Roleplay is what's killed me, too. My race, the Irha-Nrr, also have a history; they are descended from machine life forms created by an organic species that went to war with itself and used the Irha-Nrr as a weapon to destroy themselves in the process. Since then we've dedicated ourselves to protecting every sentient species we can from genocide. I think I wound up spending far too much time building troops, preparing for ringworld construction (I _just_ got started, darnit), and generally mopping up AI planets with the minimum of enemy casualties. I _thought_ that I'd managed to maintain a chordial relationship with Dragonlord, but he's obviously been gunning for me for some time now and building up his forces for this sneak attack (I didn't buy your "military coup" justification for a moment, Dragon; those ships came pouring in on three fronts the turn immediately after Phoenix upset the applecart. My dear trusted ally was setting this up for quite some time while we discussed peace.
Lesson number one for newbies: Pragmatism first, RP second. There are going to be players in the game with you who have the philosophy that in order for them to _win_, it is necessary for you to _lose._ Even if you don't approach the game that way yourself, be prepared for it in others.
In reference to Dragonlord's analysis, now, to provide a view from the other side.
Heh. I was thinking of accusing you of being non-newbie myself, Dragon. I am facing clearly unwinnable odds, you hit me at a really bad time. I think I've got enough combat ships to take out one or maybe two of your three fleets, but they are currently scattered all over the place mopping up pissant little Krill colonies. I was planning to use the nice shiny new warp openers to help gather them all together into a larger, more centralized force, but instead I'm now having to frantically re-close those new warplines as a delaying tactic while my surrender Messages get through.
Lesson two for newbies: ten ships in a single fleet is worth a hundred ships each on their own. Especially when most of those hundred are nowhere near the front you're trying to defend.
Another big problem with my existing fleet is that, since I haven't faced anyone with phased polaron beams yet, I stuck with ordinary Shield Vs for their added strength. Lesson three: If you research your way up to Shield V and then think "nobody's using PPB and if I add another tech level hitting "upgrade" will just weaken my designs," invite a friend over and have him start punching you in the face until you realize it's good to have defences available against all varieties of attack.
That central planet I've been opening warp lines from is _not_ heavily defended; I started building the defensive starbases only after I started opening the warplines. This was such a stupid mistake I won't even put a lesson number on it, it's the same one the Romans made with their roads. Paths which let your defence fleets move rapidly around your empire will _also_ allow their attack fleets to move rapidly around your empire if you don't blockade them well.
Of course, since in this case Dragonlord also has warp opening tech, it's vital to have a highly mobile defence fleet. There's no way to predict where exactly the attack will come any more, once that tech is in play. Which leads me to lesson four that I learned: Static defences are useless without ships to back them up. One of his attacking fleets hit a huge frontier world that I'd stocked with thirty weapons platforms, and before it was glassed they managed to take _one_ of his ships down to 50% damage. Maybe I just chose a bad mix of weapons, but in any event he could have chosen to simply bypass that planet and strike deeper into my territory instead.
Oh, lesson five; know thy enemy and defend in depth. Treaty or no treaty, I should have had observation ships and satellites a system or two deep beyond my borders. If your dear trusted ally refuses to allow you to place surveilance like that, start building your preemptive strike force immediately.
Man, it's been way too long since I read Sun Tzu. Maybe I should force myself to write an essay about SEIV and Sun Tzu before I play another PBW. I'll post it here if I do.
BTW, Dragon, I must express shock and dismay on behalf of the Irha-Nrr that you would think we had committed such an atrocity as to destroy the sun of an inhabited system. Nay, it is _you_ who are committing the atrocities; this very turn your fleet annihilated a defenceless Xiati homeworld that you had claimed only Last turn to be intent on "liberating" from my protection. Shame on you.
Oh, one Last gripe; I shouldn't have played a race as sensitive to civillian casualties as the Irha-Nrr in a game which had surrender disabled. I guess I'll just have to surrender the _hard_ way.