FreeOrion

The first blow has been struck with a Gyaschae scout stumbling into a patrolling Egassem corvette. Looks like its going to be a tiny dogfighting map.

George's diary:

Day 0 of a newspace era: I've learnt to build stuff capable of flying through the empty space to other star systems. This gonna be awesome!

Day 2: a bit boring this empty space, just a inhospitable wet planet and a lot of annoying galactic fog.

Day 5: yay, I can live in the new planet I found, and there are more. We gonna grow.

Day 8: I am not alone! Wow! Will these huge stony guys be amicable?

Day 9: I got a new friend! I'm quite happy.

Day 10: There is even more people in the galaxy! This will be even funnier! The new guys on the block are small and squashy. I knew they existed because I caught some peaceful signals since the beginning. We will be a nice bunch of folks to talk about things and stuff. Awesome.

Day 11: More people! OMG! Those are also squashy, but not peaceful. I don't know what to think.

Day 20: I must admit, it seems to be some trouble here. The last guys insist on stay on war with my friend and me. And the other squashy folks have signed and alliance with them, so I guess I am at war with them too. I don't know if this makes much sense. But I guess three is multitude. Anyway, I don't think this "war" thing is really that serious, but seems a fun game, if I grasp the rules.

Day 27: the galaxy is an exciting board to play cat and mouse! My friend is doing it with the long-legs right now. I wanna do that too, but they are too far from me. One day I might play it with the four-limbs.

Cycles 24 - 27
An unauthorized cattle ship was sighted trespassing in Egassem space by patrol ships "Cassiopeia" and "Goose". Let it be known that the fine officers of said crafts did their duty, and the situation has been taken care of, appropriately.

Well that was quick. Have I ever mentioned to any of you that I really dislike small galaxies? It's something I mention two or three times in every single MP thread. This is why. Wobbly has defeated me in 35 turns. Full kudos to wobbly - I do not wish to detract from the skill of his victory - but in a galaxy this small every tiny bit of bad luck or optimisation error is magnified into game-ending proportions. Bigger galaxies mean more balanced games where early bad luck has more time to get evened out. I didn't have an especially bad start, but losing an early colony to Egassem after losing a scout and a colony ship to his corvette is not recoverable. Well done wobbly, and good luck Oleg!

This time it was 30 systems per player. Not that small.

Wobbly is an awesome strategist.

Sorry Magnate. At least as sorry as I can be under the circumstances. My internet is playing up, so I'll have to post the screenshot later, but I managed to sneak down the side just out of sight of your scout and plant an outpost for leap frogging. With an outpost at Gladiolus I could launch heavy ships right to your capital. Your scout was an inch away from seeing it happen. You don't get Egassem against Gyschae on a small map that often, I couldn't resist trying for a blitzkrieg. This is what they do best.

Edit: For now, this

https://ibb.co/album/3RmLQk

So... What we do now?

Wobbly+Oberlus vs o01eg is very unbalanced.
Wobbly vs Oberlus vs o01eg is probably a victory for Wobbly on the long run since he will be getting lots of Gysache population in no time.
Wobbly vs o01eg+Oberlus, I don't know, but I bet it's unfair for Wobbly.

Also we could finish this game and start a new one.

Nothing to report for v0.4.10 RC3.

Yeah I'm not sure, I've put in my move for now but I don't know if it'll still be a fun game. My 3rd laser ship just rolled off the docks & there's a 4th already in the works. 2 home worlds in however many turns it takes to jump to Magnate's capital. What does everyone else want to do?

Edit: I'm thinking start over? Oberlus if we aren't allies your Egassem colony is range, I have an attack ship already, I have the troop ship next turn.

Hahaha, you would not let me get to pop 3 Egassem!

Let's do what o01eg prefers. It's been a fun and interesting game, just from seeing wobbly do his magic.
If we start a new game, I'm fine with that, if we stick to this one I'll do my best to win, whatever it is, including staying allied to wobbly until o01eg concedes

Oberlus wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:53 am Hahaha, you would not let me get to pop 3 Egassem!

Let's do what o01eg prefers. It's been a fun and interesting game, just from seeing wobbly do his magic.
If we start a new game, I'm fine with that, if we stick to this one I'll do my best to win, whatever it is, including staying allied to wobbly until o01eg concedes

Dunno, I'm planning to make some database maintenance after this game ends so maybe it's a good chance to do it on weekend.

Magnate wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 8:48 pm Have I ever mentioned to any of you that I really dislike small galaxies? It's something I mention two or three times in every single MP thread.

What I can't remember is what sizes are medium and large for you.
For me, around 15 systems per player is small, 25 is medium and 40 is large.

in a galaxy this small every tiny bit of bad luck or optimisation error is magnified into game-ending proportions. Bigger galaxies mean more balanced games where early bad luck has more time to get evened out. I didn't have an especially bad start, but losing an early colony to Egassem after losing a scout and a colony ship to his corvette is not recoverable.

I think the problem wasn't about starting luck or optimization errors but about tactical errors: you weren't prepared for a blitzkrieg and didn't see it coming due to bad scouting. Wobbly production and research is probably lowest of the three remaining empires and I guess it was lower than yours.

Bigger galaxies allows for no-brainer growth early game: no body can attack you, so pump out outpost ships and colony buildings while focusing on ind., res. and pop. boosts until a thread gers close to you. That doesn't necessarily helps evening out bad/good luck at start, if you got bad planets and the other has good ones you are screwed unless you play better.

Smaller galaxies might help with that since luckier empires can't focus blindly on growth.

Oberlus wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 10:35 pm So... What we do now?

Wobbly+Oberlus vs o01eg is very unbalanced.
Wobbly vs Oberlus vs o01eg is probably a victory for Wobbly on the long run since he will be getting lots of Gysache population in no time.
Wobbly vs o01eg+Oberlus, I don't know, but I bet it's unfair for Wobbly.

I'm not part of this game (still having connection issues) so in a way it's none of my business, but I really don't understand this reasoning :
If Wobbly vs o01eg + Oberlus is unfair to Wobbly, then it's up to Wobbly's diplomacy to make up for it, isnt' it ?

I mean the only thing that is unfair in multiplayer game is when there are noobs that stick to an alliance even when it's not in their interest anymore, because they don't understand the difference between out-of-game morality (keeping one's words) and a diplomacy game when a player gets out a new persona each new game and everybody is supposed to betray the others at one point of the game...

And you seem to all be seasoned players, so this shouldn't be a problem at all !

LienRag wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2020 1:05 pm If Wobbly vs o01eg + Oberlus is unfair to Wobbly, then it's up to Wobbly's diplomacy to make up for it, isnt' it ?

The thing is, Oberlus and wobbly allied at the beginning, o01eg and Magnate soon after, so the game became a 2v2.
With the sudden surrender of Magnate, game is pretty much decided if we keep current alliances, and makes little sense to continue since o01eg has no chances.
Breaking my alliance with Wobbly to try and make the game interesting again for o01eg (not to get a win myself, certainly, probably the opposite) is an option, but not if it makes victory impossible for another player.
Betraying an ally to switch from loser to winner team in a free diplomacy game is absolutely a valid move, but we are not talking about that scenario here.

LienRag wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2020 1:05 pm I mean the only thing that is unfair in multiplayer game is when there are noobs that stick to an alliance even when it's not in their interest anymore, because they don't understand the difference between out-of-game morality (keeping one's words) and a diplomacy game when a player gets out a new persona each new game and everybody is supposed to betray the others at one point of the game...

I don't see why it is unfair tp anyone that some players sometimes/always stick to an alliance against their own interest (being those players noobs or not).
While I agree to the general idea of separating out-of-game morality from in-game diplomacy, the thing is players will remember if you can be trusted through the thick and thin, or only when it is on your interest. Players that tend to stick to their words can get easier diplomacy (more durable and reliable pacts), even when the other partners are not bound by their words.
As a side note, I don't think that, in general, one can expect players' emotions and memories to influence their new personas in each game. Seasoned players, quite grown up, can never again trust you because you betrayed them once, and they can even state openly that you are in fact as liar and unreliable as in their last game with you.

LienRag wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2020 1:05 pm I'm not part of this game (still having connection issues) so in a way it's none of my business,

Which connection issues do you have?

Check out the guns on these bad boys.
Need to wait till next round to see whether they actually fire.