Infinite Space Theories: How Much Damage can a Limited Vacuum Collapser Do?

Infinite Space Theories: How Much Damage can a Limited Vacuum Collapser Do?

Happy Halloween everyone! In keeping with the spooky theme of this post, I'll discuss how scary one of the artifacts in the Infinite Space universe can really be under the right circumstances.

The Limited Vacuum Collapser is, without a doubt, the most powerful (and dangerous) item in the entire Infinite Space trilogy. So much so, in fact, that in Sea of Stars, collecting one from a star system that isn't a home system of any faction will spawn a Yellow Kawangi Dreadnought on the opposite side of the map from the Glory system (where your home base is located), forcing you to destroy the Dreadnought before it annihilates Glory, except in games where other quest-triggering items, fleets, or discoveries are spawned at the start (in which case the Dreadnought will not spawn at all). We have already discussed that particular scenario before, but this time, we will answer another question: Just how much damage can you do by detonating a Limited Vacuum Collapser?

Before we begin, we'll talk about the size of the map in Sea of Stars. Whereas in previous games, maps were usually smaller (and therefore contained fewer star systems), every map in Sea of Stars is quite large and, on top of that, is always the same size - faction strength and nebular area can be adjusted, but map size cannot, unlike in the previous game, Weird Worlds. Every time you start a game in Sea of Stars, there are usually 30 or so star systems (including 8 home systems, one each of which will always be under Terran and Klakar control), plus five black holes. If you count black holes as star systems, that makes for a total of 35 systems on the map in most cases. However, as far as I am aware, no star system can have more than seven other systems (including black holes) within five light-years of it. As we shall soon see, this is very important for what I'm about to demonstrate.

An example of a map in Sea of Stars in which a single star system has seven other star systems (including a black hole) within five light-years of it.

We'll use the map above as an example. Here, the Altair system, almost directly opposite Glory (the Terran home system) on the farthest part of this map, is within five light-years of seven other star systems: Hellion, Theta, Achernar, Wolf, Penumbra, Sanguine, and Limbo, the last of which is a black hole. If I were to detonate a Limited Vacuum Collapser at Altair (which I sadly couldn't do on this occasion, due to the lack of an LVC, or anything that can be turned into an LVC, for that matter), all of those systems would completely and permanently disappear from the map, along with every fleet within the blast radius (including my own, unless it were far enough away). Two of those systems are, in fact, the home systems of two hostile NPC factions; Theta and Sanguine are where the homeworlds of the Urluquai and Tan Ru, respectively, are located. As such, detonating an LVC at Altair would have permanently removed both factions from the map, in addition to effectively reducing the size of the map by just over 20%. And because the LVC detonation wipes out a whole cluster when used in this way, I would like to call this the "cluster wipe" trick

However, it is worth noting that such a tightly packed "star cluster" of six or more star systems within five light-years of each other rarely, if ever, appears more than once on any given map, due to how the game handles the placement of each star system at the start of a game. On the other hand, with the dual LVC trick we've discussed earlier in this series, combining it with the cluster wipe trick will allow you to destroy even more star systems - it's especially satisfying if one of those systems is the homeworld of a hostile faction. Just make sure that Glory isn't engulfed in either explosion, or your adventure among the Sea of Stars will come to a premature end. Finally, on a map with two star clusters with eight star systems and is less than five light-years across each, destroying both clusters with LVCs will effectively destroy nearly half of the map.

Whatever the placement of star systems a the start of a game, one thing remains clear: If you obtain a Limited Vacuum Collapser in Sea of Stars, make sure to either use it wisely, or not at all - in the latter case, either by keeping it in your cargo bay, or by selling it off at Glory for a sizable sum.

A Lifer's Diary, Part 10: Six into Four Won't Go... Or Does It?

A Lifer's Diary, Part 10: Six into Four Won't Go... Or Does It?

When the Game of Life went from being a six-player game to a four-player one for Generation IV, not everyone approved of the change. While this made sets cheaper, simpler, and quicker to produce, it also removed the possibility of playing the game as a larger group (5 people or more). To this day, I am still conflicted about Hasbro's decision to make it this way. So let's take a look at how this situation came to be.

As originally designed, Milton Bradley's Checkered Game of Life (the predecessor to the modern Game of Life) originally supported four players. This seems perfectly adequate given that the rule set was drastically different from those used in its successors. However, when Generation I of the Game of Life debuted, it became a six-player game for the first time ever, to emphasize the fact that this was now a true family game. In particular, large families and groups of friends found this change to be especially popular.

When Generation II debuted in the early 1990s, six-player support was retained, because the new rule set was equally conducive to large-scale games (i.e. those with at least four players), if not more so. This was still true after Generation 2.5 rolled around a decade or so later. However, Generation III was the last version of the Game of Life ever to honor this tradition, and in retrospect, it's easy to see why. 

Under the new rule set, Spin to Win was effectively treated as an extension of a turn, wherein players could choose whether or not to wager any of their cash (and if so, decide exactly how much they would bet) on the number to be spun, and this process took some time. In particular, when four or more players participated, this could potentially make Spin to Win take longer than anticipated. Moreover, players who retired still had to spin for Long-Term Investments until every player had retired. All this meant that the six-player setup present since Generation I had to be abandoned after Generation III.

Generations IV and V reverted to a four-player setup, as the original 1860 Checkered Game Of Life had used. Despite a mixed reaction from fans and players alike, the game still sold well, mainly because games now tended to be shorter than before. One of the reasons for this is that players are no longer required to spin at all after retiring. In addition, the College Path at the start of the game is even shorter than it had been in previous versions, thus allowing players to graduate sooner.

In short, turning the Game of Life from a six-player game to a four-player one from Generation IV onward may have been one of the most controversial changes in its history, but one that players have generally embraced. Even I am no longer as skeptical of this decision, and have accepted that this reduced limit is here to stay for at least the current version, and possibly beyond.