I originally played MOO back in the 90s around when it first came out (without the strategy guide). I still have the game manual (which I use for the copy protection system messages) and have the original disks. I finally started playing again sometime last summer when I found a copy online, as I've never gotten the disks to successfully load for a windows computer. I don't think I have a DOSbox, and I can't seem to use printscreen in MOO. Sorry, no screenies.
The last paragraph of the extremely good strategy guide for this game reads "One final, wry not: You don't have to defeat the Guardian of Orion to win the game. However, the victory screen always shows you being escorted to Orion to assume the throne. Now, if you won and the Guardian was left alive, those few ships escorting you would probably not provide enough protection to stop it, don't you think? Imagine if they drew the next screen. It would probably illustrate your incredibly short reign as, while en route to Orion, the Guardian blasts you to bits and the other emperors snicker in glee." Accordingly, I usually play such that I first try to vaniquish the Guardian before I win (or lose) the game. And I did so in this one.
When I first looked at the map I thought something like "hmm... in the center, top 3 in there (Psilons, Klackons, Humans), this might just play a little harder than average." A few minutes later I looked at my opponents again and realized "No... this should make for a cakewalk... and not because it's average." The question that then became interesting was "How many planets can I colonize?" Why? Well, I've got the very best planetology researchers in the game and don't have The Silicoids around. Then I opened up the save and noticed 4 stars within 3 parses and a green star only two parsecs away. With The Sakkra that sounds like a huge, fast diaspora.
I sent my colony ship to the green 2-parsec away star right away. From the first turn on for a while I had Sssla crank out a scout 2 ship while building industry. I decided against early propulsion research since I had so many stars nearby and thought I could catch up in planetology easily, so I set research for construction, but didn't put any RP in there right away. I popped *improved eco restoration* at Arietis as I founded it. I seriously thought "Should I bother finishing??? This game feels won already."
I have to admit a certain uneasiness with the Sakkra. Not that I can't play them, but I usually use the "baton passing technique". For instance, let's say we have Crius, Laan, and Kronos near each other, with Crius at 53 (out of 100), Laan at 20 (out of 50), and Kronos at 2 (out of 70). I'll usually take 3 population points from Crius on that turn and send them to Laan. Then on the next turn I'll send any population above 50 from Crius again to Laan. Once Laan reaches more than size 25, I'll send the extra population points above size 25 (1 if at size 26, 2 at size 27) to Laan for a while... until it reaches the halfway point or thereabouts. This way my empire grows faster. It seems almost necessary to do something like this with The Silicoids, and for most everyone it works out fairly well. It doesn't really feel quite right with The Sakkra somehow, but it might work out better than I think.
Anyways, so I sent some population points to Arietis for a while... 9 on the first turn, 6 on the second turn... and reduced the ecology ratio right away. I had Arietis go for max tech right away and started research as Sssla. I started on improved ind. tech. 9 as I wanted. I sent some scouts to trail some other scouts around this time, so that soon after one scout arrived I could move it around and scout another world quicker, while still leaving a scout there. Arietis had 12 RP by 2304 and 24 by 2305, and then started to scale back construction, since I had interest accumulating, and started on planetology... choosing Dead Environment as my tech. Finally it seemed like I had something a little less favorable.
I scouted the Klackons ultra poor planet in 2305, but didn't formally meet them. In 2307 I spotted a Psilon scout 1 parsec away from a star in the east close by, so of course I sent my next scout there. Arietis had 28 RP at this time. In 2308 I scaled back planetology and construction to start research on propulsion. I reserached range 4. In 2410 I designed a colony ship with 2 lasers on it, costing 502 BC. Sssla hadn't maxed out on industry, but started on colony ships still working a little on industry... the first one took my 5 years. Arietis gave me 38 RP at this point. In 2412 a Klackon colony ship appeared at Lyae. I decided NOT to try and hold it with LR pop guns.
In 2413 or so The Darloks tried to scout Vulcan, I learned improved ind. tec. 9 and started on improved. ind. tech. 8. In 2414 my first built colony ship headed for Beta Ceti. In 2416 I sent 17 pop from Arietis to Sssla. I learned range 4 and started on irriduium fuel cells. I built Beta Ceti. In 2418 I met The Klackons who told me "Resistance is Futile." Indeed buggers. They had 4 colonies and played as Ruthless Diplomats. I put a tick towards a spy and set security to 2%. I formed a 25 BC trade agreement with them and noticed I had outteched them, but trailed in all other categories. Unease relations. I sent 20 pop points from Sssla to Beta Ceti and emphasized propulsion research. The Klackons soon colonized Lyae.
In 2321 I had my next colony ship which went to Mu Delphi. Arietis also finally started building some industry, with Sssla now researching a wee bit. In 2323 I started on weapons research... I got way too paranoid actually on this. In 2324 I founded Mu Delphi and in 2325 met The Psilons... honorable technologists, with only Mentar as their lone world... exactly where I had predicted to myself where it would lie. I formed a 50 BC trade with The Psilons. I finished another colony ship and had Sssla build 9 scout ships the next turn. Then a colony ship.
In 2329 I build Kronos. In 2333 Sssla maxed out on industry. I founded Romulas also and I got the "Sakkra empire has grown in strength... already they control 6 star systems." I met The Humans in 2334... honorable diplomats They had fewer planets, but outproduced us at that point. About this time I also pushed back a Bulrathi colony ship at Yarrow. In 2338 I found the Guardian and scouted Nazin... still no contact with The Darloks. I learned hand lasers and started on hyper-x rockets. In 2345 I met The Bulrathi... Agreesive Expansionists and started on battle computer mark II. In 2350 I got a pirates in Rayden message... a message that lasted the rest of the gaem. I swapped Improved Eco. Restoration with the Klacks for Battle Computer Mark II this turn and started on ECM Jammer Mark II. I also established a 100 BC trade route with The Bulrathis.
In 2352 I learned controlled dead and researched controlled toxic. 2356-improved ind. tech. 8-reduced waste 60%. I soon after learned range 6. In 2366 I founded Maretta and met The Darloks... xenophobic diplomats. Ecm Jammer II-Battle Computer Mark IV. I founded Centauri somewhere around here and had a vote of me vs. The Klackons. I voted The Klackons and still had undecisive results. Controlled toxic-improved terra. +30. In 2376 I had 13 star systems. Hyper-x rockets-merculite missiles. I had designed a few ships around here and built a couple for some defense... something like medium ships with lasers on them I think. I don't recall if I used them at all or not, but if I did they maybe fought one or two defensive battles.
In 2379 The Darloks declared war and The Humans a turn later when I found Vulcan and Nitzer. In 2386 I founded Cygni and in 2387 Paranar. In 2388 The Darloks got 800 BC from a wealthy merchant. In 2391 I noticed I had the power lead, and I sent out my huge LR Toxic colony ship to Tyr. Spica (I think of the Bulrathi) went Fertile this turn. In 2401 I founded Tyr and had 18 star systmes. I ended up not grabbing a barren star system in the north near The Humans I probably could have grabbed. In 2403 The Bulrathis declared war.
In 2413 I noticed a human fleet coming towards Crius. I designed and built a fleet of pop lasers with I think a sub-light engine on it. I got attacked by a huge ship with 24 hyper-Vs on it and Crius only had one missile base at the time. The missile base didn't get attacked, as the human ship fired its rockets at my pop fighters which just weaved around and avoided the slow missiles. I scrapped the pop laser ships the next trun. In 2414 The Klackons declared war. I know I haven't listed every tech choice, but I know I went ind. tech. 6-ind. tech. 5. In 2414 a Klackon stack attacked Sssla which proved absolutely no match for my missile bases.
In 2423 I founded Rigel. In 2425 they all voted for Alexander, except for me. I abstained 13 of the 32 votes to delay any sort of victory for anyone. I 2426 I scrapped the last ships of my *active* fleet. Of course, sometime back I stared pre-building with huge ships... those pre-builds turned in stargates later on. I got my imp. robotic controls IV and researched advanced space scanner. atmospheric terra.-advanced soil enrichment, warp dissipato-impulse drives around here. A little later repulsor beams-class X planetary shields (I think I had class V before this), fusion beam-omega V bomb.
I did get some peace offers here and there from the AIs which I took. Of course they would usually soon redeclare war, so I didn't have, nor try to maintain trade agreements. Occasionally an obsolete stack would waltz up to a planet and then quickly run away once it saw 6 or so missile bases (I had scrapped my entire fleet in 2426 and I didn't really use it much even then). Of course, the number of missile bases on a planet when up over time, and actually I way overbuilt them on some planets, as I stopped micromanaging in this game, as it started to bore me and I didn't see a need to maximize efficiency. improved ind. 5-andrium armor, advanced soil enrichment-complete eco. restoration. advanced space scanner-imp. robotics V, class X planet. shield-cloaking device, omega v-scatter pack VII, and around 2459 I started researching intergalactic star gates.
In 2459 I got a message that Paranar (my ultra rich planet) would go Nova. Even though I tried to pump BCs into it, it still ended up going nova in 2471. It got radiated. Interestingly enough, after terraforming it, Paranar had a max population of 145 and it had a max pop of 110 before. In this case, the nova actually helped. andrium armor-imp. ind. tech. 4, complete eco. restor.-universal antidote, imp. ind. tech. 4-reduced waste 20% (I but a lot of RP into imp. ind. tech. 4 when I started on it, so I got it fairly fast), cloaking device-class XV planet. shield, star gates-high energy focus, improved robot. V-hyperspace comm., scatter pack VII-particle beam, reduced ind. 20% and then improved ind. 2. I got a violent quake on one of my planets at some time.
high energy focus-trilithium crystals in 2484 and I started actually building stargates this turn. universal antidote-improved terra. +100, class XV planetary shield-personal barrier shield., particle beam-hand phasor, hyperspace communications-battle computer mark IX, trilithium crystals-anti-matter drives. In 2500 I had all my stargates (not all on the same turn) up and started pre-building my fleet to destroy the Guardian of Orion. I didn't build a stargate at my artifacts planet, nor my ultra rich planet. Although, I think I built one at my rich planet. Every other planet had a stargate. improved terra. +100-complete terra., hand phasor-neutronium bomb, improved ind. tech 2-admantium armor. In 2505 the star crystal started to come into our galaxy in the northwest near The Humans.
personal barrier shield-class XX planetary shield, battle computer mark IX-X, admantium armor-neutronium armor, complete terra.-imporved terra. +20. In 2516 Human colonists at Stalaz died from the star crystal. anti-matter drive-thorium cells, class XX planetary shield-personal absorption shield, improved terra+ 20-cloning, neutronium bomb-scatter pack X, cloning-advanced eco. restoration, nuetronium armor-armored exoskeleton. In 2525 The Humans destroyed the space/star crystal.
Before this... sometime when I scrapped my fleet... I stopped micromanaging all that much. I still would use the equals button to throw BC into my ultra rich planet (which I had on max reserved industry through much of the game), and my artifact planet, and some other planets. But, I set most of my planetary spending at a certain ratio and set it there. Consequently, I wayy over-built missile bases on some worlds. thorium cells-hyper drives, personal abs. shield-lightning shield, advanced eco.-improved terra+50, battle computer X-battle computer V, armored exoskeleton-reduced ind. 40%, scatter pack X-stellar converts, improved terra +50-improved terra +80, advanced damage control researched around here, battle computer mark V-battle computer VI, hyper drives-sub-space interdictor. In 2537 I finally designed 5 identical classes of small ships. They each had a mark IV battle computer, a particle beam, and a high energy focus device. The basic, slow retro engine on these babies. Their mission? Destroy the Guardian of Orion. Of course, I usually prefer a sub-space teleporter on these things. I started building them in 2537 also and focused them all to Gion... which lay 3 parsecs away from Orion.
I produced some 2000+ small ships the first turn I built them (due partially to pre-building). From having no fleet whatsoever I jumped ahead of The Bulrathi, The Darloks, and The Psilons in a single turn in terms of fleet strength. I also egded near The Humans on that turn. The game had gone so well and I really have gotten so used to having sub-space teleporters as opposed to a high energy focus beams on similar ships, this only played on average, and I hadn't played in a few months really all amounted to that I got a bit cocky and sent these ships out to Orion immediately... due in 3 turns at Orion, which lay 3 parsecs away from Gion. The next turn I designed a medium standard colony base with a hyper-thrust engine on it and built one. adv. damage control-adv. construction 1, imp. terra. 80-bio. terminator. In 2541 I encountered the Guardian of Orion. After moving closer to it for a couple of turns my first successful shot took off 1946 damage. I ended up taking over 3000 damage off the Guardian, but I didn't defeat it and lost all those ships, as I said, I got cocky.
In 2543 I had the fleet strength lead and sent out some 3500+ ships to Orion... they all had the same design as before. stellar conveter-mauler device. In 2546 I encountered the Guardian again.... it took 1053 damage from a stack of 192 ships, then 2493 from a larger stack (it immediately got fired on after it fired, so I couldn't see how many ships it had), 2415 from another stack, and the rest from another stack. I sent my colony ship to Orion after that and got a message about an amoeba coming into the galaxy. It lay near gion. I colonized Orion and sent population points there. I designed small, fast ships with neturonium bombs with reserach going from hyperthrust engines-inetrial stabilizer. In 2550 I won elections 43-14 over Alexander of The Humans. 39 of those votes came from the Sakkra, 4 from The Bulrathi. I couldn't have voted myself in earlier or won elections earlier. Still, 39/57 means I have over 2/3 of the population points of the galaxy, so that counts as a "conquest victory" according to the nomeclature here, right? Well... read on.
As I said before I didn't have *any* active fleet from 2426 until 2537... well over a century. I didn't take any planets from the AI before or after then. So, how many planets did I conquer? That's right, 0. Conquest victory... huh?
The last paragraph of the extremely good strategy guide for this game reads "One final, wry not: You don't have to defeat the Guardian of Orion to win the game. However, the victory screen always shows you being escorted to Orion to assume the throne. Now, if you won and the Guardian was left alive, those few ships escorting you would probably not provide enough protection to stop it, don't you think? Imagine if they drew the next screen. It would probably illustrate your incredibly short reign as, while en route to Orion, the Guardian blasts you to bits and the other emperors snicker in glee." Accordingly, I usually play such that I first try to vaniquish the Guardian before I win (or lose) the game. And I did so in this one.
When I first looked at the map I thought something like "hmm... in the center, top 3 in there (Psilons, Klackons, Humans), this might just play a little harder than average." A few minutes later I looked at my opponents again and realized "No... this should make for a cakewalk... and not because it's average." The question that then became interesting was "How many planets can I colonize?" Why? Well, I've got the very best planetology researchers in the game and don't have The Silicoids around. Then I opened up the save and noticed 4 stars within 3 parses and a green star only two parsecs away. With The Sakkra that sounds like a huge, fast diaspora.
I sent my colony ship to the green 2-parsec away star right away. From the first turn on for a while I had Sssla crank out a scout 2 ship while building industry. I decided against early propulsion research since I had so many stars nearby and thought I could catch up in planetology easily, so I set research for construction, but didn't put any RP in there right away. I popped *improved eco restoration* at Arietis as I founded it. I seriously thought "Should I bother finishing??? This game feels won already."
I have to admit a certain uneasiness with the Sakkra. Not that I can't play them, but I usually use the "baton passing technique". For instance, let's say we have Crius, Laan, and Kronos near each other, with Crius at 53 (out of 100), Laan at 20 (out of 50), and Kronos at 2 (out of 70). I'll usually take 3 population points from Crius on that turn and send them to Laan. Then on the next turn I'll send any population above 50 from Crius again to Laan. Once Laan reaches more than size 25, I'll send the extra population points above size 25 (1 if at size 26, 2 at size 27) to Laan for a while... until it reaches the halfway point or thereabouts. This way my empire grows faster. It seems almost necessary to do something like this with The Silicoids, and for most everyone it works out fairly well. It doesn't really feel quite right with The Sakkra somehow, but it might work out better than I think.
Anyways, so I sent some population points to Arietis for a while... 9 on the first turn, 6 on the second turn... and reduced the ecology ratio right away. I had Arietis go for max tech right away and started research as Sssla. I started on improved ind. tech. 9 as I wanted. I sent some scouts to trail some other scouts around this time, so that soon after one scout arrived I could move it around and scout another world quicker, while still leaving a scout there. Arietis had 12 RP by 2304 and 24 by 2305, and then started to scale back construction, since I had interest accumulating, and started on planetology... choosing Dead Environment as my tech. Finally it seemed like I had something a little less favorable.
I scouted the Klackons ultra poor planet in 2305, but didn't formally meet them. In 2307 I spotted a Psilon scout 1 parsec away from a star in the east close by, so of course I sent my next scout there. Arietis had 28 RP at this time. In 2308 I scaled back planetology and construction to start research on propulsion. I reserached range 4. In 2410 I designed a colony ship with 2 lasers on it, costing 502 BC. Sssla hadn't maxed out on industry, but started on colony ships still working a little on industry... the first one took my 5 years. Arietis gave me 38 RP at this point. In 2412 a Klackon colony ship appeared at Lyae. I decided NOT to try and hold it with LR pop guns.
In 2413 or so The Darloks tried to scout Vulcan, I learned improved ind. tec. 9 and started on improved. ind. tech. 8. In 2414 my first built colony ship headed for Beta Ceti. In 2416 I sent 17 pop from Arietis to Sssla. I learned range 4 and started on irriduium fuel cells. I built Beta Ceti. In 2418 I met The Klackons who told me "Resistance is Futile." Indeed buggers. They had 4 colonies and played as Ruthless Diplomats. I put a tick towards a spy and set security to 2%. I formed a 25 BC trade agreement with them and noticed I had outteched them, but trailed in all other categories. Unease relations. I sent 20 pop points from Sssla to Beta Ceti and emphasized propulsion research. The Klackons soon colonized Lyae.
In 2321 I had my next colony ship which went to Mu Delphi. Arietis also finally started building some industry, with Sssla now researching a wee bit. In 2323 I started on weapons research... I got way too paranoid actually on this. In 2324 I founded Mu Delphi and in 2325 met The Psilons... honorable technologists, with only Mentar as their lone world... exactly where I had predicted to myself where it would lie. I formed a 50 BC trade with The Psilons. I finished another colony ship and had Sssla build 9 scout ships the next turn. Then a colony ship.
In 2329 I build Kronos. In 2333 Sssla maxed out on industry. I founded Romulas also and I got the "Sakkra empire has grown in strength... already they control 6 star systems." I met The Humans in 2334... honorable diplomats They had fewer planets, but outproduced us at that point. About this time I also pushed back a Bulrathi colony ship at Yarrow. In 2338 I found the Guardian and scouted Nazin... still no contact with The Darloks. I learned hand lasers and started on hyper-x rockets. In 2345 I met The Bulrathi... Agreesive Expansionists and started on battle computer mark II. In 2350 I got a pirates in Rayden message... a message that lasted the rest of the gaem. I swapped Improved Eco. Restoration with the Klacks for Battle Computer Mark II this turn and started on ECM Jammer Mark II. I also established a 100 BC trade route with The Bulrathis.
In 2352 I learned controlled dead and researched controlled toxic. 2356-improved ind. tech. 8-reduced waste 60%. I soon after learned range 6. In 2366 I founded Maretta and met The Darloks... xenophobic diplomats. Ecm Jammer II-Battle Computer Mark IV. I founded Centauri somewhere around here and had a vote of me vs. The Klackons. I voted The Klackons and still had undecisive results. Controlled toxic-improved terra. +30. In 2376 I had 13 star systems. Hyper-x rockets-merculite missiles. I had designed a few ships around here and built a couple for some defense... something like medium ships with lasers on them I think. I don't recall if I used them at all or not, but if I did they maybe fought one or two defensive battles.
In 2379 The Darloks declared war and The Humans a turn later when I found Vulcan and Nitzer. In 2386 I founded Cygni and in 2387 Paranar. In 2388 The Darloks got 800 BC from a wealthy merchant. In 2391 I noticed I had the power lead, and I sent out my huge LR Toxic colony ship to Tyr. Spica (I think of the Bulrathi) went Fertile this turn. In 2401 I founded Tyr and had 18 star systmes. I ended up not grabbing a barren star system in the north near The Humans I probably could have grabbed. In 2403 The Bulrathis declared war.
In 2413 I noticed a human fleet coming towards Crius. I designed and built a fleet of pop lasers with I think a sub-light engine on it. I got attacked by a huge ship with 24 hyper-Vs on it and Crius only had one missile base at the time. The missile base didn't get attacked, as the human ship fired its rockets at my pop fighters which just weaved around and avoided the slow missiles. I scrapped the pop laser ships the next trun. In 2414 The Klackons declared war. I know I haven't listed every tech choice, but I know I went ind. tech. 6-ind. tech. 5. In 2414 a Klackon stack attacked Sssla which proved absolutely no match for my missile bases.
In 2423 I founded Rigel. In 2425 they all voted for Alexander, except for me. I abstained 13 of the 32 votes to delay any sort of victory for anyone. I 2426 I scrapped the last ships of my *active* fleet. Of course, sometime back I stared pre-building with huge ships... those pre-builds turned in stargates later on. I got my imp. robotic controls IV and researched advanced space scanner. atmospheric terra.-advanced soil enrichment, warp dissipato-impulse drives around here. A little later repulsor beams-class X planetary shields (I think I had class V before this), fusion beam-omega V bomb.
I did get some peace offers here and there from the AIs which I took. Of course they would usually soon redeclare war, so I didn't have, nor try to maintain trade agreements. Occasionally an obsolete stack would waltz up to a planet and then quickly run away once it saw 6 or so missile bases (I had scrapped my entire fleet in 2426 and I didn't really use it much even then). Of course, the number of missile bases on a planet when up over time, and actually I way overbuilt them on some planets, as I stopped micromanaging in this game, as it started to bore me and I didn't see a need to maximize efficiency. improved ind. 5-andrium armor, advanced soil enrichment-complete eco. restoration. advanced space scanner-imp. robotics V, class X planet. shield-cloaking device, omega v-scatter pack VII, and around 2459 I started researching intergalactic star gates.
In 2459 I got a message that Paranar (my ultra rich planet) would go Nova. Even though I tried to pump BCs into it, it still ended up going nova in 2471. It got radiated. Interestingly enough, after terraforming it, Paranar had a max population of 145 and it had a max pop of 110 before. In this case, the nova actually helped. andrium armor-imp. ind. tech. 4, complete eco. restor.-universal antidote, imp. ind. tech. 4-reduced waste 20% (I but a lot of RP into imp. ind. tech. 4 when I started on it, so I got it fairly fast), cloaking device-class XV planet. shield, star gates-high energy focus, improved robot. V-hyperspace comm., scatter pack VII-particle beam, reduced ind. 20% and then improved ind. 2. I got a violent quake on one of my planets at some time.
high energy focus-trilithium crystals in 2484 and I started actually building stargates this turn. universal antidote-improved terra. +100, class XV planetary shield-personal barrier shield., particle beam-hand phasor, hyperspace communications-battle computer mark IX, trilithium crystals-anti-matter drives. In 2500 I had all my stargates (not all on the same turn) up and started pre-building my fleet to destroy the Guardian of Orion. I didn't build a stargate at my artifacts planet, nor my ultra rich planet. Although, I think I built one at my rich planet. Every other planet had a stargate. improved terra. +100-complete terra., hand phasor-neutronium bomb, improved ind. tech 2-admantium armor. In 2505 the star crystal started to come into our galaxy in the northwest near The Humans.
personal barrier shield-class XX planetary shield, battle computer mark IX-X, admantium armor-neutronium armor, complete terra.-imporved terra. +20. In 2516 Human colonists at Stalaz died from the star crystal. anti-matter drive-thorium cells, class XX planetary shield-personal absorption shield, improved terra+ 20-cloning, neutronium bomb-scatter pack X, cloning-advanced eco. restoration, nuetronium armor-armored exoskeleton. In 2525 The Humans destroyed the space/star crystal.
Before this... sometime when I scrapped my fleet... I stopped micromanaging all that much. I still would use the equals button to throw BC into my ultra rich planet (which I had on max reserved industry through much of the game), and my artifact planet, and some other planets. But, I set most of my planetary spending at a certain ratio and set it there. Consequently, I wayy over-built missile bases on some worlds. thorium cells-hyper drives, personal abs. shield-lightning shield, advanced eco.-improved terra+50, battle computer X-battle computer V, armored exoskeleton-reduced ind. 40%, scatter pack X-stellar converts, improved terra +50-improved terra +80, advanced damage control researched around here, battle computer mark V-battle computer VI, hyper drives-sub-space interdictor. In 2537 I finally designed 5 identical classes of small ships. They each had a mark IV battle computer, a particle beam, and a high energy focus device. The basic, slow retro engine on these babies. Their mission? Destroy the Guardian of Orion. Of course, I usually prefer a sub-space teleporter on these things. I started building them in 2537 also and focused them all to Gion... which lay 3 parsecs away from Orion.
I produced some 2000+ small ships the first turn I built them (due partially to pre-building). From having no fleet whatsoever I jumped ahead of The Bulrathi, The Darloks, and The Psilons in a single turn in terms of fleet strength. I also egded near The Humans on that turn. The game had gone so well and I really have gotten so used to having sub-space teleporters as opposed to a high energy focus beams on similar ships, this only played on average, and I hadn't played in a few months really all amounted to that I got a bit cocky and sent these ships out to Orion immediately... due in 3 turns at Orion, which lay 3 parsecs away from Gion. The next turn I designed a medium standard colony base with a hyper-thrust engine on it and built one. adv. damage control-adv. construction 1, imp. terra. 80-bio. terminator. In 2541 I encountered the Guardian of Orion. After moving closer to it for a couple of turns my first successful shot took off 1946 damage. I ended up taking over 3000 damage off the Guardian, but I didn't defeat it and lost all those ships, as I said, I got cocky.
In 2543 I had the fleet strength lead and sent out some 3500+ ships to Orion... they all had the same design as before. stellar conveter-mauler device. In 2546 I encountered the Guardian again.... it took 1053 damage from a stack of 192 ships, then 2493 from a larger stack (it immediately got fired on after it fired, so I couldn't see how many ships it had), 2415 from another stack, and the rest from another stack. I sent my colony ship to Orion after that and got a message about an amoeba coming into the galaxy. It lay near gion. I colonized Orion and sent population points there. I designed small, fast ships with neturonium bombs with reserach going from hyperthrust engines-inetrial stabilizer. In 2550 I won elections 43-14 over Alexander of The Humans. 39 of those votes came from the Sakkra, 4 from The Bulrathi. I couldn't have voted myself in earlier or won elections earlier. Still, 39/57 means I have over 2/3 of the population points of the galaxy, so that counts as a "conquest victory" according to the nomeclature here, right? Well... read on.
As I said before I didn't have *any* active fleet from 2426 until 2537... well over a century. I didn't take any planets from the AI before or after then. So, how many planets did I conquer? That's right, 0. Conquest victory... huh?
