USH'S MATRIX GAME 2006 THIRD ASSIGNMENT- 'The Fortress'

Originally posted by Lord Melkor
"Well, I believe in knowledge and undestanding as the only way to achieve true freedom, myself.

And if you say that Moltke did a sensible thing, how would you avoid this mistake?"

"Then I hope that belief serves you.

"Moltke should have seen a much wider picture. His strategy was over-simplified. After the Marne, despite having taken all of Belgium and much of eastern France, they say Moltke reported to his Kaiser that he had lost the war. He realised his error. Too late."

Originally posted by Alkaselzer
Klez remains quiet, watching intently.

Is the King's face shrouded in darkness by something unnatural? Or just no light is directed on it?

You THINK it's mostly just good position of lighting to create the effect.

"Okay, so you would have won in his place..... would the Persians be able to win at Granicus if you were in their command, I wonder?"

Originally posted by Lord Melkor
"Okay, so you would have won in his place..... would the Persians be able to win at Granicus if you were in their command, I wonder?"

"That is very simple. A good general can prevent a rout."

rout? What does it mean?

Originally posted by Ushgarak
[b]"Each of these factors could and should have been corrected by proper Generalship. And was done many times in other battles.

The second is Granicus River. Alexander's charge nearly kills him but wins him the battle. The Persians should have won. But they did not, and the charge is so... glorious... that I feel it deserves to stand." [/B]

"Factors that could and should have been corrected, yes, but there's always an element of unpredictability that while you can take it into account, it could still throw things off. It's easy to look back and say 'this should have happened differently'; I certainly do that with the fights we've been in. But it's hard to know exactly what you'd do and how you'd react. Alexander won because he took an insane risk that no one would expect to succeed. Unpredictability can be a powerful tool."

"Are there any battles from your time as the machine General that you have looked back and and thought it should have gone differently, for any reason?"

Basically a crushing victory...

"How about Napoleon's battle here?" Klez asks. "Though, how do the Machines have a concept of glory? I would think they were more about efficiency."

Running away, Melkor.

--

"No. The elements were absolutely predictable. A good General would not have made the errors presented. You are not a General; you do not understand.

"And no. I won every battle I ever fought, and fairly."

"It means that you think you would be able to win almost every major battle in human history?"

Originally posted by Alkaselzer
Basically a crushing victory...

"How about Napoleon's battle here?" Klez asks. "Though, how do the Machines have a concept of glory? I would think they were more about efficiency."

"The victory was extremely efficient.

"As for Borodino... Napoleon is repeatedly advised to atttack on his right flank. As an artillery commander, he should have seen the benefit of this. But the great strategician- unequalled in his age, maybe any age before me- failed as a tactician. By attacking at the centre, he turned the battle into one of attrition. He could not afford the losses for his Russian campaign, and though Borodino was won, it finished his overall war effort. A strike on the right would have given Napoleon the decisive victory he needed."

Originally posted by Lord Melkor
"It means that you think you would be able to win almost every major battle in human history?"

"Yes. I am the perfect General."

"What about the battles against Machines?" -Melkor speaks with a note of triumph, trying to surprise the King.

"What about them? We lost," Klez says.

"If I was the Human commander, I could have won every major engagement."

"Well, that leaves the Franks versus the Moors, and then Zion," Heph says. "So let's hear about the Franks."

"But we didn`t have a General like Sennacherib." -Melkor grins. (in response to Klez).

"So I've noticed..."

"I'm sorry if it seems rude, but I do find it a bit hard to believe that you would be able to accurately predict - and counter - every single thing that could possibly happen in a battle. Nothing can be completely and totally perfect...the idea is just absurd. Even the machines have flaws."

"Thank god for that," Ares says. "Otherwise, we'd all be very dead. Hell, we'd die again in our graves."

Ares is mostly just watching the dioramas with guns.

"How do you change the channel? I wanna watch Normandy..."

Originally posted by General Zink
"Well, that leaves the Franks versus the Moors, and then Zion," Heph says. "So let's hear about the Franks."

"This one is less a mistake, more than a demonstration.

"This battle is critical. The Moors are poised to take Europe, turn it culturally Islamic, a thousand years before American independance. The base civlisation of the world would be Muslim.

"The Moors have easily destroyed every army sent against them. They did not even have to fight this army they found arrayed against them, but they did from pride, and having no sense of possibly of defeat. This confidence was well founded. Their army is superior, and their armoured horsemen can destroy any foe on the battlefield.

"This army is the last army left defending Europe. There is no more to stop them.

"By some miracle, the infantry squares hold against the opening attacks by the horsemen. Amidst rumours of their baggae train being pillaged, and the initial shock of repulsion, the Moorish forces break. At this critical moment, their General is killed in battle before he can rally them. And so, the army withdraws.

"The Moors do not move forwards again for some while. And the passage of time sees the armies on both sides becoming even, as Europe adopts armoured horsemen of its own- Knights. For the want of a General at the right moment, history is changed forever."