I would rather keep the original config instead.
@HULK, I just conceded to Zeus, I’m getting my ass thoroughly kicked. Holy cazoli.
@ZeusAlmighty, sorry I didn’t give you a better game. I honestly tried to.
Aweee. We were only 3 or 4 cycles in, just getting started. Gg though.
So it is me vs Hulk now. I actually wanted to play you 
You couldn’t see my stars or the disposition of my forces, it was going to get real ugly, real fast. And I was behind on every attribute. I built three warp-gates, a good move, but too early.
@Ralx : it happens - @SuperDave SMASHED the HULK in record time. Sometimes the bold move early on pays off well … but sometimes not.
@ZeusAlmighty : I’m going to guess that you’d prefer to play against me with the “original” params rather than modifying - right? If so, I’ll give you two games to chose from - you pick! 
Same password - please only join ONE of them … and then we shall see how a GOD does against the HULK!
@HULK, @ZeusAlmighty ---- try and make your game a LONG one as the one I have with Karma will probably go 30+ cycles or more. It’s a trench war where the mud is up to our belly buttons and it’s tough to make it across no man’s land. I keep waiting for Karma to just throw himself on his sword like Hulk did in a fit of harakiri, but he’s too savvy for that. He likes to watch from his side of the border with binoculars and just wave.
@SuperDave - Yea, I’m wondering if the symmetric stars on both sides (in addition to the mirroring) naturally results in the mid-long-term of trench warfare.
@ZeusAlmighty picked this game … which the more I look at, I think will be real interesting and result in more of a swash buckling game - we’ll see.
Yeah, it’d be nice if you waved back! 
Update: My game with @SuperDave is about to end. It was a very strange and intense contest which largely came down to a good start by @SuperDave and a mistake by me in the initial charge to the front line. It left @SuperDave with a one star advantage in a key position that immediately put me on the back foot. We both had attempts to break through the front line pushed back and as described earlier it became a bit of a trench warfare battle. The gap in stats became difficult for me to manage, so I felt I had to do something. So I tried a few tricks to get ships to the front line quicker and force an overload, but @SuperDave was wise to it and did his own version of the @HULK smash to break through. At this stage I have to recognise that it would take an almighty mistake for @SuperDave to fail, so I will concede shortly.
A good battle and it shows how little advantages / mistakes can change the course of the entire game, no matter how early they happen…
Well played @SuperDave!
Yea, I saw how things game developed into trench warfare … with that early interloper making a big difference. It’s actually made me re-think what makes a “good map” … as I think some asymmetry side-to-side (on top of the top-down mirroring) can lead to better play that is more forgiving of a fortunate early move.
Let me know when it is “official” and I’ll update the brackets.
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.