[Neptune's Pride] Here there be graphs

Lux

Not to say that people are hitting green hard.

This is economy:


I mean, damn, yo.

Imperfect

I think Brown must have hopped across Green's stars, with Green re-taking them behind him - it's the only way I can see him being all the way to the east like that.

Which is certainly a sound tactic - it absolutely rips apart Green's economy as he just space-tours his way across the galaxy.

Totally explains that horrifying graph there.

Fanaticalist

Thanks for bringing this to my attention guys. This game has been great so far. Just duking it out on a couple of public games to get my legs.

Starting in the middle is actually kind of fun since it forces you to be both diplomatic and insanely warlike to survive.

AustinP0027

In our free game, it's down to the final 3, all being PA'ers. I'll be out first, as the other two have allied against me (that, and I was the prime person taking over yellow and purple, so I was weak on the other front).

I think that my first game will most likely be my last. I enjoy the idea of this game, but waiting so long for things to happen is just too much for me. I like my planning to be in shorter gaps of time.

Darrian, once you wipe me out, I expect an update on who ended up winning.

Henroid

Austin, some folks here like the idea of shorter-term games so I'm sure people will make some that are paced faster. I, myself, don't like the idea, so don't expect it from me.

This game we're doing (Sombrero) is one of my favorite games I've done, but it's also gotten weird in some ways.

Darian

AustinP0027 wrote: »

In our free game, it's down to the final 3, all being PA'ers. I'll be out first, as the other two have allied against me (that, and I was the prime person taking over yellow and purple, so I was weak on the other front).

I think that my first game will most likely be my last. I enjoy the idea of this game, but waiting so long for things to happen is just too much for me. I like my planning to be in shorter gaps of time.

Darrian, once you wipe me out, I expect an update on who ended up winning.

I don't think you're in any danger of dying before the game ends; the winner is the first to 91 stars, so by the time you get wiped out the game should have already been over for a few days.

And there's always the chance that the Ape turns on me and we both leave you alone while scrambling to snag poorly protected stars, allowing you to claw your way back into the game.

For the curious:

Spoiler:

Current standings:
Darian: 84/91
QuizzicalApe: 58/91
Ace McCloud: 37/91

edit: Given my current scan, looks like this game will end in at about 3 AM EST.

Anyone interested in getting a group of PAers into another game? Having four of us here was nice, and my other game ended up with 5 inactives, one incompetent, and myself and one other competing for the win. Not nearly as satisfying as the battle we had in this one.

Darian

As expected, game ended last night.

Here's the after-action report on my first two games:

I just won my first two games (you can play in two Free games at a time). In one, 3 "opponents" went inactive immediately (AI controlled players will just spend all their money on infrastructure each day, but not take any new stars), and a fourth (the one blocking my access to the rest of the galaxy) went inactive after just a few days. Yellow started in the center of the galaxy and had free reign to expand into what should have been the territory of several other players. So dark red and I worked together to break purple, allowing me to access the rest of the galaxy, and then turned our sights on yellow to stop his exponential growth. Sadly, my ally stopped playing at that point, but he had worked (and traded tech) with me long enough to allow me to get onto even footing with yellow, and I was able to maintain that momentum to take a close win in the end (the game ends as soon as one player controls half the stars in the galaxy).

The much more satisfying game was the one where 4 of the 8 slots were taken by PAers. In this one, only one player went inactive early, and even he showed at least some signs of life, exchanging messages and expanding from his starting worlds. Here, I found myself with four neighbors, trying to negotiate a safe expansion and keep from getting ganged up on. Meanwhile, the two PA players I knew of (Darkewolfe and ThatOtherHorseman) joined me in a strong alliance that should see us all to the top three, to then duke it out for final positioning. Our tech trading made us all early powers to be reckoned with, but the other players seemed not to realize it. Dw was taking an early planet lead, but lagging in industry and science. He started battling purple, tucked away in the SW corner, and skirmished a bit with dark blue, who resided between Dw and myself. Around that time, we realized that dark blue was actually another PAer (AustinP007). Quick change in plans, and Austin and I worked together to wipe out the mostly inactive yellow, then turned our attention to the galactic west. At the urging of red, I attacked green in the NW, while Austin and TOH handled red. Around that time, Dw suddenly went inactive, so Austin turned his attention back to the east to gobble up those stars while we finished off red and green. With all of Dw's built-up stars, Austin was becoming a threat to quickly take over the game, so TOH and I made plans to both swing our forces that way and cut him back down to size. I managed to catch Austin with his fleets out of position and broke most of his industry; for some reason, instead of fighting back directly, he decided to focus his efforts on wiping out purple to rebuild from the southeast corner. That backfired when I was able to take the lion's share of his planets and end the game. Still, for the last week I've been watching TOH's fleets nervously, wondering if he was going to attack me and go for the win himself. This page shows the balance of power over the last week of the game.



Anyone interested in getting a group of PAers into another free game? Four of us was nice; we could try for more, next time! And hopefully we won't have anyone go inactive; would have been fun to have a four-way battle at the end, instead of just the three of us.

Henroid

Three Days Ago:


Today:


So in a dramatic plot twist, Green pretty much surrendered yesterday to the rest of us. He mentioned something about a final something or other of his fleets but that's it. I imagine over the next few days there will be some territory grabbin' to the east.

Red's campaign on Orange continues.

Yellow simply holds steady. Cyan hasn't lost any fighting spirit from the look of things.

Brown, just minutes ago, showed aggression on me and I've (red) declared war with him. I can't blame him for trying to take initiative - over the last few days I've built up to be just a tad stronger than him and we're only really capable of fighting each other in a purely even-footed setting.

I forgot to include this in my public declaration in-game: enjoy oblivion, sir.

Henroid

I'm urging the remaining players in Sombrero to check their inboxes at this time.

AustinP0027

Darian wrote: »

As expected, game ended last night.

With all of Dw's built-up stars, Austin was becoming a threat to quickly take over the game, so TOH and I made plans to both swing our forces that way and cut him back down to size. I managed to catch Austin with his fleets out of position and broke most of his industry; for some reason, instead of fighting back directly, he decided to focus his efforts on wiping out purple to rebuild from the southeast corner. That backfired when I was able to take the lion's share of his planets and end the game.

I was completely out of position and couldn't rally anything quick enough to do any real damage. When you started hitting my stars, the bulk of my stuff was focused on taking out Purple. Purple had all of their fleets protecting the few stars they had left, and when you hit me, it was either start a path through your stars until the fleet I had by you ran out of ships and you recovered, or send everything at purple to wipe him out.

Because DW went inactive and just built up ships, I spent a lot of ships just taking his stars, so I wasn't in any sort of position to do any real maneuvering. Plus, TOH wasn't attacking you at all, so I realized you two were going to ally against me, so I had little chance.

I lost interest towards the end as well, and just decided to pull everything to a little corner. You should have seen the stars I was holding, 12 industry each with 250+ ships on each one. I didn't think to realize how close you were to victory. I didn't expect to come back, just to make it very hard to be wiped out.

El Skid

Darian wrote: »

Anyone interested in getting a group of PAers into another game? Having four of us here was nice, and my other game ended up with 5 inactives, one incompetent, and myself and one other competing for the win. Not nearly as satisfying as the battle we had in this one.

I'd be interested in trying this out...just don't expect me to be any good

Fanaticalist

This game has surprisingly deep strategy for being so simple. Also, using diplomacy to try to buy time and influence people in this setting is great fun. I'd love to join in on a PA game, but I'll probably have to wait until after finals.

Henroid

Yesterday:


Today:


Green has been kicked out of his original territory and now holds where Cyan originally started, as well as some of Yellow's original position. While not one of the super-powers anymore he gains ground still. Lime's expanse creeps south-ward.

Red's war on Brown looks so far to be in Red's favor, though the initial attack and counterattack have been fairly weak.

White and Dark Red have each seized and opportunity to start claiming some of Brown's territory.

Red holds a strategic advantage in seeing almost the entire galaxy via sensors.

Imperfect

Jesus Christ, no kidding.

There is some MAJOR bullshit going on in that game though, I just gotta say that. All kinds of backstabbing, and such on a pretty much constant basis.

I <3 this game so much.

Henroid

Imperfect is totally brown.

Imperfect

Nonsense, foolery, and STOP TAKING MY SHIT.

Henroid

We could've been an item, Imperfect.

Imperfect

Maybe we are. Maybe I'm actually your bestest buddy White?

Henroid

I haven't spoken to white like at all in this game.

Beltaine

I think Henroid is duping us all and playing 2 characters.

I mean, we have Henroid, and then we have Doirneh.

Doirneh spelled backwards is Henriod.

Coincidence?

Imperfect

MY GOD

Lux

Beltaine wrote: »

I think Henroid is duping us all and playing 2 characters.

I mean, we have Henroid, and then we have Doirneh.

Doirneh spelled backwards is Henriod.

Coincidence?

Holy shit I never got that

Henroid

... wow I didn't notice that either. O_o

Imperfect

Suuuuuure.

Henroid

Time for an update on Sombrero. No images though because not a lot has changed in that regard.

Brown has been devoured by the collective power of White and Dark Red. Green continues to poke around in the south.

Red has declared war on White. Shortly after the pay period for this morning, White's weapon tech jumped several levels via trade (indicating an alliance against me).

Beltaine

Wonder how many more fights my mega-fleet has left.

Henroid

HARK A CONFESSION OF IDENTITY.

So what sparked your attack on me that I noticed like, when your fleets were in prep-time for light speed?

Imperfect

But if you're Brown, then who am I?

Any more guesses, Henroid?

Lux

Henroid wrote: »

HARK A CONFESSION OF IDENTITY.

So what sparked your attack on me that I noticed like, when your fleets were in prep-time for light speed?

Wait brown is attacking Doirneh ... unless you are admitting to playing two accounts.

Henroid

How did you know brown is attacking Dark Red? Oh wait, Lux is Dark Red. Nice play on the my-name-backwards thing.

Imperfect, if you're White, no hard feelings about starting a war against you.

LordGravewish

Seriously, playing two accounts is not cool. If you did that, please do not do that again. I mean, I know you paid for the game, but still... It gives you an unfair advantadge over other players. (Or make a game where EVERYONE can play two accounts and know that everyone else is playing two accounts (which ones is up to the players to figure out), that'd probably be kind of cool)

I mean, specially when those two accounts attacked me while I was fighting yellow. I had enough stuff to fight a 2vs1 battle (comparing my techs and ship count with yours for example), but not for a 3vs1.

IF you however did not play multiple accounts and this is just a misunderstanding, then forgive me and let me just say: Nicely played. In this case, lux, shame on you for lying to us

And yes, if you haven't figured it out, I was Dark Blue. For the turtlekind! We're still waiting for all the Yellow Insects to show up in hell. There are plenty down here already, but 4 stars worth of insects are still left in the galaxy. Can't you guys do me a favour and wipe them out quickly? I have some personal business with them down here. It involves lava. And pain, so much pain. Would hate it if those 4 stars worth of insects had to miss this.
Anyways, nice game and all, had fun doing some role-playing when all was lost. 3vs1 is a pain in the ass for the 1 (that's what I get for being so awesome...) Hope it kept some of you guys entertained too

Henroid

I didn't fucking play two accounts. :?

Lux

Henroid wrote: »

I didn't fucking play two accounts. :?

You can't even spell your own name backwards properly!

Henroid

When this current game ends I'll do a detailed write-up of what I did throughout and explain actions I took, etc.

I also won't be starting another game until after the new year starts. I'm going to be away for a week in December and given how long this game has been, I don't want to end up disappearing in the middle of a match.

Imperfect

Dang, Gravewish, calm down, buds.

I'm Dark Red/Doirneh for cryin' out loud.

It was just all kinds of fun to play along with Henroid's wrong guesses.

Sheesh.

Henroid

Way to embarrass me.

Beltaine

From Day 1, I offered up a non-violence agreement between Myself, Dark Red, White, and Lime. The four of us would rule the Northwest.

The three of them got HUGE while I was stuck in the corner with a really shitty set of starting stars. I only had like 8 stars worth doing anything with out of 20.

Early on, I concentrated on Science, to offer up Techs to the other three because there was really no way I could stop them from assimilating me. That would be my doom. I just never got caught up with economy and industry nor did I have anywhere to go if I did have it.

Eventually, Red and Lime faced off, and Lime allowed me a star to leapfrog from to help him fight Red. Then Purple went AWOL and I made a futile attempt to join in the mad dash for purple stars.

I originally was going to play the game as a massive turtle, I just got bored.

The point I attacked Henroid was when I realized I was receiving less and less tech support from the other three and that there was nothing I could do about Dark Red, Lime, and White once they had finished moving East. Red was the only race within range that WASN'T part of our mini-alliance, so I decided to stir the pot.

Didn't expect Dark Red to move in on me so quickly, though. Especially after some of the communication that had happened earlier in the game when Red was begging me to attack Dark Red's undefended flank.

Henroid

I haven't faced off with Lime, I think part of your history there is mixed up.

Beltaine

Henroid wrote: »

I haven't faced off with Lime, I think part of your history there is mixed up.

You're right, it was Lime and Pink.

Septus

I'm cyan, and if it's not clear, after the ass rape I was about to receive with dark green suddenly coming at me hard when I started against, I decided to let dark green take my territory without force. I gave him cash and tech, but apparently it wasn't enough.

But anyways, I definitely did not like the way the discourse was going with my initial entirely reasonable attack on yellow, so that kind of soured the game for me.