Tale of a Game - from a play test perspective

[God Emperor]

Turn 41;
Have just fought a major battle against the Rage. 9 of their destroyers engaged 3 of mine plus 1 lt cruiser when they came through the warp point that joined us. At point blank range my ships were able to bLast away at their missile ships. End result, I lost my lt cruiser and 2 destroyers. He lost 7 destroyers with two survivors undamaged. My remaining destroyer was extensively damaged and fled to the safety of a newly arrived lt cruiser.
The loss of ships dropped him below me and I offered him a trade treaty and he accepted.

Have encountered the Klingons and are gifting them and the Rage resources (organics and radioactives which I have a lot of) every turn to keep them off my back.

Minerals are improving, reserves now hover above 11000 minerals.
Have defeated another two Terran Lt Cruisers for no loss - now have 2 destroyers and 3 light cruisers facing them at warp point.

Player position Ratings;
1st Romulans 22 planets, 37 ships
2nd Borg 26 planets, 30 ships
3rd Klingons 17 planets, 30 ships
4th Pyrochette 13 planets, 23 ships
5th Abbidon 10 planets, 13 ships
6th Piundon 13 planets, 24 ships

10th! Me 20 planets, 13 ships

I thumped the Rage out of 6th spot but went down to 10th in the process. My Shadows are in 8th. The Rage ships were very tough (class IV missiles and class III shields).
My ships had class II PD, class IV DUC's and class 2 shields, with combat sensors.
Defending the warp point saved me from a heavy defeat.

[God Emperor]

Turn 47;
Have just destroyed the Terran homeworld and have discovered that he was limted to only two star systems due to his other warp point going through an unstable worm hole to a black hole. The bugger wont surrender though and my supply situation is very poor, so I'm content to let him live.
My strategy of appeasing the Klingons and Rage has worked out as they are quite friendly now. The Colonials just entered one of my systems and refused a treaty so I bLasted them. Am now appeasing them too in order to head off a war. Mineral reserves now at 16,000.

Player position Ratings;
1st Borg 29 planets, 46 ships
2nd Romulans 28 planets, 43 ships
3rd Klingons 21 planets, 30 ships
4th Abbidon 11 planets, 17 ships
5th Piundon 15 planets, 35 ships
6th Pyrochette 17 planets, 27 ships

7th Me 20 planets, 22 ships


Diplomacy
Me At war with Terrans
Borg At war with Norak, Shadows, Colonials and Abbidon!!!
Romulans At war with Darloks and Norak
Klingons at war with Narn and Sergetti
Abbidon At war with Borg
Piundon Not at War!!
Pyrochette At war with Colonials and Rage

Comments
Abbidon are doing very well due to their very high tech levels and are going to have some very nasty ships.

Narn and Toron are building lots of Construction Yard planets to the detriment of their Research Compounds etc. I suspect that their Planet_Types files need a bit of tweaking.

Colonials, Darloks and Narn still getting the No Storage Messages.


[This message has been edited by God Emperor (edited 20 May 2001).]

[God Emperor]

Turn 53;
Piundon just declared war but their ships dont appear to be particularly impressive - have destroyed three destroyers so far without a scratch. Have two destroyers and three lt cruisers opposing them.
Terrans are down to one planet somewhere and they still wont surrender.
Am still appeasing the Klingons, Rage and Colonials. Klingons have claims over two of my systems but have not taken any action so far.
Mineral reserves now around 36,000. Am upping my ship production program.

Player position Ratings;
1st Romulans 31 planets, 53 ships
2nd Borg 33 planets, 48 ships
3rd Klingons 25 planets, 36 ships
4th Piundon 17 planets, 42 ships
5th Abbidon 10 planets, 23 ships
6th Rage 16 planets, 29 ships

7th Me 27 planets, 21 ships


Diplomacy
Me At war with Terrans and Piundon
Borg At war with Norak, Shadows, Colonials and Abbidon!!!
Romulans At war with Darloks and Norak
Klingons at war with Narn and Sergetti
Abbidon At war with Borg
Piundon At War with me
Rage At war with Pyrochette

Comments
Borg ships are not being equipped with Shields even though they have the tech. Not quite sure why. They are equipped with armour, boarding and neural interface though.
Borg have a good selection of planets and should continue to do well barring another race getting a tech they cannot cope with.

Colonials are deploying a lot of carriers but dont have lt cruisers yet. Their destroyers are very poorly kitted out. They will be very reliant on the success of their fighters. Dont seem to have many reserach colonies.

Darlok situation is very similar to that of the Colonials, except that they have discovered Intelligence and have no research or intelliegnce colonies. They do have 3 military installations.

Klingons are continuing to do well. Ships are very heavily designed. Good spread of planet types.

Narn are still getting No Storage Messages whilst building Satellites. Ship designs are very weak. Have a poor spread of planet types - one research colony and three Construction Yards? Dont even have fighters. These guys are dog meat for any of the majors....

Norak arent doing too bad. Have a good spread of planet types and even though they are only deploying destroyers, they do pack Mark V missiles. Norak are in Partnership with the Colonials which should help a fait bit too.

Piundon have spread quite well but seem to have too many Mining Colonies, half of which have less than 80 minerals. Their maintenance is currently well under their production rate, so they must have triggered the auto mining colony build in the past (their Planet_Types file looks ok, although Research and intelligence colonies will be few and far between).
Ship wise, Piundon are just starting to pack Crystalline torpedoes on their destroyers, but, they do have two carriers in action.

Pyrochette seem to be travelling fairly well. Have reasonable ships (lt cruisers packing Shield III's, missile II's, contra terrene engines). Have a good spread of planet types.

Rage look very potent as they have Lt cruisers packing Shield V's, PPB IV's and PD V's. They have a good spread of planet types.
Getting lots of No Storage Messages however.

Romulans are currently the meanest mothers in the valley. Are deploying Lt Cruisers with DUC IV's or Missile III's, Shield III's and 5xArmour III's. Planet wise, they have a very good spread of planet types by virtue of the sheer number of planets that they have colonised.

Sergetti are doing ok currently. Good ships (Lt Cruisers packing DUC V's, Shield III's and contra terrene engines). have a good spread of planet types although no organic colonies (hasnt caused them any problems at this stage though).

Shadows are still suffering from a lack of decent minerals, organics and refining worlds. Ship designs are good with Lt Cruisers packing Shield IV's and parasite or globule III's. Are at war with the Borg so I suspect that they will not do well.

Toron are doing poorly due to a lack of decent minerals, organics and refining colonies. They also have a large number of Construction Yards, although these eventually produce research compounds so overall it may not be a problem. Their ships are weak (still deploying only destroyers), although they do have PPB II's and Armour III.

Xi Chung are doing poorly primarily due to a very slow expansion rate (lots of planets nearby to be colonised). Their ships are weak (still deploying only destroyers), although they do have parasite and globule II's. Fortunately, these guys have only encountered the Toron (at war with them) so they may yet get to grow.

Abbidon are doing very well. They dont have a lot of planets or ships but have very advanced tech (psychic weapons V, shields III, contra terrene engines, Lt cruisers).
These guys could be a serious contender for top AI in this game. They are friendly with most races and are only at war with the Borg.


[This message has been edited by God Emperor (edited 20 May 2001).]

[God Emperor]

Turn 60;
War against the Piundon goes well - have destroyed all 5 of their colonies in the Gamma 2 Sgr system for no loss and took out two more destroyers. Now have three destroyers and four lt cruisers opposing them. Cant push any further forward due to supply difficulties.

PS: Piundon just initiated a combat - 8 of their (crappy) destroyers versus 3 of my lt cruisers. Destroyed all of their ships for loss of two armour.....Piundon have just dropped back to 7th position.

Terrans are down to one planet somewhere and they still wont surrender.
Am still appeasing the Klingons, Rage and Colonials. Klingons have claims over two of my systems but have not taken any action so far.
Mineral reserves now around 70,000 and ship building program is in full swing.

Player position Ratings;
1st Romulans 35 planets, 56 ships
2nd Klingons 29 planets, 41 ships
3rd Borg 34 planets, 50 ships
4th Me 32 planets, 30 ships (yay!! back in top 6)
5th Piundon 17 planets, 52 ships
6th Abbidon 12 planets, 26 ships

7th Rage 20 planets, 33 ships
8th Shadows 21 planets, 33 ships


Diplomacy
Me At war with Terrans and Piundon
Borg At war with Norak, Shadows, Colonials and Abbidon!!!
Romulans At war with Darloks and Norak
Klingons at war with Narn and Sergetti
Abbidon At war with Borg
Piundon At War with me
Rage At war with Pyrochette

Comments
Still not sure why Borg ships are not being equipped with Shields even though they have the tech. Something to do with boarding tech?
Borg are at war with most of their neighbours and this is slowing their progress.

Klingons are continuing to do well. Ships are very heavily designed - Lt cruisers are now equipped with DUC IV's, shield IV's, contra terrene engines, armour III and Solar Collector II's. Sergetti and Narn are in a lot of trouble.

Piundon have colonised som nice Mining Colonies, but their maintenance has again exceeded their production rate, so they will be triggering the auto mining colony build rule again. I suspect that their ship production rate (Construction_Vehicles file)needs to be looked at in order to reduce their boom-bust economy.
Ship wise, Piundon are packing Crystalline torpedoe II's on their latest destroyers, and have four carriers in action.

Rage still looking very good and their Lt cruisers are packing Shield V's, PPB V's and PD V's. They have a good spread of planet types.
The No Storage Messages have stopped for time being.

Romulans are still the meanest mothers in the valley. Are deploying Lt Cruisers with DUC IV's or Missile III's, Shield IV's, contra terrene engines and 5xArmour III's. Planet wise, they have a very good spread of planet types by virtue of the sheer number of planets that they have colonised. Still expanding despite their wars..

Shadows have recently colonised a couple of very good minerals planets. If they can develop them and hang on to them, things may improve for them.
Ship designs are good with Lt Cruisers packing Shield IV's, contra terrene engines and parasite or globule III's. The Shadows do not appear to be under much military pressure from the Borg so my earlier concerns may not be well founded.

Abbidon are doing very well. They dont have a lot of planets or ships but have very advanced tech (psychic weapons V, shields III, contra terrene engines, Lt cruisers).
These guys could be a serious contender for top AI in this game. They are friendly with most races and are only at war with the Borg.
Just remembered that these guys are using the Filler Techs which explains their well focussed research (and high score - up to level 26 in Filler Tech 1 and 2).


[This message has been edited by God Emperor (edited 20 May 2001).]

[DirectorTsaarx]

First of all, let me say I'm enjoying reading these Posts. Good analytical work; I hope modders & MM are paying attention. I have yet to make time for modding my own AI, but I'm certainly taking your comments to heart!

quote:

---

Originally posted by God Emperor:
Still not sure why Borg ships are not being equipped with Shields even though they have the tech. Something to do with boarding tech?

---

Probably. ISTR a discussion about using armor for boarding party ships, at least until shield regenerators are available. Mainly because using the boarding parties drops YOUR shields, leaving an unarmored ship rather vulnerable. Once regenerators are available, of course, the shields will come back after a boarding action (at whatever rate the regenerators can handle), so shields become a bit more useful again.

[God Emperor]

Turn 70;
War against the Piundon continues to go well - have destroyed all 4 of their colonies in the Becrus system and built a resupply colony in the Gamma 2 Sgr system. Now have nine lt cruisers and one cruiser opposing them (destroyers have been reassigned to exploration duties). Again, I cant push any further forward due to supply difficulties.

Piundon ships are still very crappy - have destroyed a further 22 destroyers in 3 encounters for no loss. Piundon are now in 10th position.

Terrans are down to one planet somewhere and they still wont surrender.
Am still appeasing the Klingons, Rage and Colonials. Klingons have claims over two of my systems but have not taken any action so far. Rage have established a claim over one system and have dropped to cool. Have begun mining the warp point to them.

Mineral reserves now around 170,000 and ship building program (Cruisers)is in full swing. Have also just begun pumping out fighters and mines.

Player position Ratings;
1st Romulans 38 planets, 56 ships
2nd Me!! 40 planets, 43 ships
3rd Klingons 33 planets, 40 ships
4th Borg 36 planets, 49 ships
5th Rage 24 planets, 41 ships
6th Darloks 20 planets, 54 ships

7th Abbidon 12 planets, 29 ships
8th Shadows 21 planets, 38 ships

Darloks have jumped into 6th spot.

Diplomacy
Me At war with Terrans and Piundon
Borg At war with Norak, Shadows, Colonials and Abbidon!!!
Romulans At war with Darloks and Norak
Klingons at war with Narn and Sergetti
Abbidon At war with Borg
Darloks at war with Borg and Romulans
Rage At war with Pyrochette

Comments
Borg Lt Cruisers are now being equipped with Shields but not neural interfaces and repair systems. Sounds like a space problem.
Borg are at war with most of their neighbours and this is slowing their progress. They also appear to have just about colonised all available worlds.

Darloks are expanding well and have the two weakest races nearby Ships are of good quality - destroyers with Armour III, missile IV's and contra terrene engines. have four carriers in action.

Klingons are continuing to do well. Ships are very heavily designed - Cruisers are now equipped with 4xDUC IV's, 1xshield IV, contra terrene engines, 3xarmour III, 5xpoint defence IV and 1xSolar Collector III. Narn are under assault by the Klingon 2nd fleet (9 lt cruisers) and are in a lot of trouble. Klingons are one turn off of gaining Intelligence compounds.


Rage still looking very good and their Lt cruisers are packing Shield V's, PPB V's and PD V's. They have a good spread of planet types. Rage also have Intelligence and are generating more points than the Darloks!!
Their war against the Pyrochette appears to be going well.
No sign of the earlier No Storage Messages.

Romulans are still the meanest mothers in the valley. Are deploying Lt Cruisers with DUC IV's or Missile IV's, Shield IV's, contra terrene engines and 5xArmour III's. Have just acquired Solar Collectors.
Planet wise, they have a very good spread of planet types by virtue of the sheer number of planets that they have colonised. Still expanding despite their wars..

Shadows are continuing to slowly grow and have just begun building Intelligence centres.
Ship designs are good with Lt Cruisers packing Shield IV's, contra terrene engines, point defence IV's, Solar Collector III's and parasite or globule III's. The Shadows do not appear to be under much military pressure from the Borg so my earlier concerns may not be well founded.
Shadows have just gone Partnership with the Abbidon which may prove interesting.

Abbidon are doing very well. They dont have a lot of planets or ships but have very advanced tech (psychic weapons V, shields V, contra terrene engines, Lt cruisers).
These guys could be a serious contender for top AI in this game. They are friendly with most races (Partnership with Norak and Shadows) and are only at war with the Borg.
Just remembered that these guys are using the Filler Techs which explains their well focussed research (and high score - up to level 26 in Filler Tech 1 and 2).


[This message has been edited by God Emperor (edited 21 May 2001).]

[God Emperor]

DirectorTsaarx,
Thanks for the comments - particularly about boarding. I may need to hold off of shields for the Borg then - they will probably be ok without them due to the self repair systems that their ships possess. Only threat will be from races using armour piercing weapons such as the crystalline races and those using Null Space Weapons.
Regards,
GE


[This message has been edited by God Emperor (edited 21 May 2001).]