Earth-Centauri War - Report!

[H]

I must say, i did feelsorry for Fox, in our first game, I was worried he would beat me, but felt i could give it a good go because his smaller ships stood to be wiped out (probably) leaving me to face off against a G'Vrahn and G'Lan.. I suspect i would have lost on VP's though. In our second game the Victroy popped in, but not in time to prevent a wipeout of the narn. I understood the admiral arriving, as we wanted centauri prime back.
I have made mention in my feedback to ian about the sheer power of an admiral. And i am truly sorry you got a bit shafted :-(
their was certainly a competitive element to the weekend, fun or not, we are men, we fight, we win, rarr... kind of thing ;-)

 

[Triggy]

The big tipping of the game there was the table next to us surrendering just before Admiral Greg could come and support, meaning two extra Liatis came in to reinforce Centauri Prime.

Sorry, but my game was over. Simple as that. I'd already had 3 frankly shite games, and the Adira turning up behind my fleet for the 3rd time was the final straw.

I could've waited the extra 15 minutes to watch the Centauri roll lots of dice and destroy my entire fleet. Greg might well have turned up to roll a a lot of dice himself, but my dice rolling was over.

Plus, point of order, I didn't actually surrender - having lost initiative and with the Adira poised to enter behind me after all my ships had moved, I chose to initiate a jump point - I'd have never have even made it anyway because I'd already *seen* the result of that twice before!

I'm pretty certain the intention was that this event was supposed to be a fun campaign, not an ultra-competitive tournament, but that is exactly what it looked like to me! I didn't see anyone particularly bothered by the fact that my weekend of gaming was essentially ruined because I was not actually given the opportunity to *play* 4 out of 6 games!

Sorry, but I really do take umbrage when it's made to look like it was *my* actions that caused you to lose *your* game when in reality nothing could be farther from the truth! Katadder knew exactly what he w doing, and knew exactly what would happen - I don't blame him though because it was a tactically shrewd move.

Regards,

Dave

Sorry if there was any offence taken, it certainly wasn't meant and it sucks that you didn't get many decent games.

However the fact remains that tactically if Greg had the opportunity to arrive on the table then both the Liatis and the Adira would have been stalled for *most* of the time available (even with the Narns fleeing) and the Centauri Prime game could have had a different outcome. Personally, I found playing out a tactical situation, making the most of a poor lot quite fun as I could still influence other games in a major way.

Either way as you say, a lot of games this weekend weren't that fun for people and that's something that will probably need to be looked at.

 

[Centauri_Admiral]

I'm pretty certain the intention was that this event was supposed to be a fun campaign, not an ultra-competitive tournament, but that is exactly what it looked like to me! I didn't see anyone particularly bothered by the fact that my weekend of gaming was essentially ruined because I was not actually given the opportunity to *play* 4 out of 6 games!


Regards,

Dave

I'm not sure if I've got your jist here, but if I have, then I agree with you dave. I'd rather have played 4 games this weekend rather than six, and in each of those 4 games, at least had a chance of being able to pull round what became a loss. I'm assuming thats what you meant dave?

And it did seem like a thinly veiled tournament to me as well, I know we'll argue about broken ships etc, but in an environment where the gamer is supposed to be inspired to have fun, I think a fair few had very little of it in a couple of games.

 

[H]

nah, I think the 6 games were fine (even though with more time i might have won one of my losses) daves issue is 4 of his games were pretty much beyond his controll and he may as well have not bothered putting his ships on the table.

 

[katadder]

Re the last games. It is alleged that Ben bank rolled the battle point replenishment for the EA. I know that the weekend was one of skullduggery and backstabbing with the merc. But that was a bit naughty.

He gave four credits back but given the extra "balancing" that went on to give the Centauri a chance after day one, this was many, many credits fewer.

I don't Know if we recieved anything extra at the end of Saturday?

I do Know that Ben gave EA a load of money as he had found out he could not win his aspect of the tournment.

It may be that both things were done to make the weekend last - ie not one day / make the end game too one sided. If so Ben may have acted on MGP's orders - kinda doubt it though........... :?:

Again, he gave four credits and also lost Earth for us as he joined the mercenary alliance - not good value for money and certainly not loyal to the end either.

Centauri "bonuses" were there to keep them in the game as they were hammered so heavily on day one. I don't object to this from a fun point of view but it did happen. The Sunday morning credits would have been 3-6 under normal circumstances but were at least 15...

I would like to point out we got no bonuses for day 2 to start. We had lost hardly any ships, might not have owned systems but we were handing out more damage than we were taking. I had money left from day 1 and even after all repairs to the centauri fleet which was hardly any (think i handed out about 6-7 ducats for that) still had plenty left.
we didnt need the help to keep fleets in tip top condition. in fact apart from one guy forgetting to ask for any money none of my fleets went into battle short of anything more than a skirmish ship and then probably never more than once. i do know that over turns 4 & 5 we destroyed around 30 battle points of earth ships for the loss of about 7 battle of our own.
the problems seemed to be that we were losing systems for losing 1, maybe 2 skirmish ships as ours were more fragile whilst heavily damaging the EA but not killing their tougher ships in the generall 2-4 turns of a game. I saw so many games in fact where another turn or so and the centauri would have had all the systems and left the earthers with nothing. in fact the game triggy nearly died in day 1 was one such perfect example.

oh on the half your fleet thing, turning 5 of 8 ships around to face an adira is half your fleet in numbers if not in PLs. it effectively left you facing a drakh fleet minus 16 AD of railguns plus the explorers DD weapons that never then got into range IIRC.

 

[Lord David the Denied]

No problem

About Ben's fleet - even he said that he didn't have fun that weekend as nobody wanted to face him. It is his decision and I'm just thankful that a) The Gaim are going to be reviewed (they'd better!) and b) nobody had to face Ben's fleet more than once IIRC. I'm sorry the games there sucked but if they mean that something positive comes out of their presence then that's not too bad.

I played him twice. I also played Shane and his busted G'Vrahn plus optimum anti-Centauri fleet twice. I enjoyed these games very much.

 

[Triggy]

Re the last games. It is alleged that Ben bank rolled the battle point replenishment for the EA. I know that the weekend was one of skullduggery and backstabbing with the merc. But that was a bit naughty.

He gave four credits back but given the extra "balancing" that went on to give the Centauri a chance after day one, this was many, many credits fewer.

I don't Know if we recieved anything extra at the end of Saturday?

I do Know that Ben gave EA a load of money as he had found out he could not win his aspect of the tournment.

It may be that both things were done to make the weekend last - ie not one day / make the end game too one sided. If so Ben may have acted on MGP's orders - kinda doubt it though........... :?:

Again, he gave four credits and also lost Earth for us as he joined the mercenary alliance - not good value for money and certainly not loyal to the end either.

Centauri "bonuses" were there to keep them in the game as they were hammered so heavily on day one. I don't object to this from a fun point of view but it did happen. The Sunday morning credits would have been 3-6 under normal circumstances but were at least 15...

I would like to point out we got no bonuses for day 2 to start. We had lost hardly any ships, might not have owned systems but we were handing out more damage than we were taking. I had money left from day 1 and even after all repairs to the centauri fleet which was hardly any (think i handed out about 6-7 ducats for that) still had plenty left.
we didnt need the help to keep fleets in tip top condition. in fact apart from one guy forgetting to ask for any money none of my fleets went into battle short of anything more than a skirmish ship and then probably never more than once. i do know that over turns 4 & 5 we destroyed around 30 battle points of earth ships for the loss of about 7 battle of our own.
the problems seemed to be that we were losing systems for losing 1, maybe 2 skirmish ships as ours were more fragile whilst heavily damaging the EA but not killing their tougher ships in the generall 2-4 turns of a game. I saw so many games in fact where another turn or so and the centauri would have had all the systems and left the earthers with nothing. in fact the game triggy nearly died in day 1 was one such perfect example.

I too would have liked to have seen more time per game, with only three games per day, 2.5 hours wouldn't have been a problem. The EA used the timing of games as a tactic and this gives the impression of being about to die. Of course the games would have been quite different if there was more time - the EA would have used different tactics certainly and still may have won, but the game would have been different.

 

[Lord David the Denied]

I would like to point out we got no bonuses for day 2 to start. We had lost hardly any ships, might not have owned systems but we were handing out more damage than we were taking. I had money left from day 1 and even after all repairs to the centauri fleet which was hardly any (think i handed out about 6-7 ducats for that) still had plenty left.
we didnt need the help to keep fleets in tip top condition. in fact apart from one guy forgetting to ask for any money none of my fleets went into battle short of anything more than a skirmish ship and then probably never more than once. i do know that over turns 4 & 5 we destroyed around 30 battle points of earth ships for the loss of about 7 battle of our own.
the problems seemed to be that we were losing systems for losing 1, maybe 2 skirmish ships as ours were more fragile whilst heavily damaging the EA but not killing their tougher ships in the generall 2-4 turns of a game. I saw so many games in fact where another turn or so and the centauri would have had all the systems and left the earthers with nothing. in fact the game triggy nearly died in day 1 was one such perfect example.

oh on the half your fleet thing, turning 5 of 8 ships around to face an adira is half your fleet in numbers if not in PLs. it effectively left you facing a drakh fleet minus 16 AD of railguns plus the explorers DD weapons that never then got into range IIRC.

Actually, admiral, I went into action twice with ships missing from my fleet; in game two I was asked to retake Centauri Prime without the money to recover my lost Demos that Ben and the Red Leicester Fleet destroyed, and I was asked to take a planet from LBH's ISA without a Centurion cruiser that had been lost to the G'Vrahn in game two.

Basically, in four out of six games I faced broken units or fleets and played the same opponents twice. I'd have really liked to play against the EA in the EA-Centauri War more than once out of six games. If there's another campaign event like this I think MGP need to be more strict about which races are involved - in the suggested Dilgar War it would have to be kept pretty tight; EA and League on one side, Dilgar on the other.

 

[Foxmeister]

Personally, I found playing out a tactical situation, making the most of a poor lot quite fun as I could still influence other games in a major way.

The problem is, I'd have actually served the Earth Alliance better in every single game by deploying facing my board edge and tactically withdrawing in every single game.

Even though I actual won one game (a Recon Run) I lost both of my ships in the process anyway, making it very much a pyrrhic victory since it cost 3 credits to replace them. I'd say that if I'd fled every table instantly on turn 1 I'd have saved the EA somewhere in the region of 12 to 15 credits making the whole point about Bens last turn contribution totally moot!

Playing out a tactical situation involves, well, playing. In 4 of my games, that just couldn't happen because there was no game to play!

Regards,

Dave

 

[Da Boss]

No problem

About Ben's fleet - even he said that he didn't have fun that weekend as nobody wanted to face him. It is his decision and I'm just thankful that a) The Gaim are going to be reviewed (they'd better!) and b) nobody had to face Ben's fleet more than once IIRC. I'm sorry the games there sucked but if they mean that something positive comes out of their presence then that's not too bad.

I played him twice. I also played Shane and his busted G'Vrahn plus optimum anti-Centauri fleet twice. I enjoyed these games very much.

I'm guessing that is sarcasm or I am a bit worried? :shock: I do know that Ken (the Minbari player) ddi not enjoy his game when he turned up with Ben.

 

[H]

so then, we reckon that admiral ships heavily influenced many games. to the point where several games were immediately ruined.
so then. we don't want to stop and admiral having fun, how about..

the Admiral has 5BP lie anyone else to select a fleet. From this he may use 2 battle points to select his personal command. He may if he desires choose one war ship, 2 battle ships, or 1 battle 2 raid.. thse ships must always remain together. he may spend his remaining points as he sees fit. Each turn the admiral may take his peronsal command to any battle. his remaining 3 points he may send 1 point each to any 3 tables as re-inforcements, immediately falling under command of the on board commodore/captain/insert rank.
this halves the sheer impact of the admiral, still lets him (or her) play games, and aid several tables...

thoughts?

 

[Da Boss]

I also know that the game against Lee was over as soon as Steve jumped the Adira through the Jump Gate - it became - can he escape with any ships...............despite an ability to inflict weapon crits on the Adira.

It was absolutely the right tactical decision and we gained Earth - but I felt really sorry for Lee ands apologised afterwards.

 

[Foxmeister]

I'm not sure if I've got your jist here, but if I have, then I agree with you dave. I'd rather have played 4 games this weekend rather than six, and in each of those 4 games, at least had a chance of being able to pull round what became a loss. I'm assuming thats what you meant dave?

Sort of! Essentially, I played 2 games of B5:ACTA this weekend and watched 4 others.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Triggy]

Personally, I found playing out a tactical situation, making the most of a poor lot quite fun as I could still influence other games in a major way.

The problem is, I'd have actually served the Earth Alliance better in every single game by deploying facing my board edge and tactically withdrawing in every single game.

Even though I actual won one game (a Recon Run) I lost both of my ships in the process anyway, making it very much a pyrrhic victory since it cost 3 credits to replace them. I'd say that if I'd fled every table instantly on turn 1 I'd have saved the EA somewhere in the region of 12 to 15 credits making the whole point about Bens last turn contribution totally moot!

Playing out a tactical situation involves, well, playing. In 4 of my games, that just couldn't happen because there was no game to play!

Regards,

Dave

Yeah, I'd seen this happen to you and a few others and I genuinely felt for you.

 

[Lord David the Denied]

I'm guessing that is sarcasm or I am a bit worried? :shock: I do know that Ken (the Minbari player) ddi not enjoy his game when he turned up with Ben.

Sarcasm, me? Never...

Yeah, I was taking the piss there. I doubt Ken rated the game with Centauri_Admiral and I very much, since we paid very little attention to it and made no secret of the fact we were disgusted with Ben's fleet and knew we weren't going to win. Hell, I was shopping during most of that game.

 

[katadder]

i know in at least 3 of the games i jumped in there was a n ISA victory there or it came in at the point i did. so it did balance out a little there. think the problem is without having that incentive to use a big ship not as many people would have been as happy to be admiral, they would have paid their money to watch games only.

 

[Da Boss]

not critising you Steve - hell seemed to be the only waty I could win a game :roll: You, Greg and Triggy used the ships as they should be. Sadly it meant that a number of people had a number of totally one sided games. Now the pack did say "sometimes it will be unfair" but I don't think I would have at all happy with it happening to me in half my games.

I have sent my feedback to Old BEar via PM - can't recal his email

It was a great idea but it needs some thinking about if it is to be repeated.

The problems seemed to be: (to me anyway)

A "fun" mechanic of allowing the Admirals to jump in actually ruining some peoples games.
time limit on games...........perhaps the FAP were little too big - maybe 4FAP?

One person bringing a fleet that not only meant he had no fun but at a rough guess meant that at least 8-10 people also had their weekend marred.

Lastly no food to speak of on site :twisted: especially when the closed half the road around us on Sunday

there are a few other minor things but thats the main ones..............

 

[katadder]

well hiffano had the earth grand admiral jump in against him 3 times too. in fact he had pretty much already sorted him out as well as the enemy fleet by the time i turned up on day 1. some fleets can deal with it, some cant

 

[lastbesthope]

Hi all,

Still recovering from a long weekend, and I had today off work too.

Here's what will pass for my battle reports, based on hazy memories and some scribblings I made during the games.

My fleet (ISA)
2 * WS 1 (IAS Paul, IAS Vanessa)
4 * WS 2 (IAS Nathan, IAS Cooper, IAS Shane, IAS Kelly Anne)
1 * Tara'Lin (IAS Queen 6)

Game 1 - vs Centauri (John) - Annihilation????

I was doing fair to middling here but the dice and the game turned against me, I was only saved by Triggy jumping in to help me out and nuke a Secundus with a Lightning Cannon shot. Thanks Triggy, won it on VP.

Game 2 - Against Drakh with local Raider support Annihilation???

Triggy opted to help me out from the get go, we had a plan to take down the Drakh Cruiser with the VCD and then it'd mop up the Raiders whilst I took the Delta Vs and the Drakh ships coming out of the mothership. The plan ended up being reversed and then Katadder jumped in, we scraped a win on Vp though.

Game 3 - Against LDD's Centauri - Planetary Assault

I was pretty much winning this one until I realised I needed to land troops on planet to win and that the Demos were facing a clear run in. The White Star I planned to send to land got too much damage and nothing else could make it. Fortunately.....

I might have had the planetary assault against LBH if I'd realised he was daft enough to leave the planet totally undefended! I could have blitzed past with my Demos pair and taken the planet and won the game.

Yes, I wondered about that and even muttered it to Triggy under my breath at our end of the table, but I wasn't complaining. If you wanted to chase my Tara'Lin down that was fine by me. :lol:

I'd taken out a Primus?? early on and was gunning for the Octurion, some Drazi jumpe din, landed troops and finished off the Octurion which I had nearly killed and was hoping to finish off anyway, 3.5 Battle point losses for LDD, only 3 for me and thanks to the Drazi for the troops we won the scenario.

Game 4 - Annihilation/A Call to Arms???? against Richard's Gaim

Unfortunately my Tara'Lin lost all the upgrades it had gained by being destroyed last game. Facing Richard I was ordered to fight a delaying tactic to tie up the Gaim forces for as long as possible for minimum losses. First thing i did was pull all bar 3 WS off the board and then send the others to different parts of the board, launching fighters and CBDing for all they were worth. Tied the Gaim up for an hour and only lost one WS and 2 Nial flights, well worth it. Win to the Gaim though.

Game 5 - Annihilation, against my Drakh opponent from GAme 2. Fighting for Centauri Prime I was utterly ravaged only survived with 2 WS because OB called time when he did. That space station caused the problem for me, other than that I think it would have gone better, less one sided at least.

GAme 6, ah Game 6, against John's Centaurio from game 1, down a Maximus this time and I was attacking in RECON RUN, the scenario I had prayed for all weekend.

6. vs ISA and Recon run on the defensive again. So, I move, He runs on and scans me, gaining vp. by the end of the movement phase, he has 2.5 battle points scored, and I can only score 3 points total. He shoots first and kills a ship. So for the second game of the weekend I haven't fired a shot but am already so far behind I can't win. Turn 2, I move a ship, he moves a ship, scans me and runs everyone else away. Hes won and I could only kill 2 raid level ships. This sudden death kind of game is terrible in a tournament as it destablised not only my game, but the game the ISA jumped into. We didn't have them try to break stealth on my Corvan to scan, which maybe was a mistake?

Says it all really. I never thought about having to beat stealth to scan the vessel, nothing in the scenario, though I do remember that I passed the stealth roll to shoot at it and killed it. Well I didn't want to risk shooting the Primus I hadn't scanned in Turn 1. The Corvan and the Centurion I blew up after scanning were in my way :lol:

I then was ordered to help Derina at Orion???

Game 6 (Call to Arms)

Played Derinas 3rd Age Earth Force.

It was going well with lots of hurt EA ships. The LBH came in with his advanced jump engines and killed my big bad cruiser .

Earth Force won on points (thanks to LBH). I lost 3.5 battle points worth.

I couldn't do any harm with my AJP as Derina had just lost her Scout, but my 4 surviving WS did manage to kill one of the biggish Drakh ships and the reroll my Scout allowed Derina's Sunstrike missiles to take out another Raid Drakh ship. We got it on the VP. Finally a clean victory and an assist to my name.

Other points of the day:

I became a comms runner for Triggy after I lost tot he Gaim, the only time I finished a game before time except for the last one.

Triggy, I thank you for your direct support and tactical tutelage in the first 2 games, I'm learning a lot, given I only get to play ACTA at tourneys I think I'm learning quite fast now.

To both my admirals, job well done to you both.

To Matthew, double check how many battles you'll need next time eh? :lol: And thanks for the commemorative credit and ducat.

I had a bloody good time, and I'm already looking forward to the next tourney.

Thanks to all those I fought against for good ganes, and all those who supported me in my battles, thanks to you too, couldn't have done it without you.

If I rememebr anything else worth noting I'll post it later.

LBH

 

[GhostRecon]

Alot of the problem I see is that ships (seem to) transit hyperspace near instantly between battles...

...Perhaps some sort of time sink that ships have to spend in hyperspace transiting between battlezones? Like, one or two turns after you enter hyperspace before they can jump into another battlespace?

You could even "map" out the campaign system and have certain times that ships have to spend in hyperspace transiting, and even make certain hyperspace transits impossible in the duration of one game (Such as jumping a fleet from Centauri Prime to Earth in the course of one battle).

That even adds the dynamic of holding reserve fleets in certain systems, and then sending them to reinforce fleets, though their intervention takes a certain amount of game turns to arrive because of transit times.