PA11 , a quick playthrough

Hi all, this is not really an aar in the classic sense, rather just a straight playthrough with the latest build, (PA11 uns hfx). I thought it best to put it here though and give everyone some feedback as well as a feeling of what it’s like to sit down with this game.

I set the game parameters to large galaxy, hardcore difficulty and five players total, my custom race, versus the four default ones. My custom race, the Terrans, can be considered a human faction that didn’t accept peace at the end of the Human combine wars, their attributes are Dictatorship, creative, plus 1 production, and plus 1 research, while their special abilities are prestige and Empire’s due. This can be a potent mix, though in this case, the prestige ability was for naught, but I’ll get to that later.

Being in the middle of a rather nasty illness, I was hoping to have a nice relaxing game, mostly peaceful, and take my time exploring interstellar space while building a thriving State…

Then this happened…




This position was not ideal, I had spawned almost in the middle of the galaxy and the implications were obvious. Contact with Alien factions would be made early, (something I wished to avoid), and chances were good that I would be surrounded by them. On the plus side of things, my home system contained a medium desert world, it was poor but with an eco level of three, I started researching the proper colonization tech on turn one.

Sure enough, I made contact with the first Alien species on turn 30

 

Warily I continued my exploration of the surrounding area, searching for anything that may have been of value to me. But alas, in less than 30 more turns, I encountered the second AI faction.



Under normal circumstances, I would change my focus now and go straight towards building up my military, both by tech advances and construction. In this case however, there was an interesting series of events that had me at ease about my situation.

A short while earlier, while exploring the ruins at Fex, I discovered the ‘Lynx’. It’s a great little ship, yes it is only a frigate, but it’s systems are very highly advanced, especially for this early in the game. Soon afterwards a galactic event fired and I was able to haul in a massive amount of credits as a result. This was very fortunate indeed as a short while later “the militia” event fired. I now had the luxury of taking any of the options available from this event, and while I really wanted the support ship, I chose the cruiser instead.

This meant that I had my original starting forces, the Lynx, plus a decent Cruiser available with which to defend myself, I reasoned this was enough for this stage.

I continued to expand and explore then, while also keeping a good balance between civilian and military research. Unfortunately I got into some financial problems soon after and scrapped my starting Frigates, in return though, I was able to get the leaders I would have for the rest of the game. I had Jelly at Terra and Squeeg at Fex, not the best colony leaders, but as it turns out, the only ones available. My ship leaders were Luther, Anthony. And the blue chick with the cute ears, once again, the only ones available.

By the time I had set up a second outpost and my fourth colony, I encountered the rest of the Aliens. It was turn 91. Luckily I had just started new constructions of military ships, but as you can see, I had paltry forces at this point in time, I was also dwarfed by the space rabbits, (Sulak), who were doing quite well. The only saving grace in all this was that I was not completely surrounded.

 

I didn’t like my situation, stuck in the middle like that, so the game entered an exploitation and build up phase, both for myself and the AIs



But there was so much to do. I needed to increase my SSPs, build up a fleet, increase my production and power up my research capabilities all at the same time. I managed fairly well I think, but during this time the AI wasn’t idle. All the factions were managing to grow quite well, but my main concern was the Sulak. I don’t know if it was deliberate or not, but they had started to envelop my Empire, closing off the only un-contested route of expansion I had left.

And so, while I was only partially prepared, I decided to strike, this came at turn 135 and my first strike was to be at Chaloth. The Sulak had two FFs there so I expected the win, however, due to how the game had played out, I was attacking with my largest fleet available, 1FF, 1DD, and a single newly built cruiser.

This left me with a handful of ships to cover the rest of my Empire, a couple of ships at Gorilia, a couple more Zrer, a couple at Terra. And it was here, at this point, where I felt something wonderful, something new.

I had Fusion drive, but the large map meant that my forces were mostly isolated from one another, each force was on its own. And for the first time playing ISG, I felt the loneliness of space as I realized there would be no cavalry coming to the rescue if something went wrong

 

I won the battle at Chaloth alright, but by the time I got there, the Sulak had sent an additional FF to bolster their defenses in the system. But this was just the beginning of a whirlwind series of events that made me feel as if I’d stirred a hornet’s nest.

While my fleet was en route to Chaloth, the Sulak also created an outpost at Epleuls, thus further encircling my domains. Well I wouldn’t have that. So with one fleet on the way to Chaloth, I sent the forces at Terra (1DD, 1FF) to also attack the newly created outpost as well. I destroyed both these outposts… only to see the Sulak take mine at Thagua! Worse still, they had various forces flying around the map that I constantly had to account for.

So I started killing some wasps, my initial fleet attacked the small Sulak Colonies at Pivena and Satomi. Reasoning that I could not hold these colonies, I destroyed them instead and then withdrew back to Chaloth… only to see the Sulak re-establish their outpost at Epleuls… good lord, I was playing whack a mole with the AI!

For its part, the AI did not commit anything more than Frigates to these fights, but I was certain larger ships were available in their core worlds. The AI also withdrew expertly when called for, thus preserving its forces and denying me the opportunity to attrite them.

Here, 15 turns later from the last screenshot, we can see that while I’ve had success at the borders, I haven’t really hurt them. To make matters worse, the rest of the AI factions have grown quite nicely during these times. This has me thinking now, that if I let them continue developing un-hindered, I could be overtaken by them.

It’s getting close to decision time, and the only thing keeping me from starting an all out campaign against all of them right now is my lack of adequate numbers. At the very least, I need to cripple the Sulak now, perhaps even eliminate them entirely, so I can start focusing on the three before they grow too large to contain.

 

Well my friend, here is a rough idea
Overall ranking goes to the stock humans who have a significant lead
I'm in second with the other three races in a virtual tie right behind me.

Some specifics.
I'm first in production, fleet strength, (don't see how), and hold on to your seat, culture.
The Humans have a commanding lead in tech (probably found something)
The Sulak have the lead in population, even after I've killed a good many of them

The Moltar, I suspect have more than just three colonies in their systems, they are 2nd in production and Culture

I have some trade treaties, but everyone is either weary of me or outright hates me, I've asked the Moltar for an alliance (we have a trade treaty), but they're not buying my sweet talk.

The only war is me against the Sulak, I've asked for peace, they said f--- y--.

They are harassing my periphery well and I will have to withdraw instantly once I arrive at Ijub, they have a massive fleet there and I am wondering why they don't use it, sending instead only light units to counter-attack.

The Humans are the threat now, I want peace with the Sulak so I can concentrate on them, but it looks like that won't happen. Two front war anyone?

 

Sadly, I will have to start another as this saved game was lost during one of the updates, I really liked it too, the situation was quite tense being stuck in the middle with some powerful AI factions all around me.

 

I think Alpha will be out soon, makes sense to wait for that as the changes and releases have been coming very fast lately. Right now I'm just focusing on strategic and tactical bahaviors as well as general bug hunting and exploring all aspects of the current build.

 

As you see, by the time I finished typing last night, Adam released his Alpha!
I don't know if he's in my head or I'm in his