Anacreon Beta II Discussion Thread

[Lazygun]

Hello from the Seekers of Knowledge. My two week old empire seems to have entered galactic politics at a particularly interesting time. That old Chinese curse definitely applies!

University board meetings have been lively too. Dean Clausewitz is always arguing with Dean Tzu about whether to invest in starships or jumpships. The latest fiasco has swung the balance towards Clausewitz's starship policy. It seems a jumpship autofac world has taken to producing ridiculous numbers of graviton launchers unasked for. Professor Ludd has been tasked with visiting the world and resolving the problem. So far the only communication from him read "send 380,000,000 wooden shoes".

There is much concern regarding an insectoid scout fleet orbiting the capital that is broadcasting a single message: "The end game... the end game..." Under the circumstances any expansionist plans are on indefinite hold.

[josh19967]

I just lost a sector capital and several worlds to succession, forming the hoa0004 republic.

I didn't know they still occur when your doctrine is law and order...

Note when you switch to "Law and Order" the secession risk still exists. Before buggzzz wiped me out, I had ~520 worlds, and my secession risk was "elevated" anyway.
So, if you get too many worlds, nothing can save you from secession.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

I just lost a sector capital and several worlds to succession, forming the hoa0004 republic.

I didn't know they still occur when your doctrine is law and order...

The Alpha 5 version history claims that L&O's decreased secession risk is somehow caused by the imperial guards units themselves, rather than the doctrine. If your capital wasn't producing imperial guards (e.g. if it had 100% labor allocated to building defenses), or if it wasn't producing very many, or you had removed a bunch to use them as combat infantry, it might have been possible for the capital to secede normally.

This might also mean that non-L&O players can grow beyond the 100-world limit if they keep capturing imperial guards from other empires and dumping them on their sector capitals, IDK.

[WorldsStrongestNerd]

I've abdicated. I took bugzzzzzz capital from Hand, then abdicated and caused bugzzzzzzz orginal capital to go back to independent to try to trigger the auto-abdicate bug on him. As much as I like this game the no capital bug and the ghost empires are a problem. A few more Ontarion incidents and this galaxy will be unplayable. Now that i think about that was dickish of me but by god I can't believe that bug monster destroyed my empire. Never should have trusted him.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

bugzzzzzzz have mysteriously departed from the galaxy. I don't know if bugzzzzzzz abdicated or what but as of this moment all his planets are independent. The insect civilization fell on its own terms, not as the result of anyone defeating it (although I certainly tried). I honor the Bug King for his naked, continual aggression and extreme alertness. He or she was the kind of player you don't want to be locked in a small galaxy with.

[AdmiralZo]

promise one last surprise after my war with Human Imperium is over. It will be your worth while I promise.

Are we all sure that Bugzzzzzzz has departed from the galaxy?? I'm still waiting for his surprise....

[Lazygun]

Well there's a bugzzzz fleet of 600K gorgos ships, still around and en-route on a 22 cycle voyage from the human imperium's ex-capital to the northeast of the galaxy. I don't think that's the surprise but it will certainly give a shock to anyone whose territory it passes through.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

I think it's a known bug, although it's not on Ministry, that fleets persist in-game until they arrive even after their sovereign abdicates or is destroyed. I remember some discussion of it during Beta I and they should vanish when they arrive. Anyone else's memory go back that long?

[Xephyr]

I think it's a known bug, although it's not on Ministry, that fleets persist in-game until they arrive even after their sovereign abdicates or is destroyed. I remember some discussion of it during Beta I and they should vanish when they arrive. Anyone else's memory go back that long?

If Bugzzzzzz was suffering from the no-capitol bug, then they can continue to play as long as they want, depending on the conditions.

In my case, in Beta I, I had the no-capitol bug and was able to view the map and command my fleets as normal despite having no worlds. I suspect if I had ground forces I could have conquered a planet and kept playing.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

I think it's a known bug, although it's not on Ministry, that fleets persist in-game until they arrive even after their sovereign abdicates or is destroyed. I remember some discussion of it during Beta I and they should vanish when they arrive. Anyone else's memory go back that long?

If Bugzzzzzz was suffering from the no-capitol bug, then they can continue to play as long as they want, depending on the conditions.

In my case, in Beta I, I had the no-capitol bug and was able to view the map and command my fleets as normal despite having no worlds. I suspect if I had ground forces I could have conquered a planet and kept playing.

The difference between your case and bugzzzzzzz is that bugzzzzzzz had hundreds of planets planets that went independent simultaneously and instantly, which to me implies an abdication. I didn't think that it was actually possible to abdicate under the no-capital bug, but I can't think of any other explanation for how a 300+ world empire vanishes within the space of a few hours with every single planet going independent.

[josh19967]

While under the no-capital bug, I had an empire tab with doctrine/abdicate buttons on my non-capital planets. Never tried clicking them, though.

[WorldsStrongestNerd]

If somebody takes your capital, and then you take it back, your empire can autoabdicate. I held bugzzzzz orginal capital, then I abdicated, which made bugzzzz orginal capital become independent. That messes with the game somehow, and may have caused bugzzzz to autoabdicate. If that is the case then I've had my revenge.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

Bugzzzzzzz was around for hours after you abdicated, so I don't think that's what did it.

[Xephyr]

Bugzzzzz fleet's destinations seem to have changed a couple of times. I think they're still in control of their ghost fleets.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

This is a special double issue, showing the state of the galaxy during the war last week and today:

Last Week


Today


Notes:

• Erratum: Ffarden does have a capital. It hadn't been previously visible to me due to the Invisible dark nebula planet bug.
• The biggest news is the bugzzzzzzz war and its aftermath. Bugzzzzzzz launched a surprise attack on Imperium of Man and completely trashed its economy and jumpfleets, which hadn't been consolidated. Imperium regrouped Gorgos at its capital and counterattacked with its remaining jumpships, but bugzzzzzzz's empire was so distributed that it was difficult to cause major damage and bugzzzzzzz's jumpfleets were consolidated safely. I'm Hand. I saw an opportunity when bugzzzzzzz left its Warphant fleets undefended in the interior of the empire and performed a sneak attack against bugzzzzzzz's transports and lightly-defended capital. Surpirisingly, Bugzzzzzzz suffered the no-capital bug. We tried to bait bugzzzzzzz into retaking the capital since we thought the same bug that happened to Ontarion might occur, but bugzzzzzzz didn't take the bait. Imperium of Man abdicated and then Bugzzzzzzz abdicated shortly afterwards, although bugzzzzzzzz starship fleets are still visible. Opinions differ about whether they are ghosts or still active, and whether anyone is controlling them.
• Bugzzzzzzz used jumpmissiles very effectively during the war, but also seemed to be active pretty much all the time, which allowed them to fire against moving jumpfleets. That's a pretty good trick if you can pull it off, but less active players might struggle to replicated it. Imperium had almost as many jumpmissiles as bugzzzzzzz but they seem to have mostly been destroyed in their silos or auto-launched ineffectively against parked Eldritches during bugzzzzzzz's initial attack.
• The war claimed the two most powerful players in the game, which left the entire galactic north practically empty. The galaxy is now a much more egalitarian place, with few super-powerful players remaining.
• Union of Free Worlds, Trask, Hand, and Newbie have all been rushing to fill the void in the galactic south. NEWBIE was already there before the war, and I captured a number of bugzzzzzzz planets there during the war.
• NEWBIE has been growing explosively in the north, and has quite a few Mantas, Hammerheads, and nebular starcruisers. My spreadsheet don't track these ship classes since I don't consider them to be very effective. Nobody besides me, NEWBIE, and the ghost of asdf have any ramjets right now.
• Hexacarbide hasn't been growing, but has been active, consolidating fleets and switching production to transports and infantry.