Twilight Struggle

And... work and life back to stable. I should be able to keep up with current games going forward.

Yay!

Does it have asynchronous play?

mudbunny wrote:

Does it have asynchronous play?

Yes, that's what (I think) all of us are playing.

At the start of the game you set the amount of total time allotted to a player to make all their moves in the game. If you set it at the highest setting (45 days), you've got plenty of time for a slow burn game. You just log in, make your move, and submit.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

What do people think about the role of luck in the game?

I can't wait to have this conversation after our current game. Hold that thought

Godzilla Blitz wrote:
mudbunny wrote:

Does it have asynchronous play?

Yes, that's what (I think) all of us are playing.

At the start of the game you set the amount of total time allotted to a player to make all their moves in the game. If you set it at the highest setting (45 days), you've got plenty of time for a slow burn game. You just log in, make your move, and submit.

Hmmm. I think I have it on Steam.

If there are any beginner players of Twilight Struggle that would like a slow burn async game, let me know. I've got one current game going with Godzilla Blitz (my first PvP) but room for a couple more.

I'm NeutrinoVe in-game or let me know yours and I'll set up a game.

mudbunny wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:
mudbunny wrote:

Does it have asynchronous play?

Yes, that's what (I think) all of us are playing.

At the start of the game you set the amount of total time allotted to a player to make all their moves in the game. If you set it at the highest setting (45 days), you've got plenty of time for a slow burn game. You just log in, make your move, and submit.

Hmmm. I think I have it on Steam.

One of us! One of us! Fire it up!

IMAGE(https://i.makeagif.com/media/1-28-2016/9qKJkd.gif)

Artist's impression of the balancing act of TS..

Currently have three games going with fellow GWJers and I'd be lying if it didn't feel overwhelming. The context switching between managing multiple hands has led to more than one blunder and I'm too lazy to take notes :D.

Anyway, I hope everyone's having fun playing & learning and I'm looking forward to writing/reading some AARs as games finish up

GioClark wrote:

IMAGE(https://i.makeagif.com/media/1-28-2016/9qKJkd.gif)

Artist's impression of the balancing act of TS..

Currently have three games going with fellow GWJers and I'd be lying if it didn't feel overwhelming. The context switching between managing multiple hands has led to more than one blunder and I'm too lazy to take notes :D.

Anyway, I hope everyone's having fun playing & learning and I'm looking forward to writing/reading some AARs as games finish up

Haha! I can relate. I'm playing 6 games at the moment, and I confess that there have been a couple of times where I've played cards as the US thinking that I was the USSR, or vice versa. I'm like, "Sweet! That was an awesome move! ... Oh.... maybe not so much."

I have a small checklist I go through now to reorient myself to each game before I make a turn so that hopefully doesn't happen any more.

I am enjoying playing, though, and feel like I'm learning something each game.

One opponent and I are thinking to create a video of a game, where we each record our thinking and moves then stitch it together into one video (well, one video for each turn) later.

Sorry I've been so sporadic. Daughter graduated from high school this week and I work in education so last half of May first week of June are challenging. Pretty much work, family stuff, and create one stress relief video a day.

I've moved now though and think I should be more regular going forward.

All good GB, It's giving me extra time to learn how to play Twilight Struggle is slowly getting its hooks in me, I can see myself playing this one for years to come!

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Sorry I've been so sporadic. Daughter graduated from high school this week and I work in education so last half of May first week of June are challenging. Pretty much work, family stuff, and create one stress relief video a day.

I've moved now though and think I should be more regular going forward.

Well, send a congratulations to your daughter from us GWJers and congratulations to you as well! Definitely a proud dad moment to be sure!

Well leave it to The Walking Calamity to lose two PBEM games in one day

Lessons (re)learned:

- Defcon 1 is an insta-win and ALWAYS counts against the phasing player no matter who actually causes it. Never give your opponent free ops points at Defcon 2

- Maintain a foothold in each theatre in case you need to spread influence. Having to waste an entire turns worth of cards to walk influence from the US to South America is excruciating. In my case, it only delayed the inevitable. Having to do something like this as the Soviets would be damn near impossible.

GG to both Natus and matttutor. I've accepted or sent rematch requests to each of you.

GioClark wrote:

Well leave it to The Walking Calamity to lose two PBEM games in one day

Lessons (re)learned:

- Defcon 1 is an insta-win and ALWAYS counts against the phasing player no matter who actually causes it. Never give your opponent free ops points at Defcon 2

- Maintain a foothold in each theatre in case you need to spread influence. Having to waste an entire turns worth of cards to walk influence from the US to South America is excruciating. In my case, it only delayed the inevitable. Having to do something like this as the Soviets would be damn near impossible.

GG to both Natus and matttutor. I've accepted or sent rematch requests to each of you.

Fun game - twas not a good situation for you at the end. I'm hardly one to dole out "advice" but adding onto your lessons above:

1) Yes, this rule (the player whose turn it is when DEFCON1 is reached is the LOSER, no matter how that occurs) is a tough one to understand and to avoid! But, there are very limited situations (in the early game, at least) where you can give free ops to opponent at DEFCON2 - basically, if you have NO influence in any available battleground

2) Obviously, you do not need presence in SAmer, Africa etc in early game BUT at some point, you should start thinking about getting into those "post-Early-game" areas before it is too late. One could say that a major objective of the entire game is balancing situation in all regions while at the same time focusing attention more narrowly (where you have scoring cards, where you have a clear advantage that can be maximized even moreso)...

Again, thanks for game. If others are interested in a slow but steady game, PM me here.

GioClark wrote:

Well leave it to The Walking Calamity to lose two PBEM games in one day

Lessons (re)learned:

- Defcon 1 is an insta-win and ALWAYS counts against the phasing player no matter who actually causes it. Never give your opponent free ops points at Defcon 2

- Maintain a foothold in each theatre in case you need to spread influence. Having to waste an entire turns worth of cards to walk influence from the US to South America is excruciating. In my case, it only delayed the inevitable. Having to do something like this as the Soviets would be damn near impossible.

GG to both Natus and matttutor. I've accepted or sent rematch requests to each of you.

I'm not sure how you would have avoided that DEFCON 1, frankly, and I have lost TS that so so many times I can't remember them all. In fact, you wouldn't know unless you were hyper-aware of what cards had been already discarded.

I was very lucky, since your board position was great.

I'm hoping I don't run out of time. June was bad, next week will be tough, then after July 9 looks really good for a few months. Thanks for all the patience for those who I've been playing the same games with for the past month+. Sorry I've been so on-off.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I'm hoping I don't run out of time. June was bad, next week will be tough, then after July 9 looks really good for a few months. Thanks for all the patience for those who I've been playing the same games with for the past month+. Sorry I've been so on-off.

All good, I'm fine with a slow pace. If it helps I can take a break on my turn at the end of this week and start up again on July 9th. That way hopefully you won't run down your clock to zero

Neutrino wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I'm hoping I don't run out of time. June was bad, next week will be tough, then after July 9 looks really good for a few months. Thanks for all the patience for those who I've been playing the same games with for the past month+. Sorry I've been so on-off.

All good, I'm fine with a slow pace. If it helps I can take a break on my turn at the end of this week and start up again on July 9th. That way hopefully you won't run down your clock to zero :)

That might be super helpful, actually. I've brought my laptop and installed the game, but I know there will be some days I can't log in, and at best I'll probably be able to move at the beginning and end of the days. No worries though if you want to keep playing, I can try to log in as I can.

I suspect the point total swing is coming soon, things are tipping in your favor.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

That might be super helpful, actually. I've brought my laptop and installed the game, but I know there will be some days I can't log in, and at best I'll probably be able to move at the beginning and end of the days. No worries though if you want to keep playing, I can try to log in as I can. :)

OK great, I'll pause from this Sat until 9th

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I suspect the point total swing is coming soon, things are tipping in your favor. :)

I really don't know... I haven't played enough games to know how well or bad I'm doing at our stage of the game. I'm happy enough to not have triggered DEFCON 1!

BTW I picked up the TS DLC expansion Turn Zero & Promo Cards in the Steam sale. I'm not too bothered about the expansion, (reports that it doesn't really add much to the game and it may be a bit broken) but the promo cards are really nice graphical upgrades for all the cards in the game. Worth it for a couple of $ imo.

Neutrino wrote:

BTW I picked up the TS DLC expansion Turn Zero & Promo Cards in the Steam sale. I'm not too bothered about the expansion, (reports that it doesn't really add much to the game and it may be a bit broken) but the promo cards are really nice graphical upgrades for all the cards in the game. Worth it for a couple of $ imo.

For those of us who have played digital TS a gajillion times, Turn Zero adds some slightly different starting conditions, changing things up just enough.

Neutrino wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

That might be super helpful, actually. I've brought my laptop and installed the game, but I know there will be some days I can't log in, and at best I'll probably be able to move at the beginning and end of the days. No worries though if you want to keep playing, I can try to log in as I can. :)

OK great, I'll pause from this Sat until 9th

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I suspect the point total swing is coming soon, things are tipping in your favor. :)

I really don't know... I haven't played enough games to know how well or bad I'm doing at our stage of the game. I'm happy enough to not have triggered DEFCON 1!

BTW I picked up the TS DLC expansion Turn Zero & Promo Cards in the Steam sale. I'm not too bothered about the expansion, (reports that it doesn't really add much to the game and it may be a bit broken) but the promo cards are really nice graphical upgrades for all the cards in the game. Worth it for a couple of $ imo.

I think you're playing really well. You're ruling most of the regions by a substantial amount. I haven't played enough either to know how this will turn out, but I suspect as the scoring cards start to come in the lead is going shift. Fun game, though!

I'll pick up those expansion cards too. That's a good idea.

The only skittish part of the game for me is that sometimes I can't enter chat messages.

- Neutrino - I might be able to finish our game this weekend simultaneously. There are a few things going on so it might be spotty, but maybe we can see how we're doing tomorrow and see if something works out? The massive shift in points has started, and I fear the world is going to fall to communism shortly. You've played really well.

Yeah, the in-game chat is a bit hit or miss. I found that keeping to one or two short sentences helps.

It would be great to be able to finish our game if possible. I'm quite flexible regarding times this weekend, so feel free to send a message on Steam if you find a suitable time to finish the game 'live' (keep in mind I'm UK-based).

It's been a good game so far and thanks, I've been learning throughout the game. Let's see what the late war brings and where the swings land

Lord help me, I installed this.

Will play some solo games vs the AI (if that is even possible) to try to figure out how to play.

I really like this strategy games channel and here they do a video series with a card by card analysis of Twilight Struggle.

Missed this thread the first time round, but if there is anyone up for some games of TS, I'll happily play.
I've played a fair bit of the physical game, and about ~20 or so online, so happy to run some teaching games if anyone wants that.

Torq wrote:

Missed this thread the first time round, but if there is anyone up for some games of TS, I'll happily play.
I've played a fair bit of the physical game, and about ~20 or so online, so happy to run some teaching games if anyone wants that.

Hi Torq, I've only recently started playing Twilight Struggle with the digital version. I've played a few games with the AI (which I can now beat) and I'm currently playing my fourth PvP game asynchronously.

I'd be happy to join you for an async game (perhaps a live game at some point? - I see we are both in the same timezone). I'm NeutrinoVe in-app, I'll also add you on Steam.

Neutrino wrote:
Torq wrote:

Missed this thread the first time round, but if there is anyone up for some games of TS, I'll happily play.
I've played a fair bit of the physical game, and about ~20 or so online, so happy to run some teaching games if anyone wants that.

Hi Torq, I've only recently started playing Twilight Struggle with the digital version. I've played a few games with the AI (which I can now beat) and I'm currently playing my fourth PvP game asynchronously.

I'd be happy to join you for an async game (perhaps a live game at some point? - I see we are both in the same timezone). I'm NeutrinoVe in-app, I'll also add you on Steam.

Great!
I added you in game, I'm also TorqGWJ on Playdek.

I can certainly do async, and just leave it open in the background at work. Live play I could do in an evening probably. I created an invite for a standard game; with optional cards and US+2 handicap, random sides.

Super, received and joined. I'm looking forward to playing my first PvP game as the USA, it's going to be an education!