My First Real AAR -- Also My First 8/8

[Radiant Phoenix]

Minor update: A Vengeance Generator and a Black Hole Machine on the same planet. 

[Radiant Phoenix]

Scoutingscoutingscouting ALL LE EVERYTHINGS!

I'm going to build a ModFort on my one of my two future whipping boys... Neinzul with Bombers (because good against what I expect to encounter) and Nanosubverters (because Insanity Inducers aren't going to help me enough to offset the longterm gains of proper capture, I think). I'm also going to unlock Spider Turret 1 to do some engine damage to things. I hope that works on Exo-waves.

Alright, AI2 HW revealed. What's the damage? Teuthida + Grav. That sounds... intimidating. Snipers and Gravity is a strong combination... BUT NOT AS STRONG AS WRATH LANCE + GRAVITY! ZOMG, my first Wrath Lance! ... fortunately it's right next to the wormhole. Of course, there's also a Core Raid Engine, but who cares about that with what's right next to it?

I think I know enough to safely take the North Choke, but I'd like to hack the fab first, to ensure nothing unfortunate happens to it.

And now, I rename most of the systems in the galaxy. Because why not?

AI 1 HW:

• Wrath Lance
• Grav Reactor
• Core Raid Engine

AI 2 HW:

• Teuthida
• Grav Reactor

Also Attached: The big picture.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Hmm... I feel like I should put the city up on the south choke now. Both to make it easier to defend, and so I'll have some more Spire capital ships to drive around. Beachheading the North Choke first, though, and maybe hacking its fab too.

"An abnormally strong hybrid is somewhere in the galaxy"

Better liberate the Dyson Sphere, I think.

A wave showed up on my choke -- that's a lot of IREs! I captured 100 of about 1600 with my modfort.

The golem wave is impending here, so I think I should gate-raid some systems that are pointing at my back door... except apparently my champion evaporates under a stiff breeze now, so I need to be sneaky about this... or maybe just warhead all the threat. That sounds good too. My budget has room for more Cloaker Starships. And the Human Modular Fortress, to put nanos on the other choke when the time comes... AKA, now. Nanos and... bomber bays, because I can't afford to unlock HBC 3 right now.

Meanwhile, a missile silo from SCL 2 to lightning that system with 9000 threat. Or maybe from SuperTerminal... Anyway, the blob is mostly IRE-4, with some Z-Repro 4 backup. Should be handled by a single L-1. Champ will bait them into position for the strike. But first, I punch my economy with three more matter converters.

Boom, Headshot! The lightning warhead wipes out almost all the threat, leaving my champion to mop up the rest of the mess.

[Radiant Phoenix]

I think I won't hack paralyzers, so it's time to take the North Choke. I'm out of CS-Mil-3, so I'll redeploy the one from BHM

... wait, is a single spire starships building a warp relay by itself? I CALL SHENANIGANS!

Anyway, much smashing of faces later, I think I'm going to actually build the first city. Oh, enormous exo-waves, how I've missed you...

Now, how do I best deal with a Vengeance Generator? To the researchmobile! (Speaking of which, science vessels are done on Dyson Sphere)

[CaptainTaz]

I think I won't hack paralyzers, so it's time to take the North Choke. I'm out of CS-Mil-3, so I'll redeploy the one from BHM

... wait, is a single spire starships building a warp relay by itself? I CALL SHENANIGANS!

Anyway, much smashing of faces later, I think I'm going to actually build the first city. Oh, enormous exo-waves, how I've missed you...

Now, how do I best deal with a Vengeance Generator? To the researchmobile! (Speaking of which, science vessels are done on Dyson Sphere)

This is what I know

Vengence generators are invincible, and once triggered, will always trigger again whenever another is triggered.

To trigger one, somewhere between 3-10 ships have to die ( idk the number exactly) and it will summon Dark spire ships that will fight and attack you AND the AI. the generator is NOT triggered by dark spire ships dying, only AI and Human. Dyson gatlings, stationary structures, Human resistance fighters, and marauders also trigger them, as well as roaming enclave/Preservation warden STARSHIPS (Drones do not count, thank GOD)

If you plan to claim this planet, I recommend putting a decent defense with automated repair (a rebuilder on FRD, if you will) and a decent bit of turrets.

They will continuously trigger too, so if it triggers once during a big battle, be ready for fleets to be spawning at other planets that have been triggered too. (I had a bottleneck with one of these on it... lemme tell ya... it's not pretty...) Highest amount of ships I've seen from one at any time would probably be about 65.

The minor faction intensity determines how many there are. higher intensity = more of them

My suggestion, be fortified. The ships can and WILL leave the sector if there is nothing to attack, however, I've only had one instance of one leaving it's sector while in my space, and that was AFTER my awful defense was smooshed. Once you get the hang of defending against them, you just have to be mindful of how many ships you're killing on a planet with one.

[Radiant Phoenix]

The first game I watched, the players screwed up a Nebula mission, I think it was the dimensional prison, and unleashed a huge flood of baddies, who I think were Dark Spire, on the galaxy. I'm aware that things like this can happen.

That said, if you look at the map I think it's clear that I'm going to be at the very least popping the Com-Shield guardpost and AI Command Station there, and likely the three tachyon sentinels, so I would be cutting it pretty close trying not to set it off.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Alright, strategy time in the armchair by the fireplace. Here's the current objectives map:



I have four main issues before me:

• Do I enter AI 2's territory by taking out the raid engine, or do I capture the BHM + Vengeance Generator combo?
• How do I deal with getting past the wall of vengeance generators in the badlands?
  
• What connecting planets do I capture to let my fleets move freely where I need them to?
• What order do I tackle my objectives in?

[Radiant Phoenix]

I have decided on the Following course of action:

• Hack the ST as much as I dare.
• Consolidate my territory.
• Capture the East Lawn so the city can expand.
• Fortify the North and East Chokes.
• Raid the Data Centers in the Badlands with a sneaky, sneaky champ with no drones.
• Set up a forward base in the Jungle, on the planets I want to take anyway.
• Build the second city on the North Choke as planned.
• Pop but don't hold the VG planet on the North Lawn.
• Proceed from there.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Blahblah, stopped after about -70 AIP. A human settlement died somewhere (not sure where), costing 15 of that.

Found the Super-Hybrid. Time to kill it. The tiny spire fleet supported by my champion and my core Z-reprocessors do the job fine, now that my Scout-4 found it. That resets its build points, right?

AI Champions exo-wave into my choke, dying quickly.

Consolidation done.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Capturing North Lawn East and AFac 2. (No hack, I've already got one)

Another Exo-Wave shows up, but it is very adequately repelled.

Huh, apparently I need to order engineers to be done helping a modfort.

Wait, what? When I did I start repairing that regenerator golem? Oh well, more toys for me!

Signal found in the BHM system, so let's get to that. Chase waves fail to penetrate. Conveniently, the planet they prefer to come through isn't very important to me. They did pave over my colonizing forces in AFAC 2, though, which is inconvenient.

And... the regular FS exo-wave shows up. I am starting to get irritated.

Okay, fine, threatball, you won't die to ordinary insanity inducers because of your fancy-schmancy mk5 ships, or a turret ball because of your snipers. Time for a different approach. Human Shadow Battleship, I choose you! Lasers + Shields!

Oh, huh, I guess the reason I don't have my Spire Cruiser yet is that I didn't order it built. Oops!

Threatball gone. Time to build a city... once the colony ship gets there. Why is that thing immune to speed boosts? At this rate I'll be taking three waves at once: Broken Golems, Fallen Spire, and Fallen Spire City.

Whatever, time to live dangerously.

[Radiant Phoenix]

50k threat appears in an instant. I had better succeed.

[a minute or so passes]

Half the threat gone. I think I've done it... is that a Hunter/Killer? (Not anymore! Threat gone.)

[Radiant Phoenix]

The time has come to push beyond Vengeance... once I finish building some city modules, at least

Well, that was fast -- the Dark Spire showed up just about immediately, but were killed off by the AI. Hey, I've got a great idea: Let's feed a bunch of random fleet ships to the Dark Spire! ... nothing of signficance happened, AFAICT. Let's try something better: holding a planet with one on it.

EMP Guardian detonation. Better deal with that. AW CRAP, IT'S GOING THE OTHER WAY AROUND! THIS IS WHERE CS-LOG COME IN HANDY! Okay, it's dead.

Champ died after 3 DCs and a dozen or so tachyon sentinels. A good run, I would say.

Special Forces is visibly patrolling between the halves of the galaxy.

Welp, poking the Dark Spire makes me want to withdraw the aggro fleet and let the AI deal with it, and deal with it it does. Let's do that again.

City 2 has evolved. Build more buildings. Also, pop the eggshell human forcefield.

... and... the AI is too good at killing the Dark Spire. I need to actually take the planet.

Another shard signal. I'm obviously going to take it.

Summary: "Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!"

Dark Spire 4/10 is merely a curiosity at diff8, apparently. Unless maybe I can start killing exo-waves on a vengeance planet.

[Radiant Phoenix]

More fires to put out:

• New extra-strong hybrid in the galaxy. Time to search again. It moved itself to SCL 5. Better kill it. Wait, it's moving! I'd better kill it faster! Okay, it's dead.
  
• Shard recovered = even more exo-wave, but the chokes hold.
• Threat starts building warp relay, but now I've got the spire fleet to sort them out.

CPA. Almost popped my SCL3, but I was just fast enough. Never again. ZSTM.

I did a bunch of running around, popped another two DCs, and need to refocus.

Objectives:

• Capture or destroy more CLs. Preferably capture. Sure, they'll probably be destroyed eventually, but I might get a few extra -AIP out of them.
• Pop the CoPros
• Capture and destroy the CSG-As
• Keep clearing threat
• Build more cities

I should really have been in bed hours ago. This game is so addictive.

EDIT: Oh, and I activated two or three more VGs. Because I care. Also, captured the planet with one of them. Surely this will tip the scales...

[Radiant Phoenix]

Another day in the trenches.

Objectives for today:

• Build City 3: Done The city is built, the exo-waves showed up, the exo-waves fell down before the shining might of my existing cities. I've even got another survey almost complete to get the fourth shard.
  
• Clear a tachyon tunnel to the ARS in the jungle, and send a science vessel to scout it out: Done. Default: Fireflies, Alt: Raptors or Commandos.
  
• Hack?: Won't Do. I think the fireflies are fine, so no hack.
  
• Capture and kill the CSG: To Do Time for a stealth transport with colony ship and military support.

Also cleared out a bunch of threat.

[Radiant Phoenix]

The shard showed up. More Exo-Waves.

Whoops! I forgot about auto-attrition out of supply! Good thing I didn't send anything irreplaceable...

I guess I'll take... Jungle: West Gate? Yeah, seems legit.

After much trial, travail, exo-wave, and killing of exo-waves, I have a toehold in the Jungle. (Note: I just realized that my ATs lost an extra 25% health because of the CoPro in the way. I'll do something about that the next time I need to go through there.

Next, I think I'll liberate that SCL to the north of my toehold.