PBEM Minor League (2010)

[kiwitt]

OOC: I will be renaming all the Japanese Self Defence Forces using data from Wikipedia. Can I suggest other Minor League nations do this as well. It will certainly add real-world flavor to the game.

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

The new ruler of Brazil would like to greet all the nations in the world with hopes that peace will be longlasting on this tiny planet! May commerce prosper and hostilities be scarce!

 

[Nighthawk419]

I never thought that Nationalism+Suicide Attacks+Bunch of cities can be a viable game strategy, but the sheer amount of Muslim units I end up battling with is slowly changing my mind Egypt will protect you from death. You got yourself a brand new capital now. Guess where

I'm guessing Cairo?

Yeah, I learned a lot about some self-defense in my very first PBEM victory. It was an 18 civs game on a huge map, but only myself and 1 other human... it was a long game that was going to come down to the 2 humans. I was on an island with 1 other AI, eliminated the AI quickly, then founded a religion and turtled up for a culture victory. In the last 10 turns or so when it was clear I was going to win culture, my human friend sent a sneak attack force at me, landed 1 square outside 1 of my legendary cities with a huge stack ready to destroy it. I had the Christo Redentor wonder already, used the lack of anarchy to switch to emergency defense mode... Nationalism + Universal Suffrage, rush bought some units, drafted to the max and sent everything I had at that stack. I didn't kill it all off that 1 turn, but I did enough damage that my traditional defense completely moved into the city stopped them the next and I proceeded to win that one at my leisure once his attack failed.

The reason it works is because those units are there at any time, but don't show up until you click draft... but then they are there and usable right away, and with railroads, its a nice little bonus!

Looking forward to my first turn in this one!

 

[Tigranes]

Luthor got CR in this game. And he is claiming 2-city Germany was a Major League . I mean in Today Brasil was the only AI civ with vassals (my Congolese Christians have persuaded Brazilian brothers to declare on you, by the way ) ).

There has to be a counter strategy to drafting. I am currently working on it

 

[Tigranes]

The new ruler of Brazil would like to greet all the nations in the world with hopes that peace will be longlasting on this tiny planet! May commerce prosper and hostilities be scarce!

You did a pretty good job with readjusting things for this game My Ironclad is a humor right ? Let me guess -- generic looking leaders got generic sounding names? France and Germany somehow still exist without cities -- do they have a unit somewhere hidden?

By the way do you use any utilities to readjust scenarios or just editing with Notepad+ and using WorldBuilder?

 

[Tigranes]

Guys I am really interested in starting Demographic screens of your countries. Can everybody please post your initial Demographics for future comparison purposes. I went above and beyond trying to ensure that Japan will have 3rd economy in the World , for example. Now with united EU -- European Union became number 1, America #2, China #3. Does Japan show #4 GNP?

Russia must be #5, so I must be proud of my #6 status!

Spoiler :

 

[kiwitt]

Will do the Demographics ... Will also do my Unit naming so the first turn will be a little late.

 

[Tigranes]

I am guessing UN secretary will play even smaller role in this game .. I mean if the divided 5 Continents manage to elect one. US and China are candidates.

HUMAN PLAYERS

 

[kiwitt]

Who is playing Barack Obama ? It came up as a human player in the trade negotiation window?

 

[Tigranes]

Luthor made him human to launch the game. He (or Hercules) will resign Obama to AI by the beginning of the next turn. I already wrote him how this could be avoided, though...

 

[shlks]

Nationalism + Universal Suffrage, rush bought some units, drafted to the max and sent everything I had at that stack. I didn't kill it all off that 1 turn, but I did enough damage that my traditional defense completely moved into the city stopped them the next and I proceeded to win that one at my leisure once his attack failed.

The reason it works is because those units are there at any time, but don't show up until you click draft... but then they are there and usable right away, and with railroads, its a nice little bonus!

Very interesting, I've forgotten about that little detail about drafting, that your new unit comes out with movement points available that turn! I've come to dislike the draft ability in the past... (however I think my beef with it has to do with the settings I generally played on)

In Today I'm coming to terms a little bit with modern warfare in just a few turns, especially beyond bombing primitive AI's... Enemy fighters are incredibly annoying when trying to get offensive. Nukes, are of course, horrendously useful. I suspect I'm gonna find that I should have brought more reliable support units than bombers for the southern flank, especially if one can relocate air support nearly on a whim... I'm curious as to how you might have reclaimed St. Petersburg! I'll find out more when I play my turn on a pc that doesn't totally suck.

To be honest after a while I wasn't having a lot of fun with Today. I felt like I had no choice but to build a huge army, and that's what I did from my first turn. Later I find a few minor ways to improve tile yields, and notice some possible buildings that might be worthwhile but it seemed like too late, especially as I learned more of what was going on. It started to become clear that non military victories were unlikely, since the game was marathon, then the Muslim Confederacy was declared upon. I felt the game had to be decided then, as it seemed the east would only get stronger and stronger as time goes on.

 

[Tigranes]

Well, this could be discussed in the dedicated thread All I can say is that fighting alone against 3 human players and very smart Israeli AI is a pain. Even South Korea managed to attack Vladivostok passing invisible Special Forces through North Korea

 

[kiwitt]

It was originally in two pieces on the sea floor.



When discovered in 1985 many people wanted to leave it where it was as a memorial to the 2,498 men who went down with her. However, the families of these men who died said it would be better if it was a floating memorial. For 10 years they lobbied the government for assistance to re-surface the Yamato and restore it to its former glory. In 1995, the government finally gave in and agreed to the creation of a Yamato Memorial Museum, with a 1/10th scale replica, which opened in 2005.



Unbeknownst the Government a secret group of rich industrialists and families of the sailors, created a massive fund totalling over $1 Billion. This was to fund the re-surfacing and recreation of the once mighty Yamato in full scale.

The former owner of the Kure Shipyards, re-bought them and said to the government we are going to start making massive high-tech transport ships to rebuild the Japanese economy. When in actual fact he needed the slipways to hold the re-construction of the Yamato. Instead of in WWII where the construction was only partially covered, a massive building was placed over the slipway so no-one could see what was going on, keeping the construction secret.

Using the latest underwater recovery techniques, the split hulls were resurfaced and placed on the slipways in secret. Further recoveries of additional parts were taken from her sunken sister ship Musashi to complete the full restoration.

In April 2006, she was relaunched in secret again and sent on sea-trials, 12 months after the 1/10th scale museum opened. She proved to just as good as when she was first built. The enthusiastic engineers (many of them worked on the original), swelled with pride to see the floating masterpiece perform so well.

It was was during these sea-trials that a JDS destroyer came across the Yamato cruising at over 35 knots. Nearly 10 knots faster than the original. What was this ship? where did it come from ? and many other questions.



The Captain of the destroyer was instructed to pursue the Yamato and escort it to Tokyo. The Captain of the Yamato (a retired WWII Admiral), obeyed the instructions of the Destroyer Captain and made course for Tokyo.

It arrived in Tokyo Harbour on a Sunday, 12 noon, April 16th 2006, on a weekend where all train services were suspended. Many people however were still in town and they could not believe what they were seeing. Just as the Cherry Blossom season was ending, many thought this was some kind of magical or spiritual time, and they started calling all their friends and family to come and see what must obviously be a miracle. Cellphone networks become overloaded, roads were jammed as people crammed into the city and talk about and see the mighty Yamato.

As it berthed, the skeleton crew and retired Admiral were escorted into custody. The government wanted answers and an explanation as to how this could be. The further investigation led to the arrest of the industrialist who owned the Kure shipyards. Meanwhile the people of Tokyo were celebrating this miraculous event and the morale of the people was so high, the Government know they had a major event to manage carefully.

The industrialist was released on the condition that he hand over the ownership of the Yamato to the Government and the People of Japan. This he gladly did as he and his supporters had achieved what he set out to do - create a floating memorial.

The government over the next few years completed the full electronic fit out of the mighty battleship with 21st technology. The 18in guns were completely recalibrated and were again fully effective again. A full complement of sailors and crew were assigned to the Yamato to make her ready for active duty.

On the 1st January 2010, the Emperor Akihito officially launched new JDS Battleship Yamato. Its main eventual missions, will be on goodwill visits to friends and allies, and touring the world showing the pride of the Japanese People.

Demographics

Spoiler :

GPS to Nighthawk

OOC: If you did not know already, I love battleships. My favourite scene from my new favourite movie - "I want to borrow your boat!"

Spoiler :

Link to video.

 

[Tigranes]

Very cool story!

I can't believe it's number 9 GNP in Luthors edition Did you get that GNP numbers before you touched anything? In my edition Japan was rivaling Russia for #3 by tiny bit, thanks to unique buildings of the other nations I placed in all the Japanese cities...

 

[Tigranes]

If you like Battleships you should try a game called Navyfield (the only other game I was ever playing besides Civ). It's a massive online multiplayer game with all the real and projected ships of all the WWII nations. Yamato is level 90 there (about 3 months grind)

 

[Nighthawk419]

Kiwitt, I did not receive any turn, which email did you use? Use the one in Luthor's intro email, I did receive that. I checked junk also and nothing there.

 

[kiwitt]

Very cool story!

I'll be bringing my IOT writing skills to this game. I have decided to drop IOTs and reserve my energy for PBEMs

I can't believe it's number 9 GNP in Luthors edition Did you get that GNP numbers before you touched anything? In my edition Japan was rivaling Russia for #3 by tiny bit, thanks to unique buildings of the other nations I placed in all the Japanese cities...

Nope ... no changes. I do only have 3 major cities and one minor.

If you like Battleships you should try a game called Navyfield (the only other game I was ever playing besides Civ). It's a massive online multiplayer game with all the real and projected ships of all the WWII nations. Yamato is level 90 there (about 3 months grind)

I may look it up

Kiwitt, I did not receive any turn, which email did you use? Use the one in Luthor's intro email, I did receive that. I checked junk also and nothing there.

it was still in my drafts - sent to Andrew [a] hotmail now.

 

[Nighthawk419]

Nighthawk Zuma takes charge!

We are weak in every aspect... why do I torture myself with civs like this??!!!



Tigranes, you just love the defensive pacts, don't you? I see your planes in the Congo keeping an eye on me... you'd better watch yourself! My opinions of you do not carry over from one game to the next... however much like the AI, I know what you trend towards! Keep yourself out of my business and we will not have any problems. Half a world separates us, hopefully we can both live together in peace

gps on Hercules and the Aussies!

 

[Tigranes]

Luthor, can you please post Brazil's starting Demo screen?

 

[Tigranes]

I know what you trend towards! Keep yourself out of my business and we will not have any problems. Half a world separates us, hopefully we can both live together in peace

Unlike in Today here in Minor League we have no Permanent Alliances or Vassal States, meaning it is impossible for 2 or 3 human players to win the game together. I would love to have a defensive pacts with all the former British colonies . But ... Only one human player can possibly win (or AI if we play long enough ).
On one side this creates a situation were no long lasting trust or cooperation is possible. You need your friends just as long as they are inferior to you. On the other hand short term alliances are almost imminent -- as soon as somebody gets ahead of others he will be in the mortal danger.

Take economic victory for example. For AI it only shows gold available for trade. For human player it always shows your total gold. It is impossible to act like an underdog and hide your gold somewhere. Culture leader will pop up in F8 screen. So we have no other options but to keep an eye on each other .