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.
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Vespae VI - Tick 12, Cycle 0

Half way through the first cycle and Ktoc has missed one set of turns. In other news it turns out my eastward wormhole has a Binary star on the other end.

Strategic

• I've captured a Black hole on my south-western border and can see Inerz fleet movements. Inerz has what I'd consider a light-threat 40 ships (about 50% of their ships, but logistically I'd expect it to be more like 33/40%) on stars bordering me. I'm watching this.  

• I made a waypoint error and forgot to send a ship through the wormhole to the Brettna-Arcon (eastward) wormhole on the first turn but corrected that for the second only to find a 146 NR binary star there. This is an asset, if it doesn't get me into a war. This means this wormhole has an Asteroid Field on one end and a Binary star on the other. Jeez.

• I'm joint top of the leaderboard on account of prioritising expansion first. Still executing my plan of capturing the stars I circled in the last update.

• I'm probably a bit light on economy this cycle (just 135/500 to spend) getting some initial science/industry in play so I'm going to really try very hard next cycle to invest as much as possible in Economy and rebalance. Everyone except CRISPR/LimitingFactor have less Ind/Science than me and apart from Vik Ia nobody has nearly as many carriers. I do wonder if I sometimes go to big on carriers out the opening in the 8p setup. They all feel necessary but at this stage 8 carriers is 40% of my total budget. That's a lot.

Diplomatic

• I've been a bit lazy diplomatically this game juggling work and other galaxies so need to work a bit harder. Have tentative proposals for alliances with Inerz and CRISPR but not a clear view of which way I want to lean there. I'm actually wondering whether Innoble/LimitingFactor may be better alliance choices with a view of keeping at peace with the neighbour on the other flank and squeezing between us. I will explore this more.

Tactical

• Now that Bubblegum has spent their specialist tokens (see section below) I can relax, there will be no immediate colonel/general attack through the wormhole.
• Inerz can't attack me with the majority of their border fleets until they get Hyperspace 2 and use a Pathfinder, or if they invest in an Explorer. 
• If CRISPR has sent an explorer to the same star I've sent a pathfinder too I'll beat him to it and retain the star as I'm dropping 8 ships there before continuing south.
• I basically have 3 'fronts' to defend. a) the eastward wormhole binary star. b) the northward wormhole at my end c) the south western inerz front which is surprisingly armed. Luckily all three of these fronts are 'fairly' close together so hopefully the ships can be a bit multi-purpose

Specialists (neighbours-ish)

• I've hired Explorer Ant and Pathfinder Seagull & Pathfinder Robin. My specialist priorities are a Colonel & Infiltrator for both wormholes in the short term, with a Saboteur and maybe General/Destroy later replacing them releasing the other specialists for other duties.
• Bubblegum has hired 5 star specialists. A mix of mineral extractors/orbital arrays. This is great news and means they have no big firepower on the other end of the wormhole.
• CRISPR has 1 carrier specialist and 2 star specialists, neither of which are space docks. I suspect this is a Explorer heading south west towards me and two Mineral Extractors or one and an Orbital Array.
• Inerz has no specialists and 5 specialist tokens saved up.
• Innoble has 3 carrier specialists (likely pathfinders) and 1 star specialist.

Vespae VI - New Turn-Based 8 Player Game - Tick 0 Cycle 0

Vespae VI looks like an interesting turn-based game that will be a challenge. This will be my first Solaris turn-based multiplayer game, though I've been preparing for it with some turn-based 1v1s.

With it being turn-based I'll ensure to do a comprehensive end-of-cycle update every time but will likely do briefer mid-cycle updates when interesting things are happening.

Rules

The ruleset is fairly standard with 6-tick jumps, 5 starting tokens, all tech at level 1.

The Galaxy

Wow, my start has a lot to digest. A binary star, an Asteroid Field, and 2 wormholes one of which goes right into an opponent's starting stars. Good quality starting stars and high-quality stars nearby, however horrendous jump distances between expansion stars. All things considered, this is probably a good starting position but it has the potential to be a bad one. In particular the long jump distances between stars and travel time present logistical problems and I'll need to get to HS2 earlier than I usually would

Objective

The aim here is the same as always. My priorities in order are:

1) Win, if winning is possible.
2) Finish as high in the leaderboard as possible if winning is not possible.
3) Survive, if a high place in the leaderboard is not possible.

Other players

This is a pretty experienced lobby. The other players here have won 63 games between them at the time of writing versus just 16 from the 7 in Trani. 

Innoble (29 win, 231 rank points) I've seen this guy racking up the 8p turn based wins so I'm considering him the favourite for the game and most likely to win/biggest threat.
LimitingFactor (24 win, 130 rank points) Only played with him once before in Mintai where we never shared a border. His start makes him most likely a key strategic enemy vying for the alliance with Inerz. 
Necria (13 win, 54 rank points)
CRISPR (6 win, 192 rank points) I've never played him before, to my knowledge.
Bubblegum war lord (2 win, 19 rank points) An unknown player.
Vik Ia (1 win, 33 rank points) I'm allied with him in Abyss I, but he doesn't know it and I don't intend to tell him. I wonder if he'll notice from style of writing though? 
Ktoc (1 win, 16 rank points) Played in my last game. We were at war all game but I think it was good spirited. I don't think we'll be allies here based on geography but I'd be willing to be.
Inerz (0 win, 3 rank points) Played with them in Trani, they probably didn't do enough diplomatically there but we had reasonably good neutral relations

Early Strategy 

• Covered in the screenshot of my galaxy, but in short - be nice to everyone, expand east. Watch, listen and assess what is going on. Try to avoid conflict over either wormhole.

Diplomacy

• Reached out to the priority 3, Inerz, CRISPR, Bubblegum to get a feel for where there head is at.
• CRISPR says they want an alliance which works for me, they're in a good spot geographically to be an ally so I'd be happy with this.
• Inerz wants to work together more this game because they worked too much in isolation last time. I'm happy with that and trying to negotiate a fair border with them and tech trade.
• No word from Bubblegum yet. 

Tactics

• I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about Bubblegum buying a General and punting it through the wormhole on Tick 1. This would be devestating and as I need to use tokens to expand I won't have a good defence against it. This sort of kamikaze tactic would lead to a difficult war for us both and is not rational so I'm really hoping they don't do it, but I need to use my tokens elsewhere for expansion so I'm not wasting them on a Colonel yet.
• Current plan is to stick 29 ships on the wormhole that connects to Bubblegum ASAP and just a scout through the other wormhole.