(I finished this game before the most recent post on exploits, and so it's not entirely âpureâ. Specifically, I instigated a war between the Silicoids and the Darlok early on, a few turns before my invasion troops hit a Silicoid system. And IIRC I stopped a Mrrshan attack on one of my poorly defended colonies with a few choice roars to the their ambassador. There may be some other minor infractions as well. I don't think it made much of a difference.)
It was a difficult start. The closest planet was a good one. However... No Improved Eco Restoration. No Reduced Industrial Waste 80%. No Nuclear Engines. And most importantly, only range 4 fuel cells. Which meant I had to choose between beelining for the necessary tech levels to build Large colony ships with Extended Fuel Tanks or just go low-tech and build a Huge colony ship. I went with the latter, and after 13 years of hard work my people launched a massive vessel towards Klystron, a jungle-world to the east of the homeworld.
With that bridgehead in Bulrathi hands I meant to expand into the nearby star systems. And at first it looked promising. Nearby Dolz was poor, but not hostile to Bulrathi life. Then my scouts ran into the Mrrshan (Firma, Hyboria). And the Silocoids (Rhilus).
Map 2370:
![[Image: 206zdqb.jpg]](http://i48.tinypic.com/206zdqb.jpg)
Weak and cowardly races both. Lambs to the slaughter! Or so went the bulrathi propaganda. After filling Dolz with colonists I dispatched invasion forces at both the Mrrshan and Silicoids from my two core worlds. My space fleet consisted of a single Large ship packed full of Neutron Pellet Guns. The plan was to sneak my troops past their larger fleets, win the ground battles, maybe steal some tech, and then weather the inevitable bombardments and attempts to retake the planets until they were willing to accept peace. Or, should they succeed in evicting my boyz, I'd just retake the planet and perhaps pick up some more tech.
It was a disaster. The only bright spot was that the Mrrshan fleet, most of which remained inexplicably parked over my target world, had so much fun blowing up wave after wave of my troop pods that the Mrrshan never declared war. I did manage to land troops on the silicoid world, but thanks to last minute silicoid reinforcements the enemy won the battle with four or five million troops to spare. Gaaah!
An animated summary of the Mrrshan (to the left) - Bulrathi (to the right) "war":![[Image: 2j31pu1.jpg]](http://i50.tinypic.com/2j31pu1.jpg)
A Huge silicoid ship in orbit around their nearest planet stopped further invasion attempts on that front. At least the cowards accepted peace without even attacking a single of my planets.
After my failed offensive was over I built another Huge colony ship to colonize Talas, a poor world to the north. I'd have expanded south, but a rather large Darlok empire arrived at the nearest havitable world (Spica) fairly early on, and I still didn't have range 5 fuel cells. I put garrison forces in orbit around the planets I didn't have the tech to colonize yet, and buckled down to research the tech I'd need to crack the Silicoid and Mrrshan.
A Huge ship with Nuclear Engines and Neutron Pellet Guns seized control of space over the nearest silicoid world, and it was easily captured by ground forces. The Mrrshan were next, and two of their worlds were taken by a combination of said huge ship and smaller bombers. Eventually I even captured the Mrrshan homeworld, exterminating the weak breed once and for all.
After that I was attacked by the Darlok. It was ... unpleasant. They had missile ships capable of harming my missile bases despite Class V Planetary Shields and decent shield tech, and most importantly, they had Death Spores. Did I mention that they had a big empire? And so, big fleets? And Death Spores? My swarms of neutron pellet-armed fighters couldn't keep them off forever, and my now obsolete Huge NPG ship died after I miscalculated the enemy's firepower. Several worlds died. I took them back. Along with Darlok technology. :neenernee But it wasn't over.
My first new model Huge ship was swatted from space when I tried to attack a seemingly poorly defended Darlok world - they'd just developed Scatter Pack VII. (I got burned by last second Scatter Pack VII acquisitions twice more later in the game, against the Silicoids and Klackons. It was downright disturbing.) So I built swarms of small ships with my own death spores. Some made it though the missiles to a planet. At which point I discovered that the Darlok had just developed ... Bio Toxin Antidote. Gaaaaah!
(In case y'all are wondering, I always spy on races I'm at war with, but I forgot to check their techs right before attacking.)
Well, I did eventually get hold of the antidote myself, and settled into an standoff with the Darlok. We were even at peace for about a year, before a ground invasion by me made them declare war again.
I couldn't expand into darlok space, so I went after the Silicoids. By then I had Huge ships with Repulsor Beams, Auto Repair and Warp Dissipiators, and used them to grab several smaller Silicoid planets.
Example from 2550:
![[Image: 2duktau.jpg]](http://i48.tinypic.com/2duktau.jpg)
My saboteurs paved the way for the conquest of Chryslon.
Finally, after reducing the Silicoids to a single planet, I thought I had the game wrapped up. Everyone was at war with the Darlok, and I was getting rather big.
Before election in 2574:
![[Image: 317cug9.jpg]](http://i49.tinypic.com/317cug9.jpg)
Unfortunately the Klackons and the Darlok stopped fighting a year or two before the election, and the Klackons abstained. The Darlok thus avoided losing by a tiny margin. (Not for the first time.) Then the Klackons allied with the Darlok and declared war on me. I spent the next 15 years or so squashing bugs, and by the time the next election came around I was bigger than everyone else combined and I'd even bribed the defeated Klackons into declaring war at their former allies. Victory at last.
2600:
![[Image: 2q1tnrs.jpg]](http://i47.tinypic.com/2q1tnrs.jpg)
It was a difficult start. The closest planet was a good one. However... No Improved Eco Restoration. No Reduced Industrial Waste 80%. No Nuclear Engines. And most importantly, only range 4 fuel cells. Which meant I had to choose between beelining for the necessary tech levels to build Large colony ships with Extended Fuel Tanks or just go low-tech and build a Huge colony ship. I went with the latter, and after 13 years of hard work my people launched a massive vessel towards Klystron, a jungle-world to the east of the homeworld.
With that bridgehead in Bulrathi hands I meant to expand into the nearby star systems. And at first it looked promising. Nearby Dolz was poor, but not hostile to Bulrathi life. Then my scouts ran into the Mrrshan (Firma, Hyboria). And the Silocoids (Rhilus).
Map 2370:
Weak and cowardly races both. Lambs to the slaughter! Or so went the bulrathi propaganda. After filling Dolz with colonists I dispatched invasion forces at both the Mrrshan and Silicoids from my two core worlds. My space fleet consisted of a single Large ship packed full of Neutron Pellet Guns. The plan was to sneak my troops past their larger fleets, win the ground battles, maybe steal some tech, and then weather the inevitable bombardments and attempts to retake the planets until they were willing to accept peace. Or, should they succeed in evicting my boyz, I'd just retake the planet and perhaps pick up some more tech.
It was a disaster. The only bright spot was that the Mrrshan fleet, most of which remained inexplicably parked over my target world, had so much fun blowing up wave after wave of my troop pods that the Mrrshan never declared war. I did manage to land troops on the silicoid world, but thanks to last minute silicoid reinforcements the enemy won the battle with four or five million troops to spare. Gaaah!
An animated summary of the Mrrshan (to the left) - Bulrathi (to the right) "war":
A Huge silicoid ship in orbit around their nearest planet stopped further invasion attempts on that front. At least the cowards accepted peace without even attacking a single of my planets.
After my failed offensive was over I built another Huge colony ship to colonize Talas, a poor world to the north. I'd have expanded south, but a rather large Darlok empire arrived at the nearest havitable world (Spica) fairly early on, and I still didn't have range 5 fuel cells. I put garrison forces in orbit around the planets I didn't have the tech to colonize yet, and buckled down to research the tech I'd need to crack the Silicoid and Mrrshan.
A Huge ship with Nuclear Engines and Neutron Pellet Guns seized control of space over the nearest silicoid world, and it was easily captured by ground forces. The Mrrshan were next, and two of their worlds were taken by a combination of said huge ship and smaller bombers. Eventually I even captured the Mrrshan homeworld, exterminating the weak breed once and for all.
After that I was attacked by the Darlok. It was ... unpleasant. They had missile ships capable of harming my missile bases despite Class V Planetary Shields and decent shield tech, and most importantly, they had Death Spores. Did I mention that they had a big empire? And so, big fleets? And Death Spores? My swarms of neutron pellet-armed fighters couldn't keep them off forever, and my now obsolete Huge NPG ship died after I miscalculated the enemy's firepower. Several worlds died. I took them back. Along with Darlok technology. :neenernee But it wasn't over.
My first new model Huge ship was swatted from space when I tried to attack a seemingly poorly defended Darlok world - they'd just developed Scatter Pack VII. (I got burned by last second Scatter Pack VII acquisitions twice more later in the game, against the Silicoids and Klackons. It was downright disturbing.) So I built swarms of small ships with my own death spores. Some made it though the missiles to a planet. At which point I discovered that the Darlok had just developed ... Bio Toxin Antidote. Gaaaaah!
(In case y'all are wondering, I always spy on races I'm at war with, but I forgot to check their techs right before attacking.)
Well, I did eventually get hold of the antidote myself, and settled into an standoff with the Darlok. We were even at peace for about a year, before a ground invasion by me made them declare war again.
I couldn't expand into darlok space, so I went after the Silicoids. By then I had Huge ships with Repulsor Beams, Auto Repair and Warp Dissipiators, and used them to grab several smaller Silicoid planets.
Example from 2550:
My saboteurs paved the way for the conquest of Chryslon.
Finally, after reducing the Silicoids to a single planet, I thought I had the game wrapped up. Everyone was at war with the Darlok, and I was getting rather big.
Before election in 2574:
Unfortunately the Klackons and the Darlok stopped fighting a year or two before the election, and the Klackons abstained. The Darlok thus avoided losing by a tiny margin. (Not for the first time.) Then the Klackons allied with the Darlok and declared war on me. I spent the next 15 years or so squashing bugs, and by the time the next election came around I was bigger than everyone else combined and I'd even bribed the defeated Klackons into declaring war at their former allies. Victory at last.
2600:
