1/1 Chaos Rules the Galaxy

[zoutzakje]

Yes that's right, this is going to be a 1/1 game. I've been planning to do this for quite some time now, just to see how chaotic it can get. I put my other AAR on halt for now so now is the right time.

These are my settings:

All Expansions
1/1 Golemite/The Core
Map Seed: 613433689
Number of Planets: 100
Map Style: Crosshatch
Available Ships: Complex
Unit Cap Scale: Low
Extra Fog of War
Auto AIP per minute: 1 every 15 minutes

AI Mods:
Schizophrenic
2 X Waves
Nuclear Command
No Wave Warnings
Cross Planet Waves

Minor Factions:
Human Marauders 10
Human Resstance Fighters 10
Human Colony Rebellions
Zenith Traders
Zenith Miners 10
Zenith Dyson Sphere 10
Zenith Devourer
Neinzul Rocketry Corps 10
Neinzul Preservation Wardens 10
Neinzul Roaming Enclaves 10
Fallen Spire 10
Spire Civilian Leaders
Broken Golems Hard 10
Spirecraft Hard 10
Botnet Golem Hard 10
Dark Spire 10

AI Plots:
Avenger
Hybrid Hyves 10
Advanced Hybrid 10
Astro Trains 10
Beachheads
All of these are for both AI's

Personal Rule:
Ironman Mode (dead is dead)

So yeah. I have nearly no idea what to expect here. This could be really easy or this could be over in 5 minutes. No second chances.
Things I know I have to watch out for:

Pain Trains, Cargo in particular. If intensity 10 really only gives you about one and a half hour time for the first H/K, I better make sure I expand quickly and get some Implosion Artillery ready. That and Bombers should hopefully do the trick. Using Rams to deal with the Golems.

Hybrids and their plots. Hybids have always been annoying and I can't wait to see what they're like at intensity 10. Also the Dyson Sphere plot surprised me last time when it was newly introduced. I won't let that happen a second time.

Triple or Quadriple exo's. Dif 1/1 but still, I don't know how bad intensity 10 is.

Nuclear commands. Can't have allmy ships go boom at once.

Everything else I'm just curious to see what happens. I know I haven't picked the most chaotic AI types, but I wanted to play against a few I would enjoy.
I click new map seed until it would show a bonus ship at one of the corners of the crosshatch. And the first one is Zombards. Awesome, I'm taking it.
Homeworld is named Drake and I'm ready to play.

[Aklyon]

*looks at the list*
...Oh dear.


And yet I'm interested anyway. How hard can you manage to make things on 1/1?

[chemical_art]

You could rename that:

"The rule of the <hostile to everyone> faction" game.

Heck, Dark Spire 10/10 does that already.

[Wanderer]

 

Dude.  That sounds like SO much fun!!!     I'm going to have to try that!

[Coppermantis]

I was going to try this a while ago but decided that a few certain factions on 10 would make it unbeatable. You are a braver man than I, and I wish you luck.

[Minotaar]

When I was thinking about doing this game, I thought I'd call it "Everything But The AI War".
I am awaiting colorful descriptions of your death 

[keith.lamothe]

I was going to try this a while ago but decided that a few certain factions on 10 would make it unbeatable.

Games like this have nothing to do with "beatable"

I predict the AI and humans will be huddling in their respective corners, cowering before the galaxy-filling Dark Spire.  While everything else goes crazy.

[zoutzakje]

Yeah I'm really surprised nobody has tried this before. I mean, It would be THE most obvious thing to do when intensity scaling got introduced.
I hope this is going to give me at least some of a challenge. Waves and taking planets shouldn't be any trouble at all, but my playstyle tends to be quite slow and rich in AIP. We'll see where this goes.

I'm not going to unlock the usual things at the start of this game. First of all no Advanced Warp Sensor, because I'm not going to know where waves will hit anyway. Also, no Harvester upgrades. I don't think I'll run into much economic problems. That knowledge is better spend elsewhere.
I do get Gravity Turrets right away though. I have a feeling I'm going to have to play very defensive this round.

Golemite AI has Tractor Platforms, which I'm very excited about... Yeah, bombers are going to be very important in this game.

Scouted my surrounding worlds a bit and noticed that Punch Ant has a Co-P.
An Ars right next to it on Scarlet Needle.
SCL at Hail


At 8 minutes I decide to send my fighters in to attack Punch Ant. They handled it all by themselves, increasing the AIP to 54. I took out the Co-P and the Nuclear Command trigger made the Train Station explode. I wonder how quickly I can take every planet I need. If a bunch of mk I ships is all that it takes...

10 mins in and I get a visit from some friendly Enclaves. How nice. I believe their default behavior is to defend my homeworld so that's what I'll let it do.
Meanwhile I discover that Iris has a Broken Artillery Golem on it. And it's at the same direction I'm heading towards. Nice. That should help against a lot of stuff. I should be very very careful of the Dark Spire there though.

At 15 minutes I take Scarlet Needle, mk I fighters still being the only ships I've got. Making everything explode with Nuclear command of course doesn't work when playing against The Core. Bunch of mk V ships entered my system but my quickly rebuilded fighters took care of them. ARS gave me Vampire Claws.
So far no sign yet of any ships attacking me. Waves won't be much on dif 1, but does it really take more than 15 minutes for the fist waves to arrive? Or maybe my turrets already blew them to bits without me noticing it.

16 mins: +1 AIP from auto AIP. So what, it's not counting the first minute? That's silly.
I unlock fighters, bombers and zombards mk II and Logistics mk II as well. It's time to build some ships instead of just defensive stuff.
Meanwhile my cap of mk I fighters is under attack by 3 mk I Tractor Platforms. Fighters seem to be winning though.

16 minute 30: Punch Ant is under attack by 35 Roaming Enclaves. Ok I really need to start building ships now.

17 minutes: 16 Marauders decide to join the Enclaves in their attack on Punch Ant. I still haven't got a fleet ready.
Some friendly Enclaves decide to help me out and win the battle for me. Awesome. I would have lost Punch Ant otherwise for sure.

20 minutes: Roaming Enclaves are attacking Scarlet Needle and my homeworld, but only a few of them. I have a feeling that this will never stop. No sign of hybrids yet, though I notice a lot of hyves. A bunch of trains also spawned on Wolfkin Cub, including 4 Cargo's. Ok change of plans. I need those harvester upgrades. Mk II for both unlocked.

22 minutes: More Enclaves and Marauders attacking Punch Ant. Friendly Enclaves are pretty much the only thing keeping me alive right now. I've decided I will leave the Artillery Golem at Iris alone, even though I will regret not having it's firepower. The intensity of the enclaves and marauders already scare me. I will avoid every Dark Spire planet like the plague.

Punch Ant is definitely the intruders target. Marauders and Enclaves keep showing up there nearly non-stop. And in pretty large numbers too. I've got a few bombers and missile frigs as well now, so combined with the friendly enclaves they're quite managable so far.
Still, at this rate I'm worried I won't even get to see the Cargo spawns. I'll probably be dead before then.

At 28 minutes I realize that I'm doomed. The hybrid hyves just spawned their hybrids, which are still sitting still on their worlds. I notice a total of 44 hybrids. When they strike, I'm done for. I should not have expanded yet. It would have been better to stay on my homeworld for a while and just heavily fortify it. Unlocked HBC's mk I. Maybe they'll do something good.

28 minute 30: Punch Ant is under attack again. 40 Enclaves and 40 Marauders this time. Their numbers are still increasing. Luckily I got 5 Friendly enclave units so they can spawn a lot of younglings. Maybe even enough to stop the few hybrids that are on their way to my worlds. I don't even have the time or resources to do proper scouting.

And that was the first 30 minutes of playtime. Everything seems stable now for a few seconds. I don't think I will live through the next 30 mins.

[Aklyon]

Since this is 1/1 and very likely to fail, should we expect an MK3 nuke at the end?

[zoutzakje]

Since this is 1/1 and very likely to fail, should we expect an MK3 nuke at the end?

I think this game will be over long before I even get the resources to build one

[chemical_art]

I was going to try this a while ago but decided that a few certain factions on 10 would make it unbeatable.

Games like this have nothing to do with "beatable"

I predict the AI and humans will be huddling in their respective corners, cowering before the galaxy-filling Dark Spire.  While everything else goes crazy.

I hope I have shown dark spire are not enough to stop aggression. This would be.very interesting for 10/10,but I don't see how I can get.the colony ship to the.human rebellions sans jumpsuits. If only I.gif a tougher colony ship...

[keith.lamothe]

And that was the first 30 minutes of playtime. Everything seems stable now for a few seconds. I don't think I will live through the next 30 mins.

Dunno, that should be good for 5ish more ally enclaves; all 10 dropping full loads could go a long way to stopping 44 hybrids; and not all the hybrids will attack.

I suspect that if you hold out long enough, the ally enclave fleet could become strong enough to face down most threats.  Dunno about the cargo train spawns, though, that could be it.

[Aklyon]

Since this is 1/1 and very likely to fail, should we expect an MK3 nuke at the end?

I think this game will be over long before I even get the resources to build one

Aw. 

[keith.lamothe]

Since this is 1/1 and very likely to fail, should we expect an MK3 nuke at the end?

I think this game will be over long before I even get the resources to build one

Aw. 

The hybrids might be able to "just one more wafer-thin mint" the dyson early enough

[zoutzakje]

oh right, hybrid+dyson plot does something similair to a mk III nuke in the end. I forgot about that since I've never actually seen it in action. More stuff to watch out for.