Imperium 42 - RFS-81 crashes and burns

[RFS-81]

So...I haven't won any impossible practice game with the Mrrshans yet, but I don't know if I'll get around to play much on the next weekend, so it's about time I got started with Imperium 42. I expect to get stomped pretty quickly. Let's see how it goes.

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Scoring info:

Lost in the first council election, 2410.

Terraforming a Tundra planet:
I terraformed Drakka to +5 in 2400, to +10 (my maxiumum at the time) in 2401.

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Years 2300 to 2319:



Wow, three stars in colony range. They're all red, so there's a good chance they're habitable, but unfortunately also that they're poor. I decide to send the colony ship to explore the star left of the homeworld, since it's approximately equally far from the other two. But before issuing any orders...



...I take a look at the big picture. Lots of yellow stars in the lower right quadrant. If I'm lucky, there's a whole bunch of AIs starting right on top of each other there. What I'm mainly curious about is wether the yellow star I'm pointing at is inhabited. If not, I'll have lots of ellbow room here. I seem to remember - although I don't know from where - that the human player (as in flesh-and-blood person, not the humans in-game) starts at least 7 parsecs away from the clost rival, and the star in question is only 6 parsecs away. I hesitate to call this a good start before having any scouting reports, but so far I'm optimistic. (Of course, I'm perfectly able to screw up even a good start!)

Two years on, and the colony ship reports a rather unremarkable pop 55 ocean planet. I hold out for the reports from the scout ships before settling. I also start building three more scouts at Betelgeuse.



Well, I can't say I expected that from red stars! (Was that an edit? I know it's all just probabilities, and flukes do happen, but that seems rather unlikely.) Well, I don't complain, but I will if I don't have tundra colony bases in my tech tree! With no Silicoids in this game, the radiated planet should be safe for a while.

I had to choose whether or not to settle the ocean planet before receiving reports from Drakka, so I'm going to do so next turn. I send the scout from Moro up to the yellow star, to make sure nobody's there. Following thrawn's lead from a recent forum thread, I also open up Planetology early: No Improved Eco Restoration, but Terraforming +10, and Controlled Barren. I pick Terraforming +10 and dial science spending down again.

Also, I finally settle Toranor and send 15 additional colonists from the homeworld.



In 2308, Betelgeuse reaches half its population maximum, so I start investing in terraforming tech to extend the good part of the population growth curve.



Here's the result of my scouting efforts so far. The yellow star indeed turns out to be uninhabited. Overall, this is a rather inhospitable, but rich corner of space. There are two crummy but habitable planets in 4-parsec range, an ultra-poor at range 5. All the good habitable planets (including a rich desert planet close to the center of the map) are at range 6. I hope I have range-4 in my tech tree. One thing I'm wondering is if and when I should send any long-range fighter ships to the rich desert planet. Normally, AI colony ships show up with weapons or escorts around 2330-2340, and it's not hard to keep those away, but if you blockade planets for too long, they soon show up with even stronger fleets. And will I even be able to defend a planet so close to the center? Hmm...

Terraforming +10 finishes in 2319, with Betelgeuse at 3/4 capacity. It was hanging in the percentages for quite some time. Now, for the important question:



"I can has Tundra planets?"



Eh, I'll take it. But before I start researching this, I better get some propulsion research started. Now, in order to reach for the Slartibartfast award, I probably should seed it right now, but simply winning this game would be triumph enough for me, so I go with the plan that lets me add some more planets to my empire soon.

Years 2320 to 2339:

I'm lucky because I get to choose between range-4 or range-5. I pick range-4 and immediately start researching. In 2324, I start building a few medium ships with reserve fuel tanks and 2 lasers. I'm not sure if I can claim the desert planet, but I know I'll kick myself if I give it up without a fight!

In 2329, I dial down research spending to a minimum, with Hydrogen Fuel cells at 30% discovery chance. Building a colony ship will take 5 turns, so there's a good chance that it will finish before the ship. And indeed it finishes three turns before the ship! Here are my next options:



I find this choice rather difficult. I'd like to get Nuclear Engines because As the fuel range grows, the slow speed of the initial engines becomes more and more annoying to me. But there are three nice planets at range 6, so I think Range 6 is the right choice here. I delay researching it for now, though.

Year 2332 starts with some interesting news:



Huh, I didn't expect out-growing the AIs. In fact, I was expecting the 6-planets report.

I colonize a new planet!



And I notice that Tyr (desert, pop 45, rich), the planet that I've been guarding, is actually now in colony range! Embarassingly, when deciding which propulsion tech to pick, I managed to completely forget that colonies expand your range    Also, I should have eye-balled the distance between Tyr and Morrig before choosing between Range-4 and Range-5. Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good. Anyway, with Tyr protected by my Squatter ships, I can send the scout away to explore some of the stars that Morrig brought into scouting range. I also switch Toranor to colony ship production, too. It could still build a few more factories (as could Betelgeuse), but now that I can get to Tyr, and from there to the other two habitable planets that were at range 6, I want to claim them as quickly as I can. Plus, as thrawn likes to point out, if I build additional factories now, they will only sit idle when I send population away to seed new colonies.

GNN reports that the Darloks control 6 stars in 2339.

Years 2340 to 2359:

I encounter another species for the first time in 2340, as a colony ship with an armed escort chases my scout away.



The Darlok leader has rolled an Aggressive Technologist personality. Here's an overview of their empire.



Tyr's location looks rather precarious now. Maybe a few more fighters are in order after the next colony ship? Now that it's in range, I don't have to bother with reserve fuel tanks anymore. On the other hand, lasers are mostly obsolete once the enemy has level 3 shields. And even against level 2 shields, they're not great. Should I get weapon research started instead?

In 2334, I'm still leading in population, with Darloks taking the second place, according to GNN. It seems to be a pattern that AIs always have more planets, but (early on) less population than me. I understand the first part, since they have production bonuses, but not the second. The only explanation is that they don't know how to properly seed new colonies, and that doesn't seem to be hard to code at all...aaaanyway, my next colony ship finishes, with the previous one still two years away from Tyr. I send it ahead to Moro (the star above Betelgeuse).

I spend one RP from Morrig on Weapons to see what's available: Hand Lasers and Hyper-V Rockets. Hand Lasers cost only 90 RP for the Mrrshans, so I figure I can easily get it out of the way while building colony ships.

I colonize Tyr, which brings Ryoun (pop 55, steppe) into range:



And the Darloks declare war! I hope my Squatter ships can fend them off for now...

Toranor finishes a colony ship which I send to a planet in my backline.



Certainly nothing to write home about, but better than a rich world that I end up losing. I also switch Betelgeuse to building fighters. I don't know if 26 fighters will do anything, but I'd feel bad if I didn't try.



Ok, I don't know if this is a good move, but exploring the planet in case I want to send some soldiers there later seems like a good idea. Also, I can maybe shoot down some of those transports.

I also start researching Force Fields in 2348.

In 2349, I found a colony at Ryoun.



And this is Tao, where I first encountered the Darloks.



I definitely don't want my enemies to have a fertile frontier planet! Unfortunately, I don't think I intercepted any of the 33 transports that were heading there. (Does that even work when you arrive on the same turn?) Invading it doesn't seem possible, with the two closest worlds being quite small. And if I send anything from Betelgeuse, by the time they arrive, there surely will be a giant fleet in orbit to kill them all. Diverting resources to building bombers also does not sound like a good idea right now.

I start building a missile base on Betelgeuse to prepare for the worst.

The Alkari get a good event in 2350:



Hey, at least it's not the Darloks.

The Darlok send their first attack fleet to Tyr. I don't have any stats on those ships, but this doesn't look good to me. Will the Mrrshan attack bonus save the day?



Well, actually, I lost only about 5 or 6 fighters. I would have lost a lot more if the AI didn't insist on always moving backwards before firing their heavy lasers, though! That changes things...I'll send a stack of bombers for Tao soon!

In other news, I finish Hand Lasers. Neutron Pellet Gun is the only option at the next tier.

With Toranor finishing the final colony ship in 2353 and sending it on its way to the yellow star Ukko (pop 70, ocean), I switch Toranor over to research. I haven't even touched construction and computer tech yet, so let's see what we have.

In Construction, there's only RW80. Meh. I invest some minimal amount to avoid wasting the RP I spent to open it up and go check out Computers: I can choose ECM1 or BC2 and go with ECM to open up the next tier faster. I also order Betelgeuse to get some more fighters up to Tyr.

I seriously take the fight to the Darloks in 2356:





I win easily, but I'm down to 10 fighters. It also turns out that the Darloks have sent population away. Still, I don't think it's worth it to waste any population on conquering an ultra-poor planet without any factories. Maybe if I can bomb down the population enough, I invade to save the cost of a colony ship. And if I end up completely destroying it, well then I'll just have to build one.

The bombers I built earlier are still one turn away from Tyr. It will take them three more to go from there to Tao. Picking Range-6 over Nuclear Engines was definitely a very bad idea. Now I have to get it out of the way before I can research anything else. I decide to seed it now and get it over with.

I found a colony at Ukko in 2359.

Years 2360 to 2389:

DS2 finishes and I select Personal Deflector Shield next (the other option was DS3). I stop seeding Propulsion and seed Planetology next. About time I get that rich tundra planet. I also notice that there's a blue star in the corner of the map that I haven't scouted yet. Oops! I build another scout to check it out.

ECM1 finishes in the next year and ECM2 is the only new option...

I have two bombers at Tao now (medium ships with 4 nukes each, because I can't fit them on smalls yet). They can keep factories down, but population grows faster than they can kill it. My plan is to build a few more on Tyr, which can churn them out at a rate of one per turn, but first, I'd like to terraform it.

The planet in the lower left corner turns out to be a minimal planet with pop 40 max. If this planet had been any better, I'd be really kicking myself now over my Propulsion tech decisions. I think going Range-5 and then Nuclear Engines would have been a much better choice: I could have colonized the poor planet at Stalaz and then went on down into the corner. Also, again, choosing the range tech without first checking the distance between Morrig and Tyr was a major mistake, even though I got lucky there.

The Darloks have colonized the non-Margarathea star system in the nebula. I've sent a fighter, hoping to catch it undefendend and explore it, but that was not to be. Additional Bombers from Tyr start arriving at Tao.

Irridium Fuel Cells finishes ... actually, I forgot the precise year. As for my next choices:



Sub-Light Drives, no contest here. Actually, it's my only new choice. I start seeding immediately.

RW80 and Controlled Dead Environment both pop on 2382. What's up next?



My choices are highlighted. I put Betelgeuse to work on the new colony ship immediately. Drakka can support only 20 pop for now, but when T30 comes in, it will be a worthwile addition to my empire.

My fleet is driven off Tao in 2383. A fleet including spore ships and probably a ship with DS2 show up at Tyr. Not looking good...



Ok, I can't say I understand why he makes that offer now, but I'm certainly fine with it. And he somehow silently throws in this tribute:



Huh. Some more time to build up and get better guns for the inevitable repeat performance.

I colonize Drakka:



In 2389, Ryoun reaches its industry maximum and I have it build bases because it's close to Darlok territory. Speaking of those guys...I try to sign them up for a new trade deal, but they refuse. I start some spying now, to get a view of their tech tree. I certainly don't expect to steal anything from them.

Here's what the map looks like now:





And the frontier with the Darlok empire:



Years 2390 to 2400:

Sub-Light drives is at over 20% discovery chance, so I first seed Neutron Pelet Gun, then Terraforming +30. Tyr maxes factories in 2392 and I start building missile bases there. Betelgeuse is cranking out more colony ships to claim the nearby Tundra planets, and some new planets that are now within range.

Here's the report on the Darloks:



Nothing too scary for now. I'll soon get NPG, so the shields won't be a big problem.

The Darlok finally agree to some token trade agreement in 2395.

My first fleet encounter with the Sakkras happens in 2396. The Sakkras are the Vogons, apparently.



I settle Endoria in the same year, which also puts me into diplomatic contact with them and the Meklars. The Meklars are Erratic Industrialists (as usual) and the Sakkras are Aggressive Diplomats. Both agree to small trade deals. Their empires look ridiculously small for this point in the game. Since they're allied with each other, I suspect that there's another empire in the corner that has been giving them a beating. Still, I send my stack of fighters down from Tyr to Endoria to protect my new colony.

I also start terraforming Drakka.



Sub-Light Drives finishes in 2400, after hanging at > 25% forever. New options:



I choose the Warp Dissipator. This should come in handy when someone tries to send bombers again. I also settle Neptunus, a minimal planet in the lower left corner.

Drakka is terraformed to +5. I'm not sure I understand the conditions for the Slartibartfast award correctly, but I guess it means that I need to get at least +10.

Years 2400 to 2409:

I finally colonize the ultra-poor planet in my neighbourhood. I'll only run research there until I get some very good Construction tech.



Drakka is fully terraformed (to the best of my current abilities).

NPG finishes in 2405, I go with Merculite Missiles next. My bases are currently firing Hyper-Vs and that just won't do for long! However, first I seed my next computer tech (ECM2), to increase my tech level in that area (for better spies) and to see what's available next.



I get a stupid random erratic war declaration the next year:



Maybe they'll drag their allies, the Sakkra, into it too, but I'm not too worried. I start some spying efforts on the two empires.

Drakka maxes factories and I use it, and Tyr, to get some of my newly designed Sub-Light NPG fighters to Endoria.

T30 finishes in 2407.



I pick Soil Enrichment here, even though there's an ultra-rich radiated planet nearby, since it's rather small. Soil Enrichment will be helpful for invasions (and allows me to get even more population everywhere).

Also, just as I expected, the Sakkras declared war too. The Meklars send their first fleet:




The Meklars have rather weak deflector shields, but they have Planetary Shield V. They also have RC3. The Sakkras don't really have any interesting techs, except fusion bombs. If I can steal that, cracking Meklar colonies should be easy.

The Meklars arrive at Endoria in 2409:





Needless to say, that didn't go well. The planet loses half its population to bombardment.

In other news ...



... you've got to be kidding me. So instead of building ships, I need to pump out reserve money now!

In happier news, one of my colony ships, built nearly a decade ago, still with Retro engines, arrives at its destination. I'm the first empire to colonize 12 star systems.



As it turns out, all of that doesn't matter at all. The Galactic Council convenes for the first time. (SPOILER: I lose!)

I and the Alkari emperor are nominated.

24 votes total.

Darloks: 5 votes (Alkaris)
Sakkras: 2 votes (Alkaris)
Alkaris: 6 votes (guess!)
Meklars: 3 votes (Alkaris)

That's it, then.

Klackons: 2 votes (abstain)
Me: 6 votes (myself, but who cares)

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The start looked promising enough, but I don't know how to defend myself in the council against AI cheese alliances, and random hate from erratic emperors. Maybe I could have focused more on weapons earlier, got better bombs and cut some of the AIs down to size. But still, all but 2 votes from other empires were against me. I don't think I could have achieved a veto block by that time. I just have no clue how to deal with this! (Also, I reloaded the game just to see how it goes and that time I survived the election. Yay, randomness!)

[RefSteel]

Wow, that's a rough result. That's also really late for a first election on Impossible! You were doing really well until it went against you.

There are some things you can do to limit the chance of this kind of defeat: Diplomatically, you can try to isolate your enemies (or will-be enemies like erratics) by asking emperors to break alliances with them (or even to assist you once the enemy has declared war) and likewise try to isolate your likely council opponent - one of the reasons it's a good idea to colonize toward the center of the galaxy. (Getting Trax was really important for a number of reasons in this game.) It's also possible to get peace more quickly (and make friends with enemies of your enemy) by conquering enemy worlds and destroying their fleets. Failing that, you can try to keep yourself below the nomination threshold by watching the population bar on the status graph and putting a bunch of transports in space (the timing of the first vote is hard to predict, but when the game gets this far without a Council, you may be able to anticipate triggering it with your next colony, as you did here with Paranar) - though I have to admit I never actually do this on purpose myself.

And sometimes the dice go against you and there's nothing you can do. An early erratic war declaration, bringing in an ally quickly, and an election opponent out of contact on the far side of the galaxy, make for a kind of perfect storm. I'm sorry it went that way for you after what looked like a really great start to your game! I hope you get better rolls in the next event!