Hmmm.....

oldorders isc188_2_orders_annotated.doc (50 k)

By John D Berg (Kerg) on Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 04:42 pm: Edit

And heres an econ. Now realize that these came from a universe long ago and some rules have been changed a bit since then.

sample iscmilitaryeconform_y188_1.xls (23 k)

By Sebastian Palozzi (Sebastian) on Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 05:47 pm: Edit

Perfect! Just what I needed. Thank you John.

By Charles "Lucky" Coleman (Mwmiyd) on Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 07:24 pm: Edit

Roy,
Interesting concept. It would work well if all the empires were equal, but they are not.

Lets look at the Lyran (15 majors) and the Wyn (still a minor empire). It is 1 vs. 1 fair yes? We don't really know. The Lyran could have junk for ships, or just simply didn't build very many. Where the Wyn could have some very good tech, good defenses and some very good ships. Now on average, 2 empires that are similar to the two listed here the larger will have the advantage over the smaller, and by virtue of that will win a war 75% of the time by attrition alone (no tactical ability needed).

I have no idea what the ISC had at the start of Y164.2 but I am assuming it was a lot more than me. I had 15xSC3 and 22xSC4 at the start of the war. And for the next 4 turns I fought the war up north with the help of 15 allied ships (2 squadrons, 1xKhol and 1xAlunda). I did what I had to do in order to survive a fight with a superior foe. He currently still outnumbers my forces by over 40 ships (just from what I count on my sensors, he more than likely has some I cant see). And on top of that, I have knocked out almost 60 of his ships and lost 20 of my own.

The only thing that has saved me so far is that he has made huge tactical errors. I was able to capitalize on most of them (but not all, my allies didn't do what I told them to a few times). The Alliance is doing better now; they are not making as many mistakes and the Coalition is starting to lose a lot more ships. Attrition will eventually catch up to us.

Now John B. on the other hand has a very difficult job. He has to keep the game challenging, interesting and keep one "force" from becoming to overpowered. He has several tools to do that with and NPC are one of them. Andros and Pirates are others. Mis-information or propaganda are others. Captains that misinterpret orders, etc.

And trust me when I say that he uses NPCs to help both sides. My NPC allies will do something total opposite of what I want them to do and totally screw up my plans and set me back a turn or two. It gives my opponent time to counter, regroup, defend, etc.. Hence why I haven't been able to isolate his home world yet. He has the Alunda to thank for that (out of character so don't have the NPC Alunda take that as an offense to them).

So trust me when I say John B. doesn't use the NPCs to gang up on ppl. He uses them as a tool to keep the game challenging and interesting.

I would be willing to GM a game with you (both of us being GMs) and we can try different things to see what works and what doesn't.

There may be others that are working on starting a beginner's game that you may be able to help GM just so you can be on the other side.

Or perhaps do one on your own. I'd play.

By Sebastian Palozzi (Sebastian) on Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 07:57 pm: Edit

Did somebody say 'beginner's game"?
If somebody is starting a beginner's game count me in.

By Roy Steele (Emperor) on Friday, January 16, 2015 - 11:27 am: Edit

You have a good point, a Minor Empire would not stand up against a Major Empire, so rules might say something like more than 1 Major Empire vrs 1 other Major Empire, or more than 1 Minor vrs 1 Minor Empire, if a Minor Empire is attacked by a Major Empire than 1 other race may be called by the Minor Empire without a full declaration of War, other than that a Full Declaration of War must be publically stated.

By John Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Friday, January 16, 2015 - 11:46 pm: Edit

Wow, a blast from the past. To the good ole days when Jean was actively running an empire!!

Well Lucky, I had two scouts up north at the start of the war. I tried to be as peaceful as possible since we were allies at the time. I got burned.

It is part of the game to be "ganged up upon".

In U3 (the universe for the sample turn) we were all fighting a common enemy from the start, the Andros. The Andros ganged up on the Canadiens (i.e. me). For good reason, having taken out several minor empires, taking out the Canadiens would give them victory conditions. They were well on their way to doing this when the game ended. JB had too many real life things to deal with at the time.

Being the GM is a tough job. Besides the time invested, all the number crunching and rules to remember, one has to have a lot of patience. I've made my share of "boo boos" and unintentional misinterpretations of the rules. The current GM is most understanding in my case.

I think you will be a fine GM. Perhaps you will enjoy seeing all of the races "special abilities" and quirks. You will probably say what a nice race the Frax are when you see some of the other races. I've only seen three of them (ISC, Canadien, Triaxian).

Bottom line, I'll play. Of course JB will most likely play as well. SMILE. Let us hope Sebastian is not next to the GM's race. He likes Klingons.

By Howard Bampton (Bampton) on Friday, February 27, 2015 - 01:15 pm: Edit

While it is far later than I should have submitted it, the CL GC article has been sent to ADB for its encounter with the purple pen.

Feel free to vote/suggest topics (or write your own) for CL51 submissions!

By John D Berg (Kerg) on Sunday, March 01, 2015 - 10:04 am: Edit

Just as a note:

No Orions or Andros are used against players in the current U5 game.

NPC allies are not blind followers of a PC...they have there own agenda, just like your PC allies.


I think its interesting how players seem to fear/cant attack system anymore.

The game is designed to be defensive heavy, very rarely have I seen a good fluid game, usually we have a WW1 style "no mans" land that gets established.......and its not until X ships does the technology increase enough to make stolid islands of defense untenable.

Just look at the current ISC/Frax war? No defended systems have been taken by either side...and we have major systems that are being by passed.

Both sides see the whittling down of their navies and keep calling more and more friends/allies to the slaughter--grin.

By John Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Sunday, March 01, 2015 - 03:00 pm: Edit

There you have it - the Andro invasion is a "myth"!

Attacking lightly defended systems? - no problem. The Frax took two from the ISC. (And technically one undefended system that was eventually ceded to the Drex.)

I think your analysis is correct concerning heavily defended systems. It is tough to attack such systems that also include defending mobile forces and expect an easy victory. The Drex/ISC vs Frax/Khol battle at NN70 comes to mind.

Then again, the Frax and ISC respect the Lyran policy of "us" not attacking each other's "core" systems or risk Lyran entry on one side or the other. Having the Lyran on your side would be a powerful ally. Having to fight a powerful enemy would give the offending side great trepidation.

Can you blame us for seeking friends/allies assistance?

Your friendly ISC Emperor

GRIN!

By Charles "Lucky" Coleman (Mwmiyd) on Sunday, March 01, 2015 - 04:00 pm: Edit

Attacking heavily defended systems is possible. You just have to have the right plan and be prepared to pay the price.

It is not fear that keeps the FRAX from attacking core systems. It is, as the ISC has said, just smart policy not to incite the Lyran Empire against you if you don't have to.

FRAX Prime

By Howard Bampton (Bampton) on Monday, March 02, 2015 - 01:54 pm: Edit

Attacking a hard point is tough, but it is doable. You either come in with a huge pile of ships that you've AM'd together (think 8-10 DN squadrons and full CAN), or you go in with perhaps half that but really good ships (LOs, outstanding crews, "best models" like BB/DNH/BCH/CCH/CX/CV). Techs may help too- IA and CEFO comes to mind...

Your best bet as the attacker is to cut the system off for a while so you can crush the defender's economy and then swing back after he has lost most of his income due to reduced size and forced EE.

The Romulans could probably do one system assault solo, but it would blow through 100+ ships some of which would be impractical to replace. The Gorns and Lyrans may also be able to do so, but would presumably go with the quantity route instead of quality. Any other assault would almost certainly require 2-3 empires to tag team it.

By John Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Tuesday, March 03, 2015 - 12:18 pm: Edit

Seems we both respect the Lyran Empire.

The Frax are employing paragraph two - cut off a major system. The Gorns were bloodied in protecting our annexing ships that were trying to reconnect.

ISC Emperor

By Roy Steele (Emperor) on Wednesday, March 04, 2015 - 08:09 am: Edit

John: you have stated the Orions or the Andro are not used in the current game, as of now or they will not be in this U-5 game? I understood at the beginning of this game that the Andro's would be coming in at a later date? hence the Red Spots?

By Howard Bampton (Bampton) on Wednesday, March 04, 2015 - 12:51 pm: Edit

One should, as a matter of course, assume that some 3rd party may be mucking around in your rear areas and keep something there. If is immaterial if it is Andro based, Orion based, or something new.

By Bennett Snyder (Planner) on Sunday, March 08, 2015 - 11:59 am: Edit

John Stiff, tried calling you last night if 2002 # is still good.

By John D Berg (Kerg) on Monday, April 06, 2015 - 09:37 am: Edit

Due Date April 20, 2015

By John Christie (John46) on Sunday, June 14, 2015 - 12:02 am: Edit

Beginner's game/campaign. Mentioned above in January. Would be certainly interested. Probably would be a good way to get interested newcomers involved without throwing them in at the deep end.

By John Coleman (Aligato) on Sunday, June 14, 2015 - 07:21 am: Edit

If your interested in the game John you should play..........being thrown into the deep end of the pool you have two options, sink or swim...... I find that most veteran players of SFB learn to swim rather quickly. Plus you have all the help that you could possibly use. All the empires are in some sort of alliance......that alliance is the only crutch you need to get up to speed on, plus any mentor that is assigned. There is no great rush in this game so you have time to analyze and ask guestions and seek advice. Come join us.

By John D Berg (Kerg) on Monday, June 15, 2015 - 11:15 am: Edit

Welcome John Christie. He is the new variety

By Charles "Lucky" Coleman (Mwmiyd) on Monday, June 15, 2015 - 03:22 pm: Edit

Welcome to the Game John Christie. I would have just said John, or John C. but we have a lot of Johns. We have what? JB, JC x2, JS x2

By John Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 - 01:10 am: Edit

John is a nice name!

By John F. Reaves III (Jfriii) on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 - 02:17 am: Edit

Yes it is.

By John Coleman (Aligato) on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 - 05:08 pm: Edit

Welcome John......JC.......JC#2.....John Christie!

By John Burton Steele Sr. (Johnbsteele) on Thursday, June 18, 2015 - 10:25 pm: Edit

Welcome new John!