The current sometimes too-full-of himself King is weary but grateful to Asmala for an excellent match. Asmala proved to be a frightening opponent, leaving the Mercator people with many scars. His opening tactics against me have really made me think... especially his research pattern- it is almost pristine for how he plays out his strategy. And he did it with a
crappy start!
Highlights:
His early harassment was great- he sufficiently tied me up from further expansion, and claimed all but one border system, where we coexisted. He even (for the first time in my KOTH) conquered my population and used my breathers! I have never been able to pull this off.
His use of fighters/carriers was stunning and deliberate. DUCs can't hit fighters, and he made sure he emphasized that point in-game.
Asmala torched my fully trained invasion fleet- and responed with a devastating counter attack. His tech edge was so vast; it seemed like it was all over. He ripped through about 5 systems, but by sheer luck...
-- if he would have made a right turn at Alburquerque, (thanks Bugs Bunny
) he would have found my home system and it could have been BIG trouble.
-- My people were one turn away from riot status when I caught his fleet. One more loss surely would have locked up my production. Wshew.
-- The Riders only madaged to torch one critical resource planet. He killed a ton of research, but I was able to pay maintence. He chose to bypass my frontal systems, which had my critical assets. These systems, were, of course, heavily defended. I had just managed a massive retrofit to compete with his ships. But if he caught me while repairing...
-- My economy was hanging in the balance to allow me to add the latest components through retrofits. I barely had enough reserves in storage...
-- My counterattack was brutal; he had bigger ships, but sheer numbers of Mercator high-tech designs won the day. I hit him concurrently from many different directions to discourage force concentration. I ensured to keep him on the defensive, although, he made some Last minute strikes to test me, including a cloaked strike against my interior, which I'll never know how it got through?!? Almost looked like a random event.
-- I ensured that I whittled away at his economy while tightening the vice. I kept improving my economy so I could field more ships.
-- Aslama's choice of mid-late research was diverted into a few non-critical areas: Gas Giant, Dreadnaughts, etc. In my experience, you really should only do this when you are
pretty sure your opponent can't beat your front line security. I think my retaliation surprised him a bit- I managed to retrofit those DUC V ships with PPBs.
-- I am an economic player, and although Asmala threw me many curveballs, I held to the fundamentals: strong economy (minerals, rads) and combat techs. Asmala went very heavy on research. For his type of play; he has a chance of exploiting his tech edge throughout the game if you are not seasoned. I did my best to use numbers against size in the long run.
So many great thank-yous to Asmala, who is awesome. A challenge match at the top worthy of many legends.
My favorite match to-date!
[ April 06, 2003, 13:28: Message edited by: Stone Mill ]