Gavagai returns to civ

[Gavagai]

I will be attacking Joey on T203. A risky move which I did not expect myself to do make just a turn ago but Joey decided to hand me a once-in-a-generation opportunity which I cannot pass up. He created a narrow vulnerability window for himself: his army is one-mover based and is busy fighting a war with Cairo in the South which he just declared. On top of that, he has revolted into Caste System this turn (T200). On T205 he will be able to revolt again and that time he would have an option to take Nationhood and, possibly, Theocracy. Now, however, he has no means of emergency reinforcment. He can only upgrade archers into rifles but he is currently burning money on Nationalism research, so I do not expect him to have much funds by T203.

I am going to have from 21-27 Cuirs and 14-19 Knights depending on whether I'll be able to obtain a loan from Cairo and make additional upgrades. Unless Joey would choose to use his last round of Rifles to strengthen his Northern defenses, he will have only a bunch of archers and a few stray Rifles to defend his capital (the best city in the world currently), his HE city and his Masoleum city. A nice way to send thy neighbor to mental clinic, I think

[Gavagai]

I just want to let everyone know that I am really pissed off. I offered Cairo Horse + Iron to signal my intention to help him in war with Joey - and he ACCPETED the offer. So, basically, he advertised my confidential signal to the whole world, my victim included. This is exactly the same thing 2metra did to me in PB22 - with a small difference that in PB22 I wanted Joey to feel nervous and did not care much. Also, I think that in PB22 it was a calculated ploy on behalf of 2metra while here Cairo is just being an idiot. What is funny is that I considered such possibiity when I was making this offer but decided that to encourage him to keep fighting and to give me money was more valuable then to hedge against this low probability risk.
Well, Cairo may happily go fuck himself now and fight with Joey on his own. Because, of course, Joey's core is now stuffed with Rifles. My operation is cancelled.
And yes, there is, actually, a valuable lesson in this rant. Please, new players, for Satan's sake, DON'T DO THIS SHIT TO YOUR ALLIES.

[Tasunke]

Hmm. I've always wondered about those offers, is it always a crapshoot or have most of y'all worked out some sort of "code" to get around the limitations of AI diplo?

In the last pitboss game I was in (after going back and r adding the threads) no one had any idea what I was trying to say ... (iirc I offered iron/horse for gold in attempt too suggest they could pay me and I'd help them out, but apparently it wasn't well understood??)

[Gavagai]

The code is very basic. Basically, an offer of a health resource, usually, Fish, is an indication of peaceful / friendly intentions. Offering of a strategic resource is a suggestion or promise of a military cooperation of some sort. If you try to communicate anything more detailed, you will most likely be not understood or misunderstood.

[Gavagai]

By the way, thank you for the map, Tasunke. It is ridiculously unbalanced but still very fun to play. I have just sent a Caravel to the center of the inner sea and see a glimpse of a Terra Incognita here with yet another Barb city. Can't wait to explore it in the next few turns!

[Gavagai]

The code is very basic. Basically, an offer of a health resource, usually, Fish, is an indication of peaceful / friendly intentions. Offering of a strategic resource is a suggestion or promise of a military cooperation of some sort. If you try to communicate anything more detailed, you will most likely be not understood or misunderstood.

The important aspect is that you should never accept these offers as it will make them publicly known through diplo screen (unless it is your intention to make them publicly known). If you want to signal acceptance or understanding of the offer - just shoot a symmetrical offer back.

[Gavagai]

I will submit my concession to OT4E right after I finish writing this: there is no plausible path to victory left. Until ast turn my strategy was centered around denying him Oil. It would be possible if he delayed Scientific Method until the last moment and was not able to realize how important a desert island in the inner sea is. The moment he teched SciMethod, however, the whole plan was doomed: Ot4E can bring much more ships into inner sea due to having an access from the outer ocean. I played it until OT4E teched Combustion hoping for his mistake but now there is no point in dragging this on.
My congratulations to OT4E, he has played a very good game and his victory is fully deserved. Also, my gratitude to Tasunke for the map he made: it is unbalanced as hell but still fun.

[Gavagai]

Another thing I considered doing is subsuming Cairo's land. But 1) it would take too long, 2) Ot4E would have a lot of means to sabotage it.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Also, my gratitude to Tasunke for the map he made: it is unbalanced as hell but still fun.

Have you seen the full map yet? Unbalanced....doesn't even begin to describe it.

Can we get some end of game empire pictures and pictures/descriptions of conflict areas? No one has been reporting this game.

[Gavagai]

I'll try to do it in a few hours.