Anyway, trying to get in some practice before the first ever unofficial revolutionary Defcon promoting All-Star Game (of which it appears I might actually be in)...
I played four games trying out different tactics and strategies I normally wouldn't feel comfortable with. My system is pretty well established for me and I rarely deviate from it. The following games proved to me that I shouldn't.
First game of the night...
I don't remember too much about this game except that I was really sloppy and unorganized. I went after Africa from the start using my tried and true technique of clearing the Indian Ocean with an overwhelming navy (when its me as Asia vs Africa). But this game I played as though I was watching some [Demo]New Player take over my units.
Needless to say, it didn't end well for me. I simply couldn't get focused. I was happy in the fact that at least I placed the same relative score as Radiant. I was doing some of that "seagull" attacking as rofl called it.
The second game of the night I was only slightly more productive. I had hoped Radiant would join, but for some reason he came in late as a spectator. With Feud as a N. American ally (almost a 100% chance neither would backstab) I should have been able to rack up more points. I (sort of) played two more games Sunday Afternoon, not mentioned here (yet), which are making the recollection of this game difficult. I do remember telling Feud that my silo placement is a spin-off variation of his much derided silo placement. I remember playing some time ago and realizing that his setup allowed for the most defense and offense for each silo as each supports the other. I simply changed it to an arch instead of a circle. I have seen others use this same arch from time to time.
The third game of the evening/early morning you may have already read about in the debriefing room's A possible All Star Preview.
At this point I was determined to "snap out of it" and actually play. Being lazy, copy and paste with some "editing"...
When the game started and I realized Radiant was below me as S. America and countersmurf as Europe, I knew I was in trouble. Countersmurf is one hell of a player and I believed that he would overtake me with his navy in the Atlantic. I didn't want to get bogged down there and waste time trying to gain an advantage so I only put a small force there and prepared for an early backstab against Radiant.
I put most of my forces in the pacific and sent them north through the straight hoping to catch Russia/Europe off guard late in the game. Normally I wait until Defcon 4 to see if there's any radar in far easter Russia and nuke it before passing through to make sure my slip through the straight is unseen. This game I knew I would have to act fast and didn't wait.
At defcon 4 while 8 of my battleships and 8 of my carriers were almost starting their pass thorough the straight, radar revealed ROFL had 3 carriers doing the same thing. I quickly launched bombers and took those out. I then realized he had subs going through and switched all my carriers over to anti-sub wiping that fleet out. He wasn't too happy about that.
I only had a little part in hitting Europe, early on Radiant and M3 sent massive waves of bombers and used up quite a lot of nukes there. That made my decision to backstab a lot easier knowing they had committed so much already to Europe. As ROFL stated in the other thread, my silos passed over Europe and hit western Russia just as he was least able to defend against it. Seeing as Radiant and M3
had been so kind as to eliminate the European shield early on. With my early points from hitting my former ally and the free points I received from bombers over Russia (who were not challenged very much) victory was in the bag.
Game four was much more intense I think and loads of fun. Anybody that believes the All-Star Game is a bad idea is completely and utterly wrong!
I knew that with so many good players this game (and having beaten the the last, especially with a backstab against Radiant) that I would take an early beating. So instead of being rational and logical with holding my alliance together, I hit N. America hard and fast and early. His unit placement was perfect for my attack.
After having my go at N. America and thus assuming the top spot on the score board, in came the multi-colored trails of missile after missile.
Once the rest of the world was done beating on me and what was left of my now shocked and surprised N. American counterpart, they began to really fight amongst themselves.
Here is where it became fun to see who would attack who and at what point countersmurf and ROFLamingo would go at it. The top three kept at it and while I hoped one would drop below me
due to a pounding by the other two, they kept steadily competing for the top spot. All in all, it was a great game to be part of and I feel no shame placing fourth against those three, especially with a decent score of my own considering the way the game went from the start.
Final thoughts:
99% of the time, I do not backstab. However, I have said many times that if I do not implicitly state that I will not, I leave it on the table as a valid and acceptable option against all.
