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Lord MJ
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Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Apr 1999
time: 05:13
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Well I finally dusted off old SMAC, and started playing with the SMACX2 factions I created. I played a custom faction called the Johnson Federation, and at the very beginning of the game I was dismayed to find that my starting continent was quite small, and the large landmass to the south of my continent was controlled by the Gangemi Order, the greatest millitary power on Planet.
The first faction I encountered was the Atlantis Consortium, an aquatic faction similar to the Morganites. I pacted with them in exchange for going to war with the Gangemis, but I quickley signed a treaty with the Gangemis since there was no way I could oppose them at this time.
However I was still stuck on this insufficiently small continent, and soon Gangemi troops landed on my soil, and demanded energy credits, I refused and vendetta began. Most of the war involved me defending myself whenever the Gangemis landed troops.
I tried to expand to other continents, but the only other free landmasses close by were small islands. I took what I could get.
I encountered the Aminah Corp, a terraforming faction, and pacted with them. Meanwhile the Gangemis kept breaking truces and treaties of friendship, and even conquered one of my SP bases, I lost the command nexus, but I retook it quickly. But I was falling behing in SP's, with the Aminah's building them like they were nothing, boy the AI sure works good with my custom factions.
I was falling behind, compared to the Aminahs and the Gangemis, my faction was a tiny third world nation. I decided to expand by terraforming up. I didn't have super formers, so it was a long painful process, but I had managed to gain more land to build bases on.
I built the empath guild, and got Aminah elected to planetary governor.
The Gangemis attacked again, and this time I took one of thier sea bases, (that the Gangemis conquered from the Atlantians earlier) with marines. Then I got an idea. The Gangemi hq was within easy striking distance from the sea base. The base occupied a strait between my small continent, and the Gangemi continent. I built a transport in the sea base so land units could easily cross betwee my continent and the Gangemi continent. At the same time I was exchanging technology with Queen Aminah, who by then was the most powerful faction on planet. Doctrine: Initiative, Air Power, and fusion power, entered my grasp through deals with Queen Aminah, and a tyrannical probe nation called the Fluent Nexus, who soon became my next pact brother. I used probes to suck the Gangemis dry of thier technological secrets. I allied with a peace keeper like faction called the SAC, and by then I had pacted with four factions, and was in vendetta with two, the Gangemis and a psi faction called the VanScoy. My economy continued to grow, and to my delight, a volcano erupted right next to my continent, giving me much more mineral rich land to expand into. I soon got super former tech from Queen Aminah, and I was raising like crazy. My continent didn't suck anymore. I launched an attack on the Gangemi capital, after barraging it with missiles, and took it.
I commited the crime I reloading though, after the Gangemis mind controled the capital, and almost my entire ground military with it.(I just couldn't keep playing after such a loss) I reloaded to and prevented the probe team from entering the city, and created a probe defender.
Treaty of friendship with the Gangemis, which Kelley quickly breaks. By that time I had grown tired of the Gangemis violating treaties, so I was determined to force the Gangemis into a submissive pact. My job got a lot easier when queen Aminah landed a force on the Gangemi continent and took some bases. The Gangemis were forced into a two front war, with me attacking from the west, and Queen Aminah attacking from the east. And the atlantians with thier sea bases were hounding the Gangemis with shore bombardment, and noodlejet attacks.
Queen Aminah was at the top of the tech mountain, but I gained the lead eventually. But Aminah was ahead in SP's. But I soon gained access to the Cloudbase academy and built it. I was fourth most powerful nation in the world, after the Aminahs, the Fluent Nexus, and the Gangemis.
I soon negotiated the global trade pact, increasing my wealth so much that none of the other factions could touch me economically, including the Superpower queen Aminah.
I built a powerful navy (despite the fact that the Aminahs had built the maritime control center,) and the Gangemis were steadily declining. I was taking base after base, each time seeing if Kelley wanted to submit, but she did not. I was soon taking sea bases with my navy, and Aminah was taking Gangemi bases. I was tied with the Fluents in terms of power. And I managed to usurp Aminah's posistion as planetary governor. Also I got cybernetic, which increased by power even more. Soon I was about to move into the last Gangemi base on thier continent, when Kelley surrendered. Victory at last!!
Now I was planning on withdrawing and giving the Gangemis thier bases back, but suddenly my pact sister Queen Aminah launched a sneak attack!(I had no idea that a pactmate could launch sneak attacks against you.) And a whole lot of my formers developing the volcano were destroyed by a massive bomber raid by Aminah.
However by this time I had grown so rich that I was able to amass thousands of energy credits, and began mass production of robotic assembly plants, troops, and ships. Aminah's army was twice as big as mine, she had 120 or so divisions, while I had a mere 66. My air force was quite puny, but my navy was the best. The Aminah's were a former faction, with lots of industry, and they were by far still the most powerful faction in the game, but the fact that I was pulling in 3300 credits a turn, while the Aminah's were pulling in a mere 270 credits a turn, gave me a great advantage. The war took place on two fronts, most of the ground fighting took place on what used to be the Gangemi empire, with the Aminah's attacking just as I was pulling out of Gangemi territory. I gave the Gangemi bases back when I was sure that Queen Aminah couldn't take them back.
The second front was a navy and air war near the coast of the Aminah corp. Aminah was able to bomb my volcano in the beginnig, but she stopped soon enough. I wasn't prepared to actually launch a land assault against Queen Aminah's giant continent, but with coptors, noodlejets, missiles, and my fleet, I gave the Aminahs a beat down. They were still the strongest, with my faction a distant second, but in truth, with my economy, I held all the cards.
Soon however I had a problem, apparently my rapid production of Robotic Assembly Plants, pissed planet off, and I got the notice that global warming would cause sea levels to rise by 66 meters! I quickly launched a solar shade, and began rush building centauri preserves, soon to be followed by pressure domes.
So here I am, with the threat of either global warming wiping out my coastal cities, or the solar shade, cutting of the number of bases that can produce my navy(one of my advantages against the otherwise militarily superior, Aminah corp.) What are your suggestions on maintaining the geographic integrity of my continent?
This is definately one of the most interesting, and challenging games of SMACX I had ever played!
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05-03-2001 11:51
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