[spoilers] Going Dutch: The Commodore Files

[Ceiliazul]

Your event log caption is apt. That's quite a day for those empires. Still looking forward to the geopolitics.

[Commodore]

Geopolitics will come, but there is a bit more local interest first...

Turn 180 opens with the nicely even date of 1200 AD; I welcomed this turn with several harbors finally completed. 32x1.25=40 commerce just from trade here in Death Masks. How I love these trade routes. I also laid down several galleys, to get converted into East Indiamen when Astronomy lands...

Nice city, about five population I frankly don't care about though.

...and then my regular check of the borderland showed this nasty stack of nasty. So all that planning just got tossed out the window.

INCOMING PAIN TRAIN

Yeah, Plako is feeling some oats; he's been pushing EPs with Nationhood and drafting himself a spike in power to top even our fourth-place-internationally selves. Those thirty knights have a lot of backup, yonder graph tells us. So we've got to react.

Drafting is for losers. But not for last-place losers. Also arms races suck.

First and most obviously, since that big show is tantamount to an attack already, might as well declare war and put a little pressure on the completely irrelevant desert cities in the west. Plako can crush the peninsula hard if he wants to, but it'll be slow going for him if I can clear his roadways. I offered Plako a 10t Peace Treaty, we'll see how he wants to play that.

Chariots being killed by horse archers in the era of rifles. We're a backwater, folks.

Second, we're shifting domestics and diplomacy to stop this thing butt cold. Garrisons in the south are getting stripped; if Plako gives me peace my tokens will be back down bristling at Dtay immediately. I burned what cash was on hand on upgrades to Proven Guilty's garrison; should be able to kill some dozen knights or so if Plako pushes a blitz (would be more, but you can bet your bippy he's going to revolt away the defensive bonus and walls are tragically obsolete.

Whoever invades first gets the hammer. We only have the one hammer.

Finally, that's a hard stop on Astronomy research; sorry EI fans. I put out a pair of loan begs to GermanJojo and 2metraninja; I'm going to hit Nationalism ASAP, to be timed for revolt with the golden age due in two turns. You thought my whipping in a golden age was painful? Wait until you see the mass conscription. Oh it is on now.

[Mardoc]

At least it's not maces being drafted

[Commodore]

Oh this is extra rich.
   
Yeah, bad timing there Deets buddy. Now I hope Plako goes in and makes a hash of things...

Okay, I'm going to repost this with the Geopolitics Post this afternoon, but just for everyone's reference...
PITBOSS 22 WORLD MAP:


ENTIRE WORLD AT WAR. Feel free to discuss among yourselves with this map as the reference, lurkers.

[Commodore]

GEOPOLITICS:
Dtay eats Furungy; that's a new development but certainly not a shocking one. From last turn, however, we have the other two. First of all, Gawdzak launched an astonishingly effective blitz on Donozan Zoi's giant subcontinent; that's two turns to completely capture this big ole' chuck of goodness. Nicely done!

Twice the size of Greenland, I am jealous of the colonial opportunity...but not of the attention it attracted.

Much more interesting was this little imbroglio, captured here by my lucky reporting work boat. The fast-falling-behind Korean empire's northern colony has attracted not one but two vultures. 2metraninja is moving first, and has another northern stack of six knights beating up more cities. I'm not sure how this will work out...if GermanJojo wants the land, he's got it given he's up Chemistry and Astronomy. But he might opt to focus instead on the main empire of REMAI and leave the second Gavagai front to the interloper Portuguese.

Best for him? Fight, forcing them to tech Astronomy. It'll obsolete the Colossus but better to have fleets able to withstand Dtay, guys.

Let me again post this picture here, with added conflict zones highlighted:

It's a mad mad mad mad world!

Let's examine the arrow-points, and in doing so look a bit at the actors. Impressively, here on turn 180 there has not yet been a single elimination; I don't expect that to last until turn 200, but still...

The Done Untos:
These guys don't have a lot more game left to them, they're just here taking up space until conquerors finish. So, yes, we're here too but we can at least make a little more of a crater upon expiration.

HAK- Single Fortress City
Yeah, poor Hit Any Key is just piled up in his capital of Cheerios, waiting for death. Although he's got a pretty huge stack of junk in there, what's really still saving him right now is that Gavagai and Donozan Zoi are both poised on the threshold...whoever hits first will be weakened for the other. But the culture situation for both of them is pretty intolerable, so I think HAK shall be released very soon from his Hit Enter Key fate.

REMAI- Backward and Divided
The spectacularly awful start land of REMAI has not been parlayed into a very impressive game; for some reason they delayed settling north across that narrow sea for a long time, butting heads with GermanJojo. 2metraninja is going to bite off as much as he can, for the boy is land-hungry, while GermanJojo is more grudge matched. I've only recently met this polity, but they seem to have been pushed into North Korea (ironic given civ) mode early on. I'll not criticize them too much...they're bitter enemies of GermanJojo, so I'm sure you've gotten many a whining paean upon their general awfulness.

Have a hard time understanding the story behind that barbarian city, though.

Furungy- Dying Moose-Snake
I've never met Furungy, but from map trades it's reasonably clear he's kind of just hung out this game. GermanJojo captured up to his capital from one side; now Dtay is cleaning up on the other. Ouch, sorry dudebro.

Backwater Battlers: Plako and Commodore
I think I've reported often enough to make this story clear. Desperate for land, I used an artist bomb and captured The Peninsula there from Plako; he's been in an arms race with me ever since. Knowing what I know now, I definitely would have tried a probably doomed early push/classical era war to the death. Close borders can work between contenders only if there are other profitable avenues of expansion. In Pitboss 13, Pindicooter and I had a very amicable border game-long, but we also had vast[/i] island holding out east and Financial to make that avenue worthwhile. Plus a healthy case of PTSD. Plako's always been trapped, sadly, and in turn he doubled down and militarized heavier and heavier on our border. The mutual low-garrison thing I had with Dtay? Never going to happen with Plako, he's not a man to trust metagame considerations. And there was no way for me to signal “let's go east” given our CTON ruleset.

So, here we are. Plako might push this war, might back down, but either way, we're out of this and only going to lag more with time. He may eventually kill me, but if he does he'll find Dtay owning the mature core towns.

Active But Doomed:
It's hard out there for the low-production schlubs.

2metraninja- Tiny Economic Powerhouse
Alas, Portugal. I've dropped the more complex cognomens, by the way, as 2mn has completely taken over playing the turns. I'm interested to see how much these guys can profit out of the death of REMAI, but they need more land fast or else they'll be in the same backwater category as poor us. The raw lands of North Korea are ideal for workshops and farms, so that's nice...but anything they take, good luck keeping as Gavagai moves south, GermanJojo moves west, and Dtay glances sidelong to the east while upgrading his singularity gravtanks and planet busters. Core Portugal is going to be hard to hold along that wide open border...

Donozan Zoi- Left Holding Mackoti's Bag
I like DZ, think he's one of the more personable newbies to come out of the woodwork recently. He's done...okay with what Mackoti left him in China. He's strung out along an arid network of small isthmusai, lacking food, and oops just lost half a dozen cities in a lush over-water subcontinent. Still, he's got a lot of the raw and dry north Hakland to himself, and has a decent, if not glorious, economy. He's not about to die fast unless Plako has a brainwave, but he's also severely outmatched by Gavagai all along his front so I think his high water is past (three turns ago, to be precise).

CONTENDERS:
Ah, at last we're talking about guys who can win. And it's four of them! RBmod continually impresses me with how these silly unbalanced maps still nevertheless lead to very hotly contested endgames. There is no reason beyond mental exhaustion this game won't end in space. But the Final Four are ranked, in order of least to most likely to win:

Gawdzak- Classical Island Empire

GermanJojo- Sprawling Conquistador

Gavagai- Equatorial Hegemon

Dtay- Overlord of the Western Hemisphere

...and text on them to come.

[Bobchillingworth]

I would very much like to one day play a game against you solely so that I could months later read brightly-colored paragraphs about myself.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Have a hard time understanding the story behind that barbarian city, though.

No idea. Maybe they're just farming XP?

[Commodore]

Have a hard time understanding the story behind that barbarian city, though.

No idea. Maybe they're just farming XP?

Maybe? But a barb city that size ain't making longbows very fast.

I sort of wheel from "how can you expand that badly" to "how are you managing as well as you are on this little land?"

[Commodore]

In quick hit news; loans went through, and Plako killed my probe then offered peace. Fair enough.

Not getting a "happy Plako" vibe...

As a result, I'll hold off leaving towns unworked and just let the next golden age come a turn late.

Next up, Globe Theater drafting camp!

[spacetyrantxenu]

Ha, that's a sad fate for a capital. Although...in real life....it could have merit. I have to believe draftees from the capital would be completely worthless, though. They're incapable of doing real work.