RB Pitboss #3 [SPOILERS]- Suryavarman II of England

[Cyneheard]

After France's move:



Nothing interesting; they played it safe, but had no choice but to do so. It might not save them (GO BARB GO!)

Demographics:



With 3 cities growing next turn (everything but Gib), we'll be growing from "187k" on the population meter to...331k. And with 17 pop points, we'll be in the top few. The "7k" is clearly poor France.

[novice]

Also, named some units. Our newest chariot is Ælfred the Great (Yes, I got the Æ in there: Copy-and-paste works on some symbols.)

What's the problem? It's right here on my keyboard, next to Ø and Å.

[Cyneheard]

What's the problem? It's right here on my keyboard, next to Ø and Å.

. I have to deal with the disadvantages of being a silly American, I guess.

[antisocialmunky]

Darn Euros and being able to type and pronounce two letters at once.

[Cyneheard]

T81

Monarchy came in. :2dance: We've offered it to everyone in CAN except Egypt, as Egypt doesn't want it until they've bulbed COL. India confirmed that we'll get Aesthetics from them, which is all I needed.

WAR:
Rheims: The barb attacked our chariot. Promoted to shock, and pillaged their wheat. We'll set up Hugh, the shock chariot, on the sheep 2N of Rheims next turn. The HRE are willing to send their HA to come around & knock out Orleans; it shouldn't take much. The Unready One will be able to hit Rheims T85; he clearly should suicide onto the spear, since he's less valuable than the chariots (or the HA).

I've been talking with Rego, and getting capital locations of different civs. The HRE capital is exactly 15N of us. Also, have locations relative to Conan for Aztec capital, and relative to Gulliver for the Roman capital (very close, he just needs to head south). There are lots of signs around the map with coordinates relative to India's capital; I'd leave them up for now.

Silver's online, and Gibraltar can build TGW on T85; stone comes online T83. Gibraltar can work 5HPT (5/1 pigs and 0/3/0 PHF), and gets 2 chops on T85. We will not be revolting to HR/OR until T86.
London is finishing its axe, and then on to a settler, AF is building a catapult, and BR is going to build a worker, and then a catapult.

I'll post screenies separately later.

[Cyneheard]

Rheims:

The spear can enter Rheims T85, France's part of the turn. France will build a warrior in the meantime, assuming that's what they're building. Likely due EOT83. But I'd rather have TUO + both chariots vs. spear + warrior, than both chariots vs. the spear. Also, this gives Hugh more time to heal.



Conan:
Mali says they've got both barb warriors covered, so we're free to run south through their lands, and then SW to the Aztec. Gulliver needs to head straight south once he's healed to meet Rome.



Demogs:

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the screenshots, Cyneheard. Looks pretty good.

On Rheims, how long has the city existed? Does it have any culture? Borders popping for another 20% defense would be a sizable setback.

Figures that the barb would attack us and not France. Never rely on barbs, they will almost always do the least convenient thing.

[Cyneheard]

T82:

This is getting ridiculous. We're doing France's barb-clearing for them:



Conan:
Sent the Inca a quick "Hey, we're just passing through" message, and proposed a 10t NAP.



Byzantium is getting interesting:

Jenkins is Woody II. Our HA needed to heal anyway, this lets us keep him near if Jenkins does something stupid.

[Cyneheard]

DIPLOMACY TIME!

First, a message I sent out to CAN2, trying to see if we want to bring in Portugal. I did talk to ASM, but @Hap: this was time-sensitive, so I didn't think waiting for you to be available was an option.

I think we've got a good chance of being able to bring Portugal into CAN2 or whatever we want to call ourselves, if we ask them. England personally has had a good relationship with them, and they haven't been terribly pleased with diplomatic developments (specifically, they're not too happy with threats of Ottoman belligerence), and aren't a future-expansion border of any CAN members. I want to make the ask to bring them in soon, but need some input, at least "this is fine with me" or "Here's why I don't think so." Portugal will probably have to be a funder, since their economy isn't the strongest after their bloody war, but they need some time to rebuild (they're trying to negotiate a peace with Rome, don't know how that will turn out).

Also, to support Portugal, we might need to ask Rome and/or Inca to come in, as well. Please let me know about any objections you may have on any of these three civs being invited in. I see no reason to bring in just Rome and Inca if Portugal isn't in, but others may disagree. Rome and Inca will desperately need Carthage contact arranged (we're a few turns from Roman contact, assuming our barb luck holds); Egypt and Portugal have full contact, and it's Math and Construction that we'd need to get into those civs' hands ASAP. I think all three of those civs would be more of a military arm, especially Rome/Inca, and funding the tech of one of the four civs of Carthage/Maya/Mali/Babylon.

If I can get some responses in the next 12-18 hours, I can make the ask to bring Portugal in. Otherwise, it'll have to go to somebody else (Carthage?). If we get Portugal in, can you let me know if you think you'd be the right person to talk to Rome and/or Inca, if we decide to try to work with them?

Chats from earlier in the day with Portugal and Krill to follow, next 2 posts.

[Cyneheard]

Portugal:

Willem: we were chatting with carthage, and they shared with us something interesting, they said they had spoken to you already about it, but maybe I'll leave it till they are around again
me: no, go ahead
Willem: well this ottoman thing. i take it you and carthage are very close?
me: yes
Willem: ok cool. just want to go on the record as I hate aggression
me: I think they're the civ I trust the most right now [OOC: Well, is it possible to trust Krill fully? Babylon's a close second, but Carthage is also much more powerful than Babylon right now]
Willem: when there's no reason for it at all. i can understand romans attacking us, i can understand you all attacking france, and india attacking sumeria, but ottos attacking carthage, is just kind of nasty
me: I thought they had a NAP through T100?
Willem: yeah, that's what carthage told me. what has carthage told you about it?
me: We spoke about a day ago, mostly discussing what to do tech-wise with our techs having just come in
Willem: ottomans are going to be hard to stop with 6 cities and HG. right
me: right
Willem: wondering how likely you think this otto thing is. also if true I would think they would try to get someone else onboard to attack with them
me: the Ottomans fighting Carthage? Long-term?
Willem: yeah, ottomans declaring on carthage when their nap runs out
me: Probably a good chance of it, but, depends on the tech situation at that point, and no one can match Carthage's beaker output
Willem: yeah. construction ain't a cheap tech, I can't remember what turn they got maths but it didn't feel like all that long ago
me: it was maybe 12t?
Willem: well it's probably too early to plan anything defensive just yet, just know that if we aren't still caught up in this roman mess we'd like to help
me: ok; my guess would be that the Ottomans would then be trying to count on HRE support, if they get any body. but that would guarantee that we intervene, and they probably know that. What do you think Rome wants?
Willem: i can send you their response to our peace request, but basically I think they think they are still in a strong enough position with incans helping to keep us pinned down with pillagers while setting up iron then taking cities with praets
me: but you've got catapults coming
Willem: that i think is still their goal, and what they think was possible and the real reason they denied peace. yeah, that has to change their mind, hopefully.
me: there's not much we can do to help. we would, but our military's got enough on its plate
Willem: heh yeah.
Rome: "You are now fighting an enemy that do not have much left to live for other than what glory we can potentially achieve on the fields of battle, before we are evidently runned down by medieval units. While I am sure your cities will be adequatly protected once we reach them, I am equally sure that there is not much you can do to protect your infrastructure against our dual-promo units for the time being. If SsS gets into the history books as the civ that ruined Cath Bruig's chances of winning I would consider that a victory at this point, seeing as we have had so much working against us in this game. I'm not saying peace is completely out of question, but you would have to somehow sweeten the deal to a degree where SsS can once again feel competitive post-war for us to even consider it - and I'm not sure you could achieve that even if you wanted to."
me: huh
Willem: that was from rome's response to our peace request
me: yeah, I figured. Trying to process what that would entail. what's the tech situation for the CANT teams? they've lost a lot of their good techers
Willem: not that great, maya is basically their only good techer but there is no one left to trade with in CANT, and I don't consider maya in CANT anymore anyway
me: Maya's freelancing
Willem: they are really just neutral
me: that leaves...uh, Rome, Byz, and Inca in CANT. got to run
Willem: ok np, speak to you later

Krill:

me: I think we should consider bringing Portugal in. they are really unhappy with the Ottoman attitude towards Carthage
Krill: HMMM. damned caps, sorry. Actually, Ive been thinking about trying to bring in Inca, Rome and Portugal, if it were feasible and necessary. I'm not entirely sure, but it is an interesting thought experiment
me: HRE or Byz leads to diplo complications, and neither can be fully trusted. Portugal might not be a powerhouse, and might get swarmed (darn.)
Krill: Yeah. partly why need to consider how to get Rome. Rome plus portugal really hurts HRe and India
me: I don't think the southern teams would have any reason to object to Portugal coming on board
Krill: because they have to suddenly get their guard up. yup. the way I figured it, is this: What are we trying to achieve? We are trying to stop those teams that have expanded, from getting free tech from us. Originally, that was portugal India and Otto
me: trying to remove India, Ottos, and HRE from being threats to winning
Krill: but Portugal aren't really in that boat anymore, yeah. Right now though, Portugal aren't that big a threat
me: India's literally the farthest civ from us, over 30 tiles in each direction
Krill: but if we can get Portugal and Rome to threaten (not necessarily attack) India, and HRE, then it allleviates any threat to you me and Carthage, If india were to funnel HA to ottomans, or if India were to send HA over the desert, and help out Byz. If we grab Inca as well, then we add more pressure to Aztecs and to Otto, and let's face it. Inca suck
me: yeah
Krill: Rome just a third city
Krill: and Portugal lost most of the army they slaved out, and their fifth city
me: Roman response to Portugal peace request: You are now fighting an enemy that do not have much left to live for other than what glory we can potentially achieve on the fields of battle, before we are evidently runned down by medieval units. While I am sure your cities will be adequatly protected once we reach them, I am equally sure that there is not much you can do to protect your infrastructure against our dual-promo units for the time being. If SsS gets into the history books as the civ that ruined Cath Bruig's chances of winning I would consider that a victory at this point, seeing as we have had so much working against us in this game. I'm not saying peace is completely out of question, but you would have to somehow sweeten the deal to a degree where SsS can once again feel competitive post-war for us to even consider it - and I'm not sure you could achieve that even if you wanted to.
Krill: yeah, basically I can talk to Portugal, but me talking to Rome or Inca is a no no
me: well, I'll meet Rome soon
Krill: cool
me: assuming Gulliver doesn't die. barbs are afoot
Krill: ah yeah
me: and he's Woody II, damaged in the friggin' desert
Krill: I lost my starting warrior this turn to barbs
me: he is our starting warrior, and is running around frantically to not get killed by them
Krill: hopefully he lives. just checking who could approach Rome now
me: Babylon? not sure who has contact. but, I think they do. them or Maya
Krill: babylon and Maya and Mali are the only two that I can see
me: right, and they've been working with them
Krill: also, need to edit the entire sentence, not just add civs in and not change the number
me: haha, got to run
Krill: cya