The Complete Interview - Theduke

Friday, February 2, 2018
Here is the complete interview as seen in the Planets Newsletter - Enjoy!


PN: Tell us a little about yourself.

T: I´m a 33 year old (young?!) guy living in the south of Germany together with my wife and our two daughters. I have been working in a big food company for 10 years, now in a leading supply chain position.

PN: When did you first start playing?


T: Within school I´ve been asked to take part of a strange game called VGA Planets – super cool they mentioned; Floppy Disks 3,5” the latest craze. Star Trek! Star Wars! Galactica! Wooohoo. Did I had a choice? No – in 1999 THEY assimilated me.

Started with the Shareware Version of 3.5X a  friend of mine taught me to “play” the federation. Very soon I found the rebels my new favorite – told another player, I´ll “shortly” stop on his homeworld: Please take care not to read your messages about those nasty spies wasting your colonists & economy. Haha!


PN: What's your favorite race and why?


T: I play Academy & “full” games.

Within Academy the birds are unbeatable – I´ll write a guide why (somewhere somehow).

In standard games I favor the federation. They fully fit my playing style: Economy to the maximum. Their bottleneck is the lack of fuel capacity and the ability to destroy a base. Firepower – combo´s – crewbonus is incredibly strong (and underestimated).


PN: What do you build on first three turns with them (or your general opening strategy)?


T: As feds I´ll start with a Brynhild (X-Ray + Transwarps). The reason why?

You quickly (20%) scan the worlds around and know where to head with your LDSF (expensive in duranium as feds) + capture easily the HYP´ers in the early game. It is able to fly far distance with low fuel (fed issue top 1.). Think of an early bigger bovinoid planet – forget the supplies and credits, just clans and go ahead. The LDSF will be much more effective in all cases.

The turns after I´ll build LSDF heading to clear goals – the 1clan planets after the Brynhild or the detected ones from the sensor sweep.

IF lucky: Early base – Bohemians and Eros are so cheap to build. 50° planets will be your long term invest [10 mio colonists bring 416 supplies/turn].


PN: How many games do you play at the same time?


T: In the early day´s I played around four games at a time, too much to be effective.Nowadays I only play one game, hosted twice a week. The communication is to intense and one of the best parts of the game. In addition I play up to two academy games – so much pure fun and a totally different game.


PN: What types of games do you like playing most?

T: I was the host in VGA Planets 3.5X times. I tested a bunch of different add-ons [TList& crew experience]. At .nu I like to play campaign games, the fine-tuned and new designed ships are fun to play and the possibilities the mix up your race are surprisingly high.

See what a thread a fascist commander became to the carrier races within brute force (Hello Dazdya – your sign! Please get mad on this comment, PLEASE!!).


PN: What's your most memorable game, and what made it so interesting?

T: That is an easy question difficult to answer…


It was the first championship game AND with my favorite race – wow. Till today I strong believe, that the setting was nearby the lone wolf scenario. I refused to trade ships in the beginning or to go into further negotiations with my further fellow Thin Lizzy. In the late game I found myself left in a hopeless fight against webs AND surprisingly pirates.


PN: Name a memorable friend and/or a memorable foe, and what made them stand out.

T:That is an easy question difficult to answer too… To make a clear statement: The European CON visitors! Frankfurt was an eye opener – wow the others do exist! Really! Leiden was amazing! These crazy dutch guy´s – fantastic. [+ HE was there!]

Helsinki was a breathtaking event. My neighbors are still staring into my garden with a questioning look about the 50°C hot tub with cans of cold bear on a small swimming island: Klingon ale!!!

Looking forward to see you guys!!!


PN: Give an example of excellent tactics you've used or seen (w/ details so readers can view it, if possible).

T: As I´m not the one for the big new tactics I´d like to point out again the brute force of Fascist double beams.

My ally in http://planets.nu/#/sector/171217 Daventhor spend a Virgo to my fascist fleet.

In turn 96 (i.e.) a Virgo s#231 attacked a Federation Starbase surrounded by two Missouri. A d19b helped to spend 1% dmg (miscalculation?!) to the battleships upfront. My Virgo did last with 12% damage after dismanteling the 200/60 sb gaining 10 PBP in total.

PN: What do you think is the most important skill for a Planets player to succeed?


T: The champions do have more than one skill available. The power to deploy a strong fleet, the will to win and the tongue to be risen on the throne.

 
PN: Describe the process you use to make a turn.

T: Before joining the turn, I´ll watch the scores. I predict what happened and whether it fits to the idea I had when I finished the last turn. Messages first [Players than game] - Planets + Starbases + Map. Normally I quit here. I got an overview of the new turn and I will rethink my general idea enriched with the new information.

In a second start up I´ll proceed ships and communication.


PN: What is your favorite thing about Panets Nu?


T: Every time, everywhere. It is dream that became true on the view from the 3.5X version (Sorry TIM yours was great – BUT…)

PN: Is there anything else you would like to add?

T: I´m very happy to be part of the community and would like to see this game develop. Thanks TIM for founding this great game and JOSHUA constantly bringing it to a new level. Still paying my fee with a good feeling, but my original CD from TIM´s 3.5X version is sacred.




Thank you to Theduke!



You can view Theduke's profile here.