Opening Date: Monday, January 11, 2010
Duration: Four Weeks
Map Generation: Random (unedited except to turn off Derelict event)
Race:
Alkari
Difficulty: Hard
Galaxy Size: Medium
Opponents: Five
Color: White
Events: On, but the Derelict event has been turned off in the save
file.
Scenario:
The pride of the Alkari Star Force is legendary. Their officers are the
top combat pilots in the galaxy, flying circles around enemy star ships
and missiles alike. Some veterans (after a little too much fermented birdseed)
have even been known to claim they could outrun lasers in their youth
when they had their star fighters jury-rigged properly. With such a tradition
as this, what other protection do the Alkari need than their own pilots'
legendary abilities? The Alkari have no need for shield technology! (Just
don't let them get in the sights of a Mrrshan gunner!)
Variant Rules: You may not research any Force Field tech, period. Set the research slider to zero and lock it there. This is the third Imperium in which we've made a tech field off-limits (Planetology in Imperium 11 and Weapons in Imperium 20) so I'm going to mix things up a little this time: Though all races always start the game with Class I Shields, and these will automatically protect our planets (though not very well - even a basic laser can get through them!) we may never install a shield - even of Class I - on any of our ships! (Armor and auto-repair specials are acceptable, but veteran Alkari pilots will mock any cadet cowardly enough to fly around in anything more than a titanium eggshell.)
Also unlike previous closed-field variants, we're going to allow planetary invasions - with the caveat that you invade at your own (scoring) risk! If a world only has a couple factories on it, you can roll the dice and hope you don't draw a force field tech if you insist. It's still going to be a safer bet to raze and replace any colonies you want for yourself however. (Of course you can safely send invaders to put down a rebellion on one of your worlds, as no techs are ever looted in that circumstance.)
By a similar token, stealing technology via espionage is acceptable; if Force Fields is the only field available, you may hit the ESC key to avoid stealing any tech at all, or steal the tech and accept the scoring penalty - your choice.
"What if I get a Force Field tech from an Artifacts world or the derelict event?" You won't. If you do, it means I missed something glaring, so any score penalties you accrue will not count for your game, but be applied to my game (the sponsor's) instead!!!
Scoring: Acquiring Force Fields tech (by any means) does not mean an automatic loss, nor does it exile you to the land of the Shadow Report. Instead, you suffer a one point scoring penalty for each tech level gained in Force Fields. In other words, if you finish the game with tech level 10 in the field, your scoring penalty is 9 (since the game starts with Tech Level 1). Scores will be listed in order of least demerits, with ties listed in alphabetical order. There is no bonus for a quick or dominant victory.
Notes: This variant should not be as difficult on the face of it as the previous closed-field games. While it's certainly not a Gentle Imperium, neither is it extreme; for players just getting started with MoO (or just getting back to it and working the rust out of their systems) this should be a good opportunity to progress toward crazier variants and higher difficulties. Also, in the course of playtesting for other games, I've found that planetary defenses do not appear to update with shield tech you've acquired by espionage until you've at least opened the field for the first time. Thus, I believe it will not be possible to get ANY benefit from force field techs you acquire this way even if you DO get any - only scoring penalties.
Closing Date: Monday, February 8, 2010. Reports due by the end of Tuesday, February 9, your local time.
