NecriaSolaris: April 2022

Innoble and Vik Ia proved to be the right ally choices and a focused team game on their part brung home the victory. There's definitely a few things to disect from this game though so I'll briefly cover those.

Why did I win?

1) I made the right diplomatic choice about who to ally with. I got a bonus ally because Innoble brought in Vik Ia which wasn't originally my intent (I was planning to two-man.)

2) Nobody managed to exploit the fact I would have needed to defend multiple (too many) points in the early game due to the wormholes. I also got both wormholes without much of a fight. Innoble/CRISPR ceded the eastward wormhole end to me and Bubblegum never fought back in the northward. As the game develops the tactical advantages given by wormholes (ability to have 1 fleet in 2 places freeing up fleets to do useful stuff, and the ability to build and hide an attack fleet at the other end until it's needed) become really important.

3) CRISPR was overly generous in his expansion. He was planning to ally with me before he quit to focus on Abyss (congrats) but he didn't target an even or balanced share of stars. This meant I was able to get a huge amount of stars in the south east.

4) Cypher and LimitingFactor didn't ally MiniMe. I don't know what happened here because Cypher was certainly concerned about a 3-way alliance but for whatever reason MiniMe was worried about a LimitingFactor attack and left his south very exposed to me.

How could I have lost?

1) An early game attack from two neighbours exploiting the fact I'd have been stretched (and taking advantage of the awkward geography I had in terms of hyperspace distance between my stars). I think I proactively protected against the biggest risks via diplomacy but I was fortunate that Bubblegum/Inerz never really threatened me, and MiniMe would have needed help.

2) MiniMe and LimitingFactor attacking me through MiniMe's space in the early middlegame. They'd have been able to bring a lot of ships to bear and I think there was a window of opportunity. These two never seemed to collaborate though.

3) Convincing one of my allies that eventually they needed to split from the 3 in the interest of the game. This would have been hard to pull off but there might have been an angle there.

Vespae VI - Tick 252 Cycle 10

MiniMe is defeated, and whilst Innoble and Vik Ia are starting to run into trouble in their respective battles the cavalry will now be arriving to make sure that the alliance finishes first through third.

Strategic

I've been allowing the other two 1v1's to take place to give everyone a fair and fun fight but with the battle tilting towards Cypher/LimitingFactor and MiniMe defeated it's now time to ensure my allies are well supported and can finish the game in second and third.

Diplomatic

I've ramped up the support I'm providing indirectly to my allies (i.e. not ships.) I'm now no longer asking them to balance the ledger after tech exchanges and I'm providing some cycle by cycle funding for their war effort. It does seem more direct support will now be needed though.

Tactical

Plan now is to eliminate MiniMe's last remaining systems (I'll probably leave him 1) and then the ships on that front will attack LimitingFactor from the south.
Seperately I am sending 500-600 ships north towards Cypher/Vik Ia's battle to turn the balance of the war there. Cypher is starting to get momentum and it's important to stop that from getting out of hand as it will only get more difficult later.

I think Cypher/LimitingFactor will be a bit salty when I start attacking them but as I see it, I've let them have their 1v1 and the reality is both of them are/would win their 1v1s. They've had that fight and they've done well at it, surprisingly well actually as I thought Innoble and Vik Ia would each win.

If I sit back and do nothing Innoble and Vik Ia will start to lose stars and they would quite rightly be unhappy at me not helping. So the cavalry is on it's way...

You can probably tell by the update length and gap between updates but I'm looking forward to this game being over now. It's been enjoyable, but I've been pretty lucky and directionally, I've known I am probably going to win for a very long time at this point. My chances were probably as high as 40% even by the end of the second cycle due to the combination of starting position, neighbour activity and that big basin of stars off to my east which I ended up with exclusive access to.

Vespae VI - Tick 228, Cycle 9

The war is (I hope) approaching its conclusion and if my name is not yet engraved on the trophy, someone is running off to fetch the stencil for it.

Strategic

I haven't devoted much attention here to the other two 1v1's so I'll cover what's happening. For my own battle, it's enough to say that even if MiniMe was Sun Tzu he wouldn't stand a chance now. My plan is simply to defeat him and CRISPR's last stars and then ensure I have enough ships to make even the most adventurous ally reconsider breaking ranks.
I'm sat on 11 specialist tokens at the moment. I'm going to wait out this cycle and save up another 5 and then add a worldbuilder to my systems.

Cypher v Vik Ia

On tick 132 these two terminated their NAP but the first attacks I can see started about 30 ticks later with Vik Ia launching an attack on Cypher's easternmost star Telia which was blocked on Turn 180. Cypher then launched a big attack from Telia on Vik Ia's star Wessi. There was some math needed and I think Innoble shared a couple of specialist tokens to allow Vik Ia to pick up a War Machine and block it. This is a really even battle at the moment with Cypher having a narrow ship advantage and Vik Ia having the long-term star advantage. The alliance tech trading will eventually decide this but it'll be interesting to see how long the front line stays stalemated. No stars have exchanged hands yet.

Limiting Factor v Innoble

Innoble started this war by making a good move and abandoning the conquest of CRISPRs stars that I'd left for him realising he'd need his ships. I can't see too much of this one from scanning but Innoble has taken a fairly even starting position where he had a ship disadvantage and made some good ground with a pincer-type two-front attack. The momentum has shifted now and it'll be difficult for LimitingFactor to do much as the weight of the extra stars and increasingly high level weapons tech flowing across from me: it's now 8-7 but I'll have Weapons 9 soon.

Diplomatic

A bit of a diplomatic play this cycle, MiniMe did a galactic call to arms to see if anyone was willing to help him against me - nobody is in a position to really with Vik Ia and Cypher sparring and Innoble and LimitingFactor tussling. There was a 'moment' where the possibility of a breaking of the alliance was on the table after Cypher called out there was nothing they could do against a 3-person alliance of the strongest three players - but it passed quickly. I think if anyone would have wobbled it would have been Vik Ia, not as a betrayal but as an honorable shift from an overwhelming alliance to a new status quo for a more fun end to the game - likely with plenty of notice and justification. On the other team, I'd have really tried very hard to persuade Vik Ia to break ranks and wouldn't have considered it a lost cause. I think Innoble or myself would be lost causes. I certainly wouldn't do anything that risks what I hope will be a boring coast to victory.
I haven't mentioned this because keeping it focused on this game but as a sub-plot, me, Innoble and MiniMe are in another 8-player that is in play. It's on tick 120 at the moment and we're in different alliances (they may be both together) Innoble and I probably mixed things up from this game and didn't even flirt with the idea of an alliance or working together in that game (so far... you never know.) I'm actually looking forward to pivoting my full focus to that game soon as I can see an untimely demise and being on the losing team coming down the tracks.

Tactical

My barrage of MiniMe has mostly landed now and I've inflicted some serious ship losses. Everything on the Southern/Central fronts was blocked but on the Northern (Eastern) front my Infiltrator/Colonel seized a star and I'm about to grab a Research Station too. A third star (the Asteroid field furthest north) may also yet fall.

I'm now keeping the pressure on. You can see a new attack of 170 ships on the central front and I'm going to launch some additional attacks this cycle. There's not too much to the strategy other than continue to hammer fleets into him without risking my two specialists and dancing around his two Generals. MiniMe's Weapons is now 3 below mine so I could tackle these head on but I think he'd magic up LimitingFactor's Weapons 7 before the fight and Generals are slow and easy to maneuver around.

Vespae VI - Tick 210 Cycle 8

A quick tactical update

Diplomatic

MiniMe's tech has not kept pace with LimitingFactor/Cypher and I don't think there is good coordination between those three. Even if there is, I know both Cypher and LimitingFactor are making use of offensive/defensive specs in their wars. I don't think they'll send tokens to MiniMe. If they do (~6+ tokens) I might take some heavy losses here but I'm making an informed bet that won't happen.

Tactical

MiniMe has committed another General to the defense, holding Aakir at the Southern Front chokepoint. This was the right move for him even though it was provoked, he doesn't have a great hand to play with at the moment. MiniMe is now out of specialist tokens, though he will receive 2 more in one turn/6 ticks.
I've circled his two Generals in Blue. They've both blocked probing attacks on the two fronts other than the one with my specialists (Colonel/Infiltrator) and now my Specialists can swing into the attack and cause greater damage against standard ships.
I'm now committing to the attack on all three fronts (ticks to land in White) and launching what I hope will be an overwhelming attack (~800 ships against MiniMe's total 1100 ships) beyond the choke points taking advantage of the lack of mobility generals have. Neither of MiniMe's Generals will be able to defend any of the stars under attack (except for the existing attack pinning down the Aakar general just purchased)
Most of the attacks I'm launching will be blocked but some will get through and the next wave will only be a cycle behind.
Weapons level is currently 6-5 but I'm working on the assumption it will be 8-6 by the time most of these attacks land. I'm about to hit Weapons 7 and will sprint to Weapons 8.
On the Central Front there is a counterattack risk. The 346 ships on a General defending the choke point there could move to attack me rather than scramble back to defend (but without their slow-moving General) I'm only going to leave around 150 ships defending but I think MiniMe won't commit to a counter-attack and if he does I'm OK with temporarily losing one/two stars. He needs this fleet for his defense and I'd happily suck it in and smother it at the cost of some economy and a bit of chaos.

Vespae VI - Tick 204 Cycle 8

Time progresses, and it's looking near certain I'm going to win this game. I think I've been fortunate because my alliance with Innoble brought in Vik Ia which I hadn't really intended (an early decision being whether to go with Innoble, Vik Ia or LimitingFactor) and the three of us are now super strong.

Strategic

The only strategic scenario I'm investigating significant effort preparing for is the Innoble/Vik Ia v Necria 2v1 once our enemies are defeated. The way to win this war is to conquer MiniMe/CRISPR and then push up into LimitingFactor's west whilst slowly reinforcing enough on Innoble's border to discourage it from ever happening. That doesn't need to be a lot of ships, it just needs to be enough that he weighs it up as a lost battle before it begins.

Diplomatic

No change. It's a bit of a shame this game is so diplomatically - dead. Innoble and Vik Ia are both really solid allies and I wouldn't consider breaking ranks against either of them but I'd like someone on the other side to try. It feels like the diplomatic war was won without a fight.
Innoble created a second group chat with the three of us just to put Tech research to avoid it being lost in the wider discussion. This is a really great idea I'll replicate in future games.

Tactical

In the southern front, I'm probing away, depleting ships whilst continuing to build my infrastructure and letting the industry do the heavy lifting. I'm still way outproducing MiniMe and can afford to take 3:1 losses if needed. Long term this would be problematic though so I'm happy with everything up to 3:2. My big hope with my current set of attacks is to provoke more specialist use from MiniMe, I'd rather he committed his specialists so I could plan around them. I'm intentionally retaining my own tokens to spend on big hitters (Saboteurs/Destroyers/Cowards)

On the northern front (which I think I should have called the eastern front, but too late..) I'm continuing probing attacks. The aim here isn't to capture stars it's to deplete forces. This is why all my current attacks are fairly small. I'd prefer he spend his tokens on the southern front since I already have specialists here (a general popping up on the southern front would immediately be met by me sending my colonel/infriltrator on the northern front into an attack)

Vespae VI - Tick 186, Cycle 7

The three wars are underway

Strategic

Just executing here. Strategy for winning this war should be simple. I'm higher Weapons level than MiniMe and have 2* his ships and 3* his production. I'm mostly looking for the fastest, most efficient way to beat him with as few ships lost for any future battles. My version of fastest isn't all out attack though, I'm looking to have fights 1:1 or slightly but not too much in his favor for now. I'm probably not going to commit too many specialist tokens to the attack as I want to be able to respond decisively to Cypher attacking my wormhole up north or any other surprises.

Diplomatic

Nothing of real note here except Innoble has failed to capture one of LimitingFactors stars due to forgetting to change his diplomacy status, and has asked me to leave the wormhole and defend one of his stars. This would actually be a really nice double ruse if he was performing an alliance flip, committing me and Vik Ia to our attacks before luring my force away from the wormhole. I don't actually think this is what's happening (2-3%, and I'm not doing anything to defend against it) but always good to be mindful of these things. More likely he just forgot and the defence of his star is a good tactical move, which I'm going to follow.

Tactical

Southern and Central Fronts - POINT A MiniMe moved fleets to defend his outer star on the Central front Noni against inbound attacks and did it quick enough to build a General there and defeat around 100 inbound ships for only 60 losses. I'd expected this (not necessarily a general but some combo of colonel/general/infiltrator) so only sent a probing force to provoke the commitment of specialist tokens. MiniMe also has a research station so has spent 10 tokens. He started with 5 and has earned 8 with another 2 coming after this cycle ends, so he's sitting on 5 more or less. I'm also sitting on 5 (8 after the cycle) with an active Colonel/Infiltrator (Northern front) plus some logistics specs (2x pathfinders and an explorer). I'm not going to attack into a General so will try and navigate around it/provoke him to use it offensively.
POINT B Attack is going to break through and establish a bridgehead, though a bit of an awkward one. At least from here I can continue to put pressure on POINT C which I may or may not capture depending on how determined MiniMe is to hold it.

Northern Front - The plan here is to just hold and reinforce for now. I do have two specialists active on this front though but need to be vigilant to the 203 ships just out of shot to the north west. I will only commit my Infiltrator/Colonel when victory is assured and so am happy enough to build up forces here for now. If MiniMe deploys a second general at Point C which will fairly limit my ability to grind upwards from the South I might activate this front more offensively.

Vespae VI - Tick 168 Cycle 7

Another new cycle and another update.

map fairly unchanged so i will be lazy and just show you the south. Now it will get interesting.

Strategic

No major strategic changes, but developments are that Vik Ia and Cypher are now in open conflict and Innoble is launching his attack on LimitingFactor. I am ready to execute the next stage of my attacks too, consolidating in Cyphers territory whilst pressing MiniMe.

Diplomatic

Alliance between myelf, Innoble and Vik Ia strong and no issues there.
Other diplomacy has basically fallen away. I think we are facing a disunited 3 at the moment (MiniMe does not have the force posture of someone who is allied with limitingfactor) but that will quickly change when the attack begins. No real need for big diplo moves here (he says... maybe I will regret this later if Innoble/Vik Ia turn on me. I assess likelihood as super low though. I don't think it is in the character of either of these two from what I've gathered from playing with them.)

Tactical

I'm 6-ticks from being ready to launch my attack on MiniMe. I'd like to do it now but I want to capture one of CRISPR's binary stars and I will have a brief window where an immediate MiniMe counter attack on that front would be problematic. I could probably handle it but there's a tactical advantage in delaying.
From now on I'll refer to the three fronts with MiniMe as the South/Central/Northern front and I've circled these here. Attacks along these fronts will hopefullyconverge in the centre of MiniMe's territory. You will see my inent is for the 'Northern Front' to be defensive initially. This is a semi-strategic move to avoid opening a direct connection to LimitingFactor without him/MiniMe doing territory exchanges/roving carriers. I can always 'activate' this front later.

On the Northern Front, I capture CRISPRs powerful binary star with a Colonel and Infiltrator combo and then will just hold territory. Here is how that front looks today. This front is intended as a distraction/to tie up forces whilst southern front advances and central front grinds.
On the Central Front I'm expecting the fiercest fighting. I have an additional 150 units at the north end of the northward wormhole I can pull back if needed and 200 at the eastward wormhole. Plan here will be an initial probing attack seizing the star Noni without committing my total force (anticipating warp gates and rapid defense with specialists). If successful I can then use Noni as a bridgehead. If unsuccessful I can let the Southern front progress, take a decision on activating Northern front and play a war of attrition. The objective of this front is to tie up forces and grind them down. I'm reducing enemy ship count here.

On the Southern Front MiniMe is completely exposed. I am just waiting on HS3 from Vik Ia to be able to launch the attack but should barrel into his territory. I may then face further resistance as I move North but thats OK. The objective of this front is to seize territory and break spirits/morale.

The other two wars - I'll monitor these and intervene as needed but trusting that my allies can win their 1v1's so haven't looked at the force matchup too closely. I think we have the edge (Vik 30 stars v Cyphers 25, Innoble 22 stars v LF's 21)

Verpae VI - Tick 150, Cycle 6

A jump forward in time due to real life commitments, but in truth not much changed strategically in the gap.and this is the perfect point for a stock-take and an assessment of the next phase of the game.

Map

Key Stats

Top threes

Economy: Necria (114) LimitingFactor (80) A1Cypher (59)
Industry: Necria (68) A1cypher (57) Vikia (46)
Science: Necria (23) LimitingFactor/MiniMe (19)

Strategic

The basic plan is simple, Innoble, Vik Ia and me will defeat the other three surviving players and then I assume RTQ. I'll win the game. This seems like the most likely outcome considering we have a star count advantage over them of 93-70 and I'm in an increasingly strong position.
Each of us will now fight one opponent. Vik takes Cypher (the hardest fight) Innoble takes LimitingFactor and I take MiniMe/CRISPRs remaining territory (the easiest fight) whilst guaranteeing the other two (doing just enough in their wars to ensure they win)
I will prepare for a situation where Innoble and Vik Ia try to put me into third place after the war and win themselves. That star count split is now 41-52 in their favour. I think this is relatively unlikely but my plan and intent is to win this game.

Diplomatic

There isn't too much happening Diplomatically. I'm in a three way alliance and we should win the game. Vik Ia 'feels bad' for CRISPR and Innoble has some sort of NAP/working arrangement with limitingfactor that I'm keeping an eye on but In fundamentally trust both Innoble and Vik Ia, I assess the likelihood of them betraying me less than 10%.

Tactical

I'm moving to take a key Black hole which will give me visibility of the south of Limitingfactors territory as well as far reach into MiniMe's territory. I will then need to deal with the two big CRISPR binary stars. I've got 8 specialist tokens and investing them in firepower seems wise (they cna subsequently be used to war with) I'm thinking a Colonel/Infiltrator combo for 6 tokens, giving me something in reserve. I will take each down in turn likely starting wth Anars

When the attack on MiniMe comes it will be a hammer blow from three angles, but for now I'm consolidating CRISPR's territory. I won't do anything that indicates to MiniMe I'm about to attack him for at least another 12 ticks.

Vespae VI - Tick 126 Cycle 5

Quick one as real life considerations taking hold (I've also probably oversubscribed myself to Solaris games).

Strategic

The galaxy continues to go really well for me. What I believe to be a genuinely loyal alliance between myself, Innoble and Vik Ia is arguably OP at this point considering our opponents have not rallied against it - but this is on them and not us. The signs that we are allied are fairly transparent.

I have scan 3 now and MiniMe has consolidated the largest of his fleets in the centre of his space, but closer to LimitingFactor than me. I believe he intends to defend/attack in that direction. This is great news for me.

I continue to focus on capturing a fair amount of CRISPRS stars whilst bringing fleets to the edges of my territory. I will likely continue with this for at least another cycle and then move on MiniMe.

Diplomatic

Vik Ia is going to give Cypher his 12 tick NAP notice soon and I've offered to guaranteur the war. I dont really want to get too embroiled myself but I will do enough to be a good ally and crucially ensure Vik wins any conflict.

Id really like to know LimitingFactors alliance affiliation but I dont really have a clear steer. He might be keeping his options open.

Tactical

Nothing hugely significant at this point. Im avoiding burning ships against CRISPR for now but I will need to take on some of his larger fleets soon. Ive left his fleets as a wall against MiniMe.

Vespae VI - Tick 108, Cycle 4

Another 12 turns and I really couldn't be happier with how events are playing out. I still have an uneasy feeling about my west, but could it be that the other players are sleepwalking into me winning?

Strategic

No major changes. There's no other fighting going on at the moment. This means that everyone is building up forces. I do think that the other players should be aware of the fact I'm strengthening whilst they're not though. Every turn/set of ticks that pass lets me strengthen further. An attack either will or should occur soon.

Diplomatic

No major changes.

Tactical

No signs of hostile movements on the MiniMe border. Based on MiniMe's previous border excursion where he brought ~120 ships to the border and then sent them North I would expect any attack to be sudden with one or multiple fleets moving in to attack with little notice.
Innoble is attacking CRISPR with 160 ships, a fairly significant fleet.

Vespae VI - Tick 96 Cycle 4

CRISPR quit on Tick 84 after I indicated we were not allies, and Innoble and I agreed to move our attack forward.

Four cycles have ended now and I'm in a commanding position, but the prospect of a response from the other players looms large and I have a hunch I am about to be attacked.

Strategic

Strategic plan A is capture some of CRISPRs territory prioritising soft stars where I wont burn a tonne of ships. The image below outlines the attack vectors. If I get a significant chunk of CRISPRs territory I'll stop capturing it leaving it to Innoble and focus my attention instead on defeating MiniMe.

Strategic plan B assumes an attack from MiniMe +1/2 in the next 36 ticks where I will be the defender. The tactical section outlines the response.
Infrastructure wise I'm adding 2 Science (+28%) and 9 Industry (+32%) this cycle. I expect to add roughly 16 economy which would be a 24% increase. You can see the prospect of conflict is influencing my spend a bit.

Diplomatic

CRISPR responding to my message with 'decline' and then quitting was a surprise, but a welcome one.
The alliance with Innoble and Vik Ia seems robust and strong. We are coordinating well and have a clear idea of what we are all doing.
Cypher and Vik are both giving impressions they intend to go to war after their NAP expires 12 ticks after Bubblegum is defeated. Lets see.
One of the flashing warning signals I have going off is that neither MiniMe or Cypher have traded with me despite it being in their interest to do so.

Tactical

As mentioned, I think there is a significant chance MiniMe, in coordination with LimitingFactor or A1Cypher or both are about to attack me. Here is how I defend against that
Fleet movements - The hunch that an attack might come soon has grown and I've bought the carriers and gave the orders to bring fleets west. A significant portion of my fleets are locked up attacking CRISPR (~160 ships around 1/3 of my total force) whilst another third are guarding the wormholes so my 'land border' to the west is soft.
Cypher - (Diplomatic defense) In any scenario where Cypher attacks I will trust Vik Ia to hold him off and fight back. I might need to withdraw some forces from the wormhole but I will try to hold it with a significant fleet until Vik Ia's fleets arrive and take the heat off.
MiniMe/LimitingFactor - I dont think I can rely on quick assistance against a joint attack from these two with LF using MiniMe's space as a launchpad. I think it would take Innoble time to respond and he might be willing to let me get a bit bruised.
Strength in depth - Time is on my side in an attack. I believe Innoble would, eventually, come to join the fight and my large territory and spread infrastructure means I can be confident of defending for several cycles slowly ceding ground as needed.

Vespae VI - Tick 84, Cycle 3

Half cycle update and I've given CRISPR notice that we're not going to be long term allies.

Necria on alliances
A brief commentary just now on the nature of alliances in light of this decision. My views on alliances are

a) Players are responsible for their own diplomacy and the game is fundamentally about building coalitions that benefit your aim to win the game, with players that are fun to play with. I don't fundamentally have any issue with large alliances, though I don't believe they truly exist (an alliance of 5-6 people is really likely to be two alliances that have agreed to work together, or a core alliance working with some independants who may or may not know they're on the fringes.)
b) Good allies work together to benefit each other and should be fairly selfless and acting as a coordinated team whilst allied.
c) Alliances are like relationships, they should hopefully strengthen over time but it's also possible for the relationship to break down and end. Players need to invest effort into their alliances to maintain them (via trades, ongoing communication and coordination)
d) Early game 'alliances' are more the potential for alliances. To follow the relationship analogy, saying you're going to be allies in the first cycle is really like agreeing to go on a date. You then see how you communicate, how the trades go, how well you can plan and work together. It's not really an alliance until you've built up that mutual trust and support. It may lead to a long term alliance or it may not.
e) I think I'm a good, loyal ally, but I'm also not someone who has a 'no betrayal' policy. I'd be very unlikely to turn on a mid-late game ally without a very good reason (I don't think I ever have) but it's a possibility for me and on the table.

So to be clear in my mind, I don't really have an obligation to notify CRISPR, I don't consider us really to be allies in this game. Back on Tick 0 I had every intent of possibly going in this direction but over the turns that followed it became clearer to me that an alliance with Innoble (& Vik Ia, though I consider Innoble my primary ally in this game) was more beneficial strategically because a) CRISPR didn't communicate a lot b) the geography works a bit better for an Innoble alliance c) CRISPR missed some turns and I don't want to tie my fates to someone who is going to suddenly go AWOL in Cycle 10 when we're in a 2v2 for the death with another alliance.

Strategic/Diplomatic - these two are tied together this time

Notifying CRISPR that I'm allied with someone else, severing the alliance ties even though framed in as non-hostile a way as possible, is a strategic mistake. I think I can get away with it in my position and it's good to be above board but it should put him on alert. I am all in now on attacking CRISPR with Innoble whilst trying to maintain peaceful relations on my other borders.
Trying to encourage another round of trades with MiniMe, I don't really mind what tech I get back all I'm trying to do here is maintain good relations and trust to keep this border peaceful. I've suggested I'm going to attack North (cypher/vik) to keep intentions unclear but give him the clear message that hey, I don't want a fight with you (yet.)
Will reach back out to Cypher and LimitingFactor get a better feel for their intentions as haven't spoke to either for a cycle or so. Also give them a hint that I don't intend to threaten them.

Tactical -

Both wormholes are now well fortified and with specialists would take a significant attacking force to overcome. I'm going to stop moving ships to them for now and prepare my forces instead for a southern attack on CRISPR

Northward

Eastward

In the next update (12 ticks) I'll share a more detailed war plan for the attack on CRISPR that will happen around 24-48 ticks from now. In short though, I intend the attack to come from the south.

Vespae VI - Tick 72, Cycle 3

Another end of Cycle and I couldn't be happier with how the game is progressing at this stage. I have a lead in stars and should have considerable influence over the outcome of the game.

With that said there was a major scare that could have caught me unaware that I'll cover in the Tactical section.

Strategic

The most interesting part of the game now as all the loose stars are captured or about to be captured. I expect the following
1) Bubblegum to collapse
2) LimitingFactor to attack MiniMe
3) Innoble and I to attack CRISPR
My plan is based on the above assumptions and runs broadly like this. I'll attack CRISPR about tick 100 with Innoble (we've loosely discussed this timeline) Innoble may or may not go sooner than this, I think I'd be tempted to in his position. That's fine by me as I'd prefer to launch second since I'm not looking for majority territory game from that battle - it's primarily to build the alliance with Innoble, help my ally strengthen, and remove a player from the gamepool. By the time this war has wrapped up I expect LimitingFactor/MiniMe to be at war and I hope I don't have to do anything up North, but I might. Either way as soon as CRISPR is beaten I pivot back westward and I attack through what I expect to be a weakened/losing MiniMe up directly into LimitingFactor, joined by Innoble from the East. Win that war, and the game will likely be won by someone in our alliance. I'll be in a good position.
One of my main aims from this game (aside from winning) and another turn-based I'm playing is to try to improve my logistics play. I'm finding that in the mid-late game I've generally got very good logistics but it's achieved with a tonne of carriers. I do believe that spending 'warp gate money' on carriers is the better way to go but I think it can be done more efficiently, pumping that unspent money into extra infrastructure - so I'm trying to be very diligent about where my carriers are going and what they're doing and asking myself strictly 'do I really need this carrier yet?' before buying. Even delayed purchases allow money to be spent on economy first.

Diplomatic

Within scan range for Innoble now and we've begun trading. I've sent him Scan 2 and he'll send me Terraforming 3 next turn. This alliance is working well. Vik Ia also being allied with us both is a bit of a wildcard for the endgame but in principle it should allow us to control the game.
I've asked MiniMe what LimitingFactor is up to on his border. This should help me understand both of their intentions.

Tactical

On tick 63 a huge MiniMe fleet representing 50% of his total ships at the time turned up on my border unexpectedly and unannounced. The star layout makes this a strange ship movement unless he a) expected to attack b) expected me to attack. Me and MiniMe were trading back at tick 42 and none of my own fleet movements indicate a desire to attack so my feeling here is he DID intend to attack me but whilst the ships were in transit something up north from LimitingFactor took his attention and he abandoned the plan.

As a follow on, I am considering the possibility of the ships reverse course again and come back south. In that case, I would have to withdraw most of my forces from the north, hoping the players up there were apprehensive about attacking the north end of the northward wormhole and likely use my specialist token reserve (3) to deal with attacks. I think I'd beat MiniMe in a war but it would be a dangerous time to have one.

Vespae VI - Tick 60, Cycle 2

Part way through the third Cycle now and I'm in a commanding individual position but should have a big target on my head.

Activity Update

Bubblegum went AFK then returned but he's been AFK enough that I decided to treat him as AFK. He may miss any given turn.
Inerz was replaced by MiniMe (Melkor) an experienced player I don't think I've come across before.

Strategic

Strategic priority at the moment is establish robust defenses through a combination of fleet movements to choke points (e.g. wormholes) diplomacy (this one is key considering I'll soon border most players in the game) and presence (visible fleets)
Plan will still be to go to war with CRISPR soon but this isn't urgent. I've got a good swath of territory and control the key strategic stars I want to so I can wait and be patient to an extent.
Medium term strategy is get a good tech lead and start saving up some specialist tokens to give me flexibility and also to get worldbuilders/financial analysts in place as soon as I can.

Diplomatic

I've arranged with Cypher and Vik Ia that I will take the wormhole and no other territory up north. They're on board with that.
Cypher and Vik Ia have a NAP/are coordinating to attack Bubblegum. Innoble has some apprehension about that which I can later play on. Am I apprehensive about it? Not really, not yet - I think I can handle that threat diplomatically.
I've done an initial trade with MiniMe and I'm going to try to keep that border peaceful for now during this consolidation phase.
Will be trading tech with Innoble next turn and looking to build that trust up.

Tactical

Attack on Bubblegum was a success and I've secured the northward wormhole. I should be able to defend this now against whatever he throws back at me, though hopefully he wont contest it.

My other wormhole is also suitably defended
My borders with MiniMe are fortified enough for now but likely need strengthening
My borders with CRISPR are weak and a determined attack south from his territory would be difficult to defend. I assess the threat right now as low though.

Vespae VI - Tick 48, Cycle 2

The second cycle has now ended and I'm in good shape.

Activity

Inerz is AFK
Bubblegum has missed 2 turns.

Strategic

Expansion has gone really well as shown by my star lead. My aim is to upgrade Industry/Science minimally and deliberately this cycle and start to build an economic edge. I need to get Scanning 2 early enough to trade with Innoble and enable further trades. I also want to start building up some eastern front ships but perhaps just a couple of well placed industry.
Key to strategy over the next cycle is what happens next with Bubblegum. I'm going to hold off on submitting my tun until late this next turn. If Bubblegum doesn't place a turn I'm going to grab his end of the wormhole. If he does then I won't.

Diplomatic

Diplomatic failures have been the lack of trades in Cycle 2. Inerz going AFK I couldn't do anything about but I should have pivoted sooner to a tech trade arrangement with Bubblegum. I didn't do this because I expected to trade with CRISPR but he spent his money on economy presumably, which I think is irrational considering I was going to trade him banking.
In an alliance with Innoble and Vik Ia, this feels O.P to me if we all actually worked as a team and coordinated against everyone else, but I think it's loosely held together in reality. Vik Ia and I don't have a path to trade right now and Innoble is hedging with a NAP with LimitingFactor. An alliance with Innoble is my preferred path forward but we'll see what happens.
I've let Cypher know that in the event of Bubblegum not returning I'm seizing the north end of the wormhole. Same for Vik Ia, I don't want to scrap over this territory, I just want the wormhole

Tactical

I took another look at what Bubblegum was doing on his side of the wormhole. Just 3 ships there now, even less than before. Same holds that I have the capability to punch through and start causing chaos but it doesn't feel right if he is active, the logical and obvious expansion is capture the remaining loose and free stars in the South East and then take over some of Inerz stars. If he is inactive, I intend to grab the other end of the wormhole.
I don't feel in any real immediate danger right now, which should allow me to pivot to any new threats that emerge in the coming cycle. Inerz is AFK, Bubblegum doesn't have ships on his end ofthe wormhole and I don't see signs of a determined CRISPR attack fleet.
After the next turn I'll have the option to launch an attack on Inerz to my NW. I'm moving 30 ships into position to give me the decision flexibility.

Vespae VI - Tick 36, Cycle 1

Halfway through the next cycle and things are starting to take shape. Inerz is now an AI.

Strategic

I'm top of the leaderboard with 20 stars and with an AFK next to me and wormholes which whatever you think about them can be a real asset. I'll be undoubtedly the source of discussion amongst the other players and it's a precarious position to be in as I'm not strong enough to fight off a concentrated 2v1. I'll need to be careful about how quickly I expand/act from here.
I need to get trade links established with my neighbours ASAP. I'm within trade range of CRISPR now but he hasn't traded me tech despite us both having a complimentary tech. Hopefully he agrees to this trade soon as Experimentation this cycle would be a nice boon.

Diplomatic

I'm still on board with liking Innoble as a long-term ally. There's obviously some relationship with LimitingFactor going on but I'm not too concerned about that as I'd also like to connect to LimitingFactor for trade, and I'd like to trade with CRISPR and keep my options open there.
I'd like to work with LimitingFactor to keep my threat profile down. I'm fine with him taking the majority of Inerz stars if it means we start trading and he doesn't see me as a major threat to take out. I've told him as much, but we'll see.

Tactical

Once I have Hyperspace 2 I'll build a pathfinder and grab those two stars off Inerz. There's an industry on each of them so the cost of doing it will rise over time. I'd like Weapons 2 as well but I won't wait for it if I think I can grab them.

Vespae VI - Tick 24, Cycle 1

The first cycle is now complete and I'm happy with how it's gone all things considered.

Leaderboard

Activity Report

The inactive Ktoc was replaced by a1Cypher before the last turn, and had left waypoints so Cypher hasn't been too disadvantaged.
Both Bubblegum and Inerz missed the last turn.

Strategic

The landscape is shifting a little with Ktoc being replaced but then Bubblegum/Inerz missing their turns. It means I need to keep flexible because if either of those did go AFK it could have big impacts on the strategy I want to pursue. With that said...
There is a need to have an idea and clear plan and in the scenario where neither Inerz nor Bubblegum go AFK, I plan to try to align with Innoble as a long-term ally, helping him attack CRISPR first. This strategy appeals due to a combination of a) geography - I'd like to capture everything south of CRISPRs current territory, maybe then pivot west and take out Inerz and control the entire south of the map. b) ally strength and positioning - Innoble strikes me as a good long-term ally. He communicates well and is very experienced with this game mode.
Should have Banking + Manufacturing tech by end of cycle from my own research (Manufacturing pts from Experimentation) and hoping to pick up Experimentation via trade with Inerz/Terraforming via trade with CRISPR.

Diplomatic

I've ramped this up and really doubled down on my diplomacy in particular with Innoble. I think he's mostly on board with being allies. He's definitely got some sort of relations with LimitingFactor going on but that's fine. I don't think they are well located to be allies and in the course of fighting CRISPR, I will earn a lot of good will with Innoble
CRISPR is going to be disappointed that our 'alliance' is not really an alliance. I don't feel too guilty about this because our chat has been super sparse. He offered me an alliance pre-game but isn't acting like an ally since then (we're not coordinating on tech, we haven't discussed borders) in my mind we were flirting with the idea of being allies, but I don't think either of us owe the other. I wouldn't feel 'betrayed' if CRISPR attacked me now for example.

Tactical

I have some excellently well-placed Black holes. One giving me line of sight over CRISPRs southwest/my North East and one looking over Inerz south.
In terms of early Industry, post-new cycle spend (I bought 1 science and 4 industry) this is how my industry distribution looks, with exception of my south-central binary star you can see it's mostly located around my borders. This is partly star NR driven but partly tactical I want to develop a bit of a buffer on each border and so better to start production early. You can see that my main production hub is on my western side so I'm going to need to establish good logistics and supply to bolster the east ahead of any attack on CRISPR.
One thing to note is with 2 economy, 2 industry and 1 science I really have committed myself heavily to my eastward-wormhole that goes between CRISPR/Innoble.

Vespae VI - Tick 18, Cycle 0

I'm very happy with my early expansion which sees my star count rise to 14, as Ktoc misses a second turn undermining a potential north alliance of Ktoc/Bubblegum.

Strategy

Ideally people wouldn't go AFK but they do and you have to adapt to it. The impact of Ktoc potentially going AFK if he misses another turn is that Bubblegum will have easier expansion up there in that northern section. As Bubblegum shares an effective border with me via the wormhole and has been very concise and brief I'm wary of him getting strong as he's unlikely to be my ally.
There are essentially three viable strategies which should dictate my approach. When I say attack here I dont mean immediately, but work towards the conquering of that player.
A) Aim to attack Inerz. Lends itself best to an alliance with LimitingFactor.
B) Aim to attack CRISPR. Lends itself best to an alliance with Innoble.
C) Aim to attack Bubblegum. Lends itself best to a temporary alliance with with Vik Ia.
Note, I think practically speaking the possibility to attack Innoble (with CRISPR) isn't as good and I'm not seriously considering it.
I'm intentionally not going to decide which of these strategies to pursue just yet. I'm going to wait for one more round of diplomacy and carrier movements until the end of the cycle and then commit to one. If I had to pick right now, my choice would be work with Innoble and attack CRISPR, I think it puts me in a phenomenal position if Innoble goes for it (which I think he's tentatively willing to) giving me control of most of the south of the map.
I am feeling threat stretch currently. I can't spend the next few cycles uncertain about Inerz on my western border, CRISPR and Innoble on my east/wormhole and Bubblegum on my Northern wormhole. My position has a huge amount of latent potential but requires effective diplomacy to minimize these risks and allow it to be achieved. If I split my defence 3 or 4 ways I'll get beat down by a determined opponent. I am particularly worried about the logistics of an attack to my east from CRISPR due to the distance between stars and empire stretch. Total ship count doesn't matter, only local ship count.

Diplomacy

I prefer chatty allies and I'm not sure about CRISPR, who has been very crisp in his communication so far. Maybe he's just ruthlessly efficient and ha no time for wasted words, but strong communication aids cooperation and avoids misunderstandings. I also just have a spider sense alarm going off. I can't pinpoint why because LimitingFactor said he's a loyal ally (I asked if he'd played with CRISPR or Innoble before) and none of CRISPRs words or actions suggest hostility, but I don't know. There's something telling me to be wary.
Likewise I'm not sure Inerz is communicative enough to be a long term ally.
All in all, I think I'd prefer to ally LimitingFactor, Innoble or Vik Ia here both because the strategy lends itself that way and my early impressions are that these are the three most communicative.

Tactics

I had a cheeky little look at what Bubblegum has going on through the wormhole. He set status to allies in diplomacy so I jumped a carrier through and back. I wonder if he will notice this, it depends if he rewinds ticks. I've made a note to do my own checks whilst we are diplo-allies. He has 10 ships through there and nothing to worry about at the wormhole basically. An immediate attack would cost me 20 ships (10 survivors) and seize 30 credits, denying him 30 credits. For me that would be around 15% of my cycle income. Tactically, Bubblegum would be in a real mess as he doesn't have any tokens to buy specialists (me either). I'd be able to cause quite a bit of havoc at the start of the new cycle and I've got further reinforcements on the way. The problem - and it's a big problem - is that I'd be committing myself to a war that I wouldn't win quickly, neither of us has the firepower yet to do that. I'd be extremely exposed to CRISPR/Inerz attacking me for a period of several cycles. Not only that but it will put a big marker on my head when the other players see me threatening up there. I don't think this is necessary, Ive not had a terrible start and don't need a risky gamble - I've got a brilliant starting position. This gambit smacks of 'winning the battle and losing the war' and I don't think it's a good idea strategically.

Inerz 36 ships at Vane is a bit of a concern. He needs Hyperspace 3 to get across (so 2 with a pathfinder) and this is a strange place to put 36 ships. He also pointedly hasn't responded to my message clarifying borders. Inerz has all his specialist tokens (so 6 after the cycle.) I'm actually sufficiently worried about this that I'm going to send 15 (about half) ships from the defense of the wormholes over to that border until I can build Industry up.

There's a tasty looking Binary star Nebula on the border with CRISPR and I think because he didn't drop a ship at it when passing, I can get to it first due to the requirement to build an industry, then a ship then turn it into a pathfinder and send it across. I'm pretty confident I can get to this star first with my Explorer and garrison it, but then what? A worry here is that I've seized a HUGE amount of land. You can get too big too soon and anyone not sleeping at the wheel will be paying me a lot of attention.

NecriaSolaris

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Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Vespae VI - All posts in Chronological Order

Vespae VI - Finished - Tick 289

Vespae VI - Tick 252 Cycle 10

Vespae VI - Tick 228, Cycle 9

Vespae VI - Tick 210 Cycle 8

Vespae VI - Tick 204 Cycle 8

Vespae VI - Tick 186, Cycle 7

Vespae VI - Tick 168 Cycle 7

Verpae VI - Tick 150, Cycle 6

Vespae VI - Tick 126 Cycle 5

Vespae VI - Tick 108, Cycle 4

Vespae VI - Tick 96 Cycle 4

Vespae VI - Tick 84, Cycle 3

Vespae VI - Tick 72, Cycle 3

Vespae VI - Tick 60, Cycle 2

Vespae VI - Tick 48, Cycle 2

Vespae VI - Tick 36, Cycle 1

Vespae VI - Tick 24, Cycle 1

Vespae VI - Tick 18, Cycle 0

The Void - All Posts in Chronological Order

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