One is that he built a cruiser colony pod back on Landmass Two. Little did he know I had two inconspicuous fisherfolk parked nearby waiting to trail it for easy future tech theft. I saw it was heading straight east on a course around the northern tip of Landmass Three which was suspicious as initially I thought he might want to make a refuelling base between Landmass Two and Three. Then the second thing happened.

The second thing was the sea former I noticed in the sea of leviathan derping around fungus for no reason. I started thinking what it could be doing and why. Either he wanted to clear up sea lanes for his transport ships (he had one at best at the time and no escort) or he wanted to make room for a base. So I checked how far from UN HQ that was and I get slightly less than 16 tiles, which is bad.

I killed the former recently, but my cruiser transport doing recon (that one you killed later, Kalin, that's what it was doing there all empty FYI) actually detected it a few turns earlier and I did not want to tip off Kalin that I know. Indeed the only reason I killed it, is because I foolishly ended up with some unit next to it revealing it with no moves left already showing I spotted it. With being unable to feign ignorance of it I killed it before it could run or finish its ecological holocaust. At the time UN HQ had no planet buster in it (Yang's Overlook was further away from New Eden and less at risk of gas chopper attack).

The confirmation came when Kalin suddenly rushed a PB in the west of New Eden and the cruiser pod was still MIA and by my estimate at best 2 turns away from the expected sea base location within nuking range of UN HQ. I moved my PB to Re-Education Camp Prime/UN HQ ASAP and started moving choppers north preparing for the battle that could make or break this war. Kalin probably noticed the PB in UN HQ and decided to donate the cruiser pod to the dying peacekeepers (too reap more commerce) opting to build a fusion sea colony foil in New Eden instead. He kind of hesitated with the settling of the sea base, probably waiting for more SAM choppers or AAA troops. Not sure about that but that it was to my benefit as it allowed me to get more choppers into position. I think the base was empty precisely because Kalin wanted to have his new Photon Wall AAA troops sitting behind an aerospace complex, which he rushed inside it, before it could be Gas Attacked.

***Of course I stole it with a an inconspicuous fisherfolk vessel. Kalin feared I'll gas his other base on that small isle west of New Eden so he disbanded or moved his silksteel probe garisson out of it and my cruiser probe happened to be in the vicinity after all that cruiser pod trailing.

images and short description for the ADHD crowd

The deed:

The aftermath, including the result of Plasma Shard gassing of Time of Salvation where Kalin's Planet Buster overlooking my northern Cape of Pacifism is stationed (used to be size 14):

Noah's Rainbow, where the Planet Buster was caught in transit:

This time the elephant went down as did the jungle of course:

More gas raids, once again the base was size 14 prior to the attack:

 

[Hellraiser]

Buzz TV Nodecast Headlines
Sol 25/07/2278 19:00 HST

Greetings Citizens of both the Hive and of Planet seeking the Truth that shall allow mankind to transcend.

This day is another important date in the conquest of Space. Following the expansion and construction of new Spaceports, two Orbital Power Arrays have been completed and are now fully operational, putting the Hive at the forefront of the colonization of Near Space. The twin Stars of Progress shall provide plentiful energy for all in the Hive, as is befit of every socialist endeavour. Indeed the space effort is a pure communist effort, for all benefit equally from the fruits of our program. These are the first operational Orbital Power Plants and they are unlikely to be copied by other factions due to our superior technology and industry as well as superior understanding of Space Travel, granted to us by the Progenitor Artefact.

Other factions are now behind the Human Hive, which has deployed three large orbital structures with only the University and their Orbital Farms and the sole, crude and likely to de-orbit by itself soon Believing installation circling Chiron. Just as we lead in civilizational and human progress on Chiron we also lead in space! Another triumph showing the Ultimate Truth of the Chairman's Vision of Progress. Peace, Progress, Prosperity citizens, this is what the space endeavour is all about, as is with the rest of the Human Hive.

In Planet War news, combat is mostly focused inside Believing territory, with no sightings of hostile aircraft, naval vessels or land forces within Hive borders. Hive Casualties have been the lowest in years and are mostly related to bold new offensives targeted against Believing military assets. The foe has deployed crude Thunder Shard imitations, no doubt hastily reverse-engineered and assembled from the scrap found in wreckages of the few Hive Dragonflies to be lost during our successful raids. Nevertheless Aerospace Protector Supreme, General Cloaked Figure, has stated that these new air superiority helicopters have done little to prevent the latest air strike on Time of Salvation.

However amongst our casualties was the Great Barrier Reef, which did not manage to evacuate The Sea Gallows before zealot retaliation. Guard of Peace officials predict the Believers lack the naval assets needed to retake the base this year.

The latest Revolution class Ballistic Missile Thermonuclear Deterrent has been completed in Socialism Tunnels, allowing the Hive to safeguard more cities with its first strike potential. In addition to the massive number of new Lei Sheng Dragonflies and Raiders entering service every year, our military might continues being unsurpassed and the day of Miriam's execution draws near.

In Prosperity news, the now Kulak-Free northern half of Landmass Prime is undergoing industrial and urban development, now that the region is safe from capitalist hostility. Many refugees who survived the brutal butchering of their cities committed by the beast-like criminal Pravin Lal, have relocated to the new settlement established on the ruins of UN Humanity Base.

satellite status and power rankings 2278

Cassidy had the lead in space for a time, but both me and Kalin saw no reason to get more skyfarms than is needed to get full map data. Not much has been happening in this area because other factions, even if they have spaceflight, have little reason to favour building a satellite over most facilities. Not to mention the requirement of possesing an Aerospace Complex.

Brother Lol got fed tech by the Believers, taking Zakharov's spot in the tech lead (and Cassidy was just celebrating last turn that he finally was in the tech lead).

University is leading in wealth because me and Kalin are spending, spending, spending on weapons of war.

Gas attacks on the Believers have yet to put a significant dent in their power ranking, but it is not a gap between graphs that's the objective of those.

Overall I suffered just two attacks last turn, both of which were expected. Kalin moved his wounded PB further east to New Jerusalem, either fearing I may attack it after the last air raid on a base nearby in the western part of New Eden. Or he's planning something no doubt genocidal.

 

[Nevill]

Well, at least the Hive is winning the propaganda war.

 

[Kalin]

The gratitude of every home in New Eden surely goes out to the Host of Heaven, who undaunted by odds, and unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, slowly but surely turn the tide of the Great War by their prowess and devotion to the Lord God. Not since the great sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has so much been owed by so many to so few. Our hearts go out to these pilots, whose brilliant actions we witness clearly, for cautious as winged serpents among the vicious air wolves of the adversary, our outnumbered angels rain Holy Fire upon the inhuman hordes of the Hive, whose only means of securing "victories" is wasteful suicide attacks in which their losses outnumber ours by two to one. Day by day, night after night, month after month, until the Dawn of Victory itself, our blessed angels shall grow in number and in righteous ferocity, destined to move on from merely defending our homes to once again wrecking the diseased lands of the communist devils, slaughtering their soldiers, blasting their bases and gassing all of the soulless, satanic sub-humans who wear the Mark of the Beast upon their foreheads!

Rest assured, the advance of the Hiveling horde is being stopped dead in its tracks. Retribution Base, momentarily lost to the enemy, has been liberated by our Miriam Youth Marines. Rather than to surrender it a second time, its defenders have valiantly followed the base to the depths, slaughtering several Hiveling pilots in the process. Time of Salvation, though ravaged by nerve agents maliciously developed to bypass the holy blessings of our Longevity Vaccine, still stands defiant and ready to face the enemy. On Landmass Three, our mighty fortress New Masada stands strong and devoted as well, having recently obliterated the demonized "Lei Sheng" Raiders feebly attempting to approach its battlements, as well as the inferior plasma-shard "Dragonflies" which are truly no match to our Cherubim Squadrons.

Even in space, our backwards enemy cannot hope to match the spirit-directed progress of the Lord God's chosen! While the Hive and University play at sending their pitiful power transmitters into orbit, the Lord's Believers have colonised Nessus itself, the outer moon of our beloved Planet! Our entirely automated Garden of Creation industrial complex is now one hundred per cent operational, providing us with vast amounts of biomechanical parts, living tools and military fuels, all of which are sorely needed in the Holy War against the beastly Hive. Surely this great and powerful witness is ample proof that while Satan may bruise our heel in this our final battle, we, the Chosen, shall thoroughly CRUSH his head, triumph over the unclean beasts in his employ and banish them all to the eternal torments of hellfire! Amen!

 

[Kalin]

Chrispard Baxton piloted his Cherubim Attack Helicopter across the fungal vortexes in the Sea of Leviathan, destroying three waves of Hiveling Dragonfly squadrons and sinking an entire armada, saving several of our bases on New Eden. We immediately secured his identity manifests and repackaged him into the Cherubim Pilot Hawke character with a multi-tiered media campaign: televids, touchbooks, holos, empath-tours--the works. People need heroes. They don't need to know how he died being blown to pieces by the Hive interceptors, or that he had the help of at least four squadrons of Cherubim to score his kills, most of which are now resting at the bottom of the sea. That story would just hurt sales, and dampen the spiritual strength of our Congregation.

— "Paradise through Profit"
Miriam Holy Marketing Keynote Speech