This is the sad story of how a credible attempt at achieving a difficult victory, against a stacked deck, was prematurely derailed by a preventable mistake.
One of my strategies was to be very selective about the worlds I settled via colony ship. I didn't want to burn all my Battle Computer and Shields discoveries on crummy planets and run into a situation where I couldn't easily build a new colony ship if needed; for example, what if I required a new BC/shield discovery but because of the limited research list I would have to vault several tiers to do so, and I had more pressing needs elsewhere? I also wanted to keep the ability to have a couple spare levels on hand, so that if needed I could build a couple of colony ships on short notice and punch my way deep into enemy space towards Orion, glassing and settling and moving forwards in a hurry, in a kind of kamikaze attack on the Guardian. After careful consideration of my surroundings, my first built colony ship settled Celtsi, the Rich Barren planet, in 2336, giving me a three-colony empire and opening relations with the Klackons and Meklars.
This variant's biggest obstacle was actually the limit on diplomacy. Bad enough to prohibit technology trading, but the prohibition on tech tribute also hurt; it's an effective tactic to buy time by giving away inconsequential techs to the AI to boost relations when you first meet. In addition, not being able to request declarations of war, even against someone you're in a real hot war with, means you're completely at the whim of AI cheese alliances; in my game, no AI ever went to war against anyone but me. So when the Klackons declared war in 2346, unprovoked, 10 turns after first contact, this was fine and actually welcomed, as I soon conquered Beta Ceti from them, saving me a colony ship as planned. And since I had my eye on the string of yellow stars in the northeast anyway, I focused my efforts on gearing up for war.
It was around this time GNN announced the Psilons had 8 systems. Not long afterward, GNN updated their report with the news the Psilons had 17 systems, outstripping all the other races! May you live in interesting times.
The Klackon war went well, and I conquered Kholdan, a real prize with 190 factories and techs including Battle Computers II and III, Range 6, and Reduced Wastes 80% and 60%. I rejected their peace offering, at which point the Meklars decided in 2394 to join the Klackon cause. I put the robots on the back burner and conquered Tau Cygni from the bugs; it was another prize with 164 factories and gave me Zortium Armor. Thus by the end of the first century I was riding a wave of conquest in the northern territories, with a solid group of productive big-pop colonies and an unstoppable war machine. I planned to keep absorbing worlds, earning my techs by conquest, until I had an economic base with which to build a Guardian-busting fleet.
In 2400 I settled Proteus, a Rich Tundra to the west of my core, and this triggered first contact with the Psilons and Silicoids, plus initiated the first High Council. Up for nomination were the Psilons and the Silicoids. Here's the breakdown of the 28 total votes:
Psilons 16 (57%) - 13 themselves, 3 Klackons
Silicoids 7 (25%) - 5 themselves, 2 Darloks
Abstained 5 (18%) - 1 Meklar, 4 me
This is a nightmare runaway Psilon scenario. They had 24 colonies at this point! What was also incredibly worrying was that they were friendly with all the AIs, whereas the AIs viewed me as a filthy disgusting alley cat, and a bloodthirsty one at that. If I were to rise up to second place in population and be nominated against the Psilons, I could expect to lose for sure. So my new strategy was to prepare for the next vote by being Mr. Nice Guy as much as possible, growing my population as much as possible, and to capitalize on anti-Psilon sentiment if war were to break out (the enemy of my enemy is my friend!).
The first thing I did was sign the Psilons and Silicoids up for the maximum trade agreements I could, which was 300 BC each; yes, this would be expensive for a while, but it was the fastest (and only!) option I had for improving relations. I needed to do as much as I could to prevent the Psilons from declaring war on me, and my hope was that somehow the Silicoids could eventually become a long-term ally (it helps that the rocks don't have a prejudice against the cats). What I would have done if more diplomatic options were availble was gift the Silicoids some techs and sign them up to an immediate Non-Agression Pact as well, but this was prohibited in this Imperium's variants. I also made peace with the Klackons, because I didn't want them to draw the other races into a pile-on versus me.
Next I settled Uxmai, a nearby Poor Arid world which I had ignored up to this point, but which I would now need for its potential population points.
And finally, surveying the options, I decided that Meklon looked like a good planet to conquer next. After all, it had a robust 100 population limit, and since the Meklars were guaranteed to vote against me in the next Council due to our cold war, I could attain a net 2 vote improvement (1 for having it maxed out and contributing to my total, 1 for removing the vote against me). Sure I'd take a relations hit by wiping them out, but how bad could it be?
I UNDERESTIMATED HOW MUCH THE OTHER RACES ARE DISTURBED BY GENOCIDE!
The very instant I conquered Meklon, plummeting relations caused the Psilons to declare war against me! Owning Meklon opened up contact with the Darloks, who started relations at Discord! The Silicoids, my great hope, were now Troubled! And within several turns, the pile-on commenced, as the Klackons, then Silicoids, then finally the Darloks also declared war. I was alone in the galaxy, facing a unified front, with the next Council vote looming.
In 2424 the vote looked like this, with 37 votes total:
Psilons 29 (78%) - 18 themselves, 3 Klackons, 2 Darlocks, 6 Silicoids
Me 8 (22%) as the Biggest Loser
What a disappointment. I rejected the ruling and made a half-hearted attempt to fight the Final War, but frankly I was on tilt, and shortly after 2589 (the year of the last autosave), some 165 years later, my shell of an empire was overcome by rebels for the final time, and I was slain in my imperial palace.
Had I not made such a dumb mistake with the ill-timed genocide, I think I could have made a serious go of this scenario. Although the Psilons improved over the 2400-2424 period, from 16 to 18 votes, I improved relatively more, from 4 to 8. All I would have needed was a Silicoid abstention to avoid a Psilon New Republic, and I hoped to have a Non-Agression pact with the rocks by the 2424 vote. Later, by timing my wars of conquest and annihilation well, and with a dash of terraforming and improved environment techs, it was not out of the question that I could have attained an obstructionist 33% bloc in a future Council.
The remaining questions are: could I have faced down the Psilons in a war? Could I have carved a path to Orion and defeated the Guardian? I think it was not out of the realm of possibilty.
So in retrospect, it was probably a mistake to leave the center of the map, west of the start, mostly untouched. A bird in the hand, etc. Also, I had hints of just how fast the Psilons were spreading, and didn't act on them.
FINAL RESULT
Defiant to the end, but murdered by traitors in the few years after 2589.
One of my strategies was to be very selective about the worlds I settled via colony ship. I didn't want to burn all my Battle Computer and Shields discoveries on crummy planets and run into a situation where I couldn't easily build a new colony ship if needed; for example, what if I required a new BC/shield discovery but because of the limited research list I would have to vault several tiers to do so, and I had more pressing needs elsewhere? I also wanted to keep the ability to have a couple spare levels on hand, so that if needed I could build a couple of colony ships on short notice and punch my way deep into enemy space towards Orion, glassing and settling and moving forwards in a hurry, in a kind of kamikaze attack on the Guardian. After careful consideration of my surroundings, my first built colony ship settled Celtsi, the Rich Barren planet, in 2336, giving me a three-colony empire and opening relations with the Klackons and Meklars.
This variant's biggest obstacle was actually the limit on diplomacy. Bad enough to prohibit technology trading, but the prohibition on tech tribute also hurt; it's an effective tactic to buy time by giving away inconsequential techs to the AI to boost relations when you first meet. In addition, not being able to request declarations of war, even against someone you're in a real hot war with, means you're completely at the whim of AI cheese alliances; in my game, no AI ever went to war against anyone but me. So when the Klackons declared war in 2346, unprovoked, 10 turns after first contact, this was fine and actually welcomed, as I soon conquered Beta Ceti from them, saving me a colony ship as planned. And since I had my eye on the string of yellow stars in the northeast anyway, I focused my efforts on gearing up for war.
It was around this time GNN announced the Psilons had 8 systems. Not long afterward, GNN updated their report with the news the Psilons had 17 systems, outstripping all the other races! May you live in interesting times.
The Klackon war went well, and I conquered Kholdan, a real prize with 190 factories and techs including Battle Computers II and III, Range 6, and Reduced Wastes 80% and 60%. I rejected their peace offering, at which point the Meklars decided in 2394 to join the Klackon cause. I put the robots on the back burner and conquered Tau Cygni from the bugs; it was another prize with 164 factories and gave me Zortium Armor. Thus by the end of the first century I was riding a wave of conquest in the northern territories, with a solid group of productive big-pop colonies and an unstoppable war machine. I planned to keep absorbing worlds, earning my techs by conquest, until I had an economic base with which to build a Guardian-busting fleet.
In 2400 I settled Proteus, a Rich Tundra to the west of my core, and this triggered first contact with the Psilons and Silicoids, plus initiated the first High Council. Up for nomination were the Psilons and the Silicoids. Here's the breakdown of the 28 total votes:
Psilons 16 (57%) - 13 themselves, 3 Klackons
Silicoids 7 (25%) - 5 themselves, 2 Darloks
Abstained 5 (18%) - 1 Meklar, 4 me
This is a nightmare runaway Psilon scenario. They had 24 colonies at this point! What was also incredibly worrying was that they were friendly with all the AIs, whereas the AIs viewed me as a filthy disgusting alley cat, and a bloodthirsty one at that. If I were to rise up to second place in population and be nominated against the Psilons, I could expect to lose for sure. So my new strategy was to prepare for the next vote by being Mr. Nice Guy as much as possible, growing my population as much as possible, and to capitalize on anti-Psilon sentiment if war were to break out (the enemy of my enemy is my friend!).
The first thing I did was sign the Psilons and Silicoids up for the maximum trade agreements I could, which was 300 BC each; yes, this would be expensive for a while, but it was the fastest (and only!) option I had for improving relations. I needed to do as much as I could to prevent the Psilons from declaring war on me, and my hope was that somehow the Silicoids could eventually become a long-term ally (it helps that the rocks don't have a prejudice against the cats). What I would have done if more diplomatic options were availble was gift the Silicoids some techs and sign them up to an immediate Non-Agression Pact as well, but this was prohibited in this Imperium's variants. I also made peace with the Klackons, because I didn't want them to draw the other races into a pile-on versus me.
Next I settled Uxmai, a nearby Poor Arid world which I had ignored up to this point, but which I would now need for its potential population points.
And finally, surveying the options, I decided that Meklon looked like a good planet to conquer next. After all, it had a robust 100 population limit, and since the Meklars were guaranteed to vote against me in the next Council due to our cold war, I could attain a net 2 vote improvement (1 for having it maxed out and contributing to my total, 1 for removing the vote against me). Sure I'd take a relations hit by wiping them out, but how bad could it be?
I UNDERESTIMATED HOW MUCH THE OTHER RACES ARE DISTURBED BY GENOCIDE!
The very instant I conquered Meklon, plummeting relations caused the Psilons to declare war against me! Owning Meklon opened up contact with the Darloks, who started relations at Discord! The Silicoids, my great hope, were now Troubled! And within several turns, the pile-on commenced, as the Klackons, then Silicoids, then finally the Darloks also declared war. I was alone in the galaxy, facing a unified front, with the next Council vote looming.
In 2424 the vote looked like this, with 37 votes total:
Psilons 29 (78%) - 18 themselves, 3 Klackons, 2 Darlocks, 6 Silicoids
Me 8 (22%) as the Biggest Loser
What a disappointment. I rejected the ruling and made a half-hearted attempt to fight the Final War, but frankly I was on tilt, and shortly after 2589 (the year of the last autosave), some 165 years later, my shell of an empire was overcome by rebels for the final time, and I was slain in my imperial palace.
Had I not made such a dumb mistake with the ill-timed genocide, I think I could have made a serious go of this scenario. Although the Psilons improved over the 2400-2424 period, from 16 to 18 votes, I improved relatively more, from 4 to 8. All I would have needed was a Silicoid abstention to avoid a Psilon New Republic, and I hoped to have a Non-Agression pact with the rocks by the 2424 vote. Later, by timing my wars of conquest and annihilation well, and with a dash of terraforming and improved environment techs, it was not out of the question that I could have attained an obstructionist 33% bloc in a future Council.
The remaining questions are: could I have faced down the Psilons in a war? Could I have carved a path to Orion and defeated the Guardian? I think it was not out of the realm of possibilty.
So in retrospect, it was probably a mistake to leave the center of the map, west of the start, mostly untouched. A bird in the hand, etc. Also, I had hints of just how fast the Psilons were spreading, and didn't act on them.
FINAL RESULT
Defiant to the end, but murdered by traitors in the few years after 2589.
.
