Neptune's Pride War Diary #2

Harry – AKA Bazamataz

Day 2: Because many of my worlds are far from my home planet, I’ve rapidly researched range to extend how far my ships can fly. I intend to try and avoid combat with my neighbours until I can tie one down to a firm alliance, instead focusing on rapid expansion. I beat Jamie to a tasty world along our border and to improve my expansion, trade my range technology with Alex for his speed. This is a rough trade, as range takes twice as long to research. I’m not worried though, as there are bound to be plenty of other interested customers

Day 3: Well, it seems that Alex has taken the range tech I traded with him and has himself traded it with the other players to his huge benefit. In fact, it looks as if he’d promised it to some before I even sent it to him. Arse. At least I know who Alex is trading with now though, by following the flow of range tech. With Jamie rapidly running out of worlds, I propose an alliance with Mike against him, suggesting he attack to his East and I’ll come up from beneath. Still no world from Jamie though, so I’m not surprised and very concerned not to hear a strong commitment from Mike – they’re obviously scheming themselves. Mike and I have a minor border dispute in which we both race for the same planet and one of Mike’s fleets is destroyed, but a partnership is still firmly on the table.

Day 4: Despite Mike not confirming his readiness to attack Jamie, Jamie announces Mike has launched a full scale attack on one of his worlds. Tense negotiations between Jamie and I begin and the result, mercifully, is a full scale alliance against Mike, although I’m still suspicious that Mike’s attack is a fabrication created by Jamie before an attack. I needn’t have been worried though as my own scanners reveal that Mike is on the war path. I move my ships away from Jamie’s border and order them into attack positions against Mike. We’re going to war!

Day 5: With our alliance in full swing, and 40 of Mike’s ships already destroyed by Jamie, we step up our campaign, upgrading our science to level 3 to quicken our progress up the tech tree and invent faster spaceships, bigger guns and additional cup holders. We’ve announced the first full scale alliance of the game (both parties paying $50 for a ceasefire) and despite being told by every other player that our alliance won’t last, things are looking good. I wouldn’t want to be Mike right now.

Mike – AKA Mike The Destroyer

Day 2: I return to the office to find that the evening hasn't been kind to my burgeoning empire. Harry has taken my planet, Kaffaljidhma, for his own and, while I'd already sent a small fleet to ward him off, it had little effect. He hunkered down and blew my ships away. Jamie, meanwhile, is encroaching into my territory from the east, colonising a small planet named Arich.

It's not been the best evening: I'm at the bottom of the leaderboard, with enemies closing in from both sides, and little in the way of defense until I get paid. This huge expanse of space suddenly feels a little claustrophobic, and I'm counting down the minutes until some cash appears in my account.

Day 3: If I've learned anything it's that Neptune's Pride cultivates massive paranoia amongst its players. I'm constantly looking over my shoulder, sometimes literally, and wondering if the messages I'm being sent are carefully constructed lies or genuine offers for help. It's a classic catch-22 situation: I feel as if I need to ally with other players in order to progress, but the game encourages you to not trust anybody.

Impatience is a key theme, too. I've been paid and, within five minutes, I'd spent all of my money on new fleets and planetary upgrades. I know that I won't be able to act on anything until 24 hours hence, but that doesn't stop me logging into the game and observing that nothing's changed.

Day 4: The political games are getting more complex; while I traded some technology for information from one player, I’m on the verge of forming an alliance with two more, although it’s likely that I’ll have to choose one over the other.

I think I’m going to go with what my informant recommends. His information seems genuine, and it makes sense. Let’s hope that it pays off in the long run.