The current target! (around MY 2194)

[Modo44]

My Photoshop (actually, GIMP ) skills are not enough to counter the fact that we need infiltration on the Gaians to prepare a realistic plan (without requiring major overkill "just in case").

I think that, unless we can get the Gaians infiltrated in one or two turns, we should actually go after Morgan (which means I voted too soon). We can plan this invasion ahead quite well. The reason for going after Morgan is very similar to attacking Gaia: the Corporation is still a real threat while the Angels are not.

[Maniac]

If we go for a Morganic invasion, may I suggest we build bioenhancement centers where possible to maximize the number of elite units we have, even if this means a slight delay in the year of invasion?
Working further on the principle to maximize elite units, crawler-hurrying could be used to let us build a unit every year in our bioenhancement centers. Other bases could supply the necessary crawlers for this.

Also, why not make heavier use of droop troops? The Morganites only have one aerospace complex, so with sufficient noodles and drop troops we'd have free game in Terrapeso.

[Zeiter]

Sure, we could crawler hurry some drop units or substitute drop units for chaos rovers, granted they have roughly equivalent costs.

As for delaying the invasion date in order to get a few more elite units, I don't see the point. If we launch the invasion in MY 2199, Morgan still won't have fusion, his troops still won't be higher morale than ours, and the limiting factor with regards to how successful our invasion is will be the quantity of units, not quality. Furthermore, if we switch to power the turn before the invasion, all of our chaos rovers built in bases with just command centers will be elite!

If we do want to delay the invasion date, then I suggest we delay it considerably and get a more massive invasion force ready, considering that we'd be up against a fusion-powered Morgan. But I would rather have a few lower morale units (which will still be hugely superior to anything the Morganites have) and launch the invasion in MY 2199. Even without the enhanced morale of a few bioenhancement centers, I anticipate winning every engagement with Morgan, at least until they get a good number of fusion units produced. But by that point it will be too late if we go with the MY 2199 invasion plan.

Edit: My thoughts are, at this point, time is our most valuable commodity. We are lucky that the Morganites are still building creches and hab complexes and not militarizing in a big way. Yet I can easily foresee them rearming in a big way once they get fusion power. Therefore, we must use our fusion power advantage while we can and strike while the iron is hot.

[Zeiter]

Whoa, I just noticed we had a transport in Northern Arcadia. That means we could produce an ELITE amphibious chaos rover there in Fort Liberty in two turns (cost 40 mins). Then we could build a sweet little ELITE 6-3-1*2 unit (cheap--30 mins) in one turn. Then, we could MM a sweet ELITE drop chaos rover (cost 50 mins) in one turn with that crawler working two minerals on (85,17). If we started this in MY 2194, we'd finish production in MY 2198, meaning we could set sail that year and reach Morgania (maybe establish a beachhead at Morgan Mussels) in MY 2199, right on schedule for the now three-front attack!

In order to make it so that the cruiser transport has enough moves to enter into Morgan Mussels after the city has been emptied, we'd need to move the transport one tile to the NE out of Gagarin Memorial in MY 2197. Or, if we switched to power in MY 2198, we could leave the transport in Gagarin Memorial and still get to Morgan Mussels in two turns (because the transport would be elite and would have 8 mp's).

I hadn't even factored in Fort Liberty's production into the militarization plan yet. That means we can add another 3 land units to Operation Golden Dawn, giving us 8+8+3=19 land units we will be throwing into the fray!

[Modo44]

One general note or the invasion: Remember to get at least basic probe defenses...

Originally posted by Zeiter
We are lucky that the Morganites are still building creches and hab complexes and not militarizing in a big way.

Perhaps they are counting on us going after Gaia or the Angels now? But why do they feel that safe??? Darn, we really need that infiltration to know why they could think that. It just does not get into my head how one could underestimate our capabilities (and the will to break stuff ) by such a margin.

[Snoddasmannen]

I definately support this attack Looks like a very nice plan.

[Zeiter]

So, with all three fronts (east--8 land units, south--8 land units, and west--3 land units), this is what the big picture of Operation Golden Dawn looks like.

The "A" markings show what cities can be targeted by elite bombers flying out of Fort Liberty (Micha Archives is 12 movement points away, or 13 counting the attack move, so just barely in range). The lines with "SAM" near them show how we could have SAM aircraft in flight halfway between Sparta and Morgania at the beginning of MY 2199, thus allowing the SAM aircraft to land in the captured cities at the end of the turn and protect the cities against Morganite air counter-attacks.

[Zeiter]

Originally posted by Modo44
One general note or the invasion: Remember to get at least basic probe defenses...

Perhaps they are counting on us going after Gaia or the Angels now? But why do they feel that safe??? Darn, we really need that infiltration to know why they could think that. It just does not get into my head how one could underestimate our capabilities (and the will to break stuff ) by such a margin.

Yep, I have no idea why the Morgans are taking such defensive risks. Perhaps they anticipate us going after the Gaians next, like you said. After all, our behavior has exhibited a consistent pattern of always going after the strongest rival in an oscillating war. Thus, it would seem that the Gaians are next for us. Perhaps, by not following the pattern exactly, we can surprise the Morgans with an unexpected attack on them.

As for basic probe defenses: Why? The beauty of having the HSA is that we no longer have to worry about probe counter-attacks. Building more probes to send along would just delay the invasion and/or dilute its military strength, which are both things we don't want. Besides, we will have two probes coming along with the southern task force sailing from Defiance Freehold.

Edit: Additional observation: if we switch to power in MY 2198, in MY 2199 our transport cruiser sailing up from Defiance Freehold in the south will become ELITE, thus giving it 8 movement points. Therefore, we could have it end MY 2198 hiding in the fungus on (20,28) in order to avoid unlucky detection by a wandering Morgan aircraft and still be able to unload in Choke on This on the next turn. We can also accompany this southern transport witht the several destroyers milling around that part of the ocean in order to protect it that much more.

We will be able to provide SAM air cover for the other two transports (the SAM aircraft can end turn MY 2198 over the transports and still be in position to land in the captured Morgan cities in MY 2199). Furthermore, the western transport (coming from Northern Arcadia) can hide in fungus on the way there. Therefore, I think that our transports will be quite safe on their way to Morgania.

[Zeiter]

More observations:

Of the non-SAM aircraft to be produced in Laconia, one of them needs to be a chaos chopper. We can use it to clear out all of those crawlers around Morgan Vulcanology which could otherwise block the progress of our chaos rovers towards Impaler Polymers.

Edit: Another observation: I see Fort Superiority will have completed a chaos chopper this next turn, which is good, because we will need one to clear out all of those crawlers around Morgan Mussels.

[Maniac]

A concern re the proposed attack on Choke On This. Won't we the risk of being spotted if Morgan patrols the area somewhat with their vast air fleet there?

[vishniac]

So?

The poll looks like a draw.

[Modo44]

Actually I was convinced that, unless we get infiltration really soon, the corporation is the better target.

[Googlie]

I say that infiltration on the Gaians is crucial - even at the risk of a sustained vendetta with them (ie, as per the rules we choose the Vendetta option and this time they don't accept the treaty status we offer)

It wouldn't take much to get a Pact with Yang (changing to Police or Fundy, maybe) and if that were the case we could afford to wage a true world war - us, the Uni and Yang agaisnt Morgan, Angels and Gaians

[PJayTycy]

Nice work Zeiter !

btw: if we spotted your transport hiding in the fungus, we could have done ... uhm ... nothing, to prevent this.


It seems like the demogame is really fun in the Spartan faction. The activity and player involvement here can't be compared -at all- to anything on the late Morgan team. This is something I feel more bad about than losing our country in 2 turns. The Spartan faction is more like what I expected from a democracy game.

[Googlie]

Well, interest did peter out after the first 50 turns or so - but for those first turns it was pretty vibrant.

We had our own website here but alas it too suffered from general ennui

Some of the artwork we assembled was neat, but the fiction never really got going (I had such great plans around the final invasion, but they came to nothing)

But it was fun - let's hope we get this problem repaired or built-around so that we cna properly finish the game