So, Game 7...
I like when a plan comes together. 
The Alex snowball did happen as expected/hoped.
But it seems I misread the Qin situation.
I expected Zara to open Agriculture (which he didn't because he's an idiot), Justinian to go straight for a religion (which he didn't because he's smart), and Qin to open Mysticism (woooonders : Stonehenge !). Which would have led Qin, after completing his research, to notice that he was very much in the running for a religion and to go for it.
He would thus have planted a Holy City right in the middle of the contested land between him and Justinian (seems like my "Eureka" moment between last game and this one about second city placement is confirmed, though
), been firmly on the other side of the religious divide, and on the winning side of their inevitable conflict.
Well... that didn't quite happen.
I think that Sullla moved Qin's starting spot btw : his starting position doesn't really look like the kind that's usually generated, while the lake with a river source off by one slightly to the East (basically where he founded his third city) is a telltale starting spot. So Qin had two "capital-quality" spots available.
I thought Alex had the best shot at this game, closely followed by Qin, with Peter a more distant chance.
I also believed Peter and Qin had the best shots at ending up second.
So I hesitated a long time between going for Alex + Peter, or hedging my bets with Qin + Qin.
In the end, I went for Alex + Peter because it was more fun, and the other choice was pretty lame.
And contrary to game 5, backing the dark horse paid off this time.
The Alex snowball did happen as expected/hoped.
But it seems I misread the Qin situation.
I expected Zara to open Agriculture (which he didn't because he's an idiot), Justinian to go straight for a religion (which he didn't because he's smart), and Qin to open Mysticism (woooonders : Stonehenge !). Which would have led Qin, after completing his research, to notice that he was very much in the running for a religion and to go for it.
He would thus have planted a Holy City right in the middle of the contested land between him and Justinian (seems like my "Eureka" moment between last game and this one about second city placement is confirmed, though
), been firmly on the other side of the religious divide, and on the winning side of their inevitable conflict.Well... that didn't quite happen.
I think that Sullla moved Qin's starting spot btw : his starting position doesn't really look like the kind that's usually generated, while the lake with a river source off by one slightly to the East (basically where he founded his third city) is a telltale starting spot. So Qin had two "capital-quality" spots available.
I thought Alex had the best shot at this game, closely followed by Qin, with Peter a more distant chance.
I also believed Peter and Qin had the best shots at ending up second.
So I hesitated a long time between going for Alex + Peter, or hedging my bets with Qin + Qin.
In the end, I went for Alex + Peter because it was more fun, and the other choice was pretty lame.
And contrary to game 5, backing the dark horse paid off this time.
(July 10th, 2020, 10:33)Kuro Wrote:I'm actually really curious why you think Justinian's land is so bad.
See above... the land east of Justinian's capital was great... but I believed it would end up being Qin's. So Justinian would have ended up with essentially a lot of tundra/ice cities. Which did happen, but certainly not to the extent I envisioned.
(July 10th, 2020, 10:33)Kuro Wrote:Justinian's territory didn't end up a problem, but everything else was spot on Wyatan (I DID also say I thought Alex could snowball). Great work, Wyatan!
Thanks.
I did have a cold sweat moment though when it seemed Alex was massing units in his city bordering Churchill... luckily, he ended up sending them at the right target !