[NO PLAYERS] Lurker Thread #115

[TheHumanHydra]

^ That's why I haven't played a modded game yet.

[Old Harry]

If I get Gunpowder I will be safe for another era of military tech, since I will be able to draft Janissary ... and I am SPI to swap in for a 5 turns of Drafting spree as soon as I get the tech while saving gold for my next push of research. I would have to save gold for a turn anyway, so this turn cancels out of the comparison. Direct gunpowder research would take 3 turns, research through the other pre-requisite Guilds path takes 10-turns but gains me 20% of 1440 beaker cost (288 beakers). This is approximately 1-turn of non-GAge break-even post-oxford research. Going through the Guilds line will save me 1-turn to every subsequent tech. I've decided to take the gamble.

I have scrap a 18 knight stack and I most likely declare war to Conrflakes (with only 12 knights as first wave) in two turns. Should work since Cornflakes can only build spearmans as best defensive unit.

Oh Cornflakes...

Going directly to Gunpowder you'd lose at most one or two cities, going via Guilds (and then switching once you realise what Retep is up to) gives Retep 4-5 turns to take whatever he wants.

I'm all for taking risks to get ahead in an FFA, but when your neighbours have Knights and you're bottom power by far that's a very long shot.

Edit: Now watch REM attack Retep and prove me totally wrong.

[Jowy]

Thanks for all the positive comments in the lurker thread guys

[spacetyrantxenu]

retep declared on Cornflakes, which is good (???), but REM has a very dangerous stack on my border, which blows. Not much to do about it save build LB everywhere and continue teching Engineering.

I don't understand why you'd not already have Engineering researched and pikemen massively deployed if you border Byzantium, especially since the guy in control of Byzantium hails from the Gamespy MP community where Byz-Phract is one of the proven Ways To Win. He built enough cataphracts to destroy another player (who also hadn't researched Engineering) so it isn't like there wasn't any mystery at all about what is going to happen with the phract stacks once they were done with the previous victim. When your neighbor is busy killing someone with knights/KnightUU, that's a damn good time to finish Engineering and build your own defense before the wave rolls your way.

I get that everyone likes to play the economy game to win, but it's almost like saying that you're fine with being annihilated if someone decides to attack you before your economy has advanced you out of the danger zone (i.e., Nationhood + Gunpowder, or better). Almost like it's better to be in a position to die than not take all the risks necessary to get an era ahead in tech. And maybe that is a better way to win, I don't know, it isn't like I've won any games ever. But I've also never been blown off the map, like what seems about to happen to Cornflakes or Bob (don't know about Bob's state of defense, but it doesn't seem like he's ready for what has been predictably coming).

I'm not trying to be hard on any of the players here, far be it from me to overly criticize how anyone else plays, given my own success rate. I just can't believe people aren't prepared for the Byzantine thing. I guess everyone hoped REM would attack the other guy, that was the plan to win?

Anyway, the reporting in this game died a lot once REM started attacking, which is a shame, but it will be interesting to see if his conquests can be turned to profit soon enough to catch up to Retep. If Retep gets control of Cornflakes' juicy wonders, who knows, but I think at this point I'm guessing Retep wins and REM concedes when Retep's military tech is too advanced to overcome.

End of game predictions:

1. Retep (winner by concession)
2. REM (concedes, owns half the map, not enough time for the gains to catch Retep)
3. Bob (lives longer than Cornflakes, regrets not having more pikemen)
4. Cornflakes (almost saved by the Next Great Military Tech, dies with vaporware on the battlefield)
5. Jowy (Failure to prioritize Engineering moves him from first to last . Already dead.) Edit: Being trolled by Bob's iron trade didn't help. See my next post, I'll give more credit where it's due.

[AdrienIer]

Jowy's failure was not his own doing, he had a great plan to avoid fighting phracts which was blown away by Bob

[Jowy]

I would argue that my way to deal with REM is the only good way. I ran combat tests as soon as I knew he was playing Byzantium, just in case I end up next to him. Engineering is no get out of jail for free card. Pikes might get a 100% modifier but cataphracts are still a STR 12 unit. There is no easy way to handle them. Any war against Byzantium with cataphracts will cost you the game. Conflict was inevitable between us due to the map, that is something I can't change. I could attack him first, but again, map limited that. If I had horses in my capital it might have happened, but horses were far away in bad spots. The last thing I could do is prevent him from actually building cataphracts, which I managed to do. If naval blockade was allowed I could have even prevented Bob from giving him free iron, but it wasn't. I think I was prepared and played it the best way, but I'm open to hear opinions from others if they disagree.

X-Post with Adrien :P

[spacetyrantxenu]

That's a good point, Adrien. I actually think Jowy played the start well and deserved better than he got here. The iron denial plan was a good counter, preventing phracts and I had forgotten about that (I've edited my previous post in light of this). Still, delaying Engineering was a dangerous plan, as it turned out.

Jowy, yeah, being neighbors with Byzantium when you know the player is going to attack is a tough thing to deal with. It isn't easy to prepare for that and still be in a position to succeed in the game afterward. I think you did almost enough to survive and be in position to still have a chance later. But...Bob.

[Commodore]

This was actually pretty awesome. Taj is only needed for one turn...



Game looks to be headed for a thrilling conclusion.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

What the hell happened to Bob? This is a pretty catastrophic collapse.

[GermanJoey]

What the hell happened to Bob? This is a pretty catastrophic collapse.

Oh my god, I didn't even notice until you mentioned it. From Cornflakes' thread:

T135, Bob's score is 1505 and REM's is 1387.




T139, Bob has lost 1070 points and REM has gained 640.




REM doubled his own score in the span of 15 turns.

I thought FFH was all about building hordes of units, what gives here?