Show Media Item - The Complete Interview - CodolThe Complete Interview - Codol
Here is the complete interview as seen in the Planets Newsletter - Enjoy!
PN: Tell us a little about yourself.
C: Electrochemist, born and raised in Barcelona, living in California since 2008, 38 years old, married, no kids.
PN: When did you first start playing?
C: I started playing in 1997 in college when a friend introduced me to the game and asked me to be a Colonist replacement. He knew I'd love the game and he was right. We played two turns a week and we had to chase the guy running the host around campus to give him our floppy disk on "turn day". Then the next morning we would chase that same person again to get the floppy disks back with our .RST file. I found Planets.nu by chance (thanks Google) in 2013 and I joined immediately.
PN: What's your favorite race and why?
C: I played the Lost Colonies of Man for a long time, just because I started with that race in my first game and I liked it, but when I joined Planets.nu I decided to try other races. Privateers and Crystals are now my favorites because they fit my personality pretty well.
Yeah people, I am that kind of annoying player (someone called me "taunting" recently and I had to look it up in the dictionary) that enjoys not winning (because in the end it is a game...) if that means I make someone else (that needs to win) lose. So that's why whenever I find some time I'd like to give the Horwasps a try. They seem fun to play and pretty annoying for others players!
PN: What do you build on first three turns with them (or your general opening strategy)?
C: With Privateers I believe I build Meteor/Meteor/Large or 3 Meteors, unless I find a good planet on turn 2, which normally makes me want to build the Large earlier. For Crystals I like to build 3 Emeralds if possible, as their cargo space and usefulness later in the game makes them very valuable. In all cases I try to put already Mark7 tubes, as I find extremely useful later in the game to have all ships with the same torp type for easy transfers.
PN: How many games do you play at the same time?
C: Three or four is what I normally do. And I try to have them at different stages otherwise I'd need too much time when all of them are advanced (if I am still alive)
PN: What types of games do you like playing most?
C: I like classic 11-player games because it's what I know better, but I have to say that I have enjoyed 11-player campaign games lately, such as the Lone Wolfs ( I and IV) or the Paranoia. This last one was particularly fun. Playing games with other Catalan or Spanish speaking players is also lots of fun because diplomacy or ship names are sometimes hilarious..
PN: What's your most memorable game, and what made it so interesting?
C: Probably the game I remember the most is the Paranoia Planets (thanks SMN for the idea and for hosting!) Playing Privateers in this game was ideal because of the fast gravitonic ships that allowed me to explore the chart quickly and find my target soon in the game. I am particularly proud of my Rob a Gorbie with another Gorbie move against my enemy, but I made a very silly mistake in diplomacy that uncovered me and put my target on red alert. I was so close to finish him...!!!
PN: Name a memorable friend and/or a memorable foe, and what made them stand out.
C: Cucufatenc would be my only real life friend here in the Nuniverse and just for that he is of course memorable. But I have met lots of very nice people here too, that have always been difficult enemies, such as Siggi or Strangelove007 (I'll kill you guys in a game one day, I promise!!!), and others like Blazde who was an excellent ally in Cevius Sector, and now is an intimidating enemy in Perot's World Sector.
All three are incredibly talented players but what makes them stand out, in my opinion is that Siggi knows Fascists tremendously well, Strangelove007's love for diplomacy allows him to get ships or allies that make him very dangerous and Blazde builds Crystalline empires so easily that makes me scratch my head, as I always struggle for minerals. I still need to learn a lot from players like them
PN: Give an example of excellent tactics you've used or seen (w/ details so readers can view it, if possible).
C: In Perot's World Sector, playing Privateers, I managed to rob 14 Fed ships from his HW in turn 40. Getting to that point was not easy and took me about 4-5 turns to plan and synchronize moves against minefields and not showing my position. I will not tell you exactly how that was possible (yes, there was a fully loaded Loki in orbit trying to decloak my ships) because some of the players are still intrigued and I want them to wait until we finish the game to find out what happened, hehe.
In this same game, robbing and capturing a Crystalline Emerald inside a webmine field with a fuelless meteor was something I am particularly proud of. Also as Privateer I try to predict the FC of the enemy ships I tow into deep space where they will be robbed by a number of cloaked ships. When that happens and my meteor does not fight because of the matching FC I can't avoid smiling.
PN: What do you think is the most important skill for a Planets player to succeed?
C: Being able to plan your logistics 5-10 turns ahead. It took me many games (and I still struggle from this every now and then) not to end up with a Starbase unable to build a ship because of a shortage of 1kt of mineral or 10MC.
PN: Describe the process you use to make a turn.
C: I first look at the "Data" tab before opening the turn. This gives me an idea of how bad or well things went. Then I open the turn, watch the VCRs if any, skim through the reports (I should read them more thoroughly though as I miss important pieces often), and then I look at the parts of the Starmap where I know "the action" happened. Then I manage ships, planets and SB in this order. Very similar to what Frostriese told us a few months ago.
PN: What is your favorite thing about Panets Nu?
C: Its immediateness and constant evolution and upgrading. The other day I realized there is a "Send Ambassador to all players" button in the Relationship tab and I thought it was great. Improvements keep happening and that's something we all like. Also being able to scrutinize games once they are finished has allowed me to learn lots of things and realize I still have 20 more years of improvement and fun ahead of me at least
PN: Is there anything else you would like to add?
C: A sort of a confession.... When I played in the 90's I used a cracked version of the game I got from a friend... I feel bad about it and although the "crime has prescribed" I wouldn't mind paying Tim in beers or with a nice lunch. Tim, I am truly sorry, I was young and poor and didn't speak English...
Thank you to Codol!
You can view Codol's profile here.