Ljosalfar IN SPACE!: Bobchillingworth hugs a fungus

[Bobchillingworth]

Yay slightly stronger Gunboats:









All forces have been produced to invade Nic. I should hit his city in 6 turns (counting next), I think. Based on my analysis of freshwater map tiles in places which lack any freshwater source (meaning, Nic controls them & I'm seeing the benefit of Unity Hydroponics), it looks like he has really hemmed Mist in pretty badly. If that's the case, and they're still fighting (assuming they ever were), then I expect he has most of his power over on that front. I have tried to avoid flashing any kind of units within Nic's visual range- when I made contact, I don't think he actually even saw the Isle responsible. So hopefully this comes as a total surprise.



Also, this is pretty neat:




Because Kelp acts like a terrain feature once planted, I can see where Mist has been improving his coastline. Neither Selrahc nor Nic has any planted anywhere, which is great (means they're not yet focusing on expanding into the water). Less great is the fact that Mist doesn't appear to have any sea colonies (!), which he really should by now if I only beat him to Pressure Dome by a turn or two- unless Nic is pressuring him so bad he can't break from military builds. I should make contact with Mist soon, I want to get a feel for just how bad the situation is over there, and look into whether I need to send spare resources to prop him up. Also might be worthwhile to look into gifting him any excess Isles I capture in his area.

[Bobchillingworth]

Got another Aquaformer:





Odds of it dying on the way back home are high, in which case I'll delete it. It's not worth detailing a couple units off pod duty just to escort it.



My attack stack:




The Plan:






I'm feeling okay about my chances. I think I can handle up to 4 Genities, or maybe a Bunker and 3 Genities, or six Flamers / Scout Patrol / Rovers. The nice thing about having the Worms with me is that, even if a Marine dies attacking his target, anything they redline I can then pick off via the Psychic Terror promotion.




Psionics finished at EoT. Next tech will be Autarky, or whatever the one is called which unlocks the civic of that name. I want it for the Hyperion (best 1-move unit I'm likely to ever unlock), +1 health in my cities from the Methane Ice, and of course the civic. Bioreactors are cool too, although I don't have much fungus or forests to feed them. I'll then go for Memetics, and triple-revolt to Knowledge, Hybrid and Autarky, for ultimate city spam potential. Then I'll colonize the heck out of the ocean & islands, using my army of free Isles to garrison cities.

[Bobchillingworth]

For posterity:

[Bobchillingworth]

Btw, in case anyone was wondering why some pods are marked with "B Pod" signs (as opposed to just "pod"), it's because I placed the pod signs dozens of turns ago, when most were not blockaded- the B stands for blocked.

[Bobchillingworth]

Two turns in one update:


To start off, ouch:




That's okay, we can rebuild them. Except for the gunboats, which are now obsolete by Subs which are 6 hammers more expensive, but no better at fighting Isles





Another city. All food resources on my island are now being consumed, I'll eventually add one more filler city & that'll be it.




NEXT TURN











...



....





(I realized only after I killed the thing that I was at my Psi cap and should have deleted one of my many bog-standard Isles instead )



I could have had five pods, but a gunboat died at 95% odds...



Also, a lot of those Isles are going to die next turn, it'll take a few turns to replace them all, and the loss of probably 3 elite Isles will hurt. On the bright side, next turn I take my shot at Nic's city!

[Bobchillingworth]

But gracious, this turn has been a long time coming:




Okay, so I was pleased to see my stack sitting in place & unmolested when I opened the turn:




After declaring war & moving in, the Peacekeeper garrison was found to be less powerful than initially feared:



Seems I was right about Nic having most of his forces over on the Mist border.



First combat was a City Raider I, Anti-infantry Marine vs. the Genite; Marine lost at 50% odds, but did good damage. I also lost a Worm at 62% odds against a Flamer:





Which gave Nic a Great General in about the worst place possible, because I won all the rest of my combats:



Burn.





Flush with victory, I sent a HN Isle over to check out Selrahc's territory:






Oh-ho-ho, the infamous Lab Three. I wonder if history will repeat itself


I may blockade it next turn, I do have a deal with him though for radiotropic fungus, which I don't want to cancel.



Moving more Isles, looks like Nic has another port:





I'll try to burn that one next. I razed Nic's city with a Worm who now has CII and full health, so there's a good chance it can survive IBT & rejoin the flotilla.





And in case anybody was curious what my empire looks like during all this excitement:






Mostly just gearing up for the next wave of expansion. I want to build several more marines eventually, but I'm holding off at the moment to finish Biofuel earlier (partially in case I want to switch any Marine builds to Hyperions), which I think I can get away with since nobody seems in any position to threaten me for at least the next dozen turns.

[Bobchillingworth]

Nic didn't attack my CII Worm, so my surviving units are on their way to check out his other port, where he has added a Genite and Flamer.




Also, pods! Or rather, pod!:






Starting to run out of them now, might not be any left in the oceans 12 turns from now, only leaving a few scattered on various islands.

[spellman]

Starting to run out of them now, might not be any left in the oceans 12 turns from now, only leaving a few scattered on various islands.

Oh no, whatever will you do? Have to turn down research instead of paying for it with pods???

[Bobchillingworth]

Thankfully, probably not! I may have enough cities by then that I can just stick a few on permanent Wealth builds and continue to research at a high rate

[Bobchillingworth]