One's Own Medicine

[Faulty Logic]

*facepalm* THAT Dreadnaught...

In my defense I use the Tyrannids.

And in mine I am only tangentially aware of that series existence.

[keith.lamothe]

Ok, waiting for the fleet elements from Bingbing to get back.  Reconsidered my scouting plan somewhat:
- Tachyon drill, but clear a path all the way so scouts can get from home to the "leaf nodes" of my scouting search before I get next to them, to avoid Raid Engines and whatnot.  I think I could handle raid waves on this diff and AIP without too much problem, but no need to get too sloppy (I've done plenty of that already, largely on-purpose).
-- Or maybe I'll just use the mkI scouts from the enclaves, that might work.
- Transports really speed things up, so I'll probably keep using the car as long as I can.

2:15:20 Like 6 threat goes after Bingbing.  They've got a couple of mkIII guardians with them, sure, but 6?  Those turrets are still operational, dude, and they don't look happy.

=== An Ill-Advised Adventure ===

2:16:07 Ok, all 67 starshipian things in the car and on the way to Murdertic (gateway system to the northeast cluster).



Planned route is:
Murdertic
Murdoch
Roadoritooth
Sinuape

I suspect the other HW is on Garashkill, not sure I can get close enough without taking a planet, but if I find an ARS out there...

The rest of the fleet I'll split into three parts to guard the HW, Bingbing, and Ipq (moving to defend either fab as needed).

2:16:27 Transport is on Murdertic. No tach, so will trans-drop on the dest wormhole to kill that tach.

2:16:40 Murdertic -> Murdoch tach down, back in the car.

Sending some spare transports from the homeworld to Murdoch because this one's banged up already.

2:16:48 On Murdoch, unloading to kill tach.  Tried to do it selectively but it looks like everything came out, adn there goes the last cloaker starship.

2:16:54 Tach is down, taking fire, MRSs nearly stabilized

Hmm, I have too much money.

* keith.lamothe Drafts the Accountants for fleetship crew

* keith.lamothe Repurposes defensive fleet to "SudoFRD make me a tunnel into AI space"

That should take care of that.

2:17:02 Hmm, I'm taking a lot of blades on Murdoch, this may require a more offensive posture.  Car is long gone, regrettably.

2:17:41 Wow, I just took a TDL casualty.  Heatsinks are gonna roll, AI.

My backup cars just showed up, this may simplify things.

2:18:25 Ok, between the blade spawners and the snipers this is just being too complex to finesse.  Everyone out of the car, find the nearest tachyon, kill it.  Repeat.  Shoot anything else that gets in range, never mind the casualties, that's what econ is for... wait, where did all my metal go?

Sigh

2:21:01: SF post down, AIP 106.

2:21:08 ARS detected on Sinuape! Mostly cleaned up on Murdoch, and my FRD-fleet has tunneled through here to mop up the rest.  Since all neighbors of Roadoritooth have been scanned, time to move in on that in preparation for taking Sinuape, which will knock out another CSG-A and give me a base of operations in the northeast cluster.

=== The Root Canal of Roadoritooth ===

2:21:15 The AI must agree with me on how much of a backwater this is.  MkII and hardly anything here.  Well, time to clean it up, particularly the tachyons.  All in!

Not that it stops them from inflicting casualties with those blades.  Seems like unlocking RiotIIIs for that grav module wouldn't be a bad idea.

2:23:42 Last tachyon is down on Roadoritooth.

2:23:49 All neighbors of Cisuc (is that some kind of dig at Cisco?) scanned, time to move the drill.

=== The Tachyon Suction of Cisuc ===

2:24:36 Another MkII boonies planet.  Doesn't stop there from being a blade spawner on it.  Time to get to work.

2:25:33 Ok that was easy, on to Rakuvil t- Deepstrike!  Oops, put that thing in reverse! (clutch burning)

2:26:16 Ok, the expeditionary force is concentrated in Roadoritooth, and we just scanned Shlosekha, the last unscanned neighbor of Sinuape.  Shlosekha is one nasty MkIV planet, with 3 Ion cannons and a Parasite Eye.  Does have a spire archive, though, hmm.

And that archive indicates it is adjacent to a core planet, which makes Thorewoor virtually certain as the second AI homeworld, at least if I recall the rules correctly.

Now all I need is the location of another ARS planet... oh, and a rear-end that can cash all the checks my mouth is writing.

Time to get a science ship in here to see if Sinuape is worth hacking.

2:26:36 Science-II, Colony Ship, 2xMobile Builders, and a 5xEngiII piled in a transport, and on the road to Roadonitooth.

2:28:27 ARS possibilities of Sinuape scanned: Neinzul Scapegoat / Parasite, Youngling Firefly.

Hmm.  The scapegoat is the least interesting to me as I'd like to get some more reclamator capacity in here, and the firefly would give me more of a swarmer that I could FRD into the AI's face (though not as much as a more normal youngling)... but neither is so preferable that I'd hack for it.  The scapegoat is probably the better fighter, anyhow.

Anyway, looks like Sinuape's days are numbered.  Just a little extra bit to clean up here...

2:28:38 SF post down, AIP 107.

2:29:44 And a few last straggler swatted while I pull the fleet together.

=== The Assault Of Sinuape ===

There's an IonI here that I'd like dead before bringing in the fleet ships.

But there's also a CSG-A (due to ARS), so the special forces could intervene.  Also, the SF has had some time to recover from our last tangle in the southwest cluster so it could be getting a little nasty now.  That may actually be a motive to engage it, rather than a motive not to, so I don't face worse later.

On the other hand, for once in a blue moon a planet I want to take has a completely unshielded command station, so the official fight could be over in seconds if I want it to be.

Eh, just kill it.

2:30:00 autoprogress, AIP 108.

2:30:10 Sinuape command station down, AIP 128.

Aaaaaand 151 mkIII units from the barracks.  It should be fun!

State of the galaxy:

[keith.lamothe]

... And we're back.  Patched to 6.001.

Time to rustle up some scapegoats and take out the third CSG-A.

=== A Home Away From Home ===

2:30:16

* Terry plows 150+ mkIII ships into the grav wall in a matter of seconds

"Where you goin'?!"

And there aren't even any blade spawners or snipers to make this bittersweet... I probably shouldn't have said that.

2:30:42 Ion's down, and I switch back to the other planet just in time to see some mkIII ships ripping my colony-ship-protecting transport out of its last few % health...

2:30:46 But I still had time to get away, and sic the fleetships on those hooligans.

These MRSs are incredible, I would have lost many of these starships many times over without them.

2:31:31 We've scouted Nehung and Thorewoor, but the latter was not the HW as I anticipated.  They are both core worlds, though, and that leaves only two shared neighbors as possibilities: Roadbangnu and Vardo.  Roadbangnu is one hop further from my HW so my money's on it.

2:32:47 Build team delivered to Sinuape.  Out of supply so can't prebuild the FFs.  Station it is.  Going with mil station due to economic situation and defensive needs.

2:32:55 The system, and the scapegoats, are mine.  Bwaha.

2:33:42 3rd CSG-A is down.  Only one more to break the ring.

2:34:08 360 Anti-Armor wave announced for Sekhung.  The homeworld is strongly held, so not worried about it.

2:35:44 Sekro scanned, and that's the last neighbor to Shlosekha, which is the direct path to this cluster's HW and I'd like to tidy it up so it's not as much of a roadblock later.  Something for my fleet to do while the scouts search around a bit, and now I've got a shipyard next door to it.  A good way to loosen up the ol' econ a bit.

=== The Paving Of Shlosekha ===

As noted previously, Shlosekha has 3 ion cannons and a parasite eye.  Can't say "no fleetships allowed" much more strongly than that.  Well, about 300 mkV spire maws would, but that's beside the point.

The lack of CSG theoretically indicates that the special forces will not intervene, but I trust this Abominable Intelligence about as far as I can throw it.  Which, come to think of it, is pretty far.  But that's also beside the point.

No special guardians, just the "OW!" you would expect from mkIV combat varieties.  There's also 8 snipers, those hateful things, but hopefully I can maintain counter-sniper coverage.

No spire blade spawners.  Yet.

A sentry eye would be pretty restrictive here, given the defensive ship count (about 98, before I start shooting everything in sight), but an ion or parasite eye allow some more flexibility.  My starships are outright immune, as are a few of my fleet ships, notably my mkV bombers.  So I organize that group into a strikeforce to neutralize all the guard posts and (easier since they're all near guard posts) the ion cannons.  After that the fleet can be brought in to defeat the enemy fleetships.

I also want to bring in my MRSs, since they've been worth their weight in gilded m+c during this entire expeditionary op, but they lack one critical immunity: reclamation.  If they stay cloaked they should be ok, but... well, we'll give it a shot.

2:36:00 Ok, 100 starship/starship-like/bomberV ships and 9 MRSs poised at the wormhole. Hut! Hut!

* Terry looks for something to plow.

2:36:07 They're through and the tach's down, time to send in the MRS.

Interesting, there are only 3 snipers left instead of 8. Wonder what could have happened to the others? (it is a mystery)

2:37:40 The anti-armor wave hit my homeworld somewhere in there, but the defenses already accidentally 2/3rds of them.

2:38:11 SF post down, AIP 129.

2:40:09 Last guard post down, eye down.  All Ions down.  Send in the clowns!

=== Interlude ===

2:40:38 Last transmission received from Scout R844-269: "Mine eyes have seen th-(static)"

Roadbangnu confirmed as an AI Homeworld.



Pain, but it could be worse.  I don't know how hard that Teuthida will be in practice, but I suspect the answer is "pretty hard".  But perhaps if I stick to the non-reclaimable stuff until it's down I'll be ok.

Anyway, we'll cross that bridge when the charges are set on it.

For now, we need to find another ARS.

=== The Search Goes On ===

2:40:42 There's a bit of an attack on Sinuape and I don't really want to leave significant fleet here.  Turret cap is pretty low, so:

Unlocked Minifortress.  4,814 K left.

Normally I'd go for FortIs as the better deal (I don't really need miniforts more than 5 places right now), but the flexibility of only spending 1000K is nice here.  Of course, I could just take more planets to increase that, but ah well.

2:40:48 First minifortress up.  I think it even put my metal on a downward swing for a bit there.

204 Space Tank wave announced for Rebangaeo (1:18 left on clock, I wonder if I missed the announcement).  I guess this wouldn't be a bad place for miniforts too (thankfully miniforts lack the normal fort's "I couldn't hurt a bomber if I fell on it" flag).

2:41:25 Scanned Fallbul, Sekro's last unscouted neighbor, so I think it's time to move the fleet drill to Sekro.

=== Sekro's Encounter With Progress ===

There's really nothing here to contra-indicate a blob-smash (which is a little odd, as it is mkIV), so that's what it's going to get.  Anything that doesn't cause more than 1 AIP dies.

2:42:06 And the hammer falls.

... and also on Rebangaeo, though I strongly suspect that fight will go very differently.

2:43:25 Things going well offensively, I've FRD'd the fleet and the AI's forces are falling before the tide.

Defensively things aren't as good.  I don't expect those tanks will leave Rebangaeo alive between the tractors holding them and the minifortresses pounding them, but I placed the tractor line too close to the station so it may still fall.  Oh well, more paperwork.

2:43:40 Actually they just killed one of the miniforts.  I'm impressed.

2:43:58 Rebangaeo falls, but the tanks took over 60% casualties to achieve their minor victory.  Fine with me.

2:44:33 40 marauders show up on Sekro.  Sounds like an excellent time to move on to the next planet and let the AI deal with it.

Oh, look, some tanks have moved on my homeworld.  How cute.

Scanning has advanced further and all but one world of the northeastern cluster is scouted, so advancing the drill towards the southeastern cluster.  Fallbul is next.

=== The Fall of Fallbul ===
(too obvious?)

Terry greets the natives in the usual way (fist before shoulder) as the rest of the fleet finishes transit.

2:45:00 autoprogress. AIP 130.

State of the galaxy:


(FYI, the "Real Time Spent In Game" counter is up to 17:27:40 for me now, to give you a rough idea of how much pausing is involved, though a fair chunk of that is having to get up and do something while the game is paused, etc.)

[keith.lamothe]

Once more, unto the breach...

Fallbul doesn't look too threatening.  Interestingly despite having a fab (Scapegoat V, ironically) and a counterattack post it does not have a CSG (actually it probably had a C, and I already broke that ring).  I guess we'll see if the SF shows up.

2:46:11 And the planet is basically picked clean.  Time to proceed to Jaerasaki when I've rounded up the odds and ends.

=== The Jostling of Jaerasaki ===

2:47:06 The leading elements of the fleet make transit, and my name is made the subject of several less-than-flattering jeremiads as they realize I didn't bother to notice the Ion Cannon.  Ok everyone, if you're not this tall, back through the wormhole!

2:47:23 Wow, who exactly read that intel report? ... oh.

Add EMP guardian (mkIV, same as the planet), Fortresss (not in range, thankfully), Starship Disassembler guardian, and Datacenter to the list of things I neglected to notice.  There's also a beam-starship fab, but I noticed that one.  May actually take this planet, we'll see.  No CSG, since I've already broken the C ring.  One blade spawner, we'll see if the SF brings any more to the party.

2:47:29 Ion down, it's party time.

2:47:33 EMP guardian down; phew.

2:47:55 Datacenter down.  AIP 110.

2:49:02 Core Youngling Nanowswarm Fabricator detected on Koce.  Which is also about as deep into the southeaster cluster as I can get without deepstrike. (mental gears turning... needs oil)

2:49:44 Last tachyon on Jaerasaki is down, but still waiting before moving on the Narae since we haven't yet scanned Fichr, Narae's last neighbor.

My bombers can use the FortII for target practice in the meantime.

2:50:21 Fichr scanned, nothing special, but we can now make transit into the Narae in the southeastern cluster.

Interestingly, this is where our northeastern outpost's deepstrike "envelope" merges with that of the home cluster.

=== Narry A Trouble On Narae ===

It's a MkIII planet, and it has 7 blade spawners, but that's all that can be said for it from a threat perspective.  My fleet's a bit too big to worry about that.

2:50:24 My military enters the southeastern cluster for the first time, greeted by the first example of my refusal to actually read those reports I ask the scouts for: an EMP guardian.  Thankfully it should die before it can transit and cause problems.

2:50:27 Yep, EMP down.

2:51:05 That FortII back on Jaerasaki wen't down, so bringing the bombers back to the fleet...

2:51:34 Those MkIII blade spawners are really hammering me, but the MRSs are preventing a lot of losses since the blades don't focus quite as well as most things.

2:52:45 Found the fourth co-processor on Duroad.  Not worried about AIP but good to know.

2:53:42 Interesting, my econ is actually dry, just from rebuilds and repairs.  Apparently Harvester IIIs + Econ IIIs isn't quite as powerful as I'd thought   Took a bit to drain it, though.

Anyway, resistance has been broken on Narae.  So on to bigger and better things.

We're at the limits of non-deepstrike here, so taking a planet down in this cluster seems indicated.  I could be patient and scan some of the other candidates but Koce seems good enough to me.  The nanoswarm is one of my favorite ships, so that fab will be nice (though the mkV cost might be more than I bargained for, we'll see), and I need the resources (station + 4m + 1c, in this case) and knowledge.

=== The Horking of Koce ===

2:54:12 The first ships make transit, drawing a bead on the tachyon.

I say this every time, I guess, but I don't think there's much here to stop me.  Just a mkII planet, after all.

2:54:20 Another EMP I didn't notice...

Well, there's a counter attack post and 2 protector post, so I guess I should give them first refusal.  Or was it final mercy?  I keep forgetting.

2:55:04 Counter attack post down, 193 MkII ship counter wave announced for Sekhung (my HW) in 13:58.  That planet's actually somewhat defended, so it shouldn't be a big deal.  Will take a look at the defenses later to make sure.

2:55:13 Koce command is down, AIP 130.

Time to clean up before in preparation of securing the fab with my own command station.

2:55:16 Colony ship and 5 engiIIs built to be escorted under group move by cloaker starship.  We'll see how well that goes.

2:55:47 Entering Sekro with the colony convoy; I had thought this would be the worst of it with the marauders, but apparently said have moved on.  I really doubt the AI took out all 40 of them, unless my streaming reinforcements (non-FRD) somehow did it.

Interestingly, I will note that like 90% of my streaming reinforcements are scapegoats.  Something's taking one for the team out there.

* Terry approves.

Been pretty quiet there lately, Terry.

"What's that boss?  Didn't hear you over all the snapping bones snapping!"

Nevermind, carry on.

2:57:16 Colony ship has reached Koce.  It would appear the engies got themselves killed repairing things enroute; should have put them in stand-down for the trip...

2:57:42 Koce SF post down.  AIP 131.

2:58:17 Koce command is online (mil-I station, gotta protect the fab).

2:58:52 Dual forcefields online (took the extras off Rebangaeo, this is more important), starting on miniforts, but thinking things are pretty good here now.  Also starting on shipyard stuff so I don't have to keep shipping things in from the Ozarks.

A bit of a fork in the road; could go east through Fichr but I've seen an alarm post down that way.  Not a huge deal but not seeing similar issues with going west through Dijiswo.

=== The Dissing of Dijiswo ===

Ion cannon, standard treatment.  Nothing else, right?

2:59:42 My forces explode from the wormhole.  Literally, the enemy ships flying away under tackle beam were like a blast front.

2:59:47 Scout coverage comes online, and it actually looks like there aren't many surprises. 1 sniper I hadn't noticed but I'm not too worried about that (my railclusters don't look so sure).

Oh, look, the Ion is under a forcefield.  How quaint.  RAID! (the use of "!" instead of "?!" is of critical importance; the latter has a substantially different meaning that is universally counter to the interests of the starships in question)

2:59:53 Ion down.  Ok everyone, ref's not looking, whole team on the field!

*facepalm* how could I forget: activating core doomshroom launcher, target: Dijiswo.  I want the planet stacked on paralysis damage.

3:00:00 autoprogress, AIP 132.

State of the galaxy:

[Faulty Logic]

I think I could handle raid waves on this diff and AIP without too much problem, but no need to get too sloppy (I've done plenty of that already, largely on-purpose).

Just keep telling yourself that. The AI is biding its time.

2:25:33 Ok that was easy, on to Rakuvil t- Deepstrike!  Oops, put that thing in reverse! (clutch burning)

Deepstike: you are starting to lose control.
Raid engine: you are about to crash into a concrete barrier.
Core Raid Engine: you have crashed through the concrete barrier, and will fall hundreds of feet. Into a lake of acid.

Hmm, I have too much money.

One can never have too much m+c.

These MRSs are incredible, I would have lost many of these starships many times over without them.

Their comparison should be based on how you would do with all your engi IIIs, not nothing.

The homeworld is strongly held, so not worried about it.

This has to rank pretty high among last thoughts.

A sentry eye would be pretty restrictive here, given the defensive ship count (about 98, before I start shooting everything in sight), but an ion or parasite eye allow some more flexibility.

I was wondering if we could buff the new eyes somehow. Maybe lower their activation threshold, or some other evil thing.

2:44:33 40 marauders show up on Sekro.  Sounds like an excellent time to move on to the next planet and let the AI deal with it.

Humans working together. Hearwarming, even if it is based on three-way mutual hate.

(too obvious?)

You really shouldn't invite feedback on puns, or anything similar.

It's a MkIII planet, and it has 7 blade spawners, but that's all that can be said for it from a threat perspective.  My fleet's a bit too big to worry about that.

Yeah, beyond the first couple, non-HW planets aren't a big deal.
...most of the time.

"What's that boss?  Didn't hear you over all the snapping bones snapping!"

Ah, tackle drone launchers. You know, I think they might be over- *sound of snapping bones snapping*

[zoutzakje]

:O the great keith himself started an AAR? That's new Also first time since I see a developers AAR since I started playing, which is about 2 years now. This and the fact that I finally got the AS expansion really makes me want to start one of my own again...
I do believe that, since you are one of the game's main programmers and probably know a lot more about Ai war than we do, a simple 7.3/7.3 with easy ai types and little "chaos settings" might be a bit too easy for you From what I read you seem to be handling yourself pretty well ^^

But then again, it's been so long since I started a game of ai war myself. With all the new eyes, reserves, core guard posts, improved AI tactics etc, beating a regular game might actually be a lot harder than it used to be. Guess I'll just have to find out soon.

anyway, good luck with your game keith ^^ looks like you're gonna be busy with it for quite some time still =)

[Volatar]

In my new game the Special Forces seem to be the greatest threat from the AI. The other things are minor.

I am playing Fallen Spire though. 

[keith.lamothe]

The hunt goes on... patched to 6.002.

=== You Can Hide, But You Can't Run ===

3:00:25 Jackpot! 4th ARS detected on Devi.  It's 4 hops from Koce in the opposite direction that I was pushing, but it'll do!

Still want to clean up Dijiswo some in order to cover my advance-in-retrograde, but should be on the trail soon.

For now, redirecting the doomshroom cannon to Fichr to get it prepped for the glorious advance of the Advanced Research Team.

3:03:17 Spent longer than I intended; shouldn't have relied on FRD to efficiently take care of a Post-Terry system and three hefty forcefields

Anyway, fleet is setting course back to Koce to regroup.

3:03:47 A 319 Anti-Armor ship wave announced for Koce, hits in 2:21.

I think I may leave Terry here to defend that, and rely on my nanoswarms to sow the necessary chaos among AI ranks so my fleet can proceed without effective resistance.

* Terry tries to bust through the wall, but it's got so many holes in it now that the whole thing just falls over flat.

"Boss! You're benching me for a fungus?!"

Relax, Terry, it's just that the fleet can't get downfield fast enough to catch the AI ships when you're done with them.  And 319 ships should give you plenty of bones to snap.

"Ohhhh, I gotcha boss.  Real clever.  I can just hear the gears turning in that head of yours."

(not sure if that's a compliment)

=== Finangling Past Fichr ===

3:04:19 Leading elements of the fleet make transit to Fichr.  Initial scans show a mushroom-devestated wasteland punctuated by guardians with enough systems hardening to resist the thickening cloud of nanites.

Well, at least it gives us something to shoot at.

3:05:09 Moving through the system at group speed, the fleet has reached the wormhole to Duroad.  I think we will proceed even though the nanoswarm-FRD drill has not been there yet.  Scouts report less than 75 mkIII ships defending the planet, and the last two planets of the march are only mark II.  All we have to do is clear enough of the tachyons for scouts to scan Devi's last neighbor, secure Devi itself, and then provide security for the colony convoy if necessary.

=== On Duroad ===

3:05:21 Fleet is in control of the Duroad side of the wormhole, advancing to the Pankil transit point.

3:06:03 34 Sniper wave announced for Sinuape (northeast cluster outpost) in 2:25.

Hmm, my defenses are kind of limited there, could be a problem.  We'll see.  Can always rebuild.

=== (Australian Accent) That's Not A Wave ===

3:06:08 Anti-armor wave hits Koce.  The shroomcannon and Terry are ready for them.

3:06:15 Between paralysis and "knocked out of the park", the "leading edge" of the wave is already down to less than half of original strength

3:06:28 ... I now have a full cap of both mkI and mkII anti-armor ships.  I wonder if I can pipe enough mushrooms up to Sinuape to do the same with snipers.

3:06:47 The wave is no more.

My fleet has mostly regrouped at the wormhole to Pankil.  Which, as it happens, is almost a good name for my fleet.

Onward!

=== Pankilcake ===

3:06:52 Pankil side of the wormhole secured, advancing on the door to Devi.

3;07:16 Scans are in for Tusuz, the last neighbor of Devi.  No raid engine detected; fleet action approved.

Devi itself has an Ion Cannon, which will be dealt with in the customary fashion.  There's also a protector post, but after that's down the command station can be popped.  This is important as the CSG-A guaruntees a Special Forces response unless I can take the planet very quickly.

3:07:34 Devi side of wormhole secured, bringing in the scoutstars and MRSs

3:07:49 Ion down, send in the little guys.

3:08:05 Protector down, little guys closing on command station.

... oh, I forgot to check I want to hack this.  Hmm.

=== The Second Battle Of Sinuape ===

3:08:28 Sniper wave hits, mushrooms and other reinforcements still enroute but close enough to make a difference... I hope.  Plans to have a scout starship on hand to provide anti-sniper coverage went awry due to a build-queue confusion with another planet.  Terry has been dispatched to increase morale of paperwork minions.

3:08:33 The initial sniper salvos all seem to have hit the forcefield net, which is now at about 70%. I hope we get that scout starship online fast.

First mushrooms have entered the system... right on top of the snipers.  This is beautiful.  What isn't beautiful is that these are the first and last mushrooms to reach the system; only about 1/4 made it through.

3:08:35 Minifortresses open fire on the closing enemy starship and fighter escorts.  10 seconds to scout starship completion.  Estimate 6 seconds to beginning of next sniper salvo.

3:08:40 Engies took a break from building the scoutstar to restore strength to the forcefields due to length of time since the last sniper salvo.  Their impertinence is forgiven.

3:09:03 Bone Crunch!

Snipers scatter to the wind as Terry performs a dynamic entry to do Brother Kooladius proud.

Of course, scattering the scouts may not have been tactically adviseable, but I don't really care.  It was cool.  And they shouldn't fly forever like they did in 6.001

More importantly, however...

=== The Defense Of The Homeworld ===

Counterattack wave just hit, time to see if I get to keep playing this game.

I'd forgotten that it wouldn't come from the wormhole, so some turret repositioning is in order.  No problem though, I've got full econ.  Behold the MetalCrystalCannon!

3:09:15 EngieIIs successfully transferred to homeworld, beginning turbobuild of relocated defenses.

3:09:26 Back on Sinusape, Terry's pugilism turned out to be tactically advantageous: over half the snipers were thrown into range of the minifortresses.  Which spake thus unto the snipers:  How now, brown cow?

Science ship has scanned Devi for ship design hack possibilities:

Zenith Paralyzer / Zenith Bombard (!), Shield Bearer (!!!)

Wow, that's a good pull... Not sure I want to spend the time hacking, but Shield Bearer is really tempting.  Those things are gamechangers.

3:09:44 Makeshift defensive line has been established to bog down the attack on my homeworld.  The enemy bomber starship blew past before that could happen, but the minifortresses gave it an illuminating lecture on the nature of pain.

3:10:32 It's a bit of a slow grind on the homeworld now; the enemies cannot advance, and cannot retreat, but I don't have enough turrets out there to finish the job quickly.  No matter, on to other things, I'll just check back here from time to time.

Ship design hacker + transport construction begun upon Koce.  I could just play it safe, take my paralyzers, and probably still win...

But what would be the fun in that?

3:12:51 Ship Design Hacker and transport complete; that took longer than I anticipated, since most of my engie cap is tied up rebuilding the turrets on the homeworld as they're destroyed.

Gonna toss the enclaves in there and get started towards Devi.

3:14:33 I pop the 150+ ship barracks on Devi and hit the product with a cap of Core Nanoswarms as a preliminary to claiming it for my own.

Doesn't take long for me to reclaim a significant chunk of ships.

My homeworld is also nicely AI-free again.

3:15:00 autoprogress, AIP 133.

Took my sweet time getting ready for that ship-design-hack, but it's up next

State of the galaxy:

[keith.lamothe]

C'mon hacker, daddy needs a new pair of shield bearers...

Gotta get the hacker transport down there, first.  Of course, as soon as the transport enters the system the hacker will be deployed, as the transport will die from transit-attrition.

And gotta get Terry back down from the northeast cluster.  I anticipate greatly desiring the full effect of the bone-cruncher on this op.

3:17:32 Ok, finally got everyone together for the transport ride to Devi.  Terry's on the outside to keep the fans from crowding the team.

3:19:20 On the far side of the Devi wormhole; once we go through it's gonna get interesting real quick...

=== Hacking The AI To Bits ===

3:19:28 Hack initiated, time to hole up with the fleet.

3:19:31 Humorously, the first anti-hack spawn is a gravity guardian.  Terry looks furious.

3:20:24 I've got the hacker under triple-riot-shield coverage in case of a tachyon pulse, and the FRD fleet is mopping up anything that gets thrown my way.  Given that the response won't really increase during the hack (iirc), I may have over-prepared for this.  9:23 left on the hacking clock.  I'll focus on making sure my colony ship is ready to go when the time comes, and see what I can cover with my scouts.

Speaking of scouting... Cute Therjo has the last ARS.  I may go after it after getting this planet as it's just 2 hops away.  But don't want to attack it now without taking something since it'd be deepstrike.

3:21:11 Tachyon pulse.  Let's see how my precautions hold up.

... Interestingly, the tachyon pulse doesn't seem to have done a thing.  I wonder if it somehow got shunted to a neighboring planet.

And, quite ironically, I did not have Advanced Logging on in this install.  Heh.

While I wait for these hacks, I think I'll get the raid starships after some AIP reducers.  Not necessarily wanting to make the CPA (whenever that is) any larger than it needs to be.

=== Operation Mechanical Nyquil ===

3:23:24 Odrepu Datacenter down, AIP 113.

Hacker timer down to 6:20

3:24:03 Ipnine Datacenter down, AIP 93.

3:25:30 Roadhagcen Coprocessor down, AIP 113.

Asbuldi Coprocessor down, AIP 133.

3:25:35 Duroad Coprocessor down, AIP 153.

3:25:44 Fucave Coprocessor down (from a Raid Starship with 10% health left), AIP 50. (would be 33, but 50 is the floor)

Nighty-nite, AI.

Interestingly, an MkII AI raid starship just showed up on Koce; we'll see if the defenses can deal with it before it pops the doomshroom fab.

I'll throw up some grav turrets real quick; should help.

Hacker timer down to 4:02

3:25:50 Shut Down! I didn't realize this, but Military Command Station railguns can knockback raid starships.  Poor guy.

3:26:12 The AI raid starship politely makes transit to the unallocated part of memory (Probably. At some point.  Never am sure with the garbage collector.)

3:29:03 59 Bomber wave announced for Sekhung (my homeworld).  Aw, look, it's a barely-more-than-a-cap wave!  Isn't that cute?  Hits in 2:18.

3:29:47 Hack Complete!

3:29:49 Devi Command Station destroyed.  AIP 53.

3:29:53 My Devi Command Station placed.

Unlocked Shield Bearer MkI+MkII.  Woot!  (yes I totally did just exploit the bug where you can use one of your own science ships to unlock an ARS type before actually getting your own station up)

Unlocked Shield Bearer MkIII.  Knowledge is now 2,000.

3:30:00 autoprogress.  AIP 54.

State of the galaxy:

[Aklyon]

=== On Duroad ===

I can't tell if thats an intentional pun or not.

[Wanderer]

3:04:19 Leading elements of the fleet make transit to Fichr.  Initial scans show a mushroom-devestated wasteland punctuated by guardians with enough systems hardening to resist the thickening cloud of nanites.

That size of a mushroom cloud is usually caused due to nuclear catastrophe.  You?  You do it with fungus.  There's a bumper sticker in there somewhere...

My fleet has mostly regrouped at the wormhole to Pankil.  Which, as it happens, is almost a good name for my fleet.

Pankil as the name for a fleet?  Whatchu doin', huntin' the Swedish Chef?

3;07:16 Scans are in for Tusuz, the last neighbor of Devi.  No raid engine detected; fleet action approved.

One of these days I'm going to find a raid engine hidden by a stealth guardpost and cry in a horribly undignified fashion in public.

3:07:49 Ion down, send in the little guys.

Awww, c'mon dad, we just got comfy in the car, now you want us out again?

3:08:28 Sniper wave hits, mushrooms and other reinforcements still enroute but close enough to make a difference... I hope.  Plans to have a scout starship on hand to provide anti-sniper coverage went awry due to a build-queue confusion with another planet.  Terry has been dispatched to increase morale of paperwork minions.

Good ol' Terry, always there to help us keep up a stiff upper lip!

The flag on the Terry Tate:

First mushrooms have entered the system... right on top of the snipers.  This is beautiful.  What isn't beautiful is that these are the first and last mushrooms to reach the system; only about 1/4 made it through.

Nomnom nom nom nom... *looks up with his mouth full* Oh, sorry, this ISN'T a meeting of truffle lovers united?

I'd forgotten that it wouldn't come from the wormhole, so some turret repositioning is in order.  No problem though, I've got full econ.  Behold the MetalCrystalCannon!

It had to happen eventually... even AI War ends up with the McCannon.

Science ship has scanned Devi for ship design hack possibilities:
Zenith Paralyzer / Zenith Bombard (!), Shield Bearer (!!!)
Wow, that's a good pull... Not sure I want to spend the time hacking, but Shield Bearer is really tempting.  Those things are gamechangers.

The RNG has been very nice to you.

3:10:32 It's a bit of a slow grind on the homeworld now; the enemies cannot advance, and cannot retreat, but I don't have enough turrets out there to finish the job quickly.  No matter, on to other things, I'll just check back here from time to time.

I've tried that before... it doesn't seem to usually work out that well.

My homeworld is also nicely AI-free again.

Turrets'R'Us!  Keeping homeworlds free of sticky AI invasions since *static*...

C'mon hacker, daddy needs a new pair of shield bearers...

Aren't you supposed to roll the RNG BEFORE you know the result? XD

3:19:31 Humorously, the first anti-hack spawn is a gravity guardian.  Terry looks furious.

... and the accountants cringe in fear...

Speaking of scouting... Cute Therjo has the last ARS.

Handy finding that there.

... Interestingly, the tachyon pulse doesn't seem to have done a thing.  I wonder if it somehow got shunted to a neighboring planet.

I find it hard to notice that the tachyon did anything until immediately AFTER the hacker starts getting shot at.

3:25:44 Fucave Coprocessor down (from a Raid Starship with 10% health left), AIP 50. (would be 33, but 50 is the floor)

Nighty-nite, AI.

Nyquil indeed!  Talk about killing the AI in its sleep.  Are you fully caught up on all CSGs?

3:29:03 59 Bomber wave announced for Sekhung (my homeworld).  Aw, look, it's a barely-more-than-a-cap wave!  Isn't that cute?  Hits in 2:18.

It's like a big ol' teddy bear.  What a cute little fellah.  Between that and the umpteen entry points you've got going for min-time waves you could take a nap for a while here.

Unlocked Shield Bearer MkI+MkII.  Woot!  (yes I totally did just exploit the bug where you can use one of your own science ships to unlock an ARS type before actually getting your own station up)

LOL, but why?  It's not like you wanted to save a fab for later or something.

Nice progress.  The AI is going to die in its cradle, but very nice progress. You should try warp-gate raiding around Sinus-Ape.. errrr, Sinuape.  That'll keep the waves from harassing your deepstrike hardpoint.  Koce too if you think you can swing the AIP.

[keith.lamothe]

=== On Duroad ===

I can't tell if thats an intentional pun or not.

With me and puns, assume I'm guilty unless proven innocent.

Pankil as the name for a fleet?  Whatchu doin', huntin' the Swedish Chef?

Pankil ~= "All-killer".

One of these days I'm going to find a raid engine hidden by a stealth guardpost and cry in a horribly undignified fashion in public.

Oh goodness that would be a real dig from the RNG.  Just checked and apparently raid engines aren't immune to cloaking either.  I'm surprised I haven't heard of that happening.

Maybe the would-be-reporters never survive.

Awww, c'mon dad, we just got comfy in the car, now you want us out again?

Nevermind that, there's candy in those AI ships!

... *whirlwind of ferocity* ... oh, oh my.  I don't think even the AI deserves that.

The flag on the Terry Tate:

Yes indeed, morale management at its finest! (cue big smile with glinting gold tooth)

The RNG has been very nice to you.

It has.  Mainly because by being nice to me it's actually mocking me (like so).  Otherwise it would be ruthless, I'm sure.

Nyquil indeed!  Talk about killing the AI in its sleep.  Are you fully caught up on all CSGs?

I had 3 more to take down at that point, including the one I took by the end of the post.  So AIP will probably be 94 when I take the other two.

Unlocked Shield Bearer MkI+MkII.  Woot!  (yes I totally did just exploit the bug where you can use one of your own science ships to unlock an ARS type before actually getting your own station up)

LOL, but why?  It's not like you wanted to save a fab for later or something.

Only reason was to get the unlock in before the autoprogress mark (didn't have any engies on hand to speedbuild, oversight), since that's when I stop to post here

[Aeson]

One of these days I'm going to find a raid engine hidden by a stealth guardpost and cry in a horribly undignified fashion in public.

Oh goodness that would be a real dig from the RNG.  Just checked and apparently raid engines aren't immune to cloaking either.  I'm surprised I haven't heard of that happening.

Maybe the would-be-reporters never survive.

Do raid engines spawn on difficulty 6? Because I could swear that in my last game I saw something about a raid engine being antagonized on some world when I sent raid starships out to kill a Data Center and free a couple Spire Civilian Leaders, but I never did see a raid engine anywhere along the path that the raid starships followed. I ended up thinking I'd just misread the message (that, and I didn't feel like finding the message again, because between dealing with an exowave and popping a couple Counter-Attack posts while freeing the Spire Civilian Leaders, my attention was elsewhere long enough for the message to be buried).

[keith.lamothe]

*Cracks knuckles*

The time has come to bring an end to this.

CSG-E: already down.

CSG-C: already down.

CSG-A: I just need to finish claiming Devi and give the kill-order and it will be down.

CSG-B: Down as soon as I take the planet in my cluster (Kaladm) with the advanced factory, which I'll want for mkIV shield bearers and whatever else I unlock to that level (if any).

CSG-D: Plenty of options, but I think Helin in the southwest cluster is perfect: 4 hops from my current territory, 3 hops from the southwestern AI homeworld so it won't alert it or any core planets.

After that, probably neuter the SW cluster homeworld down to just the home command station.  Then do the same thing to the NW homeworld, then simulatenously kill the homeworlds.

What, you thought I was going to fight an Avenger?  Hahahahaha.

Maybe, depends on how crazy I'm feeling.

But honestly I'm fighting this game by not having to fight (both strategically by not giving it time to build up, and tactically by physically shoving ships out of the way), rather than bringing in tons of force.

So I dunno how exactly I'd take down an Avenger except to take a lot of planets on the route and hammer it with a full cap of MkI forts (and possibly MkII+MkIII) at every step I can.

3:30:54 Station finished on Devi.

3:30:55 CSG-A on Devi down.  A network down.

Basic defenses started on Devi.  I honestly don't care about the planet once I have the knowledge, but I'd prefer it stay in my hands if possible.

Not gonna try to hard on that count, though; 2 FFs and 2 miniforts is all it gets.

=== Beginning The End ===

* keith.lamothe fires up the Ancient Shadows soundtrack.

Hammer Fleet will move from Devi.  Objective: Helin, in the southwest cluster, to knock out the CSG-D ring and claim a staging point against the AI HW in that cluster.  Forward scouts will be dispatched as necessary.

Shield Bearer and rebuilt scapegoat units will rendevous as able.

On the way, may as well take Therjo for the last ARS unit.  I also spied a Data Center on Larslovban that will pay the AI cost of said capture nicely.

3:31:28 Starships secure other side of the Tusuz wormhole, we have an Ion cannon to neutralize.

3:32:02 Ion down, sending in the clowns.

Oh, at some point that bomber wave hit my homeworld.  I missed it.

=== More New Toys ===

3:32:41 Fleet has made transit to Therjo.  I guess I'll need a colony ship; will build it and trans-drop it in with some engies to get this over with.  Oh, I suppose the current station has to go down first.

3:32:50 The EMP guardian camping the station goes.

3:32:54 And there goes the station itself.  AIP 74.

Time to clean up so our station has enough time to get the knowledge out of this planet.

3:33:18 Colony transport about to leave Devi, runs into the Shieldbearer+Scapegoat reinforcement group.  "Hey, guys, hop in!"

3:33:35 Colony transport arrives on Therjo.  Time to get this thing up and running.

3:33:52 Therjo command is online.  Time to see what that ARS had.

Unlocked Spire Stealth Battleship MkI+MkII.

Not bad!

Initial defenses is a bit tricky; I'm out of forcefield cap pretty hard, even with FF and HFF.  The last few planets I've stolen extra shields from noncritical planets (leaving 1 each everywhere) and tried to keep at least 2 on every "outpost"... well, I guess I can steal 1 from Devi, it doesn't have any irreplaceable production.  These can get by on 1 each, I think.

3:34:22 Larslovban Data Center down.  AIP 58.  (back on the rising floor)

3:34:25 Therjo SF post down.  AIP 59.

=== Back On The Trail ===

3:35:18 Fleet has taken the other side of the Boomlea wormhole.

3:36:50 40 Marauders join in the fun.  Well, I was just about to leave anyway!  Didn't fight anything that wasn't in my way; the marauders can deal with that.

3:37:06 Starships have secured entry into Ificendark, gotta kill an Ion before the rest can come through.

3:37:20 Ion down.  Let's get this party started.

3:37:27 Ok, all the rest is on Ificendark now; 30 marauders are still on Boomlea, so they should clean up nicely.

3:37:32 Ificendark Data Center down.  AIP 59. (still )

3:38:19 107 Cloaked Ships to Waydarkael in 00:34 (apparently I missed the annoucement; weird)

I'll just take the rebuilds (shifted yard work back to the HW after taking Therjo) from the HW and FRD them there, should handle it.

=== A Minor Misadventure ===

3:38:33 Fleet has secured entry into Fulu.

One tricky bit here: the wormhole to Ceyvnar is pretty close to an enemy FortI.  I could rush through but I'd take fantastic losses.  Sounds like a job for... Bomberman!

3:39:12 Two problems:

1) A couple tractor guardians are towing my bombers away from the fort.

2) 16 of those marauders from earlier are now attacking Therjo.  I've only got about 2/3rds of the knowledge from that planet so I'm not keen to lose it... but ultimately I'm not going to divert anything to save it, either, so there it is.

That cloaked wave also hit Waydarkael but they haven't revealed themselves.

Anyway, to deal with those tractors I'll get my railclusters involved (they're also polycrystal) and with the bomberstars in there too they should be able to regain control.

3:39:17 Oh, that's cute, one of the tractor guardians just hauled 88 of my bombers to Ceyvnar.  Well, nothing too nasty there.  It'll just die there rather than here.

3:39:23 Ok, bombers back on Fulu, tractors down, back to the fort...

3:39:47 Fort down; good, I was thinking that might take a while.

Things not looking good for Therjo; the miniforts have only taken 1 down and are at half health.

3:40:25 MRSs once again save a number of starships from near destruction (particularly bomberstars this time, due to how much they had to soak up taking the fort down).

Combined with the shield bearers the fleet is quite durable.

3:40:52 Fleet is now on Ceyvnar, back in the southwest cluster.  One more hop to Helin.

Interestingly, the Therjo defenses are holding better than I expected; the forts are both still online and the FF is damaged but in the green.  Down to 9 marauders remaining.  The Mil-I station is helping a lot.

=== The Footholding of Helin ===

3:41:58 Starships are now on Helin, gotta take out an ion.

3:42:10 Ion down, sending 'em in.

3:42:48 Popped counterattack post on Helin, 62 ship wave announced for Devi in 13:59.

Therjo's down to 1 marauder left.  Pretty good defense for a written-off mil-I + 2 minifortresses + 1 FF.

Of course, during that time the knowledge on the planet was exhausted, so I wouldn't care anymore ... well, much.

3:42:55 Helin command station is down.  AIP 63. (still on the floor)

Of course, the CSG itself is under a spire shield post with a FortII.  Well, guess what's good against both FFs and Forts? ... good guess.

3:43:13 Remember that resistance spawn on Aorew loooong ago?  Yea, me either.  But they just sailed through to Helin (a neighbor of Aorew) to help out.

3:43:56 Dispatching a colony ship via transport from Bingbing to Helin. Also contains all the new-build fleet stuff from the HW.

3:44:15 Helin SF Post down.  AIP 63. (still)

3:44:32 Transport is popped on Aorew very near the Helin wormhole.  Thankfully I'm watching it and can pull it together; the riot shield will keep the colony ship safe enough long enough to get the job done.

3:44:43 Helin command station started, CSG-D down seconds later.  One more ring to go, and it's only a few hops from my homeworld.

3:45:00 autoprogress.  AIP 63. (still)

State of the galaxy:

[Aklyon]

Doublepost there, keith