Just curious--how do you get screenshots of your game screen? I never figured that out for Civ either.
My second game, and my first really serious one, I'm playing the Evon. Like humans in a lot of ways (we prefer similar worlds, have first-rate spies, are both "humanoid", etc.), but with the potential for more "race picks" (modifications you can make at the beginning of the game to enhance certain characteristics). I made a research-oriented Evon race with guaranteed Senate membership (for the Evon, if you don't start in the Senate it is likely very hard to get voted into it, as their diplomacy is their one big weakness). I'm now on turn 375, and am by far the largest empire on the map. My empire comprises nine or ten races now, some coming from conquered planets (Tachidi, Eoladi, and Meklar), others through "magnate civilizations" (pre-warp peoples you can find on certain planets) (Rhea, Alkari, Darlok, Elerian, Ajadar, Phaigour, and Gnolam), with which I have filled almost every planet, through the full spectrum of the hability range, of almost every system I control. I had one ally (defensive only), the Trilarians, the whole game, and just recently out of the blue they decided to nix our trade agreements (lost a good chunk of money suddenly there) as well as our alliance. Since I shared some systems with them, this move would inevitably mean conflict (system ships in shared systems by default blockade, unless you have a treaty), and so I declared war and "annexed" (took with troops, without bombardment) all their planets in all our formerly-shared systems within a few turns, after wiping out whatever system ships they possessed in these systems. (I hardly ever do planetary bombardment, preferring to assimilate full populations and infrastructure on the planets I conquer. The only exceptions are when a race inhabits a planet it isn't fit for--like Tachidis who colonized a gas giant for some strange reason--or the Ithkul, who must be exterminated lest they eat your
population! But for the rest, I send in the Rhea battleoids....)
***
Slowly but surely, the noble Cardassian Empire (I know, not that original a name, but the Evons remind me of the Cardassians in Star Trek a bit) is unifying the downtrodden indigenous races of the Orion sector, and readying them for the day we will overthrow our ancient oppressors, the Antarans (who now hide behind the term "New Orions"), and ensure our rightful self-rule for, gods willing, perpetuity.
The New Orions see what we are doing and building, and they are not happy (relations have been at -200 for over 70 cycles), but have so far apparently been afraid to send their fabled "Great White Fleet" in (perhaps they know we have over 600 ships in reserves that could be called up immediately, far far more than the hundred or so mostly obsolete ones we have active on various fronts and in our mop-ups of the Trilarians, and including our most recently built, deadliest models with Omega warheads and disruptor-fighters)--even though we have two systems bordering Orion itself.
Thus, a "cold war" of sorts has developed between ourselves and the Antaran pretenders, with a hidden arms race (all we can see is that they are in "total war" building mode, while our large empire, very likely still outproducing them in hull tonnage, is still managing to prosper in "peace through strength" mode), and spies on both sides routinely getting killed by the others' counterspies. We are currently ten or more tech levels ahead of them in all schools (our Trilarian former allies are actually a bit ahead of them in most areas, stellar researchers that they are (looking forward to putting them to work in our labs, using as we do the good traits of all the races of our new citizenry))--yet we also know from reliable sources [the MOO3 forum] that the system ships that have existed in the Orion system since the dawn of our civilization, are of a very advanced technology achieved in ancient times, before the Dark Age. We must eventually crush those system defenses and overthrow Antaran control of the Orion system, lying as it does in the very heart of our own empire, but we are still cautious as we are dealing with a big unknown. We shall continue to see if they dare send their Great White Fleet, and smash it if it rears its heads in the skies of Risha or Mattiannock. Perhaps they may see our war with the Trilarians as a window of opportunity--the Trilarians are making overtures toward them in the Senate as we speak.
Meanwhile, we have a tentative goal of assault on Orion by Cycle 400 (measured from the New Dawn [beginning of the game], our first interstellar flight since before the Dark Age and the beginning of our glorious ascendancy)--and are preparing a versatile, flexible and deadly fleet to do the job. Once we do this, we can take out the Ithkul menace those Antarans themselves created with their vile genetic experiments--they ravage the other end of the sector, and although they don't border us YET, our people cry out for their extermination nonetheless, hearing rumors of their atrocities toward the Eoladi, Silicoids, and others. They will consume us all if we don't burn them off all the planets they infest first. And in these two glorious endeavors (overthrowing the Antarans, and eliminating their vile creations), we will unify the Orion peoples, and these peoples will surely see the wisdom and beauty of Pax Cardassia even as they continue to join us as citizens.
***
Stay tuned! Things WILL get very interesting.
[Cheesy writing, I know. But this game has a way of inspiring some drama. I wonder when the first novel based on the Orion story and universe will be written, and by whom.]
