Tale of a Game - from a play test perspective

[God Emperor]

Have been working on a Borg variant since Saturday and decided to put it through a serious play test.
Set up a large galaxy, high difficulty, low bonus and decided to use the most developed (and vicious AI's that have been developed in mod pack). The computer players were;
Borg, Colonials, Darloks, Klingons, Narn, Norak, Piundon, Pyrochette, Rage, Romulans, Sergetti, Shadows, Toron and Xi Chung. The computer added the Abbidon Enclave and the Terran Confederation. With my race (the Light Alliance), there were 17 races all up.

[God Emperor]

Turn 14;

I'm exploring and expanding steadily. Most systems I have found have planets with low minerals. Looks like I'm in for a tough game.

Player position Ratings;
1st Borg 6 planets, 5 ships
2nd Me 7 planets, 7 ships
3rd Romulans 3 planets, 5 ships
4th Sergetti 3 planets, 7 ships
5th Xi Chung 2 planets, 6 ships
6th Shadows 5 planets, 7 ships

Diplomacy
Me No contact so far
Borg At war with Norak
Romulans No contact so far
Sergetti No contact so far
Xi Chung No contact so far
Shadows No contact so far

Comments
Shadows are in a part of the galaxy that has very poor planets. They have already triggered the auto mining colony due to the lack of mining colonies nearby and their rising maintenance bill.

[God Emperor]

Turn 30;
Still exploring and expanding steadily. Minerals have become an issue. Any planet with a value above 90 is now a mineral planet. Encountered the Terrans and ended up at war shortly afterwards. Am holding them out of a system with two "home" type worlds and three potential minig colonies.

Player position Ratings;
1st Borg 16 planets, 21 ships
2nd Romulans 13 planets, 17 ships
3rd Shadows 11 planets, 19 ships
4th Pyrochette 11 planets, 16 ships
5th Colonials 11 planets, 15 ships
6th Me 16 planets, 13 ships

Sergetti and Xi Chung have dropped to the back of the pack (see comments later).

Diplomacy
Me At war with Terrans
Borg At war with Norak, Shadows and Abbidon
Colonials At war with Pyrochette
Pyrochette At war with Colonials and Rage
Romulans Contact with Norak and Darloks
Shadows At war with Borg

Sergetti At war with Klingons
Xi Chung No contact so far


Comments
Colonials are also in a part of the galaxy that has very poor mineral planets. They have already triggered the auto mining colony due to the lack of mining colonies nearby and their rising maintenance bill.

Sergetti are also in a part of the galaxy that has very poor mineral planets. They have already triggered the auto mining colony due to the lack of mining colonies nearby and their rising maintenance bill. Klingon pressure is restricting expansion in one direction (map edge on another).

Shadows are still suffering from poor planets.

Xi Chung are surrounded by planets but are not colonising. Not sure why, except that they only have one colony ship - may be a problem with their Construction_Vehicle file.

[Nitram Draw]

What tech level did you start with?

[God Emperor]

Turn 39;
Still exploring but are now constrained in my expansion by the Terrans and the Rage.
Minerals are critical, reserves hover around 4000 minerals all the time now. Am gifting the Rage to keep them from attacking as my border system as it has five!! mining planets (all above 110). The system is strategically of major importance to me. Only have two shipyards within 4 systems of the system. Am sending every build its way, to the detriment of my Terran war.

Have defeated two Terran Lt Cruisers with two destroyers and a light cruiser (lost one destroyer dead and one heavily damaged). Am blockading the warp point between them and me.

Player position Ratings;
1st Romulans 21 planets, 33 ships
2nd Borg 25 planets, 24 ships
3rd Klingons 15 planets, 25 ships
4th Pyrochette 13 planets, 23 ships
5th Piundon 13 planets, 21 ships
6th Rage 11 planets, 22 ships
8th Me 20 planets, 16 ships

Shadows and Colonials have dropped back (to 9th and 10th - see comments later). Me too - due to my lack of resources to build ships.

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

Shadows At war with Borg
Colonials At war with Pyrochette

Comments
Colonials have found 3 new mineral planets and no longer have a minerals problem.
They are getting a lot of No Storage Messages however - suggesting that their Construction_Vehicles files needs to be checked - ditto for Darloks and Narn.

Shadows have found a couple of minerals planets but have run out of organics!! - being an Organic Tech race, this is a problem. Have just doctored their Planet_Types file to lower the trigger level for Organics planets - from 130 to 120....

Klingons are the big movers, leaping into third place from obscurity, despite being at war with the Narn and Sergetti.
They have a few good minerals and refining planets, plus a few poor mining planets. Have several research compounds, so they would be expected to start to do well.

Piundon are doing well too. Lots of nice planets but no research compounds. Will be interesting to see how they fare....

Rage are lacking in mining colonies so may run into trouble down the track, unless they find some soon.

Romulans have lots of nice planets and are doing very well - should continue to do so.

[God Emperor]

Nitram,
Started with destroyers and point defence available at game start.....

[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).]