My PBW games, late game, and replacing

[Alneyan]

The solution to the problem "what to do when playing SEIV becomes as boring as work" is known to be "just stop playing"; I wonder if my own current feelings towards the game would qualify as being under this situation.

So, while I definitively like the game early on (when research actually matters and when you are building your Empire), I find most of my games to grow more and more boring as they slowly head for the endgame. For example, I like the 1vs1 games (or 2vs2) because they do not usually require a lot of time to play, and you will seldom reach the "almighty Empire" state. But I just cannot find the fun in games such as Adamant 011, where I am having so many colonies it isn't even funny, not to mention the flotilla of Stellar Manipulation ships under construction/already built, the Monolith and Atmosphere Converters, and so on. Note that this feeling doesn't depend on the mod; the vanilla game is even worse in fact.

So, am I the only one who feels thus, or are there other players who aren't too fond of the late games in SEIV? Even when doing little micromanaging (selecting fifty construction queues at once and ordering them to build something), I simply cannot repress an urge to yawn when having to do one turn for these big games.

I gather I will have to put more of my games as "looking for a replacement player". So if I am being lucky, here are the ones which could benefit from another player, who would be fond of economics:

- 001 Ultimate Game: This time I mostly brought it upon myself by constructing Base Space Yards. But I didn't pay enough attention, and ordered the newly constructed BSYs to keep on building other BSYs, and ended up with some 500/600 BSYs in my Empire, and the resources to actually build something with most of them. But since I can only build fighters without collapsing my economy due to upkeep, all these bases cannot be used without extensive macromanaging. So you will either have to be up to the challenge, or just decide to be done with the whole madness and scrap most of these BSYs. This game is under Devnull, and so you will have to use a mod if you would like to play in it.

There is also the matter of turtling which just seems to be the most rational choice in this game; Warp Openers are cheaper than in the standard game, and with all the asteroids you have at your disposal, you can afford to have an Empire with only ten systems. But I am digressing.

- Adamant 011: 415 planets (with more being colonised as I speak, and planet creation under way), too many ships, nearly four million points, six Stellar Manipulation ships already built, seven others doing their retroseries, seven others in Spaceyards, quite a few Atmosphere Converters, some Ringworlds under construction, and converting the economy to a Monolith-based one. The perfect game if you love economics, and/or if you hold a grudge against Asmala (you are at war with him, but none of the involved parties have done much warring yet). Be ready for a very long war against Asmala, but the figures should be in your favour. Still, there is quite a difference between "having the figures in your side" and "winning a war".

- Adamant 014 and, to a lesser extent, Adamant 013. These two are much smaller games, but might end up with the same feeling. They are interesting if you like Empires with a powerful colonial base, and are still small enough to be considered as being "reasonables". As usual, the figures are in your favour, but they shouldn't be trusted.

- For the sake of completeness, both NGC4 and Pairs would fall under "big games", but my Empires in these two games are unlikely to survive for too long, and so a replacing player will probably not be needed.

I should remain in the games aforementioned if no willing player steps in, but you should expect quick turns and little in the way of diplomacy.

Thanks,
Alneyan