Time: Thu Feb 22 23:26:35 1996 Server: dias.umiacs.UMD.EDU
From: kmbst30+@pitt.edu (Kevin M Bernatz) Date: 23 Feb 96 17:36:44 GMTGood game US! Even though VD dominated the mid-game, being up 13-7 most of the game, US made good use of their second base and tied up the game with about 5 minutes left in regulation. Then without us having a base, they managed to take El and indi Spi 20 minutes into OT.
From: madpit@mit.edu (Doug Pitters) Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996 15:40:18 -050099c Value Deal received its first loss from the usual suspects, in what appears to be (from the INL statboy pages) the first INL game of the season. Since no one has mentioned the game in two days, I guess they were all waiting for me to post the summary. So here goes.
The server was dias, 99c was home. The suspects chose FED (with Ceti Alt agri), and 99c selected ORI (with Pol Her agri). Lag was a factor for a few of the 99c players.
Opening bombing went to 99c value, whose Akirabase took up a conservative stance above a 40-60 army stockpile at Her.
We fought aggressively in the first twenty minutes, going up spi and el nath. Then at about the fifteen minute mark, we decided to key on Kevin and their armies. It took us about five minutes to get the right setup, but at about twenty minutes, we manage to get Akira+19 armies, and then bomb the stockpile on her. It was absolutely necessary.
Of course, killing Akira means that now he gets to come after you with a regular ship, and in true CMU fashion, he did. Their team switched to ogging, and in the midgame, they went up our front line, and the entire midgame towards the beginning of the endgame, we fought to own our frontline.
Of course, our team is stocked with veterans who had been in this position before (remember EIEIOvsSYM), and we kept our composure throughout, preventing them from going up more than three. Then Jay got a new base with about 20-25 minutes left, and they made what I believe to be their first mistake in not answering with their base (I guess they were confident that they could kill our base, then bring their base in, and get the win without going to OT: some people view this as good strategy, others might be inclined to call this a touch of arrogance). At any rate, they were unable to kill our base, so they brought Akira back. At this point, they made their second mistake, and did not make an effort to defend him (IMO), and we got him a second time+4. With defeat eminent, they stepped up, and we were unable to dispatch them in regulation.
The OT game began on a bit of a fluke, with Rick flying headlong into 4 cruisers. While we had plenty of opportunities to put the game away, we had severe problems with the "9th man" (planets popping under carriers). Finally, Alan (McManus), our veteran bomber, got el down to 2, and Ted(Ajent Kujan) faked Spi and dropped 4 on El, while Jay moved up with Greg to Spi. The play that has been so successful for us in the past worked again, and we came away with the 11-8-1 OT victory.
Great game. POTG for them could probably be Ceri (JrBaconChz..), but if you asked me, I'd have to say Akira (CaesarSide). The Stats don't show it, but most of the dooshes that his team got were due to us flying away from him. Just like Dan Marajle(sp?) used to say "They oughtta give out a stat for effort..."
Our Player of the Game: Bazooka, who lived in the FAT BIRD for 79 of 110 minutes, and delivered all 119 armies (we needed that, since they outpopped us).
So Miller Lite gets to donate $1000 to the "Sunscreamer CTS fund" in both their names.
Hope you enjoyed it. Tense games always are fun.
-Subby!
From: wex@tinbergen.media.mit.edu (Graystreak) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 17:00:21 GMTkmbst30+@pitt.edu (Kevin M Bernatz) blathers about his ability to take a 5-man ogg from The Usual Suspects. He neglects to note that the 99c Value Deal base (we will NOT say who) exploded +19 and +4.
This little excerpt from the game logs is most telling:
1:04:57 05->ORI there will be no OT, and what good would a kevin base in OT be anyway
: P.S. Good game US! Even though VD dominated the mid-game, being up : 13-7 most of the game, US made good use of their second base and tied up : the game with about 5 minutes left in regulation. Then without us : having a base, they managed to take El and indi Spi 20 minutes into OT.In point of fact you could have brought out a third base late in OT. I still don't understand why you didn't -- you probably could have forced a tie.
The game began very badly for TUS. After one newgalaxy, we took FED with CET/ALT agri. They took ORI with POL/HER agri and I went to bomber hell. If there is a harder combination of planets to bomb in an INL game, then I definitely do NOT want to see it.
Despite some good work on the part of our opening-wave bombers and escorters they managed to stockpile over 60 armies on the base and HER. The base sat about 1" off HER and *SMACK*ed me every time I tried to bomb the pile, which was usually over 30 armies. 99cVD did an excellent job of using the stash sparingly and picking up every other pop they could get to. Kudos to Jitesh for one of the best jobs of army management I've ever seen.
Unfortunately, the VD carriers ran into a solid space control team. TUS had 101 EAO, compared to 60 for VD. The first ogg happened about 12 minutes into the game, as soon as their base dared to move up to ARC. We had been trading ORG/SPI back and forth and finally decided to sacrifice planets to get the base. Jay (DEFINITELY the game MVP for his base play) sat between CET and BET and denied most of the front to them while we nailed the base. The stash (25 at that point) disappeared almost immediately afterward.
VD's counter-oggs on Jay were defeated, providing us with the kills we needed to retake ORG and take EL for the first time. However, VD showed a lot of dedication and, using the oggs as cover, took CET for the first time.
VD army management continued to be excellent, but TUS held strong, refusing to allow drops on CAN or DEN. VD finally managed to ogg the Jay base with about 56 minutes left in the game. TUS tried to use the kills generated from the oggers to retake the front, but VD knocked us right back. With 40 minutes left, VD held our front solidly, defeating every attempt we made to retake, including a crushing team ogg of our carrier at CET.
With about 25 minutes left, the second (and decisive) Jay base appeared. ORI and FED both got a good batch of pops, but theirs were lost to dooshes and bombed while they tried to ogg the base. Meanwhile, TUS had hoarded enough armies that during a near-EAR second ogg wave (which failed), we were able to slip carriers in and double take ORG and CET.
VD were able to take advantage of the fact that most of us were back by EAR and retake CET (and neut ORG) but we had not used up our stash yet, and ORG, CET and BET rapidly went yellow with 15 min to play. With the Suspects once again having front-line fuel, space control solidified. The second VD base appeared, this time working the area between the POL agri and BET. Unfortunately, his team left him exposed as they massed around CET. He survived the first wave, but the second caught him trying to get to repair at HER.
We traded ORG a few times, then TUS switched tactics again and took ARC in a surprise move with just under 5 minutes left. VD got it back two minutes later, but were defeated in their last-minute attempts to drop on our planets and we entered OT 10-10.
We got the first OT kill, but it proved not to be decisive as VD used excellent group play to limit our drops on ARC and SPI while using limited oggs to clear paths for their takers to ORG and BET. TUS was forced back onto the defensive. At just under 20 minutes, we swapped planets, TUS taking SPI and VD taking BET. They turned their take into an instant-ogg which failed and suddenly they were without kills.
Finally, the base cleared BET and we retook; however, while TUS was dropping on ARC, VD retook SPI. We traded ORG and SPI again, but to no effect. With 10 minutes left in OT, it looked like a tie was in the offing. Their defense was strong and with a new base just a few minutes away they might have been able to hold their space. Good pops and heavy ASW had given TUS a nine-army stash while VD had largely given up dedicated anti-bombing and had no reserve.
VD recognize the problem and reacted, sending a CA deep to bomb our back line; however, at that moment I got a lucky bomb on EL and we slipped through to take it. A base-backed clear of SPI moments later ended the game as SPI went grey and everyone got a free promotion to ensign.