Pupils: Deadcows & Mrmot
This is a somewhat long class, since it involved several lessons and some interesting comm window moments. We extend a special welcome to the Marmot, since it has been quite some time since he has found himself in the classroom.
As we see from the start, Marmot is in an unfortunate geographical position; the Defcon Gods apparently saw fit to punish his penchant for seizing the territorial high ground and immediately teaming up with his big brothers R3D and Baton. Missing his big brothers, he looks to a new hero.
Deadcows offers up a strategy that flies in the face of Defcon's motto. Jon foreshadows a terrible development for any opponent.
Some early banter, and a confident Marmot seems less interested in a replacement big brother after all. Mr. Cow offers meek resistance.
Full screen of the game state shortly after Defcon 3, with very important subplots in the arctic and off the US east coast. Why the Phantom Menace? We shall see.
http://quackington.wikispaces.com/file/view/04.czajon.gamestate.jpg/386369292/04.czajon.gamestate.jpg
Some more friendly banter. Mr. Cow does not lack for confidence, but he does not realize he has been given a scholarship to nuke school with the Noob and Turtle Kings. Be careful what promise you make, young noob!
Marmot shows signs he's feeling the pressure.
In these next two captures, note Marmot's style of communication. He will define your task and tell you where to launch. I think we have found the real winner of the "boss" tourney. Also note his supreme confidence that his fleet and subs will take care of poor CZA. Peas in a pod: you two really do need to be careful about making promises you may have difficulty keeping.
Marmot gets deeper in his purpose. And a new development! Periodically, Nuke School undergoes accreditation review, and this year's illustrious panel arrives to observe the instruction and offer comments on the curriculum.
http://quackington.wikispaces.com/file/view/09.czajon.northernfleet.jpg/386369356/09.czajon.northernfleet.jpg
Tobias offers a trenchant observation. Marmot realizes that perhaps his imperious style has cowed Mr. Cow.
CZA has also realized this and gives Mr. Cow a nudge, via high level vocabulary, to make sure he's still alive.
An important full screen at 1:37.59, when an epic game-within-the-game begins. Tobias also makes a key prediction about Mr. Cow.
http://quackington.wikispaces.com/file/view/12.czajon.arcticdefense.jpg/386369388/12.czajon.arcticdefense.jpg
At Jon's request, the following series shows CZA's battle against Marmot ship by ship. Tobias's blood pressure begins to rise.
Interlude: Jon unleashes his full turtley goodness on Mr. Cow, and takes to the comm channel to strut. Yet the outside panelists are divided on CZA's classroom management. Could Nuke School's accreditation be in jeopardy?
The epic battle continues in the next five, and notice another game-within-the-game, as Marmot enrolls in a refresher course on killing radars. Tobias handles the commentary, FY supplies the laugh track <note comm windows>
Finally, we reach the end game. First for USA, then the arctic.
CZA offers a reminder to Marmot as he finishes off his fleet.
Let's see how Mr. Cow's initial strategy of population protection worked out.
This was a fun game, against a pair of unruly students. Lessons to ponder:
1) The old lesson about coming at me via the arctic still applies, particularly when your airbases are dead.
2) Do not turtle against the Turtle King. Doing so only allows him to repair his shell. For this set up, placing your fleet in the Atlantic requires you to immediately follow up your ally's initial attack on Africa while Africa is depleted. If you're not going to do that, you're better off placing in the Pacific, where you can either deny Russia or whittle its fleet down enough to limit the points Russia will score. If Russia is not in the Pacific, USA has a clear path to Africa or to Russia via the Indian.
3) Special remedial lesson for Marmot: don't spend 10 nukes trying to kill a single well-defended radar.
4) And the big lesson: trust your instincts. Mr. Cow has skill and will undoubtedly develop into a dominant player (especially if he learns the underlying math of the game, as a different lesson a few days ago should teach him). Despite this, it was really striking how willingly he handed over planning and operations to Marmot, to the point where he functioned more as an appendage than an independent ally. Marmot is more experienced, clever, and pushy, but you have to stand your ground. I could be reading too much into this, but I think Mr. Cow was never able to establish a rhythm, a tempo to his play, since he was initially standing around waiting for orders. Be a good ally, but listen to your gut and get active early.
Finally, all good instructors need to self-assess, and on this point, Tobias's argument that I should have launched earlier has merit. While the desire to see if I could hold off Marmot played a role in the decision to hold out, a larger role was played by me having uncertainty much earlier about the location of his subs. I thought that the absence of airbases and BBs would give me a good chance of resisting his scouting attempt and sub protection, and that he'd use enough planes in scouting that I'd be able to use my aircraft to sweep for his subs. Risky, and some fortune, but like Ed says, you've got to make your own luck and I'm glad we had the game we did. It really was far more interesting. And thanks to Jon, who played a smart game and frustrating defense as usual.
http://sfcon.demoszenen.de/dcrec/2012-11/SFCON-League-2012-11-15_20.51.zip
