NGC5 starting now. (or "I wanna be a God aswell!")(Nearly Gods - the Conflict)

[Ruatha]

Still some slots left and all hasn't uploaded their empire files, so you're just in time!

[Phoenix-D]

Just a bump to remind a misguided player that I am not in fact playing a God race

Originally posted by Ruatha:
Roll call right now:
Minors:
Se5a (Scout) (Prefers Minor)has joined
Phoenix-D (Prefers minor)has joined
RockNRoll has joined
Sefter Aruna has joined

[ April 28, 2004, 04:28: Message edited by: Phoenix-D ]

[Makinus]

I took over one of the minor races (Xier Empire/Fleets) of the game, and i started a kind of diary of my turns, so i thought about sharing it with the other players in this thread, i would like to hear commentaries and even hints about my strategies, etc.... keep in mind that i probably will not release there any plans that i have against other races, or even specific systems or planets that i'm attacking, and sometimes i'll not post severl turns for some time (because of moves and plans that i will eventually be doing in these turns).

But here goes the first 3 turns that i played:

Turn 23:

Took over the race Xier Empire, a Methane/Gas Giant race, culture bersekers, demeanor serene, Physical Strenght, Cunning, Political Savy and Farming Aptitude are the lowest possible, bringing points that were used in Aggressivenes, Defensiveness and Construction Aptitude, so looks like the race is one prepared to fight and don't have much strenght (or advantages) in diplomacy or making teatries.

Looks like the AI is for some time in control of this empire, because the facilities in some of the planets are completely illogical (85% mineral planet full of mines while a 142% mineral planet full of research centers), so i scraped a lot of facilities and made new selection for planets. The exploration made show that the AI was really in control for some time, while i have explored systems 5 warppoints beyond my homesystem there is a system 1 Warppoint from my homeworld inexplored.

No contacts with other races yet.

I have 6 Frigates with weapons that the AI was problably using for scouting (and a mistery here: one of the ships is heavily damaged, but i can't find any damaging sector near it, and i don't contacted any other race yet), 2 colony ships enroute to a system 3 WP away with 2 colonizable planets.

My home system have, including my homeworld, 3 colonies, being one the 85% mineral planet mentioned above and another the 142% mineral planet, i have 3 WP from my home system, being one to a system with 2 colonies and 1 colonizable planet, other to a asteroid belt system, and other to an inexplored system.

I have also more 2 colonies in a system 2 WP away, being one of them with my native atmosphere.

Including my homesystem i have explored a total of 9 systems, being 7 conventional systems, a asteroid belt system and a blackhole system (cool blackhole system: it have 3 planets in it, including one colonizable by me).

I maintaned the colony ships that are enroute to colonize the planets 3 WP away of my HW, and retrofited all the "Attack Ships" used by the AI for exploration, so i can extend the range of them, stripping all weapons and adding supply storages.


Turn 24:

Continuing the retrofit and rebulding of facilities, another colony ship was constructed, and i give it orders to colonize the colonizable planet 1 WP away from my home system (in the system with already 2 colonies).


Turn 25:

First contact with the race "Sign of One" that according to their statistics is one of the "Ancient Ones", sent a message of saudations... strange, i can't find any ship that may have caused the contact, even replaying the movements, probably it is a cloaked ship.... let's see what will be the answer to my message...

Another colony ship ready, that i gave orders to colonize a planet 4 WP away (i probably have better options in one of the nearer inexplored systems, but my retrofited scouts don't reached any of them yet).

[ April 28, 2004, 13:39: Message edited by: Makinus ]

[Ruatha]

Interesting reading the thoughts behind your gameplay.
Please keep it up, I'll be reading it.

[Alneyan]

Welcome to you then! If I do not confuse the Empire names, this ship actually made a mistake, since it entered one of your systems and departed at once. You will need to use a stepped movement replay in this system to see the movement, but I gather you have something better to do with your time. (It should be your system most to the north, and three systems away from this blackhole. It should be south of an asteroid belt as well, if you happen to have visited it)

Actually, you may get more treaties, since you will benefit less than other Empires because of your low Political Savvy. (Which means you will only earn 10% of a given Empire income at best, unlike 20% at a normal level) Many Empires lowered this characteristic as well, so you will not be alone with a reduced trade revenue. You are likely to run into another problem however, but I shouldn't be discussing your race weaknesses in public, should I?

I will likely post an update as well, following the contacts made in the Last few turns, but don't hold your breath on it.

[Makinus]

thanks for the replies people, i think i'll post my "diary" every 3 turns (or more if nothing interesting happens), and there is not any problem dicussing my potential weaknesses in public, because i'm a newbie anyway (only played single player until now), and better to me and everyone to know my weaknesses than everyone but me to know them....

my main problem (that i noticed) is the few quantity of planets that i can colonize, i, more or less, can only find around 2/3 planets per system, and found only one of my native atmosphere until now...

[Alneyan]

Maintenance is another key characteristic, since it governs how much you will need to pay to keep your ships running every single turn. For example, with an average maintenance, you will need to pay 25% of the ship value every turn in maintenance, meaning 2,500 minerals every turn for a ship costing 10,000 minerals. In short, you will repay the ship every four turns.

On the other hand, a maintenance of 120% (the maximum) means you will only pay 5% in maintenance, so you will repay the cost of the ship every twenty turns. In the end game, you may spend several hundred thousand resources on maintenance every turn, so even what may look like a small improvement may mean a lot then.

There are ways to work around this problem however, so you are not doomed to a life of misery in spite of the initial Empire design you took over. Nevertheless, it is quite a problem with SEIV, since most choices are not exactly balanced, and so you are more likely to make poor choices when making your Empire.