Imperium 15
The Power of the People
No building factories means IITn useless and RCn, Reduced Waste & Reduced Cleanup very limited. Better emphasize planetology for productivity and hope for lots of Improved Terraforming +nn plus Soil & Atmos for size. Poor & UP worlds will be much better than normal while rich & UR will be less so but still good for ship-building. Of course I could try invading an AI world with lots of factories and we do have the Meklars present.
So, allowing for scouts, what to do with bcâs normally used for factories. Well, forced ECO growth will improve productivity but cuts across natural growth, colony ship pre-build is no good unless two or more planets to settle (about 50/50 here) and tech normally waits for scout reports to indicate the best choices. Tech will be started early even if there is more than one non-hostile planet in range so letâs go with the technology gambit. Looking at the map we have two reds in range N & E, the NW yellow is too close to be occupied so the worry is the two close yellows to E & SE. So I send colony ship to E red with one scout and the other scout to N red. First few turns I add a couple of extra clicks to ECO to increase growth then reduce to minimum, remembering to check if this has gone down (normally rises so computer takes care of setting). Other than ECO, I start by building scouts and opening tech with 4 bc. Planetology choice is Barren over IER (no IT+10), Propulsion choice is Range 5 (over Range 4) which is safer without intel. Tech costs are 310/1080 so I split sliders 24%/76% to give Barren a chance of hitting first which is preferable for economy and colony ship cost. Second turn sees more scouts and tech then all tech third turn. Good news in 2303 is the colony ship settles Esper but bad news is it is small (Desert 35) and N red is hostile Artemis (Inferno, rich 40). Send two batches of 5 pop from Kholdan while pumping tech for 4 more turns. Esper produces extra scout then goes full tech while Kholdan splits between tech and building colony ship, increasing tech each turn.
Also in 2303 see a Meklar scout headed for Esper â yikes! That puts the machines at the SE yellow, 6 parsecs from Esper where I leave a defending scout. Scouting shows generally slim pickings with a Desert 45 (at 4 parsecs), a Steppe 45, 3 Barrens 25, 30 & 45, two Tundras 30 & 35, an Inferno 35 and Orion â eastern yellow. However South is Beta Ceti (Terran 110) at 5 parsecs which is Poor and Fertile â yippee! Chase Mrrshan scout from Aquilae, eastern green Tundra in 2310. Manage to scout Meklon and the machines second planet, fertile Tyr (Terran 105), green to SW. An early storm? No wait for the factories! In 2315 both techs are nicely into the percentages so Kholdan goes full colony ship production. Barren hits in 2316 raising productivity, choosing Tundra over Dead (no IT+20 either) and Esper funds this and a trickle into Range 5 which hits in 2318, choosing Warp 2. Timing is perfect so the first colony ship same year goes to the big fertile Poor, Beta Ceti. So in 2323 my third colony gets 9 from Esper and 20 from Kholdan and I meet neutral 2PE Meklars (Xeno/Exp). Having settled Beta Ceti I manage to get a scout to SW green Misha (Arid 65) before Meklars and chase their colony ship from next door blue Bootis (Dead 30). With range 5 I scout northern reds Auroroa (Arid 60) and Toranor (Dead 40). After first colony ship Kholdan puts a one turn seed into Tundra then back to colony ships. Second colony ship was for western Willow but now goes for southern Misha as Kholdan starts helping Esper push Tundra tech. Chase Bulrathi scout from N Toranor in 2324. Kholdan increases tech investment until pop arrive at Beta Ceti which goes full tech.
I open other tech fields with DSS, II9, DS2 & Hyper-V and seed DSS. Tundra hits in 2330 raising productivity higher, choosing Inferno over Toxic. Now Inferno for the nearby rich is nice but I have now missed three IT+nn techs, grrr! Put all 3 planet production into one turn seed for Inferno, well I said I would push planetology! Misha settles in 2332 with 10 then 5 from Beta Ceti and I finally produce my second colony ship â slow with no factories, bugs must work harder. I seed Warp2 over 2 turns while keeping Inferno/DSS progressing well. Willow settles in 2336 with 20 from Kholdan & Beta Ceti over 2 turns since it will seed next planet. DSS hits in 2341 choosing RC3, not for my planets you understand! Next year settle western Maalor with 11 then a trickle from Willow. In 2346 Inferno hits raising productivity much higher; sadly no Soil is available but I do have IT+40! As Warp2 hits percentages I seed II9 & DS2 for gropo options in next tier, sadly there was no hand lasers. My first hostile planet is Barren Ryoun letting me keep an eye on Meklon (in scanner range). I send almost 30 pop mostly from Beta Ceti over a few turns since it grows horribly slowly. Next Warp2 hits and Warp3 is up which I seed with 3 full turns production, I want faster ships (& transports!). In 2352 rich Artemis is founded with 25 over 2 turns from Kholdan refilled from Willow & Esper. Same year II9 hits revealing Duralloy which gets seed over 2 turns then RC3 gets 3 turn seed.
In 2355 DS2 hits giving DS3 but no PDS. I do a recap. The Meks have 4 factories per pop to my none. I have more planets but they have two large ones. If I leave it until they produce many missile bases (one each planet now) and ships (2 large plus 4 colony) they will out-produce me. I would have liked more gropo tech but if I can finish Warp3 and Duralloy then my 7 planets should overwhelm their 2 â my eighth, rich Artemis, can keep producing colony ships. Warp3 is close, around 3-5 turns, so lets launch some slow warp1 transports, re-grow then launch some more faster warp2 transports. Apart from different speeds I will need to co-ordinate launches from several planets to hit at once to avoid them re-growing. If I hit the planets consecutively there is a chance the AI will try to save or recapture the first planet hit. So off we go. Beta Ceti and Misha will go for Tyr backed up by long-range Willow. Kholdan & Esper will go for Meklon supported by re-supply from Maalor. Nearby Ryoun will decide who needs most help. Maalor has already started re-supply so Kholdan sends first 8 turn batch. Two turns later Beta Ceti sends next 6 turn big batch. Two turns later Warp3 hits (Warp4 next) perfectly. Now more faster launches from Kholdan, Beta Ceti, Misha, Esper and long range Willow & Maalor. Duralloy hits next turn so gropo should be even (spies report none with Meks except +5 defensive bonus). Meklon missile bases are up to 4 but spies take down 2 and they issue a warning. They also scrap their entire fleet then rebuild one large plus 2 colony ships.
As spies take down another MB, I invade Tyr. I get lucky with first wave which despite being outnumbered wins by one man! I pillage Range4, Fusion Bomb, Gatling Laser and HyperV (my spies told me not to research this last one). Meks DOW, of course. As second wave hits Meklon it becomes apparent they have sent half their pop to re-capture Tyr! Excellent, Meklon captured easily, genociding the Meklars in 2363 (my earliest?) and pillaging Death Spores, yummy more planetology. This puts me in touch with Tense 5PE Sakkra (Ruth/Exp) â they should be Uneasy but genocide costs me and they upgrade to Restless quickly. Same turn I settle LR colony at northern Aurora sending a few pop from Willow & Maalor since Kholdan and Beta Ceti need to recover. Meklon and Tyr are looking good though since the fortunate gropo has filled them faster than I expected with the captured 400 & 263 factories (not all worked)! However next year RC3 hits and IT+40 is finishing several turns of seeding and I start to seed new RW60 for 3 turns. Also settle Drakka in SW corner with LR colony. In 2371 Troubled 5PE Humans (Pac/Tech) announce themselves, alliance or they must have range 8. Cannot understand their relations dropping from Relaxed to Troubled just for Genocide, they are not even Honorable. Next year use another LR colony to settle rich Argus (Dead 25), purple in NW corner, my thirteenth planet. The Sakkra have one planet is SE but them and bears must be in NE corner.
![[Image: attachment.php?attachmentid=855&stc=1]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=855&stc=1)
Looking at the Status screen does not make me afraid of my biggest opponents:
![[Image: attachment.php?attachmentid=856&stc=1]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=856&stc=1)
IT+40 hits in 2374 (quick IER next) and terraforming commences boosting productivity heavily due to tech level and growing pop. Rich planets build ships and scrap them for reserves. Next stage is just build up and tech:
2377 RW60
2378 IER
2381 DS3
2383 Steal HandLasers from Mrrshan
2384 Steal IT+10 from Mrrshan who warn me
2386 BC4
2387 SP-V
2388 Zortium
2389 PS-V
2392 Cloning â select Adv.Soil!
2396 Warp4
2398 Steal II8 from Mrrshan, frame Humans
2399 II5 next back for ARS (only II4 upwards)
2403 Steal RW80 from Bulrathi who warn
2404 Fusion Beam
2406 Adv.Soil
2407 ARS & RC4
In between I settle Toranor in 2392 meeting Wary 2PE Bulrathi (Agg/Eco) and get hit by Nova at Maalor in 8 turns from 2398. Maalor production is 190 so pump near 1000 in reserves and save planet in 5. In 2405 a vote occurs with Bulrathi(3), Mrrshan(4) & Sakkra(5) abstaining while Humans(5) and me(14) vote ape. Anyway in 2408 my 2 rich planets roll out the long prepared ARS Fusion Beam Huge then start producing Fusion Bombers by the lorry load. First target is Mrrshan Seidon which is controlled by 2411 and invaded in 2413 â a staging post but I finish researching Range9 also to give my fleet plenty of targets. Mrrshans DOW. As the bombers appear the cats disappear, in 2317. As the original fleet progresses to Sol, a new fleet from the Richâs prepares for the North as a new fleet from Meklon, Tyr etc. prepares in the South. The Humans leave in 2422 followed by the bears next year and finally the Sakkra two years later.
Result: Extermination in 2425
The Power of the People
No building factories means IITn useless and RCn, Reduced Waste & Reduced Cleanup very limited. Better emphasize planetology for productivity and hope for lots of Improved Terraforming +nn plus Soil & Atmos for size. Poor & UP worlds will be much better than normal while rich & UR will be less so but still good for ship-building. Of course I could try invading an AI world with lots of factories and we do have the Meklars present.
So, allowing for scouts, what to do with bcâs normally used for factories. Well, forced ECO growth will improve productivity but cuts across natural growth, colony ship pre-build is no good unless two or more planets to settle (about 50/50 here) and tech normally waits for scout reports to indicate the best choices. Tech will be started early even if there is more than one non-hostile planet in range so letâs go with the technology gambit. Looking at the map we have two reds in range N & E, the NW yellow is too close to be occupied so the worry is the two close yellows to E & SE. So I send colony ship to E red with one scout and the other scout to N red. First few turns I add a couple of extra clicks to ECO to increase growth then reduce to minimum, remembering to check if this has gone down (normally rises so computer takes care of setting). Other than ECO, I start by building scouts and opening tech with 4 bc. Planetology choice is Barren over IER (no IT+10), Propulsion choice is Range 5 (over Range 4) which is safer without intel. Tech costs are 310/1080 so I split sliders 24%/76% to give Barren a chance of hitting first which is preferable for economy and colony ship cost. Second turn sees more scouts and tech then all tech third turn. Good news in 2303 is the colony ship settles Esper but bad news is it is small (Desert 35) and N red is hostile Artemis (Inferno, rich 40). Send two batches of 5 pop from Kholdan while pumping tech for 4 more turns. Esper produces extra scout then goes full tech while Kholdan splits between tech and building colony ship, increasing tech each turn.
Also in 2303 see a Meklar scout headed for Esper â yikes! That puts the machines at the SE yellow, 6 parsecs from Esper where I leave a defending scout. Scouting shows generally slim pickings with a Desert 45 (at 4 parsecs), a Steppe 45, 3 Barrens 25, 30 & 45, two Tundras 30 & 35, an Inferno 35 and Orion â eastern yellow. However South is Beta Ceti (Terran 110) at 5 parsecs which is Poor and Fertile â yippee! Chase Mrrshan scout from Aquilae, eastern green Tundra in 2310. Manage to scout Meklon and the machines second planet, fertile Tyr (Terran 105), green to SW. An early storm? No wait for the factories! In 2315 both techs are nicely into the percentages so Kholdan goes full colony ship production. Barren hits in 2316 raising productivity, choosing Tundra over Dead (no IT+20 either) and Esper funds this and a trickle into Range 5 which hits in 2318, choosing Warp 2. Timing is perfect so the first colony ship same year goes to the big fertile Poor, Beta Ceti. So in 2323 my third colony gets 9 from Esper and 20 from Kholdan and I meet neutral 2PE Meklars (Xeno/Exp). Having settled Beta Ceti I manage to get a scout to SW green Misha (Arid 65) before Meklars and chase their colony ship from next door blue Bootis (Dead 30). With range 5 I scout northern reds Auroroa (Arid 60) and Toranor (Dead 40). After first colony ship Kholdan puts a one turn seed into Tundra then back to colony ships. Second colony ship was for western Willow but now goes for southern Misha as Kholdan starts helping Esper push Tundra tech. Chase Bulrathi scout from N Toranor in 2324. Kholdan increases tech investment until pop arrive at Beta Ceti which goes full tech.
I open other tech fields with DSS, II9, DS2 & Hyper-V and seed DSS. Tundra hits in 2330 raising productivity higher, choosing Inferno over Toxic. Now Inferno for the nearby rich is nice but I have now missed three IT+nn techs, grrr! Put all 3 planet production into one turn seed for Inferno, well I said I would push planetology! Misha settles in 2332 with 10 then 5 from Beta Ceti and I finally produce my second colony ship â slow with no factories, bugs must work harder. I seed Warp2 over 2 turns while keeping Inferno/DSS progressing well. Willow settles in 2336 with 20 from Kholdan & Beta Ceti over 2 turns since it will seed next planet. DSS hits in 2341 choosing RC3, not for my planets you understand! Next year settle western Maalor with 11 then a trickle from Willow. In 2346 Inferno hits raising productivity much higher; sadly no Soil is available but I do have IT+40! As Warp2 hits percentages I seed II9 & DS2 for gropo options in next tier, sadly there was no hand lasers. My first hostile planet is Barren Ryoun letting me keep an eye on Meklon (in scanner range). I send almost 30 pop mostly from Beta Ceti over a few turns since it grows horribly slowly. Next Warp2 hits and Warp3 is up which I seed with 3 full turns production, I want faster ships (& transports!). In 2352 rich Artemis is founded with 25 over 2 turns from Kholdan refilled from Willow & Esper. Same year II9 hits revealing Duralloy which gets seed over 2 turns then RC3 gets 3 turn seed.
In 2355 DS2 hits giving DS3 but no PDS. I do a recap. The Meks have 4 factories per pop to my none. I have more planets but they have two large ones. If I leave it until they produce many missile bases (one each planet now) and ships (2 large plus 4 colony) they will out-produce me. I would have liked more gropo tech but if I can finish Warp3 and Duralloy then my 7 planets should overwhelm their 2 â my eighth, rich Artemis, can keep producing colony ships. Warp3 is close, around 3-5 turns, so lets launch some slow warp1 transports, re-grow then launch some more faster warp2 transports. Apart from different speeds I will need to co-ordinate launches from several planets to hit at once to avoid them re-growing. If I hit the planets consecutively there is a chance the AI will try to save or recapture the first planet hit. So off we go. Beta Ceti and Misha will go for Tyr backed up by long-range Willow. Kholdan & Esper will go for Meklon supported by re-supply from Maalor. Nearby Ryoun will decide who needs most help. Maalor has already started re-supply so Kholdan sends first 8 turn batch. Two turns later Beta Ceti sends next 6 turn big batch. Two turns later Warp3 hits (Warp4 next) perfectly. Now more faster launches from Kholdan, Beta Ceti, Misha, Esper and long range Willow & Maalor. Duralloy hits next turn so gropo should be even (spies report none with Meks except +5 defensive bonus). Meklon missile bases are up to 4 but spies take down 2 and they issue a warning. They also scrap their entire fleet then rebuild one large plus 2 colony ships.
As spies take down another MB, I invade Tyr. I get lucky with first wave which despite being outnumbered wins by one man! I pillage Range4, Fusion Bomb, Gatling Laser and HyperV (my spies told me not to research this last one). Meks DOW, of course. As second wave hits Meklon it becomes apparent they have sent half their pop to re-capture Tyr! Excellent, Meklon captured easily, genociding the Meklars in 2363 (my earliest?) and pillaging Death Spores, yummy more planetology. This puts me in touch with Tense 5PE Sakkra (Ruth/Exp) â they should be Uneasy but genocide costs me and they upgrade to Restless quickly. Same turn I settle LR colony at northern Aurora sending a few pop from Willow & Maalor since Kholdan and Beta Ceti need to recover. Meklon and Tyr are looking good though since the fortunate gropo has filled them faster than I expected with the captured 400 & 263 factories (not all worked)! However next year RC3 hits and IT+40 is finishing several turns of seeding and I start to seed new RW60 for 3 turns. Also settle Drakka in SW corner with LR colony. In 2371 Troubled 5PE Humans (Pac/Tech) announce themselves, alliance or they must have range 8. Cannot understand their relations dropping from Relaxed to Troubled just for Genocide, they are not even Honorable. Next year use another LR colony to settle rich Argus (Dead 25), purple in NW corner, my thirteenth planet. The Sakkra have one planet is SE but them and bears must be in NE corner.
Looking at the Status screen does not make me afraid of my biggest opponents:
IT+40 hits in 2374 (quick IER next) and terraforming commences boosting productivity heavily due to tech level and growing pop. Rich planets build ships and scrap them for reserves. Next stage is just build up and tech:
2377 RW60
2378 IER
2381 DS3
2383 Steal HandLasers from Mrrshan
2384 Steal IT+10 from Mrrshan who warn me
2386 BC4
2387 SP-V
2388 Zortium
2389 PS-V
2392 Cloning â select Adv.Soil!
2396 Warp4
2398 Steal II8 from Mrrshan, frame Humans
2399 II5 next back for ARS (only II4 upwards)
2403 Steal RW80 from Bulrathi who warn
2404 Fusion Beam
2406 Adv.Soil
2407 ARS & RC4
In between I settle Toranor in 2392 meeting Wary 2PE Bulrathi (Agg/Eco) and get hit by Nova at Maalor in 8 turns from 2398. Maalor production is 190 so pump near 1000 in reserves and save planet in 5. In 2405 a vote occurs with Bulrathi(3), Mrrshan(4) & Sakkra(5) abstaining while Humans(5) and me(14) vote ape. Anyway in 2408 my 2 rich planets roll out the long prepared ARS Fusion Beam Huge then start producing Fusion Bombers by the lorry load. First target is Mrrshan Seidon which is controlled by 2411 and invaded in 2413 â a staging post but I finish researching Range9 also to give my fleet plenty of targets. Mrrshans DOW. As the bombers appear the cats disappear, in 2317. As the original fleet progresses to Sol, a new fleet from the Richâs prepares for the North as a new fleet from Meklon, Tyr etc. prepares in the South. The Humans leave in 2422 followed by the bears next year and finally the Sakkra two years later.
Result: Extermination in 2425
