Murdoc

Neptune's Bountiful Pride: The Sequel

Recommended Posts

The Phaedrus Cluster, Game 2:

 

9DrSyQX.png

 

The "betrayal" (ignition of unacknowledged but inevitable conflict) of Kevin Spacey and Uhrmungle aside, Game 2 was nearly straightforward for me. I quickly made strong, mutually-benefiting allies, who allowed me to compete with and outdo my neighbors, and, in the end, bear the burden of war. Essentially, the science and fleet strength I established early in the game was cemented with the conquest of Kevin Spacey (sorry, Kevin), and I launched a joint attack on the then-leader Uhrmungle shortly afterward, whose resistance to the combined ability of me and my allies would eventually dissolve; despite a short time playing the defensive, I eventually incurred deeply into Uhrmungle's territory and subsumed a crippling amount of his production capacity, while my allies caused the same damage on their own front. This sustained, Uhrmungle's offensive capability crumbled, mine ballooned, and I won the game. Thanks for the help, J Mallard, whoever you are.

 

Now -- nearly straightforward.

 

There were three notable wrinkles in the proceedings that I remember. The first, and most significant, was The Disappearance of Dahle: Right as the first assault on Uhrmungle began, it seemed clear to J Mallard and I that we would face significant difficulty effectively coordinating our fleets against Uhrmungle because of the enormous rearward front shared by the both of us with the powerful green empire, Dahle. Given that, at the time, Dahle could make no further progress in the game except by attempting to conquer us, war with him seemed unavoidable (regardless of whether he was directly cooperating with Uhrmungle or not), a war which, left unaddressed for the moment, would have probably necessitated an ultimately fatal reconcentration of our fleets mid-war-with-Uhrmungle to stymie the losses he would have caused. However, even with preparation, as far as I could tell, there was simply no way to deal with him - we could have focused wholly on Dahle as an effort to preempt him, turning our attention from the newly hostile Uhrmungle, but that naturally would have left us open to attack from the newly hostile Uhrmungle, whose already large strength would have grown even larger as he swept through our hobbled garrisons. We could have focused wholly on Uhrmungle, but, like I said, that would have left us sitting ducks during attack by Dahle, who, while not overwhelmingly disposed, would have depleted our rearward resources to a degree that the resistance of Uhrmungle would have become impossible, even if we did manage somehow to drive Dahle back. (Keep in mind that Uhrmungle, then possessing a science advantage over J Mallard and me, would surely have begun funneling tech to Dahle when he learned about our conflict.) Unfortunately, our best bet would have been to spread our ships across our territories in the hope that whatever distribution we decided on would prove a match enough for both Dahle and Uhrmungle's initial waves, giving us time to gear up for an attack of our own or another wave. This was a precious hope, however, and the numbers were blunt; barring notable error on the part of Uhrmungle or Dahle (and none on our own), victory was very unlikely. Although I didn't say it to J Mallard, it seemed to me that we had already lost.

 

And, then:

 

xvHXsq9.png

 

 

I have no idea why he left, but he's very lovely for doing so. After Tick 476, we made Uhrmungle our main target, looted Dahle's headless empire, and pressed to success. 

 

The second wrinkle was Crazy Crane's Deceit: If The Disappearance of Dahle was the primary reagent of the victory tonic, then Crazy Crane's Deceit was the catalyst. Poor Crazy Crane, put upon by his more fortunate neighbors, spent the entire game without more than nine stars to his name. Although I cannot speak with much specificity about his experiences, it seems to me that his weakness largely made him a useful tool in the eyes of those more powerful surrounding him (including me, admittedly), who believed he might be willing to do their (our) dirty work in exchange for a chance at the stature he probably craved. Again, I do not know how he reacted to most such bribes, but I do know that he eventually gave his life for our sake, rather than besmirch his dignity by accepting one or one more.

 

As I understand, shortly before the official start of the war, Uhrmungle asked Crazy Crane to concentrate his remaining military power on J Mallard, who bordered Crane, and suggested that, if Crane did not comply, it would be the last thing he did. Not taking kindly to being baldly threatened (and presumably realizing J Mallard would probably inflict the same fate anyway), Crane elected instead to take matters into his own hands. He gathered all his ships, wished J Mallard and I luck in the war, and sent his fleet straight into Uhrmungle's heartland. I do not know the immediate effects, but the offensive evidently shook Uhrmungle enough that J Mallard and I managed to win a number of early battles against him that we certainly wouldn't have otherwise. While I don't think Crane's attack caused Uhrmungle permanent damage, it likely set the stage of the war for its foregone conclusion.

 

A surprise assault launched under the guise of servitude, and by this man? It must be Crazy Crane's Deceit!           

 

The final twist came out of the blue, as it were - surprise support from Kevin Spacey: Despite what I said earlier, Kevin Spacey had not been conquered per se - he had almost been conquered but was instead only crippled, managing to preserve a shadow of his empire at the end of our conflict by bursting South into Dahle's uninhabited territory. Following this daring maneuver, I saw nothing from Spacey for a while, and I soon moved onto more demanding matters. I assumed he was busy plotting something, maybe trying to make further headway into Dahle, or work up the might, perhaps with Uhrmungle's backing, to harangue J Mallard or me. I figured, at any rate, he could no longer be a significant force in things, and stopped paying attention to him altogether. 

 

Then, without warning, I found one day that my daily payout, then about $1,500, had doubled in one cycle to about $3,000. While quite pleased, I was naturally bewildered. I checked my event-log. The sender? One Kevin Spacey. As he later told me, he had saved several cycles' worth of income while preparing to take more of Dahle's land, but realized that the rapid approach of J Mallard (I believe) made these preparations moot. Now lacking an ultimately useful way to spend the money himself, he decided he would attempt a more indirect means of Uhrmungle-subversion (his ultimate goal), instead sending all his money to me.

 

While, at this point, I had gained a lead on Uhrmungle, I can tell you that a day's income come early was the point of no return. I posted this image earlier:

 

l9EUcQE.png

 

The jump of the red line in each graph is entirely due to Spacey's intervention. 

 

Anyway, that is the story of Smokey Sax. I hope you liked my write-up. I enjoyed doing it.

 

Since I'm interested, would you mind sharing any rhetorical issues you may have spotted? Verbose? Unclear?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't think game 1 is going to end any time soon. As far as I can tell we have what's known in space as a Mexican standoff.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As I understand, shortly before the official start of the war, Uhrmungle asked Crazy Crane to concentrate his remaining military power on J Mallard, who bordered Crane, and suggested that, if Crane did not comply, it would be the last thing he did. 

 

Hah, no, I just bullied him a bit until I got some fleets into the area and then attacked him because you were taking Spacey's stars and I didn't get the nice ones. He decided to take his fleets to my territory instead of defending, but that didn't take too much effort to counter. Unfortunately I couldn't keep Crane's lovely home star when Mallard attacked me. 

 

When you guys attacked me, I rallied my defenses and immediately donated something like four levels of Weapons to Dahle. When he disappeared, I defended for a bit (keeping you at bay but failing with Mallard) and tried to get him to halt his advances and turn to Dahle's stars instead. At that point I would have had the capability to crush you. However, Mallard didn't reply. I had no strategic recourse and the massive bounty of Dahle's unoccupied stars was on the wrong side of the galaxy, making it a matter of time until you won. Or Mallard, I suppose. Getting my fleets from 60 stars churning out ships to where I needed them was a horrible cow-clicky chore which only prolonged the game, so I simply gave a few of my fleets very long orders and stopped playing, occasionally checking what was going on. It still took goddamn ages for the game to end. 

 

Oh man, I didn't realize what Mallard's name was until now. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Haha, I was J Mallard.

 

The main point in the game that broke me was Kevin Spacey's betrayal. Since the beginning, we had been working together (as blues brothers, so to speak), and decided that we needed to take out one of the border players to even stand a chance. Poor Crazy Crane was chosen. Once that war was seemingly won, I asked Spacey who he wanted to target next and he said Sax. Over the next day or two I was gearing up for the attack on Sax, but Spacey's messages became short and few. It didn't help that when I was trying to coordinate attacks against Sax, I sent the message TO Sax instead and got to watch him wrestle with this diplomatic leak. After I sent the first wave into Sax's territory, I see the fleet of Kevin Goddamn Spacey pointing my way.

 

 

I was legit bummed after that. And that's how Neptune's Pride taught me that I should never trust anyone.

 

But Kevin, I was super surprised you hadn't told Sax about your plan. If you had have ganged up on me I would have been screwed.

 

Also, I tried to get Uhrmungle on my side by the end of it, to keep Sax down and me up hopefully. But Uhr was pretty resigned by then, and the game just kind of fizzled out.

 

Cheers for the game thumbs, it was a weird month.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wubbles deserved that victory, by the way, no doubt about it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

His radio broadcasts at the beginning were pretty great.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The main point in the game that broke me was Kevin Spacey's betrayal. Since the beginning, we had been working together (as blues brothers, so to speak), and decided that we needed to take out one of the border players to even stand a chance. Poor Crazy Crane was chosen. Once that war was seemingly won, I asked Spacey who he wanted to target next and he said Sax. Over the next day or two I was gearing up for the attack on Sax, but Spacey's messages became short and few. It didn't help that when I was trying to coordinate attacks against Sax, I sent the message TO Sax instead and got to watch him wrestle with this diplomatic leak. After I sent the first wave into Sax's territory, I see the fleet of Kevin Goddamn Spacey pointing my way.

 

 

I was legit bummed after that. And that's how Neptune's Pride taught me that I should never trust anyone.

 

But Kevin, I was super surprised you hadn't told Sax about your plan.

I'm so glad that I broke you, and I didn't tell anyone anything more than they needed to know. Unless I have leverage over someone else, I assume they're in cahoots against me, and that included Sax and you. :)

More on my recollections later this weekend, once life subsides a little.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Very much so!!

 

I was Crazy Crane. I took the approach that I should believe absolutely NOTHING of what I was told by anyone, and I knew from the start that I was a terrible liar and not much of a schemer in general. I suffered some early problems but once I realised that it wasn't so much the number of stars but the value of the stars you controlled that mattered, I began to make a rather limited comeback. My biggest issue early on is that I had no clear roadmap or plan for research. I was hugely reliant on the help of Sax and Spacey and ultimately looked to trade on that as much as possible. I was in a difficult situation; if I could have got Sax to turn on Mallard I hoped to break out east and then move into Dahle's territory. Even before his/her AFK, Dahle was floundering behind me in weapons tech and it seemed possible that I could establish some room for myself moving east. 

 

Spacey had been pretty good to me as far as I could tell, despite my initial commitment to believing nobody (something that in the end seems to have been justified though it does seem that the Spacey/Crane/Mallard relationship was... complicated). In truth, I'm not good at this game. I genuinely bristled at Uhrmungle's bullying and I found a rather bizarre message from Dahle as I eventually moved east (surely an attempt to intimidate or confuse me) as rather frustrating. In any case, my attempt to get involved in intrigue, looking to sacrifice my alliance with Spacey (doomed as it was from its own Bismarckian nightmare) was completely undermined by my sending a "let's backstab Spacey" message to Spacey, Sax and Mallard. I felt incredibly stupid though funnily enough, Mallard pointed out it was difficult to tell if it was a ruse or not! This game.

 

The pressure was becoming too much and although my home planet was extremely valuable I knew the jig was up and decided not to go gently into the good night. As stated above I coordinated with my enemies to the east to fly a suicide mission as far into Uhrmungle's empire as I could, something that ultimately didn't have too much effect but that was worth it on the off chance I got into his/her supply lines and could cause some chaos. The rest of my ships I moved east to try and craft a brand new foothold in Dahle's empire, hoping that I could perhaps re-establish myself long term. I actually should have had a chance to do this but I foolishly split my forces, and left myself at the mercy of Dahle's remaining ships.

 

It was great fun, and a great gang here to play with it must be said. Well played all and congrats to Wubbles. Lovely write up as well!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't think game 1 is going to end any time soon. As far as I can tell we have what's known in space as a Mexican standoff.

 

Is it a Mexican standoff or intergalactic peace? I think we ended up in a win condition the game has not planned for and should sign a treaty just to let the game go forever.

 

********************

Thanks for the write up, Wubbles, that was some cool stuff. I'm starting to the NP is sort of a little Eve online, where you can have this fun stories in bite sized chunks with not a lot of personal buy in.

 

I also love the name Crazy Crane's Deceit, it sounds like a old school pc game and may need to use that term someday, but then have to explain it to people.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Is it a Mexican standoff or intergalactic peace? I think we ended up in a win condition the game has not planned for and should sign a treaty just to let the game go forever.

 

Our galaxy is an exact replica of the 1984 fictional world map.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey guys, I'm about to finally give neptune's pride a shot, as I'm pretty sure I now know enough people IRL to get in on this sort of game.

 

I paid for an account so I can make private games, but I'm not really sure how to start the invite process. I get a link to the game I created with 8 slots and it gives me a link to send out to people. The wording makes it sounds like the game has to be full in order to start, though. Would there be any way to start the game if only 6 of my friends and co-workers agree to play?

 

I really wish I could invite a list of emails to the game, and then they could make like a temporary guest name to join the match.

 

My plan now is to send out a group email with a brief elevator pitch, a disclaimer that I cannot vouch for this game personally but that i've heard good things, and then a link to the private game i've already created.

 

It's a tougher sell if I have to get everyone to join up in advance via a hype email, then wait to see who actually bites, then create the game for the appropriate number of people, then send out another email with the URL.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Here is the unedited diary I kept during the game. I used colors instead of names because they were easier to keep track of, but here's a key in case you want to correlate events with the other stories posted so far. Also, apologies for the length, but you must understand the obsession at work.

 

H7tSMsh.png

Shortly after midnight, April 27th (Friday night) - Started the game. Placed in the middle of the map, so started strategizing about who to ally with. Some—on opposite corners of the map—seem like natural allies. Others seem like natural enemies. Storing my notes in a file so I can return to them tomorrow morning (still the 27th) once others have joined, and message them accordingly.

Morning, April 27th (Saturday) - Almost everyone else has joined the game. Sending out messages to several other players proposing alliances. Red, immediately to my east, rebuffs an offer of detente at first, wanting to wait until everyone joins. (Hoping to cut a deal with the last player we're waiting for?) No answer yet from anyone else

Evening, April 27th (Saturday) - An interesting development: earlier I sent a message to Pink saying that Light-Blue had told me that he was going to attack. This was a lie, as I hadn't talked to any other players at that point! An amateurish attempt to set two other players against each other, sure, but I was hoping. Now, though, Light-Blue has contacted ME for an alliance, and proposed a joint attack on Pink! My lie has become truth, and I may have retro- and pro-actively betrayed an ally. Already, the comfort of clear morality is slipping through my fingertips.

Morning, April 28th (Sunday) - While I was sleeping at 5:21am, the game began. Already, events conspire against me. Still, though, since you can buy and commit your forces before the start, my plans work forward unabated. Already, I have begun to capture systems. There is still a healthy buffer between myself and the other players. Always, always rethinking my plans and trying to imagine what other players must be scheming.

Afternoon, April 28th (Sunday) - I continue to refine my fleet movements based off new intelligence of profitable stars, and begin to plan what moves I'll execute at the end of the next production cycle. I have already resorted to an iPhone timer set to go off whenever my next fleet arrives at a new star, so I can react based off the new scanning range. I want to be maximally efficient in these early hours, and secure my domain. Being surrounded makes one very paranoid. In kinder news, some other players have responded to my offers of alliance. Two in particular, the orange far above me and the light-blue immediately below, seem genuine. Orange cannot strike me, and light-blue regards me as a helpful buffer, so I think we will be able to come to terms, at least temporarily as needed.

Evening, April 28th (Sunday) - I've fallen in tune with the natural pace of this game, setting up orders that'll bring pieces into place as I want them tomorrow morning. Creating new fleets takes the money for an economic improvement, so I'm treating them as a fixed quantity (like dropships) as much as possible. Ferrying new ships out to the front of the line, and then sending them back to grab others. I'm trying to keep my production centralized as much as possible, but spreading out my economy.

Morning, April 29th (Monday) - Overnight, the first production cycle ended and I found myself with $150 new cash. The first purchase was for a new fleet to ferry ships westward, and afterwards, two economy and two infrastructure. Also overnight, an accidental clash between myself and Purple, who sent fleets to the same unclaimed star. I took it first, and thanks to my defensive advantage, won the ensuing battle. They preemptively sent a message apologizing for the mistake, but I think they're too aggressive for their own good. I'll be pushing heavily on that border, in direct combat if needed. There are some juicy unclaimed stars, plus the need for a better, convex defensive position is just too great. I'll Six-Day War their asses.

Afternoon, April 29th (Monday) - Not much change; Light-Blue contacted me asking about two buffer stars neither of us have claimed. I told him he could have them, or we could maintain them as buffer. He thinks he can use them to draw in Pink (?) but I'm not sure how that'll occur. Purple getting ever more threatening. I'll have to move quickly. Yellow, at the far-south edge of the map, is going econ/science heavy. I message his immediate neighbor, Green, with some advice to hit Yellow ASAP. Green says that he's trying to surround Yellow, but is creating a shitton of fleets—about twice as many as mine. By my calculations, he's sunk $250 into fleets, compared to my $125. I don't trust him to competently execute the job, even if his heart is in it.

Purple has just publicly rebuffed Orange in a group thread. I message Orange asking if he'd be interested in me invading our shared intersection, protecting us both. I think it's a beneficial arrangement, plus it'll also protect me from them (since I'll concentrate my forces there). Purple won't like it, obviously, but fuck him. I wonder if I can get him to attack me first. Big risk there is that he'll get to choose the method/place of engagement, including maybe waiting until he gets Weapons 2. Too much risk, I think.

Evening, April 29th (Monday) - Pink is sending a 46-ship fleet to claim a star at the intersection of myself, Light-Blue, and Pink. I warned Light Blue as soon as I spotted it, but no response yet. Will be sending my daily fleet down there, I think. Planning on spending my money on one science unless there's a more pressing opportunity. I really want to finish General Research ASAP.

Morning, April 30th (Tuesday) - Light Blue confirmed early this morning that Pink is attacking him on two fronts—the northwest and the southwest. I'm sending my fleet down to help, as well as another one about 12 hrs behind.

Purple still has 47 ships stationed outside my western front, but with no signs of movement. If he does decide to strike, it'll be tough to repulse. My only solace is that he doesn't have Weapons 2 yet, which means my defender advantage is still intact. Still, though, General Research 2 cannot come quickly enough. I bought a second science with this morning's paycheck, and am holding the remaining $60 until tonight, in case I need to create an emergency fleet. Otherwise, I can create two economy improvements right before the deadline to score the $10 each.

Afternoon, April 30th (Tuesday) - Light Blue now reports Pink wants a truce, and he ascribes it to my recent mobilization. Seeing as how I'm nowhere close to Pink's scanner range, I doubt it was my own actions. Still, though, we're planning on attacking. I proposed a coordinated attack for about 2:31 pm tomorrow, but we'll see if he agrees. That would certainly tip our hand as allies, but that may be necessary to intimidate Pink into ceasing aggression. A killing stroke is probably impossible at this stage, at least without overextending ourselves.

Still no change on the eastern front with Red. Orange to the north is still no sign of trouble.

Evening, April 30th (Tuesday) - Still no changes to the plan. I'll wake up around 4am to set my second fleet in motion. Looking to get around $200 tomorrow morning, and General Research 2 should finish at around 8am, at which point I'll begin researching General Research 3. I'll want to bulk up on my science in 2-3 days, but for now I simply can't afford it. Instead, I'll be investing in more economy, I think.

Morning, May 1st (Wednesday) - Star-trading has begun. Overnight, Pink has calculated that he would be beat in a straight-up battle between our two fleets, so he decided to fly his fleets straight towards my stars instead. (I have 81 ships flying outwards, while he only has 61 ships flying inwards.) The tactic may also buy him some time to research Weapons 2.

The landing-point itself is bereft of stars, but I have one fleet of 36 ships that whould arrive soon enough to fortify one of the nearby stars to the north of their landing-point. As for the other directions, I only have one small fleet due to arrive in advance of their movements, but more are coming. I may end up sending the fleet straight back after it claims Pleione.

Afternoon, May 1st (Wednesday) - So I have landed in Pleione and Sirius, and immediately discover that he has around 90+ ships waiting in an adjacent system. Oh shit. Instead of sending my Pleione ships back to assist in mopping up his incursion, I'm sending them over to Sirius. Meanwhile, I'm frantically trying to get as many ships into the area as possible, trying to cover all the avenues. Unfortunately, I can only get 20-30 ships at each star, and one's set to arrive about an hour after his theoretical fastest travel time, if I'm doing the math correctly. This could be worse than I planned.

I also told Purple (to my west) that I'm moving ships to our shared border to block off the incursion. I'm sure he thinks that I might be lying and plan to attack, but I'm actually bluffing and don't plan to move ships to that border at all. I just really don't want him to attack right now, and that seemed a sly but believable way of making an implicit threat of force (even without anything to back it up). He's attacking Pink too, so I'm not super worried in any case.

Evening, May 1st (Wednesday) - This night has seesawed back to confidence. He left the star as I worried to take over an adjacent one, but I knocked off about 12 ships to my 8 I lost. Additionally, he dallied for about an hour in choosing the next star, which means that my support fleet will arrive at the same time. Additionally, since he committed to that one star, I can move another fleet protecting an adjacent star, which will actually beat him there. I'll end up with only 33 ships lost to his 46 when all's said and done, and come out with 30 ships on the other side, mopping that up nicely.

Additionally, the external threat seems to be gone; The 96 ships (which had become over 110 by the end) have disappeared, presumably in Purple or Light Blue's direction. (I'm hoping Purple.) So I'm immediately flying to attack that star, which contains a juicy 3 industry and 1 science! It should boost me considerably.

Finally, Red is willing to trade Manufacturing for General Research, giving me that tech. Terraforming will also be done early next morning, giving me more bang for my buck in spending the next morning's paycheck. With the third science, and some excellent new stars, I should be in good shape to start gearing up again after this distraction. My border with Red is fairly resource-poor, so I'm not super-worried if he attacks there. Purple could be problematic, but I could redeploy along that boundary once I can see if Pink is neutralized. Will be interesting, for sure.

Also, Light Blue noticed that Red gave both Purple and Light Blue his Weapons 3 tech, and passed it along to myself as well. A good ally.

Morning, May 2nd (Thursday) - Took Pink's high-industry w/ science star, which revealed a very interesting detente. I occupy the northeast corner of a triangle: to my west, Purple with 83 ships; to my south, Pink with over 175. However, Pink shows no signs of wanting to break out, nor is it entirely clear how he would do so. There's a star just to my south, loosely defended, and with a science. But I don't want to take it because it would draw Pink's attention. So I wait.

Afternoon, May 2nd (Thursday) - Had a very interesting idea: why not team up with Pink against Purple? It would keep Pink in the game, and knock Purple down a few notches as well. I proposed to Pink, and he agreed it would be the best course of action. So I'm launching an attack in 6-12 hours or so, which will falter but signal a significant enough committment for Pink to attack as well. He rightfully wants to wait until I have skin in the game, and I love how the travel-time mechanic and inability to change course between stars enables these kinds of game theory.

Meanwhile, I'm also talking to Orange about attacking Purple too—Orange is Purple's neighbor to the north, while Pink is his neighbor to the south— and dangling Weapons 3 in front of him as well. He is well behind both myself and Purple in weaponry, still stuck at Weapons 1. I think it's a juicy enough offer that he'll take me up on it, plus Purple is legitimately most likely to attack him next. If this all comes together, it will be rad. Of course, if Light Blue or Red turns against me, this could also be bad. I have about $100 left after fleets and gifts today, and am hoping to invest it all in Econ tonight.

Mid-afternoon, May 2nd (Thursday) - Pink came up with a better idea: instead of having me attack directly, just give him Weapons 3 so he can attack Purple himself. That way we don't have to wait on my timetable, and he gets a better chance anyways. Luckily, I had that $100 cached up so transferring technologies is no problem.

He has launched his attack after receiving that technology, while Purple simultaneously attacks Orange up north. There's about 9 hours until that attack arrives, and I'll see if Orange comes crawling to me for the tech before then, and if not I'll gift it anyways. The best part about tech trading is that they have no idea who gifted it, or even if it was just researched or not. This one will be a clear gift (jumping from 1 to 3), but enough people have Weapons 3 that Purple will have no idea who leaked it. Things are in motion, and because I'm not directly drawing fire, I should be able to just relax all evening, checking in during/after work to see if Orange will take me up on my offer.

Morning, May 3rd (Friday) - Orange has taken me up on my offer. He's attacking Purple, as is Pink. I've loaded up Orange with Weapons 3, and bought two sciences to speed up my own research.

Evening, May 3rd (Friday) - Little change all day. I've been restaging ships closer to Purple's border in anticipation of an attack. Orange is getting spun-up now, and should mount a counter-attack soon. Not sure what to do myself, though being a hegemony is pretty fun.

Morning, May 4th (Saturday) - It's been decided: I'm going to attack Light Blue. I should be able to quickly strike and capture his production facilities, if my guess about his central star(s) is right. That's pretty much my central hope. He's on the march right now, attacking Pink's stars, which was the impetus for this idea. I should be able to stage by tomorrow morning and launch the attack then.

Evening, May 4th (Saturday) - Light Blue has proposed to attack Red or Purple next, and mentioned he's about to get Weapons 4. I've suggested Red since he'd be the easiest to put down at this stage. Light Blue agreed, and we'll probably "attack" late tomorrow. I still plan on backstabbing his ass.

Afternoon, May 5th (Sunday) - Light Blue still moving forward with the attack. Meanwhile, Red has clued in thanks to an errant message from Light Blue—or so he claims. I suspect that they may be in cahoots, and in any case plan to attack Light Blue regardless. He has gifted me Weapons 4, so I'll wait until he commits and his fleet is en-route to Red, and then attack.

Morning, May 6th (Monday) - Light Blue has committed to the attack on Red, so I'm moving in—attacking the buffer star first to get more vision, and then based on that, choosing the next target. Once the attack force is in his vision, I'll be moving my other forces in. I'm hoping that he's lax in monitoring the situation, so I get as much of a head start as possible. Also hoping that my guess as to his starting stars is correct.

Afternoon, May 6th (Monday) - He's spotted me. Light Blue is disengaging from his incursion into Red's turf, and is now headed my way. I reached my buffer star, and my suspicions were correct: there are some high-resource stars there with both industry and science. Even better: they're loosely defended, probably because he took most of his forces to attack Red. This may actually work!

Evening, May 6th (Monday) - Whether planned or by convenience, Red seems to be a new ally of Light Blue. He's moving ships near my border, so I'm sending out my next fleet there. I'm also bolstering my western front by gifting tech to both Orange and Pink, the latter of which should also be able to conquer some of Light Blue's southern stars. Having vassal states is so wonderful.

Morning, May 7th (Tuesday) - Some successes: I've taken his primary star, and my western forces appear to be moving in with relatively little resistance. However, my easternmost defensive fleet will likely be depleted in eliminating Red's attack, giving Light Blue a 70ish fleet that can wreak some havoc until I'm able to put it down. Luckily, most of my production is pretty centralized, so I shouldn't have any issues with him living off the land (as I am doing right now). Pink is starting to make some progress in chipping away at Light Blue's turf, while Orange is still being Orange.

Evening, May 7th (Tuesday) - Taking the remainder of his primary stars, and using the western fleet to clean up over there. The advantage with taking over his stars is I get his science, which is helping to charge up my own production.

Morning, May 8th (Wednesday) - I've eliminated Red's initial attack, though he's beginning to press in. Meanwhile, Light Blue is bouncing around and picking up a few stars and making a mess. I'm quickly regaining those stars, but it's requiring me to check in and redirect forces as needed. Hoping he makes a mistake and allows me to eliminate his force, instead of being tricky for too long,

However, I have discovered that I did NOT take Light Blue's main stars, but instead some other group of high-resource stars. His actual production center is far to the east, and he still holds it. This explains why I've taken over less than half his capabilities.

Late Afternoon, May 8th (Wednesday) - Light Blue let me destroy his forces, but there are bigger problems on the horizon. Both players are now reinforcing with big, 200+ fleets. This wave seems doable with my handful of fleets, but the situation is even worse: they now have Weapons 5, and it'll take me over 30 hours to finish researching it. This is starting to get really bad. Meanwhile, Pink isn't in a position to help much, so I'm starting to pull forces off my western front with Purple.

Morning, May 9th (Thursday) - Light Blue and Red are continuing to attack, and are starting to eat into my empire. I'm pulling all available ships into my centralized production facilities, reluctantly abandoning those stars with 1 or 2 industry. Now pulling all ships off my front with Purple, and hoping that he doesn't see the weakness as a sign to attack. He seems focused on eliminating Orange.

Even more hilariously, it turns out that they've been in talks with Pink to backstab me, revealed by Pink accidentally sending me a message about their plans. Lol. Pink has now messaged me and offers to make up, and says he's suspicious of their offer. I have no choice but to trust him, and in any case prefer him to the other combatants.

Evening, May 9th (Thursday) - Well, shit. Light Blue is going to take my southern center, and it's likely that Red will take my northern sector. Have now reached the point where I'm dumping all my money into fleets to centralize my forces, and none into infrastructure that will likely be overrun soon.

Morning, May 10th (Friday) - Light Blue has re-taken the primary star in my southern center, and I'm about to be overrun in the north. Worse, Purple is now attacking with hundreds of forces. Communicating with Pink to devise an end-game strategy that would allow him to survive at least a little while longer. Advising him to make a deal with Red to backstab me in exchange for turning on Light Blue. Additionally, gifting him tech so that he can plausibly claim that Light Blue is building him up to pull the same deal. Not sure what I'll do other than irreversibly wane over the next several days.

Afternoon, May 10th (Friday) - Pink has responded in agreement, and suggested that I take all my remaining forces and try to move southward to attack Green and try to establish a Southern redoubt. It has astonishingly little chance of success, but I'll take anything I can get. Now centralizing and preparing to cut through the more lightly-defended stars of Light Blue's in trying to break out. So far I have engaged in a Six Days War, a Marshall Plan, and a War Plan Red; now it's time to see if I can pull off a Battle of the Bulge.

The diary cut off here, but you can infer what happened from Sax's account: I established a southern redoubt in Green's AFK territory, while slowly expanding outward. AFK players still continue to produce ships, so when you're ramping back up from scratch, it can take a LONG time to take over their stars—even with the heavy supplemental cash provided by Banking. It was always kind of a delusional attempt to come back, predicated on the others ignoring me as a trivial amusement, with my fate finally cemented when J Mallard turned his attention south and took me out on a whim. I judged Sax as the more likely of the two to beat Purple, and the rest is space history.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am loving this discussion on the whole. Piecing together the political history of an 8-way war with subjective accounts from its participants? yes

 

You may be interested to learn the truce Crazy Crane asked for on April 30th was the result of a suggestion of mine.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 Additionally, gifting him tech so that he can plausibly claim that Light Blue is building him up to pull the same deal.

 

This is devilish.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I always thought it was Red who gave Orange the tech just as I was attacking.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow, I never even suspected there was any alliance between Crane and Spacey. And the truce between Mallard and Sax after your attack was reactionary and not planned. And then I wiped away your last planets at the end just to rub it in, sorry! :devil:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Man, I have a quality chatlog for you guys when Game 1 ends (which it will)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I thought someone was going to go afk and this would all be over... I was wrong.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Has anyone else noticed that ship travel is now directly linked to the hourly ticks of the game? There's no beating someone to a star by 2 minutes type shenanigans anymore.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, it's been that way since we started playing NP2. I enjoy it a lot, since it means you don't feel rushed in thinking things through.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now