Most of the games that I have started so far, have either been pure attempts at learning how to play Aurora, or enjoying the game as a game. In my current and last game, however, I have been able to keep my empire alive and well for a longer period of time than before, more than 40 years. In my current game I'm a few years away from 50, which is a record for me, even if it might not be all that much for some of you veterans.
I have also started to enjoy the story of my empire throughout those years, rather than simply as a game. I have at the same time realized that I really wished I had kept a log throughout those years. Being able to look back at and knowing how old a colony is, when the first military fleet was finished, when research and development started on the new generation of military ships, when a star scientist died, when you were at war, etc. really does seem to add a lot to the experience. I am certainly missing the ability to do that right now, and expect to start such a log with my next game.
But this consideration made me really curious as to whether this is standard practice as part of the Aurora experience. Judging from the many after action reports and works of fiction it seems that at least some people do it. But I am curious to see how many actually do it, and if you do it differently depending on what kind of game you expect to have.
And thus follows a poll