DaveV Imp 11

[DaveV]

I believe it is now reporting day, and I'm going to be offline for a couple days, so here goes:

Pre-game thoughts: the magic number for a medium map is 12 planets. If I have room to expand, I'd like to get the twelve best planets available, and grow them as fast as I can, while keeping the AIs friendly.
2300: Send the colony ship to Maalor, one scout to Omicron, the other scout to Anraq.
2302: Scout2 built: send it to Artemis.
2303: Settle Maalor. Wow - Ultra Rich. This game will be a micromanagement nightmare, but what a boost! Omicron is a pretty bad planet, but may be needed as a stepping stone to better worlds. Send new Scout2 to Berel. Send three colonists to Maalor. Crank up Ecology spending on Kholdan to get +1 Pop.
2304: Two Scout2s built: send to Primodius and Morrig. Three more colonists to Maalor.
2307: A nice free tech:

2305-2314: Keep sending colonists to Maalor.
2316: Maalor hits max factories; plow the overflow from the reserve back into Maalor.
2317: Start heavy-duty micromanagement: use the = button to double Maalor's production, put the rest into Kholdan.

For the rest of the game, I used the magic of positive feedback to double Maalor's production (except when I forgot), building a colony ship every 4 turns during the expansion phase, and putting the extra into Artemis for extra research. Anything beyond that went into the neediest developing planet.
2355: Contact with Silicoids. They have 9 planets, alliances with Psilons and Bulrathi. They agree to 25 BC trade.
2362: Humans take Kailis (their colony ship barely killed 3 long range NPG mediums), with my colony ship 6 turns away . They agree to 45 BC trade, NAP. They have 5 planets, no alliances. I scrap the enroute colony ship.
2368: High council meets: me vs. Silicoids. Everyone abstains, so I can vote for the rocks :D. Relations improve to Amiable. They sign NAP.
2372: Colony on Nyarl gives contacts with Psilons (1 planet) and Bulrathi (5 planets). Both agree to minimum trade.
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2374: Humans agree to break alliance with Silicoids; Silicoids demand Battle Computer III to break alliance with Psilons, I refuse.
2375: High council meets: me vs. Bulrathi. Everyone abstains, I vote for the Bulrathi, relations improve to Amiable. Bulrathi agree to NAP. Scoring:

Colonist = 9 votes + 12 planets = 63

Researcher = 76

Diplomat = 52
During phase 2, I built missile bases and a virtual fleet over all my planets (1 click into a Huge design). When crises arose, it was easy enough to pump reserve money into the threatened world and produce defenses while the attackers were enroute.
2384: IT9 stolen from Silicoids; Psilons threaten me for being too powerful.
2390: Psilons give an attaboy for trade.
2398: Psilons threaten me for being too big.
2399: Bulrathi refuse to break alliance with Silicoids or Psilons.
2400: ECM 2 stolen from Humans.

That was way too close.
2401: Duralloy Armor stolen from Silicoids.
2402: Controlled Barren stolen from Humans.
2303: Neither Silicoids nor Bulrathis will break alliance with the other for free.
2404: Anti-Missile Rockets stolen from Silicoids, Humans framed.
2407: Personal Deflector Shield stolen from Silicoids, they complain and drop to Restless (switch spies to Hide). Bulrathi want computer tech to break alliance with Silicoids.
2410: Controlled Tundra stolen from Humans.
2412: Another threat from the Psilons.
2413: Battle Computer 2 stolen from Psilons, Silicoids framed.
2416: Planetary Shield 5 stolen from Humans; Robotic Controls 3 stolen from Psilons, Silicoids framed. Silicoids issue a threat.
2422: Psilons declare war.
2423: Range 4 stolen from Humans; Humans declare war.
2424: Bulrathi refuse to break alliance with Silicoids.
2425: High council: me vs. Silicoids; they fail 21/35. Scanners detect an incoming Human fleet.
2428: Battle at Crius. Humans are destroyed in two planetary missile volleys.

2432: Battle at Vox. Two Human stacks destroyed, two retreat.
2433: Death Spores stolen from Psilons, Silicoids framed.
2436: I attack Bootis, clearing the Human fleet. Hyper-V Rockets stolen from Psilons, Silicoids framed. Silicoids issue a threat.

2440: Psilons attack Nyarl, retreat with one Nova left.

2441: Inertial Stabilizer stolen from Psilons.
2442: My attack on Kailis destroys a few ships and missile bases. Humans agree to peace and minimum trade. Psilons agree to peace (for 2000 BC ), won't trade.
2449: Bulrathi agree to break alliance with Silicoids for 1600 BC.
2450: High council: me vs. Silicoids:


Colonist = 16 votes + 12 planets = 28

Researcher = 120 (I emphasized the economic techs).

Diplomat = 36


With a huge tech lead, the mop-up should be no problem. By 2474, I've beaten down the AIs a bit:

And, in fact, I did just enough to elect myself in 2475:

Domination win in 2475. So, total score:
Colonist = 63+28 = 91
Researcher = 76+120 = 196
Diplomat = 52+36 = 88
Victory = 100
Total = 485x2 = 950
Post-game analysis: I needed a lot more diplomat and colonist points to unite the triad. I think I did pretty well for the first 75 years (although I should have emphasized Planetology research more), but I needed to get three of the AIs to declare on the fourth during the second 75 years. Then I could have eaten that guy's empire and made his enemies happy.

[Sullla]

Interesting game! On the whole I think it was pretty well-played. I'm intrigued by the starting strategy: it looks like you maxed out the second world (Ultra Rich Maalor) first, then went back and used the Reserve to max out the homeworld. The key shortage was population, not having enough bugs to fill up all the factories on both worlds. I agree that using the Eco slider to grow some pop was the way to go there. I'd do more comparisons, but your notes cut off for a while after 2317. Sorry!

One suggestion I would make: could you perhaps include at least one shot of the galaxy map in future reports? It really helps visualize the situation at a glance, as well as see how the AI empires developed. I love your composite screenies though.

I think your Technology score was the most impressive. Staying peaceful and not having to divert resources into military resulted in some nice numbers there. It was also a good idea to focus on Computer tech, allowing you to steal a lot of techs from the other races without getting caught. Pulling Battle Computer III right at the start was pretty sweet too in terms of getting a jump on early Computer tech.

One vote away from losing the game? That's always an eye-opener! Glad it worked out OK.

A minor note: your 2450 technology score actually ads up to 120, not 130 (42 + 41 + 37 = 120). I went ahead and used my mod powers to change that, which makes the final score 950 instead of 970. It will be fun to see how that compares to the other reports. Thanks!