Morgan Industries DECLARES WAR!

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Snoddasmannen
Great work Googlie! Wish I had SMAX so I could play with it ...

Ask and ye shall receive

Here it is in smac (the attack is OK, but I haven't given the other factions the detail that the smax sim has)

Load it as a single-player game, and it should open with the cruiser - move it 2 tiles to the right (East) and begin the invasion

[Googlie]

Hmm - interesting

With current defenses our 4 impact rovers can empty Mussels (but don't enter it, just bypass it) capture Morgan Industries and destroy the PTS, and also capture Polymers and destroy the HGP

We end up with 2 pairs of stacked rovers and 20 years of sanctions........................ but have crippled Morgan

Maybe overkill for losing a laser gunfoil?

Or typically Spartan?

[Googlie]

Got a PM from Mead:

Text of a PM from mead to Googlie

Resolution of Current Difficulties

Happy New Year Googlie,

I just got back in town and see a lot has happend since I left.

It's still a little sketchy (I can't get into the embassy so I'm working only of what I can read in the forums) but it looks like the following happened.

Our probe was exploring in the northern sea.

Sparta declared a MODO (I think) doctraine claiming to extend its terrtitorial seas eight squares out into the international seas.

Our probe discovered the Hunter in international waters (but within the area Sparta attempted to claim).

I think Sparta stated it would destroy any ships
within the claimed area.

Even though the probe action cost a lot of money, it was clear to the crew of the probefoil that it would be killed the next turn if it did not probe the Hunter. In self defense the probe foil probed the Hunter.

Please let me know if I have missed anything.

Mead

and my reply:

PM reply by Googlie to Mead


And a Happy New year to you, too, Mead:

A somewhat ingenuous defense, if I may say so.

My comments annotated to your message:

It's still a little sketchy (I can't get into the embassy)


The Embassy was destroyed by a crazed horde of Spartan Helots who lost loved ones on board the Hunter (I took it off-line, but it made a great fiction story piece - I'm shortly going to post it in the general forum where jtsisyoda posted about Ambassador Mead vacating the Embassy)


so I'm working only of what I can read in the forums) but it looks like the following happened.

Our probe was exploring in the northern sea.

Sparta declared a MODO (I think) doctraine claiming to extend its terrtitorial seas eight squares out into the international seas.

8 squares from our nearest bases

Our probe discovered the Hunter in international waters (but within the area Sparta attempted to claim).

The Hunter was exactly 8 tiles form our nearest base - on patrol

I think Sparta stated it would destroy any ships within the claimed area.

Indeed we did

Even though the probe action cost a lot of money, it was clear to the crew of the probefoil that it would be killed the next turn if it did not probe the Hunter. In self defense the probe foil probed the Hunter.

1 tile north and 1 northeast would have been at our limit (and on the diagonal northeast from that) - 2 tiles north or northwest would have been outside our claimed waters. There were clear alternatives to mind-controlling the vessel

Please let me know if I have missed anything.

Mead


Ambassador Lieutenant-Colonel Kassiopeia has been charged with ongoing discussions with the Corporation. The replacement costs for the SCC Hunter have been set at 120 energy credits (to rush build a replacement from scratch)

Of course, returning the Hunter to a Spartan port, and ceding control back to Sparta, would ameliorate these costs significantly. But I will leave these negotiations to the Lt Colonel.

For our part, we saw the action of the Corporation as being somewhat of an opportunistic nature, occupied as we were with the liberation of North Arcadia. You saw the ship, you could "poke us in the eye" by acquiring it in retribution for our killing of your defense attorney and at the same time suspend due payments for traded technologies, while we were engaged elsewhere.

Relations are therefore at a low point, understandably. I don't know what Lt-Col Kassiopeia can salvage, but just remember - and pass it on to your colleagues - Sparta has a long memory.

Colonel Googlie

EDIT: LOL, except that his bloody PM mailbox is full, so nothing can be sent

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by Googlie


Ask and ye shall receive

Here it is in smac (the attack is OK, but I haven't given the other factions the detail that the smax sim has)

Load it as a single-player game, and it should open with the cruiser - move it 2 tiles to the right (East) and begin the invasion

[/quote]

Awesome! I played around with it a bit, the Morgans seem like a push-over just by my initial impression, they had better build up those defenses, or it will just be too easy.

With current defenses our 4 impact rovers can empty Mussels (but don't enter it, just bypass it) capture Morgan Industries and destroy the PTS, and also capture Polymers and destroy the HGP

We end up with 2 pairs of stacked rovers and 20 years of sanctions........................ but have crippled Morgan

Maybe overkill for losing a laser gunfoil?

Well the situation could be entirely different come 2158 of course, but that does sound like a whole heap of fun The G&A would be ecstatic.

But 20 years ... Do sanctions from the AI include sanctions on tech trading?

Got a PM from Mead:

Great reply Googlie! You make it feel as if we're setting up negotiations for a reluctant peace treaty, which will cost the Morgans lots of cash. The Morgans realize that this treaty is probably their best shot anyway and will probably send their top diplomats and then go off to enjoy a nice vacation.

Nice touch with the "cede-back-the-Hunter"-idea, it makes it look as if we've actually discussed it

[Googlie]

It's just commerce income that we give up - tech trades are still allowed (but I'd wager we must be getting close to a 20 year sunspot soon anyway)

And I still can't send the PM to Mead - his inbox is full. I don't have an e-mail addy else I'd just e-mail it to him

[Snoddasmannen]

Try PM:ing other members of the Board.
EDIT: Or maybe not ....


Note to self: Think THEN post!

[Googlie]

I sent it to him via 'Poly's e-mail link. I think the formatting would be crappy, though, but at least the text got through

(I also posted the text in the Morgan-Sparta Rrelations thread)

[Maniac]

Originally posted by Googlie
(but I'd wager we must be getting close to a 20 year sunspot soon anyway)

How will we get IntInt from the Angels if sunspot strikes before 2170?

(Damn I hate sunspots. Is there no way to disable them?)

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by Maniac


How will we get IntInt from the Angels if sunspot strikes before 2170?

I'm sure the Angels will allow us to probe them for it.

Are we allowed to publish papers or conduct normal diplomacy during sunspots?

[Googlie]

I had a great idea in bed last night for more appropriate response to the Morgan m/c of the Hunter:

The Incredible Spartan Crawler Heist

At Choke on This Morgan has completed (a podpop, it has to be) a synth rover crawler (they call them 1/2 an SP on wheels). They'll deploy it to work in the next few turns as they don't have an SP to build

Sparta sends a Mercury with 2 longstriders and a skanky and subverts it from under Morgan's noses

Unfortunately. when I scenario-tested it, it'd cost 860 ec's to do, so not practicable. But imagine the propaganda value

Destroying the base with the PTS does seem somewhat drastic overkill, but, hey, that's the Spartan way (and if we time the founding of Fort Superiority to the turn we capture the PTS - before destroying the base, we might get a size 3 base instantly)

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Maniac
(Damn I hate sunspots. Is there no way to disable them?)

It's a random event - it can be turned off at game set up (just click the "Bell Curve" option)

Buster didn't:

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Snoddasmannen


I'm sure the Angels will allow us to probe them for it.

That's what would usually happen between pactmates. But it needs to be agreed-upon in advance, and with us andf the Angels it'd take a bushel of trust for them to let us do it (ie trust that we wouldn't send 2 probes and use the first for infiltration)

[quote}Are we allowed to publish papers or conduct normal diplomacy during sunspots? [/QUOTE]

We prolly need to get this clarified - I imagine by a vote of all 5 teams (It's not really a Mod issue - more a game mechanics issue that wasn't addressed in the rules.)

I believe that I had random events disabled in ACDG2

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by Googlie
I had a great idea in bed last night for more appropriate response to the Morgan m/c of the Hunter:

The Incredible Spartan Crawler Heist

lol I love it It's a shame it's so expensive. But hey, we can always do a simultaneous raid on the Crawler at the same turn as the PTS Raid, just to knock it out. That would have some propaganda value too.

Destroying the base with the PTS does seem somewhat drastic overkill, but, hey, that's the Spartan way (and if we time the founding of Fort Superiority to the turn we capture the PTS - before destroying the base, we might get a size 3 base instantly)

Well, it is certainly overkill if it was just a reaction to a foil being probed. But of course, it is just step 1 in a previously planned game-long vendetta. I don't really see relations brightening up with the Morgans after we destroy their capital base with their most important wonder in it

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Snoddasmannen
But hey, we can always do a simultaneous raid on the Crawler at the same turn as the PTS Raid, just to knock it out. That would have some propaganda value too.

Yeah - we could. We'll have a Cruiser transport in 2 turns at GH and a CoastGuard Cruiser in 2 at MT - we could send Rolling Thunder II (upgraded to impact, 'cos their crawler is syntharmored) and a longstrider to Choke-on-This and take out their crawler.

Our diplo message to them might be:

"We took out your armored rover crawler as recompense for your mind-controlling the Hunter........................ and we destroyed your HQ, and the Planetary Transit System, because ..................... well, because we are Spartans"

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by Googlie

Yeah - we could. We'll have a Cruiser transport in 2 turns at GH and a CoastGuard Cruiser in 2 at MT - we could send Rolling Thunder II (upgraded to impact, 'cos their crawler is syntharmored) and a longstrider to Choke-on-This and take out their crawler.

Sounds great to me
Why exactly would we need the longstrider? Maybe we'll need another unit to help stack against probes, but that could be a synthmetal defender of some sort.

Our diplo message to them might be:

"We took out your armored rover crawler as recompense for your mind-controlling the Hunter........................ and we destroyed your HQ, and the Planetary Transit System, because ..................... well, because we are Spartans"

Yes it has to be

We could mention it casually at the bottom of a post, regarding something completely different and harmless, in the embassy.