Rated Challenges Thread

[Alneyan]

Thanks Fyron then!

I should rejoice of leading in score at gamestart; beware Geoschmo, for I have a much better economy! (Or simply one more resource point on any of my homeworlds; guess which interpretation is preferred by my ever-growing forehead?)

[Alneyan]

A gentle bump, and a partial update on my game with Geo.

Annual Forecast of the Frobboz Magic Company, Five Years After the Beginning of the Bidding Affair. (Turn 50 or so)

The game has been very quiet until turn 45 or so, with only four of my ships destroyed by mines, and two of his taken down by my own forces. I have focused on expanding in the early game, as I had good planets for once, and almost enough of them to sate my greediness. I went for the two other colony techs rather early on; both were researched before turn 45 I think, and Gas was done around turn 40. My Empire has then been colonising all planets in sight, while it seems like Geo has not been doing so much colonisation; he does have Gas tech however, though no Ice in view.

I had a few more systems under my greedy hands, and enough space to expand without being too vulnerable against an early assault. Light Carriers were nonetheless built, should something unexpected (say, fifty Light Cruisers) arise. Minesweepers were thrown in for good measure, and my first fleets soon found themselves on the offensive.

Around turn 50, my first fleet secured a few systems in the north-west, and that whole border with Geo. A handful planets were glassed, he abandoned the others, and a few vessels were destroyed on both sides when I ran into his defending vessels. In the meantime, 17 Light Cruisers were sighted in the middle of the map, but soon fled when my own fleet entered the area. (I had about 30 Light Carriers, and a few ships in the system itself)

Such is the situation at the moment. Geo assures me he has no trick under his sleeve, but I cannot believe him, of course. I believe he can still turn the tables, though his window of opportunity might be getting narrower now. We both have Battlecruisers, if nothing else, but we have only shown weak weaponry and ECM/CS in the few battles we have fought. What other technologies we have is still a mystery, if we have any.

So here we are, at turn 51. What will happen next in my takeover bid? Will Geo be able to strike back at the Corporation? Will Mary and Jack find the happiness they deserve despite the schemes of John? We will find out next week.

[Alneyan]

The Imperium has sundered! And surrendered too! The Empire is freed from the tyranny of the military! On this glorious turn 72 (or so), the forces of Geo deemed the fight to be hopeless, and welcomed the assistance of Frobboz Electric troops to revolt against themselves. In a short but enthusiastic speech, CEO Flathead of the Corporation has declared this day to be "a major victory against military powers, and the triumph of economy".

Well, the Last twenty turns have been a lot of fighting, with my forward fleets unexpectedly running into too many defending warships. He was pushed out of a few systems, though he managed to capture several of my state-of-the-art Dreadnoughts. I had expected my first wave to do a bit better than that, and so radically altered my plans. It meant changing the name of the vessels, and increasing the strength of all fleets by twofold (had you expected me to actually have a good idea for my military?).

I reached Dreadnoughts, Shield Depleters and APB before turn 50, and so had a sizeable force to throw at Geo for the second wave (a few hundreds of Dreadnoughts when he surrendered). These fleets did a much better job, glassing one of his homeworlds, and destroying most of the fleet that was guarding it. More dreadnoughts were on the way, but Geo did not fancy fighting them, as it looks like most of his own warships had been destroyed (or damaged) during previous battles.

Alas, his surrender has prevented me from showing off a bit; neither my Ringworld nor my Star Destroyers were able to demonstrate their abilities before the surrender. (Five basic hulls for a SD retroseries were already built, and two of them nearing the front, with six "direct" vessels in production) A shame truly.

Where was I? Oh, it has been a good game, and I shall thank Geo for having let me settle our old score. Thanks to Fyron for the very nice map as well; don't you love these bigger maps?