Neptune’s Pride – The Last War Diary

Kevin – AKA Kempas

It turns out it’s been futile to fight against Harry and Jay. I vastly overstretched myself in the last couple of weeks by sending large quantities of ships to aid in the front line, and when that fell flat the game was up. The battle was lost as soon as Joe’s stars (especially his home star, Mira) were taken. After that ‘Jazmataz’ had the holding of the most stars, most industry and most economy.

I also realised too late that I had under-developed stars in my control, and would have benefited from the off from an alliance with Paul and Joe. Oh well. At the time of writing I have about 250 ships left on my home star and can either be a pest to the others, going down fighting or I can aid Paul in defence. I’ve chosen to go peacefully; I figure that 4th Place isn’t bad at all (Micro Mart represent!). It’s been fun though, and other games are already being muttered about, for better or worse.

Paul – AKA His Glorious Inquisition

Friends, believers; gather round for I fear this will be the last of the updates from the front lines of the Holy Crusade. I have much to tell.

The week started well. Project OSMOSIS was a resounding success, truly His will was with us. In one fell swoop we gutted the Sifteran Empire. A mention here should go to our brave neighbours, the Zurglites, who made OSMOSIS possible by occupying a large portion of the Sifteran fleets, we shall remember their sacrifice in verse and prayer.

The remaining Sifteran stars were quickly brought into His light and our empire expanded to encompass a mighty 42 systems. Meanwhile however, the Baz/Jay alliance made rapid gains and quickly annihilated what was left of the Zurgle and Pirate empires. They chased the poorly named Mike the Destroyer, their former lapdog, north into what remained of the ailing Sifteran territories.

After that there was but four empires remaining in the galaxy, our own glorious lands, the Kempans and the Baz/Jay alliance. We chose to bulk our defences, still believing that the Baz/Jay alliance must at some point crumble; as one of them vied for first place. Our hope was to capitalise on that event, but it never came to pass. They turned a united front towards us and the result was never in doubt. Bazamataz easily took the stars he needed to win.

We’re happy with third place but we can’t help being a little disappointed with how the game turned out. We were promised intrigue, betrayals and counter betrayals but what we actually got was a single strong alliance cantering to a victory that was never in doubt from the middle of the second week.

Some of the blame rests on Jamie’s shoulders for playing the Salacious Crumb to Harry’s Jabba. We can’t help thinking that a little more ambition on his part would have lead to a breaking of the alliance at a moment that suited him and opened the game up more. As it was, Harry took an early lead in terms of planets, economy and tech and never relinquished it with Jamie happy to play second fiddle.

His will be done, we suppose.

Jamie – AKA JaySeeYou

As we moved into the third week of play, the end was already in sight. Baz moved up around Mira, Joe’s old homeworld, and started pushing towards Alex and Mike as I moved in on Clive at the centre of the map. I was feeling the hurt from the previous strikes against Joe and Kevin, and as I closed in on Clive he launched all his remaining ships in one big attack. Reinforcements were more than a day away, so I was forced to watch as he swept through a few of my nearby stars, though at least my superior weapon tech meant he took some hefty damage. I eventually met him with a single large fleet, crumbling him into nothing.

Kevin was our next target and our scanners showed he was moving to defend his borders as fast as he could. He and Joe had been in constant battle with us over the last week, so his defences were few and, with a weapon tech advantage of four points, it was a sure win. He must have realised the same, retreating all his forces as we closed in. He abandoned his homeworld and moved all his fleets as far back as possible – I’m still not sure why.