It's WAR!

[General_W]

Well WAR has finally come to The Council

Let's go kill some Saberites!

Just got this note with the save:

Dear Council,

Sadly, today has brought an end to our long relationship of
friendship. It has been great working together with you over the past
millenia, but now the end of the game is nearing, we see no other
option than this declaration of war.

First of all, there was of course the risk that you were going to win
this game. While we value our friendship, we wouldn't like losing the
game.

Second, the fact that you were providing cover for BABE's lone settler
even before FREE had gifted Babe a city, thereby invoking our wrath,
meant that we had another big reason to attack you.

Yours,

Team Saber

Battle Results for turn 237 -

The battles started to the north and west of your small island,
wrapped around the island, went south between the former Babeland and
your continent, and finally went southeast between your continent and
our original continent:

Bombers:

4/4 destroyer to 3/4
3/4 destroyer to 1/4
4/4 destroyer to 2/4
4/4 cruiser to 2/4
2/4 cruiser to 1/4
2/4 destroyer to 1/4

4/4 destroyer vs. 1/4 destroyer -> 4/4 Saber destroyer
4/4 destroyer vs. 1/4 destroyer -> 4/4 Saber destroyer
4/4 cruiser vs. 1/4 cruiser -> 3/5 Saber cruiser
4/4 cruiser vs. 4/4 destroyer -> 1/4 cruiser
4/4 cruiser vs. 4/4 destroyer -> 1/4 destroyer
4/4 battleship vs. 1/4 destroyer -> 4/4 battleship
4/4 destroyer vs. 4/4 sub -> 4/4 destroyer
4/4 cruiser vs. 4/4 sub -> 2/4 cruiser
4/4 cruiser vs. 4/4 sub -> 3/4 cruiser

Bomber knocks 4/4 sub to 1/4

4/4 destroyer vs. 1/4 sub -> 3/4 destroyer
4/4 cruiser vs. 4/4 sub -> 1/4 cruiser
5/5 destroyer vs. 4/4 sub -> 3/5 destroyer
4/4 destroyer vs. 4/4 sub -> 3/4 destroyer
4/4 destroyer vs. 4/4 sub -> 3/5 sub
4/4 destroyer vs. 3/5 sub -> 4/5 destroyer
4/4 cruiser vs. 4/4 sub -> 4/4 cruiser

Bombers:

4/4 destroyer -> 1/4
4/4 destroyer -> 2/4
2/4 destroyer -> sunk

4/4 destroyer vs. 1/4 destroyer -> 3/4 Saber destroyer

Bomber knocks 4/4 destroyer to 2/4

4/4 destroyer vs. 2/4 destroyer -> 5/5 Saber destroyer
4/4 destroyer vs. 4/4 sub -> 3/4 destroyer
4/4 cruiser vs. 4/4 cruiser -> 2/4 Council cruiser
4/4 destroyer vs. 4/4 sub -> 2/4 destroyer

Bombers:

4/4 Cruiser -> 3/4
3/4 Cruiser -> 2/4

4/4 destroyer vs. 2/4 cruiser -> 3/4 destroyer

Bombers:

4/4 destroyer to 3/4
4/4 destroyer to 3/4
3/4 destroyer to 2/4
Miss 3/4 destroyer

4/4 destroyer vs. 2/4 destroyer -> 3/4 Saber destroyer
4/4 destroyer vs. 3/4 destroyer -> 4/4 Saber destroyer

4/4 destroyer bombards 4/4 destroyer to 3/4
4/4 destroyer bombards 3/4 destroyer to 2/4

4/4 cruiser vs. 2/4 destroyer -> 3/4 cruiser
4/4 cruiser vs. 4/4 destroyer -> 1/4 cruiser

My proposed response:

Prepare to die! You've just made your last mistake.

Edit: not really

We'll think of something better than that.

 

[General_W]

Comments on the Battle Log:
OUCH!

We took out 2 Cruisers and a Destroyer, and lost 11 Destroyers, 11 Subs, and 2 Cruisers.

Still - with their massive Bomber support, I suppose that was to be expcted. Our navy did it's job, and forced Saber to declare war and prevented them from taking a city on the first turn of war.

Other bit of good news is that our transports are all still alive. So depending on what our Arial EWS shows, we should be able to move to protect SubCom Island still.

Any other comments?

We clearly need to try to get FREE on our side to fight the Saber Menace.
I suspect that Saber secured a promise from FREE to sit out the fight before they attacked.... now we need to find out of FREE really meant that.

 

[Niklas]

Two things needed obviously.

1) FREE must be hammered until they relent and join us. That letter to them must go out before they play their turn. Hurry hurry!

2) We must know where the attack comes from, which obviously we cannot do until we get the save back. But before we know this, the planning of any sort of defense becomes rather difficult.

 

[Niklas]

After that attack, it's unlikely we will get a shot at SABER's fleet, they will surely have sunk any submarine in range. That means ~20 transports, that's 120 units they can drop off somewhere. As of last turn they only had 12 marines, but with that kind of bomber support they can surely clear a landing spot whereever they like. 120 units could mean 12 marines, ~50 mechs and ~60 MAs. It doesn't really matter where they land that stack, we won't stand a chance.

Really, our only hope is that FREE takes the opportunity. SABER could only send such numbers to us if they were really sure that there would be no counter from FREE. We really need to get working on that diplomacy! (Do I repeat myself? )

 

[donsig]

FREE has six transports so I doubt they are attacking anyone. We have to wait and see how many transports are coming. If we really have no hope then we can always gift all our techs to FREE so they have a shot at space. Perhaps we should explore a tech deal with FREE.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

Maybe they can land with that bomber support, maybe not. The naval units may cause more problems.

We have mobile sams and jets on CAP, so their bombers will get shredded.

Maybe we should have had CAP up around SCI - I dunno.

 

[Hasdrubal Barca]

Let´s start drafting some Mech Infs all over our non-core cities, short-rushing to TOWs and prepare a stand off to kill the 120unit invading stack

Send a note to FREE saying -> Help us and we give you X gpt in return.
Send a note to SABER saying -> Your actions as caused our secret doomsday machine to become active, the "little boy" and "fat man" will deal with your grunts....

 

[General_W]

After that attack, it's unlikely we will get a shot at SABER's fleet, they will surely have sunk any submarine in range. That means ~20 transports, that's 120 units they can drop off somewhere. As of last turn they only had 12 marines, but with that kind of bomber support they can surely clear a landing spot whereever they like. 120 units could mean 12 marines, ~50 mechs and ~60 MAs. It doesn't really matter where they land that stack, we won't stand a chance.

How did we let this happen?!?

I thought we had subs stationed in safe areas? I guess nothing was safe from that many bombers, eh?

Poo...

Now I wish we had more than 4 Mobile SAMS!
If I'm reading their Battle Log correctly, it seems like their bombers must be pretty well spread out. Perhaps they won't be able to bring all of their bombers to bear right away next turn, and will allow us to rush build some more SAMs?
Maybe a better plan would be to spend any money on rushing some Artillery to help whittle down the stack they're going to land?

We'll have 54 Modern Armor, lower unit support costs ( RIP Navy) - so will easily be able to upgrade our last 7 tanks for 61 Modern Armor total. +whatever we can build next turn.

If we pound their stack with that, draft Mechs like crazy, and tear out the roads and have our workers throw up a forest barrier around their landing site... maybe we'll hold out?

Final note: an idea just occurred to me - can Explorers unload from a transport and move on the same turn? That'd make them enormously powerful and explain why Saber built so many.

 

[Hasdrubal Barca]

If they capture a city in the continent their explorers will rip apart our land.

 

[Yilar]

If only we had stayed in the ports

We ought to send off that letter to Free if we haven't already. It can only be in their interest for this war to continue for as long as possible.

 

[donsig]

Well, they couldn't have landed yet. That means we get one turn to try to prevent the landing and then another turn to attack any units that do land. If they land settlers and explorers and armies there will be less than 120 units.

We lost all our destroyers, and are down to 3 cruisers, 3 battleships, a carrier and 4 subs. All 17 bombers of theirs attacked. My guess is we have our transports stack, a couple subs near SCI, a cruiser and sub near The Hideaway and another cruiser and sub near The Pier. The good news is we have our air based EWS so we should be able to see their transports when we get the save.

We've got 23 mech infantry on SCI and one mech inf on each of our one tile islands. That leaves 13 mech inf, 4 marines, 7 tanks and 48 modern armor on the mainland.

We have 22 cities at size 7 or more so we can draft 22 units, right? That would give us 35 mech inf on the mainland. We'll also build 4 more modern armor and upgrade the tanks giving us 59 armor.

We can ship chain 18 units to SCI and also airlift 6. They can bring 12 marines plus any they built last turn. If we lose a city on SCI we lose the whole island the same turn most likely. If we lose a city on the mainland we lose alot of cities that turn.

How many units do we need in a city to secure it from 12 marines? They have three carriers and so could possibly brnig 12 bombers to bear on their invasion point.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

the bigger problem is the massive naval bombardment they can bring - destroyers miss a lot, but 30 of them may make up for it.

 

[tomasjj]

One thing, do not destroyers have some anti aircraft capacity?
Strange that no bombers got hit when attacking our ships.

 

[Yilar]

Ships are generally worthless when it comes to defence against air bombardment, it is very rare that it actually defends against the bomber.

 

[Paul#42]

For the next turn we need to find balance between our fighters doing EWS recon and trying to get air superiority near the prospected landing zone. I hope we got some ships left on the other side so we can deploy most fighters to the threatened area.

We should also plant radars in the threatened area to give our forces the edge against marines.

Anybody run a test to make sure explorers cannot leave ships on open coast and run inland on the same turn?

Any crucial resource reachable from sea should be covered with multiple units to protect from pillaging.


Should we consider using nukes or are they stillmore threat than hope for us?

 

[AutomatedTeller]

I've never heard of any unit being able to land and move.

nukes are a long way away for us - if we had an SGL, that's one thing, but we would need to build manhatten (800 shields) and a nuke (400 or more, I don't remember) and by the time that happened, SABER has landed, we have crippled them and FREE has attacked SABER and won the game.

 

[Paul#42]

...and by the time that happened, SABER has landed, we have crippled them and FREE has attacked SABER and won the game.

Now that's a First Chairman!