My web server is down right now, so no full report or pictures uploaded until that gets fixed. And it's just about midnight, so here is a report with the highlights. This was pretty much the Klackon Show from turn one.
I did not touch the planetary reserve all game, in keeping with the theme. I play enough vanilla Impossible games that I wanted the extra challenge, and I got it, all right!
I founded early colonies at Rigel, Reticuli, Anraq, Mu Delphi (the Terran 100 to the left) and Beta Ceti (the Terran 100 to the right). I teched LR large hull colships with RIW 80%, IER, IT+20 and nuclear engines.
I made two of the LR colships, one for Beta Ceti and one for Exis (the Arid 70 in the south). The Erratic Klackons, however, beat me to Exis in 2361, with my colship just two turns away. They already had nine planets. This established contact with the bugs -- they had range 6; I traded on contact for both Controlled Barren and range 5 (giving warp 2 and RIW 80%). This immediately gave me the technology for settling Rich Maalor and Iranha (in the east). The range also got me in contact with the Meklars, who were running a two planet empire in the east.
The colony at Beta Ceti introduced me to the Darloks; I traded warp 2 for hand lasers to skip the first weapons tier.
I successfully founded both Maalor and Iranha, finishing the early landgrab.
The next few decades were dedicated to improving my tech situation; I quickly researched ECM I, traded for BC 2, and stole BC 3 from the bugs. ECM 2 came in 2378, Personal Deflectors in 2379, and Toxic and NPG in 2380. Stole Duralloy from bots and researched warp 3 in 2383. Stole ISS from the bugs in 2389. The same turn, I met the cats, and gave them Nuclear Engines for Deep Space Scanner.
The pivotal point of the game came in 2390 -- 2390, mind you -- when my spies lifted Advanced Soil Enrichment -- that's Advanced Soil Enrichment -- from the Klackons. In 2390. That's how grim things were. It's been a while since I've seen a non-Psilon non-Sakkra race pull Advanced Soil Enrichment that early, even on Impossible. In any case, gaia-izing every non-hostile colony by the end of the first century feels pretty good, or would feel pretty good except when your Erratic rival is running away with the game.
Built a fleet of NPG fighters starting in the 2380s to defend the eastern colonies in Darlok and Meklar border skirmishes. For the next thirty turns they would continuously send fleets or invasion forces. My superior gropo tech and fast population growth meant these attacks were a waste of time, even when I didn't have the fighters in orbit.
Class V planetaries in 2393, and RIW 60% in 2397.
In 2400, I managed only 10,001,941 BC in the reserve, an increase of less than two thousand BC. I felt pretty glad just to be alive at this point, though. The Klackons had Tachyon Beam, Stinger Missiles, RIW 40%, IIT 6 and Class X Planetaries. Despite having lots of bugs they never were close to winning in the council vote (thanks to being erratic and only being friends with the weak Alkaris.)
The twenty-fifth century was insanely dangerous, as the Klackons were at war with me almost the entire time. Despite out-teching and out-producing me, for years and years they never attacked, only seizing the puny Toxic planet at Imra from me in a single early strike. I would find out that the Klackons' huge military at this point was still made up primarily of obsolete heavy laser and ion cannon boats, and they were extremely slow at scrapping old ships and building new ships. Despite their crazy tech wizardry, they never got bombs. They would have slaughtered me early if they simply kept a more up-to-date navy.
In 2408 I established contact with the Alkaris, and received Battle Suits for RIW 60%. I also traded RIW 60% to the Meklars for Ion Rifle. This extra gropo tech proved important as the Meklars would spend decades throwing invasion forces futilely at Iranha.
Tech progression: ARS stolen from Meklars in 2403, Class IV deflectors obtained from the cats for RIW 60%, Merculites researched in 2406, IT+40 in 2407, Zortium stolen from the borg in 2408. IRC 3 stolen from the bugs in 2411, IIT 9 traded from the bugs for Class V planetaries same turn, BC 4 popped 2412, Controlled Dead from the shifters for Ion Rifle in 2420, IIT 6 researched 2425, Range 8 in 2428. Class V deflectors pop in 2429, Atmospheric Terraforming (yay!) in 2430.
The Klackons captured Imra in 2430. This was the only offensive the bugs mounted against me for decades, although they were officially at war with me for most of the century.
I colonized Rich Inferno 30 Ukko in 2428, although that went back and forth a few times before I held it for good.
Neutron Blaster stolen 2431, IRC 4 researched 2435, Fusion Bomb and Inertial Stabilizer traded from kitty in 2437 and 2442, respectively. Spies lifted ECM 5 and BC 7 (!) from Klackons in 2443-2444. Repulsor stolen from birds in 2446. Personal Absorption Shield popped next turn. AMR stolen from bugs in 2448. Armored Exoskeleton and Ion Stream Projector researched in 2449.
This allowed me to design an NPG/repulsor/ARS/ISP battleship that was the (ex-Klackon) terror of space for decades, conquering many bird, 'bot and pussy cat planets.
By 2450 the Klackons have Black Hole Generator, Class XV planetaries, Gauss Autocannon, IT+80, Tritanium Armor and Industrial Waste Elimination. Again, if they had put together a meaningful force they could have eliminated me five times over this game.
I went to war on the birds starting in the 2450s. Altair was captured in 2457, yielding Controlled Radiated, Graviton Beam, Bio Toxin Antidote (important as the shifters were fond of spores this game), range 7, Megabolt Cannon and Hyper-X Rockets. Zhardan fell in 2461, Whynil in 2468, Omicron in 2470. I made peace afterwards leaving the birds with one planet.
Impulse Drives teched 2453, Personal Barrier Shield (!) stolen from bugs in 2456. Class X planetaries stolen from Mrrshans 2459. Advanced Space Scanner pops 2460, Complete Eco Restoration next turn. Gatling Laser captured from birds in 2461. Hard Beam stolen from cats in 2462. Death Spores from Darloks for Repulsor Beam, also Merculites for IIT 7, in 2464. Auto Blaster researched 2468. Class VII deflectors 2469. IIT 4 and Ion Drives 2475. Universal Antidote 2477. IRC 5 2478.
By 2480 I had reached a tipping point. I was larger than everybody, including the bugs, was more productive than everybody else, including the bugs, and was reaching a level of tech competitive with the bugs (and simply miles above everybody besides the bugs). I was by now the Computer tech leader, meaning that none of the Klackons' secrets were safe from me.
2480 was also the year the Klackons finally, finally attacked me with a somewhat modern force. Sadly, it was not an effective modern force. They were large pulse phasor boats, medium pulse phasor/Stinger boats, and large pulse phasor/anti-matter torp/Stinger boats. At this time they also still had thousands of ships with nothing but death spores or heavy lasers, many decades obsolete.
At this point I realized the game was won, but it wasn't very satisfying. I hadn't done much to deserve a victory -- the only reason I hadn't lost, in fact, was that the bugs didn't scrap their crappy old ships and build better ones decades sooner. If they had brought ships, even ships as lame as those phasor boats, and even as late as 2440 or 2450, they could have run me over -- to say nothing of what they could have done with decent designs. But in 2480, it was too little, too late. My defenses were sufficient at this point to make their immense navy nearly ineffective, instead of the formidable formic force they would have been just twenty or thirty turns earlier. And of course, I got a couple of immense breaks with the Advanced Soil Enrichment steal and the bugs being bereft of bombs.
I continued playing until the end of the century, taking Meklar and Mrrshan worlds, advancing my tech, solidifying a winning position, and could easily finish the game out with a big war against the Klackons. However, the outcome would not really be in doubt, and as I indicated, this game was lost outright early on except for especially egregrious AI stupidity.
I get the feeling that this map would have been too easy with the reserve spending, although it was certainly a nail-biter with the restriction. It was a good game, I hope other people had fun with this one as well.
Outcome: retired 2500. In 2400 I had a reserve of 10001941 BC.
I did not touch the planetary reserve all game, in keeping with the theme. I play enough vanilla Impossible games that I wanted the extra challenge, and I got it, all right!
I founded early colonies at Rigel, Reticuli, Anraq, Mu Delphi (the Terran 100 to the left) and Beta Ceti (the Terran 100 to the right). I teched LR large hull colships with RIW 80%, IER, IT+20 and nuclear engines.
I made two of the LR colships, one for Beta Ceti and one for Exis (the Arid 70 in the south). The Erratic Klackons, however, beat me to Exis in 2361, with my colship just two turns away. They already had nine planets. This established contact with the bugs -- they had range 6; I traded on contact for both Controlled Barren and range 5 (giving warp 2 and RIW 80%). This immediately gave me the technology for settling Rich Maalor and Iranha (in the east). The range also got me in contact with the Meklars, who were running a two planet empire in the east.
The colony at Beta Ceti introduced me to the Darloks; I traded warp 2 for hand lasers to skip the first weapons tier.
I successfully founded both Maalor and Iranha, finishing the early landgrab.
The next few decades were dedicated to improving my tech situation; I quickly researched ECM I, traded for BC 2, and stole BC 3 from the bugs. ECM 2 came in 2378, Personal Deflectors in 2379, and Toxic and NPG in 2380. Stole Duralloy from bots and researched warp 3 in 2383. Stole ISS from the bugs in 2389. The same turn, I met the cats, and gave them Nuclear Engines for Deep Space Scanner.
The pivotal point of the game came in 2390 -- 2390, mind you -- when my spies lifted Advanced Soil Enrichment -- that's Advanced Soil Enrichment -- from the Klackons. In 2390. That's how grim things were. It's been a while since I've seen a non-Psilon non-Sakkra race pull Advanced Soil Enrichment that early, even on Impossible. In any case, gaia-izing every non-hostile colony by the end of the first century feels pretty good, or would feel pretty good except when your Erratic rival is running away with the game.
Built a fleet of NPG fighters starting in the 2380s to defend the eastern colonies in Darlok and Meklar border skirmishes. For the next thirty turns they would continuously send fleets or invasion forces. My superior gropo tech and fast population growth meant these attacks were a waste of time, even when I didn't have the fighters in orbit.
Class V planetaries in 2393, and RIW 60% in 2397.
In 2400, I managed only 10,001,941 BC in the reserve, an increase of less than two thousand BC. I felt pretty glad just to be alive at this point, though. The Klackons had Tachyon Beam, Stinger Missiles, RIW 40%, IIT 6 and Class X Planetaries. Despite having lots of bugs they never were close to winning in the council vote (thanks to being erratic and only being friends with the weak Alkaris.)
The twenty-fifth century was insanely dangerous, as the Klackons were at war with me almost the entire time. Despite out-teching and out-producing me, for years and years they never attacked, only seizing the puny Toxic planet at Imra from me in a single early strike. I would find out that the Klackons' huge military at this point was still made up primarily of obsolete heavy laser and ion cannon boats, and they were extremely slow at scrapping old ships and building new ships. Despite their crazy tech wizardry, they never got bombs. They would have slaughtered me early if they simply kept a more up-to-date navy.
In 2408 I established contact with the Alkaris, and received Battle Suits for RIW 60%. I also traded RIW 60% to the Meklars for Ion Rifle. This extra gropo tech proved important as the Meklars would spend decades throwing invasion forces futilely at Iranha.
Tech progression: ARS stolen from Meklars in 2403, Class IV deflectors obtained from the cats for RIW 60%, Merculites researched in 2406, IT+40 in 2407, Zortium stolen from the borg in 2408. IRC 3 stolen from the bugs in 2411, IIT 9 traded from the bugs for Class V planetaries same turn, BC 4 popped 2412, Controlled Dead from the shifters for Ion Rifle in 2420, IIT 6 researched 2425, Range 8 in 2428. Class V deflectors pop in 2429, Atmospheric Terraforming (yay!) in 2430.
The Klackons captured Imra in 2430. This was the only offensive the bugs mounted against me for decades, although they were officially at war with me for most of the century.
I colonized Rich Inferno 30 Ukko in 2428, although that went back and forth a few times before I held it for good.
Neutron Blaster stolen 2431, IRC 4 researched 2435, Fusion Bomb and Inertial Stabilizer traded from kitty in 2437 and 2442, respectively. Spies lifted ECM 5 and BC 7 (!) from Klackons in 2443-2444. Repulsor stolen from birds in 2446. Personal Absorption Shield popped next turn. AMR stolen from bugs in 2448. Armored Exoskeleton and Ion Stream Projector researched in 2449.
This allowed me to design an NPG/repulsor/ARS/ISP battleship that was the (ex-Klackon) terror of space for decades, conquering many bird, 'bot and pussy cat planets.
By 2450 the Klackons have Black Hole Generator, Class XV planetaries, Gauss Autocannon, IT+80, Tritanium Armor and Industrial Waste Elimination. Again, if they had put together a meaningful force they could have eliminated me five times over this game.
I went to war on the birds starting in the 2450s. Altair was captured in 2457, yielding Controlled Radiated, Graviton Beam, Bio Toxin Antidote (important as the shifters were fond of spores this game), range 7, Megabolt Cannon and Hyper-X Rockets. Zhardan fell in 2461, Whynil in 2468, Omicron in 2470. I made peace afterwards leaving the birds with one planet.
Impulse Drives teched 2453, Personal Barrier Shield (!) stolen from bugs in 2456. Class X planetaries stolen from Mrrshans 2459. Advanced Space Scanner pops 2460, Complete Eco Restoration next turn. Gatling Laser captured from birds in 2461. Hard Beam stolen from cats in 2462. Death Spores from Darloks for Repulsor Beam, also Merculites for IIT 7, in 2464. Auto Blaster researched 2468. Class VII deflectors 2469. IIT 4 and Ion Drives 2475. Universal Antidote 2477. IRC 5 2478.
By 2480 I had reached a tipping point. I was larger than everybody, including the bugs, was more productive than everybody else, including the bugs, and was reaching a level of tech competitive with the bugs (and simply miles above everybody besides the bugs). I was by now the Computer tech leader, meaning that none of the Klackons' secrets were safe from me.
2480 was also the year the Klackons finally, finally attacked me with a somewhat modern force. Sadly, it was not an effective modern force. They were large pulse phasor boats, medium pulse phasor/Stinger boats, and large pulse phasor/anti-matter torp/Stinger boats. At this time they also still had thousands of ships with nothing but death spores or heavy lasers, many decades obsolete.
At this point I realized the game was won, but it wasn't very satisfying. I hadn't done much to deserve a victory -- the only reason I hadn't lost, in fact, was that the bugs didn't scrap their crappy old ships and build better ones decades sooner. If they had brought ships, even ships as lame as those phasor boats, and even as late as 2440 or 2450, they could have run me over -- to say nothing of what they could have done with decent designs. But in 2480, it was too little, too late. My defenses were sufficient at this point to make their immense navy nearly ineffective, instead of the formidable formic force they would have been just twenty or thirty turns earlier. And of course, I got a couple of immense breaks with the Advanced Soil Enrichment steal and the bugs being bereft of bombs.
I continued playing until the end of the century, taking Meklar and Mrrshan worlds, advancing my tech, solidifying a winning position, and could easily finish the game out with a big war against the Klackons. However, the outcome would not really be in doubt, and as I indicated, this game was lost outright early on except for especially egregrious AI stupidity.
I get the feeling that this map would have been too easy with the reserve spending, although it was certainly a nail-biter with the restriction. It was a good game, I hope other people had fun with this one as well.
Outcome: retired 2500. In 2400 I had a reserve of 10001941 BC.
