Up close with 1.6.1 (Terra Reprised)

Hello again all

Christmas came early this year, or rather the first gift did thanks to my friends at Praxis. As you probably know, release 1.6 is out now and features some goodies that I consider an absolute must to elevate this game even further, namely additional victory conditions.

What a perfect opportunity then for me to revisit one of my favorite games and take a good look at what the ISG universe has evolved into.

In a sense, this wont be a typical AAR, it will be something more and all encompassing, something I've wanted to do for a long time, but didn't have the chance to do so. Here I will do more than chronicle a game session, I will attempt to offer more background information on my own decisions, look closely at how the over-all game balance has been altered, and hunt for bugs.

Without further ado then, let's take a close look at 1.6

We start with my custom race which replaces the stock humans. If you take a good look at the shot below, you'll see what I consider a well balanced race, but one with a huge drawback. These are the same guys I've used before, and I'm hoping that by going with them again I'll be better able to differentiate this current version of ISG from its predecessors.





Next up is something entirely new, the victory conditions.

I thought about the possible parameters here and excluded two options entirely, these are Science Victory and Score victory. Science was disabled for reasons that will be more obvious as I further explain the setting. For now, suffice to say that it is almost impossible to win in this manner with the settings I use.

Score was also disabled simply because my games can go to several hundred turns, so it would be very difficult for me to select the parameters required here.






One final note on the Victory conditions. I'm not certain what will happen if one of my adversaries achieves the win with one of these. In other words, will I have the option to refuse their win as I do with the council vote? I hope to find out.

Finally let's take a look at the game set-up

We have a gigantic galaxy, spiral shape, and the distance modifier set at maximum. There's a very practical reason for the size and distance, while the shape is an aesthetic choice.

In my previous AAR I was defeated. That made me examine why and look for a solution. The reason for the loss was not pushing on early, an actual lack of aggression. The solution was simple. My settings give the AIs excellent worlds around them, while I get stuck with backwaters. The key is to take some of the AI worlds, preferably with the Alien population present in a timely manner. Once this is done, the conquered worlds act as the engine of my expansion while my own worlds become secondary. By increasing the size of the galaxy and the distance, this strategy becomes more difficult to execute and less viable. This is going to be as clean of a contest as I can make it.

Events, Monsters, Minors, and specials are all set to few. I like and enjoy these things, but by keeping the settings low I'm hoping to reduce the element of luck and the role it will play in the contest.

Note that technology has been set at 12% and production at 75%, this is true both for myself and the AI factions, no bonuses were given. (Trust me when I say that with these settings, the initial head start the AI receives in population, infrastructure, technology, and good worlds to colonize near-by, are near insurmountable).



With all the preliminaries out of the way, let's see what kind of start I generated



Hmm, not bad, not good. A near central location that will be hard to defend, offset by multiple avenues of expansion.

Turn one has me sending out the Frigates for some (limited) intel, researching Economic capital, and initiating the construction of an outpost.

There are reasons behind each choice, reasons that will become clearer as the session advances.

 

Money!

One of my primary concerns in the very early game is the treasury. The goal is to generate wealth quickly for the inevitable arrival of leaders, and possible arrival of events that will require some cash. This is the reason my first research choice is the economic cap. My intent is to have this facility be requested by the first colony leader I hire and set to govern Terra. It's obvious that for a long time, my most populous colony will be home-world, what better place for the economic capital then? As a bonus, I will also be in a position to satisfy a leader desire quickly.

I processed some turns and rapidly had a decision to make, this being my first cultural choice. I have to point out that there is no right or wrong choice here, no optimal decision to take, rather it is situational; and a matter of preference.

My own decision is based on my own style of play, one that is similar to a chess game and plans far ahead. let me briefly explain why I did what I did, and just as importantly, why I didn't do something else.

At this stage of the game cultural advancement is rapid, the first choice then is like a freebie because soon another opportunity will arise.

I discounted going with an evolutionary pick for two main reasons. First, it is too early to increase the cost of all future leaders by 20%, and second, it is also far too early to not be able to dismiss a leader should I choose to do so.

I also skipped the adventure choices at this time because there was no compelling reason to go that route this early. I'm still not done exploring and have no idea where and when my first colony will be founded.

Knowledge was also not attractive at this time, as I wouldn't be able to exploit the benefits that choice afforded for quite some time. That left only Wealth to consider.

Here I had two choices, some free outpost ships (and a bonus to their production), or giving my race a permanent plus 1 to production. I had found numerous asteroid fields already so the outposts would have made sense...except I was a very long time away from being able to research the tech that would allow me to exploit the fields. By the process of elimination then I went with this...

Not only would I get an instant small boost to my production rate by this choice, but every world I settle in the future will benefit as well. This decision is also made more attractive by the fact that the longer it is in play, the greater the cumulative effect.

Three turns later my initial exploration of the systems in range was complete and I had discovered a huge swamp world (of unknown quality) at Cruant. In all likelihood it will be here that my first colony will be founded.

 

I recalled my ships and continued apace, soon I had another culture decision to make. This time the choice was easier in a sense.

You may have noticed that my race has the Resilient Settlers attribute, and in a game where research speed is set at 12%, I have to sacrifice a lot of research. That means I wont be developing any colonization technology at all, and must rely solely on this perk to settle new worlds. For that perk to fire though, I must have at least two adventure picks.

So choosing the field was easy, the decision between a free colony ship (and accelerated colony ship production), or an increase in speed was not. Obviously I really wanted the colony ship because at this stage of the game they are very hard to produce, not to mention it could be scrapped for cash if the need arose. On the other hand I'm playing on the largest map possible with distance set at maximum, meaning that speed will be vital to my survival when things get hot. Reluctantly I chose the increase in speed.


Shortly after that my Homeworld gained an infrastructure level, not only did I make a selection, I did this...


I altered the allocation of production so that 80% was now going to construction, This and the infrastructure selection giving a bonus to ship production dramatically accelerated the time required for me construct ships (and buildings to a lesser extent).

Three turns later I hired my first leader, take a look at the screenshot as I want to offer some context to what you see below.



The most obvious thing depicted in the shot is that I had the choice to hire 'Fish' 15 turns ago but did not, there's a good explanation for that.

In the early game, more often than not, the first colony leader that will become available for hire will be someone of low level. The problem there is that if I had hired 'Fish', the only place I could send him now is my Homeworld, and once there, his desire will fire and he'll ask for the only thing he can, that Econ Cap I wrote about in the previous posts. If I execute the desire, he'll get some bonuses that will only be active as long as he stays in my HW. In other words I would be stuck with this guy in the only world worth a damn for a very long time. That's why rather than take him, I gambled and waited to see if someone better would come along. As it turns out the gamble paid off, but only slightly, 'Mickey" is marginally better.

Also note Seth. He will be hired but only right before my next cultural advancement where I will select the free survey ship. Usually that Survey ship comes with a leader that has the explorer trait, but sometimes such a leader is not available. When this happens an existing ship leader will gain the explorer attribute. However, if the player has no ship leaders, then he/she is SOL. So with Seth as a guarantee, I'll get the most out of the pick and could always dismiss him (to save on his salary), should an explorer be available.

Guess what, when I reached that cultural decision, no explorer was available, Seth now has that attribute.



Good, now I can colonize the Huge swamp world at Cruant, (which will make a fine location for a Research Cap one day due to the large Pop capacity), and get some serious exploration underway.

 

First the screen shot, then the explanation...



So, what do you see?

Mickey's desire for an econ cap has fired, (just as I planned); and soon it will be fulfilled giving my treasury a nice boost.

Cruant II has been colonized. Note that the the first thing I did here, (and what I do on all new colonies), is that planetary production is set 100% towards infrastructure development. This will allow the planet to gain a level quickly, (big help that), after which PP (planetary production) will be allocated 40% towards construction with the rest evenly split. This will give me balanced growth for a while and allow me to shift my attention elsewhere while the colony develops.

Research on Nuclear Missiles is underway, once that is complete, I will design and produce a better frigate...just in case.

You can also see that Seth has been busy exploring, he has uncovered ruins, discovered a source of Helium 3, and gained a level.

(My research decision will be militarized Fusion, that should allow me to increase the speed of my ships even more if need to quickly).

Did you notice that the ruins have not been explored? This is another intentional gamble. I'm treating ruins like a resource, and by waiting to explore them until the session progresses further, I'm increasing the chance of something valuable being discovered, particularly a ship or two. The gamble is that if they get searched by someone else first, the chances of discovering something good diminish.

Now something you don't see, namely the Rich, Large, swamp world at Proa. This is concerning because it can mean one of two things. One I got lucky, or two, either the Dragul or the Palacean are nearby. (In the case of the Palacean, it could be disastrous should I encounter them early).

 

Seth finished his exploratory tour by turn 59, gaining two levels in the process, and bringing his skill at exploration up to advanced. I now decided to play some ping-pong with him. From his position at Thecitune I would send him back to Proa so he could rummage through the ruins there, and then bring him back down to Phloc to do the same. I purposely chose this round-about course in an effort to let more turns pass before he commenced his searches.



At Proa I scored big, and found Wan Ironshard skulking about. I hired old Wan of course as he would make an excellent governor for my colony at Cruant. When Seth arrived at Phloc he had far less luck, finding only a small amount of credits, (a little over 100BC). However that was enough for him to level up yet again, and I was able to advance him to expert level explorer. So what did I do? I left the ruins at Phloc without exploring them a second time and sent his weary butt back to Proa for another look. I found the "Condor".

(In a session with default research settings, the Condor is of little utility as it will be quickly outclassed, in this session with research at 12%, that ship will be useful for a long time. Don't get me wrong, it's not the kind of ship you can use to storm the galaxy as it's quite fragile, but it will serve well as something to build my early defenses around. Don't forget that with AI settings in this play-through, the opposition starts with both class I shields and nukes already researched. That means I'm at a clear disadvantage right now as I have neither).

By now Seth must have been getting dizzy from the back and forth, nevertheless he returned to Ploc, and in the second search of those ruins, found a large stash of cash (over 700 BC). This was great because...



I had waited till the last possible moment to hire Miss Adams, it's not that I didn't want her sooner, but her salary was a concern at this stage, now with my treasury swollen by Seth's efforts, the choice was easier to make. While I don't have much of a fleet at this point, Tamara will bring a bonus both to my research efforts, and my cultural progress, this is most welcome. ( Pike will also be hired at the last moment, he's far too valuable to pass up...but damn is he expensive).

Speaking of my fleet...are you ready to laugh? Here is my first design, created right after I finished research on Nuclear missiles



In my defense, I can say that it's at least better than my starting units, plus a few of these with the Condor serving as the back-bone of my navy, means I can breath a (small) sigh of relief.

During this time I attained another cultural advancement, this time I went back to the wealth field as my goal is to get that central pick which will increase the taxes my pops generate. (Money is important folks).



Seth was now recalled to Cruant, and the ruins at Pioplint left untouched. (I will hold these in reserve until much later). The immediate goal now is to finish research on Asteroid Mining so that I can feed some extra production to Helios.

 

The medium asteroid belt at Pioplint was settled, and the production geared towards Helios. A side affect of this action was that another system (barely) fell into my logistical range. I sent Seth to investigate the system (and add some more miles to his frequent flyer program)

This system, Wuf, also contained a set of ruins, and is it was located at the extreme periphery of my range, I decided to explore it fully at once. The primary search yielded some information in a far off sector, but the secondary search yielded another ship, the Stellar Flare. (Again, a ship with little value in a normal session, but adequate for this one, one on one, it should be able to defeat any AI ship of its class).

This came at a price though, Seth leveled up again and demanded a merit raise which I was in no position to grant. (The treasury was already running a per turn deficit). He's quite unhappy now, and I need to have him cool off for a while and hope he doesn't get any funny ideas about desertion.



Soon after I finished construction of a colony ship, and settled the Huge, ( previously mistakenly reported as large), rich swamp world at Proa. With this second huge world in my domain, my plan is to use the infrastructure mechanic to fully exploit Aero space engineering on one world, and Civil engineering in the other, thus gaining some nice empire-wide benefits.

The colonization of Proa brought more systems into range, and Seth was off on his travels once again. However, before Seth could conclude his escapades, I reached another cultural milestone. My treasury went into the black as a result



I also managed to discover a minor alien race nearby, (Seth is parked in orbit around their homeworld and doing his thing). I haven't encountered any AIs yet, though I did see a Cerrix ship flying around towards the east of Helios. Of all the AIs, these guys don't scare me, they tend to get squashed easily in most sessions I've played.

 

By default, expansion and development were now my primary goals.

A second medium asteroid belt was now aiding the production of my HW, and the dark matter available at Atriea was being exploited. (An additional outpost ship was also under construction with the intent being to set up a research facility at the medium asteroid belt in the same system).
The minor race at Ragiyama was also surveyed fully, allowing me to choose the benefit that would apply. I selected a +6% bonus on all research fields. This minor race was important enough that I would defend the world if need be, and also hoped that it would eventually come under my complete and solitary control once Proa developed further.

Seth was traveling again now, looking to survey yet another system that had come into range.

I patted myself on the back when Wan asked for a Research cap, it is exactly what I wanted. Then my good luck continued and Sophia Santini showed up looking for a job, she now governs Proa.

 

Seven short turns later, I gained enough basic tech to design a new series of ships, this time it wasn't just Frigates.

Let's take a quick look at what I will now have available.



We'll start with the lowly Frigate, and it's similar to my first design with the notable improvement of sporting a class II shield.



Next we have my Destroyer class. Here we sport a couple of heavy Lasers, a nuke missile battery, and single PD weapon. This ship is a nice upgrade over the stock Destroyer, but still not powerful.



The Cruiser shown above actually has some firepower. This ship has one more heavy Laser compared to the Destroyer, three times the missile firepower, and much better PD capabilities.



And finally we have the Battleship class, which is basically the equivalent of two Cruisers.

I don't know how many Ships I'll be able to produce before the next class gets designed, but that isn't the point. I'm looking to have a number of units available for the eventual refits that will come down the road, it's always quicker to upgrade ships versus building them from scratch. Obviously as none of these ships have bomb racks, they aren't intended for offensive purposes, but rather defensive.

Now let me show you the researched technology that allowed these designs to come into play, as well as the research path that I need to complete in order for more potent classes of ships to come into being. Right now I estimate that the research queue I've set will be completed around turn 200...which is actually good for the settings I enabled at start-up.



I'll close with a shot of the strategic situation, note that the ruins at Pioplint still remained un-touched, I hope to hold them that way until after I've gained some level three techs and the game has gone past 200 turns.

 

Another cultural milestone was soon reached, and while I really wanted to take the evolutionary pick here, I was dissuaded by the fact that it would have increased the cost of my leaders considerably. I opted for another advance in Adventure, not really caring for the choice, but as this will be the first field that I fully exploit it isn't a wasted pick


I then continued with routine activities, and eventually uncovered a large, poor, Terran world at Gliudub; which was soon after colonized. A quick clarification about this colony is in order. Not only is it fairly distant, but that tiny Nebula between it and Oplaa prevents me from traveling from my HW directly to my new possession. This means the colony will be difficult to defend if the need arises, and sooner rather than later I will need to upgrade my drive tech.

Obviously this meant that more uncharted systems fell into my logistical range, and Seth, (who has been serving the Empire since the Triassic period), was off once again. He discovered more ruins at Uipra and searched them thoroughly, discovering another huge pile of cash.


Interestingly enough, I still haven't met any aliens, but I have seen Draguul, Kaek, and additional Cerrix vesels traveling the ether, someone is out there close by, and it's only a matter of time before they show themselves.

 

Once the following Cultural milestone was reached, I waited no longer and took the first evolutionary pick which granted me Android leaders...and a 20% increase in the salary of my existing biological bosses. This put my treasury back in the red.



All the research I needed for my next class of ships to be designed was completed on turn 196, it turns out my initial estimate was very accurate. Here's a look at the ship classes, I expect these to stay in play well over a hundred turns

My Frigates now feature better armor and the main Laser has been removed, this is balanced by the increased firepower of the Nuclear Missiles which now have the ECCM, Fast, and MIRV modifiers. In essence this is now a missile boat, limited in its capabilities but intended to bolster the ranks and firepower of other ships



The Destroyers feature the same Missile system, but also sport two Heavy, Auto-fire, Lasers as main weapons. These guys will be able to fight even if their complement of missiles is exhausted.



Our Cruisers were also upgraded nicely, effectively offering the firepower of two Destroyers in a single hull



Finally my Battleships, which now feature Bomb racks. These beauties mean that offensive actions can come into play



At this time, I also sent out a colony ship to settle a large Ice world WU. There was nothing but hostile biomes near by, so I chose the best of the lot to colonize. Research was now geared towards Fusion Drive, which by itself was nothing to brag about, however with my bonus, it meant an effective strategic speed of 5 would be attained.

 

Wu was settled, and that brought another system into range. Seth discovered another set of ruins there and upon exploring them...found another pile of cash. (Hmm, not too happy with that, it's a bit repetitive).



Two turns later, the Cerixx finally made an appearance. I have to tell you, I dislike these guys. (It isn't for their abilities in-game mind you, but rather the fact that I liken them to the introduction of Ewoks in the Star Wars Franchise. Empire strikes back was dark, and perhaps the pinnacle of those movies, Introducing "cute" Muppets in the sequel may have been great for little kids, but I was in my late teens. Similarly I don't feel the Cerixx are right for the core audience here. Their premise is solid, but the cute factor combined with the constant reminder of Vizzini in Princess Bride...I don't know)

Anyway, here's a shot showing our respective positions on the strategic map



And here is another shot indicating that they lead my Empire in all metrics.



The deranged Ewoks had the audacity to quickly demand a 25% tribute. I wanted to answer with a string of profanities that would make a lady of the evening blush, but as that was not an option, I simply declined instead.

I also made a promise to myself that there would be no repeat of my last AAR that saw me defeated by an AI avalanche, and I decided to prepare for war, total war, no half-baked attempts. There will be no peace, and no quarter.

The problem was my fleet, which was still tiny. After my only Cruiser was upgraded, I sent Seth to Pliopos to tap the ruins there, hoping for some luck. The first search yielded more credits, and I felt my blood pressure rise, but I lucked out in the subsequent effort and discovered "Demolisher" . This is a good ship, but not great as it's very vulnerable even to my own designs, however its main benefit was the bomb racks it was equipped with. I had no Battleships available yet, and the Demolisher would be able to partially fill that role until one was constructed.

By 212, I was on the move and targeting the Cerixx system at Sicconus, the assault force consisted of 2 Cruisers, 2 Destroyers and 3 Frigates, (which included all my found ships), under Seth's command. Seth had now reached a level where he could command Cruisers, and desired to do so in battle. This was a great way to make him happy again.

Below you can see the forces that constitute my entire Navy, attacking now is a gamble, but just as in real life, sometimes you go into battle with the forces you have, not the forces you wish you had.

 

I took Sicconus, it was a poor system of little value, that offered some funds and a tiny boost to research. My opponents did not contest the move.

The Cerixx quickly established a new outpost at Freyeon, a system that had been hidden up until now. I took that too. Eventually the Cerixx did attempt some raids, but I forced them to withdraw as I had superior forces on hand.



Things got a bit hot shortly after, and we fought two battles.

The first was at Tatlairs, where a single enemy Cruiser attempted to park. I had no large ships to spare against this interloper, but I did send two separate groups to engage them. These units arrives simultaneously and I expected the enemy Cruiser to withdraw, much to my surprise, it engaged me instead. I fired a volley of missiles from my smaller ships that knocked the Cruiser's shield down and caused some internal damage, the second volley finished her.


This was the side show however, a larger battle took place at Sicconus, and the Cerixx sent a sizeable force (for this stage) to retake the system. This battle was difficult, I had to withdraw the Demolisher quickly lest she be lost, and one of the enemy Cruisers was equipped with a chaos chain weapon (which was quite worrisome to me). I deflected this attack but the Condor was lost in the process.

P.S.
A quick edit as I forgot to provide some vital information. I attempted to board and capture the last enemy Cruiser. Once my marines took control of the ship, it self destructed . So be it, I will kill them all in future battles and not take any risks.


(As a side note, I reloaded the save here and had the AI determine this battle twice, both times it gave the victory to the Cerixx, make what you will of that)

Having defeated what I considered a substantial enemy force, I took a quick look at our respective fleet standings after the battle...oops.



After the outcome of these two favorable actions, I decided to press the attack and targeted the only system in range, the Cerixx colony at Gumuliv.

 

"Logistics is the ball and chain of armored warfare"
-Heinz Guderian

Actually, logistics is the ball and chain of all warfare, even in ISG. I'll come to that again at the end of this post.

I assaulted Gumuliv and captured a fledgling Cerixx colony intact, but without gaining any tech from the invasion. The barren planet in question had ruins, and these must have been a Galactic garage because the primary search yielded the "Mothership" while the secondary the "Starhammer". You can also see that the planet is ultra-rich and offers a tolerable biome to the Cerixx.

(Note, this occurrence, finding two ships in one set of ruins, is rare, but I've encountered it a few times in the countless sessions I played. Perhaps the only difference I can see is that it usually didn't happen this late).

Now these two ships were a big help, especially the Mothership with its bomb racks... if only I had somewhere to use it.



As you see from the shot, (which i tried to cram as much info as possible into), the only available target for my forces is Xoth, and there is no colony there, just an outpost. That means bombs aren't needed. Oh, and Seth, he asked for another Merit raise, this time I was too afraid to refuse him and he got it.

As I continued my efforts another cultural pick was gained. This netted me a new android leader for my ships and I continued my quest to finish the adventure field.



My empire continued to produce additional ships, and my fleet took Xoth. I also searched more ruins at Ugantu and came up with lots of credits. Then I hit a brick wall, thanks to logistics, (or logistical range more specifically).

There are no more enemy systems within my reach, so I'll need to devote some research to redressing that deficiency. In the meantime, my enemy can build up his defenses . Oh, there is something else. A rogue planet must exist directly to the east of Xoth, I've seen numerous Cerixx ships "disappear" there. My remote exploration efforts are now focused on finding this hidden base so that my fleet can take it out. It's far too dangerous to let my opponent deploy a force so close to the front line, without my ability to detect it. (That is one of the things that I find so cool about ISG, the strategic nuances are outstanding at times).



Now I've just finished downloading 1.6.1, but as it's late here and I'm fatigued, I'll install it in the morning and resume my galactic rampage.

 

Research was now geared towards designing a new class of ships. I had completed the study of Intel center, (which became Santini's desire and was fulfilled, thus making her super-happy), as well as the Industrial conglomerate which was under construction at Helios. This would allow me to gain the first Galactic wonder and perhaps pursue victory in that fashion, or at the very least, deny it to anyone else. I also advanced my logistic range.

Here's a shot of what I've concluded, and the path that will lead me to a new class of ships. Bear in mind, I will also need to research a level 5 weapon for this to work, that will be neutronium shells in order to give my Particle accelerators some added punch. My goal here is to switch to kinetic weapons and never look back. (In almost all the sessions I've played, I encounter an opponent with neutronium armor which makes beam weapons useless, I need to ensure that I'm ready for such an eventuality).


With my newly acquired range I was ready to resume my offensive. At the same time, my remote exploration efforts discovered the Cerixx hidden base on a rogue planet at Iju. I chose to attack there first.


The attack proceed to plan, but I had to lay siege to the planet while I waited for an additional assault ship to arrive. I only had one of these units at Iju and didn't want to risk an invasion, or reduce the small population there before doing so.

By the time I was ready to take Iju, I also had to fend off a Cerixx raid at Wu, I won that battle by losing it. It seems I underestimated the alien ship, (which was armed similarly to my own but better shielded), and lost the Stellar Flare without being able to take down the enemy Destroyer before it made its escape.



Once the invasion of Iju was complete, I found myself in possession of another Ultra-rich world, it was small, but ideal for the conquered Cerixx population inhabiting it. (Here you see the effect of my at-start settings, the Ai has many excellent worlds nearby which would soon be mine)

Looking at the over-all situation, my intention was to completely take out the Cerixx and add all their systems to my empire. However I did notice that with such a large map, and maximum distances, it would be difficult to defend such a stretched out domain without many more ships and faster drive tech. The first I can rectify quickly, the drive tech...will have to wait for quite a while as I estimate I need over a hundred turns to finish the research needed to introduce a new class of ships. Perhaps I'll get lucky and steal some (required) techs from the Cerixx, but right now, after two invasions, I've gained nothing from them in that regard.



Edit.

I forgot to mention that Iju has a special granting an additional research point to ever pop in the empire, very valuable that as between the minor race I encountered, my custom race, and this find, each one of my pops will have a +3 research bonus.

Sweet

 

I stalled my offensive as I waited for additional assault ship to arrive at the front, while also giving time for assimilation of the Cerixx pops to take hold. Then shortly afterwards the Palacean made contact.



The lobsters were far enough to be of no concern at the moment, and only a wormhole, (which past experience made me believe they would not exploit), allowed contact between us. I took a look at the relative empire metrics to ascertain what type of threat these guys were.



Ok, the Lobsters were superior to me but not decisively so. I also noticed that my tech had surpassed that of the Cerixx as had my fleet. The latter development was partially the result of my increased navy, but I also suspected that my foes were fighting the Sulak. (I had noticed that possession of the Cerixx outposts at Ostara and Fex had changed hands a few times).

For their part the Cerixx stayed quite with the exception of a single major raid, even after I had taken another outpost of theirs at Jugrooys. It was also evident that they were using yet another rogue planet as secret base, this time to the North-East of Sicconus. I focused my efforts on finding this base and taking it.

That raid I mentioned happened at Freyeon, and I met the miscreants with equal forces. When our respective ships dropped into battle, I targeted their forward most ship which was unable to withstand the combined missile salvo of my fleet, (which included one of my home-grown Battleships). The enemy Cruiser went down, but the rest of the enemy ships made good their escape.



Now I see another raiding force approaching, but this time it's small. In the meanwhile, my assault ships are almost arrived at Iju. I hope to strike the enemy Homeworld next.

 

I sprung my assault and entered orbit around Arbitros where the Cerixx put up an ineffective defense. After destroying the orbital base and solitary enemy ship there, I bombed the planet and took down it's planetary shield and marine barracks. I opted not to perform a ground invasion straight away, but rather conduct additional bombing runs to both reduce the infrastructure level to one, (I don't trust the AI in developing planets and prefer to do it myself, even on conquered worlds), and to also reduce the population to a level where my all too few assault ships could take it.



The Cerixx for their part are are attempting another raid at Riatune by a single Destroyer, Kataki is already on the way with three small ships, (1DD, 2FF), to meet them. As for Adams and her more powerful task force, I pulled her from Freyeon and set her course to Phloc. The reason behind this last move was the Kaek ships assembled at Thecitune. (South central area of the map). That Kaek force included colony ships, and I was not about to let anyone set up shop that close to my core systems.



Sure enough, on the following turn the Kaek colonized Thecitune, thereby establishing contact with my Empire, meanwhile Arbitros was bombed again.

Once more I zoomed out the Galactic map so I could show everyone's relevant position to you. The Kaek seem to have a sizeable nation, but they signed their own death warrant by coming so close to my systems. I will now prepare for a two-front war.



A quick look at the Empire metrics indicates that the Kaek are more powerful than my own state, but less powerful than the Palacean, I should handle them easily when the time comes. You can also note that the minor race I discovered at Ragiyama is now completely within my territory.



Arbitros eventually fell, (again I gained no tech from the invasion), and the Cerixx offered peace...which I declined. Perhaps I'll accept vassalage, but peace? Oh no, I have every intention of going for the jugular now that I have them on the ropes. My remote exploration efforts also uncovered that other rogue planet the Cerixx were using near Sicconus. While one force holds Arbitros, I dispatched Seth with another to take the newly uncovered world at Silux. During this timespan I also chased away the Cerixx Destroyer that attempted to raid Riatune.

At Phloc, Adams awaits while I build, and feed her a couple of assault ships, once they arrive, I'll attack the Kaek as well.

 

I grabbed the colony at Silux as well, the invasion failed to gain any tech, however the search of the ruins there yielded more credits and the Propulsion data core. That latter gift will come in handy at some point, but for the here and now it didn't affect the overall situation much.

Now I have to tell you, I had a change of heart and decided to offer the Cerixx a chance to escape being annihilated, I proposed they surrender to me. Their response was negative.



Fair enough I thought to myself, so I proceeded to prepare myself for a continuance of hostilities, but I guess the Cerixx thought things through, (or they are just schizo), because two turns later...they offered to surrender.



Ok...I accepted, and this is where things started to get interesting, as I too displayed some Dissociative identity disorder traits. But let me backtrack.

Once the Cerixx became my vassals, it increased my logistical range and I could now see the Sulak who were indeed in a state of war with my new wards. More than that, the Cerixx were not doing well, and I reasoned it would only get worse for them now.

Here are the positions by the way



And here are the metrics



While my Empire had left the gutter of the rankings, it did have the number two fleet, this was an advantage I wanted to use quickly.

And so, not only am I preparing to attack the Kaek, I've also sent a fleet to help my new fur-ball friends and hunt some Sulak at Fex. No, this is not me being a good-guy, this is about making sure my subjects don't fall, I may need their votes at some point in the future.

Besides, what fun is there without some risk?

 

Lots of action my friends, in a short time span.

Kaek front

I attacked the Kaek colony at Thecitune. It was a tiny world, but the Kaek already had it at infrastructure level 5, whereas my own tiny worlds cap at 3. I decided to take it intact without damaging it so I could retain this bonus on the world in question. Unfortunately, once again, the invasion did not yield any tech.

Let me tell you, the Kaek were not too pleased and responded with a flurry of counterattacks, aided by their superior (to my own), hyperdrive tech. (The fact that their ships also boasted class V shields versus my own that were outfitted with class II didn't help).

At Phloc I destroyed one of their Cruisers, at Helios I chased off a Destroyer. Pike of course decided that was a good time to ask for leave so he could enter the intergalactic poker game at Las Vegas. I granted this, which not only reduced my SSP, but also hurt my current research efforts. Now the Kaek are counter-attacking Thecitune, but the forces attempting to do so are weak.

Sulak front

My fleet arrived at Fexx just as my Cerixx Vassals did, there were no Sulak there so I didn't attack. This allowed my new-found pets to retake one of the outposts in that System. The bad news (for the Cerixx) was that the Sulak attacked and occupied the colony at Latveria. I decided to act. The units at Flex were quickly dispatched to Latveria in the hopes of eliminating any Sulak forces in orbit, and possibly triggering a revolt that would return the colony to my vassals without further intervention from me.

I clashed with a Sulak force here of equal strength to my own, and had it not been for my attempt to capture a damaged vessel, (which repaired itself and escaped), I would have wiped the enemy forces out completely.




Studying the situation, I came to the short-term conclusion that my next target would be the Sulak held outpost(s) at Gazaya, while my forces dedicated to the Kaek would attempt to deflect the incoming attacks at Thecitune and Grao. After that, I identified the Kaek outpost at Atrocriols as a priority target that would need to be taken. The Kaek enjoy both excellent speed and range, it's important that I reduce that range quickly lest some of their units manage to slip through my lines and cause havoc.

 

Every player has different tastes, I understand that. But speaking for myself, I absolutely love what these map settings have done to the game.

I've played a few sessions on the largest map possible, spiral shaped galaxy, and maximum distance. Each time I notice that the game environment has been altered and made far more interesting. The AI empires for example follow a more logical course when expanding, and the distances mean that not only does speed and range become a vital factor in conducting operations, but the AIs also benefit from my inability to conduct massive, multitargeted attacks in a single turn. (In past iterations of ISG, one of my favorite strategies was to start a conflict by attacking multiple enemy systems on the same turn, and dealing a crippling blow quickly. This is nowhere near as possible now).

It's also quite challenging to cover such distances and defend effectively. My fleets are not able to support one another as well as I have become accustomed to. That means I have to keep multiple fleets available on the map, and devote efforts to increasing range. Right now, I can only do one of the two as my research efforts are elsewhere.

This session here is also following the same pattern described above, with one single exception, something so rare that I have never encountered it before. Where is everybody else? I've never played the game with these settings and gone 300+ turns without the galactic vote kicking in. Very interesting that...

Sulak front

Latveria did indeed revolt and the Cerixx resumed possession of the system. The Sulak then sent a single Battleship to attack my colony at Arbitros. The ship was captured. I quickly sent the captive BB to Helios for refit...but that means six turns travel time! I followed that up by destroying a Sulak Cruiser at Aliri. For their part the Sulak were not able to contest me in space, however they framed me (twice) for espionage actions against the Cerixx.

I have to tell you, this annoyed me. I'm not very fond of game mechanics that the player has no way of countering. In theory I could send my own spies to try and influence the Sulak leaders and counter in that fashion. Practically though, this would be a time consuming effort with no guarantee of sucess, it simply isn't viable. What to do?

Wipe them out.

I decided that the quickest way of making the Sulak stop these pesky espionage actions, is to exterminate them, or at the very least, bomb them back into the stone-age and let my vassals pick up whatever they can. With that in mind, I attacked the Sulak colony at T1it, with the goal being annihilation instead of capture.


The forces defending the system were crushed, and the bombing run that followed killed half the population there. The problem though is that the vast majority of Sulak space is outside my range. It may be necessary to capture a system and hold it in order to genocide these guys, but that will mean bringing up another fleet into the theater.



Kaek front

The enemy base at Atrocriols was destroyed. Following that I deflected the occasional Kaek raid, but there were no major actions here, which was a good thing. The Kaek now have neutronium armor coating, that means only my missiles are keeping them at bay. Combined with their calss V shields, it's making it very difficult to destroy their ships, and I've only managed to kill off one Frigate and one Destroyer.

What I really want to do here, and what I must do, is attack and capture the Kaek colony at Unotov. I'm just not certain of success if I take this action now, and feel I must strengthen the attack fleet before making the attempt. Of course I will also need to leave behind a considerable force to deal with any possible counter-strike. The Kaek have hyperdrive, and their fast ships can easily strike any location close to the front that isn't defended.

For the time being then, I am at a stalemate with the bugs, I will take no further offensive moves until more units can come on line.



Overall the situation is good, but not great. My fleet is far larger than anything my opponents have (which is fortuitous as regards the Kaek), but the Kaek have a commanding lead in tech. Hopefully when the time comes, I can make some gains and steal some for myself.




I'm now studying the situation and considering options. Pike has returned from his sojourn, which is good, but I'm still a long way off from being able to design, (much less produce), a new class of ships. Perhaps the most logical course is to hold the lines against the Kaek, establish a forward base close to the Sulak, and look to use my superior ship numbers in advantageous ways. Then, once I have ships that can deal with neutronium armor more effectively, I can really bring the fight to the bugs.

 

I reached another cultural milestone on the next turn, this one I've been waiting for with eager anticipation.

First I recruited another Android commander for my fleet, (the sequence is important, recruit first), and then I chose...



This meant a blanket promotion for everyone, including my just hired leader. I went to work and leveled them all up, granting Kataki's merit raise in the process.



In addition to the guys you see, I also have the talented Miss Adams, and of course, my great explorer Seth.

Now lets talk a bit about leaders, especially ship leaders.

It's true that today and throughout history, there have been men and women that fought for money. However, I've met many military types in my life, and only a tiny fraction of them were motivated by cash, (those usually being contractors). At one point, I myself enlisted. There were multiple reasons why I did that, money was not one of those reasons.

So why do I bring this up?

If you play ISG and use biological leaders to fight, once they get a few battles under their belt, they invariably get the "greedy" trait. Every time, without fail, almost without exception. I don't particularly find this to be "fun" as a player. It would be one thing if there was some variety, (some turn greedy, others become patriotic, perhaps even some suffer from PTSD, etc). But there is no variety, they fight, they get greedy.

Because????

Playing as a human based species I at least have an out. When I know the fighting will be non-stop, I use Android leaders if available, (it's why Beta 181 is so leveled up). But I would really like to see Adam either tone down the chances of Greedy firing, or introduce a few other traits into the mix.

Now back to the action.

Sulak front

Where are they getting all these ships? I must admit that the energetic Sulak response to my actions caught me by surprise, and forced me to abandon any thoughts of crushing them for the time being.

I fought them at Ostara



Then at Biks



Then at Fex



And back at Ostara again



I also saw Latveria fall a second time, forcing me to chase the Sulak away (and watch it revolt a second time). I visually scanned all the Sulak ships (that I could see) in the area, and was shocked to find over two dozen combat ships, including five Battleships. It was obvious that if not for my expeditionary force in the theater, the Cerixx would be doomed. At least the Sulak had poor drive tech, which allowed me to avoid getting caught by large forces and being destroyed. Still, it seems all I am doing here is keeping the enemy off balance and a bay, I am not making headway against them.

I wanted to get some additional units to Beta-181 quickly, but seeing as none are available, I decided I would let the newly captured Sulak BB stay with his force. It's better than nothing.

Kaek front

I know that in my previous post I laid out good reasons for staying on the defensive on this front. I also proposed a reasonable course of action that could be taken down the road. Well you know me, (or maybe you don't), at some point I said to myself "screw it Chris, it's a game, go for it!"

Adams is now on the move and headed towards the Kaek colony at Unotov. She has 2BB, 1CA, 2DD, and 3FF with her. She also has all four of my assault ships. The travel time is two turns, meaning that the Kaek will have a chance to react.

Fair enough, if it goes bad, I'll just role play it as politicians making poor decisions that the military has to live with. We'll see how it goes...