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  • War with Morgan

    Colonel Maniac paced restlessly back and forward on the bridge command deck of the SNC Mercury.. Three paces one way, then turning on his heels, three paces the other.

    He glanced over at the Brigade Commanders.

    “By Corazon, what is taking Googlie so long?” he asked of no one in particular.

    “How much time does it take to read and digest the reports of four or five field agents, look over the data intercepts, synthesize them and then encrypt and send them to us?

    “A few hours? A day? We’ve been cooped up in this fungus field forever it seems”

    Lt-Colonel Kassiopeia looked up. He’d been the least restless of the Brigade Commanders, busy as he’d been with the layout and production of the latest edition of the Phalanx. Plus, negotiations, such as they were, had occupied some of his time. It hadn’t been so easy for the other 3 Captains, though. They’d discussed strategy, played some cards, talked with their men, and generally made the inactivity bearable. All were men of action, though, and fretted under the enforced rest.

    “I’ve really no idea,” the Lt Colonel replied. It’s not my field of expertise, but if the agents have as much trouble communication as our Embassy staff, we could be here a while yet”

    Kapitan KrysiasKrusader stretched his legs, inadvertently kicking Captain Andemagne in the process. “I did some work for Colonel Googlie a few years ago, when CRYPTEIA was first set up. I don’t think it’s the analysis that takes time – more the fact that the information comes in at different times from different sources and needs to be independently verified.”

    Captain Snoddasmannen nodded in agreement. “It took time to set up the network in the captured territories, so I imagine it’s been difficult with the Corporation now that we are in vendetta.”

    Colonel Maniac refused to be mollified. “Well he could release it piecemeal – whatever he has. It doesn’t have to be picture perfect.”

    He turned on his heel, and stopped in front of the large commlink screen, where the face of Commander Modo looked on impassively.

    “What’s your take, Commander? Is the GeneralTacticus ready to go?”

    The Commander answered: “Well, Sir, I’d have liked more time to get the crew familiarized with the missile weaponry – after all, we didn’t get a refit in any of our bases, but had to rely on being talked through it by commlink from Sparta Command. The engineers are fairly confident that they got it right, but of course we couldn’t test fire any weapons for fear of giving our position away”

    The Colonel nodded, and resumed his pacing, pausing at the sweeping window to look out over the waving fungus tendrils all around them in the ocean. Was the Morgan vessel somewhere close – perhaps within hearing distance? He’d give the command a few days ago for maximum stealth, but it had been difficult masking the welders and armament fitters as they installed the missiles and their firing mechanisms.

    He resigned himself to the wait.

    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    “Sir?”

    Colonel Maniac roused himself at the voice.

    It was Commander Modo from the GeneralTacticus

    “Yes, Commander?”

    “We’re receiving the encrypted signals now. We’ll decrypt them and post them on the secure commlink for y’all to see.”

    The Colonel roused the others who settled in around the screen to see the agents’ reports and Sparta Command’s analysis.

    //begin transmission

    Secure transmission from CRYPTEIA Headquarters, order of Colonel Googlie ………………..

    Morgan Plama Hoverboat left Mussels a few days ago, heading west into the fungus ……………………

    No change to Mussels garrison status – 1 rover chassis syntharmored defensive unit and 2 infantry probe teams ……………………….

    Crawler at Morgan Industries moved as expected to the northeast of the base ………………

    No change to MI’s garrison contingent – 1 defense attorney team ……………..

    Operation PTS seems to be a go – repeat – it is a go …………….

    //end transmission


    The Colonel looked around the small group of officers:

    “Gentlemen, start your engines. We’re going in”

    He turned back to the screen, where the Commander could now be seen with his senior officers of the General Tacticus.

    “Lead the way, Commander. It’s finally time for action.”
    Last edited by Googlie; February 18, 2005, 21:45.

  • #2
    Commander Modo gave the helm over to Lt Commander ManOWar2.

    “Easy does it,” he muttered unnecessarily.

    “Ahead five,” the Lt Commander breathed into the wrist commlink.

    Slowly the juggernaut that was the GeneralTacticus edged forward, gaining momentum, until, she slid through the fungus at five klicks per hour.

    “What’s the target acquisition range for these babies?” asked the Commander

    “90 klicks max” came the reply from his gunnery officer who went by the nickname ‘Hannibal’. “We’ve tested the IR signature acquisition rangefinders on the Mercury, so we’re pretty confident that we can pick out the Morgan vessel before she sees us. Command is calling them Mk. 12(t) 'Sabre' missiles – dunno why 12, though.”

    “Fire rate?” asked Commander Modo

    “6 per” came the typically laconic reply from the gunnery officer.

    “Burst or stagger?” asked Modo

    “Either setting,” replied Hannibal. Burst if we get a good paint, as we can bracket the target that way, otherwise stagger to account for evasive movement………… hang on ……………….. we’re pinging them now, Sir. It’s a solid one, range 77 klicks. I suggest we fire a burst “

    “Agreed,” replied Commander Modo – it’s your call”

    Hannibal nodded, and bent to the task, muttering into his wrist commlink.

    “Change heading to eleven degrees northwest, Captain, - we’ll present less of a profile that way.”

    Obediently Lt Commander ManOWar2 gave the command and the GeneralTacticus veered to present its bow to the distant Morgan vessel.

    “Permission to fire, Sir” asked Hannibal as per Standard Operating Procedures.

    “Fire at will, Officer,” replied Modo tersely, then braced himself for the inevitable.

    The noise was deafening as the salvo of six sabre missiles erupted from the GeneralTacticus’ twin missile turrets, and the early dawn was overlaid by a blinding flash that illuminated the fungus for several kilometers around the cruiser as the missiles disappeared into the mist.

    “How long ‘till impact?” asked the Commander

    “Well, at mach 2.2 it’ll take them just over 4 minutes to travel the 75 klicks,” replied the gunnery officer. “Almost due, I reckon.”

    They saw the explosion a few seconds before they heard it, the noise muffled by the deadening effect of the fungus.

    “Full ahead” barked the captain. Commander Modo looked at Lt Commander ManOWar2: “In a hurry to get there. Are we?” he asked with a grin

    “No, Sir. But I reckon that if they had any warning at all they’ll have tracked our trajectory and will be throwing something back at us, and I want to be as far away from where we were as possible”

    As if on cue, there were shouts from the stern.

    The officers looked back. The rear one-third of the GeneralTacticus glowed an eerie green, and suddenly she felt sluggish in the water, coasting to a stop.

    “Damage control?” growled ManOWar2. “Come in. What’s the status?”

    “Minimal. Sir,” came the reply. “Diode laser, but weak at that due to the distance – maybe 10% loss of power and a little bit of interference with our steering. Still functional though.”

    ManOWar2 grunted. Worse than he’d hoped for but better than he’d feared. But the GeneralTacticus was still shipworthy and battleworthy. He looked over to Commander Modo. “Set to go, sir. We’re stalled for the moment, but there’s nothing in the way of the Mercury now.”

    Commander Modo nodded, then activated his commlink, to look at the face of Colonel Maniac. ………….. “All clear, Sir. Good luck”

    He deactivated the link and settled down to wait.

    Comment


    • #3
      Colonel Maniac held a final briefing with his officers.

      “Andi – your brigade is first off – your objective is to remove the threat that the Morgan Mussels’ garrison poses. After that, relax and wait for re-inforcements.

      “Krys. Andi will have cleared the way for you to spearthrust right into the Morgan Industries suburbs to take out the probe team defenses they have there. Our simulations show that you’ll take about 30% damage, so enter the base once its empty and scrounge out repairs.

      “Snod – you’ll follow right behind Krys. You’re loaded with demolitions, so try not to engage in any skirmishing on the way. Your objective is the disbandment of the Network Node for whatever we can get for it, then the demolition of the base itself. Remember to commlink us when you are in possession of the PTS itself, so that I can give the go-ahead to Captain vishniac at the ironholm site.

      “Kassi – you’re our reserve. Initially just to cover Andi, who’ll be damaged by the Mussels defenders – but if you have enough mobility – and our sims say that you will have, then enter Mussels (that’ll cause the citizens to flee for their lives, effectively shutting down the port) then rejoin Andi for protection from the Morgan probes.

      “Everyone clear?”

      Captain Snodassmannen spoke up: “Sir. The sims indicate that both Krys and I will have some mobility left after destroying the base. Do we sit tight, look for targets of opportunity such as crawlers of formers, or move upriver together into the suburbs of Polymers?”

      The Colonel thought for a moment.

      “If there are crawlers that can be taken out – without you separating – then do so, otherwise try to secure a spot on the river where an attack on Polymers will be easy”

      “Roger that,” came the measured reply.

      The intercom interrupted them:

      Officers – landfall in ten minutes – muster with your vehicles.”

      They looked out. Through the swaying fungus tendrils they could now make out the port of Morgan Mussels, with small boats scuttling out of their way as the Mercury headed inexorably for the main quay. Behind the port rose the forested hills, and in the distance to the east could be seen the towers and the impressive skyline of Morgan Industries itself, their targeted destination.

      Supressing – but not quite – a grin of satisfaction, the Colonel raised an arm. “Let’s go,” he said, and they followed him down to the vehicle decks.

      Comment


      • #4
        The Mercury sailed past the open quay, and entered the shallow waters of the bay to the northwest of the port itself.

        “Full astern” mouthed Lt Commander ManOWar2 into his speaker as the huge engines reversed thrust and the Mercury slowly bled momentum, coasting to the shore.

        “Deploy bow ramps”

        The roll-on/roll-off ramps in the bow of the mercury thudded to the shingle on the shore even as the command rover with Captain Andemagne standing tall in the command turret roared off, instantly followed by the vehicles of the Chiron Knights Brigade.

        They strung out to the north of the port, rampaging through the flat and moist farms, following the road to Argi Narnia as best they could, but getting stymied at the Morgan Industries crossroads by the Mussels defensive garrison who had hurriedly taken up position there.

        Andi looked at his small command screen, which displayed the latest CRYPTEIA information:

        odds in favor of the Federation 7:3
        Impact Rover 4 * 1.5 for elite = 6
        Scout defensive 2 *-12% (green) +25% (base defense) + 25% (nearby sensor) = 2.73


        “Engage”

        The battle was short, but the defenders were tenacious. Captain Andemagne reckoned that his brigade suffered around 30% casualties, but the defensive squads were destroyed, along with the probe defenders who were just so much collateral damage, contributing little in the way of defense against Impact weapons.

        “Road secured” he commlinked to the Colonel, directing operations from the Mercury’s bridge.

        “Krys, you’re up,” the Colonel shouted over the din of the Rovers fission engines’ whining. Captain KrysiasKrusader raised an arm in acknowledgement, and the Warwag Brigade followed him off the ship, heading east at high speed through the farmlands towards Morgan Industries.

        They climbed through the 1,000 meter level and then the 1500 meter level, riding the wide road that ran through the Eastern Terrapeso Forest, with the objective always ahead, always above. Morgan Industries. Jewel of the Corporation.

        Like Captain Andemagne before him, Captain KrysiasKrusader consulted the small monitor displaying the latest information Colonel Googlie had fed to the invasion force:

        odds in favor of the Federation 12:5
        Impact Rover 4 * 1.5 for elite = 6
        Synthmetal defense attorney 2 + 0 (Disciplined) +25% (base defense) = 2.50


        Better odds. He’d seen some simulation versions where a bonus had been granted the attackers for attacking along roads, with bonuses and penalties for attacking downhill or uphill. Idly he wondered what difference to the odds these variations might have made.

        No matter, the battle was soon joined, and just as soon over. He was surprised that weaponless defenders could have done so much damage, reckoning that he’d lost about 20% of the Warwag Brigade.

        He entered the base, and ran the Federation flag up the flagpole of the old headquarters building, now about to do duty as a Command Center.

        He got a pleasant surprise when he entered the evacuated Energy Bank Building and fired up the banks of computers only to see Colonel Googlie’s face appear on them, suppressing a grin..

        “Well done, Captain. And how do you like our agents’ work – we’ve hooked up their Banking network at Industries to our Maritime Control Center network – you effectively have a naval yard right there inland!! Not that it’ll survive, though. Captain Snoddasmannen is already on his way with the demolitions.”

        Right on schedule, the Captain could hear the commotion as the Castor Horsemen Brigade entered the base, raucous as ever. He went out to meet his counterpart.

        “We’ll start with the Network Node – salvage what we can and try to sell what we can to the population. Then we’ll plant the demolitions and sit tight. Have you commlinked Command yet?”

        “Not yet.” Captain Snoddasmannen replied.

        “But they know by now – I had Colonel Googlie on the ‘net gloating at how clever his Crypteia were in using the old Energy Bank to simulate a Naval Yard. You’d better do it formally for Colonel Maniac, though.”

        Snoddasmannen nodded, and activated his commlink: “Colonel, Snodd here. The PTS is ours.”

        He switched off.

        Both Brigades were busy with the dismantling of the Network Node and the laying of the demolition charges, and when they gathered that evening to exchange notes they saw that the simulations had been dead accurate. The Node’s dismantling had resulted in 40 energy credits equivalency being transferred to the Federation.

        “We’re ready anytime,” said Captain KrysiasKrusader. We can take out that crawler to the east after we demolish the base – that’ll hurt them production-wise as well as energy wise. I wonder how the others are doing?”

        Lt Colonel Kassiopeia and his Shinsengumi Brigade were the last to roll off the Mercury, stopping to exchange pleasantries with the Chiron Knights’ crewmen.

        Kassiopeia looked over at his friend, Captain Andemagne – “The Colonel says for you to have the honour of entering Mussels first and frightening away the women and the chickens. I’ll follow you in. That way you’ll be able to scrounge some repairs for the Brigade. We’ll stay there for the time being until we’re all back at full health.”

        Andemagne nodded agreement, then raised his arm as his Brigade followed him into the rapidly emptying base, the Lt Colonel and the Shinsengumi Brigade at their rear.

        Colonel maniac settled back in his command chair on the Mercury bridge, and looked at Colonel Googlie’s face on the large commlink screen.

        “By Corazon we did it, Allardyce,” he said to the screen. Googlie nodded. “Indeed, Pedro, we did. Now comes the hard part, though. Authorizing the deaths of ten thousand innocent Morganites.”

        “We’ve been through that, and discussed it ad nauseum in the Junta,” Colonel Maniac replied. Let’s get it over with.”

        Colonel Googlie nodded, and depressed the key at Sparta Command.

        Simultaneously, Colonel Maniac depressed the key on the Mercury command console, and with heavy hearts they watched the report coming in.
        Attached Files
        Last edited by Googlie; February 19, 2005, 01:35.

        Comment


        • #5
          Captain Zeiter hushed his jovial officers who were having a riotous game of 5-card Ironholdem and strained his ears to listening pick up the audio transmission that was barely coming in.

          "This blasted wind and rain...the signal won't come through..."

          "These southern oceans sure do have some wicked storm systems." Chimed the Pegasus's chief meteorologist, who stood looking out of the window at the monstrous waves which were lashing the side of the ship. "You see, cold ocean currents originate south of here and move north along the western Gaian coast. We happen to be right in the area where the cold ocean currents meet the warm, moist air masses coming out of southern Yangland. What happens is you have the col-"

          "Yes, yes, I am familiar with our current meteorlogical conditions." Zeiter interjected. He tried the transmitter again. Still static. As he listened, Zeiter also looked out of the cabin window, and it seemed to him that the waves were reaching up out of the very depths of the ocean like great tentacles slamming wildly around.

          "These waves are...unusually fierce. Johnson, check the lower decks."

          "Aye, Captain!"

          The meteorologist gave a slight grin and spoke in a hushed voice, "Yes, I know what you are thinking. It does seem like that sometimes. We haven't encountered anything like what you are imagining yet, but it's entirely possible. The native ocean life, when agitated, is capable of inflicting great damage against human vessels, especially an unarmed one such as the Pegasus."

          "Do you think having the Battle Ogre onboard will have any effect?" Zeiter inquired.

          "Well, I'm not a native life biologist, but I've heard rumors that there are some connections between the Ogre articfacts and the native life. And, of course, there's the ongoing expansion of the human presence on this planet. It is very difficult to read the planetmind, although some recent transmissions seem to hint that we may soon possess control of some device that may help us to better understand the native life. But there's reason to believe that the planet is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the industrial exploitation of its natural resources and the destruction of the fungal habitats. Apparently, from what I've heard, the native life is particularly hostile to the Morganite presence."

          "Ah, yes, which brings us to something very much on my mind. Have you heard any news regarding the situation with the Morganites?"

          "No, the storms have been preventing clear transmission for close to a week now."

          Presently one of the officers called over to Captain Zeiter.
          "Hey, Captain, I think I hear something."

          "Excellent. Let me have it."

          Zeiter focused all of his attention on the faint static and barely perceptible murmurings now coming from the audio commlink, unconsciously squinting his eyes in concentration. His gaze suddenly grew harder and more resolute.

          "Wait, I'm hearing something...operation...is a...Operation PTS is a go, it's a go." Zeiter slowly looked up at the faces of his men, now crowded around the commlink receiver. "Gentlemen, our comrades will soon embark upon Morganite lands, nobly defending our homeland from unrestrained Morganite aggression. May the glory of Sparta carry them to victory." Zeiter's face was grave and solemn. "Now, I know that many of you are thinking the same thoughts as I. You wish that you could be one of those honored warriors to undertake that historic mission. But we must realize that our unit, the R-112, also has duties that need to be performed. They may not be as glorious as those of Operation PTS, but they are integral to the security of Sparta nonetheless. We must remain especially vigilant in these times ahead. Who knows, one day soon we may also find ourselves called upon to fight and die for our glorious Spartan Federation."
          Civ IV is digital crack. If you are a college student in the middle of the semester, don't touch it with a 10-foot pole. I'm serious.

          Comment


          • #6
            Great stories!
            a Spartan Eco-Science specimen.
            ----
            Producing Buddhism.
            Enlightenment is the Base, Way & Goal.

            Comment


            • #7
              Yes indeed
              Let's hope that Googlie's prophecies come true

              Comment


              • #8
                Partial logs of the Morgan invasion live chat:

                Edit: Huh. For some reason the names won't show up when I post this. Wierd.

                ---

                Ie: the third attack form the
                rover on the pegasus
                ah welcome :-)
                > hey
                Just for the record, it's the SNC Mercury
                Oh, sorry
                > I just put forward a proposal on the forum that
                could save us a little more $$$
                Pegasus is at the Gaian coast IIRC
                > We could either disband or upgrade R-112 to
                something else before doing the main upgrade
                > Then we'd only need 320 ECs
                so 100 credits extra, but a much higher
                chance of success...
                We're thinking about Gatling
                Let me check the odds on
                that former attack too
                > Ah, gatling, that's a good idea

                Btw, I'll need to go in a couple of
                minutes. Will be back later in the night though
                So what was the strength of
                the defender in MI?
                [Sat Feb 19 17:12:34 GMT-06:00 2005] Googlie
                the IIIrd
                err
                I had three Snoddasmen
                once too.
                2,5 IIRC
                > That's all?
                The chance to attack that
                sucker and be left with 7 or more MP goes up to
                ...
                so 7,5 against 2,5
                8 + 16 + 19 + 16
                = 69?
                59
                ?
                So we need to be
                successful in either a 73.3% or a 59% (thanks)

                Some 80-90% chance for the whole
                raid then, no?
                The odds of neither of that
                happening is 26.7%*41% =
                Yup, 90%
                But I remind you, this is all
                assuming my contraption is actually working
                That's paying 100c extra for reducing
                the chance of failure by three
                Sorry, I need to recalculate
                these figures, I forgot to use the HP vs HP
                algorithm. Should be about the same tho
                Everyone else is so silent?
                Too many math?
                > How are the chances of a continued attack on
                the HGP looking right now?
                > in the next few turns
                We'll be very lucky if we still have any of
                our rovers next turn
                IIRC
                The numbers turned out to
                differ by less than 1%
                (quite amazing)

                I think the extra 100 are
                definately worth it
                We could afford it, no?
                after selling the Fort Soup hab complex
                yes
                > why haven't we sold that hab complex already?
                > I doubt we will use it anytime soon
                > Yeah, let's sell it
                err, because no one mentioned it
                > Eh, it happens
                Maniac, have you ever
                experienced that the first rover is too damaged
                from combat to use its 3rd mp?
                > okay, so let's analyze what the end result will be:
                With impact, yeah
                > Morgan will be greatly damaged - no PTS, no
                HQ, drone riots, loss of some units
                > We will have lost our main fighting force
                I gotta go now. i'll perhaps see you later
                tonight :-)
                > see ya
                bye
                Bye
                > the others will be firmly opposed to us
                Doesn't that sound nice
                Zeiter?
                > Hmmm, the killing of the Morgans sounds nice
                > But can we be sure that this will cripple them for
                good?
                > They would still have the HGP
                > They could still have the necessary drone
                control with some heavy psych allocations
                > Meanwhile we'll have sanctions
                > and diplomatic troubles, I'm sure
                Well, maybe some
                But we will have those
                anyway right?
                > and we will have lost our main fighting force in
                which we had invested 250+ ECs.
                > So, basically we're spending 250 ECs to destroy
                Morgan's PTS and HQ, no?
                We may be able to save
                one rover, but yes, the loss of three of them
                seems inevitable
                [Sat Feb 19 17:27:09 GMT-06:00 2005] Googlie
                Yep
                I agree basically with that
                sheesh - that was crappy
                what's up
                Maniac gone?
                > Hmmm, I just wonder, if we can do this much
                damage this ill-prepared, surely the Morganites
                wouldn't be able to withstand much more
                Yeah
                He might be back later tho
                did we decide it's a go?
                upgrade to Gatling?
                > Would it not be better to hold the force and
                combine it with another force from the east
                several turns from now?
                I lost contact when the odds were
                being calculated
                > Or go now?
                I'd say that if the odds are better than
                even that we can destroy the PTS this turn,
                then we do so
                I don't know Zeiter, I
                suspect they'll have a massive force up soon
                > hmmmm, are we upon the point of no return?
                They'll have missile plasma units
                before we know what's what
                Preliminary number was
                about 90% success, but I think it's a bit
                optimistic, I'm doing a thorough calculation now
                With gatling that is.
                I'll run the sim with gatling and see
                what happens
                We prolly should sell the Fort Soup hab
                complex in any event - we'll shrink from 6 to 5
                next turn thru hunger
                > But would it not be possible to ally with the
                others against the yellow menace?
                > If Morgan was to get that big and secure?
                I don't know Zeiter, he'll get
                really really big
                His economy is twice as
                large as us
                > I just have the feeling that we're setting
                ourselves up for a catastrophic diplomatic
                backlash
                Maniac calculated a while
                back
                > Which will harm us more in the long run than
                having Morgan grow
                Why do you think the other
                humans will resent us so for this attack?
                > Because:
                > 1. It will show our penchant for aggression
                > 2. It will present us as the human superpower
                (although Morgan won't be nearly crippled
                enough to be out of the picture
                > It would be different if we could take out the HGP
                and PEG too, because then we could be fairly
                confident of mopping up Morgan before being
                forced to deal with the others
                > But as it is now, Morgan will be just crippled
                enough to make us seem the superpower, but
                for Morgan to stil be a potent threat
                Well I don't know 1. It will
                come as no surprise to them that this is how
                we are going to win this game
                And they will still see that
                Morgan is very powerful
                > Perhaps it will all work out
                > like you say
                > Hmmmm, if we upgrade the rovers to
                amphibious gatling, R-112, coupled with the
                Ogre, will make a nice rapid strike force
                I just don't think we have the
                option of leaving Morgan to grow unhindered
                > We could use that as a bit of a "stick" if the
                Gaians get too uppity
                Yeah Or we could shove
                it in Yangs face
                > Well, we are growing too
                > We'll soon have the manifold nexus
                > We could easily turn towards Yang and gobble
                up some niiiiice territory there
                Fair enough, but I just think
                Morgan is so much better at growing than we
                are
                > Once we get intellectual integ, we can upgrade
                our hoplites to police infantry, letting our cities
                grow
                > But we can grow through our military
                > yes, conventionally, we could not grow better
                than Morgan
                > But with our military...in fact, that
                > that's just what we did with the University
                > We used our military to grow and expand, and in
                that time we've caught up to and surpassed
                Morgan in the powercharts
                > What if we now turned against Yang with all of
                our force, including this strike force near
                Morgania now?
                > We could take that entire jungle continent, no?
                Well I don't know, Yang has
                a heck of a lot of troops
                And perimeters
                > yeah, but the AI is so stupid,
                lol granted
                > if we act cleverly, we could steamroll Yang
                It's possible
                > All it would take is 5 probe teams, our pegasus
                team, our two missle rovers (the 6-1-2 and the
                6-2-2), our Morgan strike force, and maybe a
                few elite 6-1-1s
                > Of course, I mean our Morgan strike force
                upgraded, as is the plan now
                > Yang would fold within 10 years
                10 years? I doubt that ...
                We would have to be brutally effecient with our
                troops
                > Meanwhile, Morgan is paranoia as $hit and
                building support-costing military units like crazy
                > and those troops are of no threat to us, as
                Morgan has no naval capability that we can't
                handle
                [Sat Feb 19 17:44:15 GMT-06:00 2005] Googlie IV
                > And we don't have any sanctions
                > and the others have no immediate reason to
                jump on us
                Gatling works a charm
                There's enough power in the first
                strike, from the Mercury, to take out the probe,
                the synthrover and MM's plasma defender
                second takes out the crawler as well
                as MI's synthrover
                third takes out the 2 formers
                Ok Zeiter, we'll get back to
                taht
                > yeah, sure
                > I'm just throwing out some ideas
                4th enters MI, wreaks havoc, and still
                has enough to form a triple stack as well as
                take out that second former sitting on the
                energy special
                > I'll follow whatever the group decides
                Whoa, a triple stack? How
                many times did you pull that off?
                > Wow, that is excellent, Googlie!
                I say we strike
                > Wow, if you feel confident about that level of
                success, then I say go for it!
                we deny Morgan the PTS for the rest
                of the game, causing drone riots in all size 3
                bases
                as well as ruining their expansion
                plans
                we deny them around 90 ec's this
                turn thru loss of energy bonuses
                > And we'll still have all 4 rovers intact?
                they'll have to build a HQ
                somewhere else to avoid inefficiencies
                > That means we could then strike against the
                HGP
                Yes - 1 in the Mercury and 3 stacked
                just outside the old MI
                > Awesome!
                How damaged are those
                rovers?
                Hmm - 1 is undamaged, one at 30
                and one at 40, IIRC
                > That's not bad at all
                I wonder if the Morgans
                have more stuff to throw at us
                > Still plenty of movement points left
                Many of those 6
                soon-to-be-built plasma units won't get built
                > Do they have any offensive units listed in their
                security nexus?
                and they'll be well within range of
                Polymers and its HGP next turn, so i don't think
                attack will be first and foremost on their minds
                no offensive units at all
                > hehehehe
                but you can bet they'll rush missile
                units
                > Too late, though
                > and where are they going to get the $$$?
                So let's just hope there's no
                extra unit hiding with the crawler ... Maniac
                tested and indeed an extra unit would not show.
                one byproduct of this approach,
                though, is that it leaves Mussels intact (as we
                attack from the ship, it isn't destroyed, just
                emptied)
                > I don't think that's too much of a detriment
                wwe can prolly account for every unit
                if we put our minds to it
                Even the formers?
                naw - that's the problem - and they
                have a few of them too
                > You know what would really suck?
                > If they had a plasma defender under that crawler
                > in the forest
                now those we can account for
                > that would be baaaaaad
                I think a former would be
                bad enough though
                Or do we have an mp to
                know one of those out?
                I say we go for it - sell the Hab
                complex, upgrade to gatling, and proceed
                > I say we go for it too
                I agree
                and maniac did too, earlier
                > I'd say, all the formers that they had around, they
                garrisoned inside MI
                Kassi? Modo? Vishniac?
                Who else did I forget?
                > otherwise, if they had stacked the formers with
                the crawlers, they would have had to worry
                about collateral damage taking them out
                sentry33 has been quite active
                recently
                Let's do it
                Loading the turn now
                > Yeah, let's go for it!
                Fine with me
                /me starts Spartan anthem
                /me figures its past
                midnight and turns the music down
                > But if ANYTHING goes not according to plan, we
                need to stop immediately and re-evaluate
                before going further
                we have some failsafe points as well
                if that first gatling rover doesn't take
                out all 3 defenders
                we can abort
                Yep
                > Well, we can consider aborting
                How many times did you
                test in the sim Googlie?
                > We'll see what the situation is
                or change objectives just to
                destroying everything within amphi range
                > That's an option
                We should probably abort
                and await consultation in such a case
                > Kind of my "Operation Viking" that I detailed
                earlier
                So let's make sure not to
                fail
                hab complex sold - reserves now
                stand at 313
                > Excellent
                > that's a good decision regardless of our battle
                plan
                Amphibious gatling Rover now
                prototyped
                5 Impact rovers now AmphiGats
                Godspeed AmphiGats
                OK - Chiron Knights took out the
                Synthrover and the MM plasma defender - used
                all iy=ts MPs with those 2
                took 70% damage in so doing, but is
                safe still aboard the mercury
                > Hmmm, okay, but we're still in good shape, no?
                Was that according to
                plan? What about the synth-defender?
                > We'll just have to leave one stranded, right?
                next one - should it land and take out
                the crawler and the probe, or take out the probe
                first than land and look to the crawler?
                Land first, I think
                probe and crawler destroyed - this'll
                be tight
                Are we down to over rover
                taking a defender and a former?
                (my heart's in my throat -)
                No - we still have 2 rovers in the ship
                - one can take the MI syntharmor and a former,
                while the other takes a former and the PTS
                > We should be alright
                I think I'll sdave here and test it on
                the sim
                No hidden formers under
                the crawler tho?
                nope
                Yes, save and test
                > We'll have to leave 1 rover stranded and
                disband it, and we'll end up with one stack of 2
                > and the one still in the Mercury
                But we still need a rover to
                take both a syntharmor and a former
                that's high risk
                > No, I think the sytharmor will be a piece of cake
                > And then the former is non-combat and very
                green
                > I don't see how our rover can be destroyed
                We need 7 hit points left
                after the attack on the synthie
                or we loose mps
                We can only afford to lose 3
                > I think we'll accomplish that easily
                > I think
                [Sat Feb 19 18:06:16 GMT-06:00 2005]
                Snoddasmannen 3
                > No, wait, I think we can afford to lose 4, no?
                > Doesn't it have to get down to 50% to lose a
                movement point?
                Darn, can somebody save
                the log of the attack for me?
                Not if it's elite
                > Ah
                [Sat Feb 19 18:07:11 GMT-06:00 2005] Googlie IV
                According to my combat
                simulator program, we have about 60% chance
                of doing that.
                Successfully
                > hmmmm
                well, it worked with me
                > BTW, I saved the log
                In the sim or in the game?

                Great Zeiter
                but had just 2/3rds of a point left
                when it entered MI
                > as much as I've been here for
                That's just enough Googlie
                > yep
                How many times did you try
                Googlie?
                just once so far
                I'll do some tests too, in that
                ol SMAC-sim you made
                > We have a 7.5 strength unit vs. a 2.5 strength
                unit
                > Usually such a match-up is a rout
                Last edited by Zeiter; February 19, 2005, 22:07.
                Civ IV is digital crack. If you are a college student in the middle of the semester, don't touch it with a 10-foot pole. I'm serious.

                Comment


                • #9
                  More logs...

                  ---

                  [Sat Feb 19 18:12:24 GMT-06:00 2005] Googlie
                  I'll proceed - but we may want to
                  disband the units immediately afterwards, to
                  avoid just gifting them to Morgan
                  > All of them?
                  > I would advise against disbanding any stacked
                  ones
                  > If it can be helped
                  3 of them
                  this last sim I was left with the 3 all
                  strung out
                  > Ah, not good
                  > Well, hmmm...
                  > We've come this far
                  Well, I'd say that the attack
                  succeeds in about 4 of 5 tests
                  [Sat Feb 19 18:15:24 GMT-06:00 2005] Googlie
                  > Very well, we'll have to disband them, then
                  THE PTS IS OURS !!!!!
                  YES!!!!
                  > Woohoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                  VICTORY!!!!
                  GREAT JOB!
                  ah - but with the triple bombardment
                  (rover and 2 formers) therev isn;t any facilities
                  to cash in

                  > Whew, against seemingly insurmountable odds,
                  we've managed to do it!
                  [Sat Feb 19 18:16:51 GMT-06:00 2005] Cap
                  Vishniac
                  Just in time Captain!
                  I'm back!
                  > the Morganites thought they could thwart us
                  > but they were WRONG!
                  Ironholm founded (size 3 base)
                  Yoohooh!
                  They threw everything they
                  had at us
                  It means....the PTS raid is
                  successful?!?!?
                  > And we threw everything we had at them
                  Yes Vishniac
                  WOW!!!
                  > Now's the time for the rather gruesome part...
                  Let us savour this moment
                  first
                  their net income drops to 364, with the
                  loss of the base and ensuing drone riots
                  > yes, and DON'T accidentally move the rover or
                  anything! LOL!
                  Googlie, save a screenie so
                  we can taunt the Morganites
                  > Yes!
                  Num lock on
                  > yeah
                  How many units do we lose?
                  Ah and he's gone again
                  We will loose 3, probably
                  We will have to disband
                  them so the Morgans don't steal them...
                  Do we still have two units
                  stacked on enemy ground?
                  Unfortunately no...
                  We have one damaged
                  rover still on the ship
                  The Castor Horsemen, as it
                  were. My unit ...
                  What a disgrace for them to
                  abandon their friends.
                  So it ended a kamikaze attack...
                  > and a glorious one at that
                  Yes, I think so ... Unless we
                  hear other news from Googlie.
                  > The Castor Horsemen did their duty,
                  Snoddasmannen
                  > Let us salute them!
                  > Now they shall sail for where?
                  > Yangland? Hehehe
                  Thank you.
                  To join R-112 perhaps, in
                  glorious combat.
                  > Yes, may we one day draw swords together!
                  (trivia: what movie is this line from?)
                  > actually, it's a book
                  Ben hur?
                  > no, Lord of the Rings
                  > nice guess
                  Ah really? Who said it?
                  > I think Aragorn says it to Eomer
                  > I don't know if the line made it into the movie
                  I read the books a couple of
                  times
                  But wow, what a night.
                  Civ IV is digital crack. If you are a college student in the middle of the semester, don't touch it with a 10-foot pole. I'm serious.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    More logs...(although I'm missing some of it from the end of the last section to the beginning of this section).

                    ---

                    this way we take out a Morgan crawler
                    and deny him 24 energies at Polymers
                    yup
                    > I assume they can....ha...ha...ha.., I hope so
                    (at least in the scenario test they could)
                    > okay, yeah, it should be fine then
                    > So why don't we try stacking first, and then if
                    that fails, we self-destruct?
                    > Could we kill the crawler that way?
                    Q: will self-destruct damage our
                    transport?
                    crawler destroyed - time for ritual
                    kamikazis
                    > We don't have to self-destruct that one. We can
                    just disband it
                    > And we can still move our transport away one tile
                    Warwag, Shinsengumi and Castor
                    Horsemen, fare thee well
                    ah yes
                    So I guess self-destructing
                    wouldn't have destroyed the crawler?
                    yup - just disband
                    No wait, didn't the Castor
                    Horsemen survive?
                    no - I tied that earlier in the sim - jist
                    gave it 10% damage
                    Ok
                    > ah, okay
                    but that was impact - gatling might
                    have been 20%
                    sorry Snoddasmannen, we've got to tell
                    you something...
                    doh!
                    But I have the chat logs to
                    prove it!
                    the crews all made it safely back to the
                    Mercury
                    No wait I don't, Zeiter has
                    > Hehehehe, this has been a high suspense
                    evening all around
                    it was a staged disbanding - furthest
                    first, while the others covered
                    > No, I'm waaaaay off in the southern oceans
                    The Morgans won't
                    understand how we pulled this off ...
                    But you have the logs of the
                    invasion right? I was disconnected then.
                    They'll see our trannie only has one
                    rover
                    Will they see it's amph?
                    > Will they see our trannie at all, though, since it's
                    in the fungus?
                    > I think not
                    It's in base radius ...
                    > Ah, right
                    ****!!
                    Isn't there a sensor under Argi Narnia
                    IIRC?
                    Don't do that Googlie!
                    > They're going to know that it was us anyways,
                    right?
                    They might suspect
                    I used the activate self distruct with the
                    last rover intending to take out the Morgan
                    Mussels base and it destroyed the Mercury and
                    the Chiron Knights
                    > No, it's okay if they see us.
                    Now they can't see us at
                    least.

                    > Oh...well, yeah, there are upsides
                    were you following? We've lost the
                    mercury and the 4th rover on board
                    > yeah, that's not good
                    Yeah ... Well what are we
                    gonna do about that?
                    reload?
                    > but for some reason I can't bring myself to be
                    sad right now
                    It's a mistake after all?
                    stupid me - why did I think that i might
                    destroy a base thias time when I never did in
                    the sims
                    Would it be legal to reload?
                    > Hmmm, this was a non-combat error
                    > Somewhat like a former movement error
                    > or a crawler movement error
                    I don't think sio - it's not as though I hit
                    the wrong key by mistake - it was my intent to
                    try and destroy the base with the self destruct
                    Googlie, you commanded
                    this attack, you don't get to walk away from this
                    feeling stupid.
                    why didn't you ask before? :-(
                    kust didn't think it'd destroy the ship
                    and cargo in the bay
                    oh well whatever
                    > I see. Well, we will just have to deal with it
                    > Hey, theoretically....
                    > we could totally deny that we did it! LOL
                    we;ll - we talked about using self
                    destruct to get that crawler, but that was poor
                    odds of succeeding
                    I thought getting a base might be easier
                    I do have a save till just before the base
                    obliteration
                    > We could make up a story about how we had
                    drone riots, and we had to nerve staple
                    > And in actuality, it was Zak who did it...LOL
                    we could use the old Pirates "not
                    following orders" defense
                    hmmm
                    > Now what? Mount a campaign against Yang?
                    > Or follow this up with an invasion proper of
                    Morgania?
                    when Makihluha played the turn and the
                    others were all pissed off that she had some
                    units ion automatic - i authorized a replay of that
                    one
                    Maniac - is your turn clean?
                    Err, yeah
                    Somehow, I don't think this
                    qualifies as AI diplomacy
                    Do we want to overrule me - i can hang
                    the latest midturn (after the zonquwestm befire
                    the obliteration if we want to go the 3 rovers
                    f=disbanding route
                    > The rover was 70% damaged
                    LOL - after the conquest but before the
                    obliteration
                    Would you honor such a
                    replay if you were modding this Googlie?
                    Testing former orders and
                    AI diplomacy (without accepting any deal) is
                    allowed. For anything else, check with Drogue
                    before hand.
                    But it was intentional - my druthers is to
                    leave it as a lesson learned
                    > doesn't sound like this qualifies
                    > Well, those units wouldn't have seen any action
                    for a while
                    > They were costing us support too, were they
                    not?
                    > And now we have no presence visible to
                    Morgania whatsoever
                    Good point Zeiter, let's blow
                    up all our units
                    > hehehe, it's not a very good rationalization, but it
                    helps
                    It's not the end of the world.
                    It's a ship and a rover
                    > Yeah, we've been far luckier with pod pops
                    We can build more. Poor
                    Morgan lost much more today
                    They can't rebuild the PTS
                    > Just think of all of the free rovers and crawlers
                    and Ogres we've gotten from pod pops,
                    sometimes almost to the point of feeling guilty
                    > yeah, Morgan definitely got the short end of the
                    stick
                    ok
                    > And what's really nice is they have no idea how
                    much we paid for it
                    [Sat Feb 19 19:08:16 GMT-06:00 2005] Googlie
                    Unless there's some legal
                    precedent for overruling people who make
                    mistakes we don't have to do anything about
                    this
                    Problem at Ironholm
                    > Drones?
                    with the destruction of the PTS we
                    have 2 drones there
                    > That figures
                    Right
                    May I suggest we rebuild a trannie
                    though, fill it with a combat unit and some
                    probes and send it to the Angels? In case they
                    back out of their deal?
                    I suggest a nervestaple, as we are in
                    sanctions anyway (would that then be 20, or do
                    different atrocities run concurrently?)
                    plan was to build a hoplite there, and
                    make one worker a doctor
                    > that would be 20 years
                    sounds good too
                    Would it starve to 2 if we
                    used specialists?
                    if we went nervestapling, we could also
                    free up the Steppenwolfs at 2NS.
                    We have a trannie near the Angels -
                    has an amphigatling, an Ogre and a Unity Rover
                    - need more carrying capacity, however - I
                    suggest again that we send the Heimdall there
                    Aren't our hands already full with
                    war with Morgan and Yang?
                    > Won't our powerchart go down too? Except
                    Morgan's will go down permanently. Our will go
                    down because of loss of units
                    > That may help the diplomatic situation a bit
                    we're still comfortably the second
                    faction
                    re ironholm - we can take FS's crawler
                    and pass thru Ironholm, rehoming it, and go to a
                    niut tile
                    wouldn't FS starve then?
                    it was on minerals - and I think w'e'll
                    lose a FS pop next turn anyway
                    Oh, why's that?
                    Sorry for being clueless, but
                    do we have the Manifold Nexus now?
                    > No, that pod is set to deploy next turn
                    we might have to throw some energy at
                    Psych, to help Ironholm as well as to get those
                    2 FS talents back working the fields
                    > Is it worth it to divert energy to psych
                    faction-wide, just for those two bases?
                    [Sat Feb 19 19:17:10 GMT-06:00 2005] TehManiac
                    test
                    TehManiac in the house
                    I've had enough of this for
                    tonight
                    Time to get some sleep!
                    > see ya Snoddasmannen!
                    G: won't FS have enough nuts if it
                    produces another crawler
                    see ya!
                    Yep, cya guys. Somebody
                    log this from here on?
                    Civ IV is digital crack. If you are a college student in the middle of the semester, don't touch it with a 10-foot pole. I'm serious.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      The names do not show up, because the forum software parses the stuff between the >'s and <'s as code meant to modify the text, not the text itself.
                      Cake and grief counseling will be available at the conclusion of the test. Thank you for helping us help you help us all!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Oh and awesome work guys

                        I take it I'll release our article in Special Edition #4 the moment you post the save in the turn tracking thread?
                        Cake and grief counseling will be available at the conclusion of the test. Thank you for helping us help you help us all!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Colonel Googlie sat back with a heavy heart.

                          The objective gained, but at what a cost. All lost. Even his dear friend, Colonel Maniac, lost aboard the Mercury, when it went down with the First Armored Brigade. Either dead, or perhaps worse, survived and captured.

                          Was it worth it?

                          He made the mental tally:

                          The Federation losses:

                          1 Mercury class cruiser transport
                          4 impact rovers
                          300 energy credits spent on upgrading them to gatling amphibious units

                          The Corporation losses:

                          Its Headquarters base, together with the Planetary Transit System
                          2 Formers
                          2 crawlers
                          2 syntharmored rovers
                          1 plasma defensive rover
                          1 syntharmored defense attorney
                          1 plasma hoverfoil

                          By that reckoning, a very successful raid, not least of which would be the long term effects on Morgan’s growth strategy and drone control without the PTS

                          But to lose a friend and colleague like the Colonel …………..

                          Just then the commlink beeped, and wearily Colonel Googlie looked up at the screen then leapt to his feet

                          “Pedro. By Corazon, it’s really you. I thought you’d gone down with the mercury”

                          “No, my friend – I was spared. Fortuitously I had transferred to the GeneralTacticus while the unloading was taking place, figuring that communications would be more secure from there. I thus missed the conflagration when the Shinsengumi’s self destruct program ran haywire. Those untested gatling weapons were quite the sight, when their neodymium-glass discharges went off. It was like an old 4th July parade, the energy beams flailing away and ammunition of all kinds cooking. Set off the energy storage casings in the Chiron Knights vehicles as well – that’s what brought down the Mercury. But most of the crews survived – they made it to the quay and the beaches, and the GeneralTacticus has sent a flotilla of small boats to pick them up.”

                          “That’s wonderful news,” replied Googlie. I’ll work on a press release and send it to you and to the Lt Colonel for approval. A special edition of the Phalanx is surely called for.”

                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

                          Just before dawn, amphibious elements and Marines of the 1st Army conducted a daring raid into the Corporation’s heartland.

                          Although surprised at being expected, our brave troops fought overwhelming odds and reached their objective – Morgan Industries itself.

                          The Base was captured, then the Planetary Transit System – that hated symbol of Morgan’s degenerative growth and of their tireless pursuit of wealth at all costs – was rigged with explosives and destroyed, unfortunately taking the base with it. We regret the loss of so many civilians, but in the context of the greater good of Chiron’s masses, the stellar sacrifice of those few will not go unremembered.

                          Their mission accomplished, our stalwart troops withdrew, suffering minor inconsequential losses to materiel and equipment, but the experienced officers and crewmen reaching the safety of our waiting navy offshore.

                          The Junta remains at all times willing to discuss peace terms with the Directors of the Corporation. After their senseless mind-controlling of the Hunter we said that our memories - and our reach - were long. How long, they have just found out.


                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            My version of the log looks somewhat more complete:



                            If anybody can find stuff in Zeiters log which is not in mine, please let me know. And yeah, good work guys

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Some points for concern - or maybe opportunities?

                              With my stupidity re: the Mercury, the GeneralTacticus is vulnerable to probe action. I suggest we hitail it for the nearest port and get a second escort to it asap. Morgan has 2 'Gator boats out and about and a third building

                              Morgan has a Transport and a rover probe team unaccounted for (homed to Mussels, heading west) I bet they're en-route to Arcadia to try and get thru our probe defenses. I think we need to be vigilant and get a Crypteia in every base, not just our coastal ones

                              Morgan has a plasma hoverboat heading south from Choke - let's be careful we don't sail our valuable Ogre and Amphigat into their arms

                              Comment

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