That memo is out of date

[Mad Rubicant]

In the vein of my last AAR, I'll be doing the 'what memo?' challenge. Only this time, I add in superweapons and a Fallen Spire game. So, the goal: Capture every AI planet, and build as many Spire Cities as possible. Before the turret changes, I get the feeling that this would have been impossible.

The settings:
Version 7.033
120 planet Clusters, seed is 476673415. Armor booster changed to Sentinel Frigates
Ultra Low Unit caps
Normal + 2 champions.
8/8 SF Captain/Bouncer // SF Captain/Bouncer. There will be hundreds of thousands of Special Forces roaming around in the end game

Resistance Fighters 4
Golems/Botnet/Spirecraft 4/10. This is going to lead to some fun exos
Dyson 10
Zenith Trader
Roaming Enclaves 5
Alt Champion Progress/Nemesis 5/5
And of course, Fallen Spire 4/10

Schizo waves
H/K plot 4/4. Maybe I'll actually see them this game.

My plan of action: First I clear out the entire area behind my homeworld, while tanking waves there for the salvage. After colonizing that area, I'll put a command station and Spire City on Firienfeld, which is a direct chokepoint to my homeworld. As the last line of defense against exos, it'll have all my trader goodies and champion stuff, along with the Mk IV/V turrets.
Here's the map:

0:00: I begin building my fleet, and initial scouting. Initial unlocks are Military Stations II/III.
AI 1 has Beam Frigates as a bonus ship. AI 2 has Acid Sprayers. I'm not sure what else they've got.

0:12: Fleet and turrets are all built. It's time to neuter and remove the warp gates of the three planets behind my homeworld.

0:24: While I'm neutering Firienfeld, the Special Forces show up. I'm not exactly sure why, though. It has a CSG-D, could that be it?

0:27: All planets adjacent to my homeworld are neutered, and there's only one incoming warp gate. Next up is to use my champions to expand my scouting range. While doing this, I see a LOT of Arachnid posts, especially under shields. The worst kind.

0:39: Sweet! I've found the Dyson. It's on Kerberos, so I know what planet I'm popping.

0:46: I finish scouting, and blow up Kerberos, freeing the Dyson. The capturables in this cluster are the Flak Controller, MLRS Controller, an ARS, and the SuperTerminal. There's a lone Data Center, a decent amount of Xampite, and an Arty and Black Widow Golem.

0:49: With my earlier knowledge, I unlock Metal Harvester IIs, to support a beachhead on Firenfeld. When I made this plan, I forgot to take into account the special forces. They immediately come in and put a stop to it.

0:54: The beachhead is up. Now, it's time to lure in the special forces.

0:58: I may have caused a 150 ship reprisal wave doing it, but now I have a beachhead like a leech in the special forces. It's now time to expand. I blow up Oarth Galen for colonization.

1:00: The reprisal wave hits. Between my turrets and sentinel frigates, it runs away - straight into my beachhead. It's time to get my Spire Frigates.

1:09: Blast. The subspace signal is on Hera, which is outside my cluster. Stopping for now.

[keith.lamothe]

Even with the turret changes, I predict extreme discomfort

[Mad Rubicant]

1:17: Xappyh has the Superterminal. However, based on Peter's experience with it, I think I'll just leave it be. It's not worth losing all my other hacks for, after all.

1:27: I've spent 10 minutes using Champion raids on Frigg, because the planet is just filled with Sniper Guard posts. It's almost clean, though.

1:30: Frigg is completely neutered, and its Data Center is down. AIP is at 45.

1:40: The Suleiman ARS has Saboteurs, or I can hack for Attractor Drones/Viral Shredders. I think I'll stick with Saboteurs. I deal with the Ion Eye on the planet, as well.

2:00: Having spent 20 minutes trying to neuter Numenor, I cave and bring in bombers to deal with the Spire Shield Posts.

2:07: Numenor is almost neutered. It's expansion time. I pop Khan, and the gate raid its two adjacent planets. AIP goes up to 70.

2:20: Because of all the shields on the planets I'm trying to neuter, I unlock Bomber IIs.

2:35: I sneak some bombers up with a cloaker starship and destroy the Suleiman Gravitic command station. Time for a flash-colonize.

2:38: My champions hit level 11 with the capture of the ARS, so 2 rounds of unlocks. Hooray! The loot: Zenith Hull, Destroyer Hull, HBC Module, Acid Jet Module, IMT Starbase, and Gray Spire Starbase. Oh, and Saboteurs from the ARS. I also encountered a minor bug. When trying to upgrade your extra champion's hull, you have to switch to their UI.

2:44: The Golem Exo declares. I want my Artillery Golem up and running before that thing hits.

2:54: And now the CPA has declared. 203 mark 1 ships. I have 7k Knowledge, it's time for some unlocks. I'm thinking... Sentinel Frigate IIs and Spider Turret Is.

3:12: I decide to sabotage hack the Nuclear Eye on District 8. Hack is uneventful, as usual.

3:14: Botnet and Spirecraft Exos declare. I'll be seeing those in 3 hours.

Well, all the planets in my cluster are pretty much neutered. Next up, clear the CPA,  capture and build the Arty Golem, use it to blow up the command stations with 8 billion shields over them, and prepare for the Golem Exo. Between Golem Exo and Spirecraft/Botnet Exo, I'll probably grab the Spire refugees.

In IRL news, I graduate from high school in a few hours. Finally
Then I'm off to university in the fall.

[Mad Rubicant]

Time to update to 7.034. The smaller wave bonus from high AIP will be nice, as are the much stronger Spire Cities. I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen to my champions when I update, though.

Nothing happens to my champions, all right.

3:16: Where's that CPA hiding... It's not on Hera
Reprisal Level 3. W-what. I haven't lost any ships recently.
Oh. I found the CPA. It destroyed my beachhead, what a surprise. It and the special forces. Man, they've gotten huge again. The reprisal wave targets Suleiman, of course.

3:20: Oh sweet, Dyson Gatlings aren't dying like flies any more.

3:21: Suleiman blows up. That's more threat I need to kill. I send the champions over, and it drops down to 200-300 ships.

3:24: The Trader finally reaches my homeworld! Time to build a ZPG.

3:30: Nemesis Exo declares, and I bring threat down to single digit levels. Next up, Arty Golem. And I'm just going to destroy the Superterminal, I don't want to deal with it this game.

3:34: I capture Xapyh and begin rebuilding the Artillery Golem. I don't want to deal with waves to Xapyh, so I gate raid the adjacent planets. AIP is up to 120.

3:41: Arty Golem is about halfway built. More surprisingly, however, is the number of Dyson Gatlings: 85. Then again, it is Dyson 10.

3:47: Champions hit level 16. Now I have a Spire Mod Fort.

3:50: Artillery Golem is built. Golem Exo is at 80%.

3:57: All my pre-neutering has paid off. I can just go in with my Arty Golem with two champions for support, and kill all the Spire Shield Guard posts.

4:13: All planets in my cluster are completely neutered. I unlock FF II/IIIs, since I've got Exos coming in soon.

4:15: I rebuild my beachhead. Hopefully it doesn't die to the Special Forces before the Exos hit.

4:23: EXO LAUNCHED
3 Massive AI ships (960 Strength) en route to your planets.
It doesn't look like the AI is throwing any golems at me, fortunately. Just two Siege Towers and a Shield Bearer. My Arty Golem certainly helped on defense

4:26: EXO REPELLED

4:29: I want the Black Widow Golem. Time to capture Numenor. Also, stopping here.

Current goals: Capture the Black Widow Golem. My 2 champions and two golems should be able to singlehandedly cleanse this cluster. After I've got control over it, I'll start working on getting my city chokepoints up. From there, who knows?

[Mad Rubicant]

4:33: My ZPG has finished. Now I'm at 1 million energy, and don't have to worry about blackouts from exos.

4:35: I take down Antioch, since its only gated neighbor is Numenor, which is about to die.

4:36: As I was saying, Numenor blows up. I really love the Artillery Golem.

4:49: Champions hit level 19, and I get a Shattered Pillar Starbase. The Black Widow Golem is at 32%, and Botnet/Spirecraft Exos are at 95%

4:59: EXOS LAUNCHING
3 Massive ships are en route to your planets (960 Strength).
It's not scary. Nearly 200 Dyson Gatlings obliterate the exo. So it's free metal, which is perfect for my black widow golem.

5:01: EXOS REPELLED
Champion Exo is at 95%. When do exos begin charging? Because the champion one declared 50% at 3:30, which puts it an hour out, not in 10 minutes.

5:03: Black Widow complete. It's time to wipe this cluster of the AI.
5:04: Akatosh goes down.
5:06: Espandor is next
5:08: Adeptus Astartes falls into the void.
I think the Champion Exo launched. It's not really something I pay attention to.
5:09: Zonithar bears the wrath of high explosives
5:10: Frigg bites the dust. AIP is up to 245, and Tech Level II. The game should get interesting about now. Champions hit level 22, unlock Slicer bays. Meh.
5:12: Ghandi gets nuked. (Not literally)
5:15: District 8 is killed
5:17: Saga's saga is over. Champions hit level 25, unlock Spire Hull. I'm sticking with the Zenith for now, though.
5:18: Dion is mine.
5:19: Kashyyyk falls into the empire's (my) hands.
5:20: Dodona goes the way of the dodo.
5:21: Maccabeus Quintus, the last planet in the cluster, becomes mine.

Huh. That barely took 20 minutes. I unlock Engineer IIs.

5:23: Champions hit level 28, and unlock Photon Lance Module. Suddenly, that spire hull looks a lot more attractive. I rush build a command station on Kerberos for the Flak V controller.

5:25: I build my two Core turret caps on my homeworld. Now it's time to start Fallen Spire. First up is the subspace signal on Hera. I think I'll also unlock HBC Is.

5:30: Oh god the special forces showed up. Oh god oh god. While this is happening, my champions hit level 31, and unlock Cruiser hull. They nearly obliterate my Widow Golem AND the Shard. We're talking 3% HP for the golem. I'm going to need to do something about the Special Forces before they do something about me.

5:36: Champions hit level 34, and I get a Neinzul Mourner Starbase.

5:40: Good news! The next subspace signal is on Antioch, one of my planets. No forays into SF territory, thank you very much.

5:42: Champions are now level 37, and I get the IRE module. The survey on Antioch finishes, and I get the refugees. Exo time!

5:43: CPA declares, it's 800 someodd ships. Keep in mind this is Ultra-low caps

5:46: More good news! The next signal is on... Antioch!
...Except it isn't. That was a bizarre bug.

5:55: CPA launches. The next Broken Golem exo starts synchronizing with it. And now the CPA is dancing with the Special Forces on Firienfeld. A whole 3k ships. I think I'll kill it. With lots of cheese. Which means Riot II/IIIs and Plasma Siege II/IIIs. And Enclaves

6:08: I'm feeling a little pressed on defense. I think I'll unlock all my mark 2 turrets

6:09: Finally unlock Neinzul hull, at level 49.

6:15: HAH. I unlock Battleship hull, at level 51.

6:22: And now I've got the Heat Beam for my Zenith Champion.

6:30: I'm being stonewalled by the Special Forces on Mani, which happens to be the next subspace signal

6:34: Botnet and Spirecraft Exos launch. Which reminds me I have a ton of asteroids I'm not using. Hello Martyr, good bye Special Forces.

6:40: You know what, I can't take it any more. I'm using a Lightning III. It takes out a whole 1000 ships. I'm unlocking Sentinel Frigate IIIs and Assault Transports.

6:54: I'm not sure I'll get anywhere if I don't blow up the Mani Command station.

6:59: HAH. Now that they no longer have a planet to defend, the Special Forces run away - to the next planet to defend. It was just my bad luck that the subspace signal was on a planet with one of the Armored Golems.

7:02: I begin the survey.
Luckily, my fleet is able to take care of it. I guess the only thing I really have to worry about is the Special Forces. What a surprise.

7:11: It's time to build the first city, a little later than planned. First, I blow up and colonize Firienfeld. Next up, I build one of each mod fort.

7:21: Mod forts up, and the golem exo at 90%. I think I'll hold off on building the city hub.

7:27: EXO LAUNCHED
As usual, it's repelled

7:29: Now it's time to build the city hub, especially with all the delicious salvage I've got from the golem exo. I manage to build it in 30 seconds, yippee.

7:38: The city is completed at level 1. I should probably post this now, it's getting kind of long.

Goals: Get my city to level 2, then get a second city and put it behind the front lines, so I can move all the shipyards there. After that, I think I'll set up another city chokepoint leading to the next cluster.

Also, something that I'm not sure is a bug or a feature: When ships get widowed by the Black Widow Golem, they get one free shot against it, despite being paralyzed. I'm sure it's because ships that are tractored are considered in range, but shouldn't the paralysis stop that?

[Mad Rubicant]

Update to 7.035, since bugfixes are always welcome

7:40: I send my champions to clear out Atmospheric Spire, and the Arty and Widow Golems to clear Matano.

7:43: Oh wow. Every bomber that the Black Widow Golem grabs gets a hit on it, so multiply that by 200 mark 4 bombers, and you get an almost dead golem. Actually, I'm not sure it can survive grabbing 200 mark 4 bombers.

7:48: First timed Spire exo launches. Despite it being in the middle of an exo, I use my champions to blow up Hera.

7:51: Atmospheric Spire goes down. Artillery Golems trivialize Gravitic Command Stations, and I love it.

7:55: Matano falls. Now I have a level 2 Spire city!

8:01: The next signal is on Isenmouth, a whole 1 hop from Mani.

I'll use my champions to scout the rest of the cluster

8:16: Well, I found the special forces, on Paladin.

8:22: AHA! I've found the botnet; it's on Maroon Paradise.
I also found the special forces. They're up to 10k ships now.

8:37: CPA declares, 1k ships. I had a wave that big earlier.

8:39: Oh dear. I didn't notice earlier, but Paladin has a Special Forces Alarm. That could be interesting if I popped it.

8:43: Ilos has an Advanced Factory. Yet another location that I can try to bleed Special Forces.

8:46: You know what photon lances absolutely wreck? Dire Guardians.
You know what they don't wreck, at least in small quantities? The special forces. I think I'll go get my next shard. And unlock Engineer IIIs, since I'm swimming in metal.

9:13: All the exos are at low charge, so it's time to start the survey.
Survey is uneventful, as is are the waves the AI throws at the shard.

9:49: The trader passed by earlier, so I built a cap of goodies on Firienfeld. Now it's time to save for the city hub.
So I start the hub, and immediately get notified of 7 massive ships incoming. This should be fun. Or free metal, that's nice too.
I think I need gravity turrets though, the AI sure loves bumrushing Firienfeld at high speeds.

10:03: Second city is finishd. Then the Botnet/Spirecraft exos hit, and there's an H/K II. Scary.
Even more good news! The next signal is on Suleiman, way in my back lines.

10:15: Shard number three online, time to run.
As much as I'd like to expand, I need Battleships and Dreadnoughts before I can go any further. Man, these special forces are terrifying. Thus, the next city is going behind front lines. Fortunately for me, I can stick 4 cities behind my homeworld and one in front, so I can get the capital right now.

10:49: Beginning City #3.
As usual, it goes without trouble, although the AI did get up to my force fields. The next signal is on Amaseia, which is behind planets with capturables. I'm guessing that the special forces will come to play if I move through those planets. Let's test it out.

11:01: Yep, the special forces will come to defend any Fabricator, Advanced Constructor, ARS, Golem, and probably Co-Processor.

11:11: After a 10 minute SF merry-go-round, I know what I'll do o get this shard: I'll lead the special forces in a dance on Ilos, and use that as a distraction to grab the shard on Amaseia.

11:18: I have to move fast, because the special forces will come to end me. Beginning the survey. Also, it seems that the AI ranks the Advanced Factory as higher priority than the Armored Golem. I mean, I'm not complaining since it means I can run intereference.

11:25: I've got the shard, and right as I get home, a 1k ship CPA declares. How cute.
However, my Widow Golem still took a ton of damage from the free bomber shots the AI got on it.

11:32: Starting City #4. The AI is beginning to throw golems at me in the exos. And it looks like the Spirecraft, Botnet, and Champion exos are going to sync with this CPA. Should be boatloads of fun. Survey finishes, too. Last shard is on Vioarr, up in the top and away from any capturables.

11:52: Just to be safe, I'm going to capture the Armored Golem on the path to Vioarr.

11:54: Beginning the final survey.
It's pretty uneventful. So long as the AI doesn't sync all five of its exos, I think I'll be fine this game. The Cities really needed those buffs.

12:03: Time to build the last city. With 70 engineer IIIs on it, it's finished in 10 seconds. I'm really tempted to build the capitol on my front lines, what with a 1,000,000 attack photon lance and 25,000,000 HP. You know what, with stats like that, there's no way I'm leaving it at home. Capitol is getting built on my chokepoint.

12:08: Galactic Capitol is finished. Initial research is Shield Generators, Battlships, and Laser Modules.

12:18: All my cities have upgraded modules, and this is where I leave off. It's been a long session.

Next up: Conquer hub number two, and create a secondary choke in the front. And cities, lots of cities.

[Mad Rubicant]

I have 474 AIP right now. There are currently 20,000 special forces roaming around, on ultra-low caps

12:21: I'm taking out the special forces alarm. As entertaining as it would be to trigger it, I'd probably die.

12:24: I destroy Saju, which will be the location of my next choke. This will also cut off all the special forces in my cluster from reinforcements.

12:31: Saju is captured; time for turrets. Using the knowledge from the planet, I unlock Spire Colony Ships. While I want to start the city now, the timed exo is about to hit, so I can't.

12:41: The exos are a lot less scary now that I have the capitol level defense. Time to build the city.

12:51: The trader shows up on Saju. So it gets a BHG, Armor Inhibitor, Armor Booster, Radar Jammer, and Ion I/IIs. The BHG and Armor Inhibitor get rushbuilt with my 10 million stockpiled metal.

12:58: It turns out that the special forces won't route through a singular planet to protect the Botnet golem, of all things. My champions are just destroying the planet and no special forces.

13:00: Maroon Sea is burned up by concentrated photons. Then the Golem Exo launches. Only 3 massive ships worth 2k strength, how cute.

13:02: Oh no.
OH NO
The AI has SPIRE BLADE SPAWNERS
AND THEY'RE IN THE SPECIAL FORCES.
I need to sabotage hack those now.

13:05: Oh sweet, Sluis has a Protector Starship backup. I could use that

13:07: Spire exo launching. It's probably going to split its attention between Saju and my homeworld. Or not, it could just all go for my homeworld.

13:27: Champions make amazing scouts. Also, I know what one of the brutal picks are: Core Raid Engine. I kind of triggered it with my champion 'scouting'.

13:31: Oops, I triggered it again. I know where the homeworld is, though - It's on Alftland.

13:41: The Akroinon Missile Command Station is getting in the way of my scouting.
So I blow it up. The Spire-Golem fleet cleans up the threat, and my Widow Golem gets chunked to half health by ships getting their one free shot.

14:16: Ooh, a CPA. 1200 ships. Still cute.

14:26: Oh
It's going to sync 3 exos. Maybe 4

14:28: Phew, only 3 exos, and no FS exo.
And then the 4th exo synched.

14:30: I somehow survived, but Saju got killed. The City is still alive, at the moment. I should probably send my fleet back to defend it.
If a CPA syncs all 5 of my exo sources, I will lose. At this point, there's no doubt about it.
The CPA threat was pounding on my city, but it decided to leave for some reason. All 3 city branches survived.

14:37: Saju is rebuilt. I'm going to clear this cluster, colonize it, and use the energy for tons of turrets.
Since I'd really like to stay at tech level 2 until after I've got my chokepoint ready, I stop with 3 left. Time to go kill some data centers.

14:59: Oh, I should probably kill the Dire Guardian Lair on Heretic.

15:11: I unlock Mark III turrets. Saju is the only planet getting any at the moment, since I'm already using a bajillion matter converters.

15:23: So the Spire Exo just hit. That thing hurts. It's throwing at least 10 golems at me now.

15:46: When Spire Shadow Battleships stop working as scouts, switch to Neinzul Shadow Battlships. Guaranteed to get farther every time.

15:52: So the other AI homeworld has a raid engine. Wonderful.

15:57: I think it's time for a Botnet. How did that thing end up as the de facto logo of AI War, anyways?

16:02: Well, the special forces are camping Yeweh. Time to draw them somewhere else.

16:20: 12k Knowledge! Time for Dreadnoughts!

16:23: Spire Exo. 23 massive ships. This is really getting scary.

16:57: Coordinated strike to blow up all the Co-Processors, GO! AIP is back down to 664.

17:02: I blow up Yeveh. Now the Saju Spire City can grow.

17:09: OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD A CPA JUST DECLARED
I have all 5 of my exo sources charging. The Botnet and Spirecraft exos will probably launch before the CPA, and maybe the champion one. The FS exo will launch with the CPA, as will the Golem and maybe champion exos.

17:11: Spirecraft and Botnet exos launch.
A Dire Gravity guardian escapes to Ilos, which has the Advanced Factory, something I'm not too keen on losing.

17:23: Exos hitting, all that fun stuff - that was a Mark 4 H/K.

17:29: Time for city #7. This one's going on Amaseia

17:43: City #8.
I have 2 Dreadnoughts, 4 Battlships, 10 Cruisers, 20 Destroyers, and 84 Frigates.

18:11: It's time. I set out with my Spire fleet to capture me some ARS worlds. I run into the Special Forces, from whom I've had to run from, distract, or move too fast for them to respond. And they die, oh do they die.

18:21: And yet, there's still 20k+ of them left when I fleetwipe. Which left a paltry level 3 reprisal.

18:28: Oh, the first ARS has IREs, or Parasites/Fireflies. I think I'll hack for Fireflies. A dock cannon is a great way to deal with the special forces.

18:41: Time to go out again.

18:45: Hacking time! I'm not sure the AI can do anything about my fleet this time.

Halfway through the hack, the game just crashed. No message, no nothing. Straight to the desktop. Checking UnhandledErrors.txt, there's nothing. I guess here, Keith, have my autosave.

I still haven't found the Spire Blade Spawner Backup.

[keith.lamothe]

13:02: Oh no.
OH NO
The AI has SPIRE BLADE SPAWNERS
AND THEY'RE IN THE SPECIAL FORCES.
I need to sabotage hack those now.

Well, at least you can do that now   Well, when you find the backup anyway.

I have 2 Dreadnoughts, 4 Battlships, 10 Cruisers, 20 Destroyers, and 84 Frigates.

That sounds like someone's about to have a really bad day.

18:11: It's time. I set out with my Spire fleet to capture me some ARS worlds. I run into the Special Forces, from whom I've had to run from, distract, or move too fast for them to respond. And they die, oh do they die.

Ah yes, there it is.

Halfway through the hack, the game just crashed. No message, no nothing. Straight to the desktop. Checking UnhandledErrors.txt, there's nothing. I guess here, Keith, have my autosave.

If it didn't show you anything at all then it was probably something external to the program, as actual code errors don't CTD at all and while some out-of-memory errors do they at least pop up a generic windows error box (assuming it's on windows).

Has the crash happened again?


Anyway, seems like you're doing pretty well

[Mad Rubicant]

13:02: Oh no.
Halfway through the hack, the game just crashed. No message, no nothing. Straight to the desktop. Checking UnhandledErrors.txt, there's nothing. I guess here, Keith, have my autosave.

If it didn't show you anything at all then it was probably something external to the program, as actual code errors don't CTD at all and while some out-of-memory errors do they at least pop up a generic windows error box (assuming it's on windows).

Has the crash happened again?

Well, I stopped after the crash

Loading back in, I think the game crashed during my autosave, since I'm right back where it was in the hack. I'm thinking an out of memory error during saving. There are 46,000 AI ships right now. But it would have happened after the save got written and closed.

18:55: The hack finishes, with 900 post hack strength.

19:13: Spire Exo. Some teleport battle stations get behind my front lines and wreak general havoc. I think I'll hack those away.
Or I would if their backup wasn't on a core world on the other side of the galaxy.

19:19: I blow up Frozen Synapse. That's one more ARS and CSG-A down.

19:29: While clearing a tachyon path to the next ARS, Fulla, I notice that my Insanity Inducer modules aren't working very well. I've got 8 total on my Neinzul Battleship, and at 5 shots per volley, I should be getting 40 zombies every time they shoot. Except I'm not. If I'm lucky, I'll get 5 or 6. Could you take a look at those, Keith? I think they might be shooting everything at one target, which as we all know is completely pointless.
Oh, and the Fulla ARS has Vampire Claws. Not hacking there.

19:38: Fulla goes down to stealth raids by a Neinzul Champion.

19:47: I get a science lab down to Venerator. My options are Eye Bots, Bulletproof Fighters, or Armor Rotters. Pretty easy choice: Eye Bots it is.

19:53: I blow up Venerator, in the middle of the Spire Exo.

20:00: CPA declares.

20:04: I get the Venerator ARS. I was having trouble getting my colony ship there, even under cloakers, so I used a Jumpship. It only lost 16% HP, too. But now, all the CSGs are down. I can take the fight to the homeworld. It's time to glass the northwest cluster.
As an aside, I just checked, and there's 4 Titanite and 3 Adamantite in the galaxy, and the Titanite is closer to me than half of the Adamantite. And neither are near the AI homeworlds. Actually seeding the highest level Asteroids as far away as possible from ALL homeworlds seems better, since that way you can actually use Adamantite/Titanite before the game's over. Unless it does that already?

Oh, I need to hack the Protector Starship backup on Sluis.
It also doesn't look like anything's going to sync with this CPA, thankfully. Maybe the Spire exo, but it's about to hit anyways.

20:10: Oh joy, Sluis has a Tachyon Command Station, that's exaclty what I don't need.

20:12: 34 massive AI ships (34k strength) en route to your planets. Sure getting desperate, Mr. AI.

20:19: I start the design download

20:24: Hack finished. Pretty uneventful, as hacks go. I immediately unlock protector starships II/III and build them.

20:38: So uh, the special forces are at 33k now. I think I'll just go glass that cluster.

21:03: Really, the only thing that scares me now is the entirety of the special forces and Arachnid Guard posts. The former of which are being tied up by a cloaked champion on an ARS world, the latter of which die to photon lances before they can get a shot off. Oh, and I should probably be careful about OMDs, since they go straight through shields.

All five of my exos are charging right now. If I hadn't had a CPA an hour ago, I'd probably die a terrible death right now.
As I save and quit, the FS exo is at 100% and about to launch. I'll be fine.

Should the special forces really be tied up guarding one planet (even if it's an ARS planet) with a cloaked champion?

[Mad Rubicant]

Speaking of the metal debate, I'm running 17 matter converters and have 60k metal/second income.

I get eyes on the first AI homeworld. It's bad: Core Raid Engine, Teuthida, and Wrath posts. And a Core Zenith Fort.

21:27: It's time to kill the first AI. The Spire fleet sets out for Alftand.

21:32: Oh wow. The Wrath Lance obliterated my Spire fleet. I'm not altogether that worried about the response exo, it's only 45 massive ships.

21:38: Make that 52. It's a complete rout. I lose the entirety of Saju.The golems barely get out in time before all the force fields go poof. I didn't notice before, but there's 16 H/Ks. It's wreaking havoc in my backlines.

21:46: Oh hey, I see a Fallen Spire Exo charging. This could be the end of me.

21:52: The exo finally hits Firienfeld. All the salvage is enough to kickstart my sagging economy back into life. Time to finish that spire fleet.

21:54: Somehow, I'm still alive. Threat is down to a 1000, and the one time (it only hits me once, right?) Spire response exo is over.


This game is getting REALLY grindy. I think I'll just leave off for now.

[Peter Ebbesen]

What's your AIP now, and have you really conquered everything but the AI homeworlds, or are you striking at one AI homeworld early and leaving the other until you've conquered everything else?