.com.unity Forums - Space Empires Evil Ruler Handbook.

*Bumps thread*

110. When considering joining a PBW game, I will strive to be among the first ones to enter the game. It will give me a low player number, making my Empire very visible in the Empire screen. If I happened to be the 20th player in a given game, I would be hidden at the end, and few would even acknowledge my presence there. When the other Empires have seen my portrait staring at them for several years, they will be more prone to accept my hegemony.

111. For the same reason, I will discover all other Empires as soon as possible, so that they will become acquaintances. It will make matters easier when it comes to taking over their worlds. As an added advantage, having a direct relationship with all Empires will allow me to make a general transmission to the whole galaxy. I will then not run the risk of having some Empires hear my speech only thanks to the cousin of the trade partner of their ally. Somehow, information happens to be distorted when it is relayed by several different Empires.

112. If a disaster happens to fall on my Empire, I will remember that bad news travels quicker than anything else discovered by science. Therefore, all parts of the known universe will hear of said disaster in 4.7 nanoseconds after it has occurred. To avoid this, I will censor all communications within my Empire that would possibly refer to a catastrophe, unless approved by myself.

113. Nonetheless, it is very likely my enemies will hear of the destruction of my whole armada, one way or another. That's why I will always have a backup plan ready if I do something more complicated than leaving my regal bed, and then another secret scheme in case the backup fails as well. No other emergency plan is needed; if three different schemes have failed, it means I cannot live up to the title of Evil Overlord.

114. Before sending a formal message to another Empire, I will double check (and triple check; you can never be too cautious) my spelling. It would not do to invent several grammar rules previously not in existence when I pose as an enlightened ruler. Likewise, I would be well advised to question the wisdom of sending a message such as this one: "HaHAha, U noob! U ain't gonna B a match 4 my l33t fLEet!!!" While it might be an exaggeration, the meaning is very clear: I will pay attention to the form of my Messages before sending them.

115. However, I may want to act as the village idiot (notwithstanding the fact that the village in question encompasses half the known universe, and has a population of fifty billion inhabitants) if it suits my purposes. I am to publicly state that Stellar Manipulation is worthless, order the decommission of my whole fleet and decide to live in peace with all other Empires. In short, I will give the impression I am a fool. Then, I will gloat when an enemy fleet enters the supposedly unprotected asteroid belt marking the border of my Empire. They will see the mistake of their ways as they notice that the star in this system is going nova, while at the same moment two hundred dreadnoughts enter their homesystem.

Incidentally, may I ask you to correct two or three typos in my contribution Atrocities? I realised I wrote things along the lines of "fore" as an abbreviation of before, or "such a decision will to lessen". As per rule 115, it is simply not acceptable. I will not nitpick about the differences between American and British spellings though. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif