« August 2005 | Main | October 2005 »

September 30, 2005

Looking good so far

That turn went well, with me taking out a Commander, a grunt and a medic. One of the other Commanders is badly wounded and my AI is in a great position.

My two huntesr should be able to finish off another Commander this tutn, if all goes well. My AI is staying still and alternating between direct fire ordes and Terrain fire orders, to try to knock down the wall between it and the other Commie.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to 185317 Vs Argonaught

Argonaughts opening comment was "How did you get there so fast?" Odd, I wonder if he didnt notice the deployment stripes up the middle of the map....

Anyway, my opening salves netted me two points worth of Grunts at the loss of an XT.

My AI is in a nice position ready to steamroller his troops, and most of the rest of my units are in a firing position. He still has a lot of setting up to do, so hopefully I'll have the edge.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to 185317 Vs Argonaught

Good and bad

On the plus side I took out that grenader, so its another 2 points to me.

On the bad side I lost the central MT, and am about to lose my Scanner. Thats pretty much Game Over. Without the scanner I have no idea where he is approaching from, and he can easily pick me off.

I wonder how many points I can get before this is over?

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184193 Vs Flash Panach

Oh dear....

I'm getting surrounded, and quickly.

I have a grenader trying to unload into my base, and numerous troops all around.

I think this is time for the Launch And Hope1 style of MT usage....

1 If I was desperately sad I'd type something like Launch All Zig about now, but I'm not so I won't

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184193 Vs Flash Panach

Grenades ahoy!

My fears were realised. Lots and Lots of grenades came flying over the trees towards my troops.

However, since I'd legged it with my XT's they are still just as shiny as before. My poor old AI took a dent though. A few of the grenades bounced off his tough exterior, and bounced back towards those dastadly Marines. Those took out their foilage cover which enabled my Ai to zap them at short range. Lovely!

I have a single Grenader to worry about there, and the incoming missile coupled with the two nearby hunters should sort him out.

The rest of the hunter squad uncovered a troop of men making their way across the bottom on the map. 2 Snipers and 4 Grunts at least. Lets see what I can make of them this turn.

I'm also trundling the MT through the building to see if I can get a few surprise missiles off down that side.

Current score 9 : 0

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184182 Vs PegasusJF

He's going for a burrow....

It looks like the Commander and his Grenader chums are trying to tunnel through the forest to pop out round the back. He probably doesnt realise my Scanner can see them perfectly well. I'm arranging for a long distance missile to explode down that way at the beginning of the next turn. The AI will also be near there, but hopefully wont get too much splash damage.

I'm moving some of the nearby hunters inside the complex to come at them from the back. I'm a bit worried that he'll try to bounce some grenades over the trees so I'm backing up the XT's a little.

I'm also shifting the central Hunters down a bit to see whats going on. Not much by all accounts....

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184182 Vs PegasusJF

September 28, 2005

Random Flickr Goodness

Got a few minutes to kill, and appreciate a good photo? You could do much worse than visit the Random Photo Browser

It finds a random Flickr user and then shows you a selection of pictures that person has marked as a favourite. I dare say that a lot of the pics I post to the Flickr Category will be found this way. People mark pictures as favourites for lots of different reasons, but the vast majority I've seen there so far are good pics.

If you find a good picture this way, leave me a comment about it!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to Flickr | General

First Blood!

The more observant amoung you will have noticed the exclamation mark in the title. Its a bit of a giveaway I suppose. Yes, the first blood was mine!

I'm not quite sure what happened between me sending my orders and the turn coming back, as most of what I had planned didnt actually happen.

I had hoped to shoot out the central doors, and then fire at all the occupents. Instead, my massed hunters decided to all fire at the Sniper that was lining up on my MT. Good job too really, as that gave me the Starter-For-Two.

I could see the missiles do a bit of damage to the Commander, 2 grunts and 2 grenades that saught refuge in the rear room. I have also spotted his commander trying to take out the wall of trees leading out of that back room to come out round the back of the corridor. He still has 2 trees to take down, so thats a minimum of 4 seconds to do it. I hope to have my AI laying in wait for him when he pops out. I'm moving the other XT's and hunter nearby into a formation that should be able to deal some damage if any of those troops head that way.

I'm spreading out the Hunters on the left . I want to move them over to the middle so that firstly I can keep tabs on whats going on at the bottom in case he has some units making a break, and also so I can rush them over into the right hand building should I need to help out with the commanders squadron. A few of the hunters are being sent to keep an eye on the left hand edge of the map

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184182 Vs PegasusJF

Clawed a point back!

It looks like he is pushing forward all across the map. While I moved my scanner out of harms way it spotted a few troops pushing forward, including a Commander that was quite close to my base. I'm abandoning the plan to do a bit of missile sharpshooting (although I still wonder if it is possible....) and instead am getting my central MT to fire onto the outside of my own base. I hope that this will catch any troops who try to get a bit too close.

I also managed to splat the gruint I had seen in the centre. Current score 2 - 10.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184193 Vs Flash Panach

Not looking good

A few turns have passed since the last update, and things are looking bleak.

My two hunters in the bottom left got obliterated by running into aCommander and some supporting grunts. He also spotted a grenader getting healed in that area. I'm going to try to rumble a MT into a position to get a shot down that way.

The two hunters in the middle managed to polish off that grunt finally, and headed towards the enemy base to find it chockablock with troopers. I then struck upon the spiffing idea of using one to hold open the base doors while sending missiles through. That didnt pan out though as those hunters soon got wiped out.

My XT's have aslo been wiped out, so I'm left with a 9 point defecit, and only 3 MT's to attack with.

He is advancing a grunt up the centre, so I want to wipe him out. Thing is, I dont know which way he is going to go, and two of my MT's have only a single missile left.

Hmm, I;ve just struck upon a neat idea. The central room has a low hole in its facing wall... I wonder if I can Terrain Fire through there, and catch out any units hiding inside. Maybe even knock out the HQ qith enough shots. Its worth a try....

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184193 Vs Flash Panach

September 24, 2005

Biking in apartment hallways



biking in apartment hallways
Originally uploaded by Ptanderson.

Fro some reason this shot reminds me of the film The Shining....

Rather spooky looking.....

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to Flickr

Another month 3 game!

This one is against Spaceman Spiff, who is currently ranked seventh in the Elite league.

I've played him a few times before, and always come off worse for wear. Lets see if I can turn it around in this Mechs Vs Greys game! Keep your eyes peeled!

Permalink | Comments (4)
Posted to

Deployment

Ok, the map is Italy [1] .

I've gone MT heavy, as I think I'll need their firepower to help defeat those evil Greys. There are no military walls on this map so I should be able to blast on through and catch his sheilds in the blast area.

I'm going to use an AI to do some wall remodelling to give my MT's easier access to the two HQ's. I've also got a Scanner I'm going to roll up the centre with a XT guard. I hope to hold off on the missiles until I know whre he is roughly, rather than totally give my plan away by firing billions of missiles on the first turn.

Lets see how this one turns out.

1 Which I've only just realised is based on the Counterstrike map of the same name. Well, there you go!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M3: 185313 Vs Calvin523

A new game on the go!

Ok, its time to play my Month 3 game against Calvin523 . It's a Specialist LEague game, with my Mechs against Calvins Greys. Keep an eye on this category to see the final game write-up!

Permalink | Comments (4)
Posted to General | M3: 185313 Vs Calvin523

Well, hello there!

The deployment turn has come back, and open opening it I can see he has deployed as Marines. He has bunched all his troops together in the top left. I can see 3 Commanders, 2 medics and 4 grunts, totalling 15 points. He doesnt have any grenaders, or an HQ to retreat to.

Also, my AI is rather close, so I'm hoping to rumble it in for some nice bunched kills!

I'm going to try to take out a medics with the three hunters and then move them back to a safer distance. Meanwhile the AI is going to knock down some trees to get nice and close. I'm a bit worried about the massed commanders against it, butI should be able to take out a few troops with it to make it worth its while.

The rest of the XT's are getting into firing positions.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to 185317 Vs Argonaught

Deployment

I think with the high cost of units Greys are out of the question on this map.

I'm tempted to deploy Spawn, purely because that gives me the ability to produce extra troops, and with only 15 points in play each extra troop can make a large difference. I'm also tempted to deploy Machina, as an XT heavy force would do well against quite a lot of deployments here.

Hmm.....

I've decided to go Mechs. I think my opponent will be tempted to go with Spawn for the reasons above, but I think Mechs will do rather well, and are a good spawn counter usually.

I've taken 4 pairs of XT's at various points around the centre striped deployment zones. I've taken 1 AI for a bit of repair work and some heavy firepower and a grouping of three hunters at the top for a bit of exploration. I decided against a scanner as I think I'll need all the offensive units I can get.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to 185317 Vs Argonaught

The barrage continues

Its not a very subtle tactic, but I'm making good headway in destroying lots of terrain near Flash Panach's troops.

The trouble is, the score is now 0 - 3, with me losing another hunter to that troublesome central grunt. I will have him this time as I have two more hunters closing on him. Its a matter of pride now... AFter they have finished that grunt off I have ordered them to go into his main deployment room in the centre. I think I saw a wounded Commander run back that way, and I also think that his grenader is going to retreat for a rearm. I'd like to have a welcoming party there waiting.

I have another two hunters about to pop out in the bottom left to see whats around, and to take a few shots at any passing enemies. I dont really know whats going on in that area of the map....

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184193 Vs Flash Panach

September 23, 2005

First Blood

WE have the first units destroyed, unfortunately they are mine.....

I ,lost an XT on the right to a Commander strike, and one of my advancing Hunters ran headliong into a grunt in the passage between the buildings. It just sat there and let the grunt shoot it. Gah!!!

I'm going to continue my missile bombardment , trying to carve a few firing lines towards his base. I'm still planning on using the hunters to mop up injuries from the missiles....

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184193 Vs Flash Panach

September 20, 2005

An interesting game

I saw this game crop up on the open challenge list. It's not often I take up 15 force point League Games. Its also not often that a 15 point game will throw up Scrum as the random map.....

Worthy of a write up I thought.

Now, I historically lose any games of significance that I decide to write about, so stay tuned to this category to see if that holds true this time!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to 185317 Vs Argonaught | General

Contact!

My central attack didnt catch him out unfortunately, but my advances have spotted a few troops. There is a grunt and Commander on the left, a sniper in the bottom right and another Commander and grunt combo in that area too. Thats a11 out of 25 points accounted for, although that still leaves a LOT of unknowns.

I'm adjusting a few of my missiles to go after the commander before rearming. Also since I took out a section of the sandbag I can advance the Scanner in a bit to see what else is around.

I need to be careful about the MT's so they do not run out together.

I'm rushing my two central hunters down the middle to hopefully catch out any injured troops in that area from the two incoming missiles that are in flight.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184193 Vs Flash Panach

September 18, 2005

So far so good...

I've managed to dodge any fatalities, which is always good when your fleet consists of lots of vulnerable hunters...

I spotted lots of troops moving into the sheltered area on the right of the map, so have hatched a plan. I think that there is probably an HQ behind the two sets of double doors, and so I have set up a firing line of the hunters opposite them. I hope to take out the first set of doors, and then Op fire at the troops hiding within. Any missed shots should carry on to the doors at the back, revealing whats inside.

I'm also moving up a hunter to get some sneaky shots in through the rear window next turn, and am trying to butt the Scanner up against his hideaway. The AI is moving in, hoping to deflect any Grenades that some out there next turn.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184182 Vs PegasusJF

First Contact!

I get the feeling this is going to be a short game.

I can see quite a few of Pegasus' marines in his deployment zone. I can see 2 snipers (one high, one low) and two grunts accompanied by a Commander.

I''m moving the Hunters a bit closer, ready to get a barrage off next turn. At that distance they should be virtually unhittable, but I'll have to be careful of grenades and my own missile splash damage.

I'm going to shoot at the central area with my missiles. The long distance will give him plenty of time to get out of the way, but I'm hoping it will disrupt his activities in that area while I advance the rest of my troops.

My general plan it to attack with the massed Hunters as they are fairly accurate and difficult to hit at long distances

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184182 Vs PegasusJF

In Summary

This is another game that I came very close to time on. So, here is the rest of the game in one lump update.

My attack on his two AI's went pretty well. I moved a lot of troops into position and let loose with a giant volley of shots. I managed to inflict a lot of damage before he withdrew an AI into the side room, and move the other back slightly so I couldnt attack from the side. However, I was still able to attack from the front! I managed to dish out a lot of damage to that one too before it trundlled out of view round the back. I was hoping that if I took it out then the two XT's near it would also go up. no such luck though.

He used those XT's to cover the retreating AI, which meant I had lots of shots at them, blasting them all to bits. Hurrah! I also had my AI healing all my troops so I was faring pretty well. With the two AI's heavily damaged I was in a good winning position

However, while I was busy firing at the AI's Rad snuck a Hunter round the back and took out my HQ! A lot of my troops ar elow on ammo, so that really hurt. At the same time I pushed two XT's into the bottom left room to fire at the healing AI's through the gap in the crates they had made earlier.

The hunter got away, and the AI's rumbled away further but one of the health bars was full read, so a single hit should do it. I had also chased down his two Scanners who were damaged to breaking point, so I was soon to be well ahead on points.

However, this is where it all goes wrong. I ran out of time!!!

Its so disappointing, as I think I was in a good winning position. I only have myself to blame though, as I had taken on too many games to be able to finish them all in the time I gave myself.

Final game score was 11 - 9 to me, but the Specialist League rules give him an extra 5 points for me timing out... :(

You can view the wholegame file here

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M1: 181042 Vs Rad

No clues yet....

Nothing has been spotted so far, so I stilldont know where his Marines are hiding. (I keep forget that the races are already decided!)

I'm trying to shoot out a piece of the sandbag so that I can get my Scanner into a more central position. My missiles should be striking home this turn, and I'm following it up with another 2 shots. The third MT is rolling out to the left, and sending a shot down that side of the map.

I'm bringing a couple of hunters forwards to mop up any injured troops around.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184193 Vs Flash Panach

September 17, 2005

Game On!

Ok, first turn in and I'm moving the MT's outside to get a nice shot down the alleyway between the buildings. I'm hoping that I can take him by surprise with a volley. I'm advancing the Scanner on the right to see whats around and have moved the XT's and Hunters forwards for more intel. Let see what happens.....

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184193 Vs Flash Panach

Reflection



Reflection
Originally uploaded by fujiyama17.

This picure caught my eye on Flickr today. A very clever shot. I wonder how many attempts were made before they got it just right....?

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to Flickr | General

September 13, 2005

Hammered with Trackback spam

Wow, there has been a huge surge in Trackback spam today, with someone trying to publicise their disgusting porn sites by spamming my blog (and billions of others) with fake trackbacks.

Their hope is that they will get published on all these blogs and so increase their search engine rank since they have lots of people linking to them (That's one of the factors Google uses in its black-magic ranking algorithm)

Well, thanks to Movable Type 3.2's inbuilt spam fighting feature none of their attempts have succeeded. They have either been junked immediately, or held in limbo until I manually approve or reject them.

Following this onslaught I've tweaked the blogs settings so that more of them get junked in the first place. Still, deleting them manually takes about 3 clicks in total.

Trackbacks in general are a pretty good idea, as they allow fellow bloggers who comment on other peoples entries to let those people know they are being talked about. It increases exposure in general and gives a warm-fuzzy feeling. It used to be that trackbacks were accepted by default, immediately getting listed alongside your websites content which is why they made such a juicy target for spammers. The age old arms race then began between spammers and spam blockers. I think the current implementation in MT 3.2 is very good. It pulled in a third-party anti-spam plugin and embraced it, tying it in to the main body of the code enabling it to do much more in the fight against spam.

Good job so far I say!

Permalink | Comments (1)
Posted to General

September 12, 2005

WeBoggle

Now, this is a great timewaster!

Ever play the game Boggle? Its a word game whereby you have to make words out of a grid of letters. All the letters have to connect and you cannot use the same one twice. The longer the word the more points you get.

Someone has written a version of this that runs directly in your browser. No plugins or technical jiggerypokery required. Give it a click and you can be playing against others within minutes.

WEBoggle

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to General

September 11, 2005

All in one!

I had to finish off the games in a spurt of turns since my time was running rather low (As it was in Rads game)

This missile down the middle of the building was a great move, if only his AI hadnt lucked out and moved along a different path.... After that I want to retreat back and get some more missiles on board. I am very vulnerable with the AI and enemy XT's so close to me.

The firing line of XT's did a good job, inflicting damage on the AI pair as they rumbled towards my deployment zone. I would have prefered to have concentrated on a single enemy but I didnt get the chance. At the same time the MT was making progress back to my HQ, but a few XT's got picked off by the central AI.

The twinned AIs moved forward a little., but they were still in a great firing line for my massed XT's. Within a turn the health AI at the back was destroyed, and I hardly took any casualties. My MT was rearming, but the HQ was coming under a lot of fire. I want to try to missile the pair of AIs to help finish off the remainder, and then send one to the right to fend off the approaching XT's.

My MT is also very low on health as it was taking hits form the AI's. I managed to kill the second AI on the left, but my MT went up too. That leaft two badly wounded XT's standing next to a badly wounded HW. Before I had a chance to move them out of the way the HQ went up, finishing off that squad. That just left me with 2 XTs 3 Hunters and a Scanner.

The Scanner got popped as it was in the midst of the XTs at the top I could see two enemy XT's running for healing with a Scanner in tow so I thought I'd try to even the score a little by trying to finish them off. Unfortunately they led my troops right to the other AI, where , despite a valiant effort, they were all fried.

I think that trying to move the MT so far from base was a mistake. I didnt really capitalize on the firing angle I achieved, and by the time I could get back I was already overrun. However, agisnt a different load out it might have worked. The trouble with this map is that you have one single deployment zone so a MT is going to be fairly obviously placed. It was a gamble, but it didnt pay off this time.

View the whoelgame file here

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M1: 181611 Vs prismatic

September 9, 2005

A deep deep hole......

Ever wondered where you would come out if you started digging a very deep hole in your back garden..?

Well, now you can find out"

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to General

September 8, 2005

Retreat!

Time for a withdraw.

I'm 1 point ahead, but his 3 AI's are making a great deal of headway towards my deployment zone. I want to get my MT back there and start hammering away at his position with missiles. If I can get my XT's back there too for firing cover then that's be even better!

I'm going to try to get my last missile down through the building I'm vacating as I think one of his AI's is about to come rumbling through there.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M1: 181611 Vs prismatic

Legal flamewar over a Ham Sandwich

Two legal secretaries have been fired in Australia after an email exchange about a missing ham sandwich was forwarded around the world.

You can read the full email exchange here . Read from the bottom of the page upwards.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to General

September 6, 2005

Another Mechs vs Marines game

This will still be a new one for me, as I've never played Flash Panach before, nor have I played on Cursed Houses . I'm Blue, in the top right. Its a pretty small map.

I've decided to go MT heavy this time with 3 of them. I plan to move just outside the lockable doorways and get a barrange of missiles down between the buildings, hopefully taking him by surprise. I also want to get my scanner into the central building while my hunters and XT's do a bit of recon on the sides.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184193 Vs Flash Panach

Mechs Vs Marines

This month 2 game has pulled Airport as the map, with my in the green area at the top.

I've had some sucess in the past on this nice open map with lots of Hunters, so I think I'll try that again. I need to be wary of grenaders though.....

Hmm, it looks like the deployment zones have changed on this one as I dont remember being able to deploy all thw ay along the top of the map before....

I've deployed pretty much everything along the top of the map, hoping to overwhelm him a little and get some early kills. That is probably a very stupid idea indeed, but its something I'm prone to!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M2: 184182 Vs PegasusJF

September 5, 2005

Ai herd spotted!

He has gone AI heavy, with 3 spotted so far!

A pairing are riught near my central XT force, so I need to get out of there pronto!

My MT missiles have made a bit of a dent in his chaps, but not as much as I'd hoped. I'm moving around a bit to get a better angle, although the reload trip is going to be a long one....

In the bottom left I'm going to try to use the hunters small size to take out some of the XT's in the firing line at the bottom.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M1: 181611 Vs prismatic

Running low on time!

The past couple of turns have seen us trade an XT or two. He still has the massed AIs at the bottom of the map, and my AI is still desperately trying to heal up my troops.

I've decided now is the moment to try to take out an AI, so I'm sending everything I have towards it. Lets see how this ends up.

Either way, I'm low on game time so if it all goes wrong then I'm not losing much......

I really need to give myself more time for these games....

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M1: 181042 Vs Rad