pat: Blood Blitz 2082
pat wins in 69 updates
This was a strange game. It is a good lesson in the
importance of timing, luck, and the dangers of overconfidence. I
entered on turn three as player number five. There was a brief
battle with Angst for his northern planet, but then he fell off
line after having built 10 attacks
in his Home World. This offered me the perfect opportunity to take his
third planet and trick while
using him as a shield from the other players. I threw my old
ships into Angst's Home World while I tricked and met Freezer as he
attacked. This was one of those rare 3-way battles where both
Angst and Freezer had ships remaining. But Freezer had better
maintenance so nuked Angst the next turn. He couldn't explore further,
though, because he hadn't brought a science
ship.
I knew that I had BR advantage, so built next door to kill his
fleet, colonize Angst, and explore the next jump. I was able to
slide my sci all the way to his Home World, which gave me a big advantage
in having the whole board in front of me while he was fighting
blind. After a few feints and skirmishes I destroyed his fleet
and nuked his first planet. GooseBerry nuked TRITONS the same
turn.
Freezer realized at this point that he was done and conceded.
I nuked his Home World and colonized it and his northern planet. Goose
was close enough that he met my exploration at Goose Pond. He had
more ships closer to the front so was able to colonize Freezer's two
other planets. I pulled back while gating
reinforcements into Freezer, allowing
him to explore to 'fall back'. My gating worked, though, and I
destroyed his fleet at Freezer and quickly trooped
the next planet (renaming it Cooked Goose.)
At this point we had even econs and I was about two turns
ahead in BR. We sparred for a few turns, and I was able to get my
sci through and all the way to his Home World. The smart thing to do
would have been to wait until I could build at Cooked Goose and
then attack from there. But I wasn't smart. Two mistakes in a row
should have cost me the game. I decided to try the same stunt I
had used before in gating ships and luring him in to be
destroyed. It might have worked, but I built too many ships,
forgot to set the gate to send them, and he broke his pattern and
advanced to Cooked Goose. My BR was too low to kill his fleet, so
I had to retreat again to 'fall back' as he nuked Cooked Goose.
Then came my second mistake: instead of waiting a turn to rebuild
BR I attacked him as he moved into Freezer — and lost.
He had 10 ships left at Freezer, so I couldn't stop him with a
build there. I knew at this point that I had lost the game, that it was
just a matter of time. So I decided to go for a longshot. I built
14 ships and gated them to Freezer, knowing that they wouldn't
fight that turn. The next turn I sent them to Cooked Goose — this
was to be a desperate run for his Home World. Their BR was very low, so
my guess is he didn't see them as a threat because he sent all of
his ships to 'fall back'. My maintenance level was only around 1.5 so my
military score was 0 until the turn I reached his Home World.
He could have destroyed my whole fleet at either Goose Pond or
N.Honkytown if he had been cautious, but he wasn't. He did build
two ships (enough to kill me then) at Goose Pond — probably
thinking I would stop to nuke it — but I kept moving. He shadowed
me with those ships, but never built in front of me to stop me.
He seemed too intent on exploring and nuking my planets, which I
left open to him. This meant more time for my ships to recover
BR. They were br 2.8 when I reached his Home World, so after maintenance
increases I would be nuking with 10 BR-4.3 ships. I think he realized his
mistake one turn too late, because he dismantled most of his
ships in my systems, presumably in order to build more for
defense. But that one turn was all I needed...
