RB Pitboss #2 [SPOILERS] - Speaker and Sullla

[Sareln]

I would have thought the hill in Jowy's lands gives vision into Hampton Roads; is that incorrect?

Even if they can, it might still be correct to sacrifice Hampton Roads in favor of defending Chancellorsville... it does make the gambit less effective, but looking at the case Sullla has made, it's probably going to be difficult to not lose *any* cities.

Sullla & Speaker, what do you do if they try and go for the choke and the slow kill instead of a strike and the short kill?

[Speaker]

Here's an update of the tactical situation, and also our T100 Empire picture.


That mini-stack near Shiloh is actually 1 tile out of the picture.

In the North, we have an Axe, Spear, and 2 Archers playing zone defense between Hampton Roads (which is 100% empty, but can't be hit next turn) and Chancellorsville.

In the East we have three spears playing zone defense. They can cover any of three cities, though the rivers will slow their movement by a turn. Once we get Construction, that will be a powerful tile to hold, since we can defend all three cities from there.

It's kind of hard to see so zoomed out, but we complete the following units next turn:

Gettysburg: Archer
Antietam: Axeman
Fredericksburg: Horse Archer
Chancellorsville: Spearman

Gettysburg will train another Archer each of the following 2 turns.
Antietam will train an Axe or Spear the following turn.
Chancellorsville will train a Horse Archer the following turn.
Shiloh and Hampton Roads will train an Archer, each, the following turn.

[Speaker]

Even if they can, it might still be correct to sacrifice Hampton Roads in favor of defending Chancellorsville... it does make the gambit less effective, but looking at the case Sullla has made, it's probably going to be difficult to not lose *any* cities.

They can see the city, but they can't attack it next turn (unless they had a 3-move chariot or a galley or something, so we can leave it empty for now.

Sullla & Speaker, what do you do if they try and go for the choke and the slow kill instead of a strike and the short kill?

This would be great. We don't really have anything up there worth pillaging, and it will give us enough time to get enough HA to slaughter them. If their units are still around when we get Construction, well, you know what happens then.

[Sullla]

Diplo roundup; I'll start with messages I already sent off:

Dear Rebel Alliance,

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. As you may imagine, it was a busy day for us! I'd like to thank you two for the professionalism in your diplo messages. It definitely gives us a basis for patching things up and working together in the postwar environment.

Speaker said that you should take your horse archer stack and attack Thebes instead of coming after us. I don't suppose you're interested, eh? :) Anyway, we'll be ready to talk as soon as you get tired of fighting Jowy's war for him.

Sullla
The Killer Angels

That whole first paragraph is pure BS; we don't trust this team one iota, and have made it a major goal to kill them off before the game ends. Bad karma - attacking other teams purely for the fun of it - will come around to bite you eventually...

Dear Nakor and DMOC of Holy Rome,

Yes, we were declared on by both athlete/kalin and Dantski this turn. The good news is that we were expecting them to attack; we're actually holding up pretty well for the moment. As well as a team getting hit 3 vs 1 can expect to do, at least!

We really appreciate the cancellation of the Non-Aggression Pact with Dantski. Thank you very much!!! We'd really love it if you could build up some military for 10 turns and then join us in the war against Dantski. We know that you're worried about Whosit - and understandably so - but the fact that Jowy, athlete/kalin, Dantski, and Whosit all seem to be on good terms is really bad news for both our teams longterm. If they take us out, it's probably only a matter of time until they come for you. I still think your best bet is teaming up with us, getting most of Dantski's land, and then being in a much stronger position for the future, with us as a firm ally for support. But then again, I'm a little biased. :)

FYI, Dantski has 8 axes, 3 spears, 3 chariots, and a skirmisher in our territory. We estimate this to be about 70% of his total military. Kumbi Saleh should be virtually undefended right now. I know you've got that NAP thing and all, but you might never get a better chance than this to attack...

Stay in touch!
Sullla
The Killer Angels

Still trying to butter these guys up and get them more firmly on our side. I don't think they really have much of a choice; it's clear that Whosit is supportive of this war against us, even if not participating directly. However, if Nakor continues to sit on the fence and does nothing, we'll cut our losses and sue for peace with Dantski immediately, then go for Jowy...

Dear Broker and plako,

Thanks for your last message! To give you an update on the war, we were invaded this turn by Jowy, athlete/kalin, and Dantski with 36 total units. Nevertheless, we think we'll be OK as long as we avoid really bad dice luck. We still have a few tricks up our sleeve. :)

Diplomacy is definitely turning into a major issue in this game; our failure in that regard has obviously come back to burn us. We know for sure that Jowy, athlete/kalin, and Dantski are working together. Pretty obvious! We also think that Whosit is supporting them, if not directly then at least in spirit.

It would therefore be prudent for the rest of us to try and coordinate a little more closely too! We've had pretty good relations with Nakor so far; if you two could maybe talk to him and try to get him to support us, that would be a big help. It would seem to me (as an outsider, at least) that your team and Nakor have a clear interest in cooperating to defend against Whosit. Have you been able to work together in that area?

We do have contact with dsplaisted, but he's said very little to us. We're going to try and remedy that as well, since he would be an obvious ally if it came to war with Whosit. It's a shame you don't have contact...

There's one other thing your team could do for us: can you let us know if there are any "unusual" resources on the outer islands? Things that didn't appear on the main continent, like stone or marble or ivory, etc. We wanted to explore the islands near us, but this war thing kind of took priority. :)

Thanks a lot!
Sullla
The Killer Angels

I think we should start sending more messages to dsplaisted. Any ideas on what to say to him? Too tired to try and type up a draft tonight. I just sent the above stuff, wanted to get out some responses in the wake of the war's start.

[Sullla]

Speaker wanted the Demographics from Turn 100, here's a "before and after" from our whippings:





Unfortunately we're clearly hurting in the GNP department from all this whipping and having to run high shields... Since the alternative is death, nothing we can do about it though. Whosit is laughing his ass off over on the other side of the world though.

On the plus side, our military rating has gone through the stratosphere. In two turns, we went from 172k to 195k to 213k. Whosit is at 180k, and the others are below that...

[Kristian95]

I can't help but smile when I look at the approval rating.... your population seems to enjoy the whip, as your approval rating has increased.... It makes sense via the game mechanics, but I still find it amusing in a sort of macabre way

Btw, as you are the team currently being dogpiled I am definitely rooting for you... so please beat the living daylights out of the aggressors

[Rowain]

I would have thought the hill in Jowy's lands gives vision into Hampton Roads; is that incorrect?

And you as a lurker should stop aiding players. rooting for Sulla/Speaker is ok but let them make their own mistakes else it is not Sulla/Speaker vs Jowy etc but Sulla/Speaker + aton of spoiled insiders looking over all their work which is completly unfair to all those players that don't have their skill and following.

[ManiaMuse]

And you as a lurker should stop aiding players. rooting for Sulla/Speaker is ok but let them make their own mistakes else it is not Sulla/Speaker vs Jowy etc but Sulla/Speaker + aton of spoiled insiders looking over all their work which is completly unfair to all those players that don't have their skill and following.

Huh? I don't really follow this, the whole point of these spoiler threads is to discuss what teams are doing without spoiling them and as a side effect improve play. If a lurker lets Spulla know about a game mechanic which they didn't know about/had overlooked without revealing any spoilerish information it's hardly unfair. They could have figured it out themselves and it wouldn't have made any difference. The fact that they update this thread very regularly with things lurkers like (ie screenshots) and have cultivated a large lurker following doesn't mean that they should receive fewer tips than other teams.

Nothing about that post was spoilerish or unfair imo.

[Dr. Nomadic]

Moderated. Dr. Nomadic, this is a spoiler. Do not talk about the "why" of another team's motivation here.

[zakalwe]

That's a pretty cool T100 empire picture.

Good luck holding the line, it would be impressive if you survive this dogpile.