I'd say that this one would have been much MUCH more challenging without Autorepair and Repulsor Beam. Huge ARS ships don't NEED maneuverability, especially against the low level missiles we had here. Stingers would have been a whole other story.
And what do you mean by "challenging" Reformations? There is a fine line between "exciting strategic challenge" and "crushingly frustrating" that I don't really want to push the boundary of. Maybe "only use missiles" or "no specials of any kind except colony pods" would be interesting. But personally I look at these succession games as opportunities to learn from other good players and maybe teach them a thing or two in return. While a challenge is fun it isn't the whole point as far as I'm concerned. Your mileage may vary however.
As for another game I don't have any significant ideas right now, but it would be good to not go 18 months between games like last time.
And what do you mean by "challenging" Reformations? There is a fine line between "exciting strategic challenge" and "crushingly frustrating" that I don't really want to push the boundary of. Maybe "only use missiles" or "no specials of any kind except colony pods" would be interesting. But personally I look at these succession games as opportunities to learn from other good players and maybe teach them a thing or two in return. While a challenge is fun it isn't the whole point as far as I'm concerned. Your mileage may vary however.
As for another game I don't have any significant ideas right now, but it would be good to not go 18 months between games like last time.