Mining for Achievements

[Toranth]

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.

A few more details about how Dark Spire works:

If I remember correctly, there are intensity * 2 Dark Spire Vengence Generators seeded in the galaxy.

Whenever a non-Dark Spire ship or structure dies on a planet with a Dark Spire Vengence Generator, some points are added to the Dark Spire "Spawn Counter".  At about the same time, the game checks the point total.  When enough points are reached some Dark Spire ships spawn in each Dark Spire system that has been 'activated'.  A Dark Spire Vengence Generator is 'activated' the first time a unit dies in that system.

Ships contribute different points towards the spawn counter.  A Champion spawned Drone contibutes a very small amount (less than 1 point), while a Spirecraft or Golem contributes a lot more (300+ points).  The Dark Spire ships also vary a fair amount.  A basic Wraith costs about 10 points, while an advanced ship may cost 300 points - but they scale up in power according to price.

Also, be aware that scrapping units or buildings counts as "dying" for this purpose, adding points to the spawn counter.

From experience I can make the following suggestions: 
1)  Do not attempt to build your chokepoint on a Dark Spire planet.  Just... don't.
2)  Do not count on protecting any uniques (fabs, etc) on Dark Spire planets unless you control and can prevent AI access to ALL Dark Spire planets.  Even then, be careful.

[Tridus]

Thanks for the tips everyone! Based on them...

Unlock: Hardened FF I, Fortress II.

Drop a HFF and Fortress on the vengeance generator world. Switch command station to military. Drop a fortress on my homeword, since it's currently my whipping boy until I can clear this area.

Sneak over to the other nebula in the area. That requires passing three AI worlds, but they're all low mark and not busy, so it's fairly easy. Gray Spire Gatling scenario. Great! Lousy unlocks though, just the railcluster and railgun, with no fortress. I do have the spire frigate though, which is a much better base cracker than the human one. Champion is level 7. Maybe I'll go hit the second nebula.

New cargo trains. Gatlings go to attack them. Tractors take the gatlings. Oy.

Survey operation sends me up into another nearby hub on the X map, one where the spokes have a lightning turret V controller... and another vengeance generator. Oh well, still need to clear it all to get to 110 planets. I think the first thing I'll do is let these fortresses build and go hit that second nebula. A destroyer would really help my offensive punch.

[The Hunter]

Why hardened forcefield? I'd get mk2 instead. Also rail cluster from my experience is pretty awesome! Maybe not as much for nebula scenarios but it murders fleet ships really nicely.
Also which dysons train took, yours or dyson's? If first then ow.

[Tridus]

I took the Hardened FF because it's cheaper and fills the need I have right now.  mk 2 will be coming later (along with mk 3) since Spire Cities need them unlocked.

Rail cluster is good, but I didn't get the fortress and I was hoping for that.

The train took the dyson sphere's dysons. It'll make more, so it's not a big deal. Still pretty funny.



Alrightie. Second nebula (well, the first nebula for the second time) is the other shattered pillar. The one with the kamikaze colony ships. No problem for my new Spire Frigate. Take that out, and I get the Zenith Destroyer, Zenith Modular Fortress (yay!), and acid sprayer module. Switch to the Zenith Destroyer to go attack some AI systems.

FS subspace signal is up here:



So that'll be the area I clear out next. But given the rise in AIP, I'm going to need some defense forces while my main fleet is away doing offense.

Unlock: Fighter II, Bomber II, Missile Frigate II. I'll leave the mk I's behind as protection.

While I'm gearing up for the next set of planetary clearing, I get a couple of new messages:
- AI 2's major construction effort from trains is at 50%. That doesn't sound good.
- There's a Super Hybrid on the far side of the map. That also doesn't sound good, but at least he's over there?

[The Hunter]

Yay fortress, also haven't had much experience with hybrids at 4, but from what i heard they can get pretty !!Fun!!, as for trains if you kill cargo trains you might be able to slow the construction progress.

[Tridus]

Yeah, I have been able to kill some cargo trains as they pass my homeworld now, with the twin fortresses and lots of gatlings (and shattered pillar ships). Not sure if it's enough, the AI owns a lot of territory.

The super hybrid is moving around, and one of the planets is now building a "strange hybrid facility". Not sure what that is. Sounds interesting.

Oh yeah, and a Spirecraft hard exo is charging up. If I can get this area cleared I can meet it on my homeworld head on and probably be fine. Speaking of that, I need more defense.

Unlock: Millitary Command Station II.

Up next is the second dark spire vengeance generator. Time to get some fortifications going I guess!

[Tridus]

Built a fortress at the first vengeance generator, along with a military command II. Took the second one, no problem. Took the planet after it, and then the other two planets. Starship fleet is going strong now.

Unlock: Raid Starship II, Forcefield II, Forcefield III.

Handled my first Spirecraft exo, no problem. Not that I like using my homeworld as a whipping boy. <_<

Up next now that I have the second spoke cleared out is to send the survey ship and get the first shard. I'll go where that sends me next, since the remaining two spokes in this area don't have much of value, but I do need to clear them out at some point.

Once I get a spire city up at a good chokepoint, I'll feel a lot more comfortable.

[The Hunter]

Haha, if done right homeworld might be about the best place to handle exos without a good chokepoint, since most of exo waves tend to ignore about everything else, homeworld in my AAR handles vengeful AI exos fairly well.
When you get enough K i'd suggest getting gravity mk3 turrets, they are pretty awesome for any defense, my favorite turrets so far.

[Tridus]

Yeah they're nice. I want to get area mines soon, but I need to keep enough around that I can get the necessary unlocks for Spire Cities once I get one up. Granted, those are almost all defenses anyway... (laser turret III, heavy beam cannon III, spider turrets, and FF III are the basic ones).

[The Hunter]

Considering that you will be capping every planet anyway though, you will most likely have enough K to unlock about everything.

[Tridus]

Oh I will. I just want the stuff for the city when I build the first city, because it's going up at a chokepoint and will have to hold. (At least until the trader comes by and I load it up with goodies...)

[Tridus]

So here's an update. I'm 6 hours in. I control a lot of planets. I have an absurdly high AIP, mostly because with a 120 planet map I'm finding things a lot more spread out and haven't gotten really any AIP reducers (along with needing to take everything for the achievement, of course!).



Murdoch is going to be my chokepoint of doom. My first Spire City has just gone up here. It's got a Zenith mod fort, a fortress II, Millitary Command III, tons of turrets and such, a nice large minefield... oh and all the trader goodies under construction (OMD, Counter Spy, Black Hole Generator, Radar Jammer II, Armor Booster, Armor Inhibitor, and SuperFortress). The downside to this spot is that I have to clear the surrounding planets to grow the spire city, which means waves can't be declared against it. The upside is that it's going to be capable of surviving exos, CPAs, border aggression, and anything else the AI can throw at it. Which means that once it's fully online I can take my entire fleet and charge forward in whatever direction I'm going, allowing the fleet to handle the waves.

P8 on the map is the coprocessors, which are badly located. The SuperTerminal is up in the northeastern branch, which is where I'm going to go. That one also has lots of goodies, including some SCLs (desperately needed).

I had my first encounter with the miners. One on a planet I controlled (easily dealt with). Another on a planet next to Murdoch, which a Nuclear Eye. That was... interesting. Protector Starships to the rescue there, as they let me field a small fleet and survive to take out the golem.

The AI has Spire Stealth Battleships now, which is pretty unfortunate. Oh yeah, and it has an Artillery golem, which is very unfortunate. To counter that I used some of my nearby asteroids and whipped up some Spirecraft. Mostly Implosion Artillery & Siege Towers, with a couple of attritoners, and Ion Blaster II, and a couple of Rams hidden in my territory safely until I see the artillery golem. I didn't use any asteroid above Xampite yet, so I'm in good shape there.

My unlocks include Leech Starship III, Fighter/bomber/Missile Frigate III, Grav Turrets I & II, Area Mines, EMP Mines... I think that's it for now.

One problem I'm having with a mine defense this time is that because Murdoch is a central hub for the entire map, there is a TON of Astro Trains there. It seems like there's always one around that disables cloaking. That won't matter at all to the other defenses once I get them online, but it really hurts the mines. I don't know how to deal with that at this point.

I did learn to park my ships using rally points away from the wormholes, so the tractor trains stop picking them up. They do keep picking up gatlings though. Have a nearby nebula, so I'm hoping to get the Neinzul hull. With how many AI ships are being thrown at me, insanity inducers would be real handy.

I also desperately need a Factory IV and ASC, to take more advantage of all my unlocks. Both of those are in the direction I'm going, but so is a zillion rocketry corps launchers. I'm not 100% clear on how to deal with those if I'm just taking all the systems they're in. Will make life interesting I suppose.

Oh yeah, the devourer golem is parked on Murdoch and eating the roaming enclave spawns. Then the AI shows up, and it eats them too (and then eats more spawns). It's kind of goofy how long it's been there for, and I think it may spend a long time there.

[The Hunter]

That's alot of stuff from trader, haha.
Golem might be from cargo trains if they are finished, or exo. Also why you have built ion blaster? Currently it's like most useless spirecraft ever, sadly. If you kill stations that might help vs trains, or you can try to use some heavy hitting weapons(Penetrators?) to destroy the sections of train that cause problems. As for rocketry, haven't personally fought them yet, but i think some long range anti-warhead stuff can help, not missile or sniper though because immunity, gravity turrets can help too, if you find working warhead interceptor you can use that too.
Also lol @devourer golem

[Tridus]

I built the Ion Blaster because I'm fighting zillions of little ships, and sitting under a champion FF it seems to do alright. I've got so many asteroids of that type that it's really not a big deal, I didn't waste a super valuable one.

Penetrators for the trains are a good idea, thanks!

I'd been saving my trader stuff for this one planet, the only thing I'd bought until now was a ZPG.

At this point the main thing that concerns me about the rocketry corps is when I start taking systems behind the chokepoint that won't be defended. I don't want them taking out command stations constantly. I do have one turret controller, maybe I can use the turrets from that as targets for the warhead instead.

[Tridus]

Alrightie. After spending a bunch of time trying to clear out the planets around Murdoch of ships, I gave up on that and just raided the command stations instead. That convinced the AI to either attack or retreat back, but either way let me get the Spire city to level 2. Given how much territory I control, the next shard chase was really easy (those waves have to attack Murdoch and they're no threat at all to a chokepoint with this much stuff on it, even with trains shutting my mines cloaking off).

The extra firepower from a second Spire City gave me the ships needed to start blasting through, and I'm heading into the arm of the X that has no AI homeworld but does have a SuperTerminal.

A human colony rebellion has also started up there, but the timer is long enough that I think I can reach it reasonably safely. Luckily it's in the direction I already wanted to go!