Gonna post all my days at once instead of day by day, as not to clog up the forum feed daily.

Experiment Game 01: No Public Chat (Chariot Rider, Yottawatts, 6PAYH, Ner0, V3XT, Pandasecret (Me), JanitorialDuties, R10t--, Topkilla, Roadkiehl)
Shorthand version: Got stunted by losing two outposts in the beginning, stacked on defense (by the end I had a total of 4 Sentries), then had some awesome defense against Roadkiehl (469 drillers destroyed and 6 specialists captured), and reverted capture against Ner0.

DAY 1
Ner0 hasn't been online to my West border, so I'm cautious. Topkilla will be sending all 40 starting drillers to my southern/ his northern border.
Turns out Topkilla cancelled that sub and instead went to send all 40 drillers to contest factory Smithrand, where I had only sent 18 to (I will get there first +1 production cycle and some reinforcements, letting him capture it with 10 left). Noticing this, I quickly queue up orders to reinforce it.
My first hire will be Smuggler, which will allow me to quickly get units to the war zone.
I also hear mentions of an "Equator Alliance" - which Topkilla claims to be part of. I hope I don't have to fight more than one person.
I ended up conceding Smithrand to Topkilla and Stella to r01t. I also started messaging r10t in code, which made Topkilla and 6PAYH kind of mad. I'm gonna tone it down as to avoid bringing war to me, even though a few other players said that code was alright (v3xt).
Topkilla mentions he is going to attack anyone who is using code with his "Superior army and tactics." He does seem pretty sure of himself...
Next hire is going to be Sentry, and I'm going to post him to my south, as to impede any advances by Topkilla.
R10t messaged back (in code) that he is going to gift back the units going for Stella to me, I hope we can be allies.

DAY 2
Topkilla did not advance further into me, which is good. We even managed a demilitarization agreement to reduce the count from 120 drillers to 40.
r10t formed an alliance dubbed the "Bermuda Triangle" which I assume is me, 6PAYH and r10t, as wen setn gift subs in a triangular fashion to each other.
Seeing that r10t has assassins and I had a navigator, I proposed a trade in which I would gift him my navigator(instead of current sentry) for his upcoming sentry, som drillers, as well as a defensive alliance.
As everyone started to attack Ner0, so did I. I am going to strike from his North, as my West/ his East has too large of a gap.
I hired another Smuggler, now having two. If I decide to ramp things up, I can promote either one to Tycoon. Next hires are saboteur, assassin, or Intel Officer. If I'm not getting attacked, then I'm considering promoting my Smuggler. Unless I have a pirate/navigator coming up, in which case I'll take the assassin.
After asking 6PAYH if he could help in case topkilla decided to attack, he replied that he would if he did, or if anyone attacked Topkilla. He also said that r10t was friendly, so we have a 3 way alliance.
After our demilitarization, I see Topkilla has sent an assassin to our border, which was sent before the demilitarization. I am not too concerned as I do have the speed advantage.

DAY 3
I managed a deal with Ner0: I will stop attacking him (after having taken one of his Generators) and traded 40 drillers for his Sentry. Along with r10t's sentry, I will have two.
JanitorialDuties, Topkilla, myself, and 6PAYH have all built mines, but 6PAYH has built 2, putting him in the lead. After getting the intelligene officer to boost my sentry range, I am going to get the Inspector as my next hire (other options are Thief and Foreman).
I want to focus on defense (planning to promote inspector to security chief), and maybe I can get third place.
I spotted Roadkiehl's attack sub(Helmsman, Infiltrator, Thief, 150 drillers) attacking Ner0's south. I hope he won't attack me.
Ner0 has committed himself to attacking Chariot Rider, but I'm not interested in taking his territory as it is all factories.
r10t now has a complete Queen Hunter thanks to my Navigator (he got lucky and has a pirate).
6PAYH has two hires available. I want to trade for his Inspector (2nd hire), but I don't know what to offer him -_-...
I offered 6PAYH a sum of drillers and my allegiance, but he's still unsure of Topkilla, so he is delaying the deal.
Tensions between 6PAYH, me, and Topkilla arose, and now I'm planning to attack Topkilla along with 6PAYH. Topkilla claims innocence when the reasoning was that he was being aggressive, but 6PAYH is having none of it.
Now instead of an Inspector, I hired a Foreman (to quickly boost production), and am not going to build a second mine, and instead focus on attacking Topikilla.
Topkilla claims he still has his "Equator Alliance" featuring himself, Yottawats, Roadkiehl, and JanitorialDuties, but it is not likely they'll come to his aid. JanitorialDuities as a player only goes for personal gain, Yottawatts is getting good gifts from 6PAYH, and Roadkiehl is busy cleaning up Nero.
Meanwhile, JanitorialDuties is eating popcorn watching everyone shout it out on public chat...

DAY 4
Roadkiehl is almost done destroying the last of Ner0's outposts with minimal losses, making me a bit nervous, as he could turn on anyone next.
I have sent out orders to retrieve my sentries and send them to closer to my border with Topkilla. Perhaps I will be able to use them offensively by denying Topkilla troop movement.
So far, I can see no troop movement in Topkilla's territory.
I am planning on promoting the Foreman to Engineer to assisst in combat.
I have promoted my Foreman and Engineer, and r10t has been kind enough to gift me 22 drillers, putting my attack force at 200 strong. I have yet to contact 6PAYH about a simultaneous strike.
My next Queen hires are Sentry, Thief, and Hypnotist. I am probably gonna go with the Thief, as Topkilla is at 400 driller cap.
I am also moving my Queen closer to my border with Topkilla, so any specialists can enter the fray faster.
Although I can only see a quarter of his forces, he has 2 hires available, including assassins, a double agent, sentry, and navigator, which are all dangerous.
Chariotrider has told me that he will gift me his specialists if he were to be eliminated, as I have given him the least grievances.
I must still be careful of Roadkiehl, as his force of 180 drillers&helmsman is only 20 hours away from my mine!
After some chats, r10t said that he is considering attacking Topkilla after he finishes v3xt.
Due to some chat events, I am delaying my assault on Topkilla, not going to hire the Thief, create a second mine, and promote one of my Smugglers to Tycoon next to my border to Topkilla.

DAY 5
Roadkiehl has been piling up over a net of 300 drillers, a Smuggler, two Thieves, a Helsman, and an Infiltrator among two outposts, which are 9h23m away from my mine. His attack force is my driller cap, and his driller cap is 850...
I have cancelled most orders, as anything could go wrong. Chariotrider may be eliminated in the next 20 hours if he doesn't do something about it.
R10t got a King, and asked me about getting my Hypnotist potential hire. Not likely, as I have a possible roadkiehl attacking me.
Roadkiehl has attacked me with 165 drillers, a Helmsman and 2 Thieves. He is targeting my mine, which has currently 55 drillers and a Sentry. However, what he does not know is that I have sent a back-up (original strike force intended for Topkilla) consisting of 152 drillers, 2 Sentries, and a Smuggler.
By the time Roadkiehl will have arrived, he will be down to 107 drillers because of the three sentries. The combat preview is pretty cool: Roadkiehl's Thieves steal 32 and 27 drilers, but since I have a full 20 shield, I win with 2 drillers. Engineer will repair 37, and a second smuggler sub will deliver 72 new drillers to reinforce against a possible second attack.
In this war, having two Smugglers really is advantageous.

DAY 6
I really underestimated the power of 3 Sentries and an Engineer when defending. Including the 165 driller sub, roadkiehl has also sent a sub of 144, and a sub of 108 with a Smuggler and Infiltrator. Due to my awesome defences, I will be able to destory all his attacks, and capture two more of his specialists. Too bad I don't have a Hypnotist hire.
Ner0 has retaken Archanis and is now attacking my unprotected northern outposts with 115 subs.
Chariotrider has sent his Queen and a bunch of specialists to take refuge on one of my norther outposts, as he is outpost-less. However, r10t invaded it, prompting Chariot to use his Navigator to reroute, going deeper and deeper into my territory.
Now he is targeting Garfield, an outpost with no drillers. He has overextended his stay, and I will hunt him down now.
Ner0 is just accumulating drillers, and will have over 200 near my northern borders, luckily 6PAYH is attacking roadkiehl, prompting him to ask for peace, even though I was constantly asking him for peace. What a turn of events!
This way, I can get sentries to my North faster to protect myself from Ner0.

DAY 7
Chariotrider bounced around, and is now deciding to settle on one of 6PAYH's outposts, Ahti, which he promises to turn into a mine to not be last place.
Over 4 attacks, I have defeat 469 drillers and captured 6 of roadkiehl's specialists.
Chariotrider ended up not gifting his specialists, so now I have three more captured specialists.
Ner0 is attacking me with ~300 drillers to my North, 120 have been dispatched by a Double Agent, and another 102 will be destroyed with assisstance from 3 sentries. However, Ner0 himself has moved up a Sentry, making a counterattack difficult.
My next hires are Sentry, Pirate, and Navigator. Although a Navigator is great, since I have a Pirate, I'm gonna go with a fourth Sentry.
Roadkiehl still hasn't committed to a peace deal, so having more Sentries will annoy him.
r01t has gone to war with 6PAYH, and from my sonar, 6PAY has sent 300 drillers to defend and recapture factories.
Yottawatts has a third mine and is scheduled to win in 2 days, not much chance for me to catch up.

DAY 8
Ner0 decided to use his 200 drillers on our border to make a mine, why?
I use my pirate to convert his double agent to my side (losing pirate) so he can't prevent my attack, then send a sub of 94 drillers, a war hero and engineer at his mine. Woo! More captured specialists!
Apparantly, Ner0 had his Queen, Princess, and Smuggler scheduled to arrive at the mine. Since he arrives first, I have no idea what he is planning to do...his next hire is too long away to hire anything.
Released all specialists because why not. They won't be able to do anything in time once they arrive anyways.

Please mention the Day when commenting on a move, or even quote a specific part.

Day 6
I didn't attack roadkeihl, that was staged, I was trying to suggest to him I would gift him my general and I was trying to covertly stage another group attack on topkilla. My plans got derailed when riot went postal on me, however. In the end I realized no one was going to publicly do anything, I couldn't communicate well enough nonverbally, and just wanted the game to end at that point.

You could nonverbally communicate using 1 and 2 driller subs to represent morse code.

6payh wrote:Day 6
I didn't attack roadkeihl, that was staged, I was trying to suggest to him I would gift him my general and I was trying to covertly stage another group attack on topkilla. My plans got derailed when riot went postal on me, however. In the end I realized no one was going to publicly do anything, I couldn't communicate well enough nonverbally, and just wanted the game to end at that point.

I was so disappointed when you changed your mind, haha, but I didn't blame you.
I will say, Panda, I'm surprised I convinced you 6payh was attacking me. It wasn't planned at all, haha. I saw 6payh's sub headed my way, but it clearly wasn't an attack, so I asked him what was up in public chat. I instantly realized how dumb that was of me, so I came up with the, "You thought I wouldn't notice an attack?" story on the fly. I was hoping you would bite at the chance to attack me since I was supposedly being flanked, but you never did :/

Yes this ended up being quite interesting, and was all completely spontaneous, I kinda wish we'd done something more with that kind of strategy, earlier

Any chance of Video?
Even those of us who didn't play are interested in these experimental games and their results.

carter j burke wrote:Any chance of Video?
Even those of us who didn't play are interested in these experimental games and their results.

I was thinking about the whole video capture thing recently, and capturing the video at the end of the game isn't very exciting. There's just too much going on. +The fun part of the game is all the planning/scheming. I don't believe the video capture shows that.

topkilla wrote:I was thinking about the whole video capture thing recently, and capturing the video at the end of the game isn't very exciting. There's just too much going on. +The fun part of the game is all the planning/scheming. I don't believe the video capture shows that.

I would agree with you about the end game replay. it's just a pile of white lines across the screen.

I was referring to end game video reviews such as the ones by RoadKhiel, 6PayH and JanitorialDuties after the holiday game. These give insight to the diplomacy, plotting and their line-of-thinking. i LOVE these videos.