Sponsor: Maniac Marshall
Opening Date: Monday, November 23, 2009
Duration: Six Weeks
Map Generation: Random (unedited)

Race: Darloks
Difficulty: Average
Galaxy Size: Large
Opponents: Five
Color: Green as the Grinch
Events: Player's Choice

Scenario:
All the AIs in MoO loved their tech leads a lot...
But old Mr. Grinch in his Hideout did NOT!

Have you ever felt just the slightest bit Grinchy? Ever sworn that if the supermarket plays that sappy soft-rock holiday song one more time, you'll drop your cart and storm out of the store? Ever wanted to scream when people insist on the equation, [Greed] + [Fulfillment Thereof] x [Fat Man in Thermal Underwear] = [JOY!]?

Oh, man, is this Imperium for you.

In the original story of the Grinch, the poor, deluded green guy has a change of heart at the end, and decides not to dump all the gifts off Mount Crumpit. (Presumably, upon hearing the Whos continue to make "NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!" without the gifts and so forth, he gave up and said, "If you can't beat 'em...") If you want, you can play it that way, spreading peace and love when the 2500 Jubilee rolls around as the now-traditional MoO representation of The Holidays. We've left that option open.

Or you could just steal them all blind and genocide them with their own toys!

Variant Rules: Rules? The Grinch doesn't play by the RULES!

Scoring: This event has custom scoring. SCORING IS OPTIONAL. You are not required to track your scoring if you prefer not to do so. If you want to be scored, just make note of the techs you steal in the first two centuries of the game: You score one point for each tech stolen by 2500. Then, if you wind up winning the game, double you total score.

Tie-breaker: Ties are broken in favor of the highest-level tech stolen by the player before 2500 (thus, if two players end with the same score, but the "best" tech steal the first one managed was Advanced Space Scanner, while the second's "best" steal was High Energy Focus, the second player would win the tiebreaker).

Notes: With our American players facing Thanksgiving later this week, and the main relative-intensive, time-devouring Holiday Season starting to descend upon us all (with Finals on top of everything else for those attending school) we're going to open this one up for six weeks, to give everyone time to fit it in, even in a Large galaxy, in such time as can be snatched between Grinch-carved helpings of Roast Beast. If it turns out that several people have more time over this period than we expect, we can always open up a quick side-challenge too....

In the meantime, take your time, and enjoy our second annual Holiday Imperium!

Closing Date: Monday, January 4, 2009. Reports due by the end of Tuesday, January 5, your local time. Remember that if you won't be able to submit a report on these days, you can always send a report to RefSteel in advance and ask that it be posted for you at the proper time.

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