[SPOILERS] Dazed and scooter play Stalin of Vikings and make a big mess

[scooter]

On another mechanic note, if Krill is paying really good attention I think he can see what was in your galley by comparing his "Units killed" statistics from before and after the battle.

Hah, clever. Or he randomly checks it 20 turns from now and is confused as to when he killed a merchant.

One problem I have with my 2nd merchant is avoiding the same problem. I really want to go for Nakor's capital as my mission target, but is it worth risking running across his land when he's apparently giving Krill OB just for fun? If Krill had a unit ready to kill me on that pointless island, surely he might have one running around in Nakor's land as well. Meh. I don't like that. I need to spend some time using shift-click to see the value of each city and then gauge it that way I think.

I did say I'd set an avatar if novice did. I'm thinking about making it a great merchant.

[scooter]

The more I think about this, the more convinced I am that the lack of the "no tech brokering" option is about to break this game and make it a bit of a sham. It certainly crushes my ability to win.

[Old Harry]

The more I think about this, the more convinced I am that the lack of the "no tech brokering" option is about to break this game and make it a bit of a sham. It certainly crushes my ability to win.

I take it it's too late to change the settings now? (Given the unlikely situation that everyone else agrees it should be changed)

[novice]

T-Hawk might be able to hack it, or players could just agree not to broker techs.

[SevenSpirits]

1) Trying to travel really deep with your merchant was a bit crazy. The possibility of losing them is very real. If you already had a 1700g option, man, just take the money. Sorry for rubbing it in.

2) Offers that involve quantities of gold no longer held should show up as a diplo screen for them, but will not go through (at all) if they are accepted. So you are safe but I guess hampered in your ability to collect the gold you want.

[scooter]

I take it it's too late to change the settings now? (Given the unlikely situation that everyone else agrees it should be changed)

T-Hawk might be able to hack it, or players could just agree not to broker techs.

I don't know anything about T-Hawk hacking it. But I've been thinking about this and I don't see how agreeing not to broker works. I mean you could agree not to do it, but how do I know that player X is rejecting my trade for a tech because he would be brokering it or if he just doesn't want to trade with me? You can't tell the difference, and it's a really big difference.

Also, I'm hesitant to bring this up in the IT thread because even if I have a solution, what if it gets shot down? All I've done is alerted everyone to the fact that they should be brokering like crazy, whereas right now I'm not sure most people are paying close enough attention to identify this necessary strategy like I have. Wish I would've known this before. I've just been assuming this whole time brokering was disabled.

1) Trying to travel really deep with your merchant was a bit crazy. The possibility of losing them is very real. If you already had a 1700g option, man, just take the money. Sorry for rubbing it in.

Yeah you're right. I've only done a trade mission once in a game with humans, and it was a diplo game so I negotiated safe passage in exchange for a minor bribe. It's just a total different way of thinking in this kind of game where I can't talk. I could have tried to signal to Nakor, but given my lack of luck in communicating with him in this game that's probably a waste. EIther way, my 2nd merchant is not leaving the boat and will take precautions.

2) Offers that involve quantities of gold no longer held should show up as a diplo screen for them, but will not go through (at all) if they are accepted. So you are safe but I guess hampered in your ability to collect the gold you want.

Thanks, good to know. Basically if you want to broker, you need to pick people A) saving gold or B) who haven't played the turn yet. Well yes, Regopin log in like 10 times per turn and Krill logs in frequently, but everyone else is checked out and just logs in once a day.

[scooter]

Apparently I only took one picture from this turn when I played it last night, but I launched my 2nd golden age:



Next I'm squeaking out a Merchant in Black Peter (can't tell in this shot, I hired a metric ton of merchants after I took this) and I'll definitely try to generate at least one other. Scarlet can pump them quite quickly right now with Pacifism + GA + National Epic. Also, just now I popped in and offered this:



Because they had not ended turn and Nakor has Education. I also tried to sell Nakor Gunpowder for 300-some gold which pains me in ways you cannot imagine. The Azza and Cyneheard deals cannot go through so that's moot. Nakor already played and no chance he logs in twice in the same turn, but he does run break-even and is making 1gpt, so yeah, apparently that one could work. Maybe he's not paying attention and will take that as charity and will return the favor soon .

[slowcheetah]

I don't know anything about T-Hawk hacking it. But I've been thinking about this and I don't see how agreeing not to broker works. I mean you could agree not to do it, but how do I know that player X is rejecting my trade for a tech because he would be brokering it or if he just doesn't want to trade with me? You can't tell the difference, and it's a really big difference.

You can send messages via the diplomacy screen, correct? Why not just allow people to say, 'Can't trade, brokering' or something if that's the reason they can't trade? This would be the only message allowed of course.

[scooter]

You can send messages via the diplomacy screen, correct? Why not just allow people to say, 'Can't trade, brokering' or something if that's the reason they can't trade? This would be the only message allowed of course.

This is probably the best solution. Still less than ideal, but whatever. I'd like to think about this a bit more as I still don't like the idea of it getting shot down and then me losing the advantage I had. But realistically, I probably have no chance at winning this thing without changing the brokering thing.

[scooter]

Ok. I think I'm just going to adapt to the settings. Why bother pushing tech? I'm going to hit my targets and then ignore it. Plan is something like this.

1) Finish Rifling. No need to give up PP, RP, or Rifling anytime soon because they will take eons to finish for the others.

2) Eventually get Communism for State Property + spy

3) Tech Astronomy. Ruin (sort of) economy. KILL KILL KILL.

4) Trade missions please?

5) Shut off tech and do mass upgrades. We have a) high tech costs b) low hammers in my land c) broken tech trading d) no motivation to tech at all. Turning commerce into hammers is THE way to go. So I'll keep building Zerks and galleys and then once I have Rifling we'll go poof Vanilla civ AI-style, and once I get Astronomy similar things will happen.

Seriously, why keep teching? Why not just stop trying to tech and start fighting while I have the huge advantage? Pave Workshops everywhere, State Property, 6 move galleons... I mean, I can do some serious damage here. Or I can just keep teching and keep selling techs for 10 cents on the dollar until my advantage is gone and everyone remember "oh hey right that's the guy who is Emperor of Australia" and I'll no longer be relevant (no offense Aussies, you guys are cool, just not for killing). No thanks. If I go into a space race as Australia but no way to maintain my tech lead due to bogus tech trading, I lose anyways. I can't win that. So let's smash some heads instead.

Sound like a plan?