Re: Saturday at the Con. . .

At 10:32 AM 3/2/99 -0500, John Atkinson wrote:
>Aaron Teske wrote:
>> Um... next time, *you* try being the one skosh fuel.  Ya wanna know
why I
>> was plinking away at you from range with my warships?  It wasn't
because I
>> was afraid of losing ships, though in the end I did decide that, for
a
>> fledgling UNSC Navy, that probably would've been a consideration.
>
>Given the Mercutian attitude, I'd have been going all-out anyway.

Yeah, but then you'd have been leaving a few turns into the game... not
to
mention, I was pointed at the planet, not at open space.  A bit
different
effect if you overshoot.... <wince>

[snicker-snack]
>So the Mercutians have
>this militant culture, no fear of death in battle, a hatred for the
>Venutians and their UNSC flunkies, 

...?  That, I didn't pick up from the fluff; at the moment, the UNSC is
newly returned to space after decades of isolationism, and the Venusians
are the only ones who approached them.	(Why the Martians didn't, I
really
don't know....)  Don't blame *me* for the failure of your political
branch!
^_-

>and an attitude of "never again" that
>makes the Israelis look positively pacifistic.

That, at least, is true.  May have something to do with why they didn't
approach the UN, too; just a bit *too* paranoid....

>> >Andy then
>> >negotiated terms for the UNSC's withdrawl, making this a decisive
>> >victory for the Martians, who basically had done a little firing at
the
>> >Venusians and otherwise basically drifted in a straight line not
doing
>> >anything or talking to anyone.
>> 
>> Not true, actually.	I talked to him a few times, and he talked with
Andy a
>> bunch... but then, the latter you weren't worried about.  I'm still
not
>> sure if he would've fired on you, though, if you'd come back to hunt
me
>> down.  (It was sounding like it, a bit, but since you couldn't stop
it was
>> kinda irrelevant.)
>
>I could have stopped.	Velocity 3, 8 points of fuel, I would even have
>gotten going in the right direction, as your carrier was too short on
>fuel to evade.  

Ah, okay.  My bad.

>> While the UNSC didn't achieve it's listed objectives, I don't think
that
>> was a bad thing since all the listed objectives were derived from
>> information given to the UNSC by the Venusians.  (I hadn't even read
the
>> background history in the packet Keith handed out... oops.)	So, as
more
>> information came to light, I changed my own objectives.... <shrug> 
Kinda
>> like pre-radio fleets, I'd guess.  Commander's gotta have
autonomy....
>
>To what?  Getting out in one piece?  At least once your colonial allies
>went 'poof' and you lost most of your fighters. . . :)

Most?  I still had more'n half, actually.  By one fighter, but more'n
half,
and I took out about 60% of Andy's standard fighters.  The two attack
groups... would not have done well in a dogfight.  And your PDS rolls
were
laughable enough that I wasn't worried about 'em, and if you'd actually
come to visit my ships I could've gotten my other weapons to bear....

No, my objectives turned more to things like, "Get contacts so we don't
have to rely on the Venusians" as well as "Find out if this slug story
is
accurate, and if so demand to get answers from the Venusians."	Survival
was also good, but then it wasn't in *your* orders to die, either.  I
was
also trying to hit Presby's ship to see if it had screens and/or armor
--
i.e., evaluate the defenses.

Anyway... it was a good game, and got one thinking of more than just
this
one conflict.  Quite nice. ^_^

					Aaron Teske
					ateske@HICom.net
LAUNCH DAY!
A totally unprovoked attack on peaceful neighbors. Must be the race 
file. Does strange things.
		--Rick Kucejko, on the War Monger PRT in Stars!