Time: Tue Mar 5 23:19:29 1996 Server: hal.eecs.umich.edu
From: zerkle@krakatoa.cs.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) Date: 13 Mar 1996 22:37:14 GMTNaw, we didn't lose to the Tubers because our front disappeared in the midgame. We lost because:
* They had better bombing.
* They had better escorts.
* They had better carriers.
* They had better planet defense.
* They had better base defense.
* They had better space control/dogfighting.
Most of all, though:
* They had much better teamwork.
Truly, the score does not reflect how much better they played. The only reason it was not *much* worse was an agressive, spirited core defense. My last-second +4 EAO was a help, too.
One bright point was our successful base ogg. They had just humiliated and destroyed our base. That got us angry enough that, when someone called a counter-ogg, we went screaming for blood. A single crushing wave before most of the base escorts could come back did the job. (I don't remember if it took a second wave to finish him off or not, but the first wave was key).
It was very interesting watching them crush us. From an apparently uninteresting space control attitude, they would instantly all form up and ogg the base, with very little warning. Our base seemed to be having so much trouble with this, I would suicide my SC on EAR to get a CA on ROM, and thus be able to help defend the base. Given my disgustingly high acc, I'm not sure this was such a good idea (although I'm sure it saved his butt a couple times).
The other formation, someone called a TuberPack. A carrier would come up to their space control line, and three of those would form up as escorts in a diamond shape. Again, there was very little warning. Suddenly, four of them would break for a planet (and usually get it). It was very hard to get at the carrier through the escorts. Ogging didn't work at all. We eventually learned to blow away the escorts. This usually made the carrier back off, although we rarely caught him.... I think this strategy was about the only thing that kept us out of an LPS.
Anyway, that was my first (!) official INL game as a real team member. It was humbling. My strategies that worked so well in pickup failed utterly (and gave me about 18 acc, 5 eao...terrible!). Still, it was nice to see such a good team in action. Just one thing: if I try follow their example, should I buttorp that much?
Poor Team 80's seems to have lost most of its best players. Sheldon has retired. Several good ones haven't been showing up. In fact, I was one of only three people who did show against Team Asterix. Even Tim didn't show up. I guess we forfeit that one. I hope we get to play some more games. I'd rather lose than not play. Heck, I had a blast getting crushed by the Tubers.