Void on fire (against 1.07)

Having played a few hours now, I continue to see substantial differences from past versions, so much so that I feel a new AAR is warranted. The last one I posted here, (Terra dark), is simply no longer indicative of what a player can expect with ISG.

Without further ado then, here is the set up below. This should give the AI a fighting chance as its beginning advantages are much harder to overcome with these settings, at the same time, the game will progress slowly, be longer, and delay the end game situation indefinitely. This appeals to me personally.




The starting situation seems pretty good, I’m off to the left inside a nebula, which should aid me in case I’m attacked early. With the set up I’m using, it is vital to avoid conflict for at least the first 100 turns. I simply cannot design anything credible early on, and production, (as you see) is painstakingly slow.

I’ve set research to asteroid exploitation, as I can’t waste any effort with a 50% research rate. This tech is something that is almost a guarantee to be useful, and I will wait and see what planets my ships find in the systems around me before committing to a single colonization tech, after that, I will rely solely on my resilient settlers ability to expand.

Finally a word about money, I’m trying to establish a large surplus quickly, this is helped by my not building any structures quickly that will drain credits via maintenance. I am hoping to have a strong enough treasury to deal with possible events and leaders.

Oh yes… before I forget. As regards “flavor” or playing style… welcome back one Gaius Ezekiel Nash, with a small difference. Gaius is still virulently xenophobic and an alien hater, but he is no longer insane, just ruthlessly efficient.

 

So much for isolation sigh… but I’ll come back to that.

I concluded my initial visits to the systems around me and based on the findings, began researching swamp colonization.

I found a swamp world at Brasbi, but with less than ideal gravity. I also found one at Ichac with normal G, and I decided to establish my first colony there. Of course at this stage, I will be colonizing blindly as I can’t see the richness of the planets or if a special is present. I’ll take the risk though, and have noted that the AI does the same in the early game.

Apart from these two systems, there seems to be a potentially good location to my south at Ubethe, (there is a desert word there along with a large asteroid field and two gas giants). Unfortunately this system is guarded by a Dragon so it will have to wait, at least I know no-one else can get to it either.

My first cultural advancement saw me take over-mining. There was no point to take the other choice as I’ve only seen some small asteroid fields that are accessible early. The effect on my production however is negligible at this stage.

Finally I got into a position to colonize Ichac and instantly ran into the Nova… crap! I was hoping that contact would not have come this early, fortunately the colony there turned out to be pretty decent and included ruins. I found the “Condor” in those ruins, not the best of ships to be sure, but at least I can put up some sort of defense if those sand loving anthropoids get any ideas.

Research now is switched over to vaults and the treasury grows, soon I will have another decision to make as my cultural level is set to advance yet again.

 

My next cultural advancement came on turn 20 and it was a tough decision, in the end I grabbed the free colony ship and hoped that passing on the increase in speed wouldn’t turn out to be a fatal error. A few turns later I discovered a source of Helium 3 and selected to go with militarized fusion. This choice would potentially allow me to add more punch to beam weapons, increase the health of shields and research fusion drive…perfect for my militant game style.

I finally hired a colony leader on turn 29, the mechanical construct was assigned to Terra immediately. As far as leaders go, Mickey is not a bad choice, but it’s not as if I had one anyway.

The ruins present at my colony at Ichac meant that my culture was advancing rapidly, on turn 30 I chose the free survey ship and sent it out, (along with an escort), to re-survey every system within range in order to get detailed information. I still held a colony ship in reserve and was determined to only use on the best choice available.

I grudgingly accepted a trade treaty offered by the Nova on turn 40, in my eyes they are just a target… but that it is for the future, right now it’s best to stay on good terms with them. On turn 45 I advanced in culture yet again, this time I chose Astro Mining Guild. Finally, on turn 50 I hired my second leader, the alien Kxuta and sent him to Ichac… (my distaste for aliens notwithstanding). I also realized that the Draguul must be nearby, I haven’t made contact yet, but I can see they have a presence at Obatala along with the Nova.

 

There they are! Ahh my old friends, the Lizards… “do you know the Klingon proverb…” Well you get the idea. These guys were pesky in the past, now they are more aggressive and I don’t care for them this close this early in the game, they will have to be watched. During this time, I also sent my recently completed outpost ship to Brasbi in order to mine the HE3 available at the gas giant in that system.




A few turns later I scrapped my survey ship so I could hire Pike on turn 63 and Adams on 64, I waited till they were about to leave before doing so, hoping that an event might give me some cash and I could keep the ship, but it was not to be. On turn 70 I advanced in culture yet again and selected Mega-corporations, my treasury was running a good surplus once more… which was a good thing as the “Militia” fired two turns later and I was barely able to afford the Cruiser, draining my treasury down to nickels and dimes in the process.

I now had four ships, the militia Cruiser, the Condor, and my two starting Frigates, at least it was better than nothing.

Mickey got his desire fulfilled on turn 80 and my economic Capital was completed on my Home World, another boost for my almost bankrupt state. Then, on turn 93, I refused an appearance on T.V. when “a star is born” fired. The good news is that all my leaders got happy with me… the bad is that my already pitiful production declined even more… oh well, at least it’s temporary.

By turn 100,the situation is like this.

 

Remote exploration turned up a source of antimatter at Kai on turn 106, and the session got a bit stressful. I had to have this system as the path of destruction is a must for me, but the system was close to Lizard space. I immediately switched production to an outpost ship at Terra and sent forces to guard Kai, determined to fight if anyone attempted to claim it before I could.

Then one turn later, a gift from the AI as the Nova declared war on the Draguul. Excellent, “kill each other while I’m still weak” I thought to myself.

I established the outpost on Kai a few turns later, 114 I believe, and two turns after that I found a Terran world at Phin and sent my colony ship there to settle it. Phin also had ruins present, and after a careful and thorough search, I discovered some cobwebs and dust.



Remember in the beginning when I stated that a 50% research rate means you have to be careful with what you research? Here is what my tech looks like at this point in time, not even half of what I could have had at a 100% rate.




The bright side though is that this gives me just enough to design my first ships, below is a Destroyer, and believe it or not, it will be effective for quite a while, even if it is not as advanced as what the AIs can build right now. I also designed Frigates, that carry only the missiles shown and a pd laser, as well as a Cruiser that is just like the Destroyer with an extra heavy laser and bomb racks…now I just have to produce some.

 

The game continued apace with me desperately trying to put together a credible force by building some new ships as well as refitting older types. Fortunately I got a break on turn 120 when the slimy lizards offered a trade treaty. I accepted of course, more so to keep relations friendly, (for now), rather than the economic benefit.

Of course the game has a twisted sense of humor, and one turn later I had to cough up 200 BC when the “lonely saboteur” event fired at Phin. And then, just to add some insult to injury, I promptly received news that the Moltar, (who I have not met yet), were greedy with the “Golden riddle” and kept a huge amount of cash all for themselves… (Typical Lava heads, I should have known)

The Nova then requested a mining treaty on turn 134 which I promptly declined. (New players beware, if you accept, they will settle in your systems like a virus)

It was only a short while later, (turn 138) when I discovered the Sulak. These…things were positioned north of my territory and I now had three more powerful neighbours boxing me in everywhere except due south. I paused the game at this point as I considered the strategic implications

 

I chose Xeno-tolerance on 146 when I advanced in culture yet again, at the same time my survey ship was busy exploring systems that had now come within range in the hopes of finding either suitable planets to colonize or ruins to explore. The Draguul, being your typical trouble-makers, (aggressive), started to mass at Usiliv. I spied 4 warships there along with assault ships and in response I sent reinforcing units to Ichac, Kai, and Phin as a precaution, luckily the Lizards did not attack.

Remote exploration discovered an ultra rich desert world guarded by a space entity at Oplaa on turn 151 and I started preparations for colonizing this system before anyone else could get to it.

The Nova and I signed a research treaty on 162, I needed this as my research is lagging, even for these settings. “Guru” joined our cause on 168 and he was assigned to Phin. In the meantime, a colony ship was completed and dispatched to Oplaa, where Ruiz was already headed to in order to clear out the space entity and fulfill his desire of commanding a cruiser in battle.

Ruiz defeated the the Crystal entity at Oplaa on turn 171 and I established a colony there. I re-assigned “Guru” to this new colony as it was a far more valuable world than Phin. The colonization of Oplaa caused “A spark of hope” to fire, but alas, I was a “Debbie Downer”.

Two turns later the Nova and Lizards made peace, with the status quo unchanged. The situation now is shown below, and I am ranked fourth in all categories except for fleet strength… there I am first.

 

I destroyed the Sentient asteroid on turn 187 and declined another mining treaty with the Nova on 190, (these guys just can’t take a hint). Then, on turn 193, the Lizards declared war on the Nova. I observed for a while and stayed neutral as Pike defeated a space dragon at Ubeithes so I could build an asteroid mine there to feed Terra’s industry.

“More than a diplomat” fired on turn 197 and now the Sulak are angry with me… like I care. On the following turn I discovered the Kaek who seem to be in sad shape.




By turn 202 my fleet strength had dropped to third, this was worrying. One turn later I concluded a trade treaty with the Sulak and the Draguul conquered Eluna, the Nova were losing their war badly, and I decided to act. (Not for the love of the Nova, but rather a wish to not see the Draguul get too powerful, I attacked them at their newly conquered colony).


The battle that followed, (the first battle of Eluna), was without a doubt the single most exciting moment I have had playing ISG in the last two years… it also was one of the most disappointing at the same time.

If I were to simply post the results of the battle, it would be wildly misleading. Therefore I am going to detail this battle extensively. First take a look at the opposing forces.




In the past I would have slaughtered these guys, but here I was using my existing designs against ships that had better shields, (class III), better armor, (Tritanium versus tungsten), and better weaponry, (Shield piercing particle beams versus heavy lasers, while we both varied MIRV nuke missiles), the battle went like this…

I realized I was instantly in trouble as the Battleship had a bank of 4 missiles and 7 particle beams, the destroyers were similarly armed but with fewer over all weapons. I fired first and concentrated all my fire on their BB. With only my Cruiser and Destroyer having direct fire weapons, it was a swarm of missiles that I sent their way. The enemy was not equipped with heavy variants on their particle beams and moved to close the gap while splitting fire against both my Cruiser and Destroyer while ignoring my Frigates.

To make a long story short, I had to rotate shield facing, drop heat, and by the time my missiles were being exhausted I had taken heavy damage to both my Cruiser and Destroyer. Realizing that I would lose this battle, I tried something new. I got into point blank range of the enemy Battleship and managed to knock down its shields and immobilize it. My Cruiser attempted to board but the action was repelled, immediately my Destroyer tried the same and captured the ship from the weakened defenders. The enemy BB was crippled and offered no value but I reasoned that if the enemy destroyers shifted their fire to it, my own ships might survive long enough to alter the contest.

Well, the enemy then crippled my Destroyer, knocking its shields, weapons, and engines out, it was now a sitting duck and they could have destroyed it instantly. My heavily damaged Cruiser closed with one of the Draguul Destroyers and immobilized it in turn. Then much to my surprised, my marines had re-generated and I captured this Destroyer as well.

(Funny enough, the third ship I ever set foot on in real life was the U.S.S. Ponce, (LPD 15). At the time, this ship could carry a battalion of Marines, their vehicles, Helicopters, and even had a small hospital on board as well as its main armament. It was an impressive ship that could do many things. The one thing it couldn’t do however was regenerate its Marines once they were spent).

Now look at the end result




This was disaster for the Draguul and doesn’t feel right, (hence the disappointment), when the battle ended, my destroyer, and the captured Draguul ships were crippled, my Cruiser was a wreck… but once I got out of the Battle screen all these ships were ready for action without a scratch. Unlike the Draguul, I know how to use these ships and the Lizards are in a far worse place than if they had just lost them because it now represents a swing of 5 ships (they lost three, I gained two)

(Now I would never want to see a repair mechanic that slows the game or adds to micro, but this result is deflating. Crippled ships (those left immobile in combat) should require either a cool-down (one turn delay) before they are functional, or be required to spend one turn in the same system as a starbase before they are functional. (Perhaps a leader present with the engineering skill could negate this need and repair them automatically as is the case now). Captured ships should also have a one to two turn cool-down, (depending on size) before they can be used).


How and why the AI should have won

Equally disappointing is the fact that the AI snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Of all the tactics it could have used in the battle, it selected the worst choice.

My ships each had a single bank of MIRV missiles with only the Cruiser and Destroyer sporting heavy lasers. The main threat to the enemy then was the missiles. The AI split their fire but against the wrong targets. Had the Frigates been targeted first, they would have been quickly destroyed and my fire power would have diminished considerably. Even concentrating on my Cruiser alone would have yielded better results as that too would have been destroyed and Ruiz lost. Instead, the AI chose my two strongest units to attack first and failed to destroy either of them. I had many conversations with my former colleagues about AI behavior in battle, and while it is great to see the AI field ships that are a real threat, I would love to see it use those ships better, it would be an asset for ISG.

Anyway gents, sorry about this long scrawl, but the Battle at Eluna needed a substantial explanation.

 

I had hoped that by removing the Draguul presence at Eluna, the recently conquered inhabitants would revolt and the system return to Nova control… but I had no such luck, and as ill prepared as I was, I settled in for a serious conflict.

For their part, the Draguul attempted a quick raid at my forward base on Ichac, but I easily chased the lone Frigate away. I was now able to use the extra ships I had captured to my advantage and garrison my base well while still retaining a credible mobile strike force in the field. Things got even better for me as I chose the Galactic quest cultural advancement on turn 208 and all my leaders were promoted in mass. I also set up a trade outpost at Chith to start making up for some of the lost revenue suffered when I attacked the Draguul and ended our trade treaty.

I reached threshold technology on turn 209 and designed upgraded ships, now even my Frigates had a main heavy laser, My Destroyers a second bank of missiles and my Cruisers looked like this



I also designed a Battleship class with double the amount of lasers (in two banks) and two missiles racks by four missiles each. While these ships were still technologically inferior to some of the Draguul designs I was encountering, (featuring class V shields), I knew how to use them well. (At this point I was actually amused by my fleet, mostly older designs, some Draguul ships, the Nova Cruiser and the Condor, quite the mix)


My tech now looks like this




Then, in a questionable move, the Nova gifted me a Cruiser on turn 210. I say questionable as they were being defeated by the Draguul and as far as I knew only had 2 Cruisers and perhaps a half dozen Destroyers available… weakening their fleet further by giving me a Cruiser may not have been wise. Still, with my fleet growing in ways I had not foreseen, I struck again and engaged the Draguul at the 2nd battle of Eluna, managing to destroy a Cruiser and a Destroyer before they withdrew.

The 3rd battle of Eluna followed immediately after, (on turn 211), and the Draguul lost another Cruiser. I followed this up by destroying their colony at Usiliv on turn 215 and razing their outposts at Obatala on 216 and 217.

On turn 218 I headed back to Eluna, and in a masterful display of reactive defense by the AI, I was beaten back (I am quite impressed by the fact that the Draguul are still fielding large enough forces to defeat me after all the losses they have sustained.






( A quick note, in past releases I would have thought nothing about engaging that fleet above with the forces present, in 107 it would be suicide)

 

I have no intention of calling it quits while the issue is still in doubt... it's just that I can't play/post on a consistent basis so bear with me.

Agreed wholeheartedly

Ahh, that is tricky and depends on many factors, including your own race. Let me just say that it is mainly an issue of difficulty versus pacing. If you like a fast paced game, you have more options than if you prefer a slow paced one. I would like to see some options added that would address this. Looking at SEV and Stellaris both, a player can customize research speed but not production, therefore the difficulty settings were easier to manage there. It all boils down player taste I suppose.

 

With the population at Eluna failing to revolt, I chose a different strategy. I had no assault ships ready, so I decided to obliterate the colony there entirely in the hopes that the Nova would then resettle it and deny it to the Lizards. But we’ll get to that in a moment.

First…

The battle graveyard fired on turn 223 and I received Adamantium armor… a game changer tech. As I do not reload when an unfavorable outcome arises, I decided to keep the tech but not go through the trouble of integrating it in my designs yet. (I was already partially done with upgrading my designs and the thought of sending them back for yet another refit was tedious, so I wasn’t just doing this out of the goodness of my heart).

Then on turn 225 I assembled a strong fleet and struck Eluna again. Note my fleet composition, only two ships are of the upgraded variant and I have brought the Nova Cruiser with me while leaving the captured Lizard units to garrison Ichac



And now for the result of the battle, (of course I also destroyed the colony entirely)



After that I chased off a raid at Ichac and declined the offer of a second Cruiser from the Nova. (The devs may need to adjust how easily the AI gifts ships, this is hurtful to the ai and kind of breaks the difficulty level and fun, one Cruiser gifted when they are in such a sad state is questionable, a second one so quickly afterwards is… less than ideal). Oh, lest I forget, I declined an alliance with the Nova.

On turn 227 I attacked the repaired Lizard outpost at Obatala, destroying a Frifate, a Destroyer, and capturing yet another Destroyer in the process.

The Nova quickly managed to recolonize Eluna, though it remains to be seen if they can hold it. Now, on turn 230, I have 9 Frigates, 6 Destroyers, 4 Cruisers and a single Battleship available… a formidable force. I am also building a colony ship to settle Weidmas and block the Sulak, (who are quickly becoming a threat), from expanding in my direction. The strategic situation is shown below.

 

This has been an interesting if atypical session, one that is allowing me to see certain things I wish wasn’t.

First a disclaimer.

Before going further, I want to say that I like ISG, I think it is a good game, has a great concept, and for the most part a solid design. It has about an 80% approval rate at steam and I estimate that it has sold about 5.3K copies. While the first number isn’t bad, the second number is an under-performance for a game like this. While I have no skin in this, I sincerely hope that these numbers get better and it is the main reason why I spend so much of my time providing feedback.

Now back to the session. I had gone to war not to gain territory or defend myself, but rather to maintain a certain balance of power until such a time where I could go on a rampage. With my main objectives reached, I drew back, and while still technically at war with the Lizards, I refrained from attacking them further.

So what do they do? While still at war with both myself and the Nova, the Draguul declared war on the Sulak as well. Before I analyze this move, take a look at this screenshot. (Where I come from, this is called “I have a big stick and you don’t, so give me what I want or I will beat you over the head and take it anyway”)




My fleet, which has only increased by a single Frigate and a single Destroyer since last count, dwarfs everyone else. Now look at the Draguul…

What I see here is the following

Had the Sulak declared war on the Dragul, it would have been logical and understandable. It would have been a predatory move taking advantage of a weakened rival. The Draguul declaring war on the Sulak is sheer idiocy, but I know why they did it. And here we expose two design flaws.

First, the Draguul were made more “aggressive” in an effort to add some action to the game and fit their militant description… as a result they can act quite stupid, such as the case being discussed. In fact, I find them far easier to deal with now than before the change as I can anticipate and manipulate them easier.

Second, ISG AI races rely almost exclusively on diplomatic relations to determine war and peace. The AI races do not have a sense of self preservation. I have brought this up in the past, but when an AI faction is being crushed, it declines peace due to “diplomatic standing” without realizing that the choice it is making means certain annihilation. In the case being discussed now, the caricature Draguul race, (the aggressive one), decides to declare a war and fight three factions at the same time… it cannot win.

AI behavior cannot be straight-jacketed by diplomacy and racial qualifiers alone, until this is fixed, ISG will never reach its full potential regardless of how much of a makeover it gets in the future or what new content is introduced.

Third, we can see that regardless of the fact that the AI factions are more technologically advanced with higher production rates, they still cannot defend themselves adequately or build up a good military. (The Draguul can perhaps be excused as they suffered losses, the Sulak have no excuse).

What I also see here is that without their production bonuses, (which gave a false sense of a problem being solved), the AI continues to ignore its military, while it overextends itself in other areas. This is part of the reason why I hate the production and research bonuses as a solution to the game not being challenging enough, it really doesn’t solve the root cause of the problem and I can still crush the AI even with the bonuses enabled, (though that game experience is the opposite of what I enjoy as the game goes by much faster)

So now I have a situation as shown below. At first glance it would seem that I am not dominant, but in reality I can take on all my neighbors, at the same time, right now, and still prevail. This session ends here.

 

Eluna revisited

I haven’t had the opportunity to play 1.08 much, but it has introduced a bug fix that affected missiles when multiple banks were grouped in a single mount. I believe that this bug played a role in the AI’s narrow defeat at the first battle of Eluna. At that battle, throughout most of the game, (and due to my preferences most of my sessions), that bug did not affect me at all as I only had a single missile bank on my ships, even the Cruisers. The AI however had four racks grouped together on its battleship and the bug means that they were not producing the damage they should have.

With this information in hand, I must conclude that I would have lost that battle, which would have had tremendous effects on the rest of the session as I would not have captured that Battleship and a Destroyer.

While certain aspects of this AAR would not have been affected, in the interest of fairness and my wish to provide unbiased feedback, I have no choice but to declare this AAR a tainted and false sample of the game.

Hopefully I will be able to do a new AAR with 1.08, this time with settings that I don’t usually favor so that I can provide a different set of events to examine.