Long Range Tinkers

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Noyyau
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:07 pm

Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Thu May 21, 2020 3:34 pm

200 stars, sparse, rare habitables, hard difficulty, oval shape

The extreme distances make for an interesting and slower game. Warp lane (range) extenders are fundamental on each and every ship, not just scouts and colonizers.
Tinker mobile outpost are fantastic for early exploration, a couple of them can leapfrog each other and reach way further and faster than otherwise possible with standard unmovable outposts. Of course they are in the company of one or two scouts, no sense in sending them blindly into harpy or pirate infested unknown systems.
Later on the outposts can be converted into cheap early carriers and damage sponges, also they act as crew reservoirs to replenish crew lost during ship captures.

Initially the reachable colonizable planets were very few, and the closest good one I had to ignore for a while as it was infested with Viscids (had to wait until the capability was available to pre-move transports loaded with population along with the colonizer, to fill up all population slots immediately).
Slow exploration and expansion. Got the Algorian planet, spread the furry friends to all the Ice climate zones, good thing they feed themselves and don't need farms. When some refugee Humans also got integrated, however, Farms became necessary, though few of them, as luckily I found a supergrain planet in reach.
Only later did I realize that I should have Harmonized all biologicals immediately, when their populations were still low and not spread out everywhere. When I finally decided to experiment with Harmonization, later on, the unhappiness penalty for harmonizing about a hundred million beings was crippling (that is, the unhappiness on the not-yet-harmonized populations, where I didn't have the possibility to Harmonize immediately). Thank you again for the undo button.

Started in the E side of the star cluster. Neighbours are Gremak to the N, Haduir to the SE, Orthin SW, Teros W. Further NW (beyond the Gremak) are the Yoral, the Humans even further NW, and the Phidi somewhere far W (haven't contacted them yet).
The Gremak attack me early on, as my military is non-existant at the beginning (just a few missile destroyer to clear minor harpy and pirates infestations).
The long range war is interesting, all about strategic maneuvering and range. Actual engagements are rare (we each bomb a frontier world or two), mostly it's destroying range-extending outposts in barren systems (or, in my case, moving away the mobile outposts in that single turn when the approaching Gremak fleet is visible). Despite their numerical and firepower superiority, the Gremak couldn't really inflict proper damage to me, since as soon as they left one of their outposts behind, a destroyer sneaked in to blast it and deny them the range to reach further into my empire. Research was also immediately focused on strategic speed and range upgrades (should have put them in sooner, in hindsight).
The AI in general seems good at spreading outposts around to extend their range, somewhat less good in defending them in such a war.

Meanwhile, the Haduir also attacked me, on the opposite side of my empire. The Haduir war was similar to the Gremak one, though requiring much more careful maneuvering and invested resources. Their fleet was a humongous mass of carriers, luckily I could see them coming several turns earlier and thus had the time to react accordingly.
The Haduir AI seems oblivious to the game-breaking advantage they could have if they could use properly the relic stargate at their capital (which I did in a previous game).
Again mostly maneuvering and outpost sniping, frontier colony bombing, while playing hide and seek with their carrier blob.

Tens of turns pass, fighting/maneuvering on two fronts while expanding in uncontested territories, building up tech and fleets.
Both wars ended and restarted a few times, meanwhile the Yoral fought alternately with their neighbours (Humans and Gremak), the Orthin duked it out with the Haduir, probably the other AIs also tangled, though, with the distances involved, I often lost contact.

The Gremak war effectively ended when the Yoral attacked them and gobbled up about half their empire, I managed to obtain a couple habitable systems in the peace treaty. Now I could concentrate fully on the Haduir. A massive fleet was finally assembled, half of it made up of point-defense only light cruisers, a screen of damage soaking carrier-asteroids, and a core of torpedo-armed missile and heavy cruisers.
Now it was only a matter of time and maneuvering to force a favourable fleet battle.
I couldn't believe my luck when the Haduir split their fleet, and I managed to destroy about a third of their ships over a juicy star system with 2 habitables, one with supergrain and the other with artifacts. Unfortunately I had nowhere near the necessary troopships in the vicinity, so both planets were glassed. As soon as I moved out, the Haduir resettled them anyway, and later on my troopships occupied them unopposed.
Soon after, the biggest fleet battle of this game finally happened. Haduir Fleet Carrier fighter and bomber spam is scary. It took more than a minute in the early turns for the AI to move all the squadrons around.
My strategy paid off: despite losing almost all the PD-Light Cruisers and several carrier-asteroids, all the Haduir squadrons were blasted from the sky and the torpedoes finally began reaching their targets. At this point the AI should have just retreated all the carriers (all other direct-damage dealing ships I had destroyed earlier as priority targets), instead of having them move around and attempt to use their few PD weapons against a Tinker missile swarm. As it went, I even managed to capture a decent number of ships. After scrapping them (couldn't yet integrate or reverse engineer), the massive amount of metal gained was what fueled my sudden population explosion (manufacture population on the most tinker-populous worlds).
The AI was so shocked by this defeat that in the peace treaty they gifted me 3 whole inhabited (and well developed!) systems along the border, and coupled with the destroyed and yet to be rebuilt outposts in the uninhabited contested systems (which I quickly seized with the surviving carrier-asteroids), it meant the Haduir had lost almost half of their territory (and virtually their entire fleet).

This was the point when the game snowballed. Now I had Teros, Haduir, and interestingly also a sizeable Orthin population to spread around (I guess a few planets were conquered after all in the Orthin-Haduir war), by this time I had or was about to research Star Bases and later on Fleet Bases, which were built on all planets with only Science Stations on. And after getting the Cloning tech, organic pop growth exploded. Remaining harpy strongholds were cleared, the Tarib inferno planet was also acquired via a Space Habitat module above it (should've thought about that earlier, though it does feel a bit like an exploit), thus unlocking a couple large mineral-rich inferno planets that, once built up with mines, fueled massive fleet buildups and upgrades (and the FleetBase-Science spam).
At this point I went and conquered the 3 marauder factions in reach as well, my fleet moving along the E edge of the star cluster from S (Haduir) towards N, gradually being reinforced and upgraded, until, with lucky timing, the Yoral (which by this point I had allied with) attacked the Gremak for the last time, and I seized the opportunity to conquer their capital and remove them from the game (secondary objective was to capture as many ships as possible, to both reverse engineer and to refit).

And when the Yoral offered to be annexed, Tinker dominance was all but guaranteed.
Relations are good with Teros and Orthin, surprisingly decent with the Haduir despite the war, neutral with the Humans. The Phidi I still haven't contacted, mostly because I avoided Open Ports agreements (except the Yoral alliance), to avoid having the AIs colonize planets in my territory.
Judging from the graphs, the Haduir have rebuilt their fleet to their prewar numbers (though I'm far superior now), and the rest are about equals militarily. My population and productivity are both a good half above the 2nd places.

As it stands now, there's enough stuff onscreen now to noticeably slow down the interface (granted, my laptop is 6 years old or so, so not that surprising), and I'm pondering whether to continue or start a new game. A massive all-conquering, multi-fleet Great War would certainly be interesting, though terribly slow in real time.
Next game would be still Tinkers, this time harmonizing from the very beginning, probably keep the sparse stars, though fewer (100? 150?). Unsure yet whether to increase difficulty to the last one or not.
What are the actual modifiers and what is affected by the difficulty, by the way?

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PrivateHudson
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Location: Chelyabinsk, Russia

Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby PrivateHudson » Fri May 22, 2020 10:50 am

Very interesting, thank you for write-up, Noyyau. I'll borrow a few tricks of yours (asteroid outpost carriers, etc) - Tinkers are also my favourite faction. A couple screenshots from key game moments certainly wouldn't hurt. It seems like the time to create dedicated after-action reports (AAR) branch of the forum.
IMHO, in sparse galaxy AI should prioritize range and strategic speed techs, as well as warp line amplifiers usage. In my play-throughs AI Orthins are always strong, probably because their emphasis on physics tech field. In contrast, there often are 1-2 stillborn factions who fail to expand.

Noyyau
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:07 pm

Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Tue May 26, 2020 7:24 am

So yesterday I was inspired and started a new Tinkers game, thought I'd saved a bunch of screenshots for a nice writeup (been a while since I've done such stuff), apparently it was too late in the evening night and after the first few screenies I've been pressing the wrong button... or fraps stopped working or something else. Oh well. Tonight I'll try to remake a few relevant ones with the "undo last 10 turns" button. Should've kept a few more saves I guess.

Settings:
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Let's try Brutal!
Also, a few less stars to make things easier on my pc, same distances and the rest.

Dzibix is at the very edge of the star cluster. It is yet unknown why the stars that appear to be reachable through the newly discovered warp lanes appear to be all towards what we're going to call "sideral north" for convenience. Also unknown is why only such few seem to be reachable at all.
All sublight exploration vessels and asteroids, sent out into the void in years past, are considered lost, as none have ever reported back.
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Early exploration of the systems in our immediate vicinity reveals several inhabitable planets, even with primitive native populations.
Those Lummox from Dirt seem prime candidates to be uplifted into Dzibix's wisdom. The Scavengers on Mandir less so.
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Surprising even Dzibix itself, we discover a puzzling spaceborne species, which immediately attacks our explorer.
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More to come tonight after I redo the screenshots
Last edited by Noyyau on Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Noyyau
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:07 pm

Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Tue May 26, 2020 4:20 pm

The undo-redo function (and included -10/+10 turns) works perfectly and should be standard in each and every turn based game.

Here's some views from the recent past of this game. Sorry for the raw text.

The Brutal difficulty does indeed provide with a harsh start: 6 population, a Factory (Machine Altar in the Tinkers' case), the standard trio Colony Ship, Transport, Explorer. And that's it. (I hope the other factions get a Farm as well.)
You see 7 population because I had already disembarked the colonists from the Colony Ship.
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My opening moves are:
Drop population from the colony ship. Build a Mine, then Manufacture Population to size 8, another Machine Altar (henceforth shortened to m.a.).
All 3 starter ships explore the nearest stars.
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Early Tech queue: Markets (fundamental), Tachyon Physics, Hyperspace Metrics for the speed increase (all the more fundamental with the distances involved in a Sparse stars game).

Colonized Dirt (see previous post) along wih +1 extra population already in the starter Trasport, then transport sent to trade pool.
On Dirt build m.a., manuf. pop. on Dzibix as metal allows, even scrapped the starter explorer (it comes with unnecessary components: the recovered scrapped metal is more than the metal cost of a new barebones explorer!) after all stars in range have been explored (no outposts available yet).

Rushed m.a. on Dirt, queued Tank (expecting to need extra "loyal strength" to harmonize the Lummox, half of which meanwhile are protesting), then Mines. Luckily the Tank is apparently unnecessary, as I can harmonize both halves of the Lummox pop, maybe exactly because they did split into protesters and now count as two separate (and thus smaller that the Tinkers present) populations?
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In brief:
outposts + explorers on Dzibix
Completed Tech: markets, build 1 per planet
begin further exploration
out of metal, forced to trade-research while mining and accumulating
accumulated minimum of metal, build colony ship on dzibix, manuf pop on dirt, sustainable for only a few turns
outpost leapfrog exploration
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Strategic decision: acquire humans, begin slow building of 4 missile destroyers (all missiles, no pd, also good against harpies), lack of metal is the limiting factor
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Completed tech: strategic speed increase
Having pirates nearby, next research is: adv metallurgy -> boarding tactics
queue on dzibix: Light Cruisers with boarding pods, to capture then scrap pirates for metal
meanwhile 4 MDs attack pirates in Adhara, destroyed without casualties, however the human refugees are uncooperative. build a troopship on dzibix, finish the tank on dirt (then loaded on a transport from trade pool)
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scrap one m.a. on dirt, replace with mine (difficult decision, as it's a lot of labour wasted, but the metal shortage is a problem).
invaded Adhara, population hostile, land tanks, rush m.a. (had a lot of money accumulated while waiting to mine metal...), harmonized humans.
completed colony ship on dzibix, sent to sarissofoi
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destroyed pirates at Misan, captured for scrap
incredible discovery: Minalei! 3 habitables: Pell, an empty arid, human refugees.
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This is the Light Cruiser with all missiles mounted. They are regularly refitted, depending on current needs, between this and a variant with one less missile slot, occupied by the boarding pod.
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Tanks loaded to invade Minalei humans.
Settled Pell, invaded Minalei humans, rushed m.a., harmonized.
Colony ships in near-constant production now
Cleared harpies and settled Schedar (large arid)

In general, on new colonies initial build queue is the same: machine altar (rushed whenever possible), mine, market. Scrap farms if present from natives. Later on possibly a lab, probably another market and fill up with mines.
Exceptions: Pell gets labs to then focus on science (Pell natives are good for that, and nothing else).
Still somewhat undecided where to setup future all-factory planet or two. Dzibix will have 4 factories, then markets, probably leave the lab as well, but will focus mostly on asteroid bases and colony ships, interspersed with population manufacture.

Factory world candidates: Dirt is a large Garden, unfortunately I yet lack enough population diversity to make use of all those different climate zones (orthin and gremak could be great for this, but it's way too early to even think about attacking them).
Schedar is a large arid: prime candidate, unfortunately in a remote position on the border of the star cluster, and in what is for now effectively a "dead end" as the nearby stars are beyond range.

Scrapped the Missile Destroyers, used the money to reach the necessary to rush m.a. on Pell
Keep exploring with leapfrog outposts, meet orthin though can't sign anything, too hostile.
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Lose contact after moving outpost.
Met Gremak, signed embassy and trade charter (much needed extra trade routes for cargo pool).
Worked to death most of the lummox population in building colony ships on Dzibix (across several tens of turns).
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There's a couple of marauder factions between us and the Gremak.
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Refused Gremak offer of open ports, signed research.
Finally, researched the mines upgrade.
Cleared harpies from Keid: medium Hive with artifacts. Base max pop is 23! (Tinkers have #1 in both Arid and Metro climate zones). This is definitely going to be a factory world. There's a derelict colony too, on settling it gives almost completed deflector screens and later shields.
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These harpies will stay there for a while longer.
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Expanding nicely.
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Exploring to the NW towards the Orthin, discovered Altair: paradise! The few harpies are quickly cleared, colony ship in construction.
By the time it arrives, further NW an even better discovery diverts the colony ship (and Altair will be colonized by the next one): Tyl system, containing the large Paradise that is Gaia!
Sitting right on the Orthin border, I have to claim it now, even though I have nowhere near the available population to fill it up quickly to avoid too much proliferation of those pesky Gaiads.
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Finally, the Gremak might become a problem in the near future. They already have enough fleet to conquer a marauder faction, and being Gremak, I doubt they'll stop there.
Begin to build outposts to actually occupy systems permanently, to deny them to the other empires. Already the Orthin have put an outpost that gives them range too deep for my comfort into my territory.
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Last edited by Noyyau on Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Noyyau
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:07 pm

Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Mon Jun 01, 2020 1:57 pm

Researched Bionomics: Science Stations now available, mount them both on Star Bases and on Mobile Bases, to be built on developed planets then moved where a local Star Base would take too long to be built.
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The Gaiads conveniently revolt, delude themselves in having ridden themselves of foreign domination, and are promptly exterminated. I should do this as standard procedure in all games.
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Researched Cloning: finally there'll be serious population growth!
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Having run out of Lummox, some Harmonized Humans are brought closer to Dzibix.
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Orthin developments: signed a research treaty, meanwhile they build outposts in the uninhabitable systems between our borders, that I had left empty (moved the mobile asteroid ouposts to keep exploring). Also a passing scout catches a glimpse of some of their ships: I'm scared and most definitely hope that the Orthin will keep acting as the isolationists they should be, and not decide to attack.
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Gaia is resettled, this time free of those annoying Gaiads.
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Zoom out of the Tinker Empire at StarDate 1300
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The Paradise planet at Altair is finally colonized. Third time's the charm? (Two previous colony ships have been diverted to Gaia.)
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Tech researched in quick succession: market upgrades, heavy hulls, fleet logistics.
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The Fleet Base acts as a nice Science Station. It is put into production wherever possible.
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This quickly drains our meager metal reserves, most construction is halted and intensive mining resumes. As I later realize, in our area there is not a single Mineral Rich planet (they're all Small Barren/Airless). Given the Tinker's appetite for metal, this partially explains the constant shortages.
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Now that's just annoying.
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Researched Shipyards, and Marauders pay a visit to a newly established outpost. I pay them to establish friendly relations, as now there's enough funds to afford a Command Cruiser or three. (All other merc ships aren't really worth the crazy maintenance fees.)
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Researched Habitats, they'll be built only over all-factory planets to maximize factory staffing. Pity I don't have Wremmit or Taribor nearby.
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Discovered the Haldor system: fantastic planets, with a small problem in orbit.
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Settled a couple of Small planets in already owned systems. Such planets, lacking anything noteworthy, will be built up identically, with a focus on mining.
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Discovered the Marauder base of the gang we're currently paying.
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Researched Hyperspace Beacons: range increased!
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Hired our first Command Cruiser! It probably won't ever decloak, much less fire its weapons. Its job is to capture enemy ships and feed them to the shipbreakers for tasty, tasty metal.
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Last edited by Noyyau on Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Noyyau
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:07 pm

Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:13 pm

Expansion is bringing us in contact with more alien civilizations.
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Solar panels allow for the full 5 Science Stations to be mounted on a Fleet Base hull (without the need for a reactor), the rest are just stepstones towards Fusion missiles. Nukes are enough for a few harpies or pirates, more dakka is needed to deal with marauders and proper alien empires.
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Hired 2 more Mercenary Command Cruisers. I'm guessing 3 is the hardcoded maximum available of these beauties?
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Yoral and Orthin have a diplomatic falling out, however I refuse to get involved, it's too early (and I don't want those scary Orthin ships moving towards my planets).
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Rasalgethi: nice real estate, unfriendly neighbours.
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Getting closer to decent weaponry.
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Remember the mobile science stations placed in orbit of the factory planets? This is what they'll be converted to. Later on they'll be replaced by a Fleet Base with 2 Habitats and 3 Science Stations. In hindsight this whole exercise with the Mobile Bases has been useless, it ended up being cheaper to build directly the Fleet Bases. Oh well, now I know.
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Hostile Marauders attack the outpost at Pollux, hostile because way back when I was exploring here and met them, I didn't want to pay them and they were out of range of anything valuable. Now that I have a fleet ready for them, the outpost has been placed to lure them out. Note the asteroid acting as crew replenishment for the cruisers equipped with boarding pods.
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More marauders met, at Gemma between the Phidi-Orthin borders. Soon after the Yoral attack them.
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Time for some refits and a ramping up of ship construction.
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Encountered the Haduir, established an embassy...
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...and goodbye Haduir (and wasted Influence), as the Phidi annex them.
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Hello Sargas, how come you're still unclaimed?
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Filling up gaps in the tech tree.
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Formally met the Phidi and the Teros. I wonder why the negative "first impression" modifier. I haven't done anything to either of them (yet)!
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Known empire territories overview. The Humans must be in that seemingly empty area up north (and at war with the Teros at least).
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Hovertanks. The best way to settle planets.
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Subspace comms, to better hear Dzibix even while in hyperspace!
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The Phidi propose a trade charter. How friendly of them! Free money? How could I say no?
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PrivateHudson
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Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby PrivateHudson » Fri Jun 05, 2020 6:12 am

Amazing! The stage is virtually set for the first clash for galactic domination. How will it turn? Many good cliffhangers await!
Btw, how did you managed to treat seahorse people poorly? Bought them as slaves from marauders?

Noyyau
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Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:10 pm

PrivateHudson wrote:Amazing! The stage is virtually set for the first clash for galactic domination. How will it turn? Many good cliffhangers await!
Btw, how did you managed to treat seahorse people poorly? Bought them as slaves from marauders?


That's the question, I had no contact at all with the Phidi faction and haven't even seen any Phidi population yet.
Only thing I can guess is that they heard about the "Harmonization for All" policy ...

Noyyau
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Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:40 pm

Still not ready to get involved in wars, but always good to strengthen relations with friendly neighbours.
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settled Pollux (late due to the hostile marauders in range), and Mandir (half forgotten due to the Scavenger infestation).
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As expected, the Marauders attack Pollux, and the fleet awaiting them does its job.
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On Mandir, the Scavengers expect to be fed for free. Food is for the weak.
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The Marauders attack Pollux again. I don't know what they expected, but I sure did get more than I was expecting: Antimatter from a Transport!
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Subspace Networking: better connection to social networks even during hyperspace, or better communion with Dzibix?
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The Marauders are getting desperate.
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The Phidi attack the Marauders at Gemma, and utterly annihilate them.
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Those who do not accept the manifest will of Dzibix shall be removed from the path of the righteous.
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The Yoral ask for... 100 money? Sure, I'll pay for your pizzas tonight.
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The Eltanin Marauders (those attacking Pollux) are conquered and brought into the happy harmonized fold.
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If our scientists hadn't been wasting all that time on the subspace social networks, we would've had the strategic speed upgrade much sooner.
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The Yoral attack the Phidi. Wait, weren't you guys having diplomatic crisis after crisis with the Orthin? Then again, the Orthin ships are downright scary. And the Phidi bisect the Yoral territory... Yeah, I would've attacked too, even if just in desperation.
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Veni, vidi, Dzibix.
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Noyyau
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Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Mon Jun 08, 2020 9:07 pm

Things are about to become interesting.
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Still plenty of Star Harpy infestations in this star cluster.
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Settled Misam, a Coral world toward the Gremak border. Ex-Marauder recently harmonized Gremak colonists are already en route.
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While I do try to buy as little metal as possible, sometimes it's necessary.
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I wonder if I'll ever see one of these firing instead of just eating maintenance money.
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Nasarog is suddenly empty, where there was a crowded Harpy nest. What happened? Who cares? Just blast that asteroid before they come back!
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Sorry guys girls both? esteemed trading partners, I like your money but the Yoral actually like me.
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There goes all my Influence. I really really hope you reclusive nerds won't be breaking our treaties.
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The time has come to spread the wisdom of Dzibix. And I really hope you guys will be properly thankful, I'm helping you for free this time (not even the Influence bonus).
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I knew I still had some spare parts Lummox stashed somewhere!
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Even those not yet Harmonized can acccept their impending destiny.
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More dakka!
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It seems that the Phidi are winning against the Yoral.
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I don't normally bother with hab domes: this time however the only mineral rich planets in our area are small barren airless chunks of rock barely even worth the name of planet.
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I know, I know, we have the Phidi to fight! But how could I resist such a juicy target?
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It's also a nice rehearsal for our new weapons. And an extra bonus: distortion fields! Invisible capture-carriers, here we go!
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Dzibix's will is to Harmonize all. And all Harmonized shall become. Such is the will of Dzibix.
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The Phidi really are pounding the Yoral, though at a high cost.
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Meanwhile, our first hostile act of this war is to blast Phidi (ex Haduir) outposts near our borders.
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Dzibix is harmony. Harmony is Dzibix.
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PrivateHudson
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Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby PrivateHudson » Tue Jun 09, 2020 6:54 am

Sun Tzu would've approved your careful choice of when to fight and when to wait. However, I'm seriously puzzled as to why Orthins hadn't attacked you yet. Do they expand violently in other direction?
If not for religious imperatives, do you think harmonization gains outweigh its inconveniences (universal hate, need for Machine Altars etc)?

Noyyau
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Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:09 pm

I guess I got lucky this time (the previous game I had to fight a 2 front border war on opposite sides of my territory).
The Orthin, as far as I can surmise, were busy fighting and conquering the Humans (to the far north, opposite from us). And I hope it's also because they are honest enough not to break the treaties we have.

About Harmonization, again compared to the previous game, it should be either done from the very beginning (as in this game) or not at all.
Is it better to Harmonize or not? I couldn't really say. Certainly it is a different gameplay than normal, and adds considerably to the Tinker flavor.
Beyond the initial phase, settling a planet and getting a machine altar quickly built (move 10 or so extra population on the new planet) or rushed (money) is not difficult.
Conquering planets requires extra care in managing the population: if the machine altar can't be rushed the same turn of the conquest, extra tanks to keep the population from revolting are a necessity, and I've found (as you'll see in later posts) that having enough transport capacity to temporarily move out almost the entire planetary population is really helpful. After all, population in transit does not require food and cannot revolt.
Which brings me to the topic of food: not having to build farms and dedicate extra transports to food deliveries is, I think, balanced by the need to have at least one machine altar per planet (well, 4-pop airless barren small planets can just have their 4 mines and 4 disconnected tinkers) and the occasional surge in population transport. From midgame onwards, transports should be plentiful anyway.
Also, starving out undesirables is certainly fun!

Harmonization also gives great tools for population control: don't like having Humans infest your arid planets now that you've finally gained control of Ashdars? Overwork them in the construction of space stations or more machine altars! Disassemble them for a meager science bonus that is relevant only in the early game when each population unit is important!
It's not like you'll have revolts anyway, everybody is Harmonized already.

The major drawback to all-harmonized is that the few populations that can't be harmonized are effectively rendered useless, or almost. Sure I can wait for the Scavengers and the Gaiads to revolt and bomb them to extinction (it is quite fun), but the Pell certainly won't revolt, and will just sit there on Pell, with their leaves closed, refusing to do any useful work. The Taribs at least, those few that can be moved off planet before they protest, will negate a couple of Inferno world hostile environment costs. But they will fully feel the massive negative modifiers from harmonizing lots of beings with no way to mitigate that (can't build 20 markets on a single planet after all).

So, in conclusion: if you're playing Tinkers, Harmonize! Harmonize them all!!
Or it won't be that much different from playing Ashdar Teros or Yorals (except for the missile spam and the mobile asteroids, I suppose), and by midgame, when you get access to most of the other populations, you'll find yourself forced to build farms and caring about "happiness".
Which is illogical: Dzibix requires metal, not food.

Noyyau
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:07 pm

Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Wed Jun 10, 2020 10:39 am

The flesh is weak.
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Adamantium is strong.
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Once again the Yoral and Orthin are at odds and sever their diplomatic relations. Once again I'd rather have both slightly unhappy with me, than reneging an alliance or cancelling treaties with the scariest military power on our borders. Last but not least, we already have the war against the Phidi to fight!
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Despite not having taken either side in the Yoral-Orthin argument, the Yoral gift us a technology, and lucky us it's even a useful one!
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Dzibix hungers for metal. The Phidi shall provide that which will sate Dzibix's hunger.
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Settled Haldor.
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All shall become one with Dzibix.
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Cleansed the Harpy infestation at Toliman.
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The biggest dakka.
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The Yoral, despite their recent losses and truce against the Phidi, and with relations soured with the Orthin, still offer to help in the war against the Phidi.
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The flesh is puzzling. Such proximity to Dzibix, having already experienced Harmony, and yet...
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Arcturus soon shall join Dzibix.
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The Phidi fleet arrives too late at Arcturus.
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The Yoral undestand their destiny and we welcome their proactivity in reaching Dzibix.
Though I have to wonder, surely they know the fate of any biological population under our control? What pushed them to relinquish their free will and biological bodies?
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Noyyau
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:07 pm

Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Wed Jun 10, 2020 11:45 am

All transport capacity is filled to bring the Yoral closer to Dzibix (and remove as much population as possible from machine altar lacking planets that will probably revolt the next turn).
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Vindicator-spewing asteroids exterminate the Harpies infesting Rasalgethi.
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The flesh is impatient, inefficiently manifesting its anger at having been left behind to wait for Dzibix to come to them.
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Acamar shall soon be assimilated. Dzibix hungers.
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Rebelling yet demanding to be fed? Does not compute.
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The last ships of the Yoral fleet defend Vierkand, before being assimilated into Dzibix.
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Even the Yoral homeworld is in turmoil. Seems that the Yoral Khagan had not acted according to his people's will.
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Dzibix finally comes to the frontier.
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Resistance is futile.
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Rasalgethi is visited by Harpies late to the party.
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All shall be Harmonized. Such is Dzibix's will.
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The primitive flesh fights itself.
(The Algorian civil war on Vierkand II could make for an interesting story. Something about the Phidi attempting to rebel from Tinker rule, managing to persuade and direct part of the primitive Algorians, yet perishing in the ensuing chaotic melee.)
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Noyyau
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:07 pm

Re: Long Range Tinkers

Postby Noyyau » Fri Jun 12, 2020 3:28 pm

Purchased Freed Orthin slaves from the last active Marauder gang. And let's hope that the Orthin won't notice...
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Dunaman 4 revolts. Let them enjoy their brief illusion of freedom.
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Verrold is brought into the light of Dzibix, Acamar soon follows.
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The first Yoral-filled transports reach Ashdar Prime.
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The cowardly Phidi fleet avoids battle. Their metal's assimilation into Dzibix is merely postponed.
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Dunaman 4 conquered.
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Rasalgethi, formerly infested by Harpies, has been colonized.
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Harmonization of the former Yoral planets proceeds apace.
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Our ships reach Gemma faster than the retreating Phidi, capturing their would-be reinforcements.
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A lone Phidi Carrier is captured above Taribor (Canopus system).
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As the fleet is ready to attack Hakon, the Phidi finally lose their resolve and offer a juicy peace treaty.
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Overview of the systems gained in the Phidi peace treaty: Gemma especially is really a gem, a former Marauder base captured by the Phidi. Finally enough Phidi population to be moved around!
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Current territory extension, and you can also see the travel lines of all the ongoing population resettlements.
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Inevitable protests and starvation while machine altars are built.
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Harmonized Aurelon and Gemma, which will become a factory planet.
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Harmonized the Yorals resettled to Yaluk.
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Schedar, the first all-factory planet, is now too distant from the front. It will be decommissioned and converted into a standard mines&markets supporting planet.
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Oversized trade pool to handle mass civilian resettlements.
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Harmonized Hakon I.
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When I researched habitat domes, I settled airless and inferno worlds wherever there was a bonus (Mineral Rich or Precious Metals), only later noticing the steep hostile environment costs. Hopefully spreading Taribs around will save us some of that money.
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