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Not a Network Game report, but just me and the AI in one of the more fun and intense games I've had in a while.

The Setup

Superior small teams for both of us on a classic map. We both draw 5 titans a side and the game is on. i start in the middle of a field on the west side of things, the AI draws the mountains (more specifically the valley on the other side of them) in the east.

Opening Moves

I send my Vulcanoid (with it's two GM6s, the only long range missiles I've got) to a mountain SE of my starting position and divide the other four into two groups, one light and one medium titan in each group. The first group circles north of the mountain range, the second curls around the south. Group 1 has a Fire Beetle and a Dragonscale. Group two runs off with a Deathblossom and a Blizzard. Impatient, I let my lighter titans get ahead of their buddies, which will land me in trouble.

Mid Game
The Vulcanoid crests it's mountain and....no sign of the oposition. They must be staying put behind their mountains there. I hesitate to move my GMs though as it's got a good view of everything else, and if the AI comes out I've got a good shot.

The Deathblossom is now 4 hexes ahead of the Blizzard and beginning the curl around, when the Blizzard, with it's bigger height, sees the stack of all 5 AI titans. They're seriously all sitting in the crook of the mountains, just waiting me out. The blizzard is caught out in the open with no help. My northern group hasn't begin it's curl and the Deathblossom needs to get some height, so i start it climbing while I charge with the Blizzard and begin to pray.

I beat the AI to the hex, which isn't really a good thing as it sends all 5 in on top of me. The Blizzard gets off 4 shots before it's incapacitated and the jock dies. The Deathblossom is nowhere to be seen, but the Fire Beetle is coming on strong. It enters the now 7 deep stack and begins to throw what little weight it has around. It drops a couple titans before it's CBT is knocked out and it's on the ground.

End Game

Now the Deathblossom comes withing range. Having rushed the first two times I hang back now. The Vulcanoid is being moved up as the AI seems to have no interest in taking a peek out from it's mountain nook. The Dragonscale can't see a thing and I'm slowly, agonizingly as it were, moving it up the mountains so it can get a glimpse. In the meantime I'm banging the Fire Beetle with repeated 'stand up' commands on the ground trying to pop the engine and cause some havoc in the pile. The Deathblossome unleashes it's payload, knocking a Medium titan right off it's feet. As it reloads the AI gets some good shots in, but can't or won't move the stack over one hex to go hand-to-hand. The Deathblossom fires again, tossing a light titan on it's back this time. At this point the Fire Beetle catches it's CT on a fall and things go BOOM.

The Fire Beetle's explosions knocks everything in a 2 hex radius on it's derriere. Then the massive damage pops off the Blizzards engine. 2 of the AI's jocks are dead. One titan incapacitated and two others desperately trying to regain their feet. My Deathblossom, already having been warned about it's heat has ammo start cooking off. And I tell you what, this is where the Blossom part must come in, because that's one impressive sight when that many weapons blow all at once. When the 'Ammo Meltdown' checks clear my jock is, somehow, alive, but the Titan is never moving again. The only system still working is the Life Support. And pretty much the only thing still intact is it's head and CBT.

Moping Up

I actually timed the entrance of the Vulcanoid and Dragonscale pretty well here and they get the last three kills to end it. The AI gets off a couple good shots (from it's back mostly) but with all the damage from the engine explosions the remaining 3 jocks don't stand a chance against two fresh Titans. The end is quick.

If anyone else has got any Zany(tm) AI experiences I'd love to hear them.

Had another fun, and productive, AI slaughtering, so here are the details, wether you care or not.

Setup
Small teams on a Small map in the classic sense of being a map. Things are laid out nicely with a good mix of plains and clumps of mountains. I start behind one of these clumps with a Vulcanoid which I send right on up so it can see with it's GM3s. Up north I send an Icelord. Heading south is a Guru. I also have two Trolls which I'm sending up another group of hills further west of my Vulcanoid, but they sure are taking their sweet time.

F3 shows the AI as having only 3 titans. So their either all really big, or it's air-drop time.

Enemy Sighted
The Guru gets the first glipse, just a moment of two light titans moving in from the east. This means airdrop later on. It doesn't even get off a scan before it loses LOS in a depression. Then my Vulcanoid crests the big hill and has a clean view of 97% of the battlefield, and an even closer recon titan which I lock onto and toss some GMs at while diverting my Guru around to deal with it. The Icelord is just getting around the north and locking onto one of the light titans and beginning a scan, while the trolls are still twiddling their thumbs on the way to their own hill. As the Icelord gets off it's first shots the Vulcanoid causes an SRM explosion on the Recon titan the Guru was about to face, popping its engine, cooking the Guru more than necessary as well.

AHH! Where'd they come from!
The Guru is on it's way towards the light titans. The Icelord is nice and engaged over in the east, though holding it's own rather well, with the two lights. The Vulcanoid is firing the long shots. And the Trolls are -just- creting their hill when....AIRDROPS! All over the place. Two light titans drop directly behind the trolls, causing me no end of move-calling, and a fe seconds later a recon titan drops just north of the Trolls. The Trolls grab targets quickly, but can't fire until they get themselves turned around. I let the Vulcanoid fire a few more volleys before I switch the the nearer targets. By then the Troll have picked up the first of the light titans. It takes one round (4 AC12s) to tear it's leg off and leave it for dead. One troll goes after the other Light titan, which is still in it's field of fire, while I maneuver the other to take the recon. The Vulcanoid switches to the closest light titan and tosses a couple shots and begins scanning.

You'd think it was over..
..But the Guru and Icelord have destroyed the engine on one of the light titans out east and are now lying on their backs with their engines shut off while the second light titan moves in to try and finish them off. I hurriedly move the east-most troll to help out as it's recon titan has slipped out of sight in the dense woods. Even at the edge of their range the AC12s are deadly.

Back out west..
..things are hardly bleak. The second light titan has had it's leg ripped off from a combination of Medium lasers and AC12s and the lone recon titan has come back into view, jumping up to the troll while the finishing touches are being put on the light titan. Now both Trolls have a shot on the Recon and it's easy to tear it up. The game ends as the AI ejects the two living jocks it has left.

Awwww, that poor AI.

Lobsteve.

5 suicide titans, small map, big mountain with enemies, at least 2 big smoking craters where several titans once stood on the mountain side and at least 8 dead jocks

smoked up the whole mountain using ac4's from the titans (they were an early creation that sucked like no towmorrow) and slowly trudged up it firing off what i could not much to say really the enemy titans got close, there was an exchange of fire, and something knicked my one titans engine, from there it was just a chain of 5 point blank engine explosions which pretty much left the area a smoldering crater where a single jock had somehow managed to survive on the enemy team giving them the win..............funny..............short....................bizzare

I had fun with this...

Ok, im using an actual team, that im keeping. Names arent all that great, never have been much for creativity. I got Mara Willings(TellTale) on a HeadHunter, Robot Jones(Bot) on a MorningStar, Lisa Simpson(Sax) on a Sagitta, Rand al`Thor(Dragon) on a Fist, and Faile Bashere(Falcon) on a Spcl Delivery (my own design). Telltale is a Champion with perfect reaction, dexterity, energy, and cannon numbers. Also has ~85 scanner and ~90 DCS. Bot is a level 6 guy with ~85 Energy and 65+ CC skill. Also has 75+ Scanner and good (>50) Elec Warfare. Sax is level 5 and has 85 GM and 70 Indirect skill, also has 75+ Scanner and DCS. Dragon is level 4(?) and has 70+ Energy weapon, and 70+ Scanner. Falcon is level 2 and has 65 cannon, 30 CC and 60 scanner. They all have 50+ Recon and medical, with the exception of Falcon, who only has 18 Medical.

Lucky for all of you, thatll be the last time i post my entire team.

On to the battle!!

The Setup

Small map, Ai had lvl 4 guys.

I started with all my guys on the left side, Sax was a bit above the others, Bot and Dragon were in the front. Telltale was just behind them, and Falcon was bringin up the rear. There was a hill, my guys all went around to the front, Falcon pulled ahead of Bot and Dragon. I see a bunch of dense trees above me, and a hill almost on the other side of the map. I sent Sax north of the treeline to a large hill i saw. Falcon eased off a bit, and Dragon caught up to her.

The Sighting

I see a light titan, a Tempest, crest a large hill, its jumping down. I have all my titans target it, except sax, but its indirect and none of them can hit it, and it goes out of sight before the scans finish it. Sax breaks the treeline and sees all (i think) of the enemies, a dagger is closest to my other group. Sax ducks behind the hill hes gonna climb, and is out of it for the next 90 seconds while he climbs the hill.

My other guys get around the trees (cept headhunter). Falcon has already made it to the next cover, a hill. (Falcon usually ambushes, the Spcl Delivery cant take prolonged combat) She sits down to wait. Bot and Dragon have a clear shot at the Dagger, and take it, but miss with their teslas. They start scanning. Telltale is lagging behind, and cant see anything yet.

Telltale finally gets into a place where he can see the dagger, and lets loose a volley, smashing a leg off, and hitting its head for 16. (medium laser and gc) Dragon and Bot complete their scans, but the Dagger's jock has already ejected. My plans to decimate its head are cut short as the Tempest comes into view, followed by a firefly and a Predator. They switch to target the Predator.

Falcon is surprised from behind as a Will-o-Wisp appears, but the wisp is also surprised and backpedals furiously. Falcon moves towards Bot and Dragon to help them. Falcon sees the predator, and locks him and starts scanning. Telltale retargets for the Tempest.

The Climax

Telltale finishes her scan first, and its a green scan! She lets fly with her 2 GCs and both impact the Center Torso, turning it red. She waits for the heat to go down... Bot and Dragon finish scanning, and Bot lets loose his salvo first, hitting a leg and a r torso, the Predator is down. Dragon says its his turn and fires, but misses... Falcon lost sight of the wisp and scans the predator for a yellow scan. She's in the clear to fire, and launches both ac20's, one misses, and the other hits the CB torso and knocks him down on the ground again. The firefly decides its had enough of lounging around and fires on Bot, he isnt in much trouble, but its awfully ticklish!

The Tempest lets loose its own volley, and hits Falcon in both torsos, one of her ac20's is now lightly damaged, but Falcon stays upright. Dragon closes to point-blank on the predator, as it gets up. The predator fires first and knocks Dragon down. His left leg is at yellow. Dragon's picking himself off the ground when Telltale cools off and launches another attack at the Tempest. She calls her shots, and all three hit the center torso, the tempest is out of it for now, but the engine wasnt there, sadly enough.

Bot is mad as hell at the predator, i mean, it knocked Dragon down! It launches both teslas, and by pure luck, both connect solidly with the Predator's head. Needless to say, it falls to the ground, with a gaping hole where its head was. The head is nowhere to be found. Bot closes to point blank on the headless predator and the firefly. Bot sees a Manticore and a Fog Giant headed his way, the wisp is still unseen...

Bot and Dragon and Falcon retarget to the Firefly. Falcon lets fly, and rips off a leg and an arm. The firefly is out of action. Dragon gets up and disciplines the Firefly, but knocking out its engine... did i say knocking out? I meant blowing up. Dragon blows two other sections off, trying to douse the explosion. The firefly goes BOOM and dragon is blown off his feet and Bot is feeling dizzy and hurt, and 3 HP. He tries to stand, but with -60% modifier, thats hard to do. (2%) Bot waits on call for his move and attack. Falcon isnt hurt much, only 4 yellows and 2 red locations. She keeps going and gets to the same hex as everyone else. Telltale has fun and blows off the Tempest's head. (What did you expect? Shes on a Headhunter) Sax FINALLY gets to the top of the hill, and spots the wisp and the manticore. She targets the manticore, since its furthest.

Now it seems like its The AI Strikes Back, and They let loose a devastating volley that makes Dragon wonder why the world is suddenly sideways, and with red legs. Falcon lets loose and lands a head shot and a leg shot, and the Fog Giant is knocked down. Dragon gets up, feeling woozy, and decides the Fog Giant's head would look nice as a trophy, and relieves the Fog Giant of it.

The wisp dent's Dragon's pretty head armor, then gets knocked off its feet by Telltale. Sax and the Manticore exchange Missles, but nothing decisive. Bot's feeling a little better, but hes still resting. Dragon and Falcon focus on the Manticore.

So long, little AI

Falcon, and Dragon both unleash at the same time, and make Manticore's head red, and with low remaining. Telltale punishes the wisp similarly. They both eject. (And their heads would have looked so nice on my wall. ) Battle ends.

Everyone ups their weapon skills, Falcon and Bot get more medical, Telltale gets more scanner.

(On a side note, why does ejecting jocks save them? Id assume they'd be easier to kill....)

Nice combat. I wonder though why you are playing the AI at such low rank. Make them elite and give them a chance to call shots too

yeah really either that or take an ac20 aim at your foot and pull the trigger to get the same effect

Another report from the bizarro world of AI battles. Yes, bizarro.

This one was only weird because I think between the AI and I we had every stock titan that stores the engine in either the LT or RT rather than the popular CT.

Every time I begin to discount the AI's ability to move too much it surprises me by crossing the map before I can get 5 hexes..well, that's a bit of an exageration.

Anyhow, no one had anything bigger than a light. I had two recons and two of the lighter lights while the AI had two heavier lights and a recon. I had to long-range titans so I decided to split them up, assuming that the AI would come down a naturally formed pipe in the center of the map between various mountain ranges. Then I'd have it sandwhiched. If I could have gotten there before the Ai snuck around the north of the southern mountain range this would have been fine. Instead I had to pit my two shorter range guys to the battle alot earlier than I would have liked while the LRs scrambled to get a good shot. As it was they hardly even needed one. Only 150 seconds in and I have a stack of 5 titans in the middle of the mountain pass, all three of the Ai's and my two short range guys. The standard strategy of focusing on just one oponent at a time is paying off for both sides, but I get to the red first with a well placed tesla bolt to the shoulder, a follow up from my other titan toasts it, and I'm think, great, but then the engine explodes, sending everyone sprawling down in the hex with too much heat all around. WEll that's alright, my two guys are still hanging on, somehow, but then, just as we all get back up on our feet for round two, and my LRs finally get off their first volleys, there goes another oponents RT and engine, and down we all go again. This time it's more serious as both my titans lose various limbs, one losing its CBT which I thought would down him entirely. But it doesn't matter as the game ends their since the oposition was even unluckier than I was losing it's last titan's legs ending the game.

Finaly score: my 2 LRs were both fine, hardly even used any ammo. Both of my close-combat jocks were idzzy, but otherwise surviving, though the titan that lost it's CBT was disabled. The AI lost two titans entirely because of the engines going and the third guy was dizzy and disabled.

The whole thing was over in 205 seconds which is about the fastest game, hotseat or network, I've ever had.

Lobsteve.

Kepp posting those stories, I like to read them.

Yesterday I was playing WS with a friend of mine. We share a team, two jocks each of veteran level. We played about 30 battles, often forced to 'reset the team file' after a defeat to ignore the penalties (don't ask me how to do this, I won't tell).

At least we all had heavies when we were defeated again and decided not to cheat but to face the truth : recons again.

Yesterday we had worked up the whole to again to lights. Our leader, Hicks was piloting a special type of Mirage with 4 x GMR 2. His unguided skill is about 80% with additional 70% indirect. So he is a pretty good long range backup but with a strong weakness in close range combat. The business man, sorry, women is Ripley. She was piloting a Scout X, a homebrew with 3 x AC 7 and a decent skill. The other two, Burk and Apone were riding our favorite light energy titan, the penetrator.

Setup was a medium classic map. Opposition did get a 25% weight bonus and we choose to face a maximum of 3 titans at
novice rank. I must admitt that we tend to use the AI at a skill level or two lower than our average with a weight bonus. As soon as we play equal ranks we are often slaughtered .

Combat started with some moving, finally our three medium titans were on a low hill platform crouching in a dense wood with a scanner link to our long range guy on a big hill some 8 hexes away. The AI did advance with a Disrupter in front, followed by a Crucible and an Incubus. We lost and regained lock till the Disrupter was about 7 hexes away from our 3 titan coward squad in the woods. Hicks began peppering the Disrupter while the other three began their unstoppable pop up dance. They were our direct fire line while crouching so they stood up, fired and crouched again before the disruptor could answer their fire. It died 4 hexes in front of our position without placing a single hit.

Why we lost the battle against the puny other two mediums is another sad sad story.........

hicks? wheres ripley? and wheres the alien queen at that? or a those damned face huggers where are they? and god damnit who keeps stealing the rounds out of my pulse rifle?!?

Just a quick note of today's bizarro world occurence.

I popped the engines of 4 out of 5 AI titans, and not one exploded. NOT ONE! Admitedly we were all Elite jocks, but still, give me some lovin' Mr. RNG. Just a little? Would have really helped me out since we were in a big stack of 8 and my two heavy hitters weren't there yet. Could have made my life just a little easier..but no.

I was admitedly aiming for the engines once we got in tthe stack, it seemed like the right thing to do.

THe last jock ejected, sparing him for a deep grave as I had a bitter retribution planned against him for the ills of his teamates.

Lobsteve.

WFF: ripley is there, the money woman, and apone aswell...dont recall there being any burk in Alien^2 though....

discord: you stole my pulse rifle rounds didn't you? at least give me my grenade rounds! **** the motion sensor is picking them up all over! *sounds of a pistol going off in the distance* *blood curdling scream* *sound of drones skittering closer* hmmmmmmmmmmmmm well crap

Burke is the company guy who tries to get Ripley and Newt impregnated with aliens.

tar: ah yes, was trying to forget that guy, not the nicest chap on the block....

WFF: ofcourse it was me, i am evil! they are on the other side of the complex, that means through that bunch of drones over there*points to the approaching drones*(and i think we should take this somewhere else, neh?)
//discord

the corporate dudes are always traitors duh :p and im taking the apc cya! *drives away with the apc*

Can you please reduce posting non-tos related replies ? I'm wading through senseless material trying to find something interesting in the forum.

You have your nutty thread, please stick to it.

ok ok sorry :p

Ah, at last. I was getting tired of all that circus.

Hey Larkin, since you're the mod, can't you just delete some of the crap posts? A new player will probably be discouraged when confronted with such a barrage of garbage to read through. I know time is not something you have right now, just a thought.