Ghouls won me an impossible game alone, I found a djinn node early, grabbed it with maybe 5-6 ghouls. When coupled with your focus magic they make an impressive unit, but without it too - more powerful than wraiths at their cost imho. Then I proceeded to fly around and get each neutral city, converting the garrisons to undead.

I've been thinking about how to fix it but... I have a feeling that creating undead on ranged is just too strong. In the original I still remember the amazement on that game, 20 years ago, when I discovered that an undead djinn had access to the entire death spell list! Now it makes it just too easy, with 2 books you have ensured every combat spell costing 40 (50 with focus) or less as long as you encounter some casting unit.

A related question.. Should undead troops really reduce uprising? IMHO they should do quite the contrary - police eating brains - but if that's too harsh, at least not be considered for unrest, like fantastic units do (do they still in Caster?).

I read in the strategy guide that a warp dissipator has a 50% chance of reducing a ship's speed by 1. Does this mean that

• The firing stack has a 50% chance to reduce the targets speed by 1?
  
• Or, for each ship in the firing stack, there is a 50% chance to reduce the speed by 1?
  

Official results for Imperium 42: Life, the Universe, and Everything!

Victories:

DaveV: Defeated the Guardian in 2577!

Ianus: Defeated the Guardian in 2530 and 2531!

shallow_thought: Defeated the Guardian in 2556!

Sullla: Defeated the Guardian in the early 2540s!


Losses and incomplete games:

RefSteel: Ran out of time around 2445.

RFS-81: Defeated in the first High Council vote in 2410.

Zygot: Defeated in the first High Council vote in 2370.


Shadow games:

thrawn: Defeated the Guardian after virtually winning by extermination and completing the tech tree.

RefSteel: Defeated the Guardian in 2496, but not until after reporting day had passed.


Special Awards:

(Note: Although Thrawn was the sponsor and therefore technically playing a "shadow" game, I'm including his results for the silly awards I made up, partly because of his careful effort to keep himself unspoiled even when editing the map, partly because there weren't a lot of reported dates for the smaller awards, and partly because these awards were mostly just meant to be silly.)

Arthur Dent: Thrawn, for having his Jinga colony glassed in 2409!

Ford Prefect: RefSteel, for fully exploring the galaxy (including Magrathea, thanks to Advanced Scanners) in 2441!

Slartibartfast: RefSteel, for completing Tundra Drakka's first terraforming project in 2364!

Trillian: Thrawn, for leading the galaxy in Tech while - very briefly - being the only leader not at war with anybody, in 2410!

Zaphod Beeblebrox: Thrawn, for winning the Council vote and then deliberately triggering Final War anyway, in 2412!

And most importantly:

The Heart of Gold: Ianus, with every single vote apart from his own, for the Improbability Drive and clever planning that enabled him to defeat the Guardian twice, on consecutive years, earning him Ultimate Accolades for Ultimate Style in the Ultimate Defeat of the Guardian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a placeholder for when I finally finish.  Sadly I don't think I will be done by Monday.  Tomorrows pretty much booked, and I don't have enough time to finish tonight.

Civ6 is suffering for me because of Civ5.  Civ1 to Civ4 were my primary game, with anything else a filler.  Civ5 killed my interest, and I found a ton of other stuff to do.

Civ6 is interesting, but I am hit with 2 problems:
1 - to many other games competing for time.
2 - to far behind the learning curve.  I can't comprehend how people find zero challenge in the game except vs other humans.  I still struggle to beat the AI.

My strategy is as per my impossible strategy:

Barbarians

4 Life (Endurance for warships and defense, Heavenly Light for power, Heroism for heroes)
2 Death (Wraithform for warships)
1 Chaos (omniscient + hopefully flame blade, which is amazing for barbarians)

Note that 4 life is because life very rare are fantastic, and every spell can be funneled into more and better bezerkers, unlike other realms, who would split some of their spells with summons that would compete with bezerkers instead.

Warlord (bezerkers)
Alchemy (bezerkers, but more importantly, amazing economy)
Astrologer (if the game lasts long enough, this is the highest increase to your power in the game. But, still my weakest pick.)
Omniscient - life gives gold which turns into mana. death gives production (so so good, and this is why we go for wraithform instead of water walking). chaos is more power.

My plan: Get 9 cavalry to get things going. Then get 2 barbarian cities, at least one that can make warships.  Then nonstop pump out bezerkers (with war college and warlord they start as Elite, and they just win). conquer lairs and nodes as fast as possible. raze enemy cities until they can't fight back, and then conquer the remaining cities. Do everything as fast as possible.

In the early nineties, a project started in the heart of the cold war finally came to maturity. Some said that the core components came from a crashed alien ship; some said that they had travelled back in time. Still others said that they had been fused by mysterious chance out of the tortured earth at the site of the Trinity bomb blast. Whatever the truth, the holographically recursive autonomic war nexus was on the verge of full wakefulness, it's purpose to drive back the enemy by whatever means it's fiendish intelligence could devise.

The problem was that the cold war was over. The enemy were now friends. In the absence of another aim, what would the nexus do? It could not be turned off, destroyed or stopped. But perhaps it could diverted. It was terrifying and ruthless, but not actually malicious. The developers put their faith in the best that human culture could provide. Being from a particular cultural background, they naturally believed that this was science fiction and computer games, preferably combined.

Strangely, the diversion was a success. By happy chance, the software industry forged a true masterpiece that fascinated the nexus -  Master of Orion. The world was saved, for the moment. The developers were sure that more, equally brilliant, games would be produced over the years to come.

Sadly, that was not the case. To prevent potential disaster, a few hardy souls sought out a niche, a community, where MOO could be kept alive, new challenges designed, new players recruited for the nexus to train to keep it busy. Still the effort continues, for if it should falter - the world would be a changed place.


So, more MOO then, now that Imp 42 is over? I thought I'd open a thread to discuss some ideas and drop a few in to get the ball rolling. I had a quick scan through the more recent Imperia and OSGs to try to avoid re-inventing the wheel, but I fully expect the vets will have seen this all before.

Personally, I'm probably more up for an OSG than another Imperium straight away. I also think that ideas have to be a bit more special than anything I'm likely to come up with to justify an Imp. Either way, I note that it's difficult to get a single game accessible to recent jumpers to Impossible while challenging the more experienced, but nothing ventured...

Alone, and without a leader
---------------------------
Vanilla, aimed at any of the "newbies" who want to try an OSG without the safety net of more experience players; could be done an Imp with someone easier than the cats. Idea is to get comments and - if necessary - advice, but to have to actually do all the hard work (rather than just handing the whole mess off to Ianus  to fix ).
Klackons are an obvious strong choice given that Psilons and Humans have been played recently. Meklar are an option for more of a challenge; Sakkra or Alkari could work if people really want one or the other.

No key to the toy cupboard
--------------------------
Ship specials other than the Battle Scanner Reserve Fuel tanks and Bases are banned.
Could work with any race (probably one from the same set as above). I've become addicted to Repulsor Beams and Warp Dissipators, and the way they let you beat the AI with far smaller fleets. So much so, that I'm worried I can't cope without them.



The ideas below are loosely inspired by OSG-29: take a race, and nerf its speciality. The risk is that it becomes flavourless, or a drudge because good, clever play is banned. I've tried to think of one thing per race, even if it's not very good - perhaps other people can think of better. Because of OSG-29 I've not considered the Humans, and I couldn't think of a thematic way to nerf Klackons.

Single-minded Psilons
---------------------
Can only research one tech field at a time; in an OSG, allow each player to switch a previous player's choice if they want, leaving one click in it, once in a turn set.
Bit dull, we've played the brains recently.

Environmentally friendly cyborgs
--------------------------------
Have to restrict the number of factories until the a degree of Reduced Industrial Waste tech is reached. Tuneable - suggest limited to 3x pop util RIW80 is researched, 4x until RIW 60, 5 until RIW 40 etc. Waste Elimination removes all restrictions.
A bit meh, also a pain to (self) police.

Environmentally inept lizards
-----------------------------
Easy version: can never use the slider to explicitly grow pop (can only set it at most one above waste / t-form / etc.).
Hard version: can never use the eco slider (must always be set at most one click above waste) - no terraforming, no soil, no atmo (beyond a trickle).

Probably tedious to self-police. Easy version doesn't really add much constraint. Hard version sounds... difficult.

Flightless birds
----------------
(Hey, the Alkari could come from a long line of Dodos.)
No tactical speed above one allowed on ships.
Repeats a constraint already used in (comparatively) recent OSG-27, albeit that was with the rocks.

Polite rocks
------------
Can only colonise a planet once at least one other race has the relevant tech.
There's some technical rule twiddling required to cope with an absence of Controlled Radiated (probably allow once someone has researched the next level) - and with what counts as "proof" given that some colonies can appear Radiated because of events.
Might actually be an interesting challenge, but the rocks have been played recently and personally I need to go and practice with them before juggling them in public.

Territorial bears
-----------------
Can only invade a world that you once colonised.
This could be ... tricky. Keeping up with tech as Bulrathi without going on a rampage? Also, might not actually be fun.

Honourable Darloks
------------------------
Can only actively spy on a race you are at war with; cannot deliberately trigger a war without a Causus Belli.
Some technical twiddling required around edge cases / what counts as a Causus Belli - for example, they've invaded a planet of yours counts as being "at war" so long as you are actively working to get it back (or taking other direct military action).
I quite like this one, but have a nasty feeling its been done before. Also, potentially dull if no-one declares war on you (but you are the Darloks, so...).

Cocky cats
-------------
Not allowed to put battle computers on ships; who needs them when you've got reflexes this good?
Extended to say you can only research them if they're the only choice at that tier, and may not trade for them (although why would you want to?).
Bit flavourless, and people have probably had enough of the kitties by now.

Anyway, thought I'd see what people felt about even more MOO.

Guild wars has been a game on maintenance mode for the past five years. With the september 2012 update and the release of GW2, ArenaNet pulled the proverbial plug from the update team, and all upcoming balance updates were put on indefinite hold. This is sad since the game's balance is far from finished, with professions like the necromancer barely seeing the light of day aside from using ritualist healing skills fueled by their soul reaping primary attribute, or the paragon who is all-but-obsolete thanks to Soul Twisting ritualist abundance and the ease with which dagger spammers can spam save yourselves, or how mediocre the warrior is compared to the assassin and the dervish. Or any damage casters compared to mesmers.

In these five years, the most effective tactics (Mesmer damage, Dagger spam, ST rit, N/Rt healers) have been discovered, and nowadays not only there are very few builds in the "meta", but even the different ones look the same: Aside from 1-2 optional skills, there is exactly one Illusion magic bar, one domination magic bar, one dagger spam bar, one ST, SoS, or SoGM bar, etc. I think it goes without saying that this leads to a very same-y gameplay, and one that isn't much fun in a game that's got hundreds of skills for a reason. Furthermore, most tactics involve exploiting the AI in some fashion, or exploiting game balance loopholes that were left in with the unfinished state of the game. Be it through the way AI doesn't react to Mistrust and Panic, or how they attack themselves to death with Ineptitude, or how dagger spam carries enough +damage effects from other buffs AND generates so much adrenaline that makes it superior to every other martial weapon, or even every other dagger skill combo.

In light of this, I propose the variant known as the Honorable Code.

There is one rule: Don't exploit the game.

To clarify:
Don't exploit the skill imbalances.
Don't exploit the AI with your build.

There. Now that the game breaking stuff is off the platter, you'll find that you have a LOT more options in tackling the game's challenges.

List of exploits, or forbidden tactics:
-Dagger spam: Using Jagged Strike, Fox Fangs, Wild Strike, and Death Blossom in your build. You can have only ONE of these. Two or more (ex: Jagged-Fox, Jagged-DB, Fox-DB) are exploitative and are forbidden.
-Mesmer Power: The following mesmer skills are banned from the Honorable Code: Energy Surge, Mistrust, Panic, Visions of Regret, Empathy, Wandering Eye, and Ineptitude.
-PvE skills: Your bar may not include any PvE only skills. Exceptions may be made for certain classes (E.g. Warriors may be allowed to use Whirlwind attack OR I am Unstoppable, while Necromancers can make good use of Necrosis.) to allow ONE pve skill from a limited set for that class.
-SoS, SoGM, Soul Twisting: these skills are expressly forbidden from the Honorable Code.
-Hundred Blades and Vow of Strength are forbidden in any teams that use Mark of Pain or Barbs.
-Splinter Weapon is expressly forbidden above Channeling Magic of 9 or higher, after rune bonuses have been applied.
-Vow of Silence, Shadow Form and Spell Breaker are dishonorable, and as such forbidden.

Other restrictions:
-Elementalists with Ether Renewal may not include any other enchantments on their skill bar.

Build
Gnolls
2x Life (Holy Armor)
2x Death (Cloak of Fear)
1x Chaos
3x Nature (Resist Elements, Water Walking)
Warlord
Tactician
Omniscient

Reasoning
This build is exceptionally good at taking neutral cities early on. Wolf Riders with Water Walking can explore the entire map in no time, and they're capable of taking out many neutral cities unaided. To complement them, I've chosen cheap spells:
Cloak of Fear renders many enemy units completely useless. I've taken out a full complement of wolf riders and gnoll halberdiers with just 2 wolf riders enchanted with Holy Armor and Cloak of Fear. They had 5 resistance and did 80% less damage to me, that's crazy.
Holy Armor supplements Cloak of Fear nicely. It's a very cheap spell with no upkeep, taking my early wolf riders to an impressive 6 defense.
Resist Elements counters enemy shamans perfectly. Without this, 4-5 shamans are often able to take out a unit of wolf riders (especially those pesky Halfling shamans).
Water Walking is crucial for early exploration and conquest. I much prefer this over Earth Lore now, at least when I'm playing gnolls.
Gnolls are amazing out the gate. Wolf Riders are incredibly powerful for their cost and low building requirements, letting me field a strong force much earlier than all other races. Barbarian cavalry are also very decent, but are much more fragile and lack scouting and pathfinding. Other than wolf riders, gnolls are decent. I have access to all important mid-game buildings, and I can build Amp Towers for late game power. Basic gnoll units are also decent, gnoll spearmen are actually able to do damage. With Warlord and Tactician, they're 5/2 units out the gate.

Strategy
I'll be pushing heavily for neutral cities. With my retorts and spells, wolf riders can take out any neutral city with little trouble. I'm counting on this to give me a large economic edge early on, as well as access to additional races. Nomads and barbarians are a big scoop, giving me access to complementary 5 movers. One big downside of gnoll riders is that they can't take out sprites, horsebowmen and barbarian cavalry help with that.

Along with taking neutral cities I'll also be exploring massively. I plan on getting 4 wolf riders before moving on to other things, probably spearmen for unrest control. After taking out a handful of neutral cities I need to pick an AI early on to target for easy cities. This is where it gets tricky. Taking the cities is trivial, keeping them will tie up my forces. If I save one unit of wolf riders for each conquered city, I'll quickly run low and expose myself to sprite attacks. I will try to do so anyway, though. A handful of size 1 cities with sawmills will help tremendously. The main threat at this point is Confusion. All other common spells won't take me out, even Black Sleep can be survived if the enemy doesn't have ranged units.

I'll build a single gnoll settler to found a good production city: At least 50% production bonus, iron or coal, maybe mithril. I'll use my conquered neutral cities to settle resource sites, halflings are obviously best for this. I'll rush builder's halls in high pop sites, sawmills in high production sites.

I don't really have much of a mid-game strategy, other than what Nelphine mentioned. I'll be going for unit spam to overwhelm the AIs early on, hoping to finish off the first AI after stealing 4-5 cities and then quickly moving on to number 2. I've been doing a lot of early game practice lately, haven't really played that much to mid-game and beyond. This challenge should prove interesting! I fully expect to win all 3, but my confidence may turn out to be misplaced. I don't think I've even played with the latest build yet, these games will be played with it.

I really wanted to finish this one, but my schedule really didn't want me to, and it won. I'll try to post a report (and finish the game) as soon as I can, but in the meantime my partial game only (yet) qualified for two awards:

Ford Prefect: 2441
Slartibartfasst: 2364

More later....

My early game involved researching Range 4 and quickly settling the nearby habitable planets.  The Darloks got the "6 star systems" announcement in 2342.

I met the Meklars in 2351 when they settled Tao, the Ultra Poor world to my northeast.  They also had a strong 6 star system opening.  Because I expected poor relations and conflict with the rest of galaxy, I buddied up to the Meklars with a large trade agreement; 15 years later we signed a non-aggression pact.  I hoped to use them as a partner against my enemies, good for wartime distraction and a vote bloc in my favor.



In the period from 2357 to 2366 I met the Darloks and also the Sakkras, who pulled the old "let's declare war two turns after meeting you" maneuver.  I was getting concerned with the diplomatic situation and what I assumed was an imminent first Council meeting.

Sure enough, in 2370 the Meklars broke our non-agression pact, and the interturn continued to the Council with the Darloks and myself as the nominees.  The voting went like this:

Darloks voted for themselves - 5
Sakkra voted against me because of war - 2
Alkari were allied with the Darloks - 3
Meklar were allied with the Darloks - 4
Klackons abstained - 2



I had 5 votes, but it was 14/21 in favor of the Darloks.  What a bummer.  I hadn't met the Alkari or Klackons so I had no opportunity for diplomatic influence with them.  The Sakkra and Meklar votes were locked in with war and alliance, respectively.  And of course the Darloks voted for themselves.

In retrospect I could possibly have created a different Council result by persuading the Darloks or Meklars to break an alliance or declare war, and I should have at least tried that in the 2366-2370 period.  But I didn't, and frankly it was unlikely to happen anyway.  Too bad, I was excited for this game.

Here's my situation at the end, in 2370:











Thanks to thrawn and RefSteel for getting this going!