In my last Metaverse game I scored 155500 on level Masochistic, a gigantic map with 286 planets, and completed in late Dec. 2228 (rounded down to 3 years).
In my current game I'm playing my first Suicide game with scatters vs. tight clusters resulting in 476 planets! With an extra 190 planets, instead of the colonization phase ending in the first year, the last distant planet was colonized by me in Aug. 2226, giving me 53 planets (51 colonized and 2 culture flipped). By this point the Arceans make demands from me (due to my lack of a military) which I refused. I have 4X times the population of an AI (thanks to 100% morale for the first 8 months + 70% pop. growth bonus + trade goods), plus I'm the production and research leader due to good planet build up and choosing neutrality for the NLC.
It was time to switch my focus to the weapons branch (choosing beam since everyone else choose guns and missile so most were researching armor). On Jan. 8 2227 the Yor declare war on the Altarians; the Yors' missile tech is superior to the Altarians' guns but the Altarians have more planets and a superior economy. On Jan. 22, 2227 I take out the only minor. On Feb. 8, 2227 I launch my invasion against the Korx with 2 fleets each with 9 advanced medium hull ships. Waiting along the border are over 30 fast troop transports, each with 3 billion troops; I have researched all the techs to boost my soldiering and have built the training center too.
Normally in my games I launch the first war in early 2226 but in this game the extended colonization phase plus building up my many resources starbases delayed the start of the conquer phase. Since I choose very fast research, even in my short games, I complete the tech tree before the end of the game. So in this game I’m only building NLCs on research bonus squares, my tech capital world, and worlds with rings which give a 10% research bonus. Instead of splitting my non-specialized high PQ planets between factories and NLCs, I’m splitting them between factories and stock markets (I’m playing v1.2 so they also give a 10% morale boost so I don’t need an entertainment center if I have at least 7 stock markets). My low-mid PQ planets (I don’t have any below 10 yet) I have set to focus on factories. I hope to exceed 200000 in this game!!!
