[Spoilers] SavageMoogle of the Celts

[Ilios]

Pitboss games can demand a lot of time and attention.

Ain't that the truth...

[SleepingMoogle]

Splash screen greeting me at turn 174:



I was kind of hoping starting this post in a PB-esque fashion might bring forth divine inspiration and make a report that is both informative and entertaining. Fat chance of that of course. But hey, I tried!

So.. Rifling on turn 174. On Quick speed. Painful isn't it? Sandover's creeping close to the modern era now, and here I am all happy with my improved boomsticks. Which brings another point of concern.. that mountain range that has kept Sandover out so far will mean less than nothing as soon as Egypt takes to the sky. I hope that it won't come to that. Against an aerial assault I'd have just about zero defenses.

Quick edit: The obsoletion of Duns means no more Guerilla promotions. Still, it had to be done.

But on the bright side, at least I'd not be as screwed as this fellow:



Poor barbs.. such a pain in the past, and now they eke out an existance in a reserve wedged in between the borders of two nations.

On the other hand, this guy scares me every two turns by forcing the game to play the marching sound when the turn loads. So.. *shrug*

Anyway, at the moment I'm teching Nationalism to unlock drafting and the Hermitage. I think that will be the last tech I'm actively going to research. Trying to keep up with Sandover is kind of pointless, so instead I'll switch to wealth to update outdated units to Rifles and hopefully bluff everyone with my hopefully fairly impressive powergraph, and culture to push my cities to Legendary asap.

The current situation:


(Bibracte/Tolosa/Gergovia)

Bibracte has joined military production again. In the end that will probably do me more good than anything else. Tolosa will switch to full culture next turn, while Gergovia will construct a Islamic Monastery and then the Hermitage before following Tolosa's example. I should have a Great Artist spawn in a handful of turns. I'll probably keep him on hand to culture bomb the slower city at the end if I make it that far.

Some developments on the diplomatic front:

Your Holyness,

I'm sure you're aware the recent defeats suffered by the Khmer Empire against my armies. I will not waste your time explaining what has happened. Let me just say I'm glad we can sustain peace so that my forces are finally free to enact revenge upon those of the blue banner. That mountain range of yours make for an excellent natural border anyway, so why fight over it?

I'd like to suggest that we build upon the current treaty some additional agreements, to further ensure that no blood has to be spilled needlessly. Would you be interested in upgrading the NAP? Or what about a no espionage-agreement? Maybe something else? I'm open to suggestions if you have something different in mind. I can definitly live with sticking to the status quo as well, if that serves your needs better.

Anyway, I'm looking at the map and I'm thinking "doesn't those easternmost Khmer cities look awful out of place?". Surely, I would never try to hold onto those if I ever got that far. But why waste such nice territory on a failed ruler like GES? Personally, I feel that the royal family of Bibracte could rightfully claim ownership of the region. It's time for the true faith to gain a proper foothold in the southern hemisphere, and who would be better to make such arrangements than Your Holyness himself? No one, I say.

You have third place secured. But why would you, someone so skilled at this game that already carry an RBPBEM victory in your bag settle for third? That's absurd! You've beaten Scooter once already - why let him get the best of you here? No, that possibly cannot be! Join me against the infidels! Join me, and show the world the victorious ways of the Moogle!

Pharaoh Sandover of Egypt

I'm 90% sure he's just fooling around here. And if the remaining 10% turns out to be true and he's trying to win me to his side, I'll just laugh in his face. As far as I can determine, Sandover has captured a border city or two, but hasn't gotten to any of the major cities yet, and both sides have a large number of forces on hand to keep the fight going for a long time.

So for now I'll just go with my 90% hunch and ignore the message. As noted in an earlier post, it's probably the most dire of insults I can think of.

Perhaps more interesting is a recent message from scooter:

SleepingMoogle,

Okay so I don't exactly remember... What are the terms of your NAP with Sandover? The reason I'm asking is that Sandover's invasion of Khmer is going on, and things are getting a little tight. I'm gifting GES with infantry/cannons as quick as possible, but we could use every warm body possible. I wanted to approach you about this to find out what the state of your NAP with Sandover is... If it's long-ish enough that you're comfortable, would you mind sending some help? Or at least I'd request the Knights I gave you to defend against Sandover. I genuinely don't know the state of things up there or what your NAP is, so if it's tense and not possible, I'll understand. I do know though that Sandover seems to have the bulk of his army in Khmer land (it's really some impressive stacks), so that's the only reason I'm asking. Hope you don't feel this is too forward or anything, but I felt I had to ask you given the state of Khmer land right now.

Since I'm more or less gifting GES all military that I funnel in, I'll fold like a deck of cards if GES falls, so I'm kind of betting the house that we can hold in his land. Here's hoping.

Thanks!

Okay, so maybe my assumption of border cities was a bit rosier than what's actually happening. But between GES and scooter, I'm fairly sure they can keep back Sandover on a pure production basis. Protracted wars tend to favor the defender on a hammer to hammer ratio, and if the bulk of Sandover's army is indeed invading Khmer land, he will have crippling maintenance costs to deal with. So barring military blunders, I'm fairly confident the status quo can be maintained a while longer.

Anyway, here is the proposal that Sandover agreed to:

*We agree to a 10-turn NAP which, unless canceled by either side, auto-renews for 5-turn periods afterwards. When it is cancelled, there will be a 5-turn cooldown period in which neither side can declare war on the other.
*For the duration of the NAP, you will give me your vote if any AP-election rounds come up. I have no desire to cheese a diplomatic AP-victory, but the seat of Buddhism should remain in Bibracte. Any other votes you can choose as you prefer.

The agreement binds me to a NAP that I'm not inclined to end or break, so I cannot directly declare war on Sandover. There is no mention of providing indirect help or gifting troops though, but to be honest I'd rather not get involved unless things are as desparate as scooter makes them sound (and while I consider him my ally in this game, I know from PBEM7 that he can add a lot of spin to messages in order to receive the needed response).

On a different note, I actually did return those Knights to him already some time ago. I guess he's not quite as much into this game as he used to either.

My response:

Hey there scooter,

While I am bound by a NAP that I'd rather not end or break, the agreement did not mentioned indirect aid or troop gifting. Technically speaking, I could help out in this way, but to tell you the truth I would prefer not to do so to not provoke Sandover in cancelling the agreement. Even if I were to send my own forces south, keep in mind that they would be medieval units, rather than industrial age ones. They probably wouldn't accomplish much against what Sandover is bringing to the field.

If you have specific ideas you'd like to discuss I'm happy to hear you out, but I cannot guarantee that I'll agree with them. My position in this game is precarious at best. Ending in the third place was not something I considered possible for a long time, and I'd rather keep it that way if at all possible.

By the way, I did return those Knights to you already, as soon as Sandover and me were no longer at war. Given the pace of the game that was quite some time ago already, so I can't blame you for forgetting. ;-)

-SleepingMoogle

Let's see if that works. Scooter has always reacted well to opennes and honesty so I hope he'll see my point of view.

[Sandover]

Fortunately he offered to go with his secondary pick to avoid confusion in-game, and if you read this Sandover, thanks a lot for that!

Look everybody - I can be nice!

[Sandover]

When it comes to allies, the ones that require a manual and gentle handling to avoid breaking them really are not what you should pin your hopes on.

Oh come on, is it really that hard to just be upfront?

[Sandover]

Sorry Sandover, but when the game is finished and you're reading this, expecting other Civs to be completely open with you from the start is unlikely to generate a lot of sympathy, especially since you yourself are sharing very little.

1) I was looking for knowledge, not sympathy.
2) I would've shared if you had bothered asking.

[Sandover]

Done. It was a good read. Grats on ending third despite your weak early game (damn mountain pass...).