Silly Rules succession game

[Old n Slow]

quote:
Originally posted by rjmatsleepers
Next on Silly Rules is Straybow followed by yours truly - but there have been no posts in the last 7 days.

RJM at Sleeper's


I think that Straybow seems too busy in RL -- RJM, how about jumping in for a joke or two?

[rjmatsleepers]

OK; will do.

I'll try to play today and post tomorrow. I think we've reached the point where capturing or destroying AI cities is the only thing of importance. That's not my favourite part of the game, but I'll give it a whirl.

RJM at Sleeper's

[rjmatsleepers]

End of Term Report

Someone asked for a war against the Zulus - well we have it in spades. We are in the middle of a nuclear confrontation. In the *** for tat game, they have hit us twice and we have hit them once. On the upside, we gained 6 cities - 3 from the English, 2 from the Sioux and 1 from the Zulus. We have forces poised to make further gains from the Sioux and the English. Despite taking Third Rock back from the Zulus, we haven't dented their power at all. We have about 1700 in the war chest and a high production capacity (when we're not in anarchy). We are about 2,500 beakers away from our next discovery, but are not currently researching anything. From here on in, it gets messy, but every turnset we are growing stronger and more powerful. Good Luck

Turn Log

AD 1946

OMG There is an armada of green Zulu ships around Bob Hope, Bullwinkle and Sticky Moose. And more Zulus around Monty Python - this could be a white knuckle ride. When the Zulus attack there will be an avalanche of blood. I feel a bit like Jellico - I could lose this game in an afternoon. We are ahead of the Zulus on income, but behind them on manufacturing. If we leave them alone they will grow stronger. We need to reduce their power, but an attack at the moment looks like suicide. On balance I think I have to wait, but maybe I could bribe back Third Rock at some time.

The "mighty" army used to conquer France and rout the Sioux is spread thin and needs rest, but there is no time. They must travel east to carry the fight to the Sioux heartland. I manage to get together a task force of 5 offensive units and 3 spies to board the transport at Rheims. They will have to rest on the voyage! The cruiser from Tours moves out to provide an escort and sends a Spanish destroyer to the bottom.

We have a lot of units on our main island that could use the ship chain to travel west to England, Russia or Spain. They begin to assemble in Beeblebrox.

I station a fighter in both Bullwinkle and Stickymoose. They may be useful in combat and can certainly provide aerial reconasance.

I move the cruisers in and near Bob Hope to escort the transport near Amatikulu. This transport will be needed to carry a spy to bribe Third Rock.

I move the cruiser and transport in Wabbit north to take part in the movement of troops east to finish off the Sioux.

It would be nice to negotiate a cease fire with Spain, but they won't talk.

I add a few shields to various military units leaving me with 2279 gold. I convert the unfinished palace in Doofus to a coastal fortress and start a new palace in Bozo for later conversion to an SDI HQ.

I start the revolution and adjust the cities for a period of anarchy. I hit the enter button and cross my fingers.

AD 1947

The Zulus spend an eternity waving their units around, but the ceasefire holds. The spanish change government to democracy I use the coupon to choose a communist government and set the slider for 80% tax. Sticky Moose is being starved of food and shields, but there is little I can do about it. I disband the artillery and hope.

The spanish change to fundamentalism, but still refuse to talk.

The task force continues sailing east towards Kildeer leaving its "escort" rather a long way behins.

Various wounded units limp their diagonal ways to lightly defended (former) French cities. Thanks to the guys who played the last few rounds, there seems to be a diagonal railway joining up most of the continent - but it sometimes goes on a very strange route.

The fighter from Sticky Moose spots more Spanish ships. Our cruiser sinks a Spanish destroyer and then a Spanish cruiser, but emerges badly wounded. The spy from Bob Hope boards her transport. I hit enter and hope.

AD 1948

The Zulus wave their units around again, but again the ceasefire holds.

2 spanish destroyers die attacking Bullwinkle and another dies attacking our wounded cruiser.

A (small) task force from Beeblebrox sets sail for the west.

The fighter from Besancon sinks a wounded Spanish cruiser.

The original (east bound) task force finds the Sioux city of Running Bear with no walls and a single defender. The Sioux offer peace, but I refuse. We capture Running Bear and take 24 gold. The task force rests in Running Bear.

Sticky Moose is still short of food. I decide to let it shrink. HEAH (Hit enter and hope).

AD 1949

Zulus land near Paris - these dudes are serious.

I demand tribute from the English - we are at war. Liverpool revolts for 1267 we get 178 plus 3 alpine troops, a transport, a diplomat and an artillery unit. I sell the granary. Newcastle revolts for 571. we get 154 plus 2 riflemen and an alpine troop. I sell the granery. I agree to a cease fire.

Sioux ask for a cease fire which I refuse.

I contact the Zulus who demand 1000. I refuse and we are at war. I destroy the units near Paris and those around Monty Python. I also destroy a number of units round Sticky Moose and Bull Winkle. Third Rock revolts for 848. We get 138 + nuclear power and 8 bombers which we can't support. 6 bombers have a good go at the various zulu naval units, then I pay 550 for a cease fire.

I convert the palace in Bozo to an SDI HQ and start a palace in Running Bear

HEAH

AD 1950

Amazingly, the cease fire with the Zulus holds. I might try that again with Naples I add shields to a few builds before approaching the Spanish. I give the Spanish the laser for a cease fire.

I move units to form the second wave going east from Rheims for the battle against the sioux and move other units west from Beeblebrox towards Newcastle to fight the English.

Revolt and move sliders and workers for anarchy.

AD 1951

Zulus break cease fire with nuclear attacks on Bullwinkle. We also loose 3 other units in further attacks, but no cities. We build a nuclear missile. I choose next governemnt in order which is fundamentalism. I set the sliders at 80% tax and adjust workers for shields. We destroy a few units around Bullwinkle, but lose one bomber.

AD 1952

We lost 2 bombers and 2 other units in Zulu attacks. We nuke Naples and occupy the radioactive ruins. We take 88 gold + robotics. Zulus ask for cease fire and I agree. I start an SDI defence in Fright Wig and Goodie. I try to provoke war with the English but they don't go for it. I decide to attack anyway. We capture Sverdlodsk for 102 gold then I accept a cease fire. Strangely our reputation remains honerable.

AD 1953

Amazingly the Zulu cease fire holds. I discover Dead Buffalo. No walls, 1 defender. I capture Dead Buffalo for 62 gold. Sioux ask for cease fire which I decline. I land a tank, kill the partisans and then discover it's on a small island

AD 1954

Zulus break the cease fire by nuking Liverpool with the loss of about 6 of our units. They also recapture Naples. I think Kildeer can be taken next turn, and possibly Kiev, but it's time for a revolution and to bring my reign to an end. BTW there is pollutuion near Fright Wig as well as all the radioactive debris around Bull Winkle, Liverpool and Naples.

(I had a bit of trouble with my original 1954 save, so I have reloaded from the autosave which should be identical to my original save plus or minus reversable things like slider movements and worker changes.)

Good luck to the next in line

RJM at Sleeper's

[-Jrabbit]

This is getting pretty interesting...

D/L complete, will work on it amid seasonal holiday commitments this week...

[Old n Slow]

If nothing else, we've achieved one objective with this game -- 1952.

Has there been any other Sxn game to last this long?

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by Old n Slow
If nothing else, we've achieved one objective with this game -- 1952.

Has there been any other Sxn game to last this long?

The infamous Invasion Earth game didn't finish until well into the 21st century!

[-Jrabbit]

Downloaded and opened the file last night. quite a sight. FYI, the current turn -- 1954 -- has lots (maybe all) player movement still left to perform. Will have to revolt as well.

Overall, it's quite a messy board. Clearly, the Spanish (CF) and Zulus (war) are our concerns, but our troops are best positioned to go after the English (CF) and Sioux (war).

Transportation of needed troops to the front lines is a priority concern. We need a defensible beachhead city in Zululand in order to deal with them effectively, but it could be that our best approach is to build infrastructure by taking out the weaker opponents first.

I've never played a game with the nuke card flipped so early -- usually it's one opponent, and only when I'm prepping for AC at the endgame.

At first "glance" -- about an hour -- the game looks eminently winnable. In my mind, it's just a question of when. Right now, I'm deciding whether to play it conservative (extreme planning toward specific assault and defense goals) or just go for the "fun and gun" offense to see how much carnage I can wreak. A "blast away" approach may not be wisest, but should be the most fun (and I suspect this may be my last turnset).

I leave it to my silly-but-trusted compatriots to talk some sense into me...

Interesting how our silly rules have become less restrictive as the game has advanced. In fact, I think it's now been quite awhile since the coupon has been used for anything other than maintaining our commy/fundy war stance.

Kudos to my silly predecessors, and wish me luck.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
Right now, I'm deciding whether to play it conservative (extreme planning toward specific assault and defense goals) or just go for the "fun and gun" offense to see how much carnage I can wreak.

"Fun and Gun" might work at the college level, but this is the big time, Mr. Spurrier

(For those of you overseas - please ignore my weak NFL reference )

I leave it to my silly-but-trusted compatriots to talk some sense into me...

Kudos to my silly predecessors, and wish me luck.

I think you're on the right track. Taking out weaker opponents gives us infrastructure and fewer fronts to worry about. We don't want to have to be worrying about enemy attack on all our cities; just the ones near the Zulus and Spanish. Nabbing English cities should be easier, and gives us a back door entrance to Spain and the Zulu territories.

A few tactics for games with nukes...

Obviously keeping units in cities without SDI is a bad idea, so keeping them in Fortresses is a decent option, until SDIs can be rushed. Better to lose a poorly defended city to an AI counterattack (which can then be retaken) than to lose all the units that mounted the initial attack. Fortresses never get nuked.

Use nukes on AI ships. I can't stress this enough. 1 nuke=1 Battleship or Carrier (shield cost). Any adjacent units or stacked units will be destroyed too.

Build a nuke trap city and rush a SDI in it once we have a foothold in Zuludom.

[-Jrabbit]

questions...

Originally posted by Six Thousand Year Old Man
I think you're on the right track. Taking out weaker opponents gives us infrastructure and fewer fronts to worry about. We don't want to have to be worrying about enemy attack on all our cities; just the ones near the Zulus and Spanish. Nabbing English cities should be easier, and gives us a back door entrance to Spain and the Zulu territories.

Yeah, I know (heavy sigh)...

A few tactics for games with nukes...

Use nukes on AI ships. I can't stress this enough. 1 nuke=1 Battleship or Carrier (shield cost). Any adjacent units or stacked units will be destroyed too.

Seems pretty expensive for one-time use...

Build a nuke trap city and rush a SDI in it once we have a foothold in Zuludom.

"Nuke trap city"????? WTF?????????

also --

1. A quick recap of nuke effects would probably be helpful (as I intend to print this page before I go home tonight).

2. At what point do we see global warming turn everything into jungle/swamp/desert, and is there anything I can do to control it?

3. How immediate is nuclear retaliation from the AI? (I don't want to waste a lot of $$ rushing SDIs if they're gonna be bombed out before the city can support a rushbuy.

4. What's the SDI shielding factor for surrounding cities? Obviously, this affects the choice of cities in which to build SDI.

5. Is SDI 100% effective vs nukes?

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Re: questions...

Originally posted by -Jrabbit


Yeah, I know (heavy sigh)...



Seems pretty expensive for one-time use...



"Nuke trap city"????? WTF?????????

also --

1. A quick recap of nuke effects would probably be helpful (as I intend to print this page before I go home tonight).

2. At what point do we see global warming turn everything into jungle/swamp/desert, and is there anything I can do to control it?

3. How immediate is nuclear retaliation from the AI? (I don't want to waste a lot of $$ rushing SDIs if they're gonna be bombed out before the city can support a rushbuy.

4. What's the SDI shielding factor for surrounding cities? Obviously, this affects the choice of cities in which to build SDI.

5. Is SDI 100% effective vs nukes?

The AI is dumb, of course. A nuke trap city is a small city built within 3 tiles of a big city. You build a SDI in the small city and sell the SDI in the big one. The AI never sends nukes at cities with SDI... but it can't tell if a city is protected by another city's SDI protection 'umbrella'. This is a nice way to get rid of the AI's nukes.

As for nukes being expensive... they are, but if the ship stack is a big one, you can destroy units worth several hundred shields this way.

1. Nukes destroy all units on the target tile and the 8 surrounding tiles, plus they halve city size and create 1-8 pollution tiles (none over water).

2. All you can do is watch the little sun and don't let it get too bright I think 8 polluted tiles is where global warming risk begins.

3. Sometimes the AI nukes the city the turn you capture it, sometimes not (BK had Delhi get nuked a few turns after capture in the Seriously Tricky game, IIRC). I always rush the SDI if there isn't one within 3 tiles... just in case.

4. SDI shields all cities within 3 tiles of it (one square beyond the city radius). This can save us from building them in any city, and makes the nuke trap possible (see above).

5. Yes. Except for the spy version, which I don't think I've ever seen the AI use other than in ToT.

[Old n Slow]

JRabbit -- Clearly rule #1 is to have fun.

But at the same time, I think that it would be more fun to make better strategic decisions & win with style.

I consider the mopping up of the Sioux & English akin to the IRB of camels & trucks -- part of the bread & butter behind the guns. Besides, those soon to be couquered cities are great sources for engineers...

[La Fayette]

Jrabbit,

Never forget that a vet spy (with a nuke well hidden somewhere in her luggage) costs 30 shields (and there is no SDI protection against my beloved vet spies).

The only problem is logistics (how to transport my vet spies to the city where a nuke is required ?).

[-Jrabbit]

Yeah, the best of both worlds would be to send a couple boatloads of spies to the Spanish and Zulu homelands and destroy their infrastructure in one big bang.

But where's the sport in that?

[La Fayette]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit

But where's the sport in that?

Absolutely nowhere

I used the vet spy nuke attack once in my life, in order to conquer America in one turn and finish the ww79 scenario (where there had been hundreds of nukes previously, ... not by me ).

Since then, when one of my cities get nuked, I dream of vet spies, but they stay at home: no sport

[-Jrabbit]

Did some planning, played the end of 1954 and through 1955. Spent most of our money.

So far have taken 3 cities and lost none. But the Spanish (13K) and Zulus (9K) have huge fundy warchests, so it's just a matter of time before the nukes start flying.

This game has turned into a micromanager's dream. Turns are taking an hour each. More to come...