The statistics from 2525 (just a turn or two later) revealed that I had now caught up to the Darloks in almost all categories:
Still lacking in fleet strength, but that's because (aside from those bombers) I haven't built much of anything yet! I'm waiting for Plasma Cannon research to finish (and give me a modern gun finally) before redesigning my ships. The really big difference was in Technology; after chasing the Darloks for most of the game, my seizure of Cygni has now largely caught me up. Even in tech and even in number of planets makes for one dead AI in this game, if you haven't already noticed.
When my Weapons research finished, here was the dreadnought design I came up with:
We've got your standard Autorepair Huge design here, taking advantage of all the best stuff I looted from the shapeshifters. Warp 8 drives, Tritanium Armor, and Class IX shields all courtesy of their R&D efforts. I also have a Battle Computer VI on board, which will get me to attack level 11 (!) with a Battle Scanner and the Mrrshan racial bonus. Oh yes, those Antimatter Bombs are going to be doing some major damage! I set any world of medium size or larger to producing these juggernauts as soon as possible.
Looted this gem about a dozen turns later from one of the other Darlok border worlds:
I had been researching the High Energy Focus myself, of course, but it was nice to get the freebie version. I held off on designing a new ship, however, since Neutronium Bombs (best in the game) were under development, and I figured I would just create an ultimate planet-killing design once they became available.
I didn't capture too many planets in the following years, but the ones I did take were significant. In the wake of my capture of Cygni, the galactic map has begun to tilt away from Darlok control:
This picture is from 2550, right after the council vote. I had just enough wins for a Diplo victory if desired, but only by a single vote. I declined that, and decided to see just how far I could push ahead by the next election in 2575. With a massive influx of new technology, and (finally) enough new ships from that design above ready to go, I would have the chance to push forward very quickly indeed.
Look at where Orion is on the map above (the unclaimed green star in the center). If you look to the east of that and just slightly to the north, the purple flag at that green star is Cygni. My plan was to send the first wave of new ships up around the northeast corner of the map, rolling up the systems there. Then the second wave of reinforcements would charge through the Darlok planets in the south, pushing through the nebula to meet up with the original attack fleet. Rather simple, of course, but effective nonetheless.
This was one of the early tech prizes, and a very nice one:
You don't see the Inertial Stabilizer's big brother all that often in this game (or at least I don't in my games, anyway). Since I was using Huge designs, this wasn't the most important special in the world, but still good to know about anyway. I wonder why the Darloks concentrated so much on Propulsion tech in this game (?) Their Weapons tech levels were much, much lower for whatever reason.
My invasion pattern looked something like this: on the first turn, I would hit a planet with my fleet and take out the bases, scouting it in the process. (I didn't have the top scanner, so I couldn't just send troops ahead of time!) On the second turn, I would send soldiers from any planets with an ETA of 2 turns; since I had warp 8 engines (warp 7 transports), that meant any planet within 14 parsecs could take part in the invasion. On the third turn, any additional planets in range would send troops, and on the interturn they would land and take out the defenders, capturing a fully intact world. Within a couple turns, that captured planet would be ready to join in the invasions itself. In short, my ultra-fast engines allowed my fleet to hit a new world every turn, AND for me to invade each one with population transports without slowing down. I've never managed that before - but then again, I've never had Interphased Drives either. It was very, very fun! 
One major target was Ajax, a planet of size 200 that I wrestled from the Darloks:
Just look at all those factories! Oh, and note the gropo equipment: I have Personal Absorbtion Shields now, for an actual ADVANTAGE in the fighting! My how times have changed. At Ajax, I looted my last major prize from the Darloks:
Battle Computer Mark VIII, very nice. That would allow me to get an attack level of 13 
on my final Huge design, with a Battle Scanner added in. Impressive stuff the Mrrshans can pull off when they get to the end of the tech tree. The trick is getting there without losing!
I continued wrestling planets away from the Darloks one by one, even though by now I had looted all of their technologies. This discovery helped me boost my population further for the upcoming 2575 vote:
Major upgrade; I had been at Terraforming +50 earlier. Let's add 30 million people (and 150 factories) on every planet and see how my situation looks! Here you can see that process at work on my Planets screen:
Total income up over 22,000 now with a ridiculous amount of reserve funds. I have better shields than Planetary V by now, but there's been no need to build them. This game is all but over.
The Darloks did try to mount one final attack, however. Ironically enough, it came against Nazin, their former homeworld:
This represented the core of their remaining fleet, especially the 17 King Cobra designs. I gathered together about two dozen of my Huge ships and met them in a forward clash. They had a lot of firepower, taking down three of my ships, but I smoked their whole fleet:
The fact that I had the Autorepair special on my ships and they didn't made all the difference in the world. (That, and my crazy attack level didn't hurt!) The design at the bottom of the screen is an improved model sporting the High Energy Focus and Neutronium Bombs.
By 2573, it's all over but for the coronation:
I've taken all but one planet from the Darloks, and will eliminate them entirely before the last election. Yes, I've moved from the above map (dating from 2550) to this position in a mere 23 turns. The steamroller effect can really end things fast in this game once the AI is unable to respond effectively.
Goodbye and good riddance. 
From here I could easily walk to an Extermination victory in less than 5 turns, but I'll be content to cash out with a Conquest victory instead. I'd be a jerk if I attacked and killed my allies after they helped me against the Darlok menace for so long. I almost never sell out my allies unless there's a compelling need to do so; that's one reason why I only have a single Extermination victory so far. Could have done it easily in some other games, like this one.
And with 87% of the galactic population, I vote myself the winner in 2575. All in all, it really was on the easy side of Impossible, given that great start. The Darloks made things interesting, but they simply aren't a major threat militarily. For the Mrrshans especially, this really was a Walk in the Park. (Would have been QUITE a different story if the Klackons or Meklar had drawn the Darlok starting position!) See you later. 
