For me, there are two moments that stick out in my head....


1.) Back when I first started playing Birth of the Federation, there was a(n extremely short-lived) period where I was a member of a BOTF clan and played a couple of MP matches. It was during one of these matches that I ended up playing with a very unpleasant fellow from another clan who mercilessly mocked my newbie status, and -- by extension -- my playing skills. He was so rude that even his clan-mate (we were playing a 2-vs-2 match) was embarrassed by his behavior. (Note: He was playing as the Federation, and I was the Romulans.)

Anyway, the jerk kept on me until I finally lost my temper and I made a disparaging remark about him being Hitler's love child. Not surprisingly, he took exception to my comment -- it probably didn't help matters that he was Austrian -- and immediately launched a massive attack on my empire. What was delicious, however, was that luck (or perhaps providence?) had arranged matters so that I'd just *happened* to have a large fleet of cloaked warships sitting near his invasion route (which he couldn't see), and I was able to intercept him with it. To make a long story short, his armada was wiped out completely, and he raged-quit shortly after that.

Generally speaking, I'm not a very petty person (at least, I don't think/hope I am!). However, I cannot deny that I took enormous satisfaction at getting my revenge on the guy for being such a tool.


2.) I know I've mentioned this one before, but my other greatest gaming moment occurred when I was playing vanilla Medieval Total War: It was when my small Spanish army of around 450 men faced a huge Almohad army out-numbering them by nearly 3-to-1....and defeated it. It was significant for me because it was the first time in either MTW or STW that I'd defeated a massively superior force which *wasn't* a bridge battle. The victory was also all the sweeter because it was one of those truly critical battles where my kingdom's very survival had depended on my being able to win it -- if the Caliphate had won, I had nothing left which could've stopped them from overrunning all of northern Iberia.

What made it even more exhilarating was that the battle really could've gone either way; the momentum swung back & forth between the two armies several different times. I can still remember that I was so nervous about whether or not I could pull a victory out of this impossible situation, that my hands were actually sweaty! Ah yes, good times, good times....