The Setup
Look at attached screenshot
Thoughs on Techs
This time, the AI is coming at us. Therfore, all techs go to defences and Economy. That is it. Period. Unless, probably, we may need more Raids.
Starting out
First, unlocked some Techs:
- Needler, Laser, Missile II's
- Heavy Beam Cannon
- Grav I
Now, start to build the famous Kahuna-style defence.
05:28 Finally everything online. Wait for first wave. Also, since I use Complete Visibility, I don't need to spend K on scouts.
07:00 21 ships, 1 starship wave. This time, the AI has Snipers, again. Annoying.
10:03 Oh, I have Neinzui Frigate. Who needs Raids now?
10:30 52 Ships wave declares. Oh, I am going to park some Leeches near the closer wormhole.
Hey, to response to my Scout-free and Lazy AI setup, there are a hell lot of Dire Guardian Lairs in the galaxy!
28:50 EMP Guardian denotated. WHAT???!!!
30:01 EMP Guardian killed. This game will be tough, starting from now.
Update my "Thought on Techs": I need something that is EMP-immune. On my defence.
i.e. Fortress.
My capture plan updates too:
There are a WHOOPING FIVE Zenith Power Generators in this galaxy. FIVE!! Unbelievable! two of them are adjacent, and all are in systems with <3 wormholes! Um, I hope they are not seeded on wormholes. That forces me to take lots of territory.
For plans now, I will take those easier-defended ones.
41:37 Oh, AI has Nanoswarm too. Now I know that normal fleet ships will have really big trouble.
Hmmm. I wonder if Chivalric AI targets captured things like ZPG and Grav Drills. Make a save, I will use a cheat to confirm this. I won't continue with that cheat: I will reload after I get the result.
Military Takeover(CHEAT)
Nice! Grav Drills will be destroyed, but ZPGs are not targeted. Let's test that more.
Nice!! ZPGs are untouched. I am not worried now. I really don't want to defend those.
OK, it is time to plan an attack. First, unlock
- Assault Transport
Last game "Brutal Exodian Cheese" and the other ongoing one "Vanilla in the Dark", I did not unlock them. And everytime I move my fleet, the entire planet is waked. That makes things really messy. Also, regular Transports die to attrition 3 hops away from supply, so I need Assault Transports. Let's see what difference it makes.
First, two Matter Converters are put down.
Oh, and let's test whether AT's use Strength based firepower or Number-based firepower. If it is the latter, then my Weasels have a better place to go.
94 Weasels does 4560 damage each salvo.
I heard that AT's still has the bug so its firepower count does not disappear. Scrap that and build another one. I will stuff my Starship fleet inside and see what difference it makes.
Cap of all non-merc starships does 37200 damage each salvo
That is nice enough. I like it. Now, I need more Matter Converters.
1:00:06 AT with starship fleet sneakily warps in Zawep. Shhhh! It has an EMP Guardian!
Ahhh, wrong planet. Move back.
1:03:54 AT on Juvolau, the ZPG planet, with Grav Drill. AT go kill the Missile GP!
Slowly, another AT was made. This will be our early-game little colonizing team.
1:07:54 Sh!t, my AT was not put on Stand-Down. Starfleet suffering
Reprisal 2.
Speed to +9 to compensate with the snail pace Grav-Drill.
1:16:24 AI Command Station down. Wait for things to settle.
Yeah, you know, a Champion Frigate is just too fragile.
1:20:34 I will go for a Military CS, just adjacent to the Grav Drill. Oh, Planetary Grav effect means I don't need to place Grav turrets!
It's time to unlock Modular Fortress.
1:25:XX A friendly Splinter base. Grey Spire, again. Not using its ships, yet.
1:39:06 Juvolau secured, adjacent worlds neutered. Next: Check Aerex, the adjacent world. It has an ARS. Also, pairing worlds are always safer.
ARS has:
- Teleport Battle Station
- Raider
- Space Tank
Of course, TBS moves at speed of snail on Grav Drill planets. Meh. But on other planets it is a good way to take down EMP guardians. Good buy. That means, all critical paths will have Grav Drills removed. I will take the planet for extra security.
You know, it is Diff 7, where I only get waves of 300 at AIP >200.
And yeah, this is supposed to be a relaxed game. When Showdown finally begins, I am going to watch the show.
1:46:35 CS down.
1:49:35 Hey, while my CS-Log is building, that ARS comes "punching" at my station. As if it can attack. Why?
Wormholes are far apart. This means, I am using the Gaussian Killzone setup with Double Layer Grav and Double Layer Defence. Using MkI turrets to branch out, mainly to take care of Plasma Sieges.
My economy is starving. Scrapping those Matter Converters.
1:54:00 A wave to Aerex. My defence is not up yet. Fleet to support, for now.
Oh yes, Battlestations are being made, too. "They are not the most damaging, but is definitely the fastest unit to reinforce"
1:57:20 Almost lost that CS to a Plasma Siege. Wormhole too close.
1:59:01 TBS cannot really kill a Plasma Guardian.
2:00:52 Finally defence is online.
I am lucky. I got Bomber Bay this early. That is like 1-metal price MkIII bombers every two seconds. Great taking Fortresses. Except that you can't attack Wormhole GP with them.
2:05:36 Devourer comming for my HW. Fleet, RUN!!!
2:06:29 Oh, not for HW.
2:13:00 Hey, Devourer Golem is waking Dire Guardian Lairs! NOOO!!!!
Anyway, let's wait for metal to cap out, and my Modular Fortress finish building.
Plan for next part
This will be a defensive game. AI will be sending Waves, CPA, and Exo attacks. This means I am going to have 5 main wave entries: 4 Showdown defences, and my HW. Then, somewhere in the galaxy I may take a Grav Drill planet or ZPG planets, although they are unlikely to survive a CPA so I may not risk using that much power and then lose them (I mean, I won't lose them because of Chivalric, but losing supply will turn them off).
Short term goal: take the farthest SD planet.
Strategic plan: Take three SD planet and nearby chokepoints. Fortify them. Heavily. Then take fourth chokepoint. Beachhead and take final SD planet. Meanwhile, take as much ZPG's as possible. Oh, and their adjacent planets too.
Tech plan: This is the right time to unlock all turrets MkI->IV. I may unlock more Battle Stations just for quick reinforcement. Also I will try to avoid using Matter Converters, just because I can.
Ironically, I turned on Lazy AI to enable deepstriking, but that unlock of EMP guardian prevents me a lot... And I am not killing Core Posts, so that AIP floor +10 is irrelevent...
And the AI unlocks Warp Gate Guardians, too. However, I am doing distributed defence so not much a problem. So long as my command stations are not covering any wormholes.
Finally, there are lots of Dire Guardian Lairs, adjacent to each other. I hope the Cookie Monster won't suddenly produce LOTS of Dire Guardians. Otherwise...
