Gavagai in Wonderland

[Gavagai]

Al is well-prepared, so, I guess, no easy path to victory for me in this game. Well, it was worth a try. I sent my fleet to probe secondary targets.

[Gavagai]

Alhazard, you are no fun. Not that I am even complaining at that point, this is 400 hammers of Longbows in this city alone.



So... Can you be strong everywhere?

[Gavagai]

Lol. This is quite unfortunate because I have nothing here, except for a few sentries. My army and fleet are preparing for a surprise attack against Superdeath right now because he decided it's a good time to stop building units. I knew the risk but keeping my fleet here in a defensive posture seemed silly and I decided to bank on Alhazard being more concerned with defense and offense for at least a few more turns. Moai city is doomed, what else I lose depends on what Alhazard has on the ships. My chances of winning are about 0.1 or 0.2 now.

[Gavagai]

A brief no-pictures update on what's going on. I have lost the Moai city but I have more or less stabilized the situation after that. Superdeath offered me fish for fish - I assume he wants to take out Commodore while me and 'hazard are busy. I am skeptical that it would work out for him well - there is no way for him to have enough units to both contain me and conquer Commodore. I think I'll need to prepare for a really, really long game here, maybe all up to the space race. It does not seem likely for any of us to get a decisive advantage anytime soon.

[Gavagai]

Do you wanna see some bullshit? I have it for you!



This is how Alhazard's Moai city is defended.



This is his capital.



A random coastal city.



A random coastal city on the opposite side from the frontline. Also, eight Galleons are just chilling here.

Honestly, this is even educational. I would never consider sinking such an enormous amount of hammers into shit units like Xbows, Lbows, Pikes, at least, while I am still playing for win. I would try to set up mobile defenses, cut corners, and would probably lose a city or two. Maybe, this is why I lost PB42.
I offered Alhazard peace because I cannot reasonably advance. Of course, I can sacrifice something like 20 good units for his Moai city, I think, I have necessary numbers or very close to it. In a duel environment I would take this trade but this is not a duel. I think we both need to switch strategies to the contest of who eats his land neighbor faster and more efficiently. We are already making Superdeath way too happy. And 'hazard already has Chemistry, will probably go Steel/MilScience next. I will have to mirror him and I really do not want to research these techs.
I am really not sure who of us has come on top here. The loss of Moai city was an utter disaster for me but, judging by the power graph, I have killed quite a lot of good units when I sank his fleet. And even more importantly, I forced Alhazard to build some ridiculous amount of shit.

[Gavagai]

As we are talking about shit - this is Superdeath's Moai city.

[Gavagai]

The important thing for understanding the game is the fact that Alhazard can totally ignore Commodore. Commodore does not have Guilds, does not have a fucking Code of Laws, does not even have Horseback Riding. He literally cannot build any unit which can be a threat for Al. This is a large part of the reason why he can keep huge garrisons in literally every single one of his coastal cities. On the other hand, Superdeath has access to Cuirs and a stack right on my border which I need to respect. He is also teching up like crazy while running the relatively light military. I cannot ignore him and the longer our stalemate continues, the more dangerous my position becomes. This is why I want peace with Al and then I will maybe try to make some gains against Superdeath.
There is also another consideration. On paper, I am much stronger than Alhazard. I am 100 food ahead, I have a bit more hammers despite the fact that Al is in GA, my GNP after Printing Press has become respectable. But after I lost my Moai city I have much less naval production at the frontline and that will make any naval back and forth an uphill battle for me in the long run.

[GeneralKilCavalry]

As we are talking about shit - this is Superdeath's Moai city.

Great stuff, 3 hammers back every turn on a 250 hammer investment (does he have stone?).
 He probably still hasn't got return on his investment, not to mention the opportunity cost of building it elsewhere.

[Gavagai]

To be fair, this info is from long time ago. By now SD could have wrestled these three contested tiles from Commodore, after all, Moai produces 4 culture. But even accounting for that, there are quite a few better Moai spots in his empire.
In other news, Alhazard rejected peace. To reject peace he must value slowing me down over his own development and this is a strange thing to value given that he sets himself up to become the weakest of three powers after Superdeath takes out Commodore. Or, another possibility, he believes he can take out Commodore while containing me, banking on Superdeath being too afraid to move out, fearing my backstab. This actually makes sense.
I offered peace for the second time. It can be read as a sign of weakness but I want to exclude the possibility of bullshit like 'I thought of offering peace and then forgot to actually offer it'. Also, I decided that I will not go MilScience. I will go Steel directly and try to defend against SotL with Privateers.

[Gavagai]

No peace with Al - as expected. Meanwhile, Superdeath is two techs from Cavalry. I decided to demilitarize the border with him - I want him to go after Commodore now to put pressure on Al. Of course, Superdeath can always be counted on doing exactly the opposite of what is convenient for you, so chances are all these Cavs go my way.