Getting back into MOO

[haphazard1]

The recent activity here in the MOO forum has inspired me to fire up the game again. It has been a while since I played and I am not as brave as RFS-81 (cats on impossible ), so I will try to ease back into the game by playing on Hard as the powerful Klackons. Bug power for the (I hope) win!

Medium galaxy, five opponents. Let's see what the RNG gives me....

OK, southwest corner of the galaxy. A mix of very dangerous opponents and some less dangerous ones. Almost certain to be multiple races in those five yellows in the middle of the galaxy. I sure hope the Psilons are not alone in those eastern yellows -- they would end up owning that whole half of the galaxy before I could do anything about them.

Several worlds are within range, so I decide to send my colony ship plus a scout escort to the green southeast of Kholdan. The other scout heads to the purple. I want to try to push towards the center, as those systems will be contested early. Hopefully I can claim the systems to the west later.

Three turns of factory building later, my ships arrive at their targets. The RNG apparently wants to give me a really easy welcome back: the purple star (Firma) is a minimal 30 artifacts world and gives me Duralloy. The green star (Denubius) is a jungle 85. Amazing start.

Kholdan has built some additional scouts and fanned them out. The neighborhood is very fertile, with two more habitable planets already in range from Denubius plus two barren worlds. The system in the southwest corner is a radiated rich planet that will hopefully be useful someday. Trouble is looming, however: the red star directly east of Firma has been colonized by the Silicoids. Keeping the rocks off MY planets is going to take some work; I have already turned back unarmed Silicoid scouts from Firma and an ocean planet east of Denubius.

Kholdan spends several turns building some popgun laser fighters to screen the local systems from rock intruders. They won't stop a serious force, but hopefully will turn back any early probes until I can colonize them. At least as the bugs I can stand up new planets faster than any other race.

With no need for additonal range yet, Kholdan builds factories until colony ship construction drops to 5 turns, then starts cranking them out. Artifacts Firma is grabbed first, then the ocean planet east of Denubius. These new systems bring contact with the Silicoids:

Xenophobic technologists, allied with the Psilons. Wonderful. Just what I need: the brains using the rocks' worlds to intrude into my territory. I hope Controlled Barren is in my tree; a handful of popgun fighters won't hold those two barren planets for long.

Not that I have actually even begun research yet. The urgent demand for colony ships and seed pop has kept Kholdan and Denubius busy. Well, as of 2330 I have four worlds with a colony ship on the way to a fifth. It is about time to open research and see what I have available...but first, a scout reports in from the north. It encountered a Meklar scout; the cyborg homeworld is probably that northern yellow in the west.

This galaxy is getting interesting.

[RefSteel]

Hey, cool! Thanks for the report! It looks like you're off to a roaring start, with four (soon to be five!) worlds by 2330. I sometimes forget just how strong the bugs really are. (And of course early Duralloy miniaturization helps their colship building even more!) I'm looking forward to seeing how you go on from here!

[haphazard1]

The bugs are pretty amazing at how much the extra worker production boosts early growth. I do not play the stronger races very often, but after not playing MOO for a while I wanted an easier option. Mrrshan on impossible will have to be worked up to.

Managed to squeeze in a few more turns this morning before starting the daily routine. Good news: my bugs have setted their fifth world. It isn't anything special (size 45), but another world is another world.

Bad news: GNN popped up with galactic production rankings. I am in third place, behind the Meklar in second (OK, no surprise the cyborgs have a lot of production) and the Psilons in first. You never want to see GNN announcing that Psilons you have not even met are in first place. In anything. I guess this is not as bad as hearing the Psilons have settled 1/8 of the galaxy already, but still it is bad news. Psilons with lots of production means Psilons with lots of pop and factories. And that means Psilons who will very soon be zooming (further) ahead in tech than they presumably already are. Getting duralloy from Firma has helped me a lot, but my bugs are going to need to get moving on research. Firma will help once it finishes building its factories, but it is only size 30.

[haphazard1]

Played another handful of turns. Slow progress, but my gaming time has been very limited lately.

My colony ship reached Gienah in the south, my fifth world. Denubius takes one for the empire, sending seed pop after recently seeding Proteus as well. Now with too few pop to work all its factories, it can spare some BCs to open research while Kholdan finishes maxing out its industry. What options do we have for tech? My most urgent need is Controlled Barren, so I can grab the two barren worlds on my border before the rocks claim them.

The turn rolls and we have almost no options at all. In fact, without the artifacts world pull of Duralloy we would have none. Exactly one choice in each field, and in construction we have one choice for each of the first three rungs (accessible due to Duralloy). Wow. I don't think I have ever seen an early tree quite this empty of choices. However, the lone planetology option is Controlled Barren.

Denubius takes another turn off industry and is joined by now maxed out Kholdan, pumping research to seed the new tech projects. Controlled Barren is the main focus, with a smaller share in IIT9 to quickly reduce factory building costs at all my developing worlds. IIT8 was also available but is significantly more expensive; I think the quick grab of IIT9 will be worth it, followed by skipping ahead to RW60%. Hopefully I can pick up a more advanced IIT later.

Additional scouts report in from the north:

There is a terran 95 (Yarrow) to the north of the barren worlds, along with an arid planet. (The star between them is Orion.) But I am going to have to move quickly; Meklar scouts have already visited my scouts. I do not know if I was there first or if the cyborgs had already scouted the systems before I drove them off.

A couple more turns pass as the cheap initial tech projects begin to approach percentages. A Meklar colony ship, fortunately unarmed, appears at Yarrow and is driven off by my scout. The system is beyond my non-fuel tanks range until I can colonize the eastern barren world; my chances of being able to do that and then get ships to Yarrow before the cyborgs send armed ships seem slim. I could try to build and send some long range pop guns, but they would only get there a couple turns ahead of regular ships after claiming the barren world (assuming non-horrible luck completing the tech). I will have to hope the cyborgs are slow. Not sure that is a good bet.

Controlled Barren and IIT9 both come in promptly. Kholdan immediately begins construction of a new Barren Colony ship. The race is on to claim the north!

[Cyneheard]

I sometimes forget just how strong the bugs really are.

On Small maps, I think Klackons are better than Psilons. Getting 6-8 worlds before the AIs colonize them is so important, and the Klackons can do that so much more regularly than anyone else.

Some details that might make a difference in this game, haphzard:


1) What turn did you build the round of scouts? The Arid world east of Firma looks like it's in range of your starting world, and especially with the Klackons I always send scouts to contestable worlds while the first colony ship is en route. I would have definitely built a scout for that world T1, given the Yellow star locations.

2) You didn't need to send fighters to the barren world west of Firma (if you did) - there's no way the Silicoids were going to send an armed fleet there in time; the Silicoids don't have the needed Range 6-8 (I don't think 6 is even enough) AND are building armed ships AND sending them to the one spot they haven't seen when they've got lots of options.

It's also highly unlikely the not-visible yellow due north of you is a starting world - the AI would've probably colonized one or both of those worlds by now if they were. That's a very good sign for just claiming the western third of the map and having 12-15 worlds.

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the comments, Cyneheard.

1) What turn did you build the round of scouts? The Arid world east of Firma looks like it's in range of your starting world, and especially with the Klackons I always send scouts to contestable worlds while the first colony ship is en route. I would have definitely built a scout for that world T1, given the Yellow star locations.

The arid world (Rotan) got one of the first round of built scouts, after the starting two went to the closest worlds. I built the scouts while the starting col ship was on its way, so the scouts went out on the second turn. The planet was already colonized by the Silicoids when it arrived. Cryslon is the yellow immediately to the east, so Rotan must have gotten the starting rock colony ship.

2) You didn't need to send fighters to the barren world west of Firma (if you did) - there's no way the Silicoids were going to send an armed fleet there in time; the Silicoids don't have the needed Range 6-8 (I don't think 6 is even enough) AND are building armed ships AND sending them to the one spot they haven't seen when they've got lots of options.

The barren to the west got one popgun, just as a security measure. Probably not needed, although it did free up the scout there to head further north once I settled Firma.

It's also highly unlikely the not-visible yellow due north of you is a starting world - the AI would've probably colonized one or both of those worlds by now if they were. That's a very good sign for just claiming the western third of the map and having 12-15 worlds.

The Meklar are somewhere with range to the northern stars. I don't know where their homeworld is yet, if it is the northern yellow or maybe the western-most of the central yellows and then they settled west. But they have sent a col ship to Yarrow, so they have range to reach that area with non-fuel tanks ships.

At this point I think I should get both barren worlds, unless the rocks show up at the eastern one with a decent force within the next 6 turns or so. Yarrow and the arid world to the north will take me a bit longer to claim, and the Meklar may beat me to them. But I might be able to grab them first; I intend to try, anyway.

I have 5 worlds now, the barrens will make 7. Yarrow at size 95 would be a very big prize, giving me a strong foothold in the north and likely meaning I would also get the arid planet. A lot of my planets are small-ish (a couple 30s, a 40, both the barrens are size 30) but finishing Controlled Barren opened up Terraforming+20 so I should be able to improve them in the not too distant future.

Overall I like my position. I do worry about that GNN Psilons #1 in production message, but that is a problem for later. Not much I can do about it right now except grab more planets and grow, which I am already doing anyway.

[haphazard1]

Played some more turns, up to 2355. My bugs have been expanding.

The Silicoids sent a probe force to the barren world (Keeta), but fortunately their colony ship was still unarmed and turned back after the escorting smalls were destroyed by my popgun fighters. My own colony ship arrived the following turn and claimed the planet, opening the way to size 95 Yarrow further north. A colony ship was ready and waiting, and set out immediately now that the target system was in range. Some more popguns were also sent.

The rocks did grab a toxic planet to my east, the same turn I scouted it. (Reported as an empty world, then that same turn it showed as a rock colony. Move order, I guess?) That world and a no-planets system block the way further east along the southern edge of the map. A Darklok scout did show up at the no planets system.

Range 4 tech came in (propulsion research is really slow as the Klackons ) and I sent out more scouts. No more habitable planets found so far, although there is one more world still to be scouted. Warp 1 engines, everything takes forever to get anywhere.

In the north the Meklar sent another colony ship to Yarrow, but it retreated (must have been unarmed still). My own colony ship arrived, claiming the large terran world for the bug empire. This brought arid 60 Omicron (west of Yarrow) into range and another just completed colony ship was sent on its (slow) way.

During all of this Kholdan also found time to build a barren colony ship for Cygni, the western barren world. This brought my empire to 8 worlds:

The Meklar are north of Yarrow; Meklon is the western-most of their line of worlds. The cursor is pointing to Mentar. Just south of it is Cryslon; just north is Nazin. So three AIs started all jammed together in that trio of central yellows. The Mrrshan must be at one of the eastern yellows and are apparently busy grabbing the entire east of the galaxy; GNN reported them as first to 6 worlds a few turns back and they are also now reported as first in production. Will this be one of the rare galaxies where the cats become powerful? The formerly first in production Psilons were now in last place in production in the GNN update; not sure what happened there. Early war between the Psilons and Mrrshan, perhaps?

In addition to range 4, I have managed to research Deep Space Scanner, Deflectors 2, and Gatling Laser. Most of my worlds have been busy building colony ships or finishing their industry, so research has barely limped along at a trickle. Funding is finally starting to increase as my core worlds mature and all reachable worlds have had colony ships built and launched. Hopefully my tech situation will improve soon. I have still gotten only one choice of techs, in computers after deep space scanner. Every other field so far has had only a single option at each rung. A very empty tech tree, but it does simplify decison making.

Assuming I do get arid Omicron I will have 9 worlds. The Meklar have more pop than I do despite having only 4 worlds, but as my new worlds fill out I should catch up. Terraforming+20 has just entered percentages, and that will help with my many small worlds. The rocks have low pop, no surprise there, but are also likely to keep growing. I am currently researching IRC3 for a big production boost. If I can hold on to what I already have and get it developed, I think I will be in a very strong position. The cats are prowling somewhere in the east, but I am less worried about a big cat empire than I was about a big Psilon empire.

[RFS-81]

A belated "Good luck" from me! Nice to see more activity here! I know the problem of limited gaming time... it's been ages since I continued my current MOO LP, or my first Dark Souls playthrough. Are you still continuing with Diablo in parallel?

[haphazard1]

Thanks, RFS-81! Yes, this game is being played in little bits and pieces a few turns at a time. But that is what I can manage to fit in at the moment. Good luck with your let's play, both the game and with finding time for it.

My Diablo 1 warrior defeated normal Diablo after a very tough fight getting through all the big guy's minions. Diablo was not that tough by himself. I am not sure if I will continue with the warrior, or maybe take another shot at Diablo 2 instead. My lightning sorcie died a horrible death against Duriel, losing all her gear. Maybe try a different class and see if I can get past the big bug demon.

[haphazard1]

Found time for a bit longer stretch, playing another 33 turns. Expansion north was the main focus of this session, claiming the worlds between my empire and the Meklar. The cyborgs sent a group of small ships to Yarrow, which my popgun fighters destroyed. Otherwise the border was quiet. The Meklar did claim another planet to the east, so maybe that is what they were busy doing?

The galactic council met for the first and second times. Both elections were between me and the Mrrshan. First time everyone else abstained and I was able to vote for the kitties (who I have not met). Second time the Meklar voted for the cats (after our border skirmish), so I had to abstain.

I have an NAP and small trade deal with the xenophobic rocks, which are slowly improving relations. The cyborgs are erratic so I have not bothered to invest any effort in trade or deals there.

The galaxy in 2388:

I have still not met the Psilons or Darloks, but my recently discovered improved space scanner can now see their homeworlds. The Psilons only had 2 votes in the council so can not have much of an empire; the Darloks had 3 votes so are not much better off. Starting crammed together with the Silicoids like they did stunted their expansion.

My colony at Proteus got hit with the mineral depletion event. It had finished building all of its IRC3 factories before it happened, but still not happy news to draw that one.

I am currently working on Controlled Radiated, which would open two rich worlds for colonization.  One is in the southwest corner and should be safe from the rocks; the other could be reachable if they allied with the Meklar. Hopefully that will not happen before I can grab the system.

One big hole in my tech tree has been clean up techs. I was able to research Reduced Waste 60%, but have had no improved clean up at all. I have been spending huge amounts on pollution control.

Can't really complain too much, though. My neighbors have stayed peaceful, there have been a lot of habitable worlds to claim, and I am in a very strong position. I was one vote short of a veto block in the last council meeting, and am still filling out the population of my newer worlds, so I should be able to avoid losing due to the council. If my propulsion-challenged bugs can ever get some faster engines and better range tech, I should be able to manage a victory.