Game 4: "Normal" AI

This game had similar settings to the last - 1v1, random map, random AI, pirates on - but this time against a normal AI.

This game progressed in a similar manner as Game 3. This time I built a bigger fleet instead of teching up. It was an overwhealming victory taking 2 hours and 1 minute.

The first half hour was spent getting to 4 nearby systems. One set of asteroids, one terran and two volcanics.

The next phase involved researching arctic planets, building a bigger fleet then taking one asteroids, two arctics and a gas giant. At this stage I had half the galaxy.

The next phase was aggressive expansion to get to the AI's borders. This ended with a large battle one system away from the AI home planet. I destroyed the first wave but a second wave turned up and took out 2 of my capital ships forcing me to retreat. With so many planets under my control I recovered to a full fleet after 3 or 4 minutes while the AI never regained a sizable fleet.

The last phase was mop up where I decimated the AI home planet. The AI had two colonies left and promptly resigned.

The next game will be a hard AI to see if this game offers any challenge in 1v1 or if online multiplayer is the only challenge.

But wait! While checking the different difficulty levels I stumbled upon the Achievements page. Perhaps there is a lot of playability here after all?