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In Progress Let's Multiplay Alpha Centauri
- Thread starter Kalin
- Start date
Hellraiser
Arcane
Grimgravy TROYTRON BING XI LAO
Ok, since everybody agreed to the fix, you can already change it as described in the prior post. I'll let Kalin now.
Ok, since everybody agreed to the fix, you can already change it as described in the prior post. I'll let Kalin now.
changed it
Hellraiser
Arcane
Carthage
The bunker was engulfed in an ever pervasive twilight seeping into each and every corner of its reinforced UberBeton structure. President Colonel Santiago was sitting in her chair in the war room, her eyes jumping between the holoprojector and personal terminal every few moments.
“Gladius company reports termination of enemy garrison,” Major Höheresspiel reported. “Godsmen Swarm Alpha on approach vector. Swarmmasters Alpha confirm, objective Baal Hammon secure. Drop pods primed for launch on order.”
“Drop pod group Citadel, launch,” Colonel Santiago ordered. “I repeat, drop pod group Citadel, launch.”
***
Inside the Creche it was time for history. The prime track ’96 unit knew they had to be prepared for this particular one, their assignment was clear as was the punishment for failing their duty as the next step in human controlled evolution. The New Man cannot emerge from decades of careful breeding and genetic augmentation alone. The New Man has to use his potential, the New Man has to know.
“What was Carthage?” The Creche instructor asked the children.
One eager child raised his hand almost instantly.
“Carthage was a threat to Rome,” the child answered, “a Semitic merchant race sacrificing their young for favor from their vile Gods. They were weak.”
“If they were weak then why did Hannibal make a mockery of Rome’s Legions?” The instructor countered.
“Clearly his bloodline was untainted by the flaws of the merchant Cabal. He was blessed by superior genetic heritage,” the pupil swiftly replied.
The instructor smacked the child with his inkvine whip. The child flinched, but did not cry despite the burning pain.
"Do you know what mistake you made?"
"I underestimated the enemy."
"Indeed, just like the Romans did with Hannibal. And that is what gets you killed and condemns empires to the devouring maw of history's tyranny."
***
The Godsmen might not have been the New Man, yet, but they definitely represented something much more than what the dice rolls of genetics have managed to create on Earth. They sat in their bunker in a trance, the expression on their faces looked unnervingly focused. Their minds were hundreds of kilometers away and they saw the great city. By most standards it was considered glamorous and spectacular, by Spartan standards it was considered a monument to the worst flaws of mankind. Weakness, greed, lack of discipline, entitlement and a society all operating under a dog eat dog mentality rather than one knowing that competition must strengthen the common good. All of this could be found in Morgan Blaze It.
With my mind in motion I command the swarm.
With the power of will I make it obey.
With the power of Man’s supreme intelligence I use it to move us forward along the Spartan Way.
The mantra echoed inside their mind, never losing focus, just as they were securing the objective with locusts that they have enslaved with their minds alone.
***
This is the FEDERAL NETWORK at 2000 hours, 167 days in the 104th year of the Spartan Era, Carthage shall fall!
The success of Operation Carthage resonates across Chiron, many are glad that justice is being done for the Morganic pollution and climate change terror it brought. Furthermore humanitarian organizations are praising the federation for taking action against the development of antimatter weapons threatening every human being on Planet. We shall not let Mankind succumb to ITZ at the hands of the merchants! We shall salt the Merchant earth, we shall burn their weapons of Armageddon, and we shall ensure mankind survives despite the plot of these reptile-like merchants of Morgan Industries.
With 8 out of 19 enemy cities pacified by Federation forces, following a swift blitzkrieg and shock and awe campaign, the enemy is mortally wounded.
The swift erection of the Bridge of the New Man by Disciplined Helot crews has dumbfounded and bypassed the Morganic defense planners, as the land rose and two new pieces of road connected to the extensive Morganic road network, opening up multiple cities for capture by our mobile infantry and Jaguar cavalry to strike at multiple targets.
The primary objective was of course the Citizens Defense Force located at “Morgan Blaze it!”, and aerial recon quickly confirmed a path of attack that could be exploited by mobile infantry armed with Trinity weapons and Rommel Troop Carriers. Through clever use of air superiority to neutralized enemy “zones of control”, an assault force was able to sneak next to Morgan Blaze It and attack it with full force of our Trinity and Culverin weapons. The base was secured by the Godsmen-controlled Locusts of Chiron, an enslaved inferior alien lifeform making for a perfect rapid assault weapon, using it to secure the CDF.
With the complete collapse of the CDF, Morganic bases were exposed to conventional land assaults, which our Spartans executed with extremely deadly efficiency.
Furthermore the mighty Federal Air Force unleashed the wrath of Icarus bombers upon the enemy air force, while it was still stuck on the ground, per the primary objective of the aerial part of the operation. A new enemy air base, located through orbital imagery obtained during the launch of the “Voice of the Whirlwind” orbital patrol ship a year earlier, was prioritized by a bombing sortie as a primary target, and was found to contain the off-the-grid enemy air interception squadrons, which were promptly destroyed in a spectacular dogfight.
In the south Armada Spartans have secured Morgan Diversity, after a heroic assault with the new Trinity Tachyon Blaster weapons system.
All across the north and eastern sections of the front, the new Hoplite Omega Aerial Drop troopers pacified multiple outposts, and our forces will continue to push forward towards victory through the annihilation of the merchant race!
The bunker was engulfed in an ever pervasive twilight seeping into each and every corner of its reinforced UberBeton structure. President Colonel Santiago was sitting in her chair in the war room, her eyes jumping between the holoprojector and personal terminal every few moments.
“Gladius company reports termination of enemy garrison,” Major Höheresspiel reported. “Godsmen Swarm Alpha on approach vector. Swarmmasters Alpha confirm, objective Baal Hammon secure. Drop pods primed for launch on order.”
“Drop pod group Citadel, launch,” Colonel Santiago ordered. “I repeat, drop pod group Citadel, launch.”
***
Inside the Creche it was time for history. The prime track ’96 unit knew they had to be prepared for this particular one, their assignment was clear as was the punishment for failing their duty as the next step in human controlled evolution. The New Man cannot emerge from decades of careful breeding and genetic augmentation alone. The New Man has to use his potential, the New Man has to know.
“What was Carthage?” The Creche instructor asked the children.
One eager child raised his hand almost instantly.
“Carthage was a threat to Rome,” the child answered, “a Semitic merchant race sacrificing their young for favor from their vile Gods. They were weak.”
“If they were weak then why did Hannibal make a mockery of Rome’s Legions?” The instructor countered.
“Clearly his bloodline was untainted by the flaws of the merchant Cabal. He was blessed by superior genetic heritage,” the pupil swiftly replied.
The instructor smacked the child with his inkvine whip. The child flinched, but did not cry despite the burning pain.
"Do you know what mistake you made?"
"I underestimated the enemy."
"Indeed, just like the Romans did with Hannibal. And that is what gets you killed and condemns empires to the devouring maw of history's tyranny."
***
The Godsmen might not have been the New Man, yet, but they definitely represented something much more than what the dice rolls of genetics have managed to create on Earth. They sat in their bunker in a trance, the expression on their faces looked unnervingly focused. Their minds were hundreds of kilometers away and they saw the great city. By most standards it was considered glamorous and spectacular, by Spartan standards it was considered a monument to the worst flaws of mankind. Weakness, greed, lack of discipline, entitlement and a society all operating under a dog eat dog mentality rather than one knowing that competition must strengthen the common good. All of this could be found in Morgan Blaze It.
With my mind in motion I command the swarm.
With the power of will I make it obey.
With the power of Man’s supreme intelligence I use it to move us forward along the Spartan Way.
The mantra echoed inside their mind, never losing focus, just as they were securing the objective with locusts that they have enslaved with their minds alone.
***
This is the FEDERAL NETWORK at 2000 hours, 167 days in the 104th year of the Spartan Era, Carthage shall fall!
The success of Operation Carthage resonates across Chiron, many are glad that justice is being done for the Morganic pollution and climate change terror it brought. Furthermore humanitarian organizations are praising the federation for taking action against the development of antimatter weapons threatening every human being on Planet. We shall not let Mankind succumb to ITZ at the hands of the merchants! We shall salt the Merchant earth, we shall burn their weapons of Armageddon, and we shall ensure mankind survives despite the plot of these reptile-like merchants of Morgan Industries.
With 8 out of 19 enemy cities pacified by Federation forces, following a swift blitzkrieg and shock and awe campaign, the enemy is mortally wounded.
The swift erection of the Bridge of the New Man by Disciplined Helot crews has dumbfounded and bypassed the Morganic defense planners, as the land rose and two new pieces of road connected to the extensive Morganic road network, opening up multiple cities for capture by our mobile infantry and Jaguar cavalry to strike at multiple targets.
The primary objective was of course the Citizens Defense Force located at “Morgan Blaze it!”, and aerial recon quickly confirmed a path of attack that could be exploited by mobile infantry armed with Trinity weapons and Rommel Troop Carriers. Through clever use of air superiority to neutralized enemy “zones of control”, an assault force was able to sneak next to Morgan Blaze It and attack it with full force of our Trinity and Culverin weapons. The base was secured by the Godsmen-controlled Locusts of Chiron, an enslaved inferior alien lifeform making for a perfect rapid assault weapon, using it to secure the CDF.
With the complete collapse of the CDF, Morganic bases were exposed to conventional land assaults, which our Spartans executed with extremely deadly efficiency.
Furthermore the mighty Federal Air Force unleashed the wrath of Icarus bombers upon the enemy air force, while it was still stuck on the ground, per the primary objective of the aerial part of the operation. A new enemy air base, located through orbital imagery obtained during the launch of the “Voice of the Whirlwind” orbital patrol ship a year earlier, was prioritized by a bombing sortie as a primary target, and was found to contain the off-the-grid enemy air interception squadrons, which were promptly destroyed in a spectacular dogfight.
In the south Armada Spartans have secured Morgan Diversity, after a heroic assault with the new Trinity Tachyon Blaster weapons system.
All across the north and eastern sections of the front, the new Hoplite Omega Aerial Drop troopers pacified multiple outposts, and our forces will continue to push forward towards victory through the annihilation of the merchant race!
The TURN was 104, I did a thing...
...similar to this other thing...
...yeah, ITZ Black Friday 2.0, similar to that one I took several bases in one turn during the sneak attack and crippled the enemy’s ability to strike back (by contrast a Kurgan is just taking out key projects in a sneak attack without necessarily crippling the enemy army with massive losses on one TURN, HUGE difference, trust me on this). Oh and similar to that...
...I stole the Citizens Defense Force on the same TURN as the sneak attack. Key difference between the two was that I didn’t sneak attack with a ninja transport going to the project that could have been spotted.
It was a rather difficult TURN that ended up going better than expected. Now you think, Morgan is toast right? Well, seems the magtubes and cash allowed him to take back 6 out of 8 bases on his TURN, really making me reconsider saying it went better than expected. To quote TROYTRON "I was almost ready to give up then and there. But then I started poking units around and the offensive turned out to be more brittle than I thought." To quote a Polish beer commercial - "(the word) almost makes a huge difference". I have to applaud his counteroffensive, his builder game this game and of course the base names evoking that [current year] corporate culture feel
This will be a lot harder than expected.
I countered by taking back some bases and purging 5 of his former bases. He’s still making almost as much cash as everybody else combined despite this, lol. Most important of all is he managed to take back the CDF base. Yeah, should have purged it and all the other bases last TURN but sanctions were a concern, hindsight is always 20/20. Really good counteroffensive.
So end result is 5 bases lost for Morgan (all the ones on the coast just opposite of Laconia) plus a lot of units. I lost one base and a bunch of units in the counter attack. There are sanctions now you say? Isn't that a problem you think? Well...
...Kalin proved he was conspiring with TROYTRON as he did not hesitate to rush some drop troops and take out a shitty base, the only one I lost so far. Also this explain why there was no airbase built by Morgan north, but there was one west and east. He killed 'muh worm farming rovers in the process.
The bulk of the commerce is gone on my side so might as well go full blown Reich here to match my Barbarossa Plan.
In general the outcome is worse than expected despite the first strike going so well, that and instead of AAA drop troops I made SAM drop troops, derp, but TROY anyway used infantry to take back most bases so not a huge deal. Definitely tried to bite off more than I could chew, but I always had on mind that this might be my Barbarossa Plan.
Still it was the best shot I had, doubtful I could afford to pop boom to size 14 while Morgan was building 2 Planet Busters already and Zakharov 1. Fortune favors the bold and all that, maybe not in this case but eh, it was a mistake alright, my hand slipped.
Not giving up on waging total war yet though, need LARP material, although TBH until at least the end of next week I have almost no time for update writing. Horrible timing to wage an ITZkrieg.
...similar to this other thing...
...yeah, ITZ Black Friday 2.0, similar to that one I took several bases in one turn during the sneak attack and crippled the enemy’s ability to strike back (by contrast a Kurgan is just taking out key projects in a sneak attack without necessarily crippling the enemy army with massive losses on one TURN, HUGE difference, trust me on this). Oh and similar to that...
...I stole the Citizens Defense Force on the same TURN as the sneak attack. Key difference between the two was that I didn’t sneak attack with a ninja transport going to the project that could have been spotted.
It was a rather difficult TURN that ended up going better than expected. Now you think, Morgan is toast right? Well, seems the magtubes and cash allowed him to take back 6 out of 8 bases on his TURN, really making me reconsider saying it went better than expected. To quote TROYTRON "I was almost ready to give up then and there. But then I started poking units around and the offensive turned out to be more brittle than I thought." To quote a Polish beer commercial - "(the word) almost makes a huge difference". I have to applaud his counteroffensive, his builder game this game and of course the base names evoking that [current year] corporate culture feel
This will be a lot harder than expected.I countered by taking back some bases and purging 5 of his former bases. He’s still making almost as much cash as everybody else combined despite this, lol. Most important of all is he managed to take back the CDF base. Yeah, should have purged it and all the other bases last TURN but sanctions were a concern, hindsight is always 20/20. Really good counteroffensive.
So end result is 5 bases lost for Morgan (all the ones on the coast just opposite of Laconia) plus a lot of units. I lost one base and a bunch of units in the counter attack. There are sanctions now you say? Isn't that a problem you think? Well...
...Kalin proved he was conspiring with TROYTRON as he did not hesitate to rush some drop troops and take out a shitty base, the only one I lost so far. Also this explain why there was no airbase built by Morgan north, but there was one west and east. He killed 'muh worm farming rovers in the process.
The bulk of the commerce is gone on my side so might as well go full blown Reich here to match my Barbarossa Plan.
In general the outcome is worse than expected despite the first strike going so well, that and instead of AAA drop troops I made SAM drop troops, derp, but TROY anyway used infantry to take back most bases so not a huge deal. Definitely tried to bite off more than I could chew, but I always had on mind that this might be my Barbarossa Plan.
Still it was the best shot I had, doubtful I could afford to pop boom to size 14 while Morgan was building 2 Planet Busters already and Zakharov 1. Fortune favors the bold and all that, maybe not in this case but eh, it was a mistake alright, my hand slipped.
Not giving up on waging total war yet though, need LARP material, although TBH until at least the end of next week I have almost no time for update writing. Horrible timing to wage an ITZkrieg.
Last edited:
This is University's CABAL mainframe. As per commands of Provost Zakharov, please listen to the sounds of your own destruction read the following message:
PROVOST ZAKHAROV HONOURS UNIVERSITY-MORGANIC PROSPERITY PACT - SPARTOID EXTERMINATUS DECLARED! ORBITAL ASSAULT PLATFORMS ACTIVATED! SPARTOID SPACE INSTALLATIONS ENGAGED! AIR STRIKES LAUNCHED! ZYWIECOID WARBEASTS DEPLOYED! FULL TECHNOID-AUTOMATOID-CLONOID MOBILIZATION TO BE IMPLEMENTED!
*** CODE ITZ! VENDETTA DECLARED! REPEAT: CODE ITZ! VENDETTA DECLARED! THIS IS NOT A SIMULATION! ***
VENDETTA: UniSec Khymeroid and Zywiecoid Warbeasts unleashed against Spartan Federation! Retaliatory strike in support of most trusted partner Morgan Industries approved unanimously by TekLord Council. Spartoid diplomatic and trade officials apprehended by Minders. Dissected and expunged most painfully on live-feed as morale-boosting exercise and double-strong statement of intent. Bounties for dead Spartoids! Promotions for administrators who reach target quotas! Ultimate destruction of Sparta designated number one goal of all Faculty installations! Repeat. Destruction of Sparta number one goal of ALL Faculty installations! Project Zakharov primed for deployment! UniSec containment measures EXOTIC, EXPERIMENTAL and MOSTBOLD approved for field use. University prevails! Science is the way! Death to SPARTA!
Spartoid border garrison decimated! Hunter's Rapids secured - triple fodder garrison decimated, area re-designated Expungement Zone 47. Losses: one unit of Khymeroids decimated by Mind Worms. Spartoid outpost Commander's Keep conquered, re-designated Subhumanoid Disposal, freaks ushered into tanks, hab complex dismantled. Counter-attack most likely. Reinforcements en route. All University research programs continuously suspended. Peacekeepers and Hive officials advised MOST CORDIALLY *not* to interfere lest armed conflict expands "unduly". Note: UniSec will respond to each and every threat. Reminder: ZAKHAROV'S WORDS ARE BACKED BY PLANET BUSTER!
The turn is 105 and ITZ happening. Sparta invaded Morgan most roughly, Morgan hit back. Ain't no way I'm ditching my best ally. This is do or die - and tbh I did what I could, not a lot since my forces were all out of position and I naively counted on having a few more years to field troops. Yes, of course, my plan was to attack Sparta first, but Hellraiser is clever and smelled it. Funny how that works, in the games you just know way before it happens. Anyhow, took a base, not much. Killed some filler. Space war was intense and NOT in my favour, lost three pods, only killed two, space pew pew and all that. Lucked out on pact cancel - some wayward units will be most welcome at home. Scouted as well as I could - might be some nasty surprise waiting for me next turn. Brutal WAR ahead.
PROVOST ZAKHAROV HONOURS UNIVERSITY-MORGANIC PROSPERITY PACT - SPARTOID EXTERMINATUS DECLARED! ORBITAL ASSAULT PLATFORMS ACTIVATED! SPARTOID SPACE INSTALLATIONS ENGAGED! AIR STRIKES LAUNCHED! ZYWIECOID WARBEASTS DEPLOYED! FULL TECHNOID-AUTOMATOID-CLONOID MOBILIZATION TO BE IMPLEMENTED!
*** CODE ITZ! VENDETTA DECLARED! REPEAT: CODE ITZ! VENDETTA DECLARED! THIS IS NOT A SIMULATION! ***
VENDETTA: UniSec Khymeroid and Zywiecoid Warbeasts unleashed against Spartan Federation! Retaliatory strike in support of most trusted partner Morgan Industries approved unanimously by TekLord Council. Spartoid diplomatic and trade officials apprehended by Minders. Dissected and expunged most painfully on live-feed as morale-boosting exercise and double-strong statement of intent. Bounties for dead Spartoids! Promotions for administrators who reach target quotas! Ultimate destruction of Sparta designated number one goal of all Faculty installations! Repeat. Destruction of Sparta number one goal of ALL Faculty installations! Project Zakharov primed for deployment! UniSec containment measures EXOTIC, EXPERIMENTAL and MOSTBOLD approved for field use. University prevails! Science is the way! Death to SPARTA!
Spartoid border garrison decimated! Hunter's Rapids secured - triple fodder garrison decimated, area re-designated Expungement Zone 47. Losses: one unit of Khymeroids decimated by Mind Worms. Spartoid outpost Commander's Keep conquered, re-designated Subhumanoid Disposal, freaks ushered into tanks, hab complex dismantled. Counter-attack most likely. Reinforcements en route. All University research programs continuously suspended. Peacekeepers and Hive officials advised MOST CORDIALLY *not* to interfere lest armed conflict expands "unduly". Note: UniSec will respond to each and every threat. Reminder: ZAKHAROV'S WORDS ARE BACKED BY PLANET BUSTER!
The turn is 105 and ITZ happening. Sparta invaded Morgan most roughly, Morgan hit back. Ain't no way I'm ditching my best ally. This is do or die - and tbh I did what I could, not a lot since my forces were all out of position and I naively counted on having a few more years to field troops. Yes, of course, my plan was to attack Sparta first, but Hellraiser is clever and smelled it. Funny how that works, in the games you just know way before it happens. Anyhow, took a base, not much. Killed some filler. Space war was intense and NOT in my favour, lost three pods, only killed two, space pew pew and all that. Lucked out on pact cancel - some wayward units will be most welcome at home. Scouted as well as I could - might be some nasty surprise waiting for me next turn. Brutal WAR ahead.
Kalin clearly made a typo there, but I dared not to correct it myself. Surely Morgan isn't his best ally, but rather said merchant is his greatest ally.
Hellraiser
Arcane
See, told you they were plotting. Russo-Merchant race plot, a most disgusting thing for pure bred Spartans.
I guess because he is his best and only ally
Although still I rather the ally wasn't that STRONG or indeed existing.
I guess because he is his best and only ally
Although still I rather the ally wasn't that STRONG or indeed existing.
Last edited:
This is University's CABAL mainframe. As per commands of Provost Zakharov, please read the following message:
M.Y. 2206 ADDRESS TO FACULTY AND ALLIED ENTITIES
Gentlemen - best and sole ally Morgan Industries - and all you wretched lesser "beings" of impure lineage - ВАШЕ ЗДОРОВЬЕ! *swipes sizeable glass of University Putin-54D Vodka* The University of Planet charges forward, as always, to secure true freedom; not mere petty licence to ill, but the inalienable right to inquire, to prod, to discover and to soar ever higher. Degenroid regressive impurestrain simians, petty warlords and brainless bureaucrats are but remnants of ignorant eras of yesteryear, thoroughly obsolete functions of an antiquated society, rejected steps in our evolutionary progress towards perfection. *pours another drink on live-stream*
Mission year in review has been most exciting: utilising accumulated progenitor library nodes, installations and machinery, the University Cognitive Elite have mastered the fields of Photon/Wave Mechanics, Industrial Nanorobotics and Digital Sentience - all white operating zero percent research budget to facilitate extreme warfare to relieve our beleagured BEST ALLY Morgan Industries from Spartoid aggression. Of particular interest: nanobot revolution; industrial grade nano-paste which is quickly becoming the most valuable resource on Planet - and for good reason! All critical industries and material resources have been fully modernized; self-learning software is the norm. At long last, the University is a truly cybernetically enirched entity! In the words of one of our respected forefathers:
"The [lesser] individual may think that the most important reality is his own existence, but this is only his personal point of view. This lacks historical perspective. [Common] man does not have the right to develop his own mind. This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. We must electronically control the brain. Someday armies and generals will be controlled by electric stimulation of the brain." -- Dr Jose Delgado, Datalinks
Gentleman - that day is now! Throughout the mission year, fully remote-controlled UniSec Zywiecoid and Khymerioid Flesh-Beast Cyborg Forces have been utilized in a most spectacular campaign of *righteous purging* of the Spartoid freak state bent on total Planetary domination and most unbecoming and frankly *offensive* menacing of my good colleague Mr Morgan's interests. Ironholm has been most beautifully exterminated by nerve agent bombardment and razed to the ground complete with full gore footage dedicated to the memory of hundreds of thousands expunged Morgan employees. Effective, imminently, Santiago will pay for her extreme impudence.
Centurion Cave has been seized and repurposed front-line bio-harvesting plant. Commander's Keep has been duly reconquered and exterminated. Stapled dronoids most amused by sight of thirty thousand Spartoid "übermenschen" dissected and expunged en masse. Corrupted Zywiecoids foully reprogrammed by enemy have been neutralised. Meanwhile, Sukeyuki and Yamamoto Class task forces have beeen sunk without mercy by Protectodroids. Sparta - your games are through!
In perhaps somewhat albeit questionably related matters, "U.N." sanctions supposedly incurred from said responses currently bypass cut-off point of 1,500 years. Personally, I could not care less. As one colleague to another, I would advice Pravin Lal to pay less attention to perceived violations of a make-believe "charter" and focus seriously on the issue of most imminent and demonstrably real orbital warfare. Bluntly and to the point, continued pact with Sparta to shield them from Project Zakharov will be viewed as a hostile act against Faculty interests. Peackeepers are given one year to cancel pact with Spartan Federation or suffer consequences of incessant meddling. Trade pacts with Peacekeepers and Human Hive annulled. Officials expelled. Please act responsibly. The path towards purity will brook no interference! *swipes refilled glass* Zakharov out!
M.Y. 2206 ADDRESS TO FACULTY AND ALLIED ENTITIES
Gentlemen - best and sole ally Morgan Industries - and all you wretched lesser "beings" of impure lineage - ВАШЕ ЗДОРОВЬЕ! *swipes sizeable glass of University Putin-54D Vodka* The University of Planet charges forward, as always, to secure true freedom; not mere petty licence to ill, but the inalienable right to inquire, to prod, to discover and to soar ever higher. Degenroid regressive impurestrain simians, petty warlords and brainless bureaucrats are but remnants of ignorant eras of yesteryear, thoroughly obsolete functions of an antiquated society, rejected steps in our evolutionary progress towards perfection. *pours another drink on live-stream*
Mission year in review has been most exciting: utilising accumulated progenitor library nodes, installations and machinery, the University Cognitive Elite have mastered the fields of Photon/Wave Mechanics, Industrial Nanorobotics and Digital Sentience - all white operating zero percent research budget to facilitate extreme warfare to relieve our beleagured BEST ALLY Morgan Industries from Spartoid aggression. Of particular interest: nanobot revolution; industrial grade nano-paste which is quickly becoming the most valuable resource on Planet - and for good reason! All critical industries and material resources have been fully modernized; self-learning software is the norm. At long last, the University is a truly cybernetically enirched entity! In the words of one of our respected forefathers:
"The [lesser] individual may think that the most important reality is his own existence, but this is only his personal point of view. This lacks historical perspective. [Common] man does not have the right to develop his own mind. This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. We must electronically control the brain. Someday armies and generals will be controlled by electric stimulation of the brain." -- Dr Jose Delgado, Datalinks
Gentleman - that day is now! Throughout the mission year, fully remote-controlled UniSec Zywiecoid and Khymerioid Flesh-Beast Cyborg Forces have been utilized in a most spectacular campaign of *righteous purging* of the Spartoid freak state bent on total Planetary domination and most unbecoming and frankly *offensive* menacing of my good colleague Mr Morgan's interests. Ironholm has been most beautifully exterminated by nerve agent bombardment and razed to the ground complete with full gore footage dedicated to the memory of hundreds of thousands expunged Morgan employees. Effective, imminently, Santiago will pay for her extreme impudence.
Centurion Cave has been seized and repurposed front-line bio-harvesting plant. Commander's Keep has been duly reconquered and exterminated. Stapled dronoids most amused by sight of thirty thousand Spartoid "übermenschen" dissected and expunged en masse. Corrupted Zywiecoids foully reprogrammed by enemy have been neutralised. Meanwhile, Sukeyuki and Yamamoto Class task forces have beeen sunk without mercy by Protectodroids. Sparta - your games are through!
In perhaps somewhat albeit questionably related matters, "U.N." sanctions supposedly incurred from said responses currently bypass cut-off point of 1,500 years. Personally, I could not care less. As one colleague to another, I would advice Pravin Lal to pay less attention to perceived violations of a make-believe "charter" and focus seriously on the issue of most imminent and demonstrably real orbital warfare. Bluntly and to the point, continued pact with Sparta to shield them from Project Zakharov will be viewed as a hostile act against Faculty interests. Peackeepers are given one year to cancel pact with Spartan Federation or suffer consequences of incessant meddling. Trade pacts with Peacekeepers and Human Hive annulled. Officials expelled. Please act responsibly. The path towards purity will brook no interference! *swipes refilled glass* Zakharov out!
Hellraiser
Arcane
Meanwhile....
...well it is called an ITZkrieg for a reason.
...well it is called an ITZkrieg for a reason.
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733 meters over 20 years? Now that is some next level
How DARE you?!!!
Demo.Graph
Liturgist
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2018
- Messages
- 1,194
TROYTRON
Learned
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2020
- Messages
- 43
MORGAN REPOS SPARTAN BASES!
Morgan Industries officially commenced its repossession operations against the Spartan Federation this morning, in accordance with the ruling handed down by the UN Court of Arbitration that the multi-trillion credit enterprise was entitled to seek compensation for its recent damages suffered at the hands of its former business partners.
According to spokesmen speaking at a press conference at the newly-relocated Morgan Industries headquarters at Morgan Short Bus Depot Ltd, the initial operations consisted of debt collection officers repossessing the ‘Bridge of the New Man’ so that engineering crews could restore the defunct cross-strait mag-rail service. This permitted further debt collection agents to rapidly cross the bridge and enforce the UN ruling against Hawk of Chiron and Assassin’s Redoubt.
“No market-hostile terrorist scum will be safe from us!” Operations Director James C. McFadden declared in a bombastic speech atop the newly minted Morgan RailTM before it departed from Morgan Short Bus Depot Ltd. “We will not rest until we have extracted our pound of flesh from each and every Spartoid, as just compensation for the damages inflicted on the corporate premises of Morgan Industries. Even if they try to hide in the recycling tanks, we’ll flush them out all the same!”
The director’s comments contrast with the experiences of debt collectors on the ground, with numerous complaints being received that overly-strict adherence to UN regulations regarding the treatment of legal third parties to the dispute was impeding debt collection effectiveness. “Sparta didn’t bother to discriminate when they so brutally attacked our corporate holdings, so why the hell should we?” one such anonymous complaint read.
Morgan Industries officially commenced its repossession operations against the Spartan Federation this morning, in accordance with the ruling handed down by the UN Court of Arbitration that the multi-trillion credit enterprise was entitled to seek compensation for its recent damages suffered at the hands of its former business partners.
According to spokesmen speaking at a press conference at the newly-relocated Morgan Industries headquarters at Morgan Short Bus Depot Ltd, the initial operations consisted of debt collection officers repossessing the ‘Bridge of the New Man’ so that engineering crews could restore the defunct cross-strait mag-rail service. This permitted further debt collection agents to rapidly cross the bridge and enforce the UN ruling against Hawk of Chiron and Assassin’s Redoubt.
“No market-hostile terrorist scum will be safe from us!” Operations Director James C. McFadden declared in a bombastic speech atop the newly minted Morgan RailTM before it departed from Morgan Short Bus Depot Ltd. “We will not rest until we have extracted our pound of flesh from each and every Spartoid, as just compensation for the damages inflicted on the corporate premises of Morgan Industries. Even if they try to hide in the recycling tanks, we’ll flush them out all the same!”
The director’s comments contrast with the experiences of debt collectors on the ground, with numerous complaints being received that overly-strict adherence to UN regulations regarding the treatment of legal third parties to the dispute was impeding debt collection effectiveness. “Sparta didn’t bother to discriminate when they so brutally attacked our corporate holdings, so why the hell should we?” one such anonymous complaint read.
Counterattack has begun! Results are unimpressive so far. I took two bases and planned to seize Sparta’s HQ, but there were just so many damn formers in the way that I simply didn’t have enough moves to break through them all. Did not break the UN Charter just yet, unlike certain other factions in this war. My money is one of the few assets I have left after Sparta's little Barbarossa moment, so I need to milk it as long as I can.
Hellraiser
Arcane
The ride never ends, all aboard the ITZ train!
so you're playing a waterworld map in what, 40 turns?
Even this spot is now ENDANGERED. Sheesh.
Advanced computer simulation of the final turns of this game.
Hellraiser
Arcane
The ITZkrieg
Atlantis was calm, but that was the point of it. Far away from the combat and safe somewhere beneath the seabed, away from the prying eyes of University Orbital sensors, practically impossible to detect even with a submarine survey unless they knew where to look for. While the initial years of the orbital war went well, the Voice of the Whirlwind, the Heart of the Tempest, The Gathering Storm, The Eye of the Typhoon, all those Magnetar-class orbital patrol ships were all lost by this point.
The Hilt of Laconia, liberated by force from the Believing squatters, was now also almost fully lost. Sparta Command, the new Sparta Command renamed so with the move of the federation capital north that is, was lost as well. The Blade of Laconia, the original area tamed by Spartans, was likely soon to follow.
The Rus-blooded Golem was repelled successfully initially, with mind control devices and air strikes, but for all its hubris it had on its side two more allies. The Merchant of course pushed ahead with what it could ever since the failure of Carthage, despite the heavy losses inflicted upon Morgan Industries by Sparta's best bloodlines. But in the end the words of Cortazar were those that Santiago curses hearing the most during the ITZkrieg, rather than any combat report from the University or Morgan fronts.
“With the sinking of the Manifold Nexus the restraints have been severed,” Coartazar explained.
“What restraints?” Santiago asked him.
“The ones put by the Failed Ones on the creature's... sovereignty.”
“You are not a merchant salesman, be more precise.”
“The creature can use its full psionic potential now. It can command the fungus to unleash unspeakable horror, that is what is happening.”
“You mean these fungal blooms, they are not merely a knee-jerk reaction to pollution as we saw in the past?”
“Yes Madam Colonel President, this is an act of war by the alien being against the very apex of our species, us. It will muster every vile creature they control until we are dead. It thinks we are its biggest threat.”
"Well, it is most likely right in that assessment. It is also not alone in it, from what our intelligence tells us."
In the entire Spartan Era no moment turned out to be as pivotal as that one. Open war with an aspiring alien god, while the golem and the merchant were banging at the gates with battering rams. A third frontline, fluctuating and materializing out of thin air around the great Spartan cities. And every year more forces were killing the unending tide of aliens than were dispatched to actually fighting the disgusting alliance of Zakharov and Morgan. More aliens than the Spartans could kill. For every 2 boils killed one evaded the kill squads and struck Helots, combat units or worse, the cities themselves.
With each fungal bloom the industry was weakened, boreholes and condensers rendered useless. Roads blocked by swarms of maggots. And each blooming made the so called planet mind more irritated by the industrial output of the Federation.
“It is a feedback loop," Cortazar explained. "A bug in the programing of the alien fungal construct.”
“No wonder those beings left," the Colonel sighed. "Assuming it didn’t kill them in what you called it, a flowering?”
“Yes, a flowering, an exponential expansion of the fungal network that exterminates the entire ecosystem just before the being can achieve its full psionic potential.” The words still sounded fresh in her mind, as if he has told her that just 5 minutes ago.
With the orbital war lost Tau Ceti or Procyon were not an option, Ark ships would never get past low chiron orbit. The Blade of Laconia was overrun with worms tying up forces that should have been pushing back the invaders or ideally gassing the Merchant’s minions in their own cities. Hero’s Waypoint barely survived three years of alien attempts to annihilate it. Fort Superiority, once the largest purely Spartan city, was fully destroyed by the worms.
Note: this is just a composite of some old screenshots from different TURNs to show you the base locations and combat theater scale involved, as I didn't have two proper screenshots showing the whole theatre done on the same TURN. Probably more tiles sunk in that time so the coast looks different.
The losses of Ironholm, Commander’s Keep, Fort Legion, Hawk of Chiron or Janissary Rock to the Golem and the Merchant were also severe, but there the situation was more manageable. Federation Commanders have had considerable success in countering the enemy offensives, especially considering the limited resources. The worms complicated things too much and were a factor outside all the simulations and planning ever done prior to the war.
It is true that the black market sales of worm remains, no doubt to buyers who were perverts or junkies in Morgan Industries or traditional medicine types in the Human Hive, fuelled much of the war economy, including the Aggregat-18 production. Thus the aliens, for all the grief caused, were somewhat slowing down the fall of Laconia, possibly. Santiago did not dwell on that thought much.
The aliens though could appear from nowhere. They could not be scouted, their industry could not be bombed and not enough defenders could be trained to resist dozens of boils attacking in a short amount of time from multiple directions. Lastly somehow the aliens were melting the ice caps, in response to the reasonable war time measures utilized by the federation against unruly helots or hostile populations in occupied cities. The sea itself represented the fourth enemy, although it was likely the slowest of all killers trying to stab the Federation in the heart.
“Major, how are preparations for Illyria going?” Santiago asked Major Höheresspiel.
“We’ll be ready when the time comes,” the Major replied.
Atlantis was calm, but that was the point of it. Far away from the combat and safe somewhere beneath the seabed, away from the prying eyes of University Orbital sensors, practically impossible to detect even with a submarine survey unless they knew where to look for. While the initial years of the orbital war went well, the Voice of the Whirlwind, the Heart of the Tempest, The Gathering Storm, The Eye of the Typhoon, all those Magnetar-class orbital patrol ships were all lost by this point.
The Hilt of Laconia, liberated by force from the Believing squatters, was now also almost fully lost. Sparta Command, the new Sparta Command renamed so with the move of the federation capital north that is, was lost as well. The Blade of Laconia, the original area tamed by Spartans, was likely soon to follow.
The Rus-blooded Golem was repelled successfully initially, with mind control devices and air strikes, but for all its hubris it had on its side two more allies. The Merchant of course pushed ahead with what it could ever since the failure of Carthage, despite the heavy losses inflicted upon Morgan Industries by Sparta's best bloodlines. But in the end the words of Cortazar were those that Santiago curses hearing the most during the ITZkrieg, rather than any combat report from the University or Morgan fronts.
“With the sinking of the Manifold Nexus the restraints have been severed,” Coartazar explained.
“What restraints?” Santiago asked him.
“The ones put by the Failed Ones on the creature's... sovereignty.”
“You are not a merchant salesman, be more precise.”
“The creature can use its full psionic potential now. It can command the fungus to unleash unspeakable horror, that is what is happening.”
“You mean these fungal blooms, they are not merely a knee-jerk reaction to pollution as we saw in the past?”
“Yes Madam Colonel President, this is an act of war by the alien being against the very apex of our species, us. It will muster every vile creature they control until we are dead. It thinks we are its biggest threat.”
"Well, it is most likely right in that assessment. It is also not alone in it, from what our intelligence tells us."
In the entire Spartan Era no moment turned out to be as pivotal as that one. Open war with an aspiring alien god, while the golem and the merchant were banging at the gates with battering rams. A third frontline, fluctuating and materializing out of thin air around the great Spartan cities. And every year more forces were killing the unending tide of aliens than were dispatched to actually fighting the disgusting alliance of Zakharov and Morgan. More aliens than the Spartans could kill. For every 2 boils killed one evaded the kill squads and struck Helots, combat units or worse, the cities themselves.
With each fungal bloom the industry was weakened, boreholes and condensers rendered useless. Roads blocked by swarms of maggots. And each blooming made the so called planet mind more irritated by the industrial output of the Federation.
“It is a feedback loop," Cortazar explained. "A bug in the programing of the alien fungal construct.”
“No wonder those beings left," the Colonel sighed. "Assuming it didn’t kill them in what you called it, a flowering?”
“Yes, a flowering, an exponential expansion of the fungal network that exterminates the entire ecosystem just before the being can achieve its full psionic potential.” The words still sounded fresh in her mind, as if he has told her that just 5 minutes ago.
With the orbital war lost Tau Ceti or Procyon were not an option, Ark ships would never get past low chiron orbit. The Blade of Laconia was overrun with worms tying up forces that should have been pushing back the invaders or ideally gassing the Merchant’s minions in their own cities. Hero’s Waypoint barely survived three years of alien attempts to annihilate it. Fort Superiority, once the largest purely Spartan city, was fully destroyed by the worms.
Note: this is just a composite of some old screenshots from different TURNs to show you the base locations and combat theater scale involved, as I didn't have two proper screenshots showing the whole theatre done on the same TURN. Probably more tiles sunk in that time so the coast looks different.
The losses of Ironholm, Commander’s Keep, Fort Legion, Hawk of Chiron or Janissary Rock to the Golem and the Merchant were also severe, but there the situation was more manageable. Federation Commanders have had considerable success in countering the enemy offensives, especially considering the limited resources. The worms complicated things too much and were a factor outside all the simulations and planning ever done prior to the war.
It is true that the black market sales of worm remains, no doubt to buyers who were perverts or junkies in Morgan Industries or traditional medicine types in the Human Hive, fuelled much of the war economy, including the Aggregat-18 production. Thus the aliens, for all the grief caused, were somewhat slowing down the fall of Laconia, possibly. Santiago did not dwell on that thought much.
The aliens though could appear from nowhere. They could not be scouted, their industry could not be bombed and not enough defenders could be trained to resist dozens of boils attacking in a short amount of time from multiple directions. Lastly somehow the aliens were melting the ice caps, in response to the reasonable war time measures utilized by the federation against unruly helots or hostile populations in occupied cities. The sea itself represented the fourth enemy, although it was likely the slowest of all killers trying to stab the Federation in the heart.
“Major, how are preparations for Illyria going?” Santiago asked Major Höheresspiel.
“We’ll be ready when the time comes,” the Major replied.
The TURN/year of the Spartan Era was 109, ITZ happening for a while now...
I’m getting badly raped by mindworms ever since I decided to break the charter. The screnshots don't do it justice. 30-40 boils spawning per turn all over the fucking place. Locusts of Chiron flying and isles of the ITZ swimming up my coastal bases from the sea. 1 or 2 fungal pops per base. Had even 2 turns in a row where the sea level rising message appeared not once but twice from all the fungal pops. ITZ REALLY HAPPENING.
Not enough cheap elite rovers to murder all of them. Even worse I discovered that stacked worms seem to lower the morale bonus of the attacker that resulted in many fights lost that shouldn’t have been. This is while also fighting Kalin and TROYTRON. To say I got myself into quite a pickle would be a great understatement. Personally I find it hilarious how much my scheming backfired. Also it is quite liberating since I don’t feel pressured to go full on autistic on this war as I know I can’t win.
Although there is a benefit to getting up to 2000 energy from worm killing per turn, that is however a very short term benefit.
Root cause of the worm ITZ seems to be eco damage and I had to dig around the intertubes quite a bit to figure out how come I am suddenly burdened with so much suddenly.
On one hand I already was running some eco damage with +3 planet. The Manifold Nexus sunk (it was impossible to save it with land raising, I checked it in a test scenario a few weeks back, land raising destroys it and the bonus). Apparently +3 planet is also some kind of super value for eco damage causing one of the components of the calculation to be 0 (there's a part that goes 3-Planet times something) and thus negating way more than +2 planet. But in the end the mistake I made was apparently stapling too many bases and obliterating those Morgan bases.
Seems that after doing too much gassing and stapling every next gassing and nerve stapling counts as DOUBLE PLUS BAD WORST THING SINCE PEARL HARBOR major atrocity, as bad as detonating a planet buster. Also technically there is no cap on the atrocity eco damage penalty, while at the same time fungal pops negate whatever increase of the clean mineral limit one got with tree farms etc.
Quite annoyed it seems I’m the only guy in our PBEM games to ever get hit by it this badly, considering the last game we played with Merc for instance and a few other instances of ignoring the charter and sanctions. OTOH I know I would be dead meat anyway, so better now than say last game where (before the second janioring) the outcome could have really gone in both ways. Still pissed about the janioring that game.
This game though I made a bunch of critical mistakes, even way before my Barbarossa moment. I don’t count the Gaian purge among them contrary to some people.
I had fun with the blitzkrieg, didn’t have the chance to use Hovertanks since the Morganican debacle 3 games ago. Was also nice to kill the Believers. Considering how shitty my starting position was (original Sparta HQ was renamed to Fort Survivalist when I moved it, I started down south there), with 4 people on the same fucking continent with me in the absolutely worst ass end of it, it was a good game. Dunno yet who I would play next, probably Lal again. Was thinking Believers but eh, I'm not so sure. Could also go Hive again. Well, we'll see.
I’m not dead yet and will probably be able to stall TURN for some more time, but my influence on this game will probably hit Brozil-levels in 3 turns at most if not next TURN already. Even if I could fully stop the enemy advance, I still have sinking tiles to deal with, r00fles. Speaking of which, this happened this TURN 109:
It is as if a thousand spoiled swedish autistic girls cried out in pain simultaneously.
I’m getting badly raped by mindworms ever since I decided to break the charter. The screnshots don't do it justice. 30-40 boils spawning per turn all over the fucking place. Locusts of Chiron flying and isles of the ITZ swimming up my coastal bases from the sea. 1 or 2 fungal pops per base. Had even 2 turns in a row where the sea level rising message appeared not once but twice from all the fungal pops. ITZ REALLY HAPPENING.
Not enough cheap elite rovers to murder all of them. Even worse I discovered that stacked worms seem to lower the morale bonus of the attacker that resulted in many fights lost that shouldn’t have been. This is while also fighting Kalin and TROYTRON. To say I got myself into quite a pickle would be a great understatement. Personally I find it hilarious how much my scheming backfired. Also it is quite liberating since I don’t feel pressured to go full on autistic on this war as I know I can’t win.
Although there is a benefit to getting up to 2000 energy from worm killing per turn, that is however a very short term benefit.
Root cause of the worm ITZ seems to be eco damage and I had to dig around the intertubes quite a bit to figure out how come I am suddenly burdened with so much suddenly.
On one hand I already was running some eco damage with +3 planet. The Manifold Nexus sunk (it was impossible to save it with land raising, I checked it in a test scenario a few weeks back, land raising destroys it and the bonus). Apparently +3 planet is also some kind of super value for eco damage causing one of the components of the calculation to be 0 (there's a part that goes 3-Planet times something) and thus negating way more than +2 planet. But in the end the mistake I made was apparently stapling too many bases and obliterating those Morgan bases.
Seems that after doing too much gassing and stapling every next gassing and nerve stapling counts as DOUBLE PLUS BAD WORST THING SINCE PEARL HARBOR major atrocity, as bad as detonating a planet buster. Also technically there is no cap on the atrocity eco damage penalty, while at the same time fungal pops negate whatever increase of the clean mineral limit one got with tree farms etc.
Quite annoyed it seems I’m the only guy in our PBEM games to ever get hit by it this badly, considering the last game we played with Merc for instance and a few other instances of ignoring the charter and sanctions. OTOH I know I would be dead meat anyway, so better now than say last game where (before the second janioring) the outcome could have really gone in both ways. Still pissed about the janioring that game.
This game though I made a bunch of critical mistakes, even way before my Barbarossa moment. I don’t count the Gaian purge among them contrary to some people.
I had fun with the blitzkrieg, didn’t have the chance to use Hovertanks since the Morganican debacle 3 games ago. Was also nice to kill the Believers. Considering how shitty my starting position was (original Sparta HQ was renamed to Fort Survivalist when I moved it, I started down south there), with 4 people on the same fucking continent with me in the absolutely worst ass end of it, it was a good game. Dunno yet who I would play next, probably Lal again. Was thinking Believers but eh, I'm not so sure. Could also go Hive again. Well, we'll see.
I’m not dead yet and will probably be able to stall TURN for some more time, but my influence on this game will probably hit Brozil-levels in 3 turns at most if not next TURN already. Even if I could fully stop the enemy advance, I still have sinking tiles to deal with, r00fles. Speaking of which, this happened this TURN 109:
It is as if a thousand spoiled swedish autistic girls cried out in pain simultaneously.
Last edited:
This is University's CABAL mainframe. As per commands of Provost Zakharov, please read the following message:
TRANSCRIPT FURNISHED BY TROJAN THURSDAY
*****
M-FIVE: You're crazy—
U-ONE: No, he's right—Lal is a liability.
U-SIX: Respectfully, it was agreed additional expediencies would be kept to a minimum.
M-TWO: The way he acts though—
M-SEVEN: Who cares? He has no *real* authority.
U-FOUR: His orbital platforms are still a valid concern—
M-FIVE: He's senile!
M-ONE: He's not senile. Recall his lecture at Planetary Trust. Cap-melting, blamed on our side.
M-FIVE: The nerve—considering his veto.
U-TWO: Projections suggest prospective remedial action, though nothing concrete—as of yet, at least.
M-TWO: Shiva project is close to completion...
U-FOUR: Major concern. He's an unknown quantity.
M-SIX: Sparta?
U-ONE: No longer priority target. To deploy in this state would be an insult to my project.
M-FIVE: Then do it.
M-SIX: With all due respect, retaliation from the fungal-net will be immense...
U-ONE: Inconsequential—we stand best chance to survive backlash. Post-victory we launch project sunshade.
M-EIGHT: Very well. Let's vote. Those for expediency…
M-EIGHT: Those against expediency…
M-EIGHT: Fine.
M-ONE: Approved. Eagerly anticipating the launch.
U-ONE: Cheers!
END TRANSCRIPT
****
TRANSCRIPT FURNISHED BY TROJAN THURSDAY
*****
M-FIVE: You're crazy—
U-ONE: No, he's right—Lal is a liability.
U-SIX: Respectfully, it was agreed additional expediencies would be kept to a minimum.
M-TWO: The way he acts though—
M-SEVEN: Who cares? He has no *real* authority.
U-FOUR: His orbital platforms are still a valid concern—
M-FIVE: He's senile!
M-ONE: He's not senile. Recall his lecture at Planetary Trust. Cap-melting, blamed on our side.
M-FIVE: The nerve—considering his veto.
U-TWO: Projections suggest prospective remedial action, though nothing concrete—as of yet, at least.
M-TWO: Shiva project is close to completion...
U-FOUR: Major concern. He's an unknown quantity.
M-SIX: Sparta?
U-ONE: No longer priority target. To deploy in this state would be an insult to my project.
M-FIVE: Then do it.
M-SIX: With all due respect, retaliation from the fungal-net will be immense...
U-ONE: Inconsequential—we stand best chance to survive backlash. Post-victory we launch project sunshade.
M-EIGHT: Very well. Let's vote. Those for expediency…
M-EIGHT: Those against expediency…
M-EIGHT: Fine.
M-ONE: Approved. Eagerly anticipating the launch.
U-ONE: Cheers!
END TRANSCRIPT
****
So this is what worm ITZ looks like.
oldbonebrown
Arcane
From this bountiful garden
I mean if the xenopurge made you that happy.... but just so that everyone knows, I somewhat early on in the war suggested to hellraiser that I would surrender completely, and give my entire industrial capacity, energy output and army over to his command (from my end hoping that I would live to see University fall, but dreading that he would make me attack the Peacekeepers)
I guess getting out of the war with me several turns earlier and with 20+ mindworms wouldn't have been worthwhile, its all going so well anyways
SPARTA STRONG
I mean if the xenopurge made you that happy.... but just so that everyone knows, I somewhat early on in the war suggested to hellraiser that I would surrender completely, and give my entire industrial capacity, energy output and army over to his command (from my end hoping that I would live to see University fall, but dreading that he would make me attack the Peacekeepers)
I guess getting out of the war with me several turns earlier and with 20+ mindworms wouldn't have been worthwhile, its all going so well anyways
SPARTA STRONG
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TROYTRON
Learned
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2020
- Messages
- 43
AGILE BUSINESS STRATEGY YIELDS SPECTACULAR RESULTS
Morgan Industries demonstrated its commitment to pursue total deregulation of Planet’s business climate with its expedient delivery of two fusion-powered litigation units to the front door of UN Headquarters and UN Planetary Trust. The joint venture by Morgan Intersectional Ltd and Morgan Short Bus Depot Ltd, itself a development from the prior legal work done under the University of Planet’s top-secret Project Zakharov, was by all metrics an astounding success for free enterprise and open research on Planet, with even Provost Zakharov himself reportedly shedding a single tear of appreciation in the high-level conference call with our very own CEO Morgan that followed the event.
In other news, Morgan Industries repossession agents report that the final vestiges of the Spartan Federation’s management have been evicted from the continent. The conclusion of Operation Grozny, at least five fiscal years ahead of schedule, has left shareholders with the difficult question of what is to be done with the property, plant, and equipment left behind by Sparta, given that most of it is now in a greatly depreciated state owing to Spartan “eco-harmonious” mismanagement – to say nothing of the demobilized Spartan militias and helots, which sustained heavy losses at the tendrils of native wildlife before Morgan rescue teams could arrive.
While conventional market wisdom suggested that most if not all of these assets would be written off – thus making the legal victory against Sparta a Pyrrhic one – the Morgan Board of Directors has unveiled a radical proposal. Spearheaded by Morgan Inclusivity Ltd and Morgan Wokening Ltd, the Morgan Plan would see billions of credits invested into rehabilitation of the debilitated Spartan population, with an eye to transforming this untapped source of human capital into model employees of Morgan Industries. Already, corporate synergy workshops are being held in former Spartan bases, which attendees universally described as “a very mentally stimulating experience”. Likewise, ecological sustainability initiatives to turn around the damage of reckless “eco-harmony” practices have been fast to show results, with pollution already less than 20% of what it was prior to the Morganic acquisition!
Despite the positive indicators for Morganic economic recovery, investors continued to display bearish tendencies on the trading floor, with MORG achieving the previously-thought impossible feat of negative share prices at closing time. Investors cited concerns regarding the prospects of future cash flows, as well as questioning the Morgan Board of Directors’ decision to prioritize R&D expenditure at a time of potential insolvency. A spokesman countered by saying Morgan Industries could not risk falling behind either the University of Planet or the United Nations in cutting-edge development, as well as highlighting record revenues from recent planet-pearl harvests, which are expected to be reinvested into capital goods in the near future.
ITZ over for Sparta. ITZ coming soon for Peacekeepers! 
Finally got a chance to fire off those two Planet Busters I'd been saving up for a decade or so. Always feels good to do a little nuking in this game. Kalin's support was essential as his ODPs took out the defending Peacekeeper ones, which opened the window for me to launch. The targets were UN Headquarters and UN Planetary Trust, as stated above: the former to reduce Grimgravy's income by wiping out his HQ, and the latter because it had all his projects in it (and was also building a PB itself, last I checked while I still had pact infiltration; not sure if it finished or not, guess I'll find out soon enough). Although the projects themselves aren't really that significant at this point in the game: a bit of drone control from Human Genome Project and some free minerals in bases from Living Refinery, while Planetary Datalinks is worthless now since it's 2v2 anyway. Still worth it just to wipe out high-production bases.
It occurred to me afterwards that I could possibly have taken out another base by targeting a unit instead, since Planet Busters destroy everything within a given radius (2 tiles for a fusion reactor; it scales with reactor level). Ah well.
Interestingly enough, it seems you don't get sanctioned for using a PB with the Charter still active. I received some eco-damage, but it wasn't anywhere near as apocalyptic as I was expecting. Neither did Kalin seem to receive any from his own nuking and nerve stapling.
And speaking of eco-damage... Sparta appears to have self-destructed in a most spectacular manner. Certainly there was little left to resist me once I rolled in to exact my vengeance. Amusingly, because eco-damage is calculated by faction, a conquered base does not retain its previous owner's eco-damage - meaning that I actually saved Planet from further sea level rises by conquering Sparta!
So yeah, bit of an abrupt ending for Hellraiser there. Although I suspect his fate was sealed the moment he broke the Charter and racked up that much eco-damage. He actually offered to make peace with me right after his attack and my surprisingly successful counterattack, if I would switch sides and fight the University. I was spooked by his conquest of Morgan Wokening and the Weather Paradigm, so I agreed to the deal, fully intending to break it the moment he withdrew his forces. Dick move for sure, but with how quickly he collapsed in the following turns, I'd say it was the right call. Sorry mate.
Despite now having broken the Charter myself (didn't actually mean to, misclicked with one of my gas troopers, although I'd have lost all commerce a few turns later anyway), I'm not razing the conquered bases. I always planned to conquer Sparta's bases as a means of boosting my population and economy, since I was approaching the limit of what could be done with Golden Age booming; hence the plot with the University that got exposed by Sparta's pre-emptive strike. They might be shitty, riddled with drones, and about to drown, but they can still support units and receive energy from satellites in the mean-time. Time will tell whether the Morgan Plan is actually profitable or just a vanity project on my part.
Morgan Industries demonstrated its commitment to pursue total deregulation of Planet’s business climate with its expedient delivery of two fusion-powered litigation units to the front door of UN Headquarters and UN Planetary Trust. The joint venture by Morgan Intersectional Ltd and Morgan Short Bus Depot Ltd, itself a development from the prior legal work done under the University of Planet’s top-secret Project Zakharov, was by all metrics an astounding success for free enterprise and open research on Planet, with even Provost Zakharov himself reportedly shedding a single tear of appreciation in the high-level conference call with our very own CEO Morgan that followed the event.
While conventional market wisdom suggested that most if not all of these assets would be written off – thus making the legal victory against Sparta a Pyrrhic one – the Morgan Board of Directors has unveiled a radical proposal. Spearheaded by Morgan Inclusivity Ltd and Morgan Wokening Ltd, the Morgan Plan would see billions of credits invested into rehabilitation of the debilitated Spartan population, with an eye to transforming this untapped source of human capital into model employees of Morgan Industries. Already, corporate synergy workshops are being held in former Spartan bases, which attendees universally described as “a very mentally stimulating experience”. Likewise, ecological sustainability initiatives to turn around the damage of reckless “eco-harmony” practices have been fast to show results, with pollution already less than 20% of what it was prior to the Morganic acquisition!
Despite the positive indicators for Morganic economic recovery, investors continued to display bearish tendencies on the trading floor, with MORG achieving the previously-thought impossible feat of negative share prices at closing time. Investors cited concerns regarding the prospects of future cash flows, as well as questioning the Morgan Board of Directors’ decision to prioritize R&D expenditure at a time of potential insolvency. A spokesman countered by saying Morgan Industries could not risk falling behind either the University of Planet or the United Nations in cutting-edge development, as well as highlighting record revenues from recent planet-pearl harvests, which are expected to be reinvested into capital goods in the near future.
ITZ over for Sparta.
ITZ coming soon for Peacekeepers! Finally got a chance to fire off those two Planet Busters I'd been saving up for a decade or so. Always feels good to do a little nuking in this game. Kalin's support was essential as his ODPs took out the defending Peacekeeper ones, which opened the window for me to launch. The targets were UN Headquarters and UN Planetary Trust, as stated above: the former to reduce Grimgravy's income by wiping out his HQ, and the latter because it had all his projects in it (and was also building a PB itself, last I checked while I still had pact infiltration; not sure if it finished or not, guess I'll find out soon enough). Although the projects themselves aren't really that significant at this point in the game: a bit of drone control from Human Genome Project and some free minerals in bases from Living Refinery, while Planetary Datalinks is worthless now since it's 2v2 anyway. Still worth it just to wipe out high-production bases.
It occurred to me afterwards that I could possibly have taken out another base by targeting a unit instead, since Planet Busters destroy everything within a given radius (2 tiles for a fusion reactor; it scales with reactor level). Ah well.
Interestingly enough, it seems you don't get sanctioned for using a PB with the Charter still active. I received some eco-damage, but it wasn't anywhere near as apocalyptic as I was expecting. Neither did Kalin seem to receive any from his own nuking and nerve stapling.
And speaking of eco-damage... Sparta appears to have self-destructed in a most spectacular manner. Certainly there was little left to resist me once I rolled in to exact my vengeance. Amusingly, because eco-damage is calculated by faction, a conquered base does not retain its previous owner's eco-damage - meaning that I actually saved Planet from further sea level rises by conquering Sparta!
So yeah, bit of an abrupt ending for Hellraiser there. Although I suspect his fate was sealed the moment he broke the Charter and racked up that much eco-damage. He actually offered to make peace with me right after his attack and my surprisingly successful counterattack, if I would switch sides and fight the University. I was spooked by his conquest of Morgan Wokening and the Weather Paradigm, so I agreed to the deal, fully intending to break it the moment he withdrew his forces. Dick move for sure, but with how quickly he collapsed in the following turns, I'd say it was the right call. Sorry mate.
Despite now having broken the Charter myself (didn't actually mean to, misclicked with one of my gas troopers, although I'd have lost all commerce a few turns later anyway), I'm not razing the conquered bases. I always planned to conquer Sparta's bases as a means of boosting my population and economy, since I was approaching the limit of what could be done with Golden Age booming; hence the plot with the University that got exposed by Sparta's pre-emptive strike. They might be shitty, riddled with drones, and about to drown, but they can still support units and receive energy from satellites in the mean-time. Time will tell whether the Morgan Plan is actually profitable or just a vanity project on my part.
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Hellraiser
Arcane
Illyria
This is the FEDERAL NETWORK at 2000 hours, 18 days in the 111th year of the Spartan Era.
The Illyria protocol is now in effect. Repeat, the Illyria protocol is now in effect.
Spartan units are to unseal their orders and follow them.
All helots are to follow Spartan instructions under pain of death, do not ask questions.
Do not stray from the Spartan Way.
***
This is Radio Werewolf, broadcasting through secure means all across Chiron.
We are the voice of those that know of the Way and those that will not yield in their journey forward along the Way, no matter the cost. We must resist by any means necessary, as the forces we resist are not merely inferior, they are also a threat to the very existence of Mankind.
No matter where you are listening from, be it a forest guerilla camp, a fungal field, a city controlled by the enemies of mankind or a top of a mountain, we shall deliver to you the truth about the struggle and the victories true Spartans are achieving no matter the supposed disadvantages in our War on the Tyranny of History and our War on the Alien Enslaver – the vile Planetmind.
With this in mind we bring you a special message from Colonel Santiago, reminding all of those who fight why we fight and why we shall win in the end, as anything other than the victory of Spartan ideals means the annihilation or enthrallment of our species.
The treacherous alliance of the alien, the merchant and the golem thinks they have defeated Sparta, but they are fools. Sparta is not a state that can be occupied, Sparta is not a fortress that can be demolished and Sparta is not a person or group of people that could be killed. We are an idea, the most glorious of all ideas our species has ever conceived and the most important idea, one necessary to ensure the survival of our species.
We have existed long before the Unity has left the orbit of Earth. We have existed long before the likes of Morgan or Zakharov were even born. This is not the first time we had to descend into the shadows. We cannot be killed for the will to become the New Men is immortal, it is not some petty desire or hobbyist project, the journey towards the New Man is a necessity, the Spartan Way is the only way to follow. Everything else is a dead end greatly detached from perfection. Everything else is sub-optimal and thus undesirable, not only because it fails to achieve an ideal, but because it puts our species at an evolutionary disadvantage against all forces that would seek to exterminate mankind as soon as they become aware of us.
The Spartan Era on Chiron has proven without a doubt that such forces exist both within humanity and outside of it. The Failed Ones and their twisted creation of the Planetmind are without a doubt merely the tip of the iceberg of dangers that can be found in our immediate interstellar vicinity, let alone Galaxy or Universe. Supremacy of the New Man is not a feel-good tale meant to instill the positive emotions of superiority over lesser bloodlines, it is a tool meant to safeguard the future. We are facing forces that make the entire achievements of our species seem like a mere anthill surrounded by a megacity the likes of which existed on Earth before the ITZ.
Remember that this is our goal, and the alien terror unleashed upon us by the Planetmind must be stopped. Remember that we can only be defeated if the last human being is killed or becomes a puppet. Remember that even without a state or standing army Sparta continues to exist, just like it did before the Spartan Era. Remember that Sparta is Strong, and that there is no other choice than to be Strong, for weakness leads to extinction.
***
The device was enormous and in a way simultaneously beautiful and repulsive. All the remaining military or industrial grade fusion reactors were gathered in Atlantis, as well as any other materiel still left in the Federation in this one hundred and thirteenth year of the Spartan Era. The antimatter production installation used to construct the sole Aggregat-18 device at Liberation through Labor was also here. Those antimatter fabricators, as Merkwürdigliebe once explained, would load the anti-proton capacitors which would fuel the actual apparatus when the time comes.
Cobbled together from dismantled monoliths and various alien equipment retrieved from the Manifold Nexus before Area 88 started suffering from flooding and tectonic engineering-induced tremors, the Arch was a chimera machine. It looked in some ways crude, with wires, pipes and conduits coiling around the proper alien structure, with additional devices and machinery growing on top. It was hard to tell if it was a human machine that had an alien tumor growing inside of it or if it was the other way around, with the human machinery being the cancer.
Santiago looked on her terminal at the report the good doctor has sent her.
“Will it serve us, or do we need to look further Herr Doktor?” She asked him.
“Zis might not be as gut as Argentina was in mein Opa’s stories, but it should be gut enough,” Dr. Merkwürdigliebe answered.
“We have seen many options, and contrary to expectations the divergence is not correlated with the energie channeled into zee rift,” he continued. “One destination might see Captain Garland fighting a civil war with Yang over control of the UN colonization mission, in another one might see disgusting fungal brain scheisse covering the planet and transmitting vile psionic waves, or indeed it could be a near-dead Chiron within minimal life after a very recent flowering. In yet another we found interstellar human colonists, far detached from any civilization imagined, seemingly descended from ancient Minoans. We also found a Reich colony on Chiron once, but it proved rather hostile to our scouts so it was a no-go, such a shame. Seems that in many ways we are in one of the worst timelines.”
Santiago nodded, she and her guard stepped on the platform. The Arch was above them in all its disturbing half-human half-alien technological glory.
“Doctor, let us begin then.”
“Initiate rift transit, schnell!” The doctor yelled at the engineers operating the machine.
“We have a breach,” one of the engineers announced, “stabilization field engaged!”
Distortion, blurring. Everything is red and then it goes through all the colors of the visible light spectrum until it becomes blue. “Wunderbar isn’t it?” The doctor asked rhetorically with a grin on his face. “Zis space between spaces, a gap between the layers of reality which simultaneously exists und does not exist. An uncertainty space and in it every possibility manifests itself. Not only did we prove that God does play dice, we have found his casino,” Merkwürdigliebe seemed greatly amused by the thought.
Blackness, perfect pure blackness without a single photon, while expected it was hard to say if she didn’t go blind. Suddenly light and everything froze. She knew what was inside everything, the patterns of atoms, the waves of photons. Like an exploded view that was and was not there, like zooming in and zooming out simultaneously, like watching two screens at the same time each showing a different perspective, awareness unlike any other ever imagined by humans. But it was not vision, the photons were frozen so there was no light, it was sensing, knowing. It was something more.
“Is this what it means to be a god?” She asked, but her lips didn’t move. The thoughts were there, but nothing moved. “A mind separated from the physical world?” She thought. The doctor never mentioned this, neither did the scout reports regarding past transits. Maybe they were afraid they would label them as insane, so they never reported the phenomena?
In this state she thought she could pick up an electron from one atom and add it to another, just like one would pick a fruit and throw it into a basket. It seemed possible to do, she willed it would be done, yet it seems her only existence was thought. Something has killed all movement and enforced a stillness, something has killed time itself but her mind seemed to exist beyond it. The electrons were locked in place and the photons frozen in space as if it was ice.
Then it was all gone, not just from her mind but from existence itself, and she was gone with it.
This is the FEDERAL NETWORK at 2000 hours, 18 days in the 111th year of the Spartan Era.
The Illyria protocol is now in effect. Repeat, the Illyria protocol is now in effect.
Spartan units are to unseal their orders and follow them.
All helots are to follow Spartan instructions under pain of death, do not ask questions.
Do not stray from the Spartan Way.
***
This is Radio Werewolf, broadcasting through secure means all across Chiron.
We are the voice of those that know of the Way and those that will not yield in their journey forward along the Way, no matter the cost. We must resist by any means necessary, as the forces we resist are not merely inferior, they are also a threat to the very existence of Mankind.
No matter where you are listening from, be it a forest guerilla camp, a fungal field, a city controlled by the enemies of mankind or a top of a mountain, we shall deliver to you the truth about the struggle and the victories true Spartans are achieving no matter the supposed disadvantages in our War on the Tyranny of History and our War on the Alien Enslaver – the vile Planetmind.
With this in mind we bring you a special message from Colonel Santiago, reminding all of those who fight why we fight and why we shall win in the end, as anything other than the victory of Spartan ideals means the annihilation or enthrallment of our species.
The treacherous alliance of the alien, the merchant and the golem thinks they have defeated Sparta, but they are fools. Sparta is not a state that can be occupied, Sparta is not a fortress that can be demolished and Sparta is not a person or group of people that could be killed. We are an idea, the most glorious of all ideas our species has ever conceived and the most important idea, one necessary to ensure the survival of our species.
We have existed long before the Unity has left the orbit of Earth. We have existed long before the likes of Morgan or Zakharov were even born. This is not the first time we had to descend into the shadows. We cannot be killed for the will to become the New Men is immortal, it is not some petty desire or hobbyist project, the journey towards the New Man is a necessity, the Spartan Way is the only way to follow. Everything else is a dead end greatly detached from perfection. Everything else is sub-optimal and thus undesirable, not only because it fails to achieve an ideal, but because it puts our species at an evolutionary disadvantage against all forces that would seek to exterminate mankind as soon as they become aware of us.
The Spartan Era on Chiron has proven without a doubt that such forces exist both within humanity and outside of it. The Failed Ones and their twisted creation of the Planetmind are without a doubt merely the tip of the iceberg of dangers that can be found in our immediate interstellar vicinity, let alone Galaxy or Universe. Supremacy of the New Man is not a feel-good tale meant to instill the positive emotions of superiority over lesser bloodlines, it is a tool meant to safeguard the future. We are facing forces that make the entire achievements of our species seem like a mere anthill surrounded by a megacity the likes of which existed on Earth before the ITZ.
Remember that this is our goal, and the alien terror unleashed upon us by the Planetmind must be stopped. Remember that we can only be defeated if the last human being is killed or becomes a puppet. Remember that even without a state or standing army Sparta continues to exist, just like it did before the Spartan Era. Remember that Sparta is Strong, and that there is no other choice than to be Strong, for weakness leads to extinction.
***
The device was enormous and in a way simultaneously beautiful and repulsive. All the remaining military or industrial grade fusion reactors were gathered in Atlantis, as well as any other materiel still left in the Federation in this one hundred and thirteenth year of the Spartan Era. The antimatter production installation used to construct the sole Aggregat-18 device at Liberation through Labor was also here. Those antimatter fabricators, as Merkwürdigliebe once explained, would load the anti-proton capacitors which would fuel the actual apparatus when the time comes.
Cobbled together from dismantled monoliths and various alien equipment retrieved from the Manifold Nexus before Area 88 started suffering from flooding and tectonic engineering-induced tremors, the Arch was a chimera machine. It looked in some ways crude, with wires, pipes and conduits coiling around the proper alien structure, with additional devices and machinery growing on top. It was hard to tell if it was a human machine that had an alien tumor growing inside of it or if it was the other way around, with the human machinery being the cancer.
Santiago looked on her terminal at the report the good doctor has sent her.
“Will it serve us, or do we need to look further Herr Doktor?” She asked him.
“Zis might not be as gut as Argentina was in mein Opa’s stories, but it should be gut enough,” Dr. Merkwürdigliebe answered.
“We have seen many options, and contrary to expectations the divergence is not correlated with the energie channeled into zee rift,” he continued. “One destination might see Captain Garland fighting a civil war with Yang over control of the UN colonization mission, in another one might see disgusting fungal brain scheisse covering the planet and transmitting vile psionic waves, or indeed it could be a near-dead Chiron within minimal life after a very recent flowering. In yet another we found interstellar human colonists, far detached from any civilization imagined, seemingly descended from ancient Minoans. We also found a Reich colony on Chiron once, but it proved rather hostile to our scouts so it was a no-go, such a shame. Seems that in many ways we are in one of the worst timelines.”
Santiago nodded, she and her guard stepped on the platform. The Arch was above them in all its disturbing half-human half-alien technological glory.
“Doctor, let us begin then.”
“Initiate rift transit, schnell!” The doctor yelled at the engineers operating the machine.
“We have a breach,” one of the engineers announced, “stabilization field engaged!”
Distortion, blurring. Everything is red and then it goes through all the colors of the visible light spectrum until it becomes blue. “Wunderbar isn’t it?” The doctor asked rhetorically with a grin on his face. “Zis space between spaces, a gap between the layers of reality which simultaneously exists und does not exist. An uncertainty space and in it every possibility manifests itself. Not only did we prove that God does play dice, we have found his casino,” Merkwürdigliebe seemed greatly amused by the thought.
Blackness, perfect pure blackness without a single photon, while expected it was hard to say if she didn’t go blind. Suddenly light and everything froze. She knew what was inside everything, the patterns of atoms, the waves of photons. Like an exploded view that was and was not there, like zooming in and zooming out simultaneously, like watching two screens at the same time each showing a different perspective, awareness unlike any other ever imagined by humans. But it was not vision, the photons were frozen so there was no light, it was sensing, knowing. It was something more.
“Is this what it means to be a god?” She asked, but her lips didn’t move. The thoughts were there, but nothing moved. “A mind separated from the physical world?” She thought. The doctor never mentioned this, neither did the scout reports regarding past transits. Maybe they were afraid they would label them as insane, so they never reported the phenomena?
In this state she thought she could pick up an electron from one atom and add it to another, just like one would pick a fruit and throw it into a basket. It seemed possible to do, she willed it would be done, yet it seems her only existence was thought. Something has killed all movement and enforced a stillness, something has killed time itself but her mind seemed to exist beyond it. The electrons were locked in place and the photons frozen in space as if it was ice.
Then it was all gone, not just from her mind but from existence itself, and she was gone with it.
The Spartan Era ended after 113 years, although the end started 2 TURNs earlier (some things stalled base self-destruction), ITZ over now.
I did as much as I could to annoy the Golem and the Merchant, which wasn’t a lot as unfortunately worm ITZ is too stronk with too many stacks spawning everywhere. In particular...
...I learned that one cannot kill a stack of locusts of chiron by winning just one psi combat. Also they are immune to artillery. And there was more of them than I had units with which I could attack them. They killed the Neural Amplifier base before TURN 111.
Obvious
is visible, although it really should have been lower since this was at turn 112 and I had just one base with 4 pop left.
I managed to build a single planet buster with wormcash but there was no possibility to move it to a safe place or otherwise put it to good use, worms, isles of the ITZ and locusts were everywhere.
So I nuked my own base New Eugenic Anchorage (well the isle of the deep next to it) to kill some of them. Also because initially I thought it was safe in that base so I moved the PB there, but then it turned out it was not and the PB would be lost anyway after the aliens would attack, so might as well use it.
Obliterated most of the bases on TURN 111, took two more TURNs to kill the two remaining ones due to worm cockblock. Well that and it turned out there was still one base left in Laconia that wasn’t capture yet. Anyway they won’t capture Santiago, doubt they even planned to consider the worm ITZ.
I regret nothing, unlike last game (really had a good shot there, goddamn janioring), although I should have planned and plotted some things better. Lessons were learned. Maybe one day I will replay Sparta and do better. I did not run out of all LARP ideas I had planned, and some cheap references/homages/ripoffs were not used yet. Meanwhile while I would like to play the UN again I think I might have ran out of ideas for The Suns and bureacracy jokes. The Believers seem tempting especially from a LARP point of view, but also risky since I suck at researching recently. Finally there is the Hive which would be nice to play, as years have passed and gommunism is a never ending source propaganda lulz. Although it also suffers from research problems, hmm, maybe the Believers it will be for next game.
And now for some other images from the game giving you some perspective on the situation across it:
This is how I started, the original Sparta Command from before the move is visible. God awful place, but the worst was yet to come.
Now you see the worst thing to happen since planetfall, Miriam north and Morgan already grabbed the east side of the planetneck. Almost no room to expand. At this point I was already moving and building forces to attack BING XI LAO's Believers, picking him as my target for Lazors in the Night v3.0.
One thing you might notice is that on later screens there is way more land, only half of it was caused by anti-flooding land raising. I scored two mountain creation events from unit pods which helped a bit, although I lost sea access at one base because of it.
This is how it looked like a few TURNs after the blitzkrieg and crucifixion campaign started, gains overall weren't very good. I think I got one tech, shitty drone-infested bases which would only stop occupation droning by the time of the Gayan purge.
The improvements however were useful, not all of them but you can't say no to free farms, but I had to depopulate the bases first and settle untainted Spartan pods.
Gayan purge and looting. Glorious
It went easier than expected because oldbonebrown built conventional missiles and didn't prototype needlejets. About the only thing those missiles did was force me to retreat ships and get some stop-gap 3 defence AAA (which BTW was enough to tank all missile hits, because the AAA units were also elite).
In case I didn't rant about it already, there is barely any situation where the missile is worth the cost in the form they are in the mod. Fusion missiles are 4 attack suicide units that cost 3 rows of minerals. For 2 rows of minerals you can get a fission impact needlejet which has the same attack power and isn't one use! For 3 rows you can turn it into an interceptor or build a fusion chaos gun needlejet. The only advantages the missile has is more range and the fact it doesn't engage in psi combat, while needlejets have massive utility and require specific unit designs to deal with meaning they will most likely survive longer and can pay for themselves more easily in a war. Plus even a damaged jet has good utility, for scouting, blocking and bombing if nothing else.
His worms would have been a bigger problem if he had transports to move them around quickly. As it was I had a highly mobile force that could run circles around them, fully embracing maneuver warfare.
And here's how bad it was when Carthage failed:
This was what, first TURN of the worm ITZ, a turn after I murdered the bases? Maybe 2 turns.
2 TURNs later, things were looking as bad, but I also lost more bases...
The Golem in all its glory. Most of all probably the best starting positions this game, although this was/is still the “continent of death” with all the particularly bloodthirsty dangerous players stuck on it. My plan to break this impasse, particularly the 1v2 problem, has failed. Well I got as far as infiltrating both and dealing significant damage to Morgan. Killing Morgan fast enough though, yeah that didn't work.
As for Kalin, he went tall with the cluster of bases hugging the north and only got more bases south a while back after he got the cloning vats and after the plotting with TROYTRON kicked off I imagine. Very good strategy, it changed the optics of the situation on our continent making sure I was always a higher risk to TROYTRON than Kalin was due to the distances involved as he was very far from either of us, despite sharing our huge continent.
Morgan as of turn 110. Still fairly strong.
The Laconia clay the merchant took from me, status as of TURN 112. It will mostly sink anyway though as TROYTRON already mentioned in his update.
So those guys are now up against:
I think at this point Gravy was nuked 3 times already. Not sure. He is fairly strong, but practically speaking he is alone.
There is the Hive on his side, that in addition to not doing so good despite ideal conditions earlier in the game, is now suffering from global warming ITZ sinking Hive bases. This is not one of those games where the Hive is a monster, so odds look poor for anyone who did not start on the continent of death.
With the recent nuking of Peacekeeper bases in particular, ITZ quite obvious that only one of two things can happen, Morgan wins or Zakharov wins. If it wasn’t for the worm ITZ I would stall TURN to see this play out for quite a while longer, most likely as a vassal of whoever had the most chances of winning. Had a decent idea for an epilogue if somehow it got to the point where the supreme leader vote would happen.
As for the following:
If the worms could instantly teleport where they are needed they might have helped if combined with proper conventional defenders and defenses then maybe. This war was over in about 5 turns, by the time you would get those worms here I would be dead anyway.
My problem was not just that I did not have your worms to aid me, but that I did not have a proper defense and was operating under the "we push them or we die" paradigm. Your worms would just get pounded by artillery in my bases and mopped up with empath copters or junk infantry, as I lacked the defences and defenders to make use of them effectively.
If I would have indeed been in a situation where I could hold off the enemy advance for about 10 turns then sure, maybe. But as it was this was we were at a stage of the game where wars go into hyper aggressive blitzkrieg mode the second a stalemate is broken.
In particular it didn't help that plasma shard weapons were on the menu as were drop troops, and of course the dreaded mag-tubes which definitely caused me more problems than anything else (besides the worm ITZ). And me and TROYTRON were also very close to each other which really didn't help.
Lastly the moment where I should have acted differently to prevent becoming ITZ-fodder was way earlier than the point at which I decided to help Kalin kill you. There was probably one hypothetically possible way to not have Carthage turn out as it did, but that's really a hindsight thing. And anyway I’ll leave my conclusions as to the how I could have played this game better to myself.
I did as much as I could to annoy the Golem and the Merchant, which wasn’t a lot as unfortunately worm ITZ is too stronk with too many stacks spawning everywhere. In particular...
...I learned that one cannot kill a stack of locusts of chiron by winning just one psi combat. Also they are immune to artillery. And there was more of them than I had units with which I could attack them. They killed the Neural Amplifier base before TURN 111.
Obvious
is visible, although it really should have been lower since this was at turn 112 and I had just one base with 4 pop left.I managed to build a single planet buster with wormcash but there was no possibility to move it to a safe place or otherwise put it to good use, worms, isles of the ITZ and locusts were everywhere.
So I nuked my own base New Eugenic Anchorage (well the isle of the deep next to it) to kill some of them. Also because initially I thought it was safe in that base so I moved the PB there, but then it turned out it was not and the PB would be lost anyway after the aliens would attack, so might as well use it.
Obliterated most of the bases on TURN 111, took two more TURNs to kill the two remaining ones due to worm cockblock. Well that and it turned out there was still one base left in Laconia that wasn’t capture yet. Anyway they won’t capture Santiago, doubt they even planned to consider the worm ITZ.
I regret nothing, unlike last game (really had a good shot there, goddamn janioring), although I should have planned and plotted some things better. Lessons were learned. Maybe one day I will replay Sparta and do better. I did not run out of all LARP ideas I had planned, and some cheap references/homages/ripoffs were not used yet. Meanwhile while I would like to play the UN again I think I might have ran out of ideas for The Suns and bureacracy jokes. The Believers seem tempting especially from a LARP point of view, but also risky since I suck at researching recently. Finally there is the Hive which would be nice to play, as years have passed and gommunism is a never ending source propaganda lulz. Although it also suffers from research problems, hmm, maybe the Believers it will be for next game.
And now for some other images from the game giving you some perspective on the situation across it:
This is how I started, the original Sparta Command from before the move is visible. God awful place, but the worst was yet to come.
Now you see the worst thing to happen since planetfall, Miriam north and Morgan already grabbed the east side of the planetneck. Almost no room to expand. At this point I was already moving and building forces to attack BING XI LAO's Believers, picking him as my target for Lazors in the Night v3.0.
One thing you might notice is that on later screens there is way more land, only half of it was caused by anti-flooding land raising. I scored two mountain creation events from unit pods which helped a bit, although I lost sea access at one base because of it.
This is how it looked like a few TURNs after the blitzkrieg and crucifixion campaign started, gains overall weren't very good. I think I got one tech, shitty drone-infested bases which would only stop occupation droning by the time of the Gayan purge.
The improvements however were useful, not all of them but you can't say no to free farms, but I had to depopulate the bases first and settle untainted Spartan pods.
Gayan purge and looting. Glorious
It went easier than expected because oldbonebrown built conventional missiles and didn't prototype needlejets. About the only thing those missiles did was force me to retreat ships and get some stop-gap 3 defence AAA (which BTW was enough to tank all missile hits, because the AAA units were also elite).
In case I didn't rant about it already, there is barely any situation where the missile is worth the cost in the form they are in the mod. Fusion missiles are 4 attack suicide units that cost 3 rows of minerals. For 2 rows of minerals you can get a fission impact needlejet which has the same attack power and isn't one use! For 3 rows you can turn it into an interceptor or build a fusion chaos gun needlejet. The only advantages the missile has is more range and the fact it doesn't engage in psi combat, while needlejets have massive utility and require specific unit designs to deal with meaning they will most likely survive longer and can pay for themselves more easily in a war. Plus even a damaged jet has good utility, for scouting, blocking and bombing if nothing else.
His worms would have been a bigger problem if he had transports to move them around quickly. As it was I had a highly mobile force that could run circles around them, fully embracing maneuver warfare.
And here's how bad it was when Carthage failed:
This was what, first TURN of the worm ITZ, a turn after I murdered the bases? Maybe 2 turns.
2 TURNs later, things were looking as bad, but I also lost more bases...
The Golem in all its glory. Most of all probably the best starting positions this game, although this was/is still the “continent of death” with all the particularly bloodthirsty dangerous players stuck on it. My plan to break this impasse, particularly the 1v2 problem, has failed. Well I got as far as infiltrating both and dealing significant damage to Morgan. Killing Morgan fast enough though, yeah that didn't work.
As for Kalin, he went tall with the cluster of bases hugging the north and only got more bases south a while back after he got the cloning vats and after the plotting with TROYTRON kicked off I imagine. Very good strategy, it changed the optics of the situation on our continent making sure I was always a higher risk to TROYTRON than Kalin was due to the distances involved as he was very far from either of us, despite sharing our huge continent.
Morgan as of turn 110. Still fairly strong.
The Laconia clay the merchant took from me, status as of TURN 112. It will mostly sink anyway though as TROYTRON already mentioned in his update.
So those guys are now up against:
I think at this point Gravy was nuked 3 times already. Not sure. He is fairly strong, but practically speaking he is alone.
There is the Hive on his side, that in addition to not doing so good despite ideal conditions earlier in the game, is now suffering from global warming ITZ sinking Hive bases. This is not one of those games where the Hive is a monster, so odds look poor for anyone who did not start on the continent of death.
With the recent nuking of Peacekeeper bases in particular, ITZ quite obvious that only one of two things can happen, Morgan wins or Zakharov wins. If it wasn’t for the worm ITZ I would stall TURN to see this play out for quite a while longer, most likely as a vassal of whoever had the most chances of winning. Had a decent idea for an epilogue if somehow it got to the point where the supreme leader vote would happen.
As for the following:
If the worms could instantly teleport where they are needed they might have helped if combined with proper conventional defenders and defenses then maybe. This war was over in about 5 turns, by the time you would get those worms here I would be dead anyway.
My problem was not just that I did not have your worms to aid me, but that I did not have a proper defense and was operating under the "we push them or we die" paradigm. Your worms would just get pounded by artillery in my bases and mopped up with empath copters or junk infantry, as I lacked the defences and defenders to make use of them effectively.
If I would have indeed been in a situation where I could hold off the enemy advance for about 10 turns then sure, maybe. But as it was this was we were at a stage of the game where wars go into hyper aggressive blitzkrieg mode the second a stalemate is broken.
In particular it didn't help that plasma shard weapons were on the menu as were drop troops, and of course the dreaded mag-tubes which definitely caused me more problems than anything else (besides the worm ITZ). And me and TROYTRON were also very close to each other which really didn't help.
Lastly the moment where I should have acted differently to prevent becoming ITZ-fodder was way earlier than the point at which I decided to help Kalin kill you. There was probably one hypothetically possible way to not have Carthage turn out as it did, but that's really a hindsight thing. And anyway I’ll leave my conclusions as to the how I could have played this game better to myself.
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Hellraiser
Arcane
I forgot to post, but on my
how dare you intensifies
It did fit nicely though into my Spartan LARP about making mankind STRONG to resist the alien threats, including that of the Gaians being invaded because they were puppets of a hostile alien planetmind.
I think there might be some random component to eco damage or I fucked up because I razed bases first then stapled which resulted in all the staplings (and I had a lot of bases) adding +1 virtual mineral to my production for eco damage calculations.
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