Shadow Game. My goal will be a 5 planet Extermination Victory, using knowledge from the last game. I plan to colonize Vulcan, Phantos, Quayle and Iranha. I plan to be friendly to everyone all game until I hit unlimited range, or unless I need to start a war to not be beat by a vote. I scrap the scouts on the very first turn, as I already know where everything is. Send 15 population to Vulcan. Once Vulcan hits half, I will trickle troops down to Homeworld.
2311 Design a LR Laser and pump 1 a turn from Homeworld. I am going to build 6.
2321 Scare a Human Scout away from Nitzer.
2322 Start 20 BCs on tech with 100% in propulsion. Homeworld has 99 pop, 126 factories.
2329 Max factories at Homeworld. Start on a colony ship, move research to Vulcan. Once Colony Ship is done, will move research back to Homeworld and still pump out my last 2 colony ships.
2337 Colonize Phantos. Range5 is at 4% so I send 40 pop over from Vulcan and go full research. Range5 is now at 9%
2340 Get Range5. Go for Nukes. Change spending to 3 clicks in every field except Construction/Planetology that are split even at 40 something %
2341 Go for Scanner, II9, Eco, and Hyper V and of course my only options in fields was level2.
2344 Colonize Quayle. Send 35 (max) from Vulcan.
2347 Meet 4PE Psilons, no alliances or wars. Start Trade at max 75 BC. Colonize Iranha.
2348 Get IIT9 at 17%, go back for RIW80. Send 12 million from Phantos to Iranha.
2350 Psilons declare War. I start pumping basic lasers (new design) from Vulcan with level 1 shields. I can build 4 a turn.

2351 Planetology hits at 10%. I have been doing well on dice rolls this game. Psilons hit 6 planet benchmark. I go for +20 pop next. Increase computer spending by 6 clicks 3 from construction/Planetology as my research increased. Vulcan now builds 6 lasers a turn.
2353 Psilon Colony Ship retreats from Iranha. I have 17 lasers inbound to Iranha. They have a colony ship and a Large design coming. I can’t beat it. They bomb and destroy a factory.
2356 Get Scanner. Go for IRC3
2357 Psilons transports invade. 20 against my 21. They have hand lasers. I have the defensive bonus. I win by 1. Whew!
2358 I see 33 transports inbound from their Homeworld. I send 24 from Phantos to support. I hope to have air supremacy over Iranha by then as well.
2359 Hit ForceFields/Weapons at 7% and 15% respectively. Construction is at 16% and hasn’t hit yet. I go for Gropo and Fusion Bomb

2360 My 15 Lasers and 1 LR Laser beats their Large design, losing 6 lasers.
2361 Hit RIW80 at 29%. Go for 8BC Factories. Hmmm, my 10 ships probably won’t stop them…should be another even fight. I send max pop from Phantos over (25 million)
2362 26 Psilons get through and win by 6. It wasn’t even, they have a deflector shield.
2364 I hit Pop+20, Go for Cheaper Inferno. I scout Antares. Hmm I made a mistake in my plan this game. This should have been one of my 5 colonies. They Psilons had it so fast in the other game I didn’t even try. Maybe I should let them keep Iranha and go for it? The problem with this is Iranha can hit any of my colonies…while otherwise they must go through their for now…and I have 25 million troops inbound. which I would have to write off. Antares is double the size of Iranha, and with only 5 worlds I will need every edge I can get. I decide to “lose” Iranha and colonize Antares. I start a colony ship and remove my forces from Iranha. Wow, not choosing Antares at beginning was a HUGE mistake!

2365 I win by 7, they have 11 inbound. I’m going to let them take it.
2370 Human’s send an armed colony ship to Nitzer and take it.
2372 Psilons take it with 6 left over. I ask for Peace. They decline. I remember I have contact with the Humans and start minimum trade. They are a 4PE. Psilons are up to 8.
2374 Psilon armed colony ship beats my forces and they colonize Antares. I send max pop from Quayle. 52 million. My tech output just doubled, I changed ratios to prioritize computers/construction/Planetology.
2375 Scrap my colony ship. That was a waste.
2376 52 vs. 3. I lose 5 and take my 5th planet. Put all my reserve spending into this planet every turn. I have 3 fields in the 10% range. I move spending to bases on Phantos/Quayle

2380 Computers hit at 19%
2381 IIT8 (20% I think) I go for RIW60. We have the vote. It is me vs. Sakkra. They get every vote except me and Human. Whew 14/22. Psilon transports are destroyed trying to invade Antares. I dial them up and we get peace and 50 BC trade. I put a click each into spying on them.
2384 Get Warp2 at 19%, go for Warp3.
2386 Fusion bombs hit at 4%, go for Ion Rifle. While it had been at 1% to 4% for like 5 turns, I was surprised it hit so low. J
2387 Vulcan maxes out at 100 pop 300 factories. ForceFields are at 3%, Planetology 1%. I hope I stay lucky and hit Planetology soon as I want Gaia’s ASAP.
2388 Antares becomes fertile. I wish it became rich, but it’s better than a bad event.
2389 Homeworld Maxes out at 120 pop, 360 factories.
2391 Psilons are at war with the Sakkra and Bears and are allied with the Darloks. This should hopefully prevent me from losing the vote. I now have 1 base at every world and all my fighters are at Firma/Esper preventing them from being colonized. Psilons are a 9PE and Humans are a 7PE.

2392 Phantos maxes out, Quayle will next turn.
2393 I get forcefields at 14% Go for sheilds4.
2394 I get toxic at 17%, go for soil enrichment.
2396 GNN Production report comes in. Me/Sakkra/Psilon/Darlok/Bears/Human.
2398 Get a hit in computers at 18%, go for IRC4.
2399 Trade is now profitable, I dial up Humans and switch to 225 BC. The Vote occurs. Humans abstain. Darloks vote for Sakkra. Everyone else votes for me! 15-10. As this is extermination victory only. I need to make sure I don’t win the vote and cause final war!!! War with the Psilons should do the trick. Humans are at war with Psilons/Bears. Psilon is allied with Bears and at war with everyone but me and the bears.

2401 get RIW60, go for IIT6.
2404 Weapons hit at 10%, go for Hard Beam.
2408 All worlds are maxed. I start on slow bases and mostly tech.
2412 Get Soil enrichment at 9% Go for Advan Eco Res.
2413 Get warp3 at 8%. Go for range8.
2416 Get IRC4, go for Better scanner.
2418 Get Shields at 6%, go for Repulser Beam.
2424 Vote. Same result as last time. 17-11
2426 I get IIT6 (someone in the high teens or 20% range) Go for RIW40.
1st world maxes out again.

2427 Hit Weapons at 2%. Go for Ion Stream Projector.
2429 Up my trade agreement with the Psilons to 350. They can do 450.
2432 Psilon get a Plague at Uxmai. Better them than me.
2433 Psilons attack me at Firma. I retreat my obsolete design ships. I scrap them next turn.

2434 My last planet maxes out. Darloks are attacking Psilons at Firma and have inbound transports to Mu Delphi. Will be there in a couple turns. Psilons are sending a colony ship to Esper. I design a Medium hard beam ship and can make 5 from my Homeworld. Will send to intercept.
2435 Get Advanced Space Scanner at 8%. Go for ECM Jammer6.
2436 I meet the Darloks when they take Mu Delphi. They will probably lose it, so I don’t start trade. They are a 5 PE.
2439 Defend Esper with no losses. Start a click on spying on both Human/Psilon. Time to start stealing tech.
2440 Get Advan Eco at 14%. Go for Advan Eco Enrichment. Quayle goes RICH. HAHAHA I’m so lucky.

2442 Get Repulser Beam at 17%. Go for Gropo.
2445 Destroy another colony ship at Esper.
2446 Get RIW4 at 2% Go for IIT4
2447 Darloks declare war. I design a medium fusion bomber design that can carry 4 bombs. My rich planet can build 14 this turn. Time to bomb Mu Delphi out of existence.
2448 haha Mu Delphi is 6 parsecs away. I have to wait for range8 to pop. It’s at 9%
2449 I hit it. Go for range9. Send my bombers and some hard beams to Mu Delphi. Increase trade with Humans to 475. Darloks have a huge fleet going to Mu Delphi. But I will beat them there by 1 turn.
2450 VOTE- If I vote for myself, we go to final war as my 7 votes puts me over the 2/3rd mark. Everyone voted for me except the Sakkra/Darloks. Not good. I vote for myself per the variant and we go to FINAL WAR. The following summary is not all-inclusive. Due to the sheer amount of time it took to play the rest, I left a lot of inconsequential information out.

2450-2485 I start building a small fusion bomb design and pump 100 a turn from my rich planet. I bomb everywhere I can, including the Psilon Homeworld. Anytime a sector is empty I send in my bombers. I put 4.4% to spying. I hit Weapons and go for Pulson Missiles and Computers and go for hyperspace communications. I hit construction and go for tri armor. I hit Planetology and go for pop+60. I get a comet at Antares and destroy it. I steal computer techs 4x from human/Psilons. My fusion design is doing almost no damage to planets now. 1000 ships does about 100-150 damage a hit. I need a better bomb. They never once send any ships to my planets. I have 3-8 bases on each planet, so nothing excessive. And I think only HyperV’s are on them!! On a side note the AI have been sabotaging me almost every turn, so start to max defensive spending every 4 turns to clear the nest out. While I don’t mind them getting a couple factories or bases here or there, I am afraid of a revolt.

2487 I get Pulson Missiles and go back for Omega-V. Design a medium Pulson ship and build 17 a turn from my rich planet.
2489 Hit computer theft again. My Pulson ships own everything. Except this huge model they have, but with enough #’s I will own it as well.
2490-2506 Get Hyperspace Communication and go jammer8. Get range9 and go warp6. My pulson design is destroying every fleet I encounter. Currently all stars in range are void of life except 5 colonies which will fall in the next 20 years.

2507 Get a hit in Planetology. Go for pop+80.
2509 I hit weapons and go for Plasma Cannon. I lose contact with Bears. I meet a new design which wipes out half my pulson missiles. Once I get warp6 I’m building a new design.
2511 I have contact with everyone; I adjust spying to 10%
2517 Go advanced damage control when construction hits.
2520 The enemy’s ships are getting bigger and more of them are coming. I’m still running around bombing everything I can. SOL is untouchable right now, 31 bases.

2524 Get warp6, go for high-energy focus. Build a medium design omega V bomber that has 3 bombs on it. I can build 23 a turn from my rich planet.
2530 Sakkra have a force of almost 300 Large Design ships with warp4. It’s not looking good for me.
2531 Phantos becomes poor. Design a medium design 1 pulson warp6 boat. Switch production from my rich planet.
2539 The Sakkra are just too strong. They have several HUGE design ships and about 1000 LARGE design ships that move at warp3. I switch to pure bombers and start building 2 bases a turn everywhere.
2550 Weapons hit, go for Disruptor.
2550 Propulsion hits. Go for Sub Space Transporter.
Note: I have been stealing obsolete tech’s around 1 every 2 years, focusing on computers followed by weapons/construction allowing the below:

2552 I check and I can fit an omega bomb on a small design. I can build over 100 a turn from my rich planet. Once I get about a stack of 500, I suicide a planet and repeat.
2569 Hit Computers, go IRC7
2579 Hit Propulsion go for warp8, design a bomber that can teleport around the screen.
2587 First force in hundreds of years is coming for my rich planet. I max defensive spending on this planet. I have 93 bases in 2 turns. This is the only force that ever comes to my planets again, probably because I have 90 bases at every planet in a couple years.
2593 Weapons hits. I go scatter pack X. When that comes in, I will design a HUGE boat with a ton of those.
2618 Get Warp8, go Nullifier. Build a New Huge Design with 34 disruptors. Warp8, Mark9 computers, 8 Neutronium bombs, high-energy focus/Repulser beam and Automated Repair. This will be a high damage ship that will take some losses. I’m sick of my HUGE design that never dies except to their monster stacks, but doesn’t do much damage either.

2627, Its been that whenever I bomb a world and move on, they recolonize it the next turn. With my new unstoppable HUGE Design, I wipe out all established colonies I had a problem before with. I currently have 1000 bombers and 4 HUGE ships. Their huge stack of 1000 LARGE’s seem to have disappeared, though Humans have a stack of 23 HUGE design. I really need to get that Unlimited Range Tech I have been waiting since 2450 (how long I’ve been in final war) for. I have been averaging 100 million kills a turn from bombing. 1 turn I killed about 500 million. Over the past 175 years that is billions I have butchered. I get IRC7, go Mark11. I am building a huge design every 2 or 3 years, and losing 1 about every 2 or 3 years. Still have my 1000 bombers.
2656 I get weapons, go for Mauler. Space Crystal enters the world at the center/top. I design 2 ships. A HUGE design carrying 20 scatter pack missiles, and a medium design carrying 1. I alternate building both from my rich world.
2657 Hit Propulsion, go for warp9.
2658 AI has a ship with a black hole on it. Don’t know how it works, but my HUGE stack of 4 ships loses 3 ships with 1 hit.
2662 Construction pops. I go for Neutronium Armor.
2663 Space Crystal kills everyone on Guradas.
2664 My missile boats are not doing as well as I thought they would, turns out they have missile defense 12. I design a small ship carrying 1 particle beam and a teleporter. Build about 90 a turn from my rich planet. Steal Andrium armor from bears. I thought it was better than my current type. Oh well.
2665 Shields hit, go for class 13.
2666 Computers hit, go back for my last ECJ.
2670 Sakkra destroy the Space Crystal.
2673 I destroy the Guardian at Orion. He doesn’t even get a turn. My 700 particle beam ships destroy him with 1 shot. This gives me the miniaturization to build a small design with 2 Neutronium Bombs on it and a mark5 computer and a teleporter. I’m not sure if it’s better to have a mark11 with 1 bomb, or a mark5 with 2 bombs. So I go for the 2 bombs. A lot in the past 200 years have been me experimenting with different designs. I also design a huge deathray/torpedo ship with lightning shield. I find out later it is worthless.

2674 Sakkra have a design with 32,000 ships. Not good. I’m not sure how they have it, as they have the biggest economy with 12 planets, why would this happen? Ugg I scan it and it has 1 merc missile on it, so I will just have to avoid it.
2678 Steal Tech Nullifier from Humans.
2679 Steal Stargate from Sakkra.
2691 Darlok takes one of the worlds I regularly shell. They have been absent for almost 100 years. They have 10,000 ships spread through 3 designs parked over Talas. A rich world. Me? I got about 2000 ships. 700 of them are packing 2 Omega Vs.
2693 Hit Warp9, go for Range10 Attack the Darlok world with my Omega design and all their ships run. Hahaha
2696 Contact lost with all races but the bears. This isn’t good; I still need to steal 8 techs, black hole being priority as I might need it to fight the computers 32,000 ships.

2702 Steal Black Hole generator. Now I know what it does. It’s overpowered! 25% to 100% of all ships destroyed –2% per shield class. So 3% to 78% with level 11 shields. My computer tech pops. I go advanced tech. My weapons pops, I go Neutron Stream Projector. Design a small neutron bomber with lightning shield/teleported. Start pumping them. I am really hoping that the AI have unlimited range tech in their tree. If not, I can’t win. I’ve had no ships at any of my bases and the AI has pretty much never sent an attack all game cause of my 90-100 missile bases.
2707 Hit Range10, go back to the start of the tech tree, 3 techs till future tech.
2708 Destroy Dunatus. 1110 factories haha. It was too far away until last year.
2715 Sakkra get 4100 merchant event. Earlier, many events hit the computer or me and we cleaned them up or destroyed them. I didn’t bother mentioning them all.
2720 The Darloks –937 spiders becomes 32000 when I attack the stack.
2724 I’m getting tired of bombing the same worlds over and over again. I park my ships at Orion after destroying any Darlok worlds (they are harder to spy against) and I don’t want contact with them.
2737 Get pop100, go for Complete Terraforming.
2740 Hit Propulsion; go for my last option before future tech. I’m getting worried that unlimited range isn’t owned by any of the AI’s. If so, this entire game was a waste. Lol
2746 Steal Stellar Converter. Hit Weapons; go for my last 2 choices. Build a huge stellar Converter.
2750 New Huge design owns a decent Bear Fleet. Sweet 300 anniversary present to me since final war began.

2753 Construction hits, I go for powered armor, my last choice.
2755 ForceFields hit, I go for my last option a personal shield.
2761 Steal Ionic Pulsar and Oracle Interface on the same turn lol. Human and Sakkra.
2763 Sakkra get derelict. I go for my last weapons option as Phaser hits.
2765 Steal Personal Barrier, start on Future tech in construction.
2767 Steal Stasis field.
2787 I steal whatever I was researching in ForceFields..Move to future tech.
2796 Propulsion hits. I go future tech.
2800 Weapons hit. I go future tech.
2805 Steal Advanced Computer Tech 1, go for 2.
2812 Space Amoeba.
2821 Sakkra destroy Amoeba.

2833 FINALLY. After hundreds and hundreds of years. I steal unlimited range from the humans; they have had it for 5 years or so. They currently have 2 Planetology techs on me and I have everything else. Now time to bomb every planet in existence. This should take me about another 100 years since I didn’t really believe the unlimited range option was available in this game. Since I have let them build up over the past 110 years, I now have every planet except Orion to bomb. I drop all tech spending and spying down to 1 click, and pump bombers from every planet. Small Design, 2 bombs, combat speed 7, cloak and lightning shield, inertia nullifier.
2837 Vulcan rebels. I had forgot to max defensive spending for about 10 years. Send max pop from 2 worlds.
2838 Psilons only have 3 planets. I send most of my bombers and half my fleet there. (Fleet consists of 2000 ships with 1 scatter pack and 10 HUGE design with Stellar) I take back Vulcan by 95 million. Grow pop at all 3 planets.
2846 GNN message. Psilons have been genocided. They repopulated different planets twice, which took me longer than I expected. The 5PE humans are next.
2851 GNN message. Humans have been genocided. The 3PE Darloks are next. I took some losses against the humans. My fleet consists of 2000 bombers and 1000 missile boats and 5 HUGE designs.
2854 GNN message. Darloks have been genocided. The 7PE Bears are next. They have 2 designs of 32000, while the Sakkra have 3 designs of 32000 ships. The Sakkra are an 11PE currently.
2860 The bottom half of the map is clear except for my 5 planets. Bears are down to 4PE and Sakkra down to 9PE. I switch production to Small missile boats as I have over 3000 bombers.
2863 GNN message. Bears have been genocided. Sakkra are up to 12 planets.
2868 Diplomatic victory turned down, Final War/Extermination Victory GG. My 5 planets win. I’m not sure if their stacks of 32,000 ships were in transit to other systems, but I never had to fight them at a planet I was glassing. Only took 35 years once I got unlimited range to destroy the galaxy. I was really worried that I wasted all my time and unlimited range wouldn’t be in anyone’s tree. Never played a game that went this long before. Have no desire to do it again. Lol

This would be my 4th MOO game in my life (counting Sirian’s tutorial). So far undefeated. Lets see how I do with the restrictions, which I have all followed anyways except for the scout rule. Guess I will build long-range lasers early this game. Map looks do-able, probably an AI to my West in the 2pair and in the north in any of the 3 yellows. My goal will not be score, but will be to win. It wasn’t until after this game I learned how the interest on tech really works. Lol. I don't have screenshots as I posted elsewhere, my computer doesn't allow me to paste a print screen from Moo. Also, when I try to upload my saved game, it says invalid file? help?
Sent colony north and scouts to the yellow west and North Green. Scouts will fan inward till they meet, that way I know what to protect with my LR Lasers 10-15 turns in.
2302 Settle Vulcan
2303 send pop to Vulcan. Scout a 100 Quayal and 80 Phantos. Sweet! This is way better than that hostile Darlok Imperium I just played. Send Scouts to Blue NE and Red SW (as in SW from my home planet)
Found Orion, this will take me twice as long to scout now…
Scout Primodius, head to the Yellow north of me.
2311 Home Planet can now build 1 LR Laser a turn and almost a factory. I will probably build 5 and hit what looks like the choke points, sending them in order to Quayal, 2 green stars in the NW and then N Yellow.
Scout Nitzer, no AI. Send him West
2316 send 3 million per turn every turn from colony back to home to max pop. Build a cheaper normal laser for Phantos
2321 LR Lasers make first contact with Human at Nitzer, they run. This would put them to the yellow in the north
2324 Homeworld maxes population. I have LR lasers at all worlds within range.
2327 max out factories. Start a colony ship

Go full tech once done. Choose Scanner/RIW80%/Eco enhancement and Hyper V. No choice on force fields or range 5. Put 50% in Propulsion and 25%/25% in Construction and Planetology.

2334 Build a Colony at Phantos. Transfer 35 million from Vulcan over.
2341 Psilon colony ship at Iranha vs. my LR LASER. He runs.
2342 Get range 5 at 23%, go for nukes. Start colony ships. Move research over to Vulcan.
Adjust tech to computers and more on construction/Planetology.
2346 Psilons own 6 star systems.
2350 4th colony at Quayal, meet the 6PE Psilons who are erratic technologists and are allied with the bears, Start trade at 100. They don’t want to trade any tech (not like I would have.) Send 19 million from Phantos over, 9 turns.

2353 hit RIW 80; go for factories that cost 8 BCs only.
2354 Build 5th colony at Iranha. Send 12 million from Phantos.
2357 Get warp2, go for warp3 design a speedier colony ship.
Bears have strongest fleet; I’m 4th, Psilons last.
2358 build my last colony ship…go full research. Which more than doubles my output so I switch tech spending to half propulsion and increase my Planetology/construction

2359 Colonize Primodius and Esper for 6th and 7th planets. Psilons get a 7th planet way up northwest.
I don’t get Nitzer…Humans brought a huge fleet (50 ships, 42 small, 7 medium and 1 armed colony ship) and colonized it, bringing me within range of their Pac/Tech 3PE empire. Start trade. I was going to fight them for this, but they are so small, I figure I will be warring against the psilons, so I am going to let them have it. Start trade and a NAP.
2369 Phantos maxes out…I go full research and lower my Planetology ratios to improve weapons/computers/force fields by 3 clicks.
2370 get hits in construction/Planetology; go for RIW60 and Controlled Dead.
2371 get Hyper V. Go for fusion bombs.
Humans get irradiated colony on their 2nd planet haha
2 years later they clear it up, while I hit force fields, went for the gropo instead of level 3 shields.
2375 get the scanner; go for 3 controls per pop
I put Vulcan on reserve spending once it max factories as it is filling up my other colonies and I don’t want to lose my interest on the fluctuations of tech. Put the money from reserve into newer colonies.

2382 Iranha maxes on factories, start it on bases.
Quayal maxes out the next turn and it starts on bases as well.
I put 1 click each into spying on Humans and Psilons.
2387 both Esper and Primodius max out.
2390 get controlled dead, start colony ship production…
Spy reports come in…its not good. Human have like 6 techs more than me in computers. Psilons have planetary shields already and 5 weapons I don’t have. Good news is neither is allied with anyone.
I can up my trade with Psilons to 350…I don’t since I will be attacking them soon and who knows if they will declare out of the blue.

2394 Learn Fusion Bombs, go for Ion Rifles.
2395 Colonize Firma and get warp3, go for range8
Construction and computers pop. Go for improve space scanner, and zort armor
2397 Colonize Mu Delphi and we have the vote. It’s me vs. the bears!!! Darloks vote for bears, everyone else abstains. I of course vote for myself.
Design a small warp 3 laser with 2 levels of shields and start pumping them from Phantos
2399 get force fields, go for class 4 shields.
Have another vote. This time the Psilons add their votes for the Bears…. nothing else changes. I check the report on Psilons and they are now allied with Darloks and bears.
2400 Colonize Romulas. Say hi to bears and start trade at 175.they are erratic expansionist with 7 planets
2402 Colonize Mobas. Meet the 4PE Darloks Xeno/Tech Start minimum trade with both them and the bears.
Production GNN report: Bears/Me/Psilon/Darlok/Sakkra/Human
40 small Sakkra ships attack me at Mobas I think. My Laser3 owns them with only 2 losses.
2408 Humans come asking for more trade. I say yes.175 now. Darloks declare war…I don’t even think they have the range to get to me…but I don’t want them pulling in the bears (they aren’t allied with Sakkra anymore) as they have all these Large/Huge ships running around my new colonies. I ask bears if they will break treaty with Darloks or declare war on them…no dice.
I get 1000 bucks from a merchant. SWEET!!!!!
I get toxic environ…. go for Soil Enrichment.
Bears come to me, I think to declare war, but they want 425 in trade. I say yes so hopefully they don’t declare war on me. I dial up Psilons and max trade for 475. I have new enemies, so they are off the hook for now.

2415 Get Zort Armor, go for RIW40
2416 Learn Ion rifle, go for fusion beams. See that the Bears are no longer allied with the Darloks. Ask them to help me out in the war but they want RIW60. I would give it to them, but I believe that is a counter-offer I cannot accept under the variant. Dial up Psilons and get a NAP. Dial up Darloks, I guess I mistook them for gullible fools because they still want war. Even though they can’t reach my colonies. I stop building the LASER3 ship and go reserve spending there to build my new colonies up.
2417 Darloks are allied with Human/Psilon/Bears. I ask all 3 to go to war with me, but only humans say yes.
2419 Psilons say yes to war with Darloks. They are already at war with Bears.
2422 I colonize Talas. Get the GNN 12 planet benchmark.
2424 Bears declare war against me.
2425 Everyone votes for the Psilons. Good thing I have a veto. Just barely by 2 votes.
I lose contact with the Darloks.
2427 I get soil enrichment, go for Advanced Soil Enrichment
2428 Mobas becomes poor. I hit scanner on computers, go for mark4 over 4 factories per person.
Spies have been destroying factories and bases almost every turn. Sigh. Adjust computer spending from construction. So far my 400 LASER3 fighters have discouraged all aggression. No one has attacked me once since that misunderstanding with the Sakkra.

2434, I get range8 go back for warp4. Make contact back with Darlok who instantly ask for peace. I agree. I meet Sakkra. 2 PE Agg/Exp. They refuse trade
2439 Talas and Mobas are my only colonies that haven’t maxed out. I hit computer 4, go for IRC4. Sakkra agree to trade 50 BC after asking every turn.
2441 I get fusion, go for ion stream. Psilon complain about my growth. Talas Maxes out. I pre-build Talas on a large design.
2448 Darloks complain about my size. They will be even madder as I am building colony ships now. Should have started 15 years ago when I got range 8. This would be my inexperience showing again.
2449 Get Repulser beam, go for Gropo shield.
2450, Vote, humans for me, everyone else for Psilons, I still have a veto. It looks like I lost the race to the top 2 north stars. The Humans have it. Just barely and I decide not to bomb my only friend. Bears ask for peace. I say ok. I get warp4, go for range9, I get computers, go for a better scanner, I get Planetology, go for Gaias. Design a 12 fusion beams, 1 fusion bomb with Repulser beam and scanner and best shields/speed/comps. Talas with the pre-build will finish 1 in 2 turns. Relations are wary/uneasy with the whole world except humans.
2451 I am framed against the Sakkra. Colonize Bootis. Darlok declare war. My huge fusion design pops out. Darlok Homeworld is only 8 away…I send it there to test it out. If successful will send troops. It will be there in 2 turns. I design a LR Toxic ship for Hyadas.

2453 Darlok Homeworld has 19 bases and is defended by a very small ship contingent. I lose 87 hit points. The bases do no damage to me. I decline bombing…time to pick up some tech.290 factories there! I send 182 troops, 7 turns from Phantos/Vulcan/Phantos. 2 turns later I send another 100 from Iranha/Qualye
2457 Colonize Hyadas. I get ION Stream projector…choose pulson missiles. Make a new Design identical to the prior model, but with the projector added
2458 Sakkra get derelict.
2459 I get my scanner. Go for mark6 comps.
2460 One of my transports arrives early. 57 vs. 110, I win with 17 left over. Hahaha, I had so much ground tech compared to them. I picked up NPG, Range6, Duralloy Armor, +10 to population and a Gatling laser. Nothing I wanted. But then again I don’t even know what they have. Hmm I’m going to lose like 170 population that will die because Darlok Homeworld can’t support them. Not good, but at this point I’m pretty sure I can’t lose the game. Darloks are down to 1 planet 8 parsecs away. I send my new Fusion4 beast to it.
2461 Send 55 million from Nazin to Whynil. I am going to genocide those shape shifters.
2463 55 vs. 90, I win. Goodbye. I get mark3 computers. Humans break NAP. Ok they are next I guess. I start spying on everyone. 1 click.
2465 I invade Nitzer…. 45 troops get through and I take it and get 5 obsolete techs. I send troops to SOL and their N star…
2467 Psilons declare war
2468 I take Gaurdis with 5 guys left. I now have 18 planets. I send my 2nd FUSION4 to Mentar
2469 18 bases with pulson missiles and 2 large ships with heavy blast cannons and megabolt cannons. I stay and fight. It doesn’t go well for me. The planet does 800 damage its first shot…. I died on the 2nd shot. I lose Talas to a big force from the Psilons. This would be my inexperience with the game showing. I start to build tons of small NPG and small Fusion bomb ships. I should have over 1000 of the NPG’s in 5 turns.
2470 I invade SOL, only 14 get through and they all die to 60 humans. Sakkra however are pleased I fight humans. I dial them up and have them declare war with the Psilons. They are already at war with the Humans and bears.
2471 Bears declare war. I send Troops to every human planet…Psilons have a huge force going to my MU Delphi colony. I send a ton of NPGs and my HUGE FUSION4 there.
All my forces lose vs. human worlds. But I do bomb Toranor out of existence. I get a hit in computers, and am able to steal from Sakkra and humans and choose computers. I go for my only choice Jammers6
The vote happens. Sakkra and me vote for me, everyone else votes Psilon. Tie 14-14.
My HUGE FUSION4 destroys the massive Psilon fleet. It seems it can take anything but bases.
2478 Sakkra declare war on me. The humans/Bears are allied. Everyone else is at war with everyone else. Lol
I take XUDAX. Humans come asking for peace. I decline as in a couple turns they will be genocided. I go for DOOM VIRUS when I hit my Planetology tech.
Psilon continue to attack multiple colonies but they move so slowly, I own them with warp4 ships. I now have over 1000 NPG fighters…
At this point the game crashed. I believe I was on turn 2482. My last saved game was 2474. This means the Sakkra may not declare war on me, it may take me longer to get advanced soil, etc. Sigh. I had already won and am just mopping up and they make me do it again? Every turn takes forever right now….
2474 again…. same everything. Get soil in 2479, humans have 2 million people alive in Sol, and that is it.
2480 sign Sakkra to a NAP and minimum trade.
2481 Genocide Humans. Get 6 techs. All worthless except auto-repair.
2485 working the bears/Psilons over, I think I should win by 2500
2487 Get the leaders preparing the merge message. I take Obaca and get warp dissipater, take Stalaz from the bears. Get stingers and inertia.
Over the next 13 years I pick off all the weak base planets and grow pop everywhere so I have the vote won for sure. I still don’t have enough to attack planets with more than 10 bases.
2499 I win, 30 (27 of them my votes) out of 39. Conquest Victory.

Apologies, but there won't be an in character section this report for reasons that I will explain at the end of the report.

PREGAME ANALYSIS

Since I didn't play the last game for score, I made the decision going into this game that I absolutely WOULD be playing for score this time. Maximal score. I fully intend to shoot the moon. A tall order, perhaps, but, hey, if I could unite the triad, this should be cake right?

Obviously, the one tech that would make this easily possible would be thorium cells. If it turns out that thorium cells are not in the tree, well, then I might have to get a little creative... Surely SOMEONE will have them, and I can either steal them or gropo them right? Failing that, maybe I can use alliances to extend my range. Later in the game, I can let the AI glass a couple of my planets if I have to so that I can free up slots to grab other planets to use as stepping stones. Whatever it takes. Make no mistake, it's shoot the moon or bust this game.

On a practical note, since scout denial won't be in play, there will be no reason to make more scouts. Instead, fighters will have to be made to cover any planets I may want. My strategy is pretty simple, grab 4-5 planets, turtle, and wait for Thorium Cells.

Lets look at the start.



The corner start further complicates things, unfortunately, virtually necessitating thorium cells. It's possible that I could win with 2 or 3 outlying planets with range 10 + reserve tanks, but that won't be easy.

2300 With only one star 3 parsecs away, it's a no brainier where to send the colony ship. If the planet is large, we'll just settle it. If not, we might wait for a range tech... we'll see. As far as where to send the scouts, I send them as far away as possible, which turns out to be the two greens north and northwest of where our second planet will be.

2302 Our colony ship arrives and finds an acceptable place to land.



2303 - Fourteen Million Kitties leave the home world for Vulcan.

2304- Three million more kitties set off for Vulcan.

We find another "acceptable" planet.



2305 - Three million more colonists sent to Vulcan.

The scout continues on to the yellow to the northeast.

The other scout reports in with an unacceptable location.



2306 - One last three million leave Fieras for Vulcan.

The western scout heads south to the green star just below Firma.

2308 - More scouting reports. First, the eastern scout:



Nope, too small. We won't be grabbing that one. What about the western scout?



2309 - The eastern scout heads southeast to the blue star, and the western one heads southeast to the red one.

2311 - More Scouting Reports. The western scout sends in its final report... ever.



The western scout doesn't have very good news either, but at least it's still alive.



2312 - With only two planets still in scouting range, our lone scout heads south to the red star in the corner.

2317 - Our scout reports yet another variation of the '45 theme.



2318 - The scout heads over to the yellow south of Orion, which is the last planet in scouting range.

2322 - With Fieras set to finish it's factories in 3 turns, I send 16 million from Vulcan back to top off it's pop at the same time.

2323 - Uh oh, look at this:



That scout took orbit there on the interturn. Looks like I'd better make sure we get that planet.

I whip up your basic, ultra crappy, zero tech, nothing added, warp 1 point defense laser fighter to guard the planet. I order Vulcan to build a batch (4) of them.

2324 - Arrows dispatched to Vulcan.

Just to be on the safe side, I redesign the colony ship to include a laser. Wouldn't want to be forced to retreat because of being unarmed...

With Fieras about to max out, some of the production is started on the colony ship.

2325 - Fieras Maxes, starts full bore on the colony ship.

The Human scout flees before our Arrows can chase it off.

2526 - I had just about settled on being a 3 planet empire, when the final scout sent back this report.



We're going to grab that planet. If Range 5 is in the tree, we can just try to grab it that way, otherwise, we'll need a long range defense fleet. We'll worry about what that might mean later.

2329 - First Colony Ship dispatched to Phantos. We open research 100% on propulsion, hoping for Range 5's availability...



We're in luck!

2333 - Phantos Colonized. Twenty Five million sent from Vulcan to Phantos.

Range 5 hits. The new choices are Nuclear Engines and Range 6. For the second Imperium in a row, I go for the dreaded Nuclear Engines. Since we've no intention of settling anywhere else for a long while, range 6
is almost pointless, whereas Warp 2 might be important for defense fleets. Our empire is so small, and every planet is important in the early going.

As soon as I select our tech choice, the GNN Robot shows up with this news...



Psilons? Already? That's a bit disturbing, but hopefully nothing to worry about. Maybe they're boxed in now? We'll see soon enough...

Fieras Makes a batch of Arrows (14) before returning to Colony Ship Making. I send the scout southwest to the green star.

2334 - The Arrows are sent to Quayal. Fieras returns to Colony ship making.

2337 - And, just as I'm settled on having four planets and saving the fifth for a potential stepping stone...



Holy Cow, I think I've located our fifth planet. I hope so anyhow.

2339 - Colony Ship dispatched to Quayal.

Vulcan is about to max out, and opens research evenly across all fields.

Computer Choices: Jammer I over Deep Space Scanner
Construction: Improved 9 over Reduced 80%
Force Fields: Can you guess?
Planetology: Terraforming +10 over Controlled Barren and Improved Ecco
Weapons: Hyper-V over Gatling Laser (No HL *sniff*)

2340 - Uh, Hi...



2341 - Great, as you could see from the greeting screen shot, we have erratic Psilons in this galaxy. Large ones too. Here's a look at the Psilon Empire.



There is no sense in making a major trade deal. He could go nuts and declare war at any point, so I dial him up and do this:



2342 - We've only just met the Psilons, when another neighbor drops by to announce his presence.



Well, this is better news! At least they are not psycho.

2343 - Here;s a new look at the map.



Wow, I thought the Psilons were big for this point in the game!

I dial up our new friend and initiate trade.



The Humans, being much more reliable, convinces me to go for the maximal trade this time.

During the inter turn, Quayle is colonized!

2344 - Half the Fighters from Quayal are sent on to Antares to head off any colony ships.

The final colony ship is dispatched to Antares. Thirty One Million colonists are sent from Fieras to Quayal.

2346 - Terraforming +10 hits. The new choices are Terraforming +20, Controlled Dead, and Death Spores. We select Improved Ecco instead.

It turns out we colonized Quayal none too soon, look at this.



The Bulrathi have not armed their colony ships yet, so we're safe.

2347 - Speaking of none too soon, I'm succeeding by the narrowest of margins! My arrows have arrived at Antares just this turn, and not a moment too soon!



AND



Again, neither the Bulrathi nor the Psilons have armed colony ships yet, so our Arrow fighters defend the planets safely.

2349 - Jammer I hits, new choices are Jammer II, Robotics III, and BC III. We select Robotics III.

2350 - For the second report in a row, there is no 50 year in rundown, but, really, you've just recently seen the galaxy maps, and, if you've been paying attention reading along, there isn't much need for one, as there isn't much to report anyhow. Besides, there is another reason...

2351 - To my amazement, we colonize Antares.

2352 - I send 28 million colonists to Antares from Fieras.

The Bulrathi get the games first event.



2353 - Hyper-V Rockets hit. The only new choice is Fusion Bomb. We select it.

2357 - Improved 9 hits. The only new choice is Improved 8, which we select.

2358 - Class II Deflectors hit. The new choices are Personal Deflector, and class III. We go for Personal.

2360 - With everywhere I intend to settle settled, I dial up my friends and ask for peaceful co-existence.





So, now it's time to sit back, hope the Psilon time bomb keeps ticking but doesn't explode, research Thorium Cells, and in due time, glass the galaxy.

2363 - Improved Ecco Hits, we select Terraforming +20.

2364 - Nuclear Engines Hit. The new choice is Sub-Light Drives, which we select.

We're Voting. The nominees are Strader and Myself, even though I'm a bit short on planet count...

Humans 6 votes themselves.
Darloks 3 votes the Humans.
Psilons 4 votes abstain.
Sakkras 1 vote abstain.
Bulrathi 4 votes the Humans.
Me 5 votes myself.

2372 - Fusion bombs hit. The only new choice is Ion Rifle, so we select it. Boy, no beams and only Hyper-V Rockets? I sure hope we don't get into a war anytime soon with this craptastic weapons tree.

And then, something happens that changes the fate of the galaxy forever...

My report is posted at the Meklon Gambit (my Orion site/blog) as usual. Notes from the sponsor will be added shortly, below. Beware however: They do contain spoilers about the result of my game, so please read the report first! Also, if you're worried about a long read, worry no further: I believe this is the shortest Imperium report I've posted to date!

As always, feel free to post your repot in the usual subforum!

Maniac has put together a great game for Imperium 25 as well, which should be posted around this time next week!

Okay, I'm going to start a new game on an archipelago map, and I've got a screenshot of the start...but I can't seem to post it here! Any help?

I didn't do any such thing as "turn the 0 into a 1," but the screenshots are there in my file for some reason...but I just can't post them here. WTH?

A funny thing happened to Maniac and me on the way to planning future Imperia....

Details are in the game thread over at CivFanatics, along with the turn reports. Maniac and I are running this one as a relaxed-pace two-person SG, but if we inspire anyone else to play a succession game or two between Imperium reports (or to delurk and join the Imperia in the first place) that would certainly be a bonus too!

Seriously, they're a severely underrated feature in the expansion pack, at least in my experience. Go read the last post in my thread and you'll see what I mean.

How do I take screenshots in MOO...I tried Alt-Print Screen which is what I'm use to for outlook, but nothing comes over....

Dropped the ball last night so we have a bit of a delayed opening, but here you go!

Adventure 41