Journal after 0.20.2

[Kordanor]

So this are my observations from Patch 0.20.2 which will be a lot shoter than the previous one as most impressions wont change. Last time I played on Togra/medium/continents/medium/medium and this time I am going for Solar Dynasty/Small/Continents/Very Hard/Very High
My initial plan is to scout a lot in the beginning, in order to get a lot of ruins and expand quickly, so that I get cities with 50% science and production bonus.

One thing I did not write about before (because I had no idea about it) are the different factions.
Having played one game before gives me more insight about what the factions actually do.
And while I still can't really say anything about the balancing, I like how diverse they are. The factions really have outstanding advantages and disadvantages. Last time I took Solar Dynasty and while I'd chose them again (I love having advantage by science) this time I am going for Solar Dynasty to try something else. Also I think that they are incredibly powerful. Morale wasn't really an Issue when playing Togra and as pollution is just a morale hit I doubt this will be a big malus.
Instead Solar Dynasty has a 50% production bonus which seems huge and 25% growth which will also increase resource gains by having more citizens and of course money gain.

Turn 1:
I am starting right next to the shore, having an former right from the start and a trooper which I used to explore the ruins right next to me where I got a xenomorph drone, which is great as another scout unit. Before I place my first city this time, I'd like to check if I find some additional resources I can use. Right at the start position I have Noxium fields (5 minerals, -1 morale)

Turn 5:
-As I did not find a better spot, I build my City near where I started

Turn 8:
-Found 3 8 Power Alien units in one turn.
-Being able to move two tiles at once makes a great difference, feels much more fluid but it's very hard to see from the tile graphics if it costs one or two movement points

Turn 17:
-Found Terra Salvuum and shared maps, they are quite close to me

Trun 20:
-Receiving report of aggression from Xenos

Turn 23:
-Non Aggression pact done

Turn 30:
-All my troops are killed by Xenos at this point

While I would manage to survive for the moment, it's too much time lost, and therefore I am starting over, using missing alien attacks in the first 20 turns to my advantage as much as possible and researching stronger units right away.

Turn 3:
-Creating City in turn 3 this time, producing another colonizer right away

Turn 5:
-Ruins with Xenomorph Pheropod found

Turn 13:
-Meeting Togra, directly next to me

Turn 24:
-Xeno Attack Alert
-Placing Second City next to Obervatory

Turn 29:
-two Ais declared war on each other

Turn 30:
-Xeno attack on my capital, lost 2 out of 3 pop
-I declared war on Togra
-Captured Togras capital and only city

Turn 31:
-Togra eliminated

Turn 33:
-Meeting Imperium

Turn 42
-Meeting Divine Ascension

Turn 44
-Meeting Terra Salvum

Turn 45
-Imerpium wants tribute

Turn 46
-Destroyed Hive, gained 0 Credits

Turn 52
-Imperium Declares war on me

Turn 56
-Lost City to Imperium

Turn 57
-Reconquered that city

Turn 60
-Divine Ascension declares war on me

Turn 83:
-Transports (units in water) are not recognized in “End Turn” button as long as they have 3/3 movement

Turn 94:
-Realized it a couple of times now that when clicking on “x was produced” or the city grew that I get into the city screen which is then immediately closed

Turn 95:
-Vermillion offers peace, which I deny

Turn 98:
-built an artillery in my coastal city. All the enemy transport ships happily drive around within range

Turn 102:
-reached mechanized era

Turn 105:
-capturing first city from divine ascension

Turn 110:
-capturing second city from divine ascension

Turn 111:
-rejecting piece offer

Turn 116:
-lost city to divine ascension
-took city from divine ascension

Trun 117:
-vermillion offers peace, rejected
-took third and last city from divine ascension

Turn 118:
-divine ascension eliminated

Turn 119:
-captured first city from imperium

Turn 123:
-imperium offers peace-rejected
-captured second city from imperium

Turn 124:
-Military victory
And some statistics in the End.
Self:
Total points: 31686
Diplomacy: 1329
Economy: 16896
Military: 6093
Research: 7368

Terra Salvum (which I didn't attack):
Total points: 19321
Diplomacy: 2869
Economy: 5376
Military: 3764
Research: 7312

And a look at the graphs:
In research I was last for the most timeand just surpassed the others in the last 10-20 turns
For military my graph starts to get much higher than the others after 3 / 4 of the game
In Economy I was always first, having about 50% more points than the others (until I killed them and had 400%).

As recap:
With the higher difficulty and smaller map the game felt much more alive but this time I knew what I was doing. However the AI is still incredibly stupid and I didn't need more than one tank to kill the first nation, and two Mechs plus one airplane (to cover the units when in water) to bring havoc to the second. There was exactly one enemy unit with a strength of 5.1 (no higher ones) and my mechs had 10-12. So when the unit was in the city I took my artys and nuked them. With 2 arties, one tank and a airplane I basically killed all the rest (leavning the mechs to defend the cities).
It is extremely easy to capture any city at the moment as the enemy just doesn't defend them strong enough. The AI builds lots of weak units instead of a few strong ones which could actually do some damage. And it's completely helpless against artillery.
To be honest I don't see the AI go anywhere. My strongest opponents were the Xenos until I exterminated them.
Neither big stacks, nor the Xenopod or ruins had any effect on this game. It just felt like smashing insects with your fist.
I like the higher movement since the patch but the interface needs improvements so that you see how far a unit can go this turn. Also I couldn't really tell (except of mountains) how many points a unit will spend walking over a tile.
About the map...the was less empty space, but besides that it didn't feel much different than before. The city assignments were too simple. My first city had focus on production and a few miners, my second city had only one production guy and the rest scientist as it had an observatory, and my third city which came from the other nation provided food and additional minerals, while having one worker most time and while I only build buildings in the two new cities, I build all my units in the capital. I locked everything except scientists, and each time the city grew I checked captital->production, observatory->scientist, other->minerals or food, with the occasional adjustment when a resource went out. Again my former did just build like 6 mines and 3 farms and the rest of the time it just waited in the city.
The whole game was over in 3 1 / 2 hours including the fail-start and writing this text. This time I also skipped reading all the texts.

[SephiRok]

How did you capture Togra's city? Position your troops along his borders, declare war and capture in one turn?

[Kordanor]

Exactly. However my troops were consisting of 1 starting unit with a power of 2 and one tank with a power of 5. All I needed to do was to kill one defending unit which had a power of 2. and then run into the city.
And of course at this point in the game the borders were still just one tile radius around the city.
My first 3 researches were:
Tier 1->Better armor
Tier 2->More Food
Tier 3->Tanks

[SephiRok]

Bare with us as we continue to improve the AI. Hopefully we'll have something decent by the end of the beta.

Everyone's help is very appreciated!

Thanks,
Rok