Heavensward Part 2

by on August 4, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: MMO

Just recently, Smudge and I finished up the main quest line of FF XIV: Heavensward. I’m not sure a lot it was great, but it certainly ended well. Considering the second half only took us a bit more than a month to go through, I think there weren’t nearly as many sidequests in this part.

The main plot through this portion is a ‘chase’, that takes time out for other things, and involves two zones. The entire last zone is effectively the destination. Along the way, we cleaned up the remaining 2/3 of the Sea of Clouds, with a new beast tribe (the Vanu, another interesting design) and encountered the Garlean Empire. A nice touch that Smudge discovered after that is a Garlean battleship patrolling around the area, technically just outside the zone, so it’s nothing more than a bit of scenery.


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Konya wa Hurricane Alliance Turn 16

by on July 31, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Konya wa Hurricane

Overall, the Alliance economy was up 5.8 EP this turn, most of this came from the Federation, while the Hydran economy expanded a little to offset losses to the Kzinti. However, the Hydrans and Kzinti also hit the first stage of exhaustion at this point, which dropped the actually total collected from 368.8 to 342.5 EP, which is still comfortably ahead of the Coalition.

Builds:
Federation: CVA, CF, TG, NCA, 11xNCL, NSC, 3xDW, 2xDWA, FFB, 8xFF, FFE
Kzinti: NCA, 2xCM, LTT, 3xDW, 2xFFK, 3xFKE, VAP, 2xCV->CVH
Gorn: DN, BC, CMV, TG, HD, LTT, BDE, 4xDD, MB, CL->CLE
Hydran: RGR, TG, MKE, HR, PGC, 3xCU

At some point, the Kzinti CVH was bumped up in date to match the various scout carriers that get heavy fighters before general availability. I’m not sure how many the Kzinti will convert over, as there are some logistical problems, but the more he converts, the more they can feed each other. The appearance of a Kzinti CVA pod is also a bit ominous, as the Klingons are far from affording theirs.

The Hydrans swapped out a RN for the new RGR and added a PGC to the raid pool, which eliminated a crippled D6 left near the capital. The other Hydran raids hit the far end of their space again, eliminating a E4 and F5L, and liberating the last province that was still under Long-Term Capture. The Kzintis added one of two available DNLs to the raid pool, which went after a Lyran garrison DW, but a BC reacted from 1105, and crippled the DNL for no damage. The BFs hit Lyran space again, and successfully raided two provinces. The Federation added a CF to the raid pool to join the three DNLs, which all went after Klingon ships in Federation space, and killed a F5 and crippled an E4 (the latter all by itself, surprisingly, while the F5 had help from a second one, and another F5 target fought off the DNL with help from a C5), while the CF raided in Romulan space, and a POL kept it from raiding the province. The Gorns added nothing to the raid pool, with an attempt to kill a SNB in Federation space crippled it, and a SNB in Gorn space was forced to retreat.

The first offensive that developed was when the remnants of the Gorn 2nd Fleet crossed the border. They were the only ships in range of SB 4411, and weren’t enough to deal with it, so the SUB group and all the SB fighters reacted out, as Byron was about to do a maneuver he’d done before, where he moves between two BATS, and then move on to one, with nothing on the other able to react. The entire fleet stopped for my reaction, and later the 3rd Fleet moved out and hit BATS 4310, adjacent to where the 2nd had stopped.

In Hydran space, the fleets moved out, and it was obvious they were headed for 1013 where the Lyrans had a MB co-located with the Klingon BATS, which does a lot of Lyran supply in the area now. The 2nd Fleet purely pinned the Lyrans, and then the Home Fleet moved out, and I threw everything I could its way so the force that made to 1013 might be manageable.

The Federation drove a broad-front offensive against the Romulans, clearly intent on recovering 3509 as well as making a solid attack on 3612, and hitting the end of the Romulan line of BATS near the Tholians. They also attacked the Tholian Border Squadron, while sending a huge force against 1910, doubtless making up for the fact that I’d managed to take it on his last turn.

The Kzinti struck back south, leapfrogging their major fleets to pin the Klingon North Fleet and then assault 1506 and 1407. There wasn’t too much to be done about that; while I’d sure like to retain possession of my own planet 1407, the Kzinti can put way too much force into one spot for it to be practical with the continued Federation offensives.


Hydran offensive.


Kzinti offensive.


Federation offensive.


More Federation offensives.


Gorn offensive.

Battles:
2308: SSC: Klingon: E4 dest
2012: SSC: Coalition retreat
3412: SSC: Romulan: crip SNB
3413: Cloaked evasion
3314: Cloaked evasion
3313: SSC: Romulan: dest SNB
3317: Romulan: dest BATS; Federation: crip CF, FF
0815: Hydran: dest HN
1013: Klingon: crip D5; Lyran: crip STL, DW; Hydran: dest PGS
0516: Lyran: dest CL, crip DW; Hydran: dest NEC, AH
0616: Klingon: crip F5, E4A; Hydran: crip SA
1407: Klingon: dest G2; Kzinti: capture planet
1506: Klingon: dest F5L; Kzinti: capture planet
1405: Klingon: dest D6, F5G, crip D7, D5; Kzinti: dest CM, FKE
1809: SSC: Klingon: dest G2
2108: Federation: dest FF
1910: Klingon: dest D5, crip D5, F5; Federation: dest DN+, FFE
2010: Federation: dest FFS
2511: Klingon: dest D6, D5, crip CVT, D6, D5; Federation: dest NCL, crip NCL, 4xFF; Gorn crip BDE
2615: Klingon: dest D5; Federation: crip 2xNCL, FF
3415: Cloaked evasion; Federation capture neutral planet
3414: Romulan: dest SNB
3114: Romulan: crip SP; Gorn: crip 2xDD
3612: Romulan: dest SKE, crip KE, 2xSP; Federation: dest NCD, DE, crip FF
3512: SSC: Romulan: dest cripK4; Federation: dest POL
3213: Romulan: crip SP; Federation: dest NCL
3516: Romulan: dest BATS
3611: Romulan: crip WE, capture CL; Federation: dest 2xCL, crip FF
3509: Romulan: dest 2xSKE, crip SPB, WE; Gorn: crip CL, BD, 3xDD, recapture planet
4410: Romulan: dest BHE; Gorn: crip 2xDD
4310: Romulan: dest FHF, capture BC; Gorn: dest BC, crip DD

Given the importance of MB 1013 to maintaining a Lyran presence in more than a corner of Hydran space, I expected Byron to come in, take any lumps, and blow the MB. So I accepted approach, and put up a good line, including Stormtooth, the new replacement STL. Byron had actually had no intention of forcing the issue in the face of my two reserves, and left after the first round; sadly, Stormtooth failed its shock roll (which is only a 6, instead of 5-6 on d6, thanks to the DN hull), leaving the Lyrans still down a DN in theater after one was crippled last turn. There was also a little confusion over the CSV; Byron hadn’t properly realized that the Lyrans had built the first scout carrier.

I still have a decent force near a couple of Federation worlds, and naturally they came under attack in 2511. The Allied force wasn’t too much better than mine, but had some important advantages (such as actual CR10 vs my D7C in command), but a good first round had me stick around, and then a poor second round pretty much eliminated what I had gained, and forced excessive cripples.

3512 was an odd little fight with a Federation POL trying to finish off a crippled K4. Both sides rolled an ’11’, so the POL got close for an accurate photon volley, only to find that plasma wasn’t a pseudo, and both ships were eliminated.

The Federation showed how much it wanted planet 3509 back, by sending four ships… and a Gorn fleet. I was holding it with a single battle line, and Byron used the DNT to cripple my SPB group to kill in pursuit (an approach I’ve contemplated a time or two, but I’m usually not in a position to try it). I inserted a BHE into the group, and he was unable to do more than kill the escorts in pursuit.

Coalition: 413 EP (x2) + 560 (bases) + 804 ships (/5) = 1715.6
Alliance: 368.8 EP (x2) + 460 (bases) + 805 ships (/5) = 1519.6

The slide continues, with the Coalition now only registering a Tactical victory. In some ways, the news may be worse than it looks. The Alliance total is about the same as a turn ago, but this is largely because of the loss of the Gorn SB in 4206. All the Alliance fleets have expanded at least a little, and the Federation by nearly 20 ships. Meanwhile, the Romulans are down 13 ships, thanks to that same assault, though the Lyrans managed to gain 8 ships.

Most critical, the Federation has moved solidly into southern Fed space, and set up a cordon around the Orion Enclave. Beyond the likelyhood of the Federation getting a very important shot in the arm from that, communications between the Klingons and Romulans are probably forever cut, especially with the loss of the only Romulan BATS in range of 2715. The current KR spare parts will last through turn 26….

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Shogun

by on July 27, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Clavell’s Shogun is certainly a very good book, but it doesn’t quite seem to know what it wants to be. It’s a historical novel, but instead of presenting historical personages doing what they historically did, and then filling in a lot of gaps to make a good narrative, or having bunch of non-historical people with a historical backdrop, Shogun splits the difference.

It’s really in latter tradition, with the scenario of Japan in 1600 populated by fictional people who don’t have to be tied to specific actions, places and characters. But… the major movers are closely based off of real people, notably Yoshi Toranaga being Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishido being Ishida Mitsunari, and this was somewhat distracting to me the entire way through. Perhaps a little more surprising is John Blackthorne being William Adams, who did get shipwrecked in Japan (a lot further west) and did become a samurai.

My knowledge of this period is more confined to the seven weeks following the end of the novel, which saw a short war that did for Japan what the war between Augustus and Antony did for Rome: it finished demolishing the previous power structures that had allowed several nearly-equal leaders to fight over ultimate control. It’s a heck of a tale in its own right, and I was surprised the novel didn’t cover that at all.

I don’t know how accurate Clavell is with the political maneuvering in the period before that, except that its certainly true to the types of things that happen and people do. That’s really the strength of the novel, and what makes it so good is the strength and variety of the characters. At the same time, there’s a wealth of detail in there about Japan that so far as I know is accurate, and very well presented. (Not so much the musket regiment being a new thing though, muskets had been in use for some time, and the power of massed fire had been shown off 25 years previous at Nagashino.)

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43 Into the Fray

by on July 23, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

After a little casting about, Patch and I ended up going for an ASL scenario with the Allied Minors, playing “Into the Fray” from Doomed Battalions. It’s the first day of the invasion of Poland, and Germans are attacking with 16 1st-line squads with decent leadership, and some armor (2xPz II plus 3x PSW 221) coming in on turn 3. The Poles initially defend with 13 green squads with poor leadership, a MMG and two ATR, but get 13 elite cavalry squads with good leadership on turn 1. Both sides have a minimal SAN of 2. The Germans win by either exiting 30 VP off the far edge of boards 4 and 33 in seven turns, or by getting 20 more CVP than the Poles do.

Patch took the Poles, and when I got his setup, I saw three main possibilities. The first one that occurred to me was to advance near the west edge of board 4. I had a grainfield and a couple of woods hexes for cover, and would presumably push back the Poles with their 6+1 leader. The real problem was that there was actually a fair amount of terrain to fall back on, and I’d be pushing him back ~4 hexes at a time. The second, and a fairly interesting one was up the center. There was a group of four squads with no leadership with only light cover. If I could isolate them on the flanks (using my MGs) I should be able to defeat them in detail. But the cavalry would be in front of me after that, and everyone else on my flanks….

I ended up with the third option: Up the east side of board 33. There’s a large grainfield to cover the initial advance, and an initial knot of defenders in a two hex house to deal with, and then a lot of open space with only an orchard for cover. Trying to exit that way certainly had it’s own problems, but I had a range advantage, especially over the initial green squads, and the wide open spaces would allow me to use that.

As expected, my first turn was reasonably quiet. Between the grain, and long range, Patch didn’t have a lot of shots, but an upper-level squad managed to pin my MMG squad as it started forward, delaying that part of my plan. A shot by his other upper-level squad at my 8-1-led stack with my other MMG generated a PTC that was ineffective. A couple of DFPh shots did nothing, and then… my first AFPh roll was ‘2’, which generated a 1MC broke his squad even after cowering, my second shot was a 1MC that broke another squad, and a later shot was a NMC that reduced a brokie to a HS (it would have disrupted the last squad in the building, if I hadn’t been going for a double-break). Patch routed out of the large building into the stone building adjacent.


Situation, German Turn 1, showing the full board. North is to the left. The Poles had a two-hex strip to set up in….
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Anime Spring 2018

by on July 19, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Anime

It’s been another light season of anime watching for me, mostly because of FF XIV, but I’ve managed to stabilize the schedule so that I am keeping up with a few things:

Cardcaptor Sakura — The new series is walking a fine line between being a sequel, and reworking ideas and plots from the original for people who haven’t seen it. Overall, it’s successful, and easily made the top of the ‘to watch’ list. Now, when’s the rest already?

My Hero Academia — Another very strong season. I wasn’t entirely happy with the school camp bit (I felt it dragged out a bit, and they didn’t do a good job of juggling all the different moving parts), but the follow up from that was very good. Oh, another weak part: not enough Uraraka and Froppy.

Pokemon Sun & Moon Ultra Adventures — The best thing here may be the new Roku app for the Pokemon Channel, since the listings are better, and the previews are finally showing up. But, really, the series is continuing to be very good, and I definitely liked the adventures with Nebby. The fight in Ultra Space, not as much, but at least it wasn’t dragged out.

Food Wars — Another surprisingly good season. I was merely okay with the Hokkaido tournament stuff for most of the season, but the ending parts helped pull it together, though it ended kind of in the middle of things. I am really liking the development on Erina, which has been one of the stronger parts of the last two seasons.

And that’s everything I’ve actually kept up with. The next two series are also of interest to Baron and Dave, but tying them down long enough to watch can be a problem…

Yamato 2202 — Unlike 2199, I’m not familiar with the plot of this one at all, so it’s being a real voyage. The quality is just as good, and this is my highest recommendation, even if we’re still at the point where the real plot is about to get going. There’s already been a lot of adventure, and some interesting revelations about the last three years….

Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory — The fourth series has been another quality production. I really liked the mix of humor and serious military in the first series, so it always gives me a little disappointment to see it (understandably) moving more to the latter at the expense of the former, but I’m really liking the fact that the main characters have recognized the problem, and want to try and preserve their more ‘ordinary’ lives in the face of all this.

And then what I’ve seen just a bit more of:

March Comes in Like a Lion — Continuing to be a well-produced series, and I think I saw just about all of the third (production) season during this period. Smudge is saying that this is about where it gets really good….

Black Clover — Only saw a few episodes of this. I was recently commenting to AJ that it had villains I could generally respect (a bit rare in shonen fight-anime), but then the next arc has a crazy, ranting, trope-arrific villain. Argh. There’s a reason why this is nearly the bottom of the ‘to watch’ pile.

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