Preliminaries
Bad News : Writing these takes far longer than I expected. I'm afraid that I will likely only be able to post one keeper's results per day. The length of time for complete results will be extended accordingly.balticbadger : Once the Tech Expert leaves his cabin and joins the planning session, he points out that the EMP plan will not work as desired. The plan is quickly changed to try to get the Programmed Transactor as close to as many Keeper personnel as possible and wipe out the rest after the explosion. Sorry, Captain.
Notes : As you'll see below and throughout, per the pre-written rubrics, I am attempting to give every advantage to the grabber wherever possible (particularly where capabilities are unclear or under-specified). There are numerous keeper tactics like an unhackable, fully-powered Orbital Shield that would be an auto-win for any keeper who thinks of that tactic (which wouldn't be any fun at all). If there are any such grabber tactics (maybe the Akhen Cannon?), I will squelch them as well.
Matches against keeper apshamilton's Island Fortress
Unsurprisingly, after his successful Baldie Challenge build, Captain apshamilton is trying to "turtle" as hard as he can. This is a good strategy (and apshamilton has implemented it well) but it should have been anticipated by all grabbers. It should also be noted that, try as he might, apshamilton was not able to discover a perfectly flat island and, thus, there are areas where the interlocking fields of fire cannot reach ground level (especially after one or more Automatic Turrets are taken out).
balticbadger
Captain balticbadger has the unique strategy of trying to sucker the keeper into accepting a visit from a friendly civilian party -- including a Programmed Transactor suicide bomber. Unfortunately, despite his Propaganda Specialist and Nuclear Family, we've all seen how paranoid Captain apshamilton is. He doesn't even consider dropping the Orbital Shield despite desperate pleas that woman and children will die if the Amarasia isn't allowed to land.Despite the fact that the Orbital Shield is only beginning to power up, the Amarasia has no weapons to take it down. Fortunately, the Syndicate Hacker is able to make quick work of it as typically happens during pirate raids upon planets (defenders just can't keep up with the Criminal's and Syndicate's programmer armies -- especially considering programming god Sh4rken). Balticbadger's crew then lands supplies on the nearest landmass and quickly assembles two Velvet Storms.
Balticbadger's crew then begins his direct assault. Dropping chaff (Velvet Storm gadgets) and standing off at maximum distance, missiles from the two Velvet Storms take out the Automatic Turret farthest from where the lone Vanguard is patrolling. Apshamilton's Secret Agent's SRT advantages are matched and more by the combined efforts of the Mysterious AI, the Comms Officer and the Syndicate Hacker so the chaff and the Storms' ECM suite are effective at the combat range of the engagement. The Storms then come in at wave-top level and quickly drop off the Programmed Transactor Bomb and the KB-119 Kilbot in a sheltered valley with only minimal to moderate damage. While they are quickly returning to get more attackers, apshamilton's patrolling Vanguard charges the beachhead and is disabled when the exploding Programmed Transactor finds a vulnerable point in it's armor.
Apshamilton's two other Vanguards are chasing down the Kilbot when the Velvet Storms return, use the last of their missiles taking out a second Vanguard, and then turn around with the over-matched assault party of Ayumi, The Kumicho, the Comms Officer and the Drachian Commissar. Balticbadger really has no way of defeating apshamilton's defenses and apshamilton's Syndicate Hacker is undisturbed as he successfully cracks the Secret Core.
Score: Apshamilton 100%; Balticbadger 0%
blockmonster
Captain blockmonster opted for a flexible but fairly standard assault strategy with a fully packed Drachian Mantis. He is due kudos for specifically "paying special attention to islands and considering they may have multiple stealth bases." On the other hand, he also mentions needing "to be ready for a siege situation" which, if he allows it to happen, will simply allow the keeper enough time to access the Secret Datacore.Because of the fact that the Orbital Shield is only beginning to power up, blockmonster's Mantis's weapons quickly breach it. Blockmonster then lands the Mantis on the nearest landmass and starts assembling everything.
Once he is ready, blockmonster attempts to sneak his Velvet Storms in under the cover of darkness but quickly finds himself painted with targetting radar and backs off to consider other options. Unfortunately, with his resources, there is little he can do except attack with the Velvet Storms since his Mantis has landed and is out of fuel.
Dropping chaff (Velvet Storm gadgets) and standing off at maximum distance, missiles from the two Velvet Storms take out the Automatic Turret farthest from where the lone Vanguard is patrolling. Apshamilton's Secret Agent's SRT advantages are overmatched by the combined efforts of blockmonster's Secret Agent and Mysterious AI, so the chaff and the Storms' ECM suite are effective at the combat range of the engagement. The Storms then come in at wave-top level and quickly drop off the Rebel General and Rebel Agent in a sheltered valley with virtually no damage. While the Storms are quickly returning to get more attackers, the General and the Agent evade apshamilton's patrolling Vanguard but do little else except some scouting.
When blockmonster's Velvet Storms return, they quickly disgorge two KB-119 Kilbots and again return to get more attackers. While two humans with appropriate counter-measures can frequently evade sensors, the same is not true of Kilbots. While it is unlikely for two Kilbots to take out a Vanguard even with the help of two humans, it is possible and the Velvet Storms are clearly going back for more troops. Apshamilton sends out the remaining two Vanguards.
By the time blockmonster's Storms return with Shen and another KB-119, all three of apshamilton's Vanguards are virtually on top of the Kilbots. The remaining missiles from the Storm's are likely to take out one of the Vanguards, but two Kilbots simply don't match up against two Vanguards, even with the help of two humans. The Vanguard's Anti-Air capabilities prevent the Storms from landing Shen and the third KB-119 near the other two Kilbots and the two Kilbots are sure to be destroyed before Shen and the other KB-119 can travel from a safe landing location.
After a quick consultation with the rest of the crew, the Velvet Storm with Shen returns to the mainland with Shen while the other Storm leaves the Kilbot in a remote location and picks up the Rebel General. Blockmonster does eventually successfully retrieve the Rebel Agent and the remote location KB-119 but the other 2 Kilbots are destroyed by the Vanguards. Blockmonster really has no way of landing sufficient troops simultaneously to have any hope of defeating apshamilton's defenses and apshamilton's Syndicate Hacker is undisturbed as he successfully cracks the Secret Core.
Score: Apshamilton 100%; Blockmonster 0%
digital-wisdom
Captain digital-wisdom has the strategy of keeping the defender moving wherever possible. He also has a fully packed Drachian Mantis. It is quickly ascertained that Captain apshamilton has landed on one highly-defensible location and will attempt to weather any assaults from there. Unfortunately, for digital-wisdom, Apshamilton too used a fully packed Drachian Mantis.Because of the fact that the Orbital Shield is only beginning to power up, digital-wisdom's Mantis's weapons quickly breach it. He uses two Exploration Dropships to quickly land 3 Velvet Storms, 3 Vanguards, 3 Kilbots, an AA/AT turret, 600 energy, all personnel except for Admiral Valro and Tyron who remain upon the orbiting Mantis. Once Velvet Storm assembly is complete, everything is moved under their guard to the nearest landmass to prepare for an assault.
The assault begins when the Vanguard makes its closest patrol approach to the Automatic Turret second furthest from the keeper's Mantis. The three Velvet Storms then drop chaff and stand off at maximum distance while using missiles to take out the Automatic Turret and the Vanguard. The Exploration Dropships stand by out of range as low as they can be flown. The two Secret Agent's SRT advantages cancel other out so the chaff and the Storms' ECM suite are effective at the combat range of the engagement.
Everything then happens extremely quickly as not only the Storms assault the farthest Turret, but digital-wisdom's Mantis does as well, landing with turrets blazing. The Exploration Dropships land behind the Mantis, safe at their low altitude in all the chaos. It's an unpleasant surprise when apshamilton's additional two Vanguards appear but they cannot attack without being easily handled by digital-wisdom's overwhelming firepower. Apshamilton's error of attempting a static defense without space and air superiority was probably his only mistake -- but it was a fatal one.
Once digital-wisdom's forces are arrayed, they go after apshamilton's piecemeal defenses in sequence attempting to capture and not kill personnel wherever possible. The size of the Mantis's personnel and equipment capacities are well-known to both sides so only the exact composition and layout of the apshamilton's defense is a surprise. The Central Base and Tank Base Alpha are found fairly quickly (the latter as the Vanguards came charging out). Once they were defeated one at a time, it was obvious that there must be a third base which was then quickly found and defeated. Digital-wisdom then accessed the Secret Datacore and transmitted its contents about the hostile aliens to everyone within communications range.
Score: Apshamilton 0%; Digital-wisdom 100%
slabakbg
Captain slabakbg's strategy is pretty straight-forward relying upon synergies to advance a Stealthy and/or Hacker-y approach as appropriate. It is quickly ascertained that Captain apshamilton has landed on one highly-defensible location and will attempt to weather any assaults from there. Unfortunately, a fortress island is a nightmare match-up for Captain slabakbg -- and that is even without considering that the Quantum Class Supreme only allows 12 personnel and 4 cargo compared to the Mantis's 17 personnel and 8 cargo.Because of the fact that the Orbital Shield is only beginning to power up, slabakbg's Quantum's weapons quickly breach it. Because he has no other way to reach it, slabkgb is forced to land the Quantum on the island itself. He comes down with guns and turrets blazing and destroys one Automatic Turret before landing in a sheltered valley.
Everyone piles out of the Quantum and tries to start setting up their defense prefabs while sending some of the stealthier personnel to set up a defense in depth. Unfortunately, it is only a very short time before 3 Vanguards and 3 KB-119 Kilbots show up. None of Captain slabakbg's crew wants to take on and be slaughtered by this force so all but the stealthiest are quickly rounded up.
Over the next few days, the stealthy stragglers are captured here and there while apshamilton's Syndicate Hacker is undisturbed as he successfully cracks the Secret Core.
Score: Apshamilton 100%; Slabakbg 0%
Recap
Captain apshamilton ends up in a very strong position with a score of 75% for a nearly perfect build.I believe that it is worth noting that, as part of my preparation, I (digital-wisdom) created a very similar build to apshamilton's as my second planned keeper (except with an Exploration Dropship, 3 Velvet Storms and the orbiting Mantis used in a several different ways as an active part of the defense). I ultimately decided that a Kobayashi Maru keeper wouldn't be fun for anyone and thus didn't include it in the gauntlet; however, unfortunately for apshamilton, my grabber build was tested extensively against it and all the rubrics used in the battle were actually predetermined as a result. If apshamilton had included one Velvet Storm, it wouldn't have made a difference. If he had included two Velvet Storms, the result would likely have been a 50/50 split win as long as he didn't mention an orbital and potentially landing Mantis or the Mantis's turrets in his defense. If he had included three Velvet Storms (or two and actively set his defense to use the Mantis from orbit or it's turrets, etc.), he would have garnered a standard 100% win.
Current Standings
| balticbadger | blockmonster | digital-wisdom | slabakbg | KEEPER TOTAL | |
| apshamilton | 100/0 | 100/0 | 0/100 | 100/0 | 75% |
| balticbadger | |||||
| blockmonster 1 | |||||
| blockmonster 2 | |||||
| digital-wisdom | |||||
| proto26 | |||||
| raudell | |||||
| slabakbg | |||||
| GRABBER TOTAL | 0% | 0% | 12.50% | 0% |