Die Arceans. Die.

from Stardock Forums
So rather than being my normal war-mongering self, I decided to play a game being as peaceful as possible. Go for the tech/cultural win, if at all possible. This was my 4th game overall, and I was playing medium/scattered/abundent with normal to below-normal opponents. My first problem was placement...I was stuck in a corner with the Drenegans to my "north", Altarians to my "east", and Arceans to my "northeast". I was able to grab 7 systems and 4 resources, but after that I was pinned in, so I started cranking out the star bases and tech. Bringing in tons of money, techs were very strong and my influence was climbing rapidly. One problem, I had neglected the military. Sure enough, the Arceans start demanding tribute and when I decline their offer, the come a charging with a whole fleet of Corvetts. Luckily, I could build BattleAxes and just play defensive and let him break his waves of corvettes on my Axes. I also used my Trade Goods to convince every other race to delcare war against them. Maxing out my military spending, I was able to crank out the Axes and fight off the attack to the point where the Arceans sued for peace offering all of their tech to me even though I had never entered a single sector owned by them.

So I kick back to my tech/trade strategy and start slowly taking over systems by culture. I'm totally focused on my trade and culture techs, totally bypassing the military ones. That was my mistake.

Time passes...

In sending a freighter to the far reaches of the galaxy I see something that I didn't like. Our old friends the Arceans had built a dreadnaught. Not good. Maybe it is time to catch up on my military tech...but it is too late. A FLEET of 'naughts comes crashing in on my right flank, followed soon by one straight from the north. I had to pull all of my defenses back to my planets to try to buy time to research dreadnaughts and get some built, but it was all for 'naught (haha).

They unstoppably, inexorably moved through my systems taking one after another.

I hate them.

My next game, they are going to be set to fool level and I don't care about winning...just punishing them. I may even set every other race to Genius just to watch them get crushed.

Anyone else get emotionally involved in this game?
323 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
LOL

> Anyone else get emotionally involved in this game?

Yeah, but with me, it was a minor race, the I-League.
So in the next game, as soon as I saw them, I crushed them...satisfaction :)
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
I, too, loathe the Arceans. They seem to always be the first ones to try to extort from me. I *will* have my revenge.

As a matter of fact, I've already had my revenge. They paid through the nose for peace after I obliterated most of their navy. Now their relationship with me is "Warm." Isn't that touching?

RR
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Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Wow... I used to hate the Drengin like that. Now, I have a really cool alliance with the Drengin against the Arceans. They too really got going on the military side and I found myself catching up. Now I am slowly (very) gaining some ground, but one random event or one big push from the Acreans will finish me if I'm not careful.

This has been a terrific load of fun!
-Anx
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
What do you mean? the Arceans have the heart of a Saint!And Im sure the Saint wants it back!!I have posted of my hatred for the Arcceans.First in backstabbing,last in willing to form Alliances.If the Drengin ever took over their worlds,I would gladly provide the cole slaw!!
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Watching the military power graph is the key to avoiding these sorts of situations. The computer AIs are like humans in that they tend to build in waves, usually after researching a particular ship tech. So when an AI's mlitary power has been stable for awhile and you see it start to climb you need to decide whether you need to immediately start cranking out defensive ships. Unless you have a commanding military lead then you usually do.

Also, make sure and keep track of where they are on the dreadnaught tech beeline using your trade window. When you see them get battleship tech you know dreads are very close, and when they get dreads they -will- push them out in numbers. Know what your response to that will be.

If I can, I like to keep my military power about 50% more than the closest AI's, at least 25% more, that gives me some room to work with if they suddenly start cranking out ships. The best way to win a fight as a turtler is to make the fight never happen in the first place. Don't get so wrapped up in tech and infrastructure that you end up involved in a war you can't handle.

One trick is to research high-cost techs when your military slider is low, then during those times when you need to crank out ships with a high slider setting you go back and research the low-cost techs during that time of diminished research ability. Helps keep you from losing that tech momentum.