Show Media Item - The Complete Interview - Commander KoskiThe Complete Interview - Commander Koski
Here is the complete interview as seen in the Planets Newsletter - Enjoy!
PN: Tell us a little about yourself.
CK: I’m a husband of a wonderful woman, father of two splendid boys (ages 8 and 10) and I have a dog, Madame. We have a house in Jyväskylä, Finland and I’m currently a project researcher at the local university. I’m also a part-time entrepreneur as one can’t rely on the academia for daily bread (or rely on government for a pension one day). Professionally I focus on problems in requests for information based on the Finnish freedom of information act.
PN: When did you first start playing?
CK: I started to play in the nineties as the Finnish game magazine Pelit wrote a vast review of VGA Planets ( Dropbox link to the scanned .pdf-file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b0pm9b8zfvd49yd/vga1.pdf?dl=0 ). Me and my friends first downloaded the shareware version from a BBS and played some games, exchanging the .rst and .trn files with a floppy disk.
Later we ordered the registered versions of the WinPlan. As my friends grew tired of the game, I continued as I found a Planets community via the Internet. There was this NAVGAP ladder and the games were hosted by an automatic e-mail server. I just sent the files to the host as attachments and it ran a few times per week. I can’t remember why I stopped doing that.
In 2012 I met some childhood friends who reminisced how fun it was to play Planets. A few days later one of them found Nu and we shortly started a private game. Which I lost, which ignited the spark to play Planets again for me.
PN: What's your favorite race and why?
CK: The classic Fascists. You can start to play aggressively starting from turn 1 and just burn all available resources in order to kill your first neighbour. And then you must use vast array of guerrilla tactics, strike with unexpected ways in unexpected places, create ambushes etc. Being the underdog but still having the initiative via cloakers is wonderful, also the fact that you have something against every race. I dislike double beams very much. They make the Classic Fascists game style obsolete as unnecessary.
Lately I’ve started to appreciate the different game experience every race offers, so I’ve started to focus on climbing the Mercenary ladder and starting new games with the race I’ve got the lowest rating. To my surprise I’ve found it difficult to play the carrier races, especially the Rebels. It will take time before I’ll try out the Horwasps.
PN: What do you build on first three turns with them (or your general opening strategy)?
CK: It really depends on what the map looks like and what race I’m playing. If it’s a cloaking race it’s most likely a cloaker that I send to scout key planets on my way to attack my first prey and I try to steal a LDSF with it, forcing that player to waste resources on minefields etc.
Other ways it’s a combination of aggressive scouts to intimidate neighbours (I count a towable Virgo as a scout), freighters to create more stable logistics and small war ships to create immediate defenses against early aggressions. I’ll never let a pirate to sneak up on me.
PN: How many games do you play at the same time?
CK: 2-3. In 2011 I suffered a severe burn out. Playing Planets was important for my recovery: while playing the stress started to give me the same symptoms I had with work life. I then decided that it must stop: this is a game and I have to find a way of playing well and enjoying it.
I was able to transfer that experience directly to work life. Planets helped me to recover. But alas, I’ve had a few times near burn out experiences which have caused me to resign my games. But I believe that now I’ve been able to find a sustainable lifestyle so I can play (and work) without problems.
PN: What types of games do you like playing most?
CK: I love classic planets. Unfortunately, those are usually DM <1 games, so I’ve had to try out some standards as well. Those are fun, but not as nice as classics. With Classic Planets I feel like I’m home, that there is something permanent and stable in the world.
PN: What's your most memorable game, and what made it so interesting?
CK: The Vehrnoch sector http://planets.nu/#/sector/75081 , senior officer game where I played with classic Fascists. It had it all: challenging opponents, intense diplomacy, working strategy, creative tactics, great luck. Too bad it ended with my main opponent surrendering because of too many things going on in his life, it could have been wonderful 100 more turns (and I would have lost instead of winning, but still!).
I’d love to experience a game as intense as that again, but not yet. I started Die Hard 16 and Lone Wolf III without taking those games very seriously, I tried a bit more relaxed game style. The whipping I got from both of them taught me a valuable lesson - that I’m not ready yet for such an experience again. I need to promote my sub-lieutenants to commanders before that. Perhaps in 2019.
PN: Name a memorable friend and/or a memorable foe, and what made them stand out.
CK: The biggest military defeats on Planets.nu were delivered to me by @Andy44 in Lone Wolf III (I lost a stack of Rushes) and @Frostriese in Die Hard 16 (I lost a stack of Gorbies). Both of these defeats happened just a short time from each other and for the same reasons: I couldn’t give my 100 percent for the game and they both whipped my behind for it with flawless play.
I would also like to thank @Frostriese for replacing me in sectors that I have resigned more often than anybody. You’ve done a tremendous sector rescue job for the whole community.
PN: Give an example of excellent tactics you've used or seen (w/ details so readers can view it, if possible).
CK: I’ll tell you what is my favourite ship in the whole game: the Large Deep Space Freighter.
It’s the key ship in my fleet with every race. Not only is it the work horse that brings bread to the table and carries colonists into new worlds. With Fascists it’s of course the ship that tows a cloaker on a star base and ground assaults it.
It’s the ship that I use with low ID to tow my key carriers. But most importantly, it carries the surprise star base into a place you wouldn’t expect. Nothing is more fun than killing a counter-attacking Golem, Gorbie or a Nova with a star base that wasn’t there two turns ago. Or better yet – damage it seriously so that a single Victorious Class Battleship can take it out the following turn.
PN: What do you think is the most important skill for a Planets player to succeed?
CK: The most important thing to win is strategic thinking. The aim that you need to be number one in this sector, creating a working overall plan that can take you there and pursuing consistently that plan to Sweet Victory.
The most important thing to keep on playing over time is to learn how to deal with defeat. For example a game against a victorious crystalline can mean first 100 turns of good game, hopes and dreams of victory, and after that a 100 turns of slow, agonizing, painful defeat. I play for those 100 turns of true agony. It’s my method of spiritual meditation. (metaphorically speaking of course, my longest game here on Nu so far has only been 148 turns – in the Nineties I recall it was 185 turns)
PN: Describe the process you use to make a turn.
CK: It varies a lot with the type and phase of the game. In any case, first I check the VCRs. Then I read diplomatic messages and check the star map – what is the situation in key tactical places. Then I shuffle the reports for anomalies – some special ship reports, distress calls, explosions.
After this overall glimpse I move the key ships in tactical hotspots and mark them ready. Then I shuffle trough idle ships with space bar and mark them ready. If there are a lot of ships, I might do this in two phases: first I move the easy ships with obvious commands and return to finish my turn in the following day by making the hard moves that require thought and coffee.
In a more developed game I often start turn by shuffling through starbases and planning builds and moving the freighters required to supply the builds before I move other ships.
I never use planetary management add-ons. I have routine strategies for planets and I mark most of them permanently ready and adjust taxes manually every turn on all native planets capable of taxing.
PN: What is your favorite thing about Panets Nu?
CK: When I was a kid, I bought this wonderful board game Civilization (1980). I loved its complexity. My friends and family thought it was a horrible game, as it took many hours to play. I used so many hours to learn the game and then trying to organize game events, and I got to play a whole game only once. Usually we just started it, played for a few hours and then we had to end it although it was not through yet. With VGA Planets and later Planets.nu I have found a complex, rewarding game and a global community with the players willing to play with me. All you crazy people willing to click dots, lines and circles for months and years with me. I love you guys.
PN: Is there anything else you would like to add?
CK: I said quite a lot. Except thank you @Tim+Wisseman and @Joshua , this game really means worlds to me.
Thank you to Commander Koski!
You can view Commander Koski's profile here.