EXODE Federal Database Challenge: Keeper digital-wisdom Results

Preliminaries

Note: As you'll observe 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). Despite this, there is still at least one unbeatable keeper strategy that I am aware of. If there are any unbeatable grabber selections/tactics (Akhen Cannon?), they will be squelched in a similar fashion.

Matches against keeper digital-wisdom's Snapping Turtle

Digital-wisdom has what appears to be a reasonably weak defense with just a Defensive Bunker and two Velvet Storms defending it. This is partly due to the fact that he has hidden out-parties to aid in the defense and mostly because he hopes never to have to actually, you know, defend.

balticbadger

Captain balticbadger's grabber 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. His Amarasia hails digital-wisdom's base and does their spiel. Digital-wisdom's crew is, of course, not interested in the Brooklyn Bridge or snipe hunts. They warn the Amarasia off, stating that a close landing or any attempt to approach the base will be regarded as a hostile act and will be met with extreme prejudice.

The Amarasia lands close to digital-wisdom's base but just far enough balticbadger's crew believes that they are safe from interference while assembling their prefabs. Digital-wisdom's crew radio their displeasure to the Amarasia and warn that not only will they not tolerate anyone or anything even headed in the direction of their base but that they will attack if they see any offensive prefabs being assembled. The Velvet Storms keep a close eye on the Amarasia's landing site.

The Amarasia sends out the Nuclear Family to start assembling shelters from native materials and apparently a number of crew members to start assembling the computer room. In reality, however, they successfully use the hastily expanded shell of the computer room to shield the assembly of two Velvet Storms.

Digital-wisdom's crew is exceptionally unhappy and irate with the appearance of the Velvet Storms. They pull their own Velvet Storms back to patrol above the Defensive Bunker and tell balticbadger's crew to land and disassemble their Velvet Storms or face destruction. This is met with laughter, jeers and derision -- until balticbadger's crew becomes aware of the approach of a "Rhino" Ground attack ship. Digital-wisdom's Velvet Storms move to cover the Rhino's attack run.

Balticbadger's Mysterious AI has a slight SRT advantage of the Secret Agent but the keeper's Velvet Storms precision maneuvers clearly indicate that they are piloted by military pilots who are more skilled than Ayumi and The Kumicho. Balticbadger's crew assumes that the Rhino is piloted by an excellent pilot as well (and it is, indeed, piloted by Planetary Pilot Oksana with Warfare Skills). Their Velvet Storms are quickly ordered to land while the Propaganda Specialist anxiously tries to convince the Rhino not to attack the landing site citing the civilian "women and children" of the Nuclear Family.

The Rhino has no intention of attacking the Amarasia unnecessarily. Once balticbadger's Velvet Storms land, the Rhino instructs that their crews leave or else. As soon as the crews do so, the Rhino destroys the Storms.

Digital-wisdom's Storms continue to monitor the Amarasia's landing site and crew. Unbeknownst to the Amarasia, digital-wisdom's crew has used an Exploration Dropship to land a Custom Prefab, the Federal Database and a Tech Expert with Cybernetics and Programming skills on the other side of the planet. Undisturbed, the Tech Expert has all the time in the world to access the Secret Datacore and promptly transmit its contents about the hostile aliens to everyone within communications range.

Score: Digital-wisdom 100%; Balticbadger 0%

blockmonster

Captain blockmonstermonster opted for a flexible but fairly standard assault strategy with a fully packed Drachian Mantis. It is quickly ascertained that digital-wisdom has one small fortified location with a Defensive Bunker and two Velvet Storms running Combat Air Patrol -- but there is no sign of the ship that brought them here. Eventually, the Mantis manages to locate a Rhino Heavy Attack Frigate that is running dark. The Rhino is definitely going to be a problem were the Mantis to leave it alone and land.

The Mantis's multiple Turrents, Tacscan and higher quality level beats the Rhino's single Turrent and optimization for Ground attack. Both are piloted by Veteran Space Pilots with Warfare skills and the Secret Agents cancel out as well The Mantis moves to attack but digital-wisdom's Velvet Storms go orbital to assist the Rhino. The Mantis backs off and waits for one of the Velvet Storms to land. While the Velvet Storms have Orbital Capacity and Missiles to aid in defense, they really can't aid the Rhino in chasing down the Mantis (which the Rhino really can't do either).

Once one of the Storms leaves to refuel, the Mantis attacks -- only to find that the combination of the Storm's Missiles and the Rhino's Armor is still sufficient to prevent the Rhino's destruction without endangering the Mantis. The Rhino is unwilling to be forced down because it knows that if it is forced to land, the contents of a fully-loaded Mantis would almost certainly be able to overwhelm digital-wisdom's remaining defenses (plus digital-wisdom's crew wants to leave the planet once they access the Secret Datacore).

The stalemate continues until the two Velvet Storms are fully refueled, the Mantis is in a sub-optimal position to intervene and the Rhino releases an (empty) Exploration Dropship towards the opposite side of the planet from digital-wisdom's base. The Mantis could still destroy the Dropship but it will be low enough in the atmosphere that it's fuel situation would prevent it from reaching orbit again -- even if it isn't harassed by the Storms and Rhino, which is highly unlikely. Besides, it would be contrary to their orders to stay in orbit until the Rhino lands. The Mantis opts to stay in orbit and observe the landing site.

Construction begins below. Now there are two sites on opposite sides of the planet where digital-wisdom's crew could conceivably be setting up the Federal Database -- or, it could still be in the Rhino. Blockmonster's crew again decides to follow orders and live dangerously by remaining in orbit. When the Mantis is again in a sub-optimal position and while the Rhino and the two Storms feign pursuit, the Dropship successfully returns to the Rhino.

The game is repeated couple more times and then the Rhino contacts the Mantis. "So . . friend . . . let me explain what is going on here. What we have here is a good old-fashioned shell game. You already have three shells to choose from and I can keep doing this for quite a while -- visiting my main base periodically to refuel. Now, I'm sure that you probably can take out my Dropship -- but I'm equally sure that we can prevent you from getting back into orbit -- assuming that your fuel situation doesn't do so."

"Even if you do, somehow, guess exactly which shell contains the Database, I'm sure that my Velvet Storms can pick it up while I pound the snot out of your ship. I will also be exceptionally annoyed if you destroy my Dropship because, after I have accessed the Secret Datacore, I intend to use it reclaim everything from the planet and blow this popsicle stand. In any case, the Velvet Storms and I are certainly not going to let you succeed in assembling anything capable of reaching the opposite side of the planet where I will be setting up the Database. So why don't you just order some fuel from the interstellar market and leave me to go about my business?"

Blockmonster's crew thinks it over and realizes that there is really no way in which they can win and being stuck on the planet and attacked doesn't sound like fun at all. Having no other real options, they proceed exactly as the Rhino suggested -- ordering fuel from the interstellar market and heading for greener pastures. Given all the time in the world, digital-wisdom's crew accesses the Secret Datacore and promptly transmits its contents about the hostile aliens to everyone within communications range.

Score: Digital-wisdom 100%; Blockmonster 0%

digital-wisdom

Captain digital-wisdom's grabber has the strategy of keeping the defender moving wherever possible. He also has a fully packed Drachian Mantis. It is quickly ascertained that digital-wisdom's keeper has one small fortified location with a Defensive Bunker and two Velvet Storms running Combat Air Patrol -- but there is no sign of the ship that brought them here. Eventually, the Mantis manages to locate a Rhino Heavy Attack Frigate that is running dark. The Rhino is definitely going to be a problem were the Mantis to leave it alone and land.

Or, rather, the Rhino would have been a problem if the grabber hadn't thought of and planned for exactly this scenario (it's funny how that works . . . ).

The Mantis's multiple Turrents, Tacscan and higher quality level beats the Rhino's single Turrent and optimization for Ground attack. Both are piloted by Veteran Space Pilots with Warfare skills and the Secret Agents cancel out as well The Mantis moves to attack but wisdom-keeper's Velvet Storms go orbital to assist the Rhino. The Mantis backs off and waits for one of the Velvet Storms to land. While the Velvet Storms have Orbital Capacity and Missiles to aid in defense, they really can't aid the Rhino in chasing down the Mantis (which the Rhino really can't do either).

Once one of the Storms leaves to refuel, the Mantis attacks -- only to find that the combination of the Storm's Missiles and the Rhino's Armor is sufficient to prevent the Rhino's destruction without endangering the Mantis. The Rhino is unwilling to be forced down because it knows that if it is forced to land, the contents of a fully-loaded Mantis would almost certainly be able to overwhelm wisdom-keeper's remaining defenses(plus digital-wisdom's crew wants to leave the planet once they access the Secret Datacore).

Unfortunately for wisdom-keeper, wisdom-grabber waits until one Velvet Storm is refueling and manages to successfully land two exploration dropships in two separate locations on the other side of the planet from wisdom-keepers fortification. This leaves the Rhino with somewhat of a conundrum. It can certainly destroy one landing site and get back into orbit. If it tries to get both landing sites, it most likely wouldn't be able to return to orbit or even get back to his fortified base afterwards -- and it has the Federal Database and no real defenses when it lands. The Dropships continue ferrying personnel and supplies to even more distinct sites on the surface. Several sites manage to assemble Vanguards which are moved into view with KB-119 Kilbots and then Velvet Storms.

Wisdom-keepers crew is exceptionally unhappy when not one, not two, but three Velvet Storms burst out of hiding. Wisdom-grabber now clearly has air superiority and can land and defend it's supplies and personnel at will. The Rhino still might be able to destroy one site but that certainly isn't going to stop the grabber whose personnel and equipment outnumber wisdom-keepers and will obviously be able to run down keeper forces regardless of where they run to.

Wisdom-keeper wisely surrenders. After he turns over the Secret Datacore to wisdom-grabber (which is all he wants), he uses his Dropship to return all his personnel and possessions to the still-orbiting Rhino, buys fuel from the interstellar market and moves on to greener pastures. He is immensely gratified when he finds out that wisdom-grabber accessed the Secret Datacore with his own Federal Database and promptly transmitted its contents about the hostile aliens to everyone within communications range -- just as wisdom-keeper had intended to do.

Score: Digital-wisdom keeper 0%; Digital-wisdom grabber 100%

slabakbg

Captain slabakbg's strategy is pretty straight-forward relying upon synergies to advance a Stealthy and/or Hacker-y approach as appropriate. He is, unfortunately, in the exact opposite situation from wisdom-grabber. His build has the repeatedly fatal flaw of having absolutely no long-range transportation. Digital-wisdom just needs to land on the other side of the planet as planned, access the Secret Datacore and transmit its contents about the hostile aliens to everyone within communications range. Having all the time in the world to do so, digital-wisdom's crew accesses the Scret Datacore and promptly transmitted its contents about the hostile aliens to everyone within communications range

Score: Digital-wisdom 100%; Slabakbg 0%

Recap

Captain digital-wisdom's Snapping Turtle keeper manages to score identical match-up results with co-leaders Captain apshamilton and Captain blockmonster. In all cases, though, digital-wisdom's wins were effected by getting away from the grabber rather than successfully defending in place. As judge, jury and executioner, digital-wisdom is, of course, not in contention for prizes and his results should possibly be regarded with some skepticism. 😉

On the offensive side, Captain blockmonster neither gained nor lost ground relative to Captains balticbadger and slabakbg and thus appears headed to a first-place finish as balticbadger and/or slabakbg need to surpass his results for two out of the remaining three keepers to beat himb (and not lose ground in the third). Captain blockmonster was also the closest of the three to beating Captain digital-wisdom's keeper.

	balticbadger	blockmonster	digital-wisdom	slabakbg	KEEPER TOTAL
apshamilton	100/0	100/0	0/100	100/0	75%
balticbadger	100/0	-50/40	-50/50	100/0	25%
blockmonster 1	100/0	0/100	50/50	100/0	62.5%
blockmonster 2	100/0	100/0	0/100	100/0	75%
digital-wisdom	100/0	100/0	0/100	100/0	75%
proto26
raudell
slabakbg
GRABBER TOTAL	0%	17.5%	50%	0%