Neptune's Bountiful Pride 3

[Joflar]

Two questions:

Why on earth did SGP (Spacelad) ally with n0wak (Mcheese)?

Was it true that SGP was trying to get illeria (Tophat Mcblasterpants) to attack me, or was that just illeria trying to psych me?

My strategy at the start was to ignore the center and move sideways instead. Getting attacked early by Sombre was actually a boon because I managed to get his home planet with all its research and industry.

I did a truce with illeria, but broke it when he started losing ships in his attack on Chris. Patters attacked me some but stopped. After finishing up illeria, I decided to take Patters planets too. Unfortunately for me, this time Chris managed to seize Patters homeworld. Instead of fighting Chris, I hoped to stay on his good side and waited for an opportune moment to attack SGP.

For most of the game I was on friendly terms with n0wak, we did a lot of technology trading. I figure thats what made him trust me towards the end game.

[n0wak]

  Joflar said:

Two questions:

Why on earth did SGP (Spacelad) ally with n0wak (Mcheese)?

We never allied. I think early on we had an unspoken understanding about Diggwiggler's stars in the middle. After the alliance with Darth and subsequent invasion, that all went out the window and we were eager to destroy everything there. The only uneasy thing we both shared was the understanding that you would benefit the most from this, and I told him if he were to counter you back I would assist. But I needed a day to regroup and, well, I wasn't going to let Spacelad keep my worlds either. But he never did muster a strong enough assault to weaken you so I kept away.

So I got an out-of-character message from Spacelad in my inbox that was basically "You monster."

  Joflar said:

Was it true that SGP was trying to get illeria (Tophat Mcblasterpants) to attack me, or was that just illeria trying to psych me?

I don't know about that. I and Jake Rodkin did send weapons to him, but that was mostly as a counter to Darth. His counter-attacks on Darth, though inevitably futile, were useful in keeping him at bay to allow our industry to recoup.

  Quote

For most of the game I was on friendly terms with n0wak, we did a lot of technology trading. I figure thats what made him trust me towards the end game.

Oh, I did not trust you. Believe you me. By the end after our conflicts you had the far superior science level and when you started to send weapons to Jake, no doubt trying to goad him into attacking me. I knew a war between Jake and me would mean you'd win, despite your message of "not wanting to attack Jake, I'll settle for second". I knew that was full of shit, but I kind of just wanted to end the game and secure second place. So I went for it. I just became annoyed near the end when you started invading me, and only me, and completely bypassed Jake's easy targets in the middle (I had successfully split off his inner worlds from his outer worlds).

So, annoyed, rather than finishing the job I just sent thousands of ships to fuck with you at the end. It was futile at that point, but it was therapeutic. Plus! I ended the game with my homeworld in my hands, as it should be.

[Wurtsi]

Ooh, you guys are still doing this. Can I get in on the next game?

[SGP]

Wall of text DEPLOY!

To put things into context, I started the game by sending this message to all players. It contained everything I could want for a final verbal communication:

  Quote

Project LAD Debut

Greetings, fellow space empires.

I am proud to announce the first live testing of Galaxybert Enterprise's latest attempt at automated empire management: Senior Spacelad! We have worked long and hard to balance LAD's positronic computers and to find a medium between fierce and reserved, between vengeful and forgiving, and between paranoid and gullible.

Unfortunately, we did not have time to fine-tune LAD's language protocols. Testing thus far has yielded awkward and impolite results, so we have disabled the function completely. Worry not; LAD's linguistic comprehension protocols are top of the line. Any communications sent to it will be processed and integrated into its mainframe.

We have also made breakthroughs in LAD's Reciprocity Engine . To put things simply, be good to LAD and LAD will be good to you. I will warn you, however, that the system will prioritize acts of greater goodness over lesser acts of goodness, and will magnify good acts by demonstrations of "loyalty" over time.

In order to maintain the scientific integrity of our test, we will heretoforth cease all communications by Galaxybert Enterprise representatives. We sincerely hope LAD proves to be a useful element in the system.

Best wishes,

Squiddy Inkbottoms

CEO of Galaxybert Enterprises

I thought that in past games I had an issue with being too domineering and bossy. If I took that out of the equation, maybe other players wouldn't be so hellbent on my destruction. I also wouldn't need to ever explain myself, because I simply couldn't.

The unfortunate part was that really only 3 of the 11 other players ever engaged me:

Frakes right out of the gate reached out since we were neighbors. He helpfully communicated his plans for expansion so that we wouldn't butt heads. When he asked how he could get my weapons technology, I sent it over, with the belief that he would reciprocate (which he didn't!)

Lollie also communicated with me about our borders, but he had a tendency to speak all to everyone that I did not enjoy. It fit his all caps lizard-lord well, but soon after he learned anything he would be tweeting it.

Darth grew at the same rate as me and was on the opposite side of the galaxy, so I sent technology over and was quickly greeted with technology I didn't have myself. Very simple tech relationship.

Sending tech and money were my only ways to show agreement, so many times I would send out $25 or more after receiving a message, depending on my enthusiasm. I am really not sure if people understood it, but it made them happy.

My strategy with the galaxy was to focus on the core. While the outside stars help with economy, I did not want to bother managing so much weight with such little worth. I also didn't want to have a 4-day delay in bringing reinforcements to the front lines (the galaxy is huge!) It worked well but the center of the galaxy had all stars accounted for by major powers. While I sat on them, the other players swallowed smaller players and their peripheral stars and grew. Because of this, for most of the game I was in the middle of the leaderboard. That I was taken down by the most powerful player without having ANYONE else jump on and fight the guy still astounds me, and I wish I had had a voice to yell everyone to action.

Things were rather quiet till Darth decided to make a move on Lollie, and rightfully so. Lollie had taken up another homestars to be in the lead and given no resistance, would have become huge. I logged in and saw Darth had sent me every tech I did not have and took it as a plea for help. Sticking with my original message, I returned the gesture by allying with him and helping him defend.

I had preferred to stay on the defensive, not starting any fights with Lollie, when I received a message from him stating that he recognizes I would attack him and would not retaliate, as long as I did not help defend Darth. I figured why not, and moved my ships off.

Somehow Lollie changed course and decided to go on an all-out offensive against me. This is where I thought Darth really should have stepped in. I had held up my end of the relationship by helping him, but instead he sat and watched us beat each other down, which was all the more insulting because I was at war on behalf of him. All the while, Frakes grew. It's this kind of passivity that drives me insane in Neptune. For their own sakes, I wished that Darth and Jake made a move or did something. Had Frakes been occupied, I would have been able to roll through Lollie and stay in the game.

Lollie was clearly worn out and was short on reinforcements when I received a message from him: back off and we can fight Frakes together. I wasn't sure if I could trust him, but I realized that of all the players, he had communicated the most to me, so I thought that ought to buy him some sort of credibility. I gave him *4* levels of weapons technology as a gesture of complete agreement and peace. Soon after, Lollie gave all the technology to Frakes, essentially sealing the game in Frakes' favor. Before that, Frakes had been slightly behind in weapons, but was slowly swallowing up my stars (once again, while all other players sat idle *facepalm*) and now he had full clearance to swarm me.

I hope in future games our players are less passive.

Also, a fun side-note: to stay in character, I named all my fleets using a random word generator to create one uncommon adjective and one uncommon noun. I did spin it a few times if the word spat out wasn't interesting enough. A couple of my favorites were "Scallawaggy Bastion" and "Nonmutinous Catamaran." There was also "Nonproblematical Obstructiveness" which was stationed on a uncertain border with another player.

[Murdoc]

Yeah I dont know what I said brief, because I didn't care if they descriptions were brief or long.

Interesting stuff, thanks everyone. I imagine Chris went AFK for a bit maybe to deal with some real life stuff, it kind of seems like he did?

I still don't have my own computer set up, but I'd really love to start a game in the next few days to get in before I start school, if anyone is up for it...

Also, I'd love to do telltale rules on the next one so if we could get a moderator to do the name drawing, that'd be rad.

The Next Game

Moderator: Patters (thanks!)

1. Murdoc

2. Wurtsi

3. Sleepdance

4. Asembo

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

*Chris as potential

Edited August 2, 2010 by Murdoc

[Patters]

  Murdoc said:

Yeah I dont know what I said brief, because I didn't care if they descriptions were brief or long.

Interesting stuff, thanks everyone. I imagine Chris went AFK for a bit maybe to deal with some real life stuff, it kind of seems like he did?

I still don't have my own computer set up, but I'd really love to start a game in the next few days to get in before I start school, if anyone is up for it...

Also, I'd love to do telltale rules on the next one so if we could get a moderator to do the name drawing, that'd be rad.

The Next Game

1. Murdoc

2. Wurtsi

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

I can do the name draw.

[Chris]

I am super tempted to get in on another game.

  Murdoc said:

Interesting stuff, thanks everyone. I imagine Chris went AFK for a bit maybe to deal with some real life stuff, it kind of seems like he did?

That was frequently in the case in the last couple of weeks (my podcast announcement might illuminate why), but I don't know how drastically I could have changed things by that point in the game anyway. I ended up just trying to help Jake Rodkin/ens have a better chance of winning, but for the last week I wasn't even able to supervise that very closely.

[Murdoc]

Yeah that's what I figured, you were doing pretty well there so I assumed you were on your way to win, but then the next update you dropped at least half, so figured it was afk with the job/moving stuff.

I was totally feeling burnt out when this game started up, but not being part of one just made me get this itch to go in all the way next time, hehe.

[Asembo]

I would like to join.

I've been doing well in free games, but I have a feeling I won't stand a chance against you guys.

[Sleepdance]

Since I'm done traveling the world for now, I'd be happy to join.

[Joflar]

  n0wak said:

We never allied. I think early on we had an unspoken understanding about Diggwiggler's stars in the middle. After the alliance with Darth and subsequent invasion, that all went out the window and we were eager to destroy everything there. The only uneasy thing we both shared was the understanding that you would benefit the most from this, and I told him if he were to counter you back I would assist. But I needed a day to regroup and, well, I wasn't going to let Spacelad keep my worlds either. But he never did muster a strong enough assault to weaken you so I kept away.

So I got an out-of-character message from Spacelad in my inbox that was basically "You monster."

I meant at one point SGP clicked the form alliance button with you while I was attacking him. You replied that you two weren't actually allies, it was just a weird move. Its funny, I asked ens for help attacking Spacelad but she replied that you, SGP, and Chris were all allied and that attacking Spacelad would be a bad move.

  nowak said:

Oh, I did not trust you. Believe you me. By the end after our conflicts you had the far superior science level and when you started to send weapons to Jake, no doubt trying to goad him into attacking me. I knew a war between Jake and me would mean you'd win, despite your message of "not wanting to attack Jake, I'll settle for second". I knew that was full of shit, but I kind of just wanted to end the game and secure second place. So I went for it. I just became annoyed near the end when you started invading me, and only me, and completely bypassed Jake's easy targets in the middle (I had successfully split off his inner worlds from his outer worlds).

So, annoyed, rather than finishing the job I just sent thousands of ships to fuck with you at the end. It was futile at that point, but it was therapeutic. Plus! I ended the game with my homeworld in my hands, as it should be.

Oh ok! Yeah that was some really clumsy late game sabotage on my part I had an irrational fear that you and ens would ally and start attacking me.

[SGP]

I'd play again but I'd be worried about being an ass

[Hero Protagonist]

I'll join in, if theres room.

[Emonk]

I'd like in on the next game please.

[SGP]

Hey I'm going to sit this one out, but I probably would love to do the next one after. Enjoy all~

[dibs]

Sorry i bailed out (grand marshall fizz), but my gran died and then i went on holidays and i'll be damned if i'm going to pay 65c a minute to get on the internet from a cruise ship to play:P

[Sleepdance]

  dibs said:

i'll be damned if i'm going to pay 65c a minute to get on the internet from a cruise ship to play:P

  Sleepdance said:

Stupid confesion: I spent 30 euros for low quality conection in middle of nowhere in Greece to download last 2 episodes.

Sight....

Edited August 4, 2010 by Sleepdance

[Murdoc]

Up for the next one dibs, or still on the cruise?

Also,sorry to hear about your gran.

[Murdoc]

  Quote

The Next Game

Moderator: Patters (thanks!)

1. Murdoc

2. Wurtsi

3. Sleepdance

4. Asembo

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

*Chris as potential

Anyone else in? I'm hesitant to add the two new guys, no offense, as the last time we did that most of them dropped out and the other was too timid to interact with anyone.

Can someone get a hold of Famous? He needs to defend his good name!

[Emonk]

I understand. You fear my greatness. I would fear me too if I wasn't me.

[jennoa]

Alright, sign me up as well.

[Patters]

  Murdoc said:

Anyone else in? I'm hesitant to add the two new guys, no offense, as the last time we did that most of them dropped out and the other was too timid to interact with anyone.

Can someone get a hold of Famous? He needs to defend his good name!

Jake and Sean say they are in http://twitter.com/seanovanaman/status/20412641160

[toblix]

If there is a free slot nobody else (including new guys) want, I'm in.

[Chris]

Oh shit. If Jake and Sean are in, I'm in.

[Murdoc]

Neptune's Bountiful Pride 4(I think it's actually 5 or 6)

Moderator: Patters (thanks!)

1. Murdoc

2. Wurtsi

3. Sleepdance

4. Asembo

5. Jennoa

6. Emonk **

7. Jake

8. Vanaman

9. Chris

10. tobacco

** Call me suspicious, Emonk, but how do we know that you aren't a double account? 5 posts, but joined in March... hrm. Can anyone vouch for him?

Thanks Patters for the twitter update!

UPDATE: Alright Contestants, send in your fake name submission to Patters so he can scramble them up and assign them!

Edited August 5, 2010 by Murdoc