So a while back, I posted about the “Ultimate” cluster map for man versus robot - basically you in the middle surrounded by a cluster of 6AI’s - the coordinates are:
[ [0,0],[-11.99,0],[11.99,0],[-5.995,10.39],[5.995,10.39],[-5.995,-10.39],[5.995,-10.39] ]
and when you create the game, use default settings except 66% to win, 7 players, custom galaxy, twin ring, dark start disabled (so you can pick the center), and 1 starting star.
I decided to try it again … but this time, I did NOT allow myself to trade of tech (or cash) to the AI’s. So while they tech trade among each other, I have to develop everything myself. Plus once they get angry at me, there’s no way to get friendly with 'em … so attacks come from all sides. Finally, NO Warp Gates … since the AI doesn’t create/destroy them.
It took a while … but the HULK finally SMASHED six Robot players as shown in the pics below.
It’s a bit of a challenge - can anyone else win in less than 16 Cycles/392 Ticks?!?
And yes, signs of NP addiction - you’ll want to take a break when you are done!
FYI FWIW that the approach I took was since I’m initially Neutral with all of the AI’s, I was careful not to engage them except for one neighbor who I went all-in against. Did lots of Science to try to get Weapons first … although I only had that advantage for a brief time early on as the Experimentation Gods weren’t nice to me (I kept getting Scan - arg!) and one of the AI’s would get Weapons and share it.
Eventually I got the upper hand … but once I became the leader, all the AI’s went -1 hostile against me … and since I could not trade tech/cash, they stayed that way … becoming increasingly hostile as we sparred.
As time went on, my higher Science eventually allowed me to pull ahead in Weapons … but increasingly behind in every other tech - I would finish 'em if I got “E” hits … except for Scan which kept finishing itself!
It was a bit of a balancing act trying to keep enough ships for defense against 4 hostile Robots while trying to conquer the 2nd one. Ditto the 3rd one has their ship count was 4X mine … but I had a couple levels advantage in Weapons which helps.
Rinse & Repeat for many turns and gradually keep expanding … and then eventually the finish line was in sight.
I would suggest that 6 tick jumps are slightly easier … since less time for the AI to move intra-turn when you can’t. I went with 8 simply because I was trying to be as close to default as possible.
I saw the 48 hour turn deadline - a good idea if RL stuff comes up when binging on NP … but FYI that since you created the game (with password), you can pause it if need be.
@JayKyburz : I mentioned this a while ago, but be nice if you put the final cycle/ticks on the “Game Over” screen - i.e. “Congratulations to the Winner after ## Cycles, ### Turns, and #### Ticks.”
