MP: Galactic Domination

I just took over for an empire, Freedonia, in the MP game Galactic Domination. We are in turn 24. I started last turn, ranked 15th (out of 16 I think). This turn I am ranked 14th, so in 14 turns I should be winning right?

I figure I'd try an ongoing AAR about it, should be interesting though, since I do not want to give any information to my enemies... or maybe I am giving out false info? Who knows....

This is an open thread, so feel free to comment or make suggestions. I am new MP... so here we go.

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My name is Aegis, the newly appointed leader of Freedonia. How I came into this position is an interesting story, pehaps I will go into it another time. Let's just say it involves a leader, some pills and Valentines Day. Since my appointment was, well, sudden, I am still trying to catch up. Apparently running an empire is not as simple as they portray it on the holovision.

In the grand scheme of things Freedonia is a small democracy in an insignificant corner of the quadrant. We boast an unimpressive 8 worlds spread across a handful of systems. To give an idea of scale, we have reports of some empires spanning 60 planets. the previous administration looks to have gone with a slow growth and build up plan. I'm not sure how well that plan will work against such large empires. Locally, we have a few neighbors. Thankfully none of them have 60 planets, but some are in the 20's.

I was lucky enough to take office during a little known about war with the Dolon Collective. I'm not sure why or when this war even started. There have been casualties on both sides recently. We lost a wayward colony vessel a couple months back. Just recently however we destroyed a frigate without taking any losses. The Dolon's ships have superior armor to ours, but we have the numbers. Our numerical advantage will not last forever though. Considering this war seemed pointless, I worked out a cease-fire with the Dolons. Hopefully we can begin trade talks soon as well.

Our military was in disarray and scattered throughout our systems. One of my first tasks was to consolidate and form some fleets. I also had them redeployed to key warp points, as to defend against incursions into our space. Planetary defense was also neglected, so I directed the governors to deploy weapon platforms and orbital weapons as soon as possible. I am pleased to say that the several of these units have already come online. The population seems to like protection as well, who knew? In the coming months our defensive capabilities should be much improved.