2300
I risk our colony ship by sending it to the blue star to our east. One scout is sent to the star to our north, and the other to the blue star to our east.

2303
Spica is founded. Covered in Steppes but quite inhabitable still. Zoctan is Arid but still is habitable.

2304
Rana is covered in Volcanic activity and the air is poisonous, but these eruptions bring forth nearly the core itself. Is this an Orion Experiment?
Sent 1 million colonists to Spica.

2319
Strange signals seem to be emanating from south of Spica. Could this be more evidence of the Orions?

2320
Reduced Waste 80% started. Improved Eco started. Range 5 started (Even though it was over twice as expensive). A buckshot of four Scouters are sent to investigate the signals.

2323
Phantos is Steppe and partly habitable.

2325
The source of the broadcasts are found to be an alien scout ship orbiting an arid world in Gienah. All attempts of contact failed. Tao is a Volcanic planet.

2326
Xengara is a dead world, quite hostile. Selia is Ultra Rich.

2327
Uxmai is a dead, hostile world.

2331
I was brought a prototype of a more energy efficient engine, that if introduced into the market, would reduce global pollution by 20%.

2333
I was shown a new species of tree that is nearly weed-like, if feed certain compounds, will shoot up to full height in a year. This will vastly reduce our logging fields. Our Astronautical researchers have been able to successfully re-create the 'Deutrium' element of in the Orion Chronicles. This will nearly double our ship's range. Now all they need to do is create a STABLE version of it.

2336
The populous have fully converted to the new engine. I think I can see the sky outside my office! The researchers on Spica have been able to translate some texts that mention a kind of industrial conveyor bell that the Orions produced. More research is needed.

2338
The logging fields have been fully converted. The lab population, expected to be fully destroyed as they were deemed unnecessary, proved to be hardy enough that they could survive in extreme environments. Work started on ways to produce many other plants with similar qualities. These could even survive on geologically dead worlds.

2339
Darloks have 6. I've 2. Crap.

2340
A massive amount of Deutrium has been produced and shipped to all scout ships. Most of it was sent along with the first new Colony Ship in 40 years. New findings on Spica. A repeated mention of a type of propulsion. I think the intern might have mistranslated it, but he insists it means Nuclear, even after a broken nose.

2345
As one lands, another heads off. Gienah researchers pour out to find what relics might have been left here on this arid land.
A strange ship landed on Gienah, disrupting an excavation. An alien woman stepped out of the craft. The team would have been curious, except her ship had crushed what could have been pottery. A small brawl ensued with the team and her crew. Though the dig crew easily flung their lithe bodies around like toys, their ferocity in battle impressed them enough to forgive the insult, but the law is the law, so they received community service rather than the fighting pits. After a common language was created and the aliens were convinced they had broken a law but weren't prisoners of war, they explained where they were from and what their mission was: To find out if we were a threat to their empire. Contact with the Empress (A woman leader, what strange aliens these were!), quickly formed a trade of Orion based information.

2348
Zoctan founded. The Orion Texts containing information on the Conveyor belt have been fully translated and the information has been used to formulate some prototypes.

2349
Nuclear Engines have been made into a prototype. Unfortunately, it blew up.

2352
A Test Engine didn't bow up, nor did it show any signs of malfunctions. All ships shall now be made with this new engine. All tests show our ships will move at twice the maximum speed. And a recent find on Zoctan showed that what were references to fictional Engine types, might have been real. Though all researchers are scrambling to uncover the truth, most of our information is on 'Below' Light... Under light... Sub Light Drives.

2354
The Convyor belt system has been successfully fitted into a preexisting factory, now many more will be installed this year. Gienahan researchers have found evidence that Orion ships were not partly organic as once thought, but that their healing ability was based on a tiny automated machines that repaired hull breaches.

2355
A vegetarian ecosystem has been genetically crafted for terraforming purposes. Now all we need to do is stop it from spreading outside the lab as well as find a way to destroy it once it's been planted.

2356
Selia has been colonized.

2357
With an effective way to contain these Weed Plants, we can now colonized any dead planets. The best way to do this is to pour nitro glycerin on them. Some dolt suggested that we do the same thing on the two volcanic worlds. After I beat him senseless for such a remark, I though about it and yes, with a generous coating of that, we might be able to stand on the surface for longer than two seconds. The next day, I sent our teams to work on the details of this and sent that poor sap tickets to the next Blood Bowl game.

2358
Phantos Founded.

2366
Pirates at Rhilus.

2367
Xengara Founded. Weed Grower.

2368
Ryoun has a Tiny little desert planet. Celtsi is a resort planet, lush and beautiful. We think this might be Orion Tampering.

2371
Tau Cygni is so irradiated, it glows like a miniature star. This must be Orion hands at work.

2373
Uxmai is founded with a Weed Grower.

2375
The Scouter at Tau Cygni has sent back word that it has visual contact with five alien spacecraft. No response on whether he was able to contact them.

2376
Working Prototypes of the Minuscule Machines and Sublight Drives are made.

2377
The Mrrshans ask for a NAP. We agree on the condition that they send their best warriors to play Blood Blow. We didn't mention that they'd be playing in the Junior Leagues.

2379
The Icing of Volcanic planets has been successful. Now those Weeders can have a go at the Few planets we can't get at. Testing with said Weeders have proven that they can be safely eaten without side-affects. Now we can try to create the same mutations in our crops to increase their yeild.
A fully working Sublight drive has passed all tests. The last one we thought would make it disappeared into the vastness of space. I wonder if it is still going? On Celtsi, researchers have made more fiction into fact as references to Dotomite Crystals are proven to be a true. Apparently, they were grown there.
With the repeated success with proving the impossible, researchers are pouring over documents talking about the AI of the Orion ships.
When the Mrrshan team finally wins the Ursa Junior Chamionship, we were once again impressed. Be more than doubled our trade with them almost overnight. They have also been allowed to participate in the College level tournaments.

2380
Fully working Minuscule Robots were announced today. If it breaks, they'll fix it. It seems that early in the testing phases, a batch of them tried to fix a piece of metal long after it was complete. Further errors caused them to change it's very molecular structure. Though worthless then, more scientists are interested in how this could be controlled. Unfortunately, this batch was destroyed, so it will have to be recreated.

2381
Rha has a desert planet with many interconnected Oasis.

2382
Our scout sent to Tyr was destroyed be missles from the planet. Firma has a small Steppe planet. Ryoun founded.

Council vote. Me vs. Narzina (Darlok).
Silicoids abstain.
Sakkras vote 3 for Narzina.
Yalara Abstains. ()
Meklars Abstain.
Nazina votes 5 for herself(?)
I vote for myself 4.

...These photos have been proven to not be faked. This is a real photograph of an Orion Destroyer Class Ship. Unfortunately, this next picture is real as well. This is an energy missile type of weapon heading straight for the Scout. It seems the Great Warriors are still alive and fighting. We must prove our might and show the Great Warriors that we are worthy of their knowledge.

2383
A working Hunter AI has been recreated for a two dimensional test. Now we need to program it to fully work in 3D space.

2387
3D Hunters. Sounds like a good game...Some researchers have petitioned to have this applied to anti-missile defense. Due to the event on Tyr, it passed.
Rana founded and the first edible variant of crops has been produced. Unfortunatly, it rots quickly.

2389
The scout orbiting Firma was destroyed. Assailants unknown. Orion ruled out.
The crops have all the bugs worked out of them. Government funding has started to replace the existing crops. There is now testing to be done on how to making fertilizer that can keep up with this new crop.

A new alien ship landed on Celtsi. Unfortunately, there was no brawl to be had, though later reports would have incited one. The Silicoids, as they call themselves, have just colonized Firma and would like to meet us. It was noted that in discussions, they kept using a word amongst themselves in reference to us that was later revealed to be a small crystalline creature that eats its own neural network when faced with over population.

2390
The Silicoid presence has cause enough of a stir to incite the need for militant ungrades. More research of all Orion documents show a way to harness laser technology to form a shield around a ship stronger than what we currently have. Other findings show a, what can best be described as, 'Gatling' laser.

2391
The Silicoids have destroyed the scout at Tyr and colonized it.

2400
A working prototype of the Orion Shielding can now be fitted on to a ship without it disintegrating said ship. Now we are trying to fit one on a soldier.

Second vote.
Me VS. Narzina again.

Silicoids abstain. (4)
Sakkras vote 3 for Narzina.
Yalara abstains. (4)
Meklars abstain. (3)
Narzina votes for herself again. (5)
I vote for myself again. (7)

The Silicoids colonize Tau Cygni.

2403
Our testing has finally had a ship survive a wave of missiles without a warp core explosion or shooting through its own hull. Now some scientists would like to put even more anti-missile lasers in the ship defense matrix. This could take some time, as the way we stopped the whole 'slice the ship in half to destroy the missile' was to drop the number of lasers.
The refracting crystals for the gatling laser stopped exploding. We can now safely fit one on a warship. What was though to be a simple artifact on Ryoun turned out to be designs for a self-guiding missile that is stronger and faster than our own. There is much research to do to find more concrete evidence of this "Hyper-X Missile".
A Silicoid Ship, registered as a Polaris-Class ship, was seen heading towards our territory. This is a warship. If its intentions are hostile, which seems likely, we will have to retaliate. Good. We need a good war to get the blood pumping.

In preparations for this war, we ask the Mrrshans to cancel their Alliance with the Rocks. They happily oblige, mentioning it was just a lip service deal anyways. They did turn down an Alliance with us. Must have a need to win the College Blood Bowl Trophy.

We also design an enormous ship outfitted with the best Orion technology we have. Our own ships would not be able to stand up to this monster. It is classified the Grizzly-Class.

2404
When conducting a budget inspection, it was found that a huge amount of money was being wasted on maintaining a variable fleet of Scout ships stored away. These were quickly decommissioned and the space used to create a new museum, housing, among other things, the hulls of our Scout ships that were created a century ago. The funding from this is being sent to Rana to help build the Grizzly.

2406
A way to grow and fully sterilize the Dotomite Crystals has been devised. Good, it was a pain to have to crawl through the air ducts and clean out the veins of crystal. More studies from the Nuclear Engines show a reference to 'Combination' Radiation and how it was used to propel ships.
Narzina has shown herself. Or this might be a representative. Half the time, we ended up talking to three different crew members, thinking it was her. Someone finally gave one of them a Blood bowl jersey to at least consistently talk to one of them. Surprisingly, when they left, the jersey was found discarded, with partial burn marks on it.

2408
The reprogramming of the Minuscule Machines is complete. The new Metal, Zortium, is ready to be constructed for general use. The military would now like to use these machines to craft a ready made armor that increases their strength 10 fold.
The application of our 2D Hunter programs have been successful in use of the incredibly fast Orion Missiles. We have now fully re-created the Orion Missiles. This new metal might now be able to to make guns of enormous size. Lasers made war to fast anyway.

2411
After the lose of many a brave soldier, they finally get the force feild to move along with the man. At least the army won't be filled with armless, legless invalids. This innovation on contorting force fields might just be useful in keeping our ships from harm.

2413
After the Solaris ship passed fully through our space, they informed us they were on a recon mission to determine our trade goods. They offer grievances for the killing of our ships in the form of their best trade goods. We begrudgingly accept, but decide not tell them that Tau Cygni holds great Orion Secrets we intend to discover. The Grizzly project is dialed back to the minimum, but we are willing to wait before utilizing this powerful force.

2415
The long awaited fertilizer has been formulated. All non-hostile planets start using it immediately. Findings on Xengara show that the Orions were able to clone themselves. This process will now be researched. Just what we need. More of me.

2417
The Silicoids contact us again with a trade offer. Though it is a nice one, our economic advisers note that it won't be in our best interests. They explained to me the details of it, but I drowned them out a few moments in, thinking about the next Mrrshan/Bulrathi Blood Bowl game. I should probably bet for the Mrrshans.

2423
Once again, the problem of 'don't cut through the ship to hit the missile' has been conquered, so we now can have more missile defense on each ship. In the process of doing this, we were forced to find a new way to program the defense computer. This new programming language could be used to drastically improve the efficiency of the 3D Hunter Program.

2425
Council Vote

Me VS Igneous

Igneous votes for itself. (6)
Sakkras abstain. (3)
Yalara vote for us. (4)
Meklars Abstain. (3)
Narzina abstains. (5)
I vote for myself. (10)

2426
With the Darloks no longer a threat, We offer them some of our trade goods. She declines.

2428
With new form fitting force fields that stopped contracting into the ship, we now have an even more powerful way to stop most any weaponry known. Application of the 3D Hunter software might be able to prevent fire from even reaching the ships in the first place. That is, if it can keep the shield on the ships and not try to kill the enemy with said shield.

2429
We have now created a Combination Drive that doesn't end in a huge explosion. New evidence shows the name should better be translated as Fusion. I don't care, that's what I made, that's what I'm calling it. In an almost accidental discovery, a reference to the Orion inventor Reajax the Second finally showed what he built. A way to hyper-compress traditional fuel so that it was far superior to Dotomite Crystals. Now we are tasked with the uncovery of just how he did it.
Bring out the Big Guns! I've always wanted to say that. I envy to lucky man who gets to shoot a gun that fires Bulrathi sized bullets. The toxic waste from Fusion power has shown to produce a concentrated type of plasma that we could weaponize, if it didn't also make anyone near it partly transparent due to the hight radiation.

2432
In the experiments with the prototypes for the Exoskeleton Suits, we have found a way to produce jet fuel. Now we just need to control this impromtu flight. Also, trying grow the suit into the body is NOT a good idea.

2440
The Mrrshans suffer a humiliating defeat in the first elimination game, as well as the loss of their best player. Riots in the Mrrshan's planets have Yalara cancel our NAP. Negotiations with Narzina have finally given good results. It seems all it took was for us to explain what Blood Bowl was and to send some tapes of it. She really enjoyed them, especially when someone lost a player.

2442
When the Ensign survived his repeated crashes, we can now declare that Armored Exoskeletons are a success. Since the Minuscule Machines can produce fuel, some scientists want to use this to fuel our vehicles.
Now that the cloning vats have stopped producing three armed children, the process seems to finally work. In the experiments to find ways to quickly immunize the unborn clones, new ways to cure existing diseases were found. This is now being researched. Especially since the few clones are coming down with some diseases that were thought extinct.

2444
The Igneous contacted us today. It opened with what was thought a complement. Yes, we are the biggest empire in the known galaxy. But then it threatened us to stop. Why should we? So we aren't expanding right now. They must have realized the importance of Tau Cygni to us and don't want to give it up.

Narzina came on and said the same. They must have Orion Secrets we didn't even know about. We must find out.

Well then, lets show them what expansion is all about! It's been far too long since we've had a good war, nearly a century and a half! Let's see what the new and improved Grizzly can do once it is built in nine years. We also build a Sentinel Class ship with a single Mass Driver and a small crew. These are intended to help board and destroy any smaller ships.

2445
The new 3D Hunter program is fully functional. We finally got it to stop asking the question: "Why do I kill?" Though the answer is simple, you kill because you kill. Now to put it to use in defense.

2446
A Mrrshan warship fleet is spotted moving into our territory. They must be really sore about losing their best player. A single Sentinel is sent to guard the planets it could target.

2448
When the Mrrshan fleet reaches Gienah, we are surprised to find that the 112 little things have only one laser on each ship. That shouldn't even touch our ship. We approached and told them to stand down. They destroyed our ship and attacked the planet. This means war. The military scrambles to construct a planetary missile base.

2449
We send three more Sentinals to Gienah and find that another fleet, this one made of two different Huge sized warships are headed for //. We quickly redirect the Silicoid attack fleet to // and start building it's own missle Base. When the three Sentinals reach Gienah, they are also destroyed, but the Mrrshan fleet flees from the single missile base.

On an up note, A fully functional Fusion Beam was tested. While trying to research the answer to containment, we found records of the energy missile that could have been used on Orion Destroyer Class ships. We are growing closer to the Great Warriors, I know it.

2450
In what was a expected to be a beautiful event, the Comet Orbiting Uxmai was found to be on a suicide trip into Uxmai. It will hit in nine years if a star fleet doesn't laser it first. A small laser craft is designed to destroy it.

Council Vote
Me VS Igneous
Igneous votes 8 for itself.
Sakkras abstain. (3)
Yalara votes 4 for the Silicoids! >
Meklars vote 3 for the Silicoids.
Narzina abstains. (5)
I vote for myself. (11)

That's it, the Mrrshans have crossed the line. It seems that we must kill our former friends. Or atleast beat them all to a bloody pulp. That last one sounds fun.

Igneous calls us up and stats that we will be an example of those who stand against them. We tell them that we will inherit Orion on their corpses.

We dial up Narzina and ask her for a NAP and a better trade agreement. She accepts the latter. That quintuples the trade in one day.

2451
When the Mrrshan fleet attacks Selia, we have a fleet of 13 Sentinels and three missile bases. Their Puma design holds what appear to be bomb bays. 53 in all! The missile Bases target those. The other design, which is not a Huge design as once thought, is to be the target of the Sentinel fleet. The Panther goes down easily, but the Puma destroys the Fleet and missile bases with similar ease.

Worse news is that a Darlok was recored stealing an old 3D Hunter program sheet. Not really sure what they'd want with it, they could have just asked for it in a friendly duel.

2453
Our Punisher, the final design of the Grizzly. We have a better defense and can self-repair. We have missiles and radioactive waste lasers. They have more guns than thought possible. I want those guns. The cowards run. Well, we do have the might of the Orions behind us.

The Hunter algorithm has been refitted to work with a shield. Unfortunately, this comes a little too late, but if our one ship can best theirs, it's ok. Some researchers have found that the Orions made a similar device and used it to propel opponents backwards. More tablets need to be found.

37 million Mrrshan troops land on Gienah. We only lose 8 million in defense.

The full complement of troops, 67 million, are sent from Celtsi to Rha. This should get us one step closer to discovering the Secrets of the Orions.

2454
Even with two to one odds, we easily tore through the Silicoid troops as we slogged through the filthy mud of Rha. The joke among the troops was that more of us died from flung dead Silicoid bodies than the Rocks' lasers.

The recon mission to Paladia was a success. We might have to either send wave after wave of troops or fight defensively. Since I hate sieges, I'll clean up this Silicoid mess and see if they want peace. If not, our old Blood Bowl buddies will die under our heels.

2455
The secrets of Reajax the Second's fuel compresant is been fully revealed. Studies have lead to deep cashe within Rha holding engine designs that moved by distorting the warp of a ship so that it drips... slides.. slips through space.

We are contacted by CB-715 of the Meklars. We offer a trade agreement to see if the cyborgs will eventually help us wipe out the Silicoid menace.

2457
When the Silicoids attack Rha, we find their fleets to be woefully inadiquate. They will die quickly, if they don't flee like cowards. Honorably, they don't and fire at us with little effect.
The Silicoid attack fleet at Celtsi fares the same.

The Mrrshans, angered with the recon mission and more troop loss (Heck, even we didn't get to fight), have declared war. It seems our old buddies will now die.

2458
The last of the clones have been healed. Findings on Firma, by a cloned researcher no less, have found a simple yet profound way to filter exhaust of factories. It seems this was so widely used that little was done to document it. More research needs to be done to uncover this Secret.

2459
Another Darlok was sighted with a bag of fertilizer. When it noticed the camera, it made a gesture that research shows annoyed defiance. Later that week, Narzina declared war with us. My guess is that she didn't want us to tell the galaxy that we have caught two of her spies red handed. Ah well, the more the merrier.

2460
We take Firma with ease, but fail to take her skies. This may prove to be a mistake.

2461
The cowards flee Firma after one bombing raid.

2465
The Silicoids have a new weapon, the Merculite missile. More Orion technology stolen from Tau Sygni, I know it! This is fitted to their new Mako Class ships. It is devastating, but we will prevail.

The Orion Filter has been fully recreated and is being fitted on to all factories. I'm glad this last batch worked, the one before it had the workers walk out covered in soot. More discoveries on the recordings of the Orion Minuscule Machines show a new alloy of metal that they could craft.

2468
The mobile shielding has finally worked. If we so desire, we can move an enemy ship backwards. Since all of our enemies are so slow, they'll be practically stick in place. This innovation came from a small store of Orion manuals on a new shielding design. This will now be studied to recreate the Orions' shielding.

2475
Council Vote

Me VS Igneous
Igneous votes 9 for itself.
Sakkras votes 3 for Igneous.
Yalara votes 5 for Igneous.
CB-715 votes 3 for Igneous.
Narzina votes 5 for Igneous.
I vote for Myself. (12)

The Silicoids announce themselves the inheritors of the Orion Council. Though we have no records of this 'Council', we must concede with the fact that the rest of the galaxy has unanimously given them this power. No warrior would fight against such odds on open ground. It seems we must swallow our pride and take our place as advisers to Igneous. It will be our solemn duty to keep the records of Orion and discover more about their glory.

**************

I'm sorry I had to concede, but given my luck in the past on winning a Final War, I'd never succeed. I planned on a better Report, but I though my Turn By Turn that quickly changed into a fluffy report worked out quite well.

Can you lead the mighty Klackons to victory without factories?

Imperium 14 - Ursine Archaeologists

So no attacking planets except by spies or gropo. To send troops needs scouting but missile bases will need removing before ship can do this; could be tricky so better scout early and often! Starting position has Red and Blue in range. Red is far more likely to be habitable but is wrong direction so I chance going for the Blue. Scouts go SW Green & S Red to blockade against southern yellows and start building more immediately. Luckily Blue is Spica (Steppe 70) so I settle and send 17 over 2 turns. Scouts find South: Arid 60, Minimal Rich 30, plus Dead 20 & 50 and Inferno 35, West: Inferno UR 25, North: Steppe 50 – range 4 will reach some but 5 needed for habitable rich. Meet Mrrshan at Tao in 2305 so they must be east of 2 southern yellows. Open tech early finding IER and Range5 (over Range 4). Seed IER from Ursa then let Spica (with 1 factory!) take load until 3 bars on bulb then increasing ticks from homeworld. Ursa returns to factories when percentage close to double figures and IER pops in 2324, choose IT+20 over Dead. Immediately seed Range5 then finish max’ing Ursa in 2327 while Spica does tech & factories. Homeworld then builds colony ships and helps tech as it matures. Zoctan founded in 2333 (20 from Spica) then Range 5 (Warp2 next) in 2335 and open all tech fields with RW80 seeded and BC2, DS2 & Hyper-V (over Gatling) waiting. Gienah founded in 2337 (17 from Spica) meets 2PE Mrrshan (Ruth/Mil) at unease where expected, expanded to other yellow.

Extra range West finds Ryoun (Desert 20) and Celtsi (Terran 90). Chase Silicoids from Ryoun so they probably are NW yellow with 3 AI’s in SW. Phantos settled in 2340 (13 from Zoctan refilled from Spica) opening way to big terran. So the rich or the big terran next? Well the next colony ship arrived before Zoctan founded but scouts report the direct journey to Celtsi can be equalled via a detour to Rana (a fast straight link?) so terran it is. In 2345 RW80 hits and seed IIT8 & Warp2 over 2 turns. Find Silicoid scout at northern Firma confirming them at NW yellow. Actually Celtsi (20 from Phantos backfilled from Zoctan) and rich Selia (17 from Gienah) settle together in 2347, gets me GNN 7 planet message! Seed IT20 over next 2 turns as economy grows. Desert 50 Rha settled in 2354 gets trickle from Celtsi and meets 2PE Silicoids (Agg/Tech) as expected. Next few years see Warp2, IIT8 and IT20 come in with Warp3, ARS & Inferno next but I start by seeding DS2. Meanwhile southern scouts have found an unoccupied terran 85(!), Dolz, which I settle in 2363 meeting 4PE Meklars (Xen/Tech) allied to Sakkra. Selia send 40 to Dolz over 2 turns refilled from Gienah and Phantos. After sitting with 2 planets for decades the cats finally settle a third then quickly 2 more but it is even later before the rocks expand.

With the economy booming from IT20 and rich Selia, I seed Inferno in 2364 over 3 turns then Warp 3 over next 2. Now takes fully developed Ursa to keep tech flowing. Still finding empty planets and rich Incedius (Desert 35) in 2367 and central Klystron (Ocean 70) in 2369 are settled meeting 3PE Sakkra (Pac/Tech). Rich Incedius seeded from close by Dolz but 20 transports start the slow journey from Celtsi to Klystron. I thought it might not survive but gave me an opportunity to scout some further planets. Mid 2370’s see DS2 and Inferno in quick succession, seeding BC2 and Hyper-V (finally!) plus PDS. First Event is Pirates at Obaca (Sakkra) in 2377, saves a few BC on the cheap trade with Meks. In 2379 Warp 3 hit (Warp4 next) and UR Rana (Inferno 25) settled then maxes at +20 six turns later! In 2379 with 12 planet message comes first vote with Silicoids(2), Sakkra(3) & Meklars(3) abstain; Mrrshan(4) for themselves and Darloks(3) for me so I vote 8 (of 23) to cats. After stealing BC3 from rocks I discover HyperV (Ion next) and BC2 (ECM3 next). In 2383 I settle northern Firma (Steppe 45) and central Rhilus (Steppe 55) which meets 4PE Darloks (Xen/Tech) – wow, 4 AI technologists. Map with cursor at Orion:


Reserves help stand up new colonies quickly. After PDS (then DS4), I discover Soil in 2390 (Cloning next) boosting economy (& voting power!) even more. ECM3, Ion Cannon & ARS hit replaced by BC5, SP-V & Zortium. GNN announces Pirates cleared at Obaca. Espionage proving useful against backward opponents, stealing ISS, IIT7, IIT9 & IT10, mostly from Silicoids. After SP-V (Fusion Beam next) vote in 2400 is same as last except rocks have 1 more vote and I have 5 more! Darloks didn’t vote for me this time though. After vote Silicoids actually DOW so I continue to steal – ECM1, IS, Death Spores. Zortium & Warp4 replaced by EXO and Warp5. Second event is Quake at … Omicron (Meklar)! Fusion Beam and DS4 arrive around 2407 and I start producing pre-built ARS huges, two of them, as I await my spies. Oh I see! Saboteurs reveal planet scout info. That was because 7/10 MB taken down at Silicoids Tyr. Meanwhile, not to be outdone, my other spies steal RC3 from Darloks! Cloning gives way to Advanced Soil as 2 more MB go down at Tyr. Invaded Tyr in 2412 with 1 nuke base hitting 1/77 transports and 42 surviving land battle – gain Range7, IT30 and Duralloy. Next year invade Silicoids Crius with 50/52 surviving 1 MB and 37 after gropo. Waiting for pop to arrive at new colonies, spies slowly take down Cryslon MB’s and when our archaeologists arrive in 2417 there is just 2/19 remaining. With EXO arriving en route (Andrium next) overkill is assured – out of 214, 199 land and 183 survive the 130 rocks! Meanwhile all Maretta’s 4 MB are down and 2/11 MB at Paladia which is cat territory. Maretta goes in 2418 giving GNN18 message then Advanced Soil arrives in 2419 and Warp 5 next year. Since Misha has no MB’s my Saboteurs destroy all its 7 factories plus 1/19 MB at Fierias.

With Adv.Soil my pop will grow but vote will be close with so few friends so I aim to take out rocks and hit cats two yellow planets, both 130 pop. I max pop on four of my larger & nearer planets quickly for the assault and launch the 3 year journey. Spies manage to take down a few more MB’s but Paladia has 2 and Fierias has 12 and these are scatter-packs not nukes. Cats have DOW’d but ships circle aimlessly as my nearby rich planets launch new ARS huges to lighten ship cover. As 20 bear genocide rocks, 90/151 take Fierias with 10 losses and 101/144 take Paladia with 8 losses. Remaining pop and preserved factories can stand up worlds quickly but pop is all I’m interested in. So the vote in 2425:


Result: Conquest in 2425.

PS. In my ‘Ship Movement’ article I mentioned straight NS or EW journies were rare but we had 3 early ones here (I did suspect when playing). Rana had 2, straight east to Ursa plus straight south Uxmai and Celtsi to Firma was the other one.

The title sums it up.

http://www.garath.net/Sullla/MOO/imperium14-1.html

I've always liked playing the Bears; they are probably my second favorite race after the Meklar. I can't exactly say why; I always seem to get more "in character" playing the Bulrathi for some reason. We actually tried a similar variant with the Bears in an early succesion game. There, the rules were that bombs and missiles could not strike planets. Unfortunately, we got a ridiculously good map draw, wherein we were able to take half the galaxy uncontested, which spoiled the variant. So I'm looking forward to trying this one!

Starting Out

Looking at the map, this is an interesting draw. We are isolated in the corner with a bunch of red stars, which have the highest probability of being poor. If the blue is habitable, that cluster to the south should open up without need for range tech, though. We definitely have easier opponents, though the Silicoid can always make things interesting by snapping up planets quickly. Taking planets is going to be painful this game, so my goal is (once again) to expand hot and heavy, then wait for tech to catch up to the point where invasions are feasible. At least it's Hard difficulty, which will cut down on the number of missile bases.

So the col ship went to the blue, and the scouts went to the red star cluster; odds are there's a homeworld down there and it's going to be a race to see who can colonize those planets first. Spica is size 70? That's a good break given the star color. Sure enough, we run into Mrrshan scouts at the Inferno world of Tao, but do scout Gienah first. As the scouting reports came back, I realized that I got unintentionally lucky; the red NE of Ursa is also 3 parsecs away! Had I caught that, I probably would have sent the ship there, or at least scouted first. I guess fortune favors the inattentive

After the scouts came back, I took stock. South cluster had only one immediately habitable planet in Gienah. The green down there was a size 30 Rich, but the cats would almost surely get that before me. I was surprised that I didn't run into scouts at Phantos or Rana in the NW; could it be that there's no homeworld at either of those stars? If that's the case, things may not be as cramped as they appear. I decided to take Range 4 over Range 5; that meant losing the Rich planet, but would get me to those yellow's faster.

Started trickle research into Improved Eco in 2419, the same year that GNN announced the Darlok were first to 6 systems. They beat the Silicoids? Interesting. I went ahead and maxed Ursa before building colony ships. Gienah was founded in 2336, with Zoctan following 2 turns later. Improved Eco came in as well, and I chose Controlled Dead over +20 to nab that size 50 in South cluster. I crash-researched Range 4 out of Spica and Ursa after Eco, and it was ready in 2341, the turn after Phantos' col ship was built; it was colonized in 2345. However, I made a knee-jerk reaction to select Nuke engines, and that was the wrong move. Seeing Range 6 absent, I probably should have backed up for Range 5, which would have put Selia in play. Oh well, cest la vie; I went for RW80% next.

Once Phantos was colonized, my hopes for escaping W out of the corner evaporated. The Silicoids were over there, and out to 7 stars, including the Yellow. Worse, that star and the red below it were 5 parsecs from Phantos. Well, I really botched that one I went whole-hog into Controlled Dead after RW80%, hoping to land Selia, even delaying factories at Spica. The tech came in my 2358, and I had a ship underway 3 years later. Would it make it? Would it make it?



Yep Turns out Selia was 5 parsecs from Fieras, and the cats must be lacking in range tech. While Selia's col ship flew, I built two more for Ryoun and Firma in the West, then stopped to build some popgun fighters to protect Rana; I did NOT want the rocks landing that planet!

The first election came early in 2369, Silicoids vs Darloks. They both had 5 votes, and everybody else abstained, so I threw my 4 behind the rocks for the diplo bonus. The 2375 election saw the Silicoids pick up 3 more votes from the Sakkra, but that was it, and I again voted for them.

I actually managed to land both Ryoun and Firma in 2373, Xengara in 2375, and Uxmai in 2380. I had been researching Controlled Inferno full-tilt, and that popped in 2379, allowing me to nab Rana and Tao in 2386 and 2387, respectively, bringing me to 12 planets first.

I met the Darlok's in 2378, and they were PISSED that I had voted against them. Relations were at Restless Worse, they were aligned with the Silicoid. Nevertheless, they agreed to minimal trade, and relations quickly "warmed" to Wary, and then Unease without incident.

Now I had to work on catching up in tech. I took Ion Cannons when Hyper V's popped, hoping for Mercs or Stingers in the next rung. I wanted a beam weapon on hand if things went south with any of my neighbors.

So 2394 rolls around, and the first event of the game comes in. Supernova at Tyr. That's a Silicoid world? Excellent! However, I've got a bit of a problem. I've got just about as much pop as the rocks now. 530 on the planet screen, which is 6 votes. Last election had 22 votes total, so that's nowhere near a bloc. Plus, the Darlok and Silicoid have been allied for a long time, though they aren't at the moment; the shifters will probably vote for the rocks. That right there would give them half the vote. Thing is, I don't think that I can put enough pop in space to take me out of contention either. So I went ahead and dialed up the Silicoid, and asked them to declare on the Darlok, which they did. Hated to cheese out diplomatically like that, but I didn't see any other way to avoid a council loss.

Here are the results of the 2400 vote, us vs the Silicoid:

For the Silicoid:
Silicoid(6)
Bulrathi(6)

For the Bulrathi:
Sakkra(3)
Darlok(5)

Abstained:
Mrrshan(5)
Meklar (3)

The Sakkra voting for me was quite a surprise; they also had been aligned with the Silicoid at one point. Checking the race screen confirmed why; the Darlok had somehow convinced them to go to war on their side. Well, at least that eliminated a council loss for the forseeable future.

My next round of tech saw Ion Cannons, ECM II, and Soil Enrichment come in shortly after the election. I chose Scatter Packs, +20 (I had skipped it, going directly to Soil. Not sure that was the right call either, given my small planets, but oh well), and ECM III.

Tyr did indeed explode in 2404. The AI never seems to be able to solve this event, probably because they don't funnel cash through the reserves very well. Four years later, GNN popped up again. Well, what is it this time? What? Xengara went rich? Wow! I was so relieved not to get hit I forgot to take a screenie. Maybe my luck with the event generator is changing, knock on wood? I also went ahead and upped trade with both the Darlok and Silicoid; I wasn't going on offense without better engines and some armor, so might as well try and keep relations cordial.

Met the Mrrshan in 2412 when Range 7 popped. Here's the galaxy at this point:



So far no planets have changed side in the Darlok/Silicoid conflict. I think that the Sakkra have to be where my cursor is pointing, and I'm going to guess that the Meklar are at the yellow in the extreme south. You can also see a white ship on its way out from Berel, the red star in the middle that's unclaimed. I had 2 LR large sentries there to fend off the rocks, and a col ship standing by at Selia for when Range 7 popped. As such, I colonized the planet in 2415. I found out I was right; Meklon was where I thought it was, and they had all of the stars down there except the green one, which was probably empty.

The next couple decades passed without incident. I terraformed when +20 came in, took Stingers when Scatter Packs came in, and just teched up. I would need at least need Cloning, Zortium Armor, and Fusion Drives, all of which I was currently researching, before I even thought about trying to go on offense.

The Election of 2425:

For the Silicoid:
Silicoid(6)
Bulrathi(10)

For the Bulrathi:
Sakkra(3)

Abstained:
Mrrshan(5)
Meklar(4)
Darlok(4)

I didn't quite have a bloc, but everybody would have to vote against me, and that seemed unlikely, so I felt pretty safe. Well, 2447 rolled around, and I no longer felt safe. The Silicoid had signed the Meklar to an alliance, and the Darlok just declared war. *sigh* Time for another phony war; the Silicoid agreed to attack the Meklar for 725 BC. So what had I been doing all this time? Just teching up. When the three techs I mentioned earlier came in, I decided to do some poking around for potential targets, and hit a limit I hadn't thought of; I can't send troops to planets I haven't scouted! That means unless I could land a diplomatic coup (unlikely), I'd need Advanced Scanners as well.

The Election of 2450:

For the Silicoid:
Silicoid(8 )
Bulrathi(10)
Darlok(4)

For the Bulrathi:
Sakkra(3)
Meklar(4)

Abstained:
Mrrshan(5)

Oh, and you know that great even I got, turning Xengara Rich? Well, the game must have been pissed that I started that war between the Meklar and Silicoid, because Xengara went Poor the year of the election

I belatedly founded Kronos in the deep S in 2452. Sadly, the planet was too small to give me another vote. I had some colships and a small fleet standing by in the vicinity of Klystron, which had hit spud status since the late 2300's, but hadn't gotten a window to get the planet up and running. Well, I got an opening in 2453. The Darlok managed to wipe out the planet while under Meklar hands, and there were no large fleets on the way, so I decided to try for it. I had 2 old large LR laser sentries and a dozen large Ion Frigates, Warp 2, Shield 2, and 22 Ion Cannons. I designed and started sending some medium Scatter Pack missle boats from Selia and Rana for support. About this time, our war with the Darlok got useful:



That helped my economy immensely, especially since RCIV hadn't been in the tree. Now when Advanced Soil came in, my empire would be in good shape; it was about 1/3 done. Then the next turn, ANOTHER event hit:



Well, hopefully that will let me get that planet up and running before the Darlok can pancake it again. And hopefully the event generator will take a break for awhile! Four events by 2456 is a bit much for me.

So 2462 rolls around, and the AI decides to test to see if I'm serious about keeping Klystron. The first to try were the Meklar. It's up to 62 peeps, and I've managed to get 2 missile bases up. No factories, though. I did, however, manage to get two large repulsor ships into orbit, as well as 52 of the Scatter Pack boats. Unfortunately, this is what the Meklar where fielding:



I don't think I can beat that. However, I should be able to fight them to a stalemate. As long as I can make sure none of the Stingers hit the repulsor ships, I should be able to let the Repulsor beams and my speed keep the Repulsor ships alive for the rest of the battle. But alas, it was not to be. I did make it about 30 rounds, but just couldn't avoid the damage for long enough, and the planet was bombed into oblivion. But I resolved to try again. I hadn't lost any of the missile boats, just the woefully outdated large ships. RW40% and BCV were nearing completion, so I'd see what I could field then. A couple Huge ARS ships should be enough.

I've posted my report over on my Orion site ( http://meklongambit.blogspot.com/ ) where the Bulrathi find proof that there's extra-Ursestrial life out there after all!

I started off fairly well (with strong Cats & Silicoids & Darlocks) but got a weird bug, where an inflated DOS prompt suddenly appears. Unfortunately that was still in the critical phase of expanding and the last save was to old for me to gather the energy to do it all again.
:thumbsdow

mh

Well, when I started this game, I played the first session without recording much of anything, thinking "I'll get it next time". Then life intervened, as well as the need to playtest my own Imperium idea, and two weeks later I found myself wishing I wrote something down!

Here's the situation upon resumption, in 2368:

The easternmost Silicoid colony was just settled; I had gone range 4->Nukes before range 5 (which I still don't have, but finished enough other tech to allow a LR colony ship) which cost me it. Knowing that taking planets with missile bases would be really hard, I resolve to fight as soon as I can for this and the world to the NW (which is also fairly new, no bases yet.)

Next few turns are very eventful. I settle a Rich world near the middle of the map, which triggers a vote, the Darloks are my opponent and I can vote for them (although we are not in contact yet. Also due to the year a 2nd vote was held immediately afterwards with the same result). I pop range 5 which meets the Mrrshans formally, and the Silicoids steal the northern yellow star with an armed colony ship. It's on! I crack hyper-V boats from most worlds. Yes, I'm invading worlds at warp 1, with nothing but first-gen missile tech.

The turn before first transports arrive I get a spy with the rocks - and cry. They have PDS and hand lasers, together with the defender advantage it evens out ground pounding completely! No fair! But yet, my first invasion wave wins despite 29 vs. 42 odds. Maybe the math is wrong?

Anyways, I take Firma with an invasion as well. In bad news, the Silicoids settle the UR radiated a few turns later just before I got some missile boats to blockade - major thorn in my side, although I was able to keep ships in orbit to shoot down colonists which slowed the development. I did smoke a colony ship heading for the UR inferno. I was at a crossroads as Rha had built one missile base, but decided to go for it. 36 boats charge in, destroy 1 large and 2 mediums at the cost of a couple boats before retreating. 34 of my 43 transports make it through, giving even numbers on the ground, but this time I don't get lucky and fail; a second wave is just short as well. At this point the Silicoids have reinforcements (both transports and a new Large design) en route so I stop trying; maybe I will have another go when I finish sublight.

Aside - here's my warp 2 boats after one turn of motion (left from Celtsi). Sargon's discovery of bonus movement in a pure N-S direction certain seems to apply here.

For a while, the rocks have a big fleet guarding Rha, then everything comes together - they move out to relieve their Radiated world, and I have gotten sublights and can mount another invasion that barely succeeds (they had a 2nd missile base).

Prizes:

That artwork is wonderfully ridiculous.

I had somewhat stunted the development of these new acquisitions by burning so much population in invasions, but the rich minimal reserve pumping allowed bases to be put up quickly, and a close eye let my faster missile boats meet every attack. The silicoids would not sign peace, but I was secure from further attack, and had colonized all of the dead/inferno worlds on my side of the map. I didn't record a lot of deatil in these turns due to tiredness, but they were an absolute blast; never really went for this kind of an early war before.

Also, I dodged a bullet with events, getting Plague at a newly founded world with 3 pop on it. That was easy to clean up once the colonists arrived.

So now we go into a building mode. I think the rest of the galaxy is pretty well settled besides some Radiated worlds that I don't have the tech for (and I know I won't unless I can take it from an AI race), so more invasions counting only 1-2 bases not being enough to shoot down my transports are out. How else can we expand?

-Tech enough so transports can avoid missile bases. This is dicey as they can never get shields.
-Sabotage enough missile bases. I have no experience doing this, according to the manual weapons tech helps destroy more (of course computer tech is going to be vital too). In particular, I have no idea if I will be able to focus my spies on a particular world and strip all the bases away.
-Watch any inter-AI wars like a hawk and be ready to pounce on any worlds that are bombed out.

Information is going to be key to all of these, I really hope Adv Space Scanner is obtainable.

Silicoids keep refusing peace but can't hurt me, their worst is a pair of Huges with 40(!) hvy lasers and a few death sporres, but I lose only a few obsolete missile boats and one base (I had gotten scatter pack V at this point). In 2425 I finally had to abstain from a vote, but was in a blocking position thanks to Soil Enrichment. A while later the rocks finally agreed to peace, then the same turn the Meklar get angry as I was framed for spying. I was also getting "you're too big" penalties, and needlessly angered the Mrrshans when I sent a ship to scan their fleet (didn't realize that doing that with a nonaggression pact caused so much anger).

Not too much later, Darloks and Silicoids declared war. Neither posed any threat but I didn't feel ready to make my own moves yet. The computer tech choices were terrible - all BC and ECM, no RC or scanners. I got big luck when just a couple turns of active epionage on the Meklars got me improved scanners.

In 2475 I get the chance for a Diplomatic victory:

The Mrrshans and someone else voted for me (quite possibly the Sakkra, who I have never met); I was so surprised that don't remember for sure. I sure didn't feel like I earned this, and wanted the chance to take some worlds in late-game style.

At this point I have Adv. Soil; soon will be done with RCV (finally, an upgrade there) and +60 which will kick my economy way past any AI. Hopefully I can steal Atmospheric from the Meklars too (and Radiated from the Darloks). But there is one major snag - no one has gotten Adv. Space Scanner yet. Without that, I can't invade most worlds unless I get every last missile base.

Luck strikes as Vulcan is destroyed, I don't get a ship there in time (it was chased off by a large Darlok fleet) but when they rebuild I see it was spored out:

Kind of cheesy to get a load of free techs (5 total, IIT6, Shield V, and Radiated (!) were the important ones) but hey, the variant says I must abuse this! I do get some comuppeance as a virus takes out over 10K research on fusion drives. I shoot down Darlok transports and drive off a few minor raids with some hasitly assembled ion gunships, but a Meklar fleet of mediums with ion cannons lays waste before I can get a planet shield and missile bases up; rought as just 1 or 2 bases would equal total safety against then. The good news is that they bomb it just short of oblivion and invade, I need to stay in contact with them to steal Atmo!

Disaster strieks as Meklon is taken over by the Darloks and the Mrrshans bomb out Vulcan, breaking contact. I think they are down to one system, had two recent Planetology steals but didn't get the thing I really wanted. A round of new techs let me build my first Dreadnoughts, with andrium, maneuver 4, and 60 grav beams, although I build large versions initially as I need to act quickly. Vulcan is invaded from the Mrrshans, and the space crystal eats one of my worlds! While I have contact again with the borgs, I go to max espionage spending (fearing their being wiped out) and successfully pilfer Atmo. The borgs also take their homeworld back by a thread and I am more than happy to lift it off of them.

Space crystal was very interesting, had never seen this before. The blasted thing doesn't get picked up by F8 and so I had completely forgotten about it until it showed up at a world with only a few bases and smoked it. Weird how you keep ownership of the colony with 0 population, also weird how it stays there for a few turns - if you send warships no fight breaks out, but it zaps any attempt to repopulate the world. Even stranger is that I came out ahead in the long run; when the worlds were resettled it appeared to do soil enrichment again, and the size was increased to more than before the attack! For round two I got 25 or so of my gravbeam larges, but still not close to enough; they could knock off a few hundred of the 6000 HP in a round, but the crystal could destroy 10 in one shot. My scatter pack V's (which were still plenty to defend against any AI attacks) were useless against the crystals 5 shields and anti-missile special. In round 3 the crystal teamed with the Mrrshans, irradiating Tao a couple turns before a Mrrshan fleet showed up. I had a new dreadnought on hand stationed there after the crystal hit, but the kitties had a formidable fleet; I was able to win but had to do some abusive running around the battle map, using superior combat speed to give my autorepair time to heal the damage. During this process a few shots hit the planet, probably doing only 30 points of damage, but the pinprick was enough destroy the world! Fortunately most factores were still there when I refounded, so that didn't really cost me any more than standing up the other worlds.

Then everything fell into place - it headed for Selia, the rich world. Earlier in the game I had set it to build bases and forgot to change production after an AI threat was repulsed, and it had gotten to well over 100. Normally this would be useless, but here the crystal's slow speed allowed me to research scatter VII's before round 4. These made all the difference, could do 5 damage instead of 1, and each missles had 2.5 better chances to get through the lightning shield. Two volleys were enough to kill the crystal.

Overview in 2533:

Crystal is smashed, scatter pack VII's, HEF, and Gauss Autocannon mean that I should never lack superioirty this game. Although then I realize that like its single-shot counterparts, the GA is way overpriced and I'd be better off with pulse phasor.

At this point I saved, and about 7 turns into my next play session I found that Selia was still on base construction, up to 250

Decided to hit the kitties now. One turn of sabotage gets 2 missile bases at Fierias. Not fast enough, so I use my huges:

They only have hyper-Vs so my ships with 5 shields and autorepair can shrug off anything short of triple digit base counts. The annoying thing is that I have to click "Done" 50 times or so (they had ships in orbit and I hoped that not retreating would get more transports through. Unfortunately the cats had weak shields that my gravbeams could get through; otherwise I would happily let my ships fire blanks on auto at the planet. Keep the spirit of the variant if not the letter and spare a lot of tedium. But after this battle I realize it doesn't work anyways, my ships are still in retreat and theirs aren't). How do my transports do?

Enough to take the planet easily, and I loot the kitties Fusion Rifle which will make the future contests a total slaughter; a couple turns later I only lose 10 bears post-landing taking Fierias. Unfortunately I'm stuck then; I haven't scouted the other worlds and can't since I can't destroy the bases, so no invasions. Any further gains will have to wait on me taking out all the bases on one world with sabotage. Then I make yet another discovery, the first sabotage scouts the world, so invasions can proceed. I take two more cat worlds using this, and turn espionage on the other races; I had also captured two Radiated worlds in the south from the silicoids.

Next vote (2550) I'm ready to call it; I'm nearly at Conquest and some minor support is enough.


I have warp 7 engines, weapons up the wazoo, and am going for combat transporters, but the Silicoids and Mrrshans were so weak that I didn't need a new design to take and defend worlds. The Darloks would be hard to conquer as they are hard to spy on (they have the best computer tech of all the AI's on top of their racial bonus) but the other races would clearly go down limited only by how long it would take to get the first sabotage in on each world.

Well, I do play a couple more turns - have unfinished business with the amoeba, which (like the crystal) destroyed a backline world with no bases, mostly becuase it doesn't show up on F8 and I forgot about it. Once I gauged its next target, it was easy to stand up 100 bases with reserve spending; the amoeba is weaker than the crystal and I smoked it easily. On the other hand, it does more damage to a world, destoying the colony completely and reducing the size to minimum.

I would like to thank the Sakkra, who voted for me in nearly every election; I met them for about two turns near the end then lost contact as the Darloks took their homeworld. Thanks to RefSteel also, very neat variant idea. Running the early war gambits against the Silicoids was a lot of fun.

Imperium Fourteen is now open for reporting. Please post your reports in the Tournament Discussion subforum.

I have to post this a little bit early since I won't have access to my notes and images for a few days.

---
Bulrathi are my #2 favorite race. I love stealing technology from the AI, since not only do I get technology that I may not have gotten otherwise, I get it for a low cost compared to the amount I would pay for research. Since ground combat and spying are the only ways to steal technology, that puts Bulrathi and Darloks as my two favorite races. Bears are lower because I like spying a little bit more than I like ground combat, and because computer is my favorite research field.

Our lovable bears love archaeology so much that we refuse to bomb out planets for fear of damaging potential digging sites. So we cannot do orbital bombardment, and during ship combat we cannot attack planets. Ever. So I have to invade worlds that will still have intact missile bases or I have to take out those missile bases with my spies (not so promising with poor computer research). So I'll have to emphasize computer tech, armor and ship engines if I'm going to stand a shot at invading these worlds.



I open up my game file to find two worlds in colony range. I send my colony ship towards one, a scout towards another (just in case) and my second scout to the green star south, which I'm guessing will be the star most valuable and most under threat. There are only 6 other stars in scouting range and I'm not likely to have more when I settle my second colony, so I better blockade them earlier rather than later. Building scouts for two turns gets me the six I need. On the third my colony ship arrives at its initial destination.



Looks like the odds played against me a little on this one. Both planets are the same, but Spica is closer to the front lines, and so more likely to be under threat and more likely to bring planets into range. Zoctan is still decent, so I colonized it rather than to delay my second colony by three turns. Once I've built scouts, I won't do anything else except build factories and transport population units until I've gotten a complete picture of my surroundings. While I was sending population from Ursa to Zoctan each turn (enough to put Ursa down to 50 pop), my scouts fanned out.



I looked at the map very carefully. Measuring the length pixel by pixel, I figured that the distance from Spica to Geinah was slightly less than the distance from Ursa to Zoctan, so I wouldn't need extra range to settle there. I would need additional fuel cells to get anywhere else. Range 4 would allow me to get to Phantos, but I didn't think it would allow me to get to the yellow star west of it, nor would it allow me to get from Geinah to Selia. I also needed to keep in mind that quite a few of the planets around me were hostile and I needed to be sure to go up the planetology tree fairly quickly to grab them, especially since the Silicoids were in this galaxy.

I waited until Ursa could get 4 RP from one click before I opened up the two research fields.



Not what I was hoping for in planetology, but beggars can't be choosers. I did have a choice in propulsion, and given my analysis above I went for range 5. I didn't want to get range 4 and then waste a lot of time trying to get something better. Besides, Phantos wasn't under threat right now. I had time.

I had Ursa go all research for one turn, and then had it on only one click while it built up factories. I made no effort to try and match popping research and maxing factories since I did have two planets to grab. In 2323 I had Zoctan send some population back to Ursa so that factories wouldn't go unused and in 2327 Ursa maxed factories and population. Ursa churned out 2 colony ships as Zoctan slowed down factory construction to take on the research load.

In 2336 GNN reported that the Darloks were the first to 6 systems. I hoped they wouldn't be my primary opponents, I wanted sabotage to be a viable option. While I waited for the research to finish, I had Ursa build some ships to back up my scouts.



In 2341 Improved Eco popped, leaving me with every second-tier option save Controlled Tundra. I selected Controlled Dead. The very next year Range 5 popped and I gladly chose my only second-tier option, Nuclear Engines. Range 5 brought another race into contact.



Uh oh, they are their usual ruthless militaristic selves and it looks like they were dealt some bad terrain. If I I'm not careful they're going to come after me very soon. I initiated a trade treaty of 25 BC/year and then, out of curiousity, asked them if they wanted to exchange technology. They didn't. Since their tech bar is higher than mine, I have to be careful of the possibility that they might have range 5.

Because of the high possibility of war, I figured that it would be suicide not to open the other fields now.



Okay, the only choice here is the obvious one for Hyper-V rockets. Planetology was still my highest priority, so I didn't think I'd see any of this technology for a while.

Apart from me grabbing every planet I could, nothing happened for a while. Then I spotted a Silicoid colony ship at Celtsi, the yellow star west of Phantos. That wasn't a good sign. My expansion south had already been halted by the Mrrshan, and now my expansion west is in danger of being halted by the Silicoids. Lucky for me, the colony ship retreated, and I didn't think I was in danger of losing the planet since I had 4 laser ships there already.

Then one year later, the first random event happens.



Oh! Yay! Lucky me! I just settled that planet the previous turn. That makes two rich planets for me.

After I finished building colony ships to settle the planets to the west, I started churning out some laser ships. Small, laser, shield 1. I figured on building 20 or so to protect the western planets, and then building some more long range ships to guard the planets to the south that the Mrrshan had failed to grab. Despite what I'd though, practically every planet around Fierias is habitable. Why did the kitties not spread? It's almost as if they're deliberately trying to be stupid.

After grabbing Celtsi, I got in contact with the Silicoids.



My expansion is definitely about to stall for now. There won't be anything more to the west. In fact, I may lose the planets I've just acquisitioned.



The one heading towards Celtsi has 41 mantas, and there's no way I can fight off a force like that. So I call up the Silicoids and threaten them to back off... score! They gave me 450 BC and agreed to turn around! I'll distribute that money so that those planets can stand up more quickly and perhaps defend themselves.

Hyper-V rockets pop in 2371. Between Ion Cannons and Hyper-X Rockets, I choose the rockets since I won't use the Ion Cannons until they miniaturize a bit. Controlled Dead pops in 2372, showing only Controlled Inferno in the third tier. So I go for that. I'm still beelining planetology since I want to see if I have Controlled Radiated and with the Silicoids close by, the infernos near me are still at risk. In fact, I'm hoping I can poach Tau Cygni from right under their noses.

After colonizing Uxmai in 2380, the council met for the first time.



Nobody likes my opponents, the Darloks. Of course, nobody likes me either. That's fine with me. I throw my votes towards the Darloks to get some brownie points. One turn later I colonize Xengara in my territory and poach Dolz from kitty territory. This is important for two reasons. The first:



It's never a bad sign when you trigger those GNN messages, especially when the Silicoids, Sakkra or Klackons are your rivals. The second reason:



Not surprisingly the Meklar have few worlds. Of course one should never underestimate the Meklar, as they get way more out of those few worlds than any other race ever will. Double-checking the bar graphs reveals that, of all the races I've met, they're leading in fleet strength and technology. That won't be good for me if they decide that they want those kitty worlds.

Silicoids asked for a non-aggression pact in 2393. I highly considered it, but then I remembered that there were a few hostile systems around me and I didn't want them using the pact to poach them from under me. I declined. Controlled Inferno popped in 2394... Rats! No Controlled Radiated! Oh well, that means I can't grab those planets. But that doesn't mean I have to let the Silicoids have them. I decided to keep running blockades and force them to bring out a stack of doom to get their planet. Besides, maybe I'll get lucky and one of the other races will research it for me. I went back for Terraforming +20.

Lots of important things happened in 2400.



In additon, the Mrrshan asked me for a non-aggression pact. Really? They wanted to be friends? I had completely boxed them in. Still, I decided it was definitely a good idea to take them up on their offer. In order for the Silicoids to win the elections they needed universal support. So now that I was reasonably certain that I would not be losing the elections and that my planets had been secured, I wanted to take the offensive. See if I can take out the Silicoids. I dialed up my spying and set them to sabotage. Their nearest planet to me had only 5 missile bases, but the rocks had grabbed a lot of gropo technologies, nullifying my bulrathi advantage. I wanted to make my invasions count.

I grabbed two more planets in the southeast corner. It was time to take another look at the galaxy.



Quite a huge land grab, I say! Because the rocks and kitties were too slow, I managed to grab 20 planets, which is about 41.6% of the entire galaxy! With my biggest rivals the Silicoids having only 8 planets, it was obvious that I was going develop a huge tech lead without the need for stealing. But sitting back and just waiting to out-tech the AIs is no fun now, is it? I wanted to take the offense.

First things first, I wanted to remove the Silicoid gropo advantage. Really now, the Silicoids having a bigger bonus than me? That just can't be. The Meklar were willing to trade Hand Lasers for IIT8. Expensive, but I wanted all the help I could get. But then they turned right around and decided they wanted some of my planets.



Argh! Dolz was doomed and there was nothing I could do about it. I'd threatened them and they responded by declaring war. They glassed it, and they didn't bother colonizing it. But they'd sent another stack of ships to Incedius, destroyed its missile bases and then sent forces to invade it. Their first force didn't even come close, but I had no doubt they'd send more.

In the meantime, sub-light engines pop. With my transports finally at warp 2, I order my 5 worlds near the Silicoids to send invasion forces. Unfortunately my transports just can't break through. So that settled it. I did not have the tech to go on the offensive. I'd have to wait it out.

At long last the Meklar finally gave up on invading Incedius and glassed it. I hoped I wouldn't lose all my southern worlds to them. I did not like having those digsites damaged. The 2425 elections roll around and I find I have a definite veto. Maybe someday I'd be able to turn things around. The Meklar had proven themselves to be dangerous and reckless foes, and I vowed that one day I would destroy them to the last factory. The fool have no respect for history!

After they finally moved their fleets away from Incedius and Dolz, I invaded both, both to make it more difficult for them to attack my other planets, and to do what I could to preserve the digsites on those planets. I almost had a new shield technology (class 4) that would hopefully prevent further damage. To my pleasant surprise, I found that Dolz had a fair number of intact factories.



These technologies allowed me to throw together a new design: small, ion cannon, computer 1 and warp 3. The Meklar appeared to be fighting over Vulcan with the Silicoids, so I built 200 of these and managed to hold onto Incedius and Dolz. Once again the AI could've had those worlds, but didn't have the discipline to keep guard with their fleets.

The Mrrshan finally decided to strike me at the colony of Imra. But they'd been choking on heavy fleet maintenance and waste had been building up on their planets, so their technology was pathetic. They still managed to take out the missile bases, but lost most of their fleet doing it and couldn't do anything to the planet afterwards.

A particularly note-worthy random event occurs.



That'll make that planet easier to take, but harder to hold. 2450 rolls around and I have 16/34 votes. Otherwise nothing much happens there.

I try again to invade Rha. What I find is that from the nearby planets, only Celtsi can get past the missile bases. It sucks that each group of transports gets shot down individually. But... I can make this work! 22 of my troops had gotten through and destroyed 32 of theirs. If Celtsi could send a full group of 65 for several turns straight, the planet would be mine... I have a plan! Transport troops from other planets to Celtsi so that it regrows to full population every turn, and have it send the full 65 each turn. It works!



Inspired by my success, I coordinate an invasion of the Mrrshan world of Paladia in the same manner and manage to take it, as well as invading Dolz again and taking it back (the Meklar had managed to invade it). This puts me at a grand total of 22 planets, triggering the "merging" message.



I go ahead and invade Fierias, successfully genociding the Mrrshan. The next few years are spent building up all my worlds and making sure they're at full capacity before I strike at my opponents. Besides, the only one I can see is the Darlok world of Klystron. I need successful sabotage infiltrations to attack anywhere else. I didn't get any, so I went ahead and coordinated an invasion of Klystron. The plan was to send my ship fleets ahead and try to destroy any ships at the world, and then have Paladia, Dolz and Celtsi send 60 transports apiece.



Well yay me, I managed to loot every Darlok tech except for one: Robotic Controls 3. So after sabotage-scouting Rhilus, I invaded that and looted it. And to insure that Rhilus would not come under any harm, I dialed up the Darloks and asked for peace. They accepted for the price of merculite missiles.

After those invasions, sabotages started occuring very often and I managed to scout out most of my opponents' empires. I started invading world after world, targetting Meklar whenever I could. Eventually I found myself invading the last Meklar world and I awaited the inevitable GNN report.



Oops! That's not the one I was looking for.



Yeah, my destruction of a single comet is more important news than the genocide of an entire race. I promised the Meklar I'd pay them back, and now no one even cares about it. After invading Nazin in 2496 I *finally* got in contact with the Sakkra. Unfortunately they didn't have Controlled Radiated. I'd been hoping to go for an extermination victory, but the Silicoids prevent that by having worlds I can't invade.

So rather than to drag this out, I'll bail and take my conquest victory.



There's nothing scarier than to be invaded by bears with toys. Yeowch! Of course it doesn't help that I managed to grab a huge amount of land. I seem to be doing that a lot. The only imperium that has short-changed me on land has been imperium 12. All the rest have seen me grabbing so much land that I hold an overwhelming veto block in the elections, making defeat practically impossible. I must be getting really lucky.