Provoking the AI

[Winge]

I do a bit of cleanup and fortify.  I unleash the bees on Unholy Descent.  There were no survivors.  Now THAT is what a Hive Golem is supposed to do!  Potential unlocks:  Acid Sprayers, Saboteurs, and Anti-Armor ships.  I swear, this is the game of pitiful unlocks for me...I might hack for Saboteurs, but I don’t know if they’re worth it compared to Acid Sprayers.  On an unrelated note, I actually like Mk IV Counterattack Guard Posts this game—with how many Enclaves are camping around my home, I can pretty much use them like delayed Distribution Nodes.  I don’t even need to bring my fleet home (though, since I keep Mercs and Reclaimed ships there, it’s not like I have nothing around).  I’m paying for it on the other side, though—enemy enclaves are really annoying.

I go ahead and take Senator’s Badlands.  Space Tanks unlocked, Special Forces…a bit stung.  Nice to have a good offensive Golem.  Cursed will be really fun to play with.  For my next trick, I am going to hack the Advanced Starship Controller.  Yeah, this is probably a bad idea.


--Operation:  What Does This Code Do?--
So, I plug my hacker onto Midnight Star (ASC world).  With an Exo not far away.  Doing an Advanced Constructor Hack.  Everything about this should say bad idea.  It actually turns out surprisingly well.  My (rather stacked) defenses at Aldrin hold off the Exo (even the H/K) without a hitch.  I am able to take out the hacking response at the same time, although it was definitely more noticeable than before.  I’m sure having 423 HaP pre-hack helped; I’d hate to see that at a low HaP.  Or without a Hive Golem.
This victory was brought to you by the bees.

I immediately begin construction of my newly-acquired Enclave Mk IVs.  With the Merc Enclave Mk IV, I have a lot of firepower at my disposal from Enclaves alone.  And I don’t have to worry about losing the constructor to an Exo or anything like that.  Of course, Superterminal hacking will be very interesting, when I get there.  And by interesting, I mean I don’t think I’ll hack that for a long while.

I then capture Midnight Star.  Kind of a waste after the hack, but I don’t have to hold it now.  I want to use it as a buffer world for Bala Gi’s joy, which has a Laser Controller.  Time to fortify some more and plan my next move.


Defenses that can stop…quite a bit, actually…




Dem Bees…

[Winge]

So…I have a CPA for 2,858 ships coming in (normal caps).  This could get interesting.  Ordering Core turrets.  Lots of Core Turrets.  I start running a few Matter Converters, just in case.




The CPA takes out an undefended planet, at which point I have to hop in to try and clear the threat that is sitting attacking the Core Lightning Turrets.  I don’t want to jump in my Hive Golem until that area is safe(r).  And then I get a wave announcement for 3,927 ships to my whipping boy—during the CPA.  Then, around 2 minutes after that, another wave for around 400 or so.  I think the AI doesn’t like me.

No, that wave number is not the CPA.  The CPA has already launched at me.  !FUN!



Eventually, I pull the CPA attackers away.  And then…you can probably guess by now, but it’s so fun to say:  BEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!



Lots of explosions happen.  Very few losses for me—the CPA only takes out 21 fleetships   Granted, fixed defenses took moderate losses.  I manage to clear out a bit more threat—back down to 93—and end up back at the same place I was before—I have no idea what I should take next.

State of the Empire



Brainstorming:
0.  Untangle the map some more.  I remember why I don’t usually play Realistic maps…
1.  Take Menelaus’ Oasis and Nopielos’ Memorial, which grants me a continuous empire.
2.  Capture Clarity’s End for a future whipping boy.  It already has an OMD, Ion Cannon II and I, and BHG.  However, it also has a ZPG, and it’s not in a good spot—I’m trying not to put Advanced Factory worlds and Mk IV/III planets on alert needlessly.
3.  Clear and possibly capture Emperor Mines to get to pop the OS Raid Engine on Ringo Moon and easily get the Data Center on Gaian Star.
4.  Take a ‘back road’ to Ore Belt and find out what that ARS has.
5.  Capture Xenon Core 023 (Adv. Factory) and Unholy Descent (ARS:  Acid Sprayers, Saboteurs, Anti-Armor).  Not bad, as I could potentially hack the second Adv. Factory if I lost this one.  I don’ t want to hack it quite so soon after the last Advanced Constructor Hack.
6.  Capture Lucky Planets (Superterminal Hack).  I’m simply not ready for this yet.  I want to do some real damage with the Superterminal.  Possibly to myself as well as the AI…

I have a sinking suspicion that I’m going to have to move my extremely potent Whipping boy, which means that I’ll need to rebuild all my trader goodies.  It will be much weaker without an OMD to back it up.  Also, that will probably change Exo pathing, which has been very predictable thus far.  If I did have to move it, I would just go next door to Red Light, stealing the AI’s BHG there.

On the plus side, 6 more worlds of knowledge and I get the Knowledge Saver achievement!

[Winge]

Of the options, only options 3 and 4 do not require an AIP investment.  I’m going to nail the Data Center on Gaian Star first, then find out what the next ARS has for me.  Clearing Emperor Mines wasn’t too bad (probably should have let the raid engine hit my planet for salvage, and not killed the Ion Cannon IV there, but w/e).  Now I can scout/raid a bit easier there.  Which is great, as Third Redemption has the last ARS and a Data Center!

…Spirecraft Scouts aren’t immune to EMP?  That sucks…I take revenge when the loose EMP Guardian gets to Lucky Planets.

Wow...an unexpected wave (unannounced Warp Gate Guardian) crushes a Midnight Star.  I am VERY glad that I hacked that ASC.  Then another one at Family Ryk.  This is really quite ridiculous.  Alerts need to be logged; a warning that last less than 5 seconds with no sound is not sufficient.  I do manage to stabilize the situation, but it takes way longer than normal.

Exo + wave to the whipping boy.  See how much easier it is when the AI does what I want?  Got metal?

I finally clear a path to the ARS world, and take out its Data Center.  I almost neutered it completely, but I mistakenly unleashed my wasps early.  the resulting fight was brutal, and I lost most of my fleetships.  My Hive golem and a few other stragglers survived.  Sadly, I’m down a Merc Enclave; that will sting for a while.  Well, until I rebuild it.  This is why I should not play AIW late at night.  At least I didn’t lose anything permanent (my sanity being long since gone).  Thankfully, the AI is still donating metal sending waves.

Now this ARS is interesting.  Parasites, Mini-Rams, and Hydras.  I’ve not used Hydras yet, but I doubt that they will be worth a hack (especially considering all of the other…investigative activities…I am taking part in).  Mini-rams, on the other hand, could be very handy.  That said, I already have Penetrators and can get 'real' Spire Rams.  I'm going to hold of on deciding for now.

Next time, I’m going to find out what the last ARS has.  Then, I’ll try to decide which planets are next on the chopping block.


State of the Empire

[Winge]

Steam streaming...looks shiny...I want to try it now!

Naw, later.  Especially since the laptop I will try to stream to is garbage.  The AI gets enough benefit out of real-life guardians to give it new ones (connection loss, worthless PC) to mess with me.  I might have enough fun with this patch.  I only have one goal for tonight (which, given my workload, will be more than enough).


--Operation:  What’s Does it Have in its Pocketsess?--
Basically, I’m just trying to clear a path to Ore Belt.  Then I’ll find out what the ARS con…

Colony Rebellion at Dark Waters



Hmm…I’m not sure whether to be frustrated that I have to capture ANOTHER colony world already, or be glad that it’s right next to my current objective (should be able to clear both if I play this right).  Wait a minute…LOL, oh right:  I forgot that I cleared Dark Waters when I took out the DG Lair there.  Well…I guess I’ll finish the job.  This has to be the fastest I’ve ever liberated a rebelling colony.  As a bonus, I can easily strike the ARS world.  I’m not sure where the Special Forces are hiding though, so I’ll try not to overstay my welcome.

I clear Ore Belt with very little difficulty.  My economy tanks, but that’s because my Merc dock was not in control group 9 (metal-limited).  Whoops.  An exo comes to refill my reserves.  My defenses are taking damage, but holding.  I don’t think my Arty golem will leave that world for a while, though.  I definitely don’t want to change whipping boys yet—I like knowing exactly where the Exos are coming from.




The ARS contains Z. Devastators, Z. Electric Bombers, and Teleport Battle Stations.  I’m considering trying to find the AI homeworlds to see if the Battle Stations will be worth it (double Wrath Lance would be rather frustrating).  I have a bit more time tonight—I did not expect things to go that smoothly—so I guess I’ll clear a few more scouting paths.




I find the Dyson Sphere on Uranus II (so that’s where it was hiding!) and Data Centers on Venus and Consecrated Fire.  I manage to take out a Data Center and strip Tachyon coverage to (but not on) Uranus II.  Then, I have to deal with good-sized CPA.  I keep hoping that I’ve killed the last Tackle Drone Launcher, but I’ve yet to prove that.  In other news, my whipping boy can take 8,000 Neinzul Shrikes (mostly in carriers) without losing anything of permanent value.


State of the Empire

[Winge]

While clearing, tachyon coverage (and other things), I found something I want.  Badly.  Core Protector Starship Fabricator, on Consecrated Fire.  I wonder how much trouble that would be to hack?  The Radar Jammer II there stinks, but I think I can get around that.  After all, Bees don’t need radar…

After careful and painstaking ‘scouting’ (read:  slamming my fleet into anything that says “tachyon”), I find a Spire Archive on Cloudbank Southwest, which points to one of the AI’s Homeworlds (could be either Brennan’s Triumph or Family Whi.  It’ll be a while before I can close in on that, though.


--Operation:  01001000 01100001 01100011 01101011--
I haven’t tried Protector Starships, but I know I want them permanently.  That means a hack on Consecrated Fire.  Response level is currently 150 (Moderate) on a Radar Jammer II planet, but I’m not worried:  I have a fully-loaded Hive Golem.

Incidentally, partially unloading the Hive Golem (and other transports) feels a bit buggy to me.  It’s like the game keeps trying to use the selection tools underneath the menu instead of unloading what I select.

Response is definitely getting stronger, but it’s nowhere near strong enough for my fleet and Hive Golem.  I almost lose the hacker once due to not being in range of a Beam Guardian (stupid Radar Jammer II), but I kill it before I lose the hacker.  Annnndd….these are going to take a long time to build.  I guess I’ll go back to clearing things.



So…uh…I have literally built an entire cap of Mercs…might be time to do some “FRD Clearing.”


--Operation:  Rejoin--
My next step is to join Dark Waters and Elena’s Fortune into my empire without increasing the number of ingress points.  That means that I need to capture Menelaus’ Oasis, Interworlds, and Nopielo’s Memorial, and gate raid Farnham’s Legend, Reservoir of Tranquility, Mines of Fortune, and Queen’s Retribution.  I also want to take out a train station on Farnham’s Legend.  My AIP will go from 364 to 447 by doing this.  Yeah, this could get interesting, considering I’m already seeing a few waves in the 5,000 – 8,000 range.  On the plus side, I’ll get my second ZPG.  I just hope I can defend it sufficiently.

I decide to add my long-ranged Mercs to my slow group (everything slower than about 70 speed).  And…wow.  A full cap of Merc Beam Frigates does a massive amount of damage.  I’m not facing huge forces, mind you, but everything pretty much evaporates when they come into range.  Add in the Enclaves, Riots, and Protector V’s and…well, honestly it isn’t very fair.  >D

I take out my targets with ease.  Now, all of my worlds are connected.  I start dropping Logistic I’s to form an actual highway out to distant planets.  I’m only two planets away from the 50k achievement.  Hila’s Joy and Perdition’s End look like good options to me.


--Operation:  For SCIENCE!  And Achievements--
CPAs just don’t want to leave me alone.  The next one is for 4,079 ships—on its own, that is smaller than my typical wave still (this AI seems to love Neinzul).  The ZPG on Nopielo’s Memorial is my biggest concern, as it is not very well protected right now.  I’ll still have time to clear a planet or two, but after that, I’d better shore up and be ready to respond to roaming threat.  Or I would if a sudden Warp Gate Guardian spawn doesn’t force me back to my own territory.  I lose a lot of ships (mercs included), as that wave included a lot of Reprocessors and Railclusters.  I probably should be more willing to use warheads in situations like these...or at least martyrs...

After a rough hour or two (I will be very glad to spend some of this Knowledge!), I manage to capture Hila’s Joy and Perdition’s End, as well as gate raiding Rhy’s Desire.  Time to SCIENCE up and decide what to spend my 50,000+ K on.  Threat is also back down to around 250; enough to be suppressed by Core Turrets and Miniforts.


State of the Empire

[Winge]

So…50,000 Knowledge is a LOT to work with.  I wonder if I’ll run out of things to research as I start taking over more of the galaxy?  For now, I am going to unlock the following:
Scout Starship II:  250
Scout Starship III:  2000
Scout Starship IV:  3500
Plasma Siege Starship III (IV):  3000
Riot Starship III:  5000
Decloaker:  1000
Gravity Turret:  500
Tractor Turret II:  1250
Engineer II:  1000
Munitions Booster II:  2500
Forcefield III:  4000
Human Modular Fortress:  3000
Heavy Beam Cannon II:  2500
Hardened Forcefield II:  2000
Total knowledge spent this round:  31,500

I want to unlock higher Mk “normal” turrets, but I also want to see what Keith plans for turrets.  No reason to spend the Knowledge now if the costs will go down and Mk IV turrets will be added.  I should have enough firepower between the Mod Fort and HBCs to last a while longer.  Needless to say, all of this is going to take a rather long time to build. 

I scout the AI 2 Homeworld on Brennan’s Triumph and…really?  One of the Co-Processors is there?  That’s just wrong.  The neighboring Core worlds  also have BHGs, but I was planning on capturing those anyways.  That might prove to be in my favor.  I almost miss the Core Raid Engine while considering taking out the Co-Processor there…that would have been very unpleasant indeed.  The AI 1 Homeworld is about the same.  It contains a Wrath Lance, in addition to the usual unpleasantries.  Thankfully, it does not have a Gravity Drill—that would be ridiculous.





My defenses on Aldrin are starting to buckle.  Since I now only have one warp gate coming in, I relocate all of my mines to…discourage…enemy attackers.  Turret changes or no, I may be unlocking turrets soon.  with over 80 planets left to capture, I’m sure I’ll have enough Knowledge for more than I actually want.


State of the Empire

[Winge]

Two Exo-waves are coming in, uncomfortably close together.  I decide that I am going to have to spend some hard-earned Knowledge on more defenses.  I spend another 6K knowledge to finish off the HBC line, upgrading my Mod fort as well.  By the way, the description on the Mk IV version is exceptional.  Just the type of weapon I would love to use.  I decide to run a few Matter Converters for more energy, just in case.  Even running 2 ZPGs, I was starting to get lower than I like in terms of energy.


--Operation:  Enlist Foreign Aid--
Apparently, there is a Dyson Sphere on Uranus 2, under the cruel oppression of the AI.  I’m going to free it.  Since they are in my way, I will also take over The Vault, Venus, and Jupiter.  While I would like to make The Vault a Whipping Boy, I know that I will lose the handy Gravity Drill the second I do.  And probably the Vampire Claw V fabricator.  So, I’m going to make good use of Warp Jammers again.  The nice thing about this part of the galaxy is that Uranus 2 will make a great buffer world against the neighboring planets.

Clearing worlds with Protector Vs and Scout Starship IVs is actually rather easy.  I don’t bother putting counter missile modules on my Protectors, which means that I can save those for the much more dangerous energy attacks.  In other news, the AI now has Spire Stealth Battleships now.  I am going to be very glad for Decloakers on offense, that’s for sure.

It looks like the next Exos will be close enough together to be considered “synched”.  I ready more warheads (even though I haven’t used one yet) and Spirecraft.


*** Insert Turret Patch Here ***
Wow, getting used to the new HP and attack values is going to take a bit…at first, I saw the new sniper turret marks and thought, “what?  really?”  And then I remembered that everything was divided by 100 (more or less).


--Operation:  Defense Grid:  Reawakening--
Instant energy brownout (-500,000 :O), due to the fact that I have core turrets on EVERY planet still.  To be fair and in-line with the turret changes, I am going to clear out all of my defenses and rebuild them.  But hey, look!  I have 22,000 Knowledge still.  And another 3,000 available (soon to be claimed) from the Dyson Sphere world.  High AIP games do have their benefits

Spider Turret II – IV
Sniper Turret II – IV
Missile Turret II – IV
Laser Turret II – IV
Remaining Knowledge:  2,000 (+3,000); 20,000 Knowledge spent
I also have Spider (hacked), Laser, and Lightning Turret Controllers.

In other news, Winge goes insane placing turrets.  I don’t think I’ve ever considered having multiple saves while the game was PAUSED.  Fun statistics, for those who like them:
Energy Min:  -500,000 or so
Energy Max:  2,700,000 or so
Max Metal:  3,930,000 (cap)
Metal Rate with all unpaused:  -251,979/s.  That's including some salvage income (did someone unpause an Ion Cannon V, and put engineers on it?)

A wave interrupts rebuilding.  Excessive micromanagement of construction (and someone forgetting to update Spirecraft Attritioners) allows me to convert the wave handily to scrap metal.  And the AI now has Shield Bearers…wonderful.  I end up scumming once due to the new turret patch.  I didn’t have a chance to rebuild my defenses as I wanted them before the exos started to hit, so I scummed to allow myself to build up how I intended to (with EVEN MORE turret micromanagement).  Overall, I like the turret changes.  At least, now that I’m slightly less insane (but only slightly) after getting some of my defenses back in place as I want them.

And then an 8,000 ship CPA is announced.  I swear, it feels like I get no time in-between attacks to attack myself.

Sorry, no pics this time around.  I'll get some next time.

[Winge]

Defenses are almost entirely built up.  Waves post-turret changes are doing around the same amount of damage to my whipping boy, even though I sank 20,000 knowledge into turrets. 

Yeeoouuuch!


Dealing with an 8,000 ship CPA (normal caps) sucks, in case you were wondering.  I lose the Vampire V fabricator (meh) and Lightning Turret V Controller (not nearly as important after the turret changes), a Gravity Drill (I’ll miss the energy, I suppose), and my patience.  The rest of it is me chasing the threatballs around my territory while they constantly try to run away.  While killing off threat and dealing with the backlash from the CPA, another Colony Rebellion is announced on Wretched Skies.  Taking the planet won’t be very hard (I’ve cleared the path, but not the planet itself), but I am getting rather angry that liberating these guys gives me no benefit.  I have a few ideas that would be beneficial without being too horribly overpowered; I’ll put them up on Mantis later.



More Mutual Grav Drill Trolling


I capture Unholy Descent; Acid Sprayers acquired.  A Warp Jammer will keep prying eyes at bay, for now.  And uh…well, I think the Special Forces are somewhat inebriated.  They probably should change their orders if they were going to a planet that the player captures and destroys the CSG on.  I manage to kill quite a few of them as they slowly pass by Unholy Descent.  Had I been faster, I probably could have killed them all on Lucky Planets with my Hive Golem.


34:26:11
Wretched Skies captured.  I won’t benefit much from this planet, but I do get another Grav Drill (bets on how long this one lasts?).  Oh, and a Rebel Colony that now won’t hand 100 more AIP to the AI.  Unfortunately, I am basically forced to allow additional entries into my empire.  I simply don’t have enough Warp Jammer stations.  Elena’s Fortune and Senator’s Badlands join my whipping boy entourage.  Without Trader goodies, I will probably have to support them when waves hit.  With the situation stable, and no idea what to do next, I call it a night.


State of the Empire

[Winge]

I figure saving the Milky Way Galaxy should probably get a boost on priority.  That, and if I play that stupid FFX chocobo race without getting the Sun Sigil, I will probably hurt someone.  So…back to “work.”

And I run right into what I can only assume is a patch-related bug:  all of my metal harvesters reset and have to be rebuilt.  Even better, I have a wave of over 10,000 ships heading to Senator’s Badlands.  Might be time to start breaking out warheads.  Wait…Mk IV and V turrets are now per-planet?  I read the patch notes…clearly not carefully enough.

With all my forces, I am able to repel the wave (which was all Anti-Armor ships) without warheads.  I am still of the opinion that the AI should not be able to put Starships inside of Carriers (or at least that they have to be the ‘last ships in’).  As I’m rebuilding and trying to reboot my economy from the glitch and losses, a wave of 1,220 ships is announced to Aldrin.  That’s probably going to be Reprocessors or Railclusters.  Or it would be, if Aldrin didn’t have Trader goodies.  It ends up being tasty, tasty salvage.  Hmm.

--Operation:  Bait and Switch--
Next target:  Clarity’s End.  It is a Mk III planet with an OMD, 2 Ion Cannons, a BHG.  I want to take it with minimum damage/casualties (since I have already received an announcement of ANOTHER wave…really?).  Oh, and I want to keep all of the defensive goodies too.  How?  Well, I sacrifice 3 Raid Starships to provide cover for a fully-loaded Hive Golem.  I successfully neuter Clarity’s End, but I don’t capture it yet.

Feel My Sting!



And then I realize why I am having defensive trouble.  The patch MOVED WORMHOLES  .  No wonder I was having trouble on defense.  Sadly, fixing my defenses will interrupt expansion plans for this AAR.  Also, I’m not patching any more for a while.  No offense

Something Looks Wrong With These Plans…



I unlock Counter-Dark Matter turrets for carriers, and then realize they were changed to Energy Bomb ammo (who knows how long ago too…).  Doh.  Not like it’ll hurt me, though.  There’s still over 150,000 K to be gained in the galaxy…on that note, why am I not spending Knowledge like crazy?  I unlock Munitions Booster Mk III’s for effect.  The rest of the time is spent rebuilding Aldrin’s defenses.


On a mostly unrelated note, I just got the Sun Sigil.  So, apparently playing AI War makes me better at other, completely different video games.  Perhaps I should check patch notes for the addition of an “Other Video Game” Guardian…