Re:Star General [OT]

At 2:10 AM -0400 10/26/99, DracSpy@aol.com wrote:
>Hi,
>I know that this is off topic but I'm wondering if any has a good
discription
>of how combat works in Star General, or the other 5-star games.
>Thanks!
>-Stephen

Okay, I've been meaning to review Star General anyway.

They're all classic hex-based wargames. In the other 5-star games 
infantry moves 3-4 hexes and can attack units adjacent. Armor goes 
faster, artillery has a range of 2 or 3 and can shoot in defence of 
adjacent units forming a key defensive tactic, air units can run out 
of fuel, there's hidden movement which adds spice to a fun (if way 
out of scale) naval system, battleships shoot 4-5 hexes, subs hide 
from everything but air and DDs. Units have ten steps at full 
capacity, experienced units can have more than ten (which are 
disproportionately powerful and expensive). Ground units have Hard 
and Soft attack and defense factors to reflect the effects of tanks. 
New units and replacements are bought from Prestige Points; which are 
gained by winning battles and capturing objectives. Supply of both 
ammunition and fuel is a vital factor, strong units can be 
surrounded, run out of ammo, and destroyed.

In Star General there are two scales: space and planetside. Usually 
10 ground turns are fought for each space turn (if any ground combat 
is occuring). Each planet has cities which produce Resource Points 
and can support facilities (which produce RPs or allow production of 
ground forces or allow for higher tech units to be purchased). 
Neutral planets can be grabbed in one turn by a single AFV, enemy 
planets might have a few militia units while heavyily defended 
planets can have over a hundred regular army units defending them and 
will need to be simultaneously assaulted by 6 transports (one in each 
adjacent hex since they can't move away after unloading). Invaded 
planets don't produce RPs while they are being fought over, and it's 
really easy to burn through thousands of RPs trying to keep up an 
attack in the teeth of a stiff defence. Rounding out the economic 
picture are merchant ships, which move from planet to planet 
collecting RPs.

Space combat can be pretty intense. Ships are fairly mobile (Missile 
Boats can move 7-9 and shoot 3-4 hexes) and have a fair amount of 
firepower. Units are rated for Laser and Missile strengths. Lasers 
fire first and tend to damage units instead of destroying them, then 
missile fire is exchanged which destroys factors. Damaged strength 
points can be repaired in the field, while replacements can only be 
taken at a starbase or fleet tender. There's a lot of advantage to 
keeping a lot of light units out scouting, hunting transports, and 
destroying merchants. It's important to keep Missile Boats with your 
fleet for their defensive fire. There are six races in the game, each 
with its unique mix of forces. Everyone has at least one unit that 
only they have, and a few races don't construct some classes 
(Draconians value defence and don't build battlecruisers).

Star General is a good hex-based entry in the Civilization genre due 
to it's strong economic and supply systems but has more of value for 
the wargamer. Balancing the game is tough, I've been lucky and gotten 
fun games about half the time I try a new setup.Each player will have 
to find a balance that suits their style of play.  The best game I've 
played involved a three front war, plus skirmishes on 3 more flanks 
with one of the main fronts involving close to five hundred ships on 
each side by the end of the game (the AI line was 4 deep and extended 
for 40 hexes, and that's just what was within spotting range of my 
battle line, luckily the AI ships had low missile defenses so my 
Missile Boats were able to savage his forces just slightly ahead of 
his replenishment rate, and I had to take about 10 planets with over 
100 units defending them. I haven't played much since that ordeal, er 
game, but I'll have to take another shot at it soon. This game does 
requires very careful attention as ignoring minor tactical details 
can result in serious consequences, but it rewards the careful 
general.

Six player network play is possible and would be a terrific way to 
kill a weekend. This game is now going for cheap in a lot of places, 
I got mine from eBay in 7/99 for about $12 (75+ hours of gameplay 
later it's one of my best gaming purchases already). Depressed 
Macintosh gamers will note that this game can be played under 
emulation. I used a 300 MHz G3 with about 70MB RAM allocated to Real 
PC with Win98 loaded and the game plays just fine.

Michael Carter Llaneza
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1991-1950
Whenever I hear the "Odd Couple" theme, I get this image of Dennis 
Rodman borrowing Marge Schott's toothbrush.
Overkill: A Sufficient Preponderance of Firepower
Imperial Dispatches: http://www.flash.net/~maserati/ID/