How’s the new digital Twilight Struggle play? ~

Michael Eckenfels, 19 April 2016

PART 3

TURN ONE, ROUND 2: USSR GOES FIRST

Interestingly, Comrade Jerk plays US/JAPAN MUTUAL DEFENSE PACT* for Ops, which fires the Event for me, giving me 4 Influence (and thereby Control) in Japan. This would make the KOREAN WAR* event a bit easier as it would provide a modifier in my favor, so that might be a possible option this Turn.

However, Comrade plays it to stage a Coup in Iran. With a Stability Number of 2, this means he has to roll a 4 or higher on a die, albeit with a +3 bonus from the Ops value of the card. Apparently he rolls a 2, which would fail normally, but the +3 makes it a 5, giving him 2 Influence and Control in Iran. But, of course it does. The USSR continues to solidify its hold on the Middle East.

Since Iran is a Battleground country, and the USSR staged a Coup there, they erode the DEFCON level to 4.

What does this mean? The image pretty much says it all: you pull things like this in dangerous spots around the world, and you generally piss off your opponent. Do it too much, and when DEFCON gets to 1…

…well. See the pretty mushroom cloud? Note that there is no DEFCON 1, technically? That’s because if the track reaches that point, it’s the end of the world as we know it, and everyone feels radioactive.

TURN ONE, ROUND 2: US

My turn again, and now that the USSR has expanded their Control in the Middle East, I suspect he has the MIDDLE EAST SCORING CARD in his evil little hands. So, I’ll probably have to react to his antics there to lessen that impact. At least, I assume I’ll have to; I have no idea if the AI is that smart or not…at least, not yet.

I’m going to go ahead and play Decolonization for Ops. It hurts, but I don’t have much of a choice.

I let him fire the Event first, and he places 1 Influence in each of Indonesia (giving him Control), 1 in Vietnam (again, giving him Control), 1 in Malaysia (removing my Control there), and 1 in Angola (giving him Control).

I really do suck at this game. I feel like I’m already putting myself into a pit that has sandy walls, making it impossible to climb out of. I didn’t have much choice…at least insofar as I’ve seen it.

If you see a clearer choice, please tell me of the error in my ways in the forums.

Instead of Ops, I think I’m going to try a Realignment Roll in Iraq. He has a modifier that will help him out, but I might have a chance at significantly reducing his presence there…if the roll is right.

And according to the odds, the roll probably won’t be right. Note how it says there’s an 83.3% chance of nothing happening.

Still…don’t quote me the odds. Did the builders of this great country care about odds?

I guess they did, because odds suck. And of course the roll doesn’t come out in my favor. There’s no change in Iraq.

I try again in Iraq, and my luck continues to hold…namely, nothing good comes of it. Well…that was a tremendous waste of time. Not only did I react to the USSR’s moves, I pretty much blew it. I should have placed Influence in the Middle East and eroded his position. That, ladies and gentlemen, is called “the benefit of hindsight.”

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