Up close with 1.6.1 (Terra Reprised)

In a sense, it's a pity this game was released when it was. Had ISG come out about two decades earlier, (a little after the fiasco that was MoO3), this game would be talked about as one of the classics, and Praxis would be a household name.

Oh well, better late than never.

Sulak front

The Sulak asked for peace, which I declined. I then fought fought three more battles with them, capturing two more Battleships and destroying a half a dozen of their ships in the process. ( 2BB, 1CA, 2DD, and 1FF).

I guess the constant shellacking was more stress than the Sulak could bear, because soon enough, they too surrendered.



I accepted the terms of course, and immediately contacted the Cerixx asking them to make peace with my new-found serfs. The Cerixx obliged. (Having been in this situation before in other sessions, where I had two vassals that were at war and I forced them to make peace, I knew what this meant. Every time the peace treaty expires, they will go to war with one another again. This in turn will mean that I have to either intercede every so often, or allow one vassal to knock out the other. For role-play purposes, I prefer to keep my menagerie of vassals intact).

Now I want to discuss surrender a bit, and provide some general feedback.

I love the mechanic and feel the ISG universe is richer because of it. That said, I'm not so sure about the execution of said mechanic. I've seen too many times where very strong empires surrendered to either myself or an AI nation. In this game, the Sulak are not that bad off, and had they stopped swarming the map with small sized forces and consolidated instead, they could have trapped and annihilated my small expeditionary force. Going forward I would like to see the threshold for surrender raised higher, at least on the more difficult settings. Better yet, if the threshold could be set by the player as a game parameter (low, medium high), that would be ideal.

Kaek front

Adams arrived with her forces and was met by 13 Kaek ships at Unotou. Unfortunately for the Kaek, they had no leader present, no orbital base, and worse of all, fought me on a day when I was feeling quite well. The bugs had superior technology and that damned neutronium armor coating, but it availed them for naught.



With the Kaek fleet eliminated, I bombed the planet. I found it puzzling that while the world had some eight different buildings constructed, there was no star-base. Had one been present during the battle, I think the results would have been wildly different.

The Kaek tried to relieve the system and break my blockade on the following turn. An enemy force of twelve more ships arrived (3CA, 8DD, 1FF), but retreated after a single destroyer being lost. I then bombed Unotou once again, and launched a ground attack which I had an 80% chance of winning. The invasion was failure, and I lost two of my four assault ships.

I also managed to chase away some bugs that were trying to colonize close to Thecitune, but this was a very minor action with no losses for either side.

 

Unotov fell, and once again I gained no tech from the invasion. My hope is that I get lucky and grab hyper-drive from the bugs. That would be a huge help instantly, and save me the trouble from researching faster drives on my own. So far no luck though, and I'm still using Fusion drive (+2).

The Kaek did try to counterattack, but their forces were weak. I defeated all their attempts to retake the system, and cost them four more ships, (2DD, 2FF).

As I was now short on assault ships, I held Unotov without striking deeper into Kaek space, that will change soon though. I also decided I would start expanding towards the west, in the hopes of making contact with the rest of the aliens.

The Nova did make an appearance by the way, they are very advanced by all metrics but have a small Empire compared to my own, especially now, that I have two vassals. To be honest, the only threat I see is the Palacean whose fleet power is shown as four times greater than my own. But the Lobsters are far away and seem to have stopped expanding.

Could it be that I finally have a chance to win a session without conquering everyone? I'm very curious to trigger the galactic vote and see where I stand.

 

I like winning difficult battles, but I don't care for the AI beating itself and handing me wins I shouldn't have. Read on and my meaning will become clearer.

The first was a ferocious counter-attack by the Kaek at Thecitune, they targeted the system with 33 ships total. Seeing this, I scrambled what units I could and met them with my own fleet that consisted of 13 ships.

Here's the result


The second battle occurred when I pressed into their space and attacked their colony at Tuals. Here 35 of their ships were engaged by 9 of my own. Here are those results.



Now here's the problem and why I believe the Kaek snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Granted I had the advantage in heavier ships, but their numbers more than made up for this.

In the first fight, I was about to lose one of my Battleships from over-heating. (I dared not cool down as I reasoned the ship would be lost anyway, better to keep firing to the last). The Kaek withdrew exactly before the ship would have been lost. But there is more than that, and this applies to both battles.

My main weapon against the bugs is still my missiles. The direct fire beams are useless while they still have armor points. What does this mean?

Had the Kaek engaged for one more round, I would have been out of missiles in both battles, meaning their superior beam weaponry would have made short work of my forces. I don't know, I've seen the AI fight when it shouldn't, and now I'm seeing them run when they should press on. This is very strange, but I suspect that the AI doesn't take into consideration enemy missile capacity. It just sees they are there, but perhaps doesn't calculate for the fact that they are about to run out.

Speaking of missiles I saw something else in one of the Sulak ships I captured earlier on, something that I forgot to mention and consider a mistake. This BB had a single fast, MIRV missile rack...with 20 ammo!

I don't know about you guys and gals, but most battles I've been in do not last past 5 rounds, some do, but they are the exception. Had this BB then added more racks with less ammo...well then maybe instead of being captured it would have scored some kills.

I know that in this regard, I'm discussing really fine tuning some things, (taking enemy ammo load into consideration, fielding more racks with less ammo on their own ships rather than wasting space on un-needed levels of ordinance), but if this were ever addressed, then battles like the two I just posted would have different results.

Anyhow, Tuals fell, I've gained class V shields from the effort. I also colonized Wi, which brought me into contact with the Moltar.

Here's a quick over-view of the situation right now. (Note how I can't overcome the lead in AI tech/production, even though no bonuses were allotted to the AIs in these areas)



And here's our respective positions on the map. The Moltar do have many systems covered by my fleet composition tab, but I wanted to show that I'm not exactly fielding some huge navy out there.

 

Once again I slowed down my offensive, waiting for additional assault ships and the technology that would allow me to design third generation ships.

Of course as I waited, the Sulak and Cerixx went to war again, but I stopped that immediately. There will be peace between these two, even if I have to kill them both!

Soon I gained enough tech for my new designs, I now present them to you along with the reasons behind their structure and some general commentary.

My Frigates are now a more potent fire-support unit, featuring the Polaris variant of missile in fast, eccm, mirv configuration. This effectively doubles their firepower. The point defense laser has been removed and a Tungsten gun takes that role. Armor and shielding are both upgraded, the latter thanks to the tech I gained from the bugs.

Oh, a quick note about PD weapons.

In our navies today this means short range, fast missiles intended to intercept multiple threats, (including other missiles), and was actually represented in MoO2 by a system. After that, the next and last line of PD is usually a rapid-fire auto cannon. Note the rapid fire part. it's akin to auto-fire in ISG which was removed as a feature from PD weapons because "it didn't make sense". Actually it does, and even MoO2 has that feature. When you are trying to basically hit a bullet with a bullet, you're going to need more than one shot. It would certainly have benefited the AI ships I destroyed if they had this ability, and gives more options to ship design, because if you cram too many PDs in a ship, you lose room for offensive weapons. (That's something I have seen the AI factions do).



Next we have my new line of Destroyers. The main gun is now a particle accelerator augmented by my application of neutronium shells. It's a long range weapon in auto-fire mode, and means I no longer need to worry when encountering ships with neutronium armor coating. Like the Frigate, the missile battery is now Polaris in the same lay-out and the PD weapon is a tungsten gun. This ship is also more heavily shielded and armored than its predecessor.



My Cruisers follow the same principles as well, these too are now much better ships



And finally my Battleships, which owing to the space allocated to Bomb racks are not as potent as they could be. Still, they are vastly improved compared to the previous class of this ship.



You've no doubt noticed that the Particle weapons on all the ships are shield piercing, which is a huge plus as I bypass a line of defense that the AI relies on heavily. This then is what I'll be refining in future designs. Ever more powerful missiles, shield piercing kinetics, and good over-all balance.

I also took a quick look at the Victory score board, and it seems I'm closer than I thought. I only need to subjugate the Kaek and this session ends.

 

Tamara Adams was killed in action on turn 347, it was entirely my fault.

I grew impatient and attempted to knock out the Kaek quickly, the forces under her command pressed on to Koyukon without waiting for third generation ships to arrive and augment her fleet.

For some reason, I thought I could take them on, even though the odds were insurmountable. By the time I issued the recall order, it was too late for her. She will be missed.



Well, I'm not going to let them get away with this so easily. I sprung containment on the system immediately after the battle, ensuring the remaining Kaek ships go nowhere. This will allow me time to gather forces from some scattered smaller commands, as well as the remnants of Tamara's fleet, and strike the system a second time under more favorable conditions. I still expect to be outnumbered, but nowhere near as heavily as I was during my ill-advised initial sortie. In addition, I believe I can muster one upgraded Battleship, and two upgraded Destroyers for the second battle. It should be fun.

 

This game...it's full of surprises.

Kaek resistance has stiffened considerably, and it's proving difficult to make progress against them

2nd Battle at Koyukon

My fleet, now under Anthony Yang's command, arrived back at the system in question two turns later, only to find that the bugs had reinforced their forces there. This time I was cautious. I targeted the Kaek Battlestation exclusively and then withdrew. As long as that base was operational, the Kaek forces were receiving advantages, and I wished to deprive them of those before fighting it out. Technically they won this battle as well


Well, once two additional turns passed I was back, and this time Yang had a total of one advanced BB, two advanced DD, and two advanced FF mixed into his forces. I fought this battle flawlessly, targeting the Kaek capital ships, and timing the recall order to perfection (which saved Mr. Yang's life as well as his advanced Battleship). Once again the Kaek got the "victory", but if they "win" a few more battles in this manner, they will lose the war.


Other relevant information I should pass on is that I now have anti-matter drive, giving me an effective speed of 7 on the star-map. However, with the distances involved, it is still less than ideal. I'm now focusing on better targeting algorithms for obvious reasons. Those particle accelerators I'm now deploying tend to miss a lot, and I need to address this issue.

In the meantime my two vassals have gone to war with one-another again, and this time they refused my request to make peace. I'll try again soon, but right now I'm not pleased with this distraction so far from the action. To make matters worse, about half of my fleet is concentrated against the bugs, with the rest scattered all over my far-flung domain. I would hate to have to create another front, or at the least, assemble a display of force, at such an inopportune time.

 

Such a delightful mess...I hardly know where to begin.

We may as well start with the fourth battle at Koyukon. Yang returned with the same forces and squared off against the Kaek fleet yet again. The numerous small Kaek ships proved difficult to destroy once my missiles ran out, so I retired in order after my ammunition was exhausted. This time however, the Kaek lost half their remaining fleet. I doubt that they will be able to withstand another pitched action against my forces.



Once the battle was over, Yang's greedy ass, (did you expect something else after numerous battles?), asked for shore-leave. I granted his wish and now command of the fleet has fallen to one of my Android leaders, at least he won't be as demanding...though he kind of sucks as an Admiral.

My vassals continue to war against one another, refusing to listen to reason. For the time being there is little I can do about that, but I'm sure I'll come up with a solution once the Kaek fall.

The Dragul finally made their appearance by the way. They have a smallish Empire that somehow managed to subjugate the superior Moltar. I'm telling you, in my opinion, this surrender mechanic needs some fine tuning because between the two powers, the Moltar looks to be larger and more powerful by multiple metrics.

Of course this kicked off the Galactic Vote, and who were the front-runners? The Nova with their diminutive domain, and the very same Kaek I've been beating up on. Take a look at the results which the Nova are close to winning. Also note the relative power between the Lizards and the Moltar.



What can I tell you, it seems that if they were not subjugated, the Sulak would have been in the running. It would be quite amusing if I somehow lose the vote before I can take out the bugs. I guess my vassals would declare war on me if I refuse to accept the outcome...which of course I would refuse to do.

As I said, it's a delightful mess, and very unpredictable. I was sure that this session was close to ending, but now...I'm not so certain.

 

The fifth and final battle at Koyukon saw my forces finally break Kaek resistance and sent their remaining forces fleeing.



The planet was secured one turn later, after which I split the fleet into two (almost) equal parts. One section stayed in place, holding my new acquisition, the other was sent to attack the Kaek system at Acriu. For their part, the Kaek offered peace which I declined, they then attempted some raids with their remaining forces, but these were easily deflected.

Two turns later...



I accepted the Kaek offer, and this triggered one of the victory conditions I had enabled at start.



Having seen enough to come to some conclusions, I opted to end the game at this point



My next and final entry will offer some general observations and my thoughts on the state of the game as of version 1.6.1

 

Epilogue

I'm thrilled with the inclusion of additional victory conditions in ISG, more than that, the ability for a player to customize these, means you can set the game in a way that's right for you. Outstanding work Adam and Keith, I only wish that I could edit my initial review at GoG to reflect this new reality, but alas that is not an option.

My only critiques at this time are the criteria for surrender, and the minor issue of organic leaders.

I had three factions surrender to me during this session, the Cerixx, Sulak, and Kaek. Of the three, I completely understand the Cerixx decision and feel it was justified. They, (the Cerixx), were badly beaten, incapable of offering resistance, and would have been annihilated had they not surrendered.

The Sulak surrender was questionable. Not only did they still have considerable forces available, but I also hadn't really hurt their territory, meaning their productive capabilities were intact. Had the Sulak concentrated their forces, (as the Kaek did), there is no question in my mind that they could have offered fierce resistance.

As for the Kaek, yes their fleet was broken, but they too had the majority of their territory intact. It felt as if both they and the Sulak before them, gave up too easily.

Keep in mind that I've played other sessions as well, and I am seeing factions surrender too easily, both to myself, and AI opponents, (as was the case with the Moltar surrendering to the Dragul in this game). It would be ideal if the parameters for surrender could be tightened up, or better yet, the parameters left to the player as regards triggering. (To the degree that they can of course).

Leaders...this has irked me for some time. I think some variety in the traits they acquire would be a nice touch, and not labor intensive to execute.

We have Greedy, ok, keep it.

Introduce "Patriotic" which would basically be "philanthropic" but with a name change, it could trigger when a leader is of the same race as his employer, or has lived through times of peace and stability

Consider others as well.

A battle with many casualties could make one of them "Cautious", meaning a hit to initiative but a bonus to defense.

"Reckless" could happen after a great victory, offering a boost to attack, with a hit to defense.

Anyway, there are many options to consider, because right now, it's "Greedy" or "Envious". I see no positives, unlike colony leaders.

Apart from this, I've also decided to change the game parameters when I play again. With the settings I enabled at start, the AI usually does much better than what we saw here. I got luckier than normal, the AIs got unlucky, so this play-through was easy. But I did note that while the AI does retain its advantage in tech and production, it struggled in maintaining it's programmed priorities, particularly in research.

In the future then, Research will go up to 15% for my faction, and the AIs will get a bonus back and be set at 18%. This will give me the epic type session I crave, but with hopefully harder opponents that will be able to execute a greater degree of freedom in research.

Production will stay the same for me at 75%, the Ais which did quite well in this regard, will receive a small bonus and be set to 80%.

Domination victory conditions will be upped to control of five homeworlds instead of four

And finally, over-all AI aggression will be increased a notch, allowing them to gobble up weaker opponents quickly and create the kind of Super-powers I struggled with in the AAR previous to this one.

Overall, it was a lot of fun coming back to ISG, thanks for reading to all of you.

 

Addendum

After finishing up my AAR, I fired up a game with the new parameters I listed, here's what happened.

I was in an isolated position and expanding, I never met another race. After a few hundred turns I received notice that the Sulak had won by fulfilling one of the victory conditions. I chose to play on. Exactly one turn later, the Sulak "won" again by another condition. I chose to continue...

And nothing happened, it's as if the victory conditions were meaningless because I ignored them. I don't feel comfortable with that. I think it would be far more interesting if in this scenario, where the player continues after another party wins, the same situation is triggered as refusing to accept the galactic vote, meaning everyone declares war on you.

Granted, perhaps this is what happens normally, but didn't in my case because I had not met the other powers, I don't know. But would like some clarity on this from anyone that's experienced it, or either Adam or Keith.

So I dropped that game and started another, this time I got what I crave. I'm lagging tremendously in tech, and fighting for survival against two, far more advanced powers, at the same time.

Ah, good times.

 

Hello my friend, good to see you.

Ah the benefits of early retirement, plenty of time for little side projects, (when I'm feeling up to it), and that includes a session or two of this game.

I'm shocked that those ships work for you so well, I almost always encounter some AI faction using neutronium coating on their armor, and my beam weapons become as powerful as laser pointers...

The surrender thing, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe it's me, but I see it as triggering too easily. Wait till they offer peace, decline, and a few turns later your opponent gives up. I've also seen too many times where a more powerful A will surrender to a weaker one, possibly because a few battles were lost.

It's good to have this mechanic no doubt, as it avoids the necessity of completely grinding down a defeated foe just to get peace. However it's happening to easily in my experience.

Stay well.

K

 

You're welcome Silas, and thank you for the kind words

I have to agree with this, it seconds my findings as well. While it may not be 100% the case, most of the time this is exactly what I see triggering surrender.

Agree wholeheartedly, especially on higher difficulty settings

Once again, I agree, I've also never seen anyone break vassalage regardless relations, excellent point.

I'll add one more thing I'd like to see, at least as an option. It's something found in the Hearts of Iron series from Paradox and it would fit in quite well here. It would also alter the strategy of going after an AI's core worlds in the settings I use as the value would be diminished.

Here's the concept.

When you conquer an Alien world, the pops there aren't too happy and you get reduced output from them as a result. After a while, they're cool with you and everything reverts to normal. How about a permanent malus instead? This means that just conquered pops would be under a huge penalty, but once pacified under a moderate penalty, permanently. Also, (borrowing a bit from Birth of the federation), this would only apply to worlds that are conquered by force, not a colony that was gifted to you by an AI, as that would be considered joining willingly.

Outposts of course would not be affected as the population there is considered to be miniscule.