A Betrayal of Pride: Lightning Strike

Light blue lasts just hours. His fleet movement has all stopped, he has clearly given up. I don’t blame him; there was a stab of guilt when I pictured him logging in to find three empires simultaneously attacking him. It fades quickly though, to be replaced with a strange feeling of smug pride. I have caused this. I feel like I have maneuvered the pieces (and by pieces I mean the other players) into the perfect position to strike and then unleash overwhelming force that decimates another player. Whether that is true or not I don’t know, Orange and Pink may be conspiring themselves but at this moment I feel oddly powerful. Diplomacy is often the first battle line of any war.

Light Blue is not yet destroyed, but the scheming for
the next war has already started!

So what is the fallout of this lightning war? Well Pink and Orange have made significant gains, more than I expected and are still outstripping the pace of my development. But forget that, I have clawed my way back from an impossible situation to end up in third place. I’m proud of that and the chances of winning are slim!

However, the plan is in full swing, I contact orange asking what the next part of the plan was. He responds with the suggestion to attack pink together and then tells me what he is researching so we can co-ordinate. That seems positive, he seems to be willing to work together. I contact Pink with virtually the same message and receive almost exactly the same response, now I just have to wait for the perfect time to strike. I stop tech trading with both of them, claiming to have no funds to send my technology to them; I hope to keep that lie going as long as possible. Or at least long enough for my advanced tech to be an advantage when I do finally commit my forces for the final showdown.

There is one final point of interest. I had earlier taken a Light Blue sector which Orange had intended to claim as well, unknown to each other both our fleets are heading to the same place. I am going to get there first with a fleet of 80 ships and he will reach it a good six hours later with 307. I thought about pulling mine out as soon as they arrive but I have decided against it. Crunching the numbers I realise, being the defender and analysing the different tech levels, that I will kill 120 of his ships for the loss of my 80. It is a small amount which he will recover from in little more than 24 hours. But it is a set back and to win I need to inflict the most cost effective losses I can. Yes, granted we aren’t at war but I can claim it was an accident, or even blame him for attacking one of my systems. That’s pretty much been the USA’s foreign policy for decades.