Mining for Achievements

[Tridus]

So, there are a lot of achievements in AI War I don't have. There's a lot of game options I haven't tried. Time to fix both in one giant pile of insanity! Game settings:

120 Planet Map (X style) - 3 Achievements (one for beating a 120 planet map, one for controlling 80 planets, and one for controlling 110 planets). X type because with the AIP created by taking 110 planets, I'm probably going to need an easier map type.
AI 1: Entrenched Homeworlder 7 - 2 Achievements
AI 2: Train Master 7 - 2 Achievements
Auto AIP: 1 every 60 minutes
No Fog of War - I'm conquering the entire map anyway.
Complex Ships - all enabled (first time with dire guardian lairs on!)
1 Champion - Somewhere between 1 and 3 achievements (one for having every module unlocked, and hopefully two more for level 40 and 50 champions, but I'm not sure how you get one that high normally since I've never gotten past 33 or so)
Bonus Ship - Protector Starship - because it's nine kinds of awesome

Enabled stuff:
Human Marauders 4/10 - 1 Achievement (never used these guys before)
Human Resistance Fighters 4/10 - 1 Achievement (never used these guys either)
Human Colony Rebellions 4/10 - 1 Achievement (never used these)
Zenith Trader (use this all the time so no achievement)
Zenith Miners 4/10 - 1 Achievement (though I may turn this down to 1 or 2)
Zenith Devourer - 1 Achievement (Never used this before, hi cookie monster!)
Zenith Dyson Sphere 5/10 (no achievement, but I like these guys)
Neinzul Rocketry Corps 4/10 - 1 Achievement (never used this)
Neinzul Preservation Wardens 4/10 - 1 Achievement (never used this)
Neinzul Roaming Enclaves 4/10 (no achievement, used this before)
Fallen Spire 4/10 (no achievement, I've already gotten them)
Spire Civilian Leaders (no achievement, but taking 110 planets means I'm going to need the AIP reduction!)
Spirecraft Hard 4/10 (no achievement, but I could use the extra weapons and I don't fear the exo that much with so much other stuff going on)
Dark Spire 4/10 - 1 Achievement (never used these guys, and I'm not entirely clear on what they do)

AI Plots:
Avenger - 1 Achievement (enabled on both)
Hybrids 4/10 - 1 Achievement (never used either hybrid option, and I'm not entirely clear on what they do. Discovery time!) (enabled on both)
Advanced Hybrids 4/10 - 1 Achievement (enabled on both)
Astro Trains 4/10 - 1 Achievement (never used these) (enabled on AI 2)
Beachheads - 1 Achievement (enabled on AI 1)
Hunter 4/10 - 1 Achievement (enabled on AI 1)
Shark A 4/10 - 1 Achievement (enabled on AI 1)
Shark B 4/10 - 1 Achievement (enabled on AI 1)

I've attached the starting map. I seem to be surrounded by train stations. Knowing nothing about astro trains, I do notice they cause AIP when killed and can influence train routing. So it sounds like I may need to build things such that trains going by won't kill them.

Man, this will be an interesting game.

[The Hunter]

Looks !!Fun!!, good luck. XD

[Tridus]

Thanks!

It didn't take long to get interesting. Looking around a bit, my first goal is to secure the area that connects to my homeworld and reduce the number of entrances. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of capturables near me that are easy to get, so this will require some tech. One of the spokes right off the homeworld is small and has a nebula, an advanced research base, and the dyson. That's as good a place to start as any!

Initial Unlocks: Harvesters III, Mini Forts

So I start fleeting up. First step is my three fleet ships, my Protector Starships (missile and shell modules), and Neinzul Enclave Starships. I'll get the Flagships started once I start moving. Take the first planet with no difficulty of course, and get a logistics station up. Start building mini forts.

Then I see this.


I've never used trains before, so this is new to me. They don't have any guns. They do have tractor beams. Lots of tractor beams. One has a shield projector, and there's some cargo in there. The AI runs cargo? Am I fighting an evil UPS here?

So anyway, the next planet is a mk IV world. Because that's how life goes when you want to conquer the galaxy. I start taking out guard posts on it, and a wave is declared. No problem, 45 bombers and a starship. And then I get another warning that the devourer golem is nearby. It's going to show up at the same time as the bombers. On my homeworld.



It turned out the devourer was just passing through and didn't eat anything nearby. It's back on an AI world now. Was pretty scary though!

By now my science is building up.
Unlock: Protector Starship II.

Build those (2x energy module - I LAUGH AT YOU, FORTRESS!, 1 laser module, 1 missile module).
Start building some Riot 1's mounting shields and the shotgun. Back to work on my mk IV world, with the extra defenses it should go faster now, though the ion cannon beneth the FF II is a pain.

[The Hunter]

Protector starships are indeed pretty OP at the moment, making everything near them pretty much nearly invulnerable to anything but strongest attacks.

I've never used trains before, so this is new to me. They don't have any guns. They do have tractor beams. Lots of tractor beams. One has a shield projector, and there's some cargo in there. The AI runs cargo? Am I fighting an evil UPS here?

Trains have alot of !!Fun!! things indeed and are pretty hard to destroy. http://www.arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Astrotrain#Astrotrain
Generally you will have stuff like trains stealing your fleet ships with tractors, revealing stealth ships with tachions, boosting enemy armor, regenerating enemy ships like regeneration golem, repairing them, disabling your armor, covering enemies with shield, disabling your forcefields, and so on, on higher levels there are even emp and nuclear trains(though i think for most dangerous ones you need to have it on 7 or .
As for cargo trains, when cargo % finishes AI will get some reinforcements like golems.
Though if you get rid of the stations in your part of the galaxy trains will be less dangerous, ofc AIP will get up though, so your choice.

[Tridus]

Yeah, I'm going to have so much AIP already that I'm not sure more is the way to go here. May have to as things go on, just to keep them away from my homeworld. We'll see.

Anyway... I moved down and took the hub planet the dyson is connected to. Threw up a millitary command and mini forts.

Unocked: Flagship II, Neinzul Enclave Starship II, Heavy Beam Cannon I.

Moved to take the Dyson. With my Protector II's that was easy. So standard thing, I'll throw up a command station and scrap it.

...

oh yeah, Shark. Okay, I'll decolonize instead.



The dyson sphere does not approve of this plan. In fact it put out so many gatlings that it took over this planet, kept going, and ended the game.

Okie dokie, on to plan B.

[Tridus]

"Plan B" - The dirty savescummer edition.

So plan B is fairly straightforward. Instead of liesurly building something thinking I can scrap it and having things go horribly wrong, this time I'm going to build turrets. Lots of turrets. I'm also refitting all my Protectors for laser protection, to slow down those 30 gatlings.

New ship is Spire Mini Rams. Not bad. Not great. Really not in a position to go hacking at this point, so I'll take it.

Plan B works far better than plan A did. Now with the gatlings helping me I can move on. Next is a nearby planet with some pretty nasty stuff. Ion cannons (two of them), command post shield generators, and hybrids. Hello hybrids! On the upside, it also turns out to have marauders taking out the AI's stuff.



That makes life easier, I go raid the ion cannons and then it's a simple matter to finish off the planet.

After that is one with more hybrids (including a building that apparently lets hybrids go to level 3?) and a lot of tractor platform ships for some reason. Take out that one, gain myself a Spire Civilian Leader. I need a few more quickly, AIP is ramping up fast.

Next is a Data Center, and a Dark Spire Vengeance Generator. Humm, what's that do? Oh, and a Plasma Eye.

Unlock: Engineer II, Protector Starship III.

Eyes don't bother me a ton when I can bring Protectors, because my little starship fleet can wear down the planet. Now I've added Plasma Sieges in, so all it takes is time...

oh hi random dark spire ships!

This actually started getting ugly, I had to retreat while the dark spire messed up everything. The AI eventually polished them off, so I came back and dealt with the AI. Then I started a command station. Scrap an Ion Cannon IV (it's next to a special forces post i don't want to bother killing, so it'll die anyway) and more dark spire ships show up, one of which is on my command center and already hitting it. Ack!

Dyson Gatlings bailed me out here, otherwise I'd have gotten to see what Shark does.

At this point I want to finsh building the unlocked mk I starships, so I figure I'll go do a nebula. I have a clear path to one, so I hit that.

...

Shattered Pillar 3 way battle. /sigh

Reload the save. Guess I'll start Fallen Spire instead and see if it takes me towards the other nearby nebula.

Start building the survey ship, and trains come through again. My ships chase after them (FRD). They get tractored. They actually manage to destroy the cargo trains, but don't seem to want to attack the tractor train (and don't do much when I tell them to). That takes them down to a station at a planet I own, then back out. I wind up scrapping the tractored ships. There's also some new trains in there like radar jammers. Interesting.

[The Hunter]

Yup, dark spire is alot of !!Fun!!
Whenever something dies on the planet it powers dark spire and once it powered enough it spawns dark spire ships, i think, on all dark spire gen planets.
Also why reloading three way battle? It's not that bad, just shield the ships and the corner fort, i'd say one nebula that really gets a bit too much is the 2vs2 one, !!Fun!! stuff.

[Tridus]

Wow, dying anywhere spawns stuff everywhere? That is going to get crazy ugly. Note to self: find turret controllers.

Yup, dark spire is alot of !!Fun!!
Whenever something dies on the planet it powers dark spire and once it powered enough it spawns dark spire ships, i think, on all dark spire gen planets.
Also why reloading three way battle? It's not that bad, just shield the ships and the corner fort, i'd say one nebula that really gets a bit too much is the 2vs2 one, !!Fun!! stuff.

In a human frigate it takes an annoyingly long time because you have to shield the ships. If I go somewhere else I can get a faster one, and then get this one when I'm in a Zenith or Spire destroyer. In those ships this scenario takes far, far less time.

[The Hunter]

Wow, dying anywhere spawns stuff everywhere? That is going to get crazy ugly. Note to self: find turret controllers.

Lol i think you misunderstood, dying on the dark spire gen planets only, not sure how many deaths it takes to spawn them on 4 though, on dark spire 10 it is like 1-2 deaths. 

[chemical_art]

As someone who has *won* using dark spire ships (there is an ARS somewhere) [search "save me my minions"] my advice for them is simple.

Do not set foot onto a world with them unless you are prepared to have the [your] galaxy burn. The initial onslaught of them is relatively the worst.

Afterward, if *you* live with the headaches they cause, they can be a great asset till very end game.


To be fair, I *only* play 10/10 (darkspire) with them, so they may not make as big an impact.

[Tridus]

Wow, dying anywhere spawns stuff everywhere? That is going to get crazy ugly. Note to self: find turret controllers.

Lol i think you misunderstood, dying on the dark spire gen planets only, not sure how many deaths it takes to spawn them on 4 though, on dark spire 10 it is like 1-2 deaths. 

Yeah. Well if I have deaths on DS planet 2, it spawns sihps on DS planet 1? That will be interesting.

[Tridus]

As someone who has *won* using dark spire ships (there is an ARS somewhere) [search "save me my minions"] my advice for them is simple.

Do not set foot onto a world with them unless you are prepared to have the [your] galaxy burn. The initial onslaught of them is relatively the worst.

Afterward, if *you* live with the headaches they cause, they can be a great asset till very end game.


To be fair, I *only* play 10/10 (darkspire) with them, so they may not make as big an impact.

That's going to be hard to do on a game where I want to get the Control 110 achievement and it's an X map. If I get one in the way I have no choice but to go through it.

I do have an idea of some places where spire cities are going up, though.

[chemical_art]

That's going to be hard to do on a game where I want to get the Control 110 achievement and it's an X map. If I get one in the way I have no choice but to go through it.

I do have an idea of some places where spire cities are going up, though.

What I was driving more at was that make sure you are *ready* for the dark spire before you agitate them.

Some good defenses on each dark spire hub, and pray that no allies die on those worlds (nenzul allies) and you'll be fine after the DS do their work.

[Tridus]

Cool, thanks.

[The Hunter]

Well if I have deaths on DS planet 2, it spawns sihps on DS planet 1?

Yeah, on both 2 and 1.