Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 109: Great Balls of Fire

 Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 109: Great Balls of Fire

Even though a new version of Automation (4.2) is already in the opt-in alpha phase, I was unsure of how well it would work in practice, and after some deliberation, I decided to continue using the current stable release (4.1) for the time being. Of course, this meant that I could not enter CSR 144 (which used version 4.2), but there was another challenge (with a very similar rule set) on the forums using 4.1, so I entered that one instead. Ironically, my submission for that challenge would have been eligible for CSR 144 had I remade it on version 4.2, but I was not yet ready to make such a commitment. On the other hand, my decision to keep using version 4.1 gave me an opportunity to host the latest round of the TV And Movie Car Challenge (in which I finished fifth) after the top four entrants in the previous round balked at the idea of taking the reins.

The theme for TMCC 14 was a high-octane blockbuster film about a no-holds-barred cross-country open-road race called the Fireball Tour, inspired by the real-life Cannonball Run. The film I would be mentioning was the third one in the series, titled Fireball III: To Hell And Back, and scheduled for a summer 1995 release date, many years after the previous one had hit theaters. As part of the film's premise, the lead character (a man who went by the name of T. L. Palmer) would receive a car for use in the titular race. Specifically, it would be a high-performance sports car costing no more than $65,000 AMU, with a flashy, prestigious image to draw in audiences. After some minor revision to the rule set, I launched the challenge and almost immediately began receiving entries - by the time I reached the deadline (which I had to extend by 24 hours at the request of some potential entrants), I had 13 of them to judge. 

The top 5 cars of TMCC14 - which one of them would claim top honors?

Some entries missed the mark for one reason or another, but eventually I came across a few entries that hit the spot. The first of these was the Avantii Antifa V8 Sports, a front-engined, rear-drive muscle car powered by a high-displacement V8 engine. It had the speed and style to qualify for the finals (for which I would create a list of the top 5 cars still under consideration), but there weren't many other cars that made the cut along with it. Fortunately, those cars proved to be more than worthy of their place in the top five. They included the GSI Caligula, Swanson 937, Llewellyn Elmira GTX, and Munot Starkwind RS. This list would have been larger, but one of the cars that looked like a finalist at first glance, the EcaMobile All-In, was regrettably eliminated in the first stage for having suspension that was too soft. Mercifully, only one car turned out to be ineligible for consideration - although it would have fallen short anyway had I judged it normally.

Eventually, the entry period closed, and shortly after that, the time came for me to rank the finalists. First to go was the Antifa - it was a solid performer, but overshadowed by the remaining contenders due to excess understeer. Next to go was the Starkwind, which was the least powerful car in the top 5 and could have done with a more powerful engine. The Elmira came third on account of its amazing performance and styling, but was ultimately held back by an overly safe suspension tune (which caused some mild understeer) that caused some concern among the stunt drivers. This left the Swanson and the Caligula, but the latter narrowly won out for being a more prestigious offering, seeing as it was powered by a V8 (as were the Antifa and Elmira), whereas the Swanson only had a flat-six.

The winning car from TMCC 14: the GSI Caligula.

That said, the Caligula wasn't perfect: I felt that it could have done just as well, if not better, with more power; speaking of which, I would also have preferred a power peak closer to the redline (300-500 rpm between peak power and maximum revs would have been more appropriate for something like the Caligula). Even so, I was satisfied with my decision to give it the win, and everyone who entered definitely agreed with me. Thus ended the first Automation forum contest I had hosted since CSR 137, and I am looking forward to what TMCC 15 brings next.

In Defense of the Garthan Scout: A Small but Potentially Dangerous Ship

Happy (belated) New Year to my fellow Infinite Space Adventurers! This time, I would like to share my thoughts on one of the most underrated ships in the Infinite Space trilogy: the basic Garthan Scout. Not a Garthan Corvette, Light Carrier or even a Frigate, just the smallest scout model. Like almost every other similarly sized ship, it comes with one front-mounted turret and four equipment slots. However, unlike other ships, if you acquire it, you will not have any chance to trade it in for a larger Garthan ship if you are playing on a map in which the Garthan home system (which is always a white star) does not appear. So why am I considering it one of the most underrated ships not just of its kind (or size, for that matter), but also in the entire game?

A heavily (but not fully) upgraded Garthan scout - more of a threat than most players realize.

Well, for starters, it has one attribute no other scout-sized capital ship has: sheer speed. It doesn't have the the easier availability of a Terran scout, the extra armor of a Muktian scout, or the space-folding agility of a Zorg scout (to say nothing of the extra turrets of a Calatian destroyer, which might as well be in an entirely different league), but in combat, (sub-light) speed is vital, and skilled players often use strategies that treat speed as armor - a faster ship is always going to be harder to hit than a slower one. With the extra speed, you can more easily distract opposing ships, thereby giving yourself a better opportunity to ambush them using your other capital ships.

There is one build in particular that stands out for its effectiveness: the Garthan Nova Scout. It basically involves fitting a Nova Cannon (which can only be obtained from a Timeless Bauble in normal gameplay) to a Garthan Scout, along with high-end thrusters (at least an Ion Impulse Thruster), strong shields, (a Proton Matrix Shield at the very least, although a Meson Lattice Shield or better is preferable), and an advanced targeting computer (either an Eidetic Matrix Bubble, or a Sardion Optimizer/Maximizer if either of them are available). The result is the interstellar equivalent of a fast, light, agile and very hard-hitting artillery piece. In fact, if you equip it with a Plasma Coil Cloaker in addition to the three items mentioned above, you will have one of the most overpowered anti-capital ship builds in the game.

The Garthan Nova Scout with fully upgraded equipment.

Taking on a Kawangi Dreadnought with a fully upgraded Garthan Nova Scout.

The superior speed of the Garthan Scout compared to other similarly sized ships makes it easier to perform evasive maneuvers with.

The end result: a Garthan Nova Scout successfully destroys a slow, lumbering Kawangi dreadnought. Presumably the scout's crew must be celebrating such an unlikely triumph.

If the Nova Cannon is not available, other long-range weapons such as the Multi-Missile Launcher or Particle Vortex Cannon can be substituted. Neither of them is as powerful as a Nova Cannon, but both are more easily obtainable, and the Multi-Missile is also purchasable from the Terran or Muktian home systems (from 4600 AD onwards at a cost of 575 credits and 4595 AD onwards at a cost of 4 coins, respectively).

In short, the Garthan Scout may seem like either fodder or an early trade-in candidate at first, but as with all other scouts, its speed is a key asset in combat, and it can serve as a fast, agile sniper when fitted with powerful thrusters and a long-range weapons. However, as one of the fastest scouts, it is more than a match for any other similarly sized ship, and can even threaten much larger ships when fitted with the right equipment.