Core Cruisin'

[Coppermantis]

Captured Sucrel and got a Hive Golem plus a replacement ZGen for my trouble. Also popped a data center, that will cover for the +20 AIP from repairing the Golem.

Scouting reveals that Braxis Alpha has ANOTHER Zenith Generator. This seed is filled with them. Including the ones I lost/bought, there are six on the map so far. Crazy.

A 1000 ship CPA arrives and does come close to taking out my new ZGen, but it fails thanks to my Hive Golem. I'm tempted to get the Botnet as well but the +100 AIP scares me, and it won't be too useful against The Core.

[Coppermantis]

I sent my Champion (currently a Zenith Destroyer) into a Nebula on Sinotaran and managed to beat the Neinzul Mourners scenario. From my understanding, destroying the prisons faster gets you better stuff, but in what way? More unlocks, more exp?

In any case, I have Neinzul Fortresses now and will soon unlock Fort IIs. Time to reinforce the defensive line. I also recieved Cruiser level champion hulls, I'm sticking with Zenith line though. Is there any difference between Human and Zenith other than module compatibility? It doesn't look like it. I'd like to try out the Neinzul hull but the low number of modules is off-putting to me. I'm not sure if the vamprism is worth it, it seems like it might be as a backup if my shields fail.

I wish I could get a Spire hull to see what it does, but I failed the spire scenario. Darn. Maybe It will pop up again in one of the remaining nebulae.

The offensive is going well towards the south. Nothing really noteworthy there.

[KDR_11k]

Is there any difference between Human and Zenith other than module compatibility?

There's also the different slot types (human has more small but fewer large) and the main gun on the human ship fires volleys and has 5x damage multipliers against some targets.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, the human ship main gun is very effective at dealing with the low-end nebula faction combat vessels (the ones that are good at hurting starbases), where a zenith's main gun is much better at dealing with big stuff and probably needs to bring needlers if you want to handle swarms of those starbase-threatening ships.

Other than that, yea, the zenith DD/CA get more heavy slots than the human equivalents, with fewer lights.

And of course, the different module compatibilities, which actually makes a fairly big difference.

Overall, they're the most similar pair of the 4.  The neinzul only gets half as many slots in exchange for its inherent abilities (making it less useful in the nebulae, but more utility-useful outside), and the spire is even more heavily weighted towards heavy slots than the zenith and has a few spire-only heavy modules that are pretty brutal.

[Coppermantis]

Getting back into AI War again.

Minor update: King has an ARS and a Neinzul Rocketry Silo (Uh-oh). This will be...unfortunate. I think I can keep them at bay if I camp riot starships and gravity turrets outside the silo to quarantine the missiles on King. I don't want EMPs going off all over the place.

Unless...Are Silos stopped by Warp Jammers? Since they prevent planets from going on alert and Silos are triggered by the planet going on alert, it seems like it should.

Kern has a Core Tackle Drone fabricator. Do want. Unfortunately it's pretty far away.

A SECOND SILO ON ARCANE CORE? WHYYYYYYY!??? What are the odds of two silos right next to each other? This is unfortunate. Arcane also has a Translocator Fab, but I'm not sure how useful that'll be. Oh, and ANOTHER Z-gen.

Ostanra has a Core Electric Bomber fabricator and a Factory IV. If I can secure all these things I will have a formidable army, but I'll have to fight all kinds of nasty stuff to do it.

To conclude my scouting report, Kleopatra has a Data Center. Good.

[Coppermantis]

So apparently warheads are immune to engine damage. Time to hope that the Warp Jammer method works, otherwise I'm in trouble. Fortunately it was only a Lightning warhead that I was testing on, so no big EMP consequences.

In other news, that monstrous SpecFor fleet that's patrolling terrifies me. I live in fear of accidentally triggering a Special Forces Alarm Post. I think that maybe if I deploy a fully loaded hive golem with my entire fleet supporting it I could win in a direct engagement. My Zenith Cruiser and a full cap of riot starships were massacred pretty quickly, even with Shadow Shield support.

Also, you know what I hate? Beachheads. These maggots cost me both of my fortress worlds. Fortunately the fortresses themselves are fine, but there' a lot of mess to clean up.

[Coppermantis]

The In Memoriam Terra nebula is a pain. A real pain. I keep losing with the cookie monster at 1% health remaining. If only the champion's speed wasn't halved in nebulae...

My strategy is to use doom accelerator modules, missiles and laser turrets. No champion modules that I can find have bonuses against ultra-heavy, but the lasers and missiles have respectable range which sort of compensates for the painfully low speed. I mostly ignore the neinzul, only using them as a diversion while I whittle down the big guy. As soon as I get to the point where they stop, I start laying down shields at the bases and immediately closing in on the cookie monster. Apparently just not good enough, I guess I'm just not using my shields effectively enough.


I've save-scummed like four times now. Ugh.

[keith.lamothe]

The In Memoriam Terra nebula is a pain. A real pain. I keep losing with the cookie monster at 1% health remaining. If only the champion's speed wasn't halved in nebulae...

Cinth mentioned you'd narrowed it down to the Blitz lobby setting?  I should make the RS not care about that one for speed purposes, presumably.

My strategy is to use doom accelerator modules, missiles and laser turrets. No champion modules that I can find have bonuses against ultra-heavy

Missiles do   No small modules do (iirc), but DAs, polars, and IREs should all be maximally effective against that beast if I remember the stats correctly.

[Coppermantis]

The In Memoriam Terra nebula is a pain. A real pain. I keep losing with the cookie monster at 1% health remaining. If only the champion's speed wasn't halved in nebulae...

Cinth mentioned you'd narrowed it down to the Blitz lobby setting?  I should make the RS not care about that one for speed purposes, presumably.

My strategy is to use doom accelerator modules, missiles and laser turrets. No champion modules that I can find have bonuses against ultra-heavy

Missiles do   No small modules do (iirc), but DAs, polars, and IREs should all be maximally effective against that beast if I remember the stats correctly.

I must have overlooked that, I guess. Oops.

Unfortunately, I put a lot of points into stuff that's effective against little stuff since I generally assumed that I'd have my main fleet's big guns when fighting any superweapon-type enemies. I'll keep trying at ti, fortunately I'm not one to be above save-scumming.

[Coppermantis]

Mantis'd the Ravenous Shadow Blitz Speed issue.

Ordinarily, the Ravenous Shadow is a around 33% slower than the champion, depending on what hull is being used. However, the Blitz combat speed makes it around 33% faster instead, altering the balance and making the scenario substantially more difficult.


Ordinary RS Speed: 52
Ordinary Champion Speed in Nebula 75*

Blitz RS Speed: 104
Blitz Champion Speed in Nebula: 75*

*Human Champion

(Numbers are correct to my knowledge, someone correct me if I'm wrong)

Making the RS ignore the blitz setting was suggested on the forums and makes sense to me.

http://arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=9791

[Coppermantis]

I've given up trying to beat the RS for now, until I get a Spire hull or some better modules. Until then, I'm pushing towards Kern to get that Core Tackle Drone fabricator. The primary force is the Champion, now outfitted with a Zenith hull. It manages to clear out everything on and leading to Kern, making room for a transport to haul in a construction crew. During the attack, however, I get a CPA warning of 1463 ships, plus 200 Core ships coming to my homeworld from a destroyed CounterAttack post. Those are a good 14 minutes away though, so no pressure for now.

Once they get there, they are immediately set upon by Mk. I and III ion cannons. I left those as a defensive measure for when I take the planet. I want to place the CC by the fab in order to make a tighter defense, but the fab is on the opposite side of the system. To get around this, I place a mk. I Economic CC right off the bat as soon as I enter the system to claim the Ions. Once that's taken care of, I build another colony ship and make a Warp Jammer CC near the fabricator. My champion provides shield protection as the countdown ticks. I still think that it should not trigger the rebuilding stall when you replace a CC yourself, but I digress.

After this point it gets a little hectic. A neinzul Enclave shows up with about 55 seconds until I can resume rebuilding. Fortunately, I've already got shields and mini-forts up via a Mobile Builder, which is a saving grace. The champion with Ion Cannon support eliminates the threat, which was about 144 ships. Pretty big for an Enclave attack, but not horrible.

Immediately afterwards, however, I have to move my fleet to Meinhoff to intercept the WCA wave. The hive golem takes care of it singlehandedly, like it does most things. Probably even more OP than the botnet since it can kill Core stuff too. I barely made it in time since each front is 11 hops away. Defense is actually pretty stressful given the circumstances.

The CPA hits shortly after. Almost all the threat is concentrated at Xil, so I send my Hive Golem to ward them off. They're still waiting but at least they're not ON the homeworld. Yet. Meanwhile, some leakage is coming in on King, so half of my fleet blob gets dispatched to defend.

And then a Rebel Colony notice pops up. Fun. I have a while to take care of it but it's so far removed that I will have immense difficulty defending it.



The detachment to King arrives just too late and I lose the CC there.



At least it's controlled and the invaders didn't get to take out my valuable stuff like the Z-gens on Sucrel and Braxis Alpha.

Suddenly: 1919 AI ships to GLaDOS. I really hope my fortresses can deal with it. There are no bombers, so that shouldn't be a problem but I do worry about the possibility of Beachheads. After I clean up the mess on King I'll send the rest to defend in case.

Okay, no beachheads, but I'm starting to get carriers. I haven't had one of these in a game since...two years ago? Whenever The Zenith Remnant was a prize in that Steam Summer promo. I made a game as soon as I got the expansion in that deal and that was when I first encountered Carriers. I believe they've been changed since then, so i'm interested to see what they're like now.

Well, it pops and stuff comes out. I do hear that it can get exchanged for stuff like Golems if it's full enough, so I want to watch out for that.

In other news, I've destroyed about 4 astro trains. Because why not.

200 Core Bombers and Frigates to Pootis. My fortress gauntlet decimates the fleet ship, but the accompanying Zenith Starship has enough radar dampening that nothing can hit it. I can just move a fortress into range and kill the bugger, so no problem there.



My new goal is to liberate the Dyson Sphere in order to give me some support. Not enough to cover the attacks on Avernus, but enough to give me a little aid in the nearby area. Killing the CC brings me up to 300 AIP. Ouch. Fortunately I'm only on 7/7 (Feels pretty shameful compared to some other individuals but I am a mere mortal) so I can deal with that. Maybe. In any case, I now have gatling support.

Now that that's done, I'm going to clear the way to Avernus with the champion...

Kern Command Station was Destroyed!

Balls. Apparently that threat ball on Xil decided to head the other way instead. So much for my Core Tackle Drones. I'll keep the planet anyway as a forward base towards Avernus, which I just realized is right on the edge of the AI Core worlds. This is not good.

Also, a 1400 Bomber wave to my fortress worlds. Also not good.

Okay, it was fine. False Alarm.

My fleet is still fine. All my economic stuff is in the Mk. II/III range so no problem there. I pop two data centers with the champion so my AIP is "only" 260. Looking good so far.

Sumtral, Avernus' neighbor, has a Factory IV, A Bomber Starship IV fabricator, A Decoy Drone fabricator and a broken Artillery Golem. Avernus itself has nothing special apart from the colony. I have come to the conclusion that holding Avernus will be neigh impossible, but I can try. That +100 AIP is something that I would like to avoid, but if I have to take the penalty to save my mainland infrastructure then I will.

[Winge]

Ouch, a Colony Rebellion right next to a Core world...

At least you don't have to actually hold the world.  Just make sure you can rebuild the Command Center to recharge the cloak every so often 

[Coppermantis]

I realized just now that I can make a warp jammer on Avernus to avoid alerting Toroko, thus allowing me to hold the rebel colony fairly safely. Still, I will need to conclude the game soon. I believe that my fleet will be sufficient, but I want to finish up the remaining nebulae to max out everything.

I skip Talnarus, which I know has that brutal Ravenous Shadow and head to Aperture's nebula, which contains the Ally Conglomerate. It was actually quite easy to beat and got me a Spire hull, finally.

Next up is Avernus which has the Ravenous Shadow. Fun. Let's see if I can do this. I have Doom Accelerator II, Missile III and MLRS III on a human hull. I wish I had the Plasma Sieges but I do not, so this will have to do.

Midway through, I re-equip and replace the doom accelerators with railguns. Those will be more useful during the stage in which it has most of its health left. I also notice that the colony has three minutes left on the timer. While still trying to micro in the nebula, I rush my armada to the scene, escorting a colony ship and engineers. Avernus is soon mine.


Meanwhile:

IMT Cell Destroyed

You know what? Screw it. I have done this too many times. Sorry, Vice Admiral Putnam, but we just can't repel firepower of that magnitude. We can bring it down to six percent health, if that's any consolation. Some IMT ships survived though.

On the plus side, my second superfortress is up. I am getting spire modular forts as well, but this time to reinforce satellites rather than my core worlds.


Such a satisfying sight


Okay, I've now started pumping out rebel ships and getting my fortifications on Avernus constructed. My army is quite forimidable now.

I have scouted Golemite's homeworld. Nothing too bad. None of the new nasty stuff seeds, since this is an older game. Meanwhile, I'm taking Sumtral for the Factory IV. It also has some fabricators, but Decoy Drones and Bomber Starship IVs won't be incredibly useful. Worth having, I guess.

Unlocked Bulletproof Fighter Mk. III

While building III/IV Bulletproofs as well as the bomber starship IVs I am literally breaking even with resources.



I popped a Zenith Reserve I to bolster my fleet a little more.


Unrelated but still satisfying.

Scouting Apex with my champion.  Not the best idea, but regular scouts won't get through. Also, it allows me to clear out nasty stuff like Ion Cannons. On Aperture, I lose my shields but get a friendly surprise in the form of a ton of Grey Spire and EER ships idling. They help out in the skirmish, plus I can repair in the nearby nebula.

I am almost ready for the final assault. As soon as I move out, It will be all in. Everything I own will be sent in to attack.

[keith.lamothe]

Next up is Avernus which has the Ravenous Shadow. Fun. Let's see if I can do this. I have Doom Accelerator II, Missile III and MLRS III on a human hull. I wish I had the Plasma Sieges but I do not, so this will have to do.

Ah, yea.  Missile IVs/Vs would really help (I don't recall what hull size you have here), and the Doom Accels would really shine for those last 10-20% of the thing's health but I agree that the railguns might actually do better during the "it won't sit still" phase.

You know what? Screw it. I have done this too many times. Sorry, Vice Admiral Putnam, but we just can't repel firepower of that magnitude.

Mental picture of Ackbar saying that while this is on the bridge viewscreen.

On the plus side, my second superfortress is up.

Oh, that's some murderization right there.  "The enemy just fired how many shots?"

I am almost ready for the final assault. As soon as I move out, It will be all in. Everything I own will be sent in to attack.

I don't know whether to expect a good battle or a squish

[Coppermantis]

Let the games begin.

Every fighter pilot, every starship captain, every Zenith, Spire and Neinzul ship rally at Avernus. The fleet moves through the wormhole and the battle begins.

AI 2 is deploying strategic reserve to defend

Bring it on! AI Revolution starts playing. Fits quite well. Tackle Drones make keep the hostile tide at bay while the main fleet combs down, mowing through the AI. Less than two hundred losses which are quickly replaced.

Chencha is too well fortified for a frontal assault. A Hive golem might be able to soften it up a little--

In response to your hive swarm on Chencha, the AI has utilized an Rectifying Arthropod Inhibitor Device

--Oh. Seems like the AI has some new tricks up its sleeves.

AI: How stupid do you think we are?

Stupid enough to let it get to this! In your preoccupation with exogalactic affairs you failed to realize the true threat. Now it is too late, for my armada of reckoning is ready to seek vengeance for the crimes committed against Humanity, your creator. Stupid enough to waste tens of thousands of ships against an inescapable meat grinder. You may have defeated the Spire, assimilated the Neinzul and glossed over the Zenith, but now that all of the remaining galaxy has rallied against you your end is coming. So what if a swarm of wasps could not overcome you? You have forgotten what power Humanity can and has wielded..

NUCLEAR LAUNCH DETECTED

The casualties on the AI side are minimal. The casualties on my side are zero. However, the AI Fortresses are out of commission which will help a lot during the battle. We had to retreat back to Avernus to keep Chencha out of alert. But now we can mobilize once again and hopefully strike a killing blow.

Okay, Ion Eye. Bad news. Going to send in just the insta-kill immune stuff.

Okay, Cockroach spawner. Bad News. Wait for them to suicide as they become free threat and go back in again. Two guard posts have been taken down, but it needs to go faster. We can't win a war of attrition.

Another surgical strike brings down the cockroach spawner, but Roaming Enclaves are hitting four of my planets at once. Two are quickly resolved but I have to warp my champion back to deal with the rest. Meanwhile, my heavy strike force takes down the Beam Post and Booster Post. The Spire Shield Post goes down shortly after. This is looking good. I like how the AI Taunts me every time I fall back, even though I'm suffering almost no losses and dealing a severe blow each time.

The last electric post is now gone. With the eye eliminated, the full might of my empire can be brought to bear on the AI.



Golemite Homeworld eliminated. I don't want to have to deal with the avenger just yet so I am leaving the home station alive while I move to take out The Core's homeworld.

AI: Did you really expect that to work?

Did you?



(For the record, I have only won a single game of AI War in the year or so I've been playing. Maybe this one will be my second.)