Galaxy #223

The ongoing Saga of Galaxy #223 in Galac-Tac

Turn #6

A Reckoning In Deep Space

Because Galaxy #223 of Galac-Tac publishes once every two weeks, whereas issues of PBM Chaos publish weekly, a challenge for me that this creates is trying to figure out what all to post immediately after new turn results arrive. In a nutshell, I have to make any given turn stretch to fit two full weeks.

Do I just give away the entire store, as soon as new turn results arrive? I've got turn results for Turn #6 in the palm of my digital hands, now. I've had them since Saturday morning. What should I tell you, 'O PBM Chaos readers, about that turn in this issue of PBM Chaos, and what should I hold on to until Issue #56? Or should I just lay it all out, each turn, and then skip an issue in between the various turn episodes of Galaxy #223?



Well, fortunately for you, but not so fortunately for me, Turn #6 turned out to be a turn of real reckoning for me. Nothing quite like being brain dead and reality slapping you right upside the head to bring your plans and your schemes and your ambitions within Galac-Tac crashing back down to Earth.



Trust me - it was a very hard landing!



It was nothing that any of the other players in Galaxy #223 did, nor was it anything that Talisman Games nor GM Davin Church did. Rather, 'twas blame that lies squarely and properly at my own two feet - feet that wear clown shoes, from the looks of it.



Sometimes, the horse of one's thoughts break out of the barn of sanity, and decide to just run free. And so it was with me, until Turn #6 arrived. Midway through browsing my turn results (which weren't all that bad, though a few negative events did impact my empire, this turn), it dawned on me that you can't actually tow platforms in Galac-Tac.



That's why you have to be careful when you're digging back through a PBM rulebook that nobody else thinks that you even read to begin with. If you're not real careful, you'll end up learning something that you should have already drilled into your brain casing a long time ago.



All kinds of good and colorful ideas ere shattered, when I figured out that various things that I wanted to do simply won't work. They have no hope of working, no chance at all. And here I thought that I was onto something. Zero return on thought investment!



Galac-Tac hasn't changed from Turn #5 to Turn #6, but I have. Some of what I thought Galac-Tac could do and allows for, it doesn't. Let me tell you, it's like planting seeds of boredom that instantly begin to sprout. No alternative, now, but to devise an alternative strategy. And I have only myself to blame. Et tu, Brute?



My mind wasted no time mourning the funeral of my own damned-decent ideas. Platforms from here on out would take a backseat to starships. Starships, starships, and more starships!



I can still use my colorful platform names, but only at my homeworld system and other production centers that I manage to succeed at developing at different colony locations. No longer can I take the mountain to Muhammad, as the old saying goes. Rather, the other players will have to stumble across them, each in their own time.



Yeah, well, I'm slow to the ball game, at times. As I look out across the landscape of Galac-Tac's design, I now begin to look at it different. My mind thinks, "What could have been?" but another part of my mind also bluntly says to itself, "What now?"



More expensive possibilities, since tons more engines will be needed, which translates into greater economic costs in terms of PI, which will necessarily entail a more aggressive approach to the game. Not more expensive, in terms of my wallet forking out more money to play Galac-Tac. but rather, more expensive in terms of the game's in-game equivalent of money to build starships with.



Just now, here at 3:34 AM on this still-dark Monday morning, I sneezed my head off. Twice!



I'll take it as an omen.



My enthusiasm for Galac-Tac isn't gone, but it has diminished, somewhat. Again, that's my fault for not quite grasping the somewhat-now-obvious, but diminished enthusiasm for a game - any game - is never a good thing. At least, that's the thought that jaywalks in front of my mind, right now.



Yeah, go on. Laugh at me. Laugh all that you want to. You won't be laughing nearly so hard and so loud, when I come for your homeworld.



And I will come!



It's just a matter of time. Hey, that's the name of the game, right? Well, not the literal name of the game, but the very essence of what underlines what this game is all about. We aren't all playing empires eternally at peace with one another, building vast empires with no prospect nor contemplation of war.



To be certain, the horrors of war are coming. They're coming for you, and they're coming for me.



And all that I know how to do, apparently, is yawn.



Shall we now take a closer look at what happened to the Yonds of Droon on Turn #6? If you care to learn, if you care to know, then follow me as I run you through at least part of it real quick.



Let's start with what you would probably consider to be some bad news. But first, I present the Galaxy Statistics from Turn #6, as well as its counterpart from Turn #5, to make it easier for you, our readers, to keep up and to keep track of changes.

From Turn #5 to Turn #6, 9 more colonies across the galaxy finished their construction phase. My own empire did not factor significantly into this rise in colonies on Turn #6, which probably helps to account for why my empire's percentile score in the Empire Valuation dropped, again, on Turn #6. 'O how the mighty have fallen! The Yonds of Droon have plummeted in the span of two turns from 100th Percentile way down to 89th Percentile. Son of a bitch!



Numbers on digital paper, people. Stay focused. Resist the temptation to read too much into such a sparse subset of information in numerical form.



From Turn #5 to Turn #6, 9 more colonies across the galaxy finished their construction phase. My own empire did not factor significantly into this rise in colonies on Turn #6, which probably helps to account for why my empire's percentile score in the Empire Valuation dropped, again, on Turn #6. 'O how the mighty have fallen! The Yonds of Droon have plummeted in the span of two turns from 100th Percentile way down to 89th Percentile. Son of a bitch!

Numbers on digital paper, people. Stay focused. Resist the temptation to read too much into such a sparse subset of information in numerical form.



Don't become demoralized. Do not fret not whine nor whimper. What you see, that which you now behold, is what's known in some circles as a mere morsel of information.



You don't know how it's calculated. You don't really know it's true aim or purpose. From my perspective, it's little more than a distract (an attempt to break your focus).



Yeah, sure, when that percentile number favors your empire, by all means, wave the flag of its importance. But don't fool yourself and think, even for a minute, even for a few seconds, that I don't have it within my empire's power to impact your empire's percentile standing.



When at long last I lay waste to your miserable, pathetic excuse for an empire, your empire's percentile score won't save you. It will be little consolation - nay, no consolation, at all - when that hour arrives.



Remember, ever remember, that I don't tend to play to win PBM wargames that I play. So, what do I really and truly care deep down inside for a paltry little standalone number like this?



Think about it, people.



Think about it and ponder it long and hard, lest you learn the hard truth the hard way.



Oh, yeah - that "bad news" that I mentioned.

Lest Player Ajwan despair from erroneously thinking that I have forgotten all about her and her empire that is Saydonia, I ran across this little snippet that she posted in the old PBM Discord, recently.



3500-07: 4 battles with Yonds of Droon. Won in 3, tied in one. 4 Yonds of Droon ships destroyed



And to think, these 8 ships lost and now missing aren't even my empire's total losses for the turn. After all, let us not forget a destroyed Noomite Patrol ship lost at star system 56-49, this turn, nor the damaged Rocket of Owen Kosterman. The Saydonian starship, Firqata, bears responsibility for this reprehensible act. Firqata's rating code is 3P/2;;/16-16. It suffered no damage at the battle in 56-49, but a fat Saydonian FXV freighter (/;;15/16-1 but currently /;;15/13-) did sustain some minor damage during the course of that battle.



Total ship losses for my empire on Turn #6 were:

Satellite = 3

Probe = 1

Noomite Patrol = 5

Rocket = 1



TOTAL LOSSES FOR THE TURN = 10 Starships



No two ways about it, ten starships is a lot to lose in a single turn. Right? How many starships did Ajwan lose in that other game of Galac-Tac that she's in, where she got invaded at her homeworld location, recently?



Not so funny now, is it, Ajwan?



I've already calculated the cost in PI of these starship losses. I know, down to the last proverbial space penny, Turn #6's cost to me and my empire. It's a loss of assets, and it came at a price - a price that Ajwan's Saydonia only gets partial credit for, since her empire wasn't responsible for all of my empire's ship losses, this turn.

Unlike Empress Ajwan's fledgling space empire, the Yonds of Droon is a true empire of note and scale. Our starships operate at vast ranges all across the galaxy, as the star map, above, clearly demonstrates. X marks the spot of all of the star system locations where Droon starships went missing.



Now, let's overlay where all battles that my empire took place during Turn #6, to get a better idea of the bigger picture of Turn #6 for the Yonds of Droon.

Four of the seven missing ship locations have prior histories recorded by GTac. Three with Wyvern forces and one with Kroji forces. As readers of PBM Chaos may well remember, the Krojis and the Saydonians conspired very early on to reach an agreement between their empires. Thus, that alone counsels that the Saydonians are not now operating where the Krojis were encountered by my empire's forces just two short turns ago.



The three near the top of the map, those missing ship locations have recorded histories by GTac of my empire's previous encounters with the Wyverns just below the Wyvern Supremacy's homeworld star system. Those seem like really unlikely places for me to encounter Saydonian forces on Turn #6.



Thus, four of the seven missing ship locations for Turn #6 narrow down my consideration for where the Saydonians may be responsible for my empire's missing ships. These star system locations are:



38-34

59-36

46-26



GTac has no prior encounter information recorded for those three star systems. Let's consider anew what Player Ajwan posted in that Discord chat server, recently.



3500-07: 4 battles with Yonds of Droon. Won in 3, tied in one. 4 Yonds of Droon ships destroyed



Nothing quite like loose lips motivated by prevailing in battles. This is a sterling example of how my enemies in PBM wargames are amongst my most cooperative and reliable of sources of valuable information. They always love even the slightest taste of victory, you know, even if it is but little more than a mere illusion.



If there were 4 battles, this turn, between Saydonian forces and Droon forces, and we know the battle location of the battle which was not a Missing Ship report, then that leaves only three other possibilities - and as the star map above shows, we are left with exactly three possible candidate star system locations where those other 3 battles between Droon forces and Saydonian forces could have taken place.

As you can plainly see from the screenshot above (condensed to make it easier to see, since the same information is now displayed closer together), star system 56-49 is one of those four battles that Ajwan was bragging about.



So, by my calculations without seeing actual battle reports for 3 of the 4 battles that took place on Turn #6 between Saydonia and the Yonds of Droon, here is what my losses at each of the four different battle locations were for my empire:



56-49 - Noomite Patrol

38-34 - Probe

59-36 - Rocket (Boru)

46-26 - Noomite Patrol



In terms of resources, my empires battles with Saydonia, this turn, resulted in the loss of a prior investment of 50 PI to construct these four now-destroyed Droon warships. That's a nice little feather in Ajwan's cap!

She counts one of the four battles between our empires as a tie, when in fact, it wasn't. Her freighter was damaged, not destroyed, and it can even depart the scene of the battle largely intact. So, I would count it as 4 out of 4 battles won by Ajwan and her empire that is Saydonia, for Turn #6. where the battles between our empires are concerned. I take nothing away from her.

After all, she's learning as she goes, and her empire is shifting gears and trying to adapt to the threats that her empire has been encountering.

As have I.

Her starship, Firqata, was armed with 3 phasers, 2 shields, 16 Star Drive engines and 16 Inertia Engines (3P/2;;/16-16). It cost her empire 34 PI to construct it.

Has she constructed it with the maximum of 24 Star Drive engines, for that very same 3 Phasers/2 Shields combination, it would have cost her empire 41 PI. Those additional 8 Star Drive engines wouldn't have rendered that same starship any the more maneuverable or evasive during combat situations, though. So, is Adjwan doing things on the cheap, here, or is she simply being prudent with her starship construction expenditures?

She's crafty. She's smart. She's very perceptive.

Plus, she reads these articles that I write about Galaxy #223. She's out there. Watching. Learning. Scheming!

The cost to my empire for its encounters with Saydonia, this turn, was 50 PI. All four of those destroyed starships of my can be replaced in a single turn - Turn #7, if I desire it to be so!

These were forward deployed ships, though, and to forward deploy starships from where they are built also translates into an additional cost in terms of how many turns does it take for me to send the ship types destroyed to the locations where they were destroyed? One turn? Two turns? More than two turns?

It's not a 100% straightforward calculation, in the sense that those very same starships moved to other star systems before they ever undertook to move to where they ended up being destroyed, this turn. On the other hand, it is a 100% calculation, in the sense that I could figure out how many turns it would take to move replacement ships of the exact same types to the exact same battle locations in question.

I utilized GTac to make it quick and easy to calculate the distances from my homeworld to all four of the battle locations at issue. It would take 1 turn to construct replacement ships of the exact types in question, and then require two turns of movement for all of them to arrive back where their predecessors were destroyed.

But costs and capabilities are two very distinct and different creatures!

If I want to, I already have sufficient military assets on hand and in-theater to retaliate on the very next turn at all four of those Turn #6 battle locations. As such, it's not, in reality as distinguished from in theory, a hard cost imposed upon me of 3 turns, in addition to the cost in PI, which is a hard cost, where replacement is concerned.

Since my warships didn't destroy any of Saydonia's starships in those 4 battles, but only slightly damaged a single Saydonian freighter with a cargo capacity of 15, the PI cost inflicted on Saydonia is minimal, if anything at all. To constructed an identical replacement FXV freighter from scratch would cost Ajwan a mere 12 PI, max.

When you think about costs in Galac-Tac, it behooves you to think beyond just cost in terms of money (PI), and also beyond cost in terms of time (turns required).

For example, how much was it worth to my empire to learn, not one, not two, not three, but four Saydonian star system locations? For an average cost of 12 1/2 PI per ship of mine destroyed, I gained the vastly more valuable information of four Saydonian star systems. Not a bad return on investment (PI expended), eh?

Victory, indeed!

It costs me nothing extra to concede to Ajwan her straight-up military victories against my empire, this turn. But victory is a rather curious thing. Depending upon your vantage point when looking at it, it doesn't always look exactly the same.

Finding the enemy is the first step in destroying the enemy. Now, I know four locations that my empire must eventually destroy. Player Ajwan is a very capable adversary, but not even she can move the stars in the galaxy. For now, she is free to celebrate these fleeting victories. May she enjoy her parades.

Probing tactics, such as my own, routinely involve self-sacrifice. To confirm enemy presence in star systems, it is sometimes necessary to place imperial assets at risk. It's far better to risk - and lose - small and cheap starships, rather than big and expensive starships.

Strategy isn't just about what I term "surface considerations." You've got to peel back the layers of the onion of importance, in order to see what lies below the surface that matters.

My empire lost numerous starships, this turn, but it's still out there. It's still building, growing, assessing. No surrender shall be forthcoming from my Yonds of Droon. These latest starship losses don't faze me, at all.

And my enemies all know it!

Player Blurb - Ajwan

No player blurb received.

Player Blurb - Brendan

No player blurb received.

Player Blurb - Djinny

No player blurb received.

Player Blurb - Hammer

While I was stuck on 4 GTac Orders for several days, I was considering deleting Galaxy #228, because I was seemingly losing interest in playing a Second Game.



However, PBM Chaos Issue 54 showed up and while reading it, Charles had written that Galaxy 228 was currently showing being filled with a Few Players.



I decided not to delete Galaxy 228 and I actually got my interest in Galac-Tac slightly rekindled as I somehow managed to submit a total of 30 Orders for Turn 6 on the Thursday Night prior to the Friday Midnight Deadline for submitting Orders.



While submitting those Orders, I realized that I had probably 6 Ships that had PV that needed to be Ordered to Unload at my Home World Production Center, because they were not Shuttles.



Although I am still making mistakes, (I found another one just now while looking at my Turn 6 Report for something to write about), I did manage to get a bit further ahead of my Game on Saturday by submitting 11 Orders via the GTac Assistant App for the Seventh Turn.



The Empire Evaluation for Misraw remains at the 100th Percentile Rating.



Five Misraw Ships have gone missing, including 2 Freighters!



I suspect the Droons of Yawn and the Kringe Konfetti Empires are to Blame.



Another Possibility is the Say Done Empire.



Who knows what Evils are lurking among the Star Systems?



Hammer, Minister of War

Player Blurb - Richard

Player Blurb - GrimFinger

6:39 PM Friday, November 21st, 2025
It is the last night before Turn #6 will process for Galaxy #223 of Galac-Tac. My supper for tonight turned out to be a fried chicken breast. Hopefully, this will not be the final meal for too many of my starships' crew members. I sent in my empire's turn orders for this turn, earlier today. Just sitting here typing this to our PBM Chaos readers, as I ponder what tomorrow morning will hold for the Yonds of Droon.

From my perspective, Turn #6 is a critical turn. But then again, is there any turn in Galac-Tac that isn't critical in some way, shape, or form? Decisions matter. Timing matters. Lots of things matter.

Let's take a quick look at the Galactic Statistics for Galaxy #223 for Turn #5:

There have been colonies created at 58 different star systems, since this game of Galac-Tac first began. As of Turn #5's results, still no production centers have been created by any empire in the game. We should begin to see that number, zero, start to change beginning on either Turn #6 or Turn #7.



When you build a new production center, it also gives you the ability to build new starships and platforms there, since it basically comes with a shipyard all its own. Sounds good, right? It will also automatically convert that star systems PV into PI (just like the homeworld's production center does (only at a lower level - 5 times the base PV number versus 10 times the base PV number at your homeworld). You can also set up freighters to shuttle their harvested PV from other star systems to unload the PV that they gather at your new production center(s).



If memory serves me correctly, though, building new production centers out of colonies also means that all of the PI you then generate don't just amass into a single stockpile of PI. Rather, each production center's PI will be utilized to build new starships, platforms, missiles, etc. from the PI that you have on-hand at each production center, individually and apart from one another.



This holds strategic implications that are not all positive. Your empire's PI split up at different locations can, at times, result in delay to you building exactly what you want, when and where you want. Even still, it also creates opportunities for you that you otherwise might not have.



As an example, depending upon where your new production center is in the galaxy that you are playing in, you can build ships closer to where you are fighting wars, or you can build them further away from where conflict is raging. But it may take you longer to accrue the amount of PI at that new production center of yours than it would at your homeworld's production center. Your homeworld is the only production center that you have which will yield 10 times your base PV value in PI. Any others that you build will only yield 5 times the PV value of that star system you developed a colony system into a production center, like I explained above.



It's not a perfect system, but all things consider, I think that it's a good system. Your empire's homeworld should be a special place. It's where you species originated as life in the galaxy, after all. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.



The single biggest issue for me, heading into Turn #6, isn't whether I can bring a new production center online, nor whether I end up losing multiple starships in battles, this turn. Rather, oddly enough, the biggest problem for me heading into Turn #6 has turned out to be which starships to build, and how many of each? In the past week, alone, I've submitted numerous changes to my turn orders, where my ship building preferences are concerned. Honestly, I don't know if my final set of turn orders provides the right choices for Turn #6.



But it is what it is, and in Galac-Tac, there always seems to be a variety of different unknowns that always manage to rear their ugly heads. Thus I try to hope for the best, even while planning for the worst, to the degree possible. I don't know where all of my enemies' star systems are located, nor where all of their warships and freighters are either located or headed to in the coming turn. I don't know how many PV that they are currently able to convert into PI in any given turn. I can speculate about these and other things, but actually knowing the specifics of these types of things, I simply don't.

And unknowns always have a way of tossing monkey wrenches into the plans of those at war, whether in games or in the real world.



8:39 AM Saturday, November 22nd, 2025
We're less than half an hour away from Turn #6 processing, now. I'm not nervous. I'm not anxious. I didn't even sent an alarm clock to awaken me in time for the event. To those in Galaxy #223 of Galac-Tac that my empire's military forces are about to attack, it's not personal. So, wipe those tears.



Playing Galac-Tac without waging war early would be akin to playing the board game, Monopoly, without buying properties. I like all of the players in Galaxy #223, just fine. Your respective empires, though, now that's another matter, altogether.



Think about it this way - when is the "right turn" for empires in Galac-Tac to go to war with one another? What turn number would that be, exactly, and would that turn number be the same in any and every game of Galac-Tac for all empires?



My empire's warships are not out there, even now, attacking Richard's Castle Anthrax empire. You don't see my empire's military assets ravaging across the empire that is Hammer's Misraw. Heck, I've even been cutting Brendan's Wyvern Supremacy some slack, lately.



Since he beginning of this game of Galac-Tac, Galaxy #223, my empire's attention has been shifting and drifting, but there's been no persistent, all-out effort by me to completely eradicate any one empire from the game. I've not actually making a concerted effort to conquer and subjugate any other empire. Instead, I have been - and continue to - wage what's known as "low intensity conflict."



The concept of "total war" is an entirely different beast, altogether.



I see that Turn #6 of Galaxy #223 has now processed. Let me now go and see what fate greeted my empire, be it good or bad, in this most recent progression of Galaxy #223 of Galac-Tac.

Galac-Tac galaxy #223 has processed the current turn

and the turn results are ready for your review.

6:36 AM Monday, November 24th, 2025
Player Hammer must think himself awfully clever, with his mischaracterization of my Yonds of Droon as the Droons of Yawn. Yet, it was his own empire's starships that were caught sleeping, once again, wasn't it? How many starships did he say that his empire lost, this turn, Turn #6?



Hammer is talking a little smack, now. It's about damned time!



Talking that junk always adds a new - and enjoyable - dimension to a PBM wargame.



Better an empire of yawners than an empire of sleeping beauties. Somehow or other, Hammer managed to lose no less than 5 ships, this turn. That's what happens, when you piddle around, Hammer. You'd better wake up, son, or you may not have any ships left!



But enough about Player Hammer, for now. His gloating about that 100th Percentile standing of his empire in the Empire Valuation scoring is noise enough. He's been sandbagging the whole doggone time. He needs to share his empire's secret recipe. I may start calling him Colonel Sanders.



Looking at the missing player blurb sections for the other players, this time around, makes me all the more thankful for Hammer's presence in this game of Galac-Tac. Player Djinny has been pleading poverty of time and being overworked, of late, yet it's Davin who has to wash the dishes.



Who knows? Maybe the Kroji Buffet of Propaganda has run out of things to say. Or maybe she just needs me to write her empire's meager attempts at propaganda. Of course, when your empire has lost as many starships as Djinny's Kroji Conmen have, so far this game, it's got to be damned difficult to put a positive spin on that.



Get your rest, Djinny, or Djinni, or whatever your player persona is for Galaxy #223. When your homeworld finally falls, we don't want to hear any excuses at that time.



I dispatched 19 starships, this turn, for CHART missions to try and learn the PV resource values of previously unexplored star systems, this turn. 17 of those 19 mission were successful. A couple of them ended up resulting in CEASE FIRES, instead. Overall, good odds for my empire, though. But when I use GTac to plot the ships with CHART orders, I seem to come up 4 locations short. I'll have to dig a little deeper, and see if I can figure out where the discrepancy originates - and why.



Just 1 of the 9 new colonies that finished their construction phase this turn belong to the Yonds of Droon. Undoubtedly, this disparity contributed to my empire's further percentile collation on the Empire Valuation end of things, this turn. However, it doesn't particularly concern me, much less unnerve me, for the very simple fact o the matter that my empire has so many star system colonies, now, that I don't have enough ships to gather resources (PV) from them all. At present, I am only able to gather a portion of a much bigger whole, where exploiting my empire's resources is concerned.



It stands to reason that if my primary focus at the moment isn't on further developing new colonies, then it must be on something else, huh?



Which perhaps helps to explain why my empire was the first of the six empires in Galaxy #223 to finally field a completed new Production Center. The Develop process at a former Colony of mine is a much bigger feather in my cap than Ajwan's destruction of 4 minor starships of mine. At least, I think so. Ajwan might think differently.

The Galactic Statistics clearly confirm that no other empires in Galaxy #223 have yet completed development of their own Production Centers. That will likely prove to be a short-lived reality, though, as Turn #7 will likely see even more Production Centers come online.

Like most everything else in Galac-Tac, there are both pluses and minuses associated with acquiring new Production Centers. It increases your empire's flexibility to a degree, but it doesn't do so without hamstringing you in some other way. The PI generated at a new Production Center has to be spent in that star system. Thus, instead of building everything at your homeworld's shipyard, you can build stuff at your new Production Centers - but only if you have PI already at those Production Centers on hand and ready to spend.

Thus, in Galac-Tac, you only spend from one PI stockpile, so to speak, your homeworld's Production Center, until you develop new Production Centers, at which point you begin to spend from multiple different PI stockpiles. This factor, in and of itself, is both curse and blessing, simultaneously.

While my one new Production Center is now officially complete, I still can't build anything there, for the very simple reason that it won't actually begin converting its star systems PV into PI, automatically, until the following turn. When I want ahead and tried to begin issuing some build orders for Turn #7, Talisman Games' GM Davin Church is the one who had to break that sorrowful news to me. Talk about wailing and the gnashing of teeth!

But that also means that the exact, same rule applies to all of my enemies' empires, as well, once they manage to succeed at bringing new Production Centers online. In a nutshell, it is the equivalent of a "forced delay." What's good for this space-faring gander will also prove to be equally good for these other space-faring geese, when the time comes.

It's more of a planning deficiency than anything else. Fortunately for me, I had already dispatched PI to that new Production Center of mine ahead of its completion date. So, I can just unload it and spend it in the coming turn. That's what I'm talking about, baby!

Oh, just now I saw where Player Ajwan's homeworld has been destroyed in a different game of Galac-Tac. Let's pause and see what that end-game message looks like, when another empire in Galac-Tac conquers your empire in-game.

YOUR HOME WORLD HAS BEEN DESTROYED!

A Message from the Masters:

Another empire has eliminated you from this galaxy. It is unfortunate that such a promising race has been annihilated with such cold-blooded precision!

It has been a pleasure to serve you. We hope that you found the experience enjoyable (with certain obvious exceptions).

Thank you, and better luck next time!

Poor Ajwan! Squashed like a mere insect, it would appear.

You would think that she would have put up more of a fight. I wonder what turn number that she got defeated on in that other game of Galac-Tac? Turn #3, perhaps? Turn #27? Turn #54? Hopefully, Ajwan will write in and let us all know. Or is that some scared cow of an imperial secret, also?



Galac-Tac remains stuck beneath an avalanche of obscurity, yet secrecy, secrecy, secrecy is the omnipresent battle cry, it seems. All of that secrecy didn't save Ajwan's homeworld in that other game of Galac-Tac, when all as said and done.



And what empire crushed her empire? Who knows?!



Such pervasive silence is the very essence of boring. God forbid that anybody not already playing Galac-Tac be aloud peeks inside of ongoing games. Telling people nothing doesn't tend to provide very much in the way of temptation.



I suppose that one might could go forth and read about the galaxies of Galac-Tac in the past where interstellar wars were waged. Oh, that's right, that information is lost beneath the sands of time. At least some people not playing Galac-Tac gets to learn a little bit about what all is happening in Galaxy #223. If you stay tuned long enough, you'll probably get to read about Ajwan's empire in this game of Galac-Tac get overrun and destroyed, also. Right, Ajwan?



Player Djinny should be resting well, these days, since her fragile empire only suffered the loss of a single, unimportant Scout2 (//29-1) starship to my empire, this turn. This should provide her struggling empire with some breathing space. But will she take advantage of this unexpected reprieve from the Droon Fleet of the Stars?



It looks like the dastardly Wyvern Supremacy may be on the rise. That definitely is well-worth me looking into. Brendan is trying to play the quiet game up there, ever since my starships first show up very early in the game kicking his Wyverns around like there's no tomorrow.



As for Richard's Castle Anthrax empire, who even knows what him and his star minions are up to. They're probably overstaying their welcome at some interstellar pub, drinking like crazy and mellowing out. One could only hope.

The artistic inspiration of Basil Wolverton.

* All Galac-Tac content and images copyright © Talisman Games.

The time has come, once again, for PBM Chaos to bid you adieu, ye denizens of the PBM realm. Hopefully, there was something in this issue of interest to you. If not, there's always next issue, right?



Hopefully so, anyway.



The real world continue to press in upon me. I had hoped to publish this issue earlier this afternoon, but at least it's gonna make it out the digital door to you before the midnight deadline. Way too many interruptions on my end, today, for my taste.



I'm tired, as I finish this issue up, tonight. I started on it early, this morning, but you know how it goes. I keep running into an unusual problem on Sender, tonight. In fact, at one point I thought that I lost the entire issue, as it sat upon the verge of completion. I'll just chalk it up to chaos.



It's easy to create issues of PBM Chaos, but it sure ain't always easy publishing them. Even my preferred AI art generators abandoned me earlier, this evening, so I had to improvise on the spot. Hopefully, this issue wasn't too hard on your eyes.

Literally, I have no idea what to say, no idea what to write. My energy is gone, drained from me as if a vampire has sucked my blood dry. Sleep, sleep, my PBM kingdom for some sleep!

My brain doesn't want to shift gears. I feel as if it's stuck in mud.

And here I was, last issue, thinking that this issue was gonna be better than that issue. I'm not so sure, now, but there are some things that I like about this issue more than the previous issue.

I hope that you liked the What was Exodus? article. If the art is meeting your approval, let me know, if you feel up to it.

I'm not making any hay, here, so I am gonna call it a wrap. I still need to try and do a little bit more proofreading.

If I see you next issue, wonderful! If I don't, happy PBM trails to you.

Charles Mosteller
Editor of PBM Chaos

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