OSG-31 and Imperium 44 Planning Thread

[Ianus]

Hi everyone,
Things have been quiet since OSG-30 wrapped up and I want to get some more games running. I've been brainstorming ideas and themes, so here's is what I have come up with so far. I notice that the biggest challenge for our newer players just getting into Impossible difficulty is the election. There have been a large number of council losses in the last two Imperia, and I am trying to think how to address this. Ideas include playing as the Humans to improve relations or as the Sakkra to increase our ability to achieve a veto. I also thought we could play the Silicoids to get more planets but maybe not as a first outing. 
Can anyone else think of any diplomacy-specific variants that would help with mastering control of the council? I'd like to get another Imperium running shortly and if there is interest another SG would be fun too. Thoughts?

[haphazard1]

A council-focused Imperium could be interesting. This is an area that I still struggle with on impossible. Humans are certainly a possibility for thier excellent relations with everyone. The Silicoids might almost be an anti-possibility -- lots of early worlds tend to make everyone hate you, you get into border conflicts with more races, and the slow pop growth makes it harder to avoid losing. But if you want to make it a challenge and learning experience, then the rocks might be just the thing. You might be correct that they would be better as a follow up game, though.

I would be happy to see another OSG, as well. Now that I am back in my place post-flooding I should hopefully even be able to play my turnsets.

[ignatius]

Can anyone else think of any diplomacy-specific variants that would help with mastering control of the council? I'd like to get another Imperium running shortly and if there is interest another SG would be fun too. Thoughts?

I have written a program which can thin out a map by randomly removing planets (i.e. replacing them by asteroid fields), complete with several options to e.g. spare planets close to homeworlds or to mark destroyed planets by star color and size. As the council threshold is 2/3 of stars and not 2/3 of colonizeable planets, the first vote can be arbitrarily postponed.

On medium (48 stars), the threshold is 32 settled planets. With <32 there is no vote ever. With 32, all planets plus Orion have to be settled (iirc there has been an Imperial once, which used this effect). With, say, 38 planets, the first vote can be considerably postponed esp. in non-Silicoid games.

Extremely thinned out maps might add an interesting twist, esp. when combined with islands around the homeworlds as it changes the initial land-grab dynamics and also adds a topological element to the mid-game.

ignatius

[Psillycyber]

I just played on a map as the Silicoids that proved to be...very interesting. And I even kept the year 2300 starting save too! I won't spoil it, except to say that if we are worried about non-veterans having a hard time surviving a council vote with the Silicoids, we need not worry too much that they will find this particular map impossible. Anyways, that's one option.

A game as the Sakkra that emphasizes the power of focusing on planetology research for production and council votes could also be interesting. I think players often under-estimate the potential of just shutting off research in everything else for about 25 turns, staying content with a small core of like 5 or 6 planets, and just getting huge vertical growth and extra production from a higher planetology tech level. The bigger the planet, the easier it becomes to just rely on missile bases for passive defense (at least until late-game gizmos like cloaking and subspace teleporters start tilting things in favor of the offense). And the AI tends to try to prey upon weaker planets, which means that having a couple of size-200 Sakkra worlds in the mid-game that are well-defended by missile bases when everybody else is squabbling over little size-30 iceballs can often redirect the AIs' attention into contesting those various spud worlds while you build up gargantuan planets. It also puts you into a good position to expand if you already have large Gaia worlds that can fund huge invasions each turn.

[Ianus]

Psillycyber, would you be interested in sponsoring an Imperium game using your Silicoid start? I'm curious and would like to play it regardless, but I don't think that we can use it for a SG if you have already played it. Unless you want to sit one out, which I hope you won't do. Maybe we could start up a Sakkra SG and play your Silicoid game for an Imperium? Or something like that.

[shallow_thought]

An SG with one of the middling races would have appealed to me in any case, so Sakkra sound good. As for Imps, variance is always going to a problem, so I'm happy to just try whatever comes our way...

[Psillycyber]

Okay, I'll put up my Silicoid save as an Imperium. I've even thought of a theme for it, hehehe.

I'd still be up for a new SG too, though.

[haphazard1]

Looks like an interesting start, Psillycyber. Thanks for sponsoring an imperium for us all to enjoy. It has been a while since I played as the rocks, should be fun.

A Sakkra SG also sounds like fun. I like playing as the fast-breeding lizards, even though I always seem to screw up my expansion phase and get into trouble when playing them. Any thoughts on settings, particularly map size?

[RFS-81]

I'm too busy this month for an SG, but you can count on me to lurk

I'm up for an Imperium, if we again have 4 weeks to finish.

[Psillycyber]

Yep, the deadline for Imp44 is one month from today.