I was fortunate enough to score a closed beta key for Fallen Earth last week. Have spent about three hours in the game since. It has potential. I am still working out the mechanics and how it all fits together, but the atmosphere seems fitting: gritty, dark and tough.

I have only my experiences in Hellgate, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online and Warhammer for comparison purposes ( and varying degrees of commitment to those games); consequently I hesitate to make judgements concerning Quality of Game Play. I can foresee, however, that there are enough elements present to make Fallen Earth compelling to play for me.

What makes for a compelling experience for old Bede? The first thing I look at is the overall "atmosphere", for lack of a better word. Hellgate and Warhammer drew me in for precisely that quality. Some of that is attributable to "design" - does this world look like you expect it should; some is attributable to "story" - are the actions called for in the story appropriate to the time and place, and the condition of the character I choose to play; some is attributable to what I choose to call "integration" - is the gameplay (the mechanics, skills, attributes and actions of the characters) well fitted to all the other elements.

Another piece of the puzzle of "the compelling experience" is (for this old bull, at least) a little more difficult to express. Perhaps one can approach it indirectly through the concept of "directed action has an effect on the game world". This concept can apply to combat, crafting, PvE, PvP, missions, raids, factions, reputation and so on and so forth. Lord of the Rings Online and Guild Wars, to a lesser extent, failed for me in this regard. Much of the "directed action" in those two games seemed trivial. There was a story-line to follow, and many different things to do, but none of it seemed to matter, or if it did, it mattered only to me in terms of advancement, shinies and the like. Warhammer, on the other hand, has succeeded for me in this regard. The overarching story-line of the Realm War, the smaller stories within the War, all combine in a way that as my character moves through the world in both PvE and PvP I get the feeling that I am somehow advancing the cause, having an impact, no matter how trivial in the larger scheme of the game world each individual action may be.

That second piece of the puzzle is not in place yet for Fallen Earth and Bede, as I am still mooching around on a low level character in a starter town. But enough of the "atmospheric" pieces are present to draw me further in.

Hi everyone,

How do I get the music and sound effects to work on win xp?

Thanks

I may update this with more story filled in, but here it is.

2300
There is only one star within range of our bulky colony ship, so I send it there. The Imperial Scientists claim that they have such wonderful ideas that will revolutionize the way we this about whatever-the-heck-they-are-masters-in-the-field-of. Since they never actually tell me what it is that they have ideas for, I'll believe it when I see it. Still, they ask for funding, so I give them funding - at the expense of the growth of our world.

2301
The Master of Computers and Electronics finally comes to me with his great idea... the ability to scan objects nearly twice as far from our planets as what we can now and to create miniature one so we can have our ships themselves act as our eyes and ears in space. He announces the name of the project is an manner fit for a used gyrocopter salesman: The Deep Space Scanner! When I ask him why not fully double the range of the planetary scanners, he shifts into a Tumbili and - to add to his distain - curls it's prehinsile tail into a facsimile of an obscene gesture and skitters out of the room.

A Pweza suffles in. I immediately recognize it as being the Master of Construction and Design by the way it is clumsily trying to keep hold of a pile of papers in each of its tentacles. It crawls towards me, wheezing and clacking its beak in an attempt to talk and flashing papers at me in an erratic manner. This goes on for a full minute until I loudly clear my throat. He quickly shifts into his normal form and apologizes profusely. "The long and short of it, sir, is that I have theorized a way to reduce the output of pollution of our factories and thus reduce the cost of cleaning up after them." he murmurs. "So what do you call this theory?" "I... er... that is... I never really gave it a name. I've just been calling it Reduced Industrial Waste to 80%." With a sigh, I clear him for funding and he spends a good two minutes trying to gather his research. I still don't understand how a person can pull off being so amusing and so boring at the same time.

*Deflecter Shield II*

*Improved Eco Restoration by The Master of Planetology and Environmental Studies*

*Hydrogen Fuel Cells [Range 4] by the Master of Propultion and Scouting*

*Gatling Laser by the Master of Weapons*

2303
The colony ship sent to the nearest planet has reported in. The single habitable planet has rivers crisscrossing its island contents, making it a vastly fertile planet. Unfortunately, it has little in the way of heavy metals. Well then, call up Ma' and Pa', we've got ourselves a new farm.

2304
Gienah, the new planet we have found, is the opposite of Stalaz. Heavy metals practically float to the surface of each lava flow, but obviously, it's not a nice place to live. The other star I sent a scout to had some beautiful asteroid belts, but no planets.

2305
There are now more than half the projected number of people our great homeworld can possibly hold, so I start sending off the poorest of the poor to Stalaz. Kills two Ndege with one stone. The poor get jobs and less poor on our homeworld.

2306
I have a great idea! You know how worthless the poor are, being - well - poor? Well, let's have a mass education for all those who live on Stalaz. Their little tinkerings in elementary Calculus should provide some help to the homeworld scientists, right?

2308
I have run out of poor to send to Stalaz.

2311
The scout ship has reached Beta Ceti. What a world. As fertile as Stalaz, but with normal amounts of heavy metals. This just brightened up my day. I started to change the spending around so that we could start producing a new colony ship, but all of the Masters glared at me. This sparked a long debate over what to do about the prospect of what to do about finding new planets.

2312
After nearly a year of debating, I have finally gotten them to concede to letting me send out a new type of Scout ship, the Mwangaliaji class ship (different only in that it is cheaper than the previous model), but only one a year. Well, it's better than nothing.

2317
Five years later, there are enough Mwangaliaji scout ships to check out all the local star systems. I just happen to forget to change the funding and it merely slips my mind that I left the plans for a new, cheaper, class Kijiji colony ship on the desk of the president of the largest shipbuilding corporation. I am so forgetful some days...

2319
The reports that an alien ship was sighted at Paranar are completely false. I repeat, there are no such things as alien Walipaka! By the way, Paranar is a decent planet to live on, if we can make our way there.

2322
*discovery of Range 4 and Master going on vacation on Stalaz* With that Master gone, I divert the funds to the others

I receive word that two completely different worlds have been discovered on the same day. Aurora is a dismal little desert planet, but it might have some interesting spices growing on it or something. Let's just hope there are no Mnyoochanga there. Kulthos is covered in a vast ocean, but has a dissying number of islands! I'll bet the Master of Propultion and Scouting wishes she could have waited a few months to swim with the Samaki on this planet!

With this new found range, I send the Scout over Gienah to search the new planet that just came into reach.

2324
The Mwangaliaji sent to the coreward blue star has yet to report in. Something is wrong. He's either crashed into something or found a planet of Amazons.

Also, the poor on Stalaz have been educated enough. Now on to what all the poor hope to achieve in life: building and working in factories! Of course, the top 4% will be kept in science studies as they actually all qualified to be college students. Who would have thought?

2327
Forgive me for sounding like a broken record, but there are no such things as starcraft being piloted by four-armed Waseebongo, especially in the vicinity of Aurora!

2328
The Master of Computers and Electronics struts into my office with a smug look on his face. He announces, with a disgusting amount of pomp and flair, that his project - The Deep Space Scanner 3000 - is complete. He even shifts into a Sokwe and pounds his chest in triump. Annoyed by this presentation, I remind him on how small the reproductive organ of Masokwe really are. The look on his face when he left brightened up my whole day.

A few months later, the scout sent to the north has reported back. Maretta is a vast jungle planet with few metal ore steams. Maretta - seriously, who comes up with such alien sounding names?

2331
*Force Field II and another retiree for Stalaz*

2338
*Reduced 80%*With a loud clatter, a Swala bursts into my office. After I calm it down, I coax the Master of Construction and Design to resume his normal form. He apologizes about the mess, but that he was so exited to tell me that his project was completed. I was surprised to see a smile cross his face. The little bore was actually proud of himself. A well, I amuse myself with the thought of trapping him in my personal garden as a Kuchakulo watching him chitter and run around. At least his life wouldn't change one bit. But I send him on his way.

2342
*Improved Eco Restoration*

2343
*Gatling laser and a missing mountain*

Now that I have no more Masters to deal with, I assign the budget to what ever I want - however I want. First and foremost, I split L. Nobilis's spending between factories and building that Kijiji. Fat lot of good it did to let that paperwork oversight trickle money into it. Those researchers on Stalaz are sent to be CEOs of the new factories. I expect a production boom from all this.

2345
I have a nightmare about a golden robot telling me that everyone else was making more than me. I'm still not sure what that is supposed to mean.

2353
After so long, I can finally say that a true Darlok flag has been planted on Beta Ceti. In the past 50 years, the quality of living has gone up slightly. I choose 20 million of the poorest Darloks on L. Nobilis and 15 million on Stalaz to populate this beautiful new world. *first to 3 worlds! Odd.*

2357
A couple of years after the news of the first colonists arriving at Beta Ceti, I also get the news that the green star to the west has a flipped around environment. Metals galore, but nothing will grow there. Such a waste, too.

2359
The scout orbiting Rayden has been recalled after reporting unknown ships were heading his way. Something must be wrong with the sensors.

2360
In an odd way to celebrate the founding of the first colony on Kulthos, a well renowned hacker simultaneously overwrote all broadband channels and shifts into what is being called a Mseebongo and 'greets' the Darlok Empire. He has been taken into police custody.

Later that week, I personally interview him and approach him about hacking into an undisclosed foreign database. If he accepts, he will be placed in a secret government facility with all the technology he could ever want. He finally accepts when I play my trump card of letting him have a weekly conjugal visit with the actress of his choice. A more secure paperwork misfiling appropriates the needed funds.

I also start building missile bases at L. Nobilis. Can't be too careful about those deadly meteor showers! In an unrelated note, I also design Medium sized starcraft to test out the practicality of the Gatling Lasers. I name this class after the Nyigu because of how much they can sting.

2365
After five long years, the hacker has finally paid off. Must have been my threat to end his conjugal privileges. He is now tasked with decrypting each part of the database.

2367
Aurora has been settled. No Mnyoochanga in sight, right Bob? ...Bob? Hey, Bob, where you go?

2369
*Psilons declare war!* With Beta Ceti such a popular place, I fear that a meteor strike might kill off some of my fine citizens. Let the missile bases be made!

2371
The sensors on the old Scouts must be defective. There was no ship landing on Maretta and it did not disgorge thousands of Walikata. I have decommissioned both of them.

2372
The largest fleet of Nyigu has been sent to Kulthos for a live fire exercise.

2373
The hacker has been taking his time, but he finally completely decoded the first entry in the planetology section of the database. It has information on how to encourage favorable weather patterns on Barren planets.

2375
The live fire exercise was a complete success! They scared off--- err... I mean completely destroyed all target asteroids. A celebration shall be held in their honor!

2378
That poor, poor soul in room 152. He's gone crazy, he has. Lost his mind in the middle of space. Must have lost some family in that meteor strike on Kulthos. First, he sent word that an alien ship landed on Paranar. Then he said that a flood of Walikata covered the landing site. Then he send a video of himself shifted into a Mwalikata and said that all Darloks should submit to their rule. I do hope he passes quietly in the gas chamber. At least he'll quiet down.

2380
The hacker has struck again. This time with information pertaining to rapidly cooling an Inferno planet's surface. We can also use some of this information to deal with Dead planets, like Rayden. I have sent a large number of 'Specially Trained Scientists' to bring Rayden to our fold and an honor guard of Nyigu to keep all those pesky meteors away.

I show the hacker a new database. He asks for assistants, which I give him a few. He has proven himself with this last find.

2381
And again, the hacker pays for himself. This time with a design for a better computer for our ship's targeting and evasion computer. Mark III, apparently.

2383
Official report:
Sad news from Rayden. The entire fleet of Honor Guard and their charges were incinerated by a freak Flare Burst from the star.

Unofficial report:
We are more than a match for their ships, but their missile bases will be a tougher nut to crack.

2384
Another new find from my little hacker group. Engines that propel the ship at twice the normal speed. I take advantage of this by designing a new class based on the Nyigu. The Nyigu 2 has twice the speed and three times the computing power.

All available forces are diverted to Aurora because of a "Meteor Shower".

2390
The assistants working on the second database have cracked some of the code. We now have designs for Hand Lasers.

2391
Two signs of good news today. The second database has given us just what we needed - the ability to project an EMP field into space to deflect a missile barrage. The "Meteor Shower" has finally ended thanks to our glorious fleet!

2395
One more tech from our first database. This one for a powerful missile!

2398
The two Inferno worlds, Berel and Gienah, were colonized this year. Did I plan this? ...Yes... Yes, I did. I swear. It was a little unfortunate that a colonist was driven insane by walking around in what was basically Nchiyamoto. He was able to send me a message, shifted into some Ndege like thing and said he was some sort of alien. Afterwords, everyone called him Kichwanibele. The official report is that he walked off into the last remaining lava field and was never seen again.

2399
Another product from the first database: Personal shielding devices. As far as I can tell, we are on par with the Waseebongo on soldier technology. Now all we need is superior numbers to win.

2405
Both of the active databases have given up some more of their secrets. A better Alloy for our armor, codenamed Duralloy (Did the Master of Computers and Electronics have something to do with it's naming?) and even better rockets, Hyper X.

These new 'innovations' have me bring to the people of my empire a new ship: the Mkingzi class. It's a small ship with Nuclear Missiles. It is intended to be a quick and easy way for any colony to setup a defense against "meteor showers."

It's getting harder to quiet the rumors floating around, such as "Aliens bombed my house!" and "My brother wasn't killed in a training accident. He was killed by aliens!". I have only so much money and assassins.

2410
The new third database has given up it's first secret: an extra parsec of range for our ships.

2413
And the third database has done it again! This time those hackers have managed to get their hands on a more efficient factory. Of course, better factories means less workers in said factories, but that just means we can just build more factories!

2416
And the tech keeps rolling in. Stronger force fields for our ships, thanks to the Waseebongo!

2418
Specialized intra-system thrusters from the Vichwanibele and a better guidance computer from the Walikata!

2419
One more from the Vichwanibele - more precise techniques to thaw a Tundra planet.

2426
The ability to reduce factory emissions by 60% comes from our most favorite "Meteor showers".

2427
More tech. Even cheaper versions of factories and another parsec for our ship's range. I'm pretty sure that hacker has an entire legion of illegitimate offspring helping him now.

2429
I have decided to end this annoying little war with the Waseebongo in my own special way. First, I'll send spies to take out the missile bases on Rayden. Then I'll start riots on Mentar and maybe even Proxima. If I'm feeling generous, I'll let them keep Proxima.

2430
With an easy success be destroying a missile base on Rayden, I design a new fighter to take up the cause. Even though it still has the gatling laser, the Nyigu 3 can out maneuver and out pace anything in the stars. This is complemented by the most uptodate targeting and evasion computer known to the galaxy.

2437
I wish our sensors were better. In a quick strokes of two keys, I have stolen a faster ship engine and destroyed - not one, but two - missile bases from two aliens and then had them blame each other. One can't pay for this kind of entertainment. This would be like Ndugukubwa if they could kill one another.

2441
This is it. The last two bases have fallen at Rayden. I am sending all the Nyigu 2s and 3s and 55 thousand 'scientists' to "convert the long dead world". If all is said and done correctly, then it shall be dead - if only for a moment.

2443
And the takeover is successful. When the troops landed, they found heavy resistance, but our numbers saved the day. While rummaging through the local research facilities, the troops found all the Waseebongo notes on keeping a Dead world running. Thought these are merely refinements on what we already 'know', they do come in handy none the less.

Of course, all the general public knows is that our 'scientists' found more startling results when they could actually field test their theories on awakening Dead worlds.

2444
And the third database reveals more secrets, this time in the form of a powerful "Ion Cannon". This thing is twice as strong as a regular Laser.

With this, I design a new fighter craft. This has a 3 Parsecs/year engine and the new Ion Cannon, but is still the same as the previous Nyigu 3's. I name this class the Nge in honor of it's powerful sting.

2448
One of the Hacker's kids must have been sloppy yesterday. The Vichwanibele have declared war. Too bad, I was hoping to target the Walikata first. Maybe if I say that the rogue hacker has been brought to trial in a few years, their leader will call a cease fire long enough for me to carve into the Walikata.

2452
*Meklar discover a derelict*

2454
A kidege told me how to wrap an sheild around my planets. For that, I'll attack them after the kata after all.

2460
I was taking notes when the giant "Meteor storm" that came from Paranar hit L. Nobilis. I have decide to design a Huge ship, the likes of which have never been seen before. A few weeks into the final draft, the third database has given up a powerful new device: the Automated Repair Controls. As long as someone is still alive to man the helm, these nanomachines would patch holes and solder circuits. This had me redo the entire schematic, just to fit it in, but it was well worth it.

To the general public, it was an enormous mining barge. I even christened the class Mchimvi. So what if those 13 Heavy Ion Cannons weren't high powered, long range vaporizing lasers and those two cargo bays just happen to be filled with a payload of Nuclear Missiles? So what if it's Anti-Asteroid Point Defense System was actually EMP projectors and the Radiation Shields were merely Laser Dampeners?

It's just too bad it will take so long for them to be crafted. Maybe I'll find some better upgrades in the mean time.

2464
Oh the Walikata are going to get it now! They slipped a decent sized fleet into Stalaz and wiped out the defenders. Matters have become worse, though, as the Hacking clan (as they can now be called) has found the way seed toxic spores into a planet in their database. I plan to show them the full terror of such a weapon!

I have started a devious little project called Balaayamfishi. Event though I won't be building the ships just yet, this has the plans to bring an unending tide of plague to the galaxy.

2472
Well, this was unexpected. I caused a revolt on Mentar, alright! Unfortunately, I was hoping for more rioting and anarchy, not a leader change.

2483
Finally, an alien not leaked to the press! So these are the Surachuma I've seen references to.

2484
Oh kinyeshi! There's an actual emergency and it's not a lie to cover up an alien attack! The Aurora's star will of Nova in 8 years if the scientists there can't find a way to break down part of it's core to age regress the star itself.

2487
And now the Walikata have declared war on me. I respond by sending the newly built Mchimvi and nearly all of my Nge to Paranar. This may not end well, but it will cut off some of their attack raids on my core planets.

2490
Aurora is doomed. I have started shuttling the upper class off, with a long waiting list for the lower class. In lighter news, Paranar is expected to fall once our 'special settlers' land.

2492
*Soil Enricment from Alkari, Stole all techs from the Mrrshan at Paranar*

2495
And it seems that the Waseebongo knew of the Walikata toxic spores, and have created an antitoxin. This will prove valuable to our cause.

2498
It is with a heavy heart that I inform the Empire that the colony on Paranar and the ships orbiting it was destroyed in a freak solar flare. The entire planet was burned to a crisp.

2500
The aliens have signed a Death Pact against our empire. I think now would be the time to reveal the aliens to my people. I just need to think of a way to demonize them...

Official Press Conference:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
We have found the source of these "Freak Solar Flares". As unbelievable as this may sound, we are not alone in the universe. We have found evidence of a malicious hegemony of Extraterrestrial beings. On Paranar and Rayden, we have found remnants of past sapient beings who opposed them. They were reduced to dust. But it seems that the old ones on Paranar had almost found a way to counteract the Hegemony disrupted the unnatural flares. We have been able to finish what they started.

As far as we can tell, they are being lead by emotionless cyborg abominations. We will release more information on these monsters as the news comes to us. We believe that there are three other aliens in this Hegemony.

We shall not fall to them. This I promise you. They shall feel they terror that they themselves created. Long live the Darlok Empire!

For our defense, I have drafted designs for a Small orbital defence turret armed with a single but devastating new laser called the Megabolt Cannon. Swarms of these shall be the first defense of all of our worlds. The design team have nicknamed them the Nyuki class.

And that is not all, my people. To take the fight to them, I have drawn up plans for a battle centric version of the Nge: the Nge Mark 2. This will also be carrying a single Megabolt canon, as well as two payloads of Mark X Missiles. And soon, we will find the way to militarized our Mchimvi class barges.

Nothing will stand in our way. No one drop of drool from their greedy, slobbering maws will touch our soils. No child shall be whisked away and into their clutches. They shall all fall before us as bones.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

2501
Do not fear, my people! Even in these horrible times, the government is still working to give you a better quality of life. We have finished a special project that will allows us to construct giant Archologies to allow 30 million people to live and work in them. The age of expansion shall begin.

2504
As much as I would like to blame this on the Hegemony, a single, yet devastating comet is headed for the planet Berel. It will take 12 years to hit, but I will send all available ships to stop it from getting close.

2516
A parade shall be held in the honor of the captain of the DES Koloe - a Mchimvi class barge. He and the late captain of the DES Sepetu devised a plan to take out the heavily armed Huge warships by utilizing the enemy's far slower speed. He engaged the enemy in a pseudo-orbit far outside either's range in an effort to distract the enemy from the missile bases on Berel. He took the enemies by surprised by randomly cutting into fray and blasting a ship and then speeding out of there. A single ships was able to survive the onslaught of three heavily armed warships by the grace of our Auto-repair technology. The Captain of the Sepetu gave his life to stop a suicide charge onto the planet Berel by on of the enemy warships last year.

The Captain shall be awarded with the honor of piloting the first Kifu class warship as soon as it is produced.

2523
Sad news. Our prospectors on L. Nobilis have failed. There are no more Heavy metals within the entire planet.

2546
Dire news. The Berel colony and warships at it were all destroyed by a large task force of alien warships. We will morn their lose.

2549
And with this victory on Proxima, we have dealt a heavy blow to an alien race of the Hegemony. Our troops report that these beings are small, six limbed, bipeds with an oversized head. Mostly yellow in color. The common call tag for these things became Waseebongo, for their oversized heads.

But not only have we crippled them, we've taken most all of their heinous weapons designs. As the saying goes "Use their own strength against them!"

2555
Even with the valiant defense of Proxima, the colony was lost. We have least dealt them some blow by depriving them of this as a colony for a few years.

In a move that might be denounced as desperate, the Emperor has designed Small Automated Seek and Destroy drones in an effort to deprived the Hegemony of local colonies. They are codenamed Buibui, though there is little resemblance to the eight legged arthropod.

*Cue the rest of the Two Hundred Year War. Most of it dealt with me scorching every nearby planet, thus distracting the AI with tasty planets to colonize and ignore me. The only major event was when the Space Amoeba took out Stalaz. Did you know that the Amoeba heals itself A LOT?

That was actually a good thing in the long run, as such an Ultra Poor planet was a pain to try to build up in the early stages of the war. And it left on less planet for the AI to get a hold on me.

Aliens in order of their extinction: Mrrshans, Alkari, and Psilons.

Also, may, many worlds traded hands, and many co-invasions or attempted re-pops by the AI also helped in keeping enemy production to a minimal. There were even times that I swear the Final War Alliances broke down when a planet would change hands when I wasn't looking and had no need to change hands.*

2792
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
And so, my people, I have promised you that the Evil Hegemony will be vanquished. And so it has. The last Surachuma Stronghold, what might have even been their homeworld, fell to our forces last year. We cover the entire galaxy with only a few irradiated worlds left untouched. In time, they shall be ours, but not now. Now we shall celebrate!

Every man, woman, and child is safe. We may now beat our blasters into plows, as the saying goes. The Eternal Peace we once dreamed of shall come to pass.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry I stopped with a detailed report during the war, but halfway through, it was either a frantic trade around of ships to defend against an incursion or just a slow but steady mop up. There were also many small attacks early in the game, but I stopped recording them because both I and the Emperor would just be recycling "Meteor Shower" and "Space Radiation".

I must say that this was a very challenging game. I enjoyed it a lot! To be honest, I was not expecting to win this, and the Council Loss in 2500, I was almost sure of it.

Also, how is it that a Galaxy Wide Empire only produces twice as much as a single Meklar homeworld?!?

Decided to alter a normal opening pretty heavily for the early research bonus points. Would definitely slow down overall development, but Hard is usually not so, so should be winnable. Set initial spending all to tech and let's see what we've got:

DSS (no choice, 440 RP)
RW80 (870)
S2(560)
Barren(310)
Range4(310)
GatlingLaser(870)

Ouchie on those. OK, my homeworld currently produces 23 RP, and will go up to about 32 once the ship lands (and will inch up with pop growth.) Payback for a factory is 20 turns. Something like 3360 RP to get all of those, which is more than 100 turns! OK, don't go completely for bonus glory, build some factories.


My 2nd world is Fertile but UP; the other ocean is poor. Orion is the reachable star in the center. I make R4 the first priority and do some full funding from Nazin, get lucky and a pop at 2317! Built factories for three more turns then a 6-turn colship; it's a Small map so didn't want to wait any longer. Research going to Construction next, that's done in 2333 right after Beta Ceti founded, not bad for just the UP plinking in! Got very lucky again, pop at 2 or 3%. Maxed out Nazin, put one turn of its production into DSS to seed before building a colship, then more turns of teching as the 5th Desert planet had to wait until #4 was founded before the ship could really move out.

DSS in 2342, Barren 2343, ClassII in 2349.
After the last colship, I started a Huge/LR col. 11 years to build, but what else am I going to spend my homeworld on? Also I wasn't sure if I wanted to tech Gatling - it really sucks, since lasers miniaturize better 4 normal lasers don't take much more cost/space.

Finally in 2363 the Psilons have the tech to settle the Dead world between us (their 3rd) and make contact. They are willing to trade HyperV or IIT9 for RW but I hold off.

I've just jumped that gap and a normal col is en route to the Jungle world (also poor), however a Mrrshan ship shows up at the same time with a big escort.

2374 is my first spying success, get to choose any Psilon tech and take Duralloy. Mrrshans have Gatling, hoping to lift that and see if I can then research a good weapons tech for free.

With little else to do, my maxed worlds built a couple bases if relevant, topped out a prebuild using that Huge design, and went reserve. That allowed Paranar to react to a Mrrshan attack:


This was a close fight, the heavies could penetrate my shields, but had enough to hold them off.

Shortly after in 2385 a BIG theft - the Psilon's brand new BCIV! That should give me a considerable spy boost against the other races, pity I still only know one of them. But then the next turn the Alkari learn Range 6 and come into contact, nice. The Meklar must be jammed into 2 systems in the far northwest.
Time until 2400 is a great age for spying - lift IER, Range5, Dead, and Gatling along with some assorted minor items. Of course, the Psilons and Alkaris DoW, but not unexpected and nothing I shouldn't be able to handle. What bothers me is that I'm not willing to conquer without some kind of engine and no one has one yet. Some +terraforming would be nice too, but also totally unavailable.

Psilons have one Huge that is full of heavy ions and parks over Beta Ceti, long bombing run begins. Beta Ceti regrows and fends off two invasions, eventually brains sign peace but my best world has to start over from scratch. Steal RCIII from birds; they get sublights but stealing takes so long I decide to research it myself. And then I do get the steal right when the tech gets into %s Somewhere in here I turned off Psilon spying hoping to delay another war.

So I went with Medium designs, one Hyper-V 5-rack and one with 3 fusion bombs. Taking the Mrrshan's Poor Maretta was easy fleetwise but their Battle Suits made the invasions costly, fortunately I looted that. However, a new Mrrshan design emerges that beats my Hyper-V's - 2 moves means it can either retreat away, or close on boats after they fire and smack them with a horde of NPG's. 5 of them kick me out of Maretta and start bombing away, but the joke's on them as I take out Fierias's 17 bases with their fleet gone. The homeworld's pop is decimated by futile attempts to invade Maretta while my transports approach; a fleet that retreated from a developed world of mine shoots down a first wave of invaders then ALSO goes to Maretta and lets the 2nd wave take Fierias! IIT6 and ClassIII looted.

Even better, I can rush forward, bomb out and invade the last Mrrshan world before their fleet can react! I couldn't fight their ships very well but didn't have to, hehe. Year was 2469 - man this was a slow-moving game! Maretta will be slow to rebuild but Fierias and Draconis are both good sizes and come 2/3 full of factories, so they are contributing pretty quickly.

Resume spying on the Psilons, get Inferno (can finally settle that Rich world in the backlines) and RW60 and war. Despite their higher tech they are very different than the Mrrshans; Larges and Huges with heavy blast cannons/fusion beams can chip away at my bases and win at worlds where I don't have enough, but swarm of Ion Cannon fighters can hold up quite well against them. They start a couple sieges but can't really threaten my worlds with shields (their bombard damage is really low, and I have a gropo tech advantage on them). I invade their small Inferno world (no techs sadly) but it gets wiped out before I get defenses. A small bomber swarm destroys their Rich world from the tactical screen:

First time I've ever done that without spores, short of late-game super-overkill stacks. I did have spores but decided not to use them, after relying them exclusively for much of the last Imperium.

Like the Mrrshans, the Psilons erred in trying to take one of my worlds under siege, depleting Mentar's population (aided by some bombing

An invasion from here essentially clinched the win; Mentar had gone Rich by event, so I quickly fortified it and continued to press forward, and a haul of six techs pretty much erased the brain's lead. Was able to mass fighters and kill the one Psilon huge that was sieging my world and shoot down their big invasion fleet soon afterwards; they would be unlikely to threaten me again. I razed and resettled one Alkari world mainly to contact the Meklars just before the 2500 vote, they didn't have any + terraforming either! Bizarre, a game went 200 years with no one getting any (of course, if not for the variant scoring I would have researched +20 myself ages ago). Had time to wipe out the Psilon's 2nd planet and it was just enough to put me over the top now:

I got some help from an interesting way - when I bombed out that Alkari world I was just short of the firepower to wipe it out in one turn. So they sent 33 reinforcing transports that were shot down by my fighters too. As usual for the AI's in this game the Alkari fleet positioning was horrible; had a big fleet of ships on par with my tech (kept getting bigger since they had no weapons that could go through a planet shield, and so never took losses at my worlds) but did not use it as the powerful defensive force it could have. I really wish the AI's tactical realization that it has no chance if it can't penetrate a planet shield was shared by their strategic move and they wouldn't waste time sending ships on pointless missions over and over again.




Scoring
1st tech dates:
Computers - Deep Space Scanner - 2342 (no bonus)
Construction - RW80 - 2333 (2nd, 4 points)
Force Fields - class II - 2349 (T3rd, 1 pt)
Planetology - Barren - 2343 (no points)
Prop - Range4 - 2317 (1st, 6pts)
Weapons - uh, whoops.
Yeah, I held off on researching any, the idea being that if I got left with a key gap (no bombs, or seriously hurting for better missiles, etc.) I might be able to research one higher-tier tech at no score penalty. Also, the only initial choice of Gatling Laser is always essentially worthless; you can fit almost as many normal lasers for the same space/cost, and if you are doing any significant fighting at that tech level you'd come out ahead by putting those RP into more laser ships. Probably I should have researched a weapons tech once I got a winning position (was still on Hyper-x, could do quickly) - doubtful I would have gotten points, but who knows, maybe only three people play this one, or someone else does the same thing as me and forgets to research one, or they do but their game lasts longer.

No negatives, did not self-research anything after those listed above. Total score 111 (100 victory, 11 bonus from early research dates.)

Well Imperium 21 looked interesting and not too taxing so I thought I would give it a try. Just a turnlog though and no pictures.

Imperium 21 turnlog
2300 send Colony ship to W green (only option), scouts to W yellow & W red and another ordered up
2301 send scout to N blue and another ordered
2302 send scout to N red and another ordered
ibt scout W green Stalaz (Ocean 80 UP fertile) colonised
2303 Stalaz goes full tech, trans 11 from HW
...With UP colony & range needed & variant I open Planetology & Propulsion early with 2 clicks from HW
...send Scout to SW red
ibt choose IER (over Barren) & range 5 (over R4). IER is clear choice despite variant but range is debatable, I decide with no intel yet to go R5
2304 Trans another 11 to Stalaz (for tech load)
...HW places full turn tech deposit 75/25 Plan/Prop
2305 HW back to fact except 3 tech clicks (till pop arrive at Stalaz) mostly to boost Prop small deposit
ibt chase Psilon scout from W yellow placing them in SW corner
ibt Scout reports: N blue is Paranar (Steppe 60), W red is Kulthos (Ocean 65 Poor) and W yellow is Beta Ceti (Terran 110 Fertile!)
2306 HW to fact as Stalaz takes tech load
ibt Scout N red Berel (Inferno 15)
2307 send Berel scout W to nearby blue
...Open Construction (point chasing!) after 2nd trans arrive at Stalaz
ibt rebuff Mrrshan scout from Paranar so they must be in NE corner
ibt RW80 only option
2308 spare RP not used for advancing Plan/Prop used for small deposit in cons
2309 Open Computers with spare RP
ibt NW blue is Orion (oops!)
ibt DSS only option
ibt scout SW red is Aurora (Desert 40)
2310 Use spare RP for small deposit in comp, order another scout
2311 send scout to SE white
...Open Weapons with spare RP
ibt Gatling Laser only option
2312 Open Force Fields with spare RP, to 2319 trickle deposit in weap
ibt DS2 only option
2313-9 Trickle deposit in FF
2314 ibt scout SW white Primodius asteroids
2315 asteroid scout to E blue
...HW starts to slowly increase tech investment, increasing each turn
2318 ibt scout E blue Gienah (Inferno 35 rich)
2319 send Gienah scout to Paranar
2323 IER @ 6% with HW now full on tech, tech investment can now reduce a little
2326 R5 @ 6%
ibt IER hits, choose IT+20 (over Dead or Spores)
2327 HW puts more on tech for deposit on IT+20
2328 DSS @ 3%, RW80 @ 1%, tech spending reduced again as techs mature
ibt RW80 hits very early, choose II8 (over Duralloy)
2329 HW @ 150 fact and little extra tech needed, start building first colony ship
2330 HW not needed for any extra tech
...Spare RP from Stalaz over next 2 turns to small deposit in II8
2331 Set Reloc to Stalaz while waiting for range to come in
ibt R5 hits, choose IS (over Range 6)
ibt Colony ship produced reloc'd to Stalaz
2332 HW to produce some more scouts while building fact
...Stalaz on max pop trickles 1 pop per turn for next 3 turns back to HW
ibt DSS hits, choose RC3 (over BC3)
2333 HW starts tech again, spare RP over next few turns trickle deposit in RC3
...HW start building 2nd colony ship
2334 HW @ 166 fact now full on colony ship while supporting tech
ibt scout NE red is Maretta (Jungle 110 Poor Fertile), W green is Rayden (Dead 30 rich)
2335 DS2 @ 3%
2337 send 2nd colony ship to Paranar
...Gatling @ 2%, HW on fact while supporting the yo-yo needs of multiple techs
ibt Colonise Beta Ceti and GNN advises I am first to 3 planets
2338 trans 39 from Stalaz to Beta Ceti
ibt DS2 hits, choose PDS (over DS3)
2339 HW @ 186 fact, reducing tech, now building 3rd colony ship
2340 ibt Gatling Laser hits, choose Hyper-X (over AMR)
2341 ibt chase 2 Alkari colony ships (will hit diplo) and scout N purple Iranha (asteroids)
ibt colonise 4th planet Paranar
2342 trans 25 from Stalaz to Paranar
...send colony ship to Kulthos
ibt scout central red Alkari Keeta (Arid 65 Artifacts), next send W to yellow
2346 IT+20 @ 2%
2347 as tech peaks (IT+20), Beta Ceti helps to allow HW to finish 4th col ship
ibt colonise 5th planet Kulthos
2348 trans 24 from Stalaz to Kulthos, send col ship to Aurora, HW finish fact
ibt chase Psilon scout from W central yellow Vox (Steppe 35), looks like Meklar are in NW corner
2349 HW at max back to ship building plus tech
ibt IT+20 hits, choose Dead (over IT+30), with Inferno+Toxic missing aim for Psilon rich planet, I'm sure they won't mind!
2350 Terraform HW, rest to tech
...place 180 BC deposit on 2830 BC Dead (aiming for about 19 turns) with help from Beta Ceti & Paranar
2351 After tech deposit all back to fact with HW still supporting growing tech needs
2352 Mrrshan fleet (2 medium, 1 col) 3 turns out from Maretta (what's taken them so long to get 4 parsecs from their hw?)
2353 trans 8 from Stalaz to fill HW
2354 HW max fact returns excess to ships, part terraform Paranar
ibt colonise 6th planet Aurora, GNN announces
ibt Mrrshan introduce themselves with their usual charm
2355 terraform Beta Ceti, trans 16 from Kulthos to Aurora
...Mrrshan (Ruth/Tech) uneasy 3PE with 2 NE yellows and now E red Maretta
...start trickling free spies with odd tick or 2 if not raising maint%
2356 II8 @ 2%, HW now max pop
2358 deposit 120 BC in Hyper-X
ibt II8 hits, choose Battle Suits (over ARS, RW60)
2359 deposit 99 BC in IS, part terraform Stalaz
2360 deposit 68 BC in PDS, excess at HW now building small reserve
2361 trans 6 from Stalaz to fill Beta Ceti, RC3 @ 3%
2363 deposit 82 BC in BS
...spy report on cats - ECM1, II9, Barren, (R5), Hand Lasers, Hyper-X
2364 Dead @ 1%, finish terraform on Stalaz
2365 Beta Ceti max's, starts ship prebuild
2366 ibt RC3 hits late, choose ISS (over BC4)
...Dead hits early, choose IT+30
2367 finish terraforming Paranar, design Dead colony ship
...deposit 121 BC in ISS, 80 BC in IT+30
2368 Dead colony produced, sent to Rayden from Beta Ceti which goes back to fact
...trans 11 from Stalaz to Kulthos (ready to feed Rayden)
ibt spy infiltrate Mrrshan, from Comp/Cons/Plan/Weap choose weap, get Hand Lasers
2369 finish terraforming Kulthos, trans 4 from Stalaz to Kulthos
ibt spy infiltrate Mrrshan, from Comp/Cons/Plan choose plan, get Barren
ibt armed Alkari colony ship takes over (and settles) Vox
2370 finish terraforming Aurora, trans 4 from Stalaz to Kulthos
ibt spy infiltrate Mrrshan, from Comp/Cons/Weap choose weap, get AMR
ibt settle Rayden
ibt vote Darloks/Mrrshans of 13 Psilons(2)/Alkaris(2)/Meklars(1) abstain, Mrrshan(3), me(5) vote cat for diplo (goes neutral)
ibt Psilons greeting
2371 Rayden fed from reserves, trans 26 from Kulthos to Rayden
...Psilons (Hon/Dipl) uneasy 2PE, Mrrshan up to Neutral (vote)
2372 Beta Ceti max's, pumps reserves
2373 Beta Ceti takes over tech load as HW builds more fact, Hyper-X @ 3%
...trans 11 from Kulthos to Rayden
...spy report on brains - ECM1,BC2+3/II9/DS3/-/R4,IS,Warp3/Hyper-V on me
ibt spy infiltrate Mrrshan, from Comp/Cons/Weap choose weap, get NPG
2374 trans 9 from Kulthos to Rayden
ibt vote Darloks/Mrrshans of 14 Psilons(2)/Alkaris(2)/Meklars(1) abstain, Mrrshan(3), me(6) have to abstain
2375 Paranar max's fact, part-terraform Rayden, Beta Ceti spare BC's go to ship prebuild
ibt spy infiltrate Mrrshan, from Comp/Cons choose cons, get II9
2376 terraform Rayden to max, HW max's
ibt spy infiltrate Mrrshan, from Comp/Plan/Weap choose weap, get Hyper-X, choose Mass Driver (only option)
2377 Rayden max's pop, IS @ 2%
ibt spy infiltrate Psilons, from Comp/FF/Prop/Weap choose prop, get R4
2378 PDS @ 3%
ibt spy infiltrate Psilons, from Comp/FF/Prop/Weap choose prop, get IS, choose Warp3 (from R7)
ibt spy infiltrate Mrrshan, from Comp/Plan choose Plan, get Tundra
ibt scout SW white Crypto (Minimal 70)
2379 trans 32 from Stalaz to Kulthos, preparing the front
ibt PDS hits early, choose PS-V
2381 ibt spy infiltrate Psilons, from Comp/FF/Prop/Weap choose prop, get Warp3, choose R8
ibt Psilons warn me about espionage and drop from unease to hate
2382 Rayden max's, set to produce Nuke bombers with Beta Ceti (reloc to Rayden)
ibt spy infiltrate Psilons, from Comp/Weap choose comp, get BC2
ibt Psilons DOW
ibt armed Alkari colony ship takes over (and settles) Crypto
2383 188 Nuke bombers (Warp3, IS, max maneuver) produced at Rayden (including reloc'd), sent to Mentar
...BS @ 4%
ibt Mentar battle, 15MB + 29 small, destroy MB for loss of 22 bombers
ibt spy infiltrate Psilons, from Comp/FF/Weap choose comp, get ECM1
2384 trans 135 pop from Beta Ceti, Kulthos & Aurora to Mentar
...produce 40 NPG 3.0 fighters
ibt spy infiltrate Psilons, from Weap get Hyper-V
2385 reserves help Beta Ceti & Aurora re-populate
ibt spy infiltrate Psilons, from Comp/FF/Weap choose comp, get BC3
2386 Paranar starts ship prebuild for Eastern front
ibt Mentar trans land 135(pds+hl) v 100(def), win with 74 left, capture II7, DS3, Ion Cannon
ibt Alkari unfriendly greeting
2387 Mentar to terraform, Rayden, Beta Ceti & Paranar to ships, others forwarding pop
...with captured techs boosting computer level, ship space & weapon level I decide to forego further tech self-discoveries
...Alari (Xen/Dipl) uneasy 5PE
...fleet from Mentar to Proxima
ibt Proxima battle, 3MB + 21 small + 4 cols, lose 6 bombers
2388 trans 64 pop from Beta Ceti & Kulthos to Proxima
...trans 10 pop from Mentar to Alkari Crypto, scout shows 4 pop there
2389 Beta Ceti to reloc 85 NPG 3.2 fighters to Paranar, if I can take Maretta I can win next vote with 10/15
...spy report on birds - ECM2 on me (BC2/II8/DS3/IER/IS/Gatling)
...trans 60 from HW to Mrrshan Maretta
...trans 11 from Mentar to Alkari Crypto
2390 HW to reloc 21 NPG 3.2 fighters to Paranar
...trans 36 from Mentar to Crypto
...2 Alakri fleets towards Crypto, 8 sm then 23 sm, 1 med, 1 col,
...so Proxima 30 NPG 3.0 to Crypto & Rayden produce 72 NPG 3.2 reloc to Mentar on way to Crypto
ibt Proxima trans land 32(pds+hl) v 65(def), win by 3, lucky win, slight miscalc, Beta Ceti 32 will arrive next turn
ibt Crypto trans land 10(pds+hl) v 6(def), win by 4
ibt GNN - Psilon genocide, Darloks 10 (9+) planet message (outstripping etc.)
ibt Alkari DOW (planet loss), Mrrshan drop from Neutral to restless (genocide)
2391 Paranar set to produce 69 NPG 3.2 fighters from prebuild
...send 160 Nuke bombers to Alkari Vox
...trans 40 from Paranar to Mrrshan Maretta
...trans 14 from Mentar to Crypto, 20 from Kulthos to Stalaz (pop production needed to grow)
2392 terraform Proxima, trans 11 from Mentar to Proxima
...send 175 NPG 3.2 from Proxima to Maretta, 100 trans enroute
ibt chase Alakri small from Vox
ibt Maretta battle, 0Mb + 1 large + 15 medium destroyed for loss of 4 NPGs
ibt bomb Vox to oblivion, lose contact with Alkari
ibt Mrrshan DOW
2393-99 max pop all planets while swatting away enemies
2399 ibt vote Darloks/Alkaris of 16 Meklars(1) abstain, Alkaris(2)+Mrrshan(2), me(11) vote myself in

Result: Conquest victory at 2399-2400 vote
Score: victory = 100
Self researched techs (after first in field): RC3/II8/PDS/IT+20,Dead/x/x
Penalty: -5 x 5 = -25
Date of first tech in field:
Comp: 2332-3 DSS
Cons: 2328-9 RW80
FF..: 2338-9 DS2
Plan: 2326-7 IER
Prop: 2331-2 R5
Weap: 2340-1 Gatling

Final score: 100 - 25 + ?? = ??

Well, it's closing day, so I'll go ahead and post this quickly before I head off for work: My report is in the usual spot; I hope others enjoyed this game as much as I did! Scoring notes appear at the end of my report ... and the rest of this post will therefore be taken up with my lengthy...

Notes from the Sponsor:

Playing Darloks who can only research first-tier techs outside of the computer field is a time-honored variant, always great fun to play, but with our recent discovery that techs can be stolen above your own maximum tech level, it made sense to try something a little more extreme: Only one tech, total, can be researched in each field; our spies and soldiers will have to fill all the other gaps! The trouble with using this variant for an Imperium however is that the RBMoO community includes members with a wide range of experience, such that the variant might be too stringent for some, and perhaps too easy for others if the map layout favors the player too much. I therefore decided to institute a scoring system in lieu of a variant. The idea was to let players decide how much risk they're willing to take to improve their chances of scoring high. In addition to closing research after one tech in each field, players had the option to basically sacrifice early imperial development for the earliest possible tech hits in each field - in the most extreme case, you could even scrap your initial colony ship and scouts, pour reserves into the homeworld, and produce nothing but factories and research until all six techs come in, choosing the cheapest tech in each field regardless of its utility. At the other end of the spectrum, if you have doubts about your ability to win the game with just one tech self-researched in each field, you could keep up your research until you've acquired what you feel you need to survive and triumph. You probably won't wind up with the best score if you proceed beyond your first tech in each field, but you can still enjoy the game ... and fortunately, as Sullla has mentioned, we don't take score rankings too seriously around here anyway.

Though I've arguably become one of the stronger MoO players in the community, I didn't go to extremes to achieve a high score here. I played a slightly conservative game, trying to get the first techs much more quickly than I normally would have, but making early expansion a higher priority than early score. My goal was to compete for at least some of the early tech scoring points, take no scoring penalties, and make absolutely sure of defeating the AI. My feeling was that if this course went smoothly for me, it would be a "proof of concept" and mean that skilled players who went to scoring extremes would at least have a chance of winning the game, while those with less winning experience at higher difficulties could secure a strong position in the game as long as they didn't get too caught up in the scoring. In the interests of making things as even as possible (i.e. not really very even anyway; semi-random AI decisions can change everything) I delayed events until at least 2425 and chose a small galaxy - the latter was also useful for the variant/scoring since it would hopefully allow contact with other races sooner, bringing our Darlok spying bonus into play before it could become obsolete. Plus, it should make the game go faster, which considering the current state of most people's schedules would be a good thing - particularly as it would allow me to play through the whole game myself and do a few other playtests before submitting it, without delaying things any more than they already had been. (I started work on this one about a week after closing day for Imperium 20.) Four opponents were chosen because five is too many for a small map, and three would provide fewer and potentially more distant targets for our spying.

At first, I liked the first map I rolled up for this Imperium ... but the AI Humans had a free ticket to the middle of the galaxy. I was enjoying the challenge anyway, and felt I was achieving a strong position, when the monkeys pulled off a unanimous election in 2375, years before I could hope to achieve a veto. I figured I'd have a chance in final war, especially as the Darloks are one of the best races with which to attempt it, and wanted to play the thing out ... so I saved the game after my election defeat, copied the save file into another directory, and started rolling up new maps for the actual Imperium. For a challenge, sure. But that was not the kind of Imperium 21 I was aiming for.

After that, I set several criteria for my new maps: 1) No Humans! 2) Preferably no Silicoids, since they could take over the galaxy before anyone researched Controlled Environment Tech for the player. In hindsight, I think this was a mistake however; I should have sought a map WITH Silis, as the challenge they would present would be of the fun and surmountable variety (as opposed to Humans bringing Final War into play really early). 3) Preferably Psilons. I actually avoided Psilons in the first Imperium I sponsored, just because they'd been in so many other recent games, but this time, their strong research and tendency to do security sweeps would (I hoped) make the spying game more interesting. 4) Preferably a relatively central start, for quicker access to (spying on) other races.

As long as I got about three out of four, I'd be happy, but I had a couple other caveats as well. I didn't want the player to have an overwhelmingly strong start or too much totally-random chance involved, so I rejected a map when scouts revealed an easy-to-reach ultra-rich (we've had enough URs in the past couple Imperia) and a couple of otherwise-promising starts where I found ART worlds within three parsecs or in our back lines. I rolled a LOT of maps before I settled on this one, and I was starting to worry that I'd have to resort to editing the map and posting a shadow report (I've actually never used a map editor for MoO, but I was confidant that I could make it work). The result wasn't exactly perfect, but it met my main criteria: It shouldn't be unplayable either for experienced players trying an extreme scoring approach or for rookies just going for the win ... and I had lots and lots of fun with the game, always a very good sign. Further playtesting suggested that the start might be a little TOO easy, depending on AI activity - particularly the rate at which the Mrrshans and Psilons tech propulsion and expand, though the Alkari artifact world could also significantly change their role from game to game - and of course the Meklar were irrelevant to this map; if I'd edited it, I'd probably have started by making the radiated star next-door to them a Fertile Terran Artifacts world or something almost as ridiculous, to help them possibly become a power to contend with at some point. I'd also have modified the AI tech trees however if I was going to get spoiler information, primarily to "force" them to beeline needed range techs, to the extent this is possible by changing their available techs. Oh, and I might have edited our first-tier tech options too.

I liked both of the first fields I opened: Propulsion allowed both Range 4 and Range 5, allowing the player to weigh better scoring (R4) against quicker contact and better overall flexibility (R5). Planetology lacked T+10 (a no-brainer to combine quick scoring and economic productiveness) but offered Controlled Barren as a much cheaper alternative to everyone's favorite economic tech, Improved Eco. With both present and no Barren worlds in view, it would be a clear choice for score vs. production. I took the conservative route in both cases (R5 and IER) - opening them only after scouting reports confirmed the situation around me. Of course there's no choice for Shield 2, and "cheapest tech available" is such an obvious move in Weapons anyway that seeing Gats as the only option was perfect - the scoring vs. economy question still applied, just as "Do we even want to invest anything in this tech any time soon?" But computers ... well, DSS is always nice, but I'd have wanted to see all three choices: ECM for best scoring and worst value (it's a good first tech in that field normally, but mainly because it allows a quick jump to the second tier) or Scanner for intel, compromise scoring, and somewhat better spying bonuses ... or BC2 to make sure our spies get as much of a head start as possible (plus, we can use all the computers we can get with Alkari in the game). The scanner alone was okay, but not great. Still, I wasn't going to reload on the basis of our tech tree, and overall, I was happy with what we were given.

Finally, thanks to Sargon, I was able to edit the events timer blind (i.e. without getting spoilers) - in a small galaxy, a one-planet event can throw the entire game out of balance, especially if it happens too soon - and though it might have been better to turn them off altogether, (Sargon explained how to do this in the save file too, and I might use it for a future Imperium) I felt they'd be reasonably fair if we have 125 turns to get ready for them, and that they do add an interesting element to the game.

So: What do you think? What should I have done differently? What should I be looking for next time I sponsor an Imperium? And is an unspoilered "Sponsor's Report" like the ones I posted for this game and Imperium 14 the right way to go, or does it make sense to heavily edit things to make sure they work out right, then do my best to "forget" the spoilers I saw, and post a shadow report instead?

Dosbox is an open source DOS emulator capable of running most DOS games in many platforms

It also offers the possibility of enhancing audio and video quality of the games

[SIZE="4"]VIDEO: Enhancing quality with Scalers[/SIZE]

http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Scaler

Comparison between Normal and 2xSai Scalers

Normal


2xSai


You can change the scalers by opening the file Dosbox.conf (located where Dosbox is installed) and changing the line

[render]
scaler=YOUR CHOICE

Quote:Possible values: none, normal2x, normal3x, advmame2x, advmame3x, advinterp2x, advinterp3x, hq2x, hq3x, 2xsai, super2xsai, supereagle, tv2x, tv3x, rgb2x, rgb3x, scan2x, scan3x.

Quote:Possible Values: 22050, 44100, 48000, 32000, 16000, 11025, 8000, 49716

Quote:c:\dosbox\dosbox.exe -conf c:\moo.conf

With the Pitboss game getting so many views, I thought some of you might be interested in viewing some tutorial videos prepared by the staff at the Civplayers league. Moineau, the player doing the video, is one of the top multiplayer players in the world, excellent at starts in all eras, from Ancient to Future.

Medieval Era
Renaissance Era

Enjoy!

I think that the best way to fix the UserCP issue we're having, and maybe prevent future server exploits, is to upgrade the forum software. We're about 5 years overdue since my download access expired and I hadn't renewed in a while.

So, if you are seeing forum downtime later today, that's what's up. Sorry for the lack of notice and I hope I'm not interrupting anything major.

I give up something is really screwed up here. I've know suffer a redirect to this virus site 5 times. I can't browse more then a few pages with getting the below again.

I keep getting redirected to this VIRUS site.
www.security examineonline.com (fake spaces added)

Now I couldn't reply to my own thread...