Had 8 or nine men well armed. Someone attacked narsec sector so had to defend before time ran out yesterday. Today I lost sector. No playback, no first go? Moon base clash? Sector 3,5?
Fantastic campaign Steve. If only I could win more. My latest question is about getting stardrive to right side. My inventory and stardrive proximity scanner indicates I have no stardrive. Aliens Vs humans cyberhoards or something. Know I'll be blown to smithereens shortly but should stardrive be in inventory somewhere or to I have to get one man to otherwise? Regards
I'd ditch the Paradise Valley mission altogether. If I remember rightly from my teens it had plants that attacked you. Rubbish mission that has nothing to do with the original.
I waited for the expansion pack, took two weeks to arrive in 1988. Rather disappointed with it. Loved the maze atttack with reinforcements coming in with basic rifles and sub-machine guns. I was 18 and a baby on the way.
@Thrashbarg, I think I've fixed the problem with the Stardrive in the Paradise Valley missions now. It was trying to add the Stardrive when the particular game was created, but for campaign games, the units don't exist at first, until the player selects them. The Stardrives should all be given to a unit the next time a player finishes their turn.
There was pressure for an abortion. We resisted. My mum has been picked up from my daughter, she loves her granddaughter, after a knee operation. With Arthur in his child seat she had to get off her husband's car.
If she had gone through an abortion wouldn't be here today.
Hi Xeno, just to clarify, when I said "not a problem", I was talking about what you posted, not about that you said you were leaving. I hope you didn't mean leaving the game, and you'll stay around. :)
Thrash are talking about Sterners Revenge in sector 3, 7 ? If so that was our Break Out mission. The mission changes each time after each one is finished.
Yep the idea of the mission changing is so we don't get stuck playing the same mission over and over in the same sector. Keeps the map fresh and challenging. I think this is what's confusing you Thrash. If it's something else I apologise. The map is pretty chaotic, I get lost in it.
You could randomise the missions like what seems to happen with Omni corp games. Or I know your busy now with campaign (is there a finishing dare?) Put the escape hatch on the opposite side be more interesting having to get past annoyed opposition
I did think we had agreed previously to shutting entry to the campaign once it had officially started, otherwise you get players coming in and out willy nilly, disrupting the flow of the tournament once it is well underway.
Hey Xeno. Gatekeeper is not a good look dude. I fondly recall you being the first person to invite me to games on here. Might I suggest you message igoryan and set up some practice / coaching games with them. Maybe have some Omni Corp training games. You're one of the best players on here. You'd be a great teacher / guide. Look how quickly I improved thanks to our early matches.
We have had this before, people join up late and disappear. It means Peter and I have a third of our units rather than half. Igoryan I believe has done this before.
Was it Igoryan that was suspected of cheating? I've tried the search but comes up with games rather than posts. I could be out on a limb here but my memory isn't often wrong.
Not sure what you mean by "gatekeeper being not a good look dude"? If you mean who can access the campaign that is up to the real gatekeeper, Steve. If he says anyone can join the campaign at any time, I go with it. But I got this flipping thing started after it stagnated for three years, and I think my view is worth something dude.
Might I suggest you message igoryan and set up some practice / coaching games with them. Maybe have some Omni Corp training games. You're one of the best players on here. You'd be a great teacher / guide. Look how quickly I improved thanks to our early matches.
Are you for real? You sound American? Just read that back. Don't patronise me.
I'm not here to coach or train. I'm here to kick-ass.
Okay, let's not forget this is only a game and we're all only here to enjoy ourselves. And let's not take things the wrong way and keep it friendly.
I'll open it to a vote on whether to close the campaign to new players; either vote here or send me a message to keep it anonymous. I don't feel too strongly either way, but my vote is to keep it open.
My vote is once it has begun it is closed like any other tournament. But you did start it abruptly Steve. You could have left it a few days more and announced a starting time.
I'm all about keeping it real thanks. As it happens my wife is half American. You have beef with Americans now?
I did not mean to be patronising. Sorry if it came across that way. I just feel it would be beneficial to this game (and we'd have more players for campaigns) if we try to propagate a more inviting environment for non-seasoned players...
I'm all for more players. I have tried to get a campaign running twice before. But not enough people interested. Now I thought we had so I tried to get one going once again. Bingo.
Steve shot the gun too early. We should have waited to see who else to join. I even said about Captain Fismonger early on. But for me once it starts then we go with our teams. No jonny come lately.
This will definitely be my last. It used to be 7 days before a turn until Peter and I kicked up a fuss and 'moaned'. Peter said this wasn't Chess by mail. :) I've been a moaner but a constructive one who has got about changes over the years probably more than any other. Been a pain in the backside to Steve.
Xenos point about not letting new players in halfway through the campaign is valid. It messes up with tactics, troop allocation. And they're not actually new players, they're late players. What we need next time is joining period, maybe 7 days then the factions are sealed, everyone is in agreement or has a chance to bring to notice any unfair issues. When the enlisting period is up, game on no Johnny come latelys.
Also the announcement that we were starting a new campaign was up for plenty of time for people to join. Anyone frozen out will have to join the next campaign or only joins if someone drops out or if everyone is in absolute total agreement which faction a new player is put.
But we've be campaigning (pun unintended) for years to get this bloody fixed. Thought we had put this issue to bed last campaign! Although it's been 3 years so we have all forgotten, dozed off. Now it raises it's head again.
hello everyone!! I'm glad to see everyone and continue to play this cool game!! who remembers me, I used to be here often and now I decided to remember the past. all cool games!! Let's enjoy what Steve did!
if there is some kind of conflict that I joined a team where they are not happy to see me, I am ready to play for another team, no problem. Steve transfer me to any team, for me the main thing is the game and enjoying the process
How about more incentive next campaign. In the navy they gave you a gold sovereign. You could offer a sterner brucey bonus platinum sovereign 20 points for anyone who fights in the campaign.
Also thanks Socrates kindly letting ambassador meander across open ground luckily without even needing a plaster.
Ohh God! I just went to battle in auto mode, and not even remembering he is in our faction and same side. But hey.. how did the game permits that? I know I didn't do it on purpose.. was he in another faction previously?
I'm happy with it if everyone else is. The game has already finished, and since it will stayed as Metallix, I can't see a problem. Hopefully no high-ranking units were lost...
Just a heads up to players that aren't force cancelling on 3 days waiting. Quite a few players are doing this now, I've been doing it also last few days. I've noticed a few players aren't force cancelling, like Henoh. So in the interest of fairness I thought everyone needs to know about this, so hit the force cancel as soon as you see 3 days.
Its not meant as a criticism about those that are force cancelling. I mean some players need to start force cancelling. And I also meant, I've recently started doing it as well. Anyone that isn't, should do it as well to be as competitive as possible.
I don't like to do so either Pete, as competitive as I am in this game, I believe in sportsmanship. But it is the rule which we all agreed to. It used to be 7 days before a turn which I complained about years ago. You agreed saying it's not flipping postage chess. I mentioned that before but I love that. And we all agreed.
Sometimes I've forgotten or been too busy, or I haven't got enough units. It's nothing personal. I've even given players extra hours to deploy.
Btw, this might sound like a planned forum post but I didn't know Pete was posting this. We discussed it previously though.
Agree with this, I always feel bad force cancelling, but then if I don't it means I can't defend as I don't have enough units because they are tied up in games that are not getting played.... so yeah, automatic cancel after 3 days, seems the fairest way.....
Just to muddy the waters even more :)..... this might be because we removed all the blank spaces, but I'm noticing that once a faction gets 22/23+ spaces, they start running out of resources to defend them all, so for weeks now we've all been dancing around the same sorts of numbers, it kind of reaches a balance, it feels like it used to be easier to gain a lead and maintain it.
That's a good point, I'm surprised it hasn't been noticed before. Given that each player in a faction is limited to 40-50 players, it stands to reason that the more sectors they have, the thinner the army is spread.
I guess the obvious solution is for me to increase the maximum number of units, or maybe base it on the total sectors that a faction owns?
I genuinely thought the same number of limited troops to defend an increased area of control is a really nice balancing mechanism. Certainly the blank spaces would create choke-points. Also trying to control a solid block, or maintain a front line to achieve 'safe' sectors would be the tactical dream. Alas. War is chaos ha ha
Extra number of recruits per sector held. Not sure what the number should be. But it does make sense. Otherwise like Rabid has said, you gain more but you have less manpower to protect it. Recruit native troops to hold your gains.
This sounds good in theory. But I fear would become unbalanced quickly.
It could work if there was a diplomatic element allowing the factions with less sectors (and therefore less troops to stage counter-attacks) to team up against the dominating faction.
Otherwise it'll be like Risk. And Risk is a boring board game for everyone except the winner.
Number of reinforcements based on territories held = my comparison to Risk. Winners get more, losers get less. Right? Compare it to Monopoly if you prefer... Both are poor models for engaging multiplayer games.
Unless there is a balancing mechanism to give the smaller factions some hope. A 'diplomatic element' was simply a suggestion. Or the smallest faction could have special 'resistance strike teams'. Etc etc
Personally, I believe limited units, as frustrating as it can be, is both simple and realistic. I'm sure every commander in history has grappled with the logistical challenge of what troops to send where. And which fights to pick.
Blue Peter badge for automatic cancellation after 3 days. 3 day ban on attacking other sectors to let other players cancel to would be good. I wouldn't mock that idea. I know certain people would be 16 days without attacking. Wondering how people have 12 battles on the go at the same time or currently 9 attacking another 5 sectors. It's bit annoying knowing your troops are going to be tied up whilst people don"t deploy for 3 days. Also all individuals should have same number of troops for fairness. Just an observation on my old Amiga when you pressed automatic 3 shots would be fired not one and doors could be destroyed by guns or ordinance. Thanks for all your hard work anyway steve
The about the winning faction being over stretched troop wise isn't actually a problem. You don't need extra troops because everyone has overlooked the winning advantages of extra sectors. The more sectors won in a group means you have a front line. All sectors behind are out of reach of attack and don't need defending. Hence less troops to defend a larger area. You only need to defend the front line.
This particular Campaign, the map is very fractured and spread out. Past games we fought more in blocks of territory with occasional break throughs. Strategy, name of the game. If you instead have a large territory that's spread out, it's going to be harder to defend as you'll be attack from all sides. Solution is to make a block with safety sectors in your starting corner.
Remember the winning conditions are not only having the most sectors. The faction holding the most corner sectors wins over numbers of sectors. The map at the moment looks like everyone has forgotten the Campaign strategies and people are just attacking what's available at random.
Winning conditions are, if a faction holds all 4 corner sectors they instantly win, even before the Campaign end date. And if that doesn't happen then it falls to the faction with the most sectors on the end date.
That's a good point Peter about blocks strategy meaning you don't need as many units. And I did the same as Rabid think we had changed the corner victory condition to overall sectors.
I don't remember the corner strategy/win condition being scrapped. I've always liked corners and number of sectors as a decider if corners aren't achieved. Having both win conditions I always thought made the Campaign more interesting. Hmm... Guys we need to make a decision. My vote would be all 4 corners still trumps number of sectors, highest sectors wins if corners aren't held.
Regarding 4 corners, I don't mind either way, so lets have a vote. I vote in favour of it. FWIW, I don't remember it being scrapped, but equally I forgot it existed anyway. I've searched the forums for the word "corner" and nothing came up about it being scrapped.
Strangely enough, there is a "hidden" bit of text on the galaxy map page which says about the 4 corners rule, but you can only see it if you view the page source of the website. No idea why I chose to hide it and not just remove it; maybe it was an accident that it was hidden?
So my current games says battle for sigma five waiting for both players to take turn but when I goto take turn it does not say anything. I remember deploying though. Also name might have been changed on campaign board i seem to remember but might not be
It's sector 7,7. Normally it says one person's go or the other. Not both. Almost day 2 now. Can it be unblocked otherwise I'll lose my chance of battle by default
Steve, it is okay now, my opponent deployed later today, but it did not force cancel after it turned 3 days when I was last on at 1 am earlier.
@Thrasbarg that is what I had last night, 3 days yet no force cancel and it said waiting for both to deploy, yet I had already deployed the day before!
And I'm fine with the 4 corner victory condition. In fact I'm starting to get a bit tired of the campaign already, and it shows with silly schoolboy mistakes I'm making. But even without the corners, only two weeks to go as we made it end of May, correct? Two months is more than enough, and to think we used to play for three or even four months previously, in fact I think it was 5 months once?!
I've added a bit of text to the top of the Galaxy Map page to confirm that if any faction gets all four corners they will win. I don't think it's going to make much difference since each corner is owned by a different faction, and I think it's a good objective to aim for.
@Thrash, that should be fixed now. Apologies, I added a feature where it would now say "both" if waiting for both players, but there was a small issue.
There's quite a few games that are on the 3-day cancel limit. I've not turned on the "auto-force cancel" feature, but since there is only 9 days of the campaign left, I'll be turning it on later today to speed things up. Please take your late turns as soon as you can!