Imperium 25 - Timmy and the 40 Theives

[timmy827]

Didn't have a ton of time over the holidays, and Average should be easy so I didn't take a lot of notes. However, it was fun to have a low-stress game.

Artifacts to north popped IS, could have been better. Good to see that sublights are in the tree. Initial expansion to 2329:



Have just settled UR Kailis, went for Barren before +10 but finished that as ship finished.
Due to proximity of silicoids, built Barren ship as soon as it popped - was not expecting to lose those two world to my south. AI seemed smart, chasing my unarmed scouts with a single laser fighter - bare minimum of force to get the job done.

2350:


Range 5 has really opened up my options, and Kailis will crank out the ships. Given the variant goal, I'm already starting to have other worlds focus spending on pop - I don't really want to push tech a lot (besides Computers) and rely on stealing. Eventually I may prematurely stop my expansion in order to facilitate a better AI research pace.

2375:


Basically done expanding, have a couple more ships to small worlds en route. Since I want the AI to tech, don't want to grab more. The cursor's yellow star is an Artifacts that I pulled Controlled Dead from, thus the Psilons must be at one of the NE yellow stars (also, I'm deliberately leaving it open hoping an AI will make use of it...). The Sakkra just DOW'd me and I will eventually expand through them to meet the Psilons (sakkra only have researched 4 1st tier techs at this point, clearly they aren't going to be useful.) However, I have little invasion capability at present and want to finish the development of my outer worlds + start stealing techs. Nearly to ISS. Getting Dead opened up Enhanced Eco, but I really didn't want to research it and took a gamble on being able to steal Improved from someone, but no one I've met has it (chose +30 for vote-blocking). Sheesh, no waste cleanup this late is kind of weird. Almost to improved scanner. Spies sent hunting on bears (I really want their RIW80) and sakkra. Alliance pulled Humans in against me, so turned spying on them, and off Bulrathi after nabbing the big prize of RCIII - neither that or IV was in my tree.


Around 2410 I started assembling a silly fleet to kill the Sakkra - laser fighters and nuke bombers, at least I had the 2nd engine...Was continuing to push just computer tech after +30, and finished Adv. Scanner about this time.

First vote isn't until after I have taken Tauri, can safely throw mine to the Silicoids. Here's map in 2426, after I've taken Sssla; that plus stolen range tech finally allows me to talk to the Psilons. Despite only 4 worlds, they still have several techs the others don't.



Next 40 or so years spent turtling and stealing, with most AI's at war with me at some point or other, but no real threats. As the 2475 vote looms, I have mostly caught up with the AI's techs by thefts and they are starting to peter out on discovering new ones. So I decide to try and wrap it up by 2500, may miss a few thefts by knocking out some AI's early but if I was really going for max score, I would have deliberately triggered Final War at first opportunity.

The Humans draw the short straw as they have no planetary shields or any missile tech at all (although they at least get Merculites after I take the first world), and were the first race besides the weak Sakkra to run out of goodies. 2475 saw me with 22/49 votes, and I wrapped up warp 5 engines and AM bomb at this point, leaving me free to turn all worlds to ships and marines. Not surprisingly for Average difficulty, it was pretty trivial to roll up the Humans, take a big bite out of the Silicoids, score two Psilon worlds, and settle a few more that were open for no good reason besides the AI bugs kyrub has found. Scored a 2500 Conquest with 46/65 votes.



Full theft log:
2380 ECM I Bulrathi
2390 ClassII shields Sakkra
2394 RIW80 Human
2395 RCIII Bulrathi
2397 Nuke Engines Humans
2402 ClassIII shields Humans
2403 BCII Humans
2407 PDS Humans
2408 Range4 Humans
2411 GatlingLaser Humans
2413 Range6 Humans
2419 Range7 Humans
2419 Duralloy Bears
2420 IIT7 Bears
2421 IT+20 Silicoids
2423 Neutron Blaster Humans
2425 Ion Cannon Bears
2428 BCIV Silicoids
2429 IER Psilons
2431 RCIV Silicoids
2436 ClassIV Shields Bears
2441 MassDriver Humans
2449 PSV Psilons
2450 Zortium Silicoids
2453 Tundra Psilons
2455 Autorepair Psilons
2457 Stingers Bears
2462 IT+40 Silicoids
2463 ClassV Shields Silicoids
2464 Repulsor Beam Psilons
2464 AM Rockets Humans
2465 ECM III Psilons
2466 BCV Psilons
2468 FusionBeam Psilons
2470 Ion Rifle Bears
2472 Hard Beam Psilons
2473 Armored Exoskeleton Bears
2476 RIW60 Humans
2485 PlanetShield X Psilons
2493 Energy Pulsar Psilons

Total of 40 as the title implies Thanks to Ref for an enjoyable game.

[RefSteel]

Nicely played; that looks like quite a good score for a relaxed game with neither Final War nor (much) self-restricted expansion nor other extreme scoring measures. Plus, 40 Thefts is perfect! Even if you didn't write the report in the style of the Arabian Nights. (Something which is also NOT in my plans for a future Imperium report! Probably!)

In all seriousness, I definitely enjoyed your summary of your game; I think you do a much better job than I do of hitting the highlights, and picking out the really important stuff to indicate how the game really went. Thanks very much for reporting!

Also, though I'd love to take credit for this one, it was actually Maniac's brainchild. He rolled up and playtested the map and came up with the original concept; I pretty much just wrote the text on the Imperium page!

[haphazard1]

Very nice game, Timmy!

As a MOO noob, I wasn't even considering ideas like "farming" the AI for stolen techs. Just trying to come out on top.

Agree that the lack of waste cleanup was painful. Hmmm, no Robotic Controls 3 in the tree? Lucky for me to pull it from the southern artifacts world, it really helped.

I was able to get that world just south of the Hideout, but I had to fight the rocks for it. Had to invade and then hold off multiple assaults, but the rocks low pop growth made that a lot easier than it might have been.