Imperium Three - Head of the Class

[Griselda]

OK, class, time's up. Please post your reports in an orderly fashion.

-Griselda

[Harris]

HARRIS’ REPORT:

Y1 - Lots of good choices to explore. NW looks unoccupied, so I’ll save that for later.
Y4 - Rigel is unbelievably good. Looks like I’ll need to redirect my Colony ship there.
Y9 - Finally settled Rigel- hope I’m not too far behind! Sent Rigel 21M
Y14 - Discovered Pollus at 50M Ultra Rich. Someone was very generous!
Y15 - Posted scout at Rana to guard southern edge of esxpected territory

Y19 - Production started on 1st Colony ship destined for Rigel. Ready in 6 turms.
Y20 - Chased off Bulrathi scout at Rana. Started 2nd Colony ship. I need to settle Escalon soon to form a bridge to Centauri & Gorra
Y25 - sent Colony ship to Pollus
Y27 - Pollus settled - sent 20M
Y28 - Escalon settled
Y29 - Rigel & Mentar working on ships for Gorra & Centauri
Y30 - first encounter with Darloks. Drove away scout ship from Zhardan

Y33 - Research begins. Let’s see what our choices are!
Y34 - Very pleased with the options. I got Range 4, as well as +10M and Industrial 9. I allocated 157 points/turn to +10M and Ind 9.
Y35 - Third time repulsing Bulrathi at Rana. Surely reinforcements will follow... I meet them officially when I build Centauri. They only have 3 planets so my containment strategy seems to be working well. I form 25BC trade pact to keep things friendly.
Y38 - +10M finally comes in, not only later than I figured but with worse choices. +20M, Dead or Spores. I don’r recall any Barren or Dead worlds, and I’m anxious to get further up the tree, so I choose spores. I tempted to build a Colony ship for Rana, but can imagine my getting there 1 turn behind the Bulrathi, or worse, the same turn only to face an armed Bulrathi escort! I decide against building the ship

Y40 - Rigel is now maxed out on growth. While I hatre to waste its Rich industrial output, I deem Research is most critical for right now.
Y41 - Ind 9 and +10M come in. I select Duralloy and Nuclear Engines for future research. Now that I’ve got Range 4 cells, I set Rigel to work on a Colony ship for Gion. Gorra is colonized, making me the fist ruler with 6 systems. Yeah!!
Y42 - I start tapping the reserve fund I’ve build up to speed along growth of newer colonies
Y45 - Hand Lasers come in and I select Hyper X rockets.
Y46 - Pollus is maxed out - that was quick! I switch its production to beefing up my reserve fund. Build Gion and sent 16M.
Y49 - First unofficial encounter with Meklars
Y50 - Deep Space Scanner in - I’m thrilled to se Robotic Controls III as one of the choices!

Y51 - I give scanner to Bulrathi after my 5th time running off a Colony ship from Rana.
Y53 - Discover Aquilae, and chase off a Meklar scount at Colossa. Start a new Colony ship at Rigel.
Y57 - Spores finally come in - I take Toxic. I finally get up the nerve to try for Rana. To save on travel time, production will occur on Centauri
Y58 - I meet Meklars and am disappointed to learn that I don’t have the biggest production in the galaxy! They don’t offer any tech I want, so I appease them with a gift of hand lasers.

Oh No!! I built a ship for Aquilae, but can’t get there since its 5 away! Someone will lose their job for this oversight!

Y59 - Ultra Rich Berel discovered. And encounter Klackons at Hyboria.
Y61 - Hyper X rockets come in... Not thrilled with choices, so I take Neutron Blaster
Y62 - After 6 confrontations, Rana is founded! All the crew of that scout garrisoning the planet will get medals! I sent 20M from Centauri
Y63 - Robotic Controls III arrives... I immediately set Pollus and Rigel for refits with max reserve support.
Y64 - Pollus refit completed in just 1 Turn! Meet Klackons officially. I hope to trade for Range 5 cells, but they’re not offering. I send another 15M to Rana from Escalon

ALERT!! ALERT!! 54M invaders en route to Rana. All available colonists to your posts!

Y65 - I send another 15M to Rana... It’s going to be close!
Y66 - Nuclear engines come in... I eagerly switch to Range 6.
Y69 - Ground battle with the Mekar at Rana! They have Duralloy arm,or, but I’ve got superior numbers (75). To my relief the battle goes well and 31 colonists survive.

Y72 - Gorra maxed out. Range 6 comes in. Research has now passed 1000 per turn. Toxic also comes in. I need Enhanced Eco, but I can’t resist the population growth of Soil Enrichement with the first election coming shortly.
Y75 - Produce 2 Toxic Colony ships
Y76 - Aquilae settled. Pirates causing a stir at Uxmai, but I have little in trade so I’m not worried.
Y78 - Berel settled and sent 15M from Gion
Y79 - Zhardan & Crypto settled. I’ve now got 12 planets and am feeling very good about my chances!

THE FIRST ELECTION - The Honorable Psilon vs. the Clueless Bulrathi
Surely everyone will recognize that I would be the superior leader...
What! Everyone but the Humans abstain! What about my gifts, you ingrates?!
I salvage what dignity I can, and vote for the Bulrathi, since it’s free good will

Y80 - Offer tech tribute to Meklars and Klackons. I want your votes in the next election!
Y82 - What great research choices I’ve got... Cloning, Atmospheric Terraforming, Enhanced Eco or Advanced Eco! I hate to do it, but I opt for Enhanced Eco. At 4700, its far quicker, and I refuse to put up with all the wasted resources caused by no pollution controls.

Y83 - Duralloy finally comes in. I take 60% pollution
Y84 - Non-aggression Treaties with Meklars and Klackons signed. Now we’re ready for the next election (or so I think...)
Y88 - Using reserves to speed growth of new colonies. Most of my resources are going into researching Atmo Terra and 50% Pollution
Y94 - 60% comes in... It’s a hard choice, but I choose Zortrium over tech 6.
Y97 - Atmo Terra and Personal Shield come in. Alas, no Planetary Shield in tree. The Planetray choices are great! I’m only at +10, so I take +50 over Advanced Soil.
Y98 - Uh Oh! A stern warning from the Klackons to cease expansion. Where did that come from? I offer them Toxic to bolster their support

SECOND ELECTION - Still me and the Bulrathi
The Meklars cast 2 votes for me and that’s it! Even with my huge population, my 17 votes won’t come close to a 2/3 majority. And the Humans voted against me this time! They’ll pay!

Y100 - Meet the Humans. I swallow my desire for revenge and offer them a profitable trade route, Deep Space Scanner and a non-aggression pact.
Y106 - +50 Pop comes in. Looks like a baby boom for the next vote! And with Advanced Soil next, I’m optimistic about winning the next election.
Y108 - Zortrium arrives - I take tech 5 next. Offer tech tribute to everyone...
Y110 - Class IV Shield comes in, and still no Planetary shield options!
Y112 - Humans propose trade of 425. I accept. I also give Klackons 60% Pollution. I’ll kiss as many babies as I have to to win the next election!
Y117 - Improved Scanner & Advanced Soil come in. I hold up growth waiting for Tech 5
Y120 - Tech 5 comes in. Let’s start building factories!
Y123- Fusion beam comes in and I gladly switch to Pulson missile, so I can start building ships

THIRD ELECTION

Humans: 6 votes for Bulrathi
Darloks: 3 votes abstain
Klackons: 2 votes abstain
Bulrathi: 7 votes Bulrathi
Meklar: 3 votes abstain
Psilon: 19 votes for me - not nearly enough!

WHY WON”T ANYONE VOTE FOR ME???

I’ve tried peace. Now it’s time for war!!!

Y128 - Class V Shield comes in. I opt for Planetary Shield X. What a great improvement that will be!

Y131 - Planetary Shield and Pulson Missiles come in... No more mister nice guy!

MY FIRST WARSHIP
Medium Zortrium Hull, holds 1 2x Pulson missile with Class IV computer and Sublight Drives
Production starts at 3 Ultra Rich planets and Rigel.

Y132 - In just one turn, I’ve got 89 ships. I’m ready to fight, but my list of targets is a long one. I decide on the Meklars... they’re close by, few planets (a quick war) and all those lovely factories!

Y135 - Meklar attacked and knocked down to 1 base.
Y136 - Huge Meklar ships arrive - wow, are they hard to kill!
Y137 - Inexplicably, the huge ships leave. Guess they didn’t have the belly for a fight.
Y138 - Cloning and Fusion Drives come in. Very timely!
Y140 - My first ground invasion! 201 heroic troops overrun the planet! 74 survive.
Y143 - Thanks to ample reserve support, Meklar is maxed in just 3 turns.
Y145 - Huge Meklar ships return, but they can’t penetrate our fine shielding.
Y146 - Meklars obliterated! My relations with other races are tarnished. That’s okay, they’re next! I launch assault on Ursa
Y147 - Ursa falls!
Y148 - Bootis falls
Y149 - Kronos falls. SURELY, I’ll win the next election...

THE FOURTH ELECTION

44 votes total - I have 25, but everyone else votes for the Humans. No, not again!!!

The next 25 years are pretty predictable. I invade and conquer 7 other worlds, boosting my total votes to 42 out of 50 in the fifth election.

EPILOG

I have fired my ambassadors, as they did a deplorable job of securing votes for me. Had they been remotely competent, I should have won in the vote of ‘00 or certainly by turn 125. Job openings in my next administration are now available...

[Sinaht]

I got a bit confused at first, but I had fun writing this... I suppose it counts as a win Totally unedited, here you have the report of


***

Imperia 3

The Psycho Emperor


Day 1

I had managed it. Fate had cast me as the ruler of the mighty Meklar, and now I could harness their resources to conquer the galaxy. The technology we could now develop and project outwards instead amidst ourselves would allow us to reach for the stars.

Quickly our scientists discovered the first extramentar planets, and my first decision not to risk our only colony ship on a blind cruise proved fruitful three years later. After the frustrating discovery in the southern sector of the galaxy of an ocean planet unfit to build a permanent settlement, scouts arriving at Antaris reported of a rich dry planet full of worthy minerals which could provide our metallic civilizatioin with powerful resources. Our colony ship set forth immediately for the planet.

***

The following years saw a tremendous colonization effort by our race, while the most adventorous among us explored more worlds. However, the strain of building the first colony base and the colonists sent to the new world, named Rigel, didn't allow us to colonize the newfound worlds as soon as we would have liked. Specially Pollus, which, after losing his twin Castor in another dimension, had been found near Rigel and had proved to be as fruitful, if not as big. Plans formed in my mind to form another base there to further my aim of seeing the galaxy under my thumb.

***

2312... That was the year we discovered a new wonderful planet, Centauri, but there and three parsecs away from our homeworld we detected two distinct alien ships, but no contact was established. However, the presence of other civilizations so close to us meant my premise of colonizing as many worlds as fast as possible was right, and had to be followed to the hilt. I launched the construction of a new colony ship, and a serial order to build one after another. Ha, they would see who could outgrow them... By then I had started having strange dreams accompanied by a feeling of having lived other lives, but the passion of conquering new worlds didn't leave me time to worry about foolish dreams. IF I had known then...

***

Two years later, while camped at the Centauri system, our scouts detected what looked like a colony ship. When its sensors painted us, it fled as fast as a scared little rock. I hastened the process of building a colony ship, even if our technology didn't allow her to reach that promised land (and I wanted to send a ship to Pollus, too!, and I decided to develop the fuel cells to allow our galactic conquest.

***

2316: Gorra, Pollus, Centauri... Even poor Escalon, they were all open to us but we didn't have the resources to get them. I already knew I would regret that later...

***

A couple of years later we saw another of those alien ships. We manage to decipher something like "B'lra-thi" from their transmissions, as well as some images. They looked like terrible beasts, hairy and soft, and they emitted strange sounds. Our sensors also detected their bodies emitted HEAT! Crazy aliens using such an unshielded processing unit...

***

And there we go! In the year 2325 (why does that sound familiar? I must check that with the psychomech...) we managed to send a colony ship to Centauri! Here is the second of our vials of hope for a brave new MekaGalaxy!

***

2329, first contact with the Bulrathis. An ugly, organic race -BZZZZZZ- (They don't seem very friendly either... Oh, well, they control four planets while we only have three, but they seem quite stupid... Hehehe... And we've already detected two more races, the Psilon and the Meklar... Wait! I'M A MEKLAR! But- But all my friends are noble Psilons! And we live in the high and might Mentar! I'M A PSILON! Damn! I shouldn't play so much with the prisoners' minds, their dreams get into my thoughts... Well, back to our epic history...), but full of strentgh when it came to physical combat. Our superior intelect would fully overwhelm them, I was sure.

***

2338, by then a new news station appeared. They said we were less "scientifically developed" than others. If they only knew... But I felt in a good mood, and I decide to make a commercial pact with the teddybears. Woohoo, 25 BCs! And three years later the bloody newscaster said we had "grown in strength" to 6! SIX! miserable planets! Bleurgh!

***

Our scouts visited the capitals of the aliens' empires, Meklon and Ursa (aliens also choose ugly names!. They were unfriendly places where they greeted our friendly and majestatic people with rocket fire. They are all barbarians... We had known many worlds, but only there had they been as violent. I decided we would pose as friends and then strike before THEY did. But until then only the Bleedrathi had sent a permanent diplomatic link to their network. They also wanted to trade with us. If only they knew...

***

2353 was a boooring year in a boooring decade. We just grew. Not like the Sakkras, Psilord damn him, but, remember when the Bears had four planets and we had three? Now we had seven and growing. Poor hairy apelike aliens...

Fortunately, the following year saw our first sighting of a Klackon colony in Hyboria, those low-class filthy and aggressive workers, which gave me some hope of having some fun ahead. Maybe a period of entertaining wars, conquests and coups was to come. I thought setting the Teddyburps against the Klicks could be veeery interesting.

***

Diary

2358. Good decision to stop the grandiose tone to write this down. The task of governing is time consuming... By know we have permament contact only with the Bulrathu, the other races seem to be too far away. Our last visit to Meklon (he, I remember the years I thought I was a vile clickety Meklar... Damn psintromisions...) was a signal to send 14 rocket salvos into the air! The robots are crazy!

***

Diary

2359. A vision! Last night I dreamed of a ship, a mighty ship, the key to conquer the Galaxy! And I had to guess her name to get her, it was simply stupid: I was sitting behind a tall desk and a really ugly Bear was in front of me behind a similar desk and a tall Terran dressed funny in the middle spoke and spoke, but I knew if I said the name of the Ship the Galaxy would be mine and while the hairy Burp'ratty stared idiotically I jumped and said "Hydra!" and it was right, I guess, because I woke up and I can go on conquering the Galaxy! And the little Bears have no idea they are gonna get kicked in their fat asses!

***

Diary

2366. Booring years... Our scientists are the only ones having fun... I hope they discover a BFG soon and we can start showing who's the boss here. I just wonder what's on the other side of the galaxy... Half of it is still beyond our range, with those pesky Klackons closing the way in that planet, what's its name? Well, I'll have to send another scout to find out... It'll take years to find that out... I hate interstellar travel. Maybe some day we can find something faster...

***

Diary

2366. The Galaxy is so quiet... No new places to go, our stupid ecologists still don't know how to dominate the hostile planets we've already found, the Bearlittles don't say a word... Some years I wonder why I chose to be a tyrant... Maybe it's time to retire?

***

End of Day One

***

Day 2

***

Diary

2378. Governing is so absorbing... These have been tranquil years, but the colonization of new planets and the scientific search, even if boring, are necessary. We've already contacted the Meklar, and we are on our way to galactic domination. Our eight planets are more than the Meklar's two and the Billrathi's five combined. I still don't know how to treat the mechanical punnies... Mabe backstab them after milking their technology? Or just conquer them to get some of their techs? We will see..

***

2389. The Klackons! The red Coakroaches! Finally, colonizing Incedius gave me the key to the Darloks and the Klackons. Now I had contact with four of the five races vying for the big prize. But I knew I would win. I would be friendly and then... Hehehe, if only they knew...

***

Diary

2389. Ugly! After colonizing Incedius, a Klackon and a Darlok embassy came to us. I still don't know how I'll treat all these new competitors. But I'll probably be nasty, nasty, nasty!

***

Diary

2394 Uh oh, the Pullrowthy are angry, they don't like our cunny spies stealing their new computer toys. This is starting to be fun... Incedius is a perfect bridgehead into the northeastern quarter of the galaxy! I think I'll tell my boys to start researching planetary weapons. Conquest is near!

2403. 17 of 28! The bloody Humans almost did it! Thank goodness the Klackon (3 critical votes! abstaine, but it was close. I think I will cull some population of the hostile ones while I pamper the Klackon. Funny, I thought they looked like repugnant insects and now I'm starting to like them!

2407. War with the Darloks. I just visited a couple of their planets, shoot some greeting and BANG!, a couple of years later they declared war on me. Those slimy traitors... We'll see who has the winning hand here!

2415. The first glorious soldiers from Incedius have conquered a new world for the Psilon race! 24 million of them anhilated the resistance of 42 m insidious Darloks, and more than ten million of them survived the carnage to feast after the victory!

***

In 2420 I was finally able to colonize Zhardan, and I got access to the Humans. Sweet. Finally I could see how strong my main opponents were, and they weren't much. They had only six planets and less global population than I did. I posed as their friend, just to have an easy start. If only they knew...

***

Diary

2425. Bloody hell. I miscaculated. The bloody Humans got 20 (! votes out of 29. Now I'm doomed to fight the whole galaxy alone... Well, they'll see... Niceties are over!

***

End of Day Two

***

Day 3

***

(Cont.) Well, fortunately we have a big war chest. Those rich planets are really worthy! Let's see what can be done...

***

Diary

2428. Three years after the Final War started things look much better. The fleet besieging Gorra has been destroyed after our core planets turned towards a war economy. Our growing fleet presents a challenge to any alien one, and no Psilon planet has yet fallen. But I don't know if we've reached bottom yet... If only I knew...

***

Diary

2433. That was the last stinky alien fleet. And now we can think about the counterstrike. Let's research some new toys... Hehehe, now they'll see! Just give me a couple of decades and I'll attack them with all my might! And the Galaxy will be mine!

2455. After many years of hard work, one of the ruit's of our spies' efforts was the acquisition of the Advanced Space Scanner. Even then our sensors couldn't detect in the known galactic space the location of the mythical Orion. But now we can see clearly what the defences of the filthy followers of that human weakling are. Hmmm... Trax is undefended. A pity it's too far away. But I'll find juicy preys to enlarge the Empire. And ultimately the Galaxy will be mine!

***

By 2456 I had decided to conquer Darrian, a fertile planet belonging to the pesty Meklars, who kept harasing the outer rim of the Empire. And then Talas, which had been a model planet, growing rapidly to start being self sufficient, lost its rich minerals and became an sterile, unproductive planet. A pity, but that just made me hate the Meklars more. I organized a full scale invasion before checking the power of his missile defences. Five planets contributed to the invading force, while almost 100% of the Fleet would anhilate the missile bases and soften the ground for the grunts. I also hoped to get advanced technology which could help our race to overcome the human Tyranny, which had not lost any planets since they decided to exterminate us, the noble Psilons.

***

Diary

2457. It's still three years until the troops arrive! I just can't wait! And know the Meklar have thrown a zillion bombers against Gorra! I hope she holds, because next year I'm sending the fleet against Darrian, and to hell with Gorra! Attack is the best defence!

***

2458. E.T.A.: Two years. The fleet has also parted. They will be needed, for the Meklar have flown in reinforcements. I knew it... But I'll kill them, crush them and conquer them! Yes! First Darrian, and then the Galaxy will be mine!

***

2459. Still one year. I just hope they haven't developed much stronger defences than the other races. Otherwise... But to hell with those worries! The superior Psilon will prevail!

***

2460. A useless adventure... Our stupid scientists had not developed any suitable bomb, and the massed defence of 11 huge and 22 big ships, together with other lesser spacecrafts and the more than twenty planetary missile bases, were too much for our valiant crews. A pity all the grunts in the transports died miserably after five years in a coffin, but so is war. Better luck to the next ones! The show must go on!

***

Diary

2462. 23 vs 15 That's the current balance of planets. I don't think we can lose this war.

***

End of Day Three

***

Day 4

***

(Cont.) Hmmm... I think I'll eradicate the Darlok and then think what else can be done. Maybe inbetween conquer some lightly defended planets.

***

Diary

2466. The first 50 million conquerors part from Rigel heading for Bootis. They will be joined by many more in their glorious expedition.


2471. Hmm... Tough nut to crack. I need bombs, I'll hurry the researchers...

***

End of Day Four

***

Day 5

***

2487. Centauri was lost. The Bloodyruthi for once were able to conquer one of my planets, and that stupid ruler of them sent a message to say I should "surrender". The fool, I'll torture him when the day comes...

2488. Lalala, lalala, everything is fine. Stable, if I may so. Let's stop writing and star acting!

***

2497. Gorra and Escalon have fallen. But Centauri was recaptured! Well, we'll make a little "wait for the factories", and then...

***

2518. Gorra is now mine, Centauri is lost. Blah, blah, blah... This is gonna be long...

***

Day 6

2547. Ukko, Centauri and Escalon are mine again. The war goes on, with planets being destroyed, conquered and reconquered. The end of our days is near, but before I'll conquer the galaxy, even if I have to exterminate every single non-psilon sentient!

***

Day 7

2610. Ursa is mine, soon Meklon will fall. The stupid aliens are able to conquer my planets, but they don't know how to hold them. I'm on my way!

***

2651. 12 to go. Almost done... Ah, I love reincarnation...

***

End of Day Seven

***

Days 8&9

2657. The long path to victory... The rest of the planets fell one by one (and sometimes two by two). The humans resisted until the very end, taunting me even when they were almost anhilated.

Ahh... That was a fun conquest of the Galaxy!

***

End of Days Eight and Nine

***

End of Report - Imperia III

***

[Zed-F]

Psilons on hard, no scoring, so I can do what I like. I am tempted to try a variant, but I think I will hold off this time.

2300: First, I look at the galactic map. I doubt there is an AI at the yellow star to our NE, the game does not usually place AIs so close; though it does happen from time to time, the good odds are that no-one's there. That means our neighbors are all to our south and to our east. We look to have a comfortable amount of expansion room and a sizeable backyard. No Silicoids this game plus our research advantage means we will not have to fight too hard to claim most of the hostile planets. A very promising start for our first hard game. Of course, our neighbors will try to make life at least a little uncomfortable for us, and include the Klackons, Meklars, and Humans, any one of which could potentially be a threat... except they are all packed in amongst one another and competing for living space. I anticipate a fairly quiet ride.

Now, the local map. We start with stars at range 3 NW and SE of us. Ideally I would like to settle to our SE first to give us a leg up on expansion in that direction. Since I would rather settle a slightly worse planet in that direction than a slightly better planet in the other, I send the colony ship SE. I scout to the NW, and send the other scout south toward a cluster of yellows in that direction. I could have easily chosen east as there is a cluster of yellows near the green star there as well. I set Mentar to build mostly factories with 2 clicks in scout production, which should get me a scout every other turn or so.

2303: Wow. Just... wow. You don't often see a planet that juicy in this game. Size 110, Fertile and rich!?! Clearly I have sent my colony ship the wrong direction this time, it discovers Escalon, a size 75 Poor world. That's not just a little worse, that's a lot worse. The colony ship turns around and heads for Rigel. That's a 3 turn delay over what it would have been if I had waited and scouted both first, but I think the gamble was justified. I also send a scout to the green star to our east.

2307: Our scout arrived at Rana, a size 65 arid in the south, last turn. This turn a meklar scout arrives to peek at it, but we chase them off. Hmm, I'm not sure if we will be able to claim this world or not, it's at least 3 colony ships away, and a lot closer to the putative Meklar home cluster. We shall see.

2309: Our scout arrived at Centauri, a size 80 jungle also in the south but a bit closer, last turn, and again beats a Meklar scout there by just 1 turn. In more important news, we finally found our first colony at Rigel. I send 24 of 64 pop from Mentar to start it growing.

2312: Last turn we scouted Gorra, a size 55 terran to our SW. We look to have a good number of habitable worlds nearby! This turn, a Bulrathi colony ship shows up at Rana, so it looks like those will be our two neighbors to the south, and the rest will most likely be to our east. There could be one more AI in the south but odds are against it.

2316: Chase away another Bulrathi colony ship at Rana. By now we have scouted most of our immediate neighborhood, including Pollus, a size 50 Desert Ultra-rich nebula world. I design a ER Laser Medium ship and build one to send to Rana just in case the Meklars or Bulrathi send a couple fighters with their colony ship.

2329: Not too much happened recently other than building factories, the Meklar and Bulrathi have been quiet. Mentar is now maxed and Rigel soon will be as well. Begin production of colony ships. I plan for both my planets to build colony ships as quickly as possible; I don't need tech just yet.

2335: Colonize Escalon, the first of many new colonies due soon. Finding population to grow them will be a problem in the short term since both my planets are maxed and I don't want to spare much, but I will have to do so anyway. I'll try to keep outgoing population targetted to 20-25% of planetary max for now rather than 30%, and make up the difference in growth later with reserves from Rigel.

2337: Chase away another pair of unarmed Bulrathi colony ships at Rana. I change my mind about foregoing research and decide that I can let Rigel handle ship production needs, and swap Mentar to research, full steam on propulsion technology, looking for range 4 tech. I also open up the other fields with a tick or two of research. I choose Scanner/IT9/FF2/Terra+10/Range4/Hand Lasers.

2341: Range 4 tech comes in and I colonize Centauri. Send 13 colonists from poor Escalon to get it started and follow up with 8 more from Kholdan. I have another ship following it which will proceed to Rana. Given the choice between Irridium Fuel Cells and Nuclear Engines to research next, I choose Nuclear Engines this time. I have now got 5 planets including Ultrarich Pollus. Meet the 4-planet Bulrathi empire, who are aggressive ecologists, and are allied with the Humans.

2345: Colonize Rana. We are the first to 7 planets, including Gion, which is sent 18 colonists from Rigel. 10 Colonists sent from Escalon and 6 from Centauri. Terraforming +10 finally comes in after several turns sitting at 20-25%. I debate which tech to take next as I wouldn't normally prefer to take only a +10 improvement in terraforming tech, but I don't know of any Dead planets yet, so better a small improvement I can use than one I can't. There might be other worlds nearby I haven't yet scouted that would have made Dead bases the better choice, but I won't know about them until my scouts report back. Hand Lasers is also taking a long time to make a breakthrough. In the meantime, research is going toward Nuclear Engines. Next turn, Hand Lasers come in, and I take Hyper-X rockets next.

2348: Colonize Gorra. Colonists sent from Escalon and Centauri.

2350: I chase away a Klackon scout at Talas, to the NE, indicating that they reside somewhere in that direction (no surprise there.)

I think I have grabbed everything that will ultimately become my core, including poaching Rana from the Bulrathi and Meklar. The initial landgrab phase is now over. From here, it's just a matter of continuing to wait for scouts to report in to see if there is anything else I can snag, and building up what I have already. Toward that end, now that Rigel is done regrowing its pop from terraforming and sending out colonists, it's full time on sending cash to our new colonies to help stand them up faster. Hopefully this will enable me to hold onto that which I have grabbed. Mentar is almost done its own new factory builds, and will soon be full-time on research. Nuclear Engines is at 14% and about to pop. I elect to save here and continue later.


---- Time passes... ----

Umm, it's reporting day, and I haven't got back to the game yet. Uh, oops! Luckily, a game of MOO can be played in an evening, but not if I'm constantly alt-tabbing out to jot stuff down.

Suffice it to say that the game was pretty much a cakewalk after that. We researched some techs, got contact with the Meklar to our south, researched some more techs, built up our core some more and started grabbing hostile worlds, got contact with our neighbors to the east, convinced everyone to declare war on everyone else, finally built up a fleet and proceeded to stomp first the Humans (who chose unwisely,) then the Darloks (the 2nd largest empire after me,) and finally the 2PE Klackons (who also chose unwisely) into the ground, meanwhile researching a bunch of techs I didn't really need but which helped pad my vote count. Fleet composition was a few Auto-repair huges and a bunch of small nuke bombers with intertial stabilizers. Conquest win in 2449. Could have been faster if I had been faster out of the blocks with my fleet.

I think this game was won within the first 50 turns anyway. The only way this map could have provided a significant challenge would have been if a conflict had developed while the Psilon empire was still nascent. That could have developed as a result of a random event or if the player had not expanded sufficiently rapidly. Still, with a couple rich planets nearby to speed development of new colonies and churn out ships rapidly, the player was in an ideal condition to repel an early assault should one have occurred. This map was the player's to lose from the word go.

[Zed-F]

In case people were wondering if I did anything to get all the rich worlds on this map, the answer is no. I just picked the first map I got that had a reasonable number of habitable planets nearby, which was the first map I drew; the huge number of rich and ultra rich worlds on this map was a pure fluke. Note, though, that the two habitable rich planets near our homeworld are both in a nebula -- planets that are in a nebula have a greater than normal chance of being rich worlds (though it's no guarantee, as on the other side of the map there's an ultra-poor world in a nebula.)

Since the intention was to 'ease into' Hard difficulty, I think that this map with Psilons was about as easy an intro as you could ask for.

[Zed-F]

Glad you had fun with Final War. Obviously you've come to realize the truth about Final War -- it's not at all unwinnable, in the right circumstances. Those circumstances being, your defenses are not hopelessly outmatched at the start, and you have enough research potential to be able to at least keep up with the rest of the galaxy, more-or-less. Certainly being Psilon makes Final War a lot easier.

If you wanted to avoid losing the election to the Humans, though, you might consider stirring up a bit more trouble amongst their allies, diplomatically. Every so often, ask someone to declare war against them, or ask them to declare against someone else. Failing that, force the humans to pick sides by getting two of their allies to fight one another -- they'll lose the votes of the ones they side against. With patience, you can eventually get someone to agree to a "let's you and him fight" proposition, and once you do, the alliances will start to unravel, and the galaxy will become a hotbed of discontent. At that point you can pick off your opponents one by one without too many worries about a massive dog-pile or coalition vote against you.

At least, that's the plan. We all know that plans don't always survive contact with the enemy... but I've had pretty good success with it.

[Justus_II]

Well, this report is a little shorter than my previous ones, but then again this game went quicker (time-wise) than the others. A great starting location combined with a strong race made this one a pretty inevitable march, at least the way mine played out. I won a diplomatic victory (Domination, as I had 24 systems of the 44 with planets) in 2449. I was within a couple votes of Conquest, voting myself in, but hey, I'll give my allies some credit!

Justus II's Imperia Three Report

[Brackard]

Ok, here's my paper. Did I pass? Guess you'll need to find out when you read the report

HERE!

[Selentine]

I sent my colony ship to the obvious location, and consented to land there because I expected a lot of poor planets with all those red stars. Even if Rigel was good, I would rather have a poor in a good location than a good planet in a backwards location. Except Rigel was obscene. So I went through the game knowing I'd blown at least twenty turns and having very little fun on the way to extermination in 2464.

This game made me want to not look at MOO for two weeks.

In the replay I sat the colony ship at Mentar for three turns and exterminated in 2445. I didn't get bombs that game either. If I'd played more games on Possible, I might have known that the Bulrathi wouldn't send as much as a laser small to Rana before 2340, and therefore that rushing down to hold them back was unnecessary.

I'm not sure I can still decipher my notes, nor that I want to relive the boredom of being pestered from three sides (blue, red, purple) by fleets that couldn't scratch me.

Selentine

[Factoid]

Imperium 3. Psilons/hard/medium galaxy/5 opponents.

Won in 2475 by council vote. Never in danger of losing.


Highlights (+) and Lowlights (-)

+ Rigel - best first colony I've ever seen. Pollus as a bonus.

+ Meklars and Bulrathis never successfully scouting north of Rana, let alone settling (see years 2306-2336 in report).

- Poor use of planetary reserve after 2378, should have accelerated development of other planets.

- Sitzkreig from 2336 to 2443. It was fairly boring.

--- Lack of a plan to win the game, concentrated on "don't lose" for too long. This is the big failing in my opinion. See 2413, 2415, 2425, 2467 for strategic glimmerings.

- Should have settled Beta Ceti and Kakata earlier, see 2408, 2412, 2469.

+ Keeping Bulrathi alliance even after committing genocide then invading Humans when Humans were allied with Bulrathis too. 2415, 2458, 2467.

+ Almost winning council vote in 2425 when I was more concerned with not losing.

- Forgetting Council vote is between races with largest population, so potential nominees can flip backwards and forwards between several races very quickly when worlds are invaded or sterilised. 2425, 2471.

+ Meklar death fleet not "daring" attack a single Psilon medium ship in 2447, being reduced to two colony ships by 2456.

+ Having to cope with NO bombs able to be researched - beg, borrow, steal, make do without...

- Designing huge ship without auto-repair, then using it as if it did have auto repair. Forgetting what warp dissipator does. See 2458, 2465.

+ Getting council vote from Darloks after committing genocide.


Hello to you all, some background first - I have mainly played Moo1 at average level in huge Galaxies, playing the Alkari or Silicoids. I played in a desultory fashion from 1997 (when I got a PC) until 2000, haven't played since. I never really got diplomacy or enjoyed having other races right in my face early on, I am trying to mend my ways. I am rusty and there are odd gaps in what I ever knew, my play style doesn't work well in medium size galaxies. What I really missed (without realising) was a community like this, I hope for good things!

This is a prettier version of the log I made as I played the game. Comments in {braces} are retrospective, added after the event. Stars were described as "red 3 SE Mentar" (red star 3 parsecs southeast of Mentar) for {Escalon} before they had been scouted.

Jargon and abbreviations I use, I hope most are blindingly obvious -


E,NE,NNE,ENE - (east, northeast, north-northeast, east-northeast, relative compass directions)
tech - (technology)
pop - (population)
GC+10 - (ground combat +10, a technology that improves ground combat by that much)
reserve - (planetary reserve, rather than reserve fuel tanks)
BC - (billions of credits)
TL - (technology level)
GNN - (Galactic News Network, news report)
NAP - (Non-aggression pact)
max - (maximum or maximise)
bulb - (Research lightbulb)
base - (Planetary missile base)
unemployed - (also "surplus" - Population that is above that needed to utilise factories)
HP - (hitpoints)

Scanner - (Battle scanner, should be obvious from context)
5/1 scanner - (Deep space scanner, 5 parsecs from planets, 1 from ships, also 7/2 and 9/3 scanners)
BC 2 - (Battle computer mark II - clear from context it isn't "billions of credits")
ECM 1 - (ECM jammer mark I)
RC 3 - (Improved robotic controls III)

IIT 9 - (Improved industrial tech 9)
waste 80% - (Reduced industrial waste 80%)

shield 2 - (Class II deflector shield)
planetary 5 - (Class V planetary shield)

terra+10 - (Improved terraforming +10)
Barren - (Controlled barren landings, also colony ship with Barren base fitted)
Normal - (In context, colony ship with Standard colony base fitted)
restore 3 - (Improved eco restoration - clean up 3 waste per BC)
antidote - (Bio toxin antidote)

range 4 - (Hydrogen cells)
range 4 - (alternatively, the distance a star system is from a system I have colonised)
LR tanks - (long range, reserve fuel tanks)
warp 3 - (Sub-light drive, 3 parsecs/year)
speed 2 - (Speed in combat, not warp speed)

stabilizer - (Inertial stabilizer)
dissipator - (Warp dissipator)
pulsar - (Energy pulsar)
HEF - (High energy focus)

hyper-V - (Hyper-V rockets, I leave "rockets" and "missiles" off most)
scatter 5 - (Scatter pack V rockets)
NPG - (Neutron pellet gun)
A-M - (anti-matter, bombs or torpedoes)

lasers - (Start technology weapons, lasers and possibly also heavy lasers)
nukes - (Start technology weapons, nuclear missiles and/or nuclear bombs)


Apologies, I tried to format this list but failed dismally.

I didn't realise how much jargon I use. I must say that too many techs have "improved" in their names (also Ion, Fusion, ...). I'm perfectly willing to change to a consensual jargon or remove it altogether, I just wanted some shorthand while writing the log.

Do we need an RBO glossary (or FAQ)? The old on-line guides are nice, but not quite to the point.


OK, some goals for this game. I find Psilons slightly boring and cheesy, I think their 50% research bonus AND 20% reduced research cost in all fields AND increased choices are a bit much. I don't feel Psilons have as much character as most other races, they are bland. No race even cares enough to dislike Psilons much (Darloks are equal opportunity paranoiacs ).

Looking at opponents, Humans, Darloks, Klackons, Bulrathis and Meklars. Klackons are the ones I fear most. Humans are an ape-descended life form so amazingly primitive they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. Oh, in the game Humans are good traders who often win council votes. I respect but don't fear Bulrathis and Meklars. Darloks I merely find irritating. Remember this is my average-game huge-galaxy experience speaking.

Looking at galaxy map - Psilons start slightly northwest of centre. Yellow stars are potential homeworlds for opponents. Psilons have inside running expanding towards NW corner, more so if yellow star 7 parsecs northeast from Mentar isn't a homeworld (but I don't count on that).


2300-2313 Early scouting

2300 I send the original scouts to close stars {Rigel} and {Escalon}, leave the colony ship at Mentar. I do this when there is no strong reason to send the colony ship in one direction.

If I did send the colony ship in 2300 it would be to {Escalon} - treat NW corner of Galaxy as "mine", so grab territory towards other potential homeworlds. Stars beyond {Escalon} also look more promising, all seem to be <= 3 parsecs apart, {Rigel} only has {Pollus}.

Mentar set to ship building "Scout 1" (cheaper version of original design).

I build scouts early on until all stars within 6 parsecs of my homeworld and first colony have been scouted. I leave scouts at any star I think may be scouted soon by another race, also leave scouts at any rich or artifact planets. Denying opponents scouting means they can't send transports to a planet I have just settled. I often leave scouts orbiting planets I have settled (until the first missile base is produced).

2301 Scouts sent to {Centauri}, {Gorra} and {Dolz}, stars towards other potential homeworlds.

2302 Scouts sent to {Incedius}, {Zhardan} and {Rana}, missed last year that {Rana} could be scouted. {Missed that sending this years Rana scout to Centauri means first scout to Centauri can be sent onwards to Rana, arriving a year earlier.}

2303 Rigel and Escalon scouted. My reaction: :o Rigel is best first colony I have seen (limited experience). Colony ship sent to Rigel, scouts sent to {Pollus}, {Crypto} and {Ryoun}.

2304 Second scout sent to {Dolz} in faint hope that settling Rigel will bring {Talas} in range. Other two scouts sent to Rigel, {Gion} and maybe other stars will come into scouting range.

Mentar changed to factory building.

2305 Gorra and Centauri scouted.

2306 Meklar scout flees at Gorra. I got there first! Scout Dolz.

Rigel settled. (I know it says 2305, but that is just silly.) Transport half (28) of Mentars population (implicitly to Rigel). Will turn Rigel into primary ship producer, Mentar feeds pop (population) to new colonies, reverse of normal situation.

Meklar homeworld probably yellow 9 SSW Mentar {Meklon}. They may be able to expand north very rapidly {Kronos, Rana, Centauri} if there are no hostile environments.

2307 Incedius and Zhardan scouted. Scout sent to {Gion}.

2308 Scout Pollus and Rana. Meklars sent one scout to Gorra, did they send the other here already? I will assume so unless scout turns up here.

2309 Bulrathi scout at Gorra, Meklar scout at Centauri. Crypto scouted.



Well, Bulrathi homeworld yellow 10 S Mentar {Ursa}? If Bulrathis grabbed {Kronos (they did)} they could scout Gorra. Definitely count Rana as scouted by somebody.

Transports arrive at Rigel and I realise just how soon Rigel will be a powerhouse. Transport 10 more to Rigel leaving only 25 on Mentar. Rigel can produce even the first colony ship if I wait a few years. {I have missed the point. See 2314, 2320.}

2311 Gion scouted, last world in range until new worlds settled or range extended.



Propulsion and Planetology research goals are clear. Hydrogen cells (range 4) fine for short term. No Barren, Tundra or Dead worlds seen so no pressing needs there.

Only chance for expansion is east via {Talas} or {Hyboria}, {Hyboria} probably already settled by someone.

Using only range 3 can grab (in order) Pollus, Escalon, Centauri, Gorra, maybe Rana if I am very ambitious.

Mentar and Rigel are both busy building factories.


2314-2336 The land grab

2314 Bulrathi colony ship turned back from Rana. Time for a land grab, want to make sure I get Centauri and Gorra. Rana is probably a lost cause, only 3 parsecs from (Bulrathi?) colony {Kronos} so enemy fighters will turn up soon.

Set both Rigel and Mentar building Colony 1 (identical redesign, cheaper), Rigel relocates to Mentar. Seems that it will take 15 or 16 years to settle Escalon then Centauri at current rates. 2311 settle order is out the window.

2320 Bulrathi colony ship retreats again from Rana, heh. Meklar colony ship come accompanied by fighter, oops. Are Bulrathis and Meklars allied? I wasn't expecting both of them to come calling.

Under the circumstances I would rather have unescorted Bulrathis settle Rana than Meklars with fighter, Centauri is under threat from Meklars now. {I feel this thinking is just WRONG. If Bulrathis and Meklars are allied, and Bulrathis settle Rana, Meklars will sail on and take Centauri immediately.}

Rigel produces Colony 1, relocating to Mentar. Mentar is about half done on Colony 1.

I need to get combat ships to Centauri quickly. Losing Centauri (and then Gorra) leaves Meklars and Bulrathis in my back yard. Fighters produced this year on Rigel can get to Centauri in 9 years, produced on Mentar gets there in 8 years, both have to wait for Escalon settlement before heading from Mentar (or Escalon) to Centauri.

Alternative is "M.Laser 1L", a medium ship with reserve fuel tanks and 2xLaser (whoopee).

Produce on Mentar this year, gets to Centauri in another 4 years. OK, I do this. {Setting Rigel to produce these in 2314 or even earlier (2309 when Bulrathi scout seen and transports arrived on Rigel) would have been more to the point. Get one each to Centauri and Rana soonest, then Mentar builds more M.Laser 1Ls, Rigel Colony ships. This is hindsight but I should have seen trouble coming with TWO races down south.}

2321 Three M.Laser 1Ls to Centauri, one to Escalon, one to Gorra. Mentar set back to factory building.

2325 M.Laser 1Ls arrive at Centauri and Gorra, safe from scouting (as opposed to determined push). Escalon colonised, 20 from Mentar sent there, will forward on to Centauri and Gorra.

2326 Two Meklar colony ships retreat from Centauri. They could have come with a fighter or two, so I am glad I got the M.Laser 1Ls there ASAP.

2327 Colony 1 sets out for Centauri, 4 years.

Mentar has 55 pop and 100 factories so time to start research. 5 "surplus" pop sent to Escalon. 90% research 10% factory building, research 66 RP. "=" to even research fields out then a couple of ticks from each put into Propulsion.

2328 Research - 5/1 scanner (Deep space scanner, 5 parsecs from planets, 1 from ships), IIT 9 (Improved industrial tech 9), shield 2, terra+10 (improved terraforming +10), Hydrogen cells (range 4), Hand lasers. Only choice was in weapons (Hyper-V rockets and Gatling lasers available), yay Psilons?

Remember to send scout to {Exis}, now in range.

2329 Bulrathi colony ship turned back at Centauri. I guess Bulrathis and Meklars are allied, I dislike these on-again-off-again alliances in the early game when I would have to jump through hoops to make an alliance, especially if Meklars are xenophobic.

GNN - technology - 1.Bulrathi 2.Klackon 3.Meklar 4.Darlok 5.Psilon 6.Human

2331 Centauri settled. Transports from Mentar and Escalon.

Diplomatic contact with Bulrathis and Meklars. {Both? I'm surprised Bulrathis are in range.} I start minimal 25 BC trade agreements with both, I want to try not crippling my economy this game. {Maximal agreement, only 50 BC, may have been worthwhile with xenophobic Meklars, sometimes awkward to renegotiate.} Minimal hiding spies started, my usual tactic. {I haven't "got" espionage either.}

Bulrathis are aggressive ecologist, Meklars xenophobic industrialist. They are allied (this year), ha! Meklars have four planets (Meklon, Rana, Darrian, Anraq), Bulrathis three (Ursa, Kronos, Bootis). It may be good they are allied as Meklars would otherwise have nowhere to go but north.



{I completely missed Bulrathis stealing Anraq from the Meklars, must have happened soon hereafter. Didn't ever stop Meklars from allying with Bulrathis.}

2334 Exis scouted. Rigel population maxes at 110. I will happily send unemployed from Rigel to Pollus.

2336 Gorra settled. Rigel produces colony ship for Pollus, set to factory building.


2337-2443 Sitzkreig -_- ZZZzzzz

2337 Range 4 done, Irridium cells (range 6) next. Both Nuclear engines (warp 2) and Inertial stabilizer are available, but I still hope to expand east. Scouts head out to range 7 worlds, notably {Talas} and {Hyboria}. Rigel starts building Colony 1 for Gion at reduced pace, 50% ship, 50% factories. No hurry here.

2338 Hand lasers done, Hyper-X rockets next. Fusion bomb missing, one of my favourites. Want a beam weapon soon, may research Ion Cannon if Neutron blaster is unavailable.

2339 IIT 9 done. IIT 8 next. Terra+10 done, terra+20 next. Had choice of Dead environment, but I haven't seen a hostile world less hostile than toxic yet. Increased population helps block council votes and is really good on ultra rich worlds like Pollus. Scout Talas, yellow 7 NE Mentar, Inferno 35. Now I have seen a hostile world less hostile than Toxic.

Pollus settled. I have no hesitation in transporting 48 from Rigel to Pollus. Slow down Colony 1 building, start terraforming on Rigel. GNN says Psilons first to six systems.

2342 Scout Hyboria, yellow 7 E Mentar, driven away, it is a Klackon colony. Scout Berel, blue 7 W Rigel, Dead 30 ultra rich. Now I find a Dead world. I don't mind too much, will make sure I keep planetology research ticking along. I want waste reduction or eco restoration soon, cleanup is starting to hurt.

Mentar, Rigel and Centauri almost terraformed (+10), will start missile bases after this.

2345 Colony 1 sent to Gion, 4 years. Transports that were lost in fog finally arrive at Pollus, travelled through Nebula at warp 0.5! Split production between industry and terraforming.

2347 GNN Fleet strength - 1.Klackon 2.Human 3.Bulrathi 4.Darlok 5.Meklar 6.Psilon - Meklar strength is almost as high as Bulrathi, both much higher than Psilon. I am habitually last even when winning the game - Civ farmer's gambit? Or just stupid opponents?

2349 Gion settled. 12 transported from Rigel. 16 transported from Mentar to Rigel.

2351 5/1 scanner done, go for RC 3 next. Shield 2 done, go for Personal deflector next (GC+10).

Meklars want to trade 75 BC, I agree. That reminds me, I look at reports. Bulrathis have terra+10, range 5, Hand lasers. Meklars have IIT 9, terra+10, range 6, Hyper-V rockets. Bulrathis and Meklars are not allied (this year).

Rigel maxes out factories, set to planetary reserve, ploughed into Pollus.

2354 Pollus maxes out factories, produces planetary reserves. I refuse to put reserves into ultra rich worlds that are producing reserves on the grounds of extreme cheesiness. {All things I condemn as cheesy are of course things I have done in the past. }

2355 Decide to drop reserve into Mentar until factories all built, when Mentar can really get going with research.

Bulrathis have settled Arietis, so they are expanding east, excellent. Meklars are allied, so go east as well, don't have to feel Psilons are blocking their expansion.



2360 GNN Population 1.Psilon 2.Meklar 3.Human 4.Bulrathi 5.Darlok 6.Klackon {So much for Klackon racial advantage.}

Mentar maxed factories, now only building bases and doing research. I slowed factory building down once it exceeded population. Transport 8 from Escalon to Mentar to top up. Psilon population 520 million, grew 10 million this year, current max 605 million when Gion terra+10 done.

2361 Terra+20 comes in. Choices enhanced eco (restore 5), terra+30, toxic. I go for restore 5 - will reduce cleanup costs from ~40% of all production to ~16%. Disposable production goes from 60% to 84%, a 40% increase. Will come back and take toxic if radiated not available. Range 6 comes in, Sub-light drive (warp 3) next. Still no contact with Klackons, Humans and Darloks.

2364 Up trade with Bulrathis to 175 BC. Send scouts out to range 8 and 9 worlds.

2367 Finally scout Aquilae, forgot after settling Gion in 2349. Sign NAP (non-aggression pact) with Bulrathis. Meklar are still very neutral, so no chance of NAP. They aren't even interested in increasing trade. {This may have been too soon after 2351, perhaps no trade increase possible.}

2368 GNN - Plague strikes Darloks on Nazin, their homeworld. Couldn't happen to nicer people.

2369 Scout arrives at Crius, yellow 8 SE Escalon, Human colony, and is run off. Crius has several missile bases built so is a mature colony. There is only one yellow star close by, another 3 parsecs SE of Crius, so tentatively Sol.

2372 Scout Kholdan, yellow 11 E Mentar, driven away. Home of the bugs.

2374 Shield 3 done, shield 4 next (planetary shield 5 missing). Hyper-X missiles done, Neutron blaster next. Scatter pack 5 missing, good to defend missile bases against swarms of small ships, not that Meklars or Bulrathis ever build many smalls.

2375 RC 3 done. 7/2 space scanner next. I haven't picked up any battle computers yet, will have to get at least BC 3 after this. {I am still being defensive, like to be warned of incoming fleets. Perhaps should have picked up BC 3 first.}

Restart factory building on Rigel, Pollus and Mentar, only worlds that have completed factories before now. Drop smallish planetary reserve into Pollus, I have been putting reserve into Mentar to push research along.

2376 Restore 5 done, good timing. Only new planetology choice is soil enrichment, I choose Toxic since radiated is missing. Psilon tech now equal with Meklar, Meklar production slightly higher.

Scout Beta Ceti, blue 4 S Meklon, inferno 40 ultra rich. Bit of a stretch for me, 9 parsecs. Would need LR colony ship, warp 3 support following ASAP.

2377 Aquilae settled. Transport 32 from Gion. Pollus maxes factories, set to reserve. Excess from Pollus put into Rigel.

2378 Rigel maxed. {I let planetary reserve build from here, had previously been using it up. I feel this was a major strategic mistake, should have invested in Mentar until factories built, letting Mentar fully research from then onwards. After that max factories on Centauri, Gorra, Gion in that order, [i]maybe poor worlds Escalon, Aquilae. Then drop reserve to Mentar, push research way up. Reserves, i.e. unused potential, up to 8000 BC by 2403. It is good to have some reserve, see Escalon nova in 2420, but...}[/i]

Map in 2383.



2386 GNN - Darloks find cure for plague which struck in 2368.

2387 Sign 550 BC trade deal with Meklars. Centauri maxes factories. Meklar huge ship is heading towards Rana.

2389 Warp 3 finally. Inertial stabilizer next, then probably fusion drive (warp 4). {Range 7 would have been useful to get diplomatic contacts, range 6 was short.}

Ship design - look at warp 3 medium ship with Hyper-X missiles, looks pretty poor. Warp 3 has taken so long to come in that several other techs are almost due.

2394 Shield 4 done, repulsor beam next, one of my favourites.

2396 Offer 550 BC tribute to Meklars, to see how much it will sway them. I want to sign NAP. {Still defensive minded and 550 BC is hopeless anyway.}

2397 Automated repair done, Zortium armor (x2) next.

2399 7/2 improved scanner done. Backtrack to BC 3, ECM 4 is only new choice.

2400 Inertial stabilizer done, warp 4 next. Neutron blaster done, fusion beam next. Both Anti-matter bomb and Stinger missiles missing. Stingers are a favourite of mine.

Trial some designs. "Bomber 3", small, warp 3, maneuver 5, (combat) speed 3 (inertial stabilizer), 1xNuclear bomb, 3 HP, 15 BC. OK I guess, I really like fusion bombs. Meklars have planetary shield 5 and shield 3, so Nukes aren't really good enough. {Using this design would have been faster, at least less boring, than waiting decades as I did.}

"Blaster 3", medium, warp 3, speed 2, BC 1, heavy blast cannon. 18 HP, 103 BC. Neutron blaster is leading edge weapon tech, so very expensive and bulky.

"Hyper-X 3", medium, warp 3, combat speed 2, BC 1, 1xHyper-X 2, 1xHyper-X 5. 18 HP, 83 BC. This is better, but still not thrilling. I chose to bypass Merculite missiles, not that much better than Hyper-X. I really was hoping for Stingers. {And I think this would work OK, too.}

2401 Toxic comes in. I choose terra+30 next, will have to do soil enrichment after that. Set both Pollus and Rigel to produce Toxic 3s next year by dumping a bit of planetary reserve into each planet.

2402 Toxic 3s set off for Zhardan and Berel. Zhardan doesn't quite appear to be in the nebula, though given it is ultra rich I should assume so. There is also Beta Ceti down south of Meklon, but that is a long way out on a limb. Meklars have recently developed Toxic themselves so could invade at any time.

2404 Settle Berel and Zhardan, which precipitates the first council.

Psilons and Bulrathis nominated, 26 votes.

Humans 4 Bulrathis
Darloks 3 abstain
Klackons 2 abstain
Bulrathis 6 Bulrathis = 10
Meklars 3 Bulrathis = 13

Psilons 8 abstain.

Bulrathis clearly can't have contact with Klackons or Darloks yet.

Looks very worthwhile to settle small hostile planets to north (Crypto and Talas), get more than one-third of all votes by 2425. Set Rigel to produce Toxic 3s, Pollus would have to send ships through the nebula.

Diplomatic contact opened with the Klackons. They are a stagnant two-planet empire, excellent. Make trade agreement for 200 BC, proving their production is only 800-900 BC per year. Klackons are aggressive militarists, currently allied with Darloks. Their tech level and production lag behind Psilons, Meklars, Bulrathis.

Transports Escalon to Zhardan, Aquilae to Berel, enough to completely fill the planets. Drop 1000 BC into each planet from reserves (up to 8000).

Yellow star 4-5 parsecs E of Kholdan is obvious place for Nazin, Darlok homeworld. Send NE scouts further east.



2407 Transports have arrived at Zhardan and Berel. Set both worlds to produce a missile base soonest, start terraforming. Settle Crypto, send 18 from Aquilae. Drop 1000 BC in from reserves.

Up trade with Bulrathis to 500 BC. I was trying to stagger Meklar and Bulrathi trade agreements in this game, for what it is worth.

2408 Settle Talas, Inferno 7 NE of Mentar. Transport 33 from Escalon. Drop in 1000 BC from reserve. Scout Kakata, red 4 NE Talas, Steppe 65 ultra poor in nebula. Talk about unable to defend itself. {Kakata wasn't settled for decades after this, 65 more population is worthwhile.}

Scout Trax, green 9 SE Escalon, Inferno 35. Should have scouted this when range 6 came in, but I haven't missed much excitement. Willow, red 7 ENE Talas, is Darlok world.

Zhardan builds first missile base, the year after transports arrived. I love ultra rich planets. :love:

Try for NAP with Meklars, they aren't interested. GNN says Psilons first to 12 systems.

2408 Report on Klackons - their tech is nothing exciting. Improved space scanner, Waste 80%, personal deflector, dead environ, warp 2, range 4, ion cannon. Klackons are heading for Ryoun, blue 5 E Talas, dead 45. Colony ship, 44 large, 57 medium ships, moving at warp 1. I'll see if my scout can hold them off.

Bright thought - design a picket ship - LR tanks, battle scanner, to get a look at the Klackon fleet. "Picket 3L" - medium, warp 3, speed 2, scanner, LR tanks, BC 1, Neutron blaster (for a laugh). 18 HP, 94 BC. These will make scout 1s obsolete. Set Zhardan(! and Rigel to build these for one year, Zhardan builds one to get to Ryoun same year Klackon fleet does.

2410 Repulsor beam done, Planetary shield 10 next.

Zhardan Picket 3L claims 4 years to travel 8 parsecs to Ryoun, should travel 2/3/3 and get there same year as Klackons. Zhardan demonstrably in nebula. Picket 3Ls sent to Beta Ceti and other interesting systems not yet settled.

2412 Scout Drakka, blue 6 NE Talas, radiated 25 rich.

I get bored and decide to send a Toxic 3 to Beta Ceti. If I was going to do this, should have done it in 2402. I will put no production into industry until some bases are built, so if Meklars invade there won't be a chance to steal technology. In the same spirit I could colonise Trax, 9 SE Escalon, and open diplomatic contact with Humans. I remember at the last minute to redesign Toxic 3 to include LR fuel tanks.

Scrap M.Laser 1L, money well spent. Centauri has paid for them many times over.

2413 Klackons arrive at Ryoun. Their fleet is

57 Pegasus - 18 HP, speed 1, 2xGatling
9 Ranger - 100 HP, speed 1, 5xHeavy ion, scanner
14 Knight - 100 HP, speed 1, 2xHeavy ion, 9xIon, scanner
11 Horseman - 18 HP, speed 2, 1xHeavy Ion
1 Colony - 100 HP, speed 1, dead base, 1xHeavy ion, 4xIon

I assume only Horseman and maybe colony ship are warp 2. I retreat the Picket 3L, let Klackons destroy scout 1 so Picket 3L can move onwards at warp 3. Change Picket 3L to move to Willow, take a look at Darlok ships.

Diplomatic contact is established with Humans, not my doing (they must have developed range 7 or better). Humans are Honorable Industrialist. They are fairly comparable to Bulrathis on all racial stats fields. Humans readily agree to trade 525 BC (why wouldn't they?). Hiding spy estimated to be in place in 3 years.

Diplomatically, Psilons are a bit isolated. There is commonly a Meklar-Bulrathi alliance and Bulrathi-Human and Klackon-Darlok. Klackons must now have contact with Humans too. Bulrathis have no contact with Klackons and Darloks, which should help Psilons not lose council votes.

I think there might be a chain of war declarations against Psilons, starting with Meklars and working anticlockwise. I want to break this chain somewhere in the middle, by alliance with Bulrathis and/or Humans.

I offer tribute to Humans, Hand Lasers, not my favourite to give away (I enjoy giving obsolete techs away - IIT 9 to races that have better IITs anyway {range 4 or 6 would also work here}). I sign NAP with Humans. In that spirit, I offer IIT 9 to Bulrathis and Klackons. Klackons didn't have any IITs at all, but I don't take them too seriously anyway. I just don't want them voting against me.



No, I really do only offer IIT 9, not neutron blaster.

Meklars have equivalent tech to Psilons, no cheap tech tributes are apparent. I could offer them Hyper-X, they already have Merculite, but I am reluctant, Hyper-X might be the right size to shoehorn into a medium hull, not that they are building medium ships at present. It is fairly futile trying to bribe xenophobes anyway.

I haven't signed NAP with Klackons yet, if I have to get aggressive they are my number one target, since their weapons tech is so pathetic. If Meklars declare war on me, they are number one target. Remember Rana! It was stolen from the Psilons! :P

Toxic 3L dispatched to Beta Ceti. I decide not to build Toxic 3L for Trax since I now have Human contact.

2415 Zortium armor done (yay!. Waste 40% next.

I form an alliance with Bulrathis. If I wait until they aren't allied with Meklars, then get them to declare war on Meklars, Bulrathis and Psilons can dismember Meklars. Grand thoughts, when I don't have a fleet! I do have rich and ultra-rich worlds and 10000 BC in reserves. I am glad to form this alliance before colonising Beta Ceti, which I expect will annoy the Meklars.

Meklars built 13 bases on Rana and then stopped, at least 40 years ago. I wonder if they are upgrading those bases at all?

2418 Settle Beta Ceti. Transport 38 from Centauri, 5 years. Warp 4 coming in next year would mean transport next year would only take 3 years, arriving earlier. Drop 200 BC into Beta Ceti, will add more when transports arrive. Meklar fleet (69 large ships) is concentrating at Meklon, only 4 parsecs from Beta Ceti. Come on, make my day. h34r:

Send Picket 3L to Willow, arriving the same time as a Darlok fleet to get a read on their Tech, I expect not much better than Klackons.

Human tech - RC 3, IIT 6 (no armor), shield 4, Inferno, warp 2, range 7, Gatling laser, hyper-X. Junk. Their tech level isn't much down on mine, but I have chosen techs deliberately. I have chosen wisely?

Bulrathis are using Psilon alliance to send ships to scout systems that aren't settled (Dolz, Incedius, etc).

2419 Picket sticks nose in at Darlok colony Willow, retreats.

Darlok fleet there -



1 Colony - 100 HP, speed 1, 1xHeavy laser, 1xDeath spores, normal base, scanner, shield 2.
2 Needle - 3 HP, speed 1, 1xLaser. - An antique! 2300-vintage design.
25 Spider - 3 HP, speed 1, 1xLaser, shield 1. - Shield 1 on 3 HP small? They could win against 25 Needles, I suppose. Maybe.
1 Death Wyn - 600 HP, speed 1, 36xDeath spores, 5xHeavy laser, scanner, shield 2, BC 2.
2 Viper - 100 HP, speed 1, 8xHeavy laser, scanner, shield 3, BC 1.

I forgot to scan the planet, will come back and look soon. Death spores - I didn't have a chance to research antidote. Darloks really don't care if they are unpopular, do they?

Terra+30 done. Soil enrichment next. Terra+40 is missing, which is one reason why I bothered with terra+30, helpful for council meeting. Start planets on terraforming.

2420 GNN - Escalon will go nova in 12 years. Drop big chunk of money in, transport 50 colonists from Mentar to make full use of factories.

2421 Fusion drive (warp 4) done, reajax II cells (range 9) next.

2422 Fusion beam done, anti-matter torpedo next. No bombs. I should perhaps take Ion rifle, but I had a game recently where an opponent built a huge ship with anti-matter torpedoes, surprisingly effective, able to destroy planetary missile bases. A huge ship with maxed shields, computer, scanner, auto repair, maybe ECM, filled with A-M torps is horrendously expensive but quite long lived (I hope). I wouldn't have cared so much for A-M if I had Stingers. Or fusion bombs. {I think the opponent with anti-matter torpedoes was the Meklars, how appropriate!}

Escalon is now researching 1000 RP per year.

Redesign time. "Bomber 4" - small, warp 4, speed 4, stabilizer, 2xNuclear bomb. 3HP, 15 BC. No room for BC. These won't be effective against missile bases with planetary shield 5 (Meklars). Small ship can't fit beam or missiles better than laser/nuclear missiles. Maybe I should go back for Ion cannon.

Neutron blaster better value than leading-edge Fusion beam. "Hblast 4" - medium, warp 4, speed 2, Zortium, BC 3, 1xHeavy blast cannon. 36 HP, 132 BC.

"Hyper-X 4" - medium, warp 4, speed 2, Zortium, BC 3, 3xHyper-X 2. Hyper-X 5 missile only has range of 5, so Hyper-X 2 range 7 much more appealing. Build a stack of these and some other support, these move forward and flush their missiles, then flee.

Decide to delay building again. Step up weapons tech research.

As far as I know there has never been a war in this game between anyone.

2423 GNN - Escalon averts nova threat. Transport 30 from Escalon to Centauri, which transported lots to Beta Ceti in 2418. Since Escalon is still juiced on planetary reserves, research takes a big jump. Talk about over killing the solar rejuvenation research.

Transports arrive at Beta Ceti, which will build missile base next year. Transfer some more reserve to Beta Ceti.

2424 Council coming up. I don't think Psilons are above one-third of total population, but I am confident Klackons and Darloks will abstain. Humans may have caught up to Bulrathis in population.

2425 Council -

Psilons and Humans nominated. 33 votes.

Humans 6 Humans
Darloks 3 Humans = 9 (have contact with Humans)
Klackons 3 Psilons (this is a bonus! Good old IIT 9)
Bulrathis 6 Psilons = 9
Meklars 4 abstain (they are almost exactly neutral vis-a-vis Psilons)

Psilons 11 can safely vote for Humans, giving them 20/33.

Could have voted for self also getting 20/33 and almost winning game!

I didn't know if Humans or Bulrathis were going to be the opponents. I should perhaps have offered large bribes to both Meklars and Humans, may have won vote. If Bulrathis were opponents, as things stand I would expect the vote to be

Humans 6 Bulrathis (have been allied)
Darloks 3 abstain (no contact with either Bulrathis or Psilons)
Klackons 3 Psilons
Bulrathis 6 Bulrathis = 12
Meklars 4 Bulrathis = 16
Psilons 11 abstain.

That is much less favourable to Psilons.

There were two breaks my way, Humans exceeding Bulrathis and Klackons liking Psilons enough to vote in favour. Funny to think Humans were less likely to win council vote than Bulrathis. I should keep Klackons happy, or alternatively, take Hyboria and Kholdan from them.

Humans aren't quite willing to ally.

Shift research to favour weapons and planetology. Should have more than one-third votes by next council. Also go for ground combat techs in other fields.

This does raise the question of how I expect to win this game, as opposed to just not losing it. I would still prefer to wait for Meklar-Bulrathi alliance to break, then encourage Bulrathis to declare on Meklars. I could grab a planet or two from the Meklars, get all their tech. Fusion bombs would give me all that I need. I could try trading for fusion bombs with somebody... I have gone very tortoise-like in this game, much more than I normally would. It is so odd, particularly with Darloks there, not to have a war or two. There aren't any close neighbours with natural antipathies.

2426 Klackons want NAP. I agree. I wonder if I can manage to ally with Humans and Klackons as well as Bulrathis?

2429 ECM 4 done, advanced scanner (9/3) next. I really like this one, scanning planetary environments remotely gives a huge advantage for launching ground invasions.

2431 Up trade with Klackons to 325. Relations with Humans steadily creeping upwards, must be almost affable. I check Meklars each year, c'mon, break that alliance.

2432 Soil enrichment done, Cloning next (another favourite). I'm not that enamoured of atmospheric terraforming (or soil enrichment). Advanced soil enrichment is good, if I get that I may then come back and get atmospheric terraforming. Start soil enrichment on worlds that can use it, including Pollus and excluding Rigel.

2436 Anti-matter torpedoes. Pulson missiles next. There is also auto blaster there, another favourite. Most worlds finish soil enrichment, will be well grown by next council, Psilons probably will have 13 votes.

Redesign time. "A-M 4" - huge, warp 4, speed 1, Zortium, repulsor, scanner, auto repair, BC 3, shield 4, ECM 4, 7xNeutron blaster, 6xAnti-matter torpedoes. 1200 HP, 5012 BC.

I look at tech progress, planetary 10 almost done, waste 40% close. Redesign and build after that.

2438 Humans settle Trax, so my Picket there "attacks" them.

2443 Planetary shield 10 done. Go for personal absorption shield next (GC+20).


2444-2475 War at last :war:

2444 Range 9 done. Ion drive (warp 6) next. Send pickets to two remaining systems where Orion can be.

Contact with Darloks, they only have three planets. Darloks are xenophobic diplomats, allied with Klackons, distinctly uneasy with Psilons, so no trade deal.

Meklars have no alliance with Bulrathis, at last! Bulrathis happily declare war on Meklars with Psilon prompting. Espionage started against Meklars. Humans have no contact with Meklars, so can't declare war even if they would. Meklar fleet is strongest in galaxy, if you believe racial stats.

Come on waste 40%, running at over 20% for several years.

2445 Waste 40% done, backtrack for armored exoskeleton (GC+20).

Redesign "A-M 4", warp 4, speed 1, Zortium, BC 3, shield 4, repulsor, scanner, automated repair, 15xAnti-matter torpedoes, 5xNeutron blaster. 1200 HP, 3975 BC. I'd forgotten how expensive Computers and ECM are on huge hulls, dropping ECM gives another 673 space for torpedoes. I start Beta Ceti, Pollus and Rigel building these and drop huge chunks of reserve into each planet.

Meklar fleet of 100 large ships heads for Ursa. I send the picket from Beta Ceti to Ursa, to get a look if I can at the Meklars. I give the Bulrathis 3000 BC tribute, the money was laying around...

2446 Bulrathis ask me declare war on Meklars. I am delighted to oblige. Meklar fleet departed Rana last year, heading to Bulrathi world Arietis. Rana is open!

2447 Meklar fleet crisps Ursa, but doesn't fight Picket?? Picket and Meklars in orbit around Ursa, ignoring each other - 90 Meklar large ships dare not attack my medium armed with two lasers! Meklars lost about 15 large ships attacking Ursa, which didn't have a fleet.




I decide to launch a suicide attack against Rana, ground troops go in first. I am curious how many will be killed by 13 bases. 67 transports from Centauri due there next year, 49 from Gorra and 54 from Escalon the year after, when 2 A-M 4s will have had a go at Rana. So what if the council vote is coming up?

2448 11 of 67 transports get through at Rana. Meklars have slightly inferior ground combat, but this is ridiculous. 80 Meklars left standing. Launch a second wave of 36 from Centauri.

Espionage succeeds against Meklars, I choose weapons (want fusion bomb), get Hyper-V. Get choice of framing Bulrathis or Humans, choose Humans.

2449 Two A-M 4s take on 13 missile bases on Rana. Missile bases can't damage A-M 4s fast enough to destroy them (auto-repair 180 HP per round). 139 transports arrive, 43 left standing after battle. Lots of techs taken. Oh, missed that they had battle suits. Psilons have battle suits now as well. Also shield 3, range 7, Merculite missiles, fusion bomb (yes! and ECM 1. Transport more from Gorra, Escalon and Centauri. Drop 1000 BC into Rana. Transport half of Mentars population to Centauri.

Meklar fleet that toasted Ursa is headed for Rana, I will have five A-M 4s there by that time. I decide not to colonise Ursa. No Psilons want to settle there, the place smells of burnt fur. :P

It must be council time, I have lowered my population substantially.

2450 Council - Psilons vs Humans, 33 Votes.

Humans 8 Humans
Darloks 3 Humans = 11
Klackons 3 Psilons
Bulrathis 5 Psilons = 8
Meklars 3 Humans = 14
Psilons 11 abstain


I design "A-M 4B", huge warp 4, speed 2, Zortium, BC 3, Shield 4, repulsor, scanner, automated repair, 15xAnti-Matter torpedoes, 7xFusion bomb. 1200 HP, 3788 BC. Note the speed 2 and bombs. I don't think of these as efficient, just fun.

2451 Meklar death fleet arrives at Rana.



45 Tornado - 100 HP, speed 1, scanner, 19xFusion bomb - Bear toaster.
33 Nexus - 150 HP, speed 1, shield 2, scanner, 3xMerculite 5, 3xMerculite 2.
4 Nemesis - 150 HP, speed 1, shield 2, scanner, 5xMerculite 5.
1 Colony ship.
16 Ajax - 150 HP, speed 1, shield 2, scanner, 4xHeavy fusion beam, warp dissipator.

I have 5 A-M 4s. Nexus must be first target, a volley of 200 Merculites won't do me any good. Interesting with the split between Merculite 2s and 5s, may help A-Ms survive. Ajax after that.

Battle goes surprisingly well - Nexus ships hang back allowing A-Ms to destroy most of them in two volleys. Ajax warp dissipator is a real pain, leaving A-M 4s (with repulsor beam) unable to protect Rana from bombing by Tornado ships. A-Ms gradually blow them away. 15 factories are destroyed, Rana had 395 - 95 size world with Meklars with RC 3 could have up to 475 factories. {I had a Picket and a Scout here as well, ended up with "bait and switch" where Meklar ships stayed around to try and destroy small ships and got destroyed themselves. Meklars really should either retreat immediately or go all out for A-M 4s.}

Retreating fleet - 5xNexus, 4xNemesis, 1xColony and 2xAjax. No Psilon losses. Psilon fleet is now rated as same strength as Meklar fleet, six years after I started building. Meklars are doomed.

I send the five A-M 4s to Meklon to express my displeasure. An A-M 4B from Beta Ceti will arrive to cover Rana next year. Rana has built its Planetary 10, will build three missile bases by next year.

Meklar fleet (50 large, 2 huge) that left Rana for (Bulrathi) Arietis in 2446 seems to have fought to a bloody draw. There are only two Meklar ships orbiting there.

2453 Five A-M 4s too much for 20 bases at Meklon. Waves of transports launched, 150 in total from Gorra, Centauri, Escalon and Mentar. Transports from Gion and Aquilae to Centauri and Mentar. Meklon has 83 population, 130 maximum. Darrian has launched 65 pop towards Arietis a few years ago, travelling at warp 1.

Humans have allied with Bulrathis, declared war on Meklars. Bulrathis have resettled Ursa.

2454 Advanced scanner (9/3) comes in, backtrack to BC 4 next. Cloning comes in, terra+50 next. Advanced soil enrichment is there, perhaps should have taken that, but terra+50 is of immediate benefit to the hostile ultra-rich worlds. I increase eco spending on worlds that aren't full of population and start cloning.

A lot of worlds are scanned. Xudax, in the far east, is the only artifact world in the Galaxy. There are three Human worlds in the SE corner (and Orion) that haven't been scanned.

Arietis, where the Meklars are sending transports, has 13 bases and 95 population. 65 Meklars won't beat 95 Bulrathis, there isn't that much tech gap. Have Bulrathis rebuilt 13 bases already? I did give them 3000 BC...

2455 A-Ms destroy bases on Darrian. First wave of 78 transports arrive at Meklar, take on 93 Meklars. Psilons win with one soldier standing. More tech - ECM 3, warp dissipator, Improved eco restore (restore 3), planetary shield 5, Duralloy, IIT 6 (useful). Planetary shield 5 buggily asks if I want to increase spending to build, I already have planetary 10. I have stolen all Meklar techs except Tundra and Inferno.

I decide to genocide Meklars, take Darrian. Transport ~150 from Mentar, Centauri, Escalon, Gorra and Rana, take two or three years.

Psilon fleet is strongest in galaxy.

2456 Remnant of Meklar death fleet from Rana limps into Meklon, gets nasty surprise. I have four A-Ms and a picket, which acts as bait to encourage Meklars to hang around. Two Meklon colony ships are able to retreat towards Darrian. Not much of a death fleet anymore.

2457 First wave reaches Darrian, 44 Meklars left. Second wave is about 80.

Bulrathis warn me about Psilon ships impinging on their space. Uh, what should I do with all these unemployed ships once I take Darrian?

Pulson missiles done. Go for auto blaster next, hand phasors after that. My ground combat is still a bit weaker than it could be, but with cloning who cares? I am currently researching armored exoskeleton and personal absorption shield.

2458 Darrian taken, Meklars genocided.





Ooh, no-one likes me any more. Humans dissolve NAP. Paint a bullseye on yourself, why don't you? :axe: I turn on espionage against Humans, Darloks and Klackons. I am still in alliance with Bulrathis, but they are "wary", which is appropriate. Humans are at "feud". Crius, Human colony 7 E of Rana, looks a good place, pop max of 155 currently, Sol is only max of 140. Why don't I pay a visit? I start gathering ships at Rana.

Design up new ship - "A-M bomb 4" - huge, warp 4, speed 4, Zortium, BC 3, shield 4, warp dissipator, stabilizer, scanner, 11xA-M torpedoes, 32xFusion bomb. 1200 HP, 3557 BC. This should be able to stop speed 1 ships fleeing. {I forgot auto repair! Warp dissipator doesn't stop ships retreating, just moving. }

I am up to the point where I can fit a Merculite missile 2 in a small hull, warp 4. A swarm of these would be far more efficient in bang for buck. I can also manage 2 fusion bombs in a small with warp 4, speed 4 and BC 3.

2461 16 huge ships set up from Rana for Crius. Humans have 300+ medium ships there, so they are well outnumbered.

2464 There are close to 400 medium ships at Crius, but they are junk, armed with lasers, heavy lasers, Gatling lasers and nuclear missiles. There are 13 large ships armed with Hyper-X missiles. I get too cute trying to dodge around with A-M bomb 4s while targeted by missile bases and fail to stop any ships from retreating. 25 bases destroyed, no losses. {I realised that I forgot auto repair on A-M bomb 4 halfway through the battle, dodged from then on.}

Transport 180 from Centauri, Rana and Meklon to Crius.

Personal absorption shield done. Shield 7 next.

2465 It is a long time since I built a ship with a warp dissipator, I had forgotten that it doesn't work 100% of the time. A trickle of Human ships come into Crius and escape.

2466 Espionage succeeds against Humans, I get Gatling laser and frame Darloks.

Bulrathis have developed Radiated, only race to have done so. I can get Barren from them in tech trading.



Darloks don't have Death spore technology, but do have antidote. Were their ships I scanned in 2419 going to sow planets with antidote? Oh, I get it, "Death spores" sometimes turns into "Death environ", I thought that might be "Controlled Dead". Must remember that for future reference, wouldn't want to think they don't have Death spore technology when they do.

2467 Armored exoskeleton done, shield 7 next. Auto blaster done, hand phasor next. I really like auto blasters but will wait for Ion drive (warp 6), very close. I stop producing ships for the moment.

Ground combat very strong now. 111 Psilons arrive at Crius in their shiny new Exoskeletons to take on 155 Humans armed with cell phones and digital watches. 92 Psilons survive, Humans had 8/1 loss ratio.

Techs stolen, BC 2, Terra+40, Nuclear engines, IIT 7, Adv.Eco restore (restore 10), Deuterium cells (range 5). Both Terra+40 and restore 10 are better than what I had.

Humans are annoyed and declare war. I wonder which way the Bulrathis will jump, they are allied to both Humans and Psilons. They are still unhappy about Meklar genocide of course.

I take a break then decide to go for domination. I will take all but one Human world and grow population. Anyone else who cares to argue can suffer the same fate. Crius will clone ground combat soldiers to take Sol and so on. I send 11 ships onto Sol, leave 5 behind to scare Humans away.

2468 Bomb Sol missile bases into submission. Transports leave from Crius for Sol. Follow-up transports leave from Escalon and Centauri for Crius and Sol. Sol fleet heads for Galos, leaving a few more behind.

2469 Sol taken. More tech taken (Graviton beam, waste 80%, waste 60%, Ion cannon, IIT 5). Half Sol and Crius pop transported to Galos, two years.

I have roughly 1900 M population this year, it will be close to get two-thirds vote in 2375 - maybe 35 votes total by then? Build Colony ship at Zhardan, relocate to Talas, will settle Kakata (u-poor in NE nebula). Send huge from Crius to Kakata.

2470 Galos bases destroyed. On to Xudax, artifact world.

2471 Ion drive (warp 6) done. High energy focus next.

Design new huge - "Auto 6", warp 6, speed 4, 54xAuto Blaster (three stacks of 18), 18 fusion bombs, BC 4, shield 4, Zortium, scanner, auto repair. 1200 HP, 4138 BC. This time enemy ships won't be able to flee; they will be blown away before they move. Start Rigel, Pollus, Beta Ceti and Zhardan building Auto 6, munge relocations for best benefit. Sink all the current reserve into those planets.

Galos invaded. Xudax base (single) destroyed. On to Aurora. I will leave the Humans Trax, the small Inferno world, worth one vote. I launch long-distance transports from Darrian and Meklon toward Imra and Toranor.

Bulrathis have broken alliance with Humans, stay allied with Psilons. I give Bulrathis some gifts, enhanced eco restore and IIT 5. I will win the coming vote with their help, unless my ambassador goes postal (or "diplomatic", as they call it in the trade). {I'm an idiot. Bulrathis will be my opponents. Doh!} Klackons are allied with Humans, so no point worrying about them.

2472 Kakata settled. I set all planets less than full to cloning, this is ballot box stuffing with a vengeance. B) Can't force grow more than 25% of current population, so may as well tweak each year until 2475.

2473 Take Aurora and Xudax. Transports without ships will arrive at Imra next year, ships the year after (warp 5 transport, old warp 4 ships).

2474 Unescorted transports take Imra quite happily, as it is a poor world which had no real defences. Toranor taken more conventionally. I now hold 24 planets and most of them are terraformed and full to the brim with voters. Terra+50 didn't happen in time, at 6% now.



I take one last look through all the screens and see that the Bulrathis have declared war on the Humans. In fact Darloks and Klackons are at war with the Bulrathis too. So there was some minor benefit to bribing Bulrathis in 2471 after all! I bribe the Klackons with Inertial stabilizer and one of the eco restores, they become amiable. Darloks are a lost cause.



I have 24 planets, 9 are not settled including Orion (Bulrathis have never done anything to settled Radiated planets), Bulrathis have 8, Humans 1, Klackons 3, Darloks 3.

Council vote - Psilons vs Bulrathis, 41 votes.

Humans 1 Bulrathis
Darloks 3 Psilons (They don't like me at all!
Klackons 3 Psilons = 6
Bulrathis 8 Bulrathis = 9
Psilons 26 Psilons = 32


A win by council vote, not quite domination. I am very amused to get support from xenophobic Darloks after never trading with them, stealing technology off them, framing them and committing genocide. Darloks have clearly just declared war on Bulrathis.

I never attacked or stole tech from the Bulrathis, they were... cute. And fuzzy. Don't know about cuddly, though.



Wait - what's THAT?