Show Media Item - The Complete Interview - LonerThe Complete Interview - Loner
Here is the complete interview as seen in the Planets Newsletter - Enjoy!
PN: Tell us a little about yourself.
L: I am an ex-bartender, ex-dancer, ex-model, ex-programmer, ex-philosopher, ex-instructor, ex-computer repair guy, who owns a small (and I mean small) creative graphic design and marketing agency since 1998. I am married with 4 young children I probably sired, an absolutely gorgeous wife I do not deserve, in a small house I cannot afford. I am autistic and it IS an upgrade.
PN: When did you first start playing?
L: I started playing in the early 90s when some “friends” of mine convinced me to try this game they have been playing for a little while. I think they really only asked me in order to have more races to play against – not really because they wanted me to play. Go figure, I liked it. We played for years. And a little over 4 years ago, they told me about planets.nu. It was an easy choice for me.
PN: What's your favorite race and why?
L: Probably the Birdmen are a slight favourite but I do not really have a favourite race – I play them all. I mostly have a favourite race for my mood when I am looking for a new game. Peeved – Cyborg, Happy – Birdmen, Suicidal – Crystals, Depressed – Evil Empire, Relaxed – Federation, Optimistic – Fascists, Excited – Privateers, Frustrated – Lizards, Sad – Robots, Indifferent – Colonies, Stressed – Rebels . I have not played the Horwasp yet.
PN: What do you build on first three turns with them (or your general opening strategy)?
L: I often build 3 Large Deep Space Freighters in the beginning – nearly always freighters. It does massively depend on location and race, though. If I am the Cyborg the 2 or 3 build is a Firecloud. If I am the Privateers the 2 or 3 build is a Meteor. If I am the Colonies the 2 or 3 build is a Cobol. Etc. If I am the Robots I MAY build a Pawn. I may build hyperjumpers, Cloakers, Terraformers, depending on need, but that is often 4th or 5th build. Economy first. Always! I also reach out to other players to start building diplomatic relationships really early as well – to those players that I care about being near.
PN: How many games do you play at the same time?
L: I usually like to play between 3-6 games. I often like to have 1-2 early turn games, 1-2 mid-turn games, and 1-2 late-turn games. Of course, if I have several late-turn games than I might only play 3. This is somewhat accurate on numbers but the reality is that the worse my business is doing, the more games I am playing – it is good stress release.
PN: What types of games do you like playing most?
L: I like higher ranked standard games the most, with some classic games. I do not like fixed turn games, Melee or Blitz games much, although I have only tried a few. I have not tried Mentor games, mostly because of the interaction with others. And I like an odd campaign game, depending on the race. BUT, some races I will only play classic or standard, while some races I will only play with campaign.
PN: What's your most memorable game, and what made it so interesting?
L: My most memorable game was a replacement game – my first - http://play.planets.nu/#/sector/112608. It was an invitational game with lots of great players – some that I had not played with previously. I was brought in because a player was dropping and they wanted someone that would not drop and who would fight until the end. I was in a terrible position with a bad economy as the Birdmen, with 18 planets, 3 Starbases and only 1 Darkwing (already passed shiplimit). When I joined nearly everyone near me was being attacked by the team of Kwesy (Rebels), Joshua (Birdmen), and Halion (Crystals) – not pleasant. I had to completely change my economy to defend and build higher beam ships and Darkwings. In about 30 turns I had nearly had a Starbase at every planet (some maxed defenses), built nearly a dozen Darkwings and started attacking back – a little.
14 players were killed by this time and everyone around me. I was now isolated and surrounded on all sides by Kwesy, Joshua, and Halion and I was constantly being attacked by them. This pressure continued against me for nearly 50 turns until I died (FoF) 2 turns before the game ended (100 turn game). They had hoped that I would be easy to take out but I kept building Darkwings, maxing Starbases, destroying my planets that they were taking, removed all minerals and fuel, killed nearly all their ships sent against me, and making it nearly impossible for them to win. And their focus on me allowed Emork the Lizard King to win the game. Such a fun game. Scorched turtle baby!
PN: Name a memorable friend and/or a memorable foe, and what made them stand out.
L: Landgrab was an enemy who I believed backstabbed me in our first game because of a miscommunication. He is the reason that I revised my agreements going forward. He became a friend in another game we won – I gave him a second chance. And I believe he is the reason that I did not win the Championship game as the Robots – even though he is still a friend.
Wmerkel is just plain nasty to play against when he is the Crystals. Unpleasant. Kill him immediately if you can! I like him so much more after playing against him.
But I have made many memorable relationships with Lunchmoney, Spectre , Siggi, and Gnerphk standing out. And I have some RL friends playing such as Furey, Regicide, and Bacchus.
PN: Give an example of excellent tactics you've used or seen (w/ details so readers can view it, if possible).
L: Some of race specific, but many can be used by others. And there are way too many to list
Use all your extra Bohemians/Eros for money transfers to front lines later in the game (Federation)
Use Missouri/Kittyhawk/Kittyhawk/Kittyhawk against carriers races and Nova against non-carrier races (Federation)
Build 2nd Starbase by turn 3 - 4 by taking minerals from your homeworld – extra fighters and probes (Evil Empire)
Have only a few fighters on your front Gorbies and daisychain fighters to them when attacking (Evil Empire)
A Starbase will 1593 clans, and max defense (89) can be taken over by a cloaked LCC with 290 clans (Lizards)
Use an unowned planet (with no fuel) to trap enemy ships – they cannot drop and refuel the same turn (Privateers)
Always transfer 1 fuel to freighters/ships that you are tow/capturing with a cloaker
Build Darkwing with Disrupters and Gamma Bombs – it can usually capture Fireclouds, Meteors, Cobols, etc.
A Cobol should never stop and should move 81 lyrs every turn
Use Cobols for towing low engine Virgos – transfer extra fuel to Virgo
Build low ID ships with decent torps early in the game, great for scooping of minefields, especially the Crystals
Drop multiple overlapping web minefields over ships and use ion storms to avoid them getting swept
Have a Firecloud in an Ion Storm, with a Biocide, to deal with most cloakers
Tow ship to Firecloud that chunnels to another Firecloud and waiting Biocide – enemy ship shields will be down
0 fuel, Kill mission, and trg FC works on pop ships
Use multiple cloakers to tow multiple ships to groups of pop ships for maximum PPs
Groups of Falcons with Heavy Phasers will decimate a Crystal using small overlapping minefields
Drop large minefields and scoop them with ships 2 turns away to daisychain torps to the front line
Using FC of common ship FCs on your planet, with your Starbase set to “Force Surrender” – steal ships
Put 1 MC on a planet and FC of bum - check for cloakers
Never move directly to a planet, move to the nearest square within the warpwell – saves fuel
To slow attackers remove clans from front planets – few attackers put clans on their ships
PN: What do you think is the most important skill for a Planets player to succeed?
L: Some people believe it is diplomacy. Some people believe it is luck. Some believe in taking advantage of opportunities. Others look at creating conflicts. These are all reactive. I go by Logistics, Tactics, and Strategy. Do the little steps well (know your host order), set tactical goals, and plan a long-term strategy. If you do these things properly, you can be proactive. And if you have to be reactive, it will more easily fit into your strategy.
PN: Describe the process you use to make a turn.
L: I follow a fairly similar process throughout a game. This only changes when I am close to winning, or in countdown, since many of the steps are no longer needed.
Check combat recordings (Did they happen as expected? Any surprises? Anything I need to worry about?)
Check reports (Any Birdmen over my planets? Any Ground Attacks? Any Builds? Anything useful/concerning?)
Scoreboard (See where changes and builds have happened, see change in PPs, guess builds based on score change)
Sitemap (Anything changes for the positive or negative? Any Ion Storms to worry about? Any issues?)
Cycle through Planet Build (I do manual build of all planets, Tax Rates, and Starbases)
Cycle through Starships (See what they are doing, where they are going, what orders I have, etc.)
Cycle through Starbases (Check builds and defenses)
Respond to Messages (usually the last thing I do since I have a lot of basics I need to review)
2 major things though. Orders and responses to allies, enemies and neutrals need to happen as soon as possible – there will be a need for time to respond to their messages. And if you keep up with your list then the core of each turn can be done in about 10-15 minutes, even with 100+ planets, Starbases, and ships.
PN: What is your favorite thing about Panets Nu?
L: I like the opportunity to be talkative or quiet, over time. I deal with players when I can, build agreements as needed, and ally often. But I can also pretty much play a game without talking to anyone if I want. This is wonderful to someone like me. I can spend time thinking about my responses, revising as needed, and only sending when I am ready. This is so much better than real life.
PN: Is there anything else you would like to add?
L: Real life is always most important but this game can help immensely in reducing your stress.
Economy and diplomacy are most important elements in the game. While you can sometimes play without diplomacy, you will not win without a strong economy.
Make and hold agreements, no matter what the cost. I prefer to build boilerplate agreements that I use in each game, but I put in time limits.
Enjoy every game but do not let it get too personal. Not everyone plays the same and holding grudges from game to game is useless. Only exception is backstabbers - they should be eradicated in every game.
Thank you to Loner!
You can view Loner's profile here.