One last attempt.

[Volatar]

As probably no one here knows, because I don't think I have mentioned it, I am Mormon. In two weeks I leave on my Mission. (To Las Vegas amusingly enough.) That's two years away from games and the Internet.

So, in those two weeks I want to do something that I have not yet done.

I want to win a game of AI War.

This will be the story of my attempt.

[keith.lamothe]

Interesting; years ago in school my wife roomed with a Mormon.  The subject of whether her roommate would go on mission did come up a few times, iirc.

For once, I hope the AI gives you a decent shot at winning, as this probably won't be the same game when you get back

[Volatar]

Interesting; years ago in school my wife roomed with a Mormon.  The subject of whether her roommate would go on mission did come up a few times, iirc.

A much smaller number of women go on missions than men. They aren't expected to go, just encouraged, and had to wait until they were 21. Many of them got married before that. Men on the other hand ARE expected to go and can go at 19.

Last week this was changed though. Men can go at 18, and women at 19. There will be a lot more women going on missions now.

I am a guy though and 21 so none of this affects me. It will affect my possible pool of companions though.

For once, I hope the AI gives you a decent shot at winning, as this probably won't be the same game when you get back

I expect two more expansions by the time I get back. You have work to do. 

[Volatar]

And so I begin. 80-planet Maze B Easy. All 4 expansions enabled. Not using a champion though.

Normal ship availability. CSG's disabled.

Combat style Epic, normal caps. (My computer should be able to handle the numbers.

Human Resistance Fighters. Zenith Traders. Broken Golems Easy. Fallen Spire. Spirecraft Moderate. Reveal Random AI Types. 1 AIP every 30 minutes.

No plots.

7/7 Random Easier.

I pick a single HW with Beam Frigates.

And it begins.

[Volatar]

Explored a bit and built my basic HW defenses and first fleet, as well as scanning for the first shard.



First shard is on Arkintoofle Minor. Not an intimidating world.

Axel Nebula though? Definitely intimidating. It has a Fortress, a Grav Drill, and a Special Forces Alarm post.

I just popped the alarm, and lost the coin flip.

Uh oh...

[Volatar]

Luckily I am early enough in the game that the alarm response is handled by my fleet alone.

I proceed to take out the command stations on both Arkintoofle and Axel so that I can deny the Fortress on Axel supply.

My first unlocks are Bombers II and Fighters II. Fighters are going to come in good use since the AI seems to have a lot of Viral Shredders.

I successfully take Axel Nebula, and scrap the Grav Drill. As much as I would like the resources I judge the slow to be too detrimental to my logistics.

Half my turrets go to my Homeworld, the other half to Axel. I then gather my fleet and stick them and the Survey ship in Arkintoofle and wait for the oncoming hoarde.

[Volatar]

Woah, the shard has a speed of 48. Thats... a lot faster than I remember. (A Quick search shows that this was changed in 5.080. Thanks Keith.)

The Shard being fast just means it gets home before I get hit with the Chase Exo. It doesn't make said Exo any easier.

In Fact, I looked pretty close to losing Axel there for a few minutes. I am going to need more firepower.

EDIT: Whoops. Somehow I forgot to actually enable Spirecraft.

Well, oh well. Guess I can do without.

[keith.lamothe]

Woah, the shard has a speed of 48. Thats... a lot faster than I remember. (A Quick search shows that this was changed in 5.080. Thanks Keith.)

Don't thank me until y-(sounds of loud explosions).  Yea, until you handle those guys.

4x faster shards, 4x more-frequent chase spawns

[Volatar]

4x faster shards, 4x more-frequent chase spawns

Ah, I wondered if you had changed the spawning to compensate. Good to know.

[Volatar]

The Refugee ship turns out of also be on Arkintoofle. I recover it without too much difficulty.

The first city shard though, that signal is located on Brontitall. I use up the rest of my energy and knowledge and flesh out my fleet fully. I plan to grab that shard before I expand my territory.

I escort a Survey ship to Brontitall. (A new one, as each time I survey I forget about the little guy in the confusion of the chase afterword and he dies.) I vow to remember to send this survey ship back when the chase starts.

I forget again. Bah, Scientists are cheap anyhow. 

The chase this time is much larger and much more intense. The chasers start to outpace my fleet in its race back to the homeworld.





Welp. Ok, that plan didn't work. Expansion it is.

[Oralordos]

The first city shard though, that signal is located on Brontitall. I use up the rest of my energy and knowledge and flesh out my fleet fully. I plan to grab that shard before I expand my territory.

Sounds like my type of plan... if I have a suitable defensive line first.

I escort a Survey ship to Brontitall. (A new one, as each time I survey I forget about the little guy in the confusion of the chase afterword and he dies.) I vow to remember to send this survey ship back when the chase starts.

I'm sure that vow is very comforting to the surveyors on-board.

I forget again. Bah, Scientists are cheap anyhow. 

So... apparently only the scientists survived the AI purge? That would explain how they are cheap at least....

The chase this time is much larger and much more intense. The chasers start to outpace my fleet in its race back to the homeworld.

Oh my. That is fast all right.

[img snip]

[img snip]

Welp. Ok, that plan didn't work. Expansion it is.

[Volatar]

I am also going to need some better fixed defenses to deal with the spirecraft and guardians that come in. I'll have to check whats good against those hull types.

[Bossman]

As long as the groups are led by Spirecraft, they'll run right through fixed defenses without slowing down. Aim your Raid Starships at the Shield Bearers and your bombers at the Implosion Artillery; they're the fast ones. Siege Towers are, thankfully, not so speedy.

[Volatar]

As long as the groups are led by Spirecraft, they'll run right through fixed defenses without slowing down.

Unless I put a shield wall in their way. 

[Volatar]

So I expanded out, took Arkintoofle, Jijo, and Buzzel. Fleshed out my caps of things and gave it another try.

Which, again, resulted in failure. Things were going great until suddenly my defense fleet started getting dropped and about 600 enemy ships managed to punch through to my homeworld, which I could not set up a second line of defense on quick enough.

I am not sure what I am doing wrong here. I don't remember it being so hard last time I tried.

I have two ends to defend from. The left and right. The left seems to get a much smaller chase Exo than the right. I put half my turrets and mines on the left and it defended itself without much difficulty.

The right however is where the enemy punched through. Here is my defensive setup. Note: I had my fleet on FRD when I tried earlier. I think that might have been unwise.



There are no less than four mk I shields over that wormhole. Half the caps of all my turrets are here. (except Lightnings. Haven't built any of those anywhere.) as well as my entire mobile fleet.

My unlocks so far have been mk II's for the fleet triangle and mk III fighters. Heavy Beam Cannon I's, Basic Turret II's, and Grav turrets. (Oh, and Scout II's)


I have 9k knowledge to spend, and 180k energy from my Collectors alone. What am I missing here that will let me defend this successfully? (Starting to regret the mistake of leaving out Spirecraft for myself here.)