Lazy Days of Summer Sxn Game

[Bloody Monk]

-Jrabbit,

Very well put (both posts!!) and I am very happy to learn about the "auto" button. I can't believe I missed that. Talk about hiding in plain sight. Thanks for taking the time to 'splain it so coherently. I have dilegently checked each save as was posted but never grokked the auto function. I will duck behind the excuse that I ain't been feeling well and hope for the best.

On that front, things are looking up. It has been a long, looong year, but, I am getting better I think. Thanks again for the patient explanation.

Monk

[-Jrabbit]

1965-66-67

As we enter the post-Kennedy, pre-hippie era, war protests are on the rise. Fortunately, this is a Communist empire, so comrade -Jrabbit ignores them all.

1965
--Greeks defend their homeland, strafing troops around Sparta. we lose a few, including a valued Howie or 2.
--Greeks chat, demand Superconductor again. we yawn, stay at WAR!
--German Aegis guns down a transport and one aboard. Blue DD spotted near W. Chalco.
--Pollution hits 5 cities, none on home continent.
--Rushed SDIs come online in Marathon and Miletos.

Ironic Attack on Russia by Communists continues...
--Odessa captured (100 GP). govt. escapes to Sevasapol.
--Sevastapol was in our way anyway. Pays 52 plunder, and Russia is without a capital.
--We bribe St. Petersburg for 600 GP, with 46 refunded along with Cope's Observatory.

But what we're really concerned about is the Deamnable Greeks...
Spies report defenses of all remaining cities (Corinth, Delphi, Eretria, Athens, Knossos (cap), and Thermopylae (23).
Howies, spies, and stealth units are in position, so here we go...
--We take out some SAMs, losing 2 spies.
--Alpine, rifle, fanatic and 2 cruise missiles destroyed, Corinth captured. Rich booty, too -- 200 GP, Great Library, Oracle, and barracks/airport still standing.
--Athens has a nu;ke, si it's next. Nuke, 2 fanatics, CM, alpine, and bomber die, yielding Darwin's Voyage, Statue of Liberty, an airport, and 78 GP.
--Running short of troops and movement. After some trepidation, we decide to take Eretria, (2 fanatics, rifle, alpine) too. Pays 152.
--Bribe Greek Aegis outside Eretria for 1995 GP. We use it to kill another nearby Aegis that had survived a bomber, a sub, and a CM. Our new Aegis makes vet.

--The Ministry of War Finance announces the new War Improvement Program (WIP). Cities are reward with lower upkeep costs in exchange for the resale of certain non-essential counterrevolutionary city improvements. -Jrabbit approves this new proposal, and vows to "go to the WIP" on a regular basis.

Gov't sells 8 Libraries, 5 City Walls, a University and a Stock Exchange. Treasury at 2273 GP.

1966
--Opposition forces strangely silent. We keep rolling more forces into position on all fronts...
--New pollution in 5 cities.

--Greek front--
Knossos (capital) -- Howies ignore the walls. No SAM or fighters to stop our air force. Greeks lose 4 fanatics, rifle, and 2 cruise missiles. We gain 504 GP and... Magellan!!! Greek gov't escaped to Thermopylae.
Thermopylae (capital) -- Spies took out the SAM, so planes romp. 4 fanatics, alpine, rifle, and a fighter go down. Gov't espcapes to Pharsalos.
Delphi -- It was just a matter of time. We take out 2 fanatics, a rifle and 2 CMs. Pays 52 GP. Only one city left on the (former) Greek home continent, in the far north, and our spy is en route to buy it...

We continue to build our forces on Chalco Island, with the idea of sending an expedition northward to open a new front vs. the Greeks. To that end, we bribe a German Aegis that's been hanging around.
Bribe Cost = 940 GP.
Peace of mind escort = priceless.
Our new Aegis scouts ahead, spots German cannon nearby. Aegis makes Vet.

--Uranium delivered to Knossos (189 GP )
--Moscow cpatured (43 gp)
--Bribe a very inconvenient Greek marine outside German town for 435.
--We WIP the treasury up to 4197 (selling 11 granaries, 4 city walls, 3 sewer systems, a uni, a library, and an aqueduct.
--We spend the treasury down to 2741.

1967
--Greek bombers and navy launch a counterattack, killing (IIRC) a spy, a howitzer, a paratrooper, and a tank.
--Russians mount some minor attacks. Russian partisans begin dismantling the already-shaky local RRl system. Sadly, -Jrabbit has no choice but to order their deaths...
--Our nice, fresh Battleship, a major part of our assault plan on Germans, is sunk by a single German cruise missile. Sunk like a stone. A stone with no defense or hit points...
--we install a coastal fortress in Eretria, a SAM in Athens, and an airport in Smolensk.
--Pollution hits 7 cities: Osaka, LA, St Louis, SF, Boston, Corinth, and Thermopylae. Therm'plae desperately short of food...

--Vladivostok captured (37). Russians chat, threaten nukes, demand stuff, and are sent packing. they are down to 9 cities, most of which are in the Great White North.
--Expeditionary force reaches Syracuse, a Greek city of size 1 that's been sending annoying units our way. Syracuse is RAZED for its sins.

--Spy reports German situation. 5 cities, all connected by rail. Defenses are:
Nuremburg (18) -- artillery, rifle, no walls or SAM
Frankfurt (13) -- city walls, rifle, bomber, transport
Berlin (12, capital) -- city walls, rifle, alpine, partisan
Konigsberg (16) -- Non-Aegis cruiser, 2 riflemen
Hamburg (20) -- city walls, 3 rifles.
--spy also notes 2 nearby Greek cities --
Krasnoyarsk has one alpine
Munich has walls, one alpine, and a cruise missile.
Unfortunately, the rail system is spotty in this area, so getting troops into position will require more time...

Available troops do some damage...

Shipchain from Abuquerque via Minneapolis makes German mainland near Berlin, landing 7 jeeps and a tank. No defenders in the way, so they head straight for the unwalled city of Konigsberg, which is summarily taken along with a plunder of 241gp.

Nuremburg captured (167 gp). another boring request for superconductor. I swear, we can barely stay awake through this diplomatic tedium!!!

Greek city of Krasnoyarsk is taken, with plunder of 30 GP and possession of the Manhatten Project.
We bribe a nearby Greek howitzer for 483.

There's a fair amount of movement left in this turn, mostly in former Greek areas.

We need to mass troops for an assault on Pharsalos, a.k.a. The Last Greek Capital (as they are under 1000 GP now). A couple spies to map it out and presumably take out the SAM, then sock it with air power.

Foreign ministry reports --
Greeks -- have 12 cities (Pharsalos cap), 906 GP, Fundy
Japanese -- one city (Mingapulco, non-cap), 599 GP, Fundy
Germans -- 3 cities (Berlin cap), 1095 GP, Republic
Russians -- 9 cities (no cap), 374 GP, Republic

Hmm... Perhaps Mingapulco, so lonely and remote, would make a good choice for the final city we conquer...

Our population is now over 60 MM. Treasury holds 3,778 GP.

-Jrabbit leaves the palace, his hands a bit dirty but his reputation still Spotless.

Now let's finish this thing!!!

[Bloody Monk]

Re: Please note...

Originally posted by -Jrabbit

The original playlist:

Old n Slow
atomant
Straybow
obiwan18 (Ben Kenobi)
Bob_Smurf42
-Jrabbit
La Fayette
Vlad Antlerkov

The table has been set. IMHO, only logistics can stop La Fayette from finishing the job...

Can you finish this in 8 turns, monsieur?

La Fayette is up. Can you take the game, sir?? If not, perhaps duke of york would like to play another one.

The only ACTIVE players are, in order of last turnset, JR, OnS, duke, and La Fayette. The rest have fallen away, it seems.

This is a very intriguing ruleset and it would be nice to finish it before a second summer comes...don't you think??

Monk

[La Fayette]

I can play very soon, probably tomorrow.

[-Jrabbit]

Methinks you may be able to complete this, La Fayette...

[Old n Slow]

Very nice turnset.

Another weasal ruling -- one can build a few trucks to get three routes in place (I know i used this a bit.)

Building new cities -- my intent was found and run one (but it may have been unclear that folks could found and not run more -- I did found a couple, but the rulings might be iffy -- I'll plead a nolo in any case.)

Selling infrastructure -- I was wondering when someone would spot that loophole.

[La Fayette]

First unit bound to move very soon (... at long last ).
Will do my best to play in accordance with that 'autobuild' rule that I am not sure I have clearly understood...

[-Jrabbit]

Trucks are nearly worthless at this point. We have all the miltech we could ever want, and our transports are busy with troop movements.

At this point, (imho) it's more important to keep producing units than to add a few hundred GP through freights. The bad guys can't reach our core cities, so income through the sale of infrasstructure (plus about 1000/turn income) is more than enough to keep the units coming.

[Bloody Monk]

Originally posted by La Fayette
First unit bound to move very soon (... at long last ).
Will do my best to play in accordance with that 'autobuild' rule that I am not sure I have clearly understood...

I commiserate with your plight. It is especially confusing to one who is watching but hasn't played. This autobuild rule and the ways it can be faded are very mysterious. Good luck!!

Monk

[La Fayette]

Laaaaaaazy summer is over

A glance at the situation:

1) IMO there will be no problem with autobuild: we are now so strong that we could finish the game without building any unit at all.

2) No city at all is celebrating at 20% luxuries. We switch to 50% (just for the fun of it ).


Main events:

1968:

Luxuries back to 30% (enough to have a dozen big cities celebrating)

Germans take Los Angeles ( + 42g + Superconductor )
We take the city back ( + 792g plunder )
We also take Frankfurt ( + 275g )
Köln is reduced to size 2 and bought for 334g.

We decide to acquire the Greek northern island:
Argos and Halicarnassus are taken by force (bombers + paratroops), then Rhodes is bought for 922g, then Herakleia for 524g.

We also decide to buy Grozny for 148g (22g plunder).

1969:

We take München (howies at work).

1970:

Assault on the German-Greek island:
Mycenae and Pharsalos taken by force (Greek SShip destroyed in Pharsalos ).
We buy Troy (1105g) and Thessalonica (592g).

Berlin taken by force.
We buy Hamburg (952g) and the German civ is destroyed.

We also take Ephesos (bomber + paratroops) and the Greek civ is no more.

1971:

We buy Mingapulco for 880g (625g plunder )

We take Riga, Yakutsk, Astrakhan and Dnepropetrovsk.

1972:

We take Novgorod, Rostov and Kharkov:

LAZY GAME OVER

[La Fayette]

I lost one stealth fighter against an Alpine inside a city built on swamp and one stealth bomber (short of fuel , my mistake).

I go on thinking that vet stealth fighters do the job much better for half price (multiple attacks in one turn, only problem: vet MecInf fortified on bonus terrain).

[-Jrabbit]

Way to go, La Fayette!!

I'm a big fan of the stealth bomber because of its range. 24 tiles is a goodly distance, exposing tons of map and/or allowing redeployment on a distant front in fairly short order. Plus, they can provide cover for exposed ground troops and block the advance of enemy troops over RRs.

This is not a diss on the stealth fighter. It's also a great unit, esp. in vet form. But I kept losing them to AI vet alpines, which makes the cost argument less persuasive for me.

Also -- How can an AI cruise missile take out a my battleship when my CMs and stealth bombers can barely dent theirs? Is this a known game feature, or was I just really unlucky??? (I rarely play with advanced weaponry, so this is new (-ish) to me...

[Bloody Monk]

YEA!!

After one year and four days, the Lazies have done it!!

Nice finish, La Fayette, and hats off to all.

FWIW, I agree with your assessment of Stealth Fighters over Bombers, and I think rush-building an airport first is a must. Vet Stealth Fighters are my favorite unit for their punch, reach, and flexibility (excellent for defense, too).

Monk

[Old n Slow]

Awwwwriiight!

Way to go team.

And now we know WHY we don't use autobuild.

Although I wonder if the autobuild AI acts in a similar way to the regular AI in terms of priorities and build choices??

[Straybow]

Hmm, I can't seem to d/l any of the save files.