So... anyway, thanks to everyone for playing. I thought it was a game of three parts. A slow but interesting start. A frantic and cool middle. And a bit of a crap end.
For my part, I had built a little web app to do my combat calculations and efficiency improvements very early on and kept improving it through the course of the game. Sure, you could do it in your head if you felt like it, but it meant I could iterate through various options 'til I found the one that worked best for me. Almost meant that I could make snap judgements on whether to stand and fight or whether to just dump a ship and run.
I started trading with Panda very early in the game. I made similar offers to Xar and Trax but Panda got stuck in first and that kinda stuck. He was an obvious trade partner for me as we were never coming into conflict. So he did weapons and I did sensors and we swapped.
I bartered for neutral zones with Nanor and thatbloke, told D to go south and Xar to go north. I also offered trade to Ghostwolf in the hope that arming my enemy's enemy would go well for me. Nanor was openly friendly and thus I smelt a rat early on. thatbloke was fairly cold but cordial and so I saw myself boxed in by two enemies and one empire (D) who seemed to be doing just as I asked... until he paused altogether.
Sure enough, Nanor treachery struck. Unfortunately, Nanor didn't seem to have a good grasp on the combat at that stage and I crucified his every assault. thatbloke went into escalation on my borders with Nanor's attack underway and I sensed a two pronged attack (that, incidentally, never came).
So, methodically and carefully, I annihilated Nanor. And thatbloke still didn't attack.
By this point, Xar was well stuck into D and I'd had many days fruitful trading with Panda and Ghostwolf, and not much contact from anyone else. From reports I was getting, I was starting to sense a 4-5 way alliance between Nanor, thatbloke, Traxata and DocBot with a possible addition of D as a weapons supplier. I was aware that Panda and Ghostwolf had a formal alliance and begged in; I was still pretty scared of thatbloke at the time, though Nanor never really proved to be a problem (sorry, Nanor, but you lost a half dozen fleets for nothing...)
A day later, I urged us to approach Xarlaxas to help consolidate our power. Amazingly, Xar bought in, though I think some technology bribery had something to do with it.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the beginning of the end. For, it seems, the 4-5 way alliance was really a two way alliance between thatbloke and Traxata, with some altogether much too late funding of Nanor (which just ended up in my hands as Nanor lost production, economy and science to me) with DocBot left out in the cold until the end. thatbloke suddenly withdrew from my borders, heading for Ghostwolf, and I slaughtered all his worlds from behind with almost no resistance. From there, I was close to unstoppable. I had spent almost nothing on science, yet I had a decent science base from stealing it from Nanor and thatbloke. I had their combined industries. And only Xar had the industry to keep up with me.
I think that's where the game really ended. If Xar had turned round and come at me (and his fleets looked like they were about to do that), then it could have gone differently, but I was pretty weary by that point; too many late nights watching for late jumps, too many frantic battle conference, too much time spent making sure my little web application wasn't actually wrong (which it was, on occasion). I think Xar was feeling the same way, so in the end the weariness burned out the wish for conflict.
The real part of the game I enjoyed. Just think there should be a surrender button for when people have actually given up as the game was clearly done but I had to spend an extra couple of days making it actually end...
Not sure I'm up for another for quite some time though...!
For my part, I had built a little web app to do my combat calculations and efficiency improvements very early on and kept improving it through the course of the game. Sure, you could do it in your head if you felt like it, but it meant I could iterate through various options 'til I found the one that worked best for me. Almost meant that I could make snap judgements on whether to stand and fight or whether to just dump a ship and run.
I started trading with Panda very early in the game. I made similar offers to Xar and Trax but Panda got stuck in first and that kinda stuck. He was an obvious trade partner for me as we were never coming into conflict. So he did weapons and I did sensors and we swapped.
I bartered for neutral zones with Nanor and thatbloke, told D to go south and Xar to go north. I also offered trade to Ghostwolf in the hope that arming my enemy's enemy would go well for me. Nanor was openly friendly and thus I smelt a rat early on. thatbloke was fairly cold but cordial and so I saw myself boxed in by two enemies and one empire (D) who seemed to be doing just as I asked... until he paused altogether.
Sure enough, Nanor treachery struck. Unfortunately, Nanor didn't seem to have a good grasp on the combat at that stage and I crucified his every assault. thatbloke went into escalation on my borders with Nanor's attack underway and I sensed a two pronged attack (that, incidentally, never came).
So, methodically and carefully, I annihilated Nanor. And thatbloke still didn't attack.
By this point, Xar was well stuck into D and I'd had many days fruitful trading with Panda and Ghostwolf, and not much contact from anyone else. From reports I was getting, I was starting to sense a 4-5 way alliance between Nanor, thatbloke, Traxata and DocBot with a possible addition of D as a weapons supplier. I was aware that Panda and Ghostwolf had a formal alliance and begged in; I was still pretty scared of thatbloke at the time, though Nanor never really proved to be a problem (sorry, Nanor, but you lost a half dozen fleets for nothing...)
A day later, I urged us to approach Xarlaxas to help consolidate our power. Amazingly, Xar bought in, though I think some technology bribery had something to do with it.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the beginning of the end. For, it seems, the 4-5 way alliance was really a two way alliance between thatbloke and Traxata, with some altogether much too late funding of Nanor (which just ended up in my hands as Nanor lost production, economy and science to me) with DocBot left out in the cold until the end. thatbloke suddenly withdrew from my borders, heading for Ghostwolf, and I slaughtered all his worlds from behind with almost no resistance. From there, I was close to unstoppable. I had spent almost nothing on science, yet I had a decent science base from stealing it from Nanor and thatbloke. I had their combined industries. And only Xar had the industry to keep up with me.
I think that's where the game really ended. If Xar had turned round and come at me (and his fleets looked like they were about to do that), then it could have gone differently, but I was pretty weary by that point; too many late nights watching for late jumps, too many frantic battle conference, too much time spent making sure my little web application wasn't actually wrong (which it was, on occasion). I think Xar was feeling the same way, so in the end the weariness burned out the wish for conflict.
The real part of the game I enjoyed. Just think there should be a surrender button for when people have actually given up as the game was clearly done but I had to spend an extra couple of days making it actually end...
Not sure I'm up for another for quite some time though...!
