[Spoilers] Commodore as Darius of the HRE

[Commodore]

Well, this is not fun. I have zero excuse, as someone who gleefully attempted an attack over land using a fort myself. "Secure Lake Hyboria" isn't, and that might very well be game, folks. Mass Media is still five turns out at the current rate, and my economy is about to tank here. Then it's hold-out-for-UN-elections, which would be another too-long while. Should have followed my gut and gone for Radio instead of Fission.



How, pray tell, am I suppose to compete with this? Maybe if I magically had six more battleships...



Nope, not even then. Here's another task group sniping away annoyingly at Hyperborea. Once there's a galleon or two here, its gone along with my control of the protective spoke.



Although to be fair, that's probably already lost what with the impending fair of Corinthia. The crumple zone is falling like...well, a family-friendly metaphor escapes me. His choices are "take it next turn with minimal losses" or "take it in two turns with no losses".



I'm trying to keep a hold of the two big hub cities for their trade route yields and their fishing-village commerce. Highlighted Brythunia will actually manage fine. Xapur, with the battleship, might be threatened next turn if a fierce enough fleet can be marshaled in the east.



Enjoy these last few turns of good-looking stats.



Yeah, we're playing out the "Seven's Roflstomp" phase of the game here. He's turned this:



Into this:



It's been real, cats and kittens.

[Bobchillingworth]

Sounds like a fun Newbs game!

[Commodore]

Sounds like a fun Newbs game!

Hah, yeah, don't get me wrong, it's been a blast. The Newbs bit was blasted apart the second Seven took control of Mali (although to be fair, GES and Luddite aren't exactly newbies either). We'll see how things look next turn post-Corinthia, but I think we're in ego buffing mode.

[Commodore]

Depression hurts. Not much more interesting to report, cats and kittens, this is now just "Commodore plays a learning exercise". Thresholds of population, waaaaay surpassed. Ironically, I think Yuri might technically come in second once they build culture to their domination win.



I saw them coming last turn, but with their 9-move transports, the whole map was forked. Zingara and Bossonian Mark, I'll miss you both. The losses you inflicted were worthless, fleas farting into a windstorm.



So, any requests for random adventurous crap in the final decline and fall stage?

[Mr. Nice Guy]

So, any requests for random adventurous crap in the final decline and fall stage?

Give 'em hell, Commodore!

[oledavy]

Give 'em hell, Commodore!

Couldn't have said it better myself

Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead! - Take those Mali bastards with you!

aragon:

[Commodore]

Awwww, you guys are awesome! The people deserve a better champion than me, but I try. Scathing self-reflection is going to be saved for the post-game thread, and right now that's all I can see happening. Here's a couple overview shots of my starving, twilight empire.

My core is not at all healthy, and according to the UN thread, Nemedia bit it just a little while back. I'm trying to push enough marines to retake Barachan Isle, where my battleships have a temporary strength advantage. My guardian stack on the hill south of Nemedia is enough to ensure any stack Mali lands will be kissed.



I am a little impressed that the hub area here is still hanging on, although I expect a tank push soon. I'll sim out what cannon and cav can do to advancing tanks, I expect the answer is unfortunately "not much".



Weird game. I'm still* top GNP, as I have been so often here. Just goes to show, there's a lot more to multiplayer than just tech, the Malinese Snowball was the best, and once they ate France it was over. Still trying to tech to the UN. My only challenge remaining is to try and convince Ranamar to vote for me.



*[SIZE="1"]at 100% science, building wealth.[/SIZE]

[Commodore]

Well, he's aware of my direction, but that's okay.

Seven Spirits: hey
Sent at 12:37 PM on Wednesday
Commodore: Hey, R or 7.
Seven Spirits: 7
Commodore: Is L still around? I figure he's gotten swamped.
Seven Spirits: yeah he hasn't been paying much attention. well, reading, I guess, but not posting/chatting
Commodore: Noble needs him way more now.
Seven Spirits: I think he lost interest after we conquered france, he thought we had it won already
yeah
anyway I'm wondering if you're amenable to calling the game
Commodore: It's an interesting exercise still.
Seven Spirits: I don't think we can lose at this point, and yet our strategy is just going to be razing everyone's coastal cities
Commodore: I've never seen modern warfare.
Seven Spirits: me either! it's interesting
Commodore: *besides, you know, beating on AI in the stone age.
Seven Spirits: yeah
Sent at 12:40 PM on Wednesday
Seven Spirits: ok, well, I think whenever you want to call it, we should, though. these turns take a long time for us, luddite and yuris are just hitting enter pretty much, and I don't think it's possible for us to lose
(also we're down to what, one turn every 1.5 days? lol)
Commodore: Yeah, that's silly-long for this game
1.5t/day in 24 by contrast, that used to feel slow.
Seven Spirits: also it's not like we're going to see much more variety in the modern warfare area
we'll just keep using the same tactics
Commodore: It's true, it's a strategy-won game at this point.
Poor hungry Nemedia never stood a chance.
Seven Spirits: which one's nemedia?
Commodore: The Jewish Holy City.
Seven Spirits: ah
oh right, because he posted about that one in the un thread
Commodore: Yeah. Fortunately, we're all good stout Hindus in this here empire.
Sent at 12:47 PM on Wednesday
Seven Spirits: right
Commodore: With Free Speech and culture builds, can't you at this point hit dom limit?
Seven Spirits: we control like 30% of the map, not 66% or whatever
that's a ways out
strategically it's much more important to raze every coastal city first
then we can finish off one player at a time
without having to defend anywhere
or maybe just build the UN at that point I guess
Commodore: You guys are making a pretty populous empire.
Seven Spirits: yeah
despite our best efforts to whip everyone away
Commodore: It must be hell to be Malinese.
Seven Spirits: they're all very mad about all the people we're killing
but on the other hand they are grateful to live in such a luxurious empire, and with strange sounds being broadcast everywhere
they get particularly mad whenever we give them the chance to vote every few years
Commodore: Man, it's 1984 over there.
Seven Spirits: are we eastasia or westasia? it's so hard to tell
Commodore: Outerasia.
Weird shape of planet.
Still curious where the space elevator could be built.
30 degrees to what now?
Seven Spirits: yeah I dunno
Commodore: Yeah.
Oh, I see why its coastal-onl.
Seven Spirits: luckily no one's ever going to tech robotics
Commodore: Luddite tells me he retook one of his core cities.
Seven Spirits: this turn?
Seven Spirits: sweet!
Commodore: Yeah
Seven Spirits: it's much nicer to fight his guys when we're defending, that's why we kept it
Commodore: It's a battle out there in the hell-on-earth that is The Wheel.
Seven Spirits: hope we can get a good counterattack off
Sent at 1:00 PM on Wednesday
Seven Spirits: or Ranamar anyway I'm not really playing, thank god
Commodore: Should have found that image twenty turns ago.
Seven Spirits: hm?
Commodore: Yonder thematically appropriate UN appeal.
Seven Spirits: I'm still at a loss
Sent at 1:07 PM on Wednesday
Commodore: Grima Spirits with Ranamar Theoden.
Seven Spirits: ah
well it's more like Ranamar still has some residual interest in playing 2-hour modern warfare slog turns and I don't
Sent at 1:09 PM on Wednesday
Seven Spirits: although I suspect he'll get tired of them soon enough
Commodore: Well, it's like in SP...at the point when you can see the light, it's all just an execution slog.
Seven Spirits: right. I just quit at that point, hehe
Sent at 1:12 PM on Wednesday
Commodore: Well, at least it's been a good learning experience. Still is, at that.
Seven Spirits: for me too
what are you learning now?
Sent at 1:18 PM on Wednesday
Commodore: Well, the awesome power of Battleships, for one.
Also, I'm in love with flanking II cavs.
Commodore: One other thing, domination, not the psychological sort that usually wraps up games but the practical "a winner is you" kind, is hard to achieve against humans.
You guys have things more or less wrapped up, and I don't see how anyone else can win in this one, but it's depressing to see many other games called with a lot longer to go for the win condition.
Seven Spirits: I agree, I think it's ridiculous when people call a game just because one player is ahead of the others
to warrant calling, they have to be significantly ahead of everyone else put together IMO
Commodore: IE, yes, you should keep trying to make the tower of mastery despite the others' vampire stacks of doom.
Seven Spirits: yeah
Commodore: Keep humming to the damn horse. Maybe they'll screw up. Maybe they won't. Maybe the blasted animal will learn to sing.
Seven Spirits:
you are not going to get a UN victory
Commodore: Oh, that threshold was passed fifty years ago.
I was speaking more generally.
Seven Spirits: ok

Need to talk to Ranamar, but I'd be up to calling it if he's stoutly pro-7. Poor deluded fool thinks this victory will reflect on him, if I'm right. Pfft. I'll sing his praises if he votes against Seven, but that's not happening. Sans a screw-up a bit lower on the likelihood scale than a singing horse.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Need to talk to Ranamar, but I'd be up to calling it if he's stoutly pro-7. Poor deluded fool thinks this victory will reflect on him, if I'm right. Pfft. I'll sing his praises if he votes against Seven, but that's not happening. Sans a screw-up a bit lower on the likelihood scale than a singing horse.

Yep, Seven definitely crushed in this battle of newbs.

Glad I got crushed when I did, I get the feeling that there is some resentment (for lack of a better word) going on at this stage.

[Commodore]

Glad I got crushed when I did, I get the feeling that there is some resentment (for lack of a better word) going on at this stage.

Yeah, I cannot deny I feel a little spiteful. I hate that, because I'd rather not hold a grudge or carry resentment. Eh, it just hurts to be beat. On the plus side, a peaceful resolution to all this mess is impending:

Ranamar: hey
11:32 PM Commodore: Hey
11:33 PM Ranamar: This is Ranamar, if you were wondering.
I got the impression from Seven you wanted to talk to me. I then figured out that I'd misunderstood asking if I'd heard from you as that you did.
11:34 PM Commodore: I..
Huh?
Ranamar: (9:30:30 PM) SevenSpirits: has commodore talked to you about calling the game?
... prompted it.
11:35 PM Commodore: Nope, still not parsing that that upper sentence.
Anyways, yeah, so, are you overall happy with your part in this game?
Ranamar: 2-3 hour turns are grueling.
Other than that, it's interesting to see what I can pull off each turn.
11:36 PM Commodore: No resentment for Seven's control of the major turning points, that kind of thing?
I figured the long modern warfare turns were cool but also long.
11:37 PM Ranamar: I ... it's sort of backwards, really. It's not that I resent him, because the part of me that likes to do well is very pleased, so much as that I regret surrendering so much control. I don't think I could do as well.
er... could have done as well, on my own
11:38 PM The turns are definitely interesting. I think I've learned new things every turn.
Commodore: Well, yeah, newbs game and all.
Oh, it's been a learning experience all around.
11:39 PM Ranamar: Seven has been beating the "get a concession" drum rather hard. That has something to do with why he won't be playing any more turns.
11:40 PM The real thing is, I was looking at our state at the end of my last turn, and I feel like all that's left is logistics.
Commodore: Oh, no doubt.
With only one exception.
Ranamar: mmm?
11:41 PM Commodore: I am confident I can get votes against Seven's Mali for the UN leader vote.
From Luddite and Yuri
Ranamar: fair
Commodore: I was wondering, any chance I could get yours?
11:42 PM Ranamar: That's a joke, right?
Will you have the population to actually pull anything off?
Commodore: Hah, I figured you might take it as such.
Oh, not anymore, that threshold was passed about turn 152
Ranamar: mmm
11:43 PM Commodore: I figured the balls-out way to go is to ask for your vote.
Ranamar: Your thing with Rohan was very, very apt, though. I think the only thing that could have matched it would be implying that Darth Vader did all the heavy lifting in the Empire.
It's certainly classy.
11:44 PM Commodore: Hah, more like Thrawn in charge
Ranamar: actually, yeah
you have a point
Commodore: Completely brilliant play.
11:45 PM If you feel like handing Seven the deserved conquest, to quote Nicolae in another thread, "Seven Spirits level rofl-stomp", then we can call it.
Ranamar: I never expected Astronomy to be such a power tech.
Commodore: Oh, it was entirely critical
Ranamar: I agree... I'm just saying I never expected it.
11:46 PM Commodore: I thought I had it when you sold the galleons to Yuri. My judgement of GES was spot-on.
Sadly, by then it was Luddite's empire.
11:47 PM I just thought I'd make the final offer. Knife the Grand Admiral so artistically, and join the side of light.
Ranamar: What did you think Yuri would do that would have had it in the bag for you? Roll over GES?
Commodore: I'll rename the world "Ranamartopia"
Ranamar: It's actually really tempting... in a Minbari sort of way.
Commodore: Nice reference!
11:48 PM Ranamar: My girlfriend and I have been watching B5 over the past few months.
Commodore: No, I knew GES would be enraged at Seven and want to go all-out on Mali, NAP be damned, letting me and Yuri clean up.
If GES had been in charge, he would have.
11:49 PM Ranamar: GES claimed that he wasn't angry. I think he'd pretty much given up at that point.
Commodore: Yeah, his message was pretty much "capture all my cities, I'm telling Luddite to charge"
11:50 PM Ranamar: RE: UN...
(9:48:52 PM) SevenSpirits: that's pretty funny
(9:49:18 PM) SevenSpirits: I think you should vote for yuris instead
Commodore: He's a lawyer, it's expected to be that way. (GES, I mean)
Sadly, Yuri isn't near Mass Media.
11:51 PM Ranamar: ... and you're probably too big for him to be the contender if we built it.
Commodore: Bit of a bummer, actually, he's still plugging away for culture win.
Ranamar: huh
I might have to watch that.
Commodore: Yeah, it'd work if you let him continue for the next 50 turns unmolested.
11:52 PM Heck, culture-racing would have me coming in at around ~25
11:53 PM Ranamar: Actually, now that I think about it, I think Seven may have gotten distracted exploiting the dodginess of the map and forgot to actually plan to, you know, finish the job.
Commodore: Yeah, that's something I mentioned earlier.
11:54 PM It's hard to actually win dom against humans.
Ranamar: Dom was never the plan... on this map, we'd need ALL the land, basically
(because of the water...)
The problem is, conquest, well... eventually we'd need to hoof it.
11:55 PM ... and I don't know if you heard about Operation Rock & Roll, but I don't think that'll work a second time.
I'm a builder at heart. I asked Seven if we were going to go for space after crippling everyone. B-)
11:56 PM Commodore: Yeah, culture is faster.
And I have no clue where 30 degrees is on a toriod.
Ranamar: IIRC, the elevator is only marginally worth it.
11:57 PM Commodore: True
Ranamar: I'm guessing 30 degrees on planet donut is 30 degrees from the perspective of the minimap.
Commodore: I suppose.
11:58 PM Totally unfair, we got shut out. :P
Ranamar: Build it on one of those silly islands.
Commodore: You took those, sadly.
11:59 PM Ranamar: They're easy targets. c.c
Commodore: Oh, global warming has hit, if you noticed.
Ranamar: You know, I'm tempted to challenge you to a race for the UN and vote for whoever gets it. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd honor that last bit.
I hadn't.
12:00 AM Commodore: Huh
Ranamar: I need to remember to check the logs more.
(... and before I generate a bazillion combat logs each turn...)
Commodore: You know what, I'm game for that contest if you want.
Only one stipulation:
12:01 AM If you build the UN first (or when you do), change your leader name to Ranamar.
12:02 AM Ranamar: Can do.
Commodore: Dude, this could be an RB first.
Ranamar: what?
Commodore: A PBEM that actually ends in a victory condition.
Ranamar: hah
12:03 AM Commodore: Now we must go on.
Ranamar: I mean... a joking-but-serious race to the UN (it should be announced) would actually be approximately a concession anyway.
Like, "Hey, let's end this."
Commodore: Right on.
12:04 AM None of your silly Confucian diplo, just men in suits and ties.
12:05 AM Ranamar: If you get it first, we'll have to talk again about how I'm voting, since I probably can just pick the winner and might decide to vote for myself, but this seems like it's at least as good a way to finish off the game as any.
12:06 AM Commodore: Hah, we'll have to dicker over that one.
I'd say rename your leader to Seven Spirits and vote Commodore of Ranamartopia.
Ranamar: haha
12:08 AM Commodore: We'll have a ticker-tape parade, I shuffle off to a dull Secretary-Generalship and you retire an icon.
Ranamar: Sounds like you got all the work in that case.
Commodore: Yeah, it'd be horrible.
12:09 AM Ranamar: IMO, it also has to be public and silly.
Commodore: Heh, like the Onion's headline when Obama won in 2008: "Black man given nation's worst job"
Ranamar: That's my stipulation to go with your renaming one.
Commodore: Oh, without a doubt.
Ranamar: right
12:10 AM Commodore: Awesome, I believe we have a deal
12:11 AM Sometime tomorrow, when it's not midnight before an early morning meeting, I'll make silly spams on the UN Thread
12:12 AM Ranamar: Works for me. "End this destructive conflict and rule the world..." comes to mind as a description of your offer, incidentally.
On the other hand, I'm on the evil side, right?
12:13 AM Commodore: Well, it's a universal appeal.
"Unite the world". Much less evil
12:14 AM Ranamar: I couldn't resist the Star Wars reference for some reason. <.<
Commodore: Oh, it's the Thrawn reference.
12:15 AM Good guys woulda been screwed if he'd have been in charge...but then it wouldn't have been the Empire, right?
Ranamar: Well, no
Well, maybe. In a Hobbesian Leviathan sort of way.
Commodore: Yeah, metaphors are growing mixed.
And my wife's already gone to bed.
Ranamar: alright
12:16 AM Commodore: It's that time.
Ranamar: good night
Commodore: Good night, Ranamar, a pleasure as always

So now it's just a race to the UN, and my victory chances are somewhat hampered by this being my empire's rump. Still, I'll give 'er a try, and one way or another, Seven Spirits is not winning. I was close tempting Ranamar just to vote for me directly.



My poor, bleeding empire. As you can see, I'm building settlers to refound some core cities inland.