RB PBEM #2 - Justinian (SPOILERS!)

[Dreylin]

from SL:

The frustraiting thing is that we would have beaten them had I got a GS to bulb the rest of Edu... nevermind.

Dreylin - I'll send Edu - Guilds through next turn. Thanks for the stone. I'll return once done.

Ruff - I don't suppose you have a spare worker on the ivory coast i could borrow to hook up my 2nd ivory? Dreylin - trade ivory for something?

Cheers,
SL

Ah well. 8-(

I should have a spare Crabs hooked up in a few turns if that's of interest, otherwise there's still those Cows you had before the Wheat came online.

Dreylin.

[Dreylin]

t102 - slightly delayed, but here nonetheless.

Guilds - Education trade goes through with SL, and also Drama & Theology - Philosophy.

Adrianople: Caravel - University
Nicaea: Warrior - University
Angora: Warrior - Lighthouse

I R Pope, wonder if it'll allow me to make any anti-Krill proclamations?

Very little to actually do this turn; a couple of Caravels move and the new Warriors fortify or head to another city to do so. No whipping this turn either, as apart from Trebizond's Caravel (which can't be done yet) all builds are either 1t from completion, or have just started. I expect I'll be whipping a few Universities over the next few turns though ... hmmmm, here's a thought; Oxford is a Stone-accelerated Wonder. I'll send SL a note and see if he can get his built ASAP so I don't have to wait.

SL,

While I think about it, what are the chances of you having your Oxford finished in the next 10t while you have the Stone? I'll want it back ASAP to build my own, so if you could try and get that done it would work out for both of us.

I note that Krill still hasn't finished Chemistry, so I think Darrell is going to have to delay Liberalism by a turn.... 8-(

Dreylin.

Here's Constantinople in all its Glory:



Double-take:

Scratch that, I'm an idiot. He just got Chem since he now shows as being able to research Steel. D'oh!

[Dreylin]

t103 - Liberalism -1t.

Constantinople: Grocer - University
Thessalonica: Barracks - University
Antioch: Longbow - Buddhist Monastery

At this point it doesn't look like it would be worthwhile spewing out a bunch of MP Warriors, and the connection of my Iron is 2t away, so I'm going to go ahead and hook up the Copper as well.

Whip Caravel into Trebizond, Courthouse queued. Not quite ready to whip any of the Universities.

I'll probably try to pop out a couple of Settlers in the near future. Blue Dot will have it's Crabs & Iron ready and is close enough to the Cap that the maintenance costs shouldn't be too great, and the Jungle dot on Ni! should be ready to settle with a recently-beefed workforce of 4 to clear-cut the Jungle (of course I still need to decide where to actually put it!).

Gunpowder will complete in 1.1t; I could run at 0% next turn to complete it, but if I can get full funding for the Chem run then I shouldn't slow down. I request 10g from Ruff, and will send an e-mail round asking about the plan.

[Dreylin]

3rd-hand diplo:

So - what is the plan? Here is some gossip from Darrell ...

"I am going to coordinate things with you because I don't think Dreylin trusts me
I delayed getting Chemistry one turn but have no idea where you guys are.
Krill is going Astronomy next he wants to get it faster than I can tech it
That means you guys need to go for Astronomy.
I have no idea why SL is on Nationalism but he needs to switch to Astronomy. I am hoping Dreylin is near Chemistry, I see he has Education and he should be geting another 20% discount for Krill and I knowing it.
He'll get 20% again for Chemistry."

Ruff

Guys,

Darrell is right that I don't quite trust him, and that is for 2 very good reasons:

1) He shows absolutely no sign of stopping trading with Krill - which is helping Krill get further ahead of the three of us. (even in that quote he's talking about trading Astro to Krill)
2) He doesn't seem to understand just how long it is taking the three of us to research these techs ... not least because last time I spoke to him he seemed to think that Ruff could fully fund both SL's and my research!?!?!?!?

The reason that SL is on Nationalism is because when Darrell and I spoke last, he lead me to believe that HE would supply Astronomy to us:

"Darrell: Well...I don't think you can deliver astro in a timely manner, so I was thinking I would deliver Astro and you guys would just owe me"


My research situation is this:

I am a handful of beakers away from Gunpowder; with my UoS capacity I could grab it at 0%, however I'd prefer to run at 100% and overflow into Chemistry. At 100% my expenses are 80-90gpt, and I have <80g in the bank. I asked Ruff for an additional 10g to get me through next turn.

Chemistry says 7t; that's probably 5t with overflow and additional discounts, and to get that I'd need ~90gpt, so of the order of 450g total. That would need funding from both of you I think?


Dreylin.

To me it seems like either Darrell has given up on actually winning the game and instead is going for the "sunrise" approach of guaranteeing his survival through to the endgame, or he's just deluding himself that he has any chance of standing up to Krill once the rest of us are gone....

[Yazilliclick]

Quite the tangle of techs and deals to work through. Too bad you don't have another person to fund research

[Dreylin]

Quite the tangle of techs and deals to work through. Too bad you don't have another person to fund research

Oh totally agree with that! You saw me try and talk Ruff out of killing you, right?

[Yazilliclick]

haha yeah Too bad.

[Dreylin]

Got this back from SL, but it's not exactly useful:

Hey Guys,

I am on Nationalism for drafting. We need some land troops too! ;-)

I can supply some gold to you if you like - how much do you need?

I will be able to give you your stone back in 2-3t. I won't be able to get oxford done this time and will need to borrow it again later if that is ok?

Cheers.
SL

[Dreylin]

t104 - Get the march-y noises on start-up ... I think Krill just declard War on me.

Antioch: Buddhist Monastery - (placeholder)
Nicomedia: Caravel - (placeholder)

Looks like he took offense to my Caravel exploring the waters around Lands End and he attacked it. Got lucky on a 33%, but he did have a second in the area to clean up ... it's now sitting near Nicaea.

I find that he has a Caravel next to my Northern explorer and since it's off the coast I take the 50% ... success!



Now his Caravel at Nicaea. I have 2 Trireme onsite, but it has abysmal odds and I have no other units in range. There's a second Trireme outside Nicomedia, and the new Caravel inside the city but both are 1tile too far away to attack. Upgrades will cost 41g each, and I have 88g in hand to finish Gunpowder at 100%. But since I can get Gunpowder at 0%, I think that I will invest the gold into 2 upgrades.

The new Caravel from Trebizond will also head North along the coast ... seems like Caravel trips should be take in pairs these days.

Whip Universities in Adrianople and Nicaea. Iron is now connected, so I start a Cataphract in Antioch (may as well have some land units, right?) and another Caravel in Nicomedia - 1t with a chop coming in.

[Dreylin]

Sent this to Ruff & SL:

Hey guys,

So if you've seen my public post you'll know that Krill declared war on me this turn. Wheee!

He killed a Caravel which was scoping out his nearby land and moved another in to take a look at my cities. I spent least turn's research money to upgrade a pair of Triremes; I still got Gunpowder, but with minimal overflow into Chemistry. I asked each of you for 90g this turn and got 100+ from running at 0%, each should fund a turn of teching and I'll review again next turn.

Seems that Krill has not yet handed Chemistry to Darrell, and so Darrell is sitting at 1t from Liberalism and teching Banking. Ruff, did you get any response from him when you mentioned that he offered to supply Astronomy to us? Do you guys still think he's not completely in bed with Krill?

He'll have Astro and Frigates soon enough, and then any chance I have of defending myself goes out of the window.

Dreylin.