Author Topic: Assemble the Minions!  (Read 14542 times)

Offline Winge

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 601
Assemble the Minions!
« on: September 20, 2012, 07:38:09 pm »
Game Setup:
Map:  80 Planet Map, Lattice, Seed:  205956825, Bonus Ship:  Youngling Vulture

Enemy:  8 Mad Bomber, 8 Support Corps.  Was going to do Randoms, but I have a lot of Achievements unearned, and they are starting to bug me.  I've never faced anything higher than 7/7 either, so this could be fun.

Expansions:  all except Ancient Shadows (come to Steam soon!!!)

Ship Options:  Complex Ships, nothing excluded, Normal Caps

Minor Factions:
Human Marauders 4/10
Human Colony Rebellions 4/10
Zenith Dyson Sphere 4/10
Zenith Devourer
Neinzul Rocketry Corps 4/10
Neinzul Roaming Enclaves 4/10
Spire Civilian Leaders

AI Modifiers:
Schizophrenic Waves (for flavor, not difficulty.  Honest!)

AI Plots:
Astro Trains and Beachheads on both


PS:  If anyone can explain how to insert pictures in with text, like I see some users doing, I'd like to know.  Either an explanation or a link to a forum post would be much appreciated!
« Last Edit: September 20, 2012, 07:47:17 pm by Winge »
My other bonus ship is a TARDIS.

Offline Winge

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 601
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2012, 07:38:44 pm »
Game Start:  First things first.  I get a few sniper turrets up, just in case (and to tickle any turret trains that happen to walk through), and build up some basic infrastructure.  I plan to use mostly starships and Enclave drone spam (hence the name of the AAR), so I build some fleet ships for defense.  I will fill in with more turrets shortly, once I determine what my immediate threats, if any, are.

0:03:  Initial scouting shows that I am in a very interesting portion of the galaxy.  My homeworld is Cloud (P9).  Immobilize has a Grav Drill (lol?) with a CSG-E.  I will take that world fairly early for the defensive value and the extra resources.  Vanishga (P3) has a Co-Processor.  Shellga (P3) has the Superterminal (low AIP game!!!).  Holy (P1) is a mark IV world with a CSG-D.  I will probably look elsewhere for that CSG…  Shock (P1) doesn’t have anything special, but it is another mark IV world.  Fun times.  I am going to build up some more defenses and start suiciding scouts into nearby planets.  I would feel bad, if they weren’t unmanned…

0:06:  Looks like basic scouts will go pretty far this game (I got in the habit of checking for scout-killers after unlocking Scout II’s against a Counterspy, without realizing the AI type).  Unlocking Scout II’s and Spire Starships (for the Grav Drill).  Building a few Leech Starships to get a leg up on the first few waves.

I think the RNG is trolling me.  Three Co-Processors are within 2 hops of my home planet.  Any bets that the 4th is on an AI homeworld?  Unfortunately, the Grav Drill is also in the worst possible spot on that planet.  I might have to get a stronger lvl Mil station this game.  Be a first, that’s for sure.  I prepare my colonization fleet.  Never hurts to get started early.

0:14:  Devourer Golem comes to Cloud.  What idiot enabled that thing?  Oh, right, that would be me.  Let’s see if he will leave me alone or if he wants to play.

0:15:  Transports cause the Devourer to leave me alone, no ships lost.  Gotta remember that feature.  First wave:  151 ships, 2 starships.  Definitely more than I’m used to for the first wave.  I don’t think that includes the Support Corps either…

0:18:  Hadn’t paid much attention to the enemies’ bonus ships yet.  They have Bombards, Chameleons, Electric Bombers, Youngling Tigers, and Youngling Weasels.  Cutlasses added from the Mad Bomber.  That’s going to be annoying.  Unlocking Gravity Turrets now.  Also, found the Dyson world, 3 hops from home.  Are Lattice maps normally this interesting?  I might have to play them more often.

0:26:  I think that, aside from when I played a 10-planet map, that is the earliest I have ever scouted a core world.  Gravity (P8) has way too many Mark V’s to be anything else.  The Ion Cannon/Orbital Mass Driver/Warhead Interceptor is another clue.  Still working on scouting other worlds.  Scout II’s aren’t getting as far as I hoped.  I might resort to using Scout Starships.  I hate having to change the ‘Brave Scout Starship’ control every game.   At just before 30 minutes, I get Spire Starships, and start clearing the Grav Drill world.

0:32:  Special Forces trying to defend a Grav Drill world.  This should be cute.  I think I’ll prune their numbers a bit.  AI has Autocannons.  I hate cloaked AI ships.  Seems I have to get the Decloaker every game now.   Have to build my first Matter Converter.

0:45:  Roaming Enclaves.  Pop the Grav Drill Command Center.  2nd wave hits for around 150ish ships.  I love leaches on Defense; I’ve picked up 12 Electric Bombers, along with a few other units.  Might just leave the Leeches on Defense.  Time to start fortifying the Grav Drill world.  Stupid Drill is in the worst possible spot…Oh well, goodbye Matter Converter.  Time to build up my Starship fleet, now that I have some spare Energy and resources.

Unlocking FF II, Missle Turret II.  Putting 2/3s a cap of Missle Turret I’s on the Grav Drill world, in Hopes that they can help me keep that Drill going.  Broke again from buying starships, so I’m back to scouting around.

1:00:  Ouch.  +10 AIP from Spire Civies.  At 41 right now.  I’ve got to find them soon, and get them working for me.  I’m a much nicer Overlord, honest.  Scouting shows this to be a brutal map a few hops away from home.  Both nearby ARS are covered by Interplanetary Munitions Boosters (Stampss is on the same planet, Fira’s is located on Blinda).  Fira has a Data Center too.  Getting past Esuna will be a major pain; it has over 600 mark IV ships.  I can barely get scouts past it.  Not sure why there are so many on that planet in particular; I just barely put it on alert, and the Devourer Golem hasn’t cruised by there often (he seems to like the left side of the galaxy.  I guess there are more cookies there).

Finally having enough resources, I set my defensive Space Docks on Auto-build.  I will have plenty of Triangle ships on defense, that’s for sure.

1:06:  Devourer Golem went right through Esuna, but didn’t do anything.  How could he ignore so many cookies?

Found my first Spire Civilian Leader, on Wakka.  I’ll need to clear a path through two mark IV worlds to get there.  Unlocking Zenith Starships for a bit more oomph.  Sleepga had at least one EMP Guardian and 2 Self-Destruct guardians when I last scouted.  Oh joy.  At least Holy seems surprisingly empty.  Must be the Devourer.  Ugh, have to build a Matter Converter again.  Starship energy costs still seem a bit too high to me.

1:15:  Next wave is 476.  Good grief, that got big quick.  I need to locate the last Co-Processor, and find some low-hanging, anti-AIP fruit.

1:21:  Found a Data Center on Charm, right next to Cure.  I sent Raid Starships to pop it, while engaging the AI on Holy.  Raid Starships get caught on the way by Gravity Guardians.  I hate those things so much.  Raids get the Data center, but none of them survive to tell the tail.  I’m used to Data Centers giving less than 20 AIP reduction  :*(.  Marauders join the chaos at Holy.  Not wanting to lose any more starships, I withdraw from Holy.  I let the Vultures cover my retreat.  Could be worse.

State of the empire:  I have 6,750 K unspent, that won’t last long.  One matter converter, 25,740 net energy, decent resources.  AIP is at 26.  I have about half of the galaxy scouted; I think I can get 5-6 more planets without unlocking more scouts or clearing lanes.  My main concern is keeping the Civies from doing too much AIP damage next hour.  Second is clearing Esuna to get to the ARS/Data Center world, as well as scouting more than one planet past the border.  I need to free the Dyson Sphere world sometime too, but I think I’ll wait until I get a little more AIP reduction under my belt.   Defenses are holding VERY well so far—I think that I have GAINED ships with each attack.  Definitely leaving the Leech Starships on defense.

« Last Edit: September 20, 2012, 07:44:57 pm by Winge »
My other bonus ship is a TARDIS.

Offline Diazo

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,717
  • I love/hate Diff 10
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2012, 08:23:01 pm »
I'll be watching this one with interest, it has been quite a while since I've seen an AAR with beachheads that has cross-planet waves disabled.

PS:  If anyone can explain how to insert pictures in with text, like I see some users doing, I'd like to know.  Either an explanation or a link to a forum post would be much appreciated!

What you need here is the http: link to the picture that then gets stuck in the img tag bbcode.

For example, the image from your first post is at: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11699.0;attach=6038;image so put that in your post as follows:

Code: [Select]
[img]http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11699.0;attach=6038;image[/img]

The img and /img is the bbcode img tag I am talking about.

That ends up with:



The trick I use is to post with the img tags, then right-click on the attachment at the bottom of my post and 'Copy Link Location' to get the http: path, then use the modify post function to insert the images.

Hope that helps.

D.

edits:

Also, found the Dyson world, 3 hops from home.  Are Lattice maps normally this interesting?  I might have to play them more often.

I find they are, I've been playing lattice pretty much exclusively since it came out.

Quote
I think that, aside from when I played a 10-planet map, that is the earliest I have ever scouted a core world.  Gravity (P8) has way too many Mark V’s to be anything else.  The Ion Cannon/Orbital Mass Driver/Warhead Interceptor is another clue.

Interesting. Looking at the map layout I would not have expected to see a Core world there at all. Usually the first homeworld is seeded as many hops from your start location as possible with the second AI homeworld seeded as many hops as possible from both the first AI homeworld and your start location. This rule is not 100% accurate though so I guess you've found one of the exceptions.

If one of the AI homeworlds is in the bottom right quadrant of the map, my guess would have been farther out at Barret.
« Last Edit: September 20, 2012, 08:59:32 pm by Diazo »

Offline KDR_11k

  • Hero Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 904
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2012, 07:26:05 am »
I'll be watching this one with interest, it has been quite a while since I've seen an AAR with beachheads that has cross-planet waves disabled.

Don't get too excited, 8/8 without FS isn't very high intensity, you don't need to fortify systems with fortresses or entire turret caps, your mobile forces can stop pretty much anything being thrown at you so the impact of Beachheads is rather minor.

Offline Diazo

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,717
  • I love/hate Diff 10
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2012, 09:36:27 am »
I would not be so sure.

This is lattice map, he's going to have multiple entries into his territory, at least until some gate raiding happens (well, if it happens depending on his playstyle). That's going to spread his turrets and fleet out.

Having said that, I have not played 8/8 recently so I'm not sure exactly what intensity that will end up with.

D.

Offline KDR_11k

  • Hero Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 904
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2012, 12:55:11 pm »
I mostly play at that level, outside of waves the AI's forces aren't very dangerous so you can always move your fleetships into position before serious attacks arrive and those attacks aren't strong enough to overcome your mobile firepower. In other words, you don't need fortresses or turret balls to defeat the AI's advances and thus a beachhead won't have much impact on your defense (except maybe for unshielding critical targets like adv facs or fabricators).

Offline Diazo

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,717
  • I love/hate Diff 10
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2012, 01:12:12 pm »
Interesting.

I will admit I was overlaying my own experience with my current game where I am having a difficult time defending multiple fronts.

However, as I am on difficulty 9 so that is to be expected. (See my Heroic Fortress King AAR for more details, this is Winge's thread, not mine.)

Looking forward to your next game session Winge, lattice maps are always interesting for me to read about as their are always multiple strategic options available.

D.

Offline Winge

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 601
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2012, 04:42:16 pm »
I'll be watching this one with interest, it has been quite a while since I've seen an AAR with beachheads that has cross-planet waves disabled.

I realized last night that I might need to rethink my defensive strategy with them (better now than the first wave I encounter them!).  With Neinzul unlocks and Support Corps backup, I don't know if I can count on mobile defenders to kill the Beachhead quickly enough.  Considering I do not plan to gate raid my home command, that could be very dangerous--I'd rather not lose my rather-low HP home command station just because mobile defenders aren't quick enough.  Time for a little wiki research...

The trick I use is to post with the img tags, then right-click on the attachment at the bottom of my post and 'Copy Link Location' to get the http: path, then use the modify post function to insert the images.

Hope that helps.

D.

Very much so!  Can/should I remove the attachments after I link the image?

Quote
I think that, aside from when I played a 10-planet map, that is the earliest I have ever scouted a core world.  Gravity (P8) has way too many Mark V’s to be anything else.  The Ion Cannon/Orbital Mass Driver/Warhead Interceptor is another clue.

Interesting. Looking at the map layout I would not have expected to see a Core world there at all. Usually the first homeworld is seeded as many hops from your start location as possible with the second AI homeworld seeded as many hops as possible from both the first AI homeworld and your start location. This rule is not 100% accurate though so I guess you've found one of the exceptions.

If one of the AI homeworlds is in the bottom right quadrant of the map, my guess would have been farther out at Barret.
[/quote]

That or Sleep (not sure if there's a rule for how close the AI's Home Command Stations can be to each other).  I think that Poach and Fran are the prime candidates for the other AI Homeworld, with Kimahri being a dark horse option.
My other bonus ship is a TARDIS.

Offline Diazo

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,717
  • I love/hate Diff 10
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2012, 05:35:06 pm »
I'll be watching this one with interest, it has been quite a while since I've seen an AAR with beachheads that has cross-planet waves disabled.

I realized last night that I might need to rethink my defensive strategy with them (better now than the first wave I encounter them!).  With Neinzul unlocks and Support Corps backup, I don't know if I can count on mobile defenders to kill the Beachhead quickly enough.  Considering I do not plan to gate raid my home command, that could be very dangerous--I'd rather not lose my rather-low HP home command station just because mobile defenders aren't quick enough.  Time for a little wiki research...

Beachheads are HARD, my personal estimate for enabling them is a difficulty and a half, so a difficulty 7 AI with beachheads enabled is about equal to a difficulty 8.5 AI with beachheads disabled for my game setups.

Quote
The trick I use is to post with the img tags, then right-click on the attachment at the bottom of my post and 'Copy Link Location' to get the http: path, then use the modify post function to insert the images.

Hope that helps.

D.

Very much so!  Can/should I remove the attachments after I link the image?

No, that will delete the attachment from the forums and so the img tag will break as there is now nothing at the link put in them.

Quote
Quote
Quote
I think that, aside from when I played a 10-planet map, that is the earliest I have ever scouted a core world.  Gravity (P8) has way too many Mark V’s to be anything else.  The Ion Cannon/Orbital Mass Driver/Warhead Interceptor is another clue.

Interesting. Looking at the map layout I would not have expected to see a Core world there at all. Usually the first homeworld is seeded as many hops from your start location as possible with the second AI homeworld seeded as many hops as possible from both the first AI homeworld and your start location. This rule is not 100% accurate though so I guess you've found one of the exceptions.

If one of the AI homeworlds is in the bottom right quadrant of the map, my guess would have been farther out at Barret.

That or Sleep (not sure if there's a rule for how close the AI's Home Command Stations can be to each other).  I think that Poach and Fran are the prime candidates for the other AI Homeworld, with Kimahri being a dark horse option.

Will be interesting to see. AI homeworlds are usually on roughly opposite sides of the map.

Taking a second look, I would not be surprised at Revive either in addition to the ones you listed.

D.

Offline keith.lamothe

  • Arcen Games Staff
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 19,505
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2012, 05:38:31 pm »
For the AI homeworlds, it tries to put the first AI homeworld at or near the farthest point possible from all human homeworlds, and it tries to put the second AI homeword at or near the farthest point possible from all human homeworlds AND the first AI homeworld.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games? Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline KDR_11k

  • Hero Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 904
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #10 on: September 21, 2012, 05:54:47 pm »
Beachheads are HARD, my personal estimate for enabling them is a difficulty and a half, so a difficulty 7 AI with beachheads enabled is about equal to a difficulty 8.5 AI with beachheads disabled for my game setups.

I think they scale heavily with the AI difficulty. Against 7s you can afford to gate raid or even conquer all planets threatening high priority targets like the HW or Fac IV thus keeping the things away from those targets and nothing else is affected much by the Beachheads (again, you can easily defend with all your turrets and forts offline) so the difficulty increase is almost 0. Diff 7 games don't need chokepoints since defense is so easy. On your diff 9-10 games you can't afford the AIP from securing your high priority planets against Beachheads and you cannot rely solely on your mobile forces to stop all AI incursions so the supply cutoff is much more severe.

Offline Winge

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 601
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #11 on: September 21, 2012, 10:10:59 pm »
 As of my last session, I realized something quite critical.  I have Beachheads enabled, I plan to tank waves at Home, and the enemy has very fast unlocks (Neinzul + Speed Boosters).  The last thing I need is to lose simply because the AI was quicker to my home than I was to a Beachhead.  Not sure if Gravity Turrets work without supply (probably not), I decided to go another route:  Mines.

1:25:  Unlocking EMP mines.  I will use these, in conjunction with regular mines, to try and eliminate the threat.  Neinzul themselves are immune to mines, but not Paralysis attacks.  As such, I will EMP mine the wormholes that threaten my home to stall out the primary threat that I might face.  Regular mines will help a bit in case of a stray Raid Starship coming through too.  Technically, the setup would render me to Train + Beachhead, but Trains haven’t really been through my planets much.  Not sure why.  Unlocking Basic Turrets II for a few more defenses/drones.

1:31:  Mark IV planets are proving difficult to push through—not helping that every single guardian on them wakes up when I enter (don’t think I have that much FP in my fleet yet).  Going to have to wait for Heavy Bomber or Siege Starships, I think.

1:37:  Pop into Holy to clear the threat from Sleepga, have to turn around almost immediately to repair.  Fun fact:  I hate Zenith Bombards.  Fun fact 2:  the AI loves to unlock Zenith Bombards against me.  The threatball foolishly suicide into my defenses.  Silly AI.  Considering capturing Vivi (P0) for the Zenith Power Generator.  I don’t want to boost AIP any more than I already am, not before I find a few more Data Centers or the last Co-Processor.  Wave of 147 ships to launch to Immobilize.  Yeah, let me know how that works out for you.  Adding a few EMP mines there to keep the wave from immediately becoming threat, and a few more turrets to speed up destruction of any attacks.  I’m already down to around 3,000 Energy…I grudgingly build another Matter Converter.


1:43:  Wave launches right next to Immobilize’s command station.  They take out the Power Generator, putting me in brownout, followed quickly by the Command Station.  Grav Drill survives the attack, and I manage to rebuild quickly.  Down Wakka’s command center to free the Civilian Leaders.  That brings next hour’s AIP burst down to +6.  Bit more manageable.



1:48:  Curaga has a Data Center and an Advanced Factory.  While I really won’t make use of the Advanced Factory this game, I may need to take it for the CSG-B.  We shall see.  I’ll take that Data Center now, though...rebuilding Raids.  On the other side, Blizzaga has an ARS and a Spire Archive.  That means that Dark is another core world, and Reflectga must be one of the AI homeworlds.  Marked accordingly.

1:52:  Another Spire Civilian Leader found on Blizzard.  With a Black Hole Machine.  Right next to the ARS/Spire Archive world.  That’s just not right  >:(  I might use my Raids to snipe that leader, rather than try to free it.  Considering I am still building Raid Starships and have no economy, I probably won’t have to worry about it this hour.

1:55:  Raids destroy the Data Center on Curaga.  No real surprise, Riots die afterwords.  I would upgrade them, but I still have no resources..  The AI threat decides to run onto Cloud.  They do not fare too well.  Threat now down to 4, AIP back down to 31.  It should increase to 37 after the next Civilian Leader tick.

2:00:  Civilian Leaders tick.  Yup, AIP at 37.  AI said “Did you think we wouldn’t see.”  Never seen something that before…wonder if that had to do with me scrapping an unnecessary scout.  I’m having trouble getting intel on the last few worlds, so every scout counts.  Aeroga has another Civilian Leader.  Esunaga, just beyond it, has a Data Center.  Both should be nice targets for sniping.

2:06:  365 Ships and 3 Starships to Immobilize.  This time, I’m getting Spire Starships near the CC, just in case they warp in that wormhole.  So mad at the RNG for that Gravity Drill placement.  Considering moving my CC to the other wormhole, and splitting my defenses a little bit.

*******************************************************************************************************************
EXTRA!  EXTRA!  Read all about it!
This just in:  Spire Starships are made out of a very advanced material formed from wet tissue paper, aluminum foil, and plastic wrap, sealed together with hot butter.  Also, Marauders are a bunch of pansies who don't have the courage to fight the AI.  Sorry, had to get that off my chest  :-X
*******************************************************************************************************************

2:28:  Progress is really slow.  Decided to free the Dyson, then strike at the Data Center on Protect while trying to finish scouting on this side of the galaxy.

2:29:  Dyson freed.  Too many Gatlings and freed Barracks, so I’ll have to come back for the Data Center.  Only lost one Raid…that’s a first.  PS:  I hate Interplanetary Munitions Boosters.  I’d kill them, but I don’t want the same AIP I get for killing a AI Command Center.

2:43:  Almost defeated by the random number generator.  Combined waves with Cutlasses against Immobilize.  Lost the Grav Drill.  Literally scrapped my Cloakers+Enclaves to power shields around my Home Command Station in time.  RIP Low Power mode.  Last save was hours ago, not worth the scum.  Oh well, I guess I’ll relocate the Immobilize Command Center.  RNG or no, I will beat this AI.  I might have to change my Starship strategy, though.  The buff really wasn’t enough to justify the Energy cost increase.

2:47:  Almost rebuild, unlocking Cloaker II’s.  I’m going to try and raid a few Civies before the next hour.  Given my luck so far, I’m not thinking it will go well.

2:51:  There is something very off about the AI’s response to attacks this whole game.  Even the most basic incursions will cause the whole planet to attack me.  Is this related to the AI difficulty?  Scrapping my original gameplay plan.  Time to blob!  8)

3:00:  Still rebuilding.  Civilian Leaders tick, up to 63 AIP now.  I swear, the minor factions and RNG are worse than the AI difficulty level this game.  Haven’t even seen a Beachhead yet…I probably shouldn’t say that…  :-X

3:09:  My attacks have done one thing:  I’ve cleared a lot of Tachyon Guardians.  Let’s try a Raid with Raid Starships and Cloakers.  Wave incoming for 372, 3 to my home.  I have a ton of Turrets in place, so I should be ok.  I’m more worried about the Counter Post(s) I’ll have to pop to free the next few Civilians.

3:16:  Popped Aeroga’s Command Center, freeing another Civilian Leader.  That should put me at +2 AIP/hour.  One more, and I will start dropping AIP per hour.  That would be nice…not sure if it’d be worth the cost.  I am considering killing the remaining Civilians instead.  My next targets will be the Data Centers on Protect and Esunaga, followed shortly by the ARS on Infuse.

3:22:  Protect Data Center down, lost all Raid Starships.  What on earth is the AI hitting them with?  AIP at 68.  Also, found an interesting Feature.  Souleater has a Planet Cloak, but I can still see the Civilian Leader if I enable the AI Progress Reducer filter.  I guess you technically could tell what the planet had, if you could scroll through the list of cloaked enemies.  I might have to create a Mantis for something like that.

3:42:  Esunaga’s Data Center is destroyed, one Raid lost.  AIP now at 53.  Wouldn’t have lost any, but an Astro Train tagged my Cloakers while en-route to Aeroga.  I want to free the Bravery Civilian Leader as well.  That would put me at -2 AIP for the 4th hour.


3:53:  Low on time, I am attempting to eliminate the AI Command Center on Bravery, to free the Civilian Leaders there.  All of the defenders were freed in my last attempt.  Gogo gadget Raids+Cloakers!!!

3:54:  Raid Successful.  That’s 3 leaders freed, so my AIP for this hour will be +7 -9.  I’ll take it.

3:55:  Uh oh…I freed an EMP Guardian III trying to get the Poison Data Center, and it’s coming from the worst possible direction.  I’ll see if I can intercept it on Esuna.

3:56:  Nope, too much enemy firepower on Esuna.  Immobilize is going to have to tank the EMP.  Still have a defense squad waiting on Cloud.

3:58:  That went surprisingly well.  Gravity Turrets held the AI in place (despite EMP, bug?), while I picked off their forces with Missle Frigates and my other defenders.  I lost a lot good number of my reclaimed ships, though.  Unlocking Raid II’s.  Only reason I haven’t yet is because I haven’t had the resources, but that will change very soon.

4:02:  Civilian leaders tick off; I am now at 71 AIP, with a floor of 29.  I have no knowledge or resources, but I am not running any Matter Converters, and I’ve stopped the Civilian Leader AIP bleed.


Scouting has revealed all but two of the Civilian Leaders, the second Advanced Factory world—Red XIII—complete with Data Center (yay!) and Missle Silo (ugh!).  I have fully explored the Northern section of the Galaxy and all but two planets on the East side, but Esuna is keeping me from scouting any further East.  I suspect that the final Co-Processor is hiding in the East too.  My next task is to raid the Data Center on Poison, followed by Neutering Esuna (finally!).  I now know why Esuna has so many defenders, btw:  the AI focused on Autocannons there ><.  Add in two Ion Cannons, and it will be an annoying world to deal with.  I want to capture Kimahri and Infuse soon to get the ARS stations there and to get the available Knowledge from Bravery and Aeroga without capturing them (I want the AI to treat my Civilian Leaders kindly, now!).

But for now, I am hungry.  It’s well past time for me to eat.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2012, 10:16:52 pm by Winge »
My other bonus ship is a TARDIS.

Offline Winge

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 601
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #12 on: September 21, 2012, 10:20:21 pm »
For the AI homeworlds, it tries to put the first AI homeworld at or near the farthest point possible from all human homeworlds, and it tries to put the second AI homeword at or near the farthest point possible from all human homeworlds AND the first AI homeworld.

Based on that, I can all but guarantee that it is on Fran or Poach.  That said, I'm still pretty sure the RNG is trying to troll me this game...
My other bonus ship is a TARDIS.

Offline Winge

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 601
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #13 on: September 22, 2012, 04:38:31 pm »
4:07:  Back to scouting.  Wave for 851 and 1 Starships to Immobilize.  Seems rather large, but far fewer Starships…I wonder if it’ll be mostly Neinzul+Autocannons.  Nope, Missle Frigates.  That’s way too many for my defenses there, so I clear out the 2 Starships (lying wave warning), and then begin the very slow process of using Leech Starships to kill the remaining Frigates.

4:27:  Ok, that wave was ridiculous.  Still killing frigates.  Scouts show that the Devourer has made his way to Infuse.  A little pre-clearing for me.  So far, the Devourer has been more of a help than a hindrance.  When it's done anything at all, that is.  I’ll want that Data Center on Poison sooner, rather than later.  I can’t eat a wave like that on my Homeworld right now.

4:29:  Finally killed all of the Frigates.  Actually, reclaimed might be a better word.  Won’t have to rebuild my mark 1 cap, and I pick up a few mark II/IIIs to boot  8)!  Rebuilding the C/C and Power Gen so that I can get rid of my Matter Converters.  Again.  CPA announced for 536 Ships.  That’s actually much lower than the waves I’m facing right now.  Shouldn’t be too bad to take care of, unless they just decide to sit on Esuna.

4:37:  Found and killed a Civilian Leader on Stop.  Freeing any more won’t ‘pay back’ AIP in time this game (7 hours for AIP payback, so to speak).  As such, unless I think I will take a planet for other reasons, I will be killing off the other Civilian Leaders.  Full East side of the galaxy scouted.  I still can’t get any farther on the west.  May try transports after I get the Data Center on Poison.  Pre-building and pausing 3 Matter Converters, just in case the CPA gets cute on Immobilize.

4:45:  CPA “hits”.  About half of the threat builds up to the South, then 236 ships or so jump from Holy to Cloud.  They last about 5 seconds.  I’m grateful; I have no Leeches, I just barely rebuilt my defenses, and I have no economy to speak of.  With a little under half the threat gone, I send my Cloakers + Raids (still haven’t gotten to build Raid IIs :*() to clear Poison’s Data Center.  I send my Fighter-Bomber squad too to clear out Tachyon Guardians.  Some of the threat bleeds in, the rest is still playing with Gatlings on Holy.  I wonder if that’s why they didn’t all jump in.  Down to 217 threat.


4:51:  Killed the Data Center on Poison, only lost a few ships.  AIP down to 56, that’s more like it.  Devourer Golem goes to Holy, and the threatball flees right into my defenses.  It doesn’t go well for them.  Down to 3 threat.

5:00:  Spire Civilian Leaders bring me down to 53 AIP.  That’s much nicer.  Start clearing Tachyon Guardians on Esuna, then Marauders show up and free a bunch of defenders.  I would say oops, but I was kind of expecting/hoping that would happen.  The counter attackers start hitting my defenses on Immobilize.  I route the ‘defense fleet’ of Missile Frigates, Leeches, and Captured ships over, just in case.  I lose a bunch of turrets, but otherwise the battle goes very much in my favor.  Esuna is now down to a paltry 414 or so units.  Oh yeah, this is going to be fun.  I do have the Tachyon from Immobilize down; I’ll try sneaking a few scouts through.


5:07:  Wave of 266 heading to Cloud.  Just one Data Center dropped wave size by almost half.  Wow.  Either that, or it’s a bunch of Zenith Bombards.  Have I mentioned that I hate it when the AI unlocks those ships?  Guess I’ll build up my Raid IIs now.

5:09:  Wave ends up being mostly Bombers and Zenith Electric Bombers.  My defenses do a great job, but I do notice that a lot of mines aren’t doing much.  Repositioning them.  Oddly enough, I haven’t seen the AI use Neinzul for a while.

5:16:  Roaming Enclaves suicide on Immobilize.  Those…really don’t do much, do they?  The random EMP sounds are freaking me out a bit, though.  I think Dysons are hitting the Rocketry Corps EMP Missiles before they get to my worlds, because I haven't had an EMP hit my worlds, and there are no EMP Guardians currently free.

5:20:  So Artillery Guardians are responsible for one-shotting/nearly one-shotting my Raids.  Odd.  I don’t remember them being that powerful…oh, right…Interplanetary Munitions Booster.  I sneak over to Blizzard, and assassinate its Civilian Leader.  Sorry gents, business needs prevail.

5:33:  Using most of a cap of Fighters and Bombers, covered by my Cloaker II’s, I head out to start neutering Infuse as well.  Raids are rebuild, guess I’ll do more detaching as well.  Also, Decloakers REALLY need a stand-down mode.  One that keeps the Tachyon coverage while disabling their attack would be very nice.

5:36:  Distracted, I lose most of my squad on Infuse to Special Forces.  I should probably trim a world or two to the East, just to spread them out some.  Raids are doing good on Esuna, though.  Soon, there will be no more Tachyon coverage there.

5:39:  Wave of 500 or so hits Cloud.  The size increase is due to composition; it has a lot of Cutlasses in it.  Immobilize holds up against a counterattack from me removing a troubling EMP Guardian on Esuna.  No Raids lost; well worth it.

5:55:  Almost done clearing Esuna of trouble.  Assassinated the Civilian Leader on Yuffie while working on Esuna.  Need to rebuild a few Raids now.  Galaxy map shows that I have plenty of AIP reduction left to make use of.  Even if I find the last CP, I will probably hold up just because the AIP floor will be worse than my current state.  Hoping to stay at floor until I can clear the AI Homeworld brutal picks (with the possible exception of AI Eyes on the Homeworld.  Those shouldn’t affect me too much with my playstyle this game).


6:00:  Spire Civilian Leaders tick in.  There are 7 left; 3 are free, so -5 AIP.  Increases the floor by 1, though.  Total AIP is at 48, with a floor of 31.  I still have no knowledge, and still have only 2 planets.  LOL, this is a very slow game for me, largely because I tried to focus on general starships instead of Raids early on (I really should know better :P).  Also, these first few hours were spent almost entirely fighting the effects of the Spire Civilian leaders and the AIP burst from freeing of the Civilian leaders.  I’m running one Matter Converter right now, mainly so that I don’t go into debt by reclaiming a few ships on defense.  Three more are on 'cold standby', within seconds of construction.  For all my efforts on scouting, I’ve only managed to see one additional planet on the East.  Garnet doesn’t have anything on it, but it does mark the maximum range I can roam without incurring a Deep Strike.  My main focus for the next hour of game time will be scouting the remainder of the Galaxy…which means a lot of Tachyon raiding.

For now, the commander could use a break.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2012, 04:40:54 pm by Winge »
My other bonus ship is a TARDIS.

Offline KDR_11k

  • Hero Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 904
Re: Assemble the Minions!
« Reply #14 on: September 22, 2012, 04:53:57 pm »
Halved wave sizes can also be a sign of incoming Beachheads so be careful.

 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk