RefSteel
Pacifistic Technologist
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2007
- Messages
- 257
Here's the unnecessarily long conclusion. I do realize that I'm not preserving the story so much as the details with these, but ... well, it's late. I hope the details and the story make for a fun read.
Spoiler :
First things finally:
The battle for Gorra comes immediately after my Stinkbug4.1 buys it at Kholdan, and I lose almost all my FireAnts burning down the Psilons' Stinger bases, but finally succeed, while the Standoff cuts the local fleet to pieces. This reveals the reason the Psilons were so puissant with just a 2PE: It's a Terran Artifacts world, and its base size is gigantic! Terrific news here, as its 187 factories are currently manned by just 22 million Psilons; the planet size has actually been polluted down to 20, no doubt in order to maintain their no-longer-at-Neptunus death fleet. 50 million bugs will arrive next turn from Mentar, and then if we can hold Gorra long enough to stand up its defenses, and if we retake the skies above Kholdan, we should be in a very strong position from which to deal with the Human menace.
We continue to repel joke fleets at Mentar and Rayden while the real Human fleet bombs Kholdan, with monkey transports incoming. The first invasion of Rayden fails, as I lose all 40 million invaders to kill 21 million Humans (they have exoskeletons to my battlesuits). Of course, there were supposed to be a lot more than 40 transports in the first wave, but the Nebula was doing its thing. We take Gorra the same turn though, with 32 million survivors! From the smoking ruins and many functioning factories, we ... huh? What now, Newsdroid? We're busy looting Gorra, so this had better be important!
Oh, please. Surely this could have waited for the 11 o'clock news. The Psilons would still be dead then. Let me also say that I don't think the Klackons were the real bane of the Psilon race; since they moved their giant fleet away from Neptunus, leaving it uselessly in deep space while the rocks bombed the system out and we took Gorra, I consider this a case of Psilon mass-suicide. 'Course, I don't suppose the other races will see things that way....
Okay, now we loot Gorra! Nearly two hundred factories yield Controlled Barren Enviroment (you have got to be kidding me), Battle Computer V (not bad!), Deep Space Scanner (obviously the PRNG isn't in love with Klackon soldiers), and ... nothing ... else. I guess with that computer tech, I really shouldn't complain, but I was hoping for some slightly more useful technology. Well, Gorra should be able to provide some in the future at least.
Meanwhile, we need to save Kholdan! I scrap the cheap but poorly-shielded Stinkbug4.1 in favor of an upgraded version, the 4.2, with my best shields and some actual weaponry. One finally arrives at Kholdan and repels the Human starforce just as our nebula-delayed transports land at Rayden. I lose more than half my troopers, but still wind up with 60 survivors to explore the 260 factories and find... Class III Shields (pitiful), Graviton Beam (pointless), Armored Exoskeleton (hurray!), and ... nothing else. Three techs, two of them obsolete, from 260 factories. I've been neglecting the Klackon research computer in favor of pointy-sticking things, and the PRNG has decided to punish me. The Exos pay off quickly though, as 25 Human transports get past my defenses at Kholdan, and I lose only 19 pop repelling them. With Rayden in my hands now, Kholdan should be ... um ... when did Lasitus research Range 10? So much for that reason for taking Rayden.
I decide to make Sol my next target, only to find it has 61 bases, with 11 levels of shielding, plus a fleet in orbit. Instead of prudently retreating to go after it with a monster stack of FireAnts later, I attack right into the teeth of the Human defenses, taking out a few bases - far, far too few - before admitting defeat. None of my old Hive(Killer) ships survive, and I have only a few dozen FireAnts left when they retreat. As they do so, since our homeworld apparently hasn't had enough excitement yet this game, it develops a virulent plague - not necessarily the most devastating, but definitely my least favorite event in Orion. I refuse to send healthy bugs to Kholdan, but I pump such pop as it has with all the reserves I can feed them.
While the plague goes on, I repel various Human and 'Coid attacks at Mentar and Rayden, and breeze through the 2475 High Council with a clear veto, 9 votes of 23. If I were a more capable player, the game would be effectively over at this point (probably well before this point, actually). It still could be if the AI never comes up with an answer to my repulsor fleets.
Answers to Repulsor fleets:
After rejecting a Human plea for peace and accepting a larger trade package offered by Sedimin (I probably should have done that the other way around, actually...) and getting a 2481 GNN report that the Humans still lead me in tech, I check intel on the monkeys, and learn that they've researched High Energy Focus. Ummm ... really? As soon as they put that onto a ship, my Repulsors will be obsolete! About time, admittedly, but I'd been relying on them to the exclusion of everything but bombers, even skimping missile bases in vulnerable places, such as (ahem) the homeworld. I start spying on the apes and prepare to raid Sol again, hoping to hit them hard before it's too late. For the purpose, I design the FireAnt4.1, upgraded from the old version with a level 2 battle computer. Our hot war, going cold, is about to heat back up. Hopefully after Kholdan is cured, though!
A spy hit in four fields (I'm the Humans' equal in computers, and their only Force Fields tech beyond mine is their very latest) nets me Deuterium Fuel Cells, so obsolete it hadn't even appeared on my intel screen. Then, just as the plague ends at Kholdan, our fleets pass in the night at the galactic core, and strike each other's planets simultaneously. Zoctan's bases are all burned away before the local Stinkbug can get a handle on the situation and chase off the Human fleet, but we return the favor at Sol, destroying all the bases in exchange for most of our bombers, but losing space superiority to a new large design, the Dreadnought. I hold my breath before checking the scanner, but it doesn't have HEF yet: Just ... Doom Virus, Heavy Lasers, and Mercs? I didn't send a Huge in with my fleet (leaving the Standoff to protect Rayden while the slower Chitin remains in the south to help hold Mentar and Gorra) and the stack of Dreadnoughts at Sol was more than enough to handle my local Stinkbug even with just those lasers; all it took was any two-space beam! My planets are going to get spored into lifeless husks unless I build a lot more bases! Good thing Stinger tech is about to come in....
When it does, I choose Ion Stream Projector, which might even complete before the game is over, though I wouldn't bet on it either way. With the Standoff sent down to Sol, we burn down all seven of the new Dreadnoughts there, but the battle times out before we can kill off the remaining 72(!) Human larges. I've been so successful for so long just dropping anvils on the AI's head that I've never bothered with a hammer, but that massive fleet means I'll have to change that. I do wait for Construction to come in though, which it finally does (after more indecisive battles over Sol, Mentar, and Gorra) in 2493. Better yet, In the meantime, I get a spy hit across all fields where I'm not the Humans' equal, and instead of grabbing their newest shield tech, I take Propulsion again, hoping for HEF. I don't get it, but I do pull in Ion Drives, the state of the art for warp speed in the galaxy so far! The result of all this (replacing the FireAnt 4.0s) is the ArmyAnt6.0: A medium hull with Ion Engines, Stabilizer, max maneuver and computer, a pair of Stinger 2-racks, and a single Fusion Bomb. My fleet's about to get some mandibles, finally! I'm not sure how many of these I'll need to burn down that annoying (not much more than that, since it can't touch my ships) fleet, but I'm setting out to build plenty! Better yet, it looks like it may not matter: The giant Human fleet moves off to attack the 'Coids at Beta Ceti, which means I get control of Sol's orbit, and can even send enough transports to take the planet before the fleet can possibly return! In case it wasn't over already, that's the game.
Endgame:
Our ArmyAnts end up getting their first test at Poor Zoctan, where the Humans sent another SoD (since I control Sol's orbit, they can't arrive in one turn anymore) including a dozen of their Doom-Virus/Merc/Heavy-Laser Dreadnoughts. We wipe out the entire Human fleet at the cost of a handful of Army Ants, so I consider them a success. At the same time, 236 of our troops meet 165 Humans, and when the dust has settled, we own the monkey homeworld, with 44 of our own remaining. We get 482 factories here, so if we don't recover six techs, I may throw a fit. GNN interrupts our tech search again, but it's an acceptible interruption this time, as it's a special report on Klackon expansion, and how from our 9 current worlds we will soon control the galaxy. As for our discoveries, we get completely worthless RW80 (well, it should miniaturize things a very, very little...), Hard Beam (getting better), Advanced Eco (marginal at this point, as our waste is almost nil already), Doom Virus (yuck), Atmospheric Terraforming (meh ... I already had the bloody thing in percentages...), and Class VI shields (the galaxy's state of the art). I do notice that we got none of the Humans' factory cost techs (almost the only thing they had in Construction) and no HEF, but I can't complain too much about nabbing their top techs in three different fields ... even if they were the fields about which I cared the least. With my current planetology project completed for me, I go back for Bio Toxin Antidote, the only possibly-useful thing I might be able to research before the end of the game.
The 2500 election is a stalemate once more, but peace with the Humans would have brought me awfully close to a Domination victory, so I assume I'll win that way (if not by Conquest) in 25 years. Another all-possible-fields spy hit, hoping for HEF, gets me now-obsolete Impulse Drives in between hit-and-run raids at Whynil and defense against enemy fleets. The old Stinkbug4.0s are scrapped for FireAnt6.0 bombers (now with room for BC5) and the FireAnt 4.2s are scrapped to make way for a new Huge, the Storm 6.0. With Battle Scanner, Stabilizer, Autorepair, and all the maneuver, computers, and shields I can fit, armed with 24 Tachyon Beams, a 2-rack of nukes for maneuvering, and a single Fusion Bomb, it's meant to deal with the Humans in case they ever get around to putting HEF and Class 6 shields on a new design. At that, I'm not sure it'll do the trick. (If it happens, I'll have a better answer, e.g. a giant stack of smalls or something).
In the course of my slow assault on Whynil, an "unknown" (Human) spy destroys seven factories at Rayden. I weep openly. When Whynil falls (it's a size 120 Jungle, including Terra+40), we discover ... another confounded GNN interruption. This time, we have pirates in the Yarrow system, a Human colony. Well, I suppose I'll just have to park some ships in orbit there for everyone's benefit. Oh, and also some race called the Klackons owns almost half the galaxy. Not counting Orion and the asteroid stars, we're just one system shy. The Newsdroid also claims that other civilizations are planning to merge with us, but they won't get the chance unless they survive to see 2525.
Okay, now we discover ... Neutron Pellet Gun (good grief), Controlled Tundra (this must be the planet where Lasitus kept all his plans for worthless junk), IIT4 (we had this in the percentages already), IIT6 (because it's so useful once you have 4...), Improved Eco (doubly obsolete), and IIT7. Bleah. I choose Tritanium armor for my next research project, not intending to actually ever finish it. Sedimin babbles something in his technologically backward language that sounds to me like, "We're scared of you, so we're going to make belligerent noises!" In spite of this, he's still at Amiable. We're back down to zero spies in Human space, but he's welcome to keep spending money on spy defense to protect High Energy Focus instead of on ships that actually use it. (My spies soon hit again in spite of him, across all three possible fields, but I only get Nuclear Engines out of it.)
Thanks to our latest miniaturization, the very last Stinkbug design hits the scrap heap in favor of the FireAnt6.1: Ion Engines, Computer 3, Stabilizer, Maneuver 7, and 3 Fusion Bombs apiece. IRC4 hits too, at long last, and I choose Advanced Scanner, which won't come in before the game ends. GNN reports that the pirates in the Yarrow system were eliminated, apparently as collateral damage, while I'm still conducting raids, and then we take the planet ... and learn why Human research went so well in this game: Yarrow's another Artifacts world ... on an Ocean 120 no less! Just before I launch my invasion, Lasitus sues for peace. He may have interpretted my laughter as a "no," but I'm not sure. Either way, I take the 315 factories there, which should clean him out entirely. Actually, we get: IIT 8 (lame stuff first), Death Spores (really lame stuff second), Terra+30 (long, long obsolete), Trilithium Crystals (Range 10 should allow me to reach every star in the galaxy), annnnnnd ... yup. High Energy Focus. That's everything. I offer peace with Lasitus now, since he no longer has anything I want, and I'm about to go after the 'Coids to ensure I really do get my Conquest victory. (Having little choice, he agrees.)
The old Chitin did yeoman's work as a damage sop for much of the game, but it's a boat anchor at this point, chugging along at speed 3 ... and worse yet, its name is still misspelled as "Chiton"! I scrap the thing in favor of yet another Huge design: The Pickaxe6.0 is intended to break rocks, as you might expect from the name, with Scanner, HEF, Autorepair, a 5-rack of Merculite Missiles, and 49(!) Tachyon Beams.
2511: Neptunus is glass.
2512: "Human" (maybe, but more likely 'Coid) spies blow up a pair of Zoctan missile bases. Not a big deal now that it has ~30.
2513: We trade half of Klystrom's bases and a bunch of Polaris (Repulsor/Dissipator large) ships for our oldest bombers and missile boats. The Storm is eventually timed out and forced to leave. Class X Planetaries come in and we choose Cloaking Device, which we will never research, and I replace the old FireAnt6.0 design with a 6.2, identical except for the addition of max maneuverability and a Nuclear Bomb to go with the Fusion pair (the 6.1, with 3 F-Bombs, has a weaker computer, and so is judged a poor candidate for attacking high-ECM 'Coids). I told you I was profligate with ship designs this game.
2514: I decide to boost Human relations (for no particular reason) by asking Lasitus to join my war on the 'Coids. He asks for Controlled Toxic, so I give it to him, since it honestly doesn't matter anymore.
2515: Klystron is radiated, so of course we just glass it. Don't tell anybody, but we would have done that anyway! The Silis are sending what I suppose they think is an SoD to Rana (which, since recent glassings, may not even be in range for them anymore) ... flying it through the heart of the nebula ... and due to arrive in 2523! Remind me when it's 2522 or something. Not to put up more defenses, you understand, but to be ready to have a good laugh at Sedimin's expense.
2516: Energy Pulsar and Ion Stream Projector both come in, and I choose Anti-Matter Drives and Phasors, knowing full well that I won't be researching either one this game.
2517:
2518: Celtsi is mineral rich. Just a minute ago, it also had a Silicoid colony.
2519: Laan is a beautiful Arid 110, with a brand-new glassy sheen.
2520: Wow! Beta Ceti is huge!
When I saw it go rich way back when, I didn't realize it was size 105 plus Terraforming! I'm glad (but not surprised) the Humans never managed to take it. My Pickaxe destroys their huge Monitor on the third round without taking any damage, but I didn't bring enough FireAnts for all those bases. We'll have to come back for this one later ... when this fleet unites with the one that's off glassing Xengara this year!
2521: Moro has 115 population, 460 factories, and 39 missile bases. Sorry; that's had. It is also Fertile ... well, fertile for a chunk of glass anyway. The Sili "SoD" I mentioned ages ago is now due at Rana at the same time that a 'Coid Colony Ship, with escorts, is due to reach Xengara: In two turns. My united fleet, together with the FireAnts sent from Whynil last turn, is due at Beta Ceti, the last remaining Silicoid world, in one.
2522: I bring 855 FireAnts to Beta Ceti this time, along with the Pickaxe and Storm. You can guess the results, I assume.
I'm not going to win via Conquest after all.
2523: 48 bases at the Human colony of Bootis. (Plus 8 Destroyers, but those are old-fashioned nuclear missile boats, and irrelevant to the game). This'll be a real test, as the Humans have three more levels of shielding than the 'Coids, and though their missile defense is worse, these are bombers that I designed especially to deal with high-missile-defense, low-shielding bases. The throw-on nukes, for instance, will be pretty much worthless. ... Okay, so maybe not so much of a test, with 855 FireAnts swarming in. Bootis, a large jungle world, is a colony no more. I've also accidentally sent about 250 bombers to Exis (believe it or not, this really was an accident) so...
Also this interturn, Antidote comes in. Um, yay? I choose Terra +60, which I'll try and crash-research so as to ... yeah, okay. We also bomb out the weed colony of Laan, but a new one was just formed at Beta Ceti. Oh, and Lasitus doesn't call to say so, but we're now at war with the Humans, according to the diplo screen. (I was worried you might not have noticed.)
2524: My Storm arrives at Cryslon at the same time as a would-be weed colony fleet. 10 Dreadnoughts, 2 Warships, 56 Destroyers, and a pair of Colony Ships greet me cordially and retreat. 855 FireAnts hit Beta Ceti, which is pretty spectacular overkill for its zero bases, zero factories, and population of 3. 16 Human Destroyers bear witness to the end of their race, as the planet is glassed from the combat screen before they can even retreat. 5 Dreadnoughts, 4 Warships, 3 Destroyers, and a Colony Ship reach Bootis, where my Pickaxe is waiting for them. The Colship dies before the others can escape. I would have had to play one more turn before the final council vote had I stopped short of Beta Ceti (when the 'Coids still owned it), but now...
Game over, by extermination. All hail ... uh ... the big cheese!
The battle for Gorra comes immediately after my Stinkbug4.1 buys it at Kholdan, and I lose almost all my FireAnts burning down the Psilons' Stinger bases, but finally succeed, while the Standoff cuts the local fleet to pieces. This reveals the reason the Psilons were so puissant with just a 2PE: It's a Terran Artifacts world, and its base size is gigantic! Terrific news here, as its 187 factories are currently manned by just 22 million Psilons; the planet size has actually been polluted down to 20, no doubt in order to maintain their no-longer-at-Neptunus death fleet. 50 million bugs will arrive next turn from Mentar, and then if we can hold Gorra long enough to stand up its defenses, and if we retake the skies above Kholdan, we should be in a very strong position from which to deal with the Human menace.
We continue to repel joke fleets at Mentar and Rayden while the real Human fleet bombs Kholdan, with monkey transports incoming. The first invasion of Rayden fails, as I lose all 40 million invaders to kill 21 million Humans (they have exoskeletons to my battlesuits). Of course, there were supposed to be a lot more than 40 transports in the first wave, but the Nebula was doing its thing. We take Gorra the same turn though, with 32 million survivors! From the smoking ruins and many functioning factories, we ... huh? What now, Newsdroid? We're busy looting Gorra, so this had better be important!
Oh, please. Surely this could have waited for the 11 o'clock news. The Psilons would still be dead then. Let me also say that I don't think the Klackons were the real bane of the Psilon race; since they moved their giant fleet away from Neptunus, leaving it uselessly in deep space while the rocks bombed the system out and we took Gorra, I consider this a case of Psilon mass-suicide. 'Course, I don't suppose the other races will see things that way....
Okay, now we loot Gorra! Nearly two hundred factories yield Controlled Barren Enviroment (you have got to be kidding me), Battle Computer V (not bad!), Deep Space Scanner (obviously the PRNG isn't in love with Klackon soldiers), and ... nothing ... else. I guess with that computer tech, I really shouldn't complain, but I was hoping for some slightly more useful technology. Well, Gorra should be able to provide some in the future at least.
Meanwhile, we need to save Kholdan! I scrap the cheap but poorly-shielded Stinkbug4.1 in favor of an upgraded version, the 4.2, with my best shields and some actual weaponry. One finally arrives at Kholdan and repels the Human starforce just as our nebula-delayed transports land at Rayden. I lose more than half my troopers, but still wind up with 60 survivors to explore the 260 factories and find... Class III Shields (pitiful), Graviton Beam (pointless), Armored Exoskeleton (hurray!), and ... nothing else. Three techs, two of them obsolete, from 260 factories. I've been neglecting the Klackon research computer in favor of pointy-sticking things, and the PRNG has decided to punish me. The Exos pay off quickly though, as 25 Human transports get past my defenses at Kholdan, and I lose only 19 pop repelling them. With Rayden in my hands now, Kholdan should be ... um ... when did Lasitus research Range 10? So much for that reason for taking Rayden.
I decide to make Sol my next target, only to find it has 61 bases, with 11 levels of shielding, plus a fleet in orbit. Instead of prudently retreating to go after it with a monster stack of FireAnts later, I attack right into the teeth of the Human defenses, taking out a few bases - far, far too few - before admitting defeat. None of my old Hive(Killer) ships survive, and I have only a few dozen FireAnts left when they retreat. As they do so, since our homeworld apparently hasn't had enough excitement yet this game, it develops a virulent plague - not necessarily the most devastating, but definitely my least favorite event in Orion. I refuse to send healthy bugs to Kholdan, but I pump such pop as it has with all the reserves I can feed them.
While the plague goes on, I repel various Human and 'Coid attacks at Mentar and Rayden, and breeze through the 2475 High Council with a clear veto, 9 votes of 23. If I were a more capable player, the game would be effectively over at this point (probably well before this point, actually). It still could be if the AI never comes up with an answer to my repulsor fleets.
Answers to Repulsor fleets:
After rejecting a Human plea for peace and accepting a larger trade package offered by Sedimin (I probably should have done that the other way around, actually...) and getting a 2481 GNN report that the Humans still lead me in tech, I check intel on the monkeys, and learn that they've researched High Energy Focus. Ummm ... really? As soon as they put that onto a ship, my Repulsors will be obsolete! About time, admittedly, but I'd been relying on them to the exclusion of everything but bombers, even skimping missile bases in vulnerable places, such as (ahem) the homeworld. I start spying on the apes and prepare to raid Sol again, hoping to hit them hard before it's too late. For the purpose, I design the FireAnt4.1, upgraded from the old version with a level 2 battle computer. Our hot war, going cold, is about to heat back up. Hopefully after Kholdan is cured, though!
A spy hit in four fields (I'm the Humans' equal in computers, and their only Force Fields tech beyond mine is their very latest) nets me Deuterium Fuel Cells, so obsolete it hadn't even appeared on my intel screen. Then, just as the plague ends at Kholdan, our fleets pass in the night at the galactic core, and strike each other's planets simultaneously. Zoctan's bases are all burned away before the local Stinkbug can get a handle on the situation and chase off the Human fleet, but we return the favor at Sol, destroying all the bases in exchange for most of our bombers, but losing space superiority to a new large design, the Dreadnought. I hold my breath before checking the scanner, but it doesn't have HEF yet: Just ... Doom Virus, Heavy Lasers, and Mercs? I didn't send a Huge in with my fleet (leaving the Standoff to protect Rayden while the slower Chitin remains in the south to help hold Mentar and Gorra) and the stack of Dreadnoughts at Sol was more than enough to handle my local Stinkbug even with just those lasers; all it took was any two-space beam! My planets are going to get spored into lifeless husks unless I build a lot more bases! Good thing Stinger tech is about to come in....
When it does, I choose Ion Stream Projector, which might even complete before the game is over, though I wouldn't bet on it either way. With the Standoff sent down to Sol, we burn down all seven of the new Dreadnoughts there, but the battle times out before we can kill off the remaining 72(!) Human larges. I've been so successful for so long just dropping anvils on the AI's head that I've never bothered with a hammer, but that massive fleet means I'll have to change that. I do wait for Construction to come in though, which it finally does (after more indecisive battles over Sol, Mentar, and Gorra) in 2493. Better yet, In the meantime, I get a spy hit across all fields where I'm not the Humans' equal, and instead of grabbing their newest shield tech, I take Propulsion again, hoping for HEF. I don't get it, but I do pull in Ion Drives, the state of the art for warp speed in the galaxy so far! The result of all this (replacing the FireAnt 4.0s) is the ArmyAnt6.0: A medium hull with Ion Engines, Stabilizer, max maneuver and computer, a pair of Stinger 2-racks, and a single Fusion Bomb. My fleet's about to get some mandibles, finally! I'm not sure how many of these I'll need to burn down that annoying (not much more than that, since it can't touch my ships) fleet, but I'm setting out to build plenty! Better yet, it looks like it may not matter: The giant Human fleet moves off to attack the 'Coids at Beta Ceti, which means I get control of Sol's orbit, and can even send enough transports to take the planet before the fleet can possibly return! In case it wasn't over already, that's the game.
Endgame:
Our ArmyAnts end up getting their first test at Poor Zoctan, where the Humans sent another SoD (since I control Sol's orbit, they can't arrive in one turn anymore) including a dozen of their Doom-Virus/Merc/Heavy-Laser Dreadnoughts. We wipe out the entire Human fleet at the cost of a handful of Army Ants, so I consider them a success. At the same time, 236 of our troops meet 165 Humans, and when the dust has settled, we own the monkey homeworld, with 44 of our own remaining. We get 482 factories here, so if we don't recover six techs, I may throw a fit. GNN interrupts our tech search again, but it's an acceptible interruption this time, as it's a special report on Klackon expansion, and how from our 9 current worlds we will soon control the galaxy. As for our discoveries, we get completely worthless RW80 (well, it should miniaturize things a very, very little...), Hard Beam (getting better), Advanced Eco (marginal at this point, as our waste is almost nil already), Doom Virus (yuck), Atmospheric Terraforming (meh ... I already had the bloody thing in percentages...), and Class VI shields (the galaxy's state of the art). I do notice that we got none of the Humans' factory cost techs (almost the only thing they had in Construction) and no HEF, but I can't complain too much about nabbing their top techs in three different fields ... even if they were the fields about which I cared the least. With my current planetology project completed for me, I go back for Bio Toxin Antidote, the only possibly-useful thing I might be able to research before the end of the game.
The 2500 election is a stalemate once more, but peace with the Humans would have brought me awfully close to a Domination victory, so I assume I'll win that way (if not by Conquest) in 25 years. Another all-possible-fields spy hit, hoping for HEF, gets me now-obsolete Impulse Drives in between hit-and-run raids at Whynil and defense against enemy fleets. The old Stinkbug4.0s are scrapped for FireAnt6.0 bombers (now with room for BC5) and the FireAnt 4.2s are scrapped to make way for a new Huge, the Storm 6.0. With Battle Scanner, Stabilizer, Autorepair, and all the maneuver, computers, and shields I can fit, armed with 24 Tachyon Beams, a 2-rack of nukes for maneuvering, and a single Fusion Bomb, it's meant to deal with the Humans in case they ever get around to putting HEF and Class 6 shields on a new design. At that, I'm not sure it'll do the trick. (If it happens, I'll have a better answer, e.g. a giant stack of smalls or something).
In the course of my slow assault on Whynil, an "unknown" (Human) spy destroys seven factories at Rayden. I weep openly. When Whynil falls (it's a size 120 Jungle, including Terra+40), we discover ... another confounded GNN interruption. This time, we have pirates in the Yarrow system, a Human colony. Well, I suppose I'll just have to park some ships in orbit there for everyone's benefit. Oh, and also some race called the Klackons owns almost half the galaxy. Not counting Orion and the asteroid stars, we're just one system shy. The Newsdroid also claims that other civilizations are planning to merge with us, but they won't get the chance unless they survive to see 2525.
Okay, now we discover ... Neutron Pellet Gun (good grief), Controlled Tundra (this must be the planet where Lasitus kept all his plans for worthless junk), IIT4 (we had this in the percentages already), IIT6 (because it's so useful once you have 4...), Improved Eco (doubly obsolete), and IIT7. Bleah. I choose Tritanium armor for my next research project, not intending to actually ever finish it. Sedimin babbles something in his technologically backward language that sounds to me like, "We're scared of you, so we're going to make belligerent noises!" In spite of this, he's still at Amiable. We're back down to zero spies in Human space, but he's welcome to keep spending money on spy defense to protect High Energy Focus instead of on ships that actually use it. (My spies soon hit again in spite of him, across all three possible fields, but I only get Nuclear Engines out of it.)
Thanks to our latest miniaturization, the very last Stinkbug design hits the scrap heap in favor of the FireAnt6.1: Ion Engines, Computer 3, Stabilizer, Maneuver 7, and 3 Fusion Bombs apiece. IRC4 hits too, at long last, and I choose Advanced Scanner, which won't come in before the game ends. GNN reports that the pirates in the Yarrow system were eliminated, apparently as collateral damage, while I'm still conducting raids, and then we take the planet ... and learn why Human research went so well in this game: Yarrow's another Artifacts world ... on an Ocean 120 no less! Just before I launch my invasion, Lasitus sues for peace. He may have interpretted my laughter as a "no," but I'm not sure. Either way, I take the 315 factories there, which should clean him out entirely. Actually, we get: IIT 8 (lame stuff first), Death Spores (really lame stuff second), Terra+30 (long, long obsolete), Trilithium Crystals (Range 10 should allow me to reach every star in the galaxy), annnnnnd ... yup. High Energy Focus. That's everything. I offer peace with Lasitus now, since he no longer has anything I want, and I'm about to go after the 'Coids to ensure I really do get my Conquest victory. (Having little choice, he agrees.)
The old Chitin did yeoman's work as a damage sop for much of the game, but it's a boat anchor at this point, chugging along at speed 3 ... and worse yet, its name is still misspelled as "Chiton"! I scrap the thing in favor of yet another Huge design: The Pickaxe6.0 is intended to break rocks, as you might expect from the name, with Scanner, HEF, Autorepair, a 5-rack of Merculite Missiles, and 49(!) Tachyon Beams.
2511: Neptunus is glass.
2512: "Human" (maybe, but more likely 'Coid) spies blow up a pair of Zoctan missile bases. Not a big deal now that it has ~30.
2513: We trade half of Klystrom's bases and a bunch of Polaris (Repulsor/Dissipator large) ships for our oldest bombers and missile boats. The Storm is eventually timed out and forced to leave. Class X Planetaries come in and we choose Cloaking Device, which we will never research, and I replace the old FireAnt6.0 design with a 6.2, identical except for the addition of max maneuverability and a Nuclear Bomb to go with the Fusion pair (the 6.1, with 3 F-Bombs, has a weaker computer, and so is judged a poor candidate for attacking high-ECM 'Coids). I told you I was profligate with ship designs this game.
2514: I decide to boost Human relations (for no particular reason) by asking Lasitus to join my war on the 'Coids. He asks for Controlled Toxic, so I give it to him, since it honestly doesn't matter anymore.
2515: Klystron is radiated, so of course we just glass it. Don't tell anybody, but we would have done that anyway! The Silis are sending what I suppose they think is an SoD to Rana (which, since recent glassings, may not even be in range for them anymore) ... flying it through the heart of the nebula ... and due to arrive in 2523! Remind me when it's 2522 or something. Not to put up more defenses, you understand, but to be ready to have a good laugh at Sedimin's expense.
2516: Energy Pulsar and Ion Stream Projector both come in, and I choose Anti-Matter Drives and Phasors, knowing full well that I won't be researching either one this game.
2517:
2518: Celtsi is mineral rich. Just a minute ago, it also had a Silicoid colony.
2519: Laan is a beautiful Arid 110, with a brand-new glassy sheen.
2520: Wow! Beta Ceti is huge!
When I saw it go rich way back when, I didn't realize it was size 105 plus Terraforming! I'm glad (but not surprised) the Humans never managed to take it. My Pickaxe destroys their huge Monitor on the third round without taking any damage, but I didn't bring enough FireAnts for all those bases. We'll have to come back for this one later ... when this fleet unites with the one that's off glassing Xengara this year!
2521: Moro has 115 population, 460 factories, and 39 missile bases. Sorry; that's had. It is also Fertile ... well, fertile for a chunk of glass anyway. The Sili "SoD" I mentioned ages ago is now due at Rana at the same time that a 'Coid Colony Ship, with escorts, is due to reach Xengara: In two turns. My united fleet, together with the FireAnts sent from Whynil last turn, is due at Beta Ceti, the last remaining Silicoid world, in one.
2522: I bring 855 FireAnts to Beta Ceti this time, along with the Pickaxe and Storm. You can guess the results, I assume.
I'm not going to win via Conquest after all.
2523: 48 bases at the Human colony of Bootis. (Plus 8 Destroyers, but those are old-fashioned nuclear missile boats, and irrelevant to the game). This'll be a real test, as the Humans have three more levels of shielding than the 'Coids, and though their missile defense is worse, these are bombers that I designed especially to deal with high-missile-defense, low-shielding bases. The throw-on nukes, for instance, will be pretty much worthless. ... Okay, so maybe not so much of a test, with 855 FireAnts swarming in. Bootis, a large jungle world, is a colony no more. I've also accidentally sent about 250 bombers to Exis (believe it or not, this really was an accident) so...
Also this interturn, Antidote comes in. Um, yay? I choose Terra +60, which I'll try and crash-research so as to ... yeah, okay. We also bomb out the weed colony of Laan, but a new one was just formed at Beta Ceti. Oh, and Lasitus doesn't call to say so, but we're now at war with the Humans, according to the diplo screen. (I was worried you might not have noticed.)
2524: My Storm arrives at Cryslon at the same time as a would-be weed colony fleet. 10 Dreadnoughts, 2 Warships, 56 Destroyers, and a pair of Colony Ships greet me cordially and retreat. 855 FireAnts hit Beta Ceti, which is pretty spectacular overkill for its zero bases, zero factories, and population of 3. 16 Human Destroyers bear witness to the end of their race, as the planet is glassed from the combat screen before they can even retreat. 5 Dreadnoughts, 4 Warships, 3 Destroyers, and a Colony Ship reach Bootis, where my Pickaxe is waiting for them. The Colship dies before the others can escape. I would have had to play one more turn before the final council vote had I stopped short of Beta Ceti (when the 'Coids still owned it), but now...
Game over, by extermination. All hail ... uh ... the big cheese!
Congrats on your total victory.
IMHO everyone is entitled to extend the game with potentially exploitive tactics provided it is the minimum necessary at the time and not planned in advance. Hopefully we can all also improve to the point when such cheesey tactics are a rarity!
I had been looking forward to battles over retaining poor Zoctan in my own game up till the vote loss. Being the mighty Klackons I expected to be successful but the numerous apes, the advanced brains and the spreading rocks may have disagreed! 
