Help out a newb?

Okay, then. Got started on the game last night. Didn't get far before having to turn in, though. Here's the writeup. C&P'd from Notepad, so my apologies for any formatting snafus:

I think one of the major reasons this game attracts a following is that it goes into an insane amount of detail. Right from Setup you have about 50 different ways to play. Since the point of this exercise is to try and get a handle on just how to play, I decide not to jump in with both feet, like I have before. I set it to a small galaxy with few AIs, and choose Massive Expansion for the victory condition. Everything else stays at defaults. Then I design my Empire, the Nuftaria Imperium- I take Monarchy and Scientists, and set the homeworld to Rock/Oxygen. Then comes the Racial traits, which I have to think a bit harder about. I go with Smart, because Technological superiority is gold, and High reproduction because populating colonies is a pain. I want one of the unique technologies, but I hesitate. I had tried Psychic previously, but the only really good thing there seems to be the TK Projector, And even then Anti-Proton beams require a lot less investment. Besides that, Hardy Industrialists, Natural Merchants and Advanced Power conservation are pretty tempting. I ponder it a while and decide to go with Hardy Industrialists- since they do a lot of research, it makes sense that they'd be good at development as well. We're good to go from that, but I spend 20 minutes filling in the history page on the race screen. I'm just that kind of a guy.

The start of an SEV games strikes me as somewhat similar to chess. Though the game can develop in countless numbers of ways as it progresses, the opening moves are fairly simple and easy to grasp- indeed almost ritualistic sometimes. First turn, I put all my Research points into Light Hull Construction- it's important to build decent ships early in the game, and is expensive enough that you really should use the starting bonus for it. At least that's been my experience. Second turn, design a basic Colony Ship with room enough for around 100M people. (I've taken to calling it the "Grand Ovum".) Add one to the building queue for each colonizable planet in the home system, and as each one gets built, send it out to start a Research Center or Mining Colony. Meanwhile, more research- I generally do Sensors first and foremost, up to level 5- they're crucial for my next two designs. Also important are Engines (For Supply capacity) and armor. Weapons are good too, of course, but I hesitate. In the games I've played previously, I've found that I could typically research up some very good Anti-Proton Beams before reaching the point where I needed to fight, which makes the points put into Projectile Weapons a waste of time. On the other hand, those were medium-size galaxies, and this one is small, potentially meaning sooner contact. But on the OTHER other hand, I have less AIs in this game too, and my experience at the treaty table is that I can usually negotiate a non-agression pact on first contact, which means I can essentially wait until I'm ready to start blasting at things. So I decide to go with Sensors, Engines and Armor, making Physics my forth priority.

My starting system is not the best I've ever seen, but workable. 5 Rock Worlds availbale, none Oxygen. 2 large, 1 small, 2 Tiny. A Large and the Small have 140% Minerals, so they're good for mining, and the others will make fine research stations. There are apparently only two other players in the game, which seems low even given that I set the game to spawn few empires. Obviously this is going to develop into a two-on-one. I make a note to be one of the two.

I colonize the home system, noting as I do so that Hardy Industrialists was a good choice- the time it takes to get things up and running is cut by at least three turns. Once my Sensors hit level 5, I draw up my next design. It's nothing especially special, but it's crucial to keeping the Empire organized. A small satellite with Normal and Tachyon sensors. It's job is to hang out in orbit above a colony, keeping an eye on the surrounding area and watching for any unannounced unpleasentness. Once they've reached the point where they're providing services to the Empire, each colony builds one and sends it up. I like to imagine that it's a source of some pride among the colonists, perhaps decorated with family crests or symbols or quotations, or something symbolic of their new identity. I've taken to calling it the "Diadem", since it's like a crown for the colony. It's brother, the "Oculus", is the exact same design but instead designed to hang out by Warp Points watching for invaders. I add a Diadem to the queues of each of the colonies, and also ask some colonies that are done building facilities to make some Oculi- a total of 14 between three of them, to be used in the scouting of new systems.

At this point I check the clock and realise it's 4:30 AM. That's what I get for starting a big new venture like this at 3, I suppose. I call it a night and type this up in the morning. Right now I've got some work to get done, so more later this evening.

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"Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics."
-old military saying, source unknown

So, after putting the sattelites in the queue, I spend 2 turns getting Armor and Engines up to Level 3 each. I'd rather take them all the way up to Level 5, but I don't have the Research muscle for it. Then it's time to design a exploration ship. I find the Frigate is best for this, as it moves the farthest in a turn and can be retrofitted to other functions if necessary- such as Population Transport or Minesweeping. It also has a better chance of getting away from any potential attacks. What I call the "Farsight" is a very basic craft overall- Priority 1 is to scout out unmapped systems and see if they're worth colonizing. Priority 2 is to lay Oculi near any Warp Points it comes across, giving me an eye on posible ship movements. Priority 3 is to be relatively combat capable. Unfortunately priority 3 gets cut because there's not enough tonnage left for the guns after adding the cargo and satellite bay. So I decide that the combat strategy is to use those 12 Ion Engines to GTHO and play keep-away while the bold emporer negotiates with the other empire for safe passage. Which causes problems if they station ships at the warp point, but it's not like a single Frigate can break through such a barricade anyway- especially since you can't warp while in combat.

By the by, one thing that annoys me is that moving on top of any other ship causes an automatic shootout unless you have a written non-agression treaty. I mean seriously, I can't see any reason why it's good international politics to shoot someone on sight just because he's on your turf. What if he's lost, or had no clue where that Warp Point would take him? Yes there is hostility between races, but it's civilized nations, not street gangs. I'd like to think steller empires are not so xenophobic that they can't just open a comm channel and say "This is our system, turn around and go back, okay? Good, we don't need trouble either." All I'm saying is that I wish first contact didn't half the time involve my captains warping into an unknown system and deciding to open fire and start a war I'm not ready for.

Anyway...

I put 4 Farsights in the queue and while building them I start researching Intelligence. Which I'm not sure is really a good idea, honestly- while it's probably best to have some defense in case your opponent plays a sabotage-heavy game, I find that Intelligence projects are easily the most random part of the game- Only in one game did espionage gain me any information, and then it wasn't of any real value. And I still haven't figured out how to view the intel reports forwarded to me by other empires. But whatever, it's that or Medical Care, and I've never encountered a plague situation ever in five games. So I divide my research time between Intel subjects and Physics (for weapons and shields)

The Farsight ships are built, and I load each up with 3 Oculus satellites and ship out to the surrounding systems. I survey them manually, since the default survey command couldn't map an optimal route to save it's life. There's nothing of especial interest in the immediately adjoining systems, but the planets will make good research/intel stations, and one or two have good percentages for radioactives. But two warps from my Homeworld a complication arises in the form of the Phong Confederation. I hadn't anticipated first contact so soon or so close to my capital. But no big deal, I think, the Phong are generally a peaceful sort, so I continue the survey as usual and await the inevitable treaty request. Meanwhile, just in case, I start building more Grand Ovums. The strategy is to colonize the currently-neutral system between me and the Phong and use it as a buffer to keep my homeworld safe in case they turn belligerant. However, to effectively fortify the area I'll need Fighters and Mines- which is alright since I'd just finished with Physics for the time being, and Construction was my next objective anyway.

On the subject, I have the Anti-Proton Beam by 2402.0, which I believe vindicates my decision to pooh-pooh the Depleted Uranium Cannon. In retrospect, though, I should have taken Construction first since Mines are as good at defending a system, especially when you employ the cheap but legal tactic of dropping 50 or so of them right on top of a Warp Point.

My strategy when colonizing a system is essentially- Supply Depot first, especially when there are unknown systems nearby and you want to resupply and keep exploring. Space Port second, because otherwise you can't get anything from the colonies. Then build up your installations, playing to I try to put it on a Small Planet where I can't build a lot of installations, so that I can start cranking out ships sooner. In the long run, however, it evens out, so unless time is tight, I can really put in on a larger planet. Have each colony build and send up a Diadem when Installation space is full, essentially saying "Okay, I'm done here."

I ended tonight's session on 2402.6, with the plan going more or less according to plan, except that the Phong had not sent the expected treaty request. In fact, they shot down an Oculus, which put me on alert until I realised that it was one I had stupidly left on their side of the border. I suppose I can propose a treaty myself, but that may not turn out to be necessary. I just hit Construction level 2, so a good idea might be to develop some Mines quickly and mine the Warp Point. However, the Phong have sent a Frigate through the warp, presumably to scout out the system, and it's making me tense. Chances are it's just going to do a quick survey and be gone, but if it goes into my homeworld's sector I may have to make things ugly. That will be difficult since I have yet to design a combat-capable ship and Fighters are a few turns out of my grasp. But of course, the Phong are probably having the same problem this early in the game, so at least I know they probably don't have anything nasty up their sleeve.

Meanwhile exploration continues in the other direction of the homeworld, with the Farsights scouting out several systems and a good number of colonizable planets- though again, nothing especially special. Nevertheless, I'm sending out Grand Ovums- gotta get more resources.

Thus far, looking pretty good, I'd say. More later.

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"Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics."
-old military saying, source unknown

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday- didn't have time for SEV. Got back to the game this afternoon, and resumed work on the Mine Project. I think a minute about whether I want my Mine Layer to be a Freighter or a Frigate. I decide on a Frigate because I can retorfit the Farsights easily, if necessary. The final design has 450kT of cargo space, plus Armor and Shields in case it gets jumped, but no guns. The idea is that this will only be used to fortify established systems- I still need to design a heavy-duty combat Frigate. I name it the "Kuniochi", and the mine design the "Caltrop". But I put off building any mines to research Warheads a little more, in hopes of getting more of a punch. Turns out the extra punch amounted to about 10% for a whole turn's worth of research points. Live and learn. I make the battle frigate my next priority research-wise, with the development of Fighters to come. Then I'll research bigger ships. I've cooled somewhat on Fighters- in previous games I built my entire offense around carriers, but what I learned from harsh experience is that it's a very short-range strategy- get more then a single system away from your base of operations, and you start having serious Supply issues, and all the Battle Simulator results in the world don't help you when your army can't move. However, Fighters remain second only to Mined Warp Points on defense- if a system is invaded, it's a very effective strategy to have your colonies drop everything and build a rag-tag defense force of Fighters, then give the enemy ample reason to re-think their strategy.

The Phong ship in my space hasn't made any agressive moves yet, so I put the Kuniochi on the Homeworld's build queue and bide my time waiting for him to leave. Meanwhile in uncontested space, my Farsights have located a total of 8 more colonizable planets. While the surveys continue, I queue up some more Grand Ovums- since I have a lot of systems to colonize, the strategy for now is to fly out to some of the farther ones, fortify them as supply depots/shipyards, and then "back-colonize" the intervening systems. Of course, that's all subject to change depending on the recon the Farsights bring back- which is fortunate, since Farsight 0002 warps into a system for a standard survey and winds up being fired at by 7 Cho'thachoduh Frigates. Fortunately, the captain has the GTHO strategy down pat and evades them after pointlessly jettisoning his last remaining Oculus. I head to the Diplomacy screen and find out they're a one-system race. Awesome. I send them a quick Non-agression Pact that includes Mutual Defense, i.e. "I'll help you defend your space if I can have free passage through it." This will allow me to use them as a buffer against any enemies that try to come at me through their system. Then I make a note to fortify heavily for an attack against the Phong, since they're the only other player in the game that's a threat. At this point I've mapped the entire area between me and the two other Empires. Essentially, it's a closed-off cluster of systems- the Phong Territory intersects with mine only at a single Warp Point, and the other empire is a single system connected to two of mine. If the Cho system has no other outlets- which I strongly suspect is a case- what we wind up with is that one system between me and the Phong, and the Cho in a small island amongst my territory. In other words, the military setup should be- a small but functional base of operations near the Cho, in case I have to smack them down, and all other resources into the Phong border. Colonizing the systems between me and the Cho can take a back burner, as it can be done at any time. However, I am aware that this is a massive expansion game, and I only have 6 colonizable systems at my disposal right now- 7 if I can eventually negotiate to colonize Cho space. Plus I don't know how fast the Phong are expanding. So I better get cracking on those battle Frigates. With their mission- mapping out available territory- more or less acomplished, I call most of the Farsights back to the homeworld, to be eventually retrofitted.

2403 brings some interesting twists. The Phong propose a treaty which, quite frankly, is worthless- no viral weapons or Death Star tactics, none of which I have any intention of doing in the first place. Still, it shows that they're receptive to diplomatic advances- they won't be for long, I think, given that I have to go to war with them soon. I ignore the offer for now. The second interesting thing is an Earthquake at a colony in the contested zone, which kills everyone. Huh. That's new. I'm thinking Phong sabotage, but that's unlikely given it's this early in the game. Fortunately, I kept a Farsight in the system to monitor the Phong Survey craft, so I have them transfer 60M from a neighboring colony. Neither colony is doing any major construction anymore, so things should be fine. The third is that the survey of the cho's system reveals a third Warp Point, which adds a kink to my previous plan. But the Cho are serving as a buffer, so my priorities remain the same. I decide to build a BoO in an adjacent system, and then send out the Farsight to survey beyond the Warp Point once it's up and running. The Phong remain the top priority.

I should stop making plans like that, because I just have to change them when shit happens the next turn.

Negotiations with the Cho break down, and they attack the Farsight 0002 again, necessitating a quick retreat to my own territory. Meanwhile the Phong send me another treaty request- the salient points are, 30% trade and colonization in each other's systems, plus shared resupply and repair. Hmm. I accept- with my fingers crossed. See, the Phong are Rock, like me, and I've already colonized all the Rock planets on my side of the border. Non-Agression will keep them from attacking my colonies, and reasearch into the combat frigates is pretty much done by this point, so I can refocus my reasearch towards fighters and have them in a few turns if all goes well, after which my colonies should be very hard to assault. So I send the Kuniochi to mine the Warp Point between my homeworld and the border. There's no other outlet from that system, and the treaty doesn't cover minefield codes, so it basically amounts to giving me a boost in resources and carte blanche to scout out Phong territory while I build a strike force and spank the Cho.

I try not to deliberately rape the AI on the treaty table, but frankly, if they make me an offer like that without thinking things through, I'm not going to cut them a break just because they're dumb.

That's all for today. More tommorrow- my current objectives are to get an attack fleet off the ground, clobber the Cho for disrespecting me, and quietly scout out Phong territory under cover of the treaty. Once I've dealt with the Cho and built a decent resource base, the war against the Phong begins. Life in the galaxy is about to get interesting.

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"Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics."
-old military saying, source unknown

Well, I screwed THAT up. Everybody has been telling me I've got it all down pat, but it turns out I'm a newb after all.

To cut a long and painful story short, I got my ass kicked, and I have noone but myself to blame. I made two crucial mistakes- I underestimated the enemy and I got impatient. I had no business running an offensive this session. A show was on that I wanted to see, and I was in a hurry to get things done before it came on. So I rushed, and got clobbered. Twice.

From the top: when we last left our hero, he was getting ready to design a Combat Frigate and send it into enemy space to kick some ass. I designed the ship, alright- standard Attack Ship Frigate with two Anti-Proton Beams, Tachyon Sensors removed in favor of Shields and more Armor. I call it the "Shieldmaiden". Not bad, I thought, though in retrospect Missiles might have been a better idea. Once I designed it, it was pretty much a case of "hurry up and wait" for about 15 turns or so while I built up the base and the fleet. Experience with the game tells me the best general purpose strategy for SEV is, to quote a controversial old general- "Get there the first with the most." So I do that- last time I was in Cho territory, I noted about 7 Frigates guarding the Warp Point, and 4 more over the single colonized planet. So I figure 10 ships should be more then enough to put them out of the game.

In a sense, I was right. After getting everything squared away, we Warp in en masse and the first shootout begins. They have less ships then me, so it's a simple victory. I lose one ship and incur minor damage to another. They lose everything. However, it turns out they've built up the force orbiting the planet- there are 11 ships there now, to my 9. And here's where I screw up. I'm at a two-ship disadvantage. Frigates vs. Frigates at least, that constitutes "impossible odds". I know this. It's been proven by the Combat Simulator time and again. It's what my entire battle plan is based on! But I have a half-hour to wrap this up or miss my show, and my mind's not on the game. So I attack anyway. It quickly becomes obvious that I'm losing. I try to order a retreat, but fumble with the interface and at the end I'm left with a paltrey two ships limping back to base.

But I'm still impatient, and now I'm angry as well. So I go into emergency build and drum up another fleet- 14 ships this time. But I've put the Cho on alert now, and they start cranking out ships too. Not just Frigates either, they can also do Destroyers. I had been under the impression that Destroyers were at best equal to a Frigate, and if well-designed the Frigates actually have a slight edge. Well, apparently the Destroyers have potential I hadn't expected. I go in with the advantage of numbers and I win at the Warp Point, but I lose half my force. Plus there are enemy survivors on the Warp, and although their weapons are done for, their engines aren't and I can't catch them. So they have the Warp Point effectively blockaded, meaning I have to take them around the long way to re-supply.

What a fiasco...

What demoralizes me more is that it doesn't make a bit of difference. I was also scouting out the Phong as I tried to break the Cho, and it turns out they're confined to four systems, one uninhabitable. On one side my territory has them penned in. On another is a Black Hole which they seem understandably reluctant to go near. Since the game is Massive Expansion, I never had a realistic chance of losing- the only way the Phong could have won is if they somehow managed to invade and crush my homeworld before I had Mines up and running. 80% of the game was won when the map was drawn, the rest is just going to be me slogging tiredly through it. Bleh.

I also tried out some sabotage on the Cho, to soften them up for the invasion. Results were disappointing- Planet Sabotage didn't do anything, possibly because their only world is their homeworld. Ship Sabotage and Empire Sabotage produced some encouraging messages, but didn't really seem to affect their overall combat power. Planet Sabotage did seem to bring random disasters on me, however, like cosmic storms. Instant karma, or a bug?

I'm not giving up just yet, though. It's become a matter of pride to deal with the Cho, and I think I've got the answer. I spurned fighters as offense because of the supply issues, but I think this is a situation where they will shine- a single, heavily-fortified system just one warp away from an established Supply base. I'll give it a go next session, then decide wether I want to go the distance and expand to the rest of the galaxy, or just call this game won and try another on a normal-sized map.

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"Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics."
-old military saying, source unknown

Sorry for dropping off like that. I was demoralized on this map, not so much by my stupid military maneuvers but by my new understanding that the state of the map made it essentially a two-person game and I'm armed with the BFG-9000. Plus, I've been playing a different game on the side from SEV, and it kinda took over for a few days. But anyway, I beat the Cho with a fighter rush rather easily, and that'll be it for this map. I'm disappointed that I managed to learn so little, but I suppose that's what you get for trying to simplify the game experience too much.

I'm going to give it another go, though, both because I need to learn more and because I like this- writing up the post-session reports is as much fun as actually playing the game. I'll use a regular-sized map this time. What's a good victory condition to practice military and expansion strategy on? I'm thinking "Destroy all homeworlds", since it will be pretty much the same as the default "Kill everyone", but without the obnoxious mopping-up after actually doing so. Unless, of course, I'm reading the VC list wrong.

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"Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics."
-old military saying, source unknown