I actually had some time to play Orion, so I thought I would give this one a shot. RefSteel mentioned that we've had problems with the Meklar in past OSG's. I think the reason that a lot of people get into trouble with the Meklar is their extra factories can slow down the overall growth curve if player isn't careful. It's a huge temptation to get all those factories cranking ASAP, but that's often a mistake, as player misses out on enitre worlds in the land grab phase. That's also why the AI Meklar is often stunted, too much time spent building factories and not expanding. IMO, the proper way to play them is to expand normally, just like any other race, and THEN go back and add the extra industry. The only exception to this might be on a large or huge map and an isolated start, but player is pretty much guaranteed to win such starts, so the opening strategy doesn't matter much anyway
Alright, so what have we got here? Difficult AI draw to be sure. Unless the Darlok start some wars, there's actually a pretty good chance of peace reigning for a long time, and that is never in the player's best interest. The Humans and Klackon are threats for an early diplo loss, and the Psilons are always a big looming threat. There are some bright points, however. If we're near the Lizards or Bugs, we might be able to leverage our computer advantage into stolen tech. The Sakkra are an especially tempting target to net planetology tech. As far as the map goes, our corner of the galaxy is a little sparse, but itis somewhat isolated, which is good. My opening strat is going to be sending the col ship N immediately. If that world isn't habitable, we'll need LR ships to secure the line past it (might need that anyway!). Scouts go to the yellow and red stars to the NE.
Well, the gamble payed off. Size 30 is definitely on the small side, but now we have two more stars in range, four if we're fortunate enough to have Range 5. Unfortunately, the reports from our scouts are NOT encouraging. Rigel and Romulus are both nicely sized, but both poor? And only a small Tundra as the sole nearby expansion planet until controlled radiated? Ouchie! If we're going to have a chance to compete here, we need to get access to LR col ships ASAP. A lot of potentially good stars are at range 8, including a yellow and red to the north, so I actually want range 5. To get to LR col ships, you need:
*RW 80%, Controlled Dead or Death Spores, and Range 4. If you can pick up Range 5, +20 will also work for the planetology tech OR
*IIT 8 and any planetology tech above +10 (range doesn't matter here) OR
*Duralloy Armor by itself. (though you'll probably have techs from propulsion and planetology anyway).
Knowing this, I go ahead and open Construction, range, and planetology with 9RP to see what we have. Here, we got lucky; this is one of the best tech layouts for getting to LR ships early. RW80% is available, as is Range 5, and we have +10 for a quick hop to tier two, and as long as Tundra isn't the only choice, we're golden. Unfortunately, Aquilae isn't going to be much help on the research front, so I'm going to need to get to Romulas sooner rather than later to bring in those techs in a timely fashion. For now, it's building factories at Meklon until I can build a col ship in 6 turns with a little extra, which happened in 2320. I do spend one turn at Meklon to seed +10 so Aquilae can trickle it, to get that cheap tech out of the way. Besides, +10 will really help my second world, increasing it's capacity by a third.
+10 popped in 2330, the year Romulas was founded, and we do have Controlled Dead in the tree
. Meklon is at ~220 factories at this point, so after seeding Romulus and terraforming, we split between factories and research. I took 2 turns to get an initial bankroll into both RW80% and Range 5, then upped the factory construction alongside the research, putting into both techs equally.
New scouting reports come in, and it's even more dismal news. Sssla is the yellow to the North, the Sakkra manage to scout Xendella with a fighter, and the bugs already own Vega, the green to the NE of Romulas. That means the bugs are sitting pretty in the middle of the map, right in our way. Worse, the Psilons have a good chance of having a lot of territory to play with. In fact, in 2337, the turn after I learned all this, the Psilons became the first to hit the 6 planet mark. Definitely NOT GOOD. The turn after THAT, a Psilon col ship shows up at Xendella. DEFINITELY NOT GOOD
I'm really hoping that the red star in the SE is habitable, and that we might be able to nab some territory down there; otherwise, this is going to be pretty rough.
RW80% and Rng 5 popped on the same turn in 2345. I actually took IIT9 to help out my poor worlds, and IS, the only available propulsion tech. Range 5 puts us in contact with the Aggressive Militarist Klackons (oh joy!), who are allied with the Psilons (so that's where that col ship came from). Minimal trade established. The bugs are already out to 4 worlds, directly to my east. After those two techs, I went whole-hog at Controlled Dead. If I'm going to get any land in the SE, it's going to have to be quick! Squeezed out a col ship to establish Rigel in 2354.
Caught a MAJOR break in the south in 2352. I got a scout to Paranar the SAME TURN as a Psilon col ship, and was able to push it back. Not wanting to take any chances, I built a large LR defense ship out of Meklon to secure Paranar for my own. Unfortunately, that's going to be it on the expansion front, as the two blue stars to the North are Toxic and Radiated. Thankfully, the white star NE of Paranar is empty, which should delay the bugs just enough to get there. The Sakkra picked up Range 6 in 2353, putting us in contact. Pacifists, excellent. Minimal trade will erase the relations penalty shortly.
Aquilae maxed out in 2358. Which is good, since the Sakkra decided to declare war in 2361
Wow, usually you get more time for relations to rise after the initial meeting. Pacifists my fanny! The Humans also managed to scout paranar with a fighter the year before my LR sentry got there, but I still should be able to keep the planet. Unfortunately, I'd been running a gambit at Romulas, speeding my research at the expense of slowing the planet, thinking I'd have more time. Looks like that might bite me in the ass. Start pumping some laser fighters out of Aquilae, but the Sakkra send a fleet of 30 medium ships almost immediately, followed by another with 25 only 2 turns later. But wait! In the first turn of battle, I noticed that the largest stack of mediums shot two missile shots, then retreated! I stayed for the second round, and after unloading their missiles, the ships retreated! They don't have any beams! I might be able to hold the planet after all. I just need lots of punching bags (aka, fighters) to absorb the losses until some large ships can arrive from Meklon!
Controlled Dead popped in 2366. I took Enhanced Eco over +30, hoping against hope that Controlled Radiated is in the tree (if I last that long). Back at Romulas, the lizards did manage to land 26 troops in 2373, which took out 40 of mine (they had PDS), but the planet held! Two turns later, it was further helped by going the fertile event. Amazing; an event actually broke my way, exactly when I needed it! The next turn, the first warship from Meklon arrived. 14 lasers, class 1 shields, and Mk 1 computer. Unfortutnately, scanners picked up two of a new large design incoming from the lizards. The battle for Romulas wasn't over yet!
Paranar was founded in 2375. To kick off the colony's future, the bugs come calling asking for a NAP. Hell yes, brother Klackon! I also met the Psilons, who had poached the green star directly east of Paranar (nuts!). What I saw on the map deeply disturbed me. They had six worlds, and unchecked reign over the entire east half of the map!
I had actually built 2 LR col ships from Meklon and sent them, hoping to make another acquisition, but the chances of that looked slim.
Back at Romulus, the large design turned out to be purely missile as well, and I managed to down both ships with my new large laser ships from Meklon. Even managed to get a base up. Looks like Romulas will hold, at least for the moment. Unfortunately, this war set my tech growth back abysmally. I could have almost had Enhanced Eco with the BC I had to put into defense ships; instead, it's at a sliver, and I still need to colonize Tau Cygni.
2379 was a good year diplomatically, Realizing they couldn't take Romulas, the Lizards asked for peace, which we accepted, and the Psilons showed overtures of friendship by offering to up trade to 200BC, which we again accepted. I traded RW 80% to the Psilons for IIT9. Sounds like a bad deal, right? Well, the brains are bound to get better clean-up tech very soon anyway, if they don't already have it; their tech bar is about 4 times ours. That helped me dig out of my tech hole a little bit, and would help all of my worlds significantly; Paranar of course didn't have many factories yet, and neither did Romulas or Rigel. I then traded my newly acquired IIT9 to the bugs for Hand Lasers, which would allow me to jump right to second tier research there when I was ready.
Finally established Tau Cygni in 2386, WAY later than I would have liked. Unfortunately, I never was able to get trade back with the war-mongering Pacifist lizards, and they re-declared in 2390. They still don't have contact with the bugs, or I would have asked for some help. Enhanced Eco finally popped a turn later in 2387, and WOW, we have Controlled Radiated AND Soil Enrichment! Very nice draw for the planetology poor Meklar. I of course chose radiated; we need more planets, and we need them before the others gobble them up. I also opened up each tech field, and put 10% towards them. Yes we need Radiated ASAP, but those other rungs need to get going as well.
Caught another break next year when I actually managed to colonize Rha in the S. I can't believe that neither the Klackons nor Psilons nabbed this world before now. I had another ship on the way for Rana, the Barren next door, but lost out on that planet by a turn to the Psilons.
Unfortuntely, peace allowed the lizards to consolidate all of their missile designs into a single SoD, which gained superiority over Romulas in 2396. I decided to concede the planet, as my fleet could do nothing. My hope was that the lizards would invade, then pull their SoD back to Sssla. If they came after Aquilae and Meklon, I had no defense; I could not amass enough bases at my current tech level to beat that fleet, and I didn't have any tech to trade for better missiles or shields, and Hyper-X hadn't been in our tree.
First vote was held in 2399. Everybody but the Klackon voted for my opponent, the Psilon, and I narrowly avoided defeat when they got 16/25. Just the next year, the Psilons picked up another vote for themselves, 17/26, but that still wasn't enough for the win. However, once I lost Romulus, I would no longer have enough of a bloc.
The first invasion of Romulas happened in 2402. 50 Sakkra troops took out ~70 of mine, but the planet held. My goal was hold Romulas as long as possible as a delaying action, hoping to find some counter to the missile boat threat. Merchant donated 1000BC to the Psilon cause in 2403 (like they need it!). Lizards would not take peace, even after I gave them RW80% (they were going to get it in the invasion anyway). In 2404, however, I got a small ray of hope; the Klackons were in contact with the Sakkra, and agreed to declare war! Maybe they could delay the Lizards enough let me catch up! Lizards made a play for Aquilae with three large's, but were easily rebuffed, losing two of them.
In 2407, the Lizards pulled a move I couldn't believe. With 40 troops
1 Turn rom taking Romulas, they asked for peace. The planet held, with 10 soldiers remaining. Even better, I noticed that the Sakkra had gotten into it with the Humans (weird, I thought they were in the South). The bugs also managed to tick off the Psilons, who they were also now at war with. That eliminated the threat of a council loss, but meant that Psilons might gain even more territory. Paranar maxed next turn, and NPG's popped, revealing the presence of Merculites! Finally, a chance at some REAL bases.
Controlled Radiated popped in 2414, and I went all the way back for +30. That would actually add more pop than Soil Enrichment. I had Meklon storing ship credits the last few turns, and so was able to build THREE radiated col ships right off the bat.
Psilons are the first to reach 12 (eek!) in 2417. The game slapped them with the Nova even at Gion for it.
Now, when the Lizards declared peace, they didn't immediately vacate Romulas. Well, turns out they were intent on taking the planet, as I saw transports incoming in 2421, and they began bombarding to soften the planet up. So I made a bold move. I threatened them! And, miracle of miracles, they backed down, paying tribute of 850 BC! With its fertile growth rate, and 20 pop fro Aquilae, I might be able to grow enough pop to fend off the invasion and keep the world. Unfortunately, the 20 arrived a turn too late, and the world fell back to the Sakkra. Well, dammit, I've fought too hard for that world to give up now! 50 ordered from Meklon, 47 from Rigel, and 15 more from Aquilae. Romulas is MINE!!
2425 saw an election between the Humans and Psilons. Fine with me! Unfortunately, I had to abstain; voting for the Psilons would have put them over the top, and I didn't want to piss off the brains. It took all three waves, and PDS popping, but I did manage to take Romulas back. I also managed to colonize Vox, and Ultra rich radiated up north, though the Humans beat me to the Toxic rich world.
Unfortunately, the Lizards decided to concentrate all of their efforts on me, ignoring both the Klackons and the Humans. The Lizards gained space superiority over both Aquilae and Romulas, but thanks to the timely arrival of Class V and Merculites, Aquilae was saved, though had to spend some time rebuilding. Romulas, however, remained a big point of contention. The Sakkra were bound and determined to take that world from me, but I held them off with swarms of NPG fighters, until the Lizards showed up with a Repulsor Huge in 2451. But once again, the turn after they gained superiority at Romulas, they accepted peace, letting the world breathe another year.
the 2450 election saw me pitted against the Psilon. I picked up 9/38 votes, while the brains picked up 21. I abstained our 8. My situation was slowly starting to turn around, but I knew I was running out of time. The bugs were down to their last two planets, and had just lost Kholdan a few turns ago. Yes, they were at war with the rest of the galaxy, but frankly, the galaxy didn't seem up to the task. They had 11 planets, and no serious opposition. I couldn't get the damn Sakkra off my back long enough to really get my tech or produciton growth curves off the ground. At least they retreated their Huge ship. But then the next year, disaster struck yet again; Quayal got the comet event, and the Klackons revoked their NAP. Don't tell me they're coming after me instead of fighting the Psilons! Yet again, I had to divert tons of resources, this time to save Quayal, which I did succeed at.
I guess I should try some pictures at this time. These are from 2459:
As you can see, the Klackons are all but gone, eaten by the purple menace of the Psilons. I've finally managed to stand up all of my worlds, but I am WOEFULLY behind in tech. Worse, I made two very bad construction tech calls. I took Battle Suits over ARS, then stopped AGAIN at that level to pick up ARS, so my tech level is 12. I should have taken ARS and then advanced, but at the time, I was fighting off the Sakkra, and wanted the gropo tech. I should have seen that it would have come in too late to matter. Major
there. Worse still, we're really feeling the pinch of having no engine tech; I never was able to find a deal on one. I dialed up espionage on the bugs, hoping that they didn't have enough to spend on security that we could get lucky, but they did have BC IX, and I never did steal anything from them. I did manage to steal BC IV from the Lizards during the last war, though, and that plugged a major hole in my technology.
Soil, Neutron Blaster, and Range 7 popped in the next two turns; I took Fusions, Atmos. Terraforming, and anti-matter bombs.
Finally made contact with the Darlok in 2466; even their 3-planet empire is ahead of me tech-wise, though just barely. The Sakkra decided I'd had enough of a break next turn and declared war once again. C'mon guys, give peace a chance! This time, though, I managed to get a planetary shield up at Romulas. I also traded ECM IV to the Humans for Class III shields, at least making our bases impervious to their old Hyper-X rocket designs. And in 2468, the Klackons made their exit from the galaxy, at the hands of the Humans.
The Lizards made brief peace with the Psilons, but I ended that in 2473. I hated to do it, but could not afford to have the Sakkra bring in the Psilon against me. The Humans responded by declaring war in 2474, right before the election. Oh crap, well, hope between the Darloks and myself we have 1/3 of the galaxy. Election time comes and.... just! We have 14/41 votes. Whew! Yet another bullet dodged. I have come so close to losing this game on so many occasions.
Repulsors and ARScame in 2474, ASS the next turn, Fusion Drives two turns later, and the bombs the turn after AMB, which revealed Omega-V as the next jump (sigh! oh well). So I finally had enough tech to build some real warships. Here's what I could come up with:
Really feeling the pinch of my stupid construction decision. I wasn't happy with any small bomber designs I could come up with, so I went for a behemoth. That ARS ship really sucks, but I wanted a repulsor in my fleet. The real offensive punch comes from the missile boats. Crius built those, Vox built bombers, and Ryoun built the ARS ships. My hope was to pointy-stick some tech from both the Humans and Sakkra with these ships, and then build better.
The Lizards made a small, unsuccessful bid at Xendella, in which they lost a new Huge design. Too much of a mix of missiles and beams there to be effective. Got Atmos. Terra. in 2482, and chose the almighty Advanced Soil next. Darlok's got slapped with the minieral poor event; glad that wasn't me! The Sakkra offered peace in 2484. That was a tough call, but I went ahead and did it. My rich worlds needed time to grow, and I actually wanted to pointy-stick the Humans first; they had some nice shield tech (of course), and their toxic world was only lightly defended. In fact, I made the decision in 2485 to try it with only 1 bomber/ars pair, and 65 missile boats. Most of their fleet was tied up elsewhere, the planet was depleted to half pop and 9 missile bases by a recent Sakkra attack, and I didn't want to lose the opportunity. It turned out to be JUST enough, and in 2487, I made my first offensive gain of the game:
Tech haul was IIT6, Cloaking device, Class VI, BCIII, Gatling laser, and Rng 9. All in all, not too bad. Class VI was the biggest gain. I chose Armored Exo and Star Gates as my next techs, and re-designed each ship with upgrades. My bombers now had 28 bombs and class VI shields, the ARS had Class VI, 3 more blasters, and now 2 bombs, and the merc's gained 3 computer levels and 50% more hit points.
Darlok's gained contact when I took Maalor, and promptly declared war the next turn. I wasn't too worried though; the vote was 10 turns away, and I had terraformed all of my worlds. Even if the Sakkra declared war again, I felt I had enough to block the vote. Besides, I hoped to have Gorra by then, but it did mean that I had to move quickly to avoid having fleets in space when the vote hit. The 18-planet report for the Psilon in 2493 did NOT inspire my confidence, however. And sure enough, the following year the Sakkra declared war for the what, 42nd time? I've lost count
Humans tried to wriggle out of losing Gorra by asking for peace 1 turn before my invasion force hit. I don't think so, you damn hairy ape! Crius is ours! We got Advanced Eco, Sub-light, IIT8, Hyper-X, Anti-Missiles, and Controlled Tundra. Not a great haul, but every boost in tech level helps!
Unfortunately, the Psilons had had enough of watching my upstart Meklar do their job of taking over the universe, and came for Paranar with a fleet of 1 Huge, 680 mediums, and 223 large's. I managed to get 20 bases in place for the fight, but I only had a turn's notice. Thankfully, only the Huge was a threat, and that only because of 4 death spores, so Paranar stayed in my hands. To punish me, the game slapped me with the plague event at Tau Cygni
Argh! The game is already close and challenging enough; I don't need this kind of setback. At least it will only take ~8 turns, but that's with a lot of reserve spending. But, it didn't matter:
The event killed me. I lost enough pop at Tau Cygni to lose the vote. Un-frickin-believable. 30/46 would have been fine, or even 31/47 if the math went that way. I was just about to go on the offensive against the Sakkra. In about 10 turns, I would have had enough ships to make a major strike at one of their core worlds. I was already in position to take Nordia, the little inferno in the N, while I waited. Then I would have had enough territory/tech to try and take on the big Psilons. Would I have been able to do it? I don't know. But I'll never find out now.
That does it for me. I will not be playing any more games with the events on. If that bars me from participation in future SG's and Imperia, then so be it. I cannot abide the events in this game anymore. They are just TOO DAMN POWERFUL!! This is the third close, very fun game I can remember RUINED by an event. The first was a game with the Sakkra, a very cramped start with two races next door. I got the plague at my second world, it was a large one, and because of it I lost the narrow land grab for the immediate territory, and was never able to recover. The second was a game with the Bulrathi against a runaway Klackon. I was just barely holding my own in huge fleet battle after huge fleet battle, just starting to turn the corner, when the crystal turned up in my back lines and ate my homeworld. It was right by the edge, had been in the backlines all game, and never needed serious defense. The crystal materialized right by it, and 5 turns later the planet was gone. One dice roll should not have the power to alter the course of an entire game, certainly not to be the deciding factor. I am so angry right now, I can't even put it into words.
I intended to go back and brush these notes up, but I can't bear to do it now, so sorry for the rough read. I was having so much fun with this game and to have it ended like this... heartbreaking. Official result: After fighting back against countless close-calls, beating back the insatiable Sakkra, clawing my way back from the edge time and time again... lost because of a random event in 2499.
Well, I am building Huge Ships 
