Overall, me vs @Karmadrome was an epic NP game. Very different than most and super challenging. Karma’s is so tough.
I look forward to seeing who rises from the 2nd Chance Bracket and plays for me for the championship!
I have updated the first post to reflect the latest results.
Congrats @SuperDave and @Karmadrome on setting what must be a new record for longest 1v1 - the star count was pretty close all the way to tick #480.
@ZeusAlmighty and I are at tick #132. I’ve got a nice lead in stars, but he has quite a bit more Indy and Ships than me (I went bigger on Science - plus dabbling in warp gates) … so while I’d score me as slightly ahead, it’s anyone’s ballgame. It’s a more “open” galaxy that I think results in less of a trench warfare/border across the middle.
So @ZeusAlmighty and I had a flurry of moves today. He made an excellent move against my leading Warp Gate that totally caught me with my Purple Pants down. I was able to recover, but had to build two warp gates that I had to destroy in the next two turns … so this completely nullified my Economy advantage.
We were throwing some wild punches on both sides of the galaxy … and then we went all-in against that same Warp Gate again … but then time I was left enough ships there plus got reinforcements just in time … so it was HULK SMASH time.
This tipped the scales my direction … and have several turns of spirited fighting, @ZeusAlmighty graciously conceded.
I have updated the first post with the results and now only three players are left;
myself and @Karmadrome will play to decide who is the winner of the loser’s bracket … and then have to face the dreaded @SuperDave in the championship … but because it is double elimination, will have to defeat him twice to win the tourney.
@Karmadrome - how does this game look to you? uses same password
Happy to generate another one … and/or I’m amenable to tweaking the parameters (starting science of 1 and ships of 100) if you want to try that.
Defeat who 2x?? Is that even possible?!!
This one looks fine. I have an incredibly busy week, so turns will be very slow. I’ll try and speed up when I can, but expect 1 turn per day or less.
Cool @Karmadrome - I probably won’t be able to make my moves until tomorrow at the earliest anyway.
BTW, go ahead and please JOIN the game (I don’t want it to roll off) since because I’m in it, I can pause it as needed.
I’m in, I’ll try and get a turn submitted in the next 24hrs.
Sorry for the delay @Karmadrome but I’ve got a bit of a family health issue going on - should hopefully get some time tomorrow to submit …
That’s no problem at all. RL and family comes first. Hope all is well.
Just a little bit of “old-man-itis” … 
Move submitted and should be able to do so timely now … a very interesting map.
@Karmadrome and I are having a delightful game … it is certainly NOT trench-warfare … with strong body blows being through all over the place. Plus I thought I had the West side locked down, but he sneakingly stockpiled some ships and created some WG’s (not cheap!) to get them over there … so I ended up having to spend $400 (!) for a WG to defend … plus lost a lot of ships.
I do have a good advantage in stars due to grabbing the NE and SW stars in the opening moves … plus I opted to finished Hyper and begin the expansion of the back stars … whereas he finished Manu and is outproducing me.
So I thought I had @Karmadrome on the ropes … but got a bit too greedy … plus he made a couple of audacious moves … including some all-in’s especially against an inner warp gate of mine (that he just destroyed - GRRR) so this game could easily go either way!
He told me he was on vacation drinking Sangria … after seeing his latest big moves, I’m looking for the bottle!
Both @Karmadrome and I had some vacation, so our game play slowed down a bit … but we still got 444 (!) ticks in before I was able to put the final HULK SMASH on him. A very enjoyable game that played well.
I’ve updated the first post and after battling my way through the loser’s bracket, I now need to face the undefeated @SuperDave in this game. Note that if I win (a BIG IF!), then because I’ve already had a loss in the double elimination tournament, I’ll have to beat him again.
The HULK has cancelled all his appointments with his anger therapists and is gulping gamma-ray pills to hopefully help him SMASH @SuperDave 
Well played @HULK.
Good luck in the final(s) both. I’m looking forward to hearing all about what should be a fantastic battle!
Wellll … it WAS a fantastic battle … for a very, very short time!
SuperDave got me again. He went all-in against the Western side and while I did similarly on the Eastern side, my initial defense was 13 rather than 25 ships … so he was able to capture a key star and then I’ve been losing on defensive bonus since.
So I don’t see how I could pull this out … so rather than delay the inevitable, I conceded (again!) at 3 cycles to further burnish the legend of SuperDave!
It was unique for sure. I played it as an experimental game thinking that Hulk would never realize I’d be so aggressive to one side of the galaxy over and over and over. I got just enough of an edge that I took his industry from him and turned the game (and I’d intentionally built minimal amounts on my other side so he gained nothing in capture my planets).
I think if as SuperDave’s patented “twist the galaxy” strategy.
LOL don’t you two know how to have a long battle?!?
Well played both and of course especially @SuperDave
Congrats SuperDave!