Not hot enough, my lord! Let's play Emperor of the Fading Suns (40 turns are enough for most women!)

[rusty_shackleford]

D

@Adventurer get reading and voting

[Tangerine]

D. Violence is always the answer.

[asf]

d

[Manny V]

didn't really read it but ye pick D, kill em

[Vergil]

What is this **** and why was I tagged

[rusty_shackleford]

What is this **** and why was I tagged

My friend wanted people to vote

[DagothGeas5]

D

@Adventurer get reading and voting

I would like to continue to read the episodes but I wish to play this game myself in the future so I cannot to avoid spoilers so I can experience the game for myself.
I hope the story continues beautifully!

[Stack of Turtles]

D.

[MC_Sea]

I return after a short 3 day break and this is the first notification I see.
My answer is D. It seems like the best option in the long run after what you've had to deal with this whole time.

[Nessa]

I have no idea what I'm voting for. But if D means violence, then that's always the correct choice.

[TheEmptyRoad]

The **** is this? I’m not reading all that.

[TKVNC]

D

It's always morally correct to attack swarthoids.

[Humbaba]

@Adventurer get reading and voting

**** you, don't ping me ever again.

[Nessa]

**** you, don't ping me ever again.

[SpellSword]

D.

► Search and Destroy!

[Classix]

Had a read over this the last few hours. I have very limited tolerance to fuckery with opposite factions depending on the game.

If they want some heat I say light'em up. No mercy brother. 1 strike for me in games. Leave me be or stay perma'd on my **** list. The bell tolls, they had their chance.

[DemoGraph]

4985 AD +++ Interlude - The House Council

The House Council in Virigo Nordor, Delphian capitol

► Show Spoiler

Lords and ladies!
I trust that everyone had accustomed thouselves with current agenda. The first issue is proposal of house al-Malik. Please address the house as you deem necessary.
Russell Shackleford Hawkwood, Delphi.
War!
Ernest Tang Hawkwood. Delphi.

Violence is always the answer.

Mannfred Vie Hawkwood, Pentateuch.

didn't really read it but ye pick D, kill em

Michael McSea Hawkwood, Ravenna.

My answer is D. It seems like the best option in the long run after you've had to deal with this whole time.

They're quite warlike, considering the state of our military.
They are Hawkwoods, sire.
Ask that lady now.
And the word goes to...

I have no idea what I'm voting for. But if D means violence, then that's always the correct choice.

Meow?
Who is she?
This's auntie Catherine Nessa. She's from Leminkainen.
Oh.


Duke Erasmus Takavanaco Hawkwood, Gwynneth.

It's always morally correct to attack swarthoids.

I guess we couldn't have expected anything else from them, considering the history.


Timothy Stacke Hawkwood, Ravenna. Also speaks for duke Alvarex of Ravenna in absentia.
Me and duke Alvarex vote war!

Blademaster Sepian Hawkwood, Ravenna.

Search and destroy!

Classix Hawkwood, Gwynneth.

I say light'em up. No mercy brother.

Ask the priest.
Excuse me?
His eminence the archbishop, ask him.
As an advisor I advise you do not.

This is House business.
Ask him. Go on.
Holy Father! Would you enlighten the House with Church's opinion?

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

WAAAR!!
Are you satisfied?
I think he skipped a few a's...
I vote war.
It's decided then, dear kin. We shall not rest before al-Malik surrender themselves to us and accept us as their protectors before Pancreator.
AAAR!!

Old Dagoth pub, Virigo Nordor

► Show Spoiler

Something unspeakable brews on the capitol outskirts. The whispers. The voices drive people mad with the otherworldly words.

I would like to continue to read the episodes but I wish to play this game myself in the future so I cannot to avoid spoilers so I can experience the game for myself.

See for yourself, of course. But it's a 4X game, with a significant degree of randomness. So even if you try to repeat my actions, you'll get a different game. All you will spoil is tips and tricks that are mostly relevant in MP. Oh, and some cutouts from Fading Suns tabletop RPG books.

And no other LP will provide you with the same amount of dumb sexy jokes. I know. I checked. All the others are family friendly boring.

[DemoGraph]

4986 AD +++ Trade Drought

► Show Spoiler

Diplomacy and elections

The election had passed with expected results.



We've retained the spies and our little insurgence.


And the fleet is...


I hate those Hawkwoods so much.
Shush now.
Yes, yes, I know. But they are so hardheaded.
Now you know what was it like to be me.
Did I just heard a tone of gratitude for saving your perky little ***?
Neverrr!

The Eye and expeditions

And so the guerilla on Istakhr continues. We've finished the engie at last!
Only we didn't. Because a bug was introduced recently that cancels all ministry unit production during ministry reshuffling. There's no resource return.
Government corruption is legendary.
Is it larger than yours?
Silence, woman! I said that it is legendary, not that it is efficient.

So we begin the engie again while concentrating units in defensive positions. AI doesn't buy from agora, so we can get a little bit of metal we need for engie from traders.

On Kish rebels come dangerously close to our positions. Li Halan have full stacks of trash mobs in all their cities, so I think that our 10 units look weaker for rebel AI. Their most dangerous unit is that megatank - more than 80 armor, we'll be picking at it for a long time. The only good thing is that it's halfdead, so his stats are decreased.


We send another Eye lander from Delphi to Tethys. IIRC, it's a sparcely inhabited and poor planet, but we might have spare transports to get what we can. In the least it might become a distraction for al-Malik or anybody else.

Gwynneth

The medium tank I thought dead has survived! And there were no bombardment this turn!


Does it mean that vau tower has moved somewhere else? There's only one way to find out! And so notValiant has boosted to orbit, evading the symbiot fire and jumped to Gwynneth to find...

Don't you dare picking up some other widow, you hear me?!

Ravenna

We've brought 4 engies from Delphi. There're 2 reasons for that. 1. Ravenna is net +200 metal but only +80 food, so we need more food ASAP (and also to make it more sustainable long-term). 2. It has more untapped bonus points than Penta, so it's our next priority expansion target.


House matters

Engies built: Delphi - 6, Penta - 3, Gwy - 1, Ravenna - 1

I sense some innuendo here, Mr landwhale.


And here as well.


We're still preparing the army, both tech and economy.


This would allow us to train dervishes (combat psykers). They're good for defense, since IIRC they're tough, but need only basic resources and gems, so we should be able to field them easily. We'll see in a few turns.




The carrier is a singularity-cheap craft for fast attacks and raiding. For 3 sings you can place 4 torp bombers on it that would destroy 4 frigates / 2 destroyers while being generally cheaper than the latter.
We'll make some a bit later. The issue is - they have comparatively small force density, so a full stack of carriers should lose to a stack of destroyers. But we're definitely not that far in the game yet.

Oh, and we've finished our first torpedo bomber on Delphi, so we'll have something to put on those carriers in the future.


If we compare them to the fighter, we'll see that they cost the same. Fighters have lower rank (1 vs 2), so they can shield bombers. Fighters have slightly higher agility (can evade fire 10% better). But bombers have significantly better "close space combat" (last combat phase). It means that if you manage to tank for them with fighters, bombers are good at disassembling large armored ships. Frigates are there to kill bombers and tank for larger ships.

Another turn without Guild restocking agora on Delphi. Our super special relic was completely useless these last years. Also, there're significantly less League craft flying around. They've either killed themselves off symbiots or those Vau tower pirates were downing them fast. Or somebody else had spawned some rebel ships we didn't see yet. I can see that agoras on B2, Aragon and Kish get restocked, so there's at least some traffic.

To protect ourselves well we'd need to build starbases on our core worlds. They are orbital combat units, about as tough as a cruiser. They can't travel between stars and can't be transported. They don't need singularities, but they require a lot of ceramsteel and iron. CS is especially lacking, since we don't produce any, it needs chemicals for input (that we also don't produce). And while we can buy some from agora, Delphi has only 65 units in stock, while other planets have a little more than 60.

We've recently got $90k due to all the monopol sales, so I bought all CS and chems from Delphi's agora for the off chance that League management begins to act responsibly before their stockholders!

[DemoGraph]

4987 AD +++ Dual Destinies

► Show Spoiler

The Eye and expeditions

k bye


And what do you have there?
Just some personnel files, dear.
Show me.
But!..
Now.

And this is?
The captain Locke's widow.
Don't you ******* dare!
Quite an unladylike demeanor, my dear.
I said don't you ******* dare!
Come on. Don't you remember yourself in her place?
Stop or I'll cut her kids into double orphans!

She doesn't have any.
And yours as well.
Alright! Alright!

I promise!
Good
Ah, la passion.

Rebels had retreated from us on Kish. Good. They have two megatanks and a noble. Li Halan should be able to meatwave them, but they don't.


The Eye explores Tethys. We almost got hit by PTS, but evaded it. The garrisons seem small on the first glance. When we'll have spare transports, it might be a good idea to invade it.


Pentateuch

The core of the future heavy machinery aglomeration.
Also, here's our first ceramsteel plant (the one on Gwynneth doesn't count, no inputs). Only 32 turns into the game!


House matters

Engies built: Delphi - 6, Penta - 7, Gwy - 1, Ravenna - 1
Yes, we've made 15 engies this turn. Without any agora access. Snowballing, weee!

We've brought 800 energy from Ravenna to Delphi - it was a deadweight on the former and would allow us to postpone making more wells on Delphi for a few more turns.
And we've ponytrained two engies to Lemin and two more to Ravenna.


And now it's time for a short advertising!

[Athena Cykes ~ Courtroom Révolutionnaire ORCHESTRA]

Have you ever dreamed of seeing another sky?
Are you tired of living in the same mudrime sprawl for years?
Have you ever wanted to exchange your serfdom for the life of terrific adventure?
Hawkwood Dream Works is proud to announce that we have launched two routes from Delphi to the great old frontiers!
The Red Dawn would bring you to the daring world of Leminkainen!

It's ideal for those who hate the frosty Delphic evenings!

This untapped wilderness is there to provide you with an opportunity to work with the most sophisticated technology the House has to offer!

You'll scream it's the best you've ever had!

Or maybe you want something more relaxed?
Blue Wind would bring you to the paradise of Ravenna!

Its pastoral lifestyle would make even the most pent up of us unwind!

All thanks to the idyllic weather maintained by old republic gravity engines

crrrtchkt

THAT SLOWLY SCRUB AWAY THE TINIEST PIECES OF YOUR SOUL WITH SERRATED HOOKS

tchchcktrt

working on the land once blessed by Zebulon himself!

Ravenna provides ample opportunities for the deep soul searching!

So if you're ready to change your life, go sign a generation contract in HDW office near you!
And live happily ever after!

[Kalarion]

And live happily ever after!

Grimwulf, my love

[asf]

i hear he died of massive wodka

[DemoGraph]

4988 AD +++ Pound the earth!

► Show Spoiler

The Eye and expeditions

We've sold almost 700 food on Istakhr, since there's nothing to do with it and began making the second engie there.
Nothing interesting on other HWs.

House matters

Engies built: Delphi - 3, Penta - 4, Gwy - 1, Ravenna - 2

You're too fat to troll me, boy.


Alms campaign continues.


Hazbro give us a suspiciously good exchange. Psycho costs 410 RP, Spores 1040 RP AND they gib gibs. W/e. Get!


Yes, yesss...


And here they are.


These guys are hardcore, though specialized. But to explain them, to appreciate their uncanny powers born in enigmatic east, we need to consult

Interlude - Combat mechanics

► Show Spoiler

[Shamisen × Rock | Work & Study BGM by Samurai Girl V7]

(you may also forfeit my music choice and my writing and watch this for 20 minutes instead)

[EFS - Unit Combat Statistics Tutorial]

The basic (and only) combat interaction is attack. It's divided into two actions - roll to hit and damage.
Roll is 11 + attacker accuracy - target agility vs d20.
So if we have attack 10 unit, he has 5% chance to hit 20 agility unit.
If we hit, we determine proportion between attack strength and target armor. Say, attack str is 100 and target armor is 50. It gives us relation 2-1 in the following damage table.
// 1-5 1-4 1-3 1-2 1-1 2-1 3-1 4-1 5-1 6-1 7-1 8-1
//-------------------------------------------------------------
" 0 1 3 7 27 33 49 49 50 50 70 95"
" 0 2 4 8 28 39 49 51 60 65 75 99"
" 0 2 4 9 29 42 50 53 62 67 75 100"
" 0 2 4 10 29 45 50 57 62 68 80 100"
" 0 2 4 10 30 45 50 58 64 69 85 100"
" 1 2 4 10 30 45 50 59 64 70 85 100"
" 1 2 4 10 31 46 50 60 66 70 85 100"
" 1 2 4 11 31 47 50 60 66 71 95 100"
" 1 2 4 12 32 51 51 60 68 72 100 100"
" 1 3 5 13 32 55 51 62 89 99 100 100"
Then we roll random number [1;10] and choose the row. Say, 5th row gives us 45. It means that our attack deals 45 percentage points damage to target HP. If target had 62% HP, he's down to 17%.

The basic idea is very decent. Realisation is really suboptimal. Here're two charts, average expected damage and its minimax. Note that vanilla is unelegant. "Mine" is the one I came up with for my mod (in development).


Note that doubling your attack power doesn't necessarily doubles your damage output (though in my variant the increase is much smoother than in vanilla).

Now to combat turns.
You've surely noticed that units have different kinds of attacks: air, close, psy, etc.

When combat begins, we enter first turn of combat.
Then we sort all attack types according to their priority: air goes first, then indirect, etc., psy is last.
Then we select all units with air attack and their potential targets. Not all attacks can target all targets. Air attack can target only flyers, space attacks target only spaceships, etc. Psy can target anyone.
Then each active attacker chooses a target according to rank. Attacker's higher ranked units select first. Targets with lower rank get targeted first. Each attacker tries to select a unique target if possible. If there're more attackers than targets, several attackers may attack one target.
Then we conduct attack rolls as described above. Each type of attack has several attack rolls (called "phases" by devs): indirect (think artillery) does 2 attack rolls, direct (tank guns) does 3, close combat (light weapons) does 4. Generally speaking, the later the attack, the more attack rolls it has, though there're exceptions.
In vanilla attacks are very destructive. Say, you attack an enemy with 1-1 direct attack. You have 3 chances to deal ~30% HP damage to him on the first turn.
Both attackers and defenders roll at the same time. It's possible for units to kill each other simultaneously.

When all attacks of one type are over, we move to the next attack type.
When all attack types have rolled, we roll morale check: d100 vs current morale modified by HP. On fail unit routs - moves away from combat, zeroes on AP and is free for capture this turn if enemy unit walks over it.

Then the next turn of combat begins.

There're also many quirks in the system.
HP serves as a modifier for strength and armor (so 50% HP unit with strength 100 hits as if it had strength 50).
There're 3 morale levels that multiply strength and armor by 0.8-1-1.2.
Officers, nobles, sects, hiding and some techs change unit stats.
Psi attack rolls vs psy defence, not vs armor.
Spies, assassins and some other units begin targeting enemies from rank 6+, not from rank 1+ (they're effectively officer/noble killers, though these characters still can tank for each other).
There're also several special abilities like no retreat, etc.
In some combinations of attack-target there's only one attack roll for each AP (e.g. space cruiser, like the Pounder, uses ortillery).

All in all, it's a pretty intricate combat system, maybe even THE most intricate I've seen in 4Xs. What it effectively does is it creates opportunity for multiple unit roles and a freedom to play with it in mods.
- Air units and artillery hit first, "from afar", weakening enemy before the main battle.
- Low rank tanks and armored infantry duke it out as meatshields.
- There're two kinds of protection: high evasion and high protection. As well as secondary - being hard to target (e.g. subs can be targeted only by water and psy attack types).
- Generals sit behind the main battle line, supporting the fighting force. But infiltrators can hit them directly.
- There're early disrupters (artillery) and latefire killers (close combat, psy).

Also, the mechanics provide enough opportunity for trolling.
Let's say that there's a target unit with maximum 10 attack accuracy. If you have 21 agility unit, you can't be hit by opponent at all. That 11 spread usually doesn't happen in vanilla, but when it does, the results are hilarious.
Here's the result of 3 trackers attacking a full stack of Decados militia and basic guns on current turn.

Trackers have default 8 agility, +2 from jungle environment, +2 from Eskatonic = 12. Enemy has anti-tank guns with 5 direct attack (11+5-12=4 or 20% chance to hit) and 2 close attack (5% chance to hit), militia with 3 close attack (10% to hit)... and arty and flaks with 2 accuracy attacks. If any of the trackers roll well on camo, they get +3 to agility, in that case only 4 ATGs have 5% chance to hit. We don't precisely have 11 spread, but even a lucky 10 spread achieves the desired result.
(and no, I'm not going to attack Decados this way, because we're not ready yet and we'd have to depend on RNJesus too much)

House matters, cont.

► Show Spoiler

Back to dervishes. They can assassinate rank 6+ units (nobles and officers, some arty). They hit with high accuracy psy, bypassing armor. And very few units have both high psy defence and high agility to be resistant to them.
On the minus side, their attack is very late - it hits last among all attacks. And they can't attack on Byz2 when it's not yet allout war (not sneaky enough). Oh, and they're pretty expensive - about $3.5k, while medium tank costs $0.4k and our advanced missile arty costs $2.2k.
So, they're here to kill generals in the field, as well as tanky PTS guns. And symbiots - they usually have medium armor and high agility, but a really lousy psy defense.

Leminkainen

First red route migrants settled on fat spots. Food and metal output are bad, but bonuses should make up for that in the future.


Ravenna

The blue route from Lemin brought settlers last turn and this turn, so we've founded whopping 7 cities, adding 260 food and 190 metal (on full output). Strike the earth!


Tethys

We've risked recon landing on Tethys capitol and there was no PTS fire. The garrison seems small, so we should be able to pick up a bunch of spec ops and spies that I've been building on Delphi (to have some use out of fort turns) and try invading. We've also captured a few cities to the Eye just for shits and giggles, because AI had left them empty.
Also, there's a noble in the palace whom we might try to capture.


And the Pounder is back in business. He spent half his time striking empty ground but when he did hit he hit in the money.

[DemoGraph]

4989 AD +++ I need blood!

► Show Spoiler

The Eye and expeditions


[The Prince's Dream]

Nope. Nothing interesting again.
Except that Decados had lost almost all the farms on their capitol (they still have one to the west). If AI didn't cheat, he probably should've had famine now.


And on Kish we sent troops to explore stuff. Rebels are running in the desert.


Something also happens on Aragon. Hazat mass chaff against rebels but don't attack.


All in all, things are approximately as they were 10 turns ago.

Tethys

The Pounder broke through enemy PTS missile with minimal damage.


We've landed the Eye recon. The enemy seems to be weak. So we're hauling a few spec ops from Delphi.


House matters

Stealth field initiated! We should be able to build sneaky spaceships soon. They're weak, but useful for reckon. Now I'm too afraid to go looking in symbiot space. Or at those Vau towers. Stealthships have 99 camo, so they should be invisible to all (because there's no unit with comparable spot).
I think that there was a bug before when AI could've seen them because he uses maphack. We'll see whether it was fixed.





The Academician's private residences shall remain off-limits to the Genetic Inspectors. We possess no retroviral capability, we are not researching retroviral engineering, and we shall not allow this Council to violate faction privileges in the name of this ridiculous witch hunt!


We're amortizing our freighters pretty heavily. Note the one with 3% HP.


Engies built: Delphi - 4, Penta - 5, Gwy - 2, Ravenna - 2. I placed 10 of those 13 - we're still industrializing Penta and mass extract Ravenna and Leminkainen (using engies from Delphi as well).

I've already whined about that, but look at this.


We're at war with two great houses and we don't care.
Even al-Malik don't come at us despite them controlling the Fleet. I think that I overdid myself this time - AIs are gimped by terrestrial rebel spam on the one hand, and on the other are too afraid of Symbiots and roaming Vau Towers to attack me with fleets.
So far they only conduct talk show warfare.


I also think that rebel spawn quality was increased considerably compared to vanilla (the version from the 1990s). Because I don't remember ordinary ruins spawning doomstacks like we have here.
We're also gimped a bit - agora on Delphi wasn't restocked for at least 10 years already. We don't even produce anything from one of the spaceports, because on the one hand I'm spending all the metal on engies still, so I can't build additional freighters, and on the other we can't build space fighters, because we've bought all the chemicals from agora and we don't produce any here. At least we should be able to move some ceramsteel from Penta soon to finally make a starbase, just in case.
Also, we're +1400 food and +1800 metal, so we'll have excess metal soon. Again, I'll probably sink it into freighters. The only thing that bothers me is that Leminkainen, Ravenna and Gwynneth look like great mining planets but mediocre food planets - they have very twisty shores, many places to put great mines that I'm too scroogy to place arboriums on. Ideal arborium lands are wide grasslands or glaciers and there're not that many of those there (well, deserts and tundras without trees are also good, but it seems much better to get energy and trace there, respectively). Actually, Tethys might be a nice breadbasket planet (because it's generally poor and ******), though I'll have to check it some more (it also has some ragged shores good for mines that would compete with arbo places).


We're 35 turns into the game and there wasn't really any combat. Rebel planet capture was fun, but short.
I don't remember whether I wrote it already or not, but... I remember lead dev (Andrew Greenberg) saying that they've tried to design the game in a way that would promote intrigues and diplomacy and discourage rushes and early cheese. Well, at least in singleplayer they oversucceded. I've skipped through all the early units, because there's no sense making them.
It's a goddamn wargame! I want to kill someone already, dammit! GIB BLOOD

To be frank, in MP the pressure would've been higher. We would definitely need to at least send some troops to B2 to protect our noble.

But still. The game needs some serious modding and map alteration to be fun during all phases.
There're several mods on Discord channel that seem to improve situation somewhat (Emperor wars, Overhaul, both are still in development). Maybe I'll also try to make one later.

[DemoGraph]

4990 AD +++ Nineties are back!

► Show Spoiler

[Phil Collins - Another Day In Paradise]

The Eye and expeditions

Finally a fort on Istakhr. We're spamming trackers.


Rebels are pursuing our trackers on Kish. I wasn't going to put off pressure from Li Halan, so they're coming back.
It's interesting that rebels still lock on us, because it was we who pinged them originally.


On Aragon Hazat took control of that eastern farm. I think that they've lost it to rebels before. Also, rebels are running around with a bunch of meson PTSs - those are tanky, but could've been poked to death even by a sufficiently large militia stack. Hazat have divebombers that could've oneshotted them, because they don't have anti-air at all.


Leminkainen

I've been minding my business, when I saw the League's caravan in orbit! It probably means that the blockade is broken and they head to Delphi now! Weee!


Ravenna

Rav turns out to be a disgusting little planet. It has ****** food income (because it's ragged and doesn't have a lot of food bonuses). Metal income is nice, but without food there's no point in it. I've tried to gather metal to send to Delphi and realized that nominally 600 metal income is dispersed among a dozen mines that are practically isolated from each other and need orbital transports just to gather the stuff. Or micro like hell, sending small packs of metal "on foot" through the jungles and mountains...
We might yet make something out of it in the future - it has a gigantic ocean, so we can spam energy collection here. But right now it's meh.

Tethys

Invasion! Special forces turned out to be not so speciual after all. They've killed farm militia easily, but militia and infantry dug in in fort had damaged one and routed another.

Dear D! Maybe we should increase troop wages?
But mylord! How then would they prove that they're ready to suffer and overcome hardships for the House?!
But they're not fighting!
Mylord! If we increase their wages, we would have to pay them more!
It's kinda obvious, isn't it?
In that case we might have to delay furnishing expansion in the pleasure wing of the palace, mylord.
You're right, it's unacceptable. What shall we do then?
Send in more troops, mylord. Delphi garrison is eager for bloodshed!
Indeed.

House matters

Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb,
whose fleece was white as snow.


Yay!


Or maybe naaaay?..
Stealth ship might turn out to be useless. I think that 11 camo could be seen by AI. I remember that it was that way in vanilla, but then Nova mod increased its camo to 99 and everything worked. We'll see. I'll try making one or two some time later.
In combat that ship is on par with frigate. But it takes 3 turns to build it instead of 2. Its only saving grace is that it doesn't require any metal to build, so we might be able to mass them lategame if we'll scale advanced materials enough.


Engies built: Delphi - 4, Penta - 5, Gwy - 1, Ravenna - 2, Istakhr - 1.

[DemoGraph]

4991 AD +++ Unchanging changes

► Show Spoiler

The Eye and expeditions

Stop pestering me, you stalkers!


The Eye keeps exploring Tethys for us.


Delphi

Mom! Mom! Look, the Gigantic!
The capitol agglomeration of Virigo Nordor stretched on the Delphian surface for thousands of kilometers. All kinds of wonders, technological and spiritual, could be found here.



[Scorpions - Wind Of Change]

Great spires of the house palace proudly pierced the horizon. Roads and rails crisscrossed the land as far as eye could see. Green and gray and metal mix of buildings old and new. Visitors came here from dozen worlds looking for electronics and famous Hawkwood gems.
Agora buzzed and blinked. Interstellar trade stagnated for a long time, yet locals were optimistic - planetary market bustled with local goods and raw materials from neighbouring colonies. Church relics could be found here (including several thumbs of the baby prophet). Fusion cells that worked for centuries (according to manufacturer). Woundrous mechanical thinking machines (simple enough to not get the ire of the church, but complex enough for advanced arithmancy), electrical lighting, cars and flitters could be seen in the city. Citizenry visited hundreds of houses of learning, with scientists daring and intricate enough to get the praise even from posh league eldermen.
Yet even here the landing of such a great ship was unusual enough to attract gawkers from days away.
Gigantic landed on the local port, far away from the hustle of the capitol proper. It brought in its belly a great assortment of new goods. Load of nanomaterials - sheets of wondrous metal as soft as silk, as clear as glass and as hard as diamond. Strange beasts from Pentateuch. And industrial crates - many trains worth of heavy, dusted, rugged looking metal boxes guarded by grim Hawkwood troops.
Mooom!
Yes, dear. Of course I can see it, it's right in front of us!
Bo-ring!
Hold on a sec, we need to find the servant... A-ha! Hey, you!
Yes, mylady?
Are you Charleston?
Charlestawn, mylady.
Yes. Tell me.
In the grim and gray and the dim today...
...we shall find the way. Give.
Here, mylady.
Off now.
Yes, mylady.
Ahhhh...
Mom, what is it?
Not now, Winnie.
But mooom!
Okay, okay. You want to know what it is?
Yes!
It's a special juice, made on Pentateuch for mommy!

Why?
So that mommy could still be pretty for a long long time.
Can I have one?
No, darling, you're too young.
But-
No buts, young lady! Enough men were ki... kept working really hard for this vial to be made. It's for me only.
But I want to remain pretty forever! Like you!
We'll get you one when you need it, darling.
Promise?
Cross my heart!
With the blazing dart!

In the background tens of thousands of serfs got in the line and tiptoed into the giant ship's cargo bay. Attracted by the evergrowing Hawkwood Dream Work corporation they looked excitedly at the ship that would change their lives forever.

Leminkainen and Ravenna

I brought some engies to Lemin, brought some food to Ravenna on return trip... and ordered 10 engies there. We shall build the fattest Coruscant ripoff there can ever be.
I hope that I won't forget to bring enough transports in a few turns.

Also, the League fleet has disappeared. No restock for us! Sad!

House matters

Power! Infinite powerrr!

(this's an empty tech)

As if to help us with logistics, a far-off monastery decides to share with us the blueprints of the largest transport possible.


Soon Gigantic's sisterships would bloat out the sky!
Or maybe not, because hauler has double the slots of the freighter, but its construction cost is 2.5x. Seriously wtf Holistic. You&maths are like Poland&space.

Another monastery has decided to give us powered armor!

Of course this tech won't allow us to build anything. It's yet another prereq.

I've been saving these goody huts for later, but decided to ping them out of boredom. They gave us ~4k RP worth of techs. Can't complain. This's ~2 turns of our tech output.

Engies built: Delphi - 4, Penta - 5, Gwy - 1, Ravenna - 3.

Yep, we've got another empty turn full of engie shuffling and expansion.
Bo-ring!

[DemoGraph]

4992 AD +++ Hotter than hot

► Show Spoiler

The Eye and expeditions

We've built another engie on Istakhr and got enough metal for the third one. I'm not building him, though, because he would just zero out in the next elections again. But we do build another fort. We're going to swamp the enemy in trackers!


Decados recaptured their farm.


So we did attack them with previously mentioned tactic of mass evasive trackers and captured almost a full stack of chaff. The rolls were somewhat lucky. Trackers failed more camo rolls than I expected and so became vulnerable, but received less damage in the end - I expected to lose 2-3 of them. Instead we've got 4 out of 5 trackers heavily damaged, but alive.



Anyway, for 25 metal and 5 fort turns we've captured or killed troops worth ~600 metal (and ~60 prod turns, but it's almost irrelevant since that chaff can be built anywhere). Not bad!


Rebels are still stalking us on Kish, so we hide in the fort.


And the Hazat are moving around an ungodly amount of stacks. I'm afraid that they would stumble upon us and declare another war. So I move trackers to wilderness and infantry to the fort.


Tethys

Behold! A mighty invasion force that would let us capture half the planet!
(I paradropped an officer and a meatshield infantry from Delphi to that farm)


Also, the rebels still didn't retake three empty cities I took from them for funz. I know, I know, Tethys is Imperial fleet planet and ministries don't fight between each other... But seriously, those guys.


House matters


Yes, we've researched them. They're useless now, because trackers are OP. I'm going to clear all the tech tree just because.
This tech also allows us to make heavy infantry. They're ~8-10 times more expensive than ordinary infantry and maybe twice as good. You'd rather have 3-4 basic arties than one of these guys. I think I never built them during these 25 years. They're so ******, they're the strong contender for the worst unit in the game.



Another dud.


And fan mail.


Lel, ok.
(in case you forget, that's one of the starting techs)


And another monastery tech, cheap and useless.

These guys are almost as expensive as heavy infantry (except for ceramsteel), but have worse attacks, whopping 3 fort turns to produce and are very squishy. They're like special olympics spec ops.
What makes specops feasible? They have comparatively high rank (can hide behind tanks and among militia), 7 camo (that often add +3 to agility on top of being a bit less squishy than generic infantry), 7/9 accuracy attacks (high enough to confidently hit evaders like trackers, assassins, etc.) and 80 strength close attack (they can effectively damage tanks and power armor units). On top of that they have high spot, so you don't have to bring a dedicated recon unit with their stack. They're a typical late fire killer - put enough meatshields in front of them and in the end they'll kill anyone in their weight category.
Fanatics kinda want to be them, but they're squishier, less damaging, need more resource variety (also chems), and they're rank 2, so they would die one of the first. Another strong contender for the worst unit in the game.



I also forgot to sell monopols last turn, so I think some of the labs didn't fully work. Fixing.


And since we're discussing tech economy... I've calculated and we're spending 444 RP/turn to maintain all our techs. Or 4.5/18 labs are busy maintaining stuff. I could've probably halved this cost by erasing useless filler techs, but it always felt to me like cheating. Yes, we can forfeit that infantry tech (we've just researched) to save on stuff.. but this action should probably penalize me, at least somewhat. I should lose some capability when I do that. It shouldn't be a win-win nobrainer (like donating gender studies textbooks to the inquisition).

Engies built: Delphi - 3, Penta - 6, Gwy - 1, Ravenna - 4, Istakhr - 1.
I had to make a small spreadsheet, because engie spam was getting out of hand. We're making 15 on 3-4 planets every turn. And while we finally at a time when we got 1 spare freighter this turn, engie-freighter dances on several planets become more intense.

[SNAP! - Rhythm Is A Dancer]

I've also realized that in the next three turns we'll make 19 engies on Penta. I can spam manufacturing cities there for some time yet, but, to be honest, soon we'll run out of free spots to build (and useful non-extractor cities). At a glance I can actually put ~10 extractors still and maybe 10 more manufacturing cities. But the planet is almost at capacity.
The same is true for Delphi, actually. We can put some extractors there, but they would be less profitable farms or wells.
So while it pains me to no end, I decrease engie spam for a time. Instead, we'll be hoarding resources to send them to peripheral planets and build engies there.
I didn't do it previously, because extractors are dispersed through the planetary surface. I had a choice between spending freighter turns getting the resources bit by bit from about 8 extractors OR move 1-2 engies per turn. The latter is obviously more practical. But we're at a point when planets are generally criss-crossed by road networks, so we can try to aggregate resources for regular transfers. It would be much more convenient at continental planets, of course, and less efficient at the island ones... but we can try.

The League has again came to Leminkainen. For some reason they go there but don't try to move to Delphi later and just disappear somewhere instead. But it means that they broke through the blockade (whatever it was, symbiot or rebel), and we can try to do so as well.


At that moment I recall that we have trackers on Istakhr doing nothing (yeah, I know). So I move them to check the road to the east...


[Aladdin - Arabian Nights]

[DemoGraph]

4993 AD +++ To bury all opposition

► Show Spoiler

The Eye and expeditions

al-Malik had unexpectedly removed all advanced units and decided to attack us with chaff.


So we went out and pwned them.
Local trackers are significantly worse than the ones on Severus, because they're not Eskatonic (no agility bonus). They're still the best cannon fodder. Militia lasts for 1-2 hits, these guys evade 70-80% of enemy attacks. So the only thing we need to hold on is enough firepower to make attackers useless in 1-2 turns.
And the first wave went very well.


Gwynneth

You know what time is it? It's time to take lady Gwynneth back from xeno threat!


Just look at that damsel in distress.



Gwynneth's gate flashed as two groups of freighters broke through its ring and exploded in hundreds of bright angry dots. And each dot had one goal - purge the xenos!


That weren't there. Where the hell is Vau tower? It's a mystery! But it means that we're free to mass colonize the planet!
And so more fleets tore the space driven by a single goal.


EXPAND

House matters

Engies built: Delphi - 4, Penta - 6, Ravenna - 5.

Lazors!


Again, they're useless by themselves, but they open up a bunch of unit techs: destros and cruisers, heavy tanks and maybe some infantry.
Note that destroyers are more expensive in tech than cruisers (a little bit, but still). They're ~1/3 cheaper and don't need ceramsteel, worse at anti-capital ship duty, but excel as anti-fighters.


Potential hovertanks! We're not going to build them. They're very lategame (read - too expensive to use against AI).


I feel like I have to be the emperor.
trrrktktcht
Canonically you became one this year, my lord.
But it was in reality in which your house didn't start as dirty savages: on a single planet, without any tech to speak of and no mines.
And your enemies were ********.
And you didn't have me to help you with finances.
And you was prettier.
No homo.
chchckbrrrrt
Yes, mylord. We're preparing the troops to bury all opposition to your success as we speak.

[DemoGraph]

4994 AD +++ The rape of Kish

► Show Spoiler

House matters

Engies built: Delphi - 4, Penta - 5, Ravenna - 2, Gwy - 4.

Empty tech.


You know the drill.


This is honestly insulting.


This would've been pretty useful, but alas. The House council has decided that there's only war with al-Malik. It means that there's definitely no chance for peace with Decabros.


We're giving our votes to Hazat again, because why not.


The Eye and expeditions

Al-Malik are closing in on Istakhr. But they have many militias while we have almost a full stack of slightly better units, so we should be ok.


Li Halan had lost a noble... despite the picture and the message, it doesn't mean that he was specifically assassinated. Death in combat is also possible...


And that is exactly what happened. Rebels had captured the palace, cutting off Li Halan from taxes. It means that only the noble on B2 remains. Li Halan are out of elections and should fall soon.


We got a full stack of trash on Severus to go hunt Decados with. I'm waiting, though, because troops need time to heal and because I don't want to fight before the elections.

Tethys

The Pounder bombed, the troops moved, the page was turned.

Delphi

In the western Virigo Nordor, far from the hustle and bustle of the palace crowds, a new project was initiated. The project that promised to change the house forever.
Again!


[SMAC The Longevity Vaccine]

Yep, I'm making a cluster of biochems. Because despite all reason Delphi has whopping 4 exotica bonuses, and I had managed to get 1k of exotica here. I am actually producing 110 exotica per turn, so I would be able to triple the production easily... but I ran out of engies and there's no need to do it for now.
Exotica is used only in biochemical production, and that means assassins, bioengineered monstrosities and plague bombs - traditionally strong points of Decados that are condemned through all white world. I don't yet have techs to make decent units with those biochems, but it might be useful to get a stockpile for the future (besides, at the moment I have no free transports to move engies away from Delphi).
Guess who's going to be the main drugdealer in the 'hood?

Exotica-Biochem rant

► Show Spoiler

Here we have another example of game quality.

You see, a toxic and exotic world of Severus has 9 exotica bonus resource spots due to how toxic and exotic it is (permajungle, think Harry Harrison's Deathworld). Cadiz has 0, Cadavus = 0, Malignatius = 0 (Grail = 1, Pandemonium = 1). Decados total = 9 (11).
The toxic and exotic world of Chernobog, the homeworld of symbiots, has 12.
Li Halan and Al-Malik have 8, Hazat have 9. All of that seems a bit too much considering that their core planets are predominantly earthlike "garden worlds".
Guess how much exotica can be produced by Hawkwoods?
Delphi = 4, Ravenna = 5, Leminkainen = 4 (that's ok, it has alien jungle biology described as unique among the human worlds), Gwynneth = 0. HW total = 13. (I also have 1 more on Penta) So despite the idea that exotica should be, ahem, exotic, it is spammed like hell on terrestrial worlds.
Even if we retcon Delphi map (as we should, the map ingame has no similarity to the map in RPG), HW is still as strong in this regard as all the other houses (and Decados are on par with everyone else).
The planet with the second largest number of exotics is another terrestrial and heavily populated world of Rampart. Because **** all reason, that's why.
And if you think that is changed in mods, think again. Emperor wars, the alleged "lore accurate" total conversion, places 2 (******* two) exoticas on Severus and 5 on Delphi, 5 on Criticorum (the second most populated planet in the setting) and 2 on Leminkainen (again, another toxic jungle).

Back to the game

► Show Spoiler

Gwynneth

About a dozen transport fleets zip between Ravenna, Gwynneth and Leminkainen, bringing lots of food and metal to jumpstart expansion on Gwynneth.

(but there're only 9 transport units, you say, and I reply that some eagles have landed)

We've also brought missile launchers from Lemin. With noble and his tanks they make up one of the most advanced stacks in the House. Some time later we should be able to establish a foothold on Bannockburn.


Also I've tried conducting "operation grasshopper" - that is, I've dropped a recon plane with engie, built that mine and sent the plane to explore. I think that plane should have been refueled while it was in cargo, but honestly I'm not sure. We'll see.


Also note a big guild fleet near Lemin. Wonder why. And whether they would finally restock agora on Delphi, FFS, lazy shits.

[DemoGraph]

4995 AD +++ Toppling Tower

► Show Spoiler

General matters

Now that's a big boy.


The Pounder won't be alone soon!


Next.


Fun fact: according to lore, woman can call herself patriarch if she wishes so.


That's quite pathetic. Especially since AI has no labs to store the tech in. Agreed.


And that's the reward for our loyalty.


The Eye and expeditions

And so another battle rages on the plains of Istakhr.


That one didn't go that well. Most of our units rolled on sneak too well, so enemy fire was concentrated on two trackers that were wiped. We've captured a single militia. Not that bad actually, considering that we've killed a pair of tanks.


Delphi

We've built the first starbase on Delphi. Should AI desire to attack us after all with the fleet, we have some chance to defend now... If we have 2-3 more of these and some fighters.

Gwynneth

Wait, what's going on here? Why are there army units in orbit?


Fame and glory await!
Are you with me?!
I'm so going to regret this.
Great!
Everyone...
LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY


HAWKWOOOOOD
We detect Vau ship! I repeat, Vau ship!
IMPOSSIBRU
Definitely Vau, sire!
Call for reinforcements!
What do you mean reinforcements! There are no reinforcements! There is no fleet!
Call for torpedo bombers. They would save us.
You know they should've been an improvisation? A backup plan?
And so they would. Have faith in Pancreator's mercy!
Or we are dead.
Vau tower moves in our direction!

The fleets closed in and...


A-ha! Fortune favors the bold!
I told you, those can't be Vau. Those were some barbarian impostors!
That was very close. Very. Close.
Don't fret! A new fief awaits! We're going to be so rich!
Prepare the troops for invasion!
(I always wanted to say those words.)

Sim city matters

I was surveying the planetary stocks thinking of the best way to move resources to frontier worlds... And then it hit me - I'm fukken dumb. I have 1.8k metal on Penta and no way to move them out easily. But I CAN spam labs there. So I did. I ordered 19 engies there. 10-12 for labs and some more for additional infrastructure. I could have moved those resources west after some turns, maybe even win some mine-turns here and there. But I seriously can't be bothered. And here there's a way to use those resources in a fast and simple manner.
I would've probably though about it a bit earlier if not for the fact that I'm making turns so slowly because I'm seriously tired of all that sim city business. It should've been a wargame, goddamnit!
...
We're building 71 engies at the moment.
...
Oh, and the engies tally for today is: Delphi - 3, Penta - 8, Ravenna - 10, Gwy - 4.