We have two new members joining us today, Ariz and Gruesome! Welcome to the Empire...may your enemies fall before your ferocious and merciless warriors!   

And this is from MottiKhan on the Tryanny of Evil empire thread:



The entire galaxy would tremble at the mere possibility!

That thought has crossed my mind before too Motti of the two empires merging, even to the point where I sort of have some of the potential details thought out. The Kzinti are steadily advancing on the Orcas, but 1.5 million points is not a tiny gap. We'll get there eventually, even if it might take some time. We're very hungry for conquest...and like any predators we want to bring down our prey and eat it NOW!

Sentient species taste better...

well...from a purely logistical stand point, it wouldn't be difficult. All one's character would have to do would be to switch empires; I did it with my League character (he was originally in the Tyranny, now in the MVL Empire)

If the ToE were to join the Kzinti that would be powerful indeed... Correct for the most part. I can think of only one potential problem, but any discussion is entirely premature until Neilo and I have had a chance to communicate. I have a helluva lot of fun running the Kzinti Empire, and I'm sure that Neilo enjoys running the ToE.   

Sentient species taste better...

LOL, i was thinking more along the lines of the Kzinti being annexed by the ToE

Hehe, of course you were. We are three times the size of the Tyranny, Fights-With-Words, and growing more quickly. It is amusing monkey-logic to think that the smaller predator could devour the larger... We assume this is a failed attempt at humor.

Sentient species taste better...

From the Tyranny of Evil thread...



...and then I think you said some other stuff. You know me. That AAADD or some such thing.   



Well and honorably said, KzintiPatriarch! It's nice to know that we're on the same wavelength here. I'd like to know more of your thoughts on this.

Please keep us informed as to when you can bring your fellow empire-mates over. We'll welcome them with open arms!   

I'll start a Kzinti Forum at the TOE and install you as a Moderator right now...   

Apparently your mental dysfunction has confused you Motti. I believe you agreed to join the Kzinti immediately! Excellent to hear you will finally be joining us...will send out the invitation right away. We will teach you to devour your enemies and subjugate the few survivors in the correct Kzinti way. Do you prefer Torian or Iconian flesh to feast upon?

Sentient species taste better...

Just checking in

Hey Chrizzle, good to hear from you, and welcome to our official thread.   You've arrived just in time to witness the acquisition of the mighty MottiKhan...although we need to change his name to something properly Kzinti. Hrrrrrr...  

Sentient species taste better...

Welcome to our newest members, Warlock_Lord and Peter Peccavi. Fight your battles courageously, relentlessy, and subjugate the enemy without mercy!

Our brave t'kzintar continue to andvance on those space-whales the Orcas, and Kzinti claws grip the planets of many more systems in this galaxy. Only the greatest warriors can earn the title of Conquest Hero, through unrelenting battle and many great victories over our foes. Who will be the next to rise up and claim this title?

Sentient species taste better...

Warlock Lord is honored to be a member of the mighty Kzinti Empire!

Hi Warlock Lord...please also welcome the latest warrior to join the Kinti, Space Chopper!

Word has just come in from the frontier, and our heroic t'kzintar have won a truly glorious victory, expanding the dominance of the Kzinti Empire 150,000 light-years (points). This is a magnificant conquest that will be sung about in the halls of Kzin-kind for years to come. The Patriarch decrees this a day of celebration throughout the Empire. Let us slaughter numberless food animals, feast upon their succulent flesh, and make joyful ch'rowl until the next sun rises!    

Sentient species taste better...

We have two new warriors joining us today...Big Blue XXXVII, and Facecrusher. Welcome to the Kzinti Empire!

Hey Cumberberg, did you check out any of the books I mentioned before? Admittedly, none of them are very recent, but I dont read as much as I used to. I spend more time playing games than I do reading now. I noticed you posted another victory for the Empire yesterday.   

Sentient species taste better...

Thanks Patriarch -- I did post a political victory, but am pretty disappointed in the score. Playing masochistic on a large map, five years, eliminated all but one opponent (allied - I could have easily destroyed him but lacked bloodlust), had enough of the map covered for a cultural victory, and feel like I got the shaft on scoring.

Short of military victory and finishing the game as quickly as possible, do you have any tips to maximize my score?

Well, if I'm going to be part of this empire, I've got to read the Man-Kzin wars next. I've read most of the books on your list. Read last week the most recent book in the Lost Fleet series, which was okay -- good ideas, writing so-so, but entertaining on the whole.

I haven't found that finishing a game quickly enhances the score much at all. In fact, what I have been doing lately is extending the length of my games to increase the score. What is more important, is establishing your dominance of the galaxy as quickly as possible, rather than actually finishing the game quickly. I almost always go for military victory, as the scoring for any other type pales in comparison. I turn off all other victory types, and also turn off surrenders so that I can end the game exactly when I want to. I wage nearly continuous war until I have eliminated all but one enemy planet, but the score wont be nearly so high if you end the game at that point. Extend the game for another 2-3 years to get a higher score, which if you are playing just to win the game is pretty boring, but if you want more points it definitely works. The time it takes to actually do this is not long, as at that point all my planets are built up, poplation on each planet is maxed out at 20B (23B for homeworlds), I've built my military starbase array, and I'm not moving any fleets or ships at all. It is definitely a case of diminishing returns though, and past 3 years or so (depends what's happened in your game), I havent found that your score increases very significantly. It's mainly just a matter of hitting the turn button a hundred times or so. I always end the game on Dec 15th of whatever year I decide to finish in, which will help your score a little bit, rather than running over into the next year.

One thing I ignored for a long time was the Spin Control Center, Military Starbase Array, Omega Defense System combination. These three things together will increase your military rating by an amazing degree. Late in the game I design a huge-hulled ship maxed out with nothing but weapons, purely for the purpose of putting them in orbit around the planet with the SCC. With the MSA you can have that planet be in the radius of effect of 16 military starbases maxed out with components to augment whatever type of weapon you have on those huge-hulled ships in orbit. I make sure the weapon type is the same as my combat ships so that my extra inactive fleets can go bask in the radisu of those starbases too. This is the most tedious thing I do to augement score...

I also make sure I finish the entire tech tree, which supposedly gives you a score bonus, although I've never tested it out to see how much it might be. If you finish the tech tree before you plan to end the game, dont decrease your research spending. This will lower the overall technology score you will earn.

Towards the end of the game, when I have it down to one enemy planet, I build a maxed-out influence starbase next to their last planet, then gift it to them. This will prevent any culture flip, and again let you end the game when you want to.

In the latest game I played, the settings were huge, abundant or common everything, masochistic. I started in the dead center of the galaxy and had the great fortune to have a Precurser factory ruin on my homeworld. This let me expand very quickly in all directions, grabbing at least 30 planets in the first colony rush. Very early on in the game I was the largest civ in the galaxy, which proved to be very beneficial for my score. When I had the first opportunity to end the game, I did so just to see what score I would get, but planned on reloading and playing longer. At about 10 years, the initial score was about 115,000, which would have been the best I had ever done before, but I was shooting for much higher. I reloaded and extended the game another four years, letting my population max out, finishing the tech tree, and watching my economy grow. The end result was a score of just over 150k, which only took about an hour more of actual game time to accomplish.

There are certainly more advanced techniques than I use, but these work well for me, and for the level of micromanagement I want to spend time on.

I dont know of the Lost Fleet series, but maybe I'll check it out. Another book which comes to mind that I cant remember the name or author (sorry!), is an alternate history where the American Civil War was fought to a draw, then another civil war happens 20 or 30 years later with the same results, and then again in another 20-30 years. The book is set during this period, which coincides with WWI in our own reality. Tanks are just being introduced into warfare (being called "barrels" in that reality), and on one side are the Northern USA, Imperial Germany, and a few other allies, and on the other side Canada, the CSA, England, and various other allies. I really wish I could remember what this book was. Anybody know?? I searched around a bit today and couldnt figure it out...

edit: I think I found it... American Empire by Harry Turtledove, who writes a lot of great alternate-reality fiction.

Sentient species taste better...