[Spoilers] Pindicator accepts his fate

[pindicator]

lol, I was no hero. StarDoor was a safe buffer against OT4E while I could expand to my heart's content. Those days are gone now.

[SadGit]

Excellent. Now expend to our hearts content. Stomp and squish.

[pindicator]

Sign up and play a game then 

In all seriousness, my strategy here is to play this like a marathon.  My last few games I've made early rash decisions that have not gone to plan and caused me to fall behind never to be relevant again.  Well this game I was going to build build build and pick my spots.  Back to the running analogy: we saw the lead pack of Mr. Cairo and OT4E leap out to a blistering start.  We could try to expend a lot of energy in an attempt to catch them right now:  Build Wealth and Build Research to Guilds and then whip like mad.  Never mind his easy counter of just attacking us in that spot ... or anyone attacking us ... We would then expend everything into an attack that held dubious chance of success at best.  Same with sending all my horchers into the spears that StarDoor has been whipping.

No need to try and make up the entire game in one move.  We pick our spots, make our strategic plays.  And hope the lead pack can't keep up their blistering pace.

[pindicator]

Turn 123

I really don't feel like reporting, but there are some significant things to bring up:

1.  OT4E's golden age ended.  That means the MoM didn't give him additional turns.  Thank god.  It also makes the swap to Vassalage more understandable.
2.  OT4E build the Apostalic Palace and birthed a Great Artist at end of t123.  When did he become Philosophical?  If I get Artist bombed it's going to be an interesting time defending out east.  Maybe I need to plant a city on the copper tile just to keep him from doing that and splitting my border.
3.  Mr. Cairo has birthed 4 great people.
4.  Kim Jong BatShitCrazy has decided the best way to follow up a failed war on little Elkad, is to take on twice-as-large chumchu.  Perhaps he'll catch him unawares as chumchu has been whipping courthouses.  But I doubt it.
5. chumchu moved his capital to his eastern lands.  I don't know if that was worth the hammers but he did it.
6.  I'm 1-turning religious techs on my way to Monarchy and Feudalism.  I'll make sure to pick up Code of Laws before the golden age, but that is still a dozen turns away.

[pindicator]

Turn 130 now. OT4E is going to attack Nyles. At least Nyles has been whipping. Chumchu is actually losing, didn't think that would happen. But the Elkad piled onto Kim Jong from the other side so that will be interesting.

I decided to put my cities on Wealth. And I'm still picking cities off of StarDoor at a leisurely pace. My total count is at 21 now.

OT4E cut open borders last turn, dammit. I then used Wealth to barely be able to 1-turn Alphabet because that actually cut a good chunk of commerce for me, and the game went and changed the expenses at end of turn processing so I really didn't 1-turn it. Stupid game. Alphabet at the end of this turn, CoL at the end of next, and then on on knights and Astro bulbs.

Sorry for the lack of reporting. Some RL stuff is getting me down. I'll try to get a decent report. I am #3 now after all.

[pindicator]

So I've got a hunch OT4E might be a Parkin puppet. It's also possible he plays the same philosophy -- emphasizing production and wonders in the early game -- but the turn camping against Nyles just now ... PB7 flashback

EDIT: I probably shouldn't have posted that in the tech thread. OT4E is right that I don't have complete knowledge.

...but manipulating the turn timer to get your way on a turn timer is very Parkon-esque

[Krill]

It would be a long con, OT4E is known ladder player from over 6 years ago.

[pindicator]

I've never been good at picking out people's play styles anyway.

So OT4E whipped everywhere -- and I mean everywhere. It wouldn't surprise me if those were all knights.

EDIT: Why I think it's knights? Because the rival best power shot up from 472k (not OT4E btw) to 600k in 1 turn. OT4E whipped 15 cities, which if were all knights would give him 20k power minus the whipped population points. Any other unit before knights would be only 6k power each or 90k at most. Nah, it has to be knights he whipped now. Which is why I didn't attack this turn, an idea that I had thought about before going into the game.

I've got roughly 9 turns to go to Guilds and that's with my Wealth builds. But I also have a golden age coming in 4 or 5 turns, so it's possible I can shave a bit off of that. I really want to have Guilds and all the pre-reqs to bulb Astronomy done by the time the golden age is done -- so after the golden age we can swap back to slavery and whip whip whip all the knights. But I can't attack him head on, which is why the astronomy bulb is going to be important. Hell, I might just want to build swords and go straight for Astronomy right after Feudalism. I should look closer at the timings there. Because I'm not going to crack OT4E by coming over land. I'm going to need to raid his coasts, make him defend everywhere.

Assuming he doesn't do it first, that is. Considering how well he's playing I wouldn't doubt if he does exactly the same thing first -- or rather, I would if not for the fact that I think he's already used up his great people...

[pindicator]

This whole "never take peace and play every 3 days thing" by StarDoor is really getting old

[pindicator]

OT4E took peace with Nyles for 80g after whipping all those units, doing the civic swap to war civics, and only recapturing his city. Alarms are going off in my head.

I declared on OT4E, destroyed his chariots that have been on my border, (lost a horcher to a chariot, because of course my RNG would), and offered peace. Swapped every city to build a unit that we're going to whip if he doesn't accept peace. Just too much of an impending doom feeling, and if he takes the peace I'll be close enough to having the same enforced peace as Nyles that he just won't be able to pick one of us off in 10 turns.

I'd really like to be building courthouses now. My expenses are insane. But I can't just sit around and do nothing concerning OT4E.