Well, it's closing day, so I'll go ahead and post this quickly before I head off for work: My report is in the usual spot; I hope others enjoyed this game as much as I did! Scoring notes appear at the end of my report ... and the rest of this post will therefore be taken up with my lengthy...
Notes from the Sponsor:
Playing Darloks who can only research first-tier techs outside of the computer field is a time-honored variant, always great fun to play, but with our recent discovery that techs can be stolen above your own maximum tech level, it made sense to try something a little more extreme: Only one tech, total, can be researched in each field; our spies and soldiers will have to fill all the other gaps! The trouble with using this variant for an Imperium however is that the RBMoO community includes members with a wide range of experience, such that the variant might be too stringent for some, and perhaps too easy for others if the map layout favors the player too much. I therefore decided to institute a scoring system in lieu of a variant. The idea was to let players decide how much risk they're willing to take to improve their chances of scoring high. In addition to closing research after one tech in each field, players had the option to basically sacrifice early imperial development for the earliest possible tech hits in each field - in the most extreme case, you could even scrap your initial colony ship and scouts, pour reserves into the homeworld, and produce nothing but factories and research until all six techs come in, choosing the cheapest tech in each field regardless of its utility. At the other end of the spectrum, if you have doubts about your ability to win the game with just one tech self-researched in each field, you could keep up your research until you've acquired what you feel you need to survive and triumph. You probably won't wind up with the best score if you proceed beyond your first tech in each field, but you can still enjoy the game ... and fortunately, as Sullla has mentioned, we don't take score rankings too seriously around here anyway.
Though I've arguably become one of the stronger MoO players in the community, I didn't go to extremes to achieve a high score here. I played a slightly conservative game, trying to get the first techs much more quickly than I normally would have, but making early expansion a higher priority than early score. My goal was to compete for at least some of the early tech scoring points, take no scoring penalties, and make absolutely sure of defeating the AI. My feeling was that if this course went smoothly for me, it would be a "proof of concept" and mean that skilled players who went to scoring extremes would at least have a chance of winning the game, while those with less winning experience at higher difficulties could secure a strong position in the game as long as they didn't get too caught up in the scoring. In the interests of making things as even as possible (i.e. not really very even anyway; semi-random AI decisions can change everything) I delayed events until at least 2425 and chose a small galaxy - the latter was also useful for the variant/scoring since it would hopefully allow contact with other races sooner, bringing our Darlok spying bonus into play before it could become obsolete. Plus, it should make the game go faster, which considering the current state of most people's schedules would be a good thing - particularly as it would allow me to play through the whole game myself and do a few other playtests before submitting it, without delaying things any more than they already had been. (I started work on this one about a week after closing day for Imperium 20.) Four opponents were chosen because five is too many for a small map, and three would provide fewer and potentially more distant targets for our spying.
At first, I liked the first map I rolled up for this Imperium ... but the AI Humans had a free ticket to the middle of the galaxy. I was enjoying the challenge anyway, and felt I was achieving a strong position, when the monkeys pulled off a unanimous election in 2375, years before I could hope to achieve a veto. I figured I'd have a chance in final war, especially as the Darloks are one of the best races with which to attempt it, and wanted to play the thing out ... so I saved the game after my election defeat, copied the save file into another directory, and started rolling up new maps for the actual Imperium. For a challenge, sure. But that was not the kind of Imperium 21 I was aiming for.
After that, I set several criteria for my new maps: 1) No Humans! 2) Preferably no Silicoids, since they could take over the galaxy before anyone researched Controlled Environment Tech for the player. In hindsight, I think this was a mistake however; I should have sought a map WITH Silis, as the challenge they would present would be of the fun and surmountable variety (as opposed to Humans bringing Final War into play really early). 3) Preferably Psilons. I actually avoided Psilons in the first Imperium I sponsored, just because they'd been in so many other recent games, but this time, their strong research and tendency to do security sweeps would (I hoped) make the spying game more interesting. 4) Preferably a relatively central start, for quicker access to (spying on) other races.
As long as I got about three out of four, I'd be happy, but I had a couple other caveats as well. I didn't want the player to have an overwhelmingly strong start or too much totally-random chance involved, so I rejected a map when scouts revealed an easy-to-reach ultra-rich (we've had enough URs in the past couple Imperia) and a couple of otherwise-promising starts where I found ART worlds within three parsecs or in our back lines. I rolled a LOT of maps before I settled on this one, and I was starting to worry that I'd have to resort to editing the map and posting a shadow report (I've actually never used a map editor for MoO, but I was confidant that I could make it work). The result wasn't exactly perfect, but it met my main criteria: It shouldn't be unplayable either for experienced players trying an extreme scoring approach or for rookies just going for the win ... and I had lots and lots of fun with the game, always a very good sign. Further playtesting suggested that the start might be a little TOO easy, depending on AI activity - particularly the rate at which the Mrrshans and Psilons tech propulsion and expand, though the Alkari artifact world could also significantly change their role from game to game - and of course the Meklar were irrelevant to this map; if I'd edited it, I'd probably have started by making the radiated star next-door to them a Fertile Terran Artifacts world or something almost as ridiculous, to help them possibly become a power to contend with at some point. I'd also have modified the AI tech trees however if I was going to get spoiler information, primarily to "force" them to beeline needed range techs, to the extent this is possible by changing their available techs. Oh, and I might have edited our first-tier tech options too.
I liked both of the first fields I opened: Propulsion allowed both Range 4 and Range 5, allowing the player to weigh better scoring (R4) against quicker contact and better overall flexibility (R5). Planetology lacked T+10 (a no-brainer to combine quick scoring and economic productiveness) but offered Controlled Barren as a much cheaper alternative to everyone's favorite economic tech, Improved Eco. With both present and no Barren worlds in view, it would be a clear choice for score vs. production. I took the conservative route in both cases (R5 and IER) - opening them only after scouting reports confirmed the situation around me. Of course there's no choice for Shield 2, and "cheapest tech available" is such an obvious move in Weapons anyway that seeing Gats as the only option was perfect - the scoring vs. economy question still applied, just as "Do we even want to invest anything in this tech any time soon?" But computers ... well, DSS is always nice, but I'd have wanted to see all three choices: ECM for best scoring and worst value (it's a good first tech in that field normally, but mainly because it allows a quick jump to the second tier) or Scanner for intel, compromise scoring, and somewhat better spying bonuses ... or BC2 to make sure our spies get as much of a head start as possible (plus, we can use all the computers we can get with Alkari in the game). The scanner alone was okay, but not great. Still, I wasn't going to reload on the basis of our tech tree, and overall, I was happy with what we were given.
Finally, thanks to Sargon, I was able to edit the events timer blind (i.e. without getting spoilers) - in a small galaxy, a one-planet event can throw the entire game out of balance, especially if it happens too soon - and though it might have been better to turn them off altogether, (Sargon explained how to do this in the save file too, and I might use it for a future Imperium) I felt they'd be reasonably fair if we have 125 turns to get ready for them, and that they do add an interesting element to the game.
So: What do you think? What should I have done differently? What should I be looking for next time I sponsor an Imperium? And is an unspoilered "Sponsor's Report" like the ones I posted for this game and Imperium 14 the right way to go, or does it make sense to heavily edit things to make sure they work out right, then do my best to "forget" the spoilers I saw, and post a shadow report instead?
Notes from the Sponsor:
Playing Darloks who can only research first-tier techs outside of the computer field is a time-honored variant, always great fun to play, but with our recent discovery that techs can be stolen above your own maximum tech level, it made sense to try something a little more extreme: Only one tech, total, can be researched in each field; our spies and soldiers will have to fill all the other gaps! The trouble with using this variant for an Imperium however is that the RBMoO community includes members with a wide range of experience, such that the variant might be too stringent for some, and perhaps too easy for others if the map layout favors the player too much. I therefore decided to institute a scoring system in lieu of a variant. The idea was to let players decide how much risk they're willing to take to improve their chances of scoring high. In addition to closing research after one tech in each field, players had the option to basically sacrifice early imperial development for the earliest possible tech hits in each field - in the most extreme case, you could even scrap your initial colony ship and scouts, pour reserves into the homeworld, and produce nothing but factories and research until all six techs come in, choosing the cheapest tech in each field regardless of its utility. At the other end of the spectrum, if you have doubts about your ability to win the game with just one tech self-researched in each field, you could keep up your research until you've acquired what you feel you need to survive and triumph. You probably won't wind up with the best score if you proceed beyond your first tech in each field, but you can still enjoy the game ... and fortunately, as Sullla has mentioned, we don't take score rankings too seriously around here anyway.
Though I've arguably become one of the stronger MoO players in the community, I didn't go to extremes to achieve a high score here. I played a slightly conservative game, trying to get the first techs much more quickly than I normally would have, but making early expansion a higher priority than early score. My goal was to compete for at least some of the early tech scoring points, take no scoring penalties, and make absolutely sure of defeating the AI. My feeling was that if this course went smoothly for me, it would be a "proof of concept" and mean that skilled players who went to scoring extremes would at least have a chance of winning the game, while those with less winning experience at higher difficulties could secure a strong position in the game as long as they didn't get too caught up in the scoring. In the interests of making things as even as possible (i.e. not really very even anyway; semi-random AI decisions can change everything) I delayed events until at least 2425 and chose a small galaxy - the latter was also useful for the variant/scoring since it would hopefully allow contact with other races sooner, bringing our Darlok spying bonus into play before it could become obsolete. Plus, it should make the game go faster, which considering the current state of most people's schedules would be a good thing - particularly as it would allow me to play through the whole game myself and do a few other playtests before submitting it, without delaying things any more than they already had been. (I started work on this one about a week after closing day for Imperium 20.) Four opponents were chosen because five is too many for a small map, and three would provide fewer and potentially more distant targets for our spying.
At first, I liked the first map I rolled up for this Imperium ... but the AI Humans had a free ticket to the middle of the galaxy. I was enjoying the challenge anyway, and felt I was achieving a strong position, when the monkeys pulled off a unanimous election in 2375, years before I could hope to achieve a veto. I figured I'd have a chance in final war, especially as the Darloks are one of the best races with which to attempt it, and wanted to play the thing out ... so I saved the game after my election defeat, copied the save file into another directory, and started rolling up new maps for the actual Imperium. For a challenge, sure. But that was not the kind of Imperium 21 I was aiming for.
After that, I set several criteria for my new maps: 1) No Humans! 2) Preferably no Silicoids, since they could take over the galaxy before anyone researched Controlled Environment Tech for the player. In hindsight, I think this was a mistake however; I should have sought a map WITH Silis, as the challenge they would present would be of the fun and surmountable variety (as opposed to Humans bringing Final War into play really early). 3) Preferably Psilons. I actually avoided Psilons in the first Imperium I sponsored, just because they'd been in so many other recent games, but this time, their strong research and tendency to do security sweeps would (I hoped) make the spying game more interesting. 4) Preferably a relatively central start, for quicker access to (spying on) other races.
As long as I got about three out of four, I'd be happy, but I had a couple other caveats as well. I didn't want the player to have an overwhelmingly strong start or too much totally-random chance involved, so I rejected a map when scouts revealed an easy-to-reach ultra-rich (we've had enough URs in the past couple Imperia) and a couple of otherwise-promising starts where I found ART worlds within three parsecs or in our back lines. I rolled a LOT of maps before I settled on this one, and I was starting to worry that I'd have to resort to editing the map and posting a shadow report (I've actually never used a map editor for MoO, but I was confidant that I could make it work). The result wasn't exactly perfect, but it met my main criteria: It shouldn't be unplayable either for experienced players trying an extreme scoring approach or for rookies just going for the win ... and I had lots and lots of fun with the game, always a very good sign. Further playtesting suggested that the start might be a little TOO easy, depending on AI activity - particularly the rate at which the Mrrshans and Psilons tech propulsion and expand, though the Alkari artifact world could also significantly change their role from game to game - and of course the Meklar were irrelevant to this map; if I'd edited it, I'd probably have started by making the radiated star next-door to them a Fertile Terran Artifacts world or something almost as ridiculous, to help them possibly become a power to contend with at some point. I'd also have modified the AI tech trees however if I was going to get spoiler information, primarily to "force" them to beeline needed range techs, to the extent this is possible by changing their available techs. Oh, and I might have edited our first-tier tech options too.
I liked both of the first fields I opened: Propulsion allowed both Range 4 and Range 5, allowing the player to weigh better scoring (R4) against quicker contact and better overall flexibility (R5). Planetology lacked T+10 (a no-brainer to combine quick scoring and economic productiveness) but offered Controlled Barren as a much cheaper alternative to everyone's favorite economic tech, Improved Eco. With both present and no Barren worlds in view, it would be a clear choice for score vs. production. I took the conservative route in both cases (R5 and IER) - opening them only after scouting reports confirmed the situation around me. Of course there's no choice for Shield 2, and "cheapest tech available" is such an obvious move in Weapons anyway that seeing Gats as the only option was perfect - the scoring vs. economy question still applied, just as "Do we even want to invest anything in this tech any time soon?" But computers ... well, DSS is always nice, but I'd have wanted to see all three choices: ECM for best scoring and worst value (it's a good first tech in that field normally, but mainly because it allows a quick jump to the second tier) or Scanner for intel, compromise scoring, and somewhat better spying bonuses ... or BC2 to make sure our spies get as much of a head start as possible (plus, we can use all the computers we can get with Alkari in the game). The scanner alone was okay, but not great. Still, I wasn't going to reload on the basis of our tech tree, and overall, I was happy with what we were given.
Finally, thanks to Sargon, I was able to edit the events timer blind (i.e. without getting spoilers) - in a small galaxy, a one-planet event can throw the entire game out of balance, especially if it happens too soon - and though it might have been better to turn them off altogether, (Sargon explained how to do this in the save file too, and I might use it for a future Imperium) I felt they'd be reasonably fair if we have 125 turns to get ready for them, and that they do add an interesting element to the game.
So: What do you think? What should I have done differently? What should I be looking for next time I sponsor an Imperium? And is an unspoilered "Sponsor's Report" like the ones I posted for this game and Imperium 14 the right way to go, or does it make sense to heavily edit things to make sure they work out right, then do my best to "forget" the spoilers I saw, and post a shadow report instead?
