Present Game: True Idological War

[Ironwood]

Playing at the level just below transcend, I find myself in a rather interesting situation: The situation I am in is precisely where I hoped to find myself. I am playing one I call "Captain Drajjensgard" of the Spartans. The one who recognizes that poorly spelled name will understand my motives in this particular game. I am playing on a "standard" sized random world.

I started out on a fair sized continent (the largest in the game, I think). I met up with Morgan fairly early, and, true to the philosophy I emulate in this particular game, quickly allied with him. Unfortunately for him, I cut off his expansion rather early, though after I shared my knowledge of shipbuilding with him, he picked back up again. He taught me to use Free Market, and thus I did.

A little later, I ran into Provost Zhakarov, who, though he declined to ally with me immediately, was friendly and traded tech with me readily. Later on, he did ally. We were the only people on this continent, and we were all strongly allied.

I did use a planned economy for a little while, to ensure that I got ahead of Zhakarov in land and population early on, to ensure that I lead the coalition (and that it remained a coalition). Fortunatly, Morgan didn't even try to talk to me until after I'd switched back to Free Market.

So here we are, three great enlightened leaders on the greatest continent, all with a Democratic government, Free Market economy, valuing Knowledge above all (yes, all three of us chose that combination.

Arrayed against us is the rest of the world. "Brother" Lal leads a population of deluded fools who, though they make decisions "democratically," they have rejected true freedom, deciding that the majority is absolute (Democracy, Planned, Power).

Dirdre made her opposition to us known early on, decrying our "Exploitation" of Planet (but what value does matter of any form have if it is not utilized?) She follows the same societal path as Brother Lal, including the Planned economy!

Yang is the most brutal of all, demanding absolute submission from his people (Police State, Planned), and his brutality has reduced his society to the point where they value nothing but the basest form of Survival.

Miriam, the most powerful of them, prays to her ghost in the sky, purporting the morality of submitting oneself to the whims of one who claims some sort of "spiritual" perception that others lack. Of corse, her Fundamentalist government saps the creativity of her people, and she, too, plans her economy, to the destruction of all.

They are united only in their hatred of us. Other than that, they war amongst one another. The most base of them all is Lal, for rather than standing with those of us who stand for that which is right, he instead refuses to associate with us, and thus invites his own destruction by the Believers. He will soon be little more than a memory, and has only himself to blame. At least the others are consistant. His irrational desire for world hegemony, his reckless devotion to the "UN Charter" is his downfall. For the record, were it not for my support, the UN Charter would've been gone long ago.

Has anyone else ever plaed a game so perfectly divided among idiological lines?

[Cybergod]

My ideological line is slow, step-by-step elimination of the AI factions under all means neccessary: PB, betrayal, provoked wars, NG, and no submissive pacts! Call me a totalitarian but that won't get you anywhere ...

Although I can act like an angel Zak at times , running green and killing off anyone in disaccordance with the Green Economy (and the environment of course ), with my crosshair aimed at Morgan and Miriam first (Morgan for obvious reasons, Miriam - she's just a b****)...

I am starting to play as Lal, run Planned early on, then ally with Morgan and the University for the rest of the game... but those games tend to be pretty boring since ideologies percieve the world through black and white glasses, with no shades of free thinking colour in between...

[Ironwood]

Yeah, what fun is the game when there aren't those shades of independent thought to crush?

Me, I actually *like* leading a coalition of rational thinkers into an age of glory and prosperity.

Unfortunately, Zhakarov has decided that the coalition has come to an end. I quote: "I've had enough of your paranoid delusions!" Well, I was surprised he remained allied as long as he did. He was the second place power for a very long time.

I have discovered that it's actually Dirdre that's at the center of the coalition of death. She is allied with both Miriam and Lal... even as Miriam conquers lal competely. She's also allied with Yang, who's also at war with Miriam. It figures. She is the one who has abandoned the pretense of love of either God or Society, proclaiming openly her desire to live as a savage.

[Scipio Centaurus]

I do notice the idealogical divisions sometimes. Other times it seems to just be the guys vs. the gals. Anybody noticed that particular split?

As Morgan [Dem/FM/Wealth] my only possibility of long term alliance seems to be Lal, and that is unreliable, though I have had a couple of 150+ year pacts with him.

BTW, I always opt for random personality but not socail agenda. A pacifist Yang or bloodthirsty Zakharov every once in awhile is good for a laugh.

- Scipio

[Sprayber]

I've been playing Yang as an isolationist for the past few games. I have won by conquering yet ended with a noble reputation. I usually try to get the other factions to take care of each other while I remain constant with my growth. Among those that always seem to be my friend to my advantage are.

Zak
Santiago
Morgan(when I don't run planned)

Those I have constant problems with
Miriam
Dee
Lal
Domai (when I play with the Crossfire factions)

I'm beginning to become a Yang fan. In the beginning, It was the Spartans and Pirates. But Yang is becomming a favorite of mine.

[Ironwood]

Well, the **** hit the fan today. Diedre finally reached the endpoint of her negotiations by getting the world to declare war against me. First Zhakarov, who had previously cut off our Pact because of my "paranoid delusions" joined with Dierdre to attack me. I got the war machine going, turning most of my bases over to conquest governors (they produce well for land wars), but continued running democracy and free market. I switched from Knowledge to Power, and loved very much the morale edge.

Shortly therafter, MORGAN joined with Dirdre (wtf was he thinking?) to attack me. I checked his social engineering, and he was Fundy Simple Survival! He, however, is very weak, and by the time he'd declared against me, I had a shard chopper and a shard rover, which was all it took to take his capital. He sumitted completely the next turn, and I actually got a tech out of the deal! So Morgan was back on my side, for good this time.

Zhakarov was a little more difficult to deal with. He managed to take three bases before I had any air defense, but once I got the troops rolling, I took those back, took his capital, the Planetary Transit system, a few others, and was on the way to his most productive base, the one with three or four secret projects. He submitted at that point, and I got three techs for this one! This was nice, because he'd stopped trading techs with me a long time ago. Now, he'll give them to me.

The greatest obscenity is that Chairman Yang has been hitting me with bombing raids. He has no bases near me. How is he doing this? You guessed it. He and LAL are pact brothers! Hypocrites.


So the Coalition of Reason is, once again, together, this time with me firmly in the leadership position. Zhakarov and Morgan, I assume, will go back to a builder stance, so long as I eliminate the immediate threats, and provide me with new technology. My next stop: Lady Dierdre Sky. She has been plotting against me almost from the moment we met, and probably before then.

Once I've got Dirdre out of the way, it is time to strike at the heart of the Abomination itself, the lands of the Believers. Miriam took all Lal's bases on their continent, and all he has left is a little one he took from the University (which is being used as a Hive airbase). Paranoid delusions, Zhakarov? Perhaps. But just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me!

I was content to live alongside them in peace, but they brought me war. Well, they will soon learn that we are not pushovers.