Let´s play: Space Empires V

[Zid]

First, just let me say that any input you have will be greatly appriciated. If you wish, you may apply for a "role" within the game, as Admiral, Head of Military research, or spymaster. This thread is inspired by the great Let´s play: Space Empires IV-thread.



What is Space Empires V?

It is a turn-based 4X Strategy game. It involves rather extreme micromanagement and design of colonies, freighters, ground troops, spaceships, yes almost everything!

Some people find it buggy and nauseating. I find it a fun pasttime to plow down a few hours into now and then.

What is Let´s play?

I play the game, so you won´t have to! See also the tv troups let´s play article (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitle8zx0nomxzqc5?from=Main.LetsPlay)

Are you any good?

Actually, no. And I´m not that experienced with the Balance Mod that we will be using. But if we fail, I will blame it all on you.


First, game basics(this is important, and you get to vote!)

We will be using the Balance mod by Kwok, version 1.16. As far as I´ve read on forums, it seems it is a well liked mod.

Now, we´ll have to decide a number of factors. First, the Quadrant (the gathering of stars that our empire will share with a number of viscous ailiens. Each star will have one or more warp points, that will lead to other stars.

Q A1 What type of quadrant should we have?

Midlife: "Standard" quadrant in the middle of the galaxy

Cluster: Stars closer together

Galactic edge: Stars pread out very eavenly.

Spiral arm: Stars will appear in spirals

Threaded spiral: As above, but stars will be interconnected like "beads on a string"

Grid: Stars will appear in a gridlike fashion

Maze: "Maze-like", it says in the descrition. I have no idea what it will look like.

Psudo FTL: Lots and lots of warp points in each system. Harder to make chokepoints and "safe" systems.

Old: Many black holes and nebulae

Ancient: Abundant black holes and nebulae

Q A 2: What size should the quadrant have?

Small, medium, large. I suggest medium. A large quadrant can be... taxing on the computer.

Q A 3 Should there be limited resources?

This will make our planets and colonies eventually run dry. It could make for a hard game. I suggest no.

So, I´ll choose the "All warp points connected" option, otherwise the quadrant might be split in two non-communicating warp point grids.

[AgentPaper]

I call head of military! Or some fleet commander, Idunno.

Anyways, first order of business, get researching fighters and smaller weapons. From my short experience so far, they are awesome. Other than that, missiles for the escort ships as the main armament.

[u-gotNOgame]

i would be intersted, however i have never played the game. However i might be well suited for the military "lets shoot STUFF" kindof roll. Will we be voting on civilization traits (assuming of course that SE:V retained that sort of creation).

-UGNG

Edit: The Ninja's have arrived, so i guess i'd be the Lt. General or somesuch

[AgentPaper]

I've got the game, but haven't played it too deeply, (partway through my first game still) so I think I know enough to recommend racial traits, though I'm not sure on the value of the optional techtrees, like crystalurgy and religion. I'm assuming they're all pretty good, so it would mostly be flavor.

Edit: No reason we can't have multiple admirals, and we all answer to Zid. So, you'll be that admiral that signed up 5 seconds after me. I, of course, remember that I got in first, so I can pull seniority on you!

[Zid]

This is where you get to vote on what rules will apply to all empires within the game Q B 1 What should the technology cost be?

We have three options. Low, medium, high. I suggest medium.

Q B 2 How much starting resorces should the empires have?

Low, medium or high. In the games I´ve played, I havn´t had so much trouble with resources. But then again, I´ve had "good" home planets and "medium" starting resources.

Q B 3 What should be the value of the home planet(s)?

Low, medium or high.

Q B 4 How many starting planets?

1, 3, 5, 10

Q B 5 How much starting tech points?

This will allow all starting empires to buy known technologies from the beginning. 0, 50K, 500K, and 5 M are the options. I would suggest low. I think the computer knows the tech tree better than us right now.

Q B 5 How much will the computer screw us?

A "handicap" can be given to the computer empires. Should it be none, bearable, hard or nintendo-hard?

Q B 6 How many computer empires?

Low, medium, high

Q B 7 How many racial points shall each race have?

Racial points buy advantages and disadvantages when we later build our custom race. 2000, 3000 or 5000 points.

I selected "Hard" computer AI (we don´t want this to be too easy), that empires should be eavenly distributed in the quadrant, and that the computer also should create a few "neutral empires" that I think are empires without the ability to go through warp gates. (= either more friends, or more slaves)

[Zid]

Q C 1 What should the event frequency be?

None, low, medium, high.

Q C 2 How severe should random events be?

Low: Some of our soldiers have gotten a severe cough

Medium: A ship collided with an asteriod and exploded!

High: Our planet collided with an asteriod and exploded!

Catastrophic: Our sun just went supernova!

Soon to follow: Creating the empire and race that will soon rule the quadrant!

[Zid]

Below you will see all that we need to create a fully working space empire:

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/2.jpg

As you see, we will need both an Empire name (i e Rome), Empire type(ie, monarchy, theocracy, meritocracy...) "Emperor" title (i e, Emperor, first speaker...). We will also get to choose banners and ship appearances, but I am saving that for later.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/3.jpg

Then we have to choose the race that the empire consists of (just as the Roman empire had human members). We have to start with a name and a physical type (bipeds, gaseous, thin membranes floating through the air.. you can choose anything here, it doesn´t have any special mechanic in game).

We have to choose something very important though. What type (Gas, rock or ice) of planet we can inhibit (we can only colonize that type of planet from the beginning) and what atmosphere our race can breathe (being able to breathe the atmosphere of a planet makes much more of the space there useful and inhabitable. My experience is that gas planets are fewer and larger, and ice and rock are roughly equal. The atmospheres are equally distributed.

Then comes our next challenge: The screenshots below show us the different government types we have available.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/4.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/5.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/6.jpg


We now have to choose our society type. Are we a peaceful empire of artisans that prefer to scupt clay, or are we a raging tribal berserker society or something in between?

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/7.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/8.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/9.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/10.jpg

So, if we combine these we could be a democratic society of berserkers, or a tyranny comprised of artisans (if you don´t want to sculpt, you´ll be flogged)

So, come with suggestions for the history and appearance of our empire. This will also set the stage for the RP bit of the rest of the LP, so choose wisely.

Next, our racial advantages/disadvantages:
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/11.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/12.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/13.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/14.jpg

As you see, we can choose disadvantages if we want more points to play with when it comes to advantages. I think that the most important thing to choose here is if we should have one of the "racial" techs: Temporal, Deeply religious, Organic manipulation, cistallurgy or Psychic.

[Zid]

Edit: No reason we can't have multiple admirals, and we all answer to Zid. So, you'll be that admiral that signed up 5 seconds after me. I, of course, remember that I got in first, so I can pull seniority on you!

Will we even have admirals in our empire, or will we be a happy gathering of artisans? I´ll hold giving out ranks until you have molded the budding empire into something more tangible. Start voting!

[AgentPaper]

A1: Cluster(f**k) seems my favorite so far.
A2: Medium is fine, mods tend to be larger, so a medium on a mod is probably about what I'm used to with large on vanilla.
A3: I'll agree and say no. Too much to deal with. Seems very much like an option for those who need a challenge.

B1: Default seems fine here. (medium)
B2: Default seems fine here. (medium)
B3: Default seems fine here. (good)
B4: 1 planet seems like enough, but let's go with 5, to make the game start up a bit faster.
B5a: 50K, so we can start out decently, without giving the computers crazy sh** they would likely get from higher values.
B5b: no handicap, since you have them on hard. They'll own us anyways, but at least we'll know it was fair and square curb-stomping.
B6: high. If nothing else, we want them fighting amongst themselves for that much longer.
B7: 3000 seems a good balance to me. 5000 is far too much, 2000 is okay but a little limited. Anyone know why they went for such high numbers anyway? You could divide everything by 500 and it would change nothing. (normal traits are 1, expensive ones are 2, flaws are -1, and you get 4, 6, or 10 points)

C1: Low, see next.
C2: High, or catastrophic. They don't happen so often, but when they do, sh** hits the fan. Hopefully more to the computers than us, but ah well.

As for the rest, we should vote for the government types, and then once we know how many points we'll have, we can vote for traits and technology around the same time.

Government: Anarchy
Society: Warriors
Planet Type: Crystal
Atmosphere: Methane
Description: The race is ruled by a military force, pretty much the only military there is. However, the military doesn't interfere with politics, leaving that to the multitude of normal governments, allowing them to do as they wish as long as it doesn't come to warmaking. They have their main bases in space around the planets, and each nation is required to send off at least 1% or so of their population to be soldiers every few years. Most nations see this as a good way to get rid of rebels and malcontents, so it works out rather well.

[Juhn]

Well, I applied for head of R&D in the SE4 thread, might as well do the same for SE5.

Quadrant Type: Cluster's served us well in the past, let's go with that.

Size: Large, assuming your hardware can handle it. (I assume that's what you meant by taxing).

Limited Resources: A resounding "No."

All warp points connected should be "Yes" in my book, though from what you've said you already set it to Yes even without our votes.

Tech Cost (I assume this is cost to research the tech): Low. I want the chance to build as many toys as possible.

Starting Resources: I'll say Medium. Let's not make this too easy on ourselves. Low research costs should even things out.

Home planet value: Doesn't really matter to me, though I'll say High again. If this option has any effect on the number of available facilities, set it as high as possible.

Starting planets: 1. Brand new empire, here.

Starting tech points: Assuming you expand to build a large number of research compound planets, then this doesn't need to be too high.

If the comp AI is hard, let's not give them any extra advantages as far as handicaps go.

Number of Computer Empires: This more depends on how much space there will be between us and them. I'd like there to be a lot, but I don't want us to get into a war right at the beginning. Let's go with Medium.

5000 Racial Points, should let us select more than one special Trait, though I'm going by SEIV costs here.

Events: Medium severity, medium frequency.

Government Type: Corporate.

Society Type: I'll have a better look at these and fill this in.

Can't get Traits until we know how many points we're working with.

For racial appearance/ship appearance I'd like to get a look at a full list, if you please.

Names, I'd suggest doing this after we know how everything else ends up.

Planet type/atmosphere: Again, I want to see what our race looks like to see which one makes sense.

I think I covered everything?

[Artanis]

Is it too late to join? Because I'll join if space is still available.

Either way, I strongly, STRONGLY suggest going out and finding the fixes to the game's problems. While these are technically mods, they often make the game into what it should have been in the first place. You can find several of them on the SE Wiki (http://wiki.spaceempires.net/index.php/Mods_(SEV)).



Now, if I'm accepted, my answers to the setup questions would be:

Galaxy:

A1: Midlife

A2: Preferably Large. Only you know what your computer can handle though, so Medium is just fine if you think it would work better.

A3: No limited resources


Setup:

B1: Medium

B2: Medium

B3: Medium

B4: 1

B5: 50K tech points. Handicap depends on whether or not you get an AI-improvement mod. The AI in SEV is notoriously bad, so if you use the stock AI, give it at least a low handicap.

B6: Medium

B7: 3000


Events:

C1: High

C2: Catastrophic


Empire Setup:

For planet, I'd say Hydrogen Gas. Gas because it's unique and extremely rare for AIs to have, and Hydrogen because if SEV is anything like SEIV, everybody and their brother is going to be either Oxygen or CO2.

For government type, I'd just keep it simple and go with Oligarchy.

For society, if Trade is as irrelevant in SEV as it is in SEIV, then Xenophobes. Otherwise, Mechanics

For advantages/disadvantages, I've always loved Organic Manipulation in SEIV. You know all the mineral problems that Maxymiuk is having in the other LP? Not nearly as big a problem if you have Organic Manipulation. If you want to get some points back (i.e. to min/max a bit), physical weakness seems a good one to take.

[u-gotNOgame]

i definatly think that with "hard" computer AI will have to do something other then max out our militart tech... but that wont stop me from trying to pull that off

A1) Maze, if it's anything like the "help the mouse find the cheese" type deal it presents interesting military options
A2)Medium
A3)No

B1)Medium
B2)Medium
B3)Medium
B4)3, i think that starting out with a few colonies presents us with more intrigue then just "heres your planet... have fun"
B5)None
B6)High, it wouldn't be Space Empires unless it had well... Empires would it? Smashing puny nations and subsidizing our enemies makes me smile
B7)3k, a happy central number

C1)Low
C2)Catastrophic, i mean who doesn't like stars exploding?

Part: D
I'm thinking Hive mind... because why not

Name: The Playground
Leader: The Giant
Government: Anarchy
Description: Im thinking somesort of insectisoid hivemind... because ants with telepathy are cool

I think thats as far as i can go, after we decide on our points and such i can flesh out the details

-UGNG

[AgentPaper]

Actually, if you want to min/max, get reduced production of rads and organics, and boosted of mineral. Alternately, if you go for crystal tech or bio tech, get the bonus for your new main resource, and the flaws for the ones you don't need as much. Coupled with physical weakness, you then have a net 1000 point gain from all that, unless you get crystal/bio tech, in which case it cuts even.

Then, with the rest of your points, you pick up things like increased morale, increased breeding, religion/temporal/telepathy, (or two or all 3!) etc. With just 3000 points, you could get boosted mineral production, less bio, less rad, combat morale, high breeding, religion, temporal knowledge, AND telepathy! If you get 5000, well, then things just start getting ridiculous.

[Zid]

Is it too late to join? Because I'll join if space is still available.

Oh, there is quite a lot of space left.;)


Either way, I strongly, STRONGLY suggest going out and finding the fixes to the game's problems. While these are technically mods, they often make the game into what it should have been in the first place. You can find several of them on the SE Wiki (http://wiki.spaceempires.net/index.php/Mods_(SEV)).



As already stated, we will be using the Balance mod v 1.16

I also made a few simulations. The AI will make identical homeworlds if you choose to start with more than one. So, when I started with five home planets, they were spread over three different systems. I also had a very large production.

[Zid]

I have decided the following: We will have a medium quadrant size (It will be quite sufficient, trust me). We will have a cluster configuration. We will not have limited resources.

[AgentPaper]

I take it you're not actually counting votes, but just taking them as advice? Works for me. Anyways, I would recommend checking out some of the custom shipsets, for example the Amarr (http://home.spaceempires.net/shipyards-details-109-Amarr_Empire.html) (From EvE Online) is my favorite that I've found.

[Malek]

SE5, this is going to be interesting. Played a game or two with friends but got wasted early every time - maby I'll learn something watching this LP. Mind if I apply for Chief of Internal Security Bureau (a.k.a. spymaster ;P)?

[Zid]

I´m just having difficulty uploading pics to photobucket right now. I used fraps to make a few introductory videos, that I thought were great, but they were several gbs in size. I guess I´ll have to find some way to reformat them.

Edit: Managed to get the different ships uploaded, at least.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/ships.jpg

[Zid]

This is moving too slow for me. We all want to get to the good part: playing. So, tomorrow I will start up a game, make an empire and race with your input and start playing! There seems to be quite a diversity in what races you would prefer though... :smalleek:

Apply for captainships for the scouting ships now! Your empire needs you!

[Artanis]

I've been trying to post for several hours, but the board keeps giving me an error when I do :smallfrown:

It's kinda disturbing that they managed to make the Drushoka even more obscene than in SEIV :smalleek:


Also, I'd like to officially apply for captainship (or admirality or whatever). What info do you need?


As already stated, we will be using the Balance mod v 1.16
Ah, I must've missed that :smallredface:



Also, can you put that pic in spoiler tags? It's really wide :smallconfused:

[u-gotNOgame]

oh, so i think you should do somesort of Insect-like hive-mind warriors following some "cleanse the universe" type Dogma. Why? because everyone is some sort of human during LP's, and i want something different. Making the world burn as Telepathic Ants fits the bill quite well.

Also i would like to be an admiral, im thinking i want to be in something noticable, like the biggest ship we have earlygame... yeah that'll work

-UGNG

[Zid]

Also i would like to be an admiral, im thinking i want to be in something noticable, like the biggest ship we have earlygame... yeah that'll work

-UGNG

So, that would be a colony ship for you, then. ;)

[AgentPaper]

Could you start a list of the ship classes you'll be making? I'd like to get a carrier, 2-3 escorts, 1-2 supply ships, (depending on how far we have to go) load up on fighters, and engage the closest enemy. If there are no enemies, add another supply ship or two, and we get exploring.

If you can give me a list of the techs we have, I could load them up on SEV myself and see what designs I can build, but otherwise I'll use the types you have, and request new designs when I need them.

Oh, and in case it's not clear, I'd like to use the first carrier we can get going as my flagship, if possible. :smallbiggrin:

[Juhn]

I suggest ship design #9. That looks just awesome to me.

[AgentPaper]

I like how #9 looks, but unfortunately it's one of the worst, in my opinion, merely because there is no "center row" of areas to place your stuff when designing. Thus, for things you need only one of, you have to place them to one side or the other, for example the bridge and combat sensors, or any weapon you have an odd amount of. Maybe it's acceptable to some, but I just can't stand making things so unsymmetrical all the time. I'm currently using #2 in my game, and it serves me well, but for a militaristic hive, #13 or #14 look the better.

[Juhn]

Ah, well, I don't know how these things work functionally. I've only played SEIV and I don't remember components actually showing up on your ship images there.

As such, I was going from a purely aesthetic viewpoint. I may have to reevaluate.

[AgentPaper]

Well, once you finish designing, it doesn't really show up much, or at all unless you check what's damaged, as far as I know, so I suppose as long as Vid can stand to design them like that, it's no real issue. I just couldn't bring myself to design them like that, so maybe it's just a bit of OCD on my part. (which I get on things being symmetrical sometimes) If so, then I agree that #6 does look the best.

[u-gotNOgame]

So, that would be a colony ship for you, then. ;)

As long as it has guns... or have i not made my bloodlust clear? In any case im glad my hivemind idea has stuck. Also if AP gets the first carrier, i want the first direct fire ship.

-UGNG

[Juhn]

Giving a colony ship armamants seems intensely counterproductive to me. Have an escort accompany it if you're really worried.

Also, be sure to include a cargo bay in the design, unless they fixed the "empty colony" issue from the last game.

[AgentPaper]

No need for the cargo bay, at least in my experience. Anyways, fighters seem ridiculously powerful in at least the early game, as they are pretty damn near impossible to hit with anything at all. Even point defense has trouble, though upgrades of it probably fix that. Not sure what it's like with your mod, but I can take down multiple frigates with a single fighter, and that's pretty much just with base technology. Anyways, I'm off to play my own game, though I'll check in here every once in a while.

Also, if we go the hive cleanse the galaxy route, (which is fine but likely harder to RP) make sure to pick up religion tech. I'd say pick it up anyway, I really like the sound of the holy symbol things you get that increase your ship's combat experience.

[Zid]

Excerpt from A history of the beginning of the space era byXeneluvius XXI, High Seer of Retrospection.

After the Warrior caste took control of the Hive they threw out the artisan caste, that had had control of the hive for twenty generations. Many were slwen in this bloody usurpation, but the warriors, led by the Cleric-Warlord Zid, who took the title first speaker, took good care up the discoveries by the Artisan rule. Spaceflight, and the finding of the warp point theory, led him to surmise that the real challenge for his people lies among the stars. So began the great era of space exploration...

So, I started up a new game. I choose a cluster quadrant of medium size, with high frequency of random events of high severity. Many (that means 16), AI empires of high AI difficulty, without handicap.

The empire was named the Uvello Hive, ruled by Central speaker Zid. We had a Hive government and a Warrior society. They lived in a methane atmosphere on a gas giant.

As race perks, I chose the following: Low physical strength (will decrease our damage in ground combat), Uncunning (-10% in espionage generation), Highly religious (gains acess to religion tree), and psycic (gains acess to certain psycic techs from the beginning)

I imagine the Uvello to be a strict caste society, now ruled by the warrior caste. They have workers, artisans and also the special psycic caste. The different castes are differientiated by the colour of their scales. Red for warrior, green for worker, yellow for priest, blue for artisan and purple for psycic.

So lets see what our small slice of galaxy looks like.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-22-08-19.jpg

Ok, lets see here. The planet with the symbol is our Homeworld. We are in luck! We actually have a few gas giants in our systems. In the beginning, we can only colonize gas giants, and the planets we can colonize are marked by a red or green symbol in the upper right corner. Actually, one is green, meaning it has a methane atmosphere as well! Great!

We also have two warp points in this system. Those are our way out of here.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-00-53-69.jpg

So, we have to start by designing a few ships

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-00-53-69.jpg

This is the ship layout screen. From here, we click and drag components to slots in the layout grid. Let´s begin by building a new starbase, that can build spaceships along with our shipyard.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-12-09-63.jpg

I then construct a fast explorer ship, equipped with the psycic receptors component. This is a fas better version of an ordinary scanner, but larger and more expensive. It scans even cloaked ships (up to level five cloaking) and in five hexes range instead of three. I´m liking being psycic better and better.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-12-12-91.jpg

We also design a colony ship...

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-12-15-64.jpg

..and the starbase that will increase our ship building capacity.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-14-10-38.jpg

Our economy seems stable enough...

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-15-43-78.jpg

I choose to research Fighters, this tech will give us carriers. Then, end turn.

Below are a few of the cool things we can build using religous tech and psycic tech.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-15-43-78.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-17-09-50.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-17-09-50.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-17-23-39.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-17-30-58.jpg

I hope you like them.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-18-27-74.jpg

After about two turns, we finish our Star base.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-18-49-21.jpg

Now we have two way to construct things.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-19-49-82.jpg

This, unfortunately, means that we are running low on organics! Unacceptable!

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-21-44-78.jpg

We immediately build a new farms, and finish our first Dagger-class ship.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-21-57-55.jpg

The economy is looking better now.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-22-08-19.jpg

Let´s send the dagger through the nearest warp point. This will be the first ever warp jump for the Uvello. Aren´t you proud?

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-22-26-46.jpg

Excellent! Another colonizable planet!

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0816-12-42-71.jpg

But what is this? Another empire, and one that has actually colonized their nearest planet? Let´s hope it´s a pushover empire, ready for conquest.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0816-12-42-71.jpg

The seers on the dagger ship found out this about their empire.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0815-24-01-44.jpg

And this was found our about the Sithrak race. Remember, all this information is highly classified.

So, High representatives of the Hive; Our nearest system is populated by a highly agressive empire, that might attack us as soon as they built up forces. No formal contact has been made yet. Should we send offers of peace to them? The science department deems that our fighter technology will take 0.6 time units (6 turns) before they become operational. Should we continue with that, or reasearch mines to protect ourselves? We must make this descision in unison, for we might find that history will pass a heavy judgement on us if we fail.

The red and purpled scaled First speaker sat down, clad in his ceremonial robes. The rest of the councilchamber was quiet, but all could sense the pheromones sent out the the others. Fear, pride, curiosity and something else as well... anger...

[Artanis]

Oh hell...is it too much to hope that the Sithrak are a Neutral Empire? :smalleek:


Might as well offer a peace treaty. Regardless of whether they accept it, start building up some defenses at the warp point. I suggest satellites: we already have the tech for it, so we can get something out there relatively quickly.

[u-gotNOgame]

Do they have a military? Could we win a war of attrition if we were to goto war? they might be superior fighters but if number were on our side could we exploit their weak economy? This is why i like having experianced players around... Exactly how big is a 10% bonus? Also usually its easier to knock out a nation early then it is to do it later. Also are you going to want us to RP our own charecters? Or should i just put up a Bio/background on the Alter-ego im thinking up?

[Juhn]

Is propulsion as incredibly useful in this game as it was in the previous? If so, I suggest putting fighters on hold and researching that.

Also, if ECM is as useful as it was in the last game, get it as soon as possible. It doesn't matter how angry they are if they can't hit us.

On the gameplay side of things, I suggest sending in any Daggers we may have, as well as building more of them. Run down and destroy any colony ships they have. If they can't expand, they won't be able to wage war.

[AgentPaper]

I would say stay on the course for fighter tech, we're going to need them very soon it seems. Other than that, keep the daggers coming, but have the other production be of a colony ship or two, to get those started up. Once the colony ships are done, satellites for defense, placed near the warp point if possible, otherwise just orbiting the homeworld. I agree that the daggers should focus on stopping any expansion these guys have, we both know war is only a matter of time, so start it early to get a lead. They seem to have neglected other production in favor of expansion, so we should have the upper hand in fighting them at least for now. If you can land a few troops on the new colony to destroy it, that would also be good, but we should wait for our fighters before we actually try to assault their homeworld.

[Zid]

Right now, the daggers are only exploration ships, not really suited for combat. I could design and build a few new, more combat oriented ships, but that will mean we will have to hold back on our colonization efforts.

I think I´ll offer them a truce, and then we will see if they accept.

[AgentPaper]

Well, they have guns, and the colony ships don't, so it doesn't matter if they were really designed for it. As long as they're fast enough to keep up, and have the ammo to kill them, they'll do fine. You could try asking for a truce, but I think these guys are going to be after you no matter what, seeing how aggressive their race is supposed to be, and we're supposed to be purging the galaxy of all other races anyways, aren't we? :smalltongue:

[Artanis]

I figure they'll be after us as well, but it can't hurt to offer a truce. Besides, they might just take it: in SEIV, I've had times where I've had treaties not just accepted by the Cryslonite, but outlast the ones I'd have with the Cue Cappa. So I guess it's worth a shot.




*Note: For those unfamiliar with the races I mentioned, the Cue Cappa are supposed to be relatively peaceful while the Cryslonite supposedly make the Sithrak look like peace-loving hippies.

[Juhn]

Since I volunteered to be head of Research and Development for this LP, I should probably download the demo of this soon. That way I can do my job and come up with some ship designs.

Assuming I'm going to do this, would you be so kind as to keep me up-to-date as to what technology we have available as this LP progresses, Mr. Zid? I'd like to have an idea of what I've got to work with, after all.

[AgentPaper]

Just make sure you download and use the balance mod, as it's a completely different game as far as balance goes. Almost nothing was left untouched. It's also, as you would guess, far more balanced and in most people's opinion much more fun. If it doesn't work with the demo, you can also see the entire techtree for the mod on the site you download the mod from. (Which, by the way, is right here (http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php))

If nothing else, we should be going after these things earlier on, in roughly this order:

Sensors
Point Defense
Weaponry
Shields
Medium Hull to put Space Yards onto.

In our case weaponry would include fighter upgrades and whatever weapons we want to put on them.

[Zid]

Just make sure you download and use the balance mod, as it's a completely different game as far as balance goes. Almost nothing was left untouched. It's also, as you would guess, far more balanced and in most people's opinion much more fun. If it doesn't work with the demo, you can also see the entire techtree for the mod on the site you download the mod from. (Which, by the way, is right here (http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php))

If nothing else, we should be going after these things earlier on, in roughly this order:

Sensors
Point Defense
Weaponry
Shields
Medium Hull to put Space Yards onto.

In our case weaponry would include fighter upgrades and whatever weapons we want to put on them.

As far as research goes, I´m currently researching mines. The psychic receptors are far better than any sensor tech we´ll be getting anytime soon, so if we go into sensor tech it should be for the combat sensors (upgrades to-hit chances).

If we research improved mining, we could build robo-miner equipped transports, that could harvest minerals (and organics and radioactives too, if we research that) from unused planets and asteriod fields.

Also, I have found a black hole. more in the next update.

[Juhn]

SEIV has, at least in my experience with the demo, taught me to go for ECM ASAP, then Combat Sensors or missile tech.

I'm not sure if the same holds true for SEV

[AgentPaper]

SEIV has, at least in my experience with the demo, taught me to go for ECM ASAP, then Combat Sensors or missile tech.

I'm not sure if the same holds true for SEV

It does not. ECM starts as a 1% or so bonus, and goes up from there. Might be more in the balance mod though, not sure. I doubt it's as overpowered as it was though. Still useful, but we don't need it. At any rate, we won't have room for it on fighters more likely than not.

Yah, forgot about the psychic sensors, so we don't need the normal ones as much. Mines are good, to clog up warp points and to stick on planets to defend them. Fighters are good for that as well, and with carriers can go through warp points. Get some resupply on the border areas and they can move around as much as they want in-system. If you can get a resupply point into an enemy area, you don't even need carriers for your fighters, and can just set them loose like packs of dogs to kill anything and everything they can find. Producing them is no trouble either, since you can make them on any planet. Just make sure you always have all your units launched around the planet and not sitting on the ground, heh.

So, for our plans for now, I would say make a colony in that one enemy's base, and make some fighters with it, and a resupply point after a few turns. Harass the enemy planet if he gets aggressive, and if he doesn't, no harm done.

[Zid]

Update below:

Assembly, we have much news since our last meeting. May the spirits smile upon our planning this night.

First, I have grave news. One of our dagger class explorer ships have been lost, and all hundred souls on the vessel slain. I shall tell you more of this later.

So, let me tell you of our exploration efforts. It seems our own homw system, Zaph, is a part of a larger cluster of systems. Only two warp point exits exist from this cluster, each leading to a diffent cluster, or so we think. We now have seven working colonies, and one situated directly in the Sithrak home system.

We have also discovered two new empires: The Cennuch commonwealth

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0914-51-40-65.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0914-51-28-90.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0914-51-09-29.jpg

As you see, they are a peaceful race. We have forced them to agree to a cooperation treaty, in which they will give us 5% of their production. They do however have a methane gas giant, that they have reused to let us settle.

As you can see from the report below, the other race (encountered in a a different cluster, is a vile race of heathen morons. They opened fire on Dagger one, destroying it when it arrived in their system.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-0914-51-09-29.jpg

We have built a resupply depot in the Sithrak home system, and have designed two new ships: The Sword and the Lance-class frigates. The Lance class in equipped with dual missile launchers, but lightly armoured. The Sword class is more heavily armoured, and have dual depleted uranium cannons.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-1119-30-56-78.jpg

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq175/cdratik/se52009-01-1119-32-57-85.jpg

We also have built a carrier, the Ovum, who can carry our fighter class ships through warp points. We have two different types of fighters, the spark fighter bomber has missiles, and three or four have been shown to be able to take out a Sword frigate in simulations. The inscisor is a pure fighter, and equipped with depleted uranium cannons.

We know that the Sithrak has built two large space stations surrounding their home planets, and our spies try to steal the plans for them as we speak.

Now, Our forces ache for war, and the spirits demand blood. Who shall we attack first? The Sithrak, who even now are spreading like a virus through the systems? Or the Cennuch or the Aquche? Logistical problems will be worse?

Colonel Agent paper, I am promoting you to admiral. Tell me what forces you wish built for this our first test, and they shall be built, along with two of three fully loaded troop transports. I suggest the Sithrak home world, as it is a rich price to own. We can also build a War Shrine in this system to further increase the effectiveness of our troops.

Juhn, or research into mines are complete. What does R&D suggest we focus on next? Further religious or psychic advances, od the completion of mining ships to mine our rich asteriod fields?

[Artanis]

My reactions:

1) YES! YES YES YES YES YES! NEUTRAL EMPIRE! We don't have to worry about the Cenuch, and they can even be a handy trade partner until we get around to slaughtering them.

2) It's kinda confusing, you and the pictures imply that the Cenuch are the ones who fired on us, and I assume that's how it is. But it also sounds kinda like it's the other way around :smallconfused:

3) Ooh, just noticed that the Sithrak are Oxygen-Rock and the Cenuch are CO2-Ice. That means opportunities to get colony techs through trade and maybe undoming populations that way as well. Or by kicking the crap out of them. Either works, really.

[Zid]

My reactions:

3) Ooh, just noticed that the Sithrak are Oxygen-Rock and the Cenuch are CO2-Ice. That means opportunities to get colony techs through trade and maybe undoming populations that way as well. Or by kicking the crap out of them. Either works, really.

How do you "Undome" a planet?

And the Civ that attacked us was the Aquche. I´ll fix this in a update.

[Artanis]

I'm 99% sure that doming in SEV works the same was as in SEIV: if there's population that can't breathe the atmosphere, the planet is domed, severely crippling its available space for pretty much everything, including facilities. But if you get some people who breathe that atmosphere, you can relocate the non-breathers and replace them with the breathers. That "undomes" the planet, letting it be used to its full potential.

[Malek]

You can also change atmosphere with a certain facility (which can be scrapped afterwards), but that requires many levels in Planetary Utilization, if I remember the tech's name right.

[AgentPaper]

*cracks knuckles*

Right, let's make some bubble gum, eat it, and then kick ass.

First, I need some more info. Do we know what forces the enemy empire has? If not, first priority is find out at the very least what he has on his homeworld. Once we have that info, I'll need to see his fleet makeup, whether he has lots of frigates, or if he has any fighters and such. Make sure to check his ground forces as well if possible. Try to get within range to detect cloaked mines, and have a ship that can detect join the attack if there are any. If we can get a mine sweeper in there, even better. Then, what weapons does he have? Any point defense? gun/missile makeup? Any special techs, or shields? What special combat choices do we get with our special techs? What forces do we have already built, how many ships/units, and of what types?

[Juhn]

R&D also requests more information.

For one thing, I should probably take a look at a tech tree to see where those techs will lead to. I'm assuming religious and psychic techs have some type of military application, which might come in useful depending on how strong the enemies we're currently facing are. Of course, if we're going to build a fleet, we're going to need resources to maintain them. I'd like a look at our resource flow (and how much it takes to maintain our various ships), to see if mining tech will be immediately worthwhile as compared to the other options.

Of course, Admiral Paper, R&D would like to be advised as to how many ships you intend on fielding.

[Rockphed]

One thing to remember is that you can run multiple research projects simultaneously, and choose how much of your research is put into each project. Thus you can put 10% into something you eventually want, or even 1% into a colonization tech, and you will get it eventually.

[AgentPaper]

That's a lazy way to do it, but more efficient is to make a list of upgrades you want, and then focus on them down the line to get each done as fast as possible. Takes the same amount of time overall, but you get results sooner. Of course, if you decide that you just want a certain tech, like weapons or armor, to keep getting better, you can have a flat percent on those to keep them improving.

How many forces I need depends entirely on what forces the enemy has. I should add to the above to request we run simulations once we know the makeup of their fleet to see what kind of forces we need, and also how long it would take to create enough forces.

[Juhn]

I've tried to post this something like four times now.

R&D will concentrate on whichever technology provides the most useful military benefit for the upcoming war. If Admiral Paper's fleet requires expansion and it is draining on our resource flow, focus may be switched to mining.

[Rockphed]

That's a lazy way to do it, but more efficient is to make a list of upgrades you want, and then focus on them down the line to get each done as fast as possible. Takes the same amount of time overall, but you get results sooner. Of course, if you decide that you just want a certain tech, like weapons or armor, to keep getting better, you can have a flat percent on those to keep them improving.

How many forces I need depends entirely on what forces the enemy has. I should add to the above to request we run simulations once we know the makeup of their fleet to see what kind of forces we need, and also how long it would take to create enough forces.

Thinking about it, it is more useful as a steady increase in a tech than as a lazy way to get big projects done. In SEIII I normally used it as a steady increaser rather than a "Sit and hold" strategy. The demo for SEV is too short for me(100 turns is right about the center of my conquest arc), so I don't really have much advice on how to eventually conquer.

[AgentPaper]

Well, I just bought SE5 since it was only about $6-7 on steam. You can get it and SE4 as a deal for around 10, too, so if you like the game, there's not much reason not to buy it.

[u-gotNOgame]

*poke*:smalleek:*poke*

man, this was looking promising and then it goes and dies on us.... well in anycase i do hope we get an update soon and you havn't abandoned us. I would start pumping out fighters as soon as possible so we can counter... whoever it was that attacked us, and attempt to allie with the scientific people they could be usefull yet.

-UGNG

[Zid]

*poke*:smalleek:*poke*

man, this was looking promising and then it goes and dies on us.... well in anycase i do hope we get an update soon and you havn't abandoned us.
-UGNG

I´ve just been swamped by work. I´m actually going to play through a bit tonight.

[Zid]

The time has been well spent. We now control 18 colonies, and around twenty spaceships.

Our military designs are as follows:

Spaceship classes:

Lance:Lightly armoured, armed with two missile launchers (3 in service)

Sword: "Grunt" ships, armed with dual depleted uranium cannons and heavily armoured (2 in service)

Shield: Mine layers

Ovum: Carrier (currently two in service)

We have also made significant discoveries in mineral extraction tech, allowing us to mine from nearby asteroid fields and uncolonized planets, greatly increasing our production (we have many of these in production)

We have about a 200 fighters, many guarding warp points, but they are replaced by mines as we speak. We have many ground troops gathered on a planet with three troop transports.

Now, our other enemies are far behind us when it comes to number of ships. We need to strike at one now, but who should we choose?

The Sithrak seems a good choice. We have mined the warp points leading to and from their home system, and have a colony next to their homeworld, filled with ships and troops. It is guarded by two frigates and two bases, but we don´t know the specs of these bases or the ships. I think we could clear the skies using nothing but fighters, but i´m not really sure.

[Artanis]

In SEIV, it was possible to get enemy ship specs by attacking them with a single fighter. The fighter would die, of course, but one fighter wasn't a huge loss or anything. Does that still work in SEV? If so, it'd be easy enough to get the base specs.

[AgentPaper]

Actually, you should only have to get within scanning range. The normal scanning range for starting sensors should be 1 hex, so get a ship (not a fighter) into a hex adjacent to the enemy, and you should be able to know everything about them. (and run simulations, if you're unsure of whether you can take them on)

[Zid]

I´ve had ships sharing the same hex as Sithrak ships, and they still don´t seem to scan them. Fighting other ships give you their specs though.

[AgentPaper]

Huh, odd. You sure you had scanners on them? I suppose I'm just remembering wrong, most likely. Anyways, what's going on with this now? You just gunna play and we watch?