Home » Stars! 2.6/7 » Game stories » All Quiet has ended
| Re: A Buggy history, Bug views on the All Quiet game |
Tue, 11 May 2010 20:06   |
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I was the replacement found in very late game, for the Alpheus/Lacon. This race came second... But second rank just means I lost too, in a one-winner game.
I entered the game under the instruction that the race was allied with Bug and Vedin. However I immediately noticed an old in-game message from M&M declining a request to ally, so I realised things were a little more fluid than the other players & host had thought. I also noted the game was 'one winner only', with my race still ranked second despite about 10 missed turns, so I started plotting how I might turn the game around.
Step one was to halt the attacks of the Rancor, a previous ally who was deeply intersettled. He agreed to a ceasefire immediately, and returned a couple of the worlds he'd taken most recently. Our diplomacy was quite aggressive for the remainder of the game though, as we each slowly came to the conclusion we were would be on opposed sides, despite being intersettled.
Rancor wanted to take on the Bug, the monster JOAT in rank 1. I wanted to take on the M&M alliance - AR and 3i HE are very dangerous races once you pass the 2500 mark, both typically with strong late game minerals, while I knew the other JOATs were already doing mineral alchemy. I quickly came to the conclusion Rancor was probably allied with M&M, as M&M cloaked minelayers seemed to pass his minefields and plugged gaps that I had negotiated open with Rancor. This was backed up when cloaked freighters were spotted. With the max-three-ally rule, this seemed to explain M&M declining my predecessor's request to ally.
Even so, I decided my best odds were to have the Alpheus decline to rejoin the Bug alliance under their new leadership (mine), and to wait to see how the first big battles between the two alliances played out. My hope was was for Bug to reduce M&M's territory enough that their resources shrank to the point that their mineral fountain did not matter so much, while Bug lost irreplaceable ships - gradually leading to the point that my fleets would become dominant and I could make a play for the universe.
I hoped Rancor would attack Bug, but I figured they would probably sit still as long as I did, for fear of my stepping in.
The first really big battle came up, with Bug apparently losing the battle itself, but able to secure the world the following year - and thus the scrap.
I was finally crunching on minerals at this point, my fleets at a peak. It was time to get off the fence... I 'kindly' offered to send a hundred or so freighters to pick up some of that battle scrap from Bug. I think Bug recognised there was a hint of threat in there - I was going to get a big chunk of that metal one way or the other - but he took an assertive stance, and asked me to commit to an alliance with Bug & Vedin before he would give me a share. I knew I could TAKE the whole lot, so I approached M&M at this point, seeing what they could offer me.
The best offer I got from M&M was 'a share' of mineral output, until the Bug were dead. This seemed like a poison pill to me, receiving an unspecified share only long enough to bring down the opponent. I tried to explain that I needed an *unfair* share, so I wouldn't have to fear getting stomped by a mineral fountain after depleting my ships against Bug, but my diplomacy was unsuccessful.
I committed to the Bug alliance, hoping that Rancor would distract Bug enough that I could hope to make the main gains against Maera - and thus control the captured wealth - myself.
Sadly it wasn't to be, with Rancor spectacularly bailing out of the game. This opened up a vacuum in the middle of my space, nearly every Rancor world was red to me, and I'd already committed to a limited alliance with Bug (until Maera was dead) so there was no way for me to prevent Bug & Vedin swarming into these worlds. Rancor's metal even went to Bug in slow mass packets, so I couldn't claim them myself (although Bug shared some of this back to me.) Bug also made much faster progress again Maera than I expected, with my own overcloaked fleets trailing one jump behind him, so I lost the chance to seize a mineral advantage... There was also the Vedin to contend with, who had made it clear they would support Bug to the bitter end.
At this point I acknowledged my chance to win had vanished, and began to idle, just directing my fleets to help mop up M&M, so the game could end.
The scores shown at game's end backed up this assumption. Bug had a significant - but not unassailable - fleet advantage at this point, but triple the economy and territory, and crucially, he had control over vast amounts of captured metal at the dead mineral fountains. All he'd have to do is secure those stockpiles - easy enough with a fleet advantage - and soon he'd have ten times my fleet, even if I made rapid progress bombing.... Game over.
[Updated on: Tue, 11 May 2010 20:09] Report message to a moderator
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