From: leonard@mimsy.umd.edu (Leonard Dickens)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: INL: TWNN at Lagg U
Keywords: INL LU TWNN Playoffs
Date: 15 Nov 92 23:33:02 GMT
Organization: Deep Thirteen, Gizmonics Institute

Friday night the TWNN took the Brick* wall [tm] to Washington state
for another test of its potency... the bad news is: it doesn't work
well beyond the enemy frontline planets.  The good news is: it doesn't
have to.  LU played a good game.  I was surprised that we could not
force them to collapse, even when we had both of their agris.

The lag was steady at about 150 ms, with little packet loss.  I think
Lagg U is a misnomer... next season it may be time for them to become
the Huskies.  Certainly, the team is talented enough to have a real
name... standing toe to toe with one of TWNN's best rosters without
being reduced to one planet or genocide is no small accomplishment.

The TWNN chose Fed before I got there to argue it, in the bargain
getting Bet and Cet as our agris.  El Nath was agri for the Oris; in
addition Dra was for the Roms, so LU's choice was pretty simple.  This
left them with Ind agri on the frontline... but it may have made the
difference between a LPS and a core ending for them.

Nonetheless, having both Bet and Cet agri allowed me in the base to
collect armies at an amazing rate... almost as fast as the Nameless
scummers were using them, which was also fairly rapid.  I had 25
armies even after the enemy base was ogged and both sides flat.  

There were perhaps two criticisms I would level at LU from what I
could see of the game, and one of them is that they never really tried
to ogg me.  A base collecting off of a single agri can never really
stay full, and is thus of dubious utility to a team unless it is near
the front.  But a base collecting from TWO agris can almost keep up
with a standard team's level of scumming.  To the enemy, this most be
Bad; therefore such a base must be ogged to effect a comeback.
Especially if there are no convenient repair planets...

The second thing I would suggest to LU is to work on its scout
bombing.  I thought the LU bombers had too many kills scummed off of
them; also they spent too much time doing things in their own space.
(I understand this temptation completely, but as a scout you must be
strong and resist it.)  Thus, they did not establish enough presence
in our space to kill all the armies I couldn't get to, nor to organize
bombing against me.  Scouts should always feel free to run if opposed,
and should almost always feel free to run from known scum like Hector
and Streaker... ESPECIALLY if they have no kills.

In spite of these weaknesses, LU never folded up to the home planet as
many teams will when pushed to three planets; in fact, they managed to
retake Dra in the midgame and drive us all the way back into their
frontline.  They briefly held both of their agris... it was an amazing
resurgence.

Obviously my criticisms reflect the dementia suffered by a bored
mind... since LU never tried ogging me (until the end when I was
feeling freer to move up), and never succeeded, I had little to do but
toy with their scouts, Suzka and Skyhawk, by cloaking and sneaking
around.  I even managed to trap them a few times... but obviously I
was not seeing what was happening at the front so I have no idea.  I
can say that the LU base oggs could have been less one-dimensional.
And I will claim another record for the books: 7195.4 seconds of base
play in an INL game.

Anyway, the details of the game can be found in Jonathan Sari's post.
Thanks to LU for a fun game, and Norman Yarvin (Alpha) for offering to
fill out our team in case Hector couldn't play.

-Wreck
 Minister of Criticism, TWNN

[*] ObVerser.  Get out the vote in '04!