The Mess Tent

[Maniac]

I didn't want to say it as Modo seemed to like it, but err... I completely agree with you: Art of War: soooooo overrated.

[vishniac]

Hem! Half a brain! Yes but...

Remember we are wargamers here, conversed in the things of war.
One of my favourite sentences (I have many though) translates like "Common sense isn't that common after all!". It's even more real in the military world (or at least with war leaders).
At the NATO HQ in Skopje is placated "Amateurs talk about tactics, professionals talk about logistics". For most people, war is about packing troops, planes, tanks and sending them full frontal. Alternate strategies, special operations (often never known, except when they fail) aren't so good-looking. But we know the better army won't last long without oil, food and ammo or without a reason to fight.

The best exemple of this are the Japanese in WWII. Looking for carrier battles when US submarines kept sinking their merchant ships. Sending waves after waves of men in Guadalcanal when the Marines hold on and the Navy sunk transports.

Simple doesn't mean simplistic.

As for Starship Troopers (the book), even I found it too apologetic of the militarisation of society.

[Modo44]

Originally posted by vishniac
Simple doesn't mean simplistic.

And in it's simplicity lies the brilliancy.

Still, there are less obvious points in the book, like the ones about terrain, and about the difference in numbers of two engaging forces.

Not to mention the text is ancient, and was far from obsious back then. You know, not all people play strategy games all their life (like when you first got a computer ).

[Maniac]

Originally posted by vishniac
As for Starship Troopers (the book), even I found it too apologetic of the militarisation of society.

I agree of course. The Starship Troopers universe is not one I'd like to live in in reality. But for imagining a Spartan society I personally thought some elements fitted quite well.

[Maniac]

A drink for Captain Chang!

[Snoddasmannen]

Yes, welcome to Sparta Chang

I have a question though. I finally got SMAX! Still haven't had much time to play it, but it looks nice and everything.

Unfortunately, the faction colors are screwed when I load the ACDG saves. I remember you had to switch around the factions in some text file or other. Can somebody tell me which file and how

[Googlie]

find the alphacentauri.ini file and change the seven factions order to:

Faction 1=GAIANS
Faction 2=HIVE
Faction 3=UNIV
Faction 4=ANGELS
Faction 5=MORGAN
Faction 6=SPARTANS
Faction 7=PEACE

(If that sounds hack-ishly difficult, then just start a new game and select the seven factions in that order, then start the game and immediately save it (as rubbish, 2101, or something equally silly) then exit.

Next time you load ACDG it'll load with the right faction graphics

[Snoddasmannen]

Thanks Googlie! Now I have seen Sparta
I'm still having some problems with a bunch of drones showing up in the main base screen, but they don't seem to appear anywhere else. Odd that... But other than that, I like Sparta

[Googlie]

yeah - we all get those "fake drones" as well on a base-by-base basis (change from the "resource" window in the baseview to the "psych" one and you can see that they are fake --- or use the F4 screen and view the population on a macro basis)

[Snoddasmannen]

Now that the Castor Horsemen have disbanded and are fighting a guerilla war in Morgania or returning home on improvised rafts, I suddenly find myself unemployed! There are quite a few new units being commissioned these days, and not too many commanding officers, I'll check the save and find a nice one and send in my application

[Maniac]

/me enters the mess, orders a fungal gin, looks around for a familiar face, and after getting his drink walks to Snoddasmannen who is still contemplating what unit(s) to command.

Ah, I'm glad I've found you, Snoddasmannen. Over at Air Force Command we're trying to find out what are the the odds for certain of our aircraft to defeat that veteran plasma garrison in Vander Eudaimonics. That's why I'd like to use your combat simulator, but unfortunately I can't find back the link anymore. Do you still have it by any chance?

[Snoddasmannen]

/me looks up from the just released public message from the Gaians. A large vein appears to be throbbing in his forehead and the metal mug in his right hand seems to be surrendering to pressure.

Huh? Oh greetings Colonel. You can find that here:

http://www2.onyx.nu/pb/alpha/AlphaBattle.htm

It is far from perfect, but it could give you a hint in the right direction.

[Maniac]

Thanks a lot! Gone into my favourites! Drink some fungal gins on my costs. I heard a whole new shipload is coming from Arcadia, so need to hold back.

[Snoddasmannen]

Yeah give me a couple of those. I'm going to try to learn to ski downhill tomorrow, I've never done that in my life

[Modo44]

Originally posted by Snoddasmannen
* Snoddasmannen looks up from the just released public message from the Gaians. A large vein appears to be throbbing in his forehead and the metal mug in his right hand seems to be surrendering to pressure.

They are funny, aren't they? It's like they thought our "strategy" should consist of head-on all-out assaults against the closest enemy. One would think this long game should have convinced people otherwise, but...