This will be my first ‘true’ variant attempt. This is also my first in any type of competitive scoring. I also don’t play the larger galaxies all that often. Am I expecting to do extremely well versus the competition? From what I’ve seen from the everyone else, I’m not expecting to be overly competitive. I just hope to win the scenario. So let’s see what we’ve got here.
Let’s start with the scoring, 1 pt each for time and planets, 5 pts for glassing Altair and unanimous support, 10 points for Orion and future tech, and 25 points for mastering the galaxy. Some of these seem to contradict each other. If it takes you more than an additional 25 years to take out the galaxy, you lose out on the time bonus (unless of course, you are already past or close to the 2600AD period). Seeing as my last game was a diplomatic game at 2650AD, I have my work cut out for me. The same can be said for the tech and Orion factors, it if doesn’t take you too much out of the way, it might be worth considering. Otherwise, it hurts your score bonus. Offhand, it looks like glassing Altair may be the only bonus really worth going after.
Ok, let’s take a look at my opponents, the Alkari and Sakkra (both hate the Mrrshans), Bulrathi (tense), Silicoids (?) and Humans. The humans may one of my biggest problems. With so many of my natural enemies already in the game, there will be a natural tendency for just about everyone to vote for the humans. I just need to make sure the Humans are not in the top two. It looks like we are being tested on how well we know MOO’s diplomacy model.
Other starting thoughts: the Mrrshans are excellent with weapons, poor with construction. I learned something from a few reports last Imperium regarding the techs that appear in each tier, so I’ll be a bit more ready for what I have versus what I’m missing. Weapon mastery is minimal in terms of what I know/don’t know, but construction will hurt in terms of factory construction costs and waste reductions. These could be pretty huge. With that being said, let’s go ahead and open the game shall we?
And fortune smiles on us right from the beginning! A white star is the ONLY planet within 3 parsecs from us. Aren’t we lucky? Oh, wait, white stars are generally in the “not good” category. We have a yellow star 5 away, 2 reds 5 away, 1 red 4 away, a purple 5 away, a green 5 away. This is not the best start. If the white turns out to be hostile (likely), we will be a OPE until we get some further range, preferably range 5 where we can snag both the yellow planet to the west and the purple to the east.
As to contact with the other empires, lets take a look at the yellow star distribution. Assuming empires are relatively evenly distributed, the yellow stars are dotted to what I think will be the distribution. If this is in fact the case, our first contact will most likely come from the west/SW from the brown dots. The powerful areas will be the SW along that line of 4 yellow stars, and the SE with the high concentration of purple/green stars and little competition. The more I look at the map, the more I think I’m screwed. I’ll be happy enough to win the scenario. ;) You are going to have a weak empire stuck in the NW with little/poor expansion room. Anyway, enough with the assumptions, let’s see what we REALLY have. In the year 2300, the games begin.
2300: Redesign the scout. Send the Colony to the only available destination. The surveyors to the yellow to the W and the purple to the E. The rationale, the yellow I don’t want scouted by other races, the purple should be available IF the white to the SE is colonizable. Fierras works on factory production.
2302: Helos founded. Size 80 Jungle. That is a huge, let me repeat, huge relief. 8M transferred from Fierras to Helos. The purple is now in range with no further range needed.
2305: Another 6M transferred from Fierras to Helos. The purple star happens to be a Silicoid dream, a size 40 ultra rich radiated planet. The yellow star to the West is a 95 Terran. A round of scout-2’s are being produced for next turn.
2306: Scouts produced, sent on their way to various planets in the area.
2310: HSSSS! Quayal is explored, a size Tundra 10. The scout quickly moves on. Guradas explored, a 75 jungle, much better. We’ve been having extremely good luck in beating the odds so far. A very nice white and red star. 14M moved from Fierras to Helos. None of the population movement has brought Fierras to less than 50M. Helos will be very close to 50% after this movement so nothing additional will be necessary.
2311 Uxmai explored. A size 85 jungle. We continue to beat the odds (this was a red star). HSSSS! Uxmai, a size 20 Tundra explored (rich). Moving this scout to the NE red star that will be the last within my scouting range. Oops, I lied, there’s a white star to the SE I missed. I’ll pick that up shortly.
2313: Omicron explored, a 20 radiated. I go ahead and move that scout to the S to the one white star.
2315: Nyarl: An arid 65 Fertile but poor. Bascially a breeding ground. So be it.
2316: Drakka explored, 30 minimal.
2320: Xendalla explored, a 10 minimal.
Ok, so here’s my initial scouting report:
What are we looking at for initial expansion in order of priority?
Gorra: Terran 95, need range 5
Guradas: jungle 75, need range 4
Uxmai: jungle 85, need range 5 (may be in range after Guradas colonized)
Nyarl: Aird 65, poor but fertile, need range 6 or radiated (heh)
Drakka: minimal 30, range 6
Xendalla: minimal 10, range 6, opens up the path to the Northern yellow star.
I have not met any competition as of yet making me believe I may have the entire NE portion of the map.
Fierras is running 87 pop and 212 factories as of 2320. I will be able to begin my research here shortly for increased range.
2321: Ok, factories are maxed on Fierras per pop base, I will begin the research now. Let’s open up the tech tree and see what we’ve got shall we? Well, maybe limited, very limited. I stick it all into propulsion.
2322: Range 4 is all that is available. We will have to wait till range 6 or put some boosters are on colony ships to get those extended planets. This makes my job easier in determining where to colonize. Guradas is it for expansion.
2325: Range 4 completed. Range 6 and nuclear available, I debate for a minute and then go with Range 6 which means inertial stabilizers are not available. I move research over to roughly equal between planetology, construction (which I know I’m poor at), and propulsion. But before I move any additional production into research, I go ahead redesign my colony ship and begin production, it takes 5 years.
2328: Vulcan scouted to the far E. Purple star, radiated ultra-rich, 20. The rocks will have a field day over here if I let them.
2329: Ryoun scouted, the yellow star to the north. HSSSS, it’s an 80 ocean. That really, really sucks. What a waste of a planet.
2330: Colony ship off the line. Headed to Guradas. Fierras set back to factory construction to finish up.
2333: Fierras up and running full. Back to research per the above in 2325.
2334: We have the options of Waste 80 (missing tech 9), and Improved Eco (missing Terr 10 and Barren). That’s a lot missing, but the choices they gave us were nice, so I can’t complain. On the weapons side (I had a tick by accident) we have hand lasers and nothing else. I thought we were good in weapons? Maybe next round. Guradas founded. 15M moved in from Helos. Uxmai now in range, Fieras switched back to colony ship production. 4 years. Helos spits out a round of scout 2’s and they are sent out on their way to explore newly opened stars.
2338: 2nd colony ship produced. Back to research. Human fleet scout looks to be scout Umaxi. Not this time friend.
2341: Helos maxes factories, still shy on population 69/80. Switching to 100% research. No action on the human scout. Scouting the Tundra world maybe?
2343: Settle Uxmai, make contact with the Humans. Also make contact with the Silicoids, I chase away one of their scouts at Moro (rich-dead), and they chase away and settle Drakka. (minimal) Paranar explored, Terran 100 ultra-poor. This is a hot potatoe asking to be punished. 15M moving from Helos to Uxmai. With the settling of Uxmai, Gorra is within 4 parsecs to be settled. Fieras back to colony ships.
2344: Haydes explored, toxic 30 ultra-rich.
2345: Scout chased away from the Silicoids Moro. Chase away a rock colony ship from Paranar. 100 trade deal with Humans. Silicoid fleet incoming to Quayal. Blast, I didn’t even see them coming. They’ve got fighter support with their colony ship, they will end up colonizing right in the middle of my empire. This will also allow them to colonize all the other planets I can’t quite get to yet. Time to start getting some air superiority if I want to keep them from taking those planets as well.
(after game note: This is where I began my spiral downward. This is where I should have been able to bounce back and at least prevent the rocks from colonizing everything else in my area)
2348: Improved Eco came in. Next up in line, Tundra or Death spores? Ick! Seeing as I don’t want either of them, I go with Tundra because it is cheaper. (in the spirit of the game, I PROBABLY should go with Death spores. I think I’ll need all the help I can get. It will be interesting to see what others do in this situation.) The Silicoids settle Quayal like I thought they would and at least they are neutral. I set tech to pretty equal across the board. The Alkari get the first population milestone:
That’s pretty amazing considering I have 4 (one being a kitten) and another kitten on the way. The Silicoids aren’t all that far behind with 7 colonies. I’m hoping it’s just because they had a better starting situation?
2349: Hand lasers come in. Only option for computers, mark II. Only real decision for me was the Hyper X, Fusion bomb, ion cannon. I chose to go with Hyper X.
2350: 80% waste comes in. Production increases. Chase a rock scout away from Hyades.
2352: Gorra settled. With the colonization of Gorra, this concludes my initial colonization without additional tech. Time to start teching.
2353: Get a NAP going with the Humans.
2356: Class 2 delfector shields comes in. Personal only thing and being studied. Missing class III. Firma Arid 70 scouted. Taranor, 35 inferno, rich scouted. Colony ship to Firma in route.
2361: Battle computer Mark II comes in, new options, factories/Mark III. Factories are chosen.
2362: Tundra comes in, new options, Inferno, Terraforming +30. I choose Inferno.
2364: Hyper 10 comes in. Plague breaks out on Fierras. Not a good thing.
I and the Humans were both way behind the power curve to the rocks. Taking a look at the trait types, I see the rocks are aggressive diplomats. That’s a nice change from their general xeno personality. I may actually be able to keep them on my side this game as opposed to having to war with them (all game) last game. Humans don’t have a problem, they aren’t up there in pop, and the rocks were at war with the Alkari, who had previously taken the initial pop award. We’ll see how it goes.
2366: The Alkari take the Human outpost of Zoctan. Contact broken with the Humans. Ok, I’m officially going to try to get something going with the Silicoids. They have the 3rd largest population, the Alkari are at war with the Sakkra and the Humans, and I’m sure to be at war with the Alkari here soon enough.
2367: The kitten colony Firma is born. Seeing as this is the closest to Alkari space, it’s time to get get a fleet organized and over there.
2369: Trade the rocks computer 2 for Terraforming +10.
2371: Alkari declare war. I begin putting up bases on my closest planets. Firma is almost a forgone conclusion of being destroyed. No fleet, and no time to get bases up. I’ve been shipping population to Fierras to help keep pop up during the plague. That should hopefully be concluded soon?
2376: Alkari colony ship and transports beginning to arrive at Firma. I’ve produced a medium Hyper 10 ship to begin sending to the front. I won’t be able to win the initial rounds, but I will gain bonus points with all the races at war with the Alkari during this little skirmish.
2377: Regulus and Inferno 20 scouted to the way N, Proteus, 55 Steppe to the far NE. The rocks and the humans have an alliance, both at war against the Alkari, let’s see what we can do to get them to like me?
2338: Damn plague is finally over. That took a lot.
2393: Constant war between Alkari and myself at Firma. They are ahead of me, so I’ve been basically been doing nothing but being a pest. I keep putting together a fleet, and haven’t lost anything, so hopefully, I’ll get there soon. Nyarl is founded. Another ship headed off to Proteus. Robotics was learned and given to all of the adult planets. Kittens would choke on the hairball that is factory costs.
Year 2404: I settle Proteus. Sets off the elections. Rocks and brids. Blast, I don’t even have enough to get in. Let’s see how it goes.
Birds: 10 from birds,
Rocks: 6 from bears, 7 from rocks, 3 from humans, 4 from lizards
I have to abstain. I have 6 votes. I need 1 more set to get in. I have a decent shot at this.
2407: move all research to planetology. Need those extra planets and/or population. In addition, the silicoids get the 18 system message (forgot to Pic it)
2425: Vote:
Birds: 10 for themselves
Rocks: 5 from bears, 10 from themselves, 3 from humans, 4 from lizards, I abstain with 6.
2442: Contact made with the bears. Working a new ship, the Ion. Lots of ion cannons, a few bombs. Working against the damn birds.
2445: Terranor successfully retaken. Uxmai has lost air superiority. However, they went into revolt, so I’m letting the Alkari do my work for me. The more Alkari the rebels take out the better. I am slowly but surely catching the Alkari in population. Too soon, I will surpass them. From there, I will be up against the rocks for the vote. The rocks have alliances with the bears, humans, and lizards. This does not bode well for me at all. My only hope would be to declare war on rocks and try to bring them down? Doesn’t look good. Here’s a copy of my map from this time period:
My interest in scoring is long gone at this point. I would just like to win thank you very much.
2462: The Alkari took Uxmai (finally) and I lost a ton in terms of tech (5 techs I believe). I retook it a few turns later and received the following: Range 9. wow. Recontact with Bulrathi who want to trade 525/year. Another wow.
2475: The next vote.
Birds: 12 for themselves,
Rocks: 7 from bears, 16 from rocks, 4 from humans, 5 from lizards,
I abstain with 7.
The rocks have stripped alliances with all other races. That’s actually a very good thing. Time to start working on the birds…hard! I have 125 years before my scoring basically goes nill.
2500: The war goes badly. I just now might have received stinger missles, which might help counter some of the Alkari invasions. Things are not looking pretty at the moment. There’s no way I’ll put this off in another 4 votes, maybe not at all? Time will tell.
Rocks vs. Birds:
Birds: 14 for themselves
Rocks: bears 8, rocks 18, humans 4, lizards 5
Me abstain with 8.
This is bad. Even if I happen to get in there, the rocks have enough to block the vote. Not good, not good at all.
These birds also have these large bomber SOD running around that I can’t take down fast enough: That’s 609 bombers with 1 fusion bomb apiece. Easy enough right? I’m continuing to play this one out, but not really sure what to do at this point….
Power graph at this point:
Map at 2500:
I’d like to think the war is ripping the Alkari as much as me right? Right? In addition to that, they are in a 3 way war and are still holding their own extremely well, if not making gains. Amazing how optimism runs to pessimism in a matter of a few hours. ;) Maybe a good night’s sleep will help me think better in the morning right? I’ll hit this again tomorrow.
**a good nights rest**
2504: The Alkari capture Gorra. Things continue to look bad. Putting together a bomber contingent. I will die, but the Damn Alkari will go down with me!
2510: Alkari infestation at Firma destroyed. The Alkari have come at me at Helos. They have Air superiority.
2514: Helos destroyed by Alkari
2515: Alkari Xendalla colony destroyed.
2516: Alkari Gorra destroyed.
2522: Alkari Firma destroyed again.
2524: Alkari Xudax destroyed.
2525: Vote:
Birds: 13 for themselves, 5 lizards
Rocks: 7 bears, 19 rocks, 3 human
I abstain with 6.
An assassination event had put the lizards against the rocks.
2535: Uxmai lost to the Alkari bastages.
2550: I’ve lost my entire western front to the Alkari. This is a journal from a general who is next to deaths’ door. I have two planets within striking distance of the Alkari, including my capital, and two on the outer fringes of space. We have been destroying their colonies, but never being able to stand one up. The vote for this year:
Birds: 16 birds, 5 lizards
Rocks: 8 bears, 19 rocks, 4 rocks, 6 me – didn’t even have enough vote to make a difference.
2575: I successfully took an Alkari outpost at Zoctan. Fate is just not with me though, as the humans had an invasion one turn behind me. They take the planet with 1 soldier remaining. My spoils of war include: Waste 20%, Terr +40, Barren, and High energy focus. The Vote:
Birds: 17 birds, 5 lizards,
Rocks: 9 bears, 18 rocks, 3 humans, 4 felines – again, my vote didn’t matter.
2600: D-day. I don’t win any points due to winning early. Such is the way it is. I sure hope I don’t get penalized for being late?
2606: Nyarl has industrial accident. Zoctan captured (again) from the birds.
Techs: Range 8. Blast.
2611: Zoctan lost, then retaken. I’m losing a crapload of pop here, but the tech this round includes: Toxic, ECM III, Inertial Stabilizer, Atmospheric Terr, and Repulsor.
(after game note: Although not purposely losing Zoctan, I get the feeling that this losing/taking a high factory planet could be considered an exploit, especially when way behind in tech like I was at the moment?)
Also interesting power graphs. The Alkari CONTINUE to dominate, even with a 3 front freakin war!
2625: Next vote:
Birds: 24 birds – oh shit, 5 lizards,
Rocks: 12 bears, 16 rocks, 3 humans, 4 me
2642: The fleet of death
2648: I come across the –1 bug?
(after game note: How did this affect the game? I never attacked this particular stack and I don’t ever remember it attacking any of my bases, but did this make any real difference in the game?)
2660: The rocks dissolve their NAP with me. They come at me at Gorra, recently liberated from the damn birds. I’ve secured a peace treaty for the time being with the birds. They have several SOD running around. It wouldn’t be smart to try my luck much longer.
2670: The rocks are tough to crack. They have planetary XX shields up and I can’t seem to snag the more advanced bombs. Time to find a trader?
2758: Toranor captured from Alkari (again). 300 came in, 153 lived. Spoils of war? Advanced damage control, Terraforming +50, controlled radiated, ECM IV, computer VI, Range 10
2764: In the year 2764. The Silicoids decide to declare war? So be it.
2772: In a nice, nice turn of events. The Alkari have decided to ally with the rocks. Damn. This means that if I DO happen to get into 2nd place, which WILL happen eventually, I will lose via the vote. Blast. The Alkari and Rocks have both been coming at me pretty hard. I’ve been fending them off with high missle base placement.
2775: Vote
Birds: 24 birds,
Rocks: 13 bears, 20 rocks, 6 humans, 12 lizards
I abstain with 13
2782: Just when I think I have things in hand, something comes along and kicks my ass. The rocks come along and nuke my home planet with black hole generators. I’ve actually never seen this one before.
2800: I’ve gotten peace with both the Birds and rocks, although the damn birds have taken Fierras!! They shall pay for this insult!
Vote:
Birds: 28 birds,
Rocks: 14 bears, 21 rocks, 6 humans, 12 lizards
I abstain with 12
2815: Fierras recaptured. It will take hundreds of years before the stench of bird crap on the throne will vanish. I shall wring the bird’s neck I tell you! The birds and Rocks were back at each others throats and errr, what vital organ does a rock have? Anyway, this was good news to me. It took quite a bit of heat off of me.
2868: You’ll note the lack of detail as the game moved on. I try to take as detailed notes as I could while keeping a decent pace in the game, but I was just getting tired and stomped. Thus I really lost some of the decisions I made in regards to tech choices and such. The turning point came shortly after the birds and rocks declared war on one another after their peace treaty. I was able to snag a planet or two (including my home planet) and put up some serious missle bases. Basically, I set myself up such that ANY fleet attacking my planets was going to take some damage. Some serious damage. Damage to the point where it would be easier to attack someone else. I did have several attacks against my planets, but I gave much, MUCH more than what I got, often not losing a single base.
Power graph:
Map:
The only way I’ve lived this long is through missle base upgrades and increased number. Each planet has 100+ missle bases, and even then, if you aren’t smart, you’ll lose the planets anyway. I really shouldn’t have lost Fierras if I would have been paying attention. The way it’s going, I’m rapidly pulling into competition on the power graph. I am also very close to being 2nd in population as well. THAT will be interesting. This is going to be tight. I really didn’t think I had a chance at winning this game. It’s amazing what happens when you hang in there. Needless to say, I feel much better going to bed tonight than I did last night. Wish me luck!
**another good night’s sleep**
2869: Okay, it’s time to start figuring out how I’m going to bring about the end to this game. Obviously, time is no longer an issue so I can settle every other colony if I wished to. I think I’m going to go for mastering the galaxy, taking Orion, glassing Altair, and going for advanced tech. If nothing else, I should be up there in score a little bit (unless we get negative points for everything after 2600) Estimated completion time? 3200 or so. ;) Talk about your hundred years war. I think I will go after the ‘weaker’ races first, the humans and Sakkra, then move on to the big boys. My first task will be to get the one third vote, which at the moment, is running right around the 30 mark. I need to make sure I have enough friends to keep me over 30-35. If I stick with my current plan to kill the Alkari first, the rocks would have enough vote (with the Alkari’s help) to win the election. Likewise if I did it the other way around. The only way for me to pull this off is to keep those two at war with each other while I go around and pick off the lesser races.
2875: The Vote
Birds: 24 birds,
Rocks: 17 bears, 20 rocks, 6 humans, 14 lizards,
I abstain with 18.
2888: Alkari Xudax destroyed. 17 bases, no losses. It’s time for retribution. Off to Altair.
2892: Altair glassed. The leaders have been eliminated. Retribution has been made. Damn birds.
2900: Vote: Note, after 100’s of years of rocks versus birds, the tide has changed to bears versus rocks.
Bears: 19 birds, 24 bears, 10 lizards,
Rocks: 20 rocks, 4 rocks, 19 me
2920: Ukko captured: Advanced construction II, does this count as researching? Anyway, 2920, I’m getting ready for the vote, I believe it will be against the Bulrathi. I make peace with the Alkari whom are at war with the bears. I make the Humans break their alliance with the bears. I’m attempting to pull off the coup.
2925: Let’s see how my political maneuvering goes:
Cats: 21 birds, 17 rocks, 10 lizards,
Bears: 25 bears
Humans abstain? ABSTAIN? With 3 votes? I’m temped to eliminate the human presence in this galaxy for their insolence.
I have 24 votes left which would give me 72. My plan worked. At this point in the game, I really do have everything in place. It would just be a matter of time trying to derive the most out of the score. I’m happy to have simply won the damn thing. I’m going to go ahead and take the out with the note that I could have milked the game dry for score.
I vote for myself. I win a diplomatic victory in the year 2950.
Scoring:
Planets: 11
Time: 0 (cough, cough)
Glassing Altair: 5
Advanced Tech: 10, had just received advanced weapons 1
Orion: 0
Mastering galaxy: 0
TOTAL: 26
Whoohoo. I have to laugh at that. As I said before, I was in a position to slowly but surely take over everything in existence. I didn’t feel the need and am very happy with the outcome. I came back from a 4PE to win the game. One of my mistakes this game was simply being too passive with the rocks early game. I was entirely too passive and let them have planets I should not have let them have. As to the Alkari? Wow. They had at LEAST a one front war all game (me). Most of the game the Alkari were juggling 2 or 3 fronts. I don’t know how many planets we traded back and forth throughout the game. Several planets switched hands at least 3 times each. The SOD they had was impossible for me to destroy at this point in the game. It was pretty amazing that not a single empire was eliminated the entire game and that the birds and rocks had hundreds of years being on top. The entire game lasted over 600 years. I can also say the reserve I had was all from trade, and that I actually, oh I don’t know, used it? Anyway, here’s my final status. Thanks for the experience, this was a rough one. This game took me awhile. I can’t even imagine what the largest setting is going to look like.
