[SPOILERS]Novice, Spacemanmf and Athlete4life10 are HUYANA CAPAC OF CHINA

[Gaspar]

In this thread, we value lurker comment so much that each comment is replied to three times.

I stopped reading for a while but I caught back up and have stayed caught up. There's not a lot for us to say at this point, Ruff is the only other remotely interesting team at this juncture, and you still have 47T left on your NAP. I'm happy to say you guys are playing an outstanding game, your reports are always interesting, and I've learned a good deal from watching it, however.

I find it interesting that novice managed to end up with the only possible partner who spoke in terms as short as he does.

[spacemanmf]

Right, total power of our rivals is 1668k (average 417k).

Top power is 545k, which is almost certainly Pegasus. Ad hoc looks to be bottom power, with 296k.

The remaining two average 413.5k. TT's power looks to be about half of ours, which is 742k, so maybe 370k or so, which would leave Ruff at about 460k. Ad hoc should beware...

[spacemanmf]

Ruff is the only other remotely interesting team at this juncture, and you still have 47T left on your NAP.

Hmmm, yeah, 47T. That doesn't feel like that long, although we could quite feasibly have infantry by then.

I guess these "current" wars are somewhat like semi-finals. We'll hopefully get a bigger audience if we make it through to the final.

I find it interesting that novice managed to end up with the only possible partner who spoke in terms as short as he does.

We northerners are economical with our language.

[regoarrarr]

Just mentioning that I too follow this game pretty frequently

[spacemanmf]

Just mentioning that I too follow this game pretty frequently

Just in case we let slip any free PBEM17 spoilers... =)

[novice]

Don't listen to Spaceman, Rego.

The biggest news of T154:



We FINALLY have a unit qualifying us for the Heroic Epic. Thank you TT for cooperating!

Also our cities are getting unhappy with fighting christian brothers and with the draft. We should just sign peace and NAP-stab Ruff (kidding), who is stealing two techs a turn from us. It's getting downright scary. He's almost at tech parity, he'll steal Military Tradition next turn.

The endgame could get very interesting as we'll have a huge standing army but need to wade through Pegasus/Krill, whereas Ruff should be able to steamroll Ad Hoc with Cuirassiers. Check out Ad Hoc's road network:



Maybe his workers are automated...

[spacemanmf]

I dunno, automated workers are pretty good compared to that...

It's worth noting too that TT marched his stack on to the unforested hill rather than the forested hill. We would still have had odds I suspect (his top defenders were the catapults), but it would have increased the risk of losing a unit.

With that and the suicide galley mission last turn, it seems TT is hell-bent on giving us some XP. We only need about 9 to get a Great General and, as novice showed above, we have unlocked the Heroic Epic. Our roving axe can finally return to see his family.

[spacemanmf]

Playing now. Krill attacked with a combat I trireme and took out one of ours at 50% odds, so I am retreating our boats.



Bizarrely, TT's impi stayed right where it was, so I took it out with a shock-promoted mace. A barb axe was next to it.



I promoted the CKN which enabled us to FINALLY build this.

[spacemanmf]

Ad hoc is reacting to Ruff's NAP cancellation with a trail of maces.



Meanwhile, some of Ruff's army congregates. I spotted a Conquistador in one of the cities straight after stealing Military Tradition. Uh oh, ad hoc is in trouble.



This is our army (plus 6 archers and 6 CKNs). I drafted another 4 muskets this turn, from two small cities, plus Big Slick and Speed Limit. Not much choice really. We will have 5 small cities to choose from next turn for our last turn of drafting.



I've been pondering whether it's worth switching to OR or sticking with Theo. It strikes me that we could do with some infrastructure builds in our strongest cities (grocer, bank, etc), and the extra promotion isn't adding too much to the stable-boosted mounted units, and isn't crucial for cats.

It will only be until our next golden age anyway.

[spacemanmf]

For NobleHelium, here is Ruff's city shenanigans.



No, I didn't send that message.

I checked out the relationship screen and got some fairly interesting information. Firstly, war weariness for TT and Pegasus. I don't know how that translates into unhappy faces, though.





And also, ad hoc doesn't have Open Borders with Pegasus. Strange.



Here is Krill's latest army - he's promoted some more longbows, perhaps sensing attack.



I upped science a bit since I want us to get Printing Press as quickly as possible since it pays back immediately with the cottage boosts.

And finally, the F1 screen.