The ninth year began not long ago. Only one star changed hands last year, but it was a notable one - the once grand tentacle beast civilization made its last stand at Altarf, but they were beaten by a brush-head fleet known only as "Attack only one" - a strange name, but no stranger than the brush-heads themselves. With this star, they now have 21 stars, and no less than 41 industry - more than double the industry of Apsup, Dromaro or Shiam. Clearly, the brush-heads are gearing up for war on a massive scale.
Additionally, now having 0.55ly sensor range, the lackofcheese's new outpost at Altarch has detected strange beings at the furthest reaches of their sensors, a race of aliens they had never even heard of before. It would seem that they are a barbaric people, reptilian in appearance (described by anthropologists as similar to both turtles and snakes) and seem to have the brains to match. From intercepted communications, their leader appears to be one called "Lord Admiral Yoshokatana" - this state is obviously a military dictatorship. This scanning has also revealed that their civilization, despite a strong economy and many ships, is highly ignorant of technology - this could well be their downfall. Fortunately for the brush-heads, the turtle-snakes appear unaware that they are being scanned.
With this new sensor upgrade, the only area of technology where lackofcheese doesn't have at least an equal lead with Shiam is fleet speed, in which Dromaro's squid monsters have taken the advantage with 1/3 higher speed than any other race. We do not know how this speed will be of use to the squids, however.
You can pay 20 to start a premium game that costs 10 to join, or you can pay 50 and start a game that's free to join.
Edit: What do you guys think about the micro-transaction model for this type of game? This game seems better suited to a Steam title single purchase to me. Though, playing it in the browser is a plus for many.
Yeah, thanks for the first game you made, Scott. I'm enjoying it quite a bit, though I'll sit out this second one in order to give someone else a chance to try the game.
Yeah, thanks for the first game you made, Scott. I'm enjoying it quite a bit, though I'll sit out this second one in order to give someone else a chance to try the game.
You could have thanked me by not attacking me maybe?
Can I expect progress reports from anyone? It sucks that you can't spectate games to at least get information that is common knowledge between all of the players.
Can I expect progress reports from anyone? It sucks that you can't spectate games to at least get information that is common knowledge between all of the players.
I might do one if no-one else does on Day 2. Can't promise the same amount of awesome commentary though. :P
This is the situation. Six creatures set out to capture and industrialize the stars throughout this galaxy. One will succeed. Who will it be?
It is only Day 1, but it seems some activity is already brewing. Cremlian appears to be leaning towards technologies by getting science, while Ruffas seems confident on pumping economy, which should help him more in the late game. Sources have told us that due to mis-click Vhdblood has bought into economy, but along with Apreche and Blattus, he is likely looking to get the cheaper upgrades on nearby stars. Shiam has moved for a mix of economy and industry.
Just recently, each of the remaining civilizations collected its yearly taxes for the tenth time. From the data available, very much indeed has happened in the past year. First of all, it appears that Apsup's reptilian race has, in a gutsy move, successfully attacked the two greatest empires of the universe at once. Apsup has now gained Altais, formerly the squids' primary front-line star, and Naos, a former brush-head planet at the centre of the known universe. However, while gaining Naos, Apsup lost Sualocin. From the stats, this looks like a poor exchange for the cyan reptiles, since they have lost at least two points of Economy and 1 in Science in the past year. Clearly, there is a science facility on Sualocin, which now belongs to lackofcheese. Additionally, Shiam has finally taken the previously untouched star on his border with Apsup. It seems likely that this star had such poor natural resources that it was never worth taking, but now the bug queen has decided to make it a defensive outpost. Alternatively, it's possible both races were too afraid to attempt to take this star in the presence of the other, but this balance has shifted.
Judging by each race's industry scores and the change in ship counts in the past year, we can see that Dromaro, lackofcheese, Apsup and Shiam all lost ships in battle last year. We can't know the exact numbers, since we don't know the exact times industry upgrades were purchased, but it should be possible to use the ship counts to get a good guess at the events of the past year. Using the industry scores and ship counts from the past year compared to this year's ship counts, we surmise that Dromaro has lost roughly 20 ships, lackofcheese has lost roughly 40 ships, Apsup has lost roughly 100 ships, and Shiam has lost roughly 60 ships.
Since Apsup is the only one likely to have attacked Dromaro, the events at Altais are the easiest to guess. Apsup's newly-researched 4ws should have put him on roughly equal terms with the squids' 3ws + 1ws from defending (apart from the first strike advantage), so it's safe to say around 20 of Apsup's ships were lost taking Altais in order to take out ~20 defending ships. Consequently, we must look elsewhere for the cause of the destruction of the other 80 reptilian vessels. Since the brush-heads match the big-eyed reptiles in weapon strength and each lost a planet to the other, we will guess that they lost roughly equal numbers of ships in their exchange, and that lackofcheese is currently only fighting cyan. Lackofcheese's loss of ~40 ships would then explain another ~40 of Apsup's losses, leaving 40 more unaccounted for.
Consequently, if this line of reasoning is correct, Apsup's 40 lost and Shiam's 60 lost must be the result of fighting between them. Given Shiam's much higher losses, we can only assume that the bug-beasts are attacking their reptilian neighbours' defenses in full force. For now, no cyan star has been lost to the yellow tide, but it's only a matter of time, given how few ships Apsup has left.
The only new technology to come out of this last year is lackofcheese's new scan range of 0.65 light years, surpassing Apsup's 0.55 light year discovery, and almost double the 0.35ly sensor range available to all of the other living races. The brush-heads are no longer the only ones to possess 4 weapon strength, as Apsup and Shiam now have this as well. Also, Dromaro's position as the sole leader in hyperspace speed has been eroded, as lackofcheese and Shiam have gained this technology. Judging by the advances of the past year, we suspect lackofcheese and Shiam have once again traded techs, lackofcheese's 4ws weapons for Shiam's 0.96ly/d hyperspace drive.
Looking at the numbers, we are shocked to find that the brush-head civilization is now more than a match for the bug-beasts and yellow reptiles put together. Lackofcheese's ship count, Economy, Industry, and Science are all higher than the sum of these respective values between Shiam and Apsup - even if those two were to unite under a single command, it would take some luck and tactical genius to stop the orange tide. Clearly, Dromaro or Yoshokatana must take action if they wish to halt the brush-head war machine, but Dromaro's ships are on the other side of the universe. Meanwhile, Yoshokatana's barbaric turtle-snakes continue to build up their economy and forces, and have finally decided to build a second science facility! They have upgraded their weapons and speed, but with a jump range of only 0.5 they remain unable to bridge the gap to to the brush-heads, and with only two science facilities it will likely take them a couple more days to discover the hyperspace technology they need.
As these conflicts develop further, it seems that Dromaro successfully has fought off the reptilian invasion, while Shiam has captured another two cyan stars, and lackofcheese has recaptured Naos. Apsup's empire now lies in ruins, like The Golem's before it. However, there is more than meets the eye going on behind the scenes, as this image captured at great risk from lackofcheese's sensors a few hours ago reveals: It appears that the brush-heads have turned ruthlessly on their former ally, after massing more than a hundred ships just outside of Shiam's 0.65ly sensor range. While the fearsome insect queen was preoccupied with conquering the cyan stars, these ships moved to Alaraph, and from there began a two-pronged attack on Shiam's lower outposts. The upper fleet, "ATATATATATATATATATATATA", with precisely 100 ships, was sent towards Algieba, while the lower one, "Omae wa mo shindeiru", with 45 ships, was sent towards Regulus.
The bug queen's response was to send all ships to defend these outposts. However, it is likely that many of these will be too late to defend, and instead will end up with the disadvantage of attacking. If all goes according to lackofcheese's plans, he will have plenty of ships remaining to capture Shiam's now poorly-defended stars, and put him in a position of supremacy over the galaxy. Even the combined efforts of the other races might be too late to prevent this, especially if Yoshokatana's ships continue to lack the ability to reach any stars but his own.
Shortly after Shiam's desperate ploy was evident, two much smaller brush-head fleets set out from orange's upper outposts with intent to capitalise on the now vastly weakened bug defenses in that area.
The hundred crack fist of the north star, with a WS of 5, approaches Algieba, which currently houses three fleets and a total of 48 ships. The outcome is clear.
We are barely past three hours into the eleventh year, but it is clear that with his betrayal of bug queen Shiam, lackofcheese has made a massive push for dominance. The brush-heads currently are in possession of almost 40% of the galaxy's stars. Although there are more brush-head vessels than there were yesterday, this belies the fact that they have lost almost a hundred ships in the past day; this loss has simply been outpaced by massive galaxy-wide ship production. It is, however, likely that these ships are being produced at a great many of the orange stars, and given the size of lackofcheese's empire, it may take a very long time to bring these ships to the front lines should they be needed.
Apsup and Shiam both now possess less ships than they had five years ago. War has clearly taken its toll on these two - they now have little resistance to offer against the orange tide, which could soon possess over half of the galaxy. Were this merely a game and not a massive war between alien races, one might think the game would end at that point.
The brush-heads have continued to improve their rate of scientific progress, currently possessing 13 science facilities. This has served them very well in the recent conflict, since they are currently the only race with strength 5 weapons; this would have reduced combat losses in the attack on the bug queen. However, the squid-beasts, under their great leader Dromaro, are once again at the forefront of speed technology, an area they have shown great interest in. It is likely that they have done so in an attempt to get ships from the isolated production facilities to the front lines before it is too late. Meanwhile, the turtle-snakes are finally making a concerted effort to leave the Dark Ages - they now possess 4 science facilities. It is almost certain they are researching jump range in order to attack orange, but it seems unlikely this technology will be completed in time to hurt the brush-heads. It must be noted that Yoshokatana would suffer massive losses in an attack against any significant concentration of lackofcheese's ships, since the defensive advantage would give the bristly ones twice the weapons power of the blue vessels.
We have discovered an interesting fact about lackofcheese's military success - it seems that, although many orange ships have been lost in this battle for the galaxy, the brush-heads have not lost even a single super carrier (although this could be an exaggeration perpetrated by zealous brush-head propagandists). Clearly, the expense of these crucial ships, used to transport fleets across the massive distances between stars, is far too high to warrant losing them except where it is unavoidable.
I know, eh. I was expecting them to gang up on me at any time, and they just let me run away with it. Part of it is that Dromaro was too far away, and Yoshokatana couldn't jump the gap, but at least Apsup and Shiam could've double-teamed me.
Comments
The ninth year began not long ago. Only one star changed hands last year, but it was a notable one - the once grand tentacle beast civilization made its last stand at Altarf, but they were beaten by a brush-head fleet known only as "Attack only one" - a strange name, but no stranger than the brush-heads themselves. With this star, they now have 21 stars, and no less than 41 industry - more than double the industry of Apsup, Dromaro or Shiam. Clearly, the brush-heads are gearing up for war on a massive scale.
Additionally, now having 0.55ly sensor range, the lackofcheese's new outpost at Altarch has detected strange beings at the furthest reaches of their sensors, a race of aliens they had never even heard of before. It would seem that they are a barbaric people, reptilian in appearance (described by anthropologists as similar to both turtles and snakes) and seem to have the brains to match. From intercepted communications, their leader appears to be one called "Lord Admiral Yoshokatana" - this state is obviously a military dictatorship. This scanning has also revealed that their civilization, despite a strong economy and many ships, is highly ignorant of technology - this could well be their downfall. Fortunately for the brush-heads, the turtle-snakes appear unaware that they are being scanned.
With this new sensor upgrade, the only area of technology where lackofcheese doesn't have at least an equal lead with Shiam is fleet speed, in which Dromaro's squid monsters have taken the advantage with 1/3 higher speed than any other race. We do not know how this speed will be of use to the squids, however.
I started a new game. FRC2. It's a symmetrical galaxy this time.
secret password is : spaceiswoman
Edit: What do you guys think about the micro-transaction model for this type of game? This game seems better suited to a Steam title single purchase to me. Though, playing it in the browser is a plus for many.
*edit* Damn, looks like I missed my chance.
I have a few exams this week so I probably won't be super involved with playing until Tuesday.
It sucks that you can't spectate games to at least get information that is common knowledge between all of the players.
This is the situation. Six creatures set out to capture and industrialize the stars throughout this galaxy. One will succeed. Who will it be?
It is only Day 1, but it seems some activity is already brewing. Cremlian appears to be leaning towards technologies by getting science, while Ruffas seems confident on pumping economy, which should help him more in the late game. Sources have told us that due to mis-click Vhdblood has bought into economy, but along with Apreche and Blattus, he is likely looking to get the cheaper upgrades on nearby stars. Shiam has moved for a mix of economy and industry.
What will the future hold?
Just recently, each of the remaining civilizations collected its yearly taxes for the tenth time. From the data available, very much indeed has happened in the past year. First of all, it appears that Apsup's reptilian race has, in a gutsy move, successfully attacked the two greatest empires of the universe at once. Apsup has now gained Altais, formerly the squids' primary front-line star, and Naos, a former brush-head planet at the centre of the known universe. However, while gaining Naos, Apsup lost Sualocin. From the stats, this looks like a poor exchange for the cyan reptiles, since they have lost at least two points of Economy and 1 in Science in the past year. Clearly, there is a science facility on Sualocin, which now belongs to lackofcheese. Additionally, Shiam has finally taken the previously untouched star on his border with Apsup. It seems likely that this star had such poor natural resources that it was never worth taking, but now the bug queen has decided to make it a defensive outpost. Alternatively, it's possible both races were too afraid to attempt to take this star in the presence of the other, but this balance has shifted.
Judging by each race's industry scores and the change in ship counts in the past year, we can see that Dromaro, lackofcheese, Apsup and Shiam all lost ships in battle last year. We can't know the exact numbers, since we don't know the exact times industry upgrades were purchased, but it should be possible to use the ship counts to get a good guess at the events of the past year. Using the industry scores and ship counts from the past year compared to this year's ship counts, we surmise that Dromaro has lost roughly 20 ships, lackofcheese has lost roughly 40 ships, Apsup has lost roughly 100 ships, and Shiam has lost roughly 60 ships.
Since Apsup is the only one likely to have attacked Dromaro, the events at Altais are the easiest to guess. Apsup's newly-researched 4ws should have put him on roughly equal terms with the squids' 3ws + 1ws from defending (apart from the first strike advantage), so it's safe to say around 20 of Apsup's ships were lost taking Altais in order to take out ~20 defending ships. Consequently, we must look elsewhere for the cause of the destruction of the other 80 reptilian vessels. Since the brush-heads match the big-eyed reptiles in weapon strength and each lost a planet to the other, we will guess that they lost roughly equal numbers of ships in their exchange, and that lackofcheese is currently only fighting cyan. Lackofcheese's loss of ~40 ships would then explain another ~40 of Apsup's losses, leaving 40 more unaccounted for.
Consequently, if this line of reasoning is correct, Apsup's 40 lost and Shiam's 60 lost must be the result of fighting between them. Given Shiam's much higher losses, we can only assume that the bug-beasts are attacking their reptilian neighbours' defenses in full force. For now, no cyan star has been lost to the yellow tide, but it's only a matter of time, given how few ships Apsup has left.
The only new technology to come out of this last year is lackofcheese's new scan range of 0.65 light years, surpassing Apsup's 0.55 light year discovery, and almost double the 0.35ly sensor range available to all of the other living races. The brush-heads are no longer the only ones to possess 4 weapon strength, as Apsup and Shiam now have this as well. Also, Dromaro's position as the sole leader in hyperspace speed has been eroded, as lackofcheese and Shiam have gained this technology. Judging by the advances of the past year, we suspect lackofcheese and Shiam have once again traded techs, lackofcheese's 4ws weapons for Shiam's 0.96ly/d hyperspace drive.
Looking at the numbers, we are shocked to find that the brush-head civilization is now more than a match for the bug-beasts and yellow reptiles put together. Lackofcheese's ship count, Economy, Industry, and Science are all higher than the sum of these respective values between Shiam and Apsup - even if those two were to unite under a single command, it would take some luck and tactical genius to stop the orange tide. Clearly, Dromaro or Yoshokatana must take action if they wish to halt the brush-head war machine, but Dromaro's ships are on the other side of the universe. Meanwhile, Yoshokatana's barbaric turtle-snakes continue to build up their economy and forces, and have finally decided to build a second science facility! They have upgraded their weapons and speed, but with a jump range of only 0.5 they remain unable to bridge the gap to to the brush-heads, and with only two science facilities it will likely take them a couple more days to discover the hyperspace technology they need.
Is this truly a wise decision for bug queen Shiam?
As these conflicts develop further, it seems that Dromaro successfully has fought off the reptilian invasion, while Shiam has captured another two cyan stars, and lackofcheese has recaptured Naos. Apsup's empire now lies in ruins, like The Golem's before it. However, there is more than meets the eye going on behind the scenes, as this image captured at great risk from lackofcheese's sensors a few hours ago reveals:
It appears that the brush-heads have turned ruthlessly on their former ally, after massing more than a hundred ships just outside of Shiam's 0.65ly sensor range. While the fearsome insect queen was preoccupied with conquering the cyan stars, these ships moved to Alaraph, and from there began a two-pronged attack on Shiam's lower outposts. The upper fleet, "ATATATATATATATATATATATA", with precisely 100 ships, was sent towards Algieba, while the lower one, "Omae wa mo shindeiru", with 45 ships, was sent towards Regulus.
The bug queen's response was to send all ships to defend these outposts. However, it is likely that many of these will be too late to defend, and instead will end up with the disadvantage of attacking. If all goes according to lackofcheese's plans, he will have plenty of ships remaining to capture Shiam's now poorly-defended stars, and put him in a position of supremacy over the galaxy. Even the combined efforts of the other races might be too late to prevent this, especially if Yoshokatana's ships continue to lack the ability to reach any stars but his own.
Shortly after Shiam's desperate ploy was evident, two much smaller brush-head fleets set out from orange's upper outposts with intent to capitalise on the now vastly weakened bug defenses in that area.
We are barely past three hours into the eleventh year, but it is clear that with his betrayal of bug queen Shiam, lackofcheese has made a massive push for dominance. The brush-heads currently are in possession of almost 40% of the galaxy's stars. Although there are more brush-head vessels than there were yesterday, this belies the fact that they have lost almost a hundred ships in the past day; this loss has simply been outpaced by massive galaxy-wide ship production. It is, however, likely that these ships are being produced at a great many of the orange stars, and given the size of lackofcheese's empire, it may take a very long time to bring these ships to the front lines should they be needed.
Apsup and Shiam both now possess less ships than they had five years ago. War has clearly taken its toll on these two - they now have little resistance to offer against the orange tide, which could soon possess over half of the galaxy. Were this merely a game and not a massive war between alien races, one might think the game would end at that point.
The brush-heads have continued to improve their rate of scientific progress, currently possessing 13 science facilities. This has served them very well in the recent conflict, since they are currently the only race with strength 5 weapons; this would have reduced combat losses in the attack on the bug queen. However, the squid-beasts, under their great leader Dromaro, are once again at the forefront of speed technology, an area they have shown great interest in. It is likely that they have done so in an attempt to get ships from the isolated production facilities to the front lines before it is too late. Meanwhile, the turtle-snakes are finally making a concerted effort to leave the Dark Ages - they now possess 4 science facilities. It is almost certain they are researching jump range in order to attack orange, but it seems unlikely this technology will be completed in time to hurt the brush-heads. It must be noted that Yoshokatana would suffer massive losses in an attack against any significant concentration of lackofcheese's ships, since the defensive advantage would give the bristly ones twice the weapons power of the blue vessels.
We have discovered an interesting fact about lackofcheese's military success - it seems that, although many orange ships have been lost in this battle for the galaxy, the brush-heads have not lost even a single super carrier (although this could be an exaggeration perpetrated by zealous brush-head propagandists). Clearly, the expense of these crucial ships, used to transport fleets across the massive distances between stars, is far too high to warrant losing them except where it is unavoidable.
Part of it is that Dromaro was too far away, and Yoshokatana couldn't jump the gap, but at least Apsup and Shiam could've double-teamed me.