I have conceded to Slynky in our King Match on turn 101. Once again he gets the better of me, and once again I climb tooth and nail to the top of the hill only to be dashed to the bottom. I’m not sure, but I think this was my fifth King match, with none of my butt prints on the royal throne cushion to show for it.
This game I tried something a little different. Slynky was quite confused that I appeared to be conceding two-thirds of the map to him from the start. In our many games the normal thing that happens is we both expand at about equal rates and meet about halfway across the map, then he beats me backwards till the end of the game as he always has more ships in the initial border conflicts.
My plan this game was to keep my empire compact. I only expanded as far as my colony ships could go without refueling, and I researched the other colony techs very early on. He would have been surprised at the number of planets I had, despite the difference in the number of systems. The idea was that he would be strung out and I could punch through in the early going and get him on the defensive.
Unfortunately Slynky is even better then I thought as he was able to capture the middle third of the systems I conceded, and he was still able to gather enough defenses at the choke points to resist my initial attacks. Once the borders solidified the numbers started working against me as I knew they would eventually. I was able to hold him off for some time because of the number of colonies I had, but I was never able to effect a formidable enough attack to breakout.
I have played Slynky many, many times in 1v1 battles in Koth and non-Koth games, probably more than anyone else I’ve played. He’s gotten the better of me in almost every case. The only times I’ve won were when he was given a poor starting position on the map. Considering that neither of us likes to play random maps any longer, I feel confident in saying in all seriousnees and no false modesty that I will likely never beat him again.
That’s not to say that I won’t keep trying, I want to return to my place at the bottom of the hill and begin again. I am merely saying, I hope somebody beats him before I get back up there so I have a chance for once. Or at least someone new to beat me down.
