Imperium Two - Hydrophobia

[Sirian]

Always glad to see a fresh face! :wub: Welcome. Brand new to the game, even, but surviving to victory in your first tourney try. Nice work.

Been a long day for me and I only managed to read a small portion of your report. (I have a lot of report reading to do, not to mention report writing. Yeah, I'm behind again. AGAIN? Yeah, well. The early days of the Civ3 Epics when I always had my report ready to rock the moment the event closed seem rather elusive lately. Always something going on!

I like stream of consciousness reports, though. So I'll be back to get the full details.


What a great nickname! The obvious jokes come to mind, of course. What happens if I outscore you in this event? WILL I BE ACCUSED OF BEATING DECEASED HORSE?!?

You've certainly made a winning first impression.


- Sirian

[Sirian]

My report's not going to be ready on time. Doh! Lot-O-Irons™ in da fire these days. :blink:


Here's my scoring summary:

Unanimous diplomatic victory in 2475AD:

125 pts - early finish
25 pts - planets owned
5 pts - unanimous support

155 pts - Score


I had a grandly fun Mrrshan game, though. We and the Alkari... oh yeah. WE MIXED IT UP.

Report coming, uh... Maybe I better not make promises on that score. h34r:


- Sirian

[Patroclus]

Diplomatic loss to the humans in 2395, on the first vote.

My score is 10 points, for having 10 planets at the end.

Edit: If you want to see the point at which I knew my goose was cooked :chef: read 2380.

[Patroclus]

I kept a running log of notes as I played. I was going to turn it into a proper report but don't have the time for my big plans, so here are my stream-of-consciousness stratemagizings.

==== Begin Log Here ====

Reading the Tea Leaves: We’re at 1:00 on the galaxy, with most yellows clustered in the lower left. Yellows west and north and a bunch of reds within range of our scouts. Maybe 1 or 2 races started in the lower right, probably 2 or 3 in the lower left. Alkari, bulrathi, silicoids, humans and sakkra. How’m I supposed to win a diplo victory with the hated Alkari AND Sakkra, and the tense Bulrathi, and the (probably) xenophobic silicoids in the game? Mee-Ow!

OK, this game may be on Average but it will be VERY HARD to win. I can’t stop enemies from colonizing near me, or clear them out once they do? People are going to hate me? I’m a race with no economic specials? Eek.

2300: Hmm, only one planet (white) in range! Send one scout to yellow star to west (thru nebula), colony to white star, other scout to red planet beyond white star we’re colonizing.

Judging by the arrangements of yellows, I decide we’re far far away from the nearest neighbor, unless there’s one at that yellow star to the west. I have time to build up my colony to max before I go colonizing.

2303 Helos is Jungle 80. Good! I colonize, and transfer 20 colonists to get the new planet into the fat part of the curve right away. Tick up eco to get transport waste.
2304 Quayal, the red that’s 2 LY away from Helos, is Tundra. Brr! There’s a future invasion waiting to happen. I send the scout 4:00 to keep moving clockwise. Restore Fierias eco down a tick.

2305 Gorra, the yellow on the other side of the nebula, is a Terran 95. Woot! Need range 5 to get it though. I leave my scout there, design my Scout 2, and order up 2 from Fierias. Will build about 8 of em.

2306 Send scouts to 2 reds. Fieras will build 4 scouts next turn.

2307 Omicron, radiated hostile. Kitty found the sunbeam! I move that scout down to the white star, send one of my new scouts in behind it, new scouts to the green and red just south of fieras, and change Fierias to build 1 scout, for the red due east of the homeworld, call up 2 RP (and put100% research to propulsion) the rest into factories/eco. Helos is pop 25, Fierias is 49, we’re phat city on our pop growth curve. [SCREENCAP]

2308 Our only option is range 4. Hmph. Maybe I can leapfrog from the south to the terran, but then the red due south had better be habitable or I’m going to hurt... I send the last scout 2 to guard Omicron, keep 2 clicks in propulsion research, and move ship production to factories. When range 4 comes in, I will at least have more stuff to scout...

2310 Drakka, the white star in the southeast, is minimal. I leave my scout there.

2311 Many scoutings! Xendalla, red at 11:00, minimal 10. Blech. Uxmai, red at 8: jungle 85, yum! The critical red due south: Guaradas is jungle 75! Woot! I can go Guradas-Uxmai-Quayal with range 4. The tech is still a long way off though, so I keep on max factories. Helos will be able to help fill in the homeworld very soon.

2312: Purple just east of Helos: radiated ultra rich. Hope I have controlled radiated... and bad BAD news, Antares, the green to the south, is rich tundra. Brr! That’s very bad, a future hornets nest on my doorstep. Looks like I have many bases in my future. I send that scout west from the planet.

My colonization options are very limited. Drakka is range 6. Nothing without advanced planetology tech to the east. Once I get Guradas I might be able to reach a second ring of stars to the south, but I can’t even scout them yet. Nothing to do but click next turn a bunch of times and peel pops off of Helos.

2317 Fierias is 78 with 4 in transit. I decide to drop Helos below 50%, to get max pop on Fierias right away. I send 14, dropping Helos to just above 1/3 and, assuming 4 pop growth on Fierias in 3 turns, should exactly fill Fierias. Clean up waste on Helos too.

2318 Fierias is 81 with 2, 14 in transit.
2319 Fierias is 86 with 14 in transit. Ding! Propulsion is at 5%, I drop research to 2 ticks to max factories faster. Still need about 6-7 more turns of factory production. Helos is back up to 34 pop.

2320 Fierias has maxed pop. 71 factories to go.
2321 10% propulsion, 61 factories to go.
2322 15%, 51 to go
2323 19%, 40 to go
2324 I design my colony ship. Research at 24%, 29 factories to go.\

2325 Tech comes in! Nuclear Engines and Range 6 are available, I choose engines (1080 RP) and leave research alone. Helos is at 47 pop but only has 57 factories made, will need 80 for being held at 50% pop. Fierias still needs 18 factories. I will start building colony ships next turn.

2326 Cut half of factory production to max next turn, start on ship. 12Y, should be about 5 when all is moved. I transfer research from Fierias to Helos (still only 18 RP, all in propulsion). OOOPS! Forgot to move my scouts! I send a scout from Gorra to the west, a scout from Xendalla to the yellow due north of the homeworld, and shuffle scouts to the purple on the eastern edge. That’s all I can reach! I will have Helos make a couple new scout 2s when i can for placeholders.

2327 Fierias has maxed factories. 4 turns to go on colony ship. Helos is 52 pop/59 fac. I move one click from research to scouts from Helos.

2328: Rich Inferno due west of the Terran. Ah, the fireplace... *purrrr*

2329: Vulcan, purple on edge of map, Ultra rich radiated. HOO BOY I hope I have that tech! I also hope the damn rocks are far far far across the map from me! One scout gets built and sent to Guradas to speed scouting going South. 2 turns on colony ship...

2330: Yellow straight north is Ocean. Blech! At least its far away from other races. I send the scout back to Xendalla. Helos is 58/70.

2331 Colony’s up! Send it to Guradas (4 turns), keep building more. Helos sends another scout to Guradas, and is 61/74... can switch Guradas to research from factories in a few more turns.

2332 Lower Helos factory building to hit 80.

2333 Stop Helos factory building, switch production to research. Colony due in 2 turns.

2334 nt

2335 Colonize Guradas. New colony ship built at Fieras, send to Uxmai. This will take 5 turns, so I drop some shipbuilding into research to take 5 turns. Send the scouts on Guradas to the 3 new planets I can reach. Transfer 27 pop from Helos to Guradas, which will put it in the fat part of curve. Send the new scout built on Helos to Guradas, in case any scouts come calling.

2336 Helos looks like it will be above 50% pop for some time, so I move some research into factories (1/turn) in anticipation of filling up from Guradas sooner.

2337 nt

2338 new scout2, send to cover Arid to the east. Warp 2 at 3%, may actually come in in time to help colonization...

2339 BINGO! Tech comes in so early! I move research to Range 6. I redesign my colony ship to use Warp 2. I consider arming it, but if there’s enemy in range already I’m in more trouble than a colony ship can fight. Fierias will build one next turn, right as I colonize Uxmai. I also design a Warp 2 scout, and switch Helos to build them.

2340 Colonize Uxmai. Scout Hyades, Ultra Rich Toxic (need... planetology... tech...), Paranar (ultra poor terran), and make contact with the humans. They’re still 5 parsecs away so they must have range 5. OK, if I’m going to win this game I need to make friends with the humans. Not hard, right? Well, they’re allied with the Alkaris already. Nooo! They have 3 colonies to the southwest, and judging by the fact that they colonized east and north, I bet they have enemies southwest of them. They happily agree to trade 75 BC/turn, but don’t want to trade toys. Uh oh, there’s an Alkari scout too, heading for uxmai? Fierias might be the yellow just southwest of the other nebula. (Those nebula look suspiciously like eyebrows...) The scout looks 2 turns away.

Transfer 18 from helos to Guradas, 18 from Guradas to Uxmai (Costs me more in transports, but gains me 4 turns of productivity), send my colony ship to the terran west of the nebula, and adjust sliders to clean up waste.

2341: Moro, white at about 5:00 from homeworld, is dead rich 30. And its a Silicoid colony... oh HELL. The rocks are due south of me, probably at the yellow straight south of Moro. This is double-plus ungood. At least the humans are pacifists.

In between turns, humans colonized Firma and Xudax, the planets south of the other nebula... looks like the Alkari were using their alliance to reach Uxmai. That’s good... the longer I can avoid making contact with the Alkari the better.

2342: I scout Firma, the Terran colony, Arid 70. The Alkari scout sails by Uxmai, must be heading to the rich tundra. 1 turn to colonize the terran at Gorra, 2 for the population shuffle to get to Guradas and Uxmai. I move my scout off of Moro and head for the ultra poor terran just west of it. I move my scout from Firma to Xudax to hopefully pick up some sneaky peekys.

Im going to need some defense however, and soon. Medium fighters will work. Heavy laser, computer 1, shield 1, warp 2 and maneuver 2. I went with the heavy laser in hope of using warp 2 to beat up warp 1 range 1 stuff... I also scrap my old warp 1 colony ship. I will make some of these fighters once the next colony ship is built.

Helos is at 41 pop. Guradas is at 20 (18 due to arrive in 2 turns) and will start filling Helos. Uxmai is at 2 (with 16 due in 2 turns).

2343 Alkari scout hits the toxic ultra-rich at Hyades and is rebuffed. I colonize Gorra! I send 25 from Fierias and move a bunch to eco. I send 13 from Helos to refill Fierias. I get cold feet on my new colonies and scrap my colony ship (who needs a size 10 minimal anyway?) to make 3 HL fighter 2s, one each for Gorra, Uxmai and Guradas.

2344 I have the second-worst fleet. At least the Silicoids have worst. Best? Alkari, natch. The alkari scout disappears; must be out of range at Antares. Guradas is now over 50% and I send some back to Helos. Helos has, hopefully, sent its last population and can now max out. Once my fighters arrive at the new colonies I will send those scouts out too.

2345 send more back to Guradas. 2 turns for fighters to arrive.

2346 Xudax is fertile, ultra poor, 150. Wow its HUGE. Fieras is back on max colonists, spend half on research half on fighters. I change tech so all fields are equal, to open up research in other areas. Check the race bars, humans and cats are roughly equal in all fields. Keep going to fill Helos.

2347. Lets see, jingly balls for kitty. Computers: mark 2 (750) only choice. Reduced waste 80% (930) only choice. Class 2 shields (480) only choice. Improved eco restoration (750) only choice. Hand lasers (70? must be racial bonus) only choice. Well, no choices there eh? I switch emphasis to construction and planetology, about 40/40/5/5/5/5 on percentages. Kitty cleans itself, yes?

2348 Oh dear, rocks about to scout the Evil Tundra on my doorstep... that means I will have rocks in my neighborhood soon. Double-plus ungood... How am I going to get a colony ship to Drakka? Range 6 is far away. I CAN NOT let the rocks into those radiated ultra-riches, or I will be overrun. What to do?

Well, if I get range 6 I can bomb Moro. That would stop the rocks for a while. But no, they’ll have a colony up there before I can stop them. Argh. Triple argh.

I keep peeling pop off of Guradas onto Helos, and move some of Helos’ research into factories.

At this point, I make a backup of the game file.

2349. I send a fighter from Gorra to guard the Rich Inferno at Toranor. I stop producing scouts at Helos and add more to factory production.

2350. Still filling Helos from Guradas. 56, with 12 on the way. I will have a fighter at Helos and Fierias, and 2 each at Gorra, Uxmai and Guradas, and 1 watching the Inferno, until bases can be built. Once i get these fighters built I will pick up that Minimal in the north (why not?) and hope range comes along soon.

2351: Explore a Radiated Rich north of the left nebula, and manage to scout the human colony at Zoctan. The colonists still haven’t arrived at Gorra? Stupid nebula... should have sent some from Uxmai. Well Ux is almost half full and will start filling Gorra.

I notice the humans have broken their alliance with the Alkari. Good! Stupid birds!

Helos is at 61 with 15 en route... I increase the number of colonists to 6 for this turn, and will now start filling Guradas. Uxmai will actually fill last of these first 5 colonies, I will use it to fill Gorra ASAP.

2352. Fight humans at Ukko (hostile inferno) in the northwest and stop a silicoid colony ship at the ultra-poor terran in the south. Hmm. That one’s range 5. Propulsion is still eons away. I don’t think its in my best interest to spend anything to fight for the UP, I would just lose time on it. Drakka, on the other hand... maybe I should build a fighter with fuel tanks for that one.

2353: Humans bounce off of the minimal planet north of my nebula. I explore Morrig, another human colony. Helos will overfill, so I move 1 colonist to Uxmai.

2354: Hand lasers come in. I can research Hyper-X rockets (1150), Fusion Bomb (1450) or Ion Cannon (1800). I go for rockets, since I will need good bases and soon! Construction and Planetology are coming along, both bulbs being mostly filled.

It looks like Gorra, Uxmai and Guradas will get to above 50% at about the same time.

2355: My scout arrives at Sol, 6 bases, no peeky. I move the scout to Hyades. I scrap my original Scout design (they’re parked at already-being-watched planets). Helos is now maxed. Guradas, Gorra and Uxmai are all at about 50%. My trade deal with the humans is almost at break-even. Unfortunately, the humans are allied with the Alkaris AND the Silicoids! Argh! Bad humans! Well, I don’t have contact with either of those so I can’t do anything about it.

I transfer 6 pop from Uxmai to Gorra, and use all 14 of my reserve credits to get an extra factory at Gorra built this turn.

2357 Fierias builds the last fighter I’ll need, so I shut off shipbuilding to speed my cleanup techs. [Fierias Clean shot before]. Send 3 more from Uxmai to Gorra.

2358: Eco restoration comes in! I am faced with a choice of Tundra (1080) or Death Spores (3000). I choose Tundra. Why? Because (a) I want a diplo victory, so bioweapons are a bad idea, and (B) it’s 1/3rd as much -- which means I can get to Toxic or Radiated much faster! I keep research into planetology going high, I WANT WANT WANT radiated landings. Sirian wouldn’t set us up a game with two ultra-rich radiated planets on our doorstep and not give us a tech tree without the required tech? Would he?

Research goes up almost 50%. Construction tech is at 10%. A silicoid colony ship is heading for... Antares?

2359 Send 6 from Uxmai to Guradas. I guess waste cleanup is subtracted from your Production stat, because mine just took a big jump over the humans.

2360. Helos has max factories. I hadn’t noticed (oops) so I put the 15 BC into Gorra and get another factory. Gorra is at 61/23 (with 6 due to arrive next turn), Uxmai is at 46/37, Guradas is at 56/50. Send another 3 mil uxmai-gorra.

[Patroclus]

2361: Reduced Waste 80% comes in! My only choice is Duralloy, which is great, but I reduce priority and increase Propulsion and Weapons. I keep cranking on Planetology. Tech is now zoomin, at 364/turn. Tundra is half full already... Keep using Uxmai to fill Gorra.

2362: Uh oh, humans are the first to 8 star systems. That means they will be a contender for the election... and they’re the only one I’m likely to ally with! That’s not good. My trade deal is at least turning a (one BC) profit. Even so, I see if they’ll upgrade our trade deal, to 150 BC/year, which they do. They offer their Range 5, but they want either of my cleanup techs... Sorry! Humans clean Kitty’s litter box, not the other way around! Besides, my own range 6 research is about halfway done already...

I fix my waste from the trade hit (-28 now, not bad).

2363: My scout at Hyades (the Toxic U-Rich near the humans) stops the silicoids from colonizing it. Damn humans and their promiscuous alliances! They’ll be back I bet. Gorra is at 71 with 7 on the way; I send 9 to top it off in 4 turns.

2364 Now the humans have alliances with the Bulrathis and the Sakkras. Hmm, this could be HORRIBLE if we go to a vote. The humans have had alliances with the other 4 races! Everyone will vote for the humans! I need to get the humans at war with someone, but I don’t have any contacts except the humans. Argh!

I can’t put fuel tanks in a large colony ship. I can’t afford a huge colony ship. I drop a bunch of tech (from construction and weapons) into propulsion... I need that range 6 NOW. YESTERDAY. LAST WEEK.

2366 shift most planetology research (now @ 13%) to propulsion, at 4%.
2367 Class 2 shields come in, only option is Personal Deflector Shield. Yay gropo. STUPID CAT! I SAID PROPULSION! Can’t teach cats to do tricks, dammit.

Gorra is full and making 10 factories a turn, Guradas is 3 away from full and making 11 factories a turn. Propulsion at 13%.

2368 A silicoid colony arrives at Drakka. Hmmm, I *could* retreat, and let them colonize, but that sticks in my craw too much. We’re not gonna go to a vote right now, are we? Controlled Tundra comes in, I can choose Death Spores (NO WAY), Controlled Inferno (4320) or Terraforming +30 (5880). Hmmm! Toxic’s not available so I must have radiated landings. That means inferno is useless, except to get that rich planet west of Gorra. I go for the more expensive (but much tastier) Terraforming +30. Once I get range 6, I will beeline on it to Controlled Radiated tech. Propulsion at 21%. I start building a colony ship at Helos at max rate (4 turns), which is destined for Drakka.

2369 Range 6 comes in... Whew! My only option is Sub-Light Drives, and I make contact with the silicoids. They have only 5 planets, including one that the humans poached or captured at Misha... They silis are aggressive diplomats. Huh, maybe they will vote for me after all. Well then, I don’t need to kick their ass just yet, do I? I send my scouts to the new places I can reach, move all my research to Planetology (keeping small amounts going in the other areas) and see if I can get some trade going with the silicoids. I also send a fighter to Drakka and Hyades in case they come back with a fighter to go with their colony ships.

2370. Guradas is max factories, I move some over to research. I will refrain from building bases just yet... until I see what kind of fleets they’re bringing. Hopefully I won’t get burned. Gorra is cranking 13 factories/turn, Uxmai is at max factories, so I move some production into research.

2371 Guradas maxes factories, and will max pop next turn. I put 4 ticks into bases and the rest into research. Gorra is cranking. Uxmai is cranking. My colony ship moves to Drakka.

2372 Scout Denubius, a barren hostile near the western nebula. Planetology is a long way away at 200 RPs per turn...

2373 scout the hostile inferno in my backfield. I realize I’m not going to immediately go to war with the Silicoids, and ring them up for a trade aggreement of 150/year. They’re behind me in population so they might just vote for me instead of the humans. Colony arrives at Drakka next turn. I can’t believe nobody’s colonized Antares yet...

2374 I find Orion, near Cryslon. Bye bye scout. Oooh, the last planet in my backfield is a Steppe 55. Cool. I colonize Drakka too. And I get an event... HELOS IS RICH! Woot! Woot! Woot! That is full of the awesome! I move 2 ticks into bases (Mine! Can’t Have! and keep it on colony ship duty. I need 3 more, for the ultra poor (why not?), the minimal in the upper left, the arid poor to the east of the start and the steppe way off in the corner (if I can reach it).

I shuffle some pop to Drakka from Guradas, and some to Guradas from Uxmai. Gorra will max colonies next turn, and start contributing to Research-A-Go-Go.

2375 Decisions decisions... do I take the U-Poor next to Moro and hope I can hang on to it? Well, I’ll have another colony next turn too. Well, its the planet most at risk, so I go for it. Computers and weapons close to popping. I’m going to need to start computer research soon, in order for spying to happen. In fact, I move 2 ticks from planetology to computers to start the process.

2376 Gorra has max factories. 4 ticks on bases, rest on research. Send colony ship to Arid Poor in the east.

2377 Scout an Alkari world in the west (Anraq) which is heavily guarded... run awaaaay! Battle computer Mark 2 comes in (with only ~9%... I’m having some good luck on research) as does Hyper X rockets (yay!. I go for Robotic Controls 3 (pro-duck-shun... 1920 cost is a steal) and I have the choice of Fusion Bomb 1450, Ion Cannon 1800, Ion Rifle 2590 or Mass Driver 3040. Hmmm... Ion Rifle or Mass driver would open up a new tech. I go for the ion rifle, and kinda regret it since I already had hand lasers. Ah well. Scout Laan, U-poor steppe at the far east yellow.

I send 2 fighters from Guradas to the U-poor terran, and kick up Guradas’ base spending to get a base next turn.

2378 Scout Escalon, a rich inferno far away from me. My next colony ship is built... where to with it? The other U-poor? Do I really want that? I will be able to reach the steppe. in one turn when the Poor Arid is colonized. The minimal is available too. I go to the minimal, and tweak spending to get another colony next turn for the Steppe in the corner.

2379 Oh no! The humans meet my colony ship with their colony ship at the U-Poor, and my fighters are 1 turn away! I’m unarmed... I retreat and leave the planet... don’t want to piss off the humans.., yet. I send the colony to the other U-poor, the scout that was there home, and will retreat my fighters next turn.

Well then... that changes things a little. I send a Fighter 2 from Drakka to the U-poor so that doesn’t happen again. My 2 fighters at Paranar will go to Drakka. I send my new colony to the Steppe, and switch Helos from Colony production to Industrialization. I transfer all 70 of my current reserves to Fierias for research. I will trade the U-poor for two U-riches, ok?

2380 Planetology at 3%. Drakka’s pop boost about to arrive. I transfer my 102 reserve money to Fierias, realize that doesn’t help more than Helos on its own, slap my forehead because Helos is down pop to fill Nyarl, and do eco on Helos.

The humans have alliances with the Alkaris, Bulrathis and Silicoids. This will not do. I have no choice... if this goes to a vote I’m gonna lose. I ring up the Silicoid leader... Say, would you be interested in attacking the humans? You WOULD? For free? Hey, my buddy. My Pal. I look at the screen and see the humans allied with... the Sakkras? Sheesh, they had 4 alliances.

I ring up 6 clicks of spying on the humans. I stay on hide for right now, to get a read on their techs... no sense trying espionage if it’s hopeless.

2381 The silicoids kick me of Escalon with an armed colony ship. But what’s this? No colony?

The silicoids must have lost their RoP when they declared war, costing them their colony on a rich inferno planet. Well, too bad actually, the rocks could have mixed it up with the other races from there too. I send my scout back to hover over the crater their crashing colony ship made.

No spy info from the humans. Planetology at 7%.

2382 Colonize the Minimal. Planetology at 11%. I get a peek at the humans... nothing to fear. Hmm. Could I mix it up with the humans? I design a new boat (screencap) and start building at Helos.

2383 Hmmm... the humans must have brought their allies along against the silicoids. The rocks are at war with the Alkaris, Bulrathis and Humans! Probably the Sakkra too. Har-de-har. The humans just picked up Scatter Pack V rockets... ow. Maybe not such a great idea to attack them. We’ll see. Planetology at 14%, and I move some research to computers... want... production...

2384 Colonize the Steppe and the U-poor on the right edge. Planetology at 16%, shuffle some population around.

2385 Silicoids send a colony ship to the tundra next to helos... oh dear. I hurry up and get at least one base built on Fierias.

2386 Improved Terraforming comes in! And I... DON’T HAVE RADIATED LANDINGS EITHER? HEYYYYY! I thought you were guaranteed to have at least one of Toxic or Radiated landings? I go for Controlled Inferno, since there are a number of those too, but I back off on planetology research for now. I spread the research out more with an emphasis on computers. I start building fighters to guard the Radiated Ultra-Riches.

2387 The silicoids take the Radiated Hostile at Omicron. Damn... they have some engine tech! At least its not the U-rich one... I start moving fighters over.

2388 Terraforming, building factories, grow grow grow.

2389 Silicoid colony ships are beelining to radiated planets that they never scouted. Cheating computer.

2390 Robotic Controls comes in. With no Industrial Tech... ouchie. But I can choose Comp III (3000), Jammer III (4320) or Space Scanner (5070). Hmmm... Jammer 3 would get me to the next level, but I missed the first scanner. Hmmm. I go for the scanner as it will be more useful than ECM. Research slows way down while I build fast.

2391 Still building. About to fight silicoids at first U-rich, hope two of my heavy laser fighters can stop an armed colony ship... this will be my first combat. I send my two Lg Fighters to Firma; since I will be fighting the humans, maybe I can smack em around a bit. They certainly don’t have any tech to worry about except those Scatter Pack V’s.

2392 The heavy laser pays off... their colony only moves 1 space and must only have range 1 weapons, while I can hit with impunity. They have gatling lasers... I get it down to 45, they take out a fighter, but I stop the colony ship! WHEW!
The silis also colonize the rich Antares. Could... get... ugly...

2393 Build build build... another colony ship comes up from Moro, I adjust Uxmai to get a base next turn, and my other core worlds all have a couple bases. No SoDs to be seen.

2394 My LgFig2s arrive at Firma... they have a single missile base. I lose a ship in the first 2 salvos, but I take out the base. Ow! That hurt! I obviously need a missile boat approach for taking on the humans. I don’t bomb, however. Huh, it says there are 0 factories there... but there should have been 116? Wierd bug. Well, if I want to hit the humans, now’s the chance, especially since it looks like they’ve been spying on me.

I send max troops from Uxmai and Gorra, and switch them to eco to grow them back. I also move most tech to Force Fields, to try and get Personal Deflector Shields in time for the party.

I also design a Hyper-X boat, medium with 2-shot HyperX, level 2 computer and warp 2.

Colonies build up population first, start cranking on factories.

2395 Oh dear... I’m FOURTH in production, behind the Alkari, Human and Sakkra? Sheesh. And finally, the council convenes... It’s me vs the humans, as predicted.

33 votes; 12 for me is survival. 22 for humans is defeat.
Alkari: 6 for humans.
Bulrathi: 2 for humans.
Silicoids: 3 for me.
Humans: 9 for humans. If the populous Sakkras have 5 people I’m doomed.
Sakkras: 6 for humans. Game over.

What could I have done??? I never had contact with 3 of the races. I suppose I could have gone for Inferno instead of Terraforming +30, which maybe would have let me get contact with one of the other races, and done something about the humans. But how was I to know I wouldn’t have Controlled Radiated? Maybe I could have gone to war with the humans earlier. Maybe I could have gotten contact by taking Firma earlier (Maybe! I don’t KNOW that it would have gotten me contacts! But I started trying to mix things up for the humans as soon as I noticed they were getting alliances. What could I have done different? My racial tendencies would pretty much doom me to the vote going the way it did.

==== End Log Here ====

[Patroclus]

On Sirian’s suggestion, I redid the game. I didn't pretend to not know things and played the first 35 turns or so by the exact same plan. I played a bit more aggressively, and managed to NOT be 2nd in population for the first several votes. This time the humans did not get any alliances right off the bat, and languished as a 3PE with no tech at all for most of the game.

I won the replay without too much trouble, stealing Radiated Landings from the Sakkras very soon after meeting them, and managed to claim ALL the rich and ultra-rich planets in the neighborhood. I voted myself emperor, which I guess makes it a conquest victory, the turn after I genocided the humans (take THAT! in 2550.

I guess my big strategic mistake in the first game was planning for a diplo victory from the outset... playing a peaceful builder strategy isn’t the mrrshan’s strength. I should have expected that I would need the conquest win anyway and just mashed their teeth in from the first encounter. Maybe letting the humans have Firma was a mistake, although it could also have gotten me dogpiled if I’d started to fight them then. Then again, I got it in the replay and I couldn’t hold onto that planet vs the Alkaris, so maybe it wouldn't have made a difference...

It was fun up until the end (although it BURNED to lose another winning position when the computer voted itself the winner, when 3/5 races had never even met me) and I look forward to Imp 3.

[Justus_II]

I finished last week, but I'm not quite done with the report. I will reply with a link when I finish, probably tomorrow morning. I won the election in 2475, with a total score of 174. I thought it went well, but compared to some of the other reports, I was in pretty much constant war with almost everyone.

More to follow...

EDIT Scoring Breakdown:
125 for year of vote
44 for planets
5 for Glassing Altair!

[Sirian]

I'm glad the shadow-game replay worked out better. Genocide of those evil Humans... yeah!

There do seem to be a few wide-swing luck factors in early AI development. That's a bit disappointing, from a tourney organizer's standpoint, but I don't see anything to be done about it. If you get the shaft with an unseemly early vote loss, especially when you haven't even met half the races, playing a shadow replay seems only natural. Otherwise, you kind of get ripped off on getting your chance to play that map.

- Sirian

[Kylearan]

Hi,

here's the end result of my game. I won the election in 2525. I owned 19 systems and had glassed Altair before, so I had a total of 99 points. I probably could have had more had I continued to play the game until owning all allowed systems, but had no desire for unnecessary tedium. And I have no idea how I could have won earlier and/or with the Alkaris voting for me, so I'm eager to read the other reports - once my full report is finished, which should be the case tomorrow.

-Kylearan

[DaveV]

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