AAR: The Republic of Arcadia

[Darkwing]

I'm relatively new to DW, having just discovered it when Shadows was released. I've only played a few short games, so while I have an inkling of the storyline, I don't know all of it yet. Also, while I've glanced at some strategy guides, I deliberately did not try to learn about "game-winning" strategies, because I want to go into the game relatively blind and just play for fun. I'm throwing myself into the game and will either sink or swim.

This thread will track my progress through the game.

Here's the setup: (from memory)

[b]Distant Worlds Extended Mod[/b] [b]Race:[/b] Human, but with some ship images that I made myself from the Star Blazers Universe (because they're cool) [b]Galaxy:[/b] Huge, 15x15, 1400 stars. Everything on "normal" (aggression, colony distance, pirates, etc etc) All races start at a Pre-Warp level of technology. 35 alien races (I wanted to use all of the extended races from the mod that I could, so this is going to be a complicated galaxy!) All storylines turned on. No victory conditions. Going to play as long as it's fun and see if I can survive...I've heard about things like the Shakturi and the World Destroyers...so I know a *little*. I think the game will be more fun for me if I learn about them first hand without spoilers.

Because of my lack of experience, to more advanced players my game strategy might seem foolish, my ship designs horrible, and so on...but that's part of the fun. Who doesn't want to watch me crash and burn? On the other hand, I might actually do well. We'll have to wait and see...

The AARs are all text with screenshots (which will be links are to my blog where I'm hosting it). I am currently putting up a new post every Mon, Wed, and Fri, but if there's interest I can see if I can do it faster (I have plenty of posts in the pipe already).

(I will begin posting links to the AAR once I get permissions to do so (I need have to wait a week after my 10th post to these forums before I can post links) In the meantime, what follows is the URLs that you can copy and paste into your browser.

Part 1 - Baby Steps
Part 2 - Extortion and Treachery
Part 3 - Back to Square One
Part 4 - Bootstraps
Part 5 - Building a Navy
Part 6 - Retaking the solar system
Part 7 - Rebuilding
Part 8 - Diplomacy and Sabotage
Part 9 - Spies and Piracy
Part 10 - Election
Part 11 - Revenge
Part 12 - Making Contact
Part 13 - Colonization
Part 14 - Powerful Pirates
Part 15 - Implacable Sentinel
Part 16 - Peace through Video Games
Part 17 - Adding Colonies
Part 18 - Big Pirates
Part 19 - WAR
Part 20 - Red Enforcer
Part 21 - Space Battles
Part 22 - Offensive
Part 23 - Punch and Counterpunch
Part 24 - Harassment
Part 25 - Last Stand
Part 26 - Conclusion

[tylertoo]

Looking forward to this. The more AARs, the better [:D].

[Darkwing]

Let's see if I can sneak in an unclickable URL to the first part of the AAR:

wfarcadia.blogspot.com/2013/06/distant-worlds-part-1.html

If you copy & paste this into your browser this should work.

[Sirian]

Yes, this works very well. Many thanks for the AAR!

[Darkwing]

In that case I'll update the original post with the URLs.

[Darkwing]

Part 5 - Building a Navy is now up.

wfarcadia.blogspot.com/2013/06/distant-worlds-part-5.html

[Darkwing]

Part 6 - Retaking the solar system is up.

wfarcadia.blogspot.com/2013/06/distant-worlds-part-6.html

[Darkwing]

Part 7 - Rebuilding is up.

wfarcadia.blogspot.com/2013/06/distant-worlds-part-7.html

[Darkwing]

Part 8 - Diplomacy and Sabotage is up.

wfarcadia.blogspot.com/2013/06/distant-worlds-part-8.html

[Darkwing]

Part 9 - Spies and Piracy is up

wfarcadia.blogspot.com/2013/07/dw-republic-of-arcadia-part-9-spies-and.html

[Darkwing]

Parts 10 and 11 are up.

Part 10 - Election: wfarcadia.blogspot.com/2013/07/dw-republic-of-arcadia-part-10-election.html
Part 11 - Revenge: wfarcadia.blogspot.com/2013/07/dw-republic-of-arcadia-part-11-revenge.html

[Darkwing]

Parts 12 and 13 are now up, and I can embed the links in posts now. First post in the thread has the entire list.

Part 12 - Making Contact
Part 13 - Colonization

[Darkwing]

Parts 14 - 18 are now up.

Part 14 - Powerful Pirates
Part 15 - Implacable Sentinel
Part 16 - Peace through Video Games
Part 17 - Adding Colonies
Part 18 - Big Pirates

[Darkwing]

The remainder of the AAR is now up, Parts 19 - 26. Links also available on the OP.

Part 19 - WAR
Part 20 - Red Enforcer
Part 21 - Space Battles
Part 22 - Offensive
Part 23 - Punch and Counterpunch
Part 24 - Harassment
Part 25 - Last Stand
Part 26 - Conclusion

[Timotheus]

I REALLY like non video AAR's.

Thanks for posting.

[Keston]

I jumped the link in your Olympian AAR over here. Video is useful, but well-illustrated narrative cna be easier to process and does not require a script for a clean presentation.

It is not unknown that an aspiring candidate succeed with low-information voters by adopting the name of a well-regarded former officeholder. Easier with a common name, but if it takes a Paedri Trebulo then so it must be. Surely the president was at least a go-getter rather than a pillow.

It sounds like the gameplay was a little different, such as pirates paying anything for a truce. I'm curious to see what civil wars/rebellions do now when there is a third party around.

I have tried and have some success buying off and nourishing a pirate on the other side of a strong but relatively placid adversary as a useful tool, but still an unreliable one.

That was long for a successful war. I can imagine the political speeches with the equivalent of "Relakis delenda est!" being hammered home in a competition for the hard line. Humans can ge worked up to the contest, while others would be more practical in cutting a deal. Don't know how much of that is in the game's current incarnation.

Thanks for the AARs - will certainly read more.