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This was an interesting game even though I lost it. Twice. I'll explain below.
In my last AAR I stated that I would try a military approach for my next games, which I've been doing for 3 or so games. I also experimented with gigantic galaxies for a couple of games, which I found that I don't like much (too much ship travel time & my computer is too slow). In one of these gigantic games I took on the Yor, who were relatively close to me, with lots of Star Fighters and Transports. This was early in the game and it worked surprisingly well as I was able to take 2 planets and almost took a third one, but I didn't have enough transports to finish off the third planet. I also learned not to get too greedy with this strategy as it can leave you woefully behind economically. These lessons came in handy in the following game:
The galaxy configuration: large, tight clusters, occasionally habitable planets. I chose the War Party (HP+50), Speed+2 and Range+10. AI were geniuses. Game rev = 1.03A.
I start off in a pretty big star cluster; theres a medium sized cluster some distance away and a couple of small clusters in the corners of the map. I'm thinking: most everybody will be located in my cluster. Which is pretty much the case. I get one additional planet in Sol's sector and encounter the Yor while colonizing a planet in the sector just west of me. The Yor, right in my face. At least it's not the Drengin
(this was one of the few games I've played where the Drengin weren't near me). I end up with 4 stars in my neighborhood, the Yor have 5 (all nearby), the Arceans have 7 stars north of me and the Altarians end up with 3 stars to my south. The Alexians have two stars nearby, just south of the Yor's territory. I win a race with the Yor for one more planet some distance from me; that Speed attribute came in handy there. The Drengin and the Torians have one planet each and reside in the distant medium sized star cluster.
I decide to expand at the Yor's expense, which is my first mistake. I recall how easy it was to take planets from the Yor in my recent experimental games and this game is no different: I race for Star Fighters and Transports, going well into the red to build up a significant invasion force (I think I made a mistake here, too). Two of the Yor's nearest planets quickly fall to my onslaught. I now face a decision: the rest of the Yor's planets are lightly defended and the Alexian's planets have almost no defense. Do I continue the blitzkrieg or back off and consolidate now that I have a fighting chance? I save the game (just in case) and continue the onslaught. I badly want to eliminate the Yor. So I end up taking two more planets of his; he builds a Battle Axe to defend his last planet. Can't overcome that. I also take one of the Alexian's planets before running out of Transports. Greedy me: while I'm taking on the Yor, I also decide to pick off the Arcean's southernmost planet, which is lightly defended with a single Defender. It only took two Star Fighters and a single Transport, so it seemed a cheap conquest. The net result of all this war-wageing is that I have 11 planets while the Arceans have 6 and the Yor, 1. But I'm at war with the Alexians, the Yor and the Arceans and the Altarians don't like me much since I'm somewhat evil.
I have 11 planets, but almost no economic/production infrastructure.
As I had learned in earlier games, this is the price that is paid for an early offensive. The trick is to switch gears over to infrastructure building mode at the right time to prevent the other AI races from gaining an overwhelming economic/research lead. I least I think that this is how to make this strategy work; I haven't played enough games with this strategy (yet) to find the optimum balance point, if there is one.
Back to the game at hand. Now its time to sue for peace with the 3 parties I'm at war with. One of the advantages of this strategy is that I have a very good military score at this stage of the game: no one is even close. So I should find it easy to obtain peace and get some goodies while I'm at it. After all, I've taken planets from each of these guys in addition to having an 'overwhelming' military. But none of them is acting particularly frightened of me. I'm supposed to give up goodies to obtain a peace treaty
!? This is unexpected. So no easy peace is to be had with any of them. It's at this point that I notice something ominous. I'm evil and economically weak. The Yor are evil and also weak, no thanks to yours truely. The only other evil race is the Drengin, which don't look like they'll ever amount to much in this game (as it turns out, an accurate prediction). The Arceans are strong economically, if not militarily, and don't like me much. At least they have a reason not to like me, as I just took a planet of theirs. The Altarians hate me just because I'm me. Unfair! I've never done anything to them!
So I'm sandwiched between two 'good guys', one of which I'm already at war with, and the other one seems kinda touchy. And they both have better economies than I do. My only potential friend in the neighborhood is the Yor and I just knocked him back to the stone age, which sorta pissed him off. It's gonna be hard enough to catch up with the Arceans as it is unless I can get them to make peace with me. But if the Altarians declare war, I'm probably up s**t creek. So, of course, that's what they do...
Well, with both the Arceans and the Altarians at war with me, it was only a matter of time. I had no way to maintain trade routes and couldn't keep starbases, etc, etc. Lesson learned: don't take on (almost) all of your neighbors early in the game unless you can finish them off.
Alternate version...
I re-load the game from the savegame point I mentioned above. This time around, I know that I have to keep the Altarians from declaring war. I know that the Arceans will be an economic powerhouse and I have to get with it to keep up. So, I immediately change my economy over to build infrastructure. I don't take the Arcean's southernmost planet. But I have already built and positioned a fleet near one of the Yor's planets, so I end up taking it and one of the Alexian's planets and then settling down. So, the Yor have 2 planets, the Arceans have 7 and I have 9. I'm at war with the Yor and the Alexians, but they eventually see the light and beg for peace, at which point I get some goodies.
This time around I have a much better chance at catching up with the Arceans. I'm able to set up some trade routes on my southern flank, away from the Arceans. The Arceans are calm for awhile while I get to boost my tech and econ but eventually they start a military build up. When they match my military power, they declare war. But I'm already well dug in with Battle Axes on my northern front, so nothing much happens. So an arms race is on. I have the military edge (Battle Axes in orbit vs. Corvettes attacking) while the Arceans have a much better economy. So they race to Battle Cruisers while I have to get to Battle Hammers and build up my production/research capabilities. Of course, they get to Battle Cruisers before I get the 'Hammers, so I have some tense moments of undefended planets that they don't seem too eager to conquer while I focus my entire economy to researching Defensive Phasers. With one turn to go before obtaining the Defensive Phasers tech, a Transport/Cruiser fleet shows up on my northernmost planet's sensors. I get the tech, the convoy is in range to strike, I lease a 'Hammer, the convoy hesitates
? (I'm not sure why they didn't attack the undefended planet at this point) and I now have a 'Hammer defending one of my best planets. Whew! That was a close call. But I'm now like 400 bc in the red, so no more leasing for awhile. I'm now in full military buildup of 'Hammers while I notice a huge increase in Arcean Transport convoys floating around my space with lots of Battle Cruisers escorting. This doesn't look good. Its all over but the shouting when the first Arcean Battleship shows up, which coincides with the Altarians getting brave enough to declare war on me. The Altarians mop up my trade routes while the Arceans can easily outproduce me, Battleship to 'Hammer.
I lose. Again.
But it was fun anyway.
Comments:
A number of people seem to think that the Star Fighters are totally useless. I dunno, it sure seems to work well as an early attack vehicle for me. If anything, I think the Corvette is somewhat useless as it takes longer to research and isn't much better. I'll have to see if the 'Fighters work as well when not enhanced with the HP+50 attribute.
I think I should have attacked the Arceans or the Altarians instead of the Yor. The Arceans had the most planets and the Altarians were natural enemies since I was evil. The Yor could have been managed since they were evil and I could keep them from attacking me via my military power. On the other hand, the Yor were very close which helps the effectiveness of the early rush attack. I also think that I overbuilt Star Fighters and Transports; I should have switched to building infrastructure earlier. I had conquered two planets and had a large force of 'Fighters and some Transports left over which enticed me to take more planets. At this difficulty level I don't think you should build invasion fleets for more than 2-3 stars since staying in war mode too long will cripple your economic infrastructure.
In my last AAR I stated that I would try a military approach for my next games, which I've been doing for 3 or so games. I also experimented with gigantic galaxies for a couple of games, which I found that I don't like much (too much ship travel time & my computer is too slow). In one of these gigantic games I took on the Yor, who were relatively close to me, with lots of Star Fighters and Transports. This was early in the game and it worked surprisingly well as I was able to take 2 planets and almost took a third one, but I didn't have enough transports to finish off the third planet. I also learned not to get too greedy with this strategy as it can leave you woefully behind economically. These lessons came in handy in the following game:
The galaxy configuration: large, tight clusters, occasionally habitable planets. I chose the War Party (HP+50), Speed+2 and Range+10. AI were geniuses. Game rev = 1.03A.
I start off in a pretty big star cluster; theres a medium sized cluster some distance away and a couple of small clusters in the corners of the map. I'm thinking: most everybody will be located in my cluster. Which is pretty much the case. I get one additional planet in Sol's sector and encounter the Yor while colonizing a planet in the sector just west of me. The Yor, right in my face. At least it's not the Drengin
(this was one of the few games I've played where the Drengin weren't near me). I end up with 4 stars in my neighborhood, the Yor have 5 (all nearby), the Arceans have 7 stars north of me and the Altarians end up with 3 stars to my south. The Alexians have two stars nearby, just south of the Yor's territory. I win a race with the Yor for one more planet some distance from me; that Speed attribute came in handy there. The Drengin and the Torians have one planet each and reside in the distant medium sized star cluster.I decide to expand at the Yor's expense, which is my first mistake. I recall how easy it was to take planets from the Yor in my recent experimental games and this game is no different: I race for Star Fighters and Transports, going well into the red to build up a significant invasion force (I think I made a mistake here, too). Two of the Yor's nearest planets quickly fall to my onslaught. I now face a decision: the rest of the Yor's planets are lightly defended and the Alexian's planets have almost no defense. Do I continue the blitzkrieg or back off and consolidate now that I have a fighting chance? I save the game (just in case) and continue the onslaught. I badly want to eliminate the Yor. So I end up taking two more planets of his; he builds a Battle Axe to defend his last planet. Can't overcome that. I also take one of the Alexian's planets before running out of Transports. Greedy me: while I'm taking on the Yor, I also decide to pick off the Arcean's southernmost planet, which is lightly defended with a single Defender. It only took two Star Fighters and a single Transport, so it seemed a cheap conquest. The net result of all this war-wageing is that I have 11 planets while the Arceans have 6 and the Yor, 1. But I'm at war with the Alexians, the Yor and the Arceans and the Altarians don't like me much since I'm somewhat evil.
I have 11 planets, but almost no economic/production infrastructure.
As I had learned in earlier games, this is the price that is paid for an early offensive. The trick is to switch gears over to infrastructure building mode at the right time to prevent the other AI races from gaining an overwhelming economic/research lead. I least I think that this is how to make this strategy work; I haven't played enough games with this strategy (yet) to find the optimum balance point, if there is one.
Back to the game at hand. Now its time to sue for peace with the 3 parties I'm at war with. One of the advantages of this strategy is that I have a very good military score at this stage of the game: no one is even close. So I should find it easy to obtain peace and get some goodies while I'm at it. After all, I've taken planets from each of these guys in addition to having an 'overwhelming' military. But none of them is acting particularly frightened of me. I'm supposed to give up goodies to obtain a peace treaty
!? This is unexpected. So no easy peace is to be had with any of them. It's at this point that I notice something ominous. I'm evil and economically weak. The Yor are evil and also weak, no thanks to yours truely. The only other evil race is the Drengin, which don't look like they'll ever amount to much in this game (as it turns out, an accurate prediction). The Arceans are strong economically, if not militarily, and don't like me much. At least they have a reason not to like me, as I just took a planet of theirs. The Altarians hate me just because I'm me. Unfair! I've never done anything to them! So I'm sandwiched between two 'good guys', one of which I'm already at war with, and the other one seems kinda touchy. And they both have better economies than I do. My only potential friend in the neighborhood is the Yor and I just knocked him back to the stone age, which sorta pissed him off. It's gonna be hard enough to catch up with the Arceans as it is unless I can get them to make peace with me. But if the Altarians declare war, I'm probably up s**t creek. So, of course, that's what they do...
Well, with both the Arceans and the Altarians at war with me, it was only a matter of time. I had no way to maintain trade routes and couldn't keep starbases, etc, etc. Lesson learned: don't take on (almost) all of your neighbors early in the game unless you can finish them off.
Alternate version...
I re-load the game from the savegame point I mentioned above. This time around, I know that I have to keep the Altarians from declaring war. I know that the Arceans will be an economic powerhouse and I have to get with it to keep up. So, I immediately change my economy over to build infrastructure. I don't take the Arcean's southernmost planet. But I have already built and positioned a fleet near one of the Yor's planets, so I end up taking it and one of the Alexian's planets and then settling down. So, the Yor have 2 planets, the Arceans have 7 and I have 9. I'm at war with the Yor and the Alexians, but they eventually see the light and beg for peace, at which point I get some goodies.
This time around I have a much better chance at catching up with the Arceans. I'm able to set up some trade routes on my southern flank, away from the Arceans. The Arceans are calm for awhile while I get to boost my tech and econ but eventually they start a military build up. When they match my military power, they declare war. But I'm already well dug in with Battle Axes on my northern front, so nothing much happens. So an arms race is on. I have the military edge (Battle Axes in orbit vs. Corvettes attacking) while the Arceans have a much better economy. So they race to Battle Cruisers while I have to get to Battle Hammers and build up my production/research capabilities. Of course, they get to Battle Cruisers before I get the 'Hammers, so I have some tense moments of undefended planets that they don't seem too eager to conquer while I focus my entire economy to researching Defensive Phasers. With one turn to go before obtaining the Defensive Phasers tech, a Transport/Cruiser fleet shows up on my northernmost planet's sensors. I get the tech, the convoy is in range to strike, I lease a 'Hammer, the convoy hesitates
? (I'm not sure why they didn't attack the undefended planet at this point) and I now have a 'Hammer defending one of my best planets. Whew! That was a close call. But I'm now like 400 bc in the red, so no more leasing for awhile. I'm now in full military buildup of 'Hammers while I notice a huge increase in Arcean Transport convoys floating around my space with lots of Battle Cruisers escorting. This doesn't look good. Its all over but the shouting when the first Arcean Battleship shows up, which coincides with the Altarians getting brave enough to declare war on me. The Altarians mop up my trade routes while the Arceans can easily outproduce me, Battleship to 'Hammer.I lose. Again.
But it was fun anyway.
Comments:
A number of people seem to think that the Star Fighters are totally useless. I dunno, it sure seems to work well as an early attack vehicle for me. If anything, I think the Corvette is somewhat useless as it takes longer to research and isn't much better. I'll have to see if the 'Fighters work as well when not enhanced with the HP+50 attribute.
I think I should have attacked the Arceans or the Altarians instead of the Yor. The Arceans had the most planets and the Altarians were natural enemies since I was evil. The Yor could have been managed since they were evil and I could keep them from attacking me via my military power. On the other hand, the Yor were very close which helps the effectiveness of the early rush attack. I also think that I overbuilt Star Fighters and Transports; I should have switched to building infrastructure earlier. I had conquered two planets and had a large force of 'Fighters and some Transports left over which enticed me to take more planets. At this difficulty level I don't think you should build invasion fleets for more than 2-3 stars since staying in war mode too long will cripple your economic infrastructure.
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