Home » Stars! 2.6/7 » Game stories » Line of Supply / Fog of War has ended
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| Re: Line of Supply / Fog of War has ended |
Tue, 26 August 2008 17:12   |
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 perrindom |
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Messages: 129
Registered: August 2005
Location: Denmark | |
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Per's gameplan and game summary of inside thought and major events
Race in brief: "Templars", WM, NRSE, CE, OBRM, RS, grav left half, temp almost entire band, rad narrow center, 1 in 5.8, 18%, 12/9/13/checked, 10/3/17, W and P cheap, rest exp., start at 3
Gameplan:
* get good prop asap (P7=warp8)
* scout fast to about 250 ly
* dispatch DDs to cover all good planets within scanned range to prevent others to colonize them
* if a good perimiter planet already has been taken, then invade it while keeping the DDs on CAP (combat air patrol - carrier warfare doctrine)
* deny enemies to scout that same area using WM early assets: Yakis and battle speed
* the idea is to make a claim on all the good greens along likely borders with warships and only little pop (or only warships), and send the pop in force later on without sacrificing early pop growth too much
* tricky thing will be diplomacy, not to make enemies with everyone I meet, the only race I fear early to mid game is SS [edit: their rogues are as designed to totally overcome my early strategy, very long range, very tough colonizers/transports]
* consolidate and maintain perimiter while researching W8 and EL5, and extending scouting to find out who should be first target
* strike with DD-baz in the 30-ies if it has fair prospects
2400:
Started on the right edge 2/5ths from the bottom, which is not too good: not a nice corner position and only have 180 degrees of expansion. Looking at the concentration of planets to the W and SW, that will where I will scout and expand to first. Started in 1st place, probably due to high starting tech levels.
2409:
After a red start, the greens are beginning to show at the perimeter. Plans are laid to scout to about 300 ly using scout and DD in tandem. Since the nearest good green is 184 ly away, a rush is made to get prop 7 by 2411, which should get me DD power projection at a range of 200 by 2416 and 320 by 2420.
2411:
First contact: with Dreamclouds at Captain Jack. Sent alliance proposal. Brisk and vivid communication.
2412:
Allied with Dreamclouds/Altruist. Dropped to 2nd place.
2413:
Economic expansion will definately be SE and S where there is clusters of no less than 3 good green than 4 green and 1 yellow respectively. Having spoken further with Dreamcloads, is it apparant that our races support each other very well re hab and tech.
2416:
Scout contact with Redsilver/Dashiva, who gave alliance proposal, which will be declined.
2419:
The Dreamcloud-Templar alliance has set its first major objective as taking out RedSilver (IS) and taking control of the center, thus containing the RedSilver's expansion in our direction and colonizing in his space has top priority. A task-force is dispatched to settle Wallace only 155 ly from suspected RedS HW Uqbar. Other objectives are for the Templars to deny others colonizing anything inside a Bonaparte-Oregano circle 360 ly from the Templar's HW.
2422:
Uqbar confirmed as RedSilver's HW. In the North, Europe (likely SS) has settled two planets the last two years, so the goal of keeping everyone out of the Bonaparte cluster failed. A high risk invasion force of 1 trans (26k) and 1 DD dispatched to pop-drop Bonaparte (20k pop). Focus changed to keep Europe away from the Garnet cluster where there also are some planets with similar hab.
2423:
Received non-agreession proposal from Europe. The response in kind was placing a DD in orbit of one his fledgeling worlds - unwritten declaration of war.
2425:
High risk mission to invade Europe owned Bonaparte succeeded.
2427:
War against RedSilver is going very well. I invaded Doris (2k pop only) and my ally is guaranteed to take Waterfall 2428. It is time to start planning what fleet to use to take his HW.
In the North center I concluded NAP (gentleman agreement only, no written contract) with ThiefLord's SlyOnes (SD) with Luigi as a 'border' across which we will not attack but only wage limited war behind to keep the other out.
2428:
Europe re-took Bonaparte with 5 yaki rogues, so no help there in using battle order to target transports first.
2430:
Joint DC-Templar strategy was agreed upon eliminating RedSilver in the center first, then going for each our SS enemies at the corners. For quite some years that means I will be waging a stalemate strategy vs. Europe to keep him in the upper 1/3 of the map while I develop in the lower 2/3.
2432:
Europe hasn't colonized any more planets. It seems Shima and RedSilver are allied. All around our borders we have succesfully halted any enemy to colonize any planet since 2423. Dreamclouds are building fleet to strike RedSilver planet Sutra in 2438+Cheap Engines. I will support with 4 CC-deltas. This fleet will have a limited objective of Sutra and possible RedSilver's HW Uqbar. After that our plan in to get W12/P11/C10/C13 (warp 10 jihad BCs/BBs)
2435:
Europe has made some very battle-fast rouges to hunt my scouts, and since I need to litter the space with scouts to locate him (SS), I have a scouting war ahead of me - up hill! Counter-measure: warp10 scouts jumping out and back from an escort that thus acts as a carrier. The escort must also contain a battle order decoy so he cannot trail the unarmed scouts. Right now it will be a test of how far South he is willing to give chase - where is his picket line.
In the center RedSilver has not for many years been building any ships of importance, so he must be researching to catch up in tech. So far I have just played out my initial game plan and it has stood its ground quite well.
2436:
Until now Europe has made no attempt to settle PCP or Foucault's World, which I don't understand. They should be real goodies to him. Made 2 CC-deltas at Bar None (bordering to Europe) to support against him making some cheap FFs to counter my FFs in the area.
2437:
Launced a mission to colonize Hal in the no man's land up North between me and Europe, and then move on to a sneaky and risky hit on Oh Ho Ho's station using 2 CC-deltas. Objective is to pop invade both Oh Ho Ho and Bonaparte.
2438:
AAAAAARRRGGGHHhh... The entire mini-campaign of taking Oh Ho Ho and Bonaparte compromised, because I by mistake moved my CC-deltas in to open space. Aborting mission.
2439:
Europe fitted his bases with Deltas. Preparing LR recon in force instead.
2441:
Europe is moving 5 CC-Js South, ETA Hal 2444. Dreamclouds took Redsilver HW.
2442:
Strategy insight. For many years I have been wanting to attack Europe's 2 outposts North of Bar None, but it had to with a fleet design that can compete many years. The decision to wait for BB-IS10-Jihads feel absolutely right instead of going with BCs. It was also a matter maturing my empire. Right now I have nowhere to expand, I only need to settle one green in my ally's space, and there are no green planet visible to me in my enemies' space. Population is spread to almost identical hold levels all over, so from an economy point of view it is time to let my planets grow on their own while building a fleet. My designs will have to be very long lasting since it will take me 6-8 years at warp 10 to get to the battle zone. A service length of 25+ years for BB-Js is expected before a new generation arrive in battle to relieve them.[edit: next generation saw its first light in 2455+ 8-10 years to get to the front so the 25 years wasn't too far of]
The plan for the next 10 years: keep status quo with SlyOnes (limited warfare, only scouts crossing the border just to get shot down). Take Europe's two outposts. Then see if I should begin full-scale war on SlyOnes also. No research, only shipbuilding, let planets hold at 50% to keep up growthrate and to have some pop to move to conquered planets.
2447:
Hal has finally been terraformed green and Europe bombed almost all of the 140000 pop.
2448:
Europe bombed the surviving 7000 pop at Hal to dust, and withdrew the rest of his fleet to Oh Ho Ho.
2451:
Finally Europe's HW is located: Rho. Europe ousted from Oh Ho Ho. SlyOnes wanted to break NAP because he feels I'm sweeping too many fields, although I have done the best I could to only sweep 1 year away from my own bases, and because he feels too many ships are moving his way, but their destination is Europe's two planets.
2456:
Game over as the other players conceded. Victory goes to Dreamclouds/Templars. The Templars were fortunate to start with lots of distance to the other player, had a slightly above average hab draw, and were able to stick their game plan until it was time to build massive BB attack fleets. Stats: res: 25k, BBs: 58, pop: 9.0 mill + 2.2 in space.
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| Re: Line of Supply / Fog of War has ended |
Tue, 26 August 2008 18:00 |
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| iojho |
 | Officer Cadet 4th Year |
Messages: 280
Registered: October 2006
Location: EPBA | |
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Shima, SD HG; Habitability 1/3; only 17% GR to finance penalty for experienced players amounting to 70 RW; 1 immune to set up colonies near by HW early and later in order to set up a network of planets with stations where ships can be refueled; LSP to not allow to overpopulate HW early in the game before MFs and decent engines are available;
2400
My HW is Clausewitz in the west.
2401
6.
2405
7.
Heh… odd, despite immunity I have not met so far any green planet. I hoped for better start due to immunity.
2409
8.
After 9 years, at last, I have found something to colonize. On north there are 4 planets suitable for colonization. Sadly, all are upward 200 ly from HW. To get them (using QJ 5) I need as many as 6 turns.
2416
8.
All the time I am at position # 8. Resource does not grow as I expected due to the long distances between HW and my colonies. Next turn I should reach prop 5 so DLL 7 engine will be available. New engine will enable me to get new worlds which were so far inaccessible due to the distance, i.e. above 250 ly.
2419
7. HA!
Situation looks as follows:
…Drindles……….SlyOnes…………?
…Shima………….RedSilvers……..?
…Sleestaki……...DreamClouds…..?
Apparently, Drindles and SlyOnes are allied as they are exchanging techs (pop-drop method). Let they do it, among the sector of Drindles there are no planets green for me to fight for them. Greens in the middle sector are colonized by RedSilvers already. Only south seems to be less colonized by Sleestaki and that is why I go in that direction.
2428
6.
RedSilvers (Dashiva) agreed to ally with me and now we are about to establish pop-drop. In the interim, RedSilvers have been attacked by Templars supported by DreamClouds. Currently I cannot help RedSilvers too much in the war against Templars and DreamClouds. All I can do now is to engage some forces of DreamClouds on the south. Another problem is coming to me from north. Drindles’ FF intercepted and destroyed one of my mine layers.
2436
6.
Drindles intensified attacks on me recently sending many yokimora and bazooka FFs, which disrupts my lines of supplies. They also managed to capture my remote post on north – Samsonov. Since now I have not reacted waiting for jihads for which I put almost all my resources into researches of weapons and propulsion. Now wherever it is possible new jihad DDs (Akizuki) are set into production.
2438
4.
Akizuki are about to take actions against Drindles on north and Sleesatki on south. On north my aim is to capture Balder – action involves 10 Akizuki, 4 MFs with colonists from Callipus. After Balder, this fleet will take a course on Samsonov. On south, another fleet of Akizuki sieges Greene waiting for MFs with colonists. In the interim mini bombers (Aichi D3A) are transferred from my HW towards south to take part in the attack against HW of Sleestaki. In both cases currently I do not expect to meet anything that could stop my Akizuki, however, I need to act in hurry in particular at southern front if I want to capture HW of Sleestaki.
* Samsonov.* Balder
.................................* Callipus
<188ly from Clausewitz to Callipus>
........................................* Clausewitz
2439
5.
I have not spotted it earlier but Sleestaki colonized Greene a planet nearby La Petit Jean my main base on south. Nevertheless, Greene is now in my hands, admittedly, not for a long as Greene is red for me. However, Akizuki acting in 2 groups of 5 ships are coming up to HW of Sleestaki. They are ordered to clean up orbit from warships not attacking starbase before chaff and bombers arrival – at least this is a plan. Unfortunately, but I could foresee it, Sleestaki captured my very southern planet Beauegard. Relief is on the way.
Moreover, Dreamclouds siege 2 my remote planets (Kepler & Shrine) on southern east. So far they have only DDs but it will not be surprise to see their freighters soon.
Balder – my biggest defeat so far – 5 Akizuki lost in action after I ordered them to attack without cover of chaff :/. Next attempt on Balder will be possible in 3 years.
........................................* Clausewitz
<221ly from Clausewitz to La Petit Jean>
.................................* La Petit Jean
..............................................* Greene................* Kepler&Shrine
.....................................................* Hercules
* Baeuegard
2443
5.
After the incident at Balder I act very cautiously… too cautiously. Possibly I have Balder syndrome. Since then I attempted on Balder once again, on Nova (both belong to Drindles) and on Hercules (Sleestaki’s HW) as well as also on Beauegard (Sleestaki) but here battle fleet was not involved. After a lesson of Balder my attacks were divided into 2 stages. Namely, in the first year my plan was to clean up the orbit from enemy’s warships only. And just after that I was going to attack the base ofc only with sufficient cover of chaff.
In fact as it appeared, there was no enemy fleet at Balder so I could have destroyed the base at once. At Nova, base was unarmed so after taking down 4 BCs orbiting Nova I could have shot down base as well easily but I did not. As a result I had to retreat from Nova as SlyOnes (SD) laid mines around Nova and I might have expected that they detonate them what ofc they did next turn. And at Hercules, as it turned out, Sleestaki kept only basic starbase, a few chaff and 1 DD but acting in accordance to my tactics my ships let the base stay intact. AAAAAA… Now it may be too late for an attack. Akizuki are too valuable for me and I am not inclined to risk an attack without cover of chaff. Now I am going to block Hercules for 4 years till chaff and bombers arrive.
This is not all I could have done better. Beauegard. My colony on south was taken several years ago by Sleestaki after that almost retaken by me. Now it was waiting for another drop which had to occur this turn. Since now I had 3 DDs there, and I assumed that these 3 DDs, which one of them was on jihads, would be enough in case of any reaction from Sleestaki. And what happened? In the interim Sleestaki dragged colonists being escorted by chaff. And this CHAFF managed to destroy my DDs. AAAAAA… Good that I managed to lay mine field around Beauegard that may be detonated.
Another thing is that I cannot deal with a plague of enemy’s mine sweapers, scouts and minelayers. There are too many of them and the number of them is growing both on north and south. To do sth with them I would need cheap and powerful beam warships. But since recently I produced mainly Akizuki and chaff which are however designed for different sort of aims. Next turn I will get w14 and maybe thanks to mark iv blasters I will be able to reduce the problem.
* Samsonov.* Balder
.......................................................* Nova
.................................* Callipus............*Rex
<188ly from Clausewitz to Callipus>
........................................* Clausewitz
<221ly from Clausewitz to La Petit Jean>
.................................* La Petit Jean
..............................................* Greene
.....................................................* Hercules
* Baeuegard
2444
5.
It is getting interesting but not for me sadly :/
Drindle are fielding BCs in numbers and I have got a feeling that it is a question of time when they overrun me. Admittedly, I managed to capture Balder but this seems to be my last prey on Drindle and soon I might be driven from it. At Balder there are only 24,000 of my defenders and I cannot support them as 7 BCs of Drindle took down this turn all 10 Akizuki that I had over Balder, i.e. all warships I had in this part of universe. Perhaps if I have got better scanners I would have avoided the battle over Balder and I would have still had Akizuki but I have only scanners of the range of 50 ly so in practice I am almost blind. As a consolation I have got propulsion 8 as a result of the assault at Balder.
According to the plan of the southern offensive, 10 Akizuki set up a blockade of Hercules and now they are waiting for arrival of chaff and bombers which will happen in 3 years. Beauegard is still at hands of Sleestaki but soon this will change I hope.
2445
5.
AAAAAA… 5 BCs of Drindle set off from Nova to Serapa and demolished my newly produced base which is a great loss for me as Serapa suffers lack of germanium and now I can only afford to put up a fort here. To strengthen defense of Serapa and maybe also for further offensive action towards planets of Drindle I am going to move at Serapa all my available forces in this part of universe including 18 Akizuki, 10 mini bombers and a bit of chaff. Now I can also see that at Nova there are new type of BCs able to move in the battle with the speed of 2,25.
It seems as if Sleestaki (oldmetalhead) uploaded the turns with no orders given since it is strange that they do not put up so far neither defenses nor armed base at Hercules. The same is at Baeuegard where Sleestaki do not put up an unarmed fort at least which could have stopped my assaults as I do not have any warship nearby. Strange.
* Samsonov.* Balder
.......................................................* Nova * Serapa
.................................* Callipus............*Rex
<188ly from Clausewitz to Callipus>
........................................* Clausewitz
2446
5.
On south, Dreamclouds have taken my minor planets - Kepler and Serapa. Admittedly, these planets were not of great importance for me but what is important is that Dreamclouds used jihad BBs in the action. They are already using BBs whereas I am still fielding DDs :/ These BBs have IS – 10 engine and it is expected that their next target may be Hercules in 2 years (Dreamclouds’ DDs took down already mine field around Hercules).
But this is not all bad news, now I also have to deal with the attacks from Drindle and SlyOnes. Since now I tried to keep them in defense. However, recently they came to offensive actions on my northern territories. Yet this time I managed to defend myself at Serapa destroying their 5 BCs taking no casualties except some amount of chaff but I do not know how long I will be able to repel their attacks on me.
Bombardment of Hercules in 1 year. Not intentionally, my Akizuki destroyed base at Hercules as I forget to change their battle orders from max to minimize damage – good for me. As supposedly Dreamclouds are coming with jihad BBs I need to drag more chaff to Hercules.
2447
5.
RedSilvers sent a message to SlyOnes on my behalf regarding NAP negotiations.
2448
After 3 days of negotiations with SlyOnes and Drindle we have not managed to work out NAP. They want to colonize planets among my territory which I cannot accept in case of NAP cancellation which will happen eventually.
On north my 22 Akizuki DDs and 20 Sanae FFs and 70 chaff or so along with mini bombers are waiting in the space in-between Nova and Turing’s world. From the tests I made result that we (Shima and Drindle) are in deadlock as none party cannot execute successful attack on a planet of the enemy. But this will not last forever I suppose. Drindle are sending 2-3 BCs per turn to Nova. At Turing’s World there are 8 BCs of Drindle more. On the other hand, I am sending in space additional fleet of 26 Sanae FFs and some amount of chaff which is still too few. My situation is getting worse increasingly. As an act of desperation, I am going to send 22 Akizuki DDs and 46 Sanae FFs to Nova with orders to retreat. My intention is to take down some armed ships beforehand Drindle use them against my planet.
HW of Sleestaki is under bombardment and soon I am going to capture it – troops are 2 year to Hercules.
…………………………………* Turing’s world
* Samsonov.* Balder
.......................................................* Nova * Serapa
.................................* Callipus............*Rex
<188ly from Clausewitz to Callipus>
........................................* Clausewitz
2449
5.
AAAAAA… sudden attack of DreamClouds at Hercules – and they took over it successfully. 5 jihad BBs, 5 colloidal BBs of DreamClouds eliminated my forces and took down a fort of Sleestaki taking no casualties. Their advantage over me is immense. With La Petit Jean and Baeuegard only on south I have no chance to do anything to defend myself from DreamClouds. My decision is to send towards north everything that remains on south.
AAAAAA 2… attack at Nova has turned out a complete disaster – I have lost all Sanae FFs taking part in the action. At Nova there were no warships of Drindles so as a result my ships tried to attack starbase and in consequence they were destroyed by base easily. In the interim Drindles sent their warships (18 BCs) in space and it seems that they are ready to undertake an attack against my planet. More that SlyOnes are sending warships towards me as well. Also in space I can see 21 CCs of SlyOnes.
2450
5.
As expected, Drindles and SlyOnes attacked my planet – Serapa. I am still at its possession but only due to defenses. Next turn I should lost it. I cannot stop Drindles and SlyOnes. They have 18 BCs, 25 CCs whereas I have only 19 Akizuki DDs and 20 Sanae FFs.
Another fleet of Drindles amounting to 10 BCs is approaching to Callipus. Here I can push against them 30 Sanae FFs only - too few to feel optimistic. Nevertheless, Callipus seems to be minor aim for Drindles and thus I may have a chance to defend myself for a while. Therefore I am going to drag here ALL my ships.
Moreover, in space there are additional 15 BCs of Drindles where can reach both Serapa / Rex and Callipus from.
* Samsonov.* Balder
.......................................................* Nova * Serapa
.................................* Callipus............*Rex
<188ly from Clausewitz to Callipus>
........................................* Clausewitz
2451
5.
2452
5.
Fleet of Drindles and SlyOnes from Serapa attacked me at Rex and killed 140,000 and some defense installations. Defenses are all I can do against them. Good that I took the fleet out from there.
Also Drindles attacked me at Callipus where after a short battle my base and 30 Sanae were down. 10 out of 25 BCs of Dindles taking part in action were destroyed. 15 BCs left are damaged at 13 %.
2453
5.
Sadly I skipped the turn so no orders have been given.
Main fleet of Drindles and SlyOnes is bombing Rex for second year in a row – next turn I expect an assault.
SlyOnes detached 24 jihad CCs from main fleet and sent them to Spaceball where they managed to destroy my base taking no casualties. Next turn I may expect bombers of Drindles here but I can only put up some defenses or a base which however could be ready in 2 years.
Drindles are still keeping 15 BCs at Callipus.
* Samsonov.* Balder
.......................................................* Nova * Serapa
.................................* Callipus............*Rex
............................................................ ....................* Spaceball
<188ly from Clausewitz to Callipus>
........................................* Clausewitz
2454
5.
17 BCs of Drindles are down after the battle that took place at Callipus. However, I have lost 14 Sanae FFs,13 Akizuki DDs and ofc a base. SlyOnes laid minefield at Callipus but I do not have beam warships as I lost all at battle so I need to evacuate all ships from Callipus.
Battle fleet of SlyOnes left Spaceball and jumped to Houdini.
2455
5.
AAAAAA… DreamClouds’ armada is 1 year to Clausewitz. I do not have a chance to confront with it so the only reasonable thing is to withdraw all my forces from Clausewitz and send them to Callipus.
AAAAAA 2… 11 Akizuki left after the battle at Callipus were sent by me in space and… were hit at SlyOnes minefield set to explode. None of Akizuki has been destroyed but now all are damaged seriously and need to be repaired at Callipus.
Serapa has been taken by SlyOnes.
Houdini is under bombardment.
2456
6.
Clausewitz is now the planet of DreamClouds. 29 Sanae FFs and 7 Akizuki from Clausewitz I wanted to rebase to Callipus but Callipus is under bombardment of Drindels again. I had only 50 ly scanner at Callipus and I did not see incoming 17 BCs of Drindles. I should have expected an answer from Drindles at Callipus but I do not know why I did not prepared Callipus for defence. My base with only 16 mark IV blasters, 7 Sanae FFs and 19 Akizuki DDs (11 highly damaged) managed to destroy only 1 BC.
Due to the above I am going to put up some resistance at Perry where in 4 years I should have 50 or so Sanae FFs, 7 Akizuki DDs and upward 100 chaff. Not too many but my hopes are in battle orders used by Drindles and SlyOnes. I spotted that they both are setting primary target to “armed ships” so as a result my chaff can neutralize missile warships of SlyOnes so that my base along with my ships do its job.
I consider Spaceball and Houdini as already lost. Houdini is under bombardment. Spaceball stays intact still but not for a long. Fleet of Drindles from Rex is heading to Spaceball.
* Samsonov.* Balder
.......................................................* Nova * Serapa
.................................* Callipus............*Rex.................* Houdini
............................................................ ....................* Spaceball
............................................................ .......................*Perry
<188ly from Clausewitz to Callipus>
........................................* Clausewitz
2457
6.
Houdini has been taken by Drindles and next turn it seems to be the same to Callipus being under bombardment. Spaceball is also under bombardment but I expect to hold it for maybe 2 turns more. This turn, starbase at Spaceball managed to destroy 9 CCs of SlyOnes, 10 DDs and all their chaff.
(later)
Altruist and Per have been declared the winners. My congratulations!!!
Comments: A lot of mistakes I made but I think most of them are connected with immunity somehow – expensive investment with no return as it turned out. Taking immunity I hoped for several good planets nearby HW – due to poor engines at the beginning and prop expensive - and meanwhile I had 188 ly to the closest colony. However, to take immunity I needed to reduce PGR, factory and mine capacity and to take all tech expensive (except weapons ofc).
[Updated on: Wed, 27 August 2008 13:42]
"Every person speculates on creating a new need in another, so as to drive him to fresh sacrifice, to place him in a new dependence and to seduce him into a new mode of enjoyment and therefore economic ruin."
Karl Marx,1844Report message to a moderator
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| Dreamclouds' view: 1) Race design |
Thu, 28 August 2008 14:44 |
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I always think of Stars as a game with 3 equally important aspects:
1) race design
2) economic development
3) warfare
Some might miss "diplomacy"... well, yeah, it's the 4th important aspect and can surely decide a game... but I hate it and so I prefer games without hassles like diplomacy. This game had the "all are enemies except for 1 ally"-rule which I usually prefer.
1) Race design
The design is dependent on the settings and victory conditions. In this case LoS was even a scenario game: Announcement Line Of Supply / Fog of War
The main differences to a standard game were aimed to handicap travelling and scanning:
* IFE, ISB, NAS were forbidden
* NRSE a must
* docks, gates, xports, fuel pods, penetrating scanners forbidden
* to heat things up (additionally to the "all enemy except 1 ally"-rule): 2 habs needed to be centered, the third hab had to include the centre
I must admit I had never played without IFE before, only once without ISB (and it was horrible). The settings ensured crawling instead of flying in the beginning. A test game revealed that it was even difficult to scout much further than in a 350-ly-radius around the HW. Without docks and xports it seemed very difficult to refuel a fleet at the frontier except by building a station.
The only idea I had how to cope with such obstacles: choosing IS. At least my pop would grow while slowly crawling thru space in 8-year-moves to not-really-far target-planets. But as slow as the game might start, we were 8 players in a medium/sparse universe: 1200 x 1200 ly with 216 stars. I translated this into: fierce competition and early warfare which meant better to include some hypergrowth(HG)-settings .
Dreamclouds
IS
NRSE, CE, OBRM, RS
grav 0.36 to 2,72 ; temp -100 to 100 ; rad 26 to 86 (1 in 5) with 18% pop growth
factories: 12/9/14
mines: 10/3/14
weap/con cheap, rest expensive, tech 3 checked
72 leftover points
CE: First time I used it. I can understand why people hate it and I agree. Nevertheless it served me well. In this scenario it was obvious that some with prop cheap would rush to prop-11 to get the IS10. With no gates, no xports, almost all ships needed to be equipped with the IS10 or at least with the AD8... very expensive. Too expensive for an IS who already has to pay dearly for weapons (25% higher costs in ressources and minerals). So I gladly went for the 50% discount on engines coming with CE, the additional prop-level was fine, too.
OBRM: As an IS I intended to colonize all worlds within my space, no need for OBRM. Additionally I expected to last the game not long enough for remote miners being able to play a role.
RS: Usually RS is fine to bring down weight to squeeze ships thru gates. Without gates I expected many players NOT to choose RS. With all the fuel restrictions I still wanted to have my ships as light as possible, so RS. The combat advantage coming with lighter ships (moving last) and a good stack of shields I always valua highly, too.
HAB: In my heart I am a warmonger and thus I didn't think about hab in terms of best for IS but choose a setting purely for the purpose of having the maximum overlapping hab with most other players... to make it juicy and worthwhile to conquere their HWs and planets.
FACT/MINES: Standard hyper-growth settings for my buildings since I expected early conflicts. 20% pop growth would had been best but, of course, much too expensive, 18% is the next best for an IS.
For an IS construction is one key-field, without weapons I always feel like a sitting duck, so I went for weap/con cheap. In this scenario and without IFE, to research prop was a definite must... I gambled that for sure enough players would have prop cheap and hoped to get prop-levels either from an ally or by force.
Inititally I had the tech 3 box not checked but in test games I had the feeling to be too slow this way, so tech 3 was checked.
This left 72 leftover race points (Per had given some players a penalty, mine were 70 pts). I spent those points into mineral concentration which worked out to be the best choice.
More tomorrow... then with maps and images.
[Updated on: Thu, 28 August 2008 17:40] Report message to a moderator
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| Dreamclouds' view: 2) Early Development |
Sat, 10 April 2010 13:22 |
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O well, 2 years have almost passed since I wrote "More tomorrow" but now, animated by the discussion about the new LOS-game Incommodum...
2) Early Development
Already in the very first turns some players posted their interest to contact other players to establish alliances and to trade tech. Soon afterwards Per published the email-addresses of all players in the game. Personally I prefer to wait for ingame contact until talking about war and alliances with other players.
2411: First scanner-contact with an alien lifeform: An armed scout and a colonizer from the Templars (Per), coming from the NE. The battle report showed clearly that the Templars were warmongers. After some talks, mainly wether to fight against each other or together, we decided to form an alliance. Soon afterwards m- and h-files were exchanged and planets chosen to serve for tech exchange by mutual planetary conquest (but until we had it all set up it was 2420).
2413: Scanners show a Sleestaki scout from the east and since the scout should had been already in scanner range last year, the suspicion arises that the Sleestaki are super stealth.
2415: Incoming Shima mini-minelayers from the centre west. First this is a shock, then I notice the low weight of this mini-minelayers and realize that those are used as scouts. I feel strong envy. Those mini-minelayers have 400mg fuel in comparison to the 50mg of my old scouts and 125mg to my newest dockworkers' pride: a frigate.
2416: Directly to the north in the centre I find the first planet of the RedSilvers. Templar battle reports from 2418 and 2419 reveal that they have already achieved surprising high tech levels: prop 7, con 6, weap 5.
2422: Taking into account the necessarily slow start due to the game restrictions, specifically no fuel pods, no docks and no fuel mizer, the economic development of the Dreamclouds was splendid. Within the first 10 years I had found 2 valuable breeders with 85% and 96%, low in ironium and boranium but with good germanium.
Year 2422
Planets 12
Bases 3
Tech 30
Res 2933
Score 204
| Envying my fat greens my ally Per/Templars suggested I should use the following lines for further diplomacy |
"The Mighty Dreamclouds for whom every new world is like heaven, we don't want an ally, we are strong as the Gods themselves, we will fight and conquer you all together! Prepare to die!"
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But after taking a long shower and thinking the present situation through, I realized, that nevertheless the outlook was rather dim. This was partly my own fault. Initially I had interpreted the game settings in a way that, unusual for me, I should better take a slow approach during the game: Due to the lack of gates I'd need strong big fleets to start a true offense which I translated into developing a strong economy and then starting with battleships and at least jihads right away. But this approach was countered by myself when choosing hab-settings for max overlapping with the enemies (to make conquest truly worthwhile). RedSilvers had almost the same hab as myslef and thus already in 2422 I was running out of free planets to expand by colonization.
More tomorrow... *grin
[Updated on: Sat, 10 April 2010 13:51] Report message to a moderator
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