The Kobayashi Maru

by on July 22, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Julia Ecklar wrote a number of short stories (in Analog, and a few anthologies), but no novels, which might explain why this Star Trek novel is more of a short story collection. However, she did later write other TOS novels under the name L.A. Graf (the pseudonym seems to be from slightly after my time of active Star Trek reading).

We have a framing story of a disabled shuttlecraft stuck in an extremely messy system with plenty of gravitational anomalies. As usual, you have much of the command crew going to check a scientific outpost that has gone silent, and Enterprise is hanging back to stay clear of an area far tougher for a big ship to get through. Disaster strikes, and the shuttlecraft is disabled, with Kirk and Sulu badly injured, and everyone is left waiting while Enterprise tries to locate the shuttle for rescue.

The actual problem that caused the accident is briefly identified as a gravitic mine, which reminds Sulu of a command simulator test involving a freighter that has been disabled by one. So Kirk, Sulu, Chekhov and Scotty trade tales of the Kobayashi Maru to pass the time….

While a good setup for those stories, the resolution of the framing is all about the rescue (which actually is enough). We never find out what happened to the scientific outpost, nor any hints as to who thought this system needs mining in the first place.

Kirk tells his story first, and it is a step up from the version we get in the reboot movie. Both assume that he reprograms the scenario into an easy win, which doesn’t really feel correct for him, and TWOK only says he ‘reprogrammed the computer so it was possible to win.’ My feeling has always been that he just took out any “cheats” the simulated Klingons got, and otherwise set it to a more normal, if tough, scenario.

Chekhov and Sulu’s stories are next and more focused on other events with Kobayashi Maru merely being a side element. Sulu’s story is the best of the lot, with a lot of personal development of a young Hikaru, and having to deal with an actual death while at the academy. Scott’s tale is good on the personal side, and has the right idea and structure. It also features the actual titular test more prominently, with Scotty getting to pull out number of engineering “miracles” to stave off defeat, while showcasing more of the ‘bad’ form of the test which is popular in conceptions of it, but not how I think it’d work. I also have problems with the idea of one bit, but like the idea that Scott knows it doesn’t work, but knows the math says it should, so he bets the simulator will let it work is dead on to what’s needed.

So, it’s good, decently structured, does well with the characters, but the writing doesn’t get to the level of what could have been done with the high concept.

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Two Rounds of Tigranocerta

by on July 18, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

For our regular round of Commands & Colors: Ancients between bigger games, Patch and I ended following “Mortal Wounding” with the first scenario of Expansion #4, the Battle of Tigranocerta. We’re still on red-block Romans, but Tigranes gets four Heavy Cataphract Cavalry units… facing an army that is half on hills. His main force is bunched up in one corner with the only leader, and there’s a couple of baggage wagons that can be taken for banners. And he only gets four cards. The Romans go first and have six cards, about their only problem is that they only have one Heavy.

Patch started the first game with Order Two Right, deploying his LS forward, and forcing one of the HCC to retreat with a banner. I countered by making the LS retreat and lose a block on a banner with Order Two Left. Patch then Ordered Four Left and did a block to a LC. I Ordered Two Right to do a block to a LB, while Patch did two blocks to a HCC and forced my damaged LC to evade with Order Three Left. I Ordered Two Center to do a hit to a LC, and Patch Out Flanked to force a couple retreats and do a block to a LBC. I started deploying the big mass with Order Three Left, and Patch got his center cavalry in motion with Order Four Center to drive off a HCC.

I Counter Attacked with my HCC and Patch evaded with one loss. Patch Ordered Lights, driving my LBC off the board, and doing a block to a HCC, while occupying the hex of one of the baggage trains. I used Coordinated Attack to bring another LBC adjacent to the baggage trains and drove off the LC, and destroyed a MC and did a block to another at a cost of two blocks. Patch used Leadership Any Section to engage my strung-out HCC, finishing off all three in exchange for two blocks to a MC. I used Move-Fire-Move to bring up more of the left-flank army, and Patch Ordered Four Right to do two hits to an Auxilia. Leadership Any Section advanced me some more, and Patch did a Coordinated Attack to trade blocks between a LC and MC. I Ordered Lights to do a block to a Medium, finish off a MC and get a leader when it had to evade through me. Patch Double-Timed his right into my force and killed an Auxilia. 3-6

I started the second game with Order Two Left, which promptly did two hits to a LC with ranged fire. Patch started Tigranes forward with Order Four Left, and I forced the weak LC to the baseline with another Order Two Left. Patch Ordered Four Left again, getting his lead Light onto the hills. I Ordered Lights to drive him off, did a hit to a HCC, and nearly routed a LBC (one hit, and then another from a retreat). Patch Counter Attacked to bring up elements of both flanks and forced my LC to lose a block retreating. I Ordered Two Center to knock out a HCC; Patch Ordered One (Medium), and knocked out a MC when it declined to evade and took two banners.

Line Command put my left in motion, and forced a HCC to evade. Patch used Line Command to put the big group forward, and I Ordered Three Right to confront the mass from hilltop, doing one block to a LB. Patch used a second Line Command to keep advancing (and pull back the LBs) doing one block to my Heavy in return for two to an Auxilia. I Ordered Two Right, finished off the Auxilia and did three to a Light for a loss of one block. Inspired Left Leadership let Patch wrap his line around my Heavy at the point of the hill who lost two blocks and retreated while doing two blocks to an Auxilia. I attempted to Rally, but only got one Heavy result to bring that unit back to two blocks (the rest was banners and lights, I’d been hoping for Medium and wild to get both units at the front of the hill in better shape). I did another block to the Auxilia, but lost my Heavies in return. Patch Ordered Three Left to do two blocks to my Medium, and rout it (forced to go through other units), while I did a hit to the weak Auxilia and forced a retreat.

I Out Flanked to bring up the next set of Mediums and position close to the baggage train. Patch used Mounted Charge to get his HCC into the hills, routing a MC w/leader (three banners), killing a second one, and doing two hits to a Medium, which forced the HCC to retreat. Out Flanked let me finish off the Armenian Heavy and kill Tigranes, while putting a LC on a baggage train. Patch used Order Two Center to get his LC next to the baggage trains again, and do a block to a LB. Order Three Center drove off a Light and HCC, doing a block to the latter. Patch Ordered Mounted to cut off retreats and routed my LC. 4-6

Afterword

The Romans had very good ranged die luck in both plays. Mine was especially good at the start, but faded later. Patch did pretty good with his four-card hand the second game, while I struggled with a lot of “Order Two” cards, and not a lot else until the end game. Between that and really well-timed Line Commands and Mounted Charge, Patch nearly did better as the far weaker side than he had with the Romans, but my kill of Tigranes put me in reach of a victory, though it was too late.

The baggage train rules stipulate that there can’t be any enemy units adjacent to it at the start of your turn to loot it and get a banner, which kept both of us from exploiting it. That flank is technically weak, but has highly mobile LC, so you can’t really keep the Armenians away, unless they have no card options. That should be possible with a four card hand, but both of us were able to react.

The Roman center is largely MC, and the Armenian one is largely HCC, so it should be a good way to show off the latter, but the fact that most of the Roman center, and all of their right, is on hills keeps them from being particularly useful, outside of the Mounted Charge card.

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The Well of Ascension

by on July 14, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

My copy of this book is enhanced by an interesting preface, where Brian Sanderson talks about the particular challenges of writing this book. Apparently, he’d been writing various books for a while, finishing them, moving on to the next book. The Final Empire had a very definite hook to a sequel. But it was also the first book that he sold, and got published. Otherwise, apparently, he would have moved on to a new project. Now, he had to write a sequel, which was a new challenge for him, even though writing a novel was something he was already practiced at.

As far the finished novel is concerned. It does have some problems. Sanderson does do a very good job of finding new character arcs lying underneath the big lessons learned in the first book. But, it suffers from being slow moving (not necessarily a problem), and having a clunky relationship between two main-plot worthy elements that get very unequal treatment.

Our main plot, for almost the entire book, is a political crisis. It’s been a year since the Lord Ruler was killed, and the Final Empire has broken up into feuding warlords from the nobility. Our heroes have instituted a representative government in Luthadel, the former capitol, that could turn into a stable government… if not for the hostile army that has just arrived.

The city’s defenses aren’t that good, the available army is barely trained, there’s little in the way of food stores for a siege…. And the noble part of the assembly is largely willing to bow to the current warlord on the spot, and hand over the city. They’ll be relatively safe. The skaa (serf/slaves) that are just getting some taste of freedom on the other hand….

So, internal political maneuvers are a large part of the book, complicated by two other armies that show up shortly after the opening of the book. Add in the high-power magic of the mistborn and assassinations, doppelgangers, and more, and you have a good action/political thriller, and most of the book works well with this.

The end of The Final Empire promised that more would need to be said about just what happened a thousand years ago, and just what the Deepness was/is. And this forms the second main plot in this book, which lends itself to a more investigative style plot, perhaps lending itself to more Indiana Jones-style action. But it remains a vestigial side note for most of the novel.

This is a problem I’ve seen elsewhere, and I’m am surprised that I can’t think of a book trading off between two different main plots smoothly. In all cases (most definitely including this one), the trade off is abrupt and ill-timed. (Maybe the successful books just do it smoothly enough to not notice to the change of destination.) No matter how much I was enjoying the main plot of the book, I always had this thought in the back of my mind of, “What about the other major plot? What’s going on there?”, and waiting impatiently for it to get its fair turn in the sun.

Of course, the switchover does happen. And there are some interesting bridges going on between both tracks towards the end. But, they come up so late that there’s no chance for it to really affect the plot structure. Vin figures out important things to implode the first main plot, but no one else gets a chance to learn of this, to work out implications; so far Vin and the reader are left alone with esoteric knowledge.

On the action side, the book is largely satisfying, with appropriate action bits scattered throughout, and the early ones appropriately introducing new readers in what is going on. The end has two big action sequences, and we have a promise things that need doing for the next book. I hope they’re allowed to support it more fully there.

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J256 Mortal Wounding

by on July 10, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

After testing out a Kzinti carrier, Patch and I cycled back to ASL, and picked a scenario from this year’s ASL Journal #15. Scenario J256 “Mortal Wounding” is, I think, the only official scenario outside of Operation Veritable that features the SturmTiger. It was an obvious choice to play.

Patch initially picked the attacking Americans and regretted his choice to some extent when looking at the terrain and tight time limit, though they certainly have what they need. The Germans are defending the board 1a village with seven squads (2nd line and conscript) in February 1945, and have substandard leadership, three MGs, a roadblock… and a SturmTiger with a 9-1 leader. It had better not malf its first shot (with a circled B10…). The Americans have nine elite squads, one MMG, one BAZ 45, and two M18 Hellcats enter on turn 2. The good news for the Germans is the scenario is 4.5 turns, and there’s open space outside the village. Also, the American attack and move first… and also set up first.

Patch set up in two groups, one facing directly across from the village with an orchard for cover. I forgot this was a ‘vertical’ board and didn’t scroll down far enough in VASL to see the second group down in the woods and brush in the corner preparing to hit from a second direction. The SturmTiger gets a special rule to not only set up HIP, but can either start the game with a free shot, or do a free hit against a predesignated building location on turn 3. I didn’t like revealing the SturmTiger at the start, it’d be too vulnerable, and I never did find a place to put it that could see a building I thought he’d be in on turn 3. I eventually marked the graveyard, and then realized a turn in that I needed a building.

I contemplated M9/L8 for the roadblock (where Patch expected it as it turns out), but I didn’t like the fact that it would give him cover as he headed for the victory area east of the column-M road. So, it went into M12/M13 where I figured it’d be better cover for me, and keep adventurous M18s out of the street. (L8/K8 would have been good, if there was a building to link up to in L7.) I had outlying squads in G11 and J7 to slow the American advance and then bug out, and a HS in M8 to hold the flank. The main resistance was a MMG squad in K9 and a LMG HS in the steeple there (if I’d seen the full set up, I think the LMG HS might have gone in N13). The last LMG was in K10. It was a good set up against the orchard, but I had too little in the south with the other force there.

Patch started with the southern force, and while I realized I had a setup problem, all the brush and woods showed I did have time to respond it. In the north, I quickly put down a fire lane, and when Patch moved into it later, it rolled a two for a 1MC on a 2+2 shot. When his south flank moved along the hedge my squad opened up as he got into range, and even a cower got a NMC. Sadly, Patch easily passed all the resulting morale checks. I self-broke G11 to get him out of there before I had to worry about all that American firepower getting close. (If I’d thought through my setup through a bit more, the 7-0 would have been in the first line of buildings so he could rout there in one turn.)


Situation, American Turn 1, showing almost the full board.
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Crossroads of Eternity

by on July 6, 2025 at 3:11 pm
Posted In: MMO

I’ve been fairly involved with Final Fantasy XIV lately and it is time to review what’s happened over the last several months. Smudge has been holding me down and making sure I get side content done, but I’ve also snuck off a number of times lately to get some crafting in, and get that moving.

So, pure mechanical side of things: I’ve gotten every job I had maxed for Endwalker up to the new level limit of 100 (finally managed that in May). I had started work on Astrologian before the release of Dawntrail, and it is now in the mid-70s, and I’ve also taken Dark Knight, and gotten it to 34 (from a start at 30). Smudge and I finally got through all the Studium (Endwalker crafting) quests a few months ago, which finally got all the crafting classes up to 90. We’ve started the Wachumeqimeqi (Dawntrail crafting) quests, but only finished the main gathering one so far.

I’ve gotten two of my crafting classes (and Mining and Botany) up to 100, and have started work on upgrading my gear. Smudge was defeated by the 100*** gear, and I want to take a crack at it. So far, I’ve just produced some 97 gear and a little of the base 100 gear, and hope to work up to the rest as more classes get to 100.

Some of what has powered this desire is Cosmic Exploration. This is the new iteration of the Ishgard Restoration idea, and we’ve been spending time working on the Mining track. I was doing okay at first, but difficulty is scaled to level, so as my Mining level got higher, and my gear stayed the same, it got very difficult, and trust me, don’t try Cosmic Exploration at level 100 with level 90 gear. With partial 97 and 100 replacements, I’ve been doing well. Not really getting gold evaluations, but silver is doable, and that’s the main result for getting progress. I’ve been happy with the setup, but it has been getting tedious.

Over on the plot-side of things, we’ve gone through the first two patches (7.3 is due out in a month+) and the side adventuring content. Main plot has been fairly good, and certainly dealing with things that need dealing with. That is, mourning a beloved leader who has just passed away after a thousand years….

(Spoiler time!)
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