Home » Stars! 2.6/7 » Game stories » RWIAB: Game Review (long)
| RWIAB: Game Review (long) |
Tue, 19 August 2003 22:49  |
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RWIAB: A Game Review
"Rabid Weasels in a Box" (RWIAB) was a Stars! game run on Autohost on a Monday-Friday generation schedule until a victor was declared by virtue of high score in 2500. The game name was based upon the main game condition that all races conform to the "factoryless" (-f) standard of having 5/25/5 factory settings, or by being the AR PRT. A long ago newsgroup post referred to these races having to act like rabid weasels in their drive to expand and grow and thus I adopted the term for the game.
The game was played in a medium, normal galaxy, ACC BBS start, random events on, and public scores off. This was not an ideal density of planets for -f races, but it provided roughly 30-40 planets per active player, and afforded a fair amount of space for making most PRTs potentially useful. There were nine active participants plus a neutral observer race run by the host.
Summary
I was sort of expecting a escalating furball of combat starting about 2330-2340 with a race coming out on top by 2480 or 2490. This didn't occur.
The southern races generally started tech trading while the northern races started a series of small wars that didn't seem to gaining anyone a serious advantage. The only southern conflict was a K'leath-Higard war where the Higard were attacking K'leath colonies and expanding eastward. The Sea Monkeys were attacked early while vulnerable and put in an untenable position pinned into a corner. This gave two races valuable space as it turned out. However, at that point I suspected that the north was potentially weakening itself and a southern coalition would overrun the north.
The mid-game saw a series of coalitions form. The Borg, who had initially attacked the Cancer unsuccessfully, now allied with them to fight the Freen expanding from the south. The Kitties digested former Sea Monkey territory, reached a non-aggression pact with the Cancer, and apparently also started a relationship with the Nixotoib. The four southern races continued to tech trade, but seemed to be paired into a Freen-K'leath and Motie-Higard alliance. Diplomacy played a major role late in this period as races jockeyed to gain allies for the forthcoming wars.
Starting in the mid-2470's open hostilities broke out. The Cancer and Borg were fighting the Freen, who were aided by the K'leath to their limited ability. The Moties and Higard were coming into the fray to help the Freen defeat what was viewed as a runaway Cancer empire. Even the Borg were convinced to turn upon the Cancer in this period (which quickly led to the annihilation of their remaining fleet and their eventual extinction.) A major surprise was the Kitties and Nixotoib entering the war on the side of the Cancer. This tied down the majority of the Motie and Higard fleets. Plus the Kitties made serious inroads into Higard space.
I see the diplomacy in this period as the key in how the game turned out. The Cancer had been leading most of the game and the other races were gathering to take them down. However, it was unclear how the Kitten/Nixotoib alliance was going to come into play. They were a growing power, and would have an appreciable effect depending on whose side they took (or even maintaining their neutrality.)
The end-game actually was calmer than the previous period. Two major powers, the Cancer and Kitties vied for the victory condition while it seemed the other races collected strength to renew the struggle at a later period. Attacks continued along with more skirmishing, but there were fewer large fleet actions. The Higard Empire was further whittled away as well, smaller than it had been in 2420. The Kitties pulled out the game victory in 2500. However, the galaxy is not dead since races still vie for military supremacy after the experiment is over...
[I also have some Xborders generated maps converted to JPEG format. Show territories as of ~2465, 2485, and 2500. Just need to find a way to get them posted.]
Startup
The races started in roughly the following positions:
..1..2..3..
..4..5.0.6 (not corresponding to player #)
..7..8..9
[Final Score in paren]
(1) Sea Monkeys [Player 3] HE Extinct in 2459
(2) Cancer [Player 2] WM Finished 2nd (2910)
(3) Borg [Player 7] JOAT Extinct in 2487
(4) Kitties [Player 6] IS Finished 1st (4709)
(5) Nixotoib [Player 9] SS Finished 6th (1335)
(6) Freen [Player 4] IS Finished 5th (1365)
(7) Higards [Player 5] WM Finished 7th (749)
( Moties [Player 8] IS Finished 4th (1617)
(9) K'leath [Player 1] AR Finished 3rd (1979)
(0) Mad Sci [Player 10] WM Host Observer
Race Comments
(a) The Sea Monkeys
11 (22)% PGR, three very wide hab bands. OBRM, NAS, NRSE. Con, Prop cheap, Bio expensive, rest normal cost.
Personally, I don’t think –f HE are viable; but that doesn’t prevent me from letting other people try it. The race started in a corner, and then was attacked and hemmed in very early by the Kitties and Cancer. Player gamely stuck with things a while longer and I think picked up some useful lessons. Unfortunately, observer scouts were late reaching this section to realize that the player did not know the myriad uses of the mini-colonizer as a tanker and cargo ship. Which would have been invaluable considering the race skipped the IFE LRT.
(b) The Borg
One-immune 17% JOAT. Expensive Weapons.
The race was aggressive to the west and south initially, and then seemed to stall out. The empire never got to an effective size to compete well with the neighboring Cancer and Freen. Race then seemed to switch sides between being allied with one of the other. Unfortunately not able to recover fleet losses compared to the others. Was surviving due to ability to trade tech as well.
(c) The Higards
Three wide 18% WM.
What I considered the “paper tiger” of RWIAB. Expanded quickly in terms of planet count, but trailed in resources and tech for most of the game. Going into the late game the race had a large number of obsolete warships. I noted that the Kitties destroyed a number of these in their push south. Was interesting to contrast to the other active WM race, the Cancer. The south developed more peacefully, and this might not have been to the Higard’s benefit. The Higard empire underwent a serious contraction late in the game as they appeared to catch the brunt of the Nixotoib and Kitten attacks.
(d) The Nixotoib
One-immune 20% SS. Generalized research. Weapons, Elec cheap, rest expensive.
An early leader in RWIAB, probably due to early tech lead. Still one of the leaders in tech levels at the end as well. Had the best scouting in the game in my opinion (excepting the observer). Central starting position made them a race that everyone talked to and traded with for penetrating scanners. Nix “Tom III” class scanner frigates were in the fleets of a lot of races for most of the game. Eventually formed a close alliance with the Kitties once relationships started to firm up. From there was an active combatant against the Moties and Higard in the late-game; which included suffering planet losses to packets. Also interesting in terms of how the Nix Empire ebbed and flowed in the territory maps.
(e) The Freen
One-immune 19% IS.
An aggressive expander who, after reaching an agreement with the neighboring K’leath seemed to fight all comers in the area (east) for the next thirty turns. At that point there was a truce with the Moties/Higards while hostilities continued verses the encroaching Cancer and Borg. Not sure whether there was fighting with the Nix or not, but I wouldn’t have been surprised. Late game was mainly fighting the Cancer once the main split became Cancer/Kittens/Nixotoib vs. Freen/K’leath/Moties/Higard.
(f) The Moties
One-immune 19% IS.
Ran a close second to the Cancer for much of the game. Seemed to be a trader/coalition builder rather than a conqueror. Thus, this race was the centerpiece of the peaceful south for much of the game. This may have limited their chance to keep up once the Cancer and Kitties captured much of the north and turned their attention southwards. I thought their late game use of beam cruisers was a mistake. Can be gated, but not efficient combatants verses battlecruisers and battleships.
(g) The K’leath
One-immune 16% AR
Trailed most of the game. Was diplomatically successful since the race survived into the end game. Was becoming a major power in the last twenty turns. And will be a force to be reckoned with in the post-2500 period since they will have minerals, and only the Kitties appear to have any on-going ability to compete with them in terms of sheer resources.
[Additional kudos to Sotek for bravely playing this PRT in the game. Though it has been noted that the western races might have opted to dismember him if he had started over that way. We’ll never know.]
(h) The Cancer
One-immune 19% WM.
Aggressively played, well micro-managed race. Led the game in every decade poll by the observer from 2430 to 2490 – apparently out of the lead only 1-2 turns in the interim. In a war on a least one front the whole time. Only weakness seems to be lagging behind a bit in tech levels – but this race hasn’t had a trading partner for a number of turns. Being the leader most of the game might have led to a few diplomatic decisions that proved unwise in the long run. In my opinion the race was well played, aggressive from the get-go and an excellent example of rabid weaselness.
(i) The Kitties
Three wide 20% IS.
Sort of the “sleeper” race in the game. Started an early war with the Sea Monkeys that seemed to keep them busy in the northwest for the first half of the game. From this point forged an alliance with the Nixotoib and expanded southwards and eastwards until contacting the other empires. Spent the last half of the game climbing from 5th to 1st place – cumulating with a planned push to over-populate most colonies for a massive resource influx. Starting in 2480 or so the Kitties forged a non-aggression agreement with the Cancer, and with their allies started an aggressive push against the Higards and Moties to the south. This led to an additional expanse of captured territory and prevented heavy aid to the Freen in their fight against the Cancer. Race was well managed, believes in the importance of scouting, and can run offensive campaigns well.
Overall race comments. The one-immune races, if played aggressively, seem to get off to a very good start. The Kitties player has commented that his race ramped up much slower than he wanted and it limited his early options.
Empire Statistics
The observer gathered data on the various races each decade starting in 2420. Thus the relative power of the various races could be compared and analyzed. Here's the data in tabular form excluding the observer race.
(apologies for the scrunch, can't make the post not suppress multiple spaces.)
PLANETS
Race 2420 2430 2440 2450 2460 2470 2480 2490 2500
K'leath 8 9 10 7 13 16 21 24 23
Cancer 11 20 27 34 36 44 53 70 76
Sea Monkeys 14 11 10 6 - - - - -
Freen 9 18 27 27 27 31 27 23 22
Higard 21 27 33 35 39 38 33 17 11
Kitties 9 13 20 26 40 42 56 68 89
Borg 6 8 7 11 11 14 2 - -
Moties 7 19 28 40 49 50 40 33 30
Nixotoib 8 13 17 20 26 26 25 22 21
RESOURCES (in 1000s)
Race 2420 2430 2440* 2450 2460 2470 2480 2490 2500
K'leath 1.27 2.39 3.5 5 6.5 10 17 26 37
Cancer 1.70 5.25 10 17 23 28 32 38 44
Sea Monkeys 1.10 2.11 3 2 - - - - -
Freen 1.39 4.30 9 12 19 20 21 18 19
Higard 0.86 2.04 3.5 6 9 12 14 7.7 7.4
Kitties 1.36 3.16 4 9 14 21 24 35 86**
Borg 0.94 2.48 4.3 6.6 9 12 <1 - -
Moties 1.41 3.23 8 14 19 25 26 26 23
Nixotoib 1.70 3.34 6 10 15 19 19 19 18
*- Observer topped out at 4.5 here.
**- Kitties did a massive overpop job on most of their planets in the last few turns.
- Kurt aka The Mad Scientists
Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.
- Groucho MarxReport message to a moderator
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