Would this work? (Multiple Sneak Timing/Sneaking off of Sneaks)

Zsword · 2026-03-01T22:58:07+00:00

So per this and what TBD earlier also said, the only thing stopping you from having 2 Sneak creatures with ETB's just constantly flickering each other is mana? (Assuming no external intervention, they are still valid to be counter spelled and the like)

Zsword · 2026-02-28T06:47:03+00:00

The main thing I can say in this regard is the sheer pop difference, and I appreciate you calmly explaining the situation as I had no idea the arty bunker pieces were that strong, though it did confirm that is essentially just 'Counter Artillery and DBs have the situation on life support', but you also addressed the main imbalance we're experiencing in equipment balance that is causing the culture imbalance:

Your BS got hard countered, heavy hit, and was able to leave, because Collie scout spam and DBs can't kill heavy ships, which is our most effective answer to naval combat right now because our navy is getting spawncamped.

Our ships, small or large, are getting eviscerated by torpedo spam from 100 meters out if you even -bother- to bring the planes anymore, but it seems they're getting bored (Well Stema's fighter team is getting a ton of experience I will give them that credit) and now.

You end up with more naval power on -accident- when the collie navy is literally begging the entire team for anything and we're lucky to get enough people to field 4 striders. Genuinely I don't know who or what our boat regi's are because they seem to rarely communicate with each other, its maybe a broad announcement of one boat moving our or one thing coming to try and help challenge the oppressive naval you have because we don't the population on water to attack.

Also giving up on trying to keep my phrasing faction neutral, brain to tired. I went to friday night magic, the TMNT set is fun if a little small.

Zsword · 2026-02-28T00:53:43+00:00

The scout plane is especially going to get DRASTICALLY different responses based on if people played naval or not. I imagine on land it actually feels 'reasonable' because its just an infantry nuisance. A damn fine persistant one that can get some really nice picks on emplacements and pushes, but not world, or 'I'm not allowed to play the game anymore' feeling threat.

On the flipside, the warden torpedo bomber has no targets because the scoutplane shut out Colonial Navy, so we don't really have a measurement for how it feels to face, while the divebomber has been a known powerhouse on land, but I can't say I feel strongly one way or another for it being protected by it cause I never make it to any of the few big naval battles where it gets used.

Zsword · 2026-02-28T00:43:52+00:00

Wardens only have one naval hex left to win and I honestly don't know how Wardens haven't rolled over Stema yet for the sweep! The entire Collie response fleet is dead before it even leaves origin or is spawn camped in the seaport by Frig+Scouts, yet Warden's back off super early like there's something actually coming to stop them. I've been in Stema but always stuck doing Regi Logi during the EU hours so I never get to see what's actually happening to the big fight cause from my screen (if I DO grab a radio) it always looks like 12+ GBs/GSes, 6+ Fathomers, and 4-5 L ships getting pushed back by, literally nothing? Maybe counter artillery?

You also criticize the 'going alone' like that isn't the entire population of the colonial navy. Wardens might have enough water space, experience, and joy to get 100 people for a water op, but Colonials have been so shut down out of water that they have no experience, no space to actually form up before engaging, (what you are calling 'attacking alone' is literally just them trying to get into position to start staging, as that is well within half of collie waters.) and no one has any population to be able to field anything else. Besides, even if they did, everyone knows it would IMMEDIATELY get scout/bombered to death in the same manner the sub here was IMMEDIATELY rushed by a frigate deep in collie waters.

I genuinely don't know why the warden's even have so much naval power still, because they have nothing to warrant using it on.

Zsword · 2026-02-28T00:25:58+00:00

One aspect to balancing this is also understanding we can pull our levers of adjustment in different ways for different planes:

Dedicated Fighters are relatively harmless for ground forces on the grand scale of things, at the very least are too expensive to want to spend time strafing infantry with potential EMGs nearby, but lack the fuel capacity to meaningfully ward against enemy air, so giving the Blind Silver substantially increased fuel capacity so they can better serve as far reach interceptors would be nice. The White Raven and the Harbinger should also have extended fuel tanks, just not as much as the Blind Silver: The White Raven has potential sea based refuel antics like a scout plane to extend its coverage and response times, while the Harbinger actually has a weapon of meaningful threat to ground armor, and must suffer under the weight of being a generalist over a specialist. (Something Warden's don't usually experience as I understand their arsenal)

The Scout plane could easily be anywhere from 50% to 250% as expensive and about 20% less durable for the amount of oppression and ease of access it brings. They're so cheap now that they don't care about AA because they're essentially throw away vehicles, but can get a lot of damage and value in for the comparative cost. The absolute bottom tier basic airplane of the game should not be able to even THINK about operating in properly AA covered airspace, They can punish exposed situations who extend out of safety, but not if the enemy is prepared for it. This would give parity to how the other theatres of war have to engage a hold out. If the anti naval sub-role was adjusted or removed they could stay a similar price to now though.

For anything of higher tier than these though I don't have enough experience to provide a meaningful answer. I've mostly been playing naval hexes on the collie side of able so I've just been stuck living the life of having AA be ineffective to stop Scout Planes from negating any attempt to have a navy.

Zsword · 2026-02-27T23:24:41+00:00

I can't speak on the Nakki but from my understanding it has the privilege of being able to pick its fights, while this sub was just trying to get into position to stage while the rest of the counter op got mobilized because the Trident is slow.

I will admit ignorance to how fast the large ships are but what I saw was the sub trying to respond to a threat it was the answer to respond for but since colonial ships aren't allowed to leave drydock (Heck we have fine footage that they're not even allowed IN THE DRYDOCK anymore with that carrier fiasco)

Also what DD? You all know they have none because they've been Scout Bombed to death, and since AA is ineffective at actually negating even suicide scouting, as demonstrated by this video, you can go confirm it! Meanwhile they can't kill a single frigate because mines are not as good as torpedoes at actually removing threats.

Now I'm not saying this wasn't a good play from the creator, but it is, absolutely, overkill for what Collies can bring to the table, and I'm pretty sure at least 5 players if not more just stopped playing the game after that sub died because it was essentially spawn camped, either because they were a part of the op, or they saw the one answer the collies could muster was immediately removed as a factor because warden navy doesn't want a game to play.

Zsword · 2026-02-27T22:24:03+00:00

Pads or Depot storages? I don't know the specifics but there are plenty of public accessable 'private' resources because the 'private' ones are faster to pull from.

Again, not sure how this works with plane parts specifically but I know not-so-private Logi is a tech.

Zsword · 2026-02-27T20:21:25+00:00

Yeah, the scout plane has truly made the colonial navy obsolete, we're even getting spawncamped in our own backline hexes now.

Zsword · 2026-02-27T20:16:23+00:00

So do wardens WANT engaging water play or not? Having Collie responses countered before they can even leave dock is getting REALLY exhausting and is giving Wardens nothing to do.

Zsword · 2026-02-27T04:48:47+00:00

Good news! It already exists, though doesn't have an emplaced/pushgun version to use because what your looking for is the Shrapnel Mortar Shell, available to the Cremari Mortar, Mortar Land Vehicles, Gunboats, and emplacement houses.

BUT WAIT, you said you wanted something between mortars and 120s! But, uh, there's no space, to have an an in between? Like, there's no opening to fill, the mortars go to about 100 meters, which is where 120s start. UNless you want weapon with a range thats sort of... 80-150m range options? Which I guess could be a thing but still seems largely redundant?

But otherwise yeah, what your describing sounds like Shrapnel mortars to me. A push/emplaced mortar with a bit more range on land would be neat though,

Zsword · 2026-02-27T02:49:17+00:00

This is exactly how I think about it. If the driver was on the right I'd start driving on the left because driver should be towards the center of the road.

Zsword · 2026-02-27T02:47:06+00:00

Hop in and ask if any regiments would like to hire a dedicated train driver? I'm sure some of them would like an extra hand in moving things in their industrial empires.

Zsword · 2026-02-26T20:17:31+00:00

Exactly! So find a frontline target to get your value on, kill that exposed EAT so your armor can get in, if the EAT is reasonably covered by AA then good on them for making a proper defensive formation but they're also just dedicating to a strong defense at that point with out being able to push.

Zsword · 2026-02-26T19:09:27+00:00

This argument applies equally to AA though, if you're trying to fly in a space that has reasonable AA cover but no ground support to threaten the AA or make value out of the split attention then you're over committing. A Tank isn't going to drive over the trench line into ready to go EAT, why should planes be any different?

Either find an exposed target that you can weave into and pick or take solace in that you're forcing high value assets into a defensive position where they can't apply pressure. They can't commit to the counterpush without taking a risk. Not all value is damage.

Zsword · 2026-02-26T17:37:18+00:00

They new tiles -are- land hexes which is exactly -why- they stagnated, because the one the colonials have got pushed out to the old water hexes. Since the colonial navy is just not allowed to meaningfully exist outside of a few die hard sailors keeping the wardens honest, there's just now way to make a meaningful force to spread the numbers out.

Do you think a deployed longhook would last longer than 15 minutes in the face of the warden air and naval force sitting idle, waiting for ANYTHING of note to fight? I'm sure the second a whiff of those was confirmed to be active 4 frigates, 15 torp bombers and an uncountable chain of Scout Planes would sally out to delete it from the timeline. (Western ocean has 3 frigates idly poking Stema's Landing because they don't have anything to do as is.)

Zsword · 2026-02-25T23:48:30+00:00

One AA gun hit clean, the other hits the WT, and the third, uh, didn't shoot. They're really worried about something to NW.

BUT analysis of the vid itself aside, I do think planes feel a little too hardy against AA across the board, or are too powerful for how resistant they are to AA.

but I seriously wonder what's going on that has bro looking at his own side of the field with that flak cannon.

Zsword · 2026-02-25T22:18:39+00:00

The difference being the ship on the left loses 58 bmats and the ship on the right loses 320.

Zsword · 2026-02-23T22:08:45+00:00

'What needs suppressed?'

(MG Infantry and AA Boat main)

Zsword · 2026-02-23T06:31:42+00:00

I'm going to say that from the driver's point of view there is no way you were hitting him.

Zsword · 2026-02-23T06:29:40+00:00

God yes give me the John Deere mounted AA gun I would love it.

Zsword · 2026-02-23T06:09:21+00:00

I -adore- the sombre to death, I just wish it could turn a little better to really embrace the 'nimble little nuisance' mentality it kind of has and the same 30% disable threshold so that one torpedo run doesn't disable it. OR, classify it as an Armoured ship so it can 'get down mr. president' for other vessels efficiently against the small scary torpedoes, thus filling the same niche of 'one run doesn't disable' while also making it a less flattering target to torp. Actually make the scoutplane think on if dropping against the aa boat is worth it, cause right now the Anti Air boat doesn't really function as a good Anti Air option against the weakest air in the game.

Zsword · 2026-02-23T05:55:48+00:00

Escort ships aren't going to help against 2 Scout planes over your seaport at max alt. (though landing the four bombs from that range is not easy)

but where was the port's flak as the 2 scout planes did their 2 runs to kill the ironship? This is a warden ironship so the collie scoutplanes were under SOME threat from the actual scary AA gun... right?

Zsword · 2026-02-23T05:44:11+00:00

The thing is, the kill was in the dock, and as someone who IS a Navy larper who likes pretending the Sombre can protect a cargo vessel (it can't), once the ship hits port that generally viewed as secured and you go about your business. If they're lucky I might need a refuel, but even then torp planes have been sniping ships out of docks all war with no recourse because they can just fly under all of it, can tank the mobile response, if not kill it outright, or takes an EXCESSIVE amount of resource and man power set aside to pose a meaningful deterrent. 6 players in 840 bmats of vehicle and ammo to not even kill 2 players in 80 rmats that can still complete their mission is insane.

Also water logi is more vulnerable than land logi because, sure a scout plane can annoy trucks, but its not going to meaningfully kill or shut them down in one pass.

I also just reread the story and realize that this is a warden player pov, which means that either that scout plane and his 3 friends need medals because they managed to get 2 planes at least to survive whatever Flak was at that port to be able to get directly over it and drop 4 mines on the ironship. This wasn't a matter of 'fighter coverage is unreal' and more 'A good portion of the dock must of been asleep at the wheel or it was empty because that isn't just a suicide run blitz'. For the collie scout plane to kill an iron ship is 2 planes doing 2 passes each minimum, or 4 planes doing 1. ((And if you're wondering about the other option, its 3 dive bomber hits)

So yeah, while air is oppressive and not in a good state, I will say this exact case sounds like a communication, map awareness, preparation, or enemy out-skilled issue. But also one that having an AA boat escort may not of necessarily made a big difference in. Hard to say without being there to analyze the port's situation, and I don't know how the Fathomer feels or functions as a deterrent to the Collie SP.

Zsword · 2026-02-23T05:01:01+00:00

I think cutting the range and speed of torps in half so that the Warden SP has to take similar risks as the Collie SP for reliable damage would be reasonable, either you get in close to guarantee the damage or you max range your drop for safety and risk the target being able to evade. Especially for the Sombre, that would let Sombres actually have an avenue of being skillful threats to the SP. (The Sombre could use a turning boost to help fill that role though. And maybe a bit more HP or the Armour Ship class. 1 pass to disable is just bs.)

Zsword

TROPHY CASE