1) Ruthless: You have nothing but contempt for weaklings. Player must always be at war at all times with any race rated lower than them on the "Total Power" bar graph.And for Production Emphasis:
6) Expansionists: You want to settle the galaxy as quickly as possible. Until all habitable planets that can currently be reached are colonized, the player must do nothing but build factories, scouts, and colony ships. You are also obsessed with speed, so whenever a new Warp Engine technology is discovered, all ships two or more warp levels lower must be immediately scrapped (i.e., if jumping from warp 2 to warp 5 engines, all ships of warp 1, warp 2, and warp 3 would have to be scrapped). At least 50% of research must go into the Propulsion field at all times.I decided to interpret these rules rather narrowly, thereby perhaps losing sight of the gentle spirit of the event, but also managed to misread the expansionist rules, so I didn't strictly observe the letter of the listed rules either. Instead, I played as a bipolar Ruthless ruler (with obsessions of his own) of a compulsively Expansionist Sakkra people:
For each of these categories, ignore Eco cleanup spending. Thus, if you have to spend at least 50% of production into ships (i.e. Militarists), that doesn't include Eco cleanup. These are also just rough guidelines to keep in mind - don't feel like you have to measure out exact amounts every turn! The goal of the game is to have fun.
Planetary sliders would always be adjusted (beyond waste cleanup) to Industry (for factories only, not reserves) and/or ship-building as long as there was a chance that I might be able to colonize some planet peacefully with a large or smaller ship design. The ship in each planet's build queue under these circumstances must be either a small or medium hull with reserve fuel tanks or a large hull with a colony base of some kind. Strategic-level galaxy-wide expenses (spies, trade agreements, etc.) can be changed or established during this time however; it's just that no Sakkra world will actually dedicate its personal resources to anything but factories, scouts, and colonies. Also, being a ruthless expansionist, I would permit the shipment of transports while in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder expansion mode, if and only if those transports were expected to constitute an invasion of an enemy: The most ruthless form of expansion possible, naturally!
As for the ruthless rules, it's not possible for the player to declare war in Orion, but I would make an effort to establish agreements just to have something to violate, then keep an eye on the racial Stats, and break all deals (and refuse all subsequent ones) with anyone who dropped below me. To the extent I could do so conveniently, I would also try to harass my "enemies" into DsoW, but wouldn't bend over backward just to get around the lack of a "War" button on the audience screen.
One other thing: Though I still intend to set Events Off for any future Imperium I sponsor (should I ever find time to do so again) I'm going to play this one with events on, even though they're optional. Crazy randomness just seems more in keeping with this variant, it seems to me.
Finally, this report will consist primarily of "primary documents" from the period of Sakkra expansion and war in the galaxy. It will be presented by an even-handed, taciturn historian type who might possibly get a little more invested in the story as it continues.....
Right, so anyway, enough of that! Let's get on with the game!
Read On!
