**Spoilers** Game of the Month #2

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**Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 3/31/2014 12:13:39 PM

Icemania

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From: Australia
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Remember that this thread will be full of spoilers ...

Fire away! I won't be back here until I return from holidays.

Post #: 1

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/4/2014 1:59:39 PM

elanaahova

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Icemainia�s game of month #2, April 2014

Initial assessment and play thru game date 2103.03.29

Initial assessment Pre warp. Home system: two nice planets same ecosystem as home planet; two ruins. No pirates. No bases or ships built at all. Twenty troops already built. Three NPCs, Sci great, imperious leader OK, Spy? Note: Polymer ^ colony development level +5. Main issue: Poor rep, -20, puts growth at 2%; very reduced revenue. Extreme caution re: independent colony invasions for foreseeable future. Good thing there are two excellent inhabitable planets in home system for expansion purposes. My goal: extreme frugality to begin, reduce expenses, build cheap infrastructure, increase happiness. Plan: (1) disband 5 of the 20 troops on home planet. (2) Raise taxes just enough to eliminate shortfall each cycle. (3) Research troop maintence -10% cost; research med/rec facilities to ^ happiness. 10% research for blasters done at start. I usually go for torps, but need wep asap, so stay with blasters.
Design ships and bases. Design first star base with minimal everything except +5 x3 research labs: resource efficiency > labs > construction yards. Modify component construction sequence to put energy production and fuel storage first (get resources on line quicker), then labs, then rest, no weps. (Since I am so weak, I will pay pirates for protection, for now.) Bases designed with little protection, weapons set to long range engagement stance, and four designs for mining bases: gas/ore with lux, gas/ore no lux. Its extreme micromanagement, but with such an extreme starting situation, every resource, physical, cash, I can save, I will.
All ships and bases set to manual upgrade. Ships designed with added thrusters for ^ speed, but no additional crew/hab modules. I will build the star base, two explorers, and two construction ships. Anymore is overkill when restricted to one solar system. Wish I could ditch the horrible construction sounds. Why not the sounds of the solar wind playing with the ort clouds? 
Icemania has created a very interesting start, different from typical starts. Cool.

play thru game date 2103.03.29
Start timer, game play begins. Explore, get completed abandoned ship, build mining starting with gas H, Cas next to home world. Bloody moon pirates show up and offer 121$ per month protection deal. OK, do it. Also offer of location of independent colony for 20,000. Ignore, can�t go extra solar anyway. New scientist, one disciple, but good. New Ambassador, lol. Lucky, research breakthrough with 40% left, on med systems. Another scientist, inspiring presence. YES! Researching colony modules, and warp precursors. I don�t usually research colonization techs, however, considering the home system and the -20 rep, initial expansion via new colonies in home system makes a great deal of sense. Pirates have not raided my home world (yet) � they have another world under their thumb as a different species �head� shows in their diplomacy window. That�s it up to game year 2103.03.29 Comments and advice appreciated.

(in reply to Icemania)

Post #: 2

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/7/2014 9:59:34 AM

CyclopsSlayer

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Joined: 2/11/2012
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Finally got a chance to start this...

2106.01.01 - 5+ Year report
Overall, nothing spectacular to report.
Pirates are being an incredible drag on progress.

Adjusted the Designs and R&D in my typical fashions.
Deleted ALL the starting Troops as they served no purpose and were merely a drag on the economy.
Reduced taxes to keep cash flow at the +$1000 range. This has brought my population to >7 Billion with $75K cash on hand by 2106.

R&D queues:
-Weaponry: Fighters > Torps > Logistics > Armor > Imp Assaualt > Imp Defense > Armor > Light Torp Bomber > Light Interceptors > Imp Torps (Finished Armor)
-Energy: Shields > Energy Collectors > Construction 2 > Warp Bubble > Fission Reactors > Construction 3 > Proton engine > Maneuver > Gerax (Finished Fission)
-High Tech: Transport > Storage > Medical > Entertainment > Coordinated Control > Countermeasures > Colonization (Finished Countermeasures)

Explored Anomaly 1 and received Storage Tech, Anomaly 2 was of course Warp Precursors.

Pirates, OMFG, not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 Pirate Empires in my system by the end of year 4. The First 3 I needed to buy of just to finish construction on my base. To the tuns of $1250, $1200 and $500. Cancelled them as soon as the Base was upgraded with Shields and Fighters. BUT, lost the Gas Mine near my Homeworld twice now, really pissing me off...
Pirate forces seen in my system so far: Fierce Moon Raiders 3 Frigates and 1 Explorer. Bloody Moon Invaders 1 Cruiser. Grim Merchant Salvage 1 Cruiser and 1 Explorer. Grim Consortium only 1 Frigate. BOTH of the Moon Pirates lost their forces later to Base Defenses. Something about 80 Fighters makes even a Cruiser non-threatening.

Started Extra-Solar explorations, but nothing of import yet.

Gained an Ambassador, but have no idea yet of his stats.
Scientist (start): Ultra Genius now at +20/+45/+24
Scientist 2: Demoralizing Presence now merely a bad memory as he had an accident with a test tube or something, lol
Scientist 3: Energetic with Weapons +13
Scientist 4: Energetic with High Tech +14

Yes, 4!! Scientists.

< Message edited by CyclopsSlayer -- 4/7/2014 11:04:09 AM >

(in reply to elanaahova)

Post #: 3

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/7/2014 11:41:47 AM

CyclopsSlayer

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10 Years on...

2116.01.01

Killing Pirates left, right and center, and yet still they come...

Currently in contact with 39 Pirate empires, and 14 Major/Minor empires including the Ancient Guardians.

Colonized the 2 in system worlds, the home system is quiet with the Pirates nearby running scared.
Conquered a Mortalen (300M) and a Phaerax (500M) Independents and have a troop drop ordered for another Mortalen (469M) world. Both Conquered worlds had Hidden Bases and one a Network under construction, those have been eradicated.
The HW is up to 14.2 Billion and will soon become heavily taxed once maxxed out.

Scientist (start): Ultra Genius now at +25/+49/+24
Scientist 3: Energetic with Weapons +17
Scientist 4: Energetic with High Tech +20
Scientist 5: Patriotic, Inspiring with Energy +7

Two further scientists, Demoralizing/Spy, and Demoralizing/Creative were reassigned to Janitorial duties at a Resort facility with no labs within light years.

Overall in 6th place at the moment. The 3 Keskudon empires are dominating at the moment. One at 16% Victory, one 19% and the leader at 33%. the 4th and 5th places are barely ahead of me at 7 and 8% to my 5%
I have completed the Boskara Yards, and am working on the Ope Trade Networks, meanwhile the Keskudon Terrotiries have built the Rusan Tech Inst.

My reputation is recovering due to the constant streams of Pirate kills.

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 4

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/11/2014 5:11:01 PM

pycco

Posts: 345
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From: United States of America
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15 year report

started trying to grow pop. to many pirates, so i taxed them to 1 happiness, en-tell the bio wonder was finished.

so many pirates, they just keep coming. managed to destroy 6 fully functional bases, 5 non functional. there is still a pirate infestation all over the explored parts of the galaxy.

Discovered the Napor...
Napor peacefully joined my empire

discovered 4 Keskudon empires.... they formed an alliance of darkness. They have built 2/3 research center, the Boskara Yards and the open trade network Wonders.
The galaxy is bug central.
I have achieved 3 trade agreements.
all other empires are restricting trade to my empire.

titan beams are at 68% with luck they will be finished before the 20 year mark and incorporated in to designs across the board.
damage control will be finished shortly, to help with field repairs.

no new scientists, multiple troop generals that i keep firing, and horrid fleet admirals and ship captains.
Have one spy with descent counter int.

Year 2137

im in 3rd place with 11%, the leader has 20%

so many pirates, the seems to be never ending.
the Keskudon in first place has acquired several world destroyers. they do not hesitate to use
them on home worlds, i have seen them do this on 3 occasions. i was at war with the Lemeresh, i had invaded there Home world after a short bombardment.I left to micro manage other things in empire, scroll bar said the Lemeresh empire had been defeated. I went to build a defensive base over my newly aquired planet to my suprise one of the Keskudon empires had showed up with a world destroyer and reduced the planet and my army to dust..... it was about to jump when i click back.

the war with the orange empire to the north west has ended with the peaceful signing of a treaty to incorporate them in to are empire, it was signed with titan beams

< Message edited by pycco -- 4/13/2014 12:31:58 AM >

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 5

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/12/2014 11:15:51 PM

Icemania

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From: Australia
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Just checking in briefly while on holidays, any victory screens yet? Glad to see the Diabolical Reputation start and slightly more advanced Keskudon Empires have been mentioned. I also created a sector to the Far East filled with Silvermist at game start but sounds like they haven't expanded from that Sector unfortunately ...

(in reply to pycco)

Post #: 6

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/13/2014 12:06:41 AM

CyclopsSlayer

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While one of my Scouts has Found a Silvermist, it was to my north-west.

TOO damn many pirates to get any military established. I can handle the first 2-3 attack waves at a colony, the 4th or even 6th drives off my defenders or destroys them. All from different factions mind you. Now in contact with 46 Pirate Empires.... And with the Kesk playing the "Hey our Kesk cousins declared War, lets pile on!" game...

Things off in the Far East are so way too far away to be of any import.

(in reply to Icemania)

Post #: 7

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/13/2014 4:38:32 AM

pycco

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hmm there is 2 sectors that are sparcely colonized, to the east i hope the silver mists are huge. this has been one of the best DW games i have played in a long time.

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 8

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/14/2014 4:49:01 PM

CyclopsSlayer

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Another Day, another Pirate attack

...and this is after they half killed each other and my Defense fleet and StarBase...
Similar scenes at 2 other colonies. sheesh...

(in reply to Icemania)

Post #: 9

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/14/2014 5:02:47 PM

pycco

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ouch cyclops, that's why i stay in starting system and get a decent fleet and techs before pushing out. in a map with lots of pirates, they can steal so much $$$ and resources and destroy so many mines it can make it impossible to build anything.

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 10

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/14/2014 5:40:03 PM

CyclopsSlayer

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quote:

ORIGINAL: pycco

ouch cyclops, that's why i stay in starting system and get a decent fleet and techs before pushing out. in a map with lots of pirates, they can steal so much $$$ and resources and destroy so many mines it can make it impossible to build anything.

Just did a quick survey...

Total Pirate Military ships: 2756
Total Pirate Firepower: 99,216
Total Pirate Controlled Colonies: 54 (1 controls 8, 2 control 4ea, rest scattered)

My ships: 47 extant w/ 24 under construction
My Firepower: 1952 extant
My Colonies: 9

(in reply to pycco)

Post #: 11

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/15/2014 12:10:02 AM

pycco

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9 colonies at 2122? that's a lot of area to cover, imo its the tech choices that are leading to such a difficult path for you.

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 12

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/15/2014 7:05:01 AM

CyclopsSlayer

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Well, the 9 aren't fully colonies. 4 of the worlds are the ones in system, the other 5 are conquered Independents. Used to also have 2 of the 3 Napoar worlds to the immediate NW, but they somehow rebelled and took the Troops, Generals and 2 Orbital Starbases with them... /mutter

Independents;
-Mortalen ~700M
-Mortalen ~1000M
-Phaerex ~1000M
-Phaerex ~11000M (won the Ground because of all the pirates Assault pods were added to my side)
-Lameraesh ~1700M

edit:
2130 update
Even with the conquests my Reputation is 'Admired' from the sheer numbers of Pirates killed. Not that I have seen any forces/ships/bases added, at least 5 of the Pirate groups have surrendered and joined me.

One of the three Keskudon empires declared war and captured one of my Mortalen worlds. >700K in grounds troops there now, not getting retaken anytime soon... :)

Silvermists are starting to make their presence known. Was in the process of absorbing a high population Minor empire when the world, troops, fleets all ceased to exist. At least 3 Mists in that system now.

The leader is still at 33% Victory, meanwhile I am solidly in 5th with 11%.
I am busily converting the Carriers to Advanced Fighter Bays.

Pirates were repairing the Desolation Moon, so I repaired a nearby Cruiser and destroyed the unfinished Moon since it wouldn't let me take over the repair. Repaired and Retired 3 complete Debris Fields, 2 more in process, 3 test ranges also repaired and retired.

Techpoints achieved:
Weaponry - Adv Fighters, Reactive Armor, Plasma Thunderbolt, Improved Armor, Improved Infantry, Improved Special Forces, Super Hvy Mass Drivers (this ENTIRELY from wreck deconstruction)

Energy - Imp Fusion Reactor, Imp Deucalos Shld, Imp Equinox FTL, DW4000 hyperblock, Multivector, Acceleros STL, Bakaras Yards built, Repair Robots, Hull size 650

High Tech - Adv Countermeasures, Imp Long Range Scanners, Cont/Marsh/Desert Colonization, Adv Passenger/Troop Transport, Bio Workshops, Virtual Reality, Advanced Research, unlimited Commerce.

Wonders - Bakaras Yards, Trade Guilds, Energy R&D facility (name escapes me)

< Message edited by CyclopsSlayer -- 4/15/2014 9:38:22 AM >

(in reply to pycco)

Post #: 13

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/15/2014 5:44:49 PM

pycco

Posts: 345
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From: United States of America
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Year 2145

leader is amazing
2 spy's with inspiring presence.
in second with 19% leader has 21%
i have 30 colonies in 17 systems
in control of sector c-3,4 fully uncontested.

have reputation of noble from the amount of pirates i'm still killing...
defeated the red horde super pirates.

intense fighting in sectors d3, d4 between 5 different factions including me and 3 of the Keskudon empires. Adomar nation has a huge navy and is at a higher tech lvl than me, lots of ships to. luckily the "alliance of darkness" broke and now are at each others throats, but the Adomar nation has a huge advantage. they are in control of 6 sectors,d-5,6 e-5,6 f-5,6. Are now starting to conquer the empires around them including there HW's.

any idea where the Shakturi beacon is?

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 14

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/15/2014 6:00:32 PM

CyclopsSlayer

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Not a clue, wondering if it doesn't exist prior to the conditions to activate it do. One of the NPC's may activate it or something. I have pretty much seen everything out there, I have 24 Explorers running. Well, as they die I rebuild to that number. :)

I saw the message about the Super-Pirates appearing, but damned if I recognized the system name. There really needs to be a search feature on the map, "Where is DFR-1012? Where I spotted that Mist?" or "Where is Sol System where the Pirates are"

(in reply to pycco)

Post #: 15

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/19/2014 10:34:59 AM

Icemania

Posts: 1847
Joined: 6/5/2013
From: Australia
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2130 Report

44% in Victory Conditions, closest Empire is the Keskudon Group on 18%. 50 colonies, score 1.7M, cashflow +$2.5M, currently building the final 2 common wonders.

From 2108-2116 the focus was destroying Pirate bases to recover the starting reputation and reach Heroic. The bottom second-thirds of the map was almost completely cleared, leaving the top third alone as I will need Pirates to boost reputation with the invasions to follow.

From 2116-2130 conquered 8 homeworlds and have built as many colonies in nearby territory as possible.

Next steps are to attack one of the Keskudon Empires and go on a Silvermist hunt on my Eastern borders.

Universe and the Game Editor

I thought it was cool that starting Reputation could be changed in the Game Editor and I'm hoping Universe will open such options up much further for future Games of the Month.

It's a pity the many Silvermist that I created at the start of the game did not seem to expand very far. I also built a bunch of extra Pirates in the Game Editor but it doesn't seem to have made much difference. Hopefully Universe will allow Silvermist to travel more broadly and expand to create an empire level threat, whole new classes of Space Monsters, stronger Pirate factions etc.

Extreme Games

The Game of the Month is intended for a general audience but is there any interest when Universe releases in sharing notes on "Extreme Games"? i.e. games that are much more difficult. Hopefully Universe will vastly improve the AI (or allow AI improvement mods) so the AI can make better use of Difficulty bonuses or Starting advantages.

< Message edited by Icemania -- 4/19/2014 11:36:10 AM >

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 16

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/19/2014 1:30:49 PM

CyclopsSlayer

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Joined: 2/11/2012
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Icemania
It's a pity the many Silvermist that I created at the start of the game did not seem to expand very far. I also built a bunch of extra Pirates in the Game Editor but it doesn't seem to have made much difference. Hopefully Universe will allow Silvermist to travel more broadly and expand to create an empire level threat, whole new classes of Space Monsters, stronger Pirate factions etc.

I seem to recall, RotS?, the Silvermists could flood the map. Now it seems they barely expand out of system at all.

(in reply to Icemania)

Post #: 17

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/20/2014 12:22:25 AM

Icemania

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From: Australia
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Really? Sounds great!!! I didn't start playing until after Legends was released.

It would be great if that was configurable in Universe.

(in reply to CyclopsSlayer)

Post #: 18

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/21/2014 3:28:02 AM

Icemania

Posts: 1847
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2135 Report

64% in Victory Conditions, closest Empire is still the Keskudon Group on 13%, 87 colonies, score 2.9M, cashflow +$2.6M, all wonders built.

With the extra cash flow on this lower difficulty I really should have built more invasion fleets and expanded faster, this game could have been won by now.

(in reply to Icemania)

Post #: 19

RE: **Spoilers** Game of the Month #2 - Progress updates - 4/21/2014 10:55:09 AM

Icemania

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Joined: 6/5/2013
From: Australia
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2138 Victory