The Void - Tick 180 Cycle 8

 As one war ends, another begins?

With C++ destroyed I'm now preparing for war with both Ikit Claw and GeneralKenobi. In a silo I would go to war with Ikit Claw next as I have better relations with Kenobi and we'll share a front line binary that I'll want to build a buffer around. However, Kenobi believes he will start taking stars from Holy Roman Empire within a cycle or two and I can't allow that to happen. My plan then is to focus the bulk of my forces down towards Ikit Claw whilst tipping the scales against Kenobi.

I'm now within striking distance of the super binary but so is Ikit Claw. We are both racing reinforcements to the area and there will be a bit of a dance over who gets the star. I'm very willing to go to war over it and whilst my waypoint error means I have around 100 ships less at the front lines than I should have at this stage those ships are on the way. 

I have 4 tokens so options I have available are

• Smash in with my Infiltrator when reinforcements arrive then deploy a Colonel if Ikit Claw uses a Siege breaker. This gets me the +80 economy rewards of capturing the star.
• Depending on where Ikit Claw launches from at the star (this only works if he launches from further away), hit the star same tick with a Siege Breaker sized smaller than his attack fleet to obliterate it.
• Let Ikit destroy C++'s fleet on the star and hit him the turn after. I need to be careful with this plan as it's a 7-tick jump to the star. I don't want him to reinforce and consolidate on it.
• I could just ask/say to him that it's my star but I'd prefer to keep him uncertain what I'll do. The problem with asking is it could forewarn him of a potential conflict.

I get Terraforming 3 next tick so I'll wait until next turn to buy infrastructure upgrades. I'll probably pick up an additional 9-10 industry and 2-3 science next turn. I'll also likely add another 3 or 4 carriers to improve logistics flow, though my ratio of 58 stars to 23 carriers isn't as bad as it seems because of the way I've set up my logistics in lines. Eventually though, this ratio will get to 1:1.

I've also decided I'm going to do Terraforming 4, then Manufacturing 4 then Banking 5. Then I might go for higher weapons and a hyperspace level or two. We're definitely approaching the stage where people will be thinking about researching Weapons 4 but I think it's still a bit early yet to make that leap. 

I also think there will be a bit of panic whenever someone reaches Weapons 4 and I don't want to draw attention. I'd rather build up ships and science that people can't see as easily and be able to race to Weapons 4 as needed. Right now my 'breakout time' for Weapons 4 would be 75 ticks, but that will drop a lot over the coming cycles. 

The Void - Tick 162 Cycle 7

 An alliance is formed and the war objectives are close.

I'm now formally allied with Holy Roman Empire (Beltalowda?), HelloThere (Zachsmack?) and TdT (CRISPR?) and if I've correctly identified who people are this is a strong group. My Infrastructure is now 63 economy (74 end of cycle) 31 industry 15 science and more balanced. I have better tech advancement than any of my neighbours and I'll hopefully be achieving my first wars aims soon. 

After C++ quit I went on the offensive, attacking the NebulaAF (which was defended by <20 ships in the end)  and pushing aggressively across all parts of the front. With the AI unable to effectively coordinate counter attacks I was able to be more gung-ho and prioritize racing to the key stars to get to them before Ikit Claw, HelloThere and GeneralKenobi. In the end, HelloThere seized one of the binaries and looks likely to get the capital (damn!), I like my chances of getting the super binary though and 1/3 and a strong ally isn't a bad outcome. If this is the result the war will be a minor victory but I'll have probably lost some ground to someone in the conquest race, somewhere else in the galaxy.

Unfortunately a waypoint error ('collect all' instead of 'drop all' on one carrier) has delayed arrival of 100+ ships to front lines by 22 ticks. Painful. I'll need to decide whether I push those back to my SW (I think I will) or instead use them to fight General Kenobi. Currently still moving them back down south east, albeit delayed to meet any Ikit Claw heavy-handedness at the super binary.

After I seize the stars I want my plan is to consolidate briefly, building up attack fleets that can move against either Ikit Claw or GeneralKenobi. Plan A is to tackle GeneralKenobi and help out Holy Roman Empire who is facing both Kenobi and Sea Serpent in the north. I think Ikit Claw is likely weakened from his war with C++ though and I might be able to sustain a two front war.

I'll know the outcome of that in a few turns time...

The Void - Tick 138 Cycle 6

 C++ is defeated and resigns from the match.

I did end up spending all 6 tokens on specialists in the end, purchasing two infiltrators this turn right before C++ quit. I probably could have saved 3 tokens if I'd known I'd be facing an AI from here but with Saboteurs banned Infiltrators will always have utility in this game. 

The most important thing now is reaching his stars before other players do. Most importantly, I need to reach at least one of those binaries or his capital. If I get none of them the war has been a failure. With the AI unable to build specialists and likely to make sub-optimal plays the pace of my advance should quicken, but this is true for everyone else and I know Ikit Claw and HelloThere are closing in.

Diplomatically, I've made some big moves this turn. HelloThere is allied with TdT (and I wonder whether he is CRISPR) he has also revealed his cousin is Holy Roman Empire and whilst there could be a few groups of IRL friends/cousins I have a hunch this means he is ZachSmack and Holy Roman Empire is a player I played with in a recent game under the name Beltalowda. This seems like a strong group to ally with so I've started trying to bring this group closely together asking everyone if they're willing to work together.

Assuming the answer is yes, the plan is 

1. Get to C++s good stars.

2. Attack GeneralKenobi and or Ikit Claw if he gets the binary I want.

The Void - Tick 132 Cycle 6

 The enemy launches a wave of attacks.

C++ has launched attacks on three stars, and may be planning to target a fourth. This shows the power of denying him the border black hole. From his perspective his fleets have been building up near the front lines and now he feels confident he can strike. He doesnt see that my logistics lines are set to deliver their next round of reinforcements. I'm pleased to see the attack and to be able to destroy ships I needed to fight anyway with the defender bonus on my side.

With multiple points to defend I want to hold everything with minimal token spend so I can meet future attacks effectively. I am okay with adding an additional infiltrator somewhere but I'd prefer to keep 3 of my 6 tokens in my pocket for defensive flexibility and potential seige breaker operations.

I'm wary of what is planned from the NebulaAF but I'll have a much better idea next turn in time to respond. For that reason I spend no tokens this turn.

I start the next stage of my attack and plan as I'd planned to do this turn. I attack my northern reinforcements arrival star with a small force to claim it and secure it. 

I am still wary of C++ homestar reserves. I think he is reluctant to commit them to any particular front with multiple enemies. This is a mistake I think, and he needs to commit them soon, somewhere. 

My new cycle spend is 2 science 7 industry and 3 carriers. I need to be spending 50%+ of my income on economy the next few cycles to counterbalance my early game science/industry tilt. Il be able to hit 50/55% this cycle. 

The Void - Tick 114 Cycle 5

 War continues with a repulsed counter-attack, at cost.

C++ attempted the attack I thought he would at my Black Hole. Unfortunately, he attempted it with more ships (20) than I could defend without buying an Industry so I had to spend over 100 credits (it cost me 4 potential economy) to adequately block it with an Infiltrator. That's a win for him.

Elsewhere the line is holding stable and it now becomes a battle of diplomacy, infrastructure, logistics and when the time is right tactics. Let's address each of these in turn

Diplomacy 

• Ikit Claw is fighting C++ to his south and I believe sapping some of his strength. 
• I think C++ is no longer fighting General Kenobi, though I think it's unlikely they'll be allies any time soon. 
• I have tried to persuade Hello There to attack C++ but he's given me a stalling response. I'm trying to cultivate Hello There as a potential long term ally (CRISPR thought he was me, so he MUST be good) but I need to reach him first.  

Infrastructure

Even from what I see C++ Infra is competitive to my own. I think he is smaller than me on star count but he has some very prime stars including a 150 NR and a 115 NR binary. These stars and his capital are all relatively close together and so he has short supply lines.

Logistics

My own supply lines are... not short. However I have now set them up and should start to receive a steady flow of ships to the front line. I have two proper west->east supply lines and I'm building out a third to the north. As a note, I'm willing to spend a few extra creds on stars already on a supply route over cheaper industry elsewhere where I'll need to add one or more carriers to get it to the front. You can see that I have basically no industry at all at the back of my empire and this is intentional at this point. Eventually, I'll connect rear industry to the supply lines listed below but it's not what I need most now. 

Tactics

Tactics - can wait. Much could change. I have 4 specialist tokens and I'm planning to save them unless I need to use more to defend. I'm still consolidating for now and will make my next push soon. Plan will be to hit the two stars north of the pocket and bring down reinforcements from there. 

Tech research is Banking then Manufacturing. I'm going Manufacturing before Terraforming because I want my industry boost on my existing supply lines more than I want cheap Industry tucked at the back of my empire that I'll then need a carrier fleet for. Plan for now is

Banking 3 (10 ticks)

Terraforming 3 (46 ticks)

Manufacturing 3 (?)

Banking / Hyperspace?

Weapons 4

The Void - Tick 92 Cycle 4

 War with C++ has begun but after initial gains, the next battles may be more difficult.

As planned, I've nabbed two of C++'s stars and I'll take a third next turn. However, I haven't flipped any industry or science so it's a purely territorial gain against his soft border stars. The next stage will be much more difficult, I've spotted another powerful C++ binary, and from what I can see right now he has more industry than me, 19 to 17. I have four options from here:

a) Attack via Asteroid Field Nebula Most direct route but could be very costly if it turns out the Neb/AF is well-defended. High reward if executed successfully as it opens up paths to both the capital and the middle binary, and I can choose which one to go through. It also closes my own defensive lines at that part of the front (I have to defend 1 star now instead of 2)

b) Attack northern stars Fairly confident I can topple at least the closest two and then start to bring in more reinforcements from my northern stars. The mid-term plan would be to swing around to the south and come at the capital from the north, whilst exerting pressure elsewhere.

c) Focus on trying to win the Southern binary He's at war with Ikit Claw in the south and stretched. I'm more confident I know what's in this Nebula (very little) and plan C can become plan A (or visa-versa) I don't like the 14-tick jump into the Nebula and it'd take me 31 ticks to get there.

d) Consolidate and launch no further attacks yet. In this plan, I split my attacking fleet, accept I don't have the firepower to force a true breakthrough and wait for reinforcements. 

This is a tough decision, but I decide to go for a bit of a D/B crossover. I split my attacking fleet but in an imbalanced way sending 25 more ships down to hold the new pocket whilst sending 46 ships to the frontline along the route of plan B. This is a consolidation play but one that gives me options to turn it into plan B. I also start bringing more ships (33 more) down from off-screen to the far north.

I buy another new carrier and launch one defensive operation to cover my undefended Black hole and the entry to my southern territory. An incursion there wouldn't be a disaster but it'd be a bit of a pain and I don't want my front lines stretched. I've spent 65% of this cycles funds on the war effort, through Industry at locations on supply routes to the front line and new carriers but I'm committed to the fight now and need to make sure I can win it. The clock is ticking, my rivals will be expanding elsewhere and who knows what diplomatic trouble I could get myself into if I find myself stalled.

There is always a balance though, plan A offers me the most direct route but a failed attack could set me back cycles. I'm willing to move a bit more cautiously, but aggressively.

In some good news, I've found a super 150 NR binary tucked right at the back of my territory. It's too far from the front lines for any industry to influence the war but it should be an economy/science asset.

The Void - Tick 84 Cycle 3

 I'm about to start a war with C++

This is how the overall map is looking but I'm much more interested in the tactical map.

Off to the south, I can see C++ is fighting Ikit Claw and I know he is also engaged in a war with General Kenobi so despite a relatively small attack force (~100-110 ships initially) I feel good about my prospects of pushing towards one of the two key objective stars.

I'll have 5 tokens and C++ will have at least 2 and no more than 10 (I know he's bought an Infiltrator from Kenobi's battle reports) Objective A has 5 industry and Objective B has 4 industry. At the time of writing, I only have 10 in total so this is almost equal to my entire military production. However, I intend to invest more heavily in Industry next turn. 

My plan is to throw my first Explorer in on the attack, bait out whatever is in the Nebula (I have no idea) and then after reinforcing with the fleet from my second explorer likely smash west through the Asteroid Field/Nebula towards Objective A. Depending on what happens I might instead opt to push south to Objective B and try to seize that before Ikit Claw can. We'll see.

Flipping one or both of these stars is the war objective and the success criteria for this operation. If I get one I'm counting that as a small victory, getting both would be huge and put me on a strong path to success, and getting neither would be a military defeat and likely mean I've become bogged down in an attritional war losing a lot of early momentum and time as others expand.