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Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:05 pm
by El Guapo
NATO kind of sucks as an event, though. After turn 1 phase 1 defcon almost never gets back to 5, so countries are immune to coups or realignments anyway. The only practical thing it does for the U.S. is protect Italy from Brush War, but even on that by the end of turn 2 the U.S. probably has Italy surrounded by at least two friendly countries, so odds are that's going to fail anyway (and the USSR would probably be inclined to use the event on a more favorable target.

I do usually try to avoid playing Marshall Plan early as the USSR though given that it gives the US 7 IPs, though.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:27 pm
by NickAragua
Yeah, the 7 IPs is pretty nasty when Europe is contested.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:57 pm
by El Guapo
One thing I enjoyed about my game with Isgrimnur was how Korea wound up being unified for most of the game, but on different sides. I controlled South Korea early, but he got lucky with a 6 on a coup attempt which wiped me out of South Korea, which he then took with the China Card. He wound up controlling it for most of the game, but then on the last turn I dropped Voice of America and removed two influence apiece from North and South Korea, then took them both over.

Also the first game where I've seen the Soviets take control of Japan.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 5:10 pm
by Isgrimnur
And you see how well that worked out for them. :)

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 11:02 pm
by Zarathud
Japan is too easy to lose control to an event. So is Israel -- for both sides. And Castro will eventually pop up in Cuba.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 11:11 pm
by El Guapo
I pretty much never see Israel get controlled by either side. It's just too expensive in influence for too few points, plus with the perpetual risk (on the U.S. side) of getting wiped out by war (at least until Camp David).

Also - holy crap is the AI dumb sometimes. I was playing earlier this evening and (as the USSR) had control of France, East Germany, and Poland. On the last action of a turn the U.S. player played Socialist Governments. They used the 3 ops to coup me out of Nicaragua, but then per the event I removed his control of West Germany and Italy. That let me start out next turn and take control of Italy. Then he did something else in the Americas. Then on the next action card I put 3 influence into West Germany. Then he did something else in the Americas. Then I put 4 influence in West Germany and took control of that, which gave me control of Europe.

Uhhhh...I'll just go ahead and win the game now. Ok, thanks.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 9:44 pm
by Holman
NickAragua's boot will be stomping on the face of liberty, forever!

As USSR, he won our game tonight through a combination of skill, talent, and the ineptitude of his opponent.

It all came down to a final turn where, already behind on control in both Europe and the Middle East, I drew a hand with nothing but red events--and the scoring cards for Europe and Middle East. He probably could have figured a way out of it; I couldn't. And of course I was the one who let him get ahead in those regions in the first place.

Congrats, NA! I enjoyed the game.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 10:51 pm
by tgb
So it looks like it comes down to:

myself
Zarathud
El Guapo
NickAraugua.

I can't think of any reason not to pair off in that order. I read that Playdeck has been having some server issues, but they are supposed to be cleared up by tomorrow.

Guapo and NIck can set up their game and I'll contact Zarathud.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:00 pm
by El Guapo
Already done! I had set up a match with Nick as a friendly, but now through the magic of transmorphification, it is a tournament match. Voila!

I am the USSR and Nick is the U.S.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 12:05 am
by tgb
I had no problem logging in so I take that to mean the servers are back up.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 7:56 am
by Holman
tgb wrote:So it looks like it comes down to:

myself
Zarathud
El Guapo
NickAraugua.
ANY of my fellow losers interested in a game?

myself
Hepcat
AWS260
Isgrimmer

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:51 am
by AWS260
I am, although not right away -- I'm just back from business travel and focused on family time for the next few days. Maybe the following weekend?

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 3:21 pm
by Archinerd
Holman wrote:
tgb wrote:So it looks like it comes down to:

myself
Zarathud
El Guapo
NickAraugua.
ANY of my fellow losers interested in a game?

myself
Hepcat
AWS260
Isgrimmer
I'm not a loser but I'd play.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 3:27 pm
by hepcat
If we get another in addition to archi, we could pair up.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 7:16 am
by tgb
Just an alert for those playing - turn notifications don't appear to be working at the moment.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 11:25 pm
by El Guapo
Nick and I played our game this evening. I won as the USSR. I headlined Socialist Governments on hand 1, removing US influence from Italy and France, then immediately used NATO to coup the US out of Iran (went to 3 USSR influence). That basically let me then take Italy and Pakistan (and then subsequently onto the rest of South Asia. I also grabbed South Korea early, so all told got an early hold on Europe and Asia. While Nick was able to limit the damage in Europe by preventing domination through total number of countries controlled, two Asia scorings + a favorable mid-east scoring meant that I won on turn 1 of year 4.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 8:15 am
by tgb
El Guapo wrote:Nick and I played our game this evening. I won as the USSR. I headlined Socialist Governments on hand 1, removing US influence from Italy and France, then immediately used NATO to coup the US out of Iran (went to 3 USSR influence). That basically let me then take Italy and Pakistan (and then subsequently onto the rest of South Asia. I also grabbed South Korea early, so all told got an early hold on Europe and Asia. While Nick was able to limit the damage in Europe by preventing domination through total number of countries controlled, two Asia scorings + a favorable mid-east scoring meant that I won on turn 1 of year 4.
Congrats. Zarathud and I are still on our first hand of Turn 1, so it's going to be a while.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 8:30 pm
by Zarathud
Took the oldest off to week long overnight camp today. It took over a surprising amount of time the past few days to get her ready.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 11:27 pm
by tgb
Zarathud wrote:Took the oldest off to week long overnight camp today. It took over a surprising amount of time the past few days to get her ready.
No problem. We're not in a race.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:40 am
by El Guapo
tgb wrote:
Zarathud wrote:Took the oldest off to week long overnight camp today. It took over a surprising amount of time the past few days to get her ready.
No problem. We're not in a race.
Well, not now that I've won, anyway. :wink:

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:58 pm
by Isgrimnur
US Game vs the PC. Turn 2, Defcon 2. Play Five Year Plan. ... Duck and Cover.

:hawk:

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 12:41 pm
by Isgrimnur
Image

I'm proof that it doesn't matter if it's scored for you or against you.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 1:02 pm
by Isgrimnur
And losing the tutorial game under Carter does not qualify as "completing" it.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 6:04 pm
by El Guapo
tgb wrote:Just an alert for those playing - turn notifications don't appear to be working at the moment.
They still don't seem to be working, at least not for me. Is there any news on this?

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 6:10 pm
by Zarathud
Still not working, and I'll be out until next Tuesday for GenCon and water parks. Not a gulag.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 8:55 am
by El Guapo
So last night I beat the AI (as the US) after spotting the AI 10 influence points via the handicap. Of course the AI spent its extra 10 influence (which appears to be placeable anywhere like normal influence) oddly - it made sure to take control of Finland, for example.

Generally the Soviet AI (at least) seems to badly undervalue Europe. I screwed up and didn't keep a 3+ action card in my hand early on, and consequently got blockaded out of W. Germany. But the AI just let me rebuild my influence in W. Germany over a few additional cards, without contesting me there. Similarly, they played John Paul II Elected Pope, used the action points on a couple silly realignment roles, and let me take Poland.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 8:55 am
by El Guapo
Oh, and I received an e-mail turn notification last night for the first time in a long time - so I guess that's working again.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 10:59 pm
by El Guapo
If anyone here is interested in a casual TS game, just let me know.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:07 pm
by Holman
I'm about to be away for a week (Sun-Sun), but after that I'd love a game.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 11:52 pm
by Archinerd
El Guapo -
Sent you an invite. I set it up to Bid for sides, I've never done that before so I'm not exactly sure how it works.
Optional cards are in, Chinese Civil War is out.
45 days

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 1:53 am
by El Guapo
Archinerd wrote:El Guapo -
Sent you an invite. I set it up to Bid for sides, I've never done that before so I'm not exactly sure how it works.
Optional cards are in, Chinese Civil War is out.
45 days
Accepted!

The way bidding works (I believe - haven't done it before) is each person has the chance to pick a side and bid influence points. The winner is the one who bid the highest number of influence. They get the side that they picked, BUT the opponent gets the number of influence points bid by the winner.

SO, if I bid USSR +2 influence, I would get the USSR, and my opponent would get to place 2 influence at the start in addition to the usual starting influence. Based on how the handicap seems to work, I'm guessing those 2 bonus influence could be placed anywhere that you could normally place influence.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 9:08 am
by Archinerd
Ah... well, looks as it didn't matter much as neither of us cared which side we played. :)

Prepare to lose geo-political power and influence Capitalist Pig.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 11:02 am
by El Guapo
Archinerd wrote:Ah... well, looks as it didn't matter much as neither of us cared which side we played. :)

Prepare to lose geo-political power and influence Capitalist Pig.
FWIW I think the bidding system came about for tournaments because the consensus was that the game mildly favored the USSR.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2016 7:12 pm
by tgb
Congrats to Zarathud for roundly kicking my ass. hepcat, if it's any consolation, that dice curse you placed on me was very effective. Not that it mattered, with Zarathud ouplaying me like he did.

Anyway, for all the marbles and the official OO TS Trophy (which I personally posed for), it's

El Guapo

vs.

Zarathud

To the victor goes the spoils
Spoiler:
Image

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 8:01 am
by El Guapo
Zarathud, your account is ZarathudOO, I think? Mine is ElGuaposki.

Might as well set the game up to pick sides by bidding, I suppose.

Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 12:08 pm
by Zarathud
Yes, let's bid for sides.

tgb had me worried until I realized the scoring had come up where I was vulnerable. An Islamic revolution helped roll back the Middle East as Asia fell back. Then I had Central + South America scoring cards and a way to sneak a few points over there and into Venezuela unopposed. The event to jump 2 spaces on the Space Race put me in great position that I was able to capitalize on after drawing OPEC for a Headline.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 8:29 pm
by El Guapo
Zarathud, I just sent you a game invite. At least I think I did...it looks like your name is Zarathud, not ZarathudOO.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 10:36 pm
by El Guapo
Has anyone else had the AI headline opposing events (e.g., US AI headlining USSR events, or vice versa)? It's happened in the last few games for me. It's at least potentially justifiable for a USSR player to do, insofar as a ballsy player can try to anticipate Defectors and so use it to negate a US event. But there's really no reason I can think of for a US player to do that (especially an event like, say, Socialist Governments).

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 8:09 pm
by tgb
I was about to play a card that I guess would have dropped Defcon from 2 to 1. (Interestingly, the card text didn't indicate that) when I noticed the words "DEFCON ALERT!!!" printed around the confirmation icon.

I noticed a patch earlier today. Somebody must have been listening.

Re: Twilight Struggle, Anyone?

Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 8:33 pm
by Isgrimnur
That was there the last time I played, which was not today.