Announcement

**Hydro** · April 4, 2007, 22:39

August 2226

I thought I was in for a long colonization dry spell and then my speed 5 colony ship that was snooping around the edge of Terran space found the Marcrinus system with PQ19 and PQ11 planets! I immediately snapped up the PQ19 planet, and a colony ship is finishing at my capital next turn and hopefully I can grab the PQ11 planet before the Terran. Fortunately it appears the Terran’s economy has imploded since research and industry has collapsed. Good. Not to be mean, but I like it that way. I want the PQ11 planet.

Image 5: galaxy map in August 2226

The PQ19 planet had no specials on it, but it will make a fine economy planet. Now I have a total of 6 planets, two of which are nothing special at PQ4 and PQ6. There is a PQ12 and PQ4 heavy gravity worlds, but although I do have extreme colonization done I’m not going for heavy gravity colonization right now – it will take much too long at 24 turns.

I did have a bit of good fortune (besides finding the juicy PQ19 world) in that my survey ship found a 1000bc bonus, so my bank is up to 2140bc. I’m running a 106bc/turn deficit, which I hope will turn around soon as population expands and some markets come on line. I’ve researched Xeno Eco for the eco boost, which I hope will get me by.

The Terran is now researching galactic warfare, so I’m going to have to follow suite. It is high time I get a few warships out now that my starports are being completed. I can’t afford to stop military production and focus on research since I still want colony, constructor, and survey ships to be produced.

I’ve also grabbed the morale galactic resource to make sure the Jessians don’t get it. They’ve been sending constructors south, and I suspect they’re grabbing other resources I haven’t found yet. That’s fine with me since they’re holding them for the Getz until I conquer them and take the resources for my empire. That may be a while yet, however.

There seem to be a good number of asteroids, so I may need to construct another miner. That will be in the future since I want a few survey ships out, and maybe colony ships. In this game it is critical to expand, explore, or die.

**Island Dog** · April 5, 2007, 13:33

Very interesting. I always look forward to reading your AAR's.

**Hydro** · April 9, 2007, 19:21

November 2226

My colony ship finally made it to Macrinus IV (PQ11), one of the rare planets in this galaxy. It is also the planet paired with Macrinus I – a PQ19 jewel that will be an economic powerhouse in years to come. Now I have 7 planets, which edges out the Terrans with 6.

I recently met the Yor. They are stuck in the far corner with no planets, so I was actually a little surprised they were out so far. When my survey ship met them there were scouts, their survey ship, and a constructor all moving toward my territory. All were moving at speed 2, so my speed 5 survey ship beat his to the juicy anomalies. Ha! Of course, that does beg the question of why his constructor is going all the way toward my territory. The AI may send them out fishing, but I’d bet they’re angling for galactic resources I haven’t found yet. Even if they do I’m OK with that. The Yor have only 2 planets, a minimal economy, a flat research rate – in short, they are not a threat. I suppose they could send invasion ships all the way to my home territory, but by the time they get here I’ll be more than ready due to his slow research rate and slow speed. I cannot, however, neglect defenses, though. Eventually I’ll declare war, take the galactic resource, and then see if he wants peace – which I’ll be gracious enough to give.

My new cargo hull survey ship did get a big score:1000bc! This improves my treasury to almost 2000bc, which is a relief. I also decided to jack up taxes to 43%, which reduces my overall approval to 80%. This is OK since my new planets have 100% approval, moderately developed planets 80+%, and capital in the high 70s. Most planets are maxed for population, so this is the right time to put all those breeders to work. My deficit decreased from 90bc/turn to 20bc/turn, which I will grow out of or sustain it easily with my current bank roll.

For research I’ve finished weapons through laser 1, which allows me to put two on a frigate (small) hull. It has no engines, but with my +2 speed it can still move around nicely at speed 3. In order to make these true war ships I’ll have to continue researching up the weapons chart and get one or two levels of miniaturization, but this early it should be fine for increasing my military rating. The Terran has abandoned military techs in favor or biology and medicine. I have no idea why. Perhaps for fertilization techs for pop growth? Hard to say. I have a few more shipyards on line so I’ll start building a few frigates (2/0/0 offense, 0/0/0 defense).

After giving it consideration I think my current level of military tech is OK. I’ve decided to go for heavy grav colonization. There is a PQ12 and PQ4 heavy grav worlds, and considering how rare any habitable planet is I need to grab them. It will take 21 turns, but I think it is worth it. That should decrease as my research world finishes its last buildings, too. I had considered an economic tech, but that would take 17 turns. Overall I think grabbing the other two planets is more important.

My capital is still producing colony ships. I’m sending my two ships to the right of my PQ19 and PQ11 worlds, which are unclaimed. The Terran has been quiescent and I haven’t seen any colony ships from him that are heading to the east, even if he has claimed 6 worlds toward the middle of the board. Hopefully my fast speed of my colony ships (spd 5) will help.

January 2227

Ack! I’ve met the Korath! They are in the far northeast corner of the map, and they’ve managed to send 2 colony ships to grab planets east of my PQ19 and 11 worlds in the Macrinus system. My colony ship that was exploring was able to grab a PQ9 world next to them, but this could be a big problem since the Korath are aggressive and they have a large existing military. I have no military right now.

Image 6: galaxy map in January 2227

For me this changes the strategic situation immensely, and the Terrans just dropped down my list of obstacles. First, I absolutely have to get a military ASAP or the Korath will declare war on me. I’d rather have control over the declaration of war, and having a formidable military is the best way to dissuade an aggressive AI. I’ll queue up two or three frigates to see how this will affect my military rating.

Second, 2 of the Korath’s 6 worlds are very far from his home territory and much closer to mine. Here is where my speed and production advantage should be paramount. If I can take these two worlds I’ll have 10 worlds vs his 4, which is a big deal considering how few planets here are in the galaxy. Plus, I really fear his spoor ships, which will eradicate entire breeder populations from my worlds. Moreover, my breeders can fairly quickly fill the troops used in my transports. A side advantage is stealing technology with a successful ground invasion, which if quite significant in a game where there is no tech trading.

There is the tiny little problem of needing to research ground invasion, however. I have no native ground invasion ability of significance, so it makes sense that if I’m going to go down this route I’ll need to do it until I get to advanced ground combat. Otherwise I’ll lose lots of troops in an invasion, since by the time they are ready his nearby planets will have noticeable populations.

I view the Korath as a much bigger threat than the Terrans. I’ll need to get some defense over to my PQ9 planet in case a spoor ships happens by in the new PQ9 world I colonized in the Aldran system, rush-build a factory there go get its economy going, and also goose industrial production at my PQ11 and 19 worlds in the Macrinus system. All will be critical to defending my holdings and pressing the Korath.

I still have to finish heavy gravity colonization, which will take 10 more turns. I may have focus my research world to research since it is responsible for half of my entire research output. I hate to spend much more on research since social spending will stop or military spending will stop – neither of which is acceptable.

Or I could take a middle approach: take out the 1 or 2 minor races, fortify my eastern planet in Alran I, and then blast the Korath when I’m a bit more ready. I kind of like that idea since the minor races will give me a good production base, increased influence (and tourism cash), and a research and economic boost. It will also be a good place to dump excess population.

Both of these are predicated on getting advanced transport technology, so that is the next goal. I just hope I don’t have an economic setback or have the Terran go non-linear.

We also had our first Council meeting. The issue was the richest race (Korath) give 5% of their income to the less well off. I voted for this, but the Yor and Terrans voted against. Idiots.

Here is the standing in January 2227. Notice that I have over 3 times the population of the other races, which is a long term advantage. This will level off now that many of my planets are maxed.

Getz 8 planets, 41B population, 62 research
Terran 6 planets, 14B population, 31 research
Korath 6 planets, 15B population, 50 research
Yor 2 planets, 12B population, 19 research

**Hydro** · April 9, 2007, 21:08

May 2227

I now have 10 worlds with the colonization of 2 high-grav worlds (PQ12 and PQ3), which beats the AI which has a maximum of 6.

Image 7: galaxy map in May 2227

My empire is somewhat coherent, and I have wrapped around the Terran. Overall I think the speed advantage has paid off well, as has high-gravity colonization. Every edge counts, even if the tech for high-grav colonization was expensive. I have a few other colony ships poking around, although I doubt I’ll find any planets within my supply range. The only remaining planet that is not claimed is a PQ4 barren world, which is not a priority right now.

My plans for a quick kill of the Korath have gone off track. I was able to colonize 2 new high-grav worlds for a total of 10 worlds, which is good. But as additional facilities and the new colonized worlds that have come on line with my increasing military has resulted in economy started slipping farther into the red (80bc/turn). Tax rates were increased, but the red ink continued. So I decided to research Xeno Trade to get better trade facilities and now Xeno Entertainment for the 15% morale bump (since morale = taxes). My eco-world Macrinus I is coming on line, and I’ve focused the production there so I hope to get the trade bonuses up and running. Overall my economy is doing very well, at least compared to the AIs I’ve met so far. My tax income jumps nicely due to my very large population. I need to get my financial house in order before I get too involved in wars of conquest. A financial capital will be a priority after Macrinus is built out.

Image 8: economies in May 2227

I figured I can afford to do this since my military rating is now on par with the Korath. Unfortunately, this is due to more ships rather than better ships. His frigates have an attack of 3 vs my attack rate of 2, so I’ll have to increase my tech in that area if I’m going to have a chance at having a successful attack. Moreover, the minor races now have a military and defense against my beams. I have an overwhelming production advantage, but they’ll no longer be a pushover until I spend a good deal no military research again. The important point, however, is that the Korath’s relations have gone from cool and dropping to neutral. He’s declared war on the Krynn, who are on the other side of the galaxy. The Korath are also extracting tribute from the Yor, so I expect he will declare war on any faction that is weak – even if they are on the other side of a gigantic galaxy like the Krynn. I hope the Krynn AI realizes this instead of folding under this non-existent ‘threat’ since the Korath can’t hurt him at all.

Image 9: military in May 2227

The one bit of very good news is that my research is coming along very nicely. I increased spending to 40% and also focused my research planet to research, so it now more than twice that of the AI. I can speed along and get some key development techs. I think my next tech needs to be trade so I can get a few long-range trade routes with the Altarians and Drath, and maybe the Terran. My tech rate should increase a little as a two research specials on Aldran I near the Korath planets come on line, too. I do need to research the tech to get a tech capital along with planetary improvement to get extra tiles – both should help immensely.

Image 10: research rates in May 2227

What has made my good economy possible is my high population, which is twice to three times that of the AI. My population growth rate is starting to flag as my planets get their max population, tax rates go up, and as fewer new planets have the ability to increase population. Still, my next phase will be to get a single farm and morale tile to increase population at most planets. That won’t happen real soon, but this will give me room to grow and use my Super Breeder ability, get surplus population for transports, and get extra economic base. What is interesting is that the AI population is growing so slowly, likely due to an oppressive tax rate and the resulting low morale. This is fine by me since it makes the Super Breeder ability shine even more.

Image 11: population in May 2227

Even with the threat of the Korath I think I’m doing OK. To cement this advantage I’ll need to keep military parity with the Korath, improve my economy internally and via trade, and conquer the minor races. As long as the Korath are far away I need to clean up my home territory and get a few more good production bases up. The minor planets are jewels, and taking them should have fewer unpleasant repercussions than declaring war on the Korath (even if they richly deserve it).

Standing of known races in May 2227

Getz – 10 planets, 104 research, 47B population
Terran – 6 planets, 32 research, 18B population
Korath – 6 planets, 42 research, 19B population
Yor – 2 planets, 13 research, 13B population

**Hydro** · April 10, 2007, 16:52

March 2228

The turns have slipped by, I’ve gotten a little lethargic and I need to stir things up. I’ve researched through laser 3 and have gotten 1st level miniaturization so my speedy little frigates now have an attack of 3. Having one or two planets producing these keeps my military rating at the top, which is good. I’ve researched industrial, research, and trade planet improvements, so almost all my planets are busy. I’ve also gotten the first terraforming technology so my planets can improve, and almost all of them will be getting a farm. More population is a good thing, especially since my morale is generally 80% to 100%.

So, how am I going to stir things up? Following Wargazmo’s example I’m going to jack up social spending to 98% to kick all my improvements into high gear. This will get my factory, research, trade, terraforming, and farm improvements on line very fast. More importantly it will ensure I can finish the Restaurant of Eternity and Diplomatic Translator in 4 turns instead of 9 and 16, respectively – and keep them out of the grubby claws/tentacles/manipulators of the AI. More importantly, I won’t have to spend lots of my cash reserve of 2000bc to finish them quickly.

Of course, my research and shipbuilding will completely stall except where I’m building planet improvements (I have 1 planet that needs no improvements, and ship construction is proceeding nicely), but that’s OK. Goosing social production should really help both since my factories, research, and trade (economy) will be finished much more quickly. I’ll give it at least 4 turns to see what happens.

In other news, as of January 2228 I’ve met all the races. Most are neutral to warm, which is fine. I was able to exchange economic and research treaty with the Altarians once I threw in 200bc. The Altarian economy is pretty poor, but they have good and increasing research. Also, I’m cultivating them to be my friends since the Altarians are generally good allies. They are far away, have no real competitors except the Yor (who have 3 planets), and are minding their business. They might also be useful in the future.

Image 12: economy in March 2228

Image 13: research in March 2228

I’ve established trade with the Altarians and Terrans and have freighters on the way to the Krynn maybe the Drath. Due to the size of the galaxy it takes forever for the ships to get to their destinations. But, the trade routes are worth a lot due to this distance, even at the beginning – at least 10bc a week. This should also improve relations over time. The speed advantage is very useful here since it takes far less time. Oh, and I researched Impulse to ensure I get the additional speed bump.

As for technology, since I have a number of development techs under my belt and my military is OK I’ve started Planetary Invasion. I’ll follow this at least through Advanced Planetary Invasion, and then I’ll start taking out the minor races and the Korath. Right now my research rate is still in good shape, but that will change to near zero once I switch to 98% social. I might also want to take out the Yor, who colonized a PQ4 barren planet in my territory and have a economic resource in my space, too. They are small and relatively defenseless, and I’d bet I could get the Altarians to gang up on them once I get the Diplomatic Translators. This will give us a mutual enemy, which the Altarian can’t easily defeat due to the distances – perfect for cementing our future alliance.

In a strange but good event, the stupid Yor declared war on the Drengin. I think the Drath have to be involved since the Yor are small and a long way away. Paradoxically this will only increase Drengin’s strength since they’ll get a bunch of their Dominators with the war declaration, which this early in the game are formidable. They already have a noticeable spike in military power (~1/5th of an increase or so). The Korath are still at war with the Krynn. They are so far away I don’t think they can do anything about it, but at least it keeps their grubby eyes off of me – until I’m ready to attack him, that is!

Image 14: military in March 2228

Here are the standings of each race:

Getz 10 planets, 148 research (before I switched to 98% social), 59B population
Drath 4 planets, 17 research, 18B population
Terran 6 planets, 50 research, 27B population
Krynn 4 planets, 33 research, 20B population
Yor 3 planets, 18 research, 15B population
Drengin 7 planets, 80 research, 32B population
Altarian 5 planets, 32 research, 15B population
Korath 6 planets, 42 research, 26B population

To me it looks like I’m doing pretty good, with the Drengin, Terran, and Korath as second tier races. The Altarians might improve their position since they have a lot of territory and potentially planets to themselves, and they’re researching various colonization techs. Hopefully they’ll grab a bunch of good locations in their part of the galaxy. The Krynn, Drath, and especially Yor are in pretty tough shape. I can’t imagine why the Drengin haven’t declared war on both the Krynn and Drath. Their position near the Drengin is why I’m not spending lots of time with eco or research treaties; I’m not sure they’ll survive.

So, the strategy is to get most of my planetary improvements done, speed through the invasion techs, take out the minor races (at least 1, and maybe 2), and then take on the Korath. If I’m able to pull that off I will be in good shape. I’m also shooting for a Good alignment to keep relations with the Altarians and perhaps the Drath on the upswing.

Image 15: map in March 2228

A few more observations:

• Due to the layout of the galaxy and scarcity of planets an influence victory is impossible.
• With tech trading off I will probably not be able to get any sort of alliance victory since the AI seems to ignore that line of the tech tree (except the Terrans – who are the target after the Korath). So that means that I’ll have to slog through a conquest victory or perhaps a tech victory – both will be a pain, I’m sure, due to the paucity of planets.

**Hydro** · April 11, 2007, 22:04

May 2229

The two minor races are now conquered. The Jessians were subjugated in January 2229 and the Lentzlandians in May 2229. In the process I worked through shock troops and also planetary defense for a total invasion bonus of 45%, which is more than enough against minor races. I also had to research 2 levels of logistics to get it up to 15 so I could group 3 transports for 6B troops during an invasion. My ground combat plus technology advantage meant only 1 transport was deployed and 2 remained after I was done. In both cases I landed the transports to goose population, and then deployed them shortly thereafter to other theatres. My transports move spd 5 and my combat ships only 3, so the transports can dawdle a little. Overall removing the population for 7 transports (14B people) didn’t even dent my population due to high growth rates. Both minor race planets were developed as fairly balances worlds with a good mix of industry, research, and economy. Jessians had an embassy, which conveniently is increasing my already significant influence – and causing the nearby PQ4 Yor world to be in revolt. With the addition of the two minor worlds I now have 12 planets. As far as techs I got with the invasion, they were marginal: deflector 2 and stinger 1. Oh, well.

Image 16: galaxy map in May 2229

I did learn a few lessons. First, it takes bloody FOREVER to move speed 3 or 4 war frigates around a gigantic galaxy. The +2 speed pick and the +1 speed from Impulse sure helps, but the galaxy is just enormous when planets are few and far between. It took me 12+ turns to get from the Jessian minor world to the Lentzlandian world. And on the mini map they look fairly close! The map lies.

This implies that I need to look for nearby and soft targets – read that as the Terrans. I now envelop them, and they are much weaker than I am since I have twice as many planets as they do. Heck, my transports are at their doorstep, and my pokey speed 4 frigates can get there in a reasonable amount of time. So I’m going let my beat up frigates repair, keep producing war material, and get into position. Unfortunately, the Council passed a law that ways that when war is declared that all parties are removed to their territory. So, no surprise and overwhelming attack against the Terrans for the Getz. Right now I’m focusing on research with a spending split of 25/15/50 military/social/research.

I was also very lucky and found an unclaimed research resource between me and the Korath! I thought they had been snagged long ago. The minor races seem to be particularly good at finding them, and the AIs are no slouches. I’m tempted to think they cheat, but I know they have little scouts all over the place. Now I have 2 resources: morale and research. Both are maxed out, and the research resources is defended 8-1-1. This early in the game that is significant and can beat off many attacks.

My economic capital at Macrinus I is done, and its advanced trade centers are upgrading to banks. This should increase my income significantly. Also, my trade is picking up and now hauls in 190bc/turn, which is equivalent to my weekly surplus. I only have 4 trade routes (and should set up more soon if I can research the next trade route tech. With my newfound wealth I’ve started investing in spies to kick the rare spy out of my territory. I’ve placed 2 at the Korath planet nearest me. It is an excellent PQ11 research world, and I’d just love to take it. The other Korath planet is a toxic PQ3, and it is next to worthless. The Korath also have a well defended economic resource in the immediate vicinity. I’ll have to hold my lust, however, since the Terran comes first.

Diplomatically, the Krynn and Altrians are at war and the Drengin and Drath are at war. The Krynn for some reason have no military whatsoever. I’ve checked and they are Gifted. On occasion an AI is set to Fool for some reason, but not this time. Because of the non existent military they are targets for all races and eventually they get peace, but likely for a price. The Drengin-Drath war makes sense since the Drath are small and the Drengin have the third largest military after the Korath (who are huge) and me. My military is fairly even with the Drengin.

Here is the disposition of the races in May 2229.

Getz 12 planets, 235 research, 90B population
Drath 5 planets, 16 research, 22B pop
Terran 6 planets, 141 research, 32B pop
Krynn 7 planets, 52 research, 27B pop
Yor 3 planets, 43 research, 17B pop
Drengin 7 planets, 73 research, 40B pop
Altarians 8 planets, 115 research, 24B pop
Korath 8 planets, 136 research, 43B pop

October 2229

My, what a difference a few months make. All my plans to attack the hapless Terrans were scrapped when the Korath declared war on the Altarians in June 2229. I got a message that asked if I wanted to join the war against the Korath due to my good alignment, which is marginally better than neutral. I’m leaning good, but haven’t selected good since I haven’t bothered to research xeno ethics. After a bit of consideration I selected Yes, so as of June 2229 I’m at war with the Korath.

Why did I do this? Frankly, I view the Korath as a significant threat. I haven’t seen any spoor ships yet, but they are an instant kill if my planet happens to be undefended. All my beautiful breeders would be killed in an instant. Also, they are way above anyone else on the military chart, and have researched to photon torpedoes (!!!!). When war was declared I had laser 5 – good enough to take on the Terrans and get a decent military ranking, but useless against top of the line Korath ships. Plus, I have to admit I covet the Korath’s PQ11 research planet and their economic resource.

ASSIDE: I’ve since found out that no matter whether I select Yes or No that the Altarian Super Ability makes me go to war. Oh, well.

So now I look for some conquest. First on the list is was the Korath research planet Alderan III. I looked at the defenders and YIKES! My entire fleet of 7 frigates (small hull, attack 2 to 5) couldn’t take them on! So I take out a single Korath frigate with my fleet of 5 frigates (logistics 15) and lose 1 frigate and get another damaged to near death. Gulp. The weaponry disparity is worse than I thought. So I immediately switch to 70% research to get my weapons up to speed.

In the meantime I look for other targets and see a Korath military starbase that is supporting Alderan III and their now PQ5 toxic world Najmaowicz I. My brave fleet of 5 frigates moves in, attacks, and dies like a stuck pig. I could even hear the squeal as they exploded all over each other. Of course, the star base was reduced from 52 to 15 HPs, but that is small consolation since that was almost my entire fleet!

OK, on to plan C, and I’m running out of plans. Najmaowicz I is defended by a puny 0-2-0 defender, and I can take that out. I send my mighty 5-0-0 attack frigate and 2 transports (4B troops), eliminate the defender, and take the planet in July 2229. Now I can salvage some pride, although the planet is useless since I don’t have any toxic technology and all resources say NEVER. Hmph. The tech I get is Life Support, which is actually OK since I get an immediate range bonus.

So now I’m in the long process if increasing my attack to Plasma III, and after that my defense to PD1 against the Korath missiles. I can’t fit much more than 4 plasma III and 1 PD on a frigate, but at 8-0-0 and 0-3-0 it will do OK against the Korath 10-0-0 attack frigates that have no defense. My planets aren’t producing much in the way of ships since resources are toward research, but all ships and transports that are produced are heading to the front – and it will take a bloody 15 plus turns to do so!

In a good turn of events, the PQ4 Yor planet Jessian I rebels to join me. The Yor ships just sit there, which is odd. Usually they head for a planet, or at least their economy resource that is nearby. That is fine by me. I place one of my spiffy new frigates nearby in case he gets uppity.

In the meantime my ships from the other side of Getz space have finally reached the Korath front. I stripped these ships from the attack on the minor planet and from my home system. My planets are producing transports (at 2B/each) if their pop is maxed, or frigates if they aren’t.

Once I get Plasma III I jack military to 60% and watch the frigates and transports roll off the assembly line. In October I finally get a few new frigates (locally produced at my planet), and they move into position. I have 2 fleets of 5 frigates, most of which are rather old. I have 2 transport fleets (3 transports each) with them. I pull off a single spiffy new frigate, it attacks – and DIES! What????

Then I look again, and I notice that the Korath frigates have a higher attack rating when they are orbiting then when they are in open space. I wonder if there is a orbiting or planetary defense bonus? I don’t know, but I know what to do – go to overwhelming firepower. I have the entire fleets attack and they remove the Korath defenders with little damage, which is what I should have done in the first place. The transports move in, I use Information Warfare to have colonists switch to my side, and easily take the planet. The planet has only 1 factory, but the rest if research! Whoohoo! As an added bonus I get Toxic Colonization, so the little PQ5 world I took back in July is now somewhat useful.

One of the Getz fleets finally eliminated the pesky military star base, and another fleet and constructor is going to capture the Korath economic resource. I’ll have to get a few more constructors to give it some defense or leave a frigate or two to guard it. Everything I can do to prune the Korath economy is a good thing.

Image 17: galaxy map in October 2229

My increased influence from the 2 minor worlds has flipped a bunch of Altarian, Terran, and Yor mining bases. This does wonders for production, and with luck I’ll flip the rest. The two minor worlds also have more manufacturing than many of my other worlds, which are either built out as economic or research worlds. The extra production is turning them into manufacturing powerhouses for me.

This last episode has taught me a few things. First, gigantic maps are GIGANTIC, especially when there are few planets to attack. Putting engines on little frigates strips their firepower, so I’m now researching medium hulls. I’ll also research to Impulse 3, and then fit out a few good cruisers that have at least 1 engine. This should make them competitive with my transports. I may want to go to Warp to get the free speed bump, and considering the size of the galaxy that may be worth it. In a gigantic galaxy speed is life.

Second, the remaining Korath worlds are very far away. The Korath home system is literally in the corner of the map, and he has a planet or two in the middle of Krynn/Drath space. He is down to 6 planets, so while not out his wings are certainly clipped.

Since my military is refitting to cruisers and fast hulls some new targets are in order: the Yor economic star base and the ships he has in my territory and the Terran. He is just too close to ignore, and although he loves me he just has to go. I like contiguous space, and he is in the middle of mine (or what will be mine). Also, since he is close my pokey frigates and transports can make it to his area and get a semi-coordinated strike without too much effort. I want to make sure I can keep my new planets, so I can’t transfer much from the Alderan systems. But new builds and all transports can make it to Terran space. The limitation of having to be outside his territory when war is declared is a pain, but in 3 or 4 turns after war is declared I should be able to take apx 4 of his 6 planets. I want to make sure I take the capital before he surrenders to someone else since, if I do, I can flip any straggler planets.

The other bit of odd luck is after I captured Lentzlandias a colony ship that was cruising had an increase in range and happened on a PQ1 planet. This is a long term investment, but it does massively increase my range. I’ll have to build a few colony ships and scout the area since any planet is a good planet when they are so rare.

Economically I’m doing fine. I have a 5700bc balance, and am making 280bc a turn. My trade is 290/turn, so I have to protect that. This trade income means I need to squeeze a trade route increase in soon.

Here is the race breakdown in October 2229.

Getz 16 planets, 305 research, 112B pop
Drath 5 planets, 40 research, 24B pop
Terran 7 planets, 173 research, 34B pop
Krynn 10 planets, 53 research, 35B pop
Yor 2 planets, 34 research, 17B pop
Drengin 8 planets, 96 research, 51B pop
Altarians 9 planets, 115 research, 29B pop
Korath 6 planets, 13 research (losing that research planet hurt!), 43B pop

**Hydro** · April 15, 2007, 21:55

May 2230

The Terrans have been eliminated. In early March 2230 I finished the Tir Quan, which increased my ground combat and that is always a good thing. I had fleets positioned to the Terran’s east and a few ships to the north. My first cruiser showed up for the adventure. When I had accumulated three fleets of 3 transports and 3 fleets of ships (logistics 15) I declared war and moved in on March 2230. A few other straggler ships and transports also moved in from the west with a few scratch transports, too. Overall it was a three pronged attack, which wasn’t hard since I had the Terran completely surrounded.

It did take a few turns to get to the Terran planets, however, since I had to start outside Terran territory due to a recent Council decree. My influence is pretty good, so Terran territory has been shrinking.

I did have a few critical objectives. First, I wanted to eliminate all Terran fleets before I started taking planets so I don’t have any ‘surprises’, such as transports, constructors, or other civilian units taken out by a Terran ship I overlooked. Or you could say I’m a bit anal or obsessive, which may be true. After my declaration of war on March 15, 2230 my primary fleets moved in from the Terran’s east. The Terran’s fleets were completely outclassed both in weaponry and logistics, so although I did take some damage it was manageable. The Terran AI grouped their ships in multiple fleets per hex, which worked well since I had one fleet engage, switched out any ships that got damaged, and then continued. This took a few turns to destroy Terran 5 fleets and the 3 to 6 defenders at each planet in the Sol system. My movement pick again was great since I had extra attacks, which let me eliminate the many Terran fleets, individual ships, and then defenders at the planets.

In the meantime my fleets from the north made their way south to the Sol systems and started removing planet defenders. The first planet I took was Earth since this was by far the most important planet due to infrastructure and especially influence. I’d hate to have the Terran AI surrender Earth to another AI, so it had to be first. I arranged to take all the core Terran planets in one turn since my transports are relatively fast and the planets close together. The Terran had no ground combat skill at all, and that combined with my tech advantage made the ground combat efforts easy.

Over to the west my scratch force needed to be more careful since that fleet only had a few warships and some old transports from my invasion of the minor race. Still, I was able to remove any Terrans in the area since my firepower was twice his (a massive 5 to 8 attack!). I had upgraded a few old destroyers at considerable cost so they would have good offense (8) and defense (2). I waited to take the planets until Sol was secured. Within 2 turns I had taken 4 of the 6 Terran worlds. By later April 2230 I took the 5th Terran planet. The Terran surrendered on May 8, 2230. Most of his few remaining ships went to the Drath and Altarian, but a few went pirate. I’ll take care of those if the Drath and Altarian don’t. I was hoping to have the Terran hold out a few turns longer so his mining bases would revolt, but no such luck. Now I’ll have to build miners to get those resources on line.

Image 19: Galaxy map after destruction of Terran empire in May 2230

Besides the planets I got the following technology: fusion plants, missile weaponry theory, stinger 2, aquatic colonization, and xeno biology. All in all a pretty good haul. Just after I declared war I eliminated a Terran economic resource and claimed it with a constructor (the attacking fleet stayed put for defense), so I can add the economic resource to my moral and research resource I grabbed by myself. An influence resource in the Sol system is also vacant, and I’m moving to build a constructor and grab it, too.

In other events, I got a call from the Yor and Drengin in November 2229 and they both declared war on me - meanies. The Drengin aren’t anywhere near me, but there were a few completely obsolete Yor ships hanging around my space that were ejected from their planet when it revolted to join me. These ships disappeared since when the Yor declared war they magically left my territory. There is also a Yor economic resource. So my course was clear: find and kill the Yor ships so they don’t cause havoc and then take out the Yor starbase on the Economic resource. I sent one of my speed 5 destroyer fleets to take out the Yor economic resource starbase and then a constructer. When I claimed the economic resource for the Getz and the fleet stayed put incase more Yor ships return. It took a while (about 6 turns) to hunt down the Yor ships, which had been removed from my space per the Council edict on belligerent parties being removed from enemy territory when war is declared. Conveniently a recently finished cruiser at Getz Prime was done, saw them, and summarily eliminated all four ships (most of which had attack 1 or 2 each).

In December 2229 there was an event where taxes went down 25% and trade income doubled. This ended up being great since my trade income was already fairly big, but it does mean that I need to do more to replace the trade route I lost from the Terran and get a few more.

Now my plan is to build a few high-support cruisers and transports and take out the Yor, who have only 2 planets and are easy marks. They are way over in the western corner, and I can’t get there without at least 2 support modules on the ships. This means that ships will either have to be refitted or, more likely, constructed. The game plan will be the same – take all 2 planets in one turn to ensure I get at least the capital.

I also need to dedicate some planets to making constructors and miners to get those resources on line. Once the Yor are removed I can safely move to take out the Korath. I’ll need to move carefully and have high-support ships since they are also way in the corner. Getting cruisers with higher firepower will probably be necessary, so another round of weaponry and defensive improvements is needed while I consolidate my new territory.

Race summary in May 2230

Getz 23 planets, 310 research, 149B population
Drath 5 planets, 34 research, 27B pop
Krynn 9 planets, 93 research, 37B pop
Yor 2 planets, 35 research, 18B population
Drengin 8 planets, 101 research, 64B population
Altarian, 10 planets, 139 research, 40B population
Korath 6 planets, 34 research, 49B population

Overall it looks like the Getz have a huge advantage with twice the planets, two to three times the research, and over twice the population of any other race. Now I’ll have to eliminate the Yor, then the Korath, and Drengin. Perhaps by then the other races will have Alliance, and if not then we’ll have to plan the conquest of the other races.

**Hydro** · April 17, 2007, 21:27

March 2231

All I have to say is the galaxy is freakin’ huge. It takes forever to get anywhere, and although this game is essentially wrapped up it is close to torture to keep shoving my ships around. It takes 25 bloody turns to get across 2/3 of the galaxy, and that is just too painful.

But perhaps I should be thankful. After all, I could have gotten a random gigantic galaxy with abundant stars and abundant habitable planets. Now, wouldn’t that have been fun? There would have been hundreds and hundreds of planets and sprawling empires - and micromanagement hell. Thank Einstein for small favors.

I am committed out of sheer stubbornness to finish this game, so I have to do something about it. Now it is time to harness some of the lessons I’ve learned from Wyndstar – max research/manufacturing/social. In this case I need to max my research to fix problems. One solution to the huge transit times is to get better engines. Obvious? Yes, I think so. This will make my ships much more expensive, but so be it. I’ll need to get far down the engine line to ensure they aren’t space hogs, but that’s OK too.

I also need to get the terraforming technologies since I’m capturing or acquiring planets with extreme atmospheres. Right now I’m finishing rad colonization, which will take 2 turns due to my decent science rate. I’ll zip through all of them and be done with it. Then warp, a few planetary improvements to keep my planets busy, and then continue with phasers.

So how am I doing? Pretty well. After I conquered the Terrans I took out the Snathi and Paulos in July 2230, which game me very nice planets. What was amusing is that the Snathi had 27B population!! They’d built a farm on a 300% food bonus and a regular farm, and their population was near revolt. I thought my 3 transports and 6B troops were going to be in for a fight, then I saw his approval was ~30% - and information warfare here I come! Heck, with information warfare about a third of his population fought for me! Even stranger, the Paulos were similar, but they only had ~20B population. This time I only had 2 transports and 4B troops (I only needed 1 vs the Snathi due to the locals, my ground combat rating of 70% vs his zero, and my large tech bonus) and also won easily. The Snathi and Paulos planets will be staging areas near the Drengin. Obviously I built over the 300% food tile since I have no intention of having to manage 27B riotious Getz breeders.

In the process I snagged a research resource the Snathi had, and also an influence resource the Korath had. Then I refitted or build long range cruisers and heavy transports and headed for the Yor – it took 10 turns since he was way in the corner. Since I had warships and extra transports near the Paulos and Snathi planets I took out a Korath Toxic world in Krynn space, a PQ4 Drengin world, and am now gunning for a PQ12 Korath world by the Drath capital.

In March 2231 I finally took out the Yor’s two planets. Now that flank is secure, not that I was worried. I just didn’t want any pathetic and puny ships taking out my largely undefended economy starbases. So the Yor had to go. My reach now extends all over the map, and my influence is significant.

Image 19: galaxy map in March 2231

My economy is doing very well, largely thanks to 1600bc/turn in trade income. Frankly I was shocked when I saw that I was netting 1647bc/turn from 7 trade routes. The Altarian has 6 or so with me and mine are spread over most of the Good and Neutral races, but most toward the Altarian. Much of this is due to the special event that doubled my trade income and decreased tax receipts by 25%, but it is also due to the large distances on the gigantic map. My first trade route with Altarian is worth 120bc/turn after the multipliers by the few economic starbases I have near my capital (I think I have 3 or maybe 4 built). All this cash results in a 800bc/turn surplus, so the trade is keeping my economy humming along. Overall it is rising nicely, but I will need to get the next bump in economy buildings (stock exchange) and better governments to keep things moving.

Image 20: economies in March 2231

As far as research, it is doing nicely. I’ve upped my spending to 75%, resulting in ~1000 research a turn. This isn’t quite how Wyndstar does it, but it is as close as I’m comfortable with since I’d like to keep a few ships in the hopper. My research is almost an order of magnitude larger than everyone else, so it won’t take long for me to blow them all away – not that they aren’t blow away already.

Image 21: research in March 2231

The key to this is the Super Breeder population growth combined with high morale. Even a few turns after conquering the Yor and planting extra transports, those planets are near max. My population is taking off logarithmically with the addition of all the new planets.

Image 22: population in March 2231

So the plan is to blast through much of the tech tree, nibble away at the evil races, goose my planets with very high social spending after I have a number of improvements ready, and then build a series of fast uber-ships to take out the evil races.

This will take a while, but frankly it is more fun to press TURN then to move boatloads of pokey speed 6 and 7 ships all over the board. Plus, this might give the AI a chance to maybe – just maybe – research Alliance. I’d love to ally with my good buddies, and since I’m a Good Guy I’m going to use that as my strategy unless they go nonlinear on me. If they do then all bets are off. This will be a test to see if it is possible to get an alliance victory with Tech Trading off. It hasn’t been possible in any Tech Trading Off game I’ve ever played, so it may be interesting.

Here are the race standings in March 2231

Getz – 29 planets, 974 research, 229B population
Drath 5 planets, 43 research, 28B pop
Krynn 9 planets, 74 research, 46B pop
Drengin 7 planets, 71 research, 66B pop
Altarian 10 planets, 119 research (much of this due to our research treaty), 60B pop
Korath 5 planets (soon to be 4), 28 research, 45B population

**Hydro** · April 18, 2007, 22:05

February 2232

As predicted, the turns just float by. I was spending 85% or so of my budget on research, and by September of 2231 I’d finished all the colonization techs. As those planets came fully on line I noted that my income balance had dipped significantly. This is likely due to all the planets that were now at full throttle, which is good. Then I proceeded down the economics and government techs, the next research tech, picked up planetary bombardment to ensure I kept a good ground combat edge, and then…stopped. At this point I switched from 85% research to 98% social so all my many improvements on captured planets and new stock markets and research improvements could come on line. During this time I was not producing much in the way of warships, but frankly it didn’t matter much.

There were a number of events of note:
April 2231 – economic boom
June 2231 – increased influence
July 2231 – economic boom over
August 2231 – took Sauron I, which was a PQ19 Korath planet. Now the Korath have 3 planets left, and I have plenty of transports in the area
October 2231 – took Kora Prime. All of Korath space now is my color due to influence. Korath Prime has a progenitor mine! Very nice. I pay for a quick upgrade to the best manufacturing available. Too bad the AI never got to use it to any effect.
November 2231 – the Korath are destroyed. I also find, amazingly, an unclaimed PQ8 rad world deep in Korath space. It looks like the Korath never bothered to get rad colonization. Kora Prime starts on a cheap-o colony ship to claim the planet.
January 2232 – tourism income jumps to 10x, which is wonderful since my influence rules the galaxy. Now tourism income is 3,700 bc/turn. The side effect is that morale goes down. My morale is pretty high so this doesn’t matter.
Late January 2231 – the Vegans show up. I send a transport over to claim the planet for the Getz.
February 2232 – the Drengin find a precursor artifact that increases the PQ of each of the worlds in the Drenga system by 3.

The Altarians, Drath, and Krynn haven’t bothered researching Alliance yet, so my desired alliance victory is far off. Worse, their science rate truly sucks so it will take a long time, if ever. Hmph.

My planets are swarming with spies, likely from the Krynn and others as I eliminate the Korath and Drengin. I’m spending 10% of my economy on espionage to get spies to nullify the spies in my territory, but it still isn’t enough. Ack.

I’m just killing time now. As the turns move along my cruisers and transports remove fleets, defenders, and then invade Evil planets. The Korath were taken out easily even with my old 12/0/0 0/6/0 cruisers, and the Drengin as not putting up much of a fight as I slake away their planets one by one. There is absolutely no incentive to improve my military or logistics rating. What I have works just fine. As for the game, most are done by now. I’m really not in a hurry since I’m seeing if an alliance victory is possible.

Here is the standing of the races in February 2232.

Getz – 40 planets, 1095 research, 313B population
Drath – 5 planets, 34 research, 28B population
Krynn – 8 planets (1 defected to me), 47 research, 45B population
Drengin – 4 planets, 27 research, 34B population
Altarian – 10 planets, 171 research, 80B population

**Hydro** · April 20, 2007, 21:40

December 2233

The assault on the Drengin continued and I actually lost a ship! What?!!! It seems that two or three of his ships were actually ships that had some good firepower, and they targeted a damaged ship. And it died – the only cruiser (medium hull) I’ve lost.

In July 2232 I took the last Drengin planet. I took his capital in May and wanted to draw it out so I’d have as many mining bases revolt due to influence, and when half had I put the Drengin out of my misery.

I also noticed that I have a few cruisers that have a boatload of HPs. One cruiser has 112 HPs and is Level 78. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before, and that it is pretty nifty since the cruisers start with 24 HPs or so. I have quite a few older cruisers that are level 40 and better, so some of my individual ships have more HPs than entire fleets of new ships. Those are tough hombres!

As the turns float by I’ve been alternatively almost maxing out my research and then social spending with relatively little spending on military. My infrastructure is pretty impressive now, but my military is now less than the Altarian. That is not a good idea so I’ve switched to ~30% military and will have new cruisers with maxed phasers coming out. Updating my high Level cruisers is probably a good idea too. I have close to 400,000bc in the bank, so money is not an issue.

I’m drawing this game out to see if I can get alliances. The Drath finally got the alliance tech in February 2233, and we are now allies. The other AIs are pursing other aims and it is not at all clear when they’ll get around to any yellow tech. My patience only has so much in the way of limits, and the longer the game goes the greater the chance of an unpleasant event turning the galaxy.

One there interesting item. I was snooping around and looked into the Drath capital and WOW! Look at all those manufacturing specials! There’s a bloody progenitor mine, a 3x manufacturing and three 1x manufacturing specials! The Drath should have ruled the galaxy and rolled over all their neighbors. As it is they never got more than 5 planets, weren’t in any wars that I recall, and have been completely quiescent. I checked and the AI is gifted, so it wasn’t set at Fool (as has accidentally happened in the past). For me the Drath capital is a dream planet. Who cares about research when you have the manufacturing power of an entire empire at one planet and at a tiny fraction of the cost since you only pay for ½ the production of the bonuses!

Image 23: Drath Capital December 2233

So I’ll play a year longer and if there’s no alliance victory I’ll quit and assume it will happen in the future. All I’m doing is pressing TURN, after all.

**Hydro** · April 20, 2007, 23:40

January 2235

OK, I’m done. The Krynn started to research alliance, and then bailed. The other AI’s are busy playing with themselves. The Krynn capital revolted to me in December 2234 and after that my close relations went to friendly and lots of new negatives showed up: tendency to conquer others, alarming influence (really????), “we know what you’re doing”, etc. Four trade routes collapsed. In short, there isn’t much chance of getting my relations back any time soon. I’m an ally with the Drath, but the Altarians are busy researching military tech.

I did get my first Galactic Plague in early September 2234. I immediately researched the plague cure, which took 1 turn. The AI did nothing and his population is crashing. That is part of the reason the Krynn capital revolted since the lower population decreased his influence, with fatal results.

What I could do is simply wait a few more months and the AI’s populations will crash further and I’ll get an influence victory. But that would be pretty hollow. Being a Good Guy I’d like to gift the cure, but with no tech trading I can’t.

So I guess I demonstrated that without tech trading that getting an alliance victory is a real challenge. I am not surprised, but it is strange that the AI doesn’t research that portion of the tech tree. It is relatively cheap, and gets you better governments, economy, and influence.

**Asmodean** · April 22, 2007, 06:23

So all in all, what impact would you say that Super Breeder had on this game. Did it influence your decisions? Did it prove decisive in victory?

Asmodean

**Hydro** · April 22, 2007, 08:46

Good questions.

Summary of Super Breeder advantages:
• Quick starts economy due to fast population growth
• Allows very fast production of colony ships or transports since population will be quickly replaced, and the economic hit is not as hard since populations are quickly replaced
• Get higher influence since it is partially based in planet population

Incidental advantages of Super Breeder:
• Harder to invade Super Breeder worlds since populations are likely to be higher

Super Breeder is a powerful super ability primarily because it addresses one of the main difficulties of any empire in GalCiv2: economy (or just plain money). There are several sources of revenue in GalCiv2:
• Taxes from population (augmented by trade improvements on your planets)
• Tourism
• Trade routes
Other sources also exist: anomalies explored with survey ships (which only last as long as the anomalies do), selling technology (tech whoring), and extortion (gimme $$ or I will not make peace; gimme $$ or I’ll kill you). I may have overlooked a few.

Of these, taxes from population are likely to be your primary source of revenue since the others are likely to be small (tourism, trade routes) or sporadic (anomalies, extortion, tech whoring). Taxes can be increased by having 1) a high population and 2) a high tax rate. A high population base means you can have a reasonable tax rate and get much more than your enemy empires. A high tax rate, by contrast, is a slippery slope since it adversely affects morale, which in turn slows growth rate. A few races have a very good morale bonus (such as Krynn) and they can have a high tax rate and still have good morale. Other races aren’t so lucky.

The Super Breeder shines in the earlier game when cash is short. The AI empires will keep tax rates such that their morale is 50% to 60%. This means their growth rate is fairly slow. A key Super Breeder strategy is to do everything you can too keep morale at 100%, and your 8x population growth rate will allow you to hit the population sweet spot of 2B+ and in short order your total population will blow away the AI empires. Keeping your taxes low so morale will stay at or near 100% will cause a constant negative balance, and you’ll have to have a bankroll to fund this: keep your starting bankroll by being careful on buying colony ships, build survey ships (Sensor 1 tech) to grab anomalies, and if necessary sell tech. When you are satisfied with your planet populations – I like 5B or so – increase your taxes so that morale is still 75% and you’ll see a HUGE increase in taxes that blows away your completion. My AAR shows a screenshot that demonstrates the large increase in economy. Your growth rate will stay good, too since 75% is one of the key break points for population growth. As with all races, be sure to get the Entertainment techs since they have empire-wide morale bonuses. Consider building morale buildings, too (although I don’t build very many)

Also, your high growth rate means that supplying population for colony ships during the colony rush is almost trivial (unless your colony ship production rate is truly high). Other races will see the populations of their core colonies decrease fast, and during this time their tax base decreases, too. No so for Super Breeder! If it gets too low, take 5 turns to build a constructor and you’re all set. Likewise, your influence sphere will increase faster than your opponents, allowing you to grab more tourism cash. In the early game this isn’t generally a big haul, but every bit helps. As with planet population, near maximum AI population occurs long after the Super Breeders’ due low population growth rates.

Later in the game when your and AI planets have near max population the Super Breeder isn’t as key anymore, but there are still advantages. First, you can replace population quickly when loading transports, which reduces the financial hit. I found that my populations easily replaced themselves by the time the next transport was built (this depends on your military build rate). Your planets are also almost always near maximum, which makes them harder to invade.

So, overall why should you care? Simple: getting your economy up and running in the early game is one of the hardest tasks in GalCiv2. The Super Breeder along with the Krynn (very high racial moral) and Altarians (very high economic stats) shine here, with means you’re less likely to hit an economic Death Spiral or suffer with an extended period when your spending is less than 100% because your economy just won’t pick up. Keeping spending at 100% will win you the game, and the Super Breeders do an excellent job at this. In the end, since you economy stabilizes before your opponents you can start building your empire when they are still struggling. And that is no small advantage.

Hydro

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