First things first, I take a look at my galaxy:
I don't expect that yellow star to my northeast to have an AI on it, but I have to be prepared for the possiblity that the next two closest yellow stars each have AIs on them.
I could send the colony ship north blind and risk getting a less-than-ideal planet, or I could wait for scouts to explore both systems before I send out the colony, and potentially lose planets to the north that I could've gotten otherwise if I had made a bold grab.
Being my first impossible game, I decide to take the safe route. Explore the systems first, but build a few more scouts now so that I can blockade systems from early AI scouts.
Scouts explore the system to my north:
That's a really good system. Should I wait for the other scout to report back? I hate keeping my colony ship at Mentar not doing anything. This planet is good enough, I'll send it now.
Next turn, scouts reveal that I made the right choice:
One turn later I settle Tauri, transport 17 colonists from Mentar, and order enough scouts to cover all the systems in range. While my two colonies build up factories, I get the following picture of my surrounding area:
My scouts chased away Klackon scouts at the three colonys in the upper right of my scouting area, and I scouted a Bulrathi colony to the north. Circled are my guesses at homeworld locations.
This is bad. Klackons are right on top of me already, which means that I'm going to need to get going just to grab these few planets near me. Expansion beyond that is going to be difficult, since the bugs will likely cut me off.
After maxing my industry on Mentar, I take a look at my research options and sigh in relief.
I need range 5 to grab that Terran planet near the Klackon border. I prioritize propulsion spending, but also leave some in construction and planetology (since my economy will need all the help it can get).
Mentar starts churning out colony ships. My other colony reaches half factories, and since it'll be shipping out lots of population, I stop there and have it start building some laser ships so I can defend myself from brush wars.
Unfortunately, it probably won't be long before these brush wars turn hot.
I establish 75 BC/year trade treaties to give them one less reason to attack me. Improved Terraforming pops at 26%, opening Controlled Dead and Death Spores. I take the obvious choice of Controlled Dead.
Colonizing the fertile planet brings me contact with the Klackons who are, well,
Trapped in a corner by two races who will look for any reason to declare war on me? This does not look good for me. Scouts find a planet that looks like a hot potato:
The Mrrshan owned it when I first explored it. Now they don't. The Bulrathi are apparantly at war with the Meklars, the Humans and the Mrrshan. I'm taking another look at the galaxy map:
The three races I haven't met yet have all got to be in the circled areas somewhere. Somebody is going to have some HUGE backlines, unless I somehow manage to get to those systems and stake my own claim. I'm not so worried about the Bulrathi now because with 3 wars going on already, they'll be loathe to declare it on me.
Klackon colony of Exis turns rich. Why?! They don't need the help! Then GNN reports that Humans have 6 systems. I hope this doesn't turn into an early diplomatic defeat. After grabbing all the systems within reach, I sit back and build up what I have.
25 years of minimal investment into spying have brought me this piece of news:
They have fusion bombs already?!?! Am I not going to get a single break this game? I up my trade agreements and establish non-aggression pacts with the bears and the bugs. Nothing much happens, while I build up my colonies and then their defenses.
The early diplomatic defeat begins looking more likely:
Same year, the elections are held. If the Bulrathi hadn't been at war with everyone, I would've lost this one for sure:
I try and break up the Klackon-Human alliance, but the Klackons won't hear of it. My construction tree has so far failed to offer me any cheaper factories, so I trade the Klackons range 5 fuel for improved industry 9.
A few short years later, the next election is even closer:
I don't even have contact with the damned apes yet. The best I can hope for right now is that Galactic World War I begins soon, and people stop voting for the humans just because they look pretty. Hyper-X rockets have popped and my three worlds near the Bulrathi border have a few missile bases up, so I begin spying on the computer-challenged bears.
Then I realize that I don't want to turn my one friend in the galaxy against me, so I shift spying over to the Klackons.
The Mrrshan temporarily re-establish control over the ultra poor planet and we meet for the first time. I take another look at the map.
The Bulrathi and Mrrshan have been totally stunted, and even the Klackons have only 5 systems. The Humans have probably been colonizing the entire eastern half of the galaxy uncontested.
I foolishly set up trade treaties with the Mrrshan, forgetting that they will not hold that ultra poor planet for long.
I no longer have any hope that I'll be able to defend my systems if I get into a hot war.
I'm missing planetary shields. But maybe I won't need the shields. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to be left alone. I still have hope, don't I?
Apparantly not. And this is three years before the next election!
Desparate, I give deep space scanner to the Mrrshan and then ask them to break their alliance with the humans. They refuse. Game over. There was nothing I could do except to sit back and watch helplessly as the Humans effortlessly took the throne.
Not much I could do about this. I'd taken every planet I could. Attacking the Bulrathi would only have turned them against me sooner, and the Klackons would be impossible to attack thanks to their planetary shields and repulsor beams. I take one final look at the graphs:
I'm competitive with the other stunted empires. I can only imagine what I would've been able to do if I hadn't been stunted myself. The only reason I lost this game was bad luck. I'll get you next time, Gadget!