Imperium 36 - Space Opera

[RefSteel]

Sponsor: RefSteel
Opening Date: Monday, April 8, 2013
Duration: Four Weeks
Patch: OPTIONAL! (Official version 1.3 OR kyrub's patch 1.40M)

Difficulty: Two different maps are available; you can play either or both (e.g. using the gentler map A as a warm-up to get used to the variant, or as a fall-back in case you get slaughtered on the more extreme map B). See the posts below for the details of each.

Scenario: Who ever heard of an unarmed starship? When the USS Consolation Prize launches a shuttlecraft, is there ever a doubt that even the little shuttle will bear at least one laser cannon? When a medical frigate on a mission of mercy is beset by an Imperial Star Messer-Upper, it comes as no surprise that the medship is firing back at its pusuer with several batteries. ALL ships have guns. Big ships have LOTS of guns. By definition. Obviously. (If any alien races disagree, we're just going to have to teach them a lesson....)

Scoring: Victories will be listed in order from swiftest to slowest, followed by defeats, listed from longest-lasting to quickest, for each map.

Notes: Don't be scared away by the map size. Almost 1/3 of the stars in the maps below are uninhabitable "asteroids only" systems. As a result, even though the maps are Large, the number of actual planets is essentially identical to what you'd expect in a medium galaxy.

Also due to the number of asteroid systems, the High Council vote will not occur until EVERY non-asteroid, non-Orion star in the galaxy has been colonized. (If you destroy the Guardian first, the vote will happen once all but one of the possible stars have colonies.) This should prevent both extremely early diplomatic losses AND super-early, cheesy diplomatic victories. Both of the maps below should prove easier than their counterparts for Imperium 35 (which is not to say that they will necessarily be easy!) due to a less-extreme variant and delayed events and voting.

As mentioned last time, saved games are cross-compatible between the regular (Version 1.3) unpatched game and kyrub's 1.40M patch. The maps were generated using kyrub's patch, but players should feel free to play this Imperium using EITHER version of the game - whichever you prefer.

[EDIT] Further information on each map, with opening screenies and save files, are posted below. For more information on the Imperia, including the rules for how we play, see the following pages:

Intro
Rules

Note that exceptions to the rules can be made for each individual Imperium, as in this case when we're allowing kyrub's 1.40M patch to be used instead of 1.3 by anyone who so wishes.

Also please avoid the tactics banned in our exploits list (a list of ways we've found of taking advantage of bugs or massive and obvious holes in the AI which we've agreed not to use since they're not in keeping with the spirit or fun of the game).

On closing day (and please, please not before!) you can post your report as a new thread in the Reports and Discussion forum. If you finish early and won't be able to post then, however, you can send your report to me by PM or e-mail.[/EDIT]

[RefSteel]

Imperium 36A - Gentle Gunship Diplomats

Race: Meklar
Difficulty: Average
Galaxy Size: "Large" (planet count resembles Medium)
Opponents: Five
Color: Blue
Events: Delayed to 2450 (savefile edit)
Map Generation: Numerous Asteroids (heavily edited)




Variant rule: Each of our ship designs must carry at least one beam weapon per size class (i.e. 1 for smalls, 2 for mediums, 3 for larges, 4 for huges). Alert readers will already have noticed that since our starting ships do not include beam weapons, they were scrapped immediately. The proceeds are still available in the reserve.



Notes: To qualify as a beam, a weapon must be added in a "Weapons" slot (not "Specials") in the ship design screen and have unlimited ammunition that does not require recharging time (i.e. bombs, missiles, torpedoes, bioweapons, etc. don't count as beams, though they can still be mounted on our ships; heavy beams do count, as do auto-fire weapons like Gatling Lasers; indeed, auto-fire weapons that fire N times per turn count as N different weapons). Several of the same beam weapon in the same "Weapons" slot do count as several different beam weapons.

Closing Date: Monday, May 6, 2013. Reports due by the end of Tuesday, May 7, your local time.

The save file is attached!

[RefSteel]

Imperium 36b - Extreme Beam Enthusiasts

Race: Meklar
Difficulty: Impossible
Galaxy Size: "Large" (planet count resembles Medium)
Opponents: Five
Color: Blue
Events: Delayed to 2450 (savefile edit)
Map Generation: Numerous Asteroids (heavily edited)




Variant rule: Each of our ship designs must carry at least one beam weapon per size class (i.e. 1 for smalls, 2 for mediums, 3 for larges, 4 for huges). Alert readers will already have noticed that since our starting ships do not include beam weapons, they were scrapped immediately. The proceeds are still available in the reserve.



Notes: To qualify as a beam, a weapon must be added in a "Weapons" slot (not "Specials") in the ship design screen and have unlimited ammunition that does not require recharging time (i.e. bombs, missiles, torpedoes, bioweapons, etc. don't count as beams, though they can still be mounted on our ships; heavy beams do count, as do auto-fire weapons like Gatling Lasers; indeed, auto-fire weapons that fire N times per turn count as N different weapons). Several of the same beam weapon in the same "Weapons" slot do count as several different beam weapons.

The save file is attached!

[Nad]

Hey Ref,

a nice idea! Sounds tempting and challenging - I'll give it a try. Good hunting to everybody!

[Zieman]

Great! Going to try both variants.

BTW, did the AIs get the same treatment regarding start fleets as the player?

[RefSteel]

BTW, did the AIs get the same treatment regarding start fleets as the player?

Nope; I haven't touched the AI planets, fleets, or ship designs at all. As it turns out, it IS possible to build starships without guns. It's just us Meklar, indoctrinated by hundreds of years of science fiction action movies and and trimensional interactive multimedia, who believe a ship without beam weapons is no ship at all.

[Zieman]

Ok, gives the AI a bit of a headstart. Adds to the challenge, which is good.
I think.

Have to confess, I already played through both variants. Was an enjoyable experience, can't wait for the reports.
Thank you.

[Cyneheard]

36A Complete. Now time for 36B.

Edit: 36B complete. No, I didn't do much else today. Why do you ask?

[RefSteel]

So, yeah, my apologies for losing track of the date. There's still a week to play and report in spite of my premature "closing" thread posting last night. I'm glad people caught it before someone posted an actual report, as I'm (obviously) really looking forward to reading the reports on the real closing day, next week. Thanks as always to all for playing, for being more on the ball about the actual date than me, or both!

[TheArchduke]

Oh, the Imperiums are up again. I am a bit late to the party it seems, but I am definetly going to play this although reporting is over.