Imperium 22 - sargon's game

[sargon0]

Imperium 22

One tech at a time, how will I cope! Colony ship goes to NW green, scouts to NE red and SW blue while more produced. When colony finds Stalaz (Barren 40 UR!), it waits a turn for initial scouts to report then travels to red Vulcan (Ocean 70 UP) settling in 2307. With a UR barren nearby, Planetology is opened in 2304 and IER is rejected in favour of the desired Barren. If Barren had not appeared I was expecting to switch tech research to Propulsion. HW puts deposit in Barren then keeps it progressing until pop arrive at new colony, 16 sent from HW. Scouts reveal a good neighbourhood with one good planet in range and others within 4 parsecs of each other. Sakkra scouts met in the west putting them in the SW corner.

Barren hits in 2319 choosing IT+20 (over IER, Dead, Spores). I switch all tech to Propulsion and choose Range5 (over Range4). I usually find range4 doesn't last long enough and extra techs are going to be difficult in this variant. In 2321 Vulcan starts to send pop to HW to max out but when HW can produce Barren colony ship in 4 turns I go for it, at 189 fact. UR Stalaz is colonised in 2331 with 20 from HW (backfilling from Vulcan) and 8 from Vulcan, more follow. Range 5 hits in 2336, chosing IS (only new option), switching tech back to Planetology (IT+20). HW continues producing colony ships every 4 turns settling Esper in 2337, Rha 2342 & Toranor in 2348 getting GNN 6 planet message. Rha meets Sakkra (Pac/Mil) relaxed 2PE with 2 W yellows, Sssla the closest, agreeing max 100 BC trade. UR Stalaz max'd in 2342 and in 2347 scout NW yellow Neptunus (minimal 50) artifacts and get ... RC3!! Great tech, bad timing. The UR will love it but the rest of my planets will not.

Expansion continues W, E and especially N. In 2350 settle Guradas meeting Alkari (Xen/Mil) relaxed 1PE NE of Guradas and agree max 50 bc trade. Denubius settled 2 years later. IT+20 hits in 2354 choosing EER (over IT+30 or Toxic). I switch to Construction ignoring RW80, which I wanted after bypassing IER, and research II9 in 2 turns! Lucky hit but they all count. I chose II8 (only new option) and switched to Propulsion (IS). Kronos in 2356 & rich Volantis in 2358 continue the expansion, meeting Darloks (Xen/Dipl) relaxed 4PE N of Alkari and agree max 150 bc trade. Maalor & Kakata settled in 2360-1 making 12 planets. With the Sakkra already at Calm, I agree a NAP in 2361. Same year first event hits but its a favourable one for the variant as Virus takes 100 research points from a field with no research invested. Spies manage to steal Hand Lasers from the Alkari in 2363 but the birds issue a threat and drop from Amiable to Hate. Same year I settle artifacts planet, Neptunus. IS hits in 2367 choosing Warp3 (over range7) and switch to weapons choosing NPG (over AMR or Fusion Bomb). I exchange IS for Dead from Sakkra to boost further expansion.

As we enter the 2370's Warp1 travel is slowing expansion but Incedius, rich Aquilae, rich Nordia, poor Regulus & Laan make 18 planets. Ally with Sakkra (their invite) and NAP with menacing Darloks. Exchange Range5 for DS2 so after NPG hits switch finally to (cheap) Force Field technology with PDS (over DS3). Rich Phyco & fertile Hyboria make 20 planets in 2378 with 3 more planets due in 2 turns and another a turn later. With PDS hitting I swap for a few low-level techs (getting ECM1, DSS, IT+10, IER, R4, Gatling Laser) in anticipation of a favourable vote. GNN announces 'preparing to merge' as vote assembles. Unfortunately the 5PE Darloks have more pop (on stats screen) but do not have any more votes than the 3PE Sakkra and my ally is chosen as my opponent! Luck holds when the shifters vote for me (about 35% chance).
vote Humans/Sakkra of 21: Sakkra(3), Alkaris(2) abstain, Darloks(3) & me(13) gives 2/3

Result: domination win in 2379/80 vote
Score
Comp 09
Cons 03
FF.. 08
Plan 12
Prop 11
Weap 08
TOTAL 51/6 = 9
2400 score = 11 from 9 + (2400-2380)/10
2500 score = 21 from 9 + (2500-2380)/10

Tech levels


Map before 3 new settlements plus one to go


Stats showing Darloks with more pop than Sakkra

[KnTenshi]

Wait a minute, wait a minute... The Darloks are ahead of the Sakkra in pop, yet they Sakkra still lead the galaxy in tech. The Alkari manage to grab a second planet. And you win in the first and only vote in 2380?


Sense that none makes. Terminal Error. Shutting down.

At least the GNN robot was right. They were preparing to merge with you.

[RefSteel]

Very impressive game! My 2380 tech scores were just 5/3/4/15/11/2 (and even lower - 2/3/4/15/6/2 - when my first election hit in 2376) though with a powerful and rapidly-accelerating economy; it's likely that if your Darloks had abstained as mine did, you'd have maintained or even widened your tech lead over me by 2400.

As for the lying bar graphs, is it possible that something changed between the date they were reporting and the date of the election (e.g. Darloks sending lots of transports someplace ... or just Sakkra total pop growing from one-ninety-something to 200+)? I guess the alternative is that the differences in the bargraphs represented increments of less than 100, and the 'Loks just didn't have the necessary lead (299 to 201 or whatever). Or something?

[sargon0]

On the stats, it was the 299 to 201 (or similar) thing. The OSG says the vote is chosen according to votes, not population, so this meant the Sakkra & Darloks were equal. I do not know if equal ones are chosen randomly or whether Sakkra were chosen because they were the first tied race listed. You would have thought actual pop would have been a decider.