Woohoo! Made it in time (11:26 PM Tuesday June 18th here)!
Too bad that I had almost no time to write while frantically playing to the (not so) bitter end.
You see, I was absolutely, positively 100% sure that I had no chance of winning with the Kitties on Impossible without planetary reserves.
Looks like it pays to be aggressive, if you time it right
.
Here's the report (alas, no time to upload any piccies either):
A strange foreboding fills Empress Miamar's (official designation RBO 37 E) mind as the new Clony Ship carrying 2 minllion fiercely independent colonists blasts off to hyperspace, heading towards a yellow star 2 parsecs away. 2 years later, news of a lush planet very much resembling the race's home reach Fierias, causing a steady stream of colonists to Xudax, as the settlers decided to call their new home.
2325: Fierias maxed, Xudax at 50 pop & 52 fact.
2333: Reticuli colonised, colony ship enroute to Hyboria, opening tech with 140 RP from Fierias. IER and Range 4 chosen.
2336: Hyboria colonised. Next year a robotic emissary tells us that Aliens called "Sakkra" control 6 planets, making them an empire bigger than our loose conglomerate of four planets.
2348 map
2350: Darloks grab Maretta. Commencing laser popgun fighter production.
2351: We colonise Berel, Darlok Colony Ship with a Large escort on way there, we have a few popgun fighters defending - let's see what happens...
2356: Sending troops to take Maretta, since Darlok Large Heavy Laser Ship "Viper" destroyed our 14 popgun fighters (just barely, 10/100 structure left) and blocked our colonisation of those two NW planets, Vulcan & Artemis.
2360: Meklars grab Artemis, you blasted Darloks are going to pay for this!
2377: THe erratic robots declare war. Blah, wouldn't have liked to tangle with their SOD just yet, as I seem to be winning the Darlok war. Captured Maretta a around 2366, first attempt at Gion fell short (3 pop left), but I think the 2nd try will succeed.
2407: Nope, needed 3rd try with some bombing ability to counter shapeshifter missile bases. Managed to negotiate peace with the Meklars, but Darloks didn't want one. Shapeshifters' death fleet with a dozen large ships & a couple of huges occupied Gion's orbit several years, until we had enough of small popgun fighters (old spd 1 ones and newer spd 2 types) to expunge the fleet. Just in time to annihilate 39 Darlok ground troops coming to capture the planet. Got Iproved Robotic Controls III & Reduced Waste 80% in the meantime along with Terraforming +10, time to upgrade my planets. Also got some missile bases built on Maretta and Berel.
2409: Had colonised Proxima (Tundra 35) earlier, was going to take Herculis (Barren 10) too, but the Sakkras seem to have other ideas... (pic). Sakkras seem to have at least Inferno Landings, since they have colonised the Inferno planet Galos on our border. Hope our trading with them keeps them from attacking us.
2410: A surprise vote, robots vote for me, brains abstain, all others team up with the lizard emperor.
2412: I really hope that the Meklar fleet isn't coming to probe our defenses at Berel...
2413: Well, it was, ad the ships were lame. One huge escaped our missiles. And then the crazy 'bots declare war...
2425: Vote, in essence a duplicate of the previous one, only 'bots & cloaks switched sides. We could cast 8 votes.
2454: Nothing really happened in the Meklar war. Once I was ready to launch an attack, Darloks declared war & robots wanted peace, so I took Mobas, a Minimal Rich planet from the shapeshifters and made peace with the Meklar. 2450 votes went also abstain way. Got Soil Enrichment, traded it with Meklars for Zortium Armor & Brains for Battle suits, + IIT7 for Reduced Waste 60%.
2455: Yay, got Fusion Beam at 8% !
2457: The Great Maker giveth, the Great Maker taketh away – nasty virus strikes our research for 14277 RPs.
2478: Another vote came, managed to stall the runaway Sakkra. Bulrathis & Psilons declared war, Sakkras glassed Nazin so lost contact with the brains. Teddy missile bases obliterated my bombers. Meklar probing attack destroyed my laser fighters & gunships, they could do nothing to my missile bases. Teddies wanted peace, I accepted as they had become allies with the lizards. Scored a couple of good tech trades with robots, teddies & lizards, netting us Class V Planetary Shield, Reduced Waste 40 % & Controlled Toxic Environment + Class IV ECM & Battle Computers, costing Bio Toxin Antidote & Reduced Waste 60% & Range 7.
2515: Survived another vote. Got half a dozen Huge autorepair Heavy Fusion Beam / Anti-Matter Bomb dreadnoughts built, captured Ursa from the crazy teddies who declared war again, this time not being allied with the lizards. Darloks wanted peace, I agreed. Darloks declared war, going to capture another Minimal Rich planet from them. Abysmal Planetology tech tree, researching Advanced Soil Enrichment – no Terraforming after T+20 up to this point seen.
2529: Captured a Rich planet from Darloks & Ultra Rich from Psilons. Found BC 6 in the process. Vote wasn’t so tight this time.
2532: Sakkra Death Fleet probed my defenses, they just barely held. Threatening did not turn the fleet away. May have to deal with the lizards rather sooner than later… L
2536: Mobas lost to Sakkra Death Fleet.
2565: Lots of angst and cold war action, until Meklars declared war. Before that another null-vote. Captured Vulcan from Meklars. Sakkra Death Fleet is really scary: speed 5, half of the ships are equipped with Ion Stream Projectors and the rest with Doom Viruses and Bio Terminators. A hundred Hercular Missile bases behind Class X Planetary Shield & Class VII Shields managed to save my planet, but not in very good health. Things are starting to look grim.
2570: And now the lizards decide to destroy us.
2575: Just enough votes to block Sakkra victory 21 vs 41 ... :o
2582: What a joyous year: after several years of practise, Mrrshan fleet destroys the Sakkra homeworld! :D
2623: Lots and lots of glassing, and every single time the lizards at the receiving end :D! Sakkra Empire is no more. Took couple of their planets to get some techs, like Terraform +100 - looks like our Planetology tech tree had only T+10 & T+20 (and of course the mandatory T+120 at the end of the tree)!
2624/25: Yeeeah! Resounding Conquest Victory: the Mrrshan Independent Colonies have 34 out of 45 votes at their disposal, and so Miamar aka RBO-37 becomes the new Emperor of the Galaxy.
Score sheet
Played the game (extreme variant) & posted a report: yes +50
Votes in 2425 election: 8 +8
Planets lost to invasion: 0 +/-0
Planets lost to bombardment: 1 -10
Times we threatened AI Leaders: 1 -10
Lose / Win: Conquest Win 2624/25 +50
Total points: 88
2624 save attached
Too bad that I had almost no time to write while frantically playing to the (not so) bitter end.
You see, I was absolutely, positively 100% sure that I had no chance of winning with the Kitties on Impossible without planetary reserves.
Looks like it pays to be aggressive, if you time it right
.Here's the report (alas, no time to upload any piccies either):
A strange foreboding fills Empress Miamar's (official designation RBO 37 E) mind as the new Clony Ship carrying 2 minllion fiercely independent colonists blasts off to hyperspace, heading towards a yellow star 2 parsecs away. 2 years later, news of a lush planet very much resembling the race's home reach Fierias, causing a steady stream of colonists to Xudax, as the settlers decided to call their new home.
2325: Fierias maxed, Xudax at 50 pop & 52 fact.
2333: Reticuli colonised, colony ship enroute to Hyboria, opening tech with 140 RP from Fierias. IER and Range 4 chosen.
2336: Hyboria colonised. Next year a robotic emissary tells us that Aliens called "Sakkra" control 6 planets, making them an empire bigger than our loose conglomerate of four planets.
2348 map
2350: Darloks grab Maretta. Commencing laser popgun fighter production.
2351: We colonise Berel, Darlok Colony Ship with a Large escort on way there, we have a few popgun fighters defending - let's see what happens...
2356: Sending troops to take Maretta, since Darlok Large Heavy Laser Ship "Viper" destroyed our 14 popgun fighters (just barely, 10/100 structure left) and blocked our colonisation of those two NW planets, Vulcan & Artemis.
2360: Meklars grab Artemis, you blasted Darloks are going to pay for this!
2377: THe erratic robots declare war. Blah, wouldn't have liked to tangle with their SOD just yet, as I seem to be winning the Darlok war. Captured Maretta a around 2366, first attempt at Gion fell short (3 pop left), but I think the 2nd try will succeed.
2407: Nope, needed 3rd try with some bombing ability to counter shapeshifter missile bases. Managed to negotiate peace with the Meklars, but Darloks didn't want one. Shapeshifters' death fleet with a dozen large ships & a couple of huges occupied Gion's orbit several years, until we had enough of small popgun fighters (old spd 1 ones and newer spd 2 types) to expunge the fleet. Just in time to annihilate 39 Darlok ground troops coming to capture the planet. Got Iproved Robotic Controls III & Reduced Waste 80% in the meantime along with Terraforming +10, time to upgrade my planets. Also got some missile bases built on Maretta and Berel.
2409: Had colonised Proxima (Tundra 35) earlier, was going to take Herculis (Barren 10) too, but the Sakkras seem to have other ideas... (pic). Sakkras seem to have at least Inferno Landings, since they have colonised the Inferno planet Galos on our border. Hope our trading with them keeps them from attacking us.
2410: A surprise vote, robots vote for me, brains abstain, all others team up with the lizard emperor.
2412: I really hope that the Meklar fleet isn't coming to probe our defenses at Berel...
2413: Well, it was, ad the ships were lame. One huge escaped our missiles. And then the crazy 'bots declare war...
2425: Vote, in essence a duplicate of the previous one, only 'bots & cloaks switched sides. We could cast 8 votes.
2454: Nothing really happened in the Meklar war. Once I was ready to launch an attack, Darloks declared war & robots wanted peace, so I took Mobas, a Minimal Rich planet from the shapeshifters and made peace with the Meklar. 2450 votes went also abstain way. Got Soil Enrichment, traded it with Meklars for Zortium Armor & Brains for Battle suits, + IIT7 for Reduced Waste 60%.
2455: Yay, got Fusion Beam at 8% !
2457: The Great Maker giveth, the Great Maker taketh away – nasty virus strikes our research for 14277 RPs.
2478: Another vote came, managed to stall the runaway Sakkra. Bulrathis & Psilons declared war, Sakkras glassed Nazin so lost contact with the brains. Teddy missile bases obliterated my bombers. Meklar probing attack destroyed my laser fighters & gunships, they could do nothing to my missile bases. Teddies wanted peace, I accepted as they had become allies with the lizards. Scored a couple of good tech trades with robots, teddies & lizards, netting us Class V Planetary Shield, Reduced Waste 40 % & Controlled Toxic Environment + Class IV ECM & Battle Computers, costing Bio Toxin Antidote & Reduced Waste 60% & Range 7.
2515: Survived another vote. Got half a dozen Huge autorepair Heavy Fusion Beam / Anti-Matter Bomb dreadnoughts built, captured Ursa from the crazy teddies who declared war again, this time not being allied with the lizards. Darloks wanted peace, I agreed. Darloks declared war, going to capture another Minimal Rich planet from them. Abysmal Planetology tech tree, researching Advanced Soil Enrichment – no Terraforming after T+20 up to this point seen.
2529: Captured a Rich planet from Darloks & Ultra Rich from Psilons. Found BC 6 in the process. Vote wasn’t so tight this time.
2532: Sakkra Death Fleet probed my defenses, they just barely held. Threatening did not turn the fleet away. May have to deal with the lizards rather sooner than later… L
2536: Mobas lost to Sakkra Death Fleet.
2565: Lots of angst and cold war action, until Meklars declared war. Before that another null-vote. Captured Vulcan from Meklars. Sakkra Death Fleet is really scary: speed 5, half of the ships are equipped with Ion Stream Projectors and the rest with Doom Viruses and Bio Terminators. A hundred Hercular Missile bases behind Class X Planetary Shield & Class VII Shields managed to save my planet, but not in very good health. Things are starting to look grim.
2570: And now the lizards decide to destroy us.
2575: Just enough votes to block Sakkra victory 21 vs 41 ... :o
2582: What a joyous year: after several years of practise, Mrrshan fleet destroys the Sakkra homeworld! :D
2623: Lots and lots of glassing, and every single time the lizards at the receiving end :D! Sakkra Empire is no more. Took couple of their planets to get some techs, like Terraform +100 - looks like our Planetology tech tree had only T+10 & T+20 (and of course the mandatory T+120 at the end of the tree)!
2624/25: Yeeeah! Resounding Conquest Victory: the Mrrshan Independent Colonies have 34 out of 45 votes at their disposal, and so Miamar aka RBO-37 becomes the new Emperor of the Galaxy.
Score sheet
Played the game (extreme variant) & posted a report: yes +50
Votes in 2425 election: 8 +8
Planets lost to invasion: 0 +/-0
Planets lost to bombardment: 1 -10
Times we threatened AI Leaders: 1 -10
Lose / Win: Conquest Win 2624/25 +50
Total points: 88
2624 save attached
... and keep it under Lightspeed!
