[Gandalph]

This was a fun game and I look forward to a new (>1.78) Homecoming.

No fault of Geo's, but the Corrian had 3 major problems. My corner position left me with only 2 exits, one through the north where the Bugs were (sorry for forgetting, but we didn't have much contact) and one to the northeast, straight through Whatsit territory. To the north was a hostile race and to the northeast was a hostile race. I chose to block access to the north, and head into Whatsit territory.

This leads to problem 2, I was unprepared for his fighters with rocket pods. This was only my second PBW game and I had never seen this strategy and it caught me totally off guard. He ripped through my initial fleets like a hot knife through butter. I quickly redesigned my ships and built up enough to push Whatsit back out of my system at great cost. During this time, he had developed PPB's and Intel and started fighting back with both. He was stealing 2 of my ships and resources every turn. It took no time to put my race in a state of turmoil I could not overcome.

Lastly was problem 3, I took on a religious race without making proper compensation to research, and then did not bother with early sensor research figuring I am going to end up with the Talisman so I don't need the sensor. Needless to say, I had a happy populace with a weak military, and on PBW this just won't work.
Despite all this, I still held out a possibility of winning anyway. The warp points that had opened exposed my Homeworld. As a Last effort, and 1 turn before losing my final planet to Whatsit intel, I built a new warship and a new colony ship and sent them towards the Homeworld, only to have them shot down by the Whatsit 2 systems away.

I learned alot in this game and will take these lessons back to PBW, and hopefully into a new game of HOMECOMING!!