Re: Announcing Expanding Known Space from Valiant Galaxy Associates
Dark,
In answer to your question about planetary defenses, there's two answers. One is the historical one, i.e. planetary defenses of the type you describe just aren't available at the time of the First Interstellar Wars in our universe.
The second is the technical game design side of it. We initially had thought about having stationary defense stations for planets and/or mine fields and possibly sensor arrays. Once we started talking about it though, the stationary gun platforms for planets, in practice, weren't that much different from battleships. Rockets for planets would be extremely expensive unless fired from orbital platforms, and again, this ended up in practice being something like battleships. The mines made things very tricky. You'd have to mine around a planet, leaving a corridor in or out, and mines in essence would be hazards that would only do limited damage to incoming ships. A big enough fleet of ships wouldn't even be inconvenienced. Also, if we had mines, reasonably, we should have mine sweepers, and this added another ship with little practical use. The sensor array idea was proposed by one of our beta testers, but once we started arguing about the logistics of it, again, we decided that if you want sensor arrays, the best route is to string interceptors out.
EKS is supposed to be more about the tactical problems of using the hazards, planets, and ships on the board to best effect, not about the realities of a real war in space. That way madness lies because first off, physics would have numerous things to say about how dumb this entire idea is. War in space that is, not your planetary defense ideas.
SLJ,
Glad the tutorial helped. It was a larger and more involved project than I first thought, but I think it does cover the gap you noticed.
Aaron and I have already started working on an update to be released soon that addresses some of the issues raised here and some that weren't. I make no predictions on when it will be finished.
Finally, this morning, I decided to play an insane mode game, and I was beaten miserably, and after listening to Michael's easy trouncing of the AI I wanted to give the Interstellar Union it's day in court so to speak. Before I post this, let me say that it is possible to beat Insane mode, and I have done so. I believe I sitll have the log if anyone wants to see it. On the higher difficulties, the matter becomes more of survival and out colonizing the enemy or gaining control of the economy. That did not happen in this game . So here's my stats:
Game Statistics for Playthrough of VGA Expanding Known Space, Version (21).
The player lost! It'll be better next time?
The game lasted 27 minutes 59 seconds and ended on Saturday, July 20, 2019 at 7:40 AM.
The war between you (the solarian federation) and the enemy (the interstellar union) started in 2850 and ended in 2855 (21 turns, with the interstellar union victorious.
Game was in insanely not fair difficulty.
Military victory condition was assigned - was not met
Colonization victory condition was assigned (60%) - was not met
Economic victory condition was assigned (60%) - was not met
Capital Control victory condition was assigned - the interstellar union met this condition for 4 seasons
The enemy was in normal mode.
the solarian federation finished with 16 colonies (40%) with the most ever held being 16. the interstellar union finished with 14 colonies (35%) with the most ever held being 14.
the solarian federation colonized 1 of 1 asteroid belts, 3 of 7 space stations, 2 of 3 ice planets, 3 of 7 volcanic planets, 1 of 4 ocean planets and 6 of 18 earth type planets.
the interstellar union colonized 0 of 1 asteroid belts, 0 of 7 space stations, 1 of 3 ice planets, 2 of 7 volcanic planets, 1 of 4 ocean planets and 10 of 18 earth type planets.
At the end, the solarian federation was making 124 credits for 34% of the total income, the interstellar union was making 1236 credits for 58% of the total income.
the solarian federation made a total of 1803 credits, the interstellar union made a total of 12752.
the solarian federation spent 0 on intelligence gathering, the interstellar union spent 105.
the solarian federation purchased 27 interceptors, 73 destroyers, 10 frigates, 18 cruisers, 22 battle ships and 21 colony ships for a total of 171.
the interstellar union purchased 40 interceptors, 5 destroyers, 8 frigates, 8 cruisers, 500 battle ships and 15 colony ships for a total of 576.
the solarian federation lost 19 interceptors, 29 destroyers, 3 frigates, 5 cruisers, 17 battle ships and 2 colony ships for a total of 75 (71 lost in combat, 4 lost to hazards).
the interstellar union lost 4 interceptors, 0 destroyers, 2 frigates, 0 cruisers, 3 battle ships and 1 colony ships for a total of 10 (6 lost in combat, 4 lost to hazards).
the solarian federation lost 0 ships to changing loyalties, the interstellar union lost 2.
you have won 0 military, 1 colonization, 0 economic, 0 capital control and 24 mission victories and you have lost 0 military, 0 colonization, 0 economic, 1 capital control and 9 missions for a total of 2 wins, 1 losses.
For the record, when he took over Earth, I tried to regain it from Amundsen which was only two squares away. I built up a fleet of 9 battleships, a frigate, 2 destroyers, and six interceptors. I hadn't been defending Amundsen much, and I couldn't do more than place a hasty colony ship there and some battleships and hope. I did damage 8 of his battleships . . . . out of 100.
Take care,
Jeremy
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