Growth focus is 34 successes for turns 9, 10 and 11. Putting them on defense is worth 4 a focus, which given we have the worm doubling successes from player actions is quickly matched or exceeded by players.
Alright, in that case I would like to remind everyone that trees grown this turn
do not get to also
act this turn, and are only relevant to combat
next turn. Our main offensive capability next turn will be Laser trees, which use collector tree successes (the thing currently being supercharged by high sun activity) to shoot shiny red death at people. The more collector tree upgrades we get this turn, assuming laser research finishes, the better off we'll be in combat next turn.
Or, in short, don't bother with focusing on mag tree growth right now. Sucker's game.
For those just shaking the cobwebs off (I'm with you on that, it's been a while), we're in the middle of a phase of exponential growth fueled by the temporary event, High Sun Activity. It ends after turn 11 - but if we work together, we can exploit it to grow to Magnitude 6 right as it's ending and have such growth power that we can do basically whatever we want. We upgrade collector trees to supercharge growth focus actions, which we use to get more collector trees and finally splurge on magnitude upgrades.
The plan this turn:
Focus Actions:
All in on Upgrade (Collector Tree).
It is unlikely we make magnitude 6 before High Sun Activity ends with less than 4 focus actions dedicated to upgrades this turn.
[X][Focus] Upgrade (Collector Tree)
[X][Focus] Upgrade (Collector Tree) x2
[X][Focus] Upgrade (Collector Tree) x3
[X][Focus] Upgrade (Collector Tree) x4
Focus Actions:
[X][Forest] Yes
Kind of obvious, that.
Root Trees:
AT LEAST 8 SUCCESSES (but preferably at least 17) ON:
[][Action] Upgrade (Collector Tree)
It's 1.5 times more effective at growing the forest than Grow the Forest this turn.
Afterwards, CONSIDER:
[][Action] Magnetize Missiles (Magnetic)
We look to be pretty good on missile defense at the time of editing - but more missiles destroyed could save the shields for another laser attack this turn, so it's not a bad idea to go for some extra safety margin.
AVOID:
[Action] Grow the Forest
If you want growth, upgrade collector trees instead.
Details
:
At least 8 successes on Collector Tree Upgrades. We're not getting mag 5 this turn, and even if we could it would actually be as good as the same growth spent on upgrades. Every player success on Upgrade (Collector Tree) that contributes to a completed Elder Collector Tree is worth approximately 1.5 player successes on Grow the Forest over the next two turns. First upgrade is at 8 player successes, every upgrade after that is at 9.
Notably, if we get both 4 focus and 8+ successes, it'll be trivial to get mag6 on turn 11, and possible to spare a focus action next turn while staying on track for it. Like, say, for shooting some interlopers out of the sky.
Once we have enough to be assured of 8 successes though, feel free to throw into offensive actions like magnetizing those missiles.
Also, we want to kill some missiles directly with Magnetize, so that's a thing.
Heart Trees:
10 SUCCESSES ON:
[ ][Action] Sacrifice to the Worm (???)
Afterwards, FOCUS ON:
[ ][Action] Erect the Shield! (Magnetic)
If you're FEELING LUCKY:
[ ][Action] Erect the Empty Veil (Void)
AVOID:
[Action] Utilize the Twist power to alter the apparent size of the Forest (Gravity)
If you want to defend, raise shields or erect the veil instead.
Details:
Y'all are on defense. We know that. We need shields up to receive those missiles, among other things.
But we also need at least 20 growth on
Sacrifice to The Worm, which by my eyeballs looks like it should take
about 10 player successes. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on that, I don't have a sheet laid out with all heart tree bonuses at the moment.
We're right next to the breakpoint for
Expand the Reach of The Forest, so no need for a coordinated push there. It'll happen.
On defensive options: 100 attack attempts on us, rolling 3d6 with DC of 4, so an average of 50 successes.
Twist and
Veil each chop that average down by a third; 17 successes on average.
So, we can rule out using Twist. It's extremely unlikely to break even with Raising The Shields.
Veil
might be better. Or that new, scary presence might be related to the ships, and it might be worse. Dunno.
Mind Trees:
The growth plan has no necessary components remaining for mind trees - but we also want lasers to go pew pew next turn. I forget what our research bonuses here are, but we need just over 25 progress on it. As always, direct research is more efficient than collaborating with the Ingaba on it, so don't overcomplete Ingaba Assistance. We already have enough.
25 PROGRESS ON:
[X][Action] Research the
Laser Power (Crystal, Light, Magnetic)*
WE HAVE ENOUGH OF:
[Action] Assist the Ingaba Research Base (General)
See also: Talking to Ingaba to ask for things to convince our predators to attack.
For now, I'm going to go into a corner and weep for how much I've forgotten about combinatorics.