Imperium 12 game report

[meatbalz]

This is a placeholder until I get home tonight and can post my report.

The Erratic Klackons were the dominant force in the galaxy, using an early alliance to settle a string of planets in the NW corner.

Diplomacy with them was out of the question so, as everyone else also realised, the only way to expand was through the Klackon core, which, due to their dominant position, would be no easy task.

On the + side, the changes made to the map (several planets looked distinctly different to their descriptions) ensured we had enough to work with to stay competitive provided we avoided a diplo loss - easier said than done with no planetology to grow pop and with the strongest race in the galaxy barring our path to expansion.

To that end, it was also imperative we secure early contact with the other races to ensure that, when the first vote did eventually occur, our certain lack of a veto block wouldn't lead to a first-vote loss. Again, knowing this needed to be done and actually achieving it (either by mowing over the Klackons or obtaining advanced range tech) are two very different things.

A lot of things to juggle, then. I'll wait to disclose the result until tonight's report :-D

[meatbalz]

I went into this game without a definite gameplan in mind, as the course of action would largely be dictated by surroundings: from the opening screenshots many planets looked to be in range, providing us with what was possibly an extensive backline to expand into – so a (relatively) peaceful landgrab was possibly on the cards. On the other hand, two yellow stars to the S of the starting position meant the probability was there would be at least one opponent quite close to our home planet – in which case, an early-ish conflict would be inevitable.

With this in mind, the colony ship was dispatched to the S red as the planets NW look to be in less immediate risk; scouts to other 2 reds. Jinga turned out to be plenty hospitable enough, and was founded immediately. Meklon built 2 batches of Scout 2s to scout 6 planets once Jinga was settled before resuming factory construction. Berel is scouted shortly after & that's got to be an edit as that's probably the smallest ocean planet I've ever seen. It also happens to be the wettest desert I can think of. Didn't actually realise this until after rebuffing a Klackon scout from the planet in 2305 & realising it must have been Hostile in the 1st map, giving the Klackons a point from which to strike at the Meklar core planets.

Seeing Klackons this early presented us with a big problem - Berel is 4 parsecs away, but looks to be 3 parsecs from Kholdan – ie early war is almost inevitable unless I get some defenses over there rapido.

2 important turns in 2309 and 2310 as we first scout two beautiful planets (Kakata looks to be the opposite of Berel – 3 parsecs from me, 4 from Kholdan. I open up propulsion research to see if claiming both planets is a possibility), and then more importantly realise we have significantly more breathing room than I'd thought, as the planet I'd pessimistically assumed was “Kholdan” turns out to be an inferno, and r4 is available – though after this latest piece of info, this is not as high a priority as it was before. The loss of a scout to the Guardian is an afterthought.

The “safe backlines to expand into” mode of play goes down in flames as around 2312 it becomes apparent our “backlines” will be uninhabitable to us for the duration of the game. With this in mind, expansion is pursued aggressively in the direction of the Klackons, and our 6th planet, Berel, is settled in 2352. The plan is clear: after settling the 6th planet, consolidate, and use increased range to take out Klackons. Simple on paper, unfortunately the Klackons are just about the toughest enemies to take on early in the game. Also, Paranar don't look like no Jungle to me.

Rsch was pretty focused in the early game, mostly done out of Jinga to begin with (Meklon was churning out colony ships until mid-century), mostly focused on propulsion and construction; although RW 80 was missing, RW 60 wasn't, and was researched in 2390; I initially decided to skip Automated Repair, a bad decision, as R7 hit in 2396, and we met the Klackons who were out to 10 planets thanks to an alliance with the Bulrathis. The map clearly indicated our only way to expand and meet the other races would be through Klackon territory. With war an immediate priority, rsch had long been directed to bombs and construction, and this was the best I could come up with (1.jpg). The first one rolls off the line in ~2415, immediately bound for Kholdan as I put 3 planets on NPG fighter-building duty. The trip is due to take 3 turns from Berel, 3 long turns as intel shows they only have Hyper Vs (which the design should easily handle), but should the Klackons get Hyper Xs, a sizeable base count at Kholdan would be enough to handle my ship.

When the ship reaches Kholdan, I draw a huge sigh of relief as the 17 bases are wielding Hyper Vs, leading to this: (2.jpg). Painful to do this rather than invade, but rules are rules. In the interturn the first vote is convened: K: K (5), M (5); M: H(4); Abst: B (3) P (2) A (3)

I manage to bomb Kholdan to just pop, then when their SoD is 1 turn away move my Huge and 114 NPG fighters to Incedius, where I engage 12 bases and the secondary Klackon fleet consisting of ~200 smalls and 60 mediums, all with obsolete technology – the ships retreat and we bomb the planet (3.jpg). Retaliation is less than no concern as the Klackons remain stuck on Range 4, without access to any of our worlds.

With 154 more NPGs due in 1 turn, Incedius would be glassed in 2426, following a carbon-copy vote. At this stage we didn't yet have enough NPGs to protect a new colony against the Klackons, though – we'd need at least 500 by my estimate, which was 4 turns of production and probably conservative as their ship count kept growing.

Once Incedius was glassed (and Kholdan was 2 turns from following), Kakata started producing a colony ship bound for Kholdan. We'd gather ~600 NPG fighters there, and face off with the Klackon fleet in a do-or-die battle. Their weapons tech consisted of Lasers, Hyper Vs, and Anti-Missile rockets (4.jpg). Bombing Kholdan and Incedius meant the threat of a Huge Auto-repairing ship rolling off the Klackon production line was quite small but, even so, they were fielding an impressive number of ships, and still had a stronger fleet and better production than we did (5.jpg)

So it was that, in 2430, our fleets faced off above the ruins of Kholdan in the battle that would decide the game.

continues...

[meatbalz]

The respective fleets (6.jpg and 7.jpg) squared off. The battle started off with my Drachmas targeting the Horseman stack; as their low beam defence made them easy targets and they were the biggest offensive threat to my high-beam-defence NPG ships. Once the stack was whittled down to the point where one round of their shots was only killing 2-3 ships, we moved on to the dagger, then cutlass designs. Their normal lasers and low attack rating spelled doom for them, and we comfortably eliminated the bulk of their fleet before the remnants retreated (8.jpg), granting us a decisive victory and halving the Klackon fleet strength on the graph.

The following year was a bump back to earth as one of our planets was irradiated – but anger quickly turned to relief when that planet was revealed to be Berel – definitely could have been worse! And, ensuring 2431 would live long in the memories of Meklars everywhere, this symbolic gesture took place (9.jpg). Things started heating up in a hurry at this point: settling Kholdan put us into contact with the Humans and Alkaris. A second Klackon SoD, due at Kholdan in 2432, distratcted us from pursuing diplomacy, but once we got our act together, an Alliance and 400bc trade deal were agreed with the Humans, who were at war with the Klackons. The Alkaris wanted nothing to do with us, not even minimal trade, and would in fact declare war the very next turn.

If that wasn't bad enough by itself, colonisation had taken place in a very haphazard way (10.jpg), meaning the Alkaris, who had as many planets as us (7) and a racial space combat bonus, had easy access to the former Klackon colonies and could potentially cause our fleets serious problems.

And as if THAT wasn't bad enough, the Klackon SoD headed for Kholdan had almost 400 ships, including a couple of designs we hadn't seen before and had recently researched Fusion bombs – would their home planet be retaken just one turn after being recolonised?

[meatbalz]

Well, it turns out there wasn't much reason to worry, as the Klackons had been on a crash course on how not to compose a fleet and showed up with a motley assortment of outdated junk (11.jpg). My NPG stack went to town and blew all but 50 small ships up.

With the Klackons woefully short on weaponry and so exposed, we pressed our advantage, leaving a covering force of NPG fighters back at Kholdan and taking the attack to Arietis, which was defended by 7 bases and about 100 ships. There could only be one outcome (12.jpg) and, although we would never get to re-colonise this planet, neither would our enemies. One planet we COULD colonise though was Incedius, which the Klackons were slowly regrowing after the original glassing. We engaged the biggest Klackon fleet yet above the planet, with our 300 ships facing off against 700 of theirs (13.jpg).

The 598 stack was essentially unshielded, meaning their ships quickly retreated after I'd blown some up, resulting in the second (and final) glassing of the planet (14.jpg). As can be seen from the previous screenshots, as predicted the Alkari fleets were proving to be a nuisance, although numbers were still fairly small, and, thankfully, their weapons tech didn't stretch beyond gatling lasers. We felt sufficiently confident to resettle Incedius the following turn, in 2438 (15.jpg)

[meatbalz]

Founding Incedius put us into contact with the Bulrathis and Psilons, at which point the map was fully revealed (16.jpg). Minimal trade was established with both races. In the meantime, Incedius was turning into quite the focal point, with fleets from 4 different races either present or converging on the spot. One ship in the above screenshot, however, was not heading TO Incedius, rather was leaving the planet. The destination? (17.jpg). As mentioned, Alkari weapons tech hadn't climbed past Gatling Laser, meaning those bases were shooting Nukes at my autorepair huge... Any ships that actually stay and fight would of course drive my design off, but the Alkaris would send their forces Kailis in piecemeal fashion, ensuring they would retreat every time as we continued to bomb the planet... Which was just as well, as the bombing operation was more to act as a nuisance rather than a concerted attempt to take the planet which, strategically important as it was, would have meant leaving Incedius vulnerable to attack – more NPG fighters were on their way to the planet but were only travelling at Warp 2.

Luck broke our away around this time, as the Bulrathi ship headed to Incedius is a Huge hull and we haven't spied on them so don't know what it's packing. Threatening could lead to war or, unlikely but still possible, the gift of a planetology tech. On the other hand, the ship had been sent to the planet before we made contact, so after much deliberation, we threatened the Bulrathis and not only did the ship turn back, but we got 825bc as a gift (18.jpg).

A few turns passed and everything was going according to plan, as Incedius was gradually reinforced with more NPG fighters, allowing a sizeable detachment to make its way to Kailis, which was due to be glassed and recolonised shortly. The main risk at this point was a diplomatic loss, which was unlikely as the Humans are allies and both them and the Psilons are at war with the Klackons. So when our friends the Humans ask me to declare on the Psilons in 2446, I refuse, and... they break the alliance. And then the next turn... (19.jpg)

Things change fast... Nevertheless, the Humans remained friendly and the Psilons were still at war with the Klackons, so things were well in hand. Colonising Kailis in 2448 (20.jpg) was another step in the right direction. The betrayal was yet to come.

[meatbalz]

The Psilons declared war in 2449 immediately before the vote; this betrayal would not go unpunished, at any cost. First though, there was the small matter of negotiating the vote:

K: K (6), B (3), P (2), A (3); M: H (4) Abs: M (6).

The Humans remained at war with the Klackons, meaning their 4 votes were enough to prevent the Klackons from being voted in. With the vote out of the way, our thoughts turned to finding a way to eliminate the Psilons. Thus, the Bulrathis' declaration of war in 2453 couldn't have come at a worse time – the Humans were our only friends in the galaxy. Although we were ahead of any single race on most individual counts (21.jpg), we didn't have the strength to fight them all off at the same time.

The first meaningful attack came from the Alkaris in 2456 (22.jpg); our focus on Computers and Construction (for the reduced waste) techs meant we still had nothing better than an NPG, meaning we lost about 300 ships (half our entire fleet) fighting off this attack. The Alkaris were still stuck on lasers, meaning any attack was of limited concern. The Bulrathis, on the other hand, had developed Mass Drivers the previous turn.

The way out of the diplomatic mess was simple: the Psilons had made lots of enemies. In fact, they were at war with everyone but the Alkaris and Klackons. We needed to assemble a stack and bomb Mentar before the Bulrathis threw something at Kailis/Incedius we couldn't handle. As an aside, our spying efforts on the Psilons resulted in one of the worst-ever returns on investment; after taking ECM I, we were presented with this (23.jpg). RefSteel's words were remembered, and a scoring penalty avoided.

When the Klackons came to us for the umpteenth time, our mini-SoD was 2 turns from Mentar. We took their peace offering, and signed them up for war against the Psilons for 800BC. The Alkaris also played ball – and they didn't even require a payment to declare on the Psilons. When our fleet arrived at Mentar, it found 19 Nuclear bases and (24.jpg). Of course, we were well aware their missile technology hadn't gone past Nukes, so the outcome (25.jpg) was never in doubt. That picture also shows the front line appears to have shifted to Kailis; this neglects the purple Bulrathi ships massing withing range of Incedius – there are 4 Huges there, and mass drivers were a near-certainty. If that fleet were to be sent against us, Incedius (or Kailis, for that matter) would be lost. The one saving grace was that they were still at war with the Psilons; would our bombardment of Mentar be enough to get into the bears' good books?

[meatbalz]

This was the status in 2463 (26.jpg). Bombing the Psilons has indeed gotten the Alkaris and Bulrathis onside. 325BC will get peace with the Bulrathis. There's no guarantees those ships won't be sent against us, but the situation is markedly better than it was last year. We upgraded our diplomatic agreements across the board (27.jpg). The Nova event at Meklon was but a mere nuisance, and reserve spending was enough to solve the problem in 8 turns. Five short years later, repeated bombing of the hated Psilons had led to a rock-solid coalition, with alliances and maximum trade pacts with every race except the Psilons; at this point, our attention turned to how we were going to go about winning the game.

Territorial expansion through more warfare was certainly an option – most races were still VERY backward on missile tech, meaning further acquisitions shouldn't be a problem if handled methodically. The Bulrathis would be ruled out, being the race who could put up the strongest fight at the moment – in fact, their fleet looked downright scary. The Humans were also excluded on the grounds they'd been loyal friends throughout (only breaking our alliance when I refused to declare on the two-faced Psilons). The Klackon worlds were half a galaxy away, making them an awkward target to choose. That left the Alkaris, who despite now having Ion Cannons were still firing Nukes from their bases.

There was another option, though – the vote was around the corner and our relations were extremely strong. The Klackons were at war with the Humans and Alkaris and were sure to be our competition again come 2475. Thus it was that, when they asked us to break our alliance with the Humans in 2468, we refused, hoping they would (as the Humans had done), break our alliance. Perhaps because they were not Honourable like the Humans, they didn't break it off – but it was close enough anyway (28.jpg). In fact, two years later, the Alliance was broken (29.jpg)

Would the Bulrathis also play ball and declare on the Klackons? (30.jpg). Thus it was that the anti-Klackon coalition was cemented in 2471, and we patiently waited for the vote.

[meatbalz]

The 2474 vote:
Klackons: K (6),
Meklars: H (4), B (3), A (3), Myself (7)

Leading to (31.jpg). Some screenshots from 2474, starting with our technology screen (32.jpg). Our 9 planets turned out to be more than enough to do the job, although Berel did end up a radiated husk (33.jpg). Our glorious fleet, or what remained of it (34.jpg); the lack of scouts is for a simple reason – pretty much everything was colonised by the time we broke out of our neck of the woods, so when scouting duty was required, a few NPG fighters were dispatched from the front lines rather than having to wait for a snail-paced scout to reach the planet. We lost around 1000 NPG fighters, but the Huge annihilator design never needed to be replaced; it accounted for 4 planets – Kholdan, Incedius, Kailis and... Mentar, which we glassed just before the vote (35.jpg). Thus, we gained revenge on our betrayers and victory in the same year.

[RefSteel]

Wow ... we've seen some pretty thoroughly stunted Psilons in these double-digit Imperia, but this has to take the cake! It looks like they never got off of Mentar, while your Klackon neighbors threatened the entire galaxy! Great job assembling a coalition against them and coming away with the win!

[meatbalz]

yup, not sure which i'd rather see - strong psilons on the other side of the galaxy or strong klackons right on my doorstep. possibly the former. reading other reports, i think the klackons were far more extended in my game than in others'.

the timing of the attack was all-important. clearly their resources had been directed towards expansion rather than rsch at the time i went after them. allowing them another few turns of consolidation may have been a fatal mistake. i'd been planning the attack (i.e. heavily prioritising weapons and construction) ever since running out of room to expand circa 2350, but when we made contact the situation looked pretty dire given how large they had become.

it was only a couple of turns later, when the spy report came back, that i saw they lacked weapons tech and our anti-matter bombs would prove decisive if we could get them into play in time. in fact, the general lack of tech was probably the most striking thing about this game for me - we were able to win the game using just 2 designs, which never obsoleted.