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Fat Samurai posted:I had an USA player headline Destal on turn one and I'm confused at all the possibilities. I've also got a hand of Decol, Asia and Europe Scoring, Red Scare, Socialist Governments and some other free consequences cards to coup with. Then you probably coup either Iran or Italy? Then hopefully grab France and Afghanistan all in one move with Red Scare? Have fun!
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# ? May 12, 2017 17:36 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 05:33 |
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It's "that time" again! New game kicking off today against an opponent rated 2069 - and against whom my record is 2 and 13, though I like to think I'm a bit stronger a player with the threat of public humiliation weighing on me! Wish me luck! 1 - A Land War in Asia There are things on which I require your comments ;-)
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# ? May 12, 2017 17:39 |
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Could you headline five year plan? It's a bit random, but it feels like your odds of hitting something meaningful are high, and there's nothing else out there that grabs me
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# ? May 12, 2017 19:01 |
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Brian Reynolds posted:There are things on which I require your comments ;-) Ouch, brutal turn 2 draws. I don't have any real retroactive advice for you on how the turns were played - maybe grabbing Indonesia sooner. You didn't get Purged though, you got Scared! I think your opponent will either headline Asia or play it turn 1 (in case you re-drew Defectors) so you probably won't have any options there. You haven't left jonissen any good battleground coup options (only South Africa) so you will probably get to coup - maybe Angola, since it will be a >1 ops card you have a good chance of getting enough influence to weather one of the USSR events there. Or Zaire, letting you realign Angola. Panama will only work if you are lucky. However, after you coup De-stalinization will just overrun South America, maybe get into Mexico, etc. Can you put off the coup or will that just cause jonissen to coup South Africa to deny you MilOps? I like the Five-Year Plan headline as well. Your voice volume seemed variable and overall on the low side this episode.
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# ? May 12, 2017 19:04 |
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Man, that's a pretty rough start. Five-Year Plan is probably the best headline though, since it could snipe either Asia Scoring or Destal. If I were your opponent, though, I'd risk headlining Destal (especially if I was holding Defectors which eliminates the risk), put one or maybe two points in West Germany and snipe it with the ops from Nuclear Test Ban on AR 1.
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# ? May 12, 2017 20:22 |
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Turn 2: I would've given more consideration to the CIA headline. Annoying as it can be for the Soviets later in game, a headline coup would've protected Thailand from a Defcon 4 coup. And hey, you could always roll a 5+ in Pakistan and give him some homework for the turn. We'd have a Europe obligation to deal with, but we'd also waste fewer turns playing catch-up. Obvious take the shot with 5YP. Hope he doesn't have Defectors in hand, and saves Asia/Destal for the ARs. Gives us a 2/7 of taking out a key weakness, and a further 1/7 of popping a 4 out of his hand. Considered DNC for a moment, but rchandra is right, his coup options are pretty weak compared to Asia Scoring while he still dominates, so lowering Defcon doesn't really disrupt him (and might cost us a coup chance of our own). Assuming Asia is a lost cause right now, our priorities are fixing Germany and couping in for an access point in Africa before Destal completely ruins the continent. (There's no getting an access point in SA before Destal triggers, and the Soviets aren't gonna let us countercoup in. They'll launch a protective coup at *some point* if we don't do it first.) I'm not certain which is the more immediate dilemma until we see what the Soviets pull on AR1, though I'm leaning Africa, since that's the easier rug to pull out from under us.
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# ? May 12, 2017 22:29 |
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tarbrush posted:Could you headline five year plan? Yes! It's a 2-in-7 chance of hitting something devastating (Asia or Destal) assuming he doesn't headline one, which it seems likely he won't (I like Cerebral Bore's point about maybe he should headline Destal though!). And even if it doesn't hit one of those two it has a good chance to be a positive "ops trade" or even hit something fun like a redrawn Marshall Plan or NORAD. I'm glad to see so many folks here pushing 5YP headline since the Youtube comments lean strongly toward Duck-and-Cover which seems so passive and surrender-y to me. To me, headlining D-and-C means grabbing 3 points right into a guaranteed -5 or conceivably -6, and letting him off on the coup choice. He even has a reasonable chance to have redrawn one of the three war cards to pound me for another 2 ops points as well. Whereas Five Year Plan means that even if I don't strike gold he has the choice between scoring Asia immediately versus taking an unattractive coup to stop me from couping -- since if he pauses to take an AR1 coup I have a fighting chance to deny him Asia domination. Or he can safely score Asia for 5 on AR1, in which case I have the attractive choice of 3 VP for DNC or a big tasty coup in Africa. It may be that Five Year Plan just fits my personality better ;-) Gutter Owl posted:Turn 2: I would've given more consideration to the CIA headline. Annoying as it can be for the Soviets later in game, a headline coup would've protected Thailand from a Defcon 4 coup. Gutter Owl posted:Assuming Asia is a lost cause right now rchandra posted:You didn't get Purged though, you got Scared! rchandra posted:Your voice volume seemed variable and overall on the low side this episode. ALSO... anybody going to start an over/under on whether I can "threepeat"? ;-)
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# ? May 13, 2017 00:04 |
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Brian Reynolds posted:(I like Cerebral Bore's point about maybe he should headline Destal though!) I've understood that I might be a bit unorthodox on this one, but I really like headlining Destal if I already have good map access. For one it lets you set up one-two combos like the one I described, it can let you counter critical US AR6 control breaks without giving up the coup (and it shuts down the classic US break control-headline Truman Doctrine combo), and it can be huge if your opponent headlines a scoring card. I've seen many times when the other player tries to get rid of a bad scoring card in the headline phase only to hand me a domination when I Destal in a bit of influence into strategic places, or if they headline a good scoring card it can break their domination if there are suitable empty countries and deny them a good bit of points. All in all, Destal is super good and super versatile.
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# ? May 13, 2017 00:27 |
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I'd say keeping CIA in play is the better move in the end because Asia was going to be lost no matter what, although it may have let you spend those ops somewhere else, because this way it forces your opponent to always take that card into consideration and there's a slight, but outside chance it ends up giving you the game due to some card chicanery. That being said, it probably would have greatly improved your current board position or at least forced a play of the China card.
Ithle01 fucked around with this message at 00:39 on May 13, 2017 |
# ? May 13, 2017 00:36 |
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Cerebral Bore posted:For one it lets you set up one-two combos like the one I described Ithle01 posted:I'd say keeping CIA in play is the better move in the end because Asia was going to be lost no matter what, although it may have let you spend those ops somewhere else, because this way it forces your opponent to always take that card into consideration and there's a slight, but outside chance it ends up giving you the game due to some card chicanery. But the possibility of him drawing CIA in midwar certainly does have a high potential value, if hard to quantify. Obviously the sooner he draws it the better :-)
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# ? May 13, 2017 01:08 |
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Right, I should have said 'for this round of Asia scoring'. You're a lot better at this than I am, but it looks like continuing the fight in Asia vs. expanding into other continents is just throwing good money after bad. Once mid-war cards hit maybe that will look different.
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# ? May 13, 2017 01:49 |
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Brian Reynolds posted:I'd definitely hate it if he did that, but note that if he did choose to grab West Germany it *would* give me a coup in Africa or wherever else he Destalinized to, including the 2 milops, so there's a bit of a chaos factor. But Destal headlines are definitely worth considering (I headlined it on Turn 1 last game!) He would lose the coup, which is a drawback, but on the other hand he doesn't really have any good coup targets himself. If I'm not entirely mistaken he can only coup in South Africa to lower defcon, and that's it. Doesn't seem terribly attractive to me. And even if you couped one of the 1 stability African countries it's not exactly hard to coup them back next turn if need be. Also he knows that you certainly have Duck And Cover plus two events that would be super good for him, that you wouldn't headline Truman since it's entirely useless right now and that Special Relationship is kinda useless right now. So if you hadn't drawn Five-Year Plan or some other better event DAC would likely be the logical headline, and then he's safe. Hell, as you mentioned about your youtube commentators some people will just headline DAC anyway and take the three points. Taking all of this into account, I'd choose risk Defectors/giving up the coup this turn in exchange for a near-guaranteed midwar European domination. Given his already strong position in Asia I dare to say that it really would put the pressure on you. Cerebral Bore fucked around with this message at 09:20 on May 13, 2017 |
# ? May 13, 2017 09:16 |
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I submit this as a candidate for "worst Soviet hand ever". Please note that I was also purged at the time, so getting rid of cards via space race or bear trap mostly wasn't an option
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# ? May 16, 2017 19:39 |
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Well, it's not a fun hand for sure, but it could have been worse. At least you have the China Card to mitigate it.
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# ? May 16, 2017 20:02 |
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Covski posted:
Wow, pretty horrible! Grain Sales must be held to next turn at all costs, which means that unless you're at "send 2 cards to space" on the space track, you're going to have to commit to playing either Bear Trap or Ussuri River Skirmish - UGH! And THAT'S after playing the China Card. I see it's turn 6 rather than turn 4 so hopefully Puppet Governments won't be too horrible. One option is to go ahead and eat Bear Trap as the event, planning to discard Ussuri and if necessary NATO. That has a 8-in-9 chance of getting you out of the Bear Trap, but if you go that route you should probably activate the Bear Trap no earlier than AR5 so in the 1 in 9 failure case you aren't super-screwed unless you're a super-maverick. So all your other cards (and the China Card) get played before that. What did you headline out of curiousity?
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# ? May 17, 2017 00:24 |
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Brian Reynolds posted:Wow, pretty horrible! Grain Sales must be held to next turn at all costs, which means that unless you're at "send 2 cards to space" on the space track, you're going to have to commit to playing either Bear Trap or Ussuri River Skirmish - UGH! And THAT'S after playing the China Card. I see it's turn 6 rather than turn 4 so hopefully Puppet Governments won't be too horrible. One option is to go ahead and eat Bear Trap as the event, planning to discard Ussuri and if necessary NATO. That has a 8-in-9 chance of getting you out of the Bear Trap, but if you go that route you should probably activate the Bear Trap no earlier than AR5 so in the 1 in 9 failure case you aren't super-screwed unless you're a super-maverick. So all your other cards (and the China Card) get played before that. What did you headline out of curiousity? Purged, so Ussuri doesn't get you out of the Bear Trap. If NATO doesn't work you're looking at an empty turn after playing Bear Trap. I suggest flipping the table.
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# ? May 17, 2017 09:11 |
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Fat Samurai posted:Purged, so Ussuri doesn't get you out of the Bear Trap. If NATO doesn't work you're looking at an empty turn after playing Bear Trap. You need a 2-ops card to play on the trap, so Ussuri will work even after you're purged. In all honesty (and depending on the board state, of course) it might even be better to do what you can in the first few ARs and then eat a mostly-empty turn provided that you can space something (i.e. Grain Sales) next turn.
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# ? May 17, 2017 12:25 |
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Thought it was a 3 pointer, sorry. Must be mixing it up with blockade or something. I still suggest flipping the table
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# ? May 17, 2017 13:08 |
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Brian Reynolds posted:What did you headline out of curiousity? Suez Crisis, my idea being that it would force my opponent to repair some things while I dealt with my hand. Not sure if I could see a better play at that point. Deliberately getting stuck in the Bear Trap in order to be able to space at least Grain Sales on the next turn might actually have been a good plan, given that half the cards were actively harmful to me in precarious contested regions. Still, table flipping probably was the dominant strategy at that point.
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# ? May 17, 2017 15:48 |
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Aaaaaaand, now for the epic conclusion! (j/k) (maybe) (lol) 2 - How Do You Say Zugzwang? I'll be on the road this weekend but will try to get on and defend myself when I can!
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# ? May 19, 2017 15:21 |
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I didn't screen-shot it, but how's this for a Turn 1 hand as the US: Romainian Abdication, Arab-Israeli War, US/Japan Mutual Defense Pact, Mideast Scoring, Blockade, Socialist Governments, Nasser, Truman Doctrine. The Soviets didn't have Red Scare, so it could have been worse.
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# ? May 19, 2017 16:01 |
Brian Reynolds posted:Aaaaaaand, now for the epic conclusion! (j/k) (maybe) (lol) I'm unreasonably excited by the title, before even watching. Zugzwang is one of the best concepts of strategic games, imo.
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# ? May 19, 2017 16:07 |
I'm not sure if I agree with the usage though; it's not usually "there is only one legal move and making it is bad for you", it's typically "I have to make some sort of move, and all of them are worse than passing". Still, good video.
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# ? May 19, 2017 16:34 |
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In Chess it can happen when you only have one move (but it can also not). And he "technically" has two moves, he can hold the scoring card and lose ;-) Three moves if you could couping to defcon 1 ;-) ;-) Okay it's a little stretchy but to me it captures the feel of "MOVE YOUR KING, SIR!" ;-)
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# ? May 19, 2017 16:42 |
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Narsham posted:I didn't screen-shot it, but how's this for a Turn 1 hand as the US: Not exactly high ops, but could have a pretty excellent result assuming you're playing with a +1 or +2 US bid -- headline Mideast Scoring for 4!
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# ? May 19, 2017 16:43 |
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Brian Reynolds posted:Aaaaaaand, now for the epic conclusion! (j/k) (maybe) (lol) My first thought was headlining Junta here, taking control in Argentina and trying to coup him out of Brazil. This protects us in Nigeria, and it's hard for him to both protect Chile and take African domination at the same time. But thinking some more it might be better to headline Africa scoring (I don't think there's anything he can headline for domination right now except Lone Gunman, and I don't think he'd headline that here unless he really had nothing better), which leaves him with either a low-odds coup in Venezuela, or couping somewhere that won't come up again for a few turns. If he does take the coup we can then AR1 play Junta and realign him out of Chile. Liberation Theology goes to space, since if we let him get to Mexico that's really going to come home to roost at some point. An eventual Brush War in Panama will keep central america even if we can take Mexico ourselves.
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# ? May 19, 2017 16:50 |
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Brian Reynolds posted:Aaaaaaand, now for the epic conclusion! (j/k) (maybe) (lol) Very nice plays for Asia turn 3. That sort of thing is why I assumed he'd score it AR1 and let you have a coup! Yeah, it felt like your opponent took too long a view in Asia on Turn 4 (using CNS and also one of those precious Arms Race Ops there). I think in that spot I'd play Nasser round 1, then score Mideast if you break out of Quagmire, Arms Race Iran + Haiti if you don't. The hand is too weak to fight an extended battle in Mideast with the score cards known. I didn't really follow why you played the China Card there, just using a 3-ops gets you one less battleground but still dominates. Given your hand holding one card seems a lot better than holding two. Any consideration to playing Pope John Paul II to space? Grab the VP and get close to the awesome headline power. I normally agree with your Venezuela coup logic but it being a 4-ops coup and you also having Panama Canal I'd rather go for Brazil. e: I like headlining Missile Envy, use e2: Whoops, I merge Junta and Che a lot. Yeah, maybe just punting Africa Scoring is better. rchandra fucked around with this message at 18:10 on May 19, 2017 |
# ? May 19, 2017 17:48 |
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"TSOOG tsvang." The german z sounds like the ts consonant cluster in tsunami. W sounds like an english v. The first vowel sounds like "cook," the second vowel either sounds like "lawn" or like "bang," depending on accent. I can't believe your opponent actually took the bait and missed the Asia window. I guess that's the difference between an alright player and a good player: I saw a lost cause, you saw an opportunity to let your opponent make a mistake.
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# ? May 19, 2017 20:02 |
Gutter Owl posted:"TSOOG tsvang." That kind describes all games with high level play, imo.
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# ? May 19, 2017 20:10 |
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silvergoose posted:That kind describes all games with high level play, imo. Sure. But each game has a different point at which you see, in the moment, the specific gently caress-ups that could be made, the likelihood that your opponent will make them, and the means of baiting them without shooting yourself in the foot. Here, I wouldn't have even entertained the possibility of my opponent delaying Asia. I'd have shrugged my shoulders, plugged a point into Taiwan, and looked into Africa opportunities. And I would have lost five points. EDIT: Headline for next turn is Missile Envy, try to luck into an African coup. There's a lot of Soviet 3's and 4's floating around in the deck, and very few US/Neutral 4s still available. So we've got decent odds of a headline coup. Rush or punt Africa early (as needed), then turn towards the SA fight with Junta. gutterdaughter fucked around with this message at 21:32 on May 19, 2017 |
# ? May 19, 2017 20:35 |
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As I said, I would have completely given up on Asia too, shows what I know. edit: was going to give you my thoughts on the next turn (so you know what not to do!). GO's idea seems solid. Also, I agree with you on playing CIA Created as a headline that turn, definitely the best option barring a hopeful coup in Asia to swing the balance. What was up with all that Korea stuff your opponent was doing? Playing ops in there twice and the war card just seemed like your opponent was throwing their hands in the air after being dealt a sub-par hand outside of the first two plays. The only thing I could think of that might matter is playing into Morocco rather than W. Germany because you know Morocco is going to matter in the future even before you see Africa scoring and its the one reliable African country. Ithle01 fucked around with this message at 23:36 on May 19, 2017 |
# ? May 19, 2017 21:29 |
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Jabor posted:My first thought was headlining Junta here, taking control in Argentina and trying to coup him out of Brazil. This protects us in Nigeria, and it's hard for him to both protect Chile and take African domination at the same time. But thinking some more it might be better to headline Africa scoring (I don't think there's anything he can headline for domination right now except Lone Gunman, and I don't think he'd headline that here unless he really had nothing better), which leaves him with either a low-odds coup in Venezuela, or couping somewhere that won't come up again for a few turns. If he does take the coup we can then AR1 play Junta and realign him out of Chile. I think since it's still turn 5 he won't be super-paranoid about Africa unless we play there. Although I *wish* I had a "Junta for Africa" that I could play, it seems to me that stealing his coup (by headlining Junta) is a strongly "pro-Africa" play because it saves Nigeria, while disguising our African agenda. Ultimately Africa is likely to be something I need to sneak out for zero though. I will admit to often being blind to the possibility of headlining Africa as the US to dump it, and I didn't even CONSIDER doing it, of which I am ashamed. Because it's not bad. I think Junta for instance is stronger, but that's just my good fortune that a stronger move exists since I didn't even consider Africa headline. Bad Brian! Gutter Owl posted:Headline for next turn is Missile Envy, try to luck into an African coup. There's a lot of Soviet 3's and 4's floating around in the deck, and very few US/Neutral 4s still available. So we've got decent odds of a headline coup. Rush or punt Africa early (as needed), then turn towards the SA fight with Junta. Gutter Owl posted:"TSOOG tsvang." As a history major I like to think I'm decent at pronouncing things, but I've learned all kinds of words from doing this series! quote:I can't believe your opponent actually took the bait and missed the Asia window. I guess that's the difference between an alright player and a good player: I saw a lost cause, you saw an opportunity to let your opponent make a mistake. By the way if you want your opponent to "move on" from a region and do something else you would make an opposite play - I.e. Filling the last battleground or open to country to control makes the region look static and "done". So there's a measure of psychology in whether your move creates "tension" that begs to be "resolved" or whether it creates a sense of order that discourages attack. But also a huge element of desperate luck rchandra posted:Very nice plays for Asia turn 3. That sort of thing is why I assumed he'd score it AR1 and let you have a coup! Me too! I was kind of expecting to get a coup when I did it, and was surprised. But then I dug deeper and realized that if he cashes immediately he first of all gets 5 instead of 6, and second of all I get a coup which means I get ops and save at least two of the points, and if he's not holding a war card (which I don't know at the time but I think it looks like he is not) then from his point of view he's LOSING those points back so his net is 3VP and letting me into Africa. So I see how that looks a bit disappointing compared to the take a coup and try to score Asia for 5 or 6, netting 7 or 8 from the turn AND not letting me into Africa. And I think he was right on that point at the beginning of the turn, but did not realize his peril toward the end. Cashing for a net 7 was within his reach right up until the point where he only got 2 for the turn - I was fortunate I could keep making that 8th point look easily within reach... quote:Yeah, it felt like your opponent took too long a view in Asia on Turn 4 (using CNS and also one of those precious Arms Race Ops there). I think in that spot I'd play Nasser round 1, then score Mideast if you break out of Quagmire, Arms Race Iran + Haiti if you don't. The hand is too weak to fight an extended battle in Mideast with the score cards known. quote:I didn't really follow why you played the China Card there, just using a 3-ops gets you one less battleground but still dominates. Given your hand holding one card seems a lot better than holding two. quote:Any consideration to playing Pope John Paul II to space? Grab the VP and get close to the awesome headline power.
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# ? May 20, 2017 03:06 |
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Headline should definitely be Junta since Argentina is right there for the taking and if you can coup him out of Brazil you're awfully close to having South America sewn up real nicely.
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# ? May 21, 2017 21:53 |
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In this week's episode we ponder whether one should "grab points now" or "invest for later"! See if you can guess where I come out :-) 2.3 - Are You With Me Or Against Me
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# ? May 26, 2017 21:12 |
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Grain Sales is, like always, the obvious headline. What I'd do is send Comrade Khrushchev into space at some point, UN Intervene Lone Gunman and since you're not likely to make a comeback in Asia anyway you could play Ussuri River Skirmish on AR1 to steal the China Card so you can hold onto Ask Not for future insurance. This also lets you play Nixon for 2 VP. Besides that, by both using Grain Sales to (ideally) cut his handsize and stealing the China Card, you might force him to play something that's real bad for him. The rest of the cards might as well be used for ops.
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# ? May 26, 2017 23:03 |
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I'd plan to use this turn to start a land war in Asia. Headline Grain Sales with an eye towards couping in Nigeria. Use Nixon for the event to grab the China card, then Ussuri River Skirmish to break control in two countries - ideally Pakistan and South Korea. Then use (in order of preference) NATO, a UN-Interventioned We Will Bury You, and/or the China card to take the domination back. Using UN Intervention on We Will Bury You does mean having to use Ask Not to get rid of Lone Gunman, though.
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# ? May 27, 2017 00:17 |
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Cerebral Bore posted:Grain Sales is, like always, the obvious headline. What I'd do is send Comrade Khrushchev into space at some point, UN Intervene Lone Gunman and since you're not likely to make a comeback in Asia anyway you could play Ussuri River Skirmish on AR1 to steal the China Card so you can hold onto Ask Not for future insurance. This also lets you play Nixon for 2 VP. Besides that, by both using Grain Sales to (ideally) cut his handsize and stealing the China Card, you might force him to play something that's real bad for him. The rest of the cards might as well be used for ops. Sounds pretty solid, but you'd play Our Man in Tehran for OPS?! pumpinglemma posted:I'd plan to use this turn to start a land war in Asia. Headline Grain Sales with an eye towards couping in Nigeria. Use Nixon for the event to grab the China card, then Ussuri River Skirmish to break control in two countries - ideally Pakistan and South Korea. Then use (in order of preference) NATO, a UN-Interventioned We Will Bury You, and/or the China card to take the domination back. Using UN Intervention on We Will Bury You does mean having to use Ask Not to get rid of Lone Gunman, though. Okay, I've certainly done land wars in Asia before! It looks like the countries to break control in are Pakistan and... India? The two problems I foresee would be: (1) if he has enough ops he could close up control and lock me out and (2) even if he doesn't, my best possible upside seems to be gaining a third battleground, so I'd piffle his domination (totally significant!) but I wouldn't gain domination myself.
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# ? May 27, 2017 01:07 |
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Video is great! One small sugesstion: could you lengthen the time the tips stay up on the screen? I watch your videos at 1.5x and the NORAD one, for example, went away too quickly!
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# ? May 27, 2017 02:13 |
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Cheen posted:Video is great! One small sugesstion: could you lengthen the time the tips stay up on the screen? I watch your videos at 1.5x and the NORAD one, for example, went away too quickly! Holy Jesus! What does my voice sound like at 1.5x? Cartman? Kenny?
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# ? May 27, 2017 02:15 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 05:33 |
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Brian Reynolds posted:Sounds pretty solid, but you'd play Our Man in Tehran for OPS?! If it weren't for all the DEFCON suicide cards in your hand there'd be a crazy alternative plan: Nixon AR6, URS AR7, Grain Sales headline next round. That way you'd break domination for certain and force him to give up his coup to avoid giving you domination.
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# ? May 27, 2017 02:21 |