Bad ways for your empire to end.

[Cyrien]

Ok. Here is this one. What are the worst ways you have lost a game.

Here is mine from just today (this hour in fact).

I started a new game with some friends a little while ago. A small universe of about 14 Systems with 20! players. 8 of us humans and then computers to make it interesting.

Anyways... I start in a star system that looks great. Lots of breathable planets etc and no one else started in it with me, and only one warp point that leads into it, for great defense value! (WOOHOO!) I expand and in the next system I find the Orks and the Aquileans (DOH!) They promply double team me and I manage to blockade myself into my system and make some slow progress against them. About the time I have developed light cruisers the only warp point into my system collapses... (DOUBLE DOH!) So... I'm locked in. I decide to make the most of it. Keep on going... about 15-20 turns later I get that oh so lovely message that my Star is going to go Supernova. I am no where near close to researching the needed tech to open a warp point (I was taking my time) and well... I guess you can see where this leads upto. This leads me to pose the question as to whether there is an unlucky racial trait that gets randomly added in some time.

So whats your bad story.

[Andrés]

That's too much to be a coincidence. That game must be using a modded events.txt

[Cyrien]

Actually... now that I look back on it... I realize that it wasn't entirly random events. The Star was... but the warp point collapse didn't come with the disaster message saying it would happen in .5 years... someone else must have closed it.

But the events.txt wasn't modded... I'm the host so I shuold hope I know.

nevertheless... still a bad mix of events.

[Puke]

the AI does not usually do alot of warp point closing. im not positive on the mechanics, but perhaps the bad event was randomly selected to happen to the other side of the wormhole, and therefore you did not get the event warning.

[Cyrien]

Actually... I have found that it was a player using a stealth ship... apparantly he was gambling and investing research into those early on in the hopes of closing down worm holes and while we scrambled to gain tech to reopen them, he would go out and take the AIs as much as possible and gain. From his mouth he was researching missiles, Astrophysics and armor (for the stealth armor). Well... it worked better than planned against me.

[Taqwus]

Now that's a sneaky, underhanded tactic to try. I like it.

Bad stories? Hrm. Mostly spending too much time early exploring in the wrong directions, and then finding out the hard way that the Xi Chung are my next-door neighbors, and they're not visiting just to drop off some home-grown tomatos or squash. I've a bad tendency to focus too much on research/growth versus military early on.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night