posted 06-09-99 12:18 AM ET        

I started on a medium-sized continent with the Great Dunes as my little landmark (if anybody knows how to get anything even remotely useful out of that place, please tell me!) although I recently named a natural hill Mount Nathan and one I made for personal ego gratification Mount Terraform (I think I'm going to switch those, as the current Mount Nathan is covered with farms, sloar collectors, echelon mirrors, mines, roads, you name it, whereas Mount Terraform is bare)

I began building lots of bases and soon found that I had a neighbor to the west- the Morganites. They had the most energy and were the best in tech, and we quickly formed a Pact of Brotherhood. I used this Pact to suck 'em dry of anything useful, while steadily building more and more cities.

Due to the stuff I got from Morgan and my many cities, I soon grew much more powerful than the Morganites, and decided to destroy them. I built up a large army of Impact Rovers and stationed them in my nearest city to them.

In 2214, they used a probe team to steal some of my technology, and of course I immediately ended the Pact. Then in2217 they used probes to take a terraformer that I was planning to use to remove the funguse blocking my army from their base, and I declared Vendetta.

I took Morgan Solarfex in 2219 and signed a treaty with them. Of course, I did not intend to make this a long-lasting treaty,as all I wanted was time to reposition my forces for a strike at their Headquarters, Morgan Industries.

I soon built the Empath Guild and used it tocontact Zakharov to make an alliance and get tech. He told me that There could only be an alliance between the Hive and the University of Planet if I deslared war on the Morganites, whom he had been hired to attack but never did anything (They seem to do that a lot)

Of course I agreed, and in 2226 I declared war on the Morganites and gained an alliance with the UoP. I directed my forces to take the Morganite capital.

The year 2228 was a banner year for the Human Hive. Not only did we succeed in taking Morgan Industries, but Morgan capitulated the same year! I was able to get Morgan Construction, a fine base, by threats, as well as trading Morgan Solarfex to the UoP for Climactic Research, a large city in the Ruins and with 4 Secret Projects!

Also that year, I determined that I had to embark on a major war. The Believers and I were neck and neck for first place, although I had consistently held onto it, only occasionally dipping into second, and while I was at war with the Morganites but not yet allied to the UoP I lost the Governorship (of course I regained it soon after)

Unless I took action, there was no telling what might happen,as I had frequently seen the Believers rise to power quickly and pull so far ahead it was impossible to catch up. This could happen in this game and I had to stop it before Miriam anf her Believers gained an insurmountable lead.

I ordered many of my bases to build transport foils, planning to take my rover army to attack the Believers, a plan I called Operation Crusade.

The problem was that my rovers were already obselete, so there was no telling what could happen by the time I had my fleet prepared and got them down there (The route was heavily fungused) I did not have the finances to upgrade them all to my best weapons.

Unfortunately, in 2238 Miriam declared Vendetta before Operation Crusade was ready!

I took the three ready transports south to attack the Believers at Righteous Sentance.

Ten years later (they were foils) I upgraded them to missile rovers and successfully took Righteous Sentance, although one of my transports was destroyed along the way. The next year I took Divinity Base and made a truce so that I could build up forces.

The Gaians and the Believers were mortal enemies, and the Gaians soon came to me andsaid that they would be my ally if I gave them Pre-Sentient Algorithms. Having already built the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm, I agreed. The UoP also declared war on the Believers, although most of their bases fell to the Believers, who now unfortunately have good attack technology due to techs taken from UoP bases.

In 2259, after 9 years of peace with the Believers, I renewed hostilities and took The Word of God and in 2260 Zvedny Gorodok.
Although the Believers have a formidable air force, with the three of us attacking at once there are too many targets for her to do any real damage.

My plan is to get my central core building top-tech units and cruiser transports to ship to war with the Believers, always attacking from a different direction and crush the Believers, as well as liberate the conquered UoP bases and return them to Zakharov, thus boosting his power bak up and making him like me even more.

posted 06-09-99 04:33 PM ET            

When I began playing this morning, the tide of the war turned, and I found that my forces were being decimated by Believer counterattacks. Finally Miriam said that if I declared war on the UoP, my Pact Brother, then she would sign a truce.

What could I do? If I refused she would destroy my forces and drive me out, and possibly even invade! And anyway, the UoP had done more bad than good in the war, as they lost all but a few of their bases to the Believers, who took their technology (which I had given them).

So I agreed, andset my home bases to build many fusion rovers. While I was doing this, sunspot activity began (which would be rather important later on) positioned two transports full of rovers off the west coast of the Believer's territory (all the earlier fighting was in the east, and so there were strong defenses built up there) And attacked in 2277.

This invasion was quite successful. I took over all the bases in the western half of their lands, as well as many in conquerd UoP territory. Around this time I learned that the Gaians had signed a treaty with the Believers some time ago, althoughwe were still allies, and the UoP was crippled, with three bases far to the north (I had given them the conquered Morganite bases) So the Big Three was down to The One.

Around 2280, I launched an assault on the heavily gaurded New Jerusalem.Their air foce repeatedly cut down my army while the supply of reinforcements was dwindling. (Although I sent many more transorts in, none made it through the Believing Navy's defense) and when sunspot activity ceased in 2286 my powerful army had mostly been destroyed in the bloody fight for New Jerusalem (a battle I lost, by the way)

In 2286, when Miriam called, I figured I'd try to make a treaty and repeat my strategy. She asked for Orbital Spaceflight and I gave it, and then something totally unexpected happened...she surrendered! (Actually I think she would have surrendered earlier except for the sunspots)

I eagerly accepted her offer and set about using her as a puppet state, as she was still capable of doing some damage. I set my home bases back to peaceful building and signed a treaty with the UoP, and sat down to figure out what to do next.

This was answered soon enough when I discovered that the Spartans were building a Planet Buster! Hurridly I built my own although it was later destroyed by a conventional missile while in a base and set out to take the base it was being built in.

In 2289, I took Parade Ground, where it was being built, although they began building somewhere else, and the year after I took Planetary Trust and signed a truce, although I had to give them Mind/Machine Interface.

I then sent transports to strategic locations around the Spartans, planning to take them out in as few turns as possible by attacking in several places and just moving inward in a blitzkrieg.

The Spartans soon decided to go to war with me and detroyed the transport that was full of troops I planned to use to take Sparta Command. No worry, though, I used a missile and drop troops. After conquering a smallish base to the south, I gave them Retroviral Engineering and declared a truce.

posted 06-10-99 10:17 AM ET            

Stay tuned for the final episode of...The Great Conquest!

(commercial break)

Well, just about the only thing that I documented in my notebook-o-events is that I was just goofing around with the commlink, forcing my puppet states in and out of wars, stockpiling weapons, taunting the University, when I decided to call a COuncil. Now one of the options was "Unite Behind Me As Supreme Leader" Now, I said to myself, "I won't win, I'll try that and see how ptahetically I lose!" And I won. (I had forgotten that I had bought Dierdre's vote)

SO the game ended in 2310 without a major war with the Spartans (and after them I would've had to deal with the Gaians, which would NOT have been fun, as their air force was the biggest in the world and I saw what damage those needlejets can do in the Believer War) My Score was 1,731 / 129%

Okey Dokey now, the analysis: I liked how I planned my wars, but my research was atrocious. The best it ever got was 6-7 turns.

I should probably terraform earlier than I did in this game...I didn't start until after the war with the Morganites, although it certainly paid off!

posted 06-13-99 09:35 PM ET            

For the Dunes, all you can do is plant forest everywhere and hope to get the techs that allow you to capitalize. Alternately, you can build a few condensors and rivers.
What a terrible place.