Has anyone actually pulled off a successful First Contact War?

[Yenzen]

Title.

It seems like a pointless gamble and near impossible after the space station buff, so I rarely have aggressive First Contact on, even as a militarist.

 

[The Shacks]

Done it a few times in MP earlygame just to murder off people's claims to bits of space I want. Never managed to grab a planet though no.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

Twice.

First time was during a game I set up specifically to try exterminating the galaxy- I'd made a Small map with only 3 AIs. After having destroyed one of them right next to me and located the other on the opposite end of the galaxy with a cluster of Enlightened allies, I met the third off in the middle of nowhere and managed to destroy about half their holdings by the time they translated our comms.

Second time was during a less-xenocidal but still more "aggressive" game- I attacked a neighbouring empire during First Contact in order to destroy their Frontier Outpost and clear space for one of my future colonies. That empire actually wound up becoming one of my allies despite the "First Contact Hostilities" diplomacy penalty.

 

[Xoatl]

I met the third off in the middle of nowhere and managed to destroy about half their holdings by the time they translated our comms.

That's frightening.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

That's frightening.

I was playing as omnicidal fungoids incapable of comprehending the idea of life other than themselves- SOP was to immediately purge and abandon any claimed alien planets until they could be terraformed into desert worlds.

 

[Xoatl]

I was playing as omnicidal fungoids incapable of comprehending the idea of life other than themselves- SOP was to immediately purge and abandon any claimed alien planets until they could be terraformed into desert worlds.

Now I want to do something like this on my next precursor playthrough.

 

[klopkr]

I'm not sure how you're supposed to win the war conclusively without burning through years of waiting just to get ships strong enough to take out a starting spaceport or for the air to build some spaceportless planets.

Maybe i just suck though? How's it done?

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

I'm not sure how you're supposed to win the war conclusively without burning through years of waiting just to get ships strong enough to take out a starting spaceport or for the air to build some spaceportless planets.

Maybe i just suck though? How's it done?

It depends on your definition of "win the war". Early-game, you're not going to be able to take out a spaceport- but you can wipe out territorial holdings and push them back until the communication barrier is broken and hostilities reset. And that can give you a lot of breathing room.

And because AI number is configurable, it's entirely possible to play a game where you don't meet a rival until much later in the game, when you have the fleet strength to take out spaceports.

 

[StJimmyRocks92]

It was before Heinlein so things may have changed, but unless I did things entirely wrong I found it to be actually impossible to take a planet in a first contact war. Had a neighbor that I met very early on, took out their starting fleet and spaceport easily then landed troops and occupied their only world. And that was it. Nothing else could be done. I thought maybe I had to contact them but all that got me was cessation of hostilities and my troops vanished until I declared war, then they went MIA.

 

[DukeLeto42]

I kind of feel that your first contact policies should impact how you translate their language, and whether you even properly establish communications. Even if you are capable of communicating, I feel like nations like fanatic purifiers should basically ignore all attempts to communicate, acting as though they were still engaging in a first contact war even though you have been aware of each other for years.

It would also be interesting if the degree of difference in traits, species type, and ethos could impact how long it takes to translate each other's language -- while groups similar (like Star Trek Humans / Vulcans) would find it easy to communicate, others would be locked in a first contact situation, even a first contact war, for a very long time (think Ender's Game human / formic wars, where the communications barrier ultimately leads to a first contact war ending with xenocide). The more alien they are, the harder it is to even speak to each other, let alone find common ground.

 

[WebShaman]

Actually it can be done fairly easy if you luck out and get access to mining lasers early enough - they cut up Spaceports like a hot knife through butter!

Had it happen once.

 

[Qoff]

I was playing as omnicidal fungoids incapable of comprehending the idea of life other than themselves- SOP was to immediately purge and abandon any claimed alien planets until they could be terraformed into desert worlds.

I just did it with Poland, but instead of terraforming I was using genetic improvments to change their world prefference, so I could colonizate any world I want, the only problem is the 40% thing which is annoying.

 

[I am Sovereign]

Not against an advanced start AI at least.

 

[GuildenSpur]

I've done it. In my current game, I'm role playing as a Fanatic militarist Xenophobe, with an agenda to purge but first enslave until we are strong enough and now how to terraform or plant robots on the conquered worlds. The first war took so long I was behind in number of planets compared to my neighbors.
I made up for the difference after colonizing and conquering some planets. Then I met my new neighbor - a fanatic purifier with double the nr of planets and superior power and technology, and not so fond of me

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

I have grabbed newly founded colony at least once in first contact war. Can't remember the exact situation that led to them researching colony ships before contacting me, but I think it was an empire that spawned bit further out and I didn't reach them in my initial scouting.

I have also finished emerging early space agers in first contact wars.