My empire is expanding

I have begun my campaigns to the North. The Pelitar are reeling from my devastating and constant attacks on their empire and ships. I have obliterated at least 10 of their worlds, taken four of those planets for my own and destroyed at least two dozen of their ships. Now with these outposts in the heart of their empire I have free access to begin the genocide. I have been preventing them from expanding in the bordering systems while mounting these attacks and apparently they have an enemy to their north doing the same (on the opposite end of their empire). It is only a matter of time before they are removed from the game. Their enemy to the north was my former enemy, but has allied with me to take care of this minor nuisance. In fact I recently took the Pelitar home world for myself and am building it up currently to begin taking advantage of the vast resources it contains. The sad part of the ordeal is that I tried neutrality with the Pelitar so many times in the past and they always refused. Now they will be exiting post haste. I guess they should have learned to play well with others.

I finally pushed the Wexlen out of my home systems and took some of the better planets for myself. This caused a short war between us, but we returned to neutrality once I had taken them out of the compromising positions they held. The strength of my empire and stranglehold on a few key systems necessitates neutrality for the Wexlen. They have not faired to well as of late. One of my other allies is at war with them and has been able to mount a long distance attack using my systems to refuel. It is actually payback for earlier in the game when the reverse situation existed. Being allied with the Pelitar probably has something to do with it as well, since they are both at war with some of the larger empires (individually and collectively).

My attacks against the Pelitar have also caused a couple of former allies to become neutral – in fear. Most notably, the Ferxen, have gone from allies to neutral. This places me in a peculiar situation because they have taken some of the worlds in my home systems. That puts them squarely in the place the Wexlen formerly held. I can not allow a neutral, and possibly war-minded, race to occupy planets in my home systems. That would leave me terribly vulnerable to them. So, I will begin purging them from my home systems as soon as I gain my new fleet and finish establishing my newly acquire Pelitar home world. The good news is that these Ferxen outposts do not have heavy defenses – only one even poses a slight threat in that arena. My new fleet should have no problem eradicating the vermin. Once removed, I can begin to populate those planets myself and cut-off any further possible infiltrations.

I have three new allies and have now made contact with all the races in the universe. All of my new allies are former enemies that have decided it is better to be for me than against me. Part of the issue at hand is my stranglehold on several key systems in the universe’s mid-section. These systems (some of which I control completely) are the arteries from one side of the universe to the other. By allying with me these races have access to worlds they wouldn’t normally and can mount attacks on their enemies they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. This has proven quite helpful to me, as I can start colonizing worlds they are fighting over and unable to maintain. Slowly I will begin to push them out and take a complete hold on those home systems. During that time I will stop expanding the empire and work on solidifying my key systems – waiting for the right moment to begin the offensive again.