Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
|
The opening acts of Third Ring underscore AE's complexities and depth - and the kind of tremendous advantages that an experienced player would have over a gifted newbie. Months ago, I knew that Big Tent was likely to use Normanton. This morphed into Third Ring (the invasion of Merauke, etc.), in which I'd pick up new invasion troops at Normanton. That meant pre-positioning troops there, spreading them out through several hexes to not exceed stacking limits, and building the port as big as possible as quickly as possible. Engineers got to work, so that by the time Death Star and the Herd arrived (months later), Normanton had a level six airfield (excellent for local CAP purposes) and a level four port (the maximum level, and just reached a week back; this helps with loading and with replenishment). Ten days ago, knowing that replenishment would be vital at Normanton, I remembered (belatedly, but just in time) to send the AKE and the AE. That's the kind of detail I missed all too often in the past. Just before the amphibious ships arrived at Normanton a few days back, all units in surrounding hexes moved to the base, temporarily exceeding the stacking limit by a huge amount, but only for one day. In that one day, the amphibs loaded 35,000 soldiers, drawing down the number at the base from 67k to 32k. The next day, the final loading took place, drawing that number down to 27k. So, in two days, the amphibs loaded 40k troops. These are fairly simple and straightforward moves, but it took months of preparation to make it fairly simple and straightforward. If Normanton hadn't been identified as a key base months ago, this would've been a more difficult transaction. Ditto with the other small things that give experienced players an advantage in implementing strategies that any player can devise. I would not enjoy being a newbie taking on an experienced player in this monster game.
|