Heads of the Hydral (HotH) Succession Game

[topper]

Heads of the Hydral (HotH) Succession Game

In order to show off the features of The Last Federation, we are starting a succession style game where players take turns playing with the purpose of advancing in the game and eventually starting a federation. In context, each person is playing as a different head of the Hydral who gets a turn to be the head in charge. 

There are 400 days in the solar year, with each day taking about 1 second of simulation time. Chris said that 9 years could fit in an hour not counting combat time. How long or short you turn is will partially depend on your playstyle (dispatch missions take up a lot of sim time).

Rules (subject to change):
1.   Play up to a maximum of 9 solar years and try to make progress in the game both in terms of gaining power, and towards forming a federation (or growing an already formed one). Post screenshots or stories, in particular describing gameplay mechanics and strategies.
2.   At the end of your turn (less than 9 years is fine if it is taking a long time, post the save, as well a short description on suggested next steps.
3.   When the save has been posted, first come, first serve to claim the save for the next year. Post in the topic that you claimed it, then play through your time and post within a few hours if you can.
4.   If you cannot complete a turn in a reasonable amount of time, leave the chance to someone else and come back to claim it later when you have the time.
5.   Game settings: try not to change difficulty level, and if you do, let the next player know. We can try other games with higher or lower difficulty, but this run can be on normal.
6.   Post your screenshots in the format of the example one below. Screenshots can be hosted wherever you want (Steam is convenient).
7.   The game is open to anyone to try! Just check that no one else has posted to claim the save before you begin. Playing a 2nd or 3rd turn is fine if the save is available.
8.    If you remember, try to post what game version was used in your play time.
Settings are as shown:


Turn list:
Pre-release posts:
1 I Proto 3000 ------ 1 I Proto 3001 -- topper (completed) 1, 2
1 I Proto 3001 ------ 1 I Proto 3002 -- Endymion (completed) 1
1 I Proto 3002 ------ 1 I Proto 3003 -- Hyfrydle (completed) 1
1 I Proto 3003 ------ 64 VII Thermo 3007 -- Misery (completed) 1, 2
Post 1.0 posts:
64 VII Thermo 3007 ------ 83rd VIII Thermo 3007 -- Alex Heartnet (completed) 1     
83 VII Thermo 3007 ------ 3 VIII Helia 3008 -- GreyTalon (completed) 1
3 VIII Helia 3008 ------ 1 I Proto 3011 -- topper (completed) 1
1 I Proto 3011 ------ 57 III Proto 3012 -- zharmad (completed) 1
57 III Proto 3012 ------ 22 V Thermo 3013 -- GreyTalon (completed) 1
22 V Thermo 3013 ------ 12 IX Helia 3014 -- zharmad (completed) 1, 2
12 IX Helia 3014 ------ 17 XVI Ultra 3018 -- topper (completed) 1
Post 2.0 posts:
17 XVI Ultra 3018 ------87 XX Ultra 3020 -- Alex Heartnet (completed) 1 (with video!)
Pending...

Original save is attached to this post for reference, from just after the first battle.

[topper]

This gameplay describes the 0.860 alpha version of The Last Federation and may not reflect on the full game.

Intro (game text and images)
I am the last of the murdered race of Hydrals. My countrymen were the dictators of the solar system, so we kind of had it coming.

My ultimate goal? The creation of a peaceful unified federation of planets. Only then can we be safe from the kinds of atrocities my race committed, and the kinds that were committed against us.


1 I Proto 3000
After escaping captivity and stealing a prototype flagship from the Thoraxians, I must escape the planet to begin my quest to make the last federation this solar system will ever see.
My ship is equipped with three weapons and multiple experimental special attack options that seriously outclass the two pursuing Thoraxian ships.


I swoop around the two pursing flagships and deploy my Kamichi fighters for cover. The energy blaster easily brings down their shields, and the spreadshot lays waste to the bare hull and deployed enemy fighters


Now that I am safely away, I can look around at the current state of the solar system. I see several races besides the Thoraxians are also near achieving spaceflight for themselves.

The hated warlike Burlusts appear to be within a month of reaching orbit.

Before I can form a unified solar federation, all the races must be given a chance to reach the stars. However, I decide who to deal with first.

The Burlusts do not deserve to make it to space before the Acutians and Skylaxians. After all, the Acutians earned my respect when they sent a moon into the orbit of my homeworld, and the Skylaxians have as advanced and admirable of a culture as can be found in this system.

6 I Proto 3000
I must get past the Thoraxian guards to slip key information for spaceflight to the Acutians.

I apply my cloaking device and slip into the drop zone with the documents before they can try to stop me.

The Acutians were wise not to mention the name of their planet to me before I freed them from the ground. They named their home planet “Jam”. They are appropriately grateful to me for the technical assistance, and the Thoraxians are appropriately angry that I broke their monopoly of spacefaring technology.

11 I Proto 3000
This time I check with the locals about planet names before giving them the secrets of spacefaring. The honorable Skylaxians have named their planet Stella Lyra, a much grander name. This time I must dodge both the Thoraxians and Acutians in order to deliver the documents. I pull off the same diversion+cloaking trick and drop the documents before they even know I’m there.


14 I Proto 3000
Invest in infrastructure with the Acutians for 1 influence. The first brick in my solar federation!

22 II Proto 3000
Raid Pirate convoy with Skylaxians for a delicious Sorul Dark Chocolate. This will be useful as a bribe later.

The Burlusts are now spacefaring by themselves.

Looking at the ship customization:

I adjust my capabilities slightly, adding the gravity missile to my active repertoire.

45 III Proto 3000
Since the Burlusts are so dangerous, I decide to plant an informant on their homeworld of Volos. Then I decide to raid them for Basic Sub Atomic Theory. I can't have the warmongers with a tech edge on any other races.

Looks like the Burlusts are going to hate me. I warp into planetary orbit practically on top of a juicy weather satellite, GPS satellite, and flight school. Since I didn’t want the Burlusts on the solar scale at this point, I will do my best to send them back to the information age before I steal their tech anyways.


A quick gravity missile takes care of the nearest flagship. That leaves only 1 flaghip off screen and a poorly oriented constellation of turrets between me and my targets.

I wrap up the three orbital targets and dock with the orbital science lab to grab the tech. Amusingly, there appears to be no hit in influence from me destroying their orbital goodies. Perhaps they respect the demonstration of my significant combat prowess.

Continued on next post

[topper]

This gameplay describes the 0.860 alpha version of The Last Federation and may not reflect on the full game.

58 Proto III 3000
I decide the Burlusts should respect me more. Their three warlords are Roqmul, Tictoc, and Troter. I challenge Troter to a fight to the death!
(Note: this may be a very bad idea to do in a post 1.0 game)

Now you know why you fear the night! er… Hydral.

Troter is replaced quickly by another Burlust warlord named Fantag.

5 IV Thermo 3000
I aid the Acutians with armada construction for 3 months. This keeps me from completing other things in the system, but gains me 9 influence with the Acutians.

58 VII Thermo 3000
I raid another pirate convoy for loot with the Skylaxians. This time the pirates were carrying Raw Asp Meat. That sounds like something only a Burlust could love… However, once again, my intuition is wrong. Burlusts hate Raw Asp Meat, but Thoraxians love it.

63 VII Thermo 3000
Looking at the armada power graph, I decide to help the Acutians for 2 more months on constructing armadas to stay ahead of the Burlusts.


30 X Helia 3000
I advise the Acutians on Jam to Industrialize. This stops the negative medical trend and starts a positive economic trend. I hope all 308 million current Acutian robot citizens are grateful.

I then help the Skylaxians colonize a moon. This will aid my current chosen races in their quest for solar dominance.

37 X Helia 3000
The Burlust armada threat continues, so I decide to get my hands (tentacles?) dirty and go to work myself.


One gravity missile takes out the three nearest flagships. Operation Kamichi and Short Wave Virus turns the tide of the battle decisively in my favor.
I see an opening in the cloud of fighters and launch a nuke into another flagship. This will catch the attention of the Burlust citizens on the planet below.
The battle gains me 6000 credits. Taking another look at the armada power graphs, the Burlusts losses at my hands are clearly shown.


 I will knock off another Burlust warlord to restore their proper fear.. I mean, respect of me. First I get Fantag to put in a good word for me, thus expending my leverage on him. Since he owes me nothing now, he is expendable. I challenge him to a duel!
Funny, the computer tells me that the Burlust warlord “hunted me down” while clearly it is mistaken since I am the predator here.


53 XI Helia 3000
I decide to help out the ailing Skylaxian economy on Stella Lyrae as a dispatch for 3 months.

44 XIV Pyran 3000
Into the third season of the solar year.
I aid the Acutians in destroying a nearby pirate base and rescued 6 formerly pirate Skylaxians that I can return to Stella Lyrae for judgment.

I return the prisoners and gain 2 influence with the Skylaxian Senate.

28 XVII Ultra 3000
The final quarter of the year 3000. I will help the Skylaxian with their health, raising it by 3 over the final three months of the year.

1 I Proto 3001
My time is done. It is time for another to take my place as the primary.
Here is the state of the system at the beginning of the year 3000.

Solar map:


Racial power grid:


Race relations:



One year is pretty short, but it took me a long time to write up. The game is really just getting started still. Feel free to play more or less depending on how much time you have available. Claiming the save is first come, first serve. Post to claim it and then add your contribution to the AAR. If anything too bad happens we can roll back a save, so dont be shy!

Save is attached and open for claiming!

[Endymion]

Doing only a year since I need to be going in a few hours.
1 I Proto 3001
Hmm so what's happening here?


Thoraxians hate me, maybe I should fix that since everyone else seem to be happy enough.
They have an ok planet for themselves but their population is pitiful so for now they shouldn't be much of a threat to anyone.

Boarines seem to be in similiar situation but won't be spacefaring quite yet so for now they'll be ignored.

2 I Proto 3001
Made Skylaxian share their techs Thoraxians. The poor things only had tech for bomb shelter.


Next I decide that since thoraxians might like it I should help them with their medical situation, not much else that I can think of doing that they'd like. (I might have helped with armada construction if it wasn't bugged to give only 1 influene a month)


43 III Proto 3001
Acutians made a factory outpost. Hmm I guess I'll let them have it for now.


1 I Proto 3002

Only -74 influence now!

Oh a year has passed!
And Acutians got somekind of virus and another manufactoring outpost. Well that won't be my problem.

Also Burlusts think Andors are weaklings.


Relations:


Racial Power Grid:



save attached

[Misery]

I'll join too.  I can probably do a whole bunch of years, I certainly have the time for it.

I aint as knowledgeable about the solar map stuff, but I do have the advantage of being an unstoppable monster in combat of any sort.

[Mick]

A succession game makes sense in some context, if you think of each successor as a different head taking control.

I'll have a go at this if the hand off lines up well with a time I can play.

[topper]

A succession game makes sense in some context, if you think of each successor as a different head taking control.

I'll have a go at this if the hand off lines up well with a time I can play.

Ah, yes! That is where the name of the thread comes from. I just forgot to add a description to the OP. Added now!

I am not sure if anyone has claimed the save, so it should be up for grabs right now unless someone speaks up.

[Hyfrydle]

How are you guys doing the screenshots? I'll go next if that's okay?

[topper]

How are you guys doing the screenshots? I'll go next if that's okay?

Go ahead and take the save.

I used F12 to take Steam screenshots. Then uploaded them to my Steam profile using the built in Steam window that pops up when you quit the game. Then you need to get the direct link to the image by clicking on it on your profile. You can also use most other file sharing sites if you want to upload them yourself. (looks like someone used dropbox)

Look at one of my posts to see the format for linking the image with the correct width.

[keith.lamothe]

Thoraxians hate me, maybe I should fix that since everyone else seem to be happy enough.
They have an ok planet for themselves but their population is pitiful so for now they shouldn't be much of a threat to anyone.

Bear in mind that the aliens weren't created equal.  A Thoraxian is basically a nightmare death machine in ground combat.  Even Burlusts, on an individual-to-individual basis, simply can't stand against them.  So the other races have to massively outnumber Thoraxians to have a decent chance of winning in ground combat.

Space combat's a different story, of course, and is definitely where one prefers to meet the Thoraxians (if at all).

[Hyfrydle]

Well let's get started on my year in charge.

1 I Proto 3002

From my first over view of the situation it's clear that the Acutians are increasing their power base by building outposts to improve their ship manufacturing capabilities. We have a +22 neutral relationship so for now I'll just keep a close eye on them, especially since they already have 10 armadas the highest of all the space faring races.

The Acutians have also been inflicted with a disease Jam and a virus LxA, they have researched and anti-virus for the virus but the disease Jam is still active and I have no idea of it's affects.

Of all the spacefaring races only the Thoraxians really dislike us and the other races are neutral to them so no real threat.

Finally we have one Auctian pirate base that has formed in the outer reaches so it might be an idea get rid sooner rather than later.

My first decision is to politely ask our friends the Skylaxians to deal with the pirate base which is carried out quickly and efficiently.

As I'm doing this two requests come thorugh from the Peltians and the Boarines.

The Peltian planet is an ice dwarf far from the star and is not a suitable place for their race, they have asked for specs to build a terraformer to improve their chances. If I help we gain +80 influence with the Peltians and they will be able to improve their planet quality by 0.5 increasing it to 1 which is a much better rating. If I refuse we will have a -15 influence penalty with the Peltians.

The second request comes from the Boarine and they want us to take out a flagship in orbit above their planet so they can analyse and achieve spaceflight tech more quickly. The computer informs me that the Boarine planet has a very high quality and they will make excellent allies. The Boarines also reside on an ice planet but for them this is heaven as their planet quality is 3.48. If I help them we gain +50 influence with them and they will enter space more quickly, as an added bonus if I manage to take out all the flagships in orbit I will gain some advanced Hydral tech. The penalty for not helping is a -5 influence penalty with the Boarines.

This is a hard decision but I decide to help the Peltians improve their world. The Boarines will be entering space next so they don't have too long to wait also a -5 influence hit is not much.

I head over to the Peltian homeworld and prepare to enter orbit and attempt to deliver the terraformer specs:



This was not easy and I was thankful for the cloak device I had installed. The races are growing stronger all the time I must make sure and keep up.

6 I Proto 3002

With all the nasty diseases about I decide to provide medical assistance to the Burlust who are currently trending downwards with -32. I spend 4 months helping in the health centres and get a much better understanding of the Burlust race. It also gives me an opportunity to liase with our informant who informs me how far behind they are with their technology. I gift them laser pistol technology to help if they are attacked by any of their stronger neighbours. This increases our influence to 40 meaning I am now liked.

15 V Thermo 3002

I then decide to help the Skylaxians build up their fleets I can't have the Acutians taking too much power. This will also really improve our influence with the Skylaxians who now favor us. It's always useful to be a friend of a very advanced race:



Whilst I'm helping out, the Andors research Bomb Shelters and the Thoraxians research the Planetary Ion Cannon which the Skylaxians and Burlust don't currently have.

11 IX Helia 3002

I'm now nearly half way through the year and so far it's been quite uneventful but that is mainly due to an uneasy peace that could be broken at any time.

To finish the year I decide to do what little I can to try and improve the environment on the Burlust planet of Volos which is currently causing real problems for the population. I spend 6 months helping terraform and improve the hostile environment. While I'm hard at work the Skylaxians complete a manufacturing outpost and the Andors research the Space Elevator. The Andors are really advanced in tech but have as yet to get into space they will also be likely candidates for the Federation once it starts to form.

58 XIX Ultra 3002

Looking at the power grid the Skylaxians are now in the lead with space power and the number of armadas so I give the Burlust a hand for 2 months trying to kickstart their space program for the good of the future federation.

My time is up and just as I'm about to pass on the baton civil war erupts on the Boarine planet and they have now become spacefaring this will be something to investigate for who ever takes over. The Andors are still racing ahead and have now researched Wireless Communications which halves the impact of public order issues.

Relations


Racial Power Grid


Save attached

[topper]

Another nice post, the save is up for grabs again!
If the save is not claimed for a while and anyone wants to take another turn later, I have no problem with that.

To finish the year I decide to do what little I can to try and improve the environment on the Burlust planet of Volos which is currently causing real problems for the population. I spend 6 months helping terraform and improve the hostile environment. While I'm hard at work the Skylaxians complete a manufacturing outpost and the Andors research the Space Elevator. The Andors are really advanced in tech but have as yet to get into space they will also be likely candidates for the Federation once it starts to form.

I would watch out for the Burlusts and Thoraxians. I think we want one of them in the federation at least, but the solar system needs a bad guy.    If you want the Burlusts to join a federation later, they need to be weak compared to the rest of the federation.

[Hyfrydle]

Also just noticed the Boarines space power  with only 5 fleets is the highest at 135. Might be an idea to get them onside if possible.

[topper]

Also just noticed the Boarines space power  with only 5 fleets is the highest at 135. Might be an idea to get them onside if possible.

Ok, maybe the next person can post a few of the power graphs during their turn.

[Misery]

I'll see about having a go at it later tonight.