[PB74 spoilers] Plemo in epic contest

[Plemo]

I have played through two variants. In the first variant I play peacefully and research wheel-->animal husbandry-->sailing. In turn 50 it could look like this.



In the warlike variant I exchange animal husbandry and sailing and should be able to land with 3 Navi Trieren in turn 57 (if the capital is not at the sea) or attack amphibiously. Maybe I could do it one turn earlier. I still have some time to decide.

[Qgqqqqq]

Land where? What units on board?

[Plemo]

This is what the country looks like:






There is not much good land for me.

With some optimization, an attack on the German capital in the west is possible on turn 55 (if the capital is on the sea) or turn 56 (if the capital is inland) with 3 ships (4 axes and 2 spears). Much depends on whether I can avoid contact by then and surprise them. This turn I have to decide for or against it.

[Plemo]

Superdeath's river copper found. 



Unfortunately on the other side and thus not blockable. In other news. Gav built Stonehenge.

[Plemo]

With expanded copper mine, the demo looks quite pleasing, so you could even think about a normal construction game.



My scout finds another copper, I wonder if there is a player nearby:gruebel: The barb archer is also interesting. In single player, early archers are not uncommon for AIs due to the starting archery technology. In an MP game, they should be more like warriors.



It is also interesting that Tarkeel does not double move and logs out directly.

[Plemo]

In fact, I meet a new neighbor Greenline in the west. By playing on the research slider and the research goal, I know that both players already know animal husbandry and at least one does not know pottery (different BSP value).






Let's see if I can create a connection to Greenline in time for the purpose of religion spreads.

[Plemo]

Hageel have conquered Dreylin's capital city. Since I don't follow and document the game as intensively as I did my first games, I'm trying to recreate Hageel's development using old screenshots and PBSPY. The filter options on PBSPY are very good for this. Here are my observations and interpretations:

Growth: 19, 23, 39, 45
city: 34, 45 (conquest)
Whip: 35(1), 40(1)
Tech: 13, 26, 32, 37, 43
Starting tech: hunting, mining

From the demo values and run time, round 13 doesn't fit for bronze, but animal husbandry does. Also, you see a 4000 point increase in average points. The second tech has to be bronze. The third can be anything. Theoretically, they can also disguise their research with changes of the tech goal. I would do something like that, as long as the technologies are researched in time.

Between turn 43 and 44 the maximum value increases by 4000 points. The maximum military value now decreases by 4000. At the same time a general is born.



The pop count for Hageel increases from 4 to 5 when the city is conquered, in that the military value does not increase. Overall, it looks more like a chariot rush. But a small uncertainty remains. Maybe it makes sense to take 1 more spear, if I decide to try an ambush.

[Plemo]

Will be hard. Whether you play peacefully or attack :D

Definitely. Hageel are unfortunately very strong players and have an extremely strong leader in Julius to make up the deficit from an early war, especially if they have space. If I assume the same number of warriors with us, they should have 3 chariots or one more if they only have one warrior. If I am wrong and they did the rush with axes, then it should be 3 axes. Chariots would be better for a direct fight, but that makes them much more mobile.

As it is, I will probably take the maximum number of axes. I also have 2 spears only because I had already started building units as warriors. This turn I have reached the point of no return. Either I found the remaining cities as soon as possible, so that I then have up to 12 cities before a confrontation, or I take risks now with possibly high returns. In any case, I will make an enemy in the east that I better wipe out promptly.

[Qgqqqqq]

So you are planning on attacking?

[Plemo]

After a lot of back and forth and a thousand times changing my mind, I decided not to attack. Even if I am halfway sure that the attack was done with chariots and I could weaken them quite a bit, the following things are too uncertain for me:
1. Can I remain undetected until the attack?
2. Where is the second city, respectively can I conquer it quickly and above all hold both cities?
3. Where are their troops then?
4. Do they already have other cities in case of an attack?

In the end, the uncertainty was too great for me to ruin someone's game without any real benefit.