Turns of AXT-042, third thread

[cbn]

Aboard the bridge of the scoutship Defiant


" Captain ! Incoming !"

Before anyone could react the tiny vessel was bracketed with fire. The radar officer exclaimed excitedly, "Sir I have them on the scope now but they are out of range"

The vessel rocked violently as a shell exploded mere meters off the port bow. The Captain picked himself off the deck " Evasive maneuvers. Hard a'starbord and head for the fungus. Break radio silence and call the task force for something more powerful to help us out here. Where's our damn air sup---"

The vessel shook as shell struck it full astern.

"--port. Engineer. I need more speed"

"Captain, I'm already at 120%. I don't think my poor bairns can take it much longer.

"Engineer, If we don't get out of here we're dead so more speed !!!

The ship rocked as another shell hit the foreward gun turret . . . .

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Report coming in from task force Delta. The Defiant reports being under fire from an Iowa Class Destroyer"

The Commodore looked at the admiral, " Sir, the Defiant is no match for an Iowa. We could delay Operation Overlord and render assistance with Beta group"

The admiral considered the tactical displays before him and a look of grim resolve hardened his features, " NO the Beta task force has their own mission and you and I both know that nothing else can get there in time to save the Defiant. Perhaps the other Delta scoutships can help but its really up to the Defiant to find a way to survive"


The admiral stormed from the room into his inner office. The admiral's aide slowly approached the Commodore, "Just so you know sir, the admiral's youngest. . . . you know Ben jr. . . . . he's the conn officer on the Defiant . . . With respect sir but leave him alone for a while in there. Our plans were made and really there's nothing we can do until we hear from the task force"

The commodore shuffled into his own office off the operations center and gazed at the vid-image of his three children, Jason 8, Claire 5 and little newborn Tommy-- "His own kid. . . damn . . . . "

[Walt]

The bravely dying lads of the 41st mobile jump infantry, Drone Faction, are set to exterminate the peaceful (but scheming, let's not forget that) settlers of the last Morganite stronghold.

:-)

It's been fun, guys. I wish you both well. I'll read the board every so often to see how this plays out.

2218 to cbn.

Ciao!

Walt

[cbn]

See you Walt and I hope for another game involving you in September. I'll email you then to see if you are still interested.

[Tenchusatsu]

Thanks for playing with us, Walt. Also, thanks for setting up the TCP/IP games way back during the early game! (Wow, how long ago was that?) And of course, thanks for being a great ally! I hope you'll still be around in September; I'd love to start another game with you then.
_______

Transcript of Publicity Video
Produced and funded by the National Fundamentalist Party of Gaia

(Scene of Cult Worshipers dressed in salmon robes and transparent breathing masks kneeling in rows before a monolith. The background music is gloomy.)

Narrator (a deep male voice with very melodramatic intonations): First, it was the environment-loving Cult of Planet ...

(A bright flash, and the scene transforms into the smoldering ruins of a Cult base.)

Narrator: ... oppressed and later forced to commit mass suicide ...

(Fade into the plush interior of Morganite headquarters. Many Morganite citizens are wandering about in the spacious lobby.)

Narrator: Then Morgan Industries. A peaceful nation of merchants and scientists ...

(Another bright flash, and the scene transforms into a charred battlefield sparsely littered with burnt bodies of soldiers.)

Narrator: ... brutally murdered without provacation ... And who is responsible for all of this? That's right ...

(Fade into a grainy black-n-white aerial view of factories, all belching dark smoke.)

Narrator: ... the EVIL Drones. They seek world domination!

(A bright flash into a video of Drone choppers firing fusion lasers at fleeing Gaian formers and workers.)

Narrator: They seek to rape Planet!

(Another bright flash into black-n-white video footage of a scenic wasteland, the color seemingly sapped away by a maroon-colored factory in the far distance.)

Narrator: They even seek to exterminate all wildlife on Planet!

(Yet another bright flash into a boil of mindworms succumbing to flames shooting out sideways from a source outside of view.)

Narrator: Are you going to sit there and do nothing? Or are you going to do something about it?

(The scene slowly fades into a tight shot of a waving flag proudly displaying the Gaian emblem. In unison, the music fades into the Gaian national anthem.)

Narrator: Join our stalwart military! Only we Gaians can resist this terrible plague and bring peace, justice, and ecological wisdom to Planet!

(The scene suddenly shifts to a shot of Gaian regiment of soldiers. The drill sergeant looks over his shoulder at the camera, a stern look in his eyes.)

Sergeant: I'm doing my part!

(Shot of a mindworm trainer. She is cloaked in a black robe and wears a tight-fitting black body suit. She is waving her arms up as looks up at the sky. In obedience, a boil of mindworms starts shooting up in a spiral around the trainer.)

Trainer: (still looking up) I'm doing my part!

(Shot of a factory. A partially-assembled needlejet is seen in the factory-hanger. A worker wearing a hard-hat and carrying a concussion hammer is walking at an angle away from the camera. He looks over at the camera.)

Worker: I'm doing my part!

(Fade into the shot of the Gaian flag again.)

Narrator: You too can do your part! Would you like to know more?

(The video freezes and a dialog box pops up, echoing the narrator's last question and presenting two choices: 'OK' and 'Cancel')
_______

Anyone who's seen the movie Starship Troopers will immediately recognize the last part of the Gaian publicity video.

[NorthSwordsman]

Originally posted by cbn
See you Walt and I hope for another game involving you in September. I'll email you then to see if you are still interested.

(jumping up and down) Don't forget me!

[cbn]

I hope we can get the same four

---------------------------------------------

Gang

I am having a problrm related to eradicating Walt's faction. As soon as I do I get the message that they have been eradicated but then it gives me all the end of game messages, you know the score and even the replay of the world maps and how the factions grow. Then I get a popup like the beginning of any turn-- the one where you can enter your password and hit "ok" or "save and exit". Both times I entered the Pword and hit ok. It exited out of the game and just gabe me the standard SMAX choices screen-- "Load game" Start new game "Multiplayer" etc.

I will try this again-- The thing I do not know is what happens if I hit "save and exit"--The solution I am thinking of is for me to do EVERYTHING else I want to do on the turn before the eradication. Then when I get the message I will hit "save and exit"- and give the turn a very unique name-- If it defaults to Allen's turn well no harm done. I will try to open it first since for all I know it might still be my turn.

Contrary to Gaian propaganda, I have never eradicated anyone before so may be this is all regular well-known stuff. I will make the attempt as outlined-- If anyone can tell me what's up and what I should have done, please let me know.

[cbn]

Curiouser and curiouser


I did as planned

1. played out everything else on the turn
2. eradicated Walt (attacked his defended size one which went down to 0 when the attack was successful.

3. Saw a bunch of messages about retiring including My AC score-- had no option but to hit OK throughout.

4. Got the turn start/end popup-- Hit save and exit

5. I gave the turn a unique name

6. The game did not EXIT all the way out of the game but instead took me to the screen where I hit "Multiplayer" and on up through a normal game load

7. I loaded the turn and it came up with my faction and the correct game year-- and accepted my password and let me in

8. The screen immediately focused on the one unit still capable of moving (the one that killed Walt's base

At this point I was ready to hit turn end when I noticed -- hey didn't I have a base there. A quick scroll around the map revealed that although I seem to have all my military, Dozens of bases are missing!! Also the Cult is back as are the Morganites !! The gaians are down to 6 bases and they are all size 1. IN fact all the bases seem to be size one.

Everyone seems to be researching the same tech as before so I do not know what is up. Do any of you have any ideas??

I'll be back to this in 3 or 4 hours and hopefully you guys can tell me something simple I did wrong. Otherwise we might need to find another way to eradicate Walt.

Help!!

[Walt]

The civilization-gone-bye-bye bug is well known, at least to me. I've been a victim of it previously. I've replayed the last turn, leaving my base open. Play the newly sent turn, take the base (first or last, whatever) and get back to us on what happens.

I think it's still anyone's game between you and Tench, and I'd hate to see the game brought to a premature end by this bug.

Walt

[Tenchusatsu]

Originally posted by Walt
The civilization-gone-bye-bye bug is well known, at least to me. I've been a victim of it previously.

Well, this is new to me. Thanks, Stephen, for the step-by-step report of what is happening to you. I'm sure we can craft a Star Trek kind of storyline around that. Something that involves disrupting the space-time continuum due to some weird doomsday device left behind at the Morgan base. It'd be great! It'd be ... er, nevermind.

Well, hopefully we can get around this bug. If not, we'll just have to let Morgan go to the AI and leave them as a castrated faction.

[cbn]

Well Tenchusatsu-- I wouldn't mind playing from the mofified positions LOL. About half the bases are empty and I have enough drop probes to get them all but yours.

Seriously though-- thanks Walt for the resend-- I will get bask to the game in about 2 hours so hopefully it goes well this time (whew-- reflects on all that i did last turn and the task of doing it over)

[cbn]

2119 to the gaians

------------------------------------

Tales of the demise of the Morganites may be premature. Every attempt at eradication caused a rift in the space-time continuum resulting in their immediate reincarnation. Attempting the eradication in alternate realities was equally futile.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------


"Base , this is Falcon one."

"Go ahead Falcon"

" Base, we cannot raise the Defiant on any channel and have spotted debris at the last known coordinates - -- wait there's her sister ship Glory Cloud - -- -- she looks damaged---perhaps the comm is damaged . . . . I'm going in for a closer look . . . WHAT THE F--- !!! We are being fired on"

The comm went silent for several seconds while the base staff waited tensely. Finally a voice burst through the static.

" Base, Falcon One here. We just sunk Glory Cloud and two Spartan ships. We retrieved some survivors and can confirm that Glory Cloud was captured and the Defiant was sunk , repeat SUNK with all hands. No sign of that Iowa class . . . Repeat no sign of the Iowa class"


Back in the control center, the communications officers all studiously avoided eye contact with the admiral who stood there stunned at the news of the death of his son. The admiral's eyes were cold as he looked to the commodore and casually stated "Implement Operation VENGEANCE".

The Commodore looked visibly startled but recovered
quickly, "Aye Sir"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Free Drones televid ( a ripoff of Gaian propoganda)


The Drones have always been a peaceful and hardworking people

(scenes include a family picknicking, schoolchildren, factory workers -- all attractive, smiling and prosperous)

Then without warning we were attacked by the cowardly Cult

(scenes showing actual footage of the massacre of 2172)

We reacted to protect our people and quickly defeated the Cult forces
(various Drone victories are depicted)

And being a peaceful people we graciously accepted theiir surrender and returned to the ways of peace. As a peaceful people we grew to pre-eminence on Planet

(again scenes of happy people, new bases, each Special Project etc)

But as we attempted peace and grew what was the Gaian respone

( an accurate computer generation of the Gaian leader is seen saying in a perfect copy of his voice " Nothing that a few missiles couldn't fix"

When we built schools and hospitals

" Nothing that a few missiles couldn't fix"

When we governed over the longest reign of peace on Planet

" Nothing that a few missiles couldn't fix"

When we achieved the most efficient and ecologically friendly industry on Planet

" Nothing that a few missiles couldn't fix"


War has been forced upon us by a scheming enemy that was jealous of our power. Our strong Drone forces stand between our people and a callous enemy that views a few missiles as the answer to their problems

(Scenes depict the sinking of the Sword of Gaia and the defeat of Gaian ground troops)

But we need your help. Contact your local recruitment office to find out how you can help protect the Drone way of life.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2219 to Stephen and Walt. I guess we're going to stick a fork in the Morganites. They're done.

By the way, Stephen, I loved the last post you made. Nothing like propaganda wars to stir up the primal human need to blow themselves up back to the Stone Age.
_______

Personal Log, Corporal Dean Daniels
Sunny Mesa Listening Post

Things are finally starting to look up.

After the swift destruction of the other Sunny Mesa colony at the hands of the Drones, I thought our main colony would be finished as well. I guess the top brass thought so, too, since they ordered all non-combat personnel to evacuate the base. I watched as the Drone air force took out all ground defenses at the main colony, leaving it defenseless. Then I saw ground units closing in on our position here, no doubt to take out this listening post and continue on to take over our base.

Then I saw Gaia send an angel. And it took the form of a needlejet.

Specifically, it was our squad of prototype aircraft. No longer are the skies the exclusive domain of the Drones; now we are taking to the skies as well! What a majestic sight it was to see this squad of Gaian needlejets flying in a V-formation and proudly displaying our national emblem on the underside of both wings.

But even this sight cannot compare to the glorious events which happened next.

Through my vid-screen, I was able to watch what the pilots saw as they made their attack run. They first flew over some Drone scout troops, who fired their hand weapons into the air in vain. However, the pilots ignored the troops and instead locked their targeting computers onto the Drone rover squad behind the troops. Multiple crosshairs, one for each of our strike jets, locked onto enemy rovers, one by one. Once all of the crosshairs found their respective marks, the commander gave the order to fire.

What I saw next was the most awe-inspiring sight I've seen in my life.

Bright-blue energy beams instantly shot out and struck the rovers. Interestingly, each beam did not follow a straight path other energy weapons like lasers would. Instead, they curved, shook, and vibrated, yet the endpoints of each beam remained attached to their targets. They resembled blue snakes, composed of pure energy, hooking onto their prey and wiggling back-n-forth. This continued for several seconds before each rover in turn succumbed to the snake beams in violent explosions.

Then I heard the commander give the final order of the strike, "Mission accomplished. Return to base for refueling." All was silent after that. I returned to my duties with a warm feeling in my gut and a renewed hope for all of us in this war.
_______

By the way, if you guys didn't notice, I took some creative license in my depiction of a Chaos Gun. The firing of caseless ammo just doesn't sound as cool as snake beams!

[cbn]

2220 to tenchusatsu

I played as the Morganites and obliterated them. Hopefull they will reappear no more. Now we are down to a 2 player battle that is too close to call. I finally took the "overall lead" for whatever thats worth but the bar graphs are sooo close. With the gaians started to utilize their air power well, we will see what happens here

---------------------------------------------

Military command is pleased to announce the capture of 4 spartan bases and the destruction of the bulk of the Spartan military forces. It was necessary to reduce the threat from this faction as they have been unwilling to talk peace.The bases have been renamed by the Department of Urban Habitation-- DUH

Spartan Northwest
Spartan North Central
Spartan Northeast
Spartans Don't come here

--------------------------------

Heard on the public audiocomm


The troops in the field have been fighting hard to protect our way of life. Recent victories over the Spartans and Morganites show the strength and commitment of our fighting men and women. But they need YOUR help. Buy Free Drone War bonds and support the war effort.

Do your part-- buy war bonds today!!

[NorthSwordsman]

I think you two have captured the spirit that existed during WWI and WWII in various countries around the globe with your propaganda efforts. It was very similar in nature to what you are doing. It's interesting that man's nature never changes- he remains a rather primal beast despite the efforts of civilization to place a veneer of sophistication over our most deepest , primal feelings.

Never mind the color commentary. Just had to make this observation.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2220 to Stephen.
_______

To: Druid Tenchusatsu
From: Gaian Defense Minister
Re: Assessment of the war

It seems the Drone blitzkreig came to an end a year or two ago and that we are finally able to shore up our front-line defenses. The problem is that the Drones can pretty much choose where the next battle takes place, while we are still limited to defense. Plus our intelligence reports that the Drones are also able to achieve spaceflight. They have not started any spaceflight projects yet, but it will only be a matter of time before they beat us to the space race.

I suggest that we somehow seize the initiative away from the Drones and start attacking them soon. We cannot continue to fight a defensive war. Already the Drones have restarted their research efforts and threaten to extend their technology lead, while our labs continue to serve as nothing more than hospitals for the wounded. If they can do this and at the same time continue to pin us down on all fronts, they will soon be unstoppable.