SPOILER - Dazedroyalty's Thread

[dazedroyalty]

Sorry, I have lost most of my motivation to update the thread because there is nothing happening. Scooter proposed some crazy idea where I would give him my city and he would give me a settler on teh far east landmass. It was intriguing but I'm not interested in drawing out an non-winnable position. I would have posted the details for your enjoyment butI was on a work trip so was doing everything from my phone. Now that I'm back, there's nothing happening except everyone else is growing and developing while I do nothing.

[meatbalz]

hard luck in this game dazed. i've started lurking the other threads here so am now spoiled, but well played + most of all congratulations for sticking with it when things turned against you.

[Ilios]

Tough luck buddy, I'm sure there will be lots more Civ 4 games to participate in...

[Sareln]

Are we dead now?

[scooter]

Also, for that matter, after I ended turn, SleepingMoogle's warrior disappeared:

<img>

I have no idea why unless the lion is blocking the view somehow. I didn't realize that units did that. Anyone know anything?

So I'm reading through your thread and if I see something, I'll comment as I go. I saw this post, and after a few seconds I figured it out - I think you'll laugh... Look closely at the before and after... A forest grew between you and his warrior when you hit enter, which blocked your view...

Edit: Whoops, I got further and it turns out someone already explained it. Oh and yes, I really was telling the truth about losing internet that one time when it took me awhile to write back to one of your messages... I wasn't kidding when I said I played the turn in a McDonalds parking lot.

[scooter]

TGL plans? NOPE! Scooter is going to try to build the the Great Lighthouse. He just finished Sailing but is still possibly interested in a trade for a galley? Yeah... that means he's building the Lighthouse himself. He's the only industrious and it's an an awesome wonder, especially how this map looks to be shaping up.

That was an interesting conclusion. Kinda funny, you were absolutely right about TGL, but that trade possibility had nothing to do with it. Reasons:

1. I mentioned quite a few times in my thread that my belief was that the biggest key to the game was off of our starting continent. In retrospect, the game was kind of decided by the time the islands became a factor, but at the time, galleys were important to me.
2. I was trying to maintain good contact with you so you didn't suspect that I was about to send a bunch of axes at you, to be honest . I wasn't nuts about the trade but I wanted reason to keep in good contact with you.

#1 honestly was the bigger factor, but #2 did influence things a bit too. Interesting to see your take on it at the time.

[scooter]

To Scooter:

Scooter,

Here's what I am thinking. On a map like this one that is so cramped, conflict is inevitable even with the expanding to the east. Advantages will be gained that will snowball down the road and close proximity will dictate war. My conflict with Serdoa is just a taste of what is to come. The question is not if conflict occurs, but when and between who.

Tactically/strategically, it is much better to be able to pick the who and when than to have it thrust upon us. My thought process centers around how we can plan ahead for the who and, to some degree, the when.

Because there are five players in line with one another, an alliance of 2-on-1 is only moderately helpful. For example, the map is this (with the letters representing civs):

A
-
B
-
C
-
D
-
E

If A and C team up against B, that leaves both A and C vulnerable to D and/or E attacking their flank and-worst case scenario--banding together to ally with B. In order to safely go to war, the ideal situation is to have one border secured, then ally with your neighbor's neighbor to create a sandwich scenario.

If A and C are teaming up against B, they will want D or E to be on their side too. If they are able to secure the alliance of three, then it will strongly deter the final team from taking advantage of an insecure flank.

How do you make a three team alliance work? Obviously, there would be many details to work out, but if A-C-E team together to wipe out B and D, the fundamental benefit is that there is room for all three to expand into their opponents former land (and with good planning in a fairly equitable way).

The advantage in war will go to the one who has planned ahead to secure allies. So I think it can be clearly stated that a three team agreement is the ideal one.

That still leaves the question of timing. This plan would be enacted down the road at a later date as it is, in my opinion, too early to attempt any type of successful war campaign that would not either completely fail or completely destroy our growth curve.

What is essential now is that we build the structure so that when the time is right, we can choose ourselves when war will come.

My modest proposal is that we discuss the potential benefit of having an alliance between our great nation and TwinkleToes in order to ensure the strength of numbers on our side and, hopefully, the ability to determine when and where war will happen. I have good reasons which I can explain later why I think this is the ideal combination of teams.

Of course, if you believe war is permanently avoidable, this is a non-starter. That is not, however, my opinion. In a five team game, being in the alliance of three is essential.

Long term, we would not be committing to be buddy buddy forever. This would be an alliance of advantage for everyone and we all know we want to win eventually.

Also, the specific term, plans and details would need to be ironed out. This is not meant to be the final proposal but the conversation starter.

What are your thoughts?

Dazed

When you sent me this, my attack plans were already sealed and in motion... I had already made the commitment with Serdoa... Believe me, it was a really intriguing offer, it just came too late for me to be able to consider it without breaking my deal with Serdoa.

[dazedroyalty]

When you sent me this, my attack plans were already sealed and in motion... I had already made the commitment with Serdoa... Believe me, it was a really intriguing offer, it just came too late for me to be able to consider it without breaking my deal with Serdoa.

The funny thing is that I was so worried about not making you commit to anything to early. Little did I know you had committed much earlier... Diplomacy was my downfall for sure in this game. Not surprising since it was the part I had never done before.