The Let's Play Archive

Master of Orion

by Thotimx

Part 170: Darlok Preview

We have finally come to the last playable race.

Darlok Preview

** Diplomacy -- The worst there is. Only the Humans are dumb enough to trust them ... or perhaps they don't, but they'll happily take their credits anyway. Relations default to Unease, a step below the default Neutral, with everyone else.

** Economics -- No strengths or weaknesses at all.

** Military -- Nothing here either

** Research -- A bit above-average. They are Good in computers, average in everything else. Not the best or worst in anything.

The Darlok Advantage doesn't really fit into any of the above categories. It lies in their spectacular spying ability. They get a +20 bonus to Security rolls, and +30 to spying rolls.

Overview

The classic way to play as Darloks is to steal most of the tech you need, concentrating on one or two areas to research. More specifically, they're good at Computing which also benefits their spying abilities. We're going with Huge galaxy(the only size I have yet to conquer in this LP), which will make things even more difficult as we'd benefit from early contact; you can't steal from those you haven't met. With no economic, military, or even diplomatic plus, we'll either make devastating use of our espionage or we'll almost certainly lose badly. This is a very double-edged race to play, but also has the most unique strategy associated with it after the Silicoids IMO.

Coming Attractions

After I win as Darloks, however long that takes, the LP will conclude with one special 'challenge' game. In it, I will essentially take my revenge upon MOO, in a speed challenge against the Average difficulty. More specific rules will come at that time, but the basic idea will be winning by conquest on Huge galaxy in the shortest possible time frame. The 'standard' experience will be demonstrated, and we'll see how different it is from the impossible setting. This game will go at a somewhat slower pace, documented in stupefyingly dense detail. You've seen me do battle with the worst that the game can throw at me. Each side has gotten their licks in, thankfully I've been able to be victorious a little more often than not. Now witness the pain I inflict as I crush the galaxy with no artificially enhanced obstacles in my way.

When we get to that point, I'll upload the save so others can try to match or exceed me ... if they dare. I will also put up a poll for people to choose the next retro game I will LP next, at that time.