RB PBEM #1 - Gandhi [spoilers]

[Square Leg]

move to the oh so lovely south?

What - and lose my posh boy reputation?

I only live in the Midlands (a very grey area on the north/south divide) but that is far enough north that my accent is classed as "posh" ha ha!

Off topic slightly so I'd like to ask Ruff a question:

What are the details of the agreement you have with Dreylin regarding De-Toging the world? Do you have to wait until soooo is dead too before the arrangement is over?

IF you can secure soooo's lands for yourself, do you think you have a chance against Dreylin?

[Ruff_Hi]

What are the details of the agreement you have with Dreylin regarding De-Toging the world? Do you have to wait until soooo is dead too before the arrangement is over?

IF you can secure soooo's lands for yourself, do you think you have a chance against Dreylin?

Here is a link to our agreement (http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showpost....tcount=338). The Alliance is over when the TOGs are dead or we both agree that they don't rate as a threat.

With Sooooo's land, I will certainly jump in score, production, etc but his cities are totally set up different than mine (population driving beakers, etc). That said, he has really pushed GPP while I haven't and I share his Philo trait. I should be able to ramp up GPP production of the back of his city sizes (assuming they aren't whipped into the ground to hold me off).

The difficulty with fighting Dreylin is that there is only 1 access point - a very similar situation that I am in with Sooooo.

[Ruff_Hi]

mh and I discussing EP spend and Tech Research information ...

mh,

I am trying to limit my EPs against you so that I can 'just' see
your technology. Are you attempting to do the same thing with
me? If so, is there a sweet spot where we can both see each
others techs and we can stop our little EP battle.

What is the formula for revealing tech research via EPs - I
cannot find a link.

Cheers,

Ruff

Hi Ruff,

yes I intend to do the same.
From my old days at the C&D dept. I think it something like,
3/4*(100+opponents eps) or similar.
Not sure whether a speed modifier comes into play as well.
However, that does not seem to work out in the current game.
At my current level towards you, I can just see your research.
I am also not sure, why I get such a high penalty for espionage
mission costs for you and Dreylin. Especially as the espionage
spending is in my favour.

I suspect this has something to do with the Great Spies you
guys used. But you did not use them on me, I think, so <shrug>.

Regards
mh

There is an espionage cost modifier which is something like

Modifier = (2 x Total EPs Against + 1 x Total EPs For) / (2 x Total EPs For + 1 x Total EPs Against)

And that is total EPs during the game against anyone.

For me it is something like

Modifier = (2 x 300 + 1 x 2300) / (2 x 2300 + 1 x 300) or around 60% (roughly).

Ruff

Urgh, so you and Dreylin burning your GSpies on soooo and athlete
affects my espionage costs against you two?
I got something like a 145% modifier against you.
I am not sure there is even a sweet spot taking into account that
high modifier.
Can you see my research at the moment?

mh

My cost modifier is about 72%. If yours is around the 145% mark, I will try and calculate a sweet spot. Can you dig up an old turn and provide some hard numbers to help me?

I cannot see your tech when I get the game, but I spend just enough EPs against you to just see your tech. Can you see mine? It sounds like we might be close to a sweet spot.

Ruff

Hi,
as those numbers are readily available to everyone ingame, I have no problem giving you the current ones.
Those are the epts relations I have with the players (me/them) and the shown cost modifier and the see research threshold:
sooooo 151/78 84% 111epts
Ruff 359/247 138% 358epts
Dreylin 285/199 138% 309epts
athlete 149/104 94% 143epts

Regards
mh

mh,

Based on those numbers, we should aim for the following ...

me against you - 252
you against me - 365

They look about right but will move slowly as our EP spending impacts on the cost modifier. Can we agree to move towards those levels and then tweak them as required to keep tech visibility?

Cheers,

Ruff

yep. Thanks.

Regards
mh

[Ruff_Hi]

• FF - Wealth
  
• LQ - Wealth
  
• DV - Wealth
  
• BH - Cavalry [2]
  
• BS - Research
  
• AC - Research
  
• TN - Wealth
  
• KS - Research
  
• SL - Lighthouse [1]
  
• Scout (Dead Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Scout (Live Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Tech - Railroad [1], +26g at 100% science, 145g in the bank
  
• Opponent Current Tech Research
  • sooooo - Steam Power, 399g, -34g @ 40% (mh + Ath sent gold to Sooooo)
    
  • athlete - Drama [5], 0g, negative
    
  • mostly harmless - Constitution [256], 163g, +157g
    

A mixture of coin and research this round. I got my maths wrong, didn't request enough from Dreylin and found myself short of coin for 100% tech. As it stands, I have enough gold next turn to run at 100% with nothing from Dreylin. Divine Right says [2] turns but I am pretty sure I can bring that down to [1] by swapping my cities back to Research.

Its T135 and an AP vote option came up ('Declare war on Athlete'). I decided not to propose it - seems a little harsh.

[Ruff_Hi]

Ruff,

I see that you completed RR, excellent! I offered my gold reserves at EOT (~145g) but I saw that you have 170 on hand anyway, so if you won't need them I'm happy to hold onto it and run a few upgrades. I plan to upgrade a selection of my Janns to Rifles (probably the half-dozen or so which have >5xp), so I'm now back to 100% gold (well 90% fo another turn until the Arabian WW disappears).

What are our tech plans from here? You mentioned switching over teching duties to me, but I haven't been able to get Oxford online yet, so maybe you should continue with that duty; I have another Bank due online soon and am working on fitting in the final Uni I need, but I need to replenish my forces somewhat for when mh declares on me.

Our next goal is Assembly Line, but the next tech in that route is Constitution which mh has promised to me. I don't really expect him to fulfill that commitment in a timely manner though, but I have just pinged him about it anyway. I parked my research on Astro for now, and intend to run at 0% for a couple of turns anyway, so we have a bit of time to find out the lay of the land and discuss where to go next.
Oh, and athlete is dead.

Dreylin.

Dreylin,

I am going to knock off Divine Right next turn and then take a good look at the tech situation. I agree that our next target is Assembly Line. My major concern is Sooooo getting Machine Guns. He is researching Steam Power and I expect that he will head towards Railroads after that. With mh feeding him gold (mh is spending his gold on something and sooooo is accumulating gold somehow so that looks like it is already happening), he could have RR in 8 to 10 turns. I will be my hammers in to getting my army in position to take Corinth during those 8 to 10 turns (back to drafting, etc) so my tech will slow down.

Ruff

[Ruff_Hi]

• FF - Wealth
  
• LQ - Machine Gun [2]
  
• DV - Cavalry [1]
  
• BH - Cavalry [1]
  
• BS - Barracks [4]
  
• AC - Fast Worker [1]
  
• TN - Conf Missionary [2]
  
• KS - Spy [2]
  
• SL - Courthouse [76]
  
• Scout (Dead Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Scout (Live Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Tech - Divine Right [2], -96g at 100% science, 171g in the bank
  
• Opponent Current Tech Research
  • sooooo - Steam Power [3], 323g, -73g @ 50%
    
  • athlete - who?
    
  • mostly harmless - Constitution [383], 154g, +157g
    

Dreylin,

Divine Right is a 2 turn tech for me. After that, I will be starting on Constitution (3), Corporation (3) and then Assembly Line [8] (had to use ['s as per Sullla's complaint in pitboss2). Those numbers assume that I stay in Bureaucracy. I am thinking of swapping out of Bureau so that I can draft again. I would like do make that swap in 3 or 4 turns from now. How about we plan that you take over tech duties after I finish Constitution, leaving you to pick up Corp and AssLine.

Ruff

Ruff,

Sounds good to me.

Dreylin

[Ruff_Hi]

• FF - Wealth
  
• LQ - Machine Gun [1]
  
• DV - Machine Gun [2]
  
• BH - Machine Gun [1]
  
• BS - Barracks [3]
  
• AC - Machine Gun [3]
  
• TN - Conf Missionary [1]
  
• KS - Spy [1]
  
• SL - Courthouse [15]
  
• Scout (Dead Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Scout (Live Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Tech - Divine Right [1], -92g at 100% science, 175g in the bank
  
• Opponent Current Tech Research
  • sooooo - Steam Power [1], 290g, -135g @ 60%
    
  • mostly harmless - Constitution [?], 212g, +157g
    

I've paired up some of my fast workers who are starting to lay down railroad tracks.

[regoarrarr]

• Scout (Dead Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land
  
• Scout (Live Man Walking) - scouting Sooooo land

Are these spies? Or do you have OB?

If they are spies, do you do anything to try and minimize their chances of being caught?

[Ruff_Hi]

Those scouts are scouts. I have OBs with Sooooo. I also have about 8 spies in his territory. Re minimizing his chance of catching my spies - I don't do a thing. Technically, I shouldn't bunch them as that does increase their risk of capture.

[sunrise089]

@Ruff - You know machine guns can't attack, right? So why build so many?