Cinemod - The Blind leading the Blind

wuhjah · Jun 16, 2012

Things started off casually. Pixar and Miramax both attacked, but we didn't take any serious damage. Miramax still has an operational fleet of jets and helicopters. Then we received this bad news. Paramount ceased their stance of neutrality and finally picked sides. Why they picked the losing side is anyone's guess.
We got several onscreen notifications of incoming bombardment (with no enemy units in the vicinity,) which means UA must be casting spells with Dumbledores who are fortified in movie sets. NLC looks like theyre trying to worm in on our action in the front of UA territory. Don't mind them keeping UA a little busy, but I hope they don't think they're gonna get any real estate in this deal.
Touchstone is still going heavy with the bombing runs and has sent another stack of Artillery for us to work on. Columbia is toeing the line with a stack of Battleships. I don't exactly know what their endgame is here. Finally, we were notified that the Warner Bros. have decided to get in the race. On that note, we also started building the SS Stasis Chamber.

We have started auditions for the Alien character. We can see in the next picture that Columbia (above the mini-map), WB and 20th CF have all sent ships into our zone of operations. At this late stage in the game, all must be viewed with suspicious intent.
We declared peace with 20 CF to let them focus more fully on Paramount. All those ships in the picture are now currently safe due to treaties.
With our over-powered F/A-37s we made short work of UA Soundstage taking control without losing a character. As our troops advanced we spotted a pocket of resistance.
The dominoes have started to fall once again; UA Backlot is now under Tristar control.
We have moved some troops into Miramax to prepare for a full assault. Touchstone and Pixar characters were escorted off our premises (in body bags.) We are currently reading Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. To end the turn, we can look at the dire straits UA have found themselves in.

Spoiler :

Paramount has found themselves in a jam. Both WB and 20th CF are chomping at the bit to make a name for themselves before this game winds down. Impressively, though, Paramount shot down four 20th CF jets and has sent a naval group to give us a little trouble.
How about a little transport on transport? Little do they know about the Spy Satellite transmitting the latest in Paramount troop movement. Miramax tried a counter-offensive but lost characters at a ratio of 10:1 and though I'm not military strategist, I'd say that's no way to win a war.
When opportunity knocks... (I still haven't forgiven Pixar.) We again took care of the Touchstone and NLC troops trying to get an edge. To end this turn, we finally take MX Cinematography, and take a look at the seven characters who made it all happen.

Spoiler :

Save 1560 AD

wuhjah · Jun 16, 2012

Similar to previous turns, but quite active nonetheless. Interestingly, there were a lot of declarations of peace during the IBT; none for us though. Mostly it was Touchstone making peace deals with everyone else. Miramax also signed a few with others, though they did declare war on Pixar. Pixar, using something invisible attacked our Cruiser and sank a Transport. I aim to find that villainous character responsible. Pixar also sank Columbia's Battleship with Holy Hand Grenades. Miramax fought back a little but only cleared out a few wounded characters. Their destiny has been written, only waiting to be fulfilled.
UA is up to no good, jinxing, hexing, and cursing all that we have worked so hard to achieve. NLC made the long trek and it will have been a wasted effort. On a hunch Pixar was trying to go deep, we also found this Nautilus. Many planes on all sides are being shot down. We even lost two stealth types to SAMs.

I realized we needed to place a few more spies, and we did. We now have spies in every Studio except the United Artists and they're on their way out the door anyway. Our bombing raids have confirmed intelligence reports that UA Main Studio still has more than ten strong defenders and an unknown amount of offensive characters waiting behind them.
Lesson learned today: Do not send one of your Boom-Boom Girls to try to entice a Neo-Viper. Apparently, they don't like girls. We sent our new Alien characters(off center-right) to rough up the NLC defender and got pretty roughed up ourselves. Those Neo-Vipers are tough.
We then decided to go ahead and just take out NLC's Film resource to slow them down a bit. We also started actively killing NLC characters in the open instead of waiting for Columbia, who was very quiet this turn, to deal with them.
That, at this point, makes us actively engaged with Pixar, UA, NLC, Touchstone and Miramax. Warring on five different fronts is a bit of work. Time is running out and I think everyone knows it. In the final picture of center, you can see WB and 20th CF redoubling their efforts to break Paramount down.

Spoiler :

It's getting hot in here. UA, despite having their Cinematography set bombed by Pixar and NLC, are not going to go quietly. They did a bit of damage to our troops on the ground and I counted at least six Dumbledores (in that mountain stack) doing their thing.
NLC didn't like us bombing their Film resource and has now diverted all their Artillery characters our way. They also bombed out our SAG in our MX Props set. Touchstone is proving equally difficult. They continued to send Artillery characters to our MX Props and brought out their new Alien characters, meaning we don't have any sort of script advantage at this point. Also they have an invisible in the channel wreaking havoc on our Battleships. It's time to get a Red October in there.
Miramax can't be counted out completely either, with their bombing raids, Marines and Jian Gueis, they are going to make us work hard for a victory. They killed about five of our ground characters. 20th CF is working hardest on Paramount and it seems WB has changed plans to perhaps occupy some center land. Columbia was rather quiet yet again.

We just completed the SS Stasis and looking at the Space race, our new spies have shown we're not in as good a position as I had thought. NLC has the same amount of rocket parts as us. My plan now is in a guise of looking to declare peace we'll see where they are in script reading. It seems they have one that we will finish reading this turn, but we have Alien and they don't. We also have Stealth, but it's not required nor gives a rocket part.
We do need to slow them down a bit somehow. We unloaded our A10s and Migs on NLC Production and will continue to make their life miserable for the foreseeable future.

Again, last turn based on a hunch, we re-based a Spy Satellite into our set inside UA territory. Moving it the border, it confirms my suspicions of an Invisible Giant Squid lurking in the depths. I though it would be a Pixar character we'd find, but it seems that's not the case at the moment. It's possible that this Columbian Squid dispatched any Pixar characters that had been there previously.
We intensified our bombing on UA Main Studio and sent 18 strong characters, Elite Artilleries and Armored Divisions. We succeeded in softening the set. The major defenders are gone and we will now face characters such as Hippies, Dekus and Dumbledores before UA gives up control.
I had forgotten we had a third carrier group at the rear of Miramax territory and after finding it, had it reengage Miramax Pre-Production.
I love Boom-Boom Girls. We finished our turn by killing anything that moved. I realize now that there is no more time for conservative play and we'll have to get everyone involved if we want to steamroll and get the required land area for a Domination Victory. That means the Battle Suits are coming out next turn and all those characters fortified in sets will have to come out and do their share of work.
We will finish Honey, I Shrunk the Kids this turn. So, we'll take a quick look at the Scripts before saving. After this, there isn't really any decision to be made; every script requires the one before it and we'll just go down the line. The last piece for our Apollo 13 rocket comes from the Apollo 13 script, so we just have around 16-20 turns to get things done. NLC and others are looking for that Space Race victory so we can't afford to be complacent.

Spoiler :

Save at 1580 AD

wuhjah · Jun 17, 2012

Before pressing the button, we went to wardrobe and got two Battle Suits onto characters, like mentioned we would. One was a Neo-Viper Battle Suit, the other an Armored Division Suit. We lost the Armored Division Suit on the turn. Miramax focused their bombing on it and finished it with a ground character. For their effort they got a leader.
NLC decided to bomb our characters in UA territory. UA used their Dumbledores to destroy props and roads. At this point, its a little vindictive I think.
WB and Pixar are moving things to the center and theyre moving big things. I was going to say 20th CF was really taking it to Paramount, but then this happened.
We can't afford to fight anyone else. The good news here is that 20th CF also declared war on Columbia just after declaring on us. I'm sure Columbia will handle them for awhile. Also we signed a peace deal with Touchstone, so we can remove one from the list for a moment or two.

We sank three Nautiluses, two from NLC and one of Pixar's; there are a lot of invisibles out there. While bombarding everything within range, we find that NLC had a carrier that never even got to leave port.
We just killed:
1 Neo-Viper
1 Deku
1 Dumbledore
19 Hippies
and still didn't take UA Main Studio. I cannot believe how many Hippies they got in there; dirty hippies stinkin up the joint.

Well, we didn't give up. We looked high and low for more support characters to move in and after killing two more Hippies and a Dumbledore, we finally took control of UA Main Studio. A little too late in the game, but we finally got that Pierce and Pierce Mergers and Acquisitions we had been looking for.

We started building the next rocket piece, SS Life Support System. And, we'll finish reading The Day After in four turns. In those same four turns, I expect we can send the United Artists packing.

Spoiler :

Much of the same during the IBT, so we'll not go into it all. There are a few things to note. Now, that we've declared peace with Touchstone, they're on the move somewhere.
And where is Miramax going with this Battleship? A little too late for any last minute heroics it would seem...
20th CF still wants to make a race of it. We'll have to check things out momentarily.

There wasn't really any way for them to stand against us; we just had too much firepower in the territory already. UA Cinematography has fallen. On the other side of the map, MX Soundstage defended hard but in the end couldn't resist the deluge of Tristar Armored Divisions. The Art of War for Dummies (that we took from UA) is paying off as now when we capture each set, we don't need to spend the first few turns building a SAG.

We are still working on Miramax, but I figured we could start an incursion into Pixar territory. Here we find a Studio truck just asking to be taken. Finally, we see the last bastion of the United Artists. Soon they'll go the way of silent movies. Feeling a sense of urgency, I rounded up some reservists and moved in on MX Choreography. Our Alien dealt the final blow and will now lay eggs in the chests of all Miramax characters. Neo-Vipers and GIJoes are the only late era characters that have the para-drop capability. We're going to send in one platoon of Vipers to the rear and force Miramax to pick their poison.

Spoiler :

Things picked up during the IBT. UA is in desperation mode and has started bombarding with their Cruisers stationed in their ports. Between these Cruisers and Pixars Airplanes, we lost our Bateman Battle Suit. Paramount has also turned the tide and beat back 20th CF. They are going after both 20th CF and the Warner Bros. Touchstone and Columbia are fighting fiercely in our territory. There are a substantial number of interlopers clogging up our roads and railways.
Columbia also rebuffed 20th CF's efforts to make a move on the old CF Animation Dept. What happens when your enemy brings 15 exploding Sheep to lunch? This happens. Interesting, at least to me, was seeing Miramax disbanding quite a few actors; I guess they want to squeeze out one or two more defenders before the final cut.
The AI sure is determined; you have to give them that. To send a Nautilus into our waters, with all the Battleships we've just left laying around is a true suicide mission. NLC is also fighting Columbia at their door. NLC repaired all the damage we had done earlier, but we'll just bomb it out again this turn.

Despite Miramax putting a serious hurtin' on our stack of Neo-Vipers, we managed to take MX Casting. The usual cleaning up and moving our characters around to continue our campaigns the next turn. We'll save here and take a look at our progress.

Spoiler :

Save at 1605 AD

wuhjah · Jun 17, 2012

The turns are getting quicker, but still fun and the action's still pretty good. Lots of aircraft are being shot down all over the map. Pixar started by trying to sink our Red October but failed. Why do they always want to make deals when you're on a roll? Of course, we told them to stick it.
Miramax did take a few Armored Divisions with their Jian Gueis. NLC bombed us pretty hard, though they lost a Mig or two. They did sink that Battleship that had been posted on the corner of their territory.
We were getting good footage from our Spy Satellite in 20th CF territory and then a CF Giant Squid swam by and outed our location. They then sent Artillery to shoot the Satellite down. They must have started a full investigation because they then captured our spy.
Now we won't know their progress in the space race. Look at all those Touchstone characters moving through. Columbia is content to not make the trek themself and just fight Touchstone close to home. In this picture, you can also see Touchstone rolled out their first Carrier. Better late than never, I guess they're thinking...
Finally for the first part, we have just completed the next piece of our Apollo rocket, only four more to go.

Looks like there are about ten characters here with reasonable hitpoints. Let's see how many it takes to knock UA down. We lost one Armored Division and killed three Neo-Vipers. It's almost time for UA's curtain call, but we're gonna leave this one Vietcong here alone. After all, we need someone to cook us some Pho Bo.
Miramax is trying to tempt us with a Luv You Long Time, but we're not falling for that old trick. Trying to turn us into a landmine
We cleaned up all the NLC Artillery pieces hanging around their front door and now we've sent a Studio truck to build on the UA territory choke-point. Got to get more real estate.
Our Battleship, currently running seek and destroy missions will uncover the last bit of map (presumably) in the next turn.
To wrap this turn up, we tried to put a spy in 20th Century Fox, but of course were caught. So, just to make them mad, we flew another Spy Satellite over their territory.

Spoiler :

The IBT had some action as the Production companies are getting more and more desperate. However, most didn't involve us. I'm afraid I must have cursed us talking about our Battleship uncovering the map. Paramount sent Cruise Missiles to take it out of commission. Some other October will get to that last dark spot eventually. We have quite a few naval characters just patrolling the seas. The best thing about the AI is they never quit, no matter how bad things are going. UA put a few spells on us, we lost an Artillery character. Pixar is bombing us and sending swarms of Killer Bees as well. Nearly everyone is moving stacks to the center. And nearly everyone excluding us, allied to lay waste to Columbia's CF Animation Dept. set. I think at least 12 planes laid carpet.
With all our Octobers and Spy Satellites giving us an underwater view, we saw tons of 20th CF Giant Squids swimming around. Most moved back into the shadows, but we'll get one or two.

We will build our first ICBM and first Polaris Nuke (just for fun.)
See ya later, Suckers! :banana:

Moving on to give Miramax what they deserve...
I guess I need to check and make sure Lara Croft (seen in MX Pre-Production) can be upgraded. There's just no sense in fighting her in the 3-D era. But we will. We didn't using any bombers this turn, so we did lose a few troops. A small sacrifice for the greater good. We scored a hat trick and Miramax knows the show is almost over. I'd say before we finish I, Robot, Miramax will be on the cutting room floor.

Spoiler :

Save 1615

wuhjah · Jun 20, 2012

The IBT consisted of the same battles from the Usual Suspects. The most significant thing being 20th CF took back CF Animation Dept. from Columbia. They then sent their Artillery to kill a few Tristar characters. Columbia came next and cleaned many of the CF characters up, but we'll get those they missed. I have been thinking about whom we should fight next considering we need more land. If 20th CF keeps this up, they'll make the decision for us.
Pixar was hexing us with Dumbledores from across the channel and sank the Red October we had in the channel. They're also contenders high on our hit list. We have an October standing by to take its place, though. Since we are controlling the old UA territory, the Octobers are less important in giving us a larger view.
Touchstone is keeping us on our toes.

We did take MX Backlot and hope to get two of the last three on the next turn. As well, we've loaded up around the front doors of Pixar and NLC. Finally, for this turn, another look at center.

Spoiler :

The IBT started off okay, and then just went downhill.
Pixar continued their bombardment with Airplanes and spells with Dumbledores. The Corner of Doom in the SW quadrant fought for the status quo. We shot down four NLC Migs and they took a few of our ground characters.
We finished our seventh Apollo part and the bad news started rolling in. Touchstone has built two more rocket parts, and NLC one more.
Seeing these notifications led me to check the space race status screen and it informs us that there is a three way tie, as of now. I don't know if there is any way to slow them down.
One bright note was that we finished the TrIIIlogy and it has reduced the corruption a bit in the old UA territory. To see how we were doing in comparison, we contacted Touchstone and found they did have a script, which gives a rocket part that we don't have. I made the trade. The downside is if they declare war, they now have stealth planes. The upside is this script doesn't give them a chance at another rocket part and we took all their money.

We went ahead and took both MX Production and MX Set. It looks like Miramax is going to survive for one more save. I decided we'd move in on NLC territory since we're already at war. I'd like to try to slow Touchstone down, but not enough to start a new war. After quite a bit of work, we wrestled NLC Props from their original owners. Inward we move. First, we'll build some new movie sets to keep our troops based at the front lines.
We just built The Sundance Film Festival and The Golden Globes TS movie sets. As usual, we'll take a look at our progress and the center before we save. Additionally, we'll a quick look at the scripts.
As can be seen, it's a straight shot and it's truly a race now.

Spoiler :

Save 1625 AD

wuhjah · Jun 20, 2012

Pixar has apparently had time to audition new characters and has sunk one of our Cruisers with a sub of their own. Fortunately, we also shot down their Airplane. This message of an embargo is not a message of good things to come.
We need to be prepared for Touchstone to flip on their turn, possibly using all those characters littering the center of the map.
20th CF brought out the first UFO, which was killed by a Columbian Private Military Contractor. Paramount sent a Tornado to our Battleship, but otherwise the Corner of Doom was relatively quiet this turn.

I just checked our Victory Status Screen. We currently hold 43 percent and need 60 percent for a Domination Victory. Where are we going to get that last 17 percent in the next 10 turns?
We finished US Robotics in TS Production and will be rewarded with auto-produced Sonnys. In our developing movie sets, like those in the old UA territory for example, we are starting to build cheap culture buildings in hopes to get some border expansion to boost our territory percentage.

One shot one kill. That's all it took to finally end this scene. Truth be told, Touchstone bombed the MX Main Studio with a few Migs on the IBT eliminating all but the last defender. Miramax takes their final bow. :banana:

Repositioning our Spy Satellite revealed the Pixar Nautilus that had recently sunk our Cruiser. Don't worry your pretty little mind of that, though; it is gone now.
Maybe you cannot tell by my writing, but I Do Not want to lose this game. We're gonna take that land no matter how or from who. And we're gonna start by taking PX Props. We keep pushing forward and end up taking PX Animation Dept. It was a tough battle and we needed 17 characters to get this scene shot properly. Who would have imagined these guys had that many defenders holding the set.
In our continuing effort to get more theaters to show our movies, we also take NLC Special FX. Moving our October in to get a better look at PX Soundstage (our next target) reveals two Pixar Nautiluses which had been patiently waiting in the shadows.
We were caught, yet again, trying to put a spy backstage of 20th CF.
I spent some time contemplating our next moves. Looking at the Civolopedia informs us that the last Apollo rocket piece requires the Film resource. Taking NLC Special FX should have, as a result, just denied them the possibility of building it. This also brings the question of whether we should go back to war with Touchstone to attempt a similar resource denial. I don't know exactly how many turns they have left to read Gundam, but we have three more turns. That means, to me, we have two more turns to make a decision.
If we do go to war, it's going to be a bloodbath in the center of the map. And speaking of center, let's take one more look.

Spoiler :

Save at 1630AD

wuhjah · Jun 21, 2012

Uh-oh!
Things have gone from bad to worse. Attempting to out a Touchstone spy (if they even had one) we were caught. Obviously, this was a mistake I made and I'm already regretting the implications from it. At least as things were before, we could see if they got the jump on us.
NLC rolled out Plasma Artillery characters and surprised me, totally caught off guard. Not only that, I made the same mistake that I laughed at Miramax for 100 turns ago. I left a weak side and they got through. Luckily they didn't have enough to make a real assault on our movie set. Again, it's the implications. I couldn't remember what script allowed the Plasma Artillery auditions and checking shows it is, in fact, Gundam. Are they ahead of us that much?
In order to verify our findings, we went to discuss matters with NLC. They did want peace, but it seems they haven't yet read Gundam. That is unless they are in the Foreign Dist. (What have I done?) Whew. Checking the Civolopedia again confirms they are actually Domestic Distribution. That's actually good news because that means we should see (all) their scripts in the diplomacy screen.
You may think this is a joke and that I know all this stuff, but I don't. Despite making the mod, I can't remember every detail. I'm seriously worried that one of these guys is gonna get the drop on us. After all this playing and typing and pictures, that'll pretty much ruin my day.
At this point, I don't know what is up. Without checking the Biq, I cannot verify how they got those Plasma Artillery characters. If they do have Gundam, they could easily give it to Touchstone, who is also in the Domestic Distribution, and work together to undermine our power. I'm pretty sure I made Apollo 13 a non-tradable script, but I don't know about Gundam.

Spoiler :

Moving on, Paramount asked to negotiate peace and we agreed. What happens in that corner has nothing to do with us at this point. We get information on another Studio's progress and then we are shown are own progress on our rocket. Two more pieces.
I just did one more double-check and see that completing Gundam allows the SS Planetary Party Lounge. We need to keep an eye out for any notifications on this (though, again, we don't have a spy in Touchstone now.)

Spoiler :

(Turn continued in next post)

wuhjah · Jun 21, 2012

Now our turn:
We lost a Cruiser on the IBT; moving our Spy Satellite orbit a few degrees again reveals a Pixar Nautilus to be the culprit. These Pixar defenders are not a joke at all. Even their Steampunk Commandos can put a hurtin' on these New-Vipers. In the end, Pixar just didn't have enough and we took PX Soundstage.
While dueling with Pixar, my mind was really on other matters. I've tried to see this from all the angles. The Gundam requirement in the Civolopedia is automatically configured by the game, not by the modder. So, NLC must have Gundam. (I just don't know why we can't see it in the Diplomacy screen.) Them giving it to Touchstone Pictures is a very real possibility.
Again checking the Victory Status screen, seen by you lurkers I think for the first time, we are at 39 percent. That remaining 21 percent is a long run if Touchstone is reading Apollo 13 right now. I don't see any other way...
We are going to have to go to war. Before we declare, we'll take a quick look at their forces in our immediate vicinity.
There are four pictures of Touchstone forces: center, front, rear and second naval group.
All hands on decks, we're going to war.

Spoiler :

Wow, I really worked myself up into a frenzy there. Stand down, soldier. Let's not be too hasty about this. Oh, don't worry, we're definitely gonna do this. But, I think now, I'd better get everything in order first. There is not a lot of margin for error in this play. Once it's done, we'll still have to hold off Pixar, NLC, now Touchstone, and perhaps 20th CF for around 7-8 more turns. That itself is no small task knowing that they will come out swinging.
PX Lighting is the first link in the chain. Last turn we air-dropped some Neo-Vipers near PX Special FX and they attacked at the beginning of our turn but couldn't finish the job. We just launched a Cruise Missile and red-lined their Larry Flynt. I'm hoping a Jian Guei, with his extended movement can get in there and finish the job.
Whew, and he does. Every set we get not only builds our percentage of area, but gets us closer to other sets. We can re-base other characters to hold PX Special FX, but because of that gap between sets we still can’t roll our Armored Divisions to PX Backlot. So, we'll have to go to the other side to move further inland.

Spoiler :

Everything is in order now. We probably have enough characters, but not as many as I'd like. In the center I count 35 Touchstone characters that we need to wipe out just to begin.
Let's do it...
(And lest anyone forget, as if warring for its own sake weren't enough, our only real objective is to deprive Touchstone of the Film resource. If they haven't started the last part of the Apollo rocket from reading the Apollo 13 script, without Film, they won't be able to.)
Round 1: Even our Kiev Class had to get involved. At the end, there was nothing to take out Touchstone's Transport and, though losing a few hit points, our Carrier came through.
Round 2: It wasn't even fair. No one has a Naval fleet like Tristar does.
Round 3: How about a little Alien 1 on 1?
Round 4: Operation Bombs Away!
Round 5: Stack Attack!

Spoiler :

Taking a quick :banana:

break, we went to see 20th CF and Pixar to see if they would consider negotiating a peace deal. Pixar agreed. Unfortunately, 20th CF told us to "Buzz off!"
Round 6: Frontal Assault
We had been bombing it for a little while and I decided to send an Artillery character to check things out. Motivating.
Of course, it was only a matter of time. Touchstone's MX Animation Dept. is finally in our hands. For all the killing, we only lost about eight characters.
Continuing our plan for Domination, we'll build a few sets in the open area in the center of the map.
Enough damage has been done for one turn. After a few pictures of our current situation, we'll save here. In the center, you can see the three lone Touchstone characters were left alive. I figured Columbia would want to get in on the action as well.
Here we have our new sets in Pixar and Touchstone territories.

Spoiler :

Save at 1635 AD

wuhjah · Jun 22, 2012

Playing on after the save, we went to see a few Production Companies. Warner Bros. would hear nothing of our offer, but we gave them a few luxuries anyway to put them in a good mood. I don't really want them eying up our new sets in the center.
It seems to me that the next NLC set is quite a distance away, making it difficult to get to. Figuring that there were easier, closer targets in Touchstone territory, we agreed to a peace deal accepting a script we don't really need. These deals will allow us to focus on Touchstone Pictures and get to work on another target, that is 20th Century Fox. What I saw was they have two Film resources in their territory allowing them, perhaps, to give
one to our enemies. We will have to make those resources inaccessible to anyone. In addition, we should be able to get some territory from them.

It was a quick IBT, less than two minutes probably. Touchstone took two characters from us, including bombing one of our Cruisers with Holy Hand Grenades and Sopwith Camels.
As expected, Columbia did clean those last three Touchstone Artillery characters and went on to take back CF Animation Dept. from 20th CF.
During the turn we auditioned our first Sonny. Before we start up, here's a quick look at the final eight.

Before we kill it, I thought checking out the UFO might be fun; we didn't see very many this game. Crashed and reverse engineered, we take CF Special FX. Now if we can just get that Film.
Not that we're finished here... Continuing or campaign against Touchstone, we knocked down the walls and conquered TN Special FX. This is our last turn of reading Gundam. After this, it's gonna go quick.

Spoiler :

Well, I wasn't exactly expecting it, but I guess not surprised either. They'll regret it.
Paramount's actors (workers) tried to move onto a mountain and in effect "ran into" one of our Spy Satellites. The actors (2) lost the battle and the Spy Satellite was promoted to Elite.
This turn WB and Paramount did most the fighting. 20th CF challenged Columbia a little but bypassed us. Not a peep out of the others. I don't know if we have any real reason to worry; perhaps I'm just being a bit paranoid, but I don't like Columbia parking their Artillery characters on our mountain in the center.

We finished our first Cinemod ICBM. Simultaneously working on Touchstone and 20th CF, we take TN Lighting. After that, due to 20th CF's barricade, we can't go further in this turn. We are now reading Apollo 13.
With a last look at center, we save here.

Spoiler :

Save at 1645 AD

wuhjah · Jun 24, 2012

Before pressing the button on the turn, I went back and air-dropped a few Neo-Vipers into Touchstone territory. Hopefully give them something to shoot at or we take a set. Either way works.
Paramount and WB are still going. Columbia is more of a threat to WB than Paramount, though. NLC and Pixar just worked on improvements. 20th CF sent two characters to fight us and lost both.
We just lost our supply of Junior Mints and I'm already wondering what that's about.
Yeah, I figured that was the case. They probably watched us take out the defending Vipers out of our sets (to Para-drop into Touchstone territory.) Well, all I can say is that was a bad move on their part. Columbia launched four Cruise Missiles and wounded some characters but killed none.
Touchstone dropped 16 Holy Hand Grenades on our Neo-Vipers. And it's not even Sunday.
Our Advisor was busy notifying us of the following. I believe that puts NLC equal with us again. IIRC 20th CF is still a few back.
Now it's time to get to work.

We started to work simultaneously on 20th CF and Columbia. Depending on which character is auto-selected determines where we fight. An Artillery character gave us a back stage pass to Columbia's CF Animation Dept. It looks like we have our work cut out for us.
And the first to fall in this turn is TN Choreography. We lost a lot of Neo-Vipers, more than ten, trying to take that set. It was worth it, though. And the second. We're also still working on both Columbia and 20th CF. Jian Guei rolls in to grab the hat trick. And for the first time this game, the Tristars control the CF Animation Dept.
A little bit of shuffling characters and then it's time for the button.

Spoiler :

20th CF came a knockin'. We agreed as I'd rather send all our characters to take Touchstone. Touchstone sent 13 Cruise Missiles and a Tornado to blow away two stacks of Neo-Vipers we had dropped in.
Columbia finished off our characters inside their territory and sent a transport to our shores. More notifications on the space race. Finally we can see our own progress on our Apollo 13.

No refugees up in here; the Columbian transport has been sunk.
We have produced our first Gundam character. These are a little late in the game to really play much with, but still nice to look at.
It did not come easy, but CM Special FX has been conquered by the Tristar Pegasus.
I won't say the dominoes have begun to fall, but add one more to the list. TN Stunts is ours. We'll take a few looks around before pushing the button. In order, we have the Touchstone territory, the Columbian territory and the center.

Spoiler :

wuhjah · Jun 24, 2012

Look at these vultures.
We may have lost one character or two, but otherwise all the AI Studios pretty much did nothing.
As for us. There isn't much to say. We're in Terminator mode in a mad rush to take as much as we can. If I had to guess, I'd say there aren't more than two or three turns left to the game. I don't think they can beat us now.

Spoiler :

Well, the drama hasn't stopped. I don't know what these guys are thinking.
NLC did kill almost 20 of our characters and put a big stack up against us, but we'll wear that down. They didn't take a set or any land, so not too much to worry about. I guess 20th CF is feeling the urgency too. If we go another turn, I suppose we could expect them all to declare on us.
And, NLC joins the vultures, drooling over a piece of Touchstone. Sorry bub, it's ours.
Paramount is still angry and took a few characters, but we'll put them back in their place soon. They should stick with B-movies.
Perhaps this is the last time we look to our Script Advisor. We'll read Empire Strikes Back because one is as good as another.

We'll start the SS Exterior Casing in our Main Studio. However, I hope to get our Domination percentage up before this piece is completed.

I'm not sure what is going on but this red-lined hippie has taken three of our Neo-Vipers.
We started with a stack of near 20 and this is what is left. I used a F/A-37 to kill the two last red-lined hippies. Actually, I just tried to walk in and take it, but was rebuffed and lost another Viper. I'm not sure what's up. When attacking, I hear a weird defending sound, but don't know which character could be making it, or why we can't see it.
In the meantime, we'll take TN Casting instead.
And the Spy Satellite proves its usefulness once again. The problem with why we couldn't kill it and couldn't see it was that one of those Hippies had enslaved a Thai Stick. With a defense of 100, that's a tough kill. How interesting for that to happen and make the set virtually un-takeable.
Our hero Jian Guei is the meanest thing on two wheels and takes yet another one for us.

17 Cruise Missiles and eight Jian Gueis did the trick. That's perseverance for you.
I decided to delay building the SS Exterior Casing for two turns. I'd like to keep it on standby just a little longer.
For the record, nearly every movie set we have is completely undefended. All characters have been/are being moved to the front lines.

Spoiler :

Warner Bros have decided to go all in on Paramount. NLC, Columbia, and Touchstone all sent one or two characters at us, but did no significant damage.
A little late for an Iron Works, I'd say.

We just took CM Choreography. These guys have enormous numbers of defenders; seems in the neighborhood of 20 per set.
We've got TN Main Studio surrounded and there doesn't seem to be a good way out for them. They might as well start rolling the credits.
We'll take a look at the situation in Columbian territory and the WB vs. Paramount battle then save.

Spoiler :

Save 1670 AD

wuhjah · Jun 25, 2012

Authors note:
(Ive just gone over the remaining turns to be posted and think) You might as well stop reading now.

What Im trying to tell you is that it doesnt get better after this. The story has gone as high (and as low) as it ever will. Want to walk away with the feeling that the Tristar Pictures Studios showed all other Studios how to produce movies? Then stop now; you will get no further satisfaction by reading on.

If I cant persuade you otherwise, then do what you must. But dont come and blame me when you get that feeling that it just didnt end right. (I tried to stop you.)

The updates continue

wuhjah · Jun 25, 2012

Youve got to be kidding me. Admire the culture of one movie set vs. the culture of a prosperous Production Company? Whatever.
During the IBT, Paramount and WB continued. Pixar is just working on their own territory. NLC and Columbia together sank two Battleships.
Depose this!

So long, Hacks! Don't quit you job at the video store!!!
For the rest of our turn, we arranged characters to the vicinity of different sets. I think the space race is finished. I believe we successfully denied the major players the required resources. WB may still have the resources but only has a few pieces. If we get word that they finish the Planetary Party Lounge then it will be back on.
I anticipate we can finish the required 60 percent territory in the next two turns or so.

Spoiler :

There used to be six or seven Battleships in this picture; now, there is nothing. NLC led off with 19 Cruise Missiles. They sank all of our Battleships and took out a few Neo-Vipers.
I guess 20th CF didn't get the memo about the space race being over. Okay, I guess it's back on again since WB says it is.

CM Soundstage is the first to fall this turn. Now, its just time and work. They are barely fighting us except by ones and twos. NLC Choreography, the keystone chokepoint has given way. The floodgates are now open for the Tristars to come rushing through on the mighty Pegasus wings. Could the characters in NLC Stunts really be the ones to hold back the onslaught? No, of course not.

Spoiler :

wuhjah · Jun 25, 2012

We finished reading the Empire Strikes Back script. It will allow us two new characters. Those are the Stormtrooper and the X-Wing fighter. Did Stormtroopers have wives and children? I always wonder stuff like that.
I mentioned some time ago about 20th CF having a lot of Giant Squids running around. During the IBTs, I would see them swim in and out of view of the various Red Octobers and Spy Satellites positioned around the map. Finally, these two stuck around for a picture.

Going back to work, we quickly bring CM Production into the fold. After taking it and scanning the territory, I noticed the close proximity to the next set. CM Screenplay came as an unexpected gift. Thats an effect of CXXC spacing, I guess.
CM Stunts was also soon liberated.
Wanting to change things up a little we moved to the top-side of the map. We rolled over NLC Casting and gave those defenders a little Shakespeare. That is, everyone dies in the end. Moving over we scooped up NLC Lighting. Things are looking dim now for New Line Cinemas.
Surveying our handiwork, we spot yet another chance to make others suffer. CM Set pays the price. Unfinished, we move onto CM Backlot.
Before ending this turn, well take one last look at Columbia and a look at the situation in NLC Territory. Neither looks good for the AI Studios.

Spoiler :

We cant stop until otherwise directed, so we go on.
NLC Set is the first set to go down on this turn. Everything is academic now. Move em in. Mow em down. Rinse and Repeat.
Wow, the Martians are here. We see the New Line Cinemas have auditioned a Tempest. However, its a little too late even for characters from outer space. Die Tempest!
We take NLC Pre-Production and get the Great Ice-Cream Truck. That is a great wonder from the first era which puts a food truck into every movie set.

If there's one man you can count on, it's Jian Guei. He has come through for us time after time after time.
:banana:

Goodbye Colombia. :banana:

Spoiler :

Mid-turn save

wuhjah · Jun 25, 2012

(I was too tired to continue, so the game was saved mid-turn. Coming back a day or two later, I check things out.)

The only real things to note are these three: We are nearly done with our rocket. The last piece technically has six more turns, but that's a bit of a farce, to tell the truth. I set it to build in a slow producing movie set instead of our capitol. As well, we could have rushed it with our Stephen Hawking who is still over talking to some young girls fresh off the bus whose only dream is to have their name in lights. You should hear what Stephen is promising them...
Lastly, looking at the victory status screen, we need one percent more land area to trigger a Domination Victory. Soon, either by border expansion or taking another set or two, we will have that.
I will discuss a little more about what I think of these things after the game is finished.
All that was left on this turn was just moving a few troops into sets and sending a few more to the front line in NLC territory.
We'll take a look at the path of destruction we just paved in the former Columbian territory, the front line in NLC territory, and the center of the map.

Spoiler :

NLC ended up taking about 10 characters, mostly using Plasma Artillery characters. Then they brought out the Tempest to do some stomping.
WB and Paramount continued their fight for third or fourth place or whatever...
I don't know how much we'll get to use our new characters, be we got some. As well, we are stopping all auditions as they aren't much needed. Rather than just set the movie sets to wealth, I am setting them to things like recycling centers or manufacturing plants.
We didn't attack any others this turn. Just cleaned up a little to get a clean save before the game ends. (Rather than that previous mid-turn save.)
I did put our Storm Troopers and X-Wing fighters into NLC territory.

Spoiler :

Save at 1695

wuhjah · Jun 25, 2012

Not much to say about the IBT, those two in the corner continued. I like seeing Kool-Aid men still getting teleported in, but a bit useless considering the strength of the other characters in this era.
Now, here is something weird to me. I distinctly remember saying we completed the SDI earlier. I thought we had finished this Strategic Missile Defense. Now, thinking back, I have no idea what I was talking about or what SDI even means. Gonna have to try and look back and see what I was talking about.
Ha! We just finished our Iron Works.

And without another shot fired, we did it.
Here are some victory screens. Finally, we took NLC Main Studio just to show we could.
That's all folks.

Spoiler :

What I've realized is I don't really like the fact that I could control the whole center and thus deny the AI the ability to build the Apollo rocket. I don't mind controlling the center and denying them the ability to audition better characters, though. When the Space race really ended, that is when I denied the last film resource, everything became academic and a bit boring. Just going through the motions to flatten the enemy and get the land, but not a challenge in any way.

How I plan to change this in a future version is to move the Film resource further into each Studio's territory so that to deny them this resource means killing the Studio. (Other resource changes are in the works too.) Furthermore, I think I'm going to reduce the Domination win percentage to 55 percent. Up to that point (around 55 percent) it was exciting for me and I wasn't sure what would happen. Just after that, I was assured victory and that doesn't make things exciting...

wuhjah · Jun 25, 2012

Thanks to those who posted encouragements to continue. Those were and are much appreciated. If you lurkers do exist, I hope it was fun enough for you. Ive played this mod quite a few times, and I still enjoy it. Writing things out definitely helped me to think about things a little more and to pay closer attention, so I'm glad I did it. Hopefully I can parlay that into some better changes to the mod itself.

Anyway, thanks again.

(I won't presume many have subscribed to this story, but if you have, you can now unsubscribe. I will probably go back and edit my previous posts for grammar and typographical errors, but the story is over.)

MTB4884 · Jun 25, 2012

Congratulations on a fine story and a finer victory! Perhaps you could play the next game at a higher difficulty and still keep the sense of excitement/interest. (Besides, I still want to see a Red October take on a Yellow Submarine at some point.)

Cinemod - The Blind leading the Blind

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