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LenLorek

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Everything posted by LenLorek

  1. After two months, we have the following players explicitly stating they would like to play in a 21 day (slow) game of Victory!: LenLorek (= me) Greybeard Earthling Gecko Spongebob (eventually). Is there anyone else who is interested?
  2. A few years back I played in a 21 day (slow) game of Victory!, and I would like to do so again. Is anyone else interested in joining me? I find that I can cope with the frequency of the regular 14 day game *most* of the time, but I would miss a game turn's deadline too often due to my other RL commitments, which spoiled the game for me. There must be other gamers in the same position who would prefer the less frequent slow game -- if so, then please reply to this topic to show RTG there is a demand for a slow game, and send your set-up request to Russ! Many thanks, Len Lorek
  3. What I would like to see: -- no limit to the number of orders issued each game turn -- allow an "Army" to be composed of Divisions with individual battalions -- historically, Armored, Artillery, Self-Propelled Artillery, AA/SPAA, SPAT, Reconnaisance and Motorized Infantry battalions, as well as Engineer and Transport companies, were held at Corps level to be attached to Divisions as the Corps commander saw fit; a Transport company could allow an Infantry Division to move (but not fight) as a Motorized Infantry division, an Armored battalion could allow an Infantry Division to fight (but not move) as a Motorised Infantry division, two Self-Propelled Artillery battalions could allow a Motorised Infantry division to fight (but not move) as a Mechanised Infantry division, etc; -- more realistic divisions available at the start of the game (supposedly equivalent to September 1939): only Germany and Russia had Armored divisions; the British Army was entirely Motorised Infantry divisions; -- the gaining of experience (Green, Line, Veteran, Elite) to be more sophisticated: units can gain experience in different areas (eg, general offense & defense, as well as specific urban fighting, mountain fighting, fighter escort, air interception, naval patrol, coastal bombardment, etc, etc, etc) so that a Fighter aircraft unit can be Veteran in air interception but still green in fighter escort; the experience is diminished as replacements are drawn; -- as well as a limit to rail movement (reflecting the physical limitations of the rail network in a province), also have a limit to non-combat road movement (reflecting the physical limitations of the road network before the roads get jammed): allow non-combat road movement to be twice plains/desert speeds regardless of terrain up to a certain number of divisions/battalions (or give each division/battalion a "road" factor that uses up part of this road limit), after which movement is off-road and therefore subject to terrain as normal -- note that all combat movement (eg, advance-to contact, deliberate assault, etc) should never use this non-combat road movement; -- allow more than one Army and more than one Air Force to occupy a city or province, that can be given separate orders; -- a proportion of aircraft shot down over home territory can be retrieved -- in the Battle of Britain, shot-down surviving German pilots were imprisoned, but shot-down surviving British pilots were given a new plane; a damaged plane that has to make an emergency landing in home territory can be repaired and returned to duty, but a damaged plane that has to make an emergency landing in enemy territory is lost; -- Russian ground units historically suffered from a lack of radios, so once an attack order was given it was carried out regardless of loss or change of circumstances -- this could be reflected by reduction of combat effectiveness of Russian Army technology, but also a random 0%-5% degree of attrition when not in combat but bordering an enemy Army (ie, an attack is ordered then cancelled, but a battalion or two did not get the cancellation order and so launch a suicidal attack on their own); -- Air attacks on ground units should be much less effective unless aerial reconnaisance has reported the ground unit's positions -- the fewer the ground units (modified by type, eg Armored vehicles are less easily hidden than trucks or horse-drawn carts) the less likely they are to be detected by bombers; -- make unit losses more sophisticated: an attacking Armored unit would tend to lose it tanks first, all units in ground combat would tend to lose its Artillery last, air attacks would hit vehicles first, etc, ... thereby affecting a surviving unit's effectiveness (eg, an Armored division with no Armor is handicapped when conducting a Pincer Attack but is less handicapped than usual when attacking a City) and also replacements should reflect this; -- allow surrounded ground units to try to fight their way out (hasty attack) via their declared retreat route rather than just surrender where they are -- only when their fighting retreat fails do they surrender; -- not allow a single LDB to stop an ATC by many Divisions -- LDBs must outnumber attacking Divisions by at least, say, 6 to 1 in order to stop an ATC otherwise they are "over-run", but some or all (depends upon National Morale?) of any "over-run" LDBs join Partisans in that province. What I would not like to see: -- French or Italian units: French units were OK in 1939, but stopped developing after the fall of France in 1940 -- after this time, the Free French used British equipment up to 1943 and US equipment thereafter; theoretically, Italian units stopped developing after 1943 but in practice stopped developing after 1940; -- Japanese units -- unless the game map is extended to include the Pacific theatre of war (including Western USA & Canada, Australia, New Guinea, China, Korea, Manchuria, Indo-China, India). /Len
  4. Actually, you'll get your first turn results some time on Friday, the same as the rest of us. Failing Friday, it will be Saturday. Failing Saturday, ... etc.
  5. IIRC the Aztecs had a peak population of around 5m. With a life expectancy of only 30 years or so, mostly lost in childbirth or infancy, that meant they could probably field an able-bodied army of at least 500K. They didn't fight battles at that scale because of logistics. But they could afford the attrition of fighting a lot of smaller battles against a small fixed force. There is no way the spaniards could have done it without superior weaponry and logistics. Which is pretty much my point. My personal size, strength, and agility were completely irrelevant once I had technology on my side. The Aztecs were also psychologically disadvantaged by their religion: they believed that, when they died, they went to live in the sky -- specifically the large part that we call the "Milky Way". During Aztec times, the Milky Way looked as if it connected to the horizon of the night sky, and so the Aztecs belived that their ancestors were watching over them and helping them. But the arrival of the Europeans coincided with the Milky Way separating from the horizon, causing the Aztecs to believe that they had become separated from "heaven" and from their helpful ancestors. They believed they were doomed. So they entered battle at a psychological disadvantage. One Spanish soldier wrote home after a battle, commenting that the natives just stood there and let him kill them. I don't think this aspect of ground battle is reflected in SNROTE, no matter how many/few cathedrals, etc, my Empire builds nor how much/little my Empire's religious leaders pray at their cathedrals.
  6. Hi Viro, and welcome to the SNROTE universe. I will atempt to answer some of your questions based upon my experiences of this game, but I am sure that some other players will disagree or elaborate further depending upon their experiences. Last things first: the next game turn deadline is the end of Tuesday, August 4, 2009. The deadlines are every two weeks. If you feel that you have made a mistake with your chosen species characteristics, then you will be able to compensate with Technology Research (including genetic engineering) -- technological advance is a Very Important part of this game so do not neglect this area; but be aware that you cannot possibly research in all directions, so plan well. If in doubt, you could do worse than research the "Improved ..." and then "Advanced ..." items that will be needed for the higher tech ship components (the various weapons and their specific defenses, shields/armor, engines, jump drives, bridge, etc) and planetary installations. You are correct that the mental powers' greatest advantages are in Ground Combat. But, as you have noted, there are other (lesser) advantages as well. If you enjoy designing, creating and working with spreadsheets, then you have joined the ideal game! Early on, SNROTE was nicknamed "Spreadsheets in Space" by someone (can't remember who) -- and it is as apt now as it ever was. Also, Cestvel's SNFindPath has been of great help to me, so download it even though you won't need it until you have explored several star systems. I have heard about these rich players who can afford to pay for and scrap starting positions. I am not one of them, and I suspect that such players are in a tiny minority. You will enjoy playing your chosen race better than playing the numbers, until you meet a hostile neighbor when you will need to start playing the numbers. You will enjoy playing with friends/allies even more, which keeps the game sociable and enables you to share information (to expand the data in your spreadsheets) and tips/suggestions (including advice on Technology Research that suits your Empire), so I strongly advise that you join an alliance or start your own -- I think that most of the existing alliances in SNROTE are filled with experienced players who may not want a newbie, so you may find it easier to join or create an alliance of newbies. Ground Combat is less important than Space Combat -- unless/until you find an enemy's home world (which may take you a year or more of game play), when Ground Combat becomes a very desirable element of the game! I have never used Linux, so I can not help you there. If you make mistakes with your orders (which you will), don't worry too much -- because of the length of this game, the consequences of your mistakes will diminish over time until you forget that you ever made them. Also, remember that we all make mistakes, including your neighbors in the game, so it kinda evens out. The changes in game mechanics that I recall since the start of SNROTE all those years ago: there are 40 orders to an order block, not 30; in space combat, massive numbers of screens are the best tactic until your enemy acquires Flag Bridge technology (and even then there is some dispute among players); Cloaking Technology has been crippled for game balance purposes; sensors are not needed to detect ships of other Empires; Legendary Characters do not need to be transported by ship, they can be instantly transferred from anywhere to anywhere (even to far away star systems) using the AC order; your diplomatic stance with regard to other Empires (Alliance, Non-Agression Pact, War, etc) does not need a meeting of the Empires' diplomats. I hope this helps!
  7. Who is this Lord Valvvyn, joined the boards on Nov 7 2003, Prime Minister of the Galcatic Star League (GSL)? Is he any relation to Lord Valwyn, joined the boards on Jun 30 2003, formerly a member of the Galactic Star league (GSL) until it was disbanded several years ago? Are we witnessing the hijacking of ids again?
  8. Different players have different ideas about boundaries. When one of your fleets make "first contact" with a neighbor's fleet, get in touch straight away and make an agreement over borders. Most friendly players will be happy to make such an agreement, although they may station sentry ships to detect any violation of the agreement. One neighbor (who subsequently dropped) was reluctant to agree to a border, saying that star systems with no occupants (either colonies or sentries) are free for all to map and explore. I was not happy with this as most of my "claimed space" had no occupants at the time - something I have since rectified - and my acceptance of this player's argument would have allowed his Empire's ships to explore up to my Home World. Another neighbor believes that ownership of a star system goes to the Empire who discovered it first. In the early years of SNROTE, players would declare their finds on the Board in order to fulfill this requirement - something I still do (although I always ask if my newly-discovered star system is familar to anyone in case I have found a new neighbor). Some neighbors are just unfriendly and will not recognise a border (or even communicate) unless you force them to do so through battle. So far, only the very unfriendly Crushbone Clan is in this category for my Empire. I hope this helps! /Len
  9. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his friendly nation's discovery of the following friendly star systems: Angeles Namibia. If either of these friendly star system is familiar to you, then please get in touch. PS: did I mention that we're friendly (except to that nasty Crushbone Clan)
  10. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his friendly nation's discovery of the following friendly star system: Kestrel. If this friendly star system is familiar to you, then please get in touch. PS: did I mention that we're friendly (except to that nasty Crushbone Clan)?
  11. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his friendly nation's discovery of the following friendly star system: Asp. If this friendly star system is familiar to you, then please get in touch. /The Bush Administration -- needing all the friends it can find.
  12. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his friendly nation's discovery of the following friendly star system: Ankara. If this friendly star system is familiar to you, then please get in touch.
  13. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his friendly nation's discovery of the following friendly star systems: Akan Georgia. If either of these friendly star systems is familiar to you, then please get in touch.
  14. You are right, of course -- nothing like this has happened to me and so I am mostly unmoved by it. But if it had happened to me, my sense of outrage would know no bounds: if I and several allies had spent several game turns organising an attack on an enemy to be accomplished before (as revealed by Spies and "human resources") the enemy could put a counter in place ... only to be stymied by a double error made by the GM and/or SNROTE software which the GM refuses to correct ... then I too would be enraged. I have been playing SNROTE since it started in September 2002, and I have checked the message boards almost daily. I have read many posts by Locklyn and others, and I have come to feel that Locklyn is like the opposition party in a democratic country: pointing out flaws and opportunities for improvement, making sure issues are not forgotten or swept aside, and stopping those in charge from becoming complacent. In undemocratic countries, the opposition party is such a thorn in the side of those in charge, that they are often "encouraged" to shut up ... . Now I know that SNROTE is not a country (democratic or otherwise), but I apply this principle by analogy. If RTG want Locklyn to shut up, then what better way than to "encourage" him to leave the game? This could be accomplished in a subtle way without seeming to be deliberate by, say, doubly screwing up his long laid plans and then refusing to correct them. And if Locklyn is the target this time, who will be the target the next time? And the next? And the next? There are many aspects to SNROTE that are left unfinished ... after 6 years !! Despite its frustrations I still play the game because, overall, I enjoy it more than any other and I have invested so much in it (time, effort, money) that I cannot let it go. But I have already warned two others from starting up in SNROTE because of its flaws and frustrations, and they have heeded me and stayed away. If I had suffered at the hands of RTG as Locklyn claims to have just suffered, then would it add to my existing frustrations to such an extent that I would re-evaluate my position as a player even though I am so hooked? I don't know -- it hasn't happened to me (yet). If Locklyn dropped from SNROTE it would not surprise me. If his allies, who were similarly screwed by RTG according to Locklyn, did the same it would not surprise me. I would be interested to read RTG's response to Locklyn's issue as posted ... .
  15. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his friendly nation's discovery of the following friendly star system: Santiago. If this friendly star system is familiar to you, then please get in touch.
  16. The friendly Bushes are much too socially polite and deferential to conduct a revolution, as you can tell from their friendly dark green leaves and, occasionally, small friendly red berries. And anyway, why would we want to displace such an intelligent, articulate leader, who has never put a root wrong and would never deceive us? Only unfriendly creatures would have revolutions, especially nasty horrible herbivores such as the Crushbone Clan -- I'm willing to bet that their Emperor Crush has already been replaced by a queen. Anyway, on to the more usual matter of finding friendly neighbors ... His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his friendly nation's discovery of the following friendly star systems: Borodino Urvan. If either of these friendly star systems is familiar to you, then please get in touch.
  17. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his friendly nation's discovery of the following friendly star systems: Boguwola Mindanao. If either of these friendly star systems is familiar to you, then please get in touch.
  18. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his friendly nation's discovery of the following friendly star systems: Agav Bluegrass Boomerang Bullfrog Elkhound Gemmel Phantom Rommel Salvien. If any of these friendly star systems is familiar to you, then please get in touch. By the way, did I mention that we're friendly?
  19. It depends upon your preferences ... ... if you want to be in the action almost straight away, then choose a central European nation -- especially Rumania, which seems to have the best mix of resource potentials to start with. ... if you want to survive the longest, then choose a country that's out of the way -- such as island nations (Iceland or Great Britain) or far away nations (Canada and USA) -- or a large country that is difficult for an enemy to overrun quickly. [As there are two of you wanting to join, I would recommend USA and Canada with you becoming Total Allies of each other and then spending many game turns building up your navies and marines before you go hunting for opportunities across the Atlantic; or an alternative would be to play test Victory by having your own private war!] ... if you don't want to be burdened with constantly spending orders looking after logistics, then choose a small nation -- especially Rumania (see above). And don't underestimate the importance of a good AIC network, of your country's morale, and of building an LDB in each province! [A good AIC network is one that you set up at the start and then don't need to tinker with ever again. Poor morale will severely reduce your attacking options. An LDB in a province will give you information about any enemy force that attacks that province -- more LDBs per province will make you less vulnerable to surpise enemy air drops.] Expect your first game to be your "learning game" in which you will make lots of mistakes and so be knocked out sooner rather than later. Learn from these mistakes for your subsequent games. I have played three games (as Saudi Arabia, Rumania, USA) and Victory is the best closed-ended game I have ever played! Good luck! /Len
  20. The answer to your rhetorical question is: no they didn't, but was that because they just didn't thnk of it? Remember, the real life historical war leaders didn't get the chance to re-run the war and learn how to do it better for the next re-run. On the other hand, what would have been the real consequences of a British air drop on xBerlin -- after the initial capture of the city, the Germans would have captured it back and then paraded the surviving and captured British paratroops for propaganda purposes (as happened after the failed historical raid on Dieppe), so could this be figured into the game as a boost to German morale? On the other other hand, after the Dambuster raid, the Germans started building an awful lot of AA guns (and even transferred many from northern France and the Lowlands) to place deep within Germany in case of another such raid. The historical effect was that British air raids suffered from so much flak and air interception that they conducted night-time bombing exclusively (using onboard radar to find their way), and the US Air Force continued to suffer badly during their daylight air raids (although the British offered their radar system it was rejected as "not invented by the US"). In the game of Victory!, the German player might want to respond by building a lot of LAA, HAA and AAA. Now this is an interesting idea: if your AIR troops were Elite then you might think twice about wasting them on trivial suicide missions. If they are drawn from existing Divisions rather than built as just another ground unit, then perhaps it could be something like this ... ... An existing Division will always contain troops with a mixture of abilities (eg, a Division that averages out as "Veteran" will have some individuals who would be regarded as Elite, some as Veteran, some as Line and some as Green) -- draw a brigade of paratroops from a Veteran (or Elite) infantry (or motorized or mechanized, but not armor) Division that is in your home country, such that the infantry Division suffers a 25% loss in size and a drop from Veteran to Line (or Elite to Veteran), while the resulting brigade of paratroops are Elite. [And discard the rule for a paratroop drop to be 1½ times morale before it surrenders to the defenders as it is no longer necessary?] Note that Veteran or Elite Divisions become so by combat experience not just LFEs, and so will tend to be at or near the front line and possibly outside your home country -- so the need to bring them home in order to draw AIR brigades from them will result in more second thoughts from the player, thereby helping to make AIR brigades less common. And if the drawing of an AIR brigade is a Primary Order for the infantry Division ... . Waddy think?
  21. What about Subterranean Cities on a Gas Giant -- do they work?
  22. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his nation's discovery of the following friendly star systems: Alisceon Bogan Kuzenka Kwatoko Sarvavas. If any of these friendly star systems is familiar to you, then please get in touch.
  23. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his nation's discovery of the following friendly star systems: Benish Bowman Cassini Eleude. If any of these friendly star systems is familiar to you, then please get in touch.
  24. His Friendliness, President D'Ubya Bush of The Bush Administration (a friendly race of space-faring bushes) wishes to publish his nation's discovery of the following friendly star systems: Bellenger Treffle. If any of these friendly star systems is familiar to you, then please get in touch.
  25. The friendly Bush Administration, started at the friendly beginning five years ago and still here 127 friendly game turns later. PS: Did I mention that we're friendly? (Not that the nasty Crushbone Clan take any notice ... .)
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