PBEM 24 Thread for Gifted Lurkers

[Bobchillingworth]

Yeah, sounds like Commodore will win Oracle by virtue of the turn order. That's probably for the best, while seeing Mack take a very early Bureaucracy would have been cool, it's healthier for the game to remain at least nominally competitive.




I'm not sure why Gaspar was complaining about there being supposedly *too much* land available earlier; would he have preferred that I have made it mandatory for people in a four-player game to murder each other before they can have empires large enough to win a "peaceful" space victory? Of course he's not going to see much military conflict anytime soon, but that's his own damn fault for signing a ridiculous NAP with Mackoti.

[fluffyflyingpig]

Gaspar never fails to deliver.

Gaspar needs to play poker

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Uh, did Mackoti really end up winning the Oracle?

Something tells me he said 3 turns to head off any spoilage from others.

Something else tells me Mackoti's going to straight up win the game

[Ichabod]

Uh, did Mackoti really end up winning the Oracle?

Something tells me he said 3 turns to head off any spoilage from others.

Something else tells me Mackoti's going to straight up win the game

Well, he did the turn 61/62 update in one post, so maybe he was referring to turn 61 with the 3 turn thing. Another thing that could have happened is some mistake about EoT and not-EoT countdown, which is very easy to make.

Either way, bureaucracy this early + GEng + Mids + endless NAP + crippled rival... yeah, this game won't last that much more...

[Ichabod]

I think Mackoti probably whipped the Oracle to completion (commodore has a screenshot of the best cities saying that mack capital is size 6). He probably read the lurker thread movement the same way as Gaspar (I noticed some previous comments from him about the movement in the lurker thread, so he pays attention to it) and decided to whip it.

[Square Leg]

Looks like U-Boats 1 - 0 TT.

[luddite]

I feel sorry for the players, especially TT. But man, this game really delivers for lurkers. Are there any other surprises like the submarines?

[Bobchillingworth]

Nope, sadly



I honestly am astounded that people would actually consider halting the game over this. Oh noes, I can't improve a couple mediocre food resources at the stupid city I settled which is surrounded by jungle. The subs don't prevent anyone from reaching any of the land, if you move your boats carefully. They block a few seafood resources from being worked consistently. I put them there because they're a part of the map concept- to force players to have to choose between the mobility but considerable danger of the inland sea or the more rugged but dependable land paths (or to use the outer sea & forts to get the most out of the water). They also keep many defensive points I added on the land bridges relevant (which the players asked for!), so that you can't just sail past everything until you have destroyers.

I didn't accidentally slip my fingers on the keyboard and add some submarines to the map- they're an integral part of the design, and I'm embarrassed that any of the players would suggest actually editing them out. Gee what a great idea, and maybe the FFH PBEM VI players should add some green around the map, since the map maker made it so dry. Or hey can I contest the results of PBEM 3 because I hated what the mapmaker did with my start? If the subs don't make the game literally unplayable, then I can see no justification for editing the map after the fact. It sets a terrible precedent and makes a mockery of RB's supposed "play the hand you're dealt" mentality.

[novice]

Letting the players know about them would have been a good idea, though.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Maybe you should have given them animal AI, or at least no pillage AI, so while they'll harass you every now and then they won't set you back consistently.