NecriaSolaris

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.

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

The Void - All Posts in Chronological Order

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