That Commander is a Hacker.

[Trandrin]

This game is one I am playing to relax from the madness that is my other No warning/CPA game. I use only the Zenith Remnant expansion, as this game also serves to follow adding one expansion per game to get a good feel for how much each expansion effects the total game. I picked the Starfleet commander because I desired more star ship pain, and the back door hacker because I was curious to see what it did to CPA waves.

Expansions: Zenith Remnant
Size: 80 Planet, Lattice
AI Types: Starfleet Commander, Backdoor Hacker 10/10
Ship Choice: Zenith Paralyzers
Seed: 1588850036
Ships Available: All
Game Options: Normal, Normal, Full Fog of War
AI options: Human Marauders 5, Human Resistance 5, Human Colony Rebellion 5, Zenith-Traders/Miners/Dyson/Devourer all 5, golems moderate.
AI Modifiers: Schizo, CPA waves
AI Plot: Avenger x2, Astro Trains.



First Hour

00:01- I unlock my normal start up items. The harvesters and Grav turrets. I have heard good things about the two extra kinds of mines so I grab them both. We will see how effective they can be. I fully enclose the Exo wormhole in a wide variety of the mines and place token groups around the other entrances to the home world. The first wave approachs and gets destroyed by all the mines. Wish I had used them more before, they seem to work well.

When the wave of the starfleet commander hits me I forget they are mk2 starships. I end up losing everything other then the Colonies and Cryopods due to siege fire. My scouts find the dyson. I leave them there to get the gatling spawns to clear the planet. There is also a DC/Z-gen on the same planet. Good stuff. I will need to claim a world neighboring this one so I can defend that z-gen. I research Zenith and Spire Star ships, 1k each for good amount of firepower is a pretty good deal.

00:30- I begin the attack on Ipral, it is a good resource planet and is located right next to the dyson world. I learn that ion cannons are not immune to paralysis. Silly machines get stun locked by my Zenith ships. I break the Command station, but end up losing 60% of my fleet to win this planet.

The dysons are growing restless, scouts show they are destroying worlds next to the dyson planet. I am okay with this. A large wave of 500 ships hits me. I experiment with engine killing riots and tractor ones. Take out their engines use the tractors to pull them far from the fight and leave them there. It actually works pretty well.

The wave beat me up pretty good. I kill a distribution node to give me a resource boost to refleet. My forces colonize Ipral and begin placing its defenses. Spider Turrets are unlocked to give me a greater ability to cripple engines. Engineer mk2 are also deployed to assist. The raid starships finaly get the DC killed but are slain by Gatlings before they can make good their retreat.

Hour 1-
Unlocks: Harvester C/M mk2, Grav Turrets mk1, Area Mines, Emp Mines, Zenith/Spire Starship mk1, Spider Turrets, Engineer mk2
AiP:21 Planets:2
AI Ships: Teleport Raiders, Eyebot, Ether jets.

01:01-Despite sending several dozen ships to destroy the com center of the dyson planet I can't seem to destroy it before the gatlings who are all over it destroy the fleet. I send 150 ships in two transports and finally get the command center. I hadn't noticed there was a barracks on the planet so I now have 400 ships coming at me.

On top of that a wave anounces right as the Command Center explodes. Both attack Ipral, the fleet is sent in transports to fight the wave. Mines and spider turrets weaken the barracks spawn, but the normal wave is full of Teleport raiders who jump right to the command center and begin laying into it. The barracks ships are too crippled and broken to get far. Especially with Dysons hounding them. The fleet arrives in time to destroy most of the Raiders and slowly grind the Barrack spawn to dust.

The riots are used to "remove" 300 of the ships from the fighting, tilting the battle to my favor. I still end up losing the command station. Those sneaky eyebots got right up next to it and gibbed it. A new wave anounces. 861 ships. When it arrives I find they are all fighters. My fleet pounds on them all the way to the homeworld. The riots engine stoping many. Not really a impresive threat, I end them at the homeworld.

I get the defenses on the Dyson planet up to full. Combined with the Dyson patrols I should be able to hold onto that z-gen for awhile. I take Majovin. It has only 1 metal deposit. But it connects my home world to the dyson sphere. A 1k wave appears and heads for my lines. Actually feels threatening without having big hitters such as Golems/Spire craft/Champions. Suddenly another wave for 1.5k anounces. This will not be pretty.

01:30- I unlock paralyzers, fighters, bombers mk2. My extensive mine opperation in conjunction with the Dyson gatlings kill nearly 500 ships before they even enter one of my systems. The first wave through the exo wormhole is the larger of the two waves. It eats so many Area mines its not even funny. I kill nearly all of the fighters before the battle ever joins between my fleet and the wave. Area mines rock.

The other wave cuts through my two spare worlds and destroys all on them before fading out due to gatling support. I send colony pods and rebuilding teams to both to get them back up to par quickly. With the fleet hunting any stragglers from the waves.

I had the need to refleet a bit, the fighting having destroyed sizable parts of the fleet. Scouting during the down time reveals 1 ARS, 1 ADV factory, and a cursed golem to the south so far. A 865 ship wave is anounced. It is not the starfleet commander. Guess its the backdoor hacker. Another wave is then also announced on the way through the Exo-wormhole.

The wave that came through the exo wormhole was not very successfull. Mines got most of them, then the fleet moved in and locked down the rest. The other wave bounced to a different world and got consumed by gatlings with little damage to the command station. Further scouting reveals a few things here and there. Merc Parasites and leeches work on neighboring planets to collect ships I can't build yet. At the end of the hour I am holding steady.

Hour 2-
Unlocks: Harvester C/M mk2, Grav Turrets mk1, Area Mines, Emp Mines, Zenith/Spire Starship mk1, Spider Turrets, Engineer mk2, Paralyzer mk2, Figher mk2, Bomber mk2
AiP:62 Planets:3
AI Ships: Teleport Raiders, Eyebot, Ether jets.

Map Key: p1- Barracks, p3-Co-Processors, p5-Golems, p7-DC, p8-Adv Factory, p9-ARS


Note: Are Zenith Paralyzers supposed to have such low health?

[keith.lamothe]

I picked the Starfleet commander because I desired more star ship pain

I'm sure it will be happy to oblige.

and the back door hacker because I was curious to see what it did to CPA waves.

Hmm, I dunno.  It may well neutralize the special ability entirely.  That would be amusing. (later it becomes evident that it still sends waves through the exowormhole; ah well, good to not have to fix that)

I have heard good things about the two extra kinds of mines so I grab them both. We will see how effective they can be.

The AI is not going to be happy about this.

Note: Are Zenith Paralyzers supposed to have such low health?

Yea, they're at the very low-end of the balance scale on health (~5 million cap-health).  I would buff them a bit since such low healths are not really that popular, but if anything they need a nerf since the targeting changes made them able to basically lock down any non-para-immune enemy force that doesn't outnumber them.  Those things can be quite cheesy.

[orzelek]

Note: Are Zenith Paralyzers supposed to have such low health?

Yea, they're at the very low-end of the balance scale on health (~5 million cap-health).  I would buff them a bit since such low healths are not really that popular, but if anything they need a nerf since the targeting changes made them able to basically lock down any non-para-immune enemy force that doesn't outnumber them.  Those things can be quite cheesy.

I have them in my game too and... no cheese. And also no real use except for short lived shields. And I think maws don't like to eat them.... so thats one less use.
They do paralyze things.. but nothing stellar really. And frigates will shoot them first among few other units. And with that health.... they die quickly. Getting shield bearers helped a bit but they are still first in line to die. Part of that maybe Experimentalist AI which likes units that are paralysis immune.

[Trandrin]

02:01- That surprise wave of 1.2k ships killed the command center but died in turn to all the gatlings. My parasite fleet grabs a near full cap of Eyebots off the wave. Good times. Another wave tries to rush my lines and eats mine cake.

The parasite fleet encounters a severe problem and ceases to exist. About 600+ Teleporting raiders appeared out of nowhere and killed the entire fleet. They are not threat and I don't know what they are but they are lurking at the edge of my wormhole. Suddenly mining golems.

I will need to kill two of them atleast. For they are targeting worlds I have/desire. Did I mention Dyson Gatlings are offended by mining golems. They kill one for me. My fleet uses transports to get to the second and begin shooting it. The third mining golem is unimportant as it is on a world I won't be needing this game. I lose my two outer worlds to eyebots again. Shame there is nothing to actually stop them from wasting the stations. I take the ARS world to my left, my reward is Teleport Raiders.

02:31- I rebuild and fortify existing planets for now while scouts try to get further in the galaxy. I safely get my Trophy ARS back to the homeworld and place it next to my other valuables, such as the Z-gen. I hit another world.

Nothing of value here I just need the resources badly. My economy is that poor. I research mk3 harvesters. The third mining golem goes off. Fleet meets enemy forces at Ipral. They suffer complete losses. Active rebuilding with a stronger economy happen. Plans are put down to hit another world. This one is also connected to my empire, it has a CSG-E1. So I need to take a planet with that anyway. Two waves happen towards end of hour for nearly 3k ships total.

Hour 3-
Unlocks: Harvester C/M mk2, Grav Turrets mk1, Area Mines, Emp Mines, Zenith/Spire Starship mk1, Spider Turrets, Engineer mk2, Paralyzer mk2, Figher mk2, Bomber mk2, Teleport Raiders mk1/2, Harvester Mk3(crystal/metal)
AiP:102 Planets:5
AI Ships: Teleport Raiders, Eyebot, Ether jets.

03:01 The CPA is coming. Also somehow I have angered a Raid Engine. It fires twice during the CPA wait. Netting me about 5k active ships. CPA unleashes, Ship count gets over 9k. Worlds burn, ships explode, home world go splat. Two waves used the EXO wormhole and strong armed through the Area Mines. The CPA crushed everything from the dyson planet to my front door and met up with the remnants of the Raid Engine. Together they finished off my fleet, then squished what was left of the base. I will start a new game this one is done. Fun times.

Note: Well that game was shorter then my other entries so far. Examining what I did wrong, my economy was weak for first 2:30 hours, despite taking several planets. In part due to lack of deposits on those worlds. Then the Raid Engine going off towards end with the CPA put nails in the coffin.

 The Paralyzers were kind of a let down. I spent considerable amount of time rebuilding them, compared to active combat. Eyebots are the devil. Riots with tractors are usefull to pull chunks of waves out of range of every other ship, or into mine fields. Mines worked out well, Area mines mostly. The Emp ones didn't have as much impact. Off to play a new game.

[TechSY730]

Just FYI, eye boys use missile ammo. So if you are willing to splurge a bit, you can get counter missile turrets, which will stop them hard.

[Hearteater]

Also note, that despite Counter Missile turrets being in the second row, you don't need to unlock the turret below (Counter Sniper I believe) them first.

[Winge]

The Paralyzers were kind of a let down. I spent considerable amount of time rebuilding them, compared to active combat. Eyebots are the devil. Riots with tractors are usefull to pull chunks of waves out of range of every other ship, or into mine fields. Mines worked out well, Area mines mostly. The Emp ones didn't have as much impact. Off to play a new game.

Area mines are definitely amazing.  I've considered using a combination of EMP mines and Tractor Turrets to cause AI ships to blob a bit more before hitting Area Mines.  EMP mines are still pretty good, but they need turret support.

[keith.lamothe]

Congratulations lasting that long against a diff 10 backdoor hacker