Imperium Seven - Reports and Discussion

[Sirian]

Imperium Seven has closed. All players should be done playing by now. Due to the forum move, we've got things up in the air, so to be sure to include everybody, Report Day becomes Report Week. Please have your reports posted (in this thread, or linked from here) by the end of Monday October 18, and don't wait until the last minute. The extra time is for those who may get lost along the way from the old forum to here.

Meanwhile, I'll try to get either IMP6 or IMP8 up by next Monday.


- Sirian

[Factoid]

Imperium 7 - Factoid's Report
Darlok/Hard/Large/Five Opponents

Preamble - Day of the Darloks
I've been looking forward to playing an Imperium game with the Darloks, in a "this will hurt, but it will be good for me" sort of way. It is years since I last tried playing them, I shuffled round aimlessly being despised by all until a Council vote put me out of my misery. I have never really got the finer points of espionage - Sirian's tutorial lessons on working out the tech level you are likely to receive need to be applied.

Aims for this game - make use of my strengths - emphasise Computer research enough to make espionage fun and profitable. Keep frequent watch on opponent technologies researched. Take note of opponent personalities and locations - avoid annoying Xenophobic Militarist next-door neighbours! Keep eye on Council votes - very easy for Darloks to lose.

Opponents - Klackons, Bulrathis, Mrrshans, Alkaris and Meklars. "The galaxy can be a hostile place" indeed! Glad I'm not Mrrshans - they have only Meklars neutral, rest are uneasy or worse. Mrrshans and Alkaris may well bicker with each other endlessly, hopefully to my advantage (don't want everyone ganging up on Mrrshans too early). Meklars and Klackons most likely long-term threats - Meklars could be big trouble if they stay out of squabbles and decide to pick on Darloks. They get excellent Computer research as well so should be spied on with the greatest of discretion.

Galactic map - Southeast corner. The southwest corner is notably free of yellow stars, so could all fall to a single opponent, not good news. There is a big clump of yellow stars at south-central, bound to be two or even three races there, and they will grow strongly and quickly (then struggle with each other?). This map calls for a typical "expand towards potential opponents ASAP" approach.


Early expansion

There is only one star in 3 parsec range so the colony ship is sent there. Scouts radiate out to other stars possibly in 3 parsec range when (if) colony ship settles.



In 2310 I scout Guradas, ocean size 95 artifact planet. Guradas gives Deep space scanner, TL 4 (tech level 4). This could be a major branching point - anyone lucky enough to get range 4 or 5 from Guradas will get a great boost in expansion. I'm not too unhappy getting computer tech, grist to the espionage mill. The Darlok artifact/gropo reporter is very cool - I wonder what the neon advertising on the sword says - "Eat at McMordor's"?

There seem to be a fair (unfair?) number of hostile planets to the southeast, in "my" corner. Stars to Northeast are better. I start (100%) propulsion research in 2312, range 4 only choice. Losing Guradas to another race would be disastrous, I will be in good military/industrial shape if I manage to fully develop Guradas and Talas (the large rich Dead world east of Nazin). I may still easily lose a Council vote of course.

I encounter Alkari and Meklar scouts in 2315 so they are close by. The line of retreat of the Alkaris and Meklars gives me the locations of their nearest colonies (so Deep space scanner is somewhat useful).




I think about building a Zed-F style large long-range laser ship (as he did in Imperium 4), send to Guradas. I decide against, range 4 is almost here anyway, can build laser popguns at Volantis while Nazin builds colony ship, then popguns get to Guradas fairly soon after that.

Range 4 researched in 2320, I decide to research Nuclear engines next, I really like to get warp (and combat) speed up. Research turned down to a trickle, Nazin starts producing colony ships to send to Neptunus and Guradas.

Nazin maxes its factories out in 2341, switch to research. Research budget split 50-50 Propulsion and Planetology. Some interesting choices to make having scouted two each of barren, tundra, dead, inferno, toxic and one radiated! Talas (Dead 70 rich) makes Controlled dead environment obvious choice. Controlled Barren Environment is the only choice, so not interesting so far.

Scout Tau Cygni, Terran 85. Yum. Yellow star WNW of Tau Cygni probably isn't homeworld either. Need range 6 to get to Tau Cygni, take range 6 then sub-light drives (or if sub-light drives unavailable, skip range 6 and go for range 7).

Nuclear engines researched in 2347. Sub-light drive unavailable, so win for me taking Nuclear engines before range 6. Research evened out, started in other fields, still emphasising Propulsion and Planetology for expansion.

In 2355 two Bulrathi scouts are spotted approaching Xengara (barren 40 WSW of Nazin). Time to get started colonising again, Nazin steps up ship production, reduces research. Bulrathis bypass Xengara, heading NNE. Bulrathi homeworld to the SW somewhere?

In 2359 GNN reports Klackons have settled 10 planets - Bootis is my fifth planet but I'm in expansion mode now, have some hope that northeast of galaxy is wide open.

I scout Maalor, barren 60 rich and Morrig, terran 95. The north is unoccupied! Both these systems are 5 parsecs away.

Research is very slow at present (2364) - Guradas is at full population and maybe five years away from full factories, everything will be go then. Nazin can slow down on colony ship production, only Incedius left to settle (colony ship en route to Xengara already). Incoming Bulrathi colony ship spotted at Xengara, will beat my colony ship there. Is it armed? I have half-a-dozen popguns there, but that isn't enough.


Contact and espionage

Bulrathi colony ship has a heavy laser. My combat speed 2 popguns dance around but have no hope of destroying the Bulrathi ship. After the combat times out Bulrathis have settled Xengara, bah humbug. I retreat popguns, will have to turn around others as they arrive at Xengara. Diplomatic contact opened, I sign a maxiumum trade treaty for 150 BC with Bulrathis, they aren't likely to happy about the incoming popguns. Given Bulrathis have scouted Xengara (very close to Ursa), I couldn't hope to hold there if they pushed, so I'm not too upset by the (buggy) Bulrathi occupation of Xengara. A large, long-range laser ship would have paid for itself at Xengara. Send such ships to Maalor and Morrigan ASAP!



Bulrathis declare war in 2366. They are aggressive ecologists and have no alliances this year. If I destroy Xengara that will put them out of range of me. It may be more fun to defend Mobas and spy them to death.

Bulrathis have formed alliance with Mrrshans, so maybe I can get Alkaris to at least stay neutral and not join alliance against me. Mrrshans must be in those south-central stars too? That leaves the Klackons happily expanding by themselves, not good.



Spy report on Bulrathi techs finally comes in (2369). Their computer tech is typically weak, excellent. They have Terraforming+10, Controlled Dead Environment, Range 5 and Inertial stabilizer. I want Controlled dead for Talas, and Range 5 gets me expanding north again. They have no weapons beyond Lasers, so they won't overrun me quickly. Espionage started. They don't have an alliance with Mrrshans this year.



I get two (low-level) espionage successes in the following two years, this is fun! One chance to frame, choices Meklars and Mrrshans, I choose Meklars since Mrrshans probably have strife with Alkaris anyway. I gain terraforming+10 and ECM jammer 1.

I am frequently catching Bulrathi spies. They must have a very hard time, given a computer tech disadvantage on top of the Darlok racial bonus.

Third espionage success in 2376 - I go for propulsion and get Range 5. Barren colony ship orbiting Helos makes a bee-line for Maalor.

Maalor settled in 2377. Espionage success number four, I get Controlled dead environment. Bulrathis succeed in blowing up one factory on Nazin, oh woe is me. Diplomatic contact with Alkaris, they are Xenophobic expansionists. Sign trade deal for 200 BC/year. Bulrathis have researched Duralloy armor, keep it up. I reduce research on force field and weapons (both now at 1%) where the Bulrathis have already researched deflector 2 and Hyper-V rockets for me. Put more research into computer technology.



I just realised, Altair and Fierias are only three parsecs apart.

Alkaris have allied with Klackons, Klackon medium ship spotted heading east. I offer the Alkaris range 4 as tech tribute. I may as well try and keep them on-side. They have lower tech levels but a stronger fleet than me. I'm still waiting on a report on their technologies.

Morrig settled in 2383, and Selia (fertile jungle 100) scouted. LR laser ship heads from Morrig to Selia, Tau Cygni-bound colony ship heads instead for Selia. Alkaris settle Rayden.

In 2387 a large LR laser ship beats off 10x Klackon smalls at Ryoun. Colony ship finally heads for Talas. Ryoun can wait, I want to backfill Talas, Tyr, Primodius and Incedius first. Bulrathis have researched Ion Cannons. I need to watch them closely, they could get dangerous when they refit.


Sudden demise

2394 IBT: Council meets (I didn't settle anything this year) and the contenders are Darloks and Klackons. This is very bad. When I last looked about five years ago I thought my population was lower than both Alkaris and Bulrathis. I should have got Alkaris to declare on the Bulrathis if I could, which would hopefully annoy Bulrathis enough to not vote for Klackons. The vote is depressingly bad, only Meklars abstain and Klackons get 20/29 votes. Klackons have 9 votes, I have 5, Meklars 4, Mrrshans 2, Bulrathis 5 and Alkaris 4. I hate losing the vote when I haven't even met three races.



I opt for final war and then look at techs that Bulrathis have picked up. This is strange, Bulrathis haven't picked up all techs that Alkaris have, they are missing sub-light drives. I don't have a current report on Alkaris so set a spy on them. I really tried so hard not to annoy the Xenophobic Alkaris...




The Bulrathis pick up a heap more techs the following year, and I get a better picture of what is going on. Techs may propagate from race to race in a final war, so it takes two years for Bulrathis to acquire Klackon techs, they don't learn them immediately. I like this feature, if I understand correctly what is going on.

The news is all bad.




OK - Improved space scanner, Battle suits, Repulsor beam, Energy pulsar and Stinger missiles. This isn't good, weapons look very bad indeed. I particularly fear the Alkaris, their racial bonus will make them formidable in a final war.

I surrender! Klackon, Bulrathi and Meklar production levels (with the hard-level bonus) must match mine, Klackons are considerably stronger. If I had been able to consolidate my current planets until 2424 and lost a vote then I would consider fighting on, but I'm just too weak. My recently settled planets to the north are only defended at a level able to cope with half-hearted probes. I wouldn't lose quickly but I can't see that I have *any* hope of going on the offensive.



I reloaded the auto-save game from 2389 and took a look at diplomacy. I am not clear on the mechanics of diplomacy, but I *think* I can only ask races I am in contact with to declare wars on other races I am also in contact with. In any case, I can't ask the Alkaris to declare war on anyone, they don't have contact themselves with the Bulrathis. Perhaps they don't like me enough even to allow me to ask the question (even if they were going to decline). I easily sign a cease-fire with the Bulrathis, and they also don't give me any choices for races to declare war on.



Reloading the Council vote *sometimes* has Alkaris abstaining - they were that close to being neutral. Meklars always abstain, Bulrathis and Mrrshans always vote against me.

The major things I think I could have done differently are (in order)

1. Suck up to the Alkaris in a major way so they regard me at least as well as they regard the Klackons and thus abstain consistently. Alkaris start off with uneasy relations with the Klackons (matching uneasy relations with Darloks) so this isn't too hard.
   
   
   
2. Get diplomatic contact with Meklars and Mrrshans. Research Range 6 instead of Nuclear engines (or maybe after Nuclear engines and before Range 7) and maybe get diplomatic contact with Mrrshans and Meklars, and get Mrrshans and Alkaris declaring war on each other. Get others to take sides. I did get Range 5 from spying on the Bulrathis and this wasn't good enough for contact.
   
   Settling Xengara (possibly with stealing Range 5) would probably give diplomatic contact.
   
   
   
3. Keep my population below that of the Alkaris or Bulrathis so I'm not in the Council vote. Hard to do particularly for the first Council vote which can happen in any year. Trying to do this means stunting growth on the newly settled planets in the north.
   
   
   
4. Spy on Alkaris and/or Bulrathis and frame Klackons (by preference) or maybe Meklars or Mrrshans. I don't think my computer tech/racial advantage is good enough, I have scrupulously avoided spying on the Alkaris for just this reason.
   

In any case, I needed to be more aware of diplomacy. The first Council vote had to come soon and I wasn't thinking about it at all.

Call this a loss on Council vote in 2394. I only played on a couple of years to confirm it was hopeless.

- Factoid.

[Maniac Marshall]

I just got back in from Atlanta and now it's time to go back to work . I emailed the executive summary to Sirian before I left, but I don't see it posted.... maybe it got lost in the mail?

Anyway, I thought I'd have time to finish writing my story while I was gone, but my girlfriend had other plans . I'll post the turnlog/picture/no story version of the report tonite after work because I definately wont have time to finish writing the story till at least saturday.

Looks like only Factoid and I played this one?

-Maniac

[Maniac Marshall]

PREGAME ANALYSYS

Ok, the first thing of note is there is only one star 3 parsects from the homeworld, so its a no brainer where to send the colship.

The second thing of note is that the yellow stars are primarily in 3 clusters. One very near cluster to the left probably has 2-3 AI, a second in the northwest corner likely has 1-2 AI, and a 2 star clustster along the eastern edge likely has 0-1, probably 1 AI.

What this means is that westward expansion may be difficult, but IF there is no AI in that 2 star cluster, the whole eastern half of the map could be mine.

Finally, we drew a rather kind array of opponents, especially if the Klackons take forever to get a decent range tech like they often do. Only the Klackons and Meklars really scare me.

MANIACS VARIENT RULES

1) We may NEVER offer tribute of any kind, including paying tech/money for war/peace declarations.

2) We may research one level one tech in each category, after that ALL research must be soley in computers. We CAN trade, steal or gropo techs of level 2 or beyond, but we may never research them (except for computers). EXCEPTION - IF we reach level 99 in computer tech, we may research techs from the other categories normally.


3) We may not ask any race to declare war on any race we are not allready at war with.

4) Minimum victory level = Extermination!! (After all, this IS the Day of the Daleks err Darlocks).

THE GAME

2300 - Colship heads to the only 3 parsect star, one scout to the 6 parsect red to the east south east, and the other to the 6 parsect blue to the north east.

2303 - The colship arrives at size 45 minimal Volantis and settles. I send 13 mil from the homeworld to get it started. I whip up a scout II design.

2304 - Scouts head out to the 2 extended by serttling 6 parsect stars, as well as to a couple planets near the 2 northeastern yellows.

2305 - Scouts head to 2 of the 5 parsect northern stars, and to the 2 furthest backyard stars.

2306 - Scouts find size 20 Inferno Hyborea, and Size 25 Radiated Firma. The last 4 scouts head out to the 4 parsect green, and to the 3 remaining backyard stars.

2310 - Scouts find Asteroids at Anraq, Size 95 Ocean Artifacts Guradas!!Helllooooo!!, Size 10 Barren Mobas, Size 90 Jungle POOR Neptunis (at least its big and not likely frontline), Size 35 Desert Incedius in the backyard, Size 10 Inferno Uxmai, and size 70 Dead Rich Tallas in the backyard. Wow, hopefully we can get Controlled Dead asap to claim this sucker! Off the Artifacts planet we pull...

.

Hmmm. Could be useful. It's a 2nd tier tech.. Too bad it wasn't Dead though.

2311 - Backyard scouts find Size 40 Toxic Tao, Size 50 Dead Tyr, and size 35 Tundra Primordius. What a rotten backyard for this varient

2312 - Long range scouts find size 40 Barren Xengara.

2313 - The final scout chases an Alkiri Colship off size 60 Toxic Phyco.

2315 - We chase a Meklar scout off Xengara

2324 - The Homeworld nears maxing factories. Research started evenly accross all fields. Lets see what we get.

2325 - Choices are Jammer I, Improved 9 (blech), Class II (duh), Controlled Barren (yuck!), Range 4 (yuck!), and Hyper V over Gats.... What a terrible selection, especially for this varient.. I reduce everything else to single click and go hard for range 4.

2327 - GNN Reports we lead in tech

.

Volantis sends 5 million to top off the homeworld.

2328 - Range 4 nears completion. Research evened out.

2329 - Range 4 Hits. Research closed on Propulsion and evened out elsewhere. Nazin maxes factories a turn ahead of the transports. Oh well. I design a new Colony ship and set Nazin to producing them. Volantis puts 7BC into research to preserve research.

2332 - We chase Meklars off Firma. Scouts find size 45 Tundra Rhilus.

2333 - We chase an Alkiri Scout off Size 10 Inferno Helos in the north. The first Colship heads for Neptunis. Research shuffled to Planetology.

2334 - Scouts find size 25 Desert Bootis in the north. Volantis maxes out.

2335 - GNN reports on space fleet strength.



Not very surprising.

2336 - We chase the Alkiri off Firma. Controlled Barren nears completion, research is evened out. The 2nd Colship heads for Neptunis for Redirect to Guradas.

2337 - We chase the Alkiri off Anraq. Back off birdies, those are MY asteroids . Neptunus settled. I send 22 million from Volantis and 6 million from the homeworld to start it off.

2338 - The 3rd Colship heads for Incedius.

2339 - Controlled Barren hits. Research killed on Planetology and shifed evenly to the 3 non computer areas. A new Barren Base colship is designed and production is switched to that. Colship redirected to Guradas.

2343 - Guradas settled. The 4th Colship heads for Mobas. Volantis sends 16 million, Neptunus 5 million, and Nazin 9 million to start off our new artifacts planet.

2345 - Incedius settled. Volantis sends 4 million and Neptunus 6 million to start it off.

2346 - The 5th colship heads for Bootis.

2348 - Mobas settled. Neptunus sends 7 million to fill it up.

2349 - Scouts find size 85 terran Tau Cygni to the north. Looks like there isnt anyone up there afterall. Hopefully we can get a decent grab up thatways. Hmmm THIS isn't good news.



The LAST race I wanted to see get that kind of start got it...

2350 - Scouts find the Alkiri homeworld at the northernmost yellow of the long chain where I'd begun to suspect they lived.



The 6th Colship heads for Xengara. A Tundra Colship is designed.

2352 - Scouts find Size 60 Rich Barren Maalor in the north. Hope we get this baby people.

2353 - Meklars are found living at Stalaz, the 3rd yellow from the top along the main branch of the 6 yellow cluster.

.

Scouts find Collassa, a size 25 Artifacts planet just 4 parsects from the Alkiri homeworld, but as yet unsettled?? Bootis settled. Neptunus sends 16 million. The last of the colships for now heads off toward the tundra planet that settling Xengara will bring in range. With no reachable/habitable planets left to settle, Nazin kicks over to research for the moment. I'm hoping that settling Xengara will get me at least 1 Contact that I can get range 5 off of. If not, I'll consider making Huge long range colships .

2354 - We find Fieras, the 2nd yellow in the long chain.

.

Odd that I've barely seen the Kitties and they were this close. Improved 9 hits. GNN reports on fleet strength. Surprisingly we are not last.

.

2355 - Hyper V rockets hit. Just Class II deflectors and lots of cpu techs to go!

2356 - Jammer I hits. We debate a LONG time between Robotics III and Mark III before selecting Robotics III.

2357 - Class II deflectors hit, we set sail to cpu only research. Scouts in the north find size 35 Rich Toxic Gienah, and size 35 Tundra Ryoun. Xengara is settled and we make contact with the Bulrathi and with the Xenophobic Meklar.



Both races are small.



Nevertheless, they are killing me in production and tech. I dial up the Bulrathi and request a trade package, and tech trade. They respond this way.



I dial up the meklars, and ask for the same things. Here are their responses.



Lovely. Just great. I set spying to 2% of income on each for now. I dispatch 11 million from Volantis to the new planet.

2358 - Scouts in the north find size 95 Terran Morrig.

2360 - Spies with the bulrathi report they are up Scanner, Terra +10, Controlled Dead, and Range 5 on us. We tell the spy to go to espionage and crank up to 4%.

2361 - Spy with the meklars reports they are up BC II, Robotics III, Class III, Improved Ecco, Range 5, Gats and NPG's on us. yikes! Spies told to go to espionage and uped to 4%.

2362 - The Bears declare war .



I dial up the meklars again to ask for trade and/or help vs the evil Bears, and finally to break their alliance with the Bears.



This could get Ugly. I could lose this. I stop spying vs the meklars, and go to 6% vs the Bulrathi.

2363 - Rhilus settled, but I'm just renting it. The Bulrathi have a colship and 2 large ships on the way there.



I give up on the hope of peace any time soon. I design a crappy warp 1 laser fighter with a mark I comp and Reloc it to Xengara. Hopefully I can hold the line there and wait the Bulrathi out (sigh).

2367 - Disaster strikes the Klackons!

.

Yet annother attempt at Meklar trade is rebuffed, as is an attempt to get them to declare on the Bulrathi.



2368 -



Yeah, there goes my game maybe. I'll be lucky if I survive this war.

2369 - Rhilus gets overun by Bulrathi troops, 30 vs 4. No point taking a picture, I put up no fight for it. It's the first of hopefully not too many planets to fall .

2370 - Robotics III hits, we go for Mark IV. Researching Robotics III was pure in retrospect, but I THOUGHT I'd be in rapid settle mode rather than survival mode.

2371 - Battle over Xengara



Sigh. The bears design is too good for the few fighters I could muster. They knock my fighters aside like toys. Oh well, I had to try. I had hoped at least one of those designs was toting only missiles, but no, they were toting GATLING lasers, the absolute worst case for me right now. We get a tech theft success vs the Meklars with all fields but Force Fields available. We go for planetology hoping for a cleanup tech and we get



We frame the Bears for it.

Things look distinctly ungood at this point, but at least we have the tech theft machine starting. Will we be able to save Xengara? If not, what other planets may soon fall?

To be continued

[Maniac Marshall]

2372 - We get a successful theft vs the Bears. We go for Propulsion so we can get range 5. This is immediately followed by annother success vs the Meklarswith all fields available. I have to think about this one. We sure could use Neutron Pelet Guns, but might get gats. On the other hand, Construction will get us reduced waste 80%. I go for broke and pick weapons. Here is a look at this years proceedes.



So much for the good news. Now for the bad news



2375 - The Alkiri finally decide to grab that Artifacts planet next to their homeworld.



Uhh. We were just leaving. We get annother success vs the Bears with computers, weapons, or planetology available. We take Planetology and get



We frame the Meklars. I start terraforming. We offer the Bears a peace treaty with little hope and



(sigh)

2376 - The Vanguard arrives at Mobas.



We clear out for now.

2377 - We again retreat from Mobas, and will continue to do so untill we have a winning fleet.

2379 - Annother theft from the Bears. This time we steal computers, the only option, and get



We have some old laser fighters in orbit above Xengara and we begin bombing it. After we anihilate the Bear fleet, we'll make some nuke bombers for that sucker. At least that's the fantasy.

2380 - The Battle for Mobas is at hand. This time we are victorious! Mobas is saved!



The large stack of mine are npg fighters, the smaller one are laser fighters.

We kill 2 mediums over Xengara with our 9 laser fighters. We then get to choose between the 2 remaining Bear techs. I choose Controlled Dead over Ion Cannon.



Bulrathi Transports invading Mobas were all destroyed! The fleet heads to Xengara, Planets return to maxing factories for now.

2384 - The fleet entrenches over Xengara, we make annother theft from the Bulrathi.



Guradas and Nazin max out. Guradas orders up a Barren Colship to send to Maalor (Yeah, I'm using my Artifacts planet to make Colships. Desperate times call for desperate measures!), and Nazin orders up a new Neuclear Bomber design (Scraping the regular Colship design to clear room) to clear out resistance at Xengara and possibly beyond... Good News! The Bulrathi are now at war with the Klackons!

2385 - The Bombers head to Xengara along with 55 million from Nazin. Nazin is told to regrow the pop.

2386 - Colship heads out from Guradas to Maalor. Guradas orders up annother Barren Settler for Morig.

2387 - Colship heads to Morig. Guradas returns to research. Volantis and Incedius go over to Colship production.

2388 - Ooops I made scouts at Volantis

2390 - We get annother steal from the Bulrathi, all fields available that they know. Effectively I get to pick from BC III, Ion Cannon, and Terra +30. I select



2391 - Scouts in the north find size 25 Rich Radiated Paladia. GNN reports we lead both the Birdies and Kitties in Tech



This despite the fact we've barely done any research this game .

2392 - We capture Xengara without loss.



Nice 55 to 1 advantage we had going for us too . This gets us contact with the Kitties



It also reestablishes contact with the Meklar, with whom we are still at war. As per usual, the Kitties Suck. They have only their home planet. The Meklars only have 3 so far. I send the bombers on to Rhilus, though I hope to make peace with everyone soon. I dial up the Kitties and ask to start a maximum trade package of 100 BC. Holy cow. Someone will trade with me??



I reopen spying on the meklars at 4%.

2394 - We get yet annother theft opportunity vs the Bears. This time we can only choose Force Fields and we get



Guradas and Nazin both Max again. We desperately need to get some of these planets settled so I order up colships from both. We can catch up in tech later. We need to get as many of these planets peacably as we can.

2395 - Morig is settled, the first new colony in ages. Maalor is settled, the second new colony in ages . All Bulrathi transports en route to Xengara are eliminated. We finally get contact weith the Xenophobic Alkiri.



We try to initiate trade with Skylord. He accepts?! Wow. We are on a roll. Now lets see if we can end one or both of these silly wars.



On the other hand, the Meklars finally agree to be reasonable



Great, now how about starting trade? Will you consider helping us in our righteous fight against the Bears?



Oh well. On the tech front, the only deal I can get is BC II for Terra +30. Nopers. Not a chance. Volantis sends 18 million to Maalor, and Neptunus 30 million to Morig.

With peace made on the Meklar front, and trade and neutral relations on the bird/cat fronts things are looking up. Here is a picture of the universe as we know it.



Will we be able to get peace with the Bears? If not, can we keep holding out against them? Stay tuned.

[Sirian]

It does appear that turnout was very low. Also for the Epic, which I thought was a rather strong scenario. A number of players had complained about lack of higher difficulty games, not wanting to play extreme Emperor variants. ::shrug:: I just do the best I can with supplying good stuff to play.

I know the Imperia got started on the back of my excitement, and that when I lost the ability to play MOO on my work computer, due to hardware and software upgrades that rendered it unworkable, that the "second computer" idea just hasn't panned out like I thought. Some other things have been disappointing within MOO, as well, such as laying bare the dice rolls involved with the voting. Then there's the fact that the Negative Fleet Bug fix I had found isn't cutting it. But mostly, I think it's my absence. My enthusiasm can be a powerful force, but I didn't keep it in place long enough for us to generate self-perpetuating momentum. I'm sorry about that.

Some things changed for me, and I had to cut back on other things. I still hope that the Imperia will live on, but I may have to adjust my ambitions in regard to scenarios. I had wanted IMP6 to be a jewel, and I thought that if I could obtain that, that it would get us over a hump. Well, my first attempt didn't work out, and the tools for crafting scenarios are all "third party software" and somewhat clumsy. My high hopes fell flat because I turned them into vaporware. My bad. At least in Civ3, I can put together a good map fairly quickly and customize all the essentials without pain.

Some of the IMP games played so far have been spectacular. MOO is fertile ground for heroic, even epic tales. I do plan to continue, even if the participation stays low.


I'm looking forward to your full report. Sorry for the mix up. Yeah, must have gotten lost in the mail.


- Sirian

[Maniac Marshall]

2397 - We get space superiority at Rhilus and I start bombing. Hopefully this will bring the bears to the peace table. I forgot to send out the 2 new colships.... I do so now. 3 more colships will be ready to send next turn. That will do it for now.

2398 - We bomb some more and send out the last 3 colships. The bears are about to up the ante at Xengara



Those incoming Meklar ships you see were incoming when they made peace, so they WILL turn arround (I think..). Those Bear ships however... Unless those mediums are toting bad missiles and no guns I cant stop them from gaining orbit. I tried to crash up a base, but it's going to be one turn too late. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, I decide to try for peace one more time with the Bears



Wow, what incredible on their part. It was risky on my part too, because if you keep asking too often you can just piss them off and make it even harder to get peace, but clearly it was worth that risk. They refuse trade for the bazillionth time though



2399 - Here is the status report 100 years in showing relative power and my current "high tech" fleet. The scraped designs beyond defaults are just Colony II (reg base), and Colony IV (tundra base). The bombers are just taking up space now really, and I'll probably scrap them in a minute. The Scout II's are nearly just space eaters too. Remember I acidentally made some one turn, thats why so many. We just showed the universe 4 years ago, so I wont repeat that.



I havent really talked about it, but everyone but the Alkiri are at war with the Klackons. The only alliance right now is bear/cat, but the meklars pop in and out of alliances with those 2. I decide to turn spying against the Bears off for now. They only have 2 techs on me anyhow. I do some hide spying on the others. I know the Meklars have a bunch of stuff, but I dont want to piss them off until I can secure Xengara. I decide to make some more of my whimpy warp 1 npg point defense fighters to send over till it can get bases up.

2400 - Scouts in the north find Size 50 Barren Raiden, Size 100 Jungle Fertile Selia, both now in range. I REALLY want Selia, so I swap the Artifacts planet over to make settlers for these 2 planets. The homeworld is making spiders to defend Xengara. The kitties have spores and fusion bombs. The birdies have improved 8 and neuclear engines. I really want the fusion bombs and the neuclear engines so I'm going to try to steal those. The Meklars have all sorts of stuff I'm scared to try for.

2401 - Talas founded. I send 48 million from poor Neptunus to start off Rich Tallas. I tell Neptunus to grow people.

2402 - Scouts in the far north find Size 35 Rich Toxic Exis. The Bears now have neutron blasters.

2403 - Primordius is settled. I send half the population of incedius to fill it up, then tell Incedius to grow pop. The Alkiri have joined the Klackon dogpile.

2404 - Tau Cygni settled. I send it 39 million from Neptunus to get it started. I get dissed by the bears & cyborgs again



Umm, waaaaaaaaait. They said yes?! Holy friggin cow. They BOTH agree?? Now if I can just get these jokers up into the friendly area while I up my computers tech and pick somone a little easier to pick on militarily (Alkiri?), we might win this thing. Wow, the bears have Duralloy and Stabelizer now... I might have to risk some spying vs them soon. They will trade me IC now, but no way I'm coughing up Robotics III for it.

2405 - BC IV hits. The new choices are



No way I'm going after Robotics IV right now. I'm still gagging on Robotics III. I just got a BC, so I'll take the easy out and go for the jammer

2406 - Tyr founded. I send 15 million apiece from Neptunus and Incedius. Bears now have BC III. I decide to up spying vs the bears in hopes of obtaining the highly prized stabelizer and trading it. It's a big risk, but what the heck. Kitties now have Mercs!

2407 - We get penetration vs kitties and go for weapons. I lost the picture, but we managed to steal FUSION BOMBS We frame the birds figuring we may want to attack them soonish, and figuring the cats will drag the meklars and bulrathi in with them.

This is followed up by this gem.



Well, now if I DO get some decent weapons and the stabelizer, I could build a decent fleet in a pinch.

2409 - Rayden founded. I send 30 million from Morrig to start it off. Both my former war opponets improve to Wary. The Bears now have sub-light drives The Meklars now have Stingers! I'm simply going to have to risk stealing off the Meklars. I change all to 2% Espionage.

2411 - Ryoun founded. The High Council meets. Darloks vs Klackons. Wow, I could probably win right here. Klackons 9 votes themselves, Bears 8 votes me, Kitties 1 vote me, Birdies 3 votes me, Cyborgs 3 votes me. Yep, I COULD win right here. But my varient doens't allow that. I vote for the Klackons.



I sent 10 mil from Morig to Ryoun to start it off. Terraforming started at some of the newer planets.

2412 - We get a breakthrough vs the Meklars, all fields available. Tough Choices. Comp is tempting, So is Weapons for missiles, but we go for force fields and hope for planetary sheilds, but get class III (oops, lost the pic). Crap. We blame the Bulrathi. Selia settled. GNN special report



Whoh whats this? Eratic Bugs?



Nooooooo. I don't WANT contact with eratic, runnaway bugs! Go friggin away! Please? Damn .

So how did I get contact? Ah, they took Zhardan away from the Alkiri and have at least range 7... Lets take a look at a couple things here.



Yeah, pretty much my worst fears confirmed. Runaway Klackons. In a normal game I'd feel pretty sure I could win. It IS only hard and we arent THAT far behind them. If nothing else the diplo option would suffice, and I'd take it given the universal situation. But thats off the table here. Even still, I'd feel confident I could keep up with them in tech ordinarily, but here? Wow. This is really friggin scary.

After thought I decide to keep spying up vs everyone, and to sign the bugs to minimal trade to try to stablize the non erratic relations

.

Wow. LOTS of Goodies here. What do they want for those shields?



Robotics III is a steep price, but well worth it. It could save entire systems.

With the situation like this, I decided to stop for the night. There would be tough choices to be made tomorrow.

To be continued...

[Maniac Marshall]

2413 - I'm really going to enjoy killing those Bears



Whats this? Meklars too? Nope. They like us



Improved enough to help me in my hour of need?



Sigh. At least the Klackons will play ball



If only they weren't erratic...

2414 - Thats not good



2416 - We get a theft vs our pals the Klackons, all fields available. We REALLY need missiles, so I go for weapons. Out of HL/Drivers/Mercs/Stingers we get...



Talk about your worst case scenareo Jammer IV hits. The choices are



We go for Mark VI.

2418 - We get annother theft vs the Klackons. We try again for Weapons and get not only bad luck again, but caught again.



Sigh. What incredibly bad luck.

2419 - Annother theft vs the bugs, but no weapons or propulsion, so its low level. I go for construction figuring I'll probably get Reduced 80%. What I do get is



I frame the hated bears. I pick this usless thing up for Controlled Dead



Now I don't have to worry about stealing it. I pick up this for the inefficient mass driver



Meklars still refuse to help vs the evil Bears



2420 - Great. The other shoe drops



2423 - GNN Reports what we allready knew



The Kitties get drug in by their alliance mates



2424 - Terrific. My frontline world rebells.



I send 40 mil from Nazin.

2425 - We get annother success vs the Bugs, all fields available. We go for weapons to get missiles and we get



and frame the bears. High council vote. Bugs 14 themselves, Bears 8 votes the Bugs, Cats 1 vote the Bugs, Birds 3 votes me, Cyborgs 3 votes the Bugs, me 12 votes abstain... that was too close.

2426 - Annother bug theft. No weapons or Propulsion. We go back to construction and pull



which is useful. GNN reports on fleet strenghts



I'm really just lacking decent engines now. I have stingers and pelet guns, and fusion bombs, but making an attack force with warp 2 isn't my plan.

2427 - Still annother theft vs the klackons. Geez, if I could only get this luck accross the board. I choose propulsion hoping for an engine and get.



I frame the Bears. Mark VI hits, I go back to grab Mark III since its about time to start hammering. Now that I have an engine, I'm ready to start building a fleet I think. First I scrap everything but the fighters. The fighters are still serving as a deterrent force over Xengara. Lets start with this design



Why the boats first? Simple. Before I build either beamers or bombers, I might manage to steal Fusion Drives (klackon have em), or Stebelizer (several people have it). The extra movement is more beneficial to those 2 types of crafts.

2428 - Still annother Success vs the Bugs all fields open. They are up the following

Computers - BC III, Improved Scanner, Robotics IV
Force Fields - Class IV
Propulsion - Stabelizer, Range 8, Fusion
Construction - Improved 8, 6, 5
Planetology - Spores, Soil Enrichment
Weapons - Mercs, Anti Matter Torps.

There are so many good choices there. Computers is scary because Robotics IV would be a killer, so its really between propulsion, construction, and planetology. I decide to go for construction hoping for one of the good cheap factory techs. I also get a goodie from the Bears.We go for propulsion knowing what we'll get. Here you see our goodies for the turn.



We get a little of our own



The Bears show up with dissipators . They need to go first and soon. I call off spying vs the Alkiri because they have droped all alliances and having 1 friend is good, and vs the cats because its pointless as all they have are spores and mercs. I order up a new design



I'd have prefered a better computer, but none I had would fit. I make those off 3 planets, and the stingers off nazin. The meklars are sending a huge at Xengara...

2429 -



Yes klackon's, it has (crosses fingers)
2430 - The rich planets max out. Maalor starts on a planetary shield, Talas on Missile boats. Hmm, actually it looks like the meklars are using that dread to scout? Weed.

2431 - BC III hits, we go for BC VII. The klackons take Collasa from the Alkiri =/.

2432 - We get a minor penetration vs the meklars,so we go for computers and get



Meanwhile, my imperial troopers finally arrive at Xengara



That was too close...

2433 - Annother Klackon success, all fields available. I go for planetology hoping for Soil Enrichment and





I decide to hold off a couple turns before starting, except at Guradas and Neptunis, which are my research planets, because I want to get a winning fleet first. Great, the bears have battle suits. Looks like I'm glassing them .

2434 - Great, Guradas has a bug and wont soil enrich .

2435 - A success vs the meklars. We go for planetology knowing we'll get



Oh swell. Just GREAT :mad:



We go into turtle mode in the north, stoping factories and starting shields/bases. At least Guradas unbugs and Enriches...


To be continued

[Maniac Marshall]

2436 - Meklars finally make their play for Xengara. I'm not impressed.



We shread them easily. Annother all field success vs the Klackons and Bears. We go for Computers and Construction respectively and get



2437 - We penetrate the Meklars, all fields available. We decide to grab scatter packs for the bases (picture - lost ).

2438 - We get a low level penetration vs the bears. We can pick between Terra +20 and IC. We get IC for a 2 space beam.



Time to start building something to hold the planets we take.



Yeah, thats the ticket. Time to pay a visit to the bears. An invasion of Rhilus ordered up.

2439 - The Klackons decide to contribute more tech to us, albeit a low level one. We get a construction only swipe from the meklars. Here you see the results.



Ah well, gotta clear out them duds sometime.

2440 - We arrive at Rhilus, the planet we rented so long ago. Now we are here to buy it .



It's no contest. We then rub salt into the Bear wounds with a lowest level penetration, and get to pick from Jammer III, Range 6, or reduced 60% from the meklars.



Spies hit maalor



We bomb Rhilus.



Crap. I hadn't counted on the bombers being able to glass 73 million in one shot. There are 70 million dead bodies on the way from Nazin . Oh well. I have Nazin make a colony ship. I'll send it to settle, then send some more people.

2441 - We lift Class IV deflectors off the bears. Penetration wasnt deep enough to get dissipators .



I notice the Alkiri are now under full dogpile .

2442 - Annother medium penetration vs the Bears. We take Jammer III. Then we relieve the Meklars of Mercs



Hmm, whats this? Bears want peace? Wow, they REALLY want peace.



Sorry, I'm no longer interested. You had your chance bear boy.

2443 - Meklars arrive at Xengara



Fleet anihilated. Also anihilated 30 some Bulrathi mediums at the glassed planet. I didn't think to get a picture as I thought they'd run.

2445 - We annihilate 3 more Dreads at Xengara. Our point defense fighters are getting whittled away there. We get yet annother all field success vs the bugs. We go for Planetology and get



I start Atmospheric all over the place.

2446 - Still annother swipe vs the bugs, all but Planetology available. I go for computers and get



Time to talk to the Bugs. They liked my little invasion against the bears and will now not only talk but make peace.



I then ship them Reduced 60% (they allready have 80%, not much diffrence) for this that might come in handy



Swell, the Bears have repulsors. I need to hurry this up.

2447 - We arrive at Ursa.



Damn. When did the Bears get planetary shields? We lose aobut 1/3 of our bombers finding this out. Just terrific. We are going to need a much bigger fleet to take them out now.

2448 - We chase the cats off our recently reacquired planet.

2449 - I send a bigger force at Ursa. Hopefully it's enough.

2450 - Time to vote. Bugs 21 themselves, Bears 8 the Bugs, Cats 1 the Bugs, Birds 1 me, Cyborgs 3 the bugs, me 18 abstain.

2451 - Retry at Ursa. This time we succeede



.

We also get more tech contributions from the bugs,



This scans a ton of planets for us. I send 37 million from Rhilus, and 34 Million from Xengara at Urasa, then send Reinforcments to these planets from Nazin and Volantis.

2452 - Annother success vs the Klackons and the Bears. We pick planetology to get Terra +50, but have to take weapons from the Bears

.

We bomb Ursa some more



Ah well, we might need heavy blast cannons soon. I send 1/3 of the fleet at ursa to Tauri 1 turn away so we dont overkill the bears on the next bombing. Start Terraforming basically everywhere. Things are happening so fast no I cant keep up with them. The joys or riding the coat tails of runaway klackons.

2453- Wow tauri is a total walkover.



We lift repulsors off the Bears



We bomb Ursa



Oh yeah, Now THIS will be FUN. Lets do some ground pounding on URSA shall we?



Taking the Bulrathi homeworld via ground invasion? Priceless. That's a lot better kill ratio than I expected. The Birds and Bugs love me now.





That should give me some breathing room in the north.



You'll note the Alkiri are basically toast, with the Kitties likely to follow them out the door quickly. You'll also note the Klackons are still signifigantly ahead of me in production at the moment, though we've really closed the gap in tech. The only race other than the Klackons with any good tech I dont have is the Bears who have Dissipators. And finally about the fleet. I've probably got too many fighters and not enough bombers. Losing those bombers at Ursa made me shft to building escorts, plus I needed some "traffic cop" ships to protect new acquisitions, but I do need more bombers right now.

Well, things are diefinately looking way up for the Darlok Imperium. Can we keep up the momentum?

Don't touch that dial!

[Maniac Marshall]

2454 - We blow up a bear counter at Tauri, killing 5 large and 26 mediums for the price of a couple dozen fighters. We get annother steal success off the Bugs with all fields available. We grab construction and get:



We locate Orion:

.

We get the assassination event against the meklars, with whom we are allready at war . They recall their ambassador .



I've never seen that hit somone who was allready at war with the race they tried to assassinate.

Wow, we got caught stealing?



The bears come begging for their miserable lives.



Sorry Berar boys. I TRIED to be friendly MORE THAN ONCE. It's too late now.

The Alkiri love me



I send 38 million from Xengara to Tauri, and send Replacments to Xengara from Nazin. The Meklars make a play for Rhilus with a lone warp one dread .

2454 - Annother successful theft off the Bugs with computers and construction not available. We take Propulsion and come out with:



The Klackons like me again.



2456 - Mark VII hits. Choices are BC V, Jammer VI, Jammer VII, and, BC VIII. We go for Jammer VII.

2457 - We do Battle above Tauri. We lose about 3 dozen fighters, but take out 8 larges of varying designs and 26 mediums. Annother Klackon theft attempt succeedes. We go for Construction hoping for the recently discovered Tritanium Armor.



Oh well.

Damn, we come up short at Tauri.



Oh well, I send 31 million from Ursa. It's mine next turn. I send a big batch from Nazin to Ursa and tell Nazin to regrow em. I decide to make only one more turn of ships of current design. I'm getting tech so fast, especially construction, that they are nearly obsolete.

2458 - OK, I got lackidasical at Tauri. I guess I shouldn't play this game when I'm half asleep.



We lose.

OMG, you have to be kidding me. :mad:



They win like 30 vs 4? I send 17 more million. I stop shipbuilding and throw everything to research. Time to pull ahead of the Klackons.

2459 - The Meklar dread goes poof before firing a shot. We FINALLY take Tauri =/. I completely botched this operation. I should have stoped and gone to bed at this point...



The reserve is finally building. I shift some to the few still developing planets. Play arround with ship designs. We are near to having a good small merc boat . I order up a runover of aurora.

2460 - Hmmm I Underestimated what was needed at Aurora, I did. Must have looked at the wrong planet. Or, more likely, I was just too tired to concentrate on what I was doing. We run. We get to go shoping at the Klackons and Bears expense again.



Sigh.

We get the wealthy merchant event.



2461 - We lift Antidote off the bears (only choice)



We note the Kitties Star Kingdom is Dead Dead Dead.



We cue up a better 2nd try at Aurora.

2462- We still end up retreating from the bases at Aurora, though we do trash the entire Bear fleet there (lost the picture DOH). In 3 turns Aurora dies. Say good night Kitties.



2463 - Jammer VII hits, We go for Robotics VI over Jammer VIII or BC IX.

2464 - This didn't take long:



I cue up a THIRD try at Aurora and cue up an attack on Stalaz

2465 - This should be cake right?



... Or maybe not. I forgot they have scatter packs. Man, I should NOT play this game half asleep. I use the Stingers to hit the bases taking them down to 7, and the bombers as decoys which then retreat. We'll go home, reload, and retry in 2 turns.

Meanwhile at Aurora:



We Finally succede losing about 1/4 of our bombers. Time for a better bomber design very soon methinks. We start to bomb Aurora, then decide not to. We'll half the fleet then bomb it next turn. The Klackons now have Hyperspace Comm?! Half the fleet at Aurora heads for Gora.

2466 - Walkover at Gora.



And Aurorra, we easily take over I forgot to get the orbital pic, but here is the result.



2467 - We try again at Stalaz, and this time I'm sure enough to order a same turn ground invasion.



We slag the defenses. We get a minor penetration vs the Klackons. Choices basically Range 8 or Graveton Beams. We take the beams for miniaturization.



Erm, when did they get megabolt cannon? We pass on Bombing Stalaz, figuring we'll win the ground battle 52 vs 46.We pass on bombing the Bears too. We easily win the ground battle vs the Meklars and pull some goodies from the wreckage.



2468 - We repell a couple joke attacks by the bears. Get a nice breakthrough vs the bears. Basically a pick between dissipators and Hard Beams. We take the obvious choice:



We try our luck at ground invasion on Aurora. 112 vs 50. We probably lose bigtime methinks. OK, not bigtime. We do take out 86% of the opposition.



The Bears desperately try again for peace.



I notice the Meklars are toast.



Thats a really scary fleet. Depending on whats on that fleet, it could slag MY planets. What's even MORE scary is they have 3 other fleets about half that size... I'm done playing games with the Bears. I'm going to grab Aurora with ground troops to get their last techs, then I'll just slag Gora and Phantos and resettle. I'll let the klackons take the poor and ultra poor on the western edge. I finally disband those warp 1 point defense fighters. They served me well, but their day is done. I also disband the colship design and make a 4E design. I make 2 of those out of Xengara to resettle the 2 planets I plan to slag.

2469 - We get annother breakthrough vs the bugs, all fields available. We go for construction for the armor and get:



Robotic controlls VI hits. We go for BC X over Jammer IX. We slag Gora.



It's 39 vs 8 at Aurora. We get pretty good luck.



GNN interrupts our tech salvage to report the following:



Hmm, the bugs don't like us stealing? I direct them to Sirian's Complaint Department .



I send colships to Gora and Phantos while coordinating the Slaging of Phantos. No need to spy on the Bears anymore. I put all 10% of the spying budget on the Klackons. We now have gropo advantage over the Bears, so I change my mind about wasting all those factories at Phantos and send 87 million from Nazin, setting it to regrow pop. Everywhere else starts working on Robotics VI factories. I start thinking about ship designs for the upcoming final war.

To be continued tomorrow night after NLCS Game 7.

See you then.