Special Fortress Rematch

[Faulty Logic]

Alright, AI. You won round 1. But now...
I'm back. And this time, I'm mad.

Spokes 80 898600925 Shield Bearers.

Minor factions:

marauders 6
resistance 4
rebellions 6
Z traders
Z dyson sphere 4
broken golems 4
spirecraft moderate
Fallen Spire 4

Complete visiblity, Schizophrenic, Avengers, Hybrids 4 and 4, advanced hybrids 7 and 0.

Goal(s): Test FS w/champion possibility (if I can't do it on this map, with this starting ship, then I think it is close to impossible), as well as yet more "10/10 needs a buff" evidence. And revenge. Can't forget revenge.

Map observations: I have an excellent linear branch (containing a FactIV and IRE V fab) which can fit two spire cities behind my HW. I can easily fit the goal of 10 cities eventually. Decent golems 2 each of hive, armored, arti, widow, and a cursed (so no regen golems; excellent). Unfortunately none are in my branch.

One of the hubs is a core world, unfortunately. Also, there is no superterminal (which will mean obscene AIP levels)

SF captain has Spire Blade Spawners and Zenith Medic Frigates: uh oh.

AI HWs have a CRE and eye each.

The report:

Build mkI fleet, and riot starships to kill the first wave.

Raid for pysite. Build six jumpships. Matter converters constructed to support them until I get nebula energy (and some of them die).

Do every single nebula. While this is going on, I fortify the HW. (Shadow) Spire Cruisers w/ 7 Plasma Siege modules IV make incredibly short work of enemy starbases. My fifty reclaimed Dyson gatlings will be noticeable even beside the Spire Capital Fleet.

Unlocks:

Bombers/Shield Bearers II.

Zenith/Spire SSs I, and RiotIIs.

Basic, Laser, and MLRS II, and grav/HBC I.

500 k left.

I also build the SS fleet. By now it is 2 and a half hours into the game. Unfortunately, my champion minions are trapped in their respective nebula until I expand (or organize a raid to get them out, which my non-upgraded economy can't really afford yet. Most importantly, I routinely clear out neighboring hybrids.

Conquer my branch. Pop all data centers. 4 sets of Zenith Shattered Pillar ships join the fleet.

Unlock HBCIVs, Missile IIs, Shield Bearers III, forcefield IIs, and deploy them as fortifications. I also deploy the Neinzul modular fort.

Cpa number 1 (3500 ships) breaks against the chokepoint.

The first shard, then the refugee ship are easy.

The first city shard was a close one.

Build the first city, and then its buildings and ships, using captured ion cannons and one distribution node to accelerate the process. The first golem strikeforce is at 96%, the second regular FS exo is at 68%.

The lack of econ upgrades hasn't hurt that much, because with shield bearers and a champion, I never take significant losses.

Inter-planetary munitions boosters+shard-chasing exos = pain.

State of Empire:

[keith.lamothe]

Once more unto the breach!

Spire Cruisers w/ 7 Plasma Siege modules IV

Oh cruiser, thy name is pain.

[KDR_11k]

Isn't that branch a bit short for an AF?

[Faulty Logic]

Spire Cruisers w/ 7 Plasma Siege modules IV

Oh cruiser, thy name is pain.

Yes, to the tune of the EER and the two SP nebulae taking under five minutes each.
Edit: I see you nerfed the plasma siege modules. Probably a good idea.

Isn't that branch a bit short for an AF?

I think they can appear as close as four hops away (though you can force them closer with crazy maps).


Exos break on the chokepoint. Second city shard recovered (much, much easier if you preemptively eliminate the special forces).

Second city built; five shipyards worth of ships (and the adorable four frigates from the SRO).

Colony rebellion declared: Awesome. It is pretty close too (unlike last time, where it permantly messed up my strategy).

Using the FS fleet and champion, I quickly conquer the next six systems, making another hard-chokepoint and room for another level two spire city.

I jumpship-raid the co-ps, bringing AIP to 158. I have no more AIP reducers, so I expect some fairly ridiculous carnage later on.

Unlock Military Cmd IIIs for the econ and turret boost.
Unlock Missile, MLRS, and Basic IIIs.

I then deploy all the turrets, and the Zenith and Spire modular fortresses at the new chokepoint. Supported by the fleet, it makes short work of exos and 3500-ship waves.

Recover the third shard, and build the third city with no problem.

Update to 5.084, which disables limburger-jumpships. Grumble. But it also nerfs the exos in a champion game. This invalidates the main purpose of this game (but by preemptively solving the problem, so no complaints), so I focus on the other goals: blow stuff up, revenge, and convince the devs to buff 10/10.

State of empire:

[keith.lamothe]

and convince the devs to buff 10/10.

Oh, don't worry, it's definitely getting buffs   Just focusing on finishing the Ancient Shadows content before digging very deeply back into core-game stuff.

[Faulty Logic]

and convince the devs to buff 10/10.

Oh, don't worry, it's definitely getting buffs   Just focusing on finishing the Ancient Shadows content before digging very deeply back into core-game stuff.

Excellent. Though since the cpa/spec forces/exo/aip reduction changes, it has been pretty brutal.
I am looking forward to new nebula scenarios and the battleship hull.

Continuing:

I retreive the fourth city shard, then conquer the three systems to place it at level two. Once the survey completes, I free the rebels, then conquer everything up to and including Earth, and move my chokepoint there. Two of those systems had golems (armored, hive), and I have those and the resistance fleet up to recover the fifth shard. I have also liberated the Dyson sphere.

Waves are pretty crazy, but the choke is holding.

Recovered fifth city shard with no problem.

Research spire battleships, spire dreadnaughts, and HBC IV modules.

15,000 ship cpa: meet the spire fleet. I lost 14 shield bearers killing all of them. I had forgotten how ridiculous these fleets were.

Conquered three more ARSs (miniram, cutlass, teleport raider) and knocked out the CSG network.

Jumship-dreadnaught-raid the first CRE. Currently dealing with threat fallout.

The smart thing to do would be to recover the core shard and defend my ridiculous chokepoint. But I want the personal pleasure of introducing the AI Homeworlds to the FS fleet.

I intend to place three more spire cities at level 1, bringing me up to two dreadnaughts (and the rest). Then I will capture all the remaining golems. Then I will win.


General comments:

Fallen Spire is really fun. Especially after games of sticking to the floor.

The frigates actually do more than any other ship class in open battle.

A shadow cruiser is superior to a spire battleship (but inferior to a dreadnaught).

The Dyson sphere is much better with high AIP.

Thousands of mkIV ships are not to be underestimated.

Golems are incredibly fragile in FS-scale battles.

Warp counter posts really hurt.

State of Empire:

[keith.lamothe]

Glad to hear FS is a good change of pace   I particularly enjoy the feeling of being able to glass multiple AI planets and not really care much, though I wouldn't want to always play that way.

Sounds like maybe it's not hitting you back hard enough in those exos, though

Jumship-dreadnaught-raid

AI: That's Not Very Serene!

(/incredibly-obscure-reference)

[Faulty Logic]

(/incredibly-obscure-reference)

I'll say.

I need to remember to play on low caps (or ultra-low) for FS games. Most of the last 4 hours of the game were going about half speed. At +10. My aggravation was significant, but my paranoia more so, so I didn't make any fatal mistakes.

Anyway:

Conquer all golem worlds. Hack for a bunch of k. Repel various exos (the HK-shieldbearer loadout is far more deadly than any of the others). Kill the eyes on the HWs with cloaked spire rams. Build additional spire cities.

Assemble the fleet:
Fleetships: shield bearers and triangles I-IV, teleraids, minirams, and shredders I-II
Militia: full caps of engineers and enclave starships, and lightning/nuclear warheads,
Rebels: 58 fighter/bombers, 58 frigates,
Starships: all riots, all SSs mkI, Spire, Zenith, and Flagship up to mkIII,
Golems: 2 full Hives, a cursed, two spiders, two artillery and two armoreds,
Spirecraft: 16 rams mkI, three penetrators mkI,
Champion fleet: 1 level forty-eight human shadow cruiser, 84 minion starships* and fifty dyson gatlings,
and the Spire Fleet:
2 dreadnaughts, 4 battleships, 8 cruisers, 17 destroyers, and 72 frigates.
3500 ships.

In other words, nothing short of River Tam in a bad mood is stopping this fleet.

It took about 13 hours gametime to assemble this. It was worth it.

I simply group move the fleet to the first HW. The strategic reserve (about a thousand fleetships) lasts about 4 seconds. I just move the blob around the planet, ignoring any losses. The AI has apparently decided to conserve its defence fund for now. I leave two penetrators to not deal with AIP/Avenger issues.

I then move on to the second homeworld, after nuking the 5000-strong special forces blob.

Defence fund activated: 3 motherships, ~30 HKs, 13 golems, other rabble. I actually have to use tactics (read: warheads, kiting), but defeat the AI fleet.

Victory is mine. Also revenge.

I think 10/10 is close to right, now. Still too easy (read: possible without stinky cheese), but very close. I just think the HWs need a wafer-thin buff now.

*because upon updating to 5.089, my EER facilities each spawned IMT facilities.

[keith.lamothe]

Congratulations   No stopping this stomping machine it seems.  The strategic reserve probably would have been a lot bigger with sufficient time to charge (starting at zero after the update) but it may be that it did run long enough to charge fully.  In general I wouldn't expect the reserve to make the difference against an FS fleet.

Actually, in general, if you get a 2-DN FS fleet onto the AI homeworlds, the AI's probably already lost.

*because upon updating to 5.089, my EER facilities each spawned IMT facilities.

Gah, this is like whackamole!   Bug comes up, I fix it, it causes another one, I fix that, it causes another one.  I really don't know why it's spawning two facilities.  Save?

Anyway, thanks for the testing, I'm sure the AI is nursing all kinds of grudges by now.

[TechSY730]

Good to know that 10/10 is now making you work hard for your victory. That means its getting closer.

Again, congratulations. 10/10 is no easy feat, especially in recent patches.

[Faulty Logic]

The EER mission doesn't spawn two facilities upon completion. It was just when I updated, there were suddenly IMT facilities in the EER nebulae.

[keith.lamothe]

The EER mission doesn't spawn two facilities upon completion. It was just when I updated, there were suddenly IMT facilities in the EER nebulae.

Right, it shoudn't have done that.  And foldouts are supposed to clean themselves up if the parent facility goes away, though I may not have properly flagged these for that.

[Fluffiest]

Faulty Logic, do you think the Fallen Spire alternate ending is plausible on 10/10?

[Toranth]

The EER mission doesn't spawn two facilities upon completion. It was just when I updated, there were suddenly IMT facilities in the EER nebulae.

Right, it shoudn't have done that.  And foldouts are supposed to clean themselves up if the parent facility goes away, though I may not have properly flagged these for that.

I know that part works.  I had the fun experience of 'clearing' a nebula, then watching as the 'pitiful' enemy remenants destroyed the allied Large starbase, taking my foldout with it

[keith.lamothe]

I know that part works.  I had the fun experience of 'clearing' a nebula, then watching as the 'pitiful' enemy remenants destroyed the allied Large starbase, taking my foldout with it
[/quote]What scenario was that?  Normally I try to make sure that the win condition is such that not much enemy firepower is left.