FOOD for thought (SCREENSHOTS FORTHCOMING)
-----------------------------
FOOD here stands for "Freaking Obscene Offtype Defense". Because that's what this AAR is going to be about.
This AAR should be chock-full of various strategies I use, but I won't be doing much of the storytelling here.
This is more about how to win.
Here are the settings:
Difficulty: Obscene (surprise surprise)
Galciv2 version: Twilight v1.96 (although the strategies outlined here work all the more in 2.0)
Race: Custom. Altarian tech tree, Super Breeder, +1 Speed, +50 military production, +30% economy
Map: Large galaxy, scattered stars, abundant everything
AI: 9 opponents, 8 minors
Every time I begin a game, I decide on a unique strategy I'm going to try. When it's conservative, I play on
Suicidal, but when it's a weird strategy I'm not sure is going to work, I run on Obscene. I don't like to lose.
I also re-rolled for a reasonably good starting position. One thing I like about all-abundant map settings is
that you can really put Economic Starbases to good use. So I rolled a map with lots of planets packed close to
my homeworld.
[will add screenshot here later]
Here's my strategy going into this: I will play as Good (I am Altarian tech tree) and do a economic boom,
anchored by an array of economic starbases around my little bunch of planets around my homeworld. Here's
the interesting part: I'm going to max out Missile Defense very early, all the way to Aeron Missile Defense, and
get Hyper Computers. That 20% research bonus is more pronounced when you play the high difficulty levels. As a
nice side effect, I will build several small ships with obscenely high defense as a military deterrent. Then
I use the Hyper Computers to research whatever I need from there. And as I get better weapons and miniaturization,I will upgrade my ships for better attack--which shouldn't be too expensive, since I already installed the max
Defense. P.S. Also, I crank espionage up to 25% right from turn 1. I always do that.
As the game progresses, there have been a few changes of plans. My start was a little better than I expected:
I got a number of 300% manufacturing tiles on nearby planets. I got an insanely good colony rush, which was
further aided by my Super Breeder ability--for a short time. The side effect of a good colony rush is that it
really puts a strain on your economy. Those economy starbases are going to have to wait. I can't afford it.
However, look what happened to my colony rush:
[screenshot needed]
I actually leapfrogged the Korath and started colonizing planets on the other side of him. The Korath are evil,
so we already know where this is going: the Korath are going to have to die. Let's get the Hyper Computers,
build the ships, and invade. But first, my economy is out of control--let's just hope that gets brought under
control before the Korath decide to attack me first. I delayed researching Xeno Ethics, due to the colony rush;
once you research Ethics, you no longer get the ethical bonuses when you colonize new planets. Which in the end
turned out to be wise, because I got a nice juicy 39% research world, and two +49% and +56% Starship attack worlds.
[screenshot here]
I'm not one who gives my planets fancy names. All I know is, if I don't rename my planets to reflect their
bonuses, I'm going to forget. Now I already see one problem coming: the +Starship bonus benefits ATTACK, and
my strategy involves defense. No big deal, I hope. Let the bonus benefit what it will, and I will use it
to get by until I get better weapons. I am doing the same with Missile Defense: I don't know what the Korath
and other AI's are choosing for their weapons. Hopefully it's missiles--I've got a 1-in-3 chance. But with my
defense so far ahead, even off-type should do me very well until I get something better. Oh, one other thing: I
plan on throwing up a low-end military starbase on the Korath when I decide to attack,
to try and get that attack up (that, and get another 2 defense from Protective Fields). I'm building Small ships
anyway.
A few more changes of plans. My economy is trash. My taxes are up at 49%, approval is also around 49%, I'm not
getting my Super Breeder bonus at all. I have to--if I lower my taxes to get 100%, the maintenance alone on my
colonies puts me in the hole. What's more, I never found any green (Economy) mining resources. Ouch, that hurts.
However, I did snatch up a pair of Yellow (morale) ones. That helped. I did research Star Democracy, but that
helped with morale more than it did my money situation--let me explain: my approval was at 49%. You can't have
Democracy at 49%. So I used the 20% economy bonus from Democracy to lower my taxes to get 57% approval, which as
a side-effect got a couple of my 500m-population colonies to 100% approval. Good deal.
To further add to the misery, my survey ships did not find as much money as I would have liked, even with the
Galactic Guide Book. By the time I got GGB up, 90% of the anomalies were gone. However, it did help out with the
remaining 10%, and as it turns out that little gift just kept on giving, all game long. It's a Large map. And
because I spammed lots of cheap 25bc Tiny hulls with (free) survey modules all over, anomalies were spawning like
crazy. WELL worth it--in the long haul. Just not over the short term.
In light of my economy situation, I had to make a few budget cuts. My economy starbases had to go (for now).
Espionage was cut to 0% after getting just 2 spies--most games I can usually get 3 or 4 before doing that. I
did manage to get Medium espionage on the Korath before he nullified one, so at least I was able to track his
ship paths. I cut out weapons research altogether--instead I'll steal it from the Korath. Harmony crystals is
now top priority--the colony rush is now basically over so getting Xeno Ethics is no problem, but I HAVE to get
those crystals to shore up my economy.
Fast-forward a bit. There's good news, and bad news. The good news is, Harmony Crystals are wonderful. My
economy is fine now. I've got two Yellow starbases, I acquired Xeno Entertainment from the Terrans via trade,
everything's good. I also managed to sneak in the Restaurant of Eternity, since I had to pump up Social spending
for the Harmony Crystals anyway. This is always a good thing: the Korx ARE in this game, and they start off
with Trade. I'm always worried they will get it first. Now, the bad news: this delayed my Missile Defense
research. Meanwhile, my military rating is still crap. I bribed the Korath to go to war with the Drath, just
before I research Xeno Ethics--the logic being, the Korath are evil. Since I was picking all Evil ethical
events, the Korath liked me at the time. Switching to Good made them immediately Hostile. And...I have no
military rating. Not good. However, the Korath were busy fighting the Drath, which was the whole idea. I barely
managed to research Aeron Missile Defense on time, in a matter of around 8 turns. 8 turns is a lot of time for
that stage of the game, but my good colony rush and fixed economy really helped.
Yet another change of plans: I get an event, the Iconians declare war on me. What's more, because I spent all
that time getting Hyper Computers, the Iconians got the Tir-Quan. I haven't even researched Planetary Invasion
yet. So the Korath are going to have to wait. However, Aeron defense did manage to help me crank these
really oddball babies out: Small hulls, with Stinger I and Aeron Missile Defense. 2 attack, 30 defense.
[screenshot]
Looking at what I'm up against, guess what the Korath are building: Lasers, and Mass Drivers. Sure enough.
Just the weapons my defenses DON'T match up against. The Iconians are Mass Drivers. However, 30 defense is
pretty obscene at this stage, even if it's off-type. Plus, I don't think the type matters when figuring in
military rating, so I don't think the Korath will be attacking me anytime soon. That turned out to be correct--
I had no problems from the Korath. Only the Iconians.
Those Starship Bonuses from my two planets turned out to be a lifesaver. The 50% weapons bonus boosted my weapons
from 2 to 3, and a couple Red (military) mining starbases boosted it again to 4. My 2A/30D ships came out as
4A/36D. And the Altarians get a couple of cheap techs which yield a +30 Weapons and a Luck bonus (made all the
cheaper with Hyper Computers). I got some Logistics and fleeted up--my hope was that my combined attack would be
enough to overcome Iconian ships quick enough before my off-type defenses gave out. That turned out to be
correct: I did lose a couple of ships, but overall I won the battle-of-the-skies. I only got invaded once
(unsuccessfully). This was all done WITHOUT a military starbase's assistance. My off-type defenses did fine;
I didn't need it. I didn't have the time, anyway. Only one problem: I still haven't researched Planetary
Invasion. I own the Iconians; I just can't invade them. None of the other races are willing to trade it to me,
either. Guess I'll have to research it myself. Okay...between Hyper Computers and Creativity, it only took
3 1/2 turns to get Advanced Troop Modules. So now we have another problem: Iconians built the Tir-Quan. That
turns out to be not too bad, either: Altarians get the tech "Inherent Magic", +25 soldiering. That counters
Tir-Quan.
Taking out the Iconians turns out to be *VERY* beneficial to the Altarian cause. I stole Pulse Cannon III from
them. Yes, that is correct: this whole time I have been fighting Pulse Cannon III's with my Stinger I's and
winning, all because of that off-type defense. Furthermore, I never bother to research any of the Extreme
Colonization techs. And guess what the Iconians are good at.... I never stole any of those techs, but I did
invade several of their planets which required them. Ah, the beauty of Planetary Invasion. You can't colonize
Red planets, but you sure can invade them. He built Tir-Quan on his home planet, which is now my home planet,
and I now have Tir-Quan. The Iconians sue for peace. And guess what I get out of the peace deal: yep, all of
his colonization techs. All those red planets I invaded are now yellow planets. My Super Breeder ability kicks
in, and all those planets are 8B population in no time.
At this point I'm wondering if I won the game already--and all I did was take out the weakest race in the galaxy!
Well, not so fast: the Korath signed a peace treaty with the Drath, and the Drengin have Photonic Torpedoes.
...Um, wait a minute...were those Photonic Torpedoes?? Yep--those are MISSILES!! No more off-type defense
there. They are so dead--but, they're on the other side of the galaxy. Taking advantage of this brief period
of peace, I grab the Galactic Bazaar (surprised that the Korx did not get it already), and I get a sweetheart
deal with the Thalans for my Economic Treaty. I got a lot of techs from him, and he agreed to attack the Korath.
I also acquired Advanced Hulls from the Arcaeans and got the Xianthium Hull plating, and together with the Drath
we basically bribed the other half of the galaxy to go kill each other. I get to build my Economy Starbases--
finally!!
The Korath are now my next target. They're on Laser V, and also a little Missile Defense, but who cares--I just
upgrade my ships to use Pulse Cannons III (which are Mass Drivers). My biggest problem is not so much the
quality of their ships, but that they have so many of them left over from their Drath war. Besides that, because
I had colony rushed right around them, that left all my starbases very vulnerable--the Korath are right smack in
the middle of my empire. On the plus side, I'm able to attack him from all sides, so this is going to be a
very quick war--in game time, at least. In human time, though--this is going to take a lot of micro. All those
blasted ships of his flying around my own zone. 3 things I had to do:
1) Protect my planets from spore (Super Breeder and soldiering does do a whit of good against spore).
2) Protect my starbases.
3) Protect my transports.
What I needed now is not so much strong ships, but lots of them (to counter his). I learned something about this
Hyper Computers strategy: if you look at Galactopedia, Aeron modules cost 70bc, 10 defense apiece. PD Combo III
costs 35bc, 7 defense. Half price. Let's just build ships with PD Combo III instead--they're off-type defenses
anyway.
After about 10 or so very long, high-micro turns, the Korath were dead. Only a few pirate stragglers left to
deal with. A lot of his ships died attacking my escorted transports--escorting your transports seems to be a
strong magnet for the AI. I didn't have to chase him down that much--he just attacked me and died. I invade,
I steal Impulse Drives from them (yes, that is correct: this whole time I have been going without Impulse);
but the best thing out of all this is that now I have a crazy strong Influence.
[screenshot]
I have no enemies, the rest of the galaxy is at war with each other, the Drath love me, everything is great.
I now have 3 Red (military) mining starbases and a Purple (research). Still no green. Ouch. Because of that,
I elect to chop Espionage out of my strategy permanently. No Espionage to speak of this game. The Drengin are
now next. Why? They're evil and I'm good, they have Photonic Torpedoes (which are Missiles) and I want to steal
that, and they are losing a 3-on-1 war vs. the Thalans, the Terrans, and the Torians. I research Warp Drive,
Medium Hulls, and Advanced Miniaturization--courtesy of Hyper Computers--build the Hyperion Shrinker, and some
Medium-hulled ships. They are invincible. I slap on 7 Aeron Missile modules, which boosted by my military
bonuses comes out to 150 Defense. And the Drengin (and Drath) use Missiles. Warp Drive cranks up their speed
to 9. At this point, I basically rule the skies.
The Drengin fall, no problem. The other civs had cleaned them out pretty good already. I tech-stole Photonic
Torpedoes 1 my very first invasion. And I lost very few planetary improvements, because I already acquired those
techs from the Korath. The game's over.
To hasten my victory, though, I got a nice little stroke of luck: I got an influence event. And I got two blue
mining starbases from the Drengin. Instantly, 74% of the galaxy comes under my influence, and that includes the
entire Drath, Arcaean, and Thalan empires. They start flipping their planets like mad. To add insult to injury,
I finally found something I'd been dying for all game: a green mining starbase!! Dangit. The Terrans had it,
in the middle of the Torian space. They went to war (without my help), the Torians blew it away, and just now I
am able to crank up Espionage from 0% to 25%. I was getting an agent a turn, ending the game with 30 agents
(which I never used). I dogged-sure wish I had had that green starbase at the beginning of the game.
No matter, though--the influence I got from that starbase bumped up my influence to 75% of the galaxy, and some
flipped planets from the Drath bumped it up to 84%. Game over.
Hindsight 20/20, for my Hyper Computers strategy, I should have halted research at PD Combo III, and put out
some military-deterrent ships with that first. They're so much cheaper, and you don't lose that much defense.
Especially when it's off-type. The game-winner for this whole thing was definitely when I took over the (weak)
Iconians, using gobs of off-type defense. The techs I stole, the red, extreme-colony planets I invaded from
him, the extreme colonization techs I acquired via peace treaty--an absolute turning point in the game. And
not one green starbase.
