Imperium One - Off to a Flying Start

[Urugharakh]

Once I took a Mrrshan planet I got contact with Klackons. Poor bugs do a OPE and are no threat.



I finally found keeta with the pirates



The Siliconid war started in 2540



A few ships finally ended the pitares just because the constant pirate news where anoying



I made peace with Mrrshans on their initiative in 2546, then asked them for a siliconid war which they accepted for advaned soil enrichment. Normaly I would never do that, but it may speed up my victory in the next election as they where allied before. Same reason I attacked the still Klackons, who just declared, and eliminated the bugs.



2 turns later another election is held. Sakkras vote correct



as do kitties, which is really rare.



thats the game.



I was too lazy and made lots of endgame mistakes letting Siloconids bomb another of my colonies for example. It prooves AI may not be able to win, but is still nasty on lower difficulties when you are careless.

Urugharakh

[Jabah]

While reading other reports, I remember my biggest mistake : a non-aggression pact with the Silicoids.
Never ever accept a Non-Aggression Pact in the beginning, you can't prevent them to settle a planet in that case, I learnt it the hard way, I was trying to 'protect' all the northern planet with scouts, thinking non aggression was about establish colonies not future colonies.

Jabah

[Patroclus]

A brief report for a brief game:

In the opening, I get my share of the north, although I don't get the artifacts planet.

In the South, I colonize the poor planet (Simius I think the name was) and get colonies going to the Fertile planet in the corner. I send a big bolus of reinforcement population to the Poor planet, but before they arrive, the Meklar send transports and take the planet out from under me.

My reinforcements arrive one turn later and recapture the planet. The Meklar, of course, declare war on me, even though THEY took MY colony first.

The NEXT YEAR, 2356, the first vote is held. Its me vs the Silicoids. There are 21 votes. The Silicoids have an early-game alliance with the Klackons (which undoubtedly let them spread far enough to trigger a vote so early), so the bugs vote for the rocks. The Mrrshan and the Meklar also vote for the Silicoids AND THE SILICOIDS WIN IT. My highest tech level is EIGHT, and the game is over?

This was a bitter loss. I had been looking forward to this game (I've read many of the civ3/moo3 epics, but I don't have either of those games so I couldn't participate). I can usually win this game on Hard and occasionally on Impossible, and to suffer my earliest diplomatic loss ever (on AVERAGE no less) just plain hurt.

[Zed-F]

Yikes. Bad luck there for sure, accidentally getting into hot war with the neighbor who would NOT be your opponent in the first election. And of course, final war when you're still early in the expansion phase is a very tough proposition. I'm not sure what you could have done differently to prevent your acquisition in Meklar space from being taken over before your own population arrived, unless you could have sent that population from a closer planet -- either that or not contest the planet in the first place.

[Selentine]

My game played out most similarly to Zed's. I emphasized beating the Silicoids to the hostiles, which worked out well. I also emphasized espionage over diplomacy. It seems many of us overestimated what the AI's defenses would be, so the tyrant ending in 2473 is not as bad as I'd thought. My report may be overblown, but the dates and the rationales should help people follow what I was doing. Players took such divergent paths that some of the AARs feel like an entirely different map.

Thanks especially to Griselda for providing this forum and cleaning up my munged registration, and to Sirian for sponsoring the Imperium and writing up solo AAR's for examples.

Selentine

[Brackard]

My report can be found here.

I might have pulled off the snail award, but I pulled it off.

[Sirian]

Entering Non-Aggression pacts too soon can be a huge mistake. Learning when it's in your interests to run blockades and remain on neutral footing vs when you should sign treaties and gather friends is part of the strategy. Nicely done pulling it out, though. And ahead of both Urug and I by one voting period. Sometimes it doesn't pay to carry max-difficulty paranoia with you to lower settings.

- Sirian

[Justus_II]

Man, I have been anxious to get home from work and get this uploaded! I saw the first posts last night, but still had some editing to do on my report, and didn't want any comparisions to creep into it, so I have avoided reading any of the reports until I could get mine posted! Anyway, here it is:
My Imperia One Report
Warning, it is a little on the long side, but broken into sections, and even with the pictures, shouldn't be too hard on a dialup (thanks to those low-res graphics!. Hopefully after this first game, I will get better at sticking to the highlights.

Now, off to read the other reports!

[Erick the Red]

This is the first MOO game I have played in a long time. I recalled that I was at a level where I generally won on hard, and could occasionally win on impossible in favorable circumstances when playing the psilons. This game is set on average, so should be well within my comfort zone.

Thinking back, I remember that I tended to huddle in a defensive posture, building missile bases but little in the way of fleets until the end game. I would like to take this chance to practice the new skills, and since I see that the race is the Alkari I decide that I will try playing without missile bases. The logic behind this is that I will need to build ships to defend myself, it will be more tempting to attack the opponents since I will have a navy on hand that will need to be replaced as time goes on anyway. This should also make good use of the Alkari special defensive ability. Still, I plan on skewing my ships designs towards defense to suffer less attrition.

Well, enough talk - time to start playing.

I didn't have a screen shot solution when I played, so I will just give a turn log with some of my thoughts.

I start by sending the colony ship to the green planet. I Settle Kailis and scout Bootis, a 95 terran. After scouting all the nearby systems I see Primodius is a 100 terran in the corner, I expect to claim several good planets, and it doesn't look like I have to hurry.

Turn 2320 Altair is up to 155 factories, and will start making colony ships The first colony ship sent to Bootis, and I prepare to start shuffling population for quite some time.

2331 - Meet the silicoid at the empty Arietis, and Kailis has built enough factories to be at max while colonists are shuffled, so switches to research.

Select Deep Space scanner over Battle Computer 2.
Select Gatling Laser over Hand laser since it will help early defensive ships.
Shift all research to propulsion for range 5.
I see that the silicoid have occupied Gorra and Denubius.

2339 My scout meets the Meklar to the SE

2343 I get access to range 5, and meet the silicoids. I split tech between terraforming and reduced waste to reduce the pollution cost.

2352 Research Planetology +10, shift half to propulsion - I want nuclear engines for my 1st generation of combat ships.

2354 Hmm. I scout Omicron in the SE, a fertile 105, and Helos, an artifacts world in the NE. I spend a lot of time pondering whether I should go for Omicron, which would involve settling another colony to bring it in range, or making sure that I claim Helos. I decide that the Meklar really shouldn't let me be the first to Omicron to the SE, so I will try to claim Helos. Also, I have now ignored by "It's bedtime" alarm twice. I scrape up some self determination, and hit the save button. Then I go back and play with sliders for any few minutes, but I do manage to stop for the night after that.

2359 Actually, I may claim Omicron to the SE as well. I'll switch production on Altair to research nuclear engines to get the colony ship there faster. Now Bootis and Kailis can help with research as they have max factories for their current population.

2361 Meklar bring a fleet to claim Rigel, kicking out my scout. Nuclear engines are researched. I select sub-light drives, and switch research amongst computers, force fields, and shields to see what techs will open up. Somewhere around here my scouts meet the Mrrshan.

2364 The Meklar beat me to Simium by 2 turns, so I will be cut off from Omicron. I'm actually kind of happy that the opponents didn't let me claim half the galaxy - I want to test my fleets out. The Meklar will agree to a trade agreement immediately, and the Silicoid finally agree to one as well.

2375 The first round of technology has come in for all techs. I select Industry 8 and Robotics III which I will concentrate on, and hand lasers since it doesn't cost much to pick them up now. I'll have Altair start building a defense force, as it looks like the game is ending the colonization phase and I don't want to be caught with my pants down. A medium sized ship with 2 gatling lasers, nuclear engines, and max maneuverability seems like a reasonable design.

2384 Robotics III comes in. Altair has been pumping space gulls continuosly. My two fleets of 9 each are comparable to the silicoid fleet strength, but the Meklar are still stronger. I will build up my factories, then go for another round of military techs for a new ship design.

2387 Hmm. I had thought the Silicoids would claim Ajax, but on a lark I sent the colony ship from Simius over there. Well, it flew around 17 parsecs to reach it and beat the silicoids by a few turns. They do have a fleet moving towards it. I will gather my ships to defend it. This may be the first ship combat in a very long time.

2390 False alarm. The silicoid fleet bombed my colony before my fleet could arrive to defend it and replaced it with one of their own. Since I'm in the middle of building factories, I decide not to contest it.

2410 A round of ship techs is almost due. I circle back for Duralloy armor, and skip the planetary shield tech since I'm not building bases anyway. I design some medium missile boats. They carry 1 hyper-X rocket, max maneuverability, and can fit class 1 shield and a class 1 computer. With the alkari defensive bonus, they should last a while, and be useful as well.

2423 3 of may main planets have been pumping out my new War Hawk design continuously, and I now have 80. Terraforming +30 has come in, and I'm now mostly working on robotic controls.

I'm itching to test out my fleet. After all, with ships it use em or lose em. I scout the Meklar with a scanner ship. Their large ships with Mark III computers can cut through my Alkari defenses a bit, but I should be able to take them. If I can claim Simius, the door is opened to a couple of still uncolonized planets beyond.

2437 The Meklar did not contest Simius - well beyond protesting and declaring war. I have parked a fleet above it, but not tested any defenses yet. I now have a second fleet ready, and will try forcing a confrontation.

2445 Slow but steady progress against the Meklars. They find it difficult to hurt my missile ships, but my missile ships often can't win the engagement before running out of ammo, and I have to keep my fleet split to parry their counterattacks as I don't have missile bases to make my planets safe. I am spending much of my time scurrying around chasing their ships. Neutron Blaster tech has just come in, and I opt for a medium sized design with max maneuverability and no shields that can pack 3 of them.

2474 I'm finally making progress against the Meklar. I'm also up to 20% ship maintenance so now it's probably time to start concentrating on tech. I consider trading Robotics IV to the Silicoid in exchange for Zortrium armor, but pass. I'm also a little worried about the planetary votes coming, I hope I can claim enough Meklay territory to be safe.

2487 The Meklar are collapsing. They have two, soon to be one, planets left, and I'm setting my sights on the Sakkra who were allied with the Meklar and declared war on me soon after we met. Their demise is hastened when I steal inertial stabilizer from them. Let's see anyone hit my ships now! They don't have repulsor beam tech, so I will make another medium design with 3 fusion beams, inertial stabilizer, and max maneuverability

2494 The Meklar are down to one planet, and the Sakkra now don't have a fleet. I've met the Mrsshan, and they do not impress me either. Cloning has come in, so the previous Meklar worlds are at full populatin. Omega V bombs have been researched, so I have the option of designing new bombers to take down planetary defenses in case the opponents come at me with a new tech. I'm in mop up mode now. I hit = to balance tech spending and stopped worring about research.

2503 A Space crystal drops by the galaxy. It's in silicoid space, so I probably won't get any target practice from it. The silicoids have announced their intention to attack me by renouncing the nonagression pact, but I'll wait to build up defenses in that area. I have also belatedly realized that planetary shields are useful to me. They will make enemy bombardment less annoying. I have been having a devil of a time intercepting every fleet sent to my planets, and even a few turns of bombardment hurts. I loop back and start researching the class X shield.

2515 The Mrrshan bring a fleet powerful enough to defeat my fleets that first attacked the Meklar. I'm just finishing upgrading after getting Gaia tech, and realize that I'm being sloppy. There is no way anyone is going to vote for me at a council meeting, so I should finish off the Meklar and Sakkra. That will cut down on the management required to keep their newly built ships destroyed. I will also have planets start building bombers and combat ships when they finish off the factories. I will bomb the rest of the enemy planets out of existense instead of capturing them.

The Mrrshan use repulsor beams, but seem to move to range 1 and let me engage anyway. It feels a little silly that they aren't taking advantage of the weakness that my ships have range 1 beam weapons. I wish I had paid more attention to what happened. I hit the auto combat button, saw repulsor beams, but saw that their ships were destroyed before I stopped the combat again.

2543 My new ships are easily sweeping through the Silicoid and Mrrshan. Unfortunately I just missed wining the planetary election in 2525. I've mostly wiped out the Mrsshan, and can just hit next turn until the next election. Except that I forgot I elimiated the Silicoid already, and I guess the council won't meet anymore. So my finish date is 2554, by conquest.

I enjoyed this game, and felt that I did learn a good bit about ship design and combat. By forcing myself to design ships to counter the enemy, I paid much more attention to the technologies my opponents had available and what would work against it.

[Patroclus]

> I'm not sure what you could have done differently to prevent your acquisition in Meklar
> space from being taken over before your own population arrived, unless you could have
> sent that population from a closer planet -- either that or not contest the planet in the first
> place.

I just wanted the poor planet so I could reach the fertile in the corner; I would have happily conceded it until I could firm up my defenses and catch up in tech. But my transports were already on the way when they took it, so there was nothing I could do at that point.

The other thing I wish was that I hadn't been #2 in population!