Mastering LSN

So, I'm to fight Jaques Cartier, aka Mr. Cartier, an unranked Elite in Laser Squad Nemesis. I await a challenge, so I find myself with time to do a bit a research on my opponent.

My first stop: The LSN Game Archive.

A quick search yields a few results. However, after review, I'd discount these as misinformation. Clearly these were from the early days of the esteemed Mr. Cartier. The upload date on each is nearly 6 months old. I'm lead to believe that his play style has improved considerably.

Surely. Nice to see Boomstick doing some research on an unknown opponent. Shows he takes his play seriously, which in turn tells me that he's probably quite capable.

-Nimzomitch

After watching each game, I believe these were newbie matches, as each is marines vs. marine. While interesting to watch, I'm expected a much tougher enemy!

A review of the LSN Forum shows quite a few posts in the past few months, though not much of substance on style of play. I suppose I'll be in the dark when I deploy, as I believe this is my first game against Mr. Cartier.

Posted by Boomstick at 12:52 AM | Permalink

Ah, challenge recieved, though on a map I've never played, Trains. It figures ... I'm playing someone I've not played before on a map I've never looked at.

After spending a bit of time looking at the deployment zones and the terrain, I don't like the balance. :)

Have to admit, I agree to an extent. Slightly favors Blue.

-Nim

The blue deployment zone has easy access via door or starting point to two of the largest buildings in the middle of the map. The green deployment has easy access to a small mid building, and no door access to the other two.

Buildings in the middle of the map are also mostly on Blue's side.

-Nim

The blue deployment has two very clear lanes of fire toward his base and nice open areas to the west. Mine is cluttered with boxes and barbed wire and buildings that hide incoming spawn ...

So, what race to use? I think both sides will ignore grey for this encounter. The deployment zone is too tight to allow for useful placement of regenerators, and they'd likely have to travel a good distance before engaging. Not so good for grey.

All very true. Though the flank deployment zone makes Greys a little better choice....but maybe not much.

-Nim

From my deployment, I don't think mechs make a good choice either. While I could place a few missle tanks and likely blow a bit of terrain to dust, the blue train with slits near his deployment would hide snipers to eventually take down my tanks. That, and I doubt he'll use them either.

I do think that Mechs would be a more viable option on the Blue side, as there are more Military Walls to hide tanks behind. For Green, the pipes would hinder tank movement...a lot. Plus it would be hard to get a line on Blue's deployment zone.

-Nim

I've considered spawn for this map, however, with limited access to the mid buildings, I'd need to bring a queen along with each group to move through that cover.

This may play in later - Queens are sluggish wall breakers - no one can make holes in walls at range like MTs or Commanders. Another thing here is Spawn have very limited access lines to Blue's dz. A canny opponent will force Spawn to take either quick, predictable routes or slow ones where the Queen or Drone bites through the walls to get in. Even so, they can only make holes so fast, and this takes valuable time.

-Nim

But wait! What's this? I finally scrolled the map to the very edge and noticed two more small deployment zones. One for blue and one for green. I don't believe this changes much for using either a grey or mech deployment, but spawn does look more attractive at this point.

Regen? Seems like it would make Greys a little more attractive on this map

-Nim

Another balance issue I've noticed ... both routes far left and far right have explosive canisters on my 'side' of the map with no corresponding danger zones for blue. Not very nice ... I can't move quickly forward on the west side of the map without taking out the canister first. (I don't leave weapons of mass destruction laying around behind my lines ... ) Doing so would either lose a point with most races, or give away the fact that I'm marines if I use a grenade. On the east side, my 'rail car' is a death trap, but his corresponding train is, well, not.

A final consideration ... this game is going to be very public ... will we use our best races??

And so, I've decided spawn ... it should make for an interesting match, and I need practice on them. :)

So Boomstick has admittedly taken "not his best" race here. Take note, everyone! - hehe

Seriously though, I don't think I would have taken Spawn here if I were trying to play my best game. The lines of approach are just too limited. Too easy to herd the Spawn into predictable approaches.

And naughty, naughty! Boomstick only took one Spitter. Spitters are great units to have versus any race except Flying unit only type armies...which you never see in any serious play. Vs Mechs, you goo the tanks and XTs, then Spike from extreme range. Vs Marines, you goo them down so they can't heal, and if they don't self-grenade the goo patches early enough, they are doomed (Medics excepting), and lastly...in Spawn games they are PRICELESS, as you can deny corpses to the enemy Queen, stick her down for Spiking, etc. Really in 25 points I would for sure take 3 Spitters.

-Nim

Posted by Boomstick at 1:29 PM | Permalink

Pre-deploy toughts:

As I haven't played against BoomStick earlier, I have pretty much nothing special to expect from him. Quick examination of his skills reveals that he is in the split second seat of veteran, and he has lost only 2 games of his 17. This means that he has quite a potential in him, and I should be careful, I'm not dealing with a pet shop boy here.

Hey, I used to work in a pet store! hehe j/k...Good point - 17-2 in codo League play is nothing to scoff at. Better be careful.

-Nim

The map we got was Trains: A quite balanced map towards each race and side. Plenty of cover but plenty of open areas too. Enough room for the bug guys to get around, but some small corridors for the small guys too. I'm blue, he's green.

My opinion is that Blue is slightly favored - less cluttered ground (easier for tanks and other large units), access to the door-sides of the central buildings, more protection with considerable Military walls shielding the dz.

-Nim

For a little better examination, he seems to have a slight advantage over taking the area into control. Damn.

True, a little faster for Green to get to the center

-Nim

Let's ponder the map for each race.

Machina has to work their way trough lots of walls to get out from the walls and get a clean missile fire area. I've seen missile-less mech armies before, and used them couple of times quite effectively, but this is the type of map that I wouldn't probably take mechs, and I believe he thinks the same. If he indeed takes mechs, scanners are going to be pesky. He DO have one firing area in his side, that he could put a MT in and get some cover. I, on the other hand, don't have such place ready, so if I would like to have such a place, I would need to build one myself.

True, and an AI is not my favorite wallbreaker. But then again as mentioned Blue has some decent protection with all the blue walls nearby.

-Nim

Spawn would be nasty in the right, but in the left they would have to cross some open areas. I believe that he can see the spawn possibility in the right too, so he might be either doing a defensible deploy against spawn, or a spawn deployment. This means that I need to react the same way, wouldn't want to get crushed by rush.

Good call. Also, the lanes for Spawn to pass through aren't so great, and there would be some distance to cover in the open towards Green's deployment. Not great wall breaking options for Spawn would hinder them.

-Nim

Marines in this map are rather good choise as always. Plenty of walls in certain areas of the map will make gathering information quite hard, but I think that not too impossible. This map would reguire rather much of the every unit type to keep the whole map covered. Pretty impossible task even with 25 fp we have - 25 fp can't strech to 50. On the other hand, concentrating on certain parts of the map it might very possible to gain footholds. Got to be careful that enemy can't go around and strike at back then.

Since one flank is quite open, shouldn't bee too hard to cover it or at least spot anything. Marines - the versatile choice. Almost never a bad choice.

-Nim

Greys could have potential also in theright area, as there are plenty of cover to strike from shadows. The open areas would be difficult with 'em. Also because of the size of the map, the returns for loading would be awfully long, and therefor they might get slaughtered in the way. A Saucer could solve the recharging problem, but it's an awfully expensive as a portable regen, and besides it's a pretty easy target from range. So the only way to use the greys is in the dense rightmost area, wich is also rather hazardous for spawn.

Might not be the best map for Greys, but again I wouldn't underestimate them. With the way they can hide in the open, and never run out of Energy, they might not need a Regen. Also, there is the other tiny dz on the left - great spot for a forward Regen, if not for the walls and barbed wire, and Greys somewhat limited wallbreaking abilities as compared to Marines.

-Nim

A diffucult decicion I need to make here.

Post-Deploy

Okay, I deployed marines, and went a little grunt heavy with my group. I know that special units are good, but grunts are the backbone of the marines, just like sentries are with greys. I deployed 9 grunts and 4 medics for closecombat purposes and laying some firecover. Medics have their own additional purpose. I also took 2 snipers to cover the large spaces, and 2 'naders to blast the enemy positions if I have a good huntch or spot. I took 1 commander alomg also for wall busting purposes mainly. If he has some heavy troops like tanks along, then Commander Mandella might come out handy. Morale shocking from him is also a bonus that I can possibly use in some time to distract him from my main group and get to stab him in the back. Hopefully.

And so we will have a classic Marine-Spawn showdown. I wonder if 2 Naders would have been enough for you if you came up against Marines.

-Nim

I deployed my group in the right area of the map so I hope to get the control of the area before he gets there.

Main tactics I have tought out currently is to storm the rightern sectors and continue there under the cover of the metal carts and buildings to strike him in the heart. Got to be careful that he won't try to strike me at my back at sometime.

Posted by Jaques at 2:43 PM | Permalink

After careful consideration, I plan to move the main force up a few meters and behind cover, far removed from any first strike attempts. I've taken cover behind, or in a few of the blue buildings and adjusted the location of my ranged units to cover any available lanes of fire.

My two buzzers have taken position forward to allow for a second turn recon mission in case Mr. Cartier doesn't reveal his force type on the first turn. I don't expect him to do so.

Most newbies will toss a grenade or a missle that detonates on turn one. This information is often key to how the rest of the game is played, so it makes no sense to announce what race you are until the first few seconds of turn two. I expect plotted grenades or missles inbound ready to impact early on turn two, so I'll stay back until I know what race I'm facing.

Other forward units are my two splatters. One will move center to a forward location and the other along the east wall. I really don't intend to charge in with these, but if a scanner picks them up, they'll draw a lot of attention. If he's marines, I'll hide them forward till he stumbles on to them.

On the east, the queen will open a hole for herself and follow the splatter to open another hole in the fence. The three drones, after waiting patiently for a few moments, will take two steps forward and wait in reserve.

Reserve...AFAIK, the trick with Spawn is you need convergence. The perfect storm. All elements to strike within a turn of each other. Taking note of where the enemy deployment zone is, at the end of this turn Boomstick has groups of units that are very staggered in terms of the distance to presumed contact...this will play in later (easy to do the commentary when you've already seen the whole game)

-Nim

Posted by Boomstick at 4:51 PM | Permalink

I decided to put my other sniper watching across the long corridor trough the map, that I can see if he's trying to circle to my back. I accompanied him with a grunt for close quarrel, and to taking some hits for the Eagle.

I split up the main force also, other going inside the building trough the wall next to my HQ led by Commander Mandella, and other running forwards the alley led by the other sniper. I try to keep an eue on the long corridors to get some information concerning his race and plans.

Currently advancing in higly alert state, nearly everyone is on HOS-FAW.

Jaques doesn't give anything away as to what race he has deployed. I always feel relief after getting through this initial "sniffing butt" stage. hehe

-Nim

Posted by Jaques at 4:14 PM | Permalink

Nothing has happened. No trace of him yet, altough I'm far in the neutral zone. He has probably deployed in his bigger deploy zone, like I did. Unless he's right behind that weird looking house there and waiting to blast me into oblivion.

Moving into positions to see the long corridor-type thingies. Also trying to blast a small hole in the booth thingy to check if there's anyone lurking behind it.

Trying to get a little hunch of what I'm facing before I try anything big yet. Information is the key to success (that's why I love mechs, and especially scanner).

Posted by Jaques at 4:30 PM | Permalink

As expected, I've no premature detonation to give away what race he's playing.

If he's marines, grenades should be incoming as his deployment would have allowed postions that could easily get in place and launch near the end of the first turn. However, if he's mech, he'll know I'm spawn by now and prepare a nice defensive perimiter for me to try and break. (or launch well placed missles ... what fun!)

Perhaps he's spawn as well, and we're both blindly looking for each other, trying to decide how aggresive we can be ... the one race I don't expect is grey. We'll see if that assumption holds.

Good call. Also FWIW, a poll of 62 players on forum gives favorite races as Marines(24) Mechs(18) Greys(10) Spawn(5) - So Spawn may be still a second or third favorite, but it would seem that one is much less likely to face Spawn or Greys than they are Marines or Mechs.

-Nim

At any rate, I'm not happy with how I deployed my queen. She's sorta stuck ... and I didn't need her to open the chain fence. The drones could have taken care of that. I'm moving her west to center her in the map.

For me, I would consider using her to eat the walls to get towards the enemy deployment. Unless I knew I need to hold her back, as 4 points not in the fray is 4 points not doing me any good.

-Nim

The bag of exploding gas is going to move forward along the east. My spiker will make a hole for goo baller to move through so he can move a bit east and forward.

On the west side, I'll scout a bit with my buzzer. I want to get a quick look with a chance of not being spotted. Doubt it will happen, but I could get luckly and get the backside of one of his units.

The rest will dig in a bit more and wait the out the tense "what the hell is he" moments.

Posted by Boomstick at 5:22 PM | Permalink

Well, well. He's marines. Perhaps the games I watched during the research phase will be more appropriate than I'd thought.

The east bag of gas went up in a hail of laser light ... however, I'm really worried he didn't do much if any damage. A simple mistake ... I ran him behind a half wall instead of around. He blew right at the door and set off a chain reaction in the train car, but again, I worry that the marine units outside may not be hurt that badly, if at all.

Watching the movement in slow motion, I noticed shots directly east from three targets as well. Considering the timing and damage, I'll assign three grunts to the fire. Three more show up in the screenshot, two grunts and a sniper. This totals 7 force points out of a possible 25 FP. If he's consistent with the games I watched (now something I expect), this will be the majority of one attack squad. I can expect two more like this and an HQ.

I will assume split force, with three groups for my opponent. I'll engage the eastern most group with the majority of my forces and commit my queen to the engagement. All nearby drones will attack, moving a few meters, switching to halt on sight, attack at will.

Since my queen is moving in this direction, goo baller will spit at the middle passage between the two buildings. I expect a group to come this direction. Why? As mentioned, I think he'll have three groups of massed units. One will likely go center. The buzzer scout in the middle building did not spot any units during the movement phase, so I think they might try and tiptoe right down the street.

Don't think I would have been execting anyone to "come this direction" as Marines seldom move out to engage Spawn, esp while ahead on points, and with 24 fp of nastyness still out there, maybe just around the next corner. Plus, the Marines need to control the accessways at this point. Moving out to the area where that gooball was aimed would be pure suicide, as Spawn could approach them from 3 directions, and around nearby corners.

-Nim

The goo baller will slow them down. However, before that lands, my second bag of gas will fill the passage and switch to halt on sight, attack at will halfway down the path. I don't want him to go merrily running right past his forces. One spiker will move into position for ranged attack on the eastern front. The other two will move to cover my western flank. The buzzers in the west will fall back and wait to ambush marines rushing to the aid of their soon to be dying comrades. A few drones will fill out the group assigned to protect my western flank.

Don't need to worry about getting flanked by Marines methinks, what Boomstick needs is more "shock and awe." Moving in towards the center is what needed to happen with these guys. Convergence from all sides. As they stand on the Western front where all is quiet (boo, hiss, yeah I know bad punnage), they are at least 2 turns away from getting in on the action. That's a long time in this type of fight.

-Nim

If things go well, I'll decimate the eastern group, my queen will devour the fallen, and eggs will soon hatch into more wee besties. If things go poorly ... which they might if his grunts are nice and accurate and wipe out my drones before I can down any, this could be over quick! :)

Posted by Boomstick at 5:50 PM | Permalink

SPAWN!!! I knew it! The way he introduced his race could have been a little better, tough, a splatter in the face isn't the nicest... No one dead from my side, at least yet. Many very heavily wounded, tough. The grunts will be useful in here soon! After the blast (and the following blasts inside the tank cart) I saw a queen slugging in the north heading west, and a goo-spitter taking cover behind the cart. Luckily it got wounded too.

Lucky there wasn't a second Splatter behind the first, or it would be 10-2 in BoomStick's favor already. The perils of being bunched up. I bet Jaques is very glad to have taken the extra Grunts and Medics!

-Nim

I'm sending the house-team's (team1) medic to the aid of the street-team's (team2). Also, leaving some 'nades behind for pursuiters with both teams.

Nice work here - 'Naders are sometimes hard to make effective vs Spawn, as you have to catch your enemy incoming so as not to injure your own troops with splash damage.

-Nim

The alley pair (team3) stays put and watches over the street for enemies, grunt located so that he'll be the first thing the enemies will spot. Buzzers will go unspotted, tough, since they're too small to be spotted from this distance, even for a sniper. I hpe that he won't realize that.All looking good so far.

If he takes the long way 'round with a Buzzer contingent, at least you know it will take him a few extra turns to get there, giving you time to dig in/modify terrain to be prepared. Also Jaques' HQ placement is great as far as protecting from a rear-flank Buzzer assault.

-Nim

Posted by Jaques at 2:30 PM | Permalink

Yes, the precaution was good, I saw a drone rush coming at me this turn from behind the cart, and know that some of my 'nades hurted his incoming drones. Haven't seen the goo-spitter again, but I know from the score that it isn't dead. He also decided to put his Queen as an addition for the rush at the team2... Perhaps not the best choise, as she has two 'nades blowing up right at her face now.

Unfortunately there's a 'nade in the flight in such a position that he has a shot at kicking it back. I suspect that he'll see it, and do it, so I have to back that possibility up with most probably sacrificing a grunt to block the hole from where I shot them at him. I hope that he either misses the 'nade, or my grunt will fend it back, or that will do some nasty burning on the team1.

From Boomstick's side, he couldn't see it. Lucky for Jaques! hehe Good precaution of blocking the doorway. Countering a Counter-tactic. That Grunt bought Team1 some time, by "becoming the chewtoy"

-Nim

I also commanded the team1's grenadier to lay a little supporting fire at the alley leading to team2. The nade's handily will hurt the rush if it's due to come that way, and clear the corpse of the drone (and possibly more drone's) from the alley.

Posted by Jaques at 3:13 PM | Permalink

Well, I was wrong. He's massed with most where I decided to attack and a few nearby in the building. So, change of plans. My drones will attack through the hole he made with his commander, killing the grunt, grenadier and commander.

I'll leave the eastern group alone, although with that many medics, he'll heal fast. My remaining splatter will try to get around behind them so that they fall back into him.

BS did some great damage with that Splatter - too bad another wasn't near enough to help out - I count 10 force points that are over half dead from that first Splatt.

-Nim

My queen will change course and follow the units towards the commander in the buiding. The goo baller will try to get in postion to block the eastern group from moving forward.

The remaining units in the west will move east.

I've counted 18 FPs: Commander (3), Grenadier x2 (4), Sniper (2), Grunt x6 (6) Medic x3 (3). I'll assume 1 HQ for 19, so I'm missing 1 unit at this point. Hopefully it doesn't spot the splatter coming in from behind.

I thought it was a 25 point game?!? Boomstick has 25 points of Spawn...miscounting can be bad. And stuff. Who knows what you'll meet around the corner where you thought no one could be.

-Nim

Posted by Boomstick at 3:34 PM | Permalink

Damn these bugs are pouring from every hole! A splatter tried to do a huggy thing with the team3, but luckily it's blast was left little short, and it merely wounded the dirty pair. The little worse thing is that a buzzer was coming from inside the building that got it's wall blasted out, and is in very bad position for me, as it can attack both team1 and 3.

And Buzzers are particularly nasty IMO towards Snipers, with their weaker armor and hp, and low fire rate.

-Nim

Team3's problems wasn't the biggest. Good news was that the 'nade didn't bounce back, but the bads are that it didn't really matter, since hi's drones just kept coming and has struck home with the team1, after they ate the 'nade back bouncer.

But, that Nade did do in one Drone, and take 1/2 health from another, as well as damaging the Queen. Every point of damage helps vs Spawn, since they can't heal except to eat/lay, which takes time. Time is one thing that is always working against Spawn.

-Nim

The 'nades I sent to blast down the wall didn't hit the target and bounced a little poorly. Because of this the two following 'nades are bouncing bad as they were supposed to go trough the wall. Fortunately the damage they'll do aren't that bad - But it's still enough to finish the weakest grunt of the team1. The third grunt ain't going to last long either, as there's a drone climbing up his face. Unscratched commander Mandella is going to bull back in the room behind him as the 'Nader lefts a few presents behind before trying to run away. Hopefully they'll kill the drones at the team1, as wel as clear their corpses and damage the incoming queen.

Nice work - Grenadiers often get left doing this last deed for their comrades, and can be quite effective if they get a couple Spawn stuck chewing on them while they fire their last 2 nades.

-Nim

Team2 was left alone, as it seems the resistance proved to be enough. This allows me to split up the team a little. Eagle the sniper will break down the wall he is standing next to, and looks at the building ready to cut half anyone that is in his sight.

Nice. A little Terrain modification can go a long way, and Jaques' positioning of this Sniper will help him to better manage all approaches to his troops.

-Nim

A medic will stay and heal him. The 'nader of team 2 will go in the building and shoot some 'nades trough the first window that they enter the street, and trough the second window that they enter the room next to Mandella's room. They should blast the room's walls out and give Eagle a clearer shot at the queen if she'll enter the building. A grunt will accompany the 'nader and look upom the street where the Dirty Pair is in. Kevlar the medic originally from team1 is turning back from the team2 and heads to the Dirty Pair to give 'em a little aid if they can survive. Also, Mandella might be hurt after this turn, so he should be ready to help anyone in need. 4 grunts and 2 medics will run trough the corridor again on red-red to attack his flank again. Why red-red? That's because if he has predicted that I'll do that my grunts will halt again and start to shoot. The medics stay in back and keep healing everything in need.

Jaques' seems to have things well in hand - an Active Defense, managing the approaches, nading corpses...

-Nim

http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/1388/mlsn6vx.png

Posted by Jaques at 4:14 PM | Permalink

I think I'm toast. It helps when you remember how many force points are in the game you just played a turn for ... my other spawn game had a 20fp deploy, not this one.

Oopsie. I hate it when that happens. Doesn't help that I'm conditioned for 20-point games, and I forget stuff easily.

-Nim

Too many mistakes. :)

Well, then we call it a "learning experience" rather than a loss. At least that's what I do. Then it doesn't hurt so bad? lol

-Nim

Oh well, I'm committed. So, a few drones switch up targets to stay alive. The queen goes back to eat. Other units from the east get in range to attack.

This sounds pretty good, getting Queenie out of there. Unfortunately, she doesn't go around the corner to get her food on, and sits there eating then laying while getting hit by the Commy. OUCH!

-Nim

I'll move around to hit the sniper and the grunt, then come back to the commander. Hopefully he'll try to shoot at the queen, then have to switch when my other drone comes into view.

I'm worried his units from the east will make it far enough forward to flank before the goo ball hits, but what can you do?

Don't mean to sound snarky here, but I can't fathom why the Marines would advance. I would expect them to do a fighting retreat, lobbing Nades and running back a few seconds, then turning around on op-fires.

-Nim

Posted by Boomstick at 4:22 PM | Permalink

Agh, there was still more drones coming! They poured from the Dirty Pair's watch area before I could organize a decent defence there and wiped them out, and then poured in the back of the team1. Only one alive from team1 is Commander Mandella, but he's seriously wounded, and there's one seriously wounded drone at his face. Unfortunately the drone's attack point is way earlier than Mandella's. I put the fire orders at Mandella for just in case he decides to retreat.

I found the goo-spitter now - It just glued the advance part of team2 into it's firm place before they could reach the corner, and are now pretty useless. Luckily one grunt can slip away from the edge of the goo and run to aid the group at the HQ. I try to blast the wall with Eagle between the goo-group and swarmed building that I can get some more fire support at there. I need to blast 2 walls down that I can get best support in there. They need to be torn down as fast as possible, altough I have 3 shots to do it this turn. The probabilities could be better, tough. With 37.5% probability only 1 wall will be torn down, and the probability of not getting any wall down is 12.5%. Their combined probability of not to achieve the getting both walls down is therefor 50%. Probability of not getting both walls down with the first two shots in 75%. I hope that I can overcome the probabilities this time around.Good work opening up the fire lines here.

Too bad the earlier grenading efforts bounced poorly, or the sniper might not have had to do this. I hate busting walls with Snipers, unless I'm doing it from across the map...it just always seems my Snipers lose the odds battle.

-Nim

Kevlar is still alive and unharmed. He is helping the HQ group to fend off the spikers that just emerged from the Dirty-alley, not to mention the new drones. The team2 'nader will shoot a bouncer at the 'nading hole of earlier, that hopefully will at least hurt the drones badly.

Also keeps the pressure on that nearly dead Queenie! Don't let her escape!

-Nim

Posted by Jaques at 5:48 PM | Permalink

It seems that Boomstick has kind of played one turn less than I am. This is the result of I take account the deployment turn as turn 1, but don't. I mark my turn to be the turn that the gaming consile says is turn 1, but he marks the turns as played turns.

This is one thing I always found difficult about LSN, that the orders/turn/turn display don't always seem to mesh. But then I am confused easily. hehe Of course...for your entries, Jaques...I have:
Turn 1
Hmm...Let's see now (I presume this is turn 2)
Turn 4
Turn 5
etc
...there is no Turn 3.

-Nim

Posted by Jaques at 6:12 PM | Permalink

Well, I'm surviving, but barely. The queen as a damage soak worked well, but perhaps too well. She's hurt bad and will retreat. She did manage to lay and egg. A splatter would win the game as the goo baller caught 5 units at the corner! The splatter (I think he meant to type Spitter) will move behind cover and attempt to hold them there with another shot.

Yes, she did take too much damage. Hide her if you can! Also perhaps worth mentioning is that you can lob Nades and Goo Balls over the crenelated walls, minimising the Spitter's exposure.

-Nim

The building melee will slow as my drones retreat. I hope he spams close with grenades as I've my scout shooting into the window from behind cover. The spikers will stand off and shoot through the window before the scout arrives. A charge at this point with my last 4 drones seems like a bad idea.

Why does one of the Spikers run off after taking two shots? Those were the only two shots he had taken all game up until that point. The two Spikers together may have been able to do some damage. It doesn't look like he got into any real cover from potential Nades, anyway - he only took a couple steps away.

-Nim

Best case here, I kill the grunt and the grenadier and take 1fp in return. Worst case, the grenadier gets off two or three grenades through the window towards my spikers. That wouldn't be fun.

The drone killing his commander will follow the queen back and offer itself up as food. Yummy!

Posted by Boomstick at 8:17 PM | Permalink

Seems that I managed to fend off the attack, at least for now. His Queen is in REALLY bad shape, a single grenade close enough could probably finish her off. His goo-spitter upkeeps the goo that binds goo-squad. Luckily for me, the goo is going to be left a little short, and most of my guys can flee from the goo at the start of the next turn. Not a moment too early, I could say, as one of my grunts will be left with less than a whole point of healt... MEDIIIIC!!! I hope he won't add some more goo during the next turn.

Unlucky for me, Eagle couldn't bust any of the walls down. Even one wall would have been nice, but nooo...

Hate it when that happens.

-Nim

Ah well, as he didn't charge at me with this turn, I could reload my 'nader at 7 ammo.

I have a bad feeling about the silence, tough. Either he is running another splatter at me, circling at my back, or going to recycle a bit. At least I got one spiker down, at easy-to-remove location. The other one fled.

I wonder what the egg of his hatched to that I saw in the end of last turn. Worst thing to hatch would be another splatter, that would be totally devastating. I hope I don't find out too soon! =(

That would be bad...finger crossin' time!

-Nim

Posted by Jaques at 9:01 PM | Permalink

Oops. Sorry folks. I turned in the turn without capturing my orders in a screenshot. [no probs - you've done great so far! -Nim]

Well, things didn't go as planned. I forgot to turn off halt on sight on the buzzer. He didn't move after spotting something right at the start of the turn. Perhaps a medic that moved up near that window.

His grenades caught the retreating drone, but I sorta expected that. The queen survives and will come back to feed.

Careful here, she only has 13 hits left! Going around to the South towards where the Spiker died might have been a better plan - there's more cover from the guys who are gooed, and a veritable feeding frenzy with 9 fps of corpses nearby. Provided you can protect from or eliminate the threat from the window, and keep the other group gooed down.

-Nim

The goo baller has another ball inbound that should keep 5 or 6fps tied up right around the corner.

The Spitter just sent Goo at the end of the turn (goes off at 1.3 seconds) and the two Goo Balls you shoot this turn go to the same spot?? A waste of Goo.

-Nim

My egg turned into a drone ... sigh. I'll attack with the drones toward the window. The buzzer will distract in the first few seconds, then skirt the action to come up from behind if it survives. I still think I'm toast! :)

Still possible, but yes, you are in a tough spot here. His Medics are able to heal the goo damage (and each other), and that is going to mess things up.

-Nim

Posted by Boomstick at 9:04 PM | Permalink

It seems that Eagle knew best when the wall should be destroyed. Now he busted down a piece of wall with every shot! The drones coming from inside the building had a nasty suprise.His queen decided to show herself again too. She's on her last. Couple of grunt shots will take her down, and if that isn't enough, I put a 'nade at her way. Also, his spitter should be getting a gift during the next turn. Unfortunately it did pput couple of balls at the goo-pond party, and now less guys can escape from it. At least the most important one got out. I also saw third spiker walking at north to the spitter hideout behind the canister cart. That's what hatched from the egg!!! YESS!!! The thing that's doing the least pain at my forces from 'em all!

Things didn't go as well in the Dirty alley, tough. The nade that was meant to clear the spiker corpse did some damage to the other spiker, and killed a fleeing drone of his, but that's about the good news. There's now 2 mid-health drones and a low-health buzzer under the HQ room's window. Not that that wouln't be enough the HQ-guard grunt has only two shots left, and those bastards ate Kevlar!!! sniff Also Eagle and his medic buddy is very low on ammo. I'm setting up a guard watching at the HQ-room's "door", and am shooting some 'nades at the corridor if he decides to go that way. I'm trying to get ready for the buzzer, if it decides to pop trough the window.

http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/1864/mlsn1vv.png

When (if) the queen's dead, it'll be a relief. It's not over even after that, so I better not change off from gear quite yet...

But once she's gone, your mind can rest a little...better hope she doesn't run off! Of course, you still have that Grenadier to deny bodies, and she won't take much splash before going belly-up.

-Nim

Posted by Jaques at 9:26 PM | Permalink

Ok, now I think I'm really toast. I didn't expect the walls would be blown out offering such a clear view coming through the building. Should have pulled back, regrouped, ate a few units and got a few bombs.

Too bad you were unable to get some Goo into that building, near the area with the doorway and window.

-Nim

I'm going to try that now. The goo baller will keep at it. A few marines there are ready to die.

Except they keep healing. But they are using up ammo. If you had enough Goo, you could maybe wait them out, make them shoot at targets they're unlikely to hit, etc...but it would take a while.

-Nim

There's a chance the queen will die. She's going to take at least one shot getting away, and in testing, she died one out of ten tries. If that goes ... well, we'll just see.You did spot that Grenadier in the building...? She needs to squirm the heck out of there asap.

I've moved the last healthy spiker to a position where it can fire on the trapped units, but not quite yet.

Good call - not too close though, or he will get all shot up. Since the 5 Marines are gooed in place, the Spiker can stand off at extreme range and have a decent chance of hitting someone.

-Nim

I think he'll try to move through the buildings with free units in the next turn or two.

Posted by Boomstick at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Well, a grenade caught the queen, though worse yet, it blew up on the egg I just laid, so no more units on the way.

Shoulda known better to lay eggs that close =) She may not have been able to get away from the Nade fast enough though.

-Nim

I'm going to take everyone east and charge to my death. It should be over in two turns now. :)

Well, you were a lot closer than you may have thought. A differently hatched egg, a follow up Splatter in the beginning...que sera, sera. A good learning experience though, with admittedly not your best race.

-Nim

Posted by Boomstick at 12:24 AM | Permalink

All land joy, the Queen is dead, we barbecued her head! I knew that she whould get away if I didn't put the grenade after her. Also the pesky goo-spitter has been finished now.

He decided to pull back again to lick his wounds. I know that there's still couple of nasties close by. The buzzer might still be inside the building, as it was closing up on the window, but I didn't actually see it entering the Mandella's grave, or the doorway next to it. Better make it sure with a 'nade!

From a quick count of what he has left, I've got 2 wounded drones, 2 spikers, of from at least the other is wounded and one near dead buzzer. He might had layed some more eggs in the meanwhile other than the spiker-egg, so I'm not completely certain if there's going to pop anything more up.

Looks like it's all over but the cryin'. JC has things well in hand, and I think the only thing that could save the day for BoomStick is a Splatter.

-Nim

Posted by Jaques at 4:11 PM | Permalink

All silent this turn, no wounding happened. I saw a glimpse from the buzzer behind the gas cart near the end of the turn (7.0 second sharp), so I guess he's preparing for the last crunch. Better let the barrel of the 'nader sing twice more at behind the suspicious corners, death might be lurking behind! This will leave him with two 'nades for emerengy. Goo-grunts will also get free at the start of this turn, so I get the fire-line ready again. I presume that he'll try to concentrate at attacking from north and north-east (because of the buzzer), so that's where I'm concentrating my defence force in.

I hope that's not a planned decoy.

He starts to feel " 'Aight, let's get the loss overwith", so he shouldn't be doing that. Besides, he hasn't shown much of the anti-anti(-anti) tactics either during the match. I might be expecting something like that from Hero Boy, or the other guys from top 10 of elite, but him? I don't think so, not anymore.

But for just in case, I backed up the alley with one grunt. One can never be too sure!

Posted by Jaques at 4:36 PM | Permalink

My forces have all moved east. My buzzer will corner dance to draw fire so the ranged units get off a shot or two. Doubt it will matter much.

The drones will go through the blue building and attack the corner. I could pull back and try and draw him out, but I'd rather this fast and loose game end so the web site can be shown off. :)

The next turn should end it.

Posted by Boomstick at 4:44 PM | Permalink

This will be my last entry. Unfortunately, another mistake. I was busy making screenshots and didn't switch the buzzer orders off attack on sight, so he went valiantly right to his death! :)

With one unit remaining, I doubt I'll get a shot off. Maybe next time I'll leave the screenshots to the moderator and just play the game!

Later folks ...

BoomStick

Nice work, BoomStick! I know I had fun commenting the game, and great job with those screenies! I really appreciated it, as it made it easier to reference what was going on in game with the comments.

Take Care, and I hope to someday meet you on the field of battle!

-Nim

Posted by Boomstick at 4:58 PM | Permalink

Game over I guess. I guessed the attack route of his correctly, and all his close combat forces got wiped out before they could be any more threat. All he has left anymore is one wounded spiker against most of my army. No one tried to sneak up from back, so I'd guess that's it.

The buzzer gave him away, one should be more careful with these! The decoy I suspected could have proven itself very effective here. Luckily I knew it right.

The critical turning point in this game happened about during the point when his queen layed her egg. His rush stopped at the location where team1 and 3 was, and that allowed me to mangle his guys better. Also, if the unit that would have hatched had been splatter, he would have been in much, much stronger position than he was when he got spiker.

The worst mistake of mine that put me in a little weak condition was that I forgot to put Eagle on red-red when I tried to knock down the walls off that strange booth and the first splatter emerged. If Eagle had responded at the threat rather than kept shooting at the wall, team2 would have recieved FAR less damage than they did now.

On the other hand, team2 was the team that survived the battle.

Ah well, I better gather the remaining corpses of my legends and try to revive them again back home.

Nicely played, Jaques! You controlled the limited pathways well, concentrated your firepower...nice use of terrain modification in the late-middle game to bring more firepower to bear.

-Nim

To both of you - Thanks for the commenting and screenshotting!~ It's been a cool experience commenting on your game. You both put a lot of thought and spent some time writing, and hopefully others will find it all educational and entertaining.

Final word - Although I think Spawn might not have been the best choice on this map, I think that BoomStick's inexperience with Spawn shows a little in his deployment. He still could have won with them...I made the comment that another Spitter (or even two) would have been good, and we have found that a Splatter held in reserve would have been BAD NEWS for Jaques in the middle-game.

Well played guys - Take Care!

-Nim

Jaques Cartier's side:
http://lsn.kicks-ass.org/lga/download/2788bf599a5eef543a065483202476b8/Jaques%20vs%20BoomStick.lsn

BoomStick's side:
http://lsn.kicks-ass.org/lga/download/f876ecafdd2e9a23104d597fd2209a17/BoomStick%20vs%20Cartier%20-%20BS%20view%20-%20full%20game.lsn

Posted by Jaques at 5:02 PM | Permalink