Trani - Feb 26 13:00 - Tick 75 Cycle 3

 Approaching the end of cycle 3 and I've just started outright war with Ktoc.

War with Ktoc

There's strategy, diplomatic and tactical elements to this so separate section. 

• Ktoc hasn't spoke to me since Tick 14 when I refused him the Visya wormhole. I explained myself at the time but no reply. I reached out a few hours ago and attempted to feel out his stance by pointing out Dust has been inactive. I got a fairly cold reply back so I think it's fair to say he's still annoyed (fair enough) but for me that means there's no chance of repaired relations.
• Ktoc looks to be preparing for a war with Darrow and moving ships to his border. There's a window of opportunity to strike now which may be better than another I'd get for a while.
• Dust IS inactive and Ktoc will take over his stars soon. I have a good edge on Ktoc in most metrics right now so I think it makes sense to press that advantage before it degrades.
• Ktoc is currently Weapons 1 to my Weapons 2 but I fully expect him to have Weapons 2 by the time my ships hit his stars.
• I've fired off a message to Darrow informing him about Ktocs attack fleet. I don't need Darrow's help for this war (I don't think) but I do need his neutrality and anything else is a bonus. Hopefully this buys me some good relations.
• No word from Dust.

The war plan here is simple. Press the advantage I have disrupting Ktocs supply to his outer stars. Use the infrastructure advantage I have (and the seized Infrastructure from the attack) to contain Ktoc and then slowly chip away at him. If Dust returns, persuade him to side with me.

Strategy

• War with Ktoc is now the main aim. I need to degrade his ability to fight.
• Maintain the alliance with Gilgamesz.
• I'm not bothering to leave any reserves back to defend against a Gilgamesz stab. I assess the likelihood of it happening in the next 2 cycles as less than 10% and I'm happy with those odds. However, I HAVE kept my attack on Ktoc secret from him for now. There's no reason at this point for him to know that I'm fully committed in the north. He knows I was going to attack Ktoc at some point, so that's enough.

Diplomacy

• Gilgamesz and I had a long debate about his secret alliance plan. He was asking me to keep Specialists and Manufacuturing at level 1 (suspicious) and was fairly insistent about it. There was no way I was going to agree to that so I just said no and he disagreed but sent me Manufacturing, so I've got my way. I haven't yet figured out what his angle with this is though. It might be just being new and excited about the idea of a secret alliance, but we'll see.
• I've started sowing the seeds of a potential alliance with Denizen, or at least the idea that I'm not aligned long term with Gilgamesz. The key to this is offering up true information that can be validated later and revealing most of your plans.

Tactics

• None apart from those already discussed