Thematic Play-Vengeance of the Spire

[Coppermantis]

The team assigned to finding more survivors picked up a signal on Aperture. No signs of life but a lot of energy being produced. Looks like it's another reactor. Maybe now the engineers will have enough power to actually get a legitimate city up, the civilians are starting to complain about the conditions in their little bubbles. Fortunately, Aperture is on an isolated arm, so it is feasable to capture or neuter the whole area and only have to hold the AI back at Mienhoff.



Two hops isn't too bad, shouldn't be harder than the last retrieval. Especially with the help of the newly formed Elite Corps, a task force comprised of the heavy hitters of the Spire fleet. Capital Ships as well as high mark fleetships (such as our newly rescued Armor Rotters) will make up this group. The Zenith Corps is also a useful asset, comprised of the ships liberated from AI reserves. Those shredders sure are hungry, good thing they always have some nice AI ships to munch on. Two armored Golems have been spotted, and if rescued will go to this force. The issue is the +20 AIP and whopping 200k energy requirement. We're going to need that whole arm starting at Braxis Alpha loaded with generators if we want to power both. Even with enough power, though, the +40 AIP makes me question if it's worth it. The fleet is holding off very well as it is. I may save the power in case I find a Hive or Botnet Golem.

[Coppermantis]

The Spire Elite Corps singlehandedly cleared out Braxis Alpha, Apex and Monlyth. The eye on Monlyth took a while to eliminate but we suffered no losses in progress thanks to cloaker starships provided by wandering Zenith aliens.* Aperture is just ahead and with it a reactor to power one city. Excellent.


New scouting information has come in from the other planets on the Braxis arm. Iridia has a Core shield generator [D], so we'll want to take that out but Nebulmaty has something better: A botnet golem! Those things are massively OP against most fleet ships, save for moderate to high numbers of Zenith Bombards. Additionally it has another Mk. V Armor rotter fabricator, so we can obtain ridiculous firepower and rescue some of our friends at the same time. The neighboring planet, Dorve, has a cursed golem which is my second favorite type and an advanced factory. Mk. IV Blade spawners, leeches and gravity rippers will be a great help to the war effort. The problem is that each planet is a Turtle planet, and as such there are AI Eyes and Ion Cannons on both. This will be a tough nut to crack, but the payoff will be great.

[Coppermantis]

The seperation of the Zenith and Spire starships into separate lines has been helpful in enhancing the Spire Elite Corps, which has been assigned to clear out the Braxis Alpha branch of all Warp Gates and guard posts. So far they've been very successful, having lost only two armor rotters (despite some misclicks on my part almost costing me a frigate).

The strategy for this is based around Monlyth being a hub from which the SEC executes guerrilla strikes on the four target planets. A small group of engineers with Cloak starship protection provides an outpost at which the SEC can repair. After the entire branch has been neutered, Shard extraction from Aperture will begin. The entire composite fleet and SEC will then be positioned on Meinhoff, which should be fairly defensible. The rest of the shard route can be safely ignored with minimal escort. Shame that the shards are immune to gravity, or Logistics stations/Zenith Spacetime manipulators could speed up the process.

Unfortunately, the Dyson Antagonization is beginning to take its toll. Mienhoff is the only target, so consolidating turret defenses there has been adequate defense, but lately the Dyson waves have been consisting of 7-8 gatlings, which was more than my existing infrastructure could handle. More turrets have been built and the 2200-strong Composite Fleet has been brought in from Agria to ensure security, but in the event of an attack the fleet will need to be relocated.


@7.33.15: Oh, balls. The Hybrids have executed a massive strike on Agria. 27 hives with their associated fleets have gone on the offensive. Even my fortress was not sufficient to deter the attack and the base on Agria was destroyed. A section of the composite fleet was dispatched but did not arrive in time, fortunately the AI were intercepted on their way out and destroyed. My fortress was left alive, thank goodness. Wouldn't want to have to build another. The real tragedy though is the loss of the Mk. V Armor Rotter fab. Fortunately a second fabricator of the same type has been scouted on Nebulmaty, so the loss is not permanent.

There was a mush less successful attack on Moatbiqui, a single hybrid. Must have been lost. Poor thing, got stuck in my gravity trap. Such is life.

After I finish with the Braxis arm, which is soon. (1 planet to go) I will  clear the threat from my neighboring worlds and begin extraction. The SEC is so ridiculously effective it makes me wonder how the Spire lost to the AI in the official canon (I'm sure I'll find out soon enough 

[Coppermantis]

Fml. I move my fleet away for a minute and this happens. At least now I know the answer to my question, the Spire didn't lose to the AI, they lost to the accursed Dyson Sphere. I don't even have a recent save from which I can scum

Oh well. I may be down, but not out. The order has gone out to load any and all civillians onto whatever warships are available and hope that some might escape into deep space. The remaining military will embark on one last charge. We'll see how much damage we can do.

Apparently the answer is to reach the AI Homeworlds with a sizeable fleet remaining. Were it not for the CSGs I expect that we could have eliminated both homeworlds, which were surprisingly poorly equipped. However, what with the invulnerable guard posts, there was not much we could do but fight as much as we could in the surrounding worlds, chewing up AI ships as our own proud starships were obliterated. An unfortunate end brought on by such a little unit.

The advantage of reaching the AI homeworlds is that we managed to destroy the Archives. No more knowledge of our Tech for the AI beyond what they can salvage from our ruins. Also, the Dyson is free again, so good for it. A little too late.

In summary: This has been a fun playthrough, using only Spire ships was an interesting break from the standard AI War play. I want to try something harder next time, but without the Dyson+Hybrid plot, as I don't want to lose in such a cheap way again.

[keith.lamothe]

Ah yes, Mike Dyson's Punch-Out strikes again.  You can avoid that nowadays by just not turning on Advanced Hybrids in the same game as the Dyson (and even some of the lower settings of Advanced Hybrids should prevent it from getting too out of hand).  Of course, Hybrids in general dine on human pain, and might be a bit much for thematic play.

Thanks for finishing this one up, I look forward to the next

[TechSY730]

You can try putting Advanced hybrids on level 1. They will still get the super hybrids and the higher Mk. hybrid modules and escorts, but at level 1, the "Dyson plot" will be disabled.

[Coppermantis]

This loss reminds me of my last Fallen Spire attempt, when I lost to the Regenerator Golem. It also occurs to me that I've only won a single AI War game ever. I came close to winning one, but deleted my saves on acccident.

Also, I might try that, TechSY. Hybrids are fun but I like the Dyson being on my side. Especially with the setup I have planned for next game.