Hi

Angus is still playing HG:L in single player mode.

He just asked me if I knew of a character planner that he could use to work out what he wants to do with his Engineer. I had a link in my Favourites to one that used to work...

Does anyone know of one that does actually still exist?

Just a heads up for anyone who hasn't seen these yet. Recording of the Q & A panels with ArenaNet have been uploaded.

Watch them here.

I've just started noticing a soon-to-be-released game called Borderlands that has begun to intrigue me. Reading up on information gleaned from interviews etc. I can't help but notice the word "Diablo" get mentioned quite liberally in descriptions on this game's background.

The idea sounds like a Diablo knock off with four character archetypes, each fielding their own unique capabilities and able to co-op in teams of up to four players. Talk of skill trees and increasing weapon power as characters level up sound eerily familiar. The environment by contrast is a post-apocalyptic future that reminds me of movies like the Mad Max series and Pitch Black and the game play will be first person perspective.

Official Website

Borderlands on Wikipedia

Borderlands: Claptrap Web Series ep. 1
(Parental Advisory: Violent and bloody black humour)

I'm actually wondering if I might buy this one.

All the best, Sullla.
I hope you keep up your interest in CIV and continue contributing to the CIV section of RB.
:2dance:

mh

Name****2400****2500****total
RefSteel**12******22******34
Sargon***11******21******32
Olorin****7*******22******29
KnTenshi**8*******21******29
Waterd***5*******13******18

Here's the results for RBO22. It seems that my own personality rubbed off on the AI for this game. They really didn't do much of anything, just sat around and made peace (Alkari excluded - it's one thing to want to expand, it's another when your OPE declares war on the rest of the galaxy at once).

I hope you guys enjoyed an unintentionally relaxed game. :hippie:

With the balance update being delayed a week, and sealed 4v4 being implemented soon, I figure people might want to try this instead of fighting more R/As. We also did fairly well fielding an RB and AB team at the last minute for last friday. I think it would be great to run sealed deck format in a little more casual/easygoing setup, that encourages people to make their own builds. So without further ado here's the format:

- 6v6, with one character of each core class per team. (W, Me, Mo, R, N, E) If less than 12 people are involved, we will remove characters to keep both teams identical. If there is enough demand then we can go to 8v8 adding the factions professions.
- Full GvG with flagstand, kill the lord, etc. No judges or observers.
- Both teams will build from the same pool/deck of skills randomly chosen by the Kisu generator. You can see a sample build here, but the actual pool will not be created until the start of the event.
- You must build a skill bar with just the PRIMARY skills in the pool. So the warrior must choose from the randomly allotted warrior skills, etc.
- In addition, each character may bring ressurection signet, and they may "wildcard" one core non-elite skill from their class, even if it isn't in the pool . Rangers may also add charm animal if they equip a beast mastery skill.
- For 6v6 and down, skills will be limited to core + prophecies. For 8v8 it will be core + factions.
- At the start of the event, the pool will be given out, which both teams will use. There will be only 10 minutes to build. Team discussion is encouraged, but each participant will need to at least start building their own bar from the pool.

While PvP slots are incredibly convenient and useful, you could bring a well-developed PvE character that has most or all of their primary skills unlocked and participate. With a pvp slot you can save balthazar faction to buy any skills you need to unlock on the spot, although I'll also have flames of balthazar on hand to facilitate unlocks as needed.

We'll meet for a round starting Saturday at 3 PM EDT. Additional rounds depending on participant interest.

Signups are encouraged if you want to reserve your preferred class, although drop-ins that are familiar with the rules are also welcome if there is space and they play whatever's left. We will try to make newcomers especially comfortable on their chosen class, and roughly balance the skill levels across teams. To signup, simply rank 3 choices for the class you would most like to play. E.G. for myself:

1. Monk
2. Ele
3. Necro

This is an AB-RB event so this is crossposted here. You can sign up at either place.

Imperium 22 Report
Olorin
Diplo Win 2500
Avg Tech Level 22.3



The Beginning--Expansion Phase.

Like I imagine everyone else, I settled for UP Vulcan as first colony.
Lots of habitables within scouting range.

3 Key factors influence my early expansion.
1. I noticed that with the proper leapfrogging sequence, everything but the Terran to the SW could be reached by R4--IF I got the Stalaz with at least Barren.
2. Sakkra scouts were spotted to the West, the East had no activity, so I figured it West was the priority.
3. Stalaz was UR, so Barren colony would be a big priority.

The big decision was whether to open Planetology or Prop first, and I opted to look for Range, as it would at least open up the Eastern front.

I opened Prop with a few RPs from Vulcan and had a devilish choice between R4 or R5. I went for the cheaper R4 due to the leap-frogging situation, and desire to work on Planetology sooner to find a Colony tech.

At this point Vulcan can put out 15 RP of tech by itself. I have Sol take a turn off factory production to get Prop jump-started, then have Vulcan work on it using the investment returns.

2321--Sakkra visit the SW Terran, I might need to invest in some ships to keep them at bay. Sol is at 128 factories, and can build a Colony in 6y, so production is started. R4 is in %'s now, so I have Vulcan divert some effort to building partial factories.

2324--R4 pops. Ouch, R5 or IS? I probably won't be back to Prop for awhile now, but what if R5 turns out to be crucial? I go with IS (for ladder advancement later) and hope for the best. Time to open Planetology with 4 RP.

Yes! Barren is in the tree, and for only 250 RP. As before, Sol pumps out RP to jump-start the tech, then Vulcan takes over with investment funding.

2328--First Colony ship finally finished. Now the dilemma is whether to send it North or to the larger Esper which is in the back-line, but opens up the fertile 110. I opt for pushing the border north, and build a 6 pack of scouts for exploration.

Barren is already at 3%. If it pops before the next colship rolls off the line, I'll be able to colonize Stalaz next.

2333--Guradas is founded and Barren pops at the same time. Barren colship is 2 turns away. I decide to leave the research in Planet for IER, which is only 700 RP. This time, I only use Sol's spare production with Vulcan's to start the tech, but it's still 69 RP.

2335--Barren ship produced. I build up some fighters at Sol to send to Kronos when Stalaz is colonized to ward off possible Sakkra colonization attempts.

2337--UR Stalaz now colonized. Sol hit 100/146 this turn, so I send 15 from the Homeworld to Stalaz. I also send the 17 Fighters I built in the last two turns out to Kronos (now in range) where Sakkra scouts have been seen.

2339--Scouted Altair. Only 5 parsecs from Guradas, and only 4 from Centauri. I need to pump out some Colships to stop them from cutting me off in the East. I also saw a Darlock scout by a Rich Barren to the North, giving me a good guess as to the location of their homeworld (turns out I was wrong--thought they were further West, not on top of the Alkari).

2342--Next colship sent to Rha to counter Sakkra expansion. With an asteroid belt within 3 of Altair, and the planets on the other side looking over 3 parsecs out, I suspect the Alkaris are currently a 1PE--especially as GNN just listed them last in production.

2348--Rha founded. IER pops. IT+20 next, and I decide to stick with it. Can't think of a more useful tech right now that growing UR Stalaz by 50%. Contact with Sakkra is made. They have the 2 yellows in the corner, and Sssla is 5 parsecs from Rha, so they have R5. I make a note to have Stalaz pump out some more fighters to defend Rha and Kronos. Sol and Kronos jump-start the tech while the next colony is en-route to Esper. I'm not sure I want to colonize Poor Kronos right on the front-line with the Sakkra. They need R6 for the Terran, so if I can blockade Kronos, they'll need to wait for better range tech.

2351--Esper founded. We are first to 6 planets.

2352--Scout reaches Dead planet south of Sakkra, happen to encounter an unarmed Colony. Sakkra yell at us for it. New colship sent to Toranor, working on locking down the East.

2356--First event happens, plague on Sssla. Nice.

2359--Toranor founded. New colship to Centauri. Stalaz takes over Colship building and Sol to research. IT20 in %'s. Strange that the Sakkra haven't gone to the Minimal 4 parsecs N of Sssla. They are still a 2PE.

--IT20 pops. I opt for better cleanup next (Dead was tempting due to several potential colonies--but they were a stretch). I switch to Constr now. RW80 is up.

Part 2, Race Relations

2366--Alkaris and I both reach Centauri at the same time. But they brought 70+ fighters. I have to hope that I beat them to Kakata to open up Tau Cygni and Incedius. Vectoring in my garrison from Guradas, but 24 fighters aren't much.

2369--I'm first to Kakata.

2371--Sakkra finally cure their plague. I finally colonized Kronos, and have ships enroute to Laan and Maalor. Alkaris are 1 turn ahead of my 24 fighters with 19 fighters and a colony coming to Kakata. My fighters would probably lose to the Alkari bonuses anyway. I NAP them. Tau Cygni and Incedius are out of their current range if they don't conquer Kakata, and I've already got colships enroute--thanks to the wonderful UR Stalaz helping with the ship-building.

2373--Scratch that, the Alkaris aren't respecting the NAP. My 24 fighters lost to their 19 + armed colony ship.

Sakkra also bring Gatling colony to Kronos, and just managed to defeat my garrison. I should be okay there--I've got 90 fighters coming to counter (25 was almost enough).

For the Alkaris, I've got enough pop to deal with their transports, and replacements pop already on the way. Longer term, I design a Large with Battle Scanner, CPU1, Shield1, and 21 Lasers. I've got three being built, but it will be 12 turns before they arrive (hopefully with comp+scanner, they can actually hit the Alkari fighters).

2376--Survived Alkari Marines. Thankfully their troop base is Centauri, so the waves are small. Kronos orbit has been retaken, but half of Sssla is in transports. I don't have the pop to hold the colony, but I do have more on the way. Also, Sol got irradiated this turn, so I evacuated a big chunk of pop towards Kronos.

RW80 came in, Computers opened up with ECM1 as only option. I'll go 2-3 advances in comps to boost spying, then switch to weapons.

--Wow, didn't think 64 fighters could take down 44 out of 50 transports. Kronos is secure for now, but has too much pop on the way. Time to shift some pop toward Laan and Maalor.

2387--Brush wars have been doused. ECM2 popped, ISS next. Poor Denubius settled, opens up Barren Rich near map center, Colship sent. More worlds are maxing out, which should help get the tech out faster. Sakkra and Alkari still amiable. Upped trade agreements and traded the Sakkras FF2 for ECM2. Now I'll be in the 2nd tier when opening FF tech.

2398--ISS finally pops. I choose RC4 next. Tough decision whether to switch to weapons or wait for RC4. I decide to forge ahead for factories.

2402--Maalor is trying to go Nova. I steal DSS from Sakkra.
2406--Maalor saved. We now have nuke engines thanks to Birds.

--RC4 pops. Choose BC6 and switch to weps (Gatling lasers and anti-missile rockets are currently deadliest weapons in galaxy). I wait 1 turn before turning up refit to start tech. Shouldn't have bothered, Hand Lasers is sole choice. Even putting everyone but UP Vulcan on refit, 99% chance of hitting. Next up, Fusion Bomb.

Steal RC3 and PDS from Sakkra--they catch me, and then DOW next turn.

2415: Sakkras get serious about war and send a fleet to Laan. Crashing up bases and building Nuclear missile boats. Sakkras have death spores, otherwise bases would be almost immune to attack right now.

2419: Not enough firepower to stop the Spores. Laan is lost, but enough missile boats survived to nix the colony ships that arrived next turn. All border worlds are pumping out bases, and I'm working on large stacks of MBs. Fusion bombs pop and I go for Mass Drivers next.

2433--Sakkras ask for peace, but have transports coming to spored out Kronos. Alkaris have destroyed some ships, but H Lasers don't have enough punch to threaten bases. Mass Drivers pop, but no missiles in sight. I choose AM Bombs to advance the tree, but switch to untouched FF, choose PS5.

2434--Darlocks end our non-war.

2448--Alkaris finally give up on conquering Vulcan and end war. Repulsor beams pop, select FF6, but switch to Planet for clean-up tech.

2451--EER pops, I go for Soil Enrichment for pop growth (so many good choices--but the hostile planets have mostly been grabbed by Sakkra and Darlock).

2454--Soil pops, AER to move the tree
2463--AER pops, Toxic chosen. Most worlds finishing remax after Soil. Switch to Prop for some engines. IS at 8% on turn 1.
2465--IS pops, I go for R7 instead of sublights (I need better than R4)
2468--R7, go for Fusion drive
2471--Fusions, select R9, switch to Construction
2474--Auto Repair pops, II6 next.

I trade the Sakkras my Mass Driver for Scatter5s

Part 3--Diplomacy

Up until now, votes have featured me vs. the Darlocks. I have about 1/2 the vote, so now worries beyond angering the Darlocks by voting for myself.

2475--Another vote. This time Sakkras are in with 7, Darlocks are allied and add 7 to Sakkra. Alkaris abstain their 2 and I vote myself 14. Sakkras also have the tech lead. Time to prepare for some pointy stick research projects. I design an Auto-Repair Huge with Repulsor and start pre-build. I'd love to research an armor before building any.

If I could get the Darlocks on my side of a vote, this thing could be over. Of course, I've got to make sure I don't knock the Sakkra pop down too far, or it will be the Darlocks in the #2 spot.

2479--II6 pops. No luck on armor. I switch to FF6 instead as the Alkaris declare out of the blue again. They've added Fusion Bombs to their Lasers and Hand Lasers, but I think my repulsor ships will make it hard for them to deploy their bombs in the face of Scatter5 equipped bases.

2482--I meet the Alkari main fleet with 8 MB's and two Huge Repulsor ships (Auto-repair, shield 2, with scanner, some mass drivers, scatter5s, and fusion bombs). Alkaris only had a couple of larges with bombs, the rest can't touch the bases. They almost manage to take down one of my Huge ships with their Heavy Lasers, but AR gives me just enough time to whittle down their stacks.

2484--I use my 2 Repulsor ships to take the orbit over Centauri. Alkaris are going back to a 1PE. At least this way, I know that the Centauris will vote for me!

FF6 also popped, so I redesign the Repulsor ships. I choose FF7 to advance, but switch back to Planetology for a quick Toxic environment. Setting up for taking a Rich world or two from the Sakkras.

2486--Centauri is mine, along with FF3 and Sub-lights. Alkari now have no tech to steal. Last two turns I got all fields espionage from Sakkras--took ECM4 and IIT9 (I'm spying again because with them as the new #2, I am preparing for a war anyway).

2487--Toxic pops. I go for Antidote to counter the Sakkras Spores and Doom Virus. Their best missiles are nuclear and scatter5s, so my new Huge design with FF6 will be immune to their bases. They have up to FF5, so I may have some trouble taking down their bio-ships without fleet support.

2490--Steal Duralloy from Sakkra, blame Darlocks. I've got 10 years til next vote to try to swing Darlocks my way. Alkaris don't accept peace proposal. I break NAP with Sakkra. Dial up Darlocks. They agree to join a war against Lizards! Also get larger Trade Agreement and NAP. Will try for Alliance before the vote.

I send my 2 FF6 Huges to take Aquilae, and have border worlds build some Larges with Duralloy, FF6, and Mass Drivers.

2491--Take Aquilae orbit, and send transports. Antidote pops, I choose Doom Virus for the advance, and switch to AM Bombs as Weapons is level 14 vs. 20 for next lowest fields.

2492--Take Aquilae, find ECM3, RW60.

2495--Had another Steal from Sakkra, Radiated. AM Bombs popped. Omega Bomb or AM Torps. Go for Torps.

2499--Alkaris want ECM4 to make peace, sorry. Hot war with Sakkra isn't producing dividends with Darlock relations, mostly because I'm waiting for 3 incoming Sakkra fleet that are traveling with slow Colships. I tried bombing out one of their worlds, but need a dedicated bomber design to penetrate their shielding.

2500--Diplomatic Victory!
32 Votes total. Sakkra (8) + Alkari (1) vs. Darlock (7) + Me (16) = 23/32

Looking at the 2499 save, my tech levels are 23, 21, 25, 28, 20, 17. The total is 134. Average level of 22.3.

I did pull off espionage the final turn against the Sakkra, yielding Dead colonies, which would have added +1 to Planetolgy, for an average of 22.5.

Part 4--Commentary

I was able to waltz to a fairly easy diplo win in this game. Mainly because I was able to out-expand the AI's. The Alkari's I understood--they had no habitables within 3 parsecs, which always hurts. Then the Darlocks cut them off from above, and they only got Centauri before I close the door to the South.

The Sakkra were odd. They had range tech pretty early. They also forged ahead and got Toxic and Radiated pretty quickly. Yet they took forever to colonize even Whynil (4 parsecs, habitable). Sure, I scout blockaded on my border, and had some fighters too (though they never even sent Colony ships). That shouldn't have stopped them moving North, or picking up the Dead planet right next door once they got the tech. My only explanation is that the Plague event on their homeworld really knocked them for a loop. I even pulled my scouts off Whynil and the Dead planet after I scouted them because I didn't feel right trying for a total blockade.

I had Rha early, and then I took Kronos right at the time the Plague ended, followed shortly by Laan and Maalor. That didn't leave them much choice but to go through Whynil.

The Darlocks were almost a non-entity for me. They expanded slowly as they dealt with plenty of hostile environments at first. They had the most planets of the AIs, but the Sakkras superior terraforming and better base pops on their planets let them take over the pop lead. For me, the Darlocks were a trade partner, a block to my further expansion, and eventually the votes I needed to secure victory. We never fired a shot at each other.

As for the variant rule.

Probably the biggest decision point was whether to get Range or Barren first. I got both fairly quickly, I think my decision to have Sol devote a turn to starting out a new tech really helped (I kept up that philosophy for awhile--when I'd get a terraforming or RC tech, I'd tech for a turn before starting planets on the new terraforming or factories).

I also traded for a couple techs. One was FF2 because I knew it would then let me start FF in tier 2. The other was Scatter5s, which really solidified my defensive position. Though overall, the lack of any decent weaponry in the Galaxy for most of the game allowed me to focus on expansion and tech.

The other way I boosted my tech score was spying. My liberal spying after the expansion phase got me into some trouble with the Sakkras and their Spores. I lost Laan over it. I returned to spying off and on during the game--whenever I was at war, or thinking of starting one, I'd turn on spying. Computers first whenever possible to up my chances of stealing next time. It also really helped that I stuck with Computers on my first run of that Tech up to RC4. It gave me a lead in computer tech level over the AIs that helped Espionage.

My final strategy was to try and keep from changing tech focus too often. I wanted to run with one field for several discoveries before switching. I also placed a pretty high value on picking techs that would advance the field, rather than getting multiple techs at the same level (though I did some of that, especially in Planetology).

I probably could have done better with the tech levels. For one, instead of going for AM Torps as my last project, which had just made %'s in 2500, I could have opted for a tour of all the skipped over low level techs for the last 5 years. With my RP level, I could probably have popped 1 low-level tech each turn, each worth +1 tech level.

I could have also gotten another major boost had I planned out my campaign vs. the Sakkra better. I figured I had to leave my Huge ships at Aquilae to defend it until it was stood up, but the Sakkra counter-attack was moving so slowly, I could have gone on to conquer 1 or 2 more worlds by 2500--and with the Sakkra factory controls, taking a developed world would almost certainly net 5 techs.

Overall, the 1 tech field at a time rule definitely slowed down research. I had the production lead for quite awhile, but didn't take the tech lead from the Sakkras until near the end of the game. Had this been at Impossible level, I don't know if I would have been able to win this easily, or maybe not at all.


Extended Play

For fun, I decided to play on past my diplo win. By 2525, I had conquered Altair for the big planet, and more than enough Sakkra worlds to take every tech they owned. They had up to Adv. Cloning in Plantology, boosting my level to 51. At the 2525 vote, I had over 2/3rd majority by myself, and could take the Conquest win.

Tech levels were 34,22,28,51,22,31 = 188/6 = 32.3

I've got the tech now to fit AM Bombs on viable small, fast bombers, so I could easily switch every planet over to bomber production and glass the galaxy in short order. So even if I opted for an extermination win, there wouldn't be any tech gains to speak of, besides perhaps stealing the last few bits of tech off the Darlocks.

2301: Builded 3 explorers
2302: Builded 3 explorers
2307: Vulcan colonized
2308: Builded 1 explorer - 15M sended to Vulcan
2314: Sol start producing Colony
2322: Colony produced and sended to Esper
2326: Esper colonized, 10M sol to Esper 23M Vulcan to Esper. Sol goes Colony and research prop.
2327: Sol start researching 4 range.
2333: Sol produced colony
2335: Esper Build 3 explorers
2336: Esper build 3 explorers
2337: Finished 4 range from being researched.
2341: Start reseaching planetology.
2342: Toranor colonized. After choosing barren, I start knowing my options in tech by spending 5 RP in SOL while building COLONY.
2343: Colony produced sended to centauri
2350: Centauri Colonized. Meets alkari. Trade pact to 75. Alkaris have EXACTLY 1 planet. NAP Signed. (Lazy mistake here)
2359: Kakata taken. (At this point i'm using vulcan mainly and some part of toranor to populate planers, i have vulcan eco to max) Sol is producing colonies and the rest of the planets are building a productive infrastructure.
2360: Altar gets Rich event.
2362: Guradas colonized (I use 1 year later than the one showed on the "on X year planet Y has been colonized" I use the year that i see in the race panel after the year has been colonized)
2363: Sakkras vox get Quake event. ESper start researching barren.
2367: Barren completed. Research on factory 9
2370: Esper start building colony
2371: Toranor start building Colony
2376: Incendius taken, Sol start producing factories.
2377: Industrial 9 finished. Dunubius taken.
2380: Esper start researching 80% industrial waste.
2383: Rha taken, Meet sakra. 150 trade, Nap signed. They have 2 planets.
2384: Tau cygani taken.
2385: Stalaz taken, 80% Industrial waste finished. Improved eco restoration started.
2387: Stopped producing colonies through the empire. Sol, esper, Toranor centaur, full research.
2388: Kakata joined the research production.
2389: Guradas join the research
2390: Finished Improved eco restoration, started +20 terra.
2392: Sol start producing Colony B
2393: Finsihed +20 Started +30(I never got why they removed the 100% option after you finished reserach, I used it a lot and woudl still use it.)
2394: Kronos
2398: Centauri got depleted event
2400: Maloor taken.
2401: Laan taken.
2404: +30 finished Dead environment taken.
2409: Volantis taken, Darloks contacted NAP and 350 Trade.Dead environemtn finished. Mass production of Colony dead started. Soil enrichment started.
2410: Alkari breaks nap
2413: Research comes again.
2414: Everybody threatens me to stop my expansion i convince darkloks that alkaris should be attacked.
2416: Finished soil enrichment, STarted researchign computerse wtih the hope of hitting a robotic factory improvement
2417: ECM 1 finished.
2418: Aquilae colonized.
2419: Rotal colonized.
2420: Romulas colonized ECM2 finished, no robotic control improved space scanner. Start researching propulsion so I can colonize more planets so the council comes and I can finish this.
2421: Range 5 finished, Pycho colonized.
2423: Intertial stabilizer finished. I colonize one planet. Council comes, I vote Myself and win.

Conclusion: This didn't differ much of my human play. Still this was even more lame. I didn't build a single base or a laser in all the game, I never got to war. The AI did nothing. The only reason I didn't win before Is that I shoulda rush dead environment.
While this was an unusual uneventfull game. Most my games on impossible don't differ much from this. Is very common from humans to win the game without ever building a single weapon, and that's why I rank them as the best Race.

2300
I send the colony ship to the close by green star. The Scouts are sent to other nearby stars. There are many scientists willing to start their careers in this new age of Human existence, but there are so many other pressing concerns. I can only afford them 1 Billion Credits right now with and advisory to look into bettering our environmental understanding.

2301
Last year went so smoothly that I increase their pay to 3 bc.

2302
My scientists bring me two plans. The are ravenous to begin either one, almost creating a civil war in the labs. I decide to take the more Environmental approach and find a way to more easily clean up the factor waste.

When the Colony ship reaches Stalaz, they find that the planet is a Barren wasteland. I'd best not reveal that to the techies yet. Those who wanted me to fund the Life to the Wastes project might fill my inbox with some not so kind emails.

2307
And finally the wandering colony ship finds a home. Though it has little in the way of metals, the oddly named Vulcan would still be a wonderful place to have a peaceful getaway. I send 9 billion to help jump start the colony.

2308
The scout has sent back word that an unidentified ship was spotted around the Kronos region.

2323
An the labbies finally give me a new clean up process that would cut the waste management budget by a third. Hopefully the Life to the Wastes project won't take so long.

2329
And the longer-than-it-should-have-taken Life to the Wastes (Controlled Barren) has been finished. Good thing I can refocus the plans for the currently in-production Colony ship for a more Life Giving approach.

2330
And another USC (Unidentified Space Craft) was spotted at Kronos. This one was much larger. Due to this, I take the newly submitted plans for nearly doubling the range of our ships.

2332
And now a USC at Rha.

2339
Mixed news today. The Deuterium Fuel Cells have been perfected. The schematics have been sent to all of the scout ships. Unfortunately, I have lost contact with the scout orbiting Kronos. I suspect alien interference.

2340
A new plan for a cheaper factory has come to my attention. This, when finished, should quicken the factory construction on Vulcan.

2341
When the colony on Stalaz was established, strange images and messages were received from the west. I was surprised to learn these were in English, a bit guttural and broken, but English none the less! It seems the Scout Pilot that was watching Kronos was captured and taught them our language. I hope he can return to us soon. The aliens call themselves the Sakkras and wish us peace.

2344
While watching the news, an urgent broadcast was released. The Sakkras have 6 planets, twice our number! I want to know how this information was not sent to me first! There must be a leak in the information network I set up to help understand our new neighbors.

2350
The Sakkras are running out of control with the number of planets they own! They now have eight and look to cover the whole galaxy. Fortunately, the colony on Stalaz is ready to start making colony ships for expansion. I decide to open trade relations, now that my information network has assimilated itself deep in to their culture. I'm surprised it will only cost me 3 Billion Credits to build and supply the new trad routes.

2351
Once the finished plans for the Factory 9,000,000! have been given to the general public, I feel more secure in our ability to focus our resources faster and expand quicker. To help in this manner, I focus the scientists on a way to make a supercity.

2353
And now there are four planets in the Human Empire! Toranor is a beautiful planet with rich grassy plains. I send 25 million of our most expert farmers from Vulcan to help start up the process.

2356
Not too long after, the water world Esper comes into the Human fold. Sol and Vulcan give a portion of their pop to expand ourselves.

2361
So many things happened this year! First, A new planet has been settled: simple little Guradas. Not too long afterwords, a new alien contacted the planet. These looked like overgrown canaries. My top xenoliguists (a branch of research started once open trade was established with the Sakkra) began translating it quickly. The new neighbors don't seem to like us 'land walkers' (that seems to be the closest term, though these aliens seem as naturally flightless as we are) very much, but agreed to open trade with us. He did leave me with one cryptic note:

"Heed this warning, Land Walker. A plague festers in the North."

2362
A horde of scientists march into my office with huge (mostly taped together) plans for a Super City, able to feed, house and employ 20 million people. As soon as the lead scientist finishes, the mob rushes back out of the room. I manage to snag a straggler long enough to ask what they are doing. "The Tech Leads wanted to work on the old Awaken the Dead Worlds project." I really don't see the point, as there are no dead worlds within our neck of the woods.

2364
I wonder if this is the Alpha? Oh well, Centauri is under Human control.

2365
The Sakkra leader called me earlier today. He mentioned that our peoples would benefit greatly by further trading, especially if we encounter a threat. I agreed, but before I could ask him how many more channels we could open, he polity excused himself from the conversation. This struck me as odd, but when I asked the resident Sakkran ambassador, she mentioned that the Broodlord did not like to make demands of others unless it was urgent. So later on in the day, I called him up and offered logistical plans for a new, efficient trade network. He seemed to swell with joy.

2369
Kataka now has our flag and feet in it's soil.

2373
In contrast to the last development, a single man - I think even the same one I stopped nine years ago - came to my office with the message that they had done it. When I asked him where the rest of the scientists were, he mumbled something about upgrading their computers.

2374
Rha, in all it's wealth from our trade, has little in the way of a police force. This rim system has attracted pirates to plunder both Sakkran and Human alike. I would love to help, but Rha is a Sakkra world, and out of my jurisdiction. But in response to that, the M.O.S. team (Mob of Scientists) have started to delve into anti-missile technology, specifically EMC based Jammers.
*Ahhh, the fun of this varient. It's already at 76%, and 84 before I readjusted for a quicker colony ship from Sol!*

2375
Similar as the Sakkra, a scout ship goes missing, a planet (Tau Cygni) is colonized and we get visitors speaking out language. Unlike the Sakkra, these 'Darloks' speak English quite fluently and coldly. They cover themselves entirely with cloaks. They make no mention of the pilot, but I do hope he is safe. I get their leader to agree to a modest trade before he turns off the holoprojector. He end the conversation so quickly that I have no time to tell them that their new planet has a colony ship headed straight for it! I am a little worried as to why all of their colonies are way up north, except for this little one right next to me. I wonder why he didn't colonize all those planets in between? Are they all inhospitable planets?

2378
Again, there must be some leak in the information network! It seems that the Darloks were the 'plague' the Alkari had mentioned. They were just able to find a lasting cure this year! I couldn't believe what horrors it must have been to have a planet-wide sickness on their homeworld for 17 years. Most diseases have been eradicated for nearly a century now on Sol. The only silver lining for this year is Aquilae has been colonized. It seems those labbies are more clever than they appear. The Awaken the Dead Worlds project had a sub-plan for frozen planets.

2380
I've begun to ship the vast quantities of minerals, ores, and metals from Stalaz to my newest colonies and poor Vulcan.

2381
Obaca proved Irradiated. Now on to the next two.

2382
The M.O.S. returned with two plans for an ECM Jamming system. The first is a weaker, but smaller and cheaper version, Mark I, while the second is twice a powerful and nearly twice as big. With as many planets and aliens out there, I ask them to work on a way to improve upon the way we scan, send, and receive signals in space.

2383
I take a risk and draw up plans for reserve tanks to be fitted to a Life to the Wastes Colony Ship so I can grab the curiously untaken Volantis.

2385
Tyr proves to have nothing in the way of even a stable planetoid and Yarrow is covered in magma flowing around cracked volcanic rock.

2390
The M.O.S. storm in with exceptionally loud jubilation. They have Improved our current Space Scanners. Even gave each ship the ability to scan up to two parsecs away from themselves. It seems we will beat a Sakkran colonizing fleet by two years. A little annoyed by how slow it would be to have a disaster on one planet and to try to send help, I ask to increase the speed of our ships. They respond by saying they will have to experiment with speeding a ship up while in a star system first.
*And here is the drawback of this variant. You have to plan 5 or 6 steps ahead. To misquote Sirian: I chose poorly.*

2392
The Sakkra settle Laan. *I had completely forgotten that I had 2 scouts just sitting around here. * Tyranid then calls up a meeting with all four leaders to decide if one of them should rule the galaxy. He doles out votes based on population. He gets 9, I get 8, the Darkloks get 5, and the Alkari get a single vote. He then automatically elects the two with the highest population to be the two runners for the election. That would be him and me, of course. The winner will be the one to have 2/3rds or more of the vote. Each leader proclaims their choice for all to hear. Nazgur casts it's vote for the Sakkra. It seems that the two have had an Alliance for a few years now. This gives me the idea to start working for one once I settle Volantis. Tyranid votes for himself. The Alkari, who seem to taken a liking for us in-spite of themselves, cast their single vote for me. I take the diplomatic route. With a smile that I hope conveys sympathy and understanding, I abstain. The Tyranid looks disheartened until the ambassador whispers something to him. He gives me a small nod and concludes the vote inconclusive. A new vote is to be held every 25 years starting in 8 years. Later, I ask the ambassador what she said to her Broodlord. She said she told him that human value their independence for to much to just give themselves away when they have a fair challenge. She also noted that I did not want to hurt our friendship by selfishly casting the vote for myself, so I took the only other option: cast no vote at all.

2393
And Volantis is mine! I call up Tyranid, Nazgur, and Skylord and ask each one for a Non Aggression Pact. They all agree. I even get more trade routes to Sakkra and Darlok worlds.

2395
The labbies have finished tinkering with their advanced intersystem booster jets. I have them try to find a way to double or even triple our ship speed.

2398
I think the labbies took me a little too seriously. They present me with an engine design that will triple our normal ships' speed and double our population carriers. I just sigh and ask if there would be any way to speed up the factory building on Volantis as I had vastly overestimated the population cap and sent just enough to max it out *or had a contingency plan in case the Sakkra did not accept a NAP or still sent pop to take the planet*.

2400
This second vote turns out as expected: a repeat of the first. The only difference is that I have an extra vote.

Afterwords, the M.O.S. pile in to show off their way to cheapen the cost of factories. This uses nanomachines to rapidly construct some of the finer parts of the product. As each scientists is scrambling to tell me something about this, or what it can apply to, someone in the crowd screams for everyone to stop! She then says that these nanomachines could be used to automatically fix any damage to a ship or any other metal based object. The group becomes a buzz of activity as they leave, trying to decided how to make self regulating restrictions and activations. I swear I can still hear them as they leave the complex.

Tech as of 2400:

Comp: 13
Const: 9
FF: 1
Planet: 11
Prop: 12
Wpns: 1

total: 47
score: 8

2404
So many complaints... The environmentalist groups are hassling me every day about how we are polluting our planets with such unmitigated waste! Don't they realize I'm spending a small fortune to clean up after the factories?!? Heck, a few years ago, Tyranid called me up to voice complaints from his people that we may invade their territories to expand. Why would I even do that to my friend?

Oh, what is it now?

The labbies have finished the Nanomachine Autorepair Units? Good, maybe they can help me with this. Or at least, the environmental problem.

2408
Well, one complaint down. I now want to add more planets under our influence. To appease my neighbors, I ask the techies to try to develop a way to speed up a young planet's cooling time.

2412
It seems Centauri is trying to give up the ghost. The local scientists say that it will blossom into a Supernova in less than a decade. Obviously, I call for them to find a way to rejuvenate their star.

2413
And one year later, the Centauri Labbies bring me news that, if they keep getting focused resources, they can develop and test a solar rejuvenator in 4 to 5 years. The rest of the scientists bring me plans for a colonypod that not only cools baby planets, but can also convert the air of the planet to an easily breathable atmosphere. They claim it should work on any planet that has a non-Oxygen/Nitrogen atmosphere. Since the population of our planets have been stagnant for a while, I ask them to devise a way to expand the Supercites.

2417
Two sets of good news! Centauri is like a new star! And we have an even bigger Supercity (10 billion more)! Now that we have so much in the way of population, I ask the M.O.S. to try to find a way to make our factories more efficient.

2424
Using the most advanced Computer controls and techniques learned from the nanomachines, the Labbies have found a way to double the efficiency of our factories. An unintended side effect is that less people will be needed to man said factories. I decide to release these new factory schematics slowly, so more factories can be built to accommodate the recently unemployed. With that out of the way, the expanding empire makes space travel feel so slow, so once again I requisition a faster engine.

2425
The election comes and goes, nothing new except everyone save Skylord has more votes.

2432
I don't think I've seen such a somber group outside of funeral. The entire horde of scientists trudged into my office and presented me with the new engine schematics. I was confused as to why until I came upon the speed of the device. It was only a third faster than what was already available. Well, given all the innovations and breakthroughs they've had in a past decades, a dud was bound to turn up. I give the downed group a cheerful smile and thank them for all their hard work. I offered a way to get their minds on something else by suggesting they find a way to cheapen factories, as seeing how we are still building new ones on every planet.

2435
Sklord called me up today. I was hoping he wanted to open more trade routes. It was not so. Apparently, the rich of his single world have grown sick of only hearing tales from us about the vast space and the varied planets within it. They want to see it for themselves, own a planet or two. With the galaxy nearly completely claimed, the only way to see the universe would be to take it from someone else. He recalls the Alkari Ambassador for a few years, as to not be seen as a traitor by the Upper Class. Before he left, I asked him if he knew if Skylord has told Tyranid and Nazgur yet. Somberly, he answered "Not only did he tell them, he declared war."

2436
Sklord had added me to his insane war. It seems I must save him from himself. I have designed a gunboat fitted with the best computer, engine, intersellar thrusters, and the special Inertial Stabilizers. This laser ship should be hard to hit. I also draw up plans for a Nuclear Bomber, though cheaper, it is slower when it comes to moving in the star systems.

2437
Skylord has already made his move! He has sent most all of his fleet to Centauri. I quickly dump most resources into building defensive Missile Bases, though I am not sure if they will do much good. As extra backup, I have Toranor pump Gunboats there as well. But, this leaves him open on his own planet. The first fleet of 60 gunboats and 180 Bombers will atempt to take the planet while they are away.

2442
As the old saying goes, "No plan survives the enemy". Both Skylord and I misjudged each other. With his larger fleet, he has nearly taken down Centauri, but I have been able to whittle down a nearly defenseless Altair. It is with a heavy heart that I realize next year should see Altair be destroyed. Had I been able to gain space superiority earlier, this could have been prevented. But the past is the past, nothing I can do about it, though I wish it were otherwise. Tyranid has learned of my crusade against the Alkari. He called me up to congratulate me on striking such a power hungry foe. I explain to him that I was merely trying to stop them from getting themselves killed in needless war. Oh the irony of what will happen...

2443
And so, the Alkari Empire is no more. All that is left are the 55 million last seen headed for Centauri three years ago. They will be found, rounded up, and sent back to Altair. They will have full Human Citizenship and will be free to go where ever they wish. It is the least I could do.

Beause of the great loss of life on Centauri, I have commissioned defensive Missile Bases to be built on all Human planets. Each planet will have a Base for every ten million people. I tell the techies to start researching something to protect our citizens in case of an attack.

2444
The M.O.S. have made centuries old fantasies real. Though they are not as flashy as one you'd find in movies, we now have laser pistols to protect our people. Now to form the NLA!

2446
Life after the Alkari is not a pretty one on Altair. During the time it took to build the colony ship UHI Welcome Home and fly it to Altair, all of the now unmanned power plants, factories, and Lord knows what else chugged along until they exploded. Half of the planet is either scorched or covered in sludge. At least we were able to find the missing Alkari Troops floating in space. It took many weeks of negotiations to get them to travel back to a Human controlled Altair. It didn't hurt that they were nearly out of food and life support.

Will history remember me as a savior or as a monster?

2448
Now the Labbies bring me a design for a stronger Bomb, this one working on fusion reactions to wipe out what ever it hits. I tell them to get back to finds ways to defend and protect the people!

2449
Reports from Aquilae say that a comet has veered off it's intended course and is on a collision course with the planet! Since it would take too long to get the fleet from Altauri to Aquilae, I commission a cheap dual laser drone to be mass produced on Aquilae itself and sent to slowly annihilate the rouge ice ball.

2451
My Chief of Security visited me today. He came bearing a gift from the scientists. A large and wicked looking rifle. Apparently, it uses a more powerful and largely untraceable faint Ion Stream rather than a conventional laser. When I attempted to contact them to direct them onto another project, I was given a recorded message that they were currently busy on a new project. I did take note that later in the day there was a large truck unloading huge bags of "FertoWaste".

2453
The Automated Drones have destroyed the offending heavenly body and will be sent home to be decommissioned. Due to their number, I expect this to take a year.

2456
The M.O.S. fill my office once again. This time they bring me a way to make all of our non-Hostile planets Fertile using techniques from the gas terraformation used in the cleaning of Toxic planets. At least that knowledge was being put to some use. I ask them a small favor of working with on improving the generic medical technology. Now that we have nanotechnology, surely that could come in handy for organic repairs as well as constructs.

2460
Taking the odd quest with their normal vigor, they produce a Nano-Pill that can destroy either a preprogramed organism, such a certain bacterium, or a cell that appears to be under the influence of a virus. The virus part is more damage control than a cure, but any pathogens that are roughly a micron or larger can be eliminated. To be honest, this was a much a publicity stunt as anything else. I, then, have them research a way to increase our sensors.

I also use this new cure-all to ask for a way to settle the last two planets within my reach. Tyranid gladly takes the offer.

2462
And the glowing beauty of Obaca is ours. Now on to Herculis. There is the slight problem that there is a Sakkra fleet of Small ships headed there. I contact Tyranid and inform him of my intent and that Herculis is far closer to my territory than his. He retorts that there could still be dangerous pirates or other malcontents using it as a base of operations. It seems that he is still over wrought about the major pirating incident nearly a century ago. He won't let his ships leave the planet until I have sent armed ships to defend the planet in case of incursions. *Note, this is fluff. I did not threaten Tyranid. I scared his ships away with mine. I didn't actually think it would work, to be honest.*

2466
It takes longer than I though to round up all of my ships, but they all arrive to Herculis. As per the agreement, the Sakkran ships leave a year before the fleet gets there. As extra insurance, I have the ships make a detailed inspection for the remainder of the year. This was helped in part by the newly upgraded Scanners. *New planet - Click, New planet - Click, New planet - Click, New planet - Click, New planet - Click, Colonize? No - Click... Wait, What?!? Aggh!*

With the new reports on distant planets, we get an interesting bit of data. There is an unoccupied star in the North East corner of the galaxy! Unfortunately, it is 9 parsecs away, nearly twice our normal range. I get the Labbies to fix that.

2470
And fix it they do! Right on the money! With these deadly new planets, I ask them to design construction grade Exoskeletons to help prevent the loss of life.

2474
As Keeta is settled, I get the news that the Exoskeletons have been completed. With construction in mind, I ask if they can devise a way to increase the efficiency of our factories again.

2475
The Voting came and went. No surprises there.

2480
Using more advanced computer control, the factory nanites can now be 25% more efficient. Since the Alkari population has seen a boom, I decided to push our propulsion technology to new limits. If they want to see the galaxy so bad, why make them wait?

2481
Sad news today: In it's rush to build new factories, Centauri has overtaxed it's heavy metal deposits. The Centaurians just have the worst luck.

2487
"Tired of sitting in a rusty old clanker for half a decade just to get from Vulcan to Stalaz? Then come and see our fabulous cruise lines! Visit each and every planet in the Human Empire in under 20 years! We have the latest and greatest Ion Engine! Passengers may book from planet to planet or buy a System's Package! And we're having a massive discount on the Imperial Tour. -offervaliduntil2490-"

Well, with the current influx of Alkari pilots, I have my scientists devise a way to upgrade our targeting computers to be even comparable to their 3-D dog-fighting comprehension.

2491
These pilots are amazing! I watch as they just tear through the simulations like it was child's play. They tend to score at least Five times as better than their Human contemporaries. This is incredible! I decide to advance our knowledge of Mass Drivers to help the mining of asteroids.

2494
Centauri is indeed cursed... A freakishly powerful earthquake destroyed almost all of the SuperCity. 22 Million dead. Massive fundraisers have been pouring in as the weeks go by.

2496
It seems with more and more Alkari joining the military, an Altairian Cultural Movement is underway as the youngest generations of the Alkari are attempting to embrace their heritage. Part of that heritage is to prove oneself as a pilot. To compensate for the massive numbers of new pilots, I have the three Main Systems (Sol, Altair, and Toranor) as well as the metal Rich worlds of Volantis, Stalaz, Aquilae, and Herculis build the new Design the Destroyer. It comes with a militarized Mass Driver, a full complement of Ion Thrusters

Also, the Labbies have brought me not only the new Mass Driver, but also an Anti-Matter Bomb for vaporizing useless space rock material. After these were said and done, I request they find a way to cut my Waste cleanup budget in half.

2500
Need I say anything about the Election? 2/5 split. Just like last time, and the time before that...

Tech as of 2500:

Comp: 29
Const: 25
FF: 1
Planet: 24
Prop: 30
Wpns: 17

total: 126
score: 21

2502
And now the Cleanup Budget is halved. Before I can assign them onto their next task, they whole group wanders off, mumbling something about "Andy's Armor". Kinda creepy, if you ask me.

Also, there have been reports of a growing dissenter's group on Incidous. It seems that they feel little connection to the rest of the Darlok Empire. *Not that I have any thing to do with it...*

2508
It appears I was mistaken. They were talking about Armor made from a theoretical alloy called Andrium. Pretty hardy stuff, actually. With the some constant heckling from the environmentally conscious, I ask the scientists to actually provide a way to reduce the actual pollution output of the factories rather than make it cheaper for me to clean up. Not that it makes much of a difference to me though.

2512
The Sakkra report that a strange Amoeba-like being wiped out one of their outlying colonies.

2515
I can now look out my window and see a blue sky on any given day. A pity, I did sort of like the purple tint... *40% Waste cleanup*

2521
With nearly two decades of no news about the dissent, I was beginning to believe it was a quick adolescences' phase. Until that fateful day. A small shuttle pod landed on Tau Cygni with one badly injured Darlok. Along with it were tapes of secret police and concentration camps. Apparently, those who were even faintly suspected of having anti-Nazin sentiments were thrown into a camp, never to leave. We must stop this! We must liberate Incedious! *Seriously, these are the Darloks, but I outclass them in production and Comp tech (I think). I should have sabotaged something by now, or at least ticked them off. I never even got them to Wary! Are they actually Xenophiles, not Xenophobes?*

2523
Oh God. Those tapes were true and more. The Imperial Army waded through their troops and secured the planet. The grateful people eagerly flood our databanks with whatever scientific projects they had the plans to (BC VII, 5 Shields, Range 7, Gravaton Beam, Ion Cannon). We, in turn, update their factories and make them an official Protectorate of the Human Empire.

2525
The Darlok Emperor has retaliated, sending his two Great War Fleets to Guradas and Altair. Fortunately, all my contacts say that the Darloks can still only move at 1 parsec a year, giving me plenty of time to prepare. I might even have a little surprise for Guradas if all things go well. I desperately build up Missle Bases as quickly as possible and re-enforce the planets with my own fleet. In the midst of the war, the Labbies bring me a cheaper factory design. This will help a lot when building up the liberated Darlok Worlds. I ask them to find a way to lengthen our range for our ships' weapons.

2529
Two victories this day! The first fleet to attack Altair has been vanquished, but not without the loss of all of the old Gunner Ships. And the surprise attack on Paranar was a rousing success, gaining us more Darlok weaponry, shields, and another grateful Protectorate. The Giant Space Amoeba, as it is called by the public, has seemingly destroyed Regulus. If it weren't for the attack on the Sakkra, I would think this would be some sort of extreme way of wiping out rebels.

2531
Guradas is able to ward off the advancing Darlok fleet with the help of the new Battleship design. Though it preformed quite poorly in attacking the enemy, it's defenses are still top notch, nothing short of a huge fleet of Small ships could dare destroy it.

2535
And the second quick strike succeeds. This time an attempt to cut the head off of the snake. We took Nazin! Unfortunately, the 'ruler' of Nazin was a double. He said so himself as he detonated the Imperial Palace, taking out every soldier within a half mile radius - Human and Darlok both. What madmen the Darlok Imperials are!

2545
With the taking of Moro and Ryoun, I though we had him. But each time, he had merely placed a suicidal double. Confusing reports are coming in that he is on each remaining Darlok planet at the same time. This war will not end easily.

2548
The M.O.S. have finally resurfaced. They claim that they were so caught up in decrypting Darlok technologies that most every achievement they made was superseded by the next one. Plausible, but one part of their story doesn't add up. There was a seven year span where Hazmat suits were quickly seen entering and exiting the building. Oh well, the have shown me a new type of SuperCity, twice the size of the old one. I never dreamed that something this big could be called anything less than a nation. *Among other things, I researched Doom Virus and 60+ pop*

2550
This vote was new. There were 50 votes total and I had 26 all to myself. With the first lead I've ever had, I tentatively vote for myself. Even Tyranid seemed worried. If only he and I could rule as brothers.

2554
There was panic in the streets of Tau Cygni. Apparently, a clandestine group of Sakkras blew up six factories.

2555
My little labbies have brought me a new type of weapon, the Interstellar Torpedo. This is basicly an energy missile. Unlike a normal missile, does not rely on true ammunition, but rather on small homing device wrapped up in a huge ball of pure anti-matter (with a confining electromagnetic shield to both keep the anti-matter withing the 'bomb' and without the homing device, of course).

2566
I have now taken over Neptunus and Dunatis. With each, I uncovered more and more of a far reaching Darlok conspiracy involving the assassination and replacement of governmental leaders in both Sakkra and Human planets. What I uncovered on Neptunis cemented the fact that there were fakes running both Argus and Rotan. When I tried to tell Tyranid of these plots, he was appalled that I would insult some of his most trusted advisers. It seems that I will have to take them out on my own. May he forgive me.

2572
It is time to take down Argus and Rotan. May the Universe wish me luck.

2574
The attacks on Argus and Rotan did not go as planned. Rotan is ours, and we have captured the impostor, but his counterpart on Argus put up a strong resistance and the new Corvette designs, using Anti-matter Torpedos, failed to destroy the missile bases. The worst horror was the knowledge that the Sakkra are using biological weapons, no doubt through incentives from the Darlok replacements.

2578
The Sakkra have proven most heinous! They annihilated their former colony of Rotan from orbit. I can not fathom such an act. It is good that most of the other colonies within their reach have adequate defenses.

2580
Something is very wrong here. Tyranid wiped out the entire population of Altair. Not through bombs or guns, but through a virulent disiese. Even our best nanomedice could not stop it. Something must be done! Why would he do this?!? This is not like the Tyranid I knew for centuries. He must be an impostor.

I fear the only way to keep our planets from falling from a similar fate would be to build up a fleet intended to glass a planet in one strike and create a field of death between he and I.

I must become a monster to fight a monster.

2587
And so starts the glassing campaign with Kronos. May the Universe help us all.

2596
*Wiped out the Darloks. Conquer victory it is.*

2601
*Created Outpost, a Medium Colony ship to reach the last Sakkra world.*

2605
Won.


Here's what I meant by the Sakkra slingshot:

Comp: 44
Const: 47
FF: 41
Planet: 50
Prop: 45
Wpns: 35

total: 262
score: 43

Most of these techs I did not research! With each Sakkra (and to a lesser extent Darlok) world I conquered, my tech just kept jumping. But on the the actual scoring of my own game:

2400( 8 ) + 2500( 21 ) = 29.

Results post tomorrow.

Oh, and the main reason why it took me so long to do anything in the game was because I wanted a stronger lead on my opponents before I started to undercut them (invade their planets to better my votes while taking away theirs). But the Darloks just had to be nearly constant allies of the Sakkra.

Also: Really? Really?! One single, weakened Darlok planet vs. a maxed out Spying and no successful Sabotage for 30 yrs.? They wouldn't have had to die had they just let me set off a rebellion leader change. It was so easy last game... AS the Darloks... Stupid RNG not letting me play out my planned story better...

Imperium 22

One tech at a time, how will I cope! Colony ship goes to NW green, scouts to NE red and SW blue while more produced. When colony finds Stalaz (Barren 40 UR!), it waits a turn for initial scouts to report then travels to red Vulcan (Ocean 70 UP) settling in 2307. With a UR barren nearby, Planetology is opened in 2304 and IER is rejected in favour of the desired Barren. If Barren had not appeared I was expecting to switch tech research to Propulsion. HW puts deposit in Barren then keeps it progressing until pop arrive at new colony, 16 sent from HW. Scouts reveal a good neighbourhood with one good planet in range and others within 4 parsecs of each other. Sakkra scouts met in the west putting them in the SW corner.

Barren hits in 2319 choosing IT+20 (over IER, Dead, Spores). I switch all tech to Propulsion and choose Range5 (over Range4). I usually find range4 doesn't last long enough and extra techs are going to be difficult in this variant. In 2321 Vulcan starts to send pop to HW to max out but when HW can produce Barren colony ship in 4 turns I go for it, at 189 fact. UR Stalaz is colonised in 2331 with 20 from HW (backfilling from Vulcan) and 8 from Vulcan, more follow. Range 5 hits in 2336, chosing IS (only new option), switching tech back to Planetology (IT+20). HW continues producing colony ships every 4 turns settling Esper in 2337, Rha 2342 & Toranor in 2348 getting GNN 6 planet message. Rha meets Sakkra (Pac/Mil) relaxed 2PE with 2 W yellows, Sssla the closest, agreeing max 100 BC trade. UR Stalaz max'd in 2342 and in 2347 scout NW yellow Neptunus (minimal 50) artifacts and get ... RC3!! Great tech, bad timing. The UR will love it but the rest of my planets will not.

Expansion continues W, E and especially N. In 2350 settle Guradas meeting Alkari (Xen/Mil) relaxed 1PE NE of Guradas and agree max 50 bc trade. Denubius settled 2 years later. IT+20 hits in 2354 choosing EER (over IT+30 or Toxic). I switch to Construction ignoring RW80, which I wanted after bypassing IER, and research II9 in 2 turns! Lucky hit but they all count. I chose II8 (only new option) and switched to Propulsion (IS). Kronos in 2356 & rich Volantis in 2358 continue the expansion, meeting Darloks (Xen/Dipl) relaxed 4PE N of Alkari and agree max 150 bc trade. Maalor & Kakata settled in 2360-1 making 12 planets. With the Sakkra already at Calm, I agree a NAP in 2361. Same year first event hits but its a favourable one for the variant as Virus takes 100 research points from a field with no research invested. Spies manage to steal Hand Lasers from the Alkari in 2363 but the birds issue a threat and drop from Amiable to Hate. Same year I settle artifacts planet, Neptunus. IS hits in 2367 choosing Warp3 (over range7) and switch to weapons choosing NPG (over AMR or Fusion Bomb). I exchange IS for Dead from Sakkra to boost further expansion.

As we enter the 2370's Warp1 travel is slowing expansion but Incedius, rich Aquilae, rich Nordia, poor Regulus & Laan make 18 planets. Ally with Sakkra (their invite) and NAP with menacing Darloks. Exchange Range5 for DS2 so after NPG hits switch finally to (cheap) Force Field technology with PDS (over DS3). Rich Phyco & fertile Hyboria make 20 planets in 2378 with 3 more planets due in 2 turns and another a turn later. With PDS hitting I swap for a few low-level techs (getting ECM1, DSS, IT+10, IER, R4, Gatling Laser) in anticipation of a favourable vote. GNN announces 'preparing to merge' as vote assembles. Unfortunately the 5PE Darloks have more pop (on stats screen) but do not have any more votes than the 3PE Sakkra and my ally is chosen as my opponent! Luck holds when the shifters vote for me (about 35% chance).
vote Humans/Sakkra of 21: Sakkra(3), Alkaris(2) abstain, Darloks(3) & me(13) gives 2/3

Result: domination win in 2379/80 vote
Score
Comp 09
Cons 03
FF.. 08
Plan 12
Prop 11
Weap 08
TOTAL 51/6 = 9
2400 score = 11 from 9 + (2400-2380)/10
2500 score = 21 from 9 + (2500-2380)/10

Tech levels


Map before 3 new settlements plus one to go


Stats showing Darloks with more pop than Sakkra