This most weird and strange Neptune’s Pride game – which involved a peace pact and a frantic hunt for a galactic terrorist who was trying to wake a sleeping god – is now over. You can read all about it in an article called The Remnant where Electron Dance and Jonas Kyratzes created a trophy for the victor. Interviews with some of the empires also posted.

History

In the comments on Survivorship Bias, Electron Dance reader Todd has advertised a private Neptune’s Pride game for any readers willing to join in. Players will start with Level 2 speed and scanning research is expensive.

The game URL is http://neptunespride.appspot.com/detail?game=32236516 and the secret word is ‘aspire’.

I can absolutely 100% cast-iron guarantee that I will not be taking part. As if that was in any doubt…

Update 09 Jan: Five out of nine slots taken!

Update 11 Jan: All slots filled and the game begins!

RoboCaptain, LiberalEurope, Captain Wells, CitiesInDust, Sargent Hatred, Leo2k5, Sirron, Grand Space Lord Al and Blueshift2k5… good hunting.

Update 14 Jan: There’s a galactic peace treaty! With signatures!

Update 06 Feb: Game over! Shaun writes up his experiences on Arcadian Rhythms. And Liberal Europe is doing it too.

The only winning move is not to play

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67 thoughts on “Neptune’s Pride Private Match Available”

  1. Starting a game with Level 2 speed seems like it’s maybe not a great idea, since players are effectively forced to check up on the game more and more frequently as ships quicken their pace across the map. Then again, if you’re purposefully aiming to dive into the madness of the 24/7 Nep’s Pride experience so deftly captured by the Aspiration, this is probably the way to go.

  3. If only there was a way to be a spectator at a Neptune’s Pride game just like Blight of the Immortals. The game is afoot!

  8. There’s been some attempts to divide the galaxy into two camps. I’m not seeing them as very successful. It wouldn’t be life-ruining if there were just two sides.

  9. An attempt to divide the galaxy into two, simple camps? What kind of neat and tidy galaxy do you run over there? Is there an aggressive alien horde of ACCOUNTANTS!?!!??

  12. So the two topics of conversation I see are:
    “Who is going to bite out of Captain Wells first?”
    “Someone wake up Grandpa Space Lord Al!”

  13. At this point, nobody has died yet. We have yet to see the outbreak of a single war.

    We have also established a sort of United Nations to help resolve disputes and maintain this fragile peace:

    http://galacticpeace.wordpress.com/

    There is peace in the galaxy, and everybody is investing in their economies, increasing standards of living for ordinary citizens. People are happy.

    All are hopeful for the future.

  15. Hmm… rather than promoting peace for all time, it seems the new Galactic Peace Organisation has just added another layer of incredibly complicated political intrigue to the game. Players are now trying to outmanoeuvre each other in the Council, and forming whispering campaigns and conspiracies against one another in cloak and dagger fashion.

    So far, there have been one or two border incidents, but they have each been resolved peacefully. Everybody is terrified of breaking the treaty and giving the other members an excuse to invade.

    War, however, has not yet broken out…

  17. You think too little of the human condition. Everybody is terrified of hurting each other, and this is not a sign of evil.

  18. I’m glad to see Grandpa Space Lord Al has awoken. And, er, the paranoid spirit is alive and well!

  19. I’ve noticed that there’s a lot of puns in the planet names. Betelgeuse, Aldera(mi)n, Arcturus (Mengsk), Skat, Slurp.

  21. We are fast approaching the point where the entire galaxy has been colonised and the Galactic Peace Treaty’s mandate expires…

  23. Not so fast!

    Only half of the galaxy ever signed up to the Galactic Peace Treaty. Whilst peace and prosperity have reigned in the West, the Eastern empires have been living free of any ethical or legal constraints and have been engaged in a cycle of brutal wars of agression. One of their number, Space Lord Al, is now being ruthlessly exterminated by a combined force of red and purple fleets.

    http://galacticpeace.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/save-big-green-al.png

    A charity concert was organised (“Laugh Away the Spearbeams”). Bono and Sir Bob Geldof were involved. Donations were raised and sent to Space Lord Al (over $200), and tech was sent his way. Public pressure was put on politicians to act before it was too late and the galaxy lost an entire culture.

    Troubled by reports of planetary massacres and indiscriminate use of horrific weapons of mass destruction against civilian populations, the Galactic Council met to discuss the issue. The extermination of a species is worse than genocide. Xenocide.

    This morning, the Council voted for a peacekeeping force to be sent into red and purple territory to pressure them into accepting a ceasefire and for peace negotiations to begin (3 votes for, 2 abstentions).

    Seriously. This all happened. (Except for the stuff about Bono and Sir Bob Geldof).

    It’s like no game of Neptune’s Pride you’ve ever played. And… I actually trust my neighbours and we’re working together constructively. It’s great fun!

  25. Two uncolonised stars left. But all of a sudden, there are reports of great and ancient evils stirring beneath the surfaces of dead worlds…

  27. I’m checking it more regularly than I do most Iron Helmet games, and it’s creeping into my brain outside of browser sessions, but it’s just one of many things drawing on my attention right now. Like trying to suppress Christianity in Shogun 2, or this favourite records of 2011 post I need to finish, or the girl I’ve invited out to tonight… you know how these things are.

    It is enormous fun though. Pretty much everyone has gotten into the roleplay now, and even the non-signatories of the Pact are accepting its existence (if only because the members outnumber the non-members and could smoosh them). It is a million times better than playing IH games with internet randoms and it’s making me want to play Blight and Jupiter again.

  28. The game seems to have descended into a creative righting class now, with everyone trying to out do each other. I think Europe is trying to cook up some kind of lasting peace segment that means we can all retire from the game as winners.

    Meanwhile somewhat sinistre Galatic Peace Organziation voted on a military intervention with some rouge states, and several fleets went on …ahem, peacekeeping missions.

  29. I hope someone is making notes and taking pictures. A WARMONGERS’ TRAVELOGUE. Sounds like an interesting game to read about.

  30. The Galactic Peace Organisation (GPO) was founded near the start of the game, and has preserved peace in the western half of the galaxy for the entire length of the game. True, the GPO is now busy waging a war in the east against two non-members… but the purpose of this war is not to conquer stars so much as it is to prevent one player (RoboCaptain) from exterminating another (Space Lord Al).

    The GPO has a fully functioning free market where tech is traded, a legal system (including tribunals where members are called to vote on decisions), it practices religious tolerance (the devil world Jabbah, for example, can never be colonised by any player because it could wake a sleeping god) and GPO members have been building an intergalactic highway by offering stars to each other so that everybody has access to every other part of the galaxy.

    We have essentially broken Neptune’s Pride and turned it into something else. We win.

  32. What have you done?!?!?

    I mean, who am I supposed to congratulate as the winner? I can only offer one handshake!

  35. Oh. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. Brave songs will be sung about it, provided no one executes the songwriters and the games journalists first.

  36. Well, it’s more like the ultimate battle of good and evil, but yeah, peace is down the tube. There’s a race to see who can get to the devil’s planet first. If the good guys win, then war goes on, and mass suffering ensues. If the bad guys win, then reality pops like a bubble on the head of a thin needle, and everyone dies.

  38. Its all starting to kick of two weeks in, there is wide reports of conflict breaking out around the map (this games some pretty core shit, am not sure I could play another match).

    The Galatic Peace Organisation, is refashioning itself into a neo conservative action group called ‘the project for the new gpo century’ .. will force them to be free is probably its motto.

  39. Fascinating, adam, sounds like some of you may be missing out on sleep at last. It’s not a real athlete’s game without insomnia or ruining your day with paranoid thoughts about what is happening in the game.

  43. Good going, team. Uh, individuals, I guess you’re not much of a team any more.

    There should be some sort of trophy for the winner, don’t you think? That’d be nice. Something real.

  44. Winner’s avatar gets put on the header graphic?

    “Is everybody dead?” You’re not far off.

  45. BETRAYAL.

    I don’t suppose there’s any point continuing to not mention the fact that I’m CitiesInDust, the hardshelled dark-blue empire.

  46. Definitely sounds like this has been a proper game of Neptune’s Pride for all involved, not one of those dabble/who cares examples. I think the end games can be quite brutal for smaller allies and supporters as alliances turn to cannibalism to serve the “greater good” of the win.

    I should say that is a winning quote from Adam though, a beautiful summary of what NP does: “I like games I can keep in a box.”

    I’ll be greatly interested to read whatever you write up about your game, Shaun, or anyone else for that matter. Probably best to write it up sooner than later, unless you’ve been as anal as me at note-taking. It’s not necessarily something you should admit to in public.

    I’m thinking of making a post about the game once it’s done, just taking a paragraph from all of the players. Not to tell the story of the game, because I don’t want to publish another NP story, but just to get everyone’s impressions of what sounds like an interesting and demanding game.

  47. This has been a deeply improper game, I’d say, given that so much of it was spent in relative peace and with buckets of diplomacy. Even towards the end, well… I won’t spoil anything I or others may later write. But we have been playing the game wrong. It’s been wonderful.

    I have a mixed set of notes. I’m not good at regularly doing anything, though, so I will probably write this up as a short series very soon after the game finishes.

    I’ll be more than happy to provide a short paragraph for you, too.

  51. Ah seems the shoe is on the other foot now, and it’s holding a triple-barrelled blaster to your face. I think this is the longest thread in Electron Dance history. It is also my favouritest.

  52. We made it onto a second page of comments! We’re now testing blog functions you may not have known existed. 😀

    I think this might be the last day or two of a rather epic game.

  53. We are certainly into the endgame now. Not that I want to jinx it, but I’m quite pleased with how things have turned out for the hard-shelled people of Galactic South. Minimum betrayal all round!

  54. I think this is how neptunes pride was interestingly to be played.

    The end game has been a very interesting experience for me personally; I will speak about it after the conclusion.

    There has been very little cannibalism as of yet. This did mean utterly grinding a single large player into the ground, thankfully they have been an excellent sport over the matter.

    I do not wish to speak to soon however. It is still going on. many a ship is still there.

  55. I didn’t even know there could be a second page of comments. I’ve been considering spawning a separate post for new comments but having a second page is such an event in itself that I couldn’t bear the thought of abandoning it for a fresh comment canvas.

    I can’t wait to hear your thoughts when this is all over. Paragraphs at the ready, people!

    When you’re finished with the game, I’d be happy to receive a paragraph from each of the combatants on how the game made you feel. Please send it along to my contact address: hm (at) electrondance (dot) com.

  56. It’s over.

    I don’t think there will have been many Neptune’s Pride matches quite like it.

    Not sure a paragraph will be able to do this justice – but they should be coming your way soon.

  58. LiberalEurope, I’m determined not to write too much about the game here as I know Shaun’s going to be writing up something. Not sure if anyone else is planning to do the same…? But I definitely wanted to plug the game a little, especially as some crazy stuff seemed to be going on.

    I think you did The Aspiration proud. Not sure about the rest, but I think Adam certainly understood how the game takes over life.

    More impressive: I do believe the winning player started in the middle of the map..? Please let me know if I’m wrong. It’s a starting position we’ve previously acknowledged as “difficult”.

  59. Yes, I shared boarders with 5 other plays at the start, I was fairly sure I was stuffed.

    I think this actually offed me a small advantage in our game, as everyone had other battles to fight int the coroners, and were not to concerned with the center of the map, so I was left at an advantage for far to long (while under our treaties protection).

    If I was feeling smug I would say ” I Guess you play the hand you dealt “

  63. Once I’ve got the winner’s prize and handed it over, I shall launch into a post about your game and link your respective diaries. LiberalEurope’s perspective raised some eyebrows over here.

  64. Pingback: Neptune’s Pride Diary #1 | Liberal Europe

  66. Wow, a little late to the party (kind of ironic) but I am super-excited to read all of these. I started taking notes in the beginning but was quickly consumed by hatred. Reading about myself in the third person should be… illuminating??

    Thanks guys, this really made my day.

  67. Pingback: Citizen Game: Best Games of 2012: Part Three

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