[PB77 Mr Cairo] Little Pot Stove

[Mjmd]

I wasn't following this game for a long time, did anyone ever get AP? That was another reason behind Stonehenge. It is too bad Cairo got beat to early religions I think an early shrine on this map also would have been very good.

[Zed-F]

I don't recall Scooter mentioning anyone ever getting AP. We did find that wonders in general fell quite late on this map and were very expensive to get, because the map was so hammer-poor in general -- or at least our lands were. We were able to snag a fairly late MoM because nobody else was able to settle marble quickly, and building wonders without a multiplier seemed fairly prohibitive.

[scooter]

I wasn't following this game for a long time, did anyone ever get AP? That was another reason behind Stonehenge. It is too bad Cairo got beat to early religions I think an early shrine on this map also would have been very good.

I don't recall Scooter mentioning anyone ever getting AP. We did find that wonders in general fell quite late on this map and were very expensive to get, because the map was so hammer-poor in general -- or at least our lands were. We were able to snag a fairly late MoM because nobody else was able to settle marble quickly, and building wonders without a multiplier seemed fairly prohibitive.

Yeah, hammers were so scarce that wonders were an afterthought for huge chunks of this game. However, I did think Apostolic Palace had some value. Tarkeel nudged me on it a few times, but every time we discussed it we couldn't square the fact that 1) no IND, so super expensive, 2) no SPI/PHI, so no cheap AP buildings, and 3) my hammers were dedicated towards trade route/commerce buildings. However, I did think either Yuris (IND) or one of the PHI players (cheap monasteries) would build it.

You were probably meant to get a better share of the middle gems island, but the southern one? Yeah.. no. Firmly mine. 100%. tile distance, and everything included. I will say, based on where your capital start is, i think you had the farthest to go to get any contested lands.

I would say the Gems spot was 100% Cairo's, and he should not have allowed you to get it. I mean, just look at these pictures from your thread:










This is extremely exposed. 10 tiles from your capital, 8 tiles from Cairo's, and the actual proximity difference is worse than that. The city is on flatland too. If I was Cairo, I would have never allowed this city to stand. It's compounded by the fact that you had way more land to expand into than him too.


Don't get me wrong, it's a great spot, and well-played by you for going for it and banking on PRO archers to make it stick. But he definitely should have had this one. In fact, I wondered all game why you had it. Now I see you hardcore pink dotted for it. I don't see any reports here about this at the time, but I wonder if he ever considered contesting? A pair of swords would have been all he needed really.

[Zed-F]

I'm guessing it's partly that Cairo couldn't easily spare resources away from REX (he was already behind on cities at the point the pink dot got founded) and partly that he wasn't sure how far SD really was stretching, since the map was still mostly covered by fog at that point. If Cairo had already been having a more successful land grab to that point, he might have felt more able to contest this spot.

[Mr. Cairo]

I have barely done more than peek at threads so far thanks to Christmas and my attempt to get out some final details before spoiling my state of mind. But I did have one burning question for you, Cairo.


Did you ever come close to pressing Send on that Galleon stack you were setting up that was aimed at Outpost/Aren? You scared me quite badly, which is why I killed all the Caravels. Also, did you see my strike stack on T194 that caused you to unload your Galleons and defend your cities?

I did, when I thought you didn't know about it. But then I saw the airships, and I knew the jig was up. I probably still should have gone for it, but I also thought that it served the dogpile better as a threat that needed permanent defending against than an attack that might at best burn two cities while leaving me vulnerable to be completely conquered. Also, as long as the units were in the galleons, you had know way of knowing just how technologically bad they were.

I can't recall now if I saw a specific stack that led me to unload, it was more just the general build up I think. I was playing quite short turns then and I do recall at one point thinking I didn't leave enough in the city in case of naval assault, and then I saw galleons to the north and decided to unload and spread out to defend.

[Mr. Cairo]

Regarding the map, looking at it from SD's perspective, that gems city was much more of a stretch than I thought it was, and I should have tried to take it. I think the civ and leader pick was not good for this map, and certainly for my playstyle, such as it is.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to spend more time in this game, I might have ended up being more relevant, but it was pretty much all I could do to play the turns regularly, and I didn't think the game could survive another player replacement.

[scooter]

I probably still should have gone for it, but I also thought that it served the dogpile better as a threat that needed permanent defending against than an attack that might at best burn two cities while leaving me vulnerable to be completely conquered. Also, as long as the units were in the galleons, you had know way of knowing just how technologically bad they were.

This was probably the right call, yeah. I mostly assumed the worst which was that these Galleons were mostly full of Muskets, so I dedicated a lot of units/whips/drafts to this area, which definitely cost me some tech. Outlook in particular was absolutely brutalized by this as I thought it was going to fall. It definitely was effective in causing me to dedicate resources and mental power towards defending an additional front.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to spend more time in this game, I might have ended up being more relevant, but it was pretty much all I could do to play the turns regularly, and I didn't think the game could survive another player replacement.

You don't have to apologize - you basically saved this game from an unfortunate early end. Thanks again for that!

[Tarkeel]

I'm sorry I wasn't able to spend more time in this game, I might have ended up being more relevant, but it was pretty much all I could do to play the turns regularly, and I didn't think the game could survive another player replacement.

You don't have to apologize - you basically saved this game from an unfortunate early end. Thanks again for that!

Ditto'd. Thanks for stepping in and giving it what you did.