Gary Robinson - 10:09am Jan 6, 1998 PST (#246 of 246)
Gary's Wargaming Web Page: http://www.concentric.net/~wiggler/

Well, we played The Omega War and Voyage of the Biological Survey Mission Pandora
last week. Both were very fun games. Didn't finish either one, these are long
games, but had a good time with each one. Omega War was quite involved and made
for an interesting military situation. The Union air power is awesome and the
Union can basically blow the crap out of two Clan Warrens per turn once their
fleet is concentrated, but since the air units can't move in Reaction or
Exploitation movement they are slow. The combat process almost always costs the
attacker some steps, even at high odds, since the combat is missile-based and
losses represent munitions depletion, so even the best attacks make one pause to
consider whether it is worth losing the steps. Rebel units are very weak on
defense but strong on attack, which always leads to interesting combat situations. 

The Union cities are very tough on defense, especially with their unique "free
shot" attack capability (basically they never take step losses when attacking or
supporting) so Rebel units must be careful not to wander too close to Union
cities for fear of getting popped at no cost to the Union. (This makes is tough
for the Rebels to enjoy the Revolt bonus for having lots of Rebel units next to
a Union Dome.) Similarly, air units never take losses when supporting, so a Union
air unit or two allows even the cheesiest Mutant mobile unit to have a tough
defense with no risk to the Union air units providing the strength. This "air
superiority" effect gives the game a Vietnam feel. 

The Union should never keep air units in cities, since they don't suppress
revolts and can be killed easily by a revolt. Air units are quite good at defense
in the field so they have nothing to fear by leaving the cities. The Rebel really
should just strive to keep his Clans alive until lots of revolts and uprisings
occur, since the Union has the edge in combat power at the start. 

Gary