Yet more challenges layered on an active this episode based on suggestions and my table: Corporate Retreat: One per year, all councillors are required all 'go to ground' in the same region - to attend a grand corporate retreat complete with meditation, teambuilding exercises, a keynote speech by some external consultant or celebrity, as well as their compulsory "how to recognise signs of pherocyte mind control" session Consolidated efforts: The Board is concerned about spreading capital too thin and would rather we stick to some 'sure bets' for a while. Further expansion in the Asteroid belt or beyond it is prohibited until at least 2030. The Board will then reconsider (roll again) each year on whether to remove the restriction. Line must go up: The Board expects a consistent revenue growth story that can be sold to investors. Total spoils per day at the end of each month must be greater than spoils at the end of the previous month. A chance not missed: Achieving a monopoly on Earth (for now) seems out of reach. But in space, the competition authorities can't hear you scheme - we must control all surface locations on either Mars, Mercury or Luna Stay out of the papers: Due to the high risk to public support levels involved, we are not allowed to employ assassination against any faction (barring the Hydra) that has not first attempted to assassinate one of our councillors unless the Board grants special approval for such measures
Corporate Retreat: Team building is paramount. Rotation through the councillors is necessary. Consolidated efforts: Expansion beyond the inner planets cannot proceed until all planetary surface sites are filled. Line Must Go Up: Spoils do have the possibility of profiteering by parties that might not share the ideals of the Board. Revenue from funding should be substituted whenever possible as it is infrastructure specific to the Initiative. (May be more challenging than pushing spoils, and you need the challenge Perun.) A Chance Not Missed: All sites, surface and orbitals, on Mercury must be Initiative assets. It's industrial potential is unmatched, at least in the inner sphere. Stay Out Of The Papers: All assassinations or detaining of opposing councillors must occur in countries where the Initiative controls the media or the Initiative has a popularity above ,let's say, 80%. I'm looking forward to the Initiative controlling the Earth and pushing the War footing. It will be very Starship Troopers. There should be a minimum stockpile of Alien Exotics you need before being allowed to perform the final mission. Enough to ensure technical superiority once the source is no longer available.
Heh, I had hoped to see the Angel Cartel Industrialist in play, but you used Arthur for a turned Ambassador instead. Which is, ironically, on-point for what happened to the 'actual' Arthur - from the RoleMaster campaign he came from (and what I also did to him prior to an ISOT to Tyria). This playthrough is becoming amazing on SO many levels. 🙂
To the Board of Directors: Once upon a time the Honorable East India Company ruled the waves for the British Crown. It is only just if the flag of the UK once again flies over all the former crown colonies as parts of one nation controlled by the Initiative. Therefore, it is paramount to unify Canada into Great Britain, and then return the 13 Colonies back under the British flag, where they belong!
i wote in support of chairman strategy to unite europe, + i think it could prove interesting to support project exodus mission to establish new colony in new star sysnem (if their wictory doesnt end the game of course)
@@MelfiortheOne Think of it as the logistical tail. Also, if say a full marine division is destroyed, they would still have the boots and instructors on Paris Island.
It was pretty funny after they introduced custom difficulties cause if you reduced IP costs to the minimum destroying a nations army last army would end up refunding them enough that they would get two back. Building a "giga" Caliphate like that was an experience. Also critical success against aliens does give hate but since the hydra don't know who did it its applied against all factions and much smaller. Oh and in case your curious the fastest anyone has won a TI campaign to my knowledge was July 2030 with resistance on brutal difficulty. @@PerunGamingAU
"Let's make this a universe, where Armata is a thing that works" - had me dying :D :D :D Fitting that that's the most fantastical thing in a universe where aliens exist :D. Although, humanity colonized Mars before that happened, so kind of checks out.
Now that you've had some "major" successes against the aliens in space, it's probably time to dump stocks in chemical propellant companies while they're hugely overvalued.
Honestly, Prigeny is such a fitting name it would be a shame to change it. And it's interesting seeing AI really taking the initiative. I remember playing a beta version where I dominated the game so much it was just me vs the aliens since nobody else mattered...
Something I just picked up on is that the servant leader Judith Howell being an experienced psychonaut might play a part in the fact that she was able to keep her personality better than most others after her contact with the aliens. The Initiative mentions that pherocytes work similarly to pscyhedelics, it would be a neat little detail if this is why she isn't mind controlled to the level others are.
Hey if you want to make a strong british empire you can create the dominion of America, Canada annexes US and in theory idk if it would work but you could form the USNA and then have Canada annex them which you could merge with UK
No, the operative number doesn't mean much. They represent the order they are generated in their pool, but they totally can just hire Alfa-12 at game start and send it to earth as their second operative.
@@afaultytoaster Ah, I looked at a few save files. It seems that their initial council is 1-6, with 7-15 in their initial pool, so you have to remove at least one for higher numbered ones to appear. Technically, they could fire their initial ones, but IDK if aliens ever do that.
Hi! I have some more rule suggestions: -Puppet master: If we don’t want to do the dirty work, another faction must. Sponsor Humanity First or The Resistance in meaningful ways. -Defenders of humanity (and corporate interest): We must protect our space assets. Have a dedicated defense fleet in orbit of every planet we have a presence on. That’s it for now :)
Had a good chuckle about the optimism of "at least half of our fleet survived the last engagement with the enemy" Yeah those are some human wave type calculous. Not we won but at what cost but rather we have enough troops left to do it again.
You might need to consider getting to green arc lasers-ish military tech, if you are planning to "turtle up" with ring habs and colony cores. And armor techs/colony bombardment resistance. Otherwise they will likely overwhelm your station defenses. You can federate a federation, I have the option to federate the Intremarium (poland) into the Eurasian Union in my current game.
There is no need to field armada comrade, glorious T-72 has served Eurasia for decades, simple put wiring back in and is good to drive back aliens. Urrrraaaaahh. Is unfortunate we cannot strap T-72 to Buran and send to space. No need for other spaceships ever again.
It's really cool to see The Exodus with the benefits of improved AI. Not only are they hyperfocusing on setting up space economy - but they are also willing to fight the aliens to protect it.
Someday in the distant future when terra invicta is fully solved I'd love to see a chatty Perun playthrough of Shadows of Forbidden Gods. Similar agent-based gameplay to this, but far less braim-nelting complexity
Focus groups have indicated that the average consumer is 38% more likely to purchase goods and services from institutions that are perceived to have a favorable relationship with dogs. This relationship has been found to be far weaker for cats, sparking several heated debates in our marketing department.
I know thematically your avoiding the most altruistic stuff like welfare and such because the initiative aren’t the good guys but I would like to just throw out the fact realistically they probably would do a bit more overtly good guy thing specifically because experience shows the general populace would go along with just about anything if 1 they are happy healthy and comfortable and 2 they genuinely believe that you are “the good guys” no matter what heinous shit you actually are doing in the background as long as you leave enough to make them believe your good
I’ve said this a few times but one way to showcase that is to direct invest money into something like wealth fare as a private “charitable” donation. Good PR questionable effectiveness
Initiative has mind control techniques. Of course they're good guys, everyone loves them despite they've got to pay their healthcare bills themselves. It works in real ruzzia, so should work in Eurasian Union in game.
It's just that, historically speaking, it is the working classes who have had to fight tooth and nail to wring any 'welfare' concessions out of the capitalist class. What the ultra-wealthy rely on is PR, the propagation of myths such as 'meritocracy', 'pulling yourself up by the bootstraps', and 'the american dream'. What neoliberalism has in fact demonstrated these last 40 odd years is how capital interests seek to gut social welfare spending and erode worker protections, precisely so that the workers have no choice but to accept the status quo, lest they want to risk losing their jobs, health care, and/or homes.
Two ideas. 1 private charity. Any welfare has to be in the form of “private” investment. Basically direct investment into welfare as a charity option. 2 if possible monopolize a branch of technology that the other factions can’t go down. This might be if the A.I goes fission you have to go Fusion or etc.
'Private charity' is just tax loopholes the wealthy use to keep hold of their money that, paradoxically, tend to hurt communities more than if they were just taxed. Because the money inevitably ends up in foundations that the wealthy control themselves, with little to none actually making it into the hands that they're supposed to.
That's not really how tech works in the game. Broad technologies are global technologies, and once they're researched everyone can then develop the practical applications. You can sabotage your rivals' engineering projects, I guess.
Oh no, Mercury research... Perun, the radiation penalty will murder your metals dead, it got fixed so that now *every* module needs proper shielding. And Universities are heavy by default - each single one will cost something like 2k metals to build around Mercury.
Metals are the least valuable resource though. Organics (water and volatiles) are more useful for fuel and armour, which is where most of your tonnage goes.
@@afaultytoaster The point is that it's simply not possible to spam research facilities at Mercury. Even if you spend all your metals, you'll simply get less value for your resources than if you had built them at Venus with the much less efficient solar power there.
@@olterin I think my bottleneck is usually MC and money rather than metals when it comes to spamming anything. Going to Mercury so you can have mines and efficient solar seems like a better long-term plan.
Here's the thing: 10 MC worth of universities at Mercury costs well over 20k metals. I know MC before hatecap on Veteran means this is less of an issue, but still, for just *two* t3 bases with full universities that's over 40k metals. That's *insane* costs for what amounts to "ok" research of 3600 RP/month. That would actually significantly cut into ship production, even if that kind of metals is available (not to mention wanting to go higher once you go loud)
This opens up the chance to do a run that is actually completely different, an infiltration campaign, where your objective is to make somebody else win (academy makes a lot of sense considering their campaign)
31:15 "Second Vietnam war" the second Indochina war was the one with America. The first was against the French in which the south had become an effective pawn of the Americans. This would be the third Indochina war.
Here's a point: you can use XP to make councillors rich, and why would someone who isn't filthy rich would quickly become it working at the highest level of the organisation. I propose that all councillors must have *at least* the Prosperous trait (second level in the personal wealth tree, think it's only 25xp) before you can go back to upgrading their attributes.
Really happy to see you're back on TI. This is one of those games that I love in theory, but am frequently too intimidated to actually play myself, so I love seeing somebody coming in who's comfortable getting really weird with it!
Ive seen some members advocating for cybernetics on... idealogical... grounds. While this may be an improper motivation, i believe the end result is worth promoting. Planned obsolescense has been one of the largest profit generating initiatives in the past millenia. As such, cybernetic augmentations would open an ancient market to entirely new resources, subsistance. Humans already spend billions on the 'necesseties' of life, with augments, we can expand this beyond the standard foodstuffs and cleaning agents, into manufactured limbs, organs, and, of course, the maintenance thereof. Initial estimates show that regular maintence of an augmented human could double or even triple the cost of daily life if planned correctly. This is an opportunity we would be fools to ignore.
I am so looking forward to seeing how efforts to monopolize space continue... I dream fondly of the day mars is known only to the initiative (luna doesn't seem as essential, after all, the initiative is literally the colour of mars)
@@alexkaplan6581 Mercury stations are not cost effective at all since they need truly massive amounts of metals for shielding for little added benefit. Venus is a much more profitable place for rings of universities.
The entire kinetic research team should have life insurance policies taken out on them so that there are no financial losses training their replacements.
How to improve your space battle tactics: If you are going to lose ships, see which ones they target and let it fire its entire magazine and keep other ships in reserve.
One of the things that bugged me is that the resisting human AIs don't seem to be all that interested in killing the aliens what so ever, seems like no matter what faction you choose, you seem to be the one doing all the work.
Been playing some myself after taking a long break. It's really great how the AI has improved. You could so easily lock them out of space. But now they do a good job of getting to the moon and Mars, and other places. And even beat you if you forget certain steps or delay them by just a few weeks.
They really need to add in the ability to make control points tradable in the game. It would be an improvement from the steal control point -> placate pissed off faction way of doing it, which seems unnecessarily cumbersome. Also, I think that the Line Go Up rule needs to be made a little less specific. Just make it that net cash income must increase month on month. Investors don't care _how_, they just want it done. That gives you more options long term.
You talked about defating the aliens even earlier, i mean, couldn't you just make a big early ship swarm with start game tech, and then just order all but 1 ship to kamikaze into the alien vessel? Since chemical rockets have fast acceleration in battle, the alien vessel would not be able to dodge, you could also just armor 1 ship a lot, then put it in front so the aliens fire at it first, then use the other ships as kamikaze. Hell, strap some cannons on it, paint it red, and you have a true Ork ship.
Hm, a few suggestions for you next ship classes: Aggressive Restructuring Death by PowerPoint Head Count Reduction East Indiaman Comprehensive Divestment Leveraged Buyout Private Equity Marine ships: Parachuting Consultants Merger & Acquisitions Project Team
Man, I wanna see a playthrough with you playing as Exodus, but you destroy every alien ship and base, then do the same to the protectorate & servants 😆
"In other news....The Czech Republic has appointed a new Defense Minister. This decision has come under intense criticism by several former Czech allies, who cite the individual's past actions as the 'Defense Minister of the Republic of Elbonia' as a red flag. As of this broadcast no member of our research team can find this 'Republic of Elbonia' on any map....More at Eleven"
I have went through the wiki, are there an other sources detailing mechanics of the game in detail? Such as aliens conducting surveillance and what exactly they gain from it?
When the Aliens destroy your stuff, Is the amount of hate that is burned off at all dependent upon the value of the stuff they blow up? or is any station, or any fleet worth around the same amount?
43:50 in the second part of the game, we will hopefully therefor have learned wormhole tech visiting alien planets to return the favor ... then with reverted roles
How dare you. The Armata is the most survivable and stealthy tank ever produced. There has never been any confirmed kills of one, in fact nobody has ever actually even _seen_ it on the battlefield! Incredible!
Also you can totally federate a federation, all the eu federated states will become part of the eurasian federation. And all the unifications still work as expected, as long as claims are there
Idea for a new rule: The Power Of The Sun In The Palm Of My Hand. Mercury must be monopolized by any means, and any attempts at trust busting must be dealt with harshly. Basically just fill up all the surface and orbital slots.
Is this the first human-on-human engagement Perun has done? In all his other playthroughs I think he's strangled the Servants and Protectorate out of space in the first place, let alone building a proper black-water navy.
Hi Perun, IIRC you've only played through to end-game when it was easy to skip the fission core drives. You could perhaps consider building fission-core based orbital defense ships now - fission is much, much cheaper to research than fusion especially with the increased research cost to a lot of fusion tech, also corvettes and destroyers using the firestar drive and hydron traps have a decent amount of DV for orbital interceptions or even combat maneuvers.
Enjoying the series. It is bad to watch you too much as you are too good. Anyway also glad that you were using Escorts with vipers and double magazines. I was wondering why you were using copperheads in a previous video. Not sure how much the drive matters for these early ships, as you cannot really use the drive in combat anyway, so a grid etc is probably also ok, and allows you to come from Mercury. Looking forward to the rest of it, even if it does make me feel bad at the game :D.
Perun, thematically, I think you're incorrect in assuming they'd like Humanity First & dislike the Protectorate. See reasoning below. The Initiative's enemies would be Humanity First, the Servants, and the Exodus, all of which desire a very different Earth from that which the Initiative profits. The Initiative profits from Earth in 2022, and could profit even more from (1) Alien Tech + (2) capitalist Earth + (3) the Solar System in the future. Each of those three factions would surrender one or those three. Killing all aliens (as Humanity First wants) is foolish - the aliens can provide much superior technology to that of humanity, not to mention opening whole new markets up and enabling multi-galaxy mining via their wormhole(s). Humanity First would destroy all of this potential. That makes them the enemy. At the same time, the Servants and the Exodus desire a radical change in humanity. The Servants want to end ruthless capitalism (GASP!) to become one with the aliens, and surrender the entire solar system to boot. The Exodus want to leave behind all wealth on Earth (GASP!) and give up all that profit potential. The Academy, Resistance, and Protectorate dont want to end capitalism, surrender existing wealth, or surrender potential wealth. They want to keep things as they are. And the way things are is how the Initiative profits. Dont fall into the paradigm that the Chairman criticized in earlier flavor events - that there are only pro-alien and anti-alien factions, with the radical Academy & extreme Exodus on the sidelines. The Initiative is neither pro-alien nor anti-alien. They're pro-Initiative. The Resistance could become an enemy if the Initiative learns of their true objective, IE blowing up the wormhole. That would deny access to the alien tech & alien markets & other solar systems' resources. If the Protectorate decides to surrender the solar system to the aliens, giving up all those stellar mining opportunities, this would make them an enemy too. So I'd like to propose the following for the Board to consider: CEO Perun will consider all factions' stated or presumed endgoals, and how it each end goal would affect the Initiatives' future wealth and profits, noting that a human presence on Earth, human presence in the solar system, human use of alien tech, and human access to interstellar planets / markets is required to maximize profits. Align with factions accordingly.
The problem with that reasoning is risk. Destroying the wormhole is actually great for risk control. The risk that the aliens have technology that is so superior that they can wipe out the human race without struggling (some sort of DNA based weapon for example) exists. The fact that the hydra can be beaten is because of the limitations of the wormhole. They can't mass their entire fleet and sweep the solar system. The issue also works in reverse with humans not being able to beat a superior technology with limited resources. If you destroy the wormhole though you have whatever tech the aliens have left as well as the resources in the solar system to build up in case the aliens come back while you work on wormhole tech yourself. Securing profits while "you" are alive is what it is all about. Profits from the wormhole won't really pick up in the board members Lifetime.
@@boobah5643this is also true! Interesting perspective. I thought lorewise the Exodus wanted to leave Earth to the aliens? Effectively giving Earth a Servants ending? Or am I mistaken?
@markjerue9734 Well, I've not played an Exodus game, so I may be mistaken, but my understanding is that Exodus just doesn't care as long as they get _out there._ Do they have to betray Earth to do that? Maybe? Aside from the Protectorate all the endings I'm aware of are pretty optimistic, so it seems unlikely.
32:49 destroyed armies and navies will reconstitute some of their forces as IP into the build army and build navy priorities automatically. Not sure how they do that when everyone just got incinerated in nuclear hellfire, but I'd feel better if we didn't think about it.
Perun, I've noticed something troubling. We don't even posses 1 million currency! Sure it doesn't translate 1:1 with dollars, (or even 1000:1 probably) but I think the council has a fundamental, god-given right to being millionaires regardless of the denomination. I'm sure we're already there in terms of net worth, (please no need to actually check that) so there's no rush of course, but I might suggest we should at least plan to hold a million in petty cash at some point.
I feel like the game needs a decreased global opinion-mechanic for when a country you control loses a war. Taking control of a contry, weakening it and then having another country of the same faction beat it up should be a viable thing (imo) but irl everyone valuing their independence would really ask themselves whether they actually wanted to be governed by someone with this sort of behaviour.
How viable do you think it is to do a single-nation/block game? As in, you can only take over EU or Eurasian Union countries for example, and can't go into other countries except for the express purpose of integrating them into your block?
New House Rule Suggestion: That Perun Group seems to be staffed by rather clever people, and is one of the board member's 2nd cousin, you must always keep them on retainer.
With the whole poaching other factions agents wouldn't it make sense to poach the best and brightest agent from Project Exodus, luring them into working for decent remuneration?
New rule - Corporate Welfare, Welfare Capitalism Some executives have raise concerns over "exploiting the populace." Those executives have been transferred off-planet. To make it clear to the masses our interests are their interest, we need to engage in come public works projects. Tax deductible of course. (Any nation completely controlled need one pip on funding and to have receive at least one point of direct investment.)
I've watched hours of your and other's videos, and yet I still can't get a viable campaign started, even on easy mode! The learning curve on this game is just so steep! I'm going to try again this weekend.
Just wanted to comment before I forget: Thank you for all the awesome content. Having well sourced takes on military logistical issues is one thing, but a strategy game play through that you're good at, playing flavorful, and cutting/skipping through the mundane? How long have you been a sentient AI because clearly you aren't human? In all seriousness I own this game (loved Long War) and have never SEEN an alien or space combat until your playthrough both due to bouncing off the learning curve and getting so bored with the minute by minute plays of people playing at the time. To be fair to other creators some people love that and I'm sure there were others who got better at breezing through, but seriously it's great to see someone doing quicker playthroughs of these games because I find them so so interesting but just can't watch someone like PotatoMcWhiskey(great as he is) agonize over population allocations which are just "win more" at that point.
I greatly appreciate this. I worry I'm cutting too much - but games like TI and RT are so long that I think there is more value in focusing on major decision points than every move that's made
Yet more challenges layered on an active this episode based on suggestions and my table:
Corporate Retreat: One per year, all councillors are required all 'go to ground' in the same region - to attend a grand corporate retreat complete with meditation, teambuilding exercises, a keynote speech by some external consultant or celebrity, as well as their compulsory "how to recognise signs of pherocyte mind control" session
Consolidated efforts: The Board is concerned about spreading capital too thin and would rather we stick to some 'sure bets' for a while. Further expansion in the Asteroid belt or beyond it is prohibited until at least 2030. The Board will then reconsider (roll again) each year on whether to remove the restriction.
Line must go up: The Board expects a consistent revenue growth story that can be sold to investors. Total spoils per day at the end of each month must be greater than spoils at the end of the previous month.
A chance not missed: Achieving a monopoly on Earth (for now) seems out of reach. But in space, the competition authorities can't hear you scheme - we must control all surface locations on either Mars, Mercury or Luna
Stay out of the papers: Due to the high risk to public support levels involved, we are not allowed to employ assassination against any faction (barring the Hydra) that has not first attempted to assassinate one of our councillors unless the Board grants special approval for such measures
Hey Perun, with Dom 6 out now are you considering returning to a bit of Dominions content?
Corporate Retreat: Team building is paramount. Rotation through the councillors is necessary.
Consolidated efforts: Expansion beyond the inner planets cannot proceed until all planetary surface sites are filled.
Line Must Go Up: Spoils do have the possibility of profiteering by parties that might not share the ideals of the Board. Revenue from funding should be substituted whenever possible as it is infrastructure specific to the Initiative. (May be more challenging than pushing spoils, and you need the challenge Perun.)
A Chance Not Missed: All sites, surface and orbitals, on Mercury must be Initiative assets. It's industrial potential is unmatched, at least in the inner sphere.
Stay Out Of The Papers: All assassinations or detaining of opposing councillors must occur in countries where the Initiative controls the media or the Initiative has a popularity above ,let's say, 80%.
I'm looking forward to the Initiative controlling the Earth and pushing the War footing. It will be very Starship Troopers.
There should be a minimum stockpile of Alien Exotics you need before being allowed to perform the final mission. Enough to ensure technical superiority once the source is no longer available.
Heh, I had hoped to see the Angel Cartel Industrialist in play, but you used Arthur for a turned Ambassador instead. Which is, ironically, on-point for what happened to the 'actual' Arthur - from the RoleMaster campaign he came from (and what I also did to him prior to an ISOT to Tyria).
This playthrough is becoming amazing on SO many levels. 🙂
To the Board of Directors:
Once upon a time the Honorable East India Company ruled the waves for the British Crown. It is only just if the flag of the UK once again flies over all the former crown colonies as parts of one nation controlled by the Initiative. Therefore, it is paramount to unify Canada into Great Britain, and then return the 13 Colonies back under the British flag, where they belong!
i wote in support of chairman strategy to unite europe, + i think it could prove interesting to support project exodus mission to establish new colony in new star sysnem (if their wictory doesnt end the game of course)
Breaking news: alien found dead after falling out of ten story window.
Fell out of a window onto some bullets on the ground, a tragedy.
The fact that there was a Servant Escort with the Alien Destroyer was fantastic.
Goes to show how much the AI has improved in regards to space activities.
My first thought was "god damn xenos lovin' scum!" and the second "wait, you're telling me AI is capable of cooperationg like that now?"
“Sovie… I mean, Eurasian tanks moving into Hungary”
Dasvidanya.
32:38 Whenever an army is destroyed the owning nation gets some build army points back, to represent surviving elements of the force.
Umm.. surviving elements after a nuclear strike? 🤔
@@MelfiortheOne Think of it as the logistical tail. Also, if say a full marine division is destroyed, they would still have the boots and instructors on Paris Island.
I like the feature. it makes sense enough to me.
RIP the combat elements of those units though. Exodus Vietnam doesn't play around it seems
Nukes aren't actually as strong as you think they are against ground targets@@MelfiortheOne
It was pretty funny after they introduced custom difficulties cause if you reduced IP costs to the minimum destroying a nations army last army would end up refunding them enough that they would get two back. Building a "giga" Caliphate like that was an experience. Also critical success against aliens does give hate but since the hydra don't know who did it its applied against all factions and much smaller. Oh and in case your curious the fastest anyone has won a TI campaign to my knowledge was July 2030 with resistance on brutal difficulty. @@PerunGamingAU
"alright guys, we're trying Nam again, let's show Ivan how it's done, Hanoi in 3 days!"
Big "I'm a genius! Oh no!" moment by the US there.
"Let's make this a universe, where Armata is a thing that works" - had me dying :D :D :D Fitting that that's the most fantastical thing in a universe where aliens exist :D. Although, humanity colonized Mars before that happened, so kind of checks out.
Lets not forget the Su-57 Checkmate.
@@dyingearth The Eurasian Union adopts the F-35 after the Initiative acquires LM during the great military-industrial fire sale of 2025'
Perun: The only person playing Terra Invicta not getting their ass handed to them.
The more we learn of the membership of the Initiative, the more they start to resemble the "I studied the blade" crowd
Now that you've had some "major" successes against the aliens in space, it's probably time to dump stocks in chemical propellant companies while they're hugely overvalued.
Honestly, Prigeny is such a fitting name it would be a shame to change it.
And it's interesting seeing AI really taking the initiative. I remember playing a beta version where I dominated the game so much it was just me vs the aliens since nobody else mattered...
It's too bad that my idea of the 6th councilor be renamed to Sergei Shoigu alongside Prigozhin won't happen :)
"taking the initiative" 😂
Shoigu! where are the anti aliens weapons!?@@dyingearth
"This is the Xenos destroyer"
Good old W40k leaking through.
Something I just picked up on is that the servant leader Judith Howell being an experienced psychonaut might play a part in the fact that she was able to keep her personality better than most others after her contact with the aliens. The Initiative mentions that pherocytes work similarly to pscyhedelics, it would be a neat little detail if this is why she isn't mind controlled to the level others are.
I propose phylanthropy. You cant have investment points on welfare but you can durect invest in it.
I second this, it's just trickle down economics in action!
Thirding. It definitely feels in line with the whole 'private sector determines where resources are spent' angle.
Like Zuck's for profit charity?
Hey if you want to make a strong british empire you can create the dominion of America, Canada annexes US and in theory idk if it would work but you could form the USNA and then have Canada annex them which you could merge with UK
Such high alien operative numbers *is* good. It means the other factions are killing them and requiring replacements to be dropped
No, the operative number doesn't mean much. They represent the order they are generated in their pool, but they totally can just hire Alfa-12 at game start and send it to earth as their second operative.
@@yuecenyan2807 I've never seen operative numbers that didn't go 1 to 6 at the game start.
@@afaultytoaster Ah, I looked at a few save files. It seems that their initial council is 1-6, with 7-15 in their initial pool, so you have to remove at least one for higher numbered ones to appear. Technically, they could fire their initial ones, but IDK if aliens ever do that.
I think you meant 'Vietnam defeats the USA *again*'
House Rule Suggestion: Change the term House Rule to “Rules of Acquisition”
Motion seconded.
Signed and guided in gold
I love that Initiative recruitment is just poaching
Hi! I have some more rule suggestions:
-Puppet master: If we don’t want to do the dirty work, another faction must. Sponsor Humanity First or The Resistance in meaningful ways.
-Defenders of humanity (and corporate interest): We must protect our space assets. Have a dedicated defense fleet in orbit of every planet we have a presence on.
That’s it for now :)
Had a good chuckle about the optimism of "at least half of our fleet survived the last engagement with the enemy" Yeah those are some human wave type calculous. Not we won but at what cost but rather we have enough troops left to do it again.
You might need to consider getting to green arc lasers-ish military tech, if you are planning to "turtle up" with ring habs and colony cores. And armor techs/colony bombardment resistance. Otherwise they will likely overwhelm your station defenses.
You can federate a federation, I have the option to federate the Intremarium (poland) into the Eurasian Union in my current game.
Ironic that the protectorate was the one who finished "our space future" when their goal is the permanent imprisonment of humans to earth.
There is no need to field armada comrade, glorious T-72 has served Eurasia for decades, simple put wiring back in and is good to drive back aliens. Urrrraaaaahh.
Is unfortunate we cannot strap T-72 to Buran and send to space. No need for other spaceships ever again.
It's really cool to see The Exodus with the benefits of improved AI.
Not only are they hyperfocusing on setting up space economy - but they are also willing to fight the aliens to protect it.
Someday in the distant future when terra invicta is fully solved I'd love to see a chatty Perun playthrough of Shadows of Forbidden Gods. Similar agent-based gameplay to this, but far less braim-nelting complexity
Good game, especially with some of the event pack mods and mods to expand the Elves, Orcs, and Deep Ones.
10:46 The Initiative staff loves dogs? Did not see that coming. I still don't trust that Soren guy.
Focus groups have indicated that the average consumer is 38% more likely to purchase goods and services from institutions that are perceived to have a favorable relationship with dogs. This relationship has been found to be far weaker for cats, sparking several heated debates in our marketing department.
I know thematically your avoiding the most altruistic stuff like welfare and such because the initiative aren’t the good guys but I would like to just throw out the fact realistically they probably would do a bit more overtly good guy thing specifically because experience shows the general populace would go along with just about anything if 1 they are happy healthy and comfortable and 2 they genuinely believe that you are “the good guys” no matter what heinous shit you actually are doing in the background as long as you leave enough to make them believe your good
I’ve said this a few times but one way to showcase that is to direct invest money into something like wealth fare as a private “charitable” donation. Good PR questionable effectiveness
Initiative has mind control techniques. Of course they're good guys, everyone loves them despite they've got to pay their healthcare bills themselves.
It works in real ruzzia, so should work in Eurasian Union in game.
bread and circuses...i mean welfare
I suggest that for welfare it must be direct investment.
It's just that, historically speaking, it is the working classes who have had to fight tooth and nail to wring any 'welfare' concessions out of the capitalist class. What the ultra-wealthy rely on is PR, the propagation of myths such as 'meritocracy', 'pulling yourself up by the bootstraps', and 'the american dream'. What neoliberalism has in fact demonstrated these last 40 odd years is how capital interests seek to gut social welfare spending and erode worker protections, precisely so that the workers have no choice but to accept the status quo, lest they want to risk losing their jobs, health care, and/or homes.
Two ideas. 1 private charity. Any welfare has to be in the form of “private” investment. Basically direct investment into welfare as a charity option. 2 if possible monopolize a branch of technology that the other factions can’t go down. This might be if the A.I goes fission you have to go Fusion or etc.
'Private charity' is just tax loopholes the wealthy use to keep hold of their money that, paradoxically, tend to hurt communities more than if they were just taxed. Because the money inevitably ends up in foundations that the wealthy control themselves, with little to none actually making it into the hands that they're supposed to.
That's not really how tech works in the game. Broad technologies are global technologies, and once they're researched everyone can then develop the practical applications. You can sabotage your rivals' engineering projects, I guess.
@@boobah5643 good point!
"we need someone who will join the right side...for money. and then we can have Alexander yell at him a bunch till he loves us" sooooo true 🤣🤣
Oh no, Mercury research... Perun, the radiation penalty will murder your metals dead, it got fixed so that now *every* module needs proper shielding. And Universities are heavy by default - each single one will cost something like 2k metals to build around Mercury.
Metals are the least valuable resource though. Organics (water and volatiles) are more useful for fuel and armour, which is where most of your tonnage goes.
@@afaultytoaster The point is that it's simply not possible to spam research facilities at Mercury. Even if you spend all your metals, you'll simply get less value for your resources than if you had built them at Venus with the much less efficient solar power there.
@@olterin I think my bottleneck is usually MC and money rather than metals when it comes to spamming anything. Going to Mercury so you can have mines and efficient solar seems like a better long-term plan.
Here's the thing: 10 MC worth of universities at Mercury costs well over 20k metals. I know MC before hatecap on Veteran means this is less of an issue, but still, for just *two* t3 bases with full universities that's over 40k metals. That's *insane* costs for what amounts to "ok" research of 3600 RP/month. That would actually significantly cut into ship production, even if that kind of metals is available (not to mention wanting to go higher once you go loud)
Like and good video.👍👍
Vietnam literally did the meme: “legalize nuclear bombs”
You can put the fleet onto defensive, that should stop the missles from firering and then you don't have to do it manually for all ships
This opens up the chance to do a run that is actually completely different, an infiltration campaign, where your objective is to make somebody else win (academy makes a lot of sense considering their campaign)
17:59 "Let's make this a universe where Armata is a thing that works." - some patriotic Russian oligarch, probably.
31:15 "Second Vietnam war" the second Indochina war was the one with America. The first was against the French in which the south had become an effective pawn of the Americans. This would be the third Indochina war.
Fourth. China v Vietnam in 1979 was third.
Here's a point: you can use XP to make councillors rich, and why would someone who isn't filthy rich would quickly become it working at the highest level of the organisation. I propose that all councillors must have *at least* the Prosperous trait (second level in the personal wealth tree, think it's only 25xp) before you can go back to upgrading their attributes.
Really happy to see you're back on TI. This is one of those games that I love in theory, but am frequently too intimidated to actually play myself, so I love seeing somebody coming in who's comfortable getting really weird with it!
I had completely forgotten this game in my steam library until this series, and now I've played 100 hours in a week.
Ive seen some members advocating for cybernetics on... idealogical... grounds. While this may be an improper motivation, i believe the end result is worth promoting.
Planned obsolescense has been one of the largest profit generating initiatives in the past millenia. As such, cybernetic augmentations would open an ancient market to entirely new resources, subsistance.
Humans already spend billions on the 'necesseties' of life, with augments, we can expand this beyond the standard foodstuffs and cleaning agents, into manufactured limbs, organs, and, of course, the maintenance thereof.
Initial estimates show that regular maintence of an augmented human could double or even triple the cost of daily life if planned correctly. This is an opportunity we would be fools to ignore.
Higher cost of living = higher wages to be paid out.
@@boobah5643 You're funny. I like you
@boobah5643 that's a problem for the employers, not the augmentation business owners.
Deus Ex taught us how
Having the former double agent who defected to you pick up fifth column is hilarious.
Reminds me of that line from In Bruges from the race war/coke party scene "Whose side are the Vietnamese on? That's what I wanna know?"
I am so looking forward to seeing how efforts to monopolize space continue... I dream fondly of the day mars is known only to the initiative (luna doesn't seem as essential, after all, the initiative is literally the colour of mars)
I tend to prefer mercury tbh
@@froststeel1The Mercury Dyson sphere shall rise once more.
@@alexkaplan6581 Mercury stations are not cost effective at all since they need truly massive amounts of metals for shielding for little added benefit. Venus is a much more profitable place for rings of universities.
Elon's dreams come true
I love that the AI factions can actually interact with the alien space warfare capability.
Man, i cannot wait to see Perun recreate the Asia blob with Super-India or the Co-Prosperity!
"Salami tactics"
Was that a Yes Minister reference?
If so, good taste!
The entire kinetic research team should have life insurance policies taken out on them so that there are no financial losses training their replacements.
Prigeny demands from others only as much as he demands from himself
Yeah! Who needs sleep!
That is the Spirit.
I honestly love seeing early game human buckets take down Alien ships. Real UNSC gaming there.
How to improve your space battle tactics: If you are going to lose ships, see which ones they target and let it fire its entire magazine and keep other ships in reserve.
One of the things that bugged me is that the resisting human AIs don't seem to be all that interested in killing the aliens what so ever, seems like no matter what faction you choose, you seem to be the one doing all the work.
Why train a new employee when you can just headhunt talent from a rival? Thanks for the video.
13:08 Ah yes, sounds like "Czech Republic first" will definitely go well
Mag rounds are cool, but the consecutive impacts of the missiles was very satisfying.
Been playing some myself after taking a long break. It's really great how the AI has improved. You could so easily lock them out of space. But now they do a good job of getting to the moon and Mars, and other places. And even beat you if you forget certain steps or delay them by just a few weeks.
They really need to add in the ability to make control points tradable in the game. It would be an improvement from the steal control point -> placate pissed off faction way of doing it, which seems unnecessarily cumbersome. Also, I think that the Line Go Up rule needs to be made a little less specific. Just make it that net cash income must increase month on month. Investors don't care _how_, they just want it done. That gives you more options long term.
You talked about defating the aliens even earlier, i mean, couldn't you just make a big early ship swarm with start game tech, and then just order all but 1 ship to kamikaze into the alien vessel?
Since chemical rockets have fast acceleration in battle, the alien vessel would not be able to dodge, you could also just armor 1 ship a lot, then put it in front so the aliens fire at it first, then use the other ships as kamikaze. Hell, strap some cannons on it, paint it red, and you have a true Ork ship.
Hm, a few suggestions for you next ship classes:
Aggressive Restructuring
Death by PowerPoint
Head Count Reduction
East Indiaman
Comprehensive Divestment
Leveraged Buyout
Private Equity
Marine ships:
Parachuting Consultants
Merger & Acquisitions
Project Team
Man, I wanna see a playthrough with you playing as Exodus, but you destroy every alien ship and base, then do the same to the protectorate & servants 😆
I think a gane with the side goal of helping Exodus achieve its goals as a back-up plan before going on to try to win the war could be cool as well.
I love the idea that the crowd on patreon are the board members, having the power to be as annoying as possible.
"In other news....The Czech Republic has appointed a new Defense Minister. This decision has come under intense criticism by several former Czech allies, who cite the individual's past actions as the 'Defense Minister of the Republic of Elbonia' as a red flag. As of this broadcast no member of our research team can find this 'Republic of Elbonia' on any map....More at Eleven"
Perun loves rockets so much he put rockerts into his rockets to smack aliens with 🤣
I have went through the wiki, are there an other sources detailing mechanics of the game in detail? Such as aliens conducting surveillance and what exactly they gain from it?
Notice a new video at 2:30am local.
So much for bedtime lol
When the Aliens destroy your stuff, Is the amount of hate that is burned off at all dependent upon the value of the stuff they blow up? or is any station, or any fleet worth around the same amount?
43:50 in the second part of the game, we will hopefully therefor have learned wormhole tech visiting alien planets to return the favor ... then with reverted roles
Perun is really leaning into alternate history if Armata is going to be fielded. 😂
How dare you. The Armata is the most survivable and stealthy tank ever produced. There has never been any confirmed kills of one, in fact nobody has ever actually even _seen_ it on the battlefield! Incredible!
So you can convert a veteran councillor, resign him and hire for yourself 😳😳😳 whaaaaaa
When an army/navy dies you get some of those build points back. Probably to make rebuilding faster, as obviously those are expensive.
Also you can totally federate a federation, all the eu federated states will become part of the eurasian federation. And all the unifications still work as expected, as long as claims are there
Idea for a new rule: The Power Of The Sun In The Palm Of My Hand.
Mercury must be monopolized by any means, and any attempts at trust busting must be dealt with harshly.
Basically just fill up all the surface and orbital slots.
Is this the first human-on-human engagement Perun has done? In all his other playthroughs I think he's strangled the Servants and Protectorate out of space in the first place, let alone building a proper black-water navy.
Hi Perun, IIRC you've only played through to end-game when it was easy to skip the fission core drives. You could perhaps consider building fission-core based orbital defense ships now - fission is much, much cheaper to research than fusion especially with the increased research cost to a lot of fusion tech, also corvettes and destroyers using the firestar drive and hydron traps have a decent amount of DV for orbital interceptions or even combat maneuvers.
Enjoying the series. It is bad to watch you too much as you are too good.
Anyway also glad that you were using Escorts with vipers and double magazines. I was wondering why you were using copperheads in a previous video. Not sure how much the drive matters for these early ships, as you cannot really use the drive in combat anyway, so a grid etc is probably also ok, and allows you to come from Mercury.
Looking forward to the rest of it, even if it does make me feel bad at the game :D.
i'd love to see you do the xcom scenario; coming back from the aliens having control of earth.
Can you show how to board an enemy hab/outpost? And some pro tip to capturing habs too
Perun, thematically, I think you're incorrect in assuming they'd like Humanity First & dislike the Protectorate. See reasoning below.
The Initiative's enemies would be Humanity First, the Servants, and the Exodus, all of which desire a very different Earth from that which the Initiative profits. The Initiative profits from Earth in 2022, and could profit even more from (1) Alien Tech + (2) capitalist Earth + (3) the Solar System in the future. Each of those three factions would surrender one or those three.
Killing all aliens (as Humanity First wants) is foolish - the aliens can provide much superior technology to that of humanity, not to mention opening whole new markets up and enabling multi-galaxy mining via their wormhole(s).
Humanity First would destroy all of this potential. That makes them the enemy.
At the same time, the Servants and the Exodus desire a radical change in humanity. The Servants want to end ruthless capitalism (GASP!) to become one with the aliens, and surrender the entire solar system to boot. The Exodus want to leave behind all wealth on Earth (GASP!) and give up all that profit potential.
The Academy, Resistance, and Protectorate dont want to end capitalism, surrender existing wealth, or surrender potential wealth. They want to keep things as they are. And the way things are is how the Initiative profits.
Dont fall into the paradigm that the Chairman criticized in earlier flavor events - that there are only pro-alien and anti-alien factions, with the radical Academy & extreme Exodus on the sidelines. The Initiative is neither pro-alien nor anti-alien.
They're pro-Initiative.
The Resistance could become an enemy if the Initiative learns of their true objective, IE blowing up the wormhole. That would deny access to the alien tech & alien markets & other solar systems' resources. If the Protectorate decides to surrender the solar system to the aliens, giving up all those stellar mining opportunities, this would make them an enemy too.
So I'd like to propose the following for the Board to consider:
CEO Perun will consider all factions' stated or presumed endgoals, and how it each end goal would affect the Initiatives' future wealth and profits, noting that a human presence on Earth, human presence in the solar system, human use of alien tech, and human access to interstellar planets / markets is required to maximize profits. Align with factions accordingly.
If the Exodus leaves all their wealth behind on Earth, which the Initiative controls, what's the problem?
The problem with that reasoning is risk.
Destroying the wormhole is actually great for risk control. The risk that the aliens have technology that is so superior that they can wipe out the human race without struggling (some sort of DNA based weapon for example) exists. The fact that the hydra can be beaten is because of the limitations of the wormhole. They can't mass their entire fleet and sweep the solar system. The issue also works in reverse with humans not being able to beat a superior technology with limited resources.
If you destroy the wormhole though you have whatever tech the aliens have left as well as the resources in the solar system to build up in case the aliens come back while you work on wormhole tech yourself.
Securing profits while "you" are alive is what it is all about. Profits from the wormhole won't really pick up in the board members Lifetime.
@@shotgunjackalQthis is true! And a real consideration. Hmm.
@@boobah5643this is also true! Interesting perspective. I thought lorewise the Exodus wanted to leave Earth to the aliens? Effectively giving Earth a Servants ending? Or am I mistaken?
@markjerue9734 Well, I've not played an Exodus game, so I may be mistaken, but my understanding is that Exodus just doesn't care as long as they get _out there._
Do they have to betray Earth to do that? Maybe? Aside from the Protectorate all the endings I'm aware of are pretty optimistic, so it seems unlikely.
32:49 destroyed armies and navies will reconstitute some of their forces as IP into the build army and build navy priorities automatically.
Not sure how they do that when everyone just got incinerated in nuclear hellfire, but I'd feel better if we didn't think about it.
Ghoul or super mutant army?
new house rule idea : we are the oligarchs, have the most amount of raw cash out of all the other factions at all times
Perun, I've noticed something troubling. We don't even posses 1 million currency! Sure it doesn't translate 1:1 with dollars, (or even 1000:1 probably) but I think the council has a fundamental, god-given right to being millionaires regardless of the denomination. I'm sure we're already there in terms of net worth, (please no need to actually check that) so there's no rush of course, but I might suggest we should at least plan to hold a million in petty cash at some point.
Mo' money, mo' better.
Kinetic Research Unit🤣🤣🤣
I feel like the game needs a decreased global opinion-mechanic for when a country you control loses a war.
Taking control of a contry, weakening it and then having another country of the same faction beat it up should be a viable thing (imo) but irl everyone valuing their independence would really ask themselves whether they actually wanted to be governed by someone with this sort of behaviour.
You can just not set them to target and then also set them to make defensive maneuvers. Way fewer clicks and better fleet response imo
How viable do you think it is to do a single-nation/block game? As in, you can only take over EU or Eurasian Union countries for example, and can't go into other countries except for the express purpose of integrating them into your block?
if we do have to disengae from a single servant ship ... well there were 2 of it :P
New House Rule Suggestion: That Perun Group seems to be staffed by rather clever people, and is one of the board member's 2nd cousin, you must always keep them on retainer.
With the whole poaching other factions agents wouldn't it make sense to poach the best and brightest agent from Project Exodus, luring them into working for decent remuneration?
He's more interested in stealing competent agents from his enemies rather than his rivals.
Can't enjoy money if you're stuck on Protectorate Earth.
...but, but the original Skunkworks was private-sector!
When you lose an army, you get some pips into build army for free.
53:00 like 1956 wasn't enough :D
New rule - Corporate Welfare, Welfare Capitalism
Some executives have raise concerns over "exploiting the populace." Those executives have been transferred off-planet. To make it clear to the masses our interests are their interest, we need to engage in come public works projects. Tax deductible of course. (Any nation completely controlled need one pip on funding and to have receive at least one point of direct investment.)
53:10 Orban would be proud
I've watched hours of your and other's videos, and yet I still can't get a viable campaign started, even on easy mode! The learning curve on this game is just so steep!
I'm going to try again this weekend.
The Korhaan docked at Chretien station. 59:42
Achievement class should really be called Kamikaze Class ;)
hello do you think you will do any dominions 6?
do you have any idea when the update will be? I'm itching to play but don't want to start if there's a big patch in the near future.
Void combat teaser to end? Rouge trader return?!?!
Just wanted to comment before I forget:
Thank you for all the awesome content. Having well sourced takes on military logistical issues is one thing, but a strategy game play through that you're good at, playing flavorful, and cutting/skipping through the mundane? How long have you been a sentient AI because clearly you aren't human?
In all seriousness I own this game (loved Long War) and have never SEEN an alien or space combat until your playthrough both due to bouncing off the learning curve and getting so bored with the minute by minute plays of people playing at the time. To be fair to other creators some people love that and I'm sure there were others who got better at breezing through, but seriously it's great to see someone doing quicker playthroughs of these games because I find them so so interesting but just can't watch someone like PotatoMcWhiskey(great as he is) agonize over population allocations which are just "win more" at that point.
I greatly appreciate this. I worry I'm cutting too much - but games like TI and RT are so long that I think there is more value in focusing on major decision points than every move that's made
I need to leave for work but that can wait i'll just come late.