November 11, 2005 |
| Twilight Imperium |
| Results | ||||
| Player | Race | Rank | Place | First Time? |
| Lee | Barony of Letnev | Imperium Rex | 1 | * |
| Mike | Yssaril Tribes | Republic | 2 (Tie) | |
| Dan | Federation of Sol | Republic | 2 (Tie) | |
| Jim | Sardakk N'Orr | Consortium | 4 (Tie) | * |
| Scott | Universities of Jol-Nar | Consortium | 4 (Tie) | * |
Notes: I almost got Karla to play for a while, to make it 6 players, but in the end it's probably better that she didn't play. For one, she picked up the pizza for us, and for another, she went to bed with about an hour left to play. She also kept the software updated on my laptop, which was cool.
We rolled for the 5-player "who gets screwed" roll. Lee ended up in the worst spot (with the +20 credits) while Scott and I got the other two (and +15 credits). It turned out all right, though, as Lee and I had all planet cards while Dan and Jim had a lot of empty space cards. So in the setup, Lee and I were surrounded by planets, though there was a Supernova in between us. there was also an asteroid belt near me, too. But they were a nice bottleneck, so that if the Yssaril and Barony started hostilities, it could only be on one front.
We played with Manifest Destiny, but due to the bonus cash we all had, I limited purchases to 2 planets - I wanted the Federation of Sol (Dan) to be able to use their special power but didn't want the cash-rich Letnev (Lee) to go totally nuts. (With the +20 he stood at a powerful 70 credits).
Then we got started. The Political Phase was only interesting once in a while. Sometimes it was cool, but most of the time it was a bit of a dud. A few deals were made as the game went on, which was the only time that the phase was interesting.
I'll sort out actions for the first half of the game by race:
Sardakk N'orr: The insect race of the N'orr, led by King Jim, expanded slowly. Part of this was due to Human interference on his right, but mostly due to new worlds being far away and in singles. The N'orr only had one system with multiple planets. The N'orr were very poor early on and focused solely on military techs, garnering the Assault Cannon quickly, but not having a chance to build up its military until offered two trade agreements - one with the Humans and one with the cash-rich Yssaril. The front with the Humans was silent, though one planet that the N'orr had surrounded sneakily surrendered to the Humans via a Voluntary Annexation while the N'orr were concerned with their front facing the Universities of Jol-Nar.
Federation of Sol: The Human Federation of Sol, led by President Schwartz expanded quickly. The Domain Counters awaiting him on the newly discovered planets were kind, usually giving him peaceful invasions, cash rich mines, or even technology boosts. The humans were the first to reach the status of Republic, and led the senate most of the game as they had garnered the most influence after claiming Mecatol Rex. The Humans were conspicuous in their power, however, and the Barony of Letnev formed a front facing Mecatol while the Yssaril formed a front on his right flank. The unspoken treaty with the Sardakk N'orr was still in effect.
Universities of Jol-Nar: The Universities under Provost Scott expanded quickly, grabbing several planets quickly as well as expanding to several technologies using their discount and early cash flow. The Jol-Nar had the lead in influence for the first third of the game. In an effort to firm up their front, the Jol-Nar abandoned the planets facing the Barony of Letnev and forced hostilities against the Sardakk N'orr, angering King Jim.
The Yssaril Tribes: The Yssaril, under Chief Mike, expanded quickly at first, aided by a Voluntary Annexation, but were hampered by having a small army. One army was wiped out by a Biohazardous planet, and later, just as the Yssaril were about to claim outside planet number 7, another Biohazardous planet wiped out another army. The fleet surrounding this planet was wiped out by the Barony of Letnev, breaking one of the Yssaril's three trade agreements. The Yssaril then, dealing from a position of weakness, as the Letnev could have broken through to the heart of their empire, made a non-agression compact with the Barony and vowed to open a front with the Humans. The Barony accepted the deal as well as a new trade agreement. The Yssaril, thanks to the many trade agreements as well as MicroTechnology, were raking in nearly 60 credits per turn, investing them alternately in the military or techs.
Barony of Letnev: The Baron Lee suffered several early setbacks. Two attempts to take a newly discovered planet defended by 3 native armies failed, and frustration mounted the imperious folks. Eventually, the Barony was able to expand, and a lack of military threats on either side - due to a treaty with the Yssaril after taking a planet from them and the war with the N'orr started by the Jol-Nar - made expansion and military build-up safe. Still, the Barony was influence poor for much of the game and was forced to go last.
Finally, war broke out, as the Universities of Jol-Nar invaded two Sardakk N'orr planets in two turns. The N'orr lost both but then regained both, but not before losing a spacedock and PDS on one of the planets. The Universities were aided by their Integrated Economy, which helped them get forces out early.
Eventually, though, the Universities could not keep up with the N'orr, who were managing (finally) to get good amounts of money through trade agreements and other means, and the front began to be pushed closer and closer to the Jol-Nar homeworlds.
At one point, there was an event card. We had to pick a side, Rebel or Loyal, and bid ground units. The Yssaril and Barony of Letnev were rebels, the other three - N'orr, Humans, and Jol-Nar - Loyal. The Loyalists won the bidding, but each race had to forfeit at least 4 units, some 5. The Barony and Yssaril only sacrificed 3 to the strife. Though the victory netted the Loyalists some action cards and 30 credits, it depleted the ground defenses of all three races, something that was going to affect the last turns of the game.
The Federation of Sol prepared for a war on two fronts and fired at the approaching fleets of the Yssaril and Barony with PDS Assault Cannons. The build-up continued for one more round as the Jol-Nar were attacked on a second flank by the Barony of Letnev, their depleted ground forces having been emptied from the Letnev side of his system. The Barony quickly claimed two planets and were in a position to grab two more. They moved up to Empire in the progression scale. The Humans were still one resource short of making it to the level of Empire.
The next round, the humans fired their PDS Assault Cannons again and war occurred on two fronts. The Yssaril used a wormhole that President Schwartz claimed not to notice and established a very firm beachhead in the middle of his system. (The Yssaril chief Mike had been trying to make this move all game, but he had slow Carriers, ones that could only go 1 space per turn, so the invasion took place far later than he wanted. Had he managed the XRD Drives tech earlier, he would have made the invasion earlier.) The fight was a quick one, and the Yssaril cash flow not only enabled him to garner a huge navy, he had a substantial defense placed on three fronts.
But the power vacuum left by the ever-weakening Jol-Nar left the game up to the Letnev. Baron Lee ordered a final assault on a twin system - one that would give him 6 more influence - just enough to win. The assault took two turns but eventually resistance dissolved and the Barony now had enough planets outside the homeworld (11), resources (40), and influence (30) to win. With 8 techs, the Letnev needed to buy one more to win, and he did (they had about 48 gold left).
In post-game analysis, the Jol-Nar attack on the N'orr weakened both races considerably. The Jol-Nar were destined to lose the war and the front when they weren't going to make peace (which they didn't), due in part to their -1 in combat. The Barony, after one battle, were left to do what they want, to both their own and the Yssaril's benefit. This deal between the two enabled both to strengthen. The difference then came down to two things: #1, the Barony had a weak neighbor in the Jol-Nar. #2, the Barony was in a position to expand quickly by means of faster carriers, whereas the Yssaril had slow carriers and were only in a position to grab faster ones by the last turn of the game - far too late.
Had the Yssaril tried to get faster carriers (instead of more and more cash early on), they would have started a war with the humans more quickly and perhaps forced some different results. I had to choose between allies, though, as both the Humans and the Letnev were the two most powerful, and the Letnev seemed inferior as they had much less Influence than the humans. In the end, the loser of the Jol-Nar/N'orr war decided who the winner was, as both the Humans and the Barony let them duke it out and weaken each other over several turns.
The game was really fun, though it took a while, and everyone seemed to be getting impatient by the end, as Dan and Lee were hoping to go out and hook up with some girls that were out partying.
Final stats:
Barony of Letnev: 40 Resources, 30 Influence, 2 trade agreements, 13 total planets
Yssaril Tribes: 34 Resources, 28 Influence, 3 trade agreements, 9 planets
Federation of Sol: 23 Resources, 33 Influence, 1 trade agreement, 7 planets
Sardakk N'orr: 23 Resources, 22 Influence, 3 trade agreements, 7 planets
Universities of Jol-Nar: 7 Resources, 12 Influence, 1 trade agreement, 2 planets