WARNING: This is long post, the author apologizes for being a long winded idiot.
Well, I just got done winning my first game on Hard Difficulty (yeah I am quite a newbie, get over it). I had several observations.
The first is that Klackons are way overpowered in a human player's hands (I am sure you guys already knew this).
The second though was a bit more unexpected. I had the most peaceful start to any game I have ever played on any difficulty. The galaxy was large which accounts for some of this, but this went on well after the first several votes. I only encountered one brush war near the end of my expansion phase, in which the Psilons (nearly runaway Psilons) stole a newly founded colony before I had a chance to stand it up/defend it. This was the only conflict I saw or experienced until very late in the game. In retrospect, the colony was just a bit too far to try and strech, but I wanted to do my best to deny the Psilons as many systems as I could to avoid the Psilon Psteamroller. As it was they well exceeded the 1 Psilon planet to every 2 of yours rule.
Also in this game was a near runaway Meklar, yes I said Meklar. They actually ended up holding roughly 1/5 of the planets on the map (including a Rich and an Ultra Rich). Both the Meklar and the Psilons held just about all the northern hemisphere together, and the Psilons held a few planets just south of the equator in the far west. So I was up against a Ruthless Expansionist Meklar, an Honorable Diplomat Psilon (thank goodness for a good draw there), an Erratic Expansionist Silicoid, an Agressive Expansionist Mrrshan, and Xenophobic Ecologist Alkari stuck with 2 planets.
After the brush war, I consolidated my empire, secured a few choice systems to colonize after getting the appropriate tech, and wait for the inevitable war to break out to allow me to exploit pointy stick diplomacy for an election victory. And so I waited, votes came and went, and yet no wars broke out, anywhere. Even the Mrrshans and Alkari refused to start a war despite being cornered having 3 and 2 planets respectively. I held non-agression pacts with all races, and all upheld them even the Erratic Expansionist Silicoids which were locked in a corner for an obscenely long time.
I started looking for ways to diplomacy a war, however I started noticing several disturbing facts. The first was there was some major alliance action going on. The Meklars held alliances with most other races throughout the game. They were nearly always in a persistant alliance with the other major AI power, the Psilons. At one point the Psilons had an alliance with every other AI race. Since the Psilons and the Meklars together held a little under 1/2 the map, and both had a tech lead, I could not afford to get in a war with both of them at once. As such, I could not afford to start a war with anyone, as that would likely put me into war with all of the AI's. And so I waited and invested heavily in tech.
Eventually, and by this I mean somewhere around 2430, the Mrrshans finally decided it was time to break out of their 3 planet corner, and decided the best way was through me. On the Exact same turn, the Alkari decide it is time to do the same through the Meklars. This was the break I was looking for, I use some diplomacy to get the Psilons at war with the Mrrshans (the Meklar were not in contact). This in turn triggered the alliance with the Meklars to declare war on the Mrrshans (whom they still did not have contact), and coincidentally the Silicoids are drawn into the war against both through their alliances (See why I didn't want to fight). I used this opportunity to sieze all the good worlds from the Mrrshan, and knab the Artifacts world from the Alkari. This war took all of 10 turns to complete. Altair potatoed for a while after this, but though I hoped it would start a war, the AI refused to let a few million colonists start another war. Fortunately, this did allow my Alliance to the Meklar (which I started to avoid the Meklar joining with the Psilons in a war against me, that and the Psilons were my most frequent opponent for the vote). It also drove a small rift between the Meklar and the Psilons, causing their alliance to break and never reform.
To cut a very long story down to ... well a not quite as long story, Erratic hit on the Silicoids finally and drew up a war with the Psilons and Silicoids against the Meklar and Klackons. I had achieved tech, production, and population dominance, and so was able to win easily from that point.
Ok, so that was long, and ended up being more like a battle report, but I was wondering if any of you had similar experiences with such a long stretch without anyone being at war. I suspect all the alliances were what kept the cornered AI's quiet as it allowed them opportunities to expand to colonies otherwise out of reach. I also could have tried ot get an extra world or two during expansion, but was already streched pretty thin. At one point I was expanding almost beyond my ability to feed new colonies with population to get them up and running. Perhaps my not pressing the AI too hard for land also helped to keep the peace longer.
Just curious,
StuporMan
Well, I just got done winning my first game on Hard Difficulty (yeah I am quite a newbie, get over it). I had several observations.
The first is that Klackons are way overpowered in a human player's hands (I am sure you guys already knew this).
The second though was a bit more unexpected. I had the most peaceful start to any game I have ever played on any difficulty. The galaxy was large which accounts for some of this, but this went on well after the first several votes. I only encountered one brush war near the end of my expansion phase, in which the Psilons (nearly runaway Psilons) stole a newly founded colony before I had a chance to stand it up/defend it. This was the only conflict I saw or experienced until very late in the game. In retrospect, the colony was just a bit too far to try and strech, but I wanted to do my best to deny the Psilons as many systems as I could to avoid the Psilon Psteamroller. As it was they well exceeded the 1 Psilon planet to every 2 of yours rule.
Also in this game was a near runaway Meklar, yes I said Meklar. They actually ended up holding roughly 1/5 of the planets on the map (including a Rich and an Ultra Rich). Both the Meklar and the Psilons held just about all the northern hemisphere together, and the Psilons held a few planets just south of the equator in the far west. So I was up against a Ruthless Expansionist Meklar, an Honorable Diplomat Psilon (thank goodness for a good draw there), an Erratic Expansionist Silicoid, an Agressive Expansionist Mrrshan, and Xenophobic Ecologist Alkari stuck with 2 planets.
After the brush war, I consolidated my empire, secured a few choice systems to colonize after getting the appropriate tech, and wait for the inevitable war to break out to allow me to exploit pointy stick diplomacy for an election victory. And so I waited, votes came and went, and yet no wars broke out, anywhere. Even the Mrrshans and Alkari refused to start a war despite being cornered having 3 and 2 planets respectively. I held non-agression pacts with all races, and all upheld them even the Erratic Expansionist Silicoids which were locked in a corner for an obscenely long time.
I started looking for ways to diplomacy a war, however I started noticing several disturbing facts. The first was there was some major alliance action going on. The Meklars held alliances with most other races throughout the game. They were nearly always in a persistant alliance with the other major AI power, the Psilons. At one point the Psilons had an alliance with every other AI race. Since the Psilons and the Meklars together held a little under 1/2 the map, and both had a tech lead, I could not afford to get in a war with both of them at once. As such, I could not afford to start a war with anyone, as that would likely put me into war with all of the AI's. And so I waited and invested heavily in tech.
Eventually, and by this I mean somewhere around 2430, the Mrrshans finally decided it was time to break out of their 3 planet corner, and decided the best way was through me. On the Exact same turn, the Alkari decide it is time to do the same through the Meklars. This was the break I was looking for, I use some diplomacy to get the Psilons at war with the Mrrshans (the Meklar were not in contact). This in turn triggered the alliance with the Meklars to declare war on the Mrrshans (whom they still did not have contact), and coincidentally the Silicoids are drawn into the war against both through their alliances (See why I didn't want to fight). I used this opportunity to sieze all the good worlds from the Mrrshan, and knab the Artifacts world from the Alkari. This war took all of 10 turns to complete. Altair potatoed for a while after this, but though I hoped it would start a war, the AI refused to let a few million colonists start another war. Fortunately, this did allow my Alliance to the Meklar (which I started to avoid the Meklar joining with the Psilons in a war against me, that and the Psilons were my most frequent opponent for the vote). It also drove a small rift between the Meklar and the Psilons, causing their alliance to break and never reform.
To cut a very long story down to ... well a not quite as long story, Erratic hit on the Silicoids finally and drew up a war with the Psilons and Silicoids against the Meklar and Klackons. I had achieved tech, production, and population dominance, and so was able to win easily from that point.
Ok, so that was long, and ended up being more like a battle report, but I was wondering if any of you had similar experiences with such a long stretch without anyone being at war. I suspect all the alliances were what kept the cornered AI's quiet as it allowed them opportunities to expand to colonies otherwise out of reach. I also could have tried ot get an extra world or two during expansion, but was already streched pretty thin. At one point I was expanding almost beyond my ability to feed new colonies with population to get them up and running. Perhaps my not pressing the AI too hard for land also helped to keep the peace longer.
Just curious,
StuporMan
