I started the game with this strange race, one heavily tilted towards science and diplomacy. I took note of their economic handicap straight away and that concerned me. My first culture pick went towards increasing production through over-mining and my second pick netted me a free colony ship. I also began construction of an outpost ship as I knew it would come in handy eventually. I explored the immediate area as best I could and set my first Colony at Voyonus only to encounter the Moltar, on turn 17 they attacked me there with a lone Frigate. Luckily both of my own Frigates were there and managed to defeat them. I repeatedly attempted to make peace with the Lava-heads as they were too advanced for me to tackle this early, on turn 40 they finally accepted. My position was rough though. Even though I had hire “Fish” for my homeworld, I did not have the economic capability to set up another colony. A suitable world had been found at Suborix, but the maintenance cost would cripple me. By now I had chosen the free survey ship and this allowed me to get quick results from all the nearby systems A few turns later I signed a trade treaty with the treacherous Lava-heads and continued to explore with my survey ship By turn 53 I had constructed an outpost to mine HE3 wich I intended to use for Militarized Fusion. This would give me a slightly faster drive, better beam weapons and sturdier shields. This race may be a bunch of pacifists… but I have other plans. The Nova were also encountered on this turn and I realized I was screwed. At least I had finally managed to colonize Suborix one turn ago and I was now constructing an economic capitol to satisfy young Hansen’s desire. Remote exploration had discovered a promising system at a hidden white dwarf and I eagerly hoped that further exploration would not reveal any monsters there. Not long after that, on turn 62, I scrapped the survey ship for a nice pile of cash and hired Governor Toka for Suborix. I also soon hired General Pike, a dangerous, if somewhat insane commander. I declined to appear on the event “a star is born” in order to please my hirelings, unfortunately the “little people” did not like this and morale suffered empire wide as a result. By turn 67 the econ capitol was just one turn away from being completed and I had signed a trade treaty with the Nova, my economy was losing some credits as a result, but I believe I can ride it out. Research is very fast, and this gives me a way to get out of this box I’ve been trapped in.
Fascinating report, it seems you are much better skilled to make it entertaining than me. Great to see that your game goes entirely differently, because you are using an approach driven by economy and military. I'd say it is not a wise strategy to take on an opponent who is stronger in all areas before building a sound base, but I trust you have played the game often enough that you know what you can handle. Did the Moltar really attack you or did you engage them? Looking forward to see what comes next and how viable the militaristic angle in ISG is.
Subjective sir, it’s like coffee, I find it delicious when my wife makes it, she on the other hand swears that mine is better. I’m a militant kind of guy, peace through strength. I had no intention of playing your race in this manner… but circumstances dictate otherwise, besides, the AI can’t handle me at a tactical level (yet) There was no way I was going to pick a fight that early, they attacked me almost on sight. Turn 68-110 I continued with my long term plan without further incident. By turn 84 I had received the sentient asteroid event and added more credits to my treasury, only to use them on a free cruiser when the Militia event fired directly after that. The Cruiser is modestly laid out but will act as a deterrent in case my neighbors get any ideas. My colony ship had also been completed and sent on the way to colonize a planet at Valaraukar. 14 turns later I had established a production mine on the large asteroid belt at Voyouns and directed it to my Homeworld. I had also completed the research needed to start refitting my existing ships into my preferred designs. I continued a modest build up, including the production of assault ships for my inevitable invasion of Moltar space. Then, on Turn 110 I encountered the Draguul. During these later turns I also managed to hire another competent ship commander (Ruiz) and Jon Squeeg to govern one of my colonies.
Turn 111- 142 I continued a modest but well thought out buildup till turn 123, and then I attacked the Moltar. I gambled everything on going straight for their jugular and had besieged Leeku by turn 125, destroying a Moltar starbase and two small ships in the process. My attack force consisted of my refitted Cruiser escorted by two Missile Frigates. With the defenses wiped out, I began dropping weapons of mass destruction on the Moltar Home world. They had two colonies in the system, and I only had two Assault ships with me. I decided then to destroy one world and occupy the other. I sent a newly constructed Destroyer to garrison Voyonus and deny the Moltar the opportunity for a Raid, while another Frigate was near completion at my Homeworld. Once ready, that Frigate would join the one stationed there already as a precaution and to form a reserve in case my other neighbors got any ideas. Within the next six turns I destroyed Lekuu I and occupied Leeku II. I defeated three counterattacks during this time, at Leeku, Lenuria, and Voyonus… destroying additional enemy ships in the process. For all intents and purposes, the Moltar were broken My offensive continued in a relentless fashion and by turn 135 I had taken Uwains, encountering the Humans as a result. The Golden riddle fired at this stage and I chose to share the wealth. This immediately got me trade treaties with the Humans and the Draguul as a result. Within seven more turns, I occupied the last Moltar colony and only a few outposts remain, they are finished. Regretfully I destroyed most of the Moltar holdings during my campaign against them and have not benefited greatly from my direct conquests. On the other hand, that was not my primary goal. I have secured an avenue for further expansion and have confidence that my military can contest any areas of space I choose, the game is about to get deadlier.
Funny, it is almost as if they knew whom they were up against (or if a smart dev implemented ethics tracking across multiple games). I offered the Moltar in my game a trade treaty right away and relations were constantly going uphill ever since, though the Moltar have a fleet that is even stronger than the Draguul. While in general I can't approve of attacking harmless aliens, it would be great if you could play the game in the way you described here. I.e. with smart maneuvering of a few small ships backed up by proper logistics and smart tech research decisions. But it looks more like a case of an AI not knowing the ropes. Why waste a perfectly good frigate on the Moltar's initial attack, if the most it could have done is blocking your colony for a few turns? Why didn't it use the ships which performed the late counterattack to defend its homeworld? It seems that in my game I will have for the first time the opportunity to analyze what the AI is doing. I spend most of my time developing AI for 4X games, so at the very least I should be able to give you professional feedback. I can't imagine that it wouldn't have been more enjoyable for yourself, if the Moltar would have put up a sustained fight. The great thing that made MoO2 last so long was that the opposition really gave you something to think. Here it seems, after you had taken over the Moltar space and strenghtened your base, nothing can stop you anymore. Or at the very least, I would be surprised if something does. But I gladly continue to follow your journey and see how you play. P.S. On a different note, the screenshot for turn 131 shows a bug. The beige and green ships are travelling through space way outside of their logistics range to the white star in the bottom left corner. This star is connected with a stable wormhole to a star in the space between the Nova and Draguul. So technically the white star is in their range, but travelling through regular space to the star should not happen. I observed this bug in my game as well.
Why Quantomas, whatever do you mean by that? The AI is Ok on the operational level, it attempted to relieve the homeworld while also striking ny own and conducting another raid. This is sound strategy as it kept me from consolidating my forces and made me leave reserve units scattered away from the front. Where the AI failed is that I defeated all three raids, within 2 turns. This combined with their HW under siege, meant they could not replace their losses, at that point they were doomed. Oh don't worry, I'm sure my next target will do just that. The Moltar campaign was basically a rush, so they didn't have time to develop a good navy. Not really, the white star, is within range due to the wormhole, therefore they are free to travel there, both through the worm-hole or via normal means... but I do agree, it would make more sense if normal space was closed off to them.
With the Moltar defeated, I was faced with a choice. I could strike the Humans or Nova straight away and continue my conquests… but the truth is that my early campaign against the Lava-heads meant that my realm was woefully underdeveloped. I decided instead to pause my aggressive tendencies and spend time developing my productive and economic power. After that, I intended to furiously focus on high tech weaponry and shields, refit and expand my armada, and finally launch a galactic blitzkrieg against all who stood in my path. It was ironic I thought, that the trade treaties I had with the aliens meant they were subsidizing their own destruction. And so I expanded the number of my colonies, my productive power, and even managed to rescue Wan from some un-savory characters, and he was now governing one of my new worlds. As always, I did not neglect my military, but neither did I focus on it too much, and by turn 168 I had 10 colonies and 5 outposts… I also encountered the Sulak.
