Axiis' RBO11 report

[Axiis]

Quick note: I don't like to edit my reports very much, so aside from typos this is exactly what I was thinking in game. So yes, I really did predict that I would screw up the dates, and I really did screw it up. But enough apologizing: on with the report!

So. Realms Beyond. Master of Orion. Imperium 11. I can't. Talk in. Complete. Sentences.

Ok enough of that. So we have a scoring system for this game, eh? Well, that could complicate things. Let's take a look at the points, shall we?

Hmm... it seems that we are going to get points for our tech levels, our population, and our diplomacy. Fair enough. I think the biggest challenge for me at least is keeping track of the year. Hopefully I won't miss the important dates

Now, what strategy should I pursue? In thinking about this game beforehand, I decided that the only thing to do is to grab land. As much land as possible, in fact. This will double as a good exercise for me, since my land grab is not so good, as some users pointed out in my RB10 report. Now, if we grab land, this will have a three fold effect.

1) It will increase population (naturally)
2) It will increase our scientific potential (I might have to sacrifice the 2375 science points for the long view, sadly)
3) It will increase our contacts - if we just turtle up in our corner, we could very well not even meet other races, and that will deprive us of any points at all!

So, land grab it is. Wildly different from every other MoO opening, I know >_>



And here's the starting map. I send the colony ship down to the yellow star and tell my scouts to check out the purple star in range of my home world and the green star up and to the right. Why up there? Well, if there's an enemy at that yellow star, I'll want to know, right? And if not, I might be tempted to build a long range colony ship and snap up some stars up there.

The purple star turns out to be a size 30 minimal. Actually better than I expected - I thought it would be a hostile world that would impede my progress towards the left edge of the board. Good news, really. The Yellow Star is... Ultra rich! Woohoo! I am happy to establish my colony on Maalor.



And my luck keeps getting better! The green star turns out to be an artifacts planet! I can't stop using exclamation points!

I secretly hoped that the green star would be an artifacts planet, but then I secretly hope that EVERY planet will be an artifacts planet. Great news.



Eh. I could have gotten a better draw. Still, it'll speed up factory construction a bit, so that's nice.

The red star at the 11 o'clock position is a poor arid planet size 70 called Primodius. A bit disappointing, but I can't complain. Over the next couple turns I discover two barren worlds and a dead world. Still no sign of enemy scouts at the artifact world... I might be able to steal that for myself. What a coup!

And my ultra rich maxes in 2315. Golly. Those Klackons sure are an industrious bunch. I tell it to build a colony ship, then a Long Range colony ship for the artifacts world. Is it worth the extra production? We'll see... I know most players don't seem to build long range colony ships, but a good sized artifacts world in the middle of the map is just too tasty to pass up. Hopefully this won't come back to bite me later. I also let Kholdan do a turn of research to see what my tech tree will yield.

I choose Deep Space Scanner, Reduced Industrial Waste 80% (I already have IIT9, so no point in pursuing 8 just yet), class II shields (no choice), controlled Barren for the land grab, Range 5 (no choice), and Hand Lasers over gatling lasers.

Omicron founded in 2323. I didn't let my little settler guy plant his flag first, though.



I sort of wish there were separate sprites for each race. Wouldn't it be cool to see a space bear plant a flag and then roar in triumph or something? Is that too much to ask from such an old game? I say no.

The long range colony ship is produced. I start building regular colony ships from the Ultra Rich to fill out the space around the artifacts world. I have a sneaking suspicion that the yellow star in the middle is uninhabited, which would be VERY exciting news.



O_O

Size 125 FERTILE at the edge of the galaxy! What a draw! I think that's the maximum size a planet can be at its start, right?

I don't quite have the range for that planet yet, so I start dump research into propulsion with Kholdan.



Primodius founded in 2330. That's the poor red star. Not my best planet, but it's a stepping stone at the very least. I can also use it for invasion forces, if the occasion arises.

Hand lasers come in the next turn. I opt for Ion Cannons. It doesn't look like I'll need weapons for a while, anyway. Controlled Barren comes in. I jump to controlled Dead next over terraforming and some eco restoration techs. I want planets first. I can improve them later, right?



Woot! My flag is planted over Artemis.

Range 5 comes in and I still have no contact with alien races. Which is a good thing at this point, I think. Also, I draw nuclear engines, which is very exciting.

Reduced Industrial Waste 80% comes in. I go with IIT8 because I have no choice. Come on, guys, is it such an unnatural progression to try to reduce waste to 60%? Stupid scientists...



Uh, sorry scout. You will be missed. Not by me, but I'm sure you had a family or something (Is anyone else slightly unnerved when you get cloning near the end of the game? The thought of legions and legions of cloned warriors bearing down on enemy colonies seems a bit sinister, doesn't it? )

Anyway... Crius and Imra are founded on the same turn (2343). Crius was the yellow star in the middle of the map, if you recall. Imra is a desert planet orbiting a red star a little to the right of Crius. It looks like I have a free run over the middle, too, as I have yet to contact any other races.

And as I type that...



Yeah, well I hope you prosper in... uh... YOUR MOM (do Silicoids have moms?) I MEAN YOUR FACE (Yeah I don't think they have faces either... I'm not very good at comebacks...)

Anraq and Berel are founded in quick succession (both are smallish barren worlds), followed by Herculis (the OMG HUEG terran world at the edge of the galaxy).



Oh that's just not cool. That's a Bulrathi transport by the way... no chance to save that colony. Stupid bears. This affront will not be forgotten! Sure enough, the colony is captured and we meet the Bears.



Joke's on you, Bulrathi! We already got that line (jerks)



Gion is discovered and founded... it's a nicely sized jungle world.

Oh, and 2375 is upon us. The voting is between Monch the Bear and me. I have 6 votes to my name.

Time for point tallying!

Oh, wait... I'm an idiot. It turns out that was the 2363 election. As I said, keeping track of the year is definitely going to be one of the tougher things about this game.

IIT8 comes in. I choose Battle Suits next (no other choices)

Controlled Dead comes in. I go with Improved Eco Restoration next because it's dirt cheap and it will boost my economy a bit. Nuclear Engines come the next turn. I go with Sub-Light Engines next.

Later, Ion cannons come in. Woohoo! I'll finally be able to design a ship that won't totally suck!

Ok, NOW it's 2375. Once again, it's me vs Monch the Space Grizzly. Everyone abstains.

Point totals:
21 points for council votes
33 points for planets
55 points for tech levels
18 points for diplomacy
___________________
127 points @ 2375

[Axiis]

And this seems like a good time for a review of my current situation.




Nyarl and Morrig are founded on the same turn, prompting the second size warning from GNN. Also, I reup our trade agreement with the Silicoids to 250. The rocks were giving me some long faces about my expansion, so hopefully this will make them a bit happier.

Sublight drives come in. And for some reason we meet the Apes at last. Took them long enough!




And there they are. They're a small fry in the galaxy, but hopefully we can be buddies.

The Psilons have been flying a colony ship around for the last couple turns (you can just see the green ship in the middle of the map). They're probably not going to find anywhere to colonize, though, so I won't get to see their empire for a while. Which is good - I think the Bulrathi are keeping them in check.

One of our scouts also stumbles upon an uninhabited desert planet right next to human space. They must be really awful at propulsion to not have gotten this planet yet! I whip up a long range colony ship to steal it from under their collective noses.

Controlled Toxic comes in. Time to settle the last few unoccupied planets around me! Merculites come in as well, giving me access to fusion beams next.



Another year, another Council meeting. Once again, Munch can't quite get the votes. Also, I think I have a blocking vote now, which is quite exciting. I feel like I'm close to a winning position. Once my colonies mature, it'll be tough to stop me

Ajax is founded. It's always nice to steal a colony from an AI, especially later in the game. Laan (a Toxic planet) is founded on the same turn, followed by the founding of Arietas (a RICH Toxic planet). I'm surprised these planets survived colonization from the rocks for so long. Stupid faceless mineral based organisms. Finally, Incendius is founded (yet another Toxic).

Overall, I feel like my landgrab was quite successful.





And yet I still only have contact with three races. What a bizarre map...



Oh my... it looks like the Bears sit at the popular table on this map. Well, whatever. I've got the land, so I've got the power.

Range 7 comes in, and I go with Fusion Drives.... AND THE BEARS DESTROYED MY COLONY!

sdofhsajkghishygyashgiashgiudhug garrr stupid Bears!
D:

Granted, it was a tiny colony right next to the humans, but still, it's the principle of the thing. I'm outraged. The Bears will be reckoned with, oh yes.



Hello Psilons. I bet you're weak.



Yep. Behold the mighty Psilon Empire.

Oh, and those evil Bears destroyed my colony on Ajax. Seriously, they're asking for a beating. Anyway, I go to refound the colonies and protect them with a large hulk wielding a couple heavy ion cannons and some merculite missiles, only to find that Ajax has already been snatched up by the Apes! Damn Bears!

Terraforming +40 comes in. This and Robotic Controls IV give me a lot to work on, but when I'm done, my colonies will be a LOT stronger for it.

I make it through another council meeting with enough votes to block, then sign a NAP with the Humans (it was their idea - they're still uneasy with me, so I have no idea what's going on with them. Still, no reason not to.) Shortly after, the Psilons declare war on me. Oh no, not one whole planet! I don't think they even have the range to get to me. Still, it's probably a sign of things to come, so I'm wary.

Fusion beams come in the next turn. Providence, perhaps? I think it might be a sign from the MoO gods that I should lay the smackdown on Mentar. And since I'm a man of faith, I order up a couple Fusion ships. I completely lack bombs, but hopefully I can punch through Mentar's missile bases with heavy Fusion beams.

And then... the Apes have the gall to declare war on me!

Ok, this presents a much tastier opponent. My plans change - the Psilons will get a reprieve (for now) as I turn towards the Humans. I think Sol will be a nice addition to the Klackon Hegemony, no?



But first I need to build a navy. So I set about building up a nice size force while holding off probing human attacks. Also, I discover terraforming +60 and Planetary Shields X during this time, both of which take priority for me. Once my planets are maxed out and protected, I can continue forward.

While this was all happening, the whole galaxy declared war on me, though only the humans really tested my defenses. However, something magical happened.



One bombing run on Ajax later and



The MoO gods say: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.



We have a, uh, slight gropo advantage >_>

The invasion netted us class V planetary shields (we already have class X) and Enhanced Eco Restoration (which gives us a slight boost).

Onward to the human core!



Oh, and I now realize I missed the 2450 point totals. See, I KNEW I would have problems keeping track of the years. LOL me

Oh well, I'm not likely to win any awards anyway.

Here is my situation at 2475 (which I dutifully took extensive notes on, because I am an idiot):





On a happier note, down goes Denubis!



We pull Duralloy armor, Mass Drivers, Controlled Radiated, Controlled Tundra, Neutron Blasters, and IIT6. Not a bad haul, though nothing imminently useful.



We pull fusion bombs (the first bomb tech on our tree, incidentally), Battle computers mark VII (nice), and ranges 4 and 6. The battle computers were a big boost.



I'm probably making this seem like this all happened in rapid succession, but the campaign actually went quite slowly. I stopped and turned around each planet before moving on to the next one. By this point, though, the Humans were pretty much gassed. I pulled Battle Computers Mark VIII from the ruins of Earth.



I think I've reached a winning position. I just need the game to recognize it. I'm literally 1% away from claiming victory in this election. However, what fun would that be if I won before I punished the Bears for their douchebaggery?



You know what will probably entertain you? Nothing but pictures of me capturing planets.

>_>

I didn't pull techs from this one. Yeah, the humans have just about had it. They're been reduced to two wor-



Erm... one worl-





*cough*

Uh... Sometimes the ants can get carried away. Let's just move on, shall we?



Laan is finally under beautiful Klackon Blue again after being reduced to a hot potato by those barbaric apes.



Berel too returns to our stewardship after those dastardly bears took it all those years ago. We pull a bunch of useless junk from the rubble, but at least that helps with miniaturization, right?



Hmmm.... I could end the game now. However, I did promise the Bears retribution. And the MoO gods frown upon broken promises. I swore vengeance upon the Bulrathi, so vengeance must be mine! I abstain, and the game goes on.



Uh... oops. I guess I should have done my homework. Fusion bombs don't do much against 19 points of shielding. I need better bombs!



That'll do nicely. I cut a deal with the rocks for these (I don't remember what I traded). I think I'll spare the Sillicoids - they haven't real done much to make me mad this game.

In celebration, I design a small bomber with an inertial stabilizer and max speed carrying one of those bad boys – the AM Bomb tm

The Psilons, however, are just an annoyance in an annoying galaxy.




Jerks.

Oh, and I pulled Omega-V's from the ruins. How delightful!

At this point I designed my last ship – the Omega. This followed up on the heels of the F Gunship1, 2, and 3, (sorry, no entertaining ship names this time ) which were all essentially the same design with increasing hit points, speed, and guns. The Omega, or the “Kick in the Pants Deluxe” (my desired name for it – stupid letter limit!), features the newly discovered High Energy Focus and the recently pillaged Omega-V bombs. It looks like this:



(And no, I didn’t build 29 right away. That screen is from the end of the game. I just wanted to show you its magnificence so you can picture what the Bears are about to go through)



Much better. That's Ursa, by the way.



Take that ya jerks! Damn it feels good to knock the Bears around a bit.

This campaign went on for a few more turns, but the game was now officially O-V-A. I had taken my revenge on the foolish Bears, and I had no desire to knock the rocks around. They weren’t exactly what you could call allies, but we never fought and they never tried to take one of my planets, so I have no real quarrel with them. Other than their lack of a face.



Yeah, this one's over. I've already eviscerated the Bulrathi core. I'll take my victory now.



Yes, a new era of peace and prosperity. A spaceship in every garage and a bear in every pot!

It's kind of ironic that no one ever points out how horrible the characters in this game are. I mean, you really couldn't find a more genocidal bunch of maniacs in a game!

And here's all the final stuff that everyone likes to see:





Now if that doesn’t tell you the game went on waaaaaay too long, I don’t know what will.

Another Axiis Late Finish SpecialTM

I had a lot of fun this game, even if I did miss the score checkpoints. I doubt I was going to win any prizes with that anyway, so whatever.

Some final thoughts:

-I was pleasantly surprised with how much room we got to spread our legs in the beginning. I ended up grabbing over a third of the galaxy without firing a shot. I was especially pleased with my luck in the beginning, finding that artifacts planet so fast. Of course, my not so good luck with artifacts planets persisted - I would have really liked Reduced Eco from that planet! But having an industrial tech helped my growth curve. Also, getting an ultra rich right next to our starting point at a yellow star was a game breaker. I'm sure everyone will settle that planet first and be pleasantly suprised.
-Once again, I'm shocked at the ineptitude of the Psilons. I wish MoO had a replay feature ala Civ 3 so I could see what the hell happened to them. I can't imagine that they'll be so weak in every game... they really should have taken a lot of the stars that the Bulrathi got. Of course, it's possible that they did and that the Bulrathi just gropo'd them back to their homeworld.
-I don't know how anyone is going to do well with diplomacy. My only successes came when the AIs went to war, allowing me to exploit enemy of my enemy bonuses. Otherwise, everyone hated me pretty much the whole game. I guess that's just a natural result of having a lot of planets, though...
-I wish I had noticed the years (I should have made more of an effort towards that end - as I noted in the beginning, I'm really not good at that) and that I had kept track of my score, if only for comparison purposes. Oh well.
-My slow and steady approach continues to work well for me. I only lost three planets, and two of them were reach colonies with one or two settlers. I don't know how you guys work so fast. I really don't. Of course, I'm always slow when it comes to strategy games, so I can't say I'm surprised
-This game really helped me work on my land grab. I got just about every planet I had a chance to get, and held nearly all of them
-This game also gave me a new dislike for Bears.

Thanks for another fun game, Sullla. This was just about as easy as a hard game can be (an isolated start + plenty of expansion room + Klackons = easy mode), so I'm sure you'll crank up the difficulty in future games. I look forward to reading all the reports on report day!

[Axiis]

AM Bomb! ad

Small klackon children run into a bedroom. Young attractive Klackon hive mother is sleeping.

Kids: Hive mom, hive mom, wake up! It’s time to take us to State Obedience Training Center!
Hivemother: ok, ok...

Hivemother is visibly tired and has trouble getting oriented in her room. She reaches for her glasses and instead her claws find BearBurner tm cosmetics kit. She slaps it to her eyes, giving herself unintentionally awful make-up. Picture of Big Brother Ant flashes on screen with subtitle LAUGH]

Hivemother: Gosh, not again (laughing)
Kids:: Oh hive mom!

Voiceover: Do you have trouble getting up in the morning? Did Big Brother Ant send you to the asteroid gulags of Rotan for not staying awake during your 59 hour shift at the factory? Then you need

AM Bomb! tm

AM Bomb! is an unnatural combination of caffeine and adrenaline not found anywhere in nature! To use, simply attach the AM Bomb! Patch approximately above your hypothalamus and let AM Bomb!’s patented neurotransmitter technology do the rest! In fact, you’ll never rest again! The constant stimulation of your nerves will ensure that you will never, ever fall asleep!

Hivemother (visibly weary but unable to sleep): Now I’ll be as productive as my exoskeleton lets me! Big Brother Ant will be sure to love me now!

All: Thanks, AM Bomb!

Voiceover: AM Bomb! May cause headache, nausea, hemorrhaging, stroke, heart failure, breathing difficulty, restless leg syndrome, restless claw syndrome, sleeplessness, blindness, kidney failure, liver failure, encephalitis, and, in most cases, death. If you plan to take AM Bomb!, please ensure that some of your DNA is sent to State Cloning Centers so that you may be replaced as soon as possible. Long Live the State! Long Live Big Brother Ant!

Image of Big Brother Ant flashes on screen with subtitle BUY IT

AM Bomb! is a product of BearBurner Inc. BearBurner: First in your Comforts, First in your Genocides, First in your Hearts.

This message has been approved by the State Cloning Centers. Remember, the SCC makes sure you’re replaceable!

Image of Big Brother Ant flashes on screen

Big Brother Ant VO: GET CLONED



Yes, I had a little fun with this

[RefSteel]

Absolutely hilarious read! (And I love your Klackon propoganda ads!) I was laughing all the way through it.

I secretly hoped that the green star would be an artifacts planet, but then I secretly hope that EVERY planet will be an artifacts planet.

You and me both!

[jmas]

I liked the read too, especially the AM Bomb! ad, and the word "douchebaggery." Sounds like the whole word could be given a French spelling. I'm not an expert at French or even made-up French, but: douchebagerie?