Turn: 4 Impulse: 1 SOP due: GAME OVER

Current Ship: Neo-Tholian Dreadnought Dark Crystal   Status: Intact

 Bonus(es): None

Turn 1
Having played in F03 and 04, I have come to the conclusion that Turn 1 is one of the pivotal turns in the game.  If you pick ships that are well-adapted to the Free For All environment and are lucky enough to get a cruiser or dreadnought on Turn 1, you are living in a target-rich environment.  Now is the time to kill a SC 4 ship, maybe two and pick up the ship bonuses which can turn you into a game-dominating supership. 

I was started with my SC 4 choice, which was a Kzinti YFF Kitty Litter.  (My Free for All tactical doctrine states that no SC 4 ship can survive long enough to be useful in a shark pen like this so it's best to waste as few points on it as possible)  Because my ship met his criterion for "pathetic", Richard gave my ship a Loriyill Flame Shield (Omega Sector) which required no power to operate.  While I'm clam-happy for any advantage, I don't consider this to be necessary.  A guy who buys his ships based on how much they DON'T cost shouldn't get bennies from the Moderator for investing his points elsewhere.  My fleet ends up worth more than the 650 budget we're given.  Not that it really matters.

IMP 1-4:  My starting position is 2801 and my only goal is to survive the turn.  My closest neighbors are a Frax DDL (FDL) to my right and a Kzinti CMX (ZCX) to my left and Frax SWX (FDX) and a Hydran DN (HDN) to the south.  Yikes!  There being no honor among felines, and no expectation of it from the Hydrans or the Frax, I'm not sure where to go, so I decide to go straight.  In the meantime, the ACX thinks he's AT&T disconnection his kills, the Hydrans start popping fighters like wet gremlins along with an Orion HDD (OHD) (which starts launching Fed F-16s).  The Lyran CV just couldn't hold it and pops off the first shot of the game with a couple of disruptors at the FDX (who bounced the damage and shot off some catfish drones as well).  The FDL drops a shuttle as the HDN slows to speed 15.  This is looking uncomfortable.  The FDX looks WAY too interested in me.
IMP 5-8: I decided to take my chances with the FDL.  I now wish I'd turned that way on IMP 2.  The HDN is occupied with the FDX's catfishies, phasering one of them into oblivion, but not having enough to finish the other.  Scorch! as the LDX and OHD trade alphas.  The LDX announced ESGs to ward off the F-16's but the OHD alpha toasted one of them!  The LDX' counterpunch seriously dented the OHD shield, but heavy engine-doubling kept it hanging on by a tatter.  Then it HET-pirouettes to bring some more photons to bear as the Lyran lashes out with OL phasers.
IMP 9-12: True to its lack of destruction, the FDX' catfish slams into the Hydran DN and dents the shield for 18, 

I apologize for the sudden loss of commentary.  I'm not sure why.  I'll dig through my archives to see if I can resurrect any wit I can cast on the rest of the fight.  It lasted 4 turns and I'm not out of the first one.  It was as much a conflict off the field as on.  The moderator struggled to keep the contest a test of individuals against mounting tendency of those individuals to form hunting packs to take down the leaders.  Any appearance of cooperation between players also set off charges of collusion.  I was outside most of it until my SC2 ship hit the board: a neo-Tholian DN with a Megaphaser wing.  Never got to shoot the weapons but one group wanted me in their rogues alliance at that point.