RBP3 Lurker Discussion Thread - No Players!

[novice]

England razed Lyons, France's copper city. Rome founded their iron city, Portugal had six chariots waiting in the fog, they proceeded to raze the iron city but all six chariots were lost, so Rome should be able to resettle the city.

France had one very well-timed stroke of luck:

Been declared by english people and they razed Lyon. Maybe an upgrade would have come in handy...

Did u see what we are against to Morgan? At least we popped copper in Paris...

[novice]

India and Ottomans are racing for Hanging Gardens. It looks like it may come down to a coinflip, or Ottomans will beat India with one turn, depending on how to interpret Ottoman statements:

I plan to do a complete overview at T77 (was going to be T75 but we'll settle 2 cities on T76 and (hopefully) get HG on T77).

We are currently planning for the HG to be built EOT77.

India are timing three of their four chops to complete on T77, so if Ottomans beat them by one turn it shouldn't be too painful - they can cancel the chops. Losing on a coinflip however, that WOULD be painful.

[v8mark]

Haha, Portugal's attack on Rome didn't succeed - five chariots died against a single spearman! They're in trouble now, and Rome aren't in as much trouble as they thought they were...

[Sullla]

Not sure if everyone has seen this yet. Here was the situation in the France vs. England and Egypt conflict:



France had 2 spears in Paris, one full health and the other at 2.5 out of 4. There were three enemy chariots present (all from England), and one Egyptian war chariot in the vicinity. One chariot was located directly northeast of Paris on the corn tile, the other three units were located on top of the copper resource NE-E. That copper resource (amazingly popped from the mine 3 turns earlier!) was France's only source of metals, and thus a very valuable commodity.

What is the best way to play this situation? Leaving aside the issue of, "How did 4 chariots manage to get that deep into enemy territory and reach the copper without being killed by spears?" the only real option at this point was to turtle up and protect the cities. It's a losing strategy, as the copper would unquestionably be pillaged, but maybe France could get a resource trade along the river from someone else. And with tech trading on, you're never fully out of the game - you can always be useful to someone else and get gifted an age's worth of technology.

Instead, France gambled that the Egyptian war chariot would pillage the copper resource, and attacked *OUT* of Paris with the healthy spearman. While that unit did win and kill the English chariot, it left a single 2.5 strength spearman on defense in Paris:



A simple test in Worldbuilder would show that a damage spear only has 60/40 odds against a war chariot, and even if the war chariot would lose, there were two more English chariots waiting to attack Paris! Krill was a little lucky and got the city himself, but it was toast regardless, even if his unit lost. Not a great play by France:



Essentially, France traded an English chariot for their own capital! Moral of the story: when in doubt, make sure to defend your own cities. Things can change, even in seemingly hopeless situations. Just make sure you don't get defeated by making reckless unit micro decisions.

[novice]

Not that it has anything to do with anything, but I think there were originally two chariots on the corn, and France killed one before the screenshot was taken, which is why one spear is injured.

This is a little tangential, but do you know how to assign hit points to units in Worldbuilder?

A simple test in Worldbuilder would show that a damage spear only has 60/40 odds against a war chariot

...

Just make sure you don't get defeated by making reckless unit micro decisions.

Yeah, this was definitely a reckless decision, and I think they knew it. I think they've given up on the game and are just playing it out.

[Sullla]

Post from me, January 4, during this game's setup:

I know everyone is excited about this game getting started, and that's great. However, out of that big list of names involved, I see the following:

2 people currently involved in the RB PBEM game
6 people currently involved in RBPB1
10 people currently involved in RBPB2

That's a *VERY* large amount of overlap! Please, please be careful about overcomitting to these games and then having to drop out halfway. Running a massive 18 team game is asking for all kinds of trouble. It sounds fun now, but how will everyone feel three months later if 4 teams have been abandoned and need replacement players?

Don't say I didn't warn you later...

Post from Speaker, also from January 4:

What a debacle this whole game is turning into. But sure enough, many of the players, who barely post in their own thread, are running off to join RBPB3.

Posts from Jowy and Nakor today:

I'm finished with my exams now, but I've really fallen out of the loop with this game. It's really your game now, not mine! I predicted this might happen, that's why I signed up only with a big team, but I still feel bad about dropping out. Sorry guys. I'll stay unspoiled though if you ever need me to play some turns, or if I happen to get a spark of motivation to catch up..

Hi Jowy,

We're both not really "into" this game, if you want to assume command with me in the background, that would be ok with me.

Founded our fifth city!
We're almost last in score still! Fun game...

Wow, sure was a great decision for these guys to play a second Pitboss game, with minimal interest and effort. Sometimes I hate being this right. Sometimes.

[plako]

Sweet, just got priesthood from Inca, and Monarchy from England. We owe them 200 gold, payable as soon as currency comes in, so don't spend any until then.

Trading Monarchy for gold from other alliance is bad idea in No tech brokering game. Their allies need to research Monarchy no matter what and now they're feeding the research of the other alliance.

[novice]

Trading Monarchy for gold from other alliance is bad idea in No tech brokering game. Their allies need to research Monarchy no matter what and now they're feeding the research of the other alliance.

Agree 100%. The price is outrageous as well.

[Sullla]

Krill is calling me out on the map design in his thread (I seem to recall the same thing happening in the first Pitboss game!) so I was curious what those lurking the game think so far. Give me your honest opinion on the map thus far: what do you like, what things don't you like, was it balanced enough overall, and so on.

I'm pretty happy with what I've seen, to be honest. I don't think any team was particularly screwed or benefitted. But I am the biased creator, so I'd love to have your thoughts and comments.

[novice]

A map can never be perfectly balanced, unless you use the mirrored map script. Balance the map to one level, and the players will find something to complain about on the next level of detail.

Level 1: I have no strategic resources.
Level 2: My strategic resources are in a crappy location
Level 3: My strategic resources are forcing me to expand in the wrong direction.
etc. etc.

I think there are some legitimate complaints about this map, but the map makers can only do so much, after all. Especially with a huge map counting 17 civs. Overall I think it's a fine map, which I believe was the general consensus in the map making thread.