After a significant hiatus after DA, I got the bug to try out TA. I was even inspired to upgrade my 7 year old computer that was having trouble with the ships last time I played. (Well, there's also the fact that I'm anxiously awaiting Left 4 Dead!) The improved performance alone makes it a much better game, but I must say that I'm loving TA 2.0 so far. It's hard to pull myself away from playing to write up a report, but I enjoy reading them so much that I figure I'll try to contribute a bit. I don't have a big backstory or gripping narrative, but I do have game settings that seem uncommon; so I was hoping to share my experiences. I'm nowhere near finishing my game. I'm 2.5 years in and can easily see playing out another 10 years before victory becomes a matter of cleaning up. I have plenty to write about now and shouldn't have any trouble keeping things moving.
The defining characteristics of the game are star and planet density and short range. I wanted to play a game where every planet was crucial, so I set Stars and Planets to Occasional and Habitables to Uncommon. A bit of testing showed that combination to yield enough planets to work with while not becoming overwhelming. I also wanted to increase the role of starbases and create real zones of control, so I modified the races to each have a range penalty. A bit of testing showed -200 to reduce travel to a reasonable bubble around my planets. Life support and starbases should actually turn out to be pretty useful.
Here are the galaxy settings:
I also set Extreme Planets to frequent. I always thought Extreme Colonization was a bit of an afterthought, so why not see just how important it can be with the new update? Also, you can't see it, but I chose 9 random Major Races with a difficulty rating of Tough. No bonuses for the AI . . . yet. I'd like to try these conditions on nominally even footing for now.
My race:
I decided to go for the Yor since I haven't played them up until this point. I also ran up against their Super Isolationist ability last game and figured it would be a nice defense against agressive civs. Their Barren World Colonization also might just pay off under these conditions. I beefed up my economics, morale, and research and took Federalists for the econ bonus. I thought that fewer planets would mean I needed to squeeze more out of them. Looks like I'm ready to go.
Starting galaxy:
Two things: First, I did Ctrl N once. I normally take what I get, but I got stuck up in a corner with no planets in range. I just wasn't ready to deal with that. Second, you probably noticed that the map is actually a six month picture. Well, I forgot to take a starting pic, and you really didn't miss much. These settings turn the colony rush into the colony crawl. A couple starbases and a handful of colonies pop up, but no explosion. I managed to find a PQ 9 world just NE of Iconia, at the edge of my influence. I also scored a bonus in a PQ 12 barren planet on the edge of Drath space. Go Super Isolationists! Other than that it's constant disappointment with PQ0 and extreme worlds. At least the other civs seem to be going as slowly as I am. I did manage to pick up a research resource. It was kinda nice to snatch a resource and not feel like I was shooting myself in the foot by not making another colony ship. I actually end up with 4 extra colony ships with nowhere to go until I research some Extreme Colonization techs.
For research, I started along the Efficiency Studies line. It's a Yor specific tech that provides an economic boost at each level. ES 1 and 2 rack up a tidy 15% bonus. ES 3 gives more bonus and allows construction of Efficiency Centers, for a one-per-planet 25% economics bonus. By this time I'd run into the Snathi and Drath Legion, so decided to climb up the diplomacy tree with Xeno Comms, Universal Translator, and Diplomatic Relations. I decide to rush for the Diplomatic Translators to gain an edge in negotiations.
6 more months go by . . .
The blue line shows my range - the limit of my explorations. Looks kinda like a face, huh? Neat. Letting out my inner 5 year old give us . . .
A green haired, pointy eared, range-monster ready to consume the galaxy. Notice how the Drath are right in the maw?
Ok, I'll keep the 5 year old in check from now on, promise. Anyway, my flagship and my 4 extra colony ships have visited every solar system in range and report no additional worlds that can be colonized at this time. There was a juicy PQ9 world just outside my range in Korx space, but they finally scatched it up before I could get a constructor over to increase my range. Peeves me just a bit, but I find out before too long that the Korx may be my best friends . . . but for now I'm worried about colonies. Within my range are 11 habitable worlds that break down like so:
4 worlds given to major races (Iconia, Iconia V, Dratha, Dratha VI I think)
1 world given to minor race - the Snathi
1 PQ 9 world that I managed to snag
5 extreme worlds - 3 toxic PQ 14,10,7; 1 aquatic PQ 9, and my barren PQ12.
Wow. I'd say Extreme Colonization will really shine in this game, with nearly half of worlds extreme, being 5 of the 6 worlds that didn't come with a race attached. I control 4 planets and the Drath control 2, having been stuck on their original worlds. I have an important choice at this point - do I research Extreme Colonization and snag those extra planets, or do I go for Space Conquest and try to knock off the Drath before they have enough time to make themselves a pain?
First things first. Noticing my slow population growth, I looked for anything I could research to combat it and found Advanced Population Acceleration! Another Yor specific technology, it addresses my problem directly. I get that and the subsequent Spark of Life Enhancement to add a 15% population growth bonus. With those techs researched I make my decision - Space Conquest. My choice is influenced as much by my disgust with the Drath as it is by the Recruitment Centers that I can build after I research Stellar Fortification. 10% econ and 20% pop growth is to good to put off. I pour my resources into research and developing my colonies to utilize the new structures.
June, 2228:
Slight changes, but enough to reassure me that the AI is in fact moving and isn't frozen. You see the little brown circle on the far east edge? One of the toxic worlds is in that system. I freaked for a moment thinking the Drath had actually researched Toxic Colonization, but it turned out to be just an influence starbase hanging around by itself. Hmmm. You can also see the Drath Legion influence expanding south, where there are no planets. Turns out they have control of 4 resources now - 1 each of morale, military, influence, and economic. Just makes them even more tempting targets!
In the meantime, I finished researching Trade in there somewhere and sent a freighter to the Snathi to boost incomes. I was hoping to adopt the Dark Yor, but I'll just have to make do with these insufferably cute little varmints! I'm thinking they're worth more to me as a stable trading partner than a PQ15 planet to conquer. I've got my hands full anyway. Seems - someone - convinced the Drengin to declare war on me in May. I have a sneaking suspicion that my Super Manipulator (read Super Worm) neighbor the Drath had a hand in it. They are so dead. I've researched Beam Theory and Kinetic Streams I, and also Interstellar Construction, so I can make some ships to hold off the Drengin and clear out the Drath's pathetic resistance. I'm almost done with Planetery Invasion, so Transports aren't far behind. My spies tell me the Drath are ripe for conquest while my saboteurs keep their research efforts down and try to glean some tech for me. Nothing left now but the build up . . .
Jan, 2229:
More slight change. It seems the Iconians are expanding in the southwest. I worry a bit about them and the Torians, who control a large space, but it will be a while before it comes to anything. My relations with the my neighbors to the west, the Korx, are improving. My expanding military keeps them in check, and they've sent a freighter my way. I haven't seen anything from the Drengin yet. Looks like the range issue stymies them thus far. I've reinforced my research starbase with Battle Stations MkI, as it's in the direct path from Drengin space to my domain. It should be able to handle the current batch of fighters and give me enough time to mount a response.
Speaking of starbases, the UP voted this year to limit starbases to 2 modules. Permanently. Totally disgusting. The upside is that there are an obscene number of resources on this map - I've found 4 in Drath space and 5 in mine. You can see on the map that I've grabbed 2 more north of me - 1 military and 1 econ. There are 2 more military resources in the northwest of my range that I'm working on. If I get those and clean up what the Drath have, I'll be in good shape.
It seems the Drengin are doing something, after all. I'm getting reports that they're strong arming the Terrans, Lentzlandians, and the Jessuins. They also got stuck with just their 2 original planets, so they can't be that awesome, but I guess they got those super dominator corvettes by declaring war on me. Bully for them. They'll be dealt with in their time.
I received a transmission from the Carrinoids, the second minor race I've encountered. I realized somewhere along the line that I neglected to give the minor races the range penalty, so they're cruising all over the galaxy while the rest of us struggle to get around. Oh well. Those guys need all the help they can get! It's better than the last game, where I screwed it up so that only I had the -200 range penalty! I didn't even realize until after the game. Wow.
Jun, 2229:
It's done. The Drath have succumbed to my military. If it seems like I skipped something, let me assure you that I didn't. I finished researching Planetary Invasion and started building transports. I continued researching Planetary Bombardment to get the soldiering bonus. It took 29 weeks or so, but I had plenty of time before I would have my fleet up and running, plus the travel time which turned out to be about 20 weeks by itself. During the flight, I managed to steal Remedial Engineering from the Drath. I think it's one of their race-specific techs. It doesn't lead to anything for me, but it gives +5% research, so that's a good bonus. Oddly enough, the Drath contacted me within a couple weeks and offered a trade for . . . Remedial Engineering! I have no idea how that works out, but they offered me Xeno Economics, which gives +10% econ, so I couldn't refuse! I had to conclude they were just too stoopid to be allowed to live. Along the way I researched or traded the Snathi for Planetary Improvements (+10% mil, soc, and research), Sensors I, Xeno Engineering, General Life Support, and Propulsion up to Impulse Drive MkI for the 10% bonus.
When my forces finally arrived at Dratha, it was a slaughter. My pair of Phoenixes (yes, I'm using the pre-disigned ships) cleared out their ships fast. They had no weapon or defense technologies even researched. My 6 Transports were able to clear out both planets with about 2.6b left over to populate the planets. I spent the money and used Information Warfare 3 times for the extra pop. What a pushover. I'll be in the red for a few turns, but that's no biggie. I still have 4 more transports en route to beef up my planets, so I'll be well on the way to recovery.
That's where I left it last night. I was starting to wonder if the AI will be able to handle these conditions. My experience tells me that the Drath are almost always a pushover, but this was pretty lousy. At least they were smart enough to get the Drengin after me. My doubts were somewhat assuaged when I started up tonight and decided to push the turn button:
WHAT?
Oh, that's what!
So it seems I was right to be worried about the Torrians and Iconians, and those pesky Altarians too! I'm now at war with half of the remaining civilizations, 3 of which have formed a dreaded Axis of Good against me! And wait, what's this . . .
The Drengin built a starbase encroaching on my space! Am I expecting visitors?
This is what I meant when I said the Korx could turn out to be my best friends. Getting them on the view screen gives me a bit more hope. They've colonized 7 planets - more than the 6 I now have - and have researched Extreme Colonization, Barren World Colonization, and Radioactive World Colonization. Wow. I think I'll have to continue good relations with them and perhaps even support them as a buffer against the AoG. I don't know what to do with the Drengin yet. I'm pretty sure I could steamroll over them, but it would take time and money. I want to focus on snatching up those 4 resources the Drath left behind and colonizing my extreme planets. As much as it offends my sensibilities, I'll have to sue for peace with those warmongering ape-lizard things.
Blech.
That's the story to date. Guess I'll sit down and see how the next few months sort out. More to come . . .
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