The Glory of News - SPECIAL WAR EDITION!

[Master Zen]

See first I read your post, then I saw the bolded "Albilene" and did not see that was MY quote then search-and-replaced it in the original article THEN realized it was in fact a typo so went back and re-search-and-replaced it as before and edited my last post... bah, forget the mechanics, sPellleeNg iz jouSt nOt fur meE

[DeepO]

Don't worry, I write a lot more typos. But this one was funny

DeepO

[vondrack]

Originally posted by DeepO
If we were in Lego's situation at the beginning of the war, I'm sure we would have drafted at least 2 infs for each city, and left them fortified. Then, use the already built vets to try to block everything. You simply can't foresee everything, so at the expense of a bit unhappiness, each city would have got a small, token defense force. We would never have reached Stanwix with our small detachment of tanks if there would have been 2 conscripts in each city we encountered. We could have damaged you badly, taking out 4 or 5 cities, but we couldn't have killed you.

Well, DeepO... see all those could's and would's?

With no risk, we were going to die... it would take a little bit longer, but we would die eventually anyway. We were facing two technologically superior opponents that were able to throw everything they had at us at two different fronts, outproducing us by at least 50%...

Losing a city one turn, two cities next turn, then again... what would be the point? Would it be any better than being swept away by one gigantic blow? We were told very plainly - the world had decided we had to go. We simply had to risk. It was all or nothing. Either we would make no mistake, be lucky, keep everything, suffer little damage economy- and military-wise, trap/destroy your invading armies, and hope the world would change its mind... or we'd go down.

We went down.

Try looking at it from this angle.

As for the chain... perhaps if you had less luck stumbling into our submarines, we might have had something left to sink a link or two... as it was, we had just enough to cover our intel needs. Risking an intel submarine for no apparent gain...

[DeepO]

Originally posted by vondrack
Well, DeepO... see all those could's and would's?

Most definately. The reason I mention this, is that we anticipated another reaction from you, more based on what we would have done if Stormia was invaded. You made certain expectations of what we were up to, just as we tried to foresee what you were going to do... and one of those things that surprised us was that you didn't draft. Mind you, it was close, but you knew both our and GoW's invasion strength, so you also knew that in case we broke through somewhere you would have been in trouble.

If we somehow could have taken 1 city (e.g. 2 or 3 turns down the road, in case the transport attack had failed), would drafting then be considered an option?

With no risk, we were going to die... it would take a little bit longer, but we would die eventually anyway. We were facing two technologically superior opponents that were able to throw everything they had at us at two different fronts, outproducing us by at least 50%...

I'm far from certain on this. You controlled the sea between us, and if your ships would have healed our transport lanes would have been gone. Production didn't really matter on our side, as there was no way to get troops to Legoland (no airports). You were very close to achieving total sea superiority. So, the only production you were facing was GoW's (unless GWT decided to join in the 'fun', of course). GS had produced all it could throw at you.

Losing a city one turn, two cities next turn, then again... what would be the point? Would it be any better than being swept away by one gigantic blow?

Yes, most definately. GoW was different perhaps, in that the Stanwix block could always have been necessary, but if you let us take 1 city, protecting your hinterland, meanwhile focussing on our supply lines, you could have worn us out.

We were told very plainly - the world had decided we had to go. We simply had to risk. It was all or nothing. Either we would make no mistake, be lucky, keep everything, suffer little damage economy- and military-wise, trap/destroy your invading armies, and hope the world would change its mind... or we'd go down.

Hum. Vondrack, you see the world a bit too dark, I'm afraid. GS never set out to remove you from the game, and I doubt GoW did. You were on a certain path to victory, and needed some clipping. Our initial ideal goal had been to take out the FP in the first turn, exposing every single unit. Write every invader off as a loss, but the damage done would set you back at least 20 turns... which was worth the cost. Our goal never has been to claim any land on Legoland.

As to GoW: when you attacked their beach head, they thought their invasion was over (it was very close too), and were prepared to start a massive bombardment of your coastal cities, just damaging you, not taking any cities. Both our teams never intended to conquer you, as we deemed it impossible. The irony of all this is that in trying to protect everything, you also exposed everything. If you would have 'given' us a city, you most likely would have stopped our expansion, and without reinforcements that meant the invasion was bound to bleed to death.

This is of course all discussion in hindsight, and I can understand your position. Drafting 2 infs per city would cost you 10% on the slider for 20 turns (perhaps not needed if you started early enough as some cities should have had plenty of happiness), 2 pop per city (so also lost production and income), and an extra 50 gpt in upkeep. Plus, in case you did foresee all possibilities it would have been unnecessary too. But it would also give you certainty, and a static defense (every inf you move doesn't get the fortify bonus, even if it has full movement left). You could still have used the rest of your troops like you did now, blocking (nearly) all our options. And the cost for this would still keep you far superior to GS... we threw everything into the war, something we could not hold for long.

As for the chain... perhaps if you had less luck stumbling into our submarines, we might have had something left to sink a link or two... as it was, we had just enough to cover our intel needs. Risking an intel submarine for no apparent gain...

Luck? Sub hunting you mean!

As a lesson, I think this is one to learn. You seem to underestimate how important that chain really was. 1 transport chained, gave us a choice: settlers (we transported 5 or 6 IIRC), marines, MI, tanks, artillery. Basically, because of this choice, every transport chained, is worth 4 or 5 transports in the initial stack. We managed to chain 3 transports which you could have sunk in the ideal case, basically meaning some 12 extra transports. Without that chain, we would only have had 2 settlers on Legoland, one of which was required to build New Inchon. Without that chain, we wouldn't have the MIs needed to keep our invasion stack safe, exposing it far worse than the GoW invasion stack. We also wouldn't have had the artillery to bomb your BBs. And we couldn't have threatened you with 65 marines, instead limiting to 48 marines (which means a couple less defenders for you as well).

So a few intel subs was worth it, without any doubt. As said before, I do not think you made a mistake in blocking Quanto with too few ships, however I do think you made a mistake in not focussing on our chain. It was the most dangerous aspect of our invasion, and we never were in a good position to protect it decently. Most of our cash rushing went into our chain, and in hindsight not enough was invested to keep it safe. We should have started with another 6 DDs, 2 per hub. In a few cases, we had to risk our transports to move without scouting for subs with a DD beforehand... I can tell you, those are very tense moments as a player.

DeepO

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by DeepO
As to GoW: when you attacked their beach head, they thought their invasion was over (it was very close too), and were prepared to start a massive bombardment of your coastal cities, just damaging you, not taking any cities. Both our teams never intended to conquer you, as we deemed it impossible. The irony of all this is that in trying to protect everything, you also exposed everything. If you would have 'given' us a city, you most likely would have stopped our expansion, and without reinforcements that meant the invasion was bound to bleed to death.

Our part of the invasion from the start had the troublesome possiblity of being merely a bulwark towards the main attack: against the FP. The reason was simple, we were threatening the very heart of Lego's territory, specifically the two super-cities of Jackson and Legopolis it was obvious that whatever major Lego effort was done, it would be against our stack rather than GS's.

I was well aware of this from the start, hence GoW's larger preponderance of defensive units: we had over 40 infantry in the invasion stack, GS had only over 20 wheras GS was more prepared for a maneouvre operation: they had 70 tanks against our estimated 60 on D-Day+1 (in the event these were less due to the counterattack's losses) but also had well over double our settlers. Our mission was to take Jackson and Legopolis, hell, just taking Jackson would have been deemed a "success" considering what we were up against. But it was all for naught when we found out just how defended Jackson was on D-Day and when we were forced to land on a flat tile.

No-one on our team expected "a Stanwix", in retrospect it seems like such a simple, obvious move that I can't help but just snicker at how no-one on our team or on GS forsaw it (and we discussed a lot of possibilities). In the end we thought that Lego was going to slam head-on against our stack with EVERYTHING (including perhaps many infantry) expecting to wipe it out completely but that it would lead to GS getting a free hand at taking the FP with less opposition. Later I came to think that Lego was merely going to pillage the surroundings and leave us in a slogging match where we would slowly but surely be wound down. Despite our productive advantage, there are only so many casualties that one can take without withering away into defeat.

In the event the Stanwix maneouvre prevented us from founding our city and basically threated the entire operation. Retreat was a serious option being considered, fortunately the 6 infantry lost at Stanwix after GS attacked it was deemed sufficient help so that the possiblity of taking the city was there - if the attack order was perfect. This meant withering out Lego's defensive artillery with suicide attacks from otherwise worthless units (the 2 HP Infantry) avoiding promotions and finally using the surviving Marines at full effect. How close was it? GS ran successful tests using a sim in C3C, of course C3C heavily favors bombardment of units in a city, in PTW the odds would not be quite so favorable. But still it had to be a go, why? Because the only alternative was to sit back and bomb Lego one city after another with Carriers. Might as well expend the stack and cross our fingers. Just so you know when our last tank took the fort there were only 2 more 1-HP tanks available for attack as well as another movement for the tank that won and IIRC a damaged Marine and a damaged Infantry.

In our private forum before the invasion I mentioned once that I felt that our participation in the invasion would be akin to the British in Normandy: tying up the bulk of German forces before Caen despite being hardly able to budge while leaving the mobile Americans an opening in the west for a massive breakthrough (heck, even the geography was in perfect analogy!). It went so similar to history that it's almost scary...

-MZ

[DeepO]

We always leaned more to the pillage option. Not only the roads, but also cities. Aeson was very critical from the start on our plans of splitting the threat between Sando, Quanto, Abilene, and Tip... he thought 2 of the cities would be disbanded, 1 blocked, and the last one (Abilene) defended. He was kind of right, months in advance.

Once we landed, the same thing happened. We thought either Jackson or Dye fields was going to be disbanded. Which in itself was a good result, one major city down...

Stanwix might be a simple thing, it was totally unexpected. Which testifies for the brilliance of the move.

MZ, one remark: it was not so much the 6 lost infs and 6 damaged infs that did it, it was more a question of absorbing 12(?) defensive bombardments for you which turned the tide. And you were kind of unlucky in your attack, as the numeruous sims done by Aeson never failed, and he was taking enough margins in the difference between C3C and PTW. It was a very slim chance you could have failed if you were smart in which unit was used when.

DeepO

[vondrack]

Originally posted by DeepO
If we somehow could have taken 1 city (e.g. 2 or 3 turns down the road, in case the transport attack had failed), would drafting then be considered an option?

Maybe. It would depend on the WW situation. Keep in mind you had almost all luxuries in the world to combat WW. We had 1 of our own and 1 from ND. That's a LOT of happy faces missed... With gigantic battles taking place, WW would be (was) mounting up insanely fast. Getting to a point where we'd have to run 40%+ lux slider was very much like a total defeat... we'd be falling further behind tech-wise, only postponing the inevitable end.

Originally posted by DeepO

With no risk, we were going to die...

I'm far from certain on this. You controlled the sea between us, and if your ships would have healed our transport lanes would have been gone. Production didn't really matter on our side, as there was no way to get troops to Legoland (no airports). You were very close to achieving total sea superiority. So, the only production you were facing was GoW's (unless GWT decided to join in the 'fun', of course). GS had produced all it could throw at you.

OTOH, GoW was ruling the seas between us and Bob. With their carrier fleet, every turn of bombardment hurt so badly. With our economy mobilized, non-military buildings lost were irreplaceable. One turn of bombing runs against one of our best cities meant we pretty much lost it, even if still possessing it.

Originally posted by DeepO
As a lesson, I think this is one to learn. You seem to underestimate how important that chain really was.

[...snip...]

So a few intel subs was worth it, without any doubt.

I cannot agree here. What I call an "intel" sub was a submarine that made sure a certain area was free of your transports - thus a certain number of our coastal cities was safe and needed NO defense. Without this intel, we'd have had to defend even against potential threats. Your initial sneak attack deprived us of most of our navy in the Western Ocean - we barely had subs enough left to reform an "intel perimeter" allowing us to deploy defenses effectively.

We had no spare subs that could hunt for your chain out in the open sea.

But honestly, my initial remark was not meant seriously - hence the smilie... I was not complaining or anything. Without "being here", it's easy to say that had we done this or that, we might have achieved something else, perhaps not losing or losing later or... the fact is our strategy worked quite well (also thanks to that you did not think of the Stanwix trick) - until we forgot that no artillery landed one turn did not necessarily mean you could not bombard a turn later...

C'est la vie...

[Cort Haus]

Subs - handy little things once they're built, but not always very attractive in a build queue when stronger ADM units are available.

The small number we allowed ourselves before the war turned out to be useful, and once they were gone, Lego's subs lurked menacingly in the deep. Vondrack mentioned the intel value - a picket screen that the enemy cannot see to destroy can be worth a hundred infantry, and the knowledge that subs are out there forces every TR move to need DD cover, or risk a sinking.

[DeepO]

Originally posted by vondrack

Maybe. It would depend on the WW situation. Keep in mind you had almost all luxuries in the world to combat WW. We had 1 of our own and 1 from ND. That's a LOT of happy faces missed... With gigantic battles taking place, WW would be (was) mounting up insanely fast. Getting to a point where we'd have to run 40%+ lux slider was very much like a total defeat... we'd be falling further behind tech-wise, only postponing the inevitable end.

No... there is no WW in this game, only war-un-weariness. All you could lose was the bonus you were given when attacked. From the last investigations, I was already thinking your slider was very high, you could probably have kept it at that level if you drafted in all but the most happy-critical cities.

OTOH, GoW was ruling the seas between us and Bob. With their carrier fleet, every turn of bombardment hurt so badly. With our economy mobilized, non-military buildings lost were irreplaceable. One turn of bombing runs against one of our best cities meant we pretty much lost it, even if still possessing it.

That was a problem, yes. But you had no choice other than to deal with one problem at the time. And GoW had to spend all their bombers on 1 city per turn to get any result (meaning the factory and cath gone, which were the most critical buildings), which left you some time. You also knew we had no bombers, so the other side was safe.

I cannot agree here. What I call an "intel" sub was a submarine that made sure a certain area was free of your transports - thus a certain number of our coastal cities was safe and needed NO defense. Without this intel, we'd have had to defend even against potential threats. Your initial sneak attack deprived us of most of our navy in the Western Ocean - we barely had subs enough left to reform an "intel perimeter" allowing us to deploy defenses effectively.

Good point, and one I didn't fully consider. However, weren't all of our transports accounted for? You knew how many we had, you knew how many there had to be in the chain. There was no other transport around. Also, I think that in the turn before landing, you were in a position to attack our last hub with damaged BBs and DDs. I'm not perfectly certain if it would have kept us from chaining as we spotted this beforehand, and tried to counter it by moving a couple of extra transports in the open, it all depended on how your intel was in the region of the last hub.

We had no spare subs that could hunt for your chain out in the open sea.

no need to hunt, there weren't many positions where they could have been, even if we did try to plant some misinformation by moving in separate groups. All you had to do was attack You ended the game with over 1000 gold, if you would have spend half of that on 2 more ships on our side, it is very likely we were at this moment suing for peace. Okay, that may be a hindsight thing as well, but the consequence of leaving our chain untouched really is extreme. For all the brilliance in the rest of your moves, it's odd that you didn't see the importance of the chain. It gave us the flexibility we couldn't have gotten any other way.

But honestly, my initial remark was not meant seriously - hence the smilie... I was not complaining or anything. Without "being here", it's easy to say that had we done this or that, we might have achieved something else, perhaps not losing or losing later or... the fact is our strategy worked quite well (also thanks to that you did not think of the Stanwix trick) - until we forgot that no artillery landed one turn did not necessarily mean you could not bombard a turn later...

I didn't read it as a complaint, vondrack. It's just that I feel like we were "there" because of all the different possibilities we considered being the Lego's. That's why it is important for me to know your reasons: we are not going to learn anything from going over our own decisions again, without hearing your view on things. It is not my intention to make this painful for you, I only hope you are interested in seeing what really happened, just as I am.

DeepO

[vmxa1]

A lot of if's and mites, but no matter it was extremely well played by Lego IMO.

You had a lot coming for you with two large empires and RP kicking in some very much need gold. Not to mention these teams were made up of some very experienced players.

From my perspecive Lego came very close to saving the day. Every turn we were impressed by your tactics. In the end wars tend to come down to a break here or there and production.

Turns were intense and exciting and I am glad to have seen it, regardless of how it came out. So I want to thank T for inviting me to join way back when.

[Master Zen]

1305 AD Edition

The Glory of News
All the News thats unfit to print

1305 AD


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

BREAKING NEWS
Glitch hits Stormian Communications
Rumors of giant "Bug" attack unconfirmed


EYE OF THE STORM - First it was the telephones. Then it was television transmissions. In just a manner of minutes all communications with Stormia were suddenly lost in one of the strangest technological glitches in history. It all began when underwater cable stations began reporting malfunctions causing delays in telegram and telephone services between Stormia and the rest of the world but no sooner was this being reported when television and radio transmitions went off the air also. "I was calling my girlfriend at Elipolis when suddenly her voice faded and all I got was static" said Skulgaria resident Moot Soot. "See, that's what I get for going into long-distance relationships with catalog girls". But he was not the only one. Phone-sex and international dating are thriving industries in the Glory of War as young men are feeling more and more attracted to Arab, Spanish and Stormian women rather than the hairy bearded local stock. "This glitch could signal collapse for our industry" remarked Pooh Hefner, CEO of The Glory of Hustling, with communications with Stormia severed, who are we going to put on our cover next month, Belinda Bigfoot? Who's going to want to buy that!"

Causes of the glitch have caused a number of rumors to surface, the most fantastic of which is the one about a giant "Bug" rampaging through Stormian cities. Though unconfirmed, the giant "Bug" was mentioned on numerous occasions on Stormian radio and TV shortly before the glitch though it is unsure whether such reportings were part of the local news, or part of the Monster Movie Marathon Weekend on cable.




Oh My God! It's Tripzilla!


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

Museum of Natural History opens in Imperial City
Legoland Fauna Exhibition generates record crowds

IMPERIAL CITY - Streets were jammed and people flocked to the city center to be the first to attend the newly inagurated Museum of Natural History in Alliance Square. "I've been waiting months for this!" exclaimed Bubba Feet, "I came all the way from Irongard just to see it!". The Museum features a giant hall of the most impressive native animals found on the Legoland continent and which had hitherto been unknown to the rest of the world except through books and illustrations as well as first-person accounts from troops who saw these animals in the wild. The Glory of News obtained an exclusive interview with the curator of the museum, Dr. Ennet.

GoN: What is so special about Lego fauna?

E: Lego fauna is unique in the world. Millions of years before when the world was created the continents were all one big landmass. But geological change resulted in the separation of the Legoland continent and thus, the isolation of countless species there. On the other hand, the Bobian and Stormian continents were always closely linked which means that other than some strange cases - like stormchickens - the same fauna can be found throughout.

GoN: It seems Lego fauna come in all shapes and sizes

E: Yes, unlike our animals which are composed of cells, Lego animals are composed of blocks. This leads to some interesting variations and is highly versatile. For example, when one kind of block is scarce in nature, the species simply evolve by changing different blocks. The possibilities are limitless, in theory you can have an elephant turning into an intergalactic spaceship in a couple million years.

GoN: Any other pecularities you wish to mention?

E: Ah yes, Lego animals are interesting because their babies tend to be much larger than the adults.

GoN: Why is that?

E: DNA tests have shown us that their blocks are composed of "duplo", a much larger but clumsier block type. But after reaching 3 years and older they start using regular blocks. We suspect that the small blocks can be hazarardous to their health if accidentally injested.

GoN: On a related topic, do these findings shed new light on the endless debate between evolution and CIVXEDIT.EXEism? The CIVXEDIT.EXE fanatics insist that the world was created with the click of a mouse rather than after millions of years of evolution and geological change.

E: It's nonsense my friend, evolution was discovered and proven in Stormia years ago, the CIVXEDIT.EXEists' claims are no less ludicrous than the RNGists who claim our destiny is already written in the stars.




Legoland animals on display at the Museum


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

Admiralty In Crisis!
GoW Navy runs out of awe-inspiring names for warships


TRAFALGAR - Over two centuries since the birth of the modern GoW Navy, the Admiralty has declared that it has officially run out of awe-inspiring names for its new warships. "We never expected to actually build all of these ships when the first master list was made" said Admiral of the Fleet Yamamotorola, "now, we're entirely devoid of ideas". The crisis began shortly after the Lego War began when names of deadly fish for the transports ran out. "Our first transports were named IWS Barracuda, IWS Thresher, etc. Our later ones had to be content with being christened the IWS Killer Goldfish and the IWS Rubber Duckie, just to name a few". The Admiralty believes that names affect the performance of ships though practice has disproven this on more than one occassion: the IWS Challanger was "challanged" by Lego ships and promptly sunk. And the IWS Executioner was likewise "executed" by the enemy off the coast of Jackson.

Neverthless the names of some of these ships have now been immortalized in naval lore, vessels like the IWS Thunderflare, the IWS Chimaera and the IWS Death's Hand performed admirably in combat, as the Admiralty would like to believe, thanks to the psycological edge given by a naming sistem which evokes images of power and might. But not all agree. "Our men are proud of the Rubber Duckie!" explained ship's Captain Kook "so what if our ship is named after a bathroom accessory, we still be goin' to kick some be-hind! Yee-haw motherf*ckers!"




The Glory of Tourism presents
Imperial City Restaurant Guide


First time in Imperial City? Have a taste of GoW in one of these fine establishments which cater to everyone's appetite and wallet.


Exclusive (20g+)

Bistro Farb - From Oklahoma roadkill al dente to marinated troll, Bistro Farb is the place to go for prime cuts.

El Roleplayero - Delicious Spanish cuisine served by unemployed former Roleplayers. Their specialty is the midget squid though service can be slow at times since they spend more time talking than they do cooking.

Midline (5-8g)

Hard Knock Café - Decorated with Luxian memorabilia it also doubles as a cocktail lounge. Try the "Bloody Trip" if you come.

Taco Zen - Owned by relatives of the Imperial family, this is Zenophobian cuisine at its best.

UnO's Bar & Grill - The only restaurant where the meat is always served raw and you get to keep the bones as a souvenir. Great for kids.

Budget (1-3g)

Arashi Fried Chicken - The world-famous Stormian fast-food chain serves cheap stormchicken sizzling with Col. Theseus' secret recipe

McDonegeald's - The burger chain that started it all. Don't let the allegations of industrial toxic waste stop you, these burgers are top notch.

Beta Hut - Refining his cooking skills while locked in a Voxian dungeon, Beta presents the finest pizzas at a great price.

[ZargonX]

no less ludicrous than the RNGists who claim our destiny is already written in the stars.

That depends on whether the Higher Powers decided to click on the little box at the time of Creation.

[Hot Mustard]

Another great edition!

[Cort Haus]

Admiralty In Crisis!
GoW Navy runs out of awe-inspiring names for warships

GoN readers may be interested to know that such was the desperation setting in at the Glory of Nomenclature Ministry (Naval Dept), that 'IWS Killer Goldfish' was actually named by the Stormian Ambassador (also your humble reporter) during chat with Emperor MZ early during the preparations for the Lego War. Apart from explaining the profound lack of GoW imagery in the name, this is particularly interesting because the Stormian nation had hardly named a single unit since Grog. This lack of experience is conspicuously evident in the name proposed.

[Cort Haus]

Great work again MZ, btw. You should pick up an award for all this stuff.