The neutral challenge

[WhiteHojo]

Alpha nails the joy of this style (for me anyway) - the uncertainty.

You think contact might come at anytime but you can never be sure. My 175 turns were filled w/more tension and a sense of urgency than I could recall feeling in any other game of SE4.

My next recommendation would be to max out the number of Computer Active Empires in a game (I have seen, I believe, 20 total empires at one time) - this would increase the likelyhood of 1st contact at a reasonable time but it does tend to make turns take a rather long amount of time - lots of empires, w/lots of stuff to do.



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

[pathfinder]

ack, I just ran into the Amokirie and a Sw race the Trade Federation (who is number 1 BTW)...and right off I po'd my race (my custom one, Brachyura) as I get trade with them instead of war. I had no intel until Last turn. gawd, this is gonan get nasty. they are both 3 systems away but are waay beyond me in tech (both in sips/weapons and everything else) not to mention I ran into the XiChung who DID declare war, but no battles to satisfy the Brachyura blood-lust.

guess I'll see how long I Last tonight..

[This message has been edited by pathfinder (edited 01 February 2001).]

[Alpha Kodiak]

Well, I managed to force the Romii (the first race I encountered) to surrender. Now I have a little better tech situation (including Ice Colonization ) so the game will probably settle into a more normal pattern. I think that the earlier first contact made it a lot easier for me than if it had come after 100 turns or so, since the technology gap wasn't too bad. Although, even missile dancing was tough when I had escorts and frigates with CSM Is and he had destroyers and light cruisers with CSM IIIs. Fortunately for me, I was always able to bring more forces to a single point than he was. I still have a long way to go to conquer the quadrant, so who knows what will happen next.

I definitely think that I will start the next game I play the same way. It makes things really interesting up front.

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Ursoids of the galaxy, unite!

[WhiteHojo]

Well, I started another game w/the Nuetral Challenge rules. To my amazement and delight, I actually started in a system w/2 other fully colonizable planets - 1 GG Huge & 1 GG large both w/Carbon Dioxide atmosheres (which my current race breathes)... this should make for a rather advantageous start for my little isolated empire. This setup will give me 3 fully colonizable worlds on which to start my empire.

I noticed ColdSteels earlier post and did happen to mave a savegame at turn 25 and wouldl be happy to post it if anyone is interested. My starting stats were Gas Giant native, Carbon Dioxide breathers. 5000 pt race startup. 13 total races - EA, Sergeti, Darlock & 2 others I downloaded from USY are included in the mix. Tech level start is low. Tech level cost is Med. 1 planet start w/Good quality homeworld - all players start w/same size planet. 1000 unit limit and 500 ship limit (not that they actually work). no victory conditions (I don't like limits).

I can't guarantee anything but it is in a pretty good starting setup (best I've ever come across) and is located in a fairly central system on the big map (home system has 3 WPs)...

I'll wait till Monday and then post my experiences if nobody indicates they wish to try the file. (its kinda neat to tell other people how my little fantasy empire does - my wife never seems to find the fascination in it that I do - oh well)

Take care and good playin...

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

[This message has been edited by WhiteHojo (edited 03 February 2001).]

[Barnacle Bill]

2441.2: First Contact at Last - An Amon'krie colony ship warped into the asteroid system that connects to my homeworld.

[Zanthis]

Started a Neutral Challenge using Mod Pack 1.01 and SunDevil's(?) political mod. Set systems to 254 and started a large mid-life cluster w/ max enemies (no neutrals) at max difficult (no bonus tho) and added EA, Darloks and Sergetti. My race is rock/hydrogen. So I start the game and look down to see where I begin. Very top left corner of the map (doh!). I have only 2 WPs (North and South). The N WP looks like it leads to a dead-end system (guessing) in the very top left corner (more so than me). My home planet is one space south of this WP BTW.

I'm thinking, doh, guess I'm gonna want to start over. Then I look at my planets and see:

Homeworld:
hydrogen/medium/good 97/96/100

Other Rock Planets:
hydrogen/huge/mild 59/149/150
hydrogen/medium/mild 116/21/107
hydrogen/small/good 130/136/81
carbon/large/optimal 105/13/47
carbon/medium/mild 113/50/43
carbon/tiny/good 50/41/137
none/small/unpleasant 27/138/64

Gas Giant:
carbon/huge/unpleasant 36/94/32

Ice Planets (both moons around the huge planets in the system):
none/tiny/good 54/103/94
none/tiny/unpleasant 71/12/25

Argh! I just can't bail on a start like that! So I get going, cranking out research fac. all over the place. I've got all the breathable planets colonized on turn 12 (2401.2) when, WTF, first contact!!! *cry* And from the N WP, only one move from my homeworld. I have no offensive units of any kind and no offensive tech researched. Thankfully they (the Phong) pulled back.

[henk brouwer]

A nice variation to the neutral challenge:

I started a normal game, high difficulty, medium bonus for AI, but it turned out to be far too easy. then I noticed that one of the colonies of one of the AI players had rebelled and started it's own empire, I have turned my own empire to computer control, and am playing the rebels now.

The rebels started out on a ice/none moon wich they can't breath, they already had quite a lot of technology (same as their original empire) and, luckily they had signed a trade and research alliance with the empire they rebbeled from.

Since all nearby planets are colonized by my 'friends' I am completely depending on remote mining and the trade and research alliance for income. I haven't yet encountered other races, but if I will I'll try to sign a treaty with them, so I am no longer dependant on the race I rebbeled from for my income and can declare war and free my people from slavery...

[This message has been edited by henk brouwer (edited 04 February 2001).]