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Are you, in fact, a pregnant lady who lives in the apartment next door to Superdeath's parents? - Commodore |
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This is gonna be good: von Adlercreutz and Taotao
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I totally approve of positive clock games.
Completed: RB Demogame - Gillette, PBEM46, Pitboss 13, Pitboss 18, Pitboss 30, Pitboss 31, Pitboss 38, Pitboss 42, Pitboss 46, Pitboss 52 (Pindicator's game), Pitboss 57
In progress: Rimworld (August 16th, 2016, 14:34)Old Harry Wrote: I totally approve of positive clock games. Wish they were enough to keep the pace going though (6 days since last turn roll...) T200 – taotao (org/cre) of The (Finno-) Dutch (64 cities) As I didn’t rank my own chances in the t200 review I guess I owe you guys some words on how I see my own position. Executive summary: I’m still in this thing with a decent shot at victory, but it’ll require some work. Odds for winning (off the top of my head): REM: 50% taotao: 40+% Gavagai: 5+% Dtay: <2% Others (not including replacement players): <<1% Recap of history: - T0 Receive Zara of the Dutch and a decent, but not drool worthy capital. Good leader, but both he and especially the civ shines a bit late. Feels like we should have a shot at finishing high, but as two newbies we might as well be subject to an early rush… - T49 4th city founded. - T70 Currency research finished. - T78 10th city founded. Great early expansion where the lushness of the land and a currency beeline means we’re not even tanking our economy. Definitely lack something (like a shrine or great wonder) to pull us from great to winning candidate though. - T90 Mausoleum of Maussollos is finished. And MoM just might be one of those crucial game winning pieces. Even though we got more than our fair share of land in every direction, we only managed 12 cities settled peacefully though. That isn’t going to cut it in the long run… - T102 Attack on Donovans Zulus (with a force of about 40 cats/swords/ha’s) is initiated. We’re up against the number three in power, but manage (barely) to pull off a conquest in approximately ten turns that gets us about seven extra cities on the mainland. - T123 Adopt emancipation at latter half of first GA. - T125 Bulb Astronomy as the first nation. These are both huge economic plays that probably put our nation in a leading position. - T139 I’m “attacked” by Cheater Hater. Island settling is interrupted and the cash that would’ve let me win the liberalism race is mostly spent on upgrades. - T140 I consider myself out of the running as far as a possible victory goes (in part because I expect Serdoa to pile on into me). - T145 Get Taj Mahal and accept peace with CH (having lost one city). Cheater Hater was one of the most advanced nations in the world, but was lacking in cities and had to try something. I believe I was number one in power just a couple of turns before the war, so one could question the soundness of this plan, but the truth is CH was extremely close to starting a dog pile on me which would’ve altered both our games. One of the biggest outcomes of the war was probably the emergence of REM as a super-power. REM didn’t participate, but he could turn his already large empire in farmers-gambit-wealth-mode and lib economics for a better economy than anyone else (merc/rep was a huge step up for most nations on this mod/map). - T158 Attack on Cheater Hater/Fenn started. - T171 Incans are destroyed (having been on 1 city for a long time) Payback time. Well, not really. My main reason for attacking CH/Fenn was that I wanted to continue settling islands to my south and felt these would be too vulnerable with Inca in place. The alternative would’ve been an attack on REM (who was large and advanced, but militarily weak), but it felt a lot safer going for CH who was weakened from a war with Serdoa/DZ. - T172 I’m attacked by DZs English. This annoyed me. It wasn’t an existential threat, but felt like REM had this in the bag as I’m set back and can’t challenge him properly. - T176 Peace with DZ (zero sum game) and REM has shown hostile intentions by sending a stack into DZ lands… Up until this point REM and I had mostly left each other in peace while still recognizing the other as one of our main competitors. For me things changed here though. It’s not that I don’t respect him or understand his (well founded) motives. It’s more that from here on I’ll take my gloves off and take any opportunity to put him down a peg or two as at this point he’s really running away with the game and no one else seems capable of challenging him. - T183 Steal Physics Great Scientist This was a bit of a cat and mouse play where (in my view) REM had the advantage for both the GS and Statue of Liberty. Stealing the GS for myself also meant I could launch my 3-man GA slightly earlier to try and catch up with industrialization. - T190 I declare war on mammoth REM (and DZ) - T193 Peace with REM I don’t gain many (or great) cities in this war, but in a strict hammers lost sense I get a clearly more favourable deal. Vindal/Vologda also represents a better strategical position going forward. Perhaps even more importantly I can gambit away some of REMs science lead by skipping Artillery. And finally, showing the other participants that I haven’t given up in this game could do a whole lot to still have them engaged instead of forcing an unwanted concession due to turn speed issues… - T198 Peace with DZ (having just taken 2 cities) REM is the competition, not DZ. Still, a safer front here means better chances at offensive warfare in the future… Going forward: REM and I are quite similar, but while his cities are more divided into good and bad, production powerhouses and commerce monsters, my cities are more homogenised. Other competitors are behind at the moment, and while they’re going to catch up slightly, I doubt they’ll make it all the way in time. REM’s got two great wonders in Pentagon and Statue of Liberty, but actually these are both in his best production city which just so happens to be within commando reach from my own borders… I’ll have to be very lucky to get a shot at razing this, but with more or less status quo it’s a reason for hope and nothing is over until the fat lady sings. If this game goes all the way to the finish line, we’re likely to see a space victory. That’s a reason for both hope and doubt. First off, I’m no TBS/FinHarry. I’m definitely going to try to optimise my finish date, and I might even stumble my way into a launch 1t after gaining the last tech, but it’s very far from a sure thing (especially without a super-levee-prod-site). However, I don’t really believe that this is the strongest trait of any of the other competitors either. Focusing mainly on REM, we’re pretty even on max science output at the moment. With ktb, having a lead at the moment isn’t necessarily all that matters, but raising your potential beakers can still play a part. For this reason the Internet is one thing that could swing things quite far still. Then again, having 50% more cities than your opponent (still not impossible for either player) tend to swing things as well… At the moment I feel like things still favour REM by a tiny bit. There’s reasons for holding tight at the moment (can rely on Internet giving a big enough boost, there's the recent mobilisation of REM troops and there's also my first commando only arriving in a few turns), but I still also feel like I might have a small opening that might stymie REMs future development and make him slightly less of a problem in the future. For this reason it’s likely (but not certain) that I’ll trash my own nerves another time in just a few turns 
Played in PB27
Rule number one for multiplayer civ:
Never start to feel optimistic about your chances. So yeah, this is the turn I was planning to stage in order to hopefully take 4 REM island cities next turn and at least 3 more the turn after. I look around, don’t find any extraordinary amounts of REM reinforcements and start to move airships and the odd tank down south, when… Moustache of Stalin!!!! In Donovans Capital (or 2N from there) I see 55 cossacks (+ about 10 other 2-movers).        Ever since I noticed some units disappearing from my borders up north I’ve been slightly fearing something like this. I’ve tried to check the map for REM units, both staring into my almost fully-uncovered-by-espionage Donovan-land and doing some airship sweeps. Still, the units have avoided my gaze. Next turn REM can hit anyone of 4 different cities. If he doesn’t split his forces I have no chance of holding any of them (including first major war prize from the Zulu war: Mondatta). This is bad, but perhaps I can still compensate slightly with my own attack?? Wait! it doesn’t stop there. On the second turn of war I believe REM has an option to raze from about 6 further mainland, highly-developed cities (including my commando-factory, most of old Zulu and one ring from MoM and IW cities). It’s the right move from REM. Cossacks are one of the most awesome units in the game, but their usefulness is decreasing. If I can field a tank or even just an infantry in a city I’ll get odds in the first fight. Problem is only to get 65 infantry or better to the right spot. When he chooses that spot. It doesn’t help either that I’ve mostly emptied out the area for my own attack… So, what to do? If I could get an extended 10t peace treaty, then it would probably be worth it. REMs golden age is about to finish and afterwards I should be back to having the better production of us two (unless he enters Police state). With 10 more turns I’d probably be able to scrounge together enough tanks that, while REM still could pull the same stunt again and raze a/some city/-ies on the first turn of war, I at least could kill off the stack afterwards. I probably wouldn’t have the same opportunities on the islands, but c’est la vie… With a few commandoes among my troops, other opportunities would, however, also be more abundant. Problem is only how I would get that extension? Do I declare war, do nothing, show him all my forward units (i.e. that I’ve got the drop on him in a few places) and offer peace? If he accepts, then that is all fine and dandy, but what if he rather has war? Then I’ve lost the initiative and a whole lot of information advantage.* So, should I rather attack, take what I can on turn one, offer peace and hope that he accepts (probably after razing everything he can on his turn)? He’d probably come out ahead, but it’s probably better than him razing old coastal Inca (that is just starting to really contribute). Would he accept something like that? Should he? In any scenario there’s also the question of how many units should I pull back to defend my old mainland cities and how many should I use to hurt REM? Twice already I’ve said I’ve lost all chances of a win, twice I’ve climbed back into contention. Therefore I’m not going to say anything like that, but nevertheless 55 elite units when I’ve got the sea close to my back stopping any burnt earth maneuvers, that’s an awful lot. Also, attacking with horse units, that’s what REM is best at in my opinion, much better than wonder races, space launches and similar matters. If I go down completely, then REM has this neatly wrapped up. If I, however, still stay reasonably strong (and looking for revenge) while we’ve both hurt each other disastrously, then suddenly the field’s much more open for Gav or dtay to make a comeback. (Minor note: I’m not sure how many banks I’ve built. What happens if the bank in Mondatta is required for wall street and the city is razed one turn before I complete the national wonder? Does the invested hammers simply go to waste?) Side note: I don’t regret attacking Donovan at the tail end of my last war with REM. However, I do regret not going for a raze on Eydis Darkbane. It wouldn’t have been hard to set up a raze there, but at the time I was afraid he’d simply resettle one tile closer to me and making the situation even worse. That was before the city popped third ring borders though… The right option would’ve been to raze the city and use a combat settler for an indefensible, but strategically important city in somewhat the same spot (and probably raze Zidaar and Darnassus instead of getting greedy). *I’ll add a small clarification on the muddiness in REMs intentions. I see his Cossack stack as probably an actively war-seeking action. It is, however, possible that he has other intentions and simply want to use it as deterrence for me from declaring. If we live in peace until the end of time, then one of us will also win. Simple as that. War muddles the picture. Still, him actively looking to raze (or even conquer) is the more likely intention and I’m not sure how we could arrive at another alternative in this no-diplo-setup.
Played in PB27
I'm glad you spotted the buildup in time.
Or is it in time? Does the one turn warning help you at all? (August 19th, 2016, 07:37)Der_Zorn_Gottes Wrote: I'm glad you spotted the buildup in time. It's too late. Or, well, every turn matters. A lot. The thing is, if that stack was half the size, or if it was cavalry instead of cossacks, then I'd just withdraw everything possible from the islands and kill off the stack after he's made his initial raze(s). Now I'm afraid that he might have enough punching power to get through a counterattack of mine, promo-heal and push straight through to my second row (usually more valuable cities) before my next round of units get out. A lot will depend on where he strikes, how much he spreads his forces etc etc, so it's really hard to tell what a likely or even desirable outcome is. This is part of the reason why I'll probably go through with an attack on my own. If I only try to defend, and don't do a very good job at that, then REM has no incentive whatsoever to make peace. If he on the other hand is about to lose 1-2 cities every turn of the war and isn't sure about his own gains (his cossack stack is mainly a razing crew, not really a capturing crew unless I fold completely), then perhaps he can be convinced of a peaceful route? Let me tell you something. Losing cities hurts. It really does. Especially if it comes to cities that you've had for a long time and have put a lot of effort into developing. Sadly REM seemed pretty chill about losing a city or two for the greater good in pb33, so I'm afraid it won't do me much good, but threatening beloved cities of his, kind of seems like my best hope here. In the end I did pull back some troops, so there's more room for poor rng laughing at my attacks than I initially wanted, but there's definitely some pressure on REM. I'd say that if he doesn't reinforce my targeted cities, then I might well be able to take/raze 6 cities next turn. Now, I'm like 99% sure he'll reinforce one of the cities (beyond where I can take it), and he's likely to be able to reinforce some other places as well, but it sure will be interesting to see exactly what he does. PS. REM only has 1 archer in Novgorod (but a 30+ unit stack two tiles away). Why couldn't I get my commando-factory just a few turns quicker? PPS. Apparently REM's had radio for a while without me noticing. Just finished Eiffel Tower... Internet is suddenly looking very unlikely and I might have to pick up flight unless I want to be terrifyingly hit by bombers.
Played in PB27
So the plan is to inflict as much pain on each other and see who is the first to flinch?
Very lurker friendly!  Godspeed to you! (August 22nd, 2016, 06:43)Der_Zorn_Gottes Wrote: So the plan is to inflict as much pain on each other (as possible) and see who is the first to flinch?I guess that pretty much accurate description of the feeling behind the whole thing. (Though it’s not a perfect analogy as in that case I would’ve already flinched/lost by moving back some of my troops) So, anyway, since this might be one of my last hurrahs in this game, let’s try to walk through this turn together for a while shall we? I open up the save and set some preliminary builds in all cities where I’m prompted. I then check the turn log and notice REM was lucky and spawned a Great Engineer. And REM and Borsche have signed a defensive pact. … Come on Borsche! Why on earth would you do that? We’ve been friends since the start of this game. One of my first gems was traded away with you for mutual benefit. Later I’ve traded you silks, open borders, free hit musicals and probably lots of other stuff I can’t quite remember. If plako really is threatening your territory, then I guess I would forgive you, but otherwise, please pay attention to REMs evil scheming. 1-0 to REM in this war before it even has started. :sigh: I don’t think Borsche will mind all that much when I declare war, and I certainly won’t make any attack on him, but thrashed trade routes are now a fact. On to the war! (or actually scouting information) In the north REM has reinforced all weak spots, eliminating two of my possible razes. One by a frustratingly small amount. I’ve got 4 marines on an EI that could hit Bryansk that is defended by 4 units. I believe I’d have odds in 3 of the fights, but against the top infantry I’d have to be amazingly lucky to come out on top. Sadly. Anyway, since I won’t need to send the EI past a destroyer in REM territory while we’re still in peace or anything like that I’m now free to declare war. I said (alt-click) WAR! The main battle this turn will be against the city of Omsk on “my” southern island. In the last war I razed REMs city of Vologda and resettled Vindal in the same spot. The plan here has been me mostly keeping my troops on EIs to the north of the island, and this turn finishing a couple of railroads such that units unloaded in Lejonströmsbron could hit the city.  Looking at his defenses though, you can see that he hasn’t exactly left the city unguarded and in between turns he’s slightly reinforced, as well as built a tank in the city itself. Luckily I’ve got a fair few units in range myself, including about 9 airships and a precious max of 6 tanks. I never simmed this battle, but my general idea was to try and keep tanks alive, and at the same time use cavs on the infantry instead of cossacks. pinch cav vs (16/20) g2 infantry (5,5%)… Loss (4 hits) pinch cav vs (16/20) cg2 infantry (6,5%)… Loss (2 hits) pinch cav vs (16/20) cg1 infantry (8,4%)… Loss (1 hit) cr1 tank vs (13/20) cg1 infantry (75,7%)… WIN (3 hits) cr1 tank vs (10,4/20) cg2 infantry (89,7%)… WIN (2 hits) cr1 tank vs (22,4/28) tank (90,2%)… WIN (2 hits) cr1 tank vs c2 cossack (98,8%)… FLAWLESS WIN cr1 tank vs c2 cossack (98,8%)… FLAWLESS WIN c2 cav vs c2 cossack (11,8%)… FLAWLESS LOSS c3 cav vs c2 cossack (22,9%)… WIN! (4 hits) c2 cav vs c2 cossack (11,8%)… WIN! (3 hits) c1 cav vs (12,8/15) cossack (22,7%)… Loss (4hits) c2 pinch cav vs (4,8/20) g2 infantry (98,1%)… Flawless WIN cav vs c2 ha (99,3%)… WIN (1 hit) c3 cav vs (3,2/15) c2 cossack… Flawless Win! And the city is mine! Afterwards I pulled in some 1-movers from other places on the island and tried to set myself up for a capture of Astrakhan next turn and Samara in 3(?) turns. (Originally I had hoped to be quicker to move on Samara, but I’ve since decided to pull back more troops to face REMs invasion of my own lands). One reason for making a hasted move on Astrakhan btw. is that it forces REM to make a decision on his four frigates in the city. He could upgrade them to destroyers, but then they’d be lost if I manage to capture the city. More likely he’ll pull them back and cover with a couple of destroyers. However, destroyers covering frigates hopefully won’t have as many options with regards to killing EIs or battleships of mine or other similar unpleasant matters… The main points of our current situation should be depicted in the picture below:  Second battle of the turn was somewhat smaller in scope, but nevertheless one that gave some very real pleasure. Tobolsk had been settled on a deer island just to the west of my southern island. Originally I didn’t mind it that much, but lately it’s been slightly annoying by stealing lovely “diked” tiles from Ratan. REM is also a mere 2t from bombers and airports and those things combined could make this city a real fortress and tactical nightmare from my point of view. Additionally I also feel like the added visibility and ability to make informed decisions is something that shouldn’t be underestimated. Here “the German Joey” start with dropping cultural defenses. Then: c1 marine vs cg1 rifle (68,5%)… WIN (4 hits) and the city is mine. In the southeast there’s also an opportunity for an attack. Generally this island has hardly had any defenses at all, but last turn REM did manage to stuff Saratov with three extra units and in Pskov he upgraded 5 knights to Cossacks… Anyway, due to pulling most of my units back to defend, I’m not sure how far I’ll be able to push on this island, but I’ll use more or less the same tactics as on the other island with units on boats to attack Pskov through Frostkåge and Åland: c2 cav vs c2 cossack (11,8%)… Withdraw! (4 hits) c2 cav vs c2 cossack (11,8%)… Loss (3 hits) c1 cav vs (12,8/15) c2 cossack (22,7%)… Withdraw (2 hits) c2 cav vs (12,8/15) c2 cossack (38,8%)… Loss (3 hits) form cav vs (12,8/15) c2 cossack (48,5%)… Loss (2 hits) c3 cav vs (7,9/15) c2 cossack (89,5%)… Win (2 hits) pinch cav vs (7,8/15) c2 cossack (85,3%)… Win (2 hits) c3 cav vs (7,2/15) c2 cossack (95,6%)… Win (5 hits) pinch cav vs (5,4/15) c2 cossack (97,6%)… Win (3 hits) (12,3/15) pinch cav vs (5,1/15) c2 cossack (92%)… WIN and I’ve got the city! Taking this city also opened up a route west…  …and a fourth (and last city this turn) is taken. I do believe the defense also might warrant a short story, but as that will take some time to write up as well and is of a more depressing character, I’ll leave it for a later time.
Played in PB27
(August 30th, 2016, 09:31)The Black Sword Wrote: I like the combat settler. Thanks. I originally built him for the DZ war actually, but when I started looking at plans for an attack on REM I figured he'd be of more use here  ------- All right, time for the slightly more sad stuff I look for REMs Cossack stack and true enough I spot it within striking distance of Mondatta. Only, he still has his stacks split and the other half can be found in Eydis Darkbane. REM doesn’t have any combat workers I can see and DZ is showing 2t to railroad. That means one half of his units can’t reach Mondatta (unless the culture falls back from a capture), this might just be possible to defend… Last couple of turns have been frantic on my part. Ferrying units to the middle of my empire, laying down rails and just building a crap load of units. I don’t think that even I myself have understood fully how many units I’ve scraped together. In the end I decided to abandon Darnassus completely (right on DZs border) and only left a fortified machine gun in Zidaar. That might actually have been a misplay. Surprisingly it’s possible that I should’ve forced a battle here, but I had already given up on the city and thought I’d better save my units for battles with better odds (Zidaar had just come out of revolt and was on flatland). When ending my turn the main stacks (I have a few smaller ones scattered around) were positioned as shown below:  Now, these aren’t REMs only units. Rather its his more obsolete ones… In the north REM could take Virta whenever he chooses. I’ve got like 8 units in the city, but only 3 that are worth anything and all REM has to do is give some of his 5xp infantries guerilla II and the city would fall. However, I still have enough culture in Pulkkila that it shouldn’t speed up REM advancing on my core unless that city falls as well. (So it’s more likely that he’ll just build a SoD that advances 1 tile at a time with the odd branching out of 2-movers). Still, REM probably has 40 odd modern units that he could send into my territory if he so please. Much more if I don’t threaten his coastal cities by sea. That’s a reason for me having a small fleet 2NE from Palva last turn. If I can threaten the coast, then REM is severely gimped. Had REM chosen to keep his fleet in the water I might’ve decided to attack this turn. Initiative and air power can count for a lot in this era. However, he decided to pull back into ports (mainly Irkutsk) and for the longest time I debated on where to put my naval stack. Perhaps 1S of Mauryan? It’s just outside airship range from Yaroslav, it’s coastal (+10% defense), I can threaten Bryansk and I even can blockade away some golden age Moai production… Man, did I want to do this!! A final airship swoop revealed a Destroyer I hadn’t seen before though and this tiny addition was enough that I deemed it not worth the risk to position myself aggressively (instead pulling back into Palva). I’ll show you my units there and will just note that REM currently has 1 battleship, 7 destroyers, 5 submarines 1 transport and about 8 old units* in the arena currently. It’s incredibly touch-and-go who’d be better off in a clash, but for now at least I chickened out   *Will have to double check numbers when I’m home Just for fun I keep posting the power graph. Just look at myself and REM pulling ahead of the others! (Perhaps not surprisingly you could find similar increases in the production graph a few turns back, but that’s a more muddled picture due to golden ages etc.) Fake edit: REM started playing his turn two nights ago. From civstats I can see that he didn’t take peace for 1000g (not surprisingly), but instead razed two cities of mine. The score changes might indicate them being at least similar to Zidaar and Darnassos. I’m really hoping that he moved in with all Cossacks where I can kill them and hasn’t retreated to DZ territory where they are untouchable.
Played in PB27
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