Imperium 37 - Shadow Report & Notes from the Sponsor

[RefSteel]

[EDIT: My report is now UP in the usual spot - now finally complete!]

For me, at least (and I hope for the others who participated) this was an absolutely thrilling game to play. I don't know how much of that can come out in my report, as much of it was wrapped around the turn to turn (and combat round to combat round!) strategic and tactical planning as I squeezed every ounce I could out of my empire and my fleets, trying to defend my worlds, but I absolutely loved this game. I just hope the pseudo-random number generator rolled up games even nearly this exciting for everybody!

[Nad]

Wow Ref, what a fascinating report you're working on! I am really exciting about learning whether you or I won earlier. I will post mine soon and do agree - definitely one of the most challenging games I ever had although full of parallels with the mentioned Alkari challenge...

[RefSteel]

Wow Ref, what a fascinating report you're working on! I am really exciting about learning whether you or I won earlier. I will post mine soon and do agree - definitely one of the most challenging games I ever had although full of parallels with the mentioned Alkari challenge...

Just in case I'm not able to get everything uploaded this evening (it always takes me longer to do so than I expect) and even though mine is a shadow report anyway, my results:

No threats issued, no planets lost.
14 votes in 2425.
Domination victory (just short of Conquest) in 2450.

[Nad]

I salute you for your flawless game, Ref. It seems that I still have to learn a lot about MOO. Almost a half more votes than I had and also a faster win... Just wow!

[RefSteel]

I salute you for your flawless game, Ref. It seems that I still have to learn a lot about MOO. Almost a half more votes than I had and also a faster win... Just wow!

Thanks ... but I suspect there was a certain amount of "better lucky than good" in there as well. For instance, if the early Meklar dread that attacked me at Berel showed up a couple turns sooner, it might have managed to glass the colony - and if it stayed a couple turns longer (instead of getting scrapped when it did) I'd have lost several more pop on the surface, and (more importantly) needed to turn the pre-builds I had going into fighters as intended. Instead, I was able to turn the Fierias prebuild into a colship or two and generally do more research with funds I would otherwise have had to spend on building a dreadnought-killing fleet. The 4X snowball is such that early stuff like this may well have been the difference in the game.

In any case, I've managed to post some more of my report; the last couple of posts should go up sometime tomorrow. Then I'll have a look at the other threads. Sorry for the delays - the culprits are my erratic work schedule (public libraries have unusual "workday" hours anyway, but my hours there are even more so than most) and barely-existant internet connection as always, so ... uh ... blame them I guess? :blameblameblame:

[RefSteel]

All right, my shadow report is finally complete! I seem to be spreading my "Notes from the Sponsor" around the other reports as I comment on them, but I may add something here when I get a chance over the weekend - and also comment on the last couple of reports, as I have to head out for now. Thanks to everyone for playing!