ESG 02-1: Lucky Straw (Square, Pandasecret (Me), janitorialDuties, r10t--, roadkiehl, tw2000)

DAY 0
3 starting generators, 2 factories.
R10t to my Northwest, Square to my Northeast, janitorialDuties to my Southeast, roadkiehl to my Southwest, and tw2000 a distance from my East and West.
I review my player notes, most notably r10t-- I have marked as an aggressive starter. In order to confirm my suspicions that he is going to ignore our dormant outpost capture agreements, I turn to other players.
I ask to ally myself to square, and in return for not attacking him, get some intel from him that roadkiehl and r10t are planning to attack me, so I ask roadkiehl for an an early attack on r10t with tw2000.
I delay some of my orders by 1 tick to appear to be only going for the outposts which r10t and I have agreed on, but will send my full force at him.
Possbile downside is my border to r10t is all generators. So attacking through it will be difficult, but the same would apply to r10t. Roadkiehl told me that his factories are a distance away from my border, so I should be able to gain some ground.
According to the spreadsheet, my first hire will be Navigator. Most likely going to promote to Admiral to get the speed advantage. R10t boasted in chat that his first hire will be Smuggler, which is concerning, since he can get his units faster where he needs them.

Probably shouldn't be here

DAY 1
I was correct about r10t breaking agreements - and sent the rest of my forces at those outposts. Time machine says I will capture both outposts between us.
I'm using my Navigator alone to capture a nearby dormant outpost to my East, since she can turn back anytime.
My next hire will be Martyr according to the spreadsheet. I could promote the Navigator to Admiral instead, but blowing up one of the few factories r10t has is tempting, as to cripple his production early on.
After some consideration, I am considering getting the Martyr for a deadly Nav&Martyr combo. However, since r10t has a Smuggler, it won't be effective at queen hunting, but it will be an effective deterrant or at least damage his production.
R10t has moved 40 drillers (most likely his starting drillers) to our border, obviously readying to fight me. I can now see his Queen and Smuggler - his next hire will be Inspector, so having a Martyr might not be that bad against a big shield.

DAY 2
R10t is now contesting Hellman (using low driller subs) while we're both having a showdown at Nautilus and Calhamer, over 50 drillers each.
In the end, I promoted my Admiral instead of hiring the Martyr to get the global speed boost.
R10t doesn't look like he's sending troops to his border with roadkiehl, so I assume roadkiehl is going to backstab me. This is almost confirmed when I see he has both his Pirate and Navigator and close to 200 drillers gathered near my border.
I'm now trying to convince janitorialDuties to fight roadkiehl in return for me convincing square to attack tw2000 (who is fighting janitorialDuties)
I am also talking to tw2000 to fight roadkiehl if he betrays me in exchange for me convincing square to stop attacking him. The only trouble would arise if both agree to help me, as then I would have no idea what to say to square...
My next hire will be Lieutenant.
Looks like my worries about roadkiehl were unbased - he was simply collecting them at Chongos and now has mobilized them to attack r10t, using one of tw2000's booster subs to get to r10t.
Interestingely enough, r10t chose to promote his Smuggler to Tycoon.

DAY 3
Square now has a King, so I'm gonna stay on his good side.
Roadkiehl has become antsy towards tw2000, and told me he is going to attack him. That's fine by me, as neither have contributed much to my fight against r10t. tw2000 is disappointed at me for this "betrayal."
My hire is Navigator (another one!?), and I intend to rally up 155 drillers and my Lieutenant+Nav to take on R10t's queen within 24 hours.
My next hire would be Sentry, but having a General is probably the better choice.

DAY 4
I have set out towards r10t's Queen with my Nav, Lieutenant, and 155 drillers!
Being online at the right moment helps - R10t evacuated his Queen while I was online, so I redirected my sub at his destination, and was able to capture his Queen! GG r10t--.
However, since he had an Assassin there, both my nav and lieutenant died.
Roadkiehl is concerned about square's size, square attacked tw2000. JanitorialDuties is probably queuing up a General+Diplomat combo.
Gonna concentrate on defense and mine building now.
As my next hire is Pirate, I have promoted my Sentry to War Hero - as an Infiltrator will have little use in combination with a Pirate.
I might consider building a second mine, but I will need to make sure I am well defended.
Tw2000 has taken a pretty big beating from roadkiehl, and has retreated to square's territory.

i think a picture can help here. *had hard time to imagine them sadly :/

RIP me.

crisismana wrote:i think a picture can help here. *had hard time to imagine them sadly :/

I'm sorry, I always seem to forget to take screenshots... I am considering doing videos in the future though, as soon as I find a decent recording software that won't turn my phone into a toaster.

DAY 5
A bunch of chatting happens as people try to sort out possible alliances (There are 6 days on the clock for square's victory).
Square proposes himself, janitorialDuties, and me, while janitorialDuties proposes himself, roadkiehl, and me (making me the deciding factor).
Since square has a King, I don't want to face him, so I tell janitorialDuties either I will focus on mining or help him in attacking roadkiehl.

DAY 6-9
Holidays and stuff have reduced my writing, sorry for that.
Basically, I manage peace with all remaining players and start mining (3 mines in total by day 9), while roadkiehl and janitorialDuites attack square. Kings are involved.
On Day 9, I decide to attack roadkiehl as he was now in the lead by 10 outposts. By now I had a war hero, infiltrator, 3 assassins, a pirate, a general, and a lieutenant. The infiltrator would just act like a 10 drillers damager as road has 2 kings.
However, it was discovered that roadkiehl had his hires messed (he hired a hypnotist instead of pirate, and thus gained a King which he captured from square - fixing this would have been difficult) up and decided to call it quits. As Lead Experimenter I apologize for this. Luckily, as it was a private game, the loss wouldn't count against him.
And as always, janitorialDuties minds his own business, exchanging blows with square.

END
I let square take 1st, with me getting a 1 or 2 driller difference. janitorialDuties comes in 3rd, and tw2000 tries to do a comeback but is too late and gets 4th. GG all!