As a French person I feel like it's my duty to explain strikes to you. - AdrienIer

Create an account  

 
Horist's return-Imp 32

So its been 6 months since my last Orion game. I love the Silicoids and had some free time, so here we go!
Summary of Game:
Despite making many mistakes due to not playing in 6 months, this was a pretty easy win and I didn’t feel in danger of losing at any point. My goal was to prolong the first vote for as long as possible, and go to final war to prevent future votes as early as possible. This didn’t really work out as I made the following mistakes. 1. I didn’t realize the Bugs were below me, which allowed them to get several systems that I could have prevented with laser fighters etc. This was huge. 2. My ship designs were horrible (2 many Huge designs early) and became obsolete quickly. 3. I played it too safe and should have went to final war earlier. 4. I didn’t colonize Hostile planets as fast as I could. 5. I lost a planet and had to retake it. 6. I didn’t move Pop nearly as much as I should have, especially mid game. 7. My tech choices were horrible, I should have prioritized computers much earlier than I did. 8. My steals were bad. 9. I didn’t go Planet shielding10, which would have made defending my colonies much easier and I wouldn’t have lost one. 10. I built 2 many ships and not enough bases.

All the same, the Silicoids are just 2 strong (+ there were so many Rich worlds to feed my reserves). I don’t believe I have ever lost an Impossible game with them. I love having tons of worlds at half pop, half factories and constantly moving a couple million around until its time to fill them up 1 by 1. I didn’t do that this game and just cloned them all once I learned it and let them grow slowly after the initial load of 20 million Pop etc, which was dumb. I know I won’t get first place, and will probably get last place in this Imperium, but as I hadn’t played for awhile, my main goal was to win and have a positive score at the end.
I decide to go north for the purple star due to the increased chance of finding a rich world, build 4 scouts and 3 scouts the next turn. I colonize Dunatis a small size 10 world in 2303 and send 7 million over. I got lucky since Phyco was not hostile. I figured both would be hostile lol.
My scouts report that Rhilus/Galos/Collassas are hostile. The rest of planets within range are not. Rhilus and Galos are both rich. And Galos is now in range 3. I start a colony ship in 2310 which will be due in 6 years.

2311-Psilons retreat from Collassas. I'm going to need LR lasers there soon is my first thought, but since it is an inferno world, maybe they won't try so hard for it? I change my mind when I realize their world is probably range4 away anyways. Not playing in 6 months is making me rusty, but I'm a noob anyways.
2316-Colony ship is on route to Dunatis through RELOC and will then go to Galos. I put homeworld back on factory building and open tech on propulsion to see if I have cheap range4 with a few BC from Dunatis. And it is! I put homeworld on max research.
2320-Colonize Galos. Get the GGN 3 star system warning. Transfer 27 million from homeworld over and 5 million from Dunatis. I want that place up and running ASAP. My tech breakthrough is 16% so I drop it to 33 RP and start a colony ship due in 6 years. Brings my tech down to 11%
2322-Discover range 4, select only option for Nuclear Engines. Put a click in Computers/ Construction/ Planetology to see what is available. Lower research to 7 RP from homeworld and 9 RP from Dunatis
I decide on Deep Space Scanner, IIT9 (only option) and IT10 (only option) and switch my focus to IT10 while leaving a little in warp2 so I don't lose my bonus's.

2329-Big year. Klackon come with an invasion force and take Phyco. My scout couldn't stop him. I was very surprised as they would need range 7? to get that far over. Turns out they started south of me and I didn't even realize it!! I also discover IT10 and start on IT20 and move research into force fields 50%. I start a 25 BC trade agreement. Relations are uneasy. I design a small laser fighter and start building 3 a turn while terraforming. I have 117 factories on my homeworld, so already more than I need. I meant to stop at 100.
2330-Colonize Rhilus. Send 25 million from homeworld.
2334-I remember to check Klackons report. Aggressive Diplomat. I don't like the aggressive, but it is better than ruthless since I have no defense. Diplomat means hopefully he doesn't declare war on me. I notice he has about a trillion Sabre's going to and from Phyco.
2338-Galos maxes out and starts pumping into reserves. I start sending 2 million from homeworld to Rhilus until it maxes and then start feeding reserves into it as well.
2345-I survived, no attacks yet. Maybe this relationship will work out? I learn level2 shields and max out Rhilus. I move to research and start a slow 16 year base building project at both rich colonies. I even out the research and choose Hyper-V (only option)
2350-50 year report-I'm pulling 369 in BC trade and have emptied my reserves. I'm 8 years from bases on my rich planets, and 20 years on my homeworld. I'm not even bothering yet on my small planet. Relations are neutral with Bugs, but they overwhelm me in everything except planets. They even have more population than me.
2353-Learn warp2, start on range7. Following year I learn Deep Space Scanner and go for IRC3. The year after that I get IT20 and IIT9. I go for Duralloy and IT30.
2362-I learn Hyper-V and have 3 choices, I go for NPG since it is the cheapest and I have no war plans.
2367-Learn Personal shield and go for planet5. Next turn I learn IRC3 and go for Mark4.

2371-3PE Psilons meet me. I start trade at 30 BC, they have a lot to trade, but nothing I want and they want IRC3, so I don't opt for anything. 2 years later they send a colony ship to Zhardon. Thankfully it just had missiles and after firing them both retreated. I build a warp2 medium heavy laser with level2 shields from Galos and started sending them to Zhardan/Vulcan. It was at this time I realized Collassa was Hostile and in range4 lol. Started a colony ship at Rhilus.
2375-Colonize Collassa, meet the Cats. Start trade at 35. Call the bugs, up trade to 200. Send millions from homeworld to Collassa and start putting money in reserves and then feeding it to Collassa. I scout Tyr and fine it Hostile. Start a LR colony ship. I'm a little slow this game.

2385-Colonize Tyr-GNN 6 star system and trigger the high counsel. Everyone has 3 votes. Me vs Bugs. We both vote for the Bugs. (-5 points)
2388-I learn IT30 and go for the antidote. Later I get Mark4 and go for ECJ4
2394-I learn NPG and go for Merc Missiles. 4 years later I get Duralloy Armor and go for AutoRepair. I repel another colony ship attack from the Brains on Zhardon.

2399-The Vote occurs. This time the Brains cast their votes for the bugs. I have to abstain with my 4 votes. Everyone else has 3. I sign NAPS with everyone but Cats who refuse. I trade IRC3 for AutoRepair and go for Zortium armor. (-5 points again) I start spying with 1 click on everyone.
GNN states I'm the biggest. 2402-I learn Planet Shield 5. Start on Shield5.
GNN states I'm 3rd in tech with the Cats behind me.
2414-I learn ECJ4 and start on Advanced Scanner. Uggg I realize Klackon hold Zhardon. Forgot about the rules of the NAP. Once I get Merc's, it will be time to start thinking about War. I switch spies to espionage. My computer tech is pretty good compared to the other races and they have pulsars, mercs etc. I scrap every ship I have.
2417 I learn range7 and start on energy pulsar. Increase spying to 2 clicks.
2422-All my planets are maxed on people and factories.

2424-Vote goes the same (-15 total now) I up trade to max with Brain/Cats and make minor trades to improve my computer tech and give me less stupid options when I am successful. I move tech to 80% computers allocation. I shortly thereafter get Advanced Scanner and then start building LR colony ships warp2.
2430-Colonize Ajax. Send millions from homeworld. Pour reserves into it.
2432-Colonize Xendalla and Gion and get the 9 planet GNN message. Send over pop. Poor reserves into it. I learn Merc missiles.
2437-Colonize Selia, get the leaders are preparing to merge.
2440-Bugs break their Non-Aggression Pact. This isn't great, since I have no fighters. I start building Missile bases. I currently have 1 per world. Time to ramp up. I learn Zort armor, go for IT5.

2450-(-20 now) Me Vs Bugs. Everyone Abstains this time so I vote for the Bugs. I was thinking about final war here, but no option for it. Cats send weak attacks to several of my new colonies and the Klackon send something like 6000 ships to Collassa (I have no ships there). It turns out 5990 of them are carrying nukes and only 10 ships are a threat. I trade Biotoxin to the Cats for Inertia Stabilizers. I then trade ECJ4 for Sheilds4 with the Psilons. I trade Biotoxin to Klackon for Impulse drives. I also sign them up for a NAP for 1050 BC. I quickly design a medium Merc Ship and a Huge Blaster Ship and hope for the best The merc ships should be fine against the weak Cats and the Blaster Ship is for the counter attacks. I win all battles against the Cats (they retreated). Thanks to my shielding I win against the Klackons who retreated their 6k small nuke bomb ships and lost half of their Merc Missile ships before retreating only killing 2 of my 5 missile bases.

I learn IRC5, go for Mark8. I zero out my reserves during this time by continuing to beef up my new colonies and my old colonies refitting etc I send one of my new Blaster Ships to attack the Cats at Rigel and send 40 million from my homeworld there as well. I win the space fight easy. However my 40 against their 40, I lose. Even though my armor is 3 times better and I have a personal sheild, their rifles and defensive bonus carried it for them. I send 22 million from Collassa and trade Inertia Stabilizer for Battle suits with the Bugs. 2 of the 3 races tell me I am 2 big. My new battle suits were a big hit! I start with 22 vs 16 and win with 11 left over. I capture 78 factories and learn 3 outdated techs.

The Cats homeworld has been bombed to oblivion. This leaves the Cats with 1 planet, Primodius. Psilons have 3 and the Bugs have 6 and I have 11. I break my NAP with the Psilons and send my Blaster to Spica. They have 35 bases, but can't do enough damage to break my AutoRepair. I destroy all the bases and send an invasion force. The Klackon break their NAP with me. I steal HyperX from them. My invasion is 72 vs the Brain's 69. I win with 15 remaining and get 186 factories. I find at the ruins, Graviton Beam, Mark5, Shields6, IT40 and Mark6. Psilons declare War. I design a Hybrid Graviton/Blaster ship with improved computers and shields. I steal Range6 from Klackon and Ion Cannon from Psilons. I notice the Psilons are at war with everyone in the Galaxy. Cats retake Escalon, so I send a blaster there and destroy it.
2468-Brains genocide Cats. I send 1 Blaster to Rana and 1 to Mentar. My new Grav4 pop's out and I send it to Mentar as well. My Blaster at Rana destroys everything but the bases which have 2 much shielding. I sign the Bugs up to an alliance for Mark4 and up trade to 800. I design a small fusion bomber model and make a new Huge model hybrid of Graviton/Fusions. I defend a couple attacks here and there but my Blaster is unstoppable and with Impulse engines can be at any planet attacked. I learn shield5 and go for shield7. I steal Fusion drives from the Psilons.

We have the last vote of the game (which ended conclusively so no -5 this time.). Psilons vote for Klackons and so do I putting us at final war. I think I should be fine. 2 years later I lose a Blaster ship as the Psilons planets now have scatter pack 7, instead of HyperV. This isn't good. 2 turns later, Klackons capture Rigel with 22 million left over. Uh oh,

I send my own invasion force over and take it, and learn outdated tech. No Ion Rifle. I stop building Huge ships and bombers since I can't really fight against Missile bases yet. Attacks come left and right to different colonies. Wherever they send attacks, I mass missile bases with reserve spending. I learn Hard Beam and go for Omega V. Most of my fleet is at Rigel while I wait for it to remake its shield and bases.

2480-The attacks are getting stronger and stronger. So far my Missile Bases and Huge ships are barely winning. I'm regretting skipping planetshields10 as I could scrap all my ship and just focus on tech. Ship costs is 10% of my expenses. On a side note, I bomb Escalon/Fieras/Primodius every 3 turns or so and retreat. I learn Energy Pulsar and move to Stargates and reduce research to only 1 click in Propulsion.
2490- I finally learn Cloning and start ramping up my worlds that aren't full of my people. I go for IT50. The attacks are now getting weaker which is a relief. I prioritize computers/weapons/shields. I steal ECJ3 from Psilons.

2497-So much for weak attacks every turn. Klackons send 600 small fusion bombers to me with some Large ships thrown in. They take out 10 of my 32 bases at Galos before I destroy them all.
2502-I steal Ion rifle from the Psilons. The computer is very annoying with its repulser beam. Several battles take the max amount of turns after I hit auto at Fieras etc. The Enemy has sent their best attacks and come up short though. It looks like the beginning of the end for them. They have no battle computers on their fusion ships so they do almost no damage to me. Once I steal some better engines or teleporter, it will be over for them.

2505-I learn OmegaV and go Pulson. Bugs/Brains continue to fight a war of attrition on me where I destroy all their ships and they destroy some missile bases. This game is definitely over. Bugs have 5 planets and Brains have 2 planets. I have 12.
2511-I learn Mark8 and go IRC6. I learn Shield7 and go for 9 (skipping Planet15 shields)
2522-I learn Pulson and go for Herc Missiles. It is pretty lame that I haven't had a tech steal for 20 years when I have 5% of my income going to spying and always have at least 2 spies active in the Bug's operations. the last 20 turns have gone like this. I hit next turn. I fight a battle at 4-6 planets in which I click Auto in each battle and utterly destroy the opposition until they retreat. I hit next turn, repeat. Every 3 years I bomb Primodius etc.
2527-I learn IRC6 and go Mark10. 3 years later I steal Ion drives from the Bugs. Only took 30 years of 5% spending to steal a tech!!! This is with a higher level in computers then them significantly. frown Man I miss the Darloks.
2536-Steal ECJ6 from Bugs. 3 turns later steal Tritanium armor. I haven't been able to bomb the 3 colonies with no bases for awhile as they are actually defending it now. I increase spending in propulsion. I learn IIT5 go for IIT3
2542-Steal Cloak from the Psilons and Shields3 from the Bugs. Couple turns later I learn Herc Missile and go for Hellfire torp's. I soon learn Mark10 and go for Oracle Interface. I steal Repulser Beam from Bugs. Ugg, I notice they learned Planet15 shielding. I steal Stargates when my tech on it was at 7% lol. I go for Beam+3. By now all my ships have been scrapped or destroyed.

2560-I design a Huge with 52 OmegaV bombs and the latest shields/computers/engines and Autorepair. It does the trick and I destroy 2 of their 3 colonies again. At the 3rd colony 31 Scatter7 destroyed it. I steal Range9 from the Bugs and Shield9 from the Brains. Start on Shield11. Design a new Omega Huge ship and throw ECJ6 on it. SEnd it to Klackon Planets and start owning. I learn IT50 and go for IT60. I steal planetsheild15. I start bombing Antares and building a lot more "bomb3" ships. I steal ECJ5. I lose a Bomb3 ship to the Bug homeworld. I learn Oracle Interface and go Mark11.
2576-After 10 turns of bombing, Antaras is destroyed. My other ships are killing 1-2 base per volley, retreating back to a close world and returning 2 turns later until all bases gone (50-70 average per world). I learn Hellfire missiles and go TriPlasmaCannon. I build a Huge Hellfire design with 12 Hellfires and top shields/computer/etc. It ends up only doing 300 damage to other ships, so I scrap it.

10 years later Rana and Vulcan are destroyed. I lose a Bomber to 50 Knights who have 9 MegaBolt Cannons on them. Soon, I destroy Mentar, Zhardon and Phyco. To add insult to injury I steal IIT4 from the Psilons. Soon I genocide the Psilons and only the Bug homeworld is left and the retaken Antaras. Their knights are killing my Huge ships so I build a medium Herc gunboat and build them at all worlds except 1. Their whole force is at Antares so I try to destroy Kholdan. I am successful. Then for some reason they scrap their Knight ships lol. They sneak in to Rana and I destroy them everywhere else. I then Mass my Herc ships and destroy the Guardian at Orion. That will give me an extra point. I then destroy the last colony in 2618.
End score:
Winning:+20
4 inconclusive votes=-20
11 colonies on hostile worlds (12 planets-homeworld)=22 points
Ship in orbit over 11 non-hostile world=+11
Final score 33 points, Extermination.
Reply

Good to see you back!

In spite of your reported mistakes, you played this one very well overall. Delaying the first Council vote was key for score, and by holding off AI settlement attempts while prioritizing things other than colony building early on, you did this quite successfully. Your six-planet warning came 33 years later than mine, and you were able to avoid a 2375 High Council as a result. Accepting Final War was also a much more gutsy way to finish the game than mine of just wiping out enough planets to prevent the Council from meeting (which may not have been an option at that stage of your game).

Horist Wrote:I know I won’t get first place, and will probably get last place in this Imperium, but as I hadn’t played for awhile, my main goal was to win and have a positive score at the end.
On the contrary: Orion put you over the top, and you landed top score for this Imperium; congratulations! Your affection for (and skill at playing) the Silicoids appears to have paid off!
Reply

I think the delay was more due to ineptitutide than trying to delay the vote, otherwise i woulda taken even longer and probably colonized on a year right after the vote. I got lucky. I did not at all think I would win by 1 point. smile
Reply

While I'm too late to have my score counted, I think I have a shot at topping it unofficially smile However, I did use an editor to keep track of my research totals throughout the game so I guess it'd be a shadow game anyway smile
Reply



Forum Jump: