The neutral challenge

WhiteHojo · #1 February 8th, 2001, 10:01 PM

Never underestimate the power of a good roll of Charmin!!!!

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Character is best defined as that which you do when you believe nobody is watching.

geoschmo · #2 February 8th, 2001, 11:18 PM

Well Zanthis, he said he was being attacked by the rock-faced Pionda's.

Everybody knows paper covers rock.

But watch out for the scissor people WH!

Alpha Kodiak · #3 February 10th, 2001, 11:59 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Daynarr:
This sounds like my Sergetti . Good luck.
Make sure you tell us how it went, so I could improve them more.

Yep, it's your Sergetti alright. I haven't had much time to play (some strange thing called work keeps getting in the way) but I have run through several turns since the initial combat. I backed off and started trying to build up. So far I have seen nothing of the Sergetti. I don't know if they are going to come after me soon, or if they are going to give me time to build up what is at least a semi-functional defense. Time will tell....

Dracus · #4 February 11th, 2001, 01:15 AM

I play like this all the time, I do not research any weapons until first contact. I only explore one sytem at a time. The game I am playing now has 14 races and 200 systems.
made contact on my 3rd turn, they entered my home system and sent a trade treaty. they have not been back since. they nor have they explored beyond thier home system which is next to mine. I never sned ships into their system nor beyond their system. My next contact came after I had moved two systems out. This race declared war on me. since I do not explore beyond one system at a time, I had no idea how meny systems they own.
I never use the map to look this up. once war is declared I switch to weapons research. I also impose a rule that I can not glass any planets. they must be captured. In 4 weeks real time playing 3 hours a day, I have captured 30 planets in 5 systems from them. but have 6 races in my empire since it seems that they like to either capture other Ie races or use subVersion to get planets to join them. only 4 planets that I have captured had the crystal race I was fighting. hope I find their home system soon. plus the game now reports 3 new races are out there somewhere.
Yet I have yet to run across the actual empires of the races that once owned these worlds. 2 still only have 2 known races. They all seem to be voiding the war zone.

Alpha Kodiak · #5 February 14th, 2001, 09:38 PM

Well, I got a chance to play about 20 more turns, and while I got one message from the Sergetti threatening to kick me out of one of my outlying systems, I have not seen anything of them, other than when one of my scouts encountered a perimeter system of theirs. I have avoided entering any systems that I know are theirs because I know that I am still technologically inferior to them. Much longer without contact, though, and I may probe their defenses a little, because I'm starting to get into a little better shape militarily.

taterbill · #6 February 14th, 2001, 11:29 PM

Just an idea for a new N.C. house rule:

Once you max out your home system, you can start to build unarmed (only) scouts and colony ships to send to adjacent systems, but
they can only have ONE engine component. This simulates the premise that early warp technology is incredibly bulky and early warp-capable ships will be very slow. Until Activation, only ships with a speed of 1 are allowed to utilize warp points.

Also, this may be completely suicidal, but I'm going to say no weapons research until Activation or until I colonize a planet with ruins. That would at least give me a hint that I am not alone in the galaxy. So until until then, I'll have nothing but "police" boats with DUC I's and Missle I's. First contact will be suitably scary.

I'm going to apply the new Mod Pack 1.50 tonight and start my first NC game using these rules and the rules suggested in previous Posts. It should be a bLast!

taterbill · #7 February 15th, 2001, 12:18 AM

Also, I agree that turning off neutrals in an N.C. game is probably a good idea.

Finding a neutral next door and either fighting a war or building an alliance with a similarly handicapped neighbor would be interesting. I could attack them, but only using my speed 1 ships, because I'm not really fully warp-capable yet!

But on the downside, neutrals seem to be "borders" for AI empires. I've only played a few games of SE4 so far, but I don't recall ever making first contact with an empire that had expanded beyond a neutral whose system acted as a chokepoint. So the presence of neutrals will probably (on average) really slow down the onset of First Contact and Activation.