RB PBEM #2 - Justinian (SPOILERS!)

[T-hawk]

Something tells me that I really should get in touch with Krill and work out whether he's still on my side or whether I'm about to be run over....

Have you worked this out yet?

[Dreylin]

Have you worked this out yet?

Actually, no.

But is did have a chat with SL over the weekend which I'd forgotten to post:

Square: hello dreylin - can you spare any time to talk about PBEM 2?

me: little bit, sure

Square: cool
I've managed to catch ruff in chat and it lasted all of 5 mins before he disappeared ! :D

me: heh
been a bit slow since we came back, eh?

Square: very much so
I have kind of lost enthusiasm a bit
are you managing to fill those galleons?

me: yeah, me too with nothing happening

Square: I have chatted with Darrell today
He seems to think he is safe from krill due to a NAP
have you spoken to krill?

me: I haven't had a chance to speak with Krill recently

Square: I'm a little worried,,,

me: his schedule & mine don't seem to sync

Square: I think his schedule is all over the place...

me: Well tbh I'm less concerned about what happens, than that it should happen soon!

Square: ha ha

me: If Krill has decided to switch sides back, I'd just like him to get on with attacking me, iyswim

Square: do you need any more galleons? I would like to swap over to SoL now I think
If krill does come this way then I may aswell dive in too

me: Well I've got more boats than I can fill with units, so yeah you can stop!

Square: ok - Have you visibility on Krills navy?

me: not much
I can see the odd couple, but not the bulk I don't think

Square: oh - i knew there was something i meant to ask - with the break i completely forgot - did you send me a GP?

me: but I would get 1t of warning of an attack
not yet
popped over the last turn I think
don't think I checked what I got, but had been aiming for Merchant
should be with you in a couple of turns

Square: great - thanks
not sure what to do with him.
Darrell is going to get sids soon

me: gah
does he still have a Merchant?

Square: i know - he confesssed to having the free one from econ saved

me: ah

Square: I think he has pretty much beelined Medicine

me: yeah, Sid's will be huge on this map

Square: yup.
i cheekily asked the price for an exec... he avoided the question!

me: not surprised!

Square: He also confessed at going for space.
Krill will be going for Dom
Ruff... err - time i guess!

me: lol

Square: me and you?

me: Dan Quayle?

Square: ha ha!
I feel like i have played such a bad game - got so much better at Civ since the beginning of this game.
What do you think about UN?
I reckon there is a slim chance I could eek a victory out - maybe...

me: Well, we could always try and cheese an AP

Keep my Capital long enough for Krill & Darrell to take other cities and then vote...

Square: Darrell already has it.
at Persepolis
i don't know about ruff - but that shouldn't be had
hard
Does krill have bud?

me: don't think so

Square: he will if he attacks you!

me: I thought Darrell had burnt the city with Budd - makes things easier
exactly!

Square: s<editted> - maybe
I have OB so can sneak in a missionary
That would be pretty funny - especially if krill is knocking on your capitals door only to have Pope Dreylin march to the city walls and simply say - " I WIN! nenurrnurr! Rasp!"

me: yeah, but I suspect they'd see it coming
besides, I think he'd previously talked about burning all my cities down

Square: IF and this is a pretty big IF - I manage to tech to Mass Media AND build the UN before Krill turns my eyes purple - I think I could persuade Darrell to vote for me (especially if he is miles away from space still - and that his sids cities haven't pushed him into opposition), hopefully you'd help me out? and i'm sure Ruff would just to get an outcome!

me: sure
of course I'd have to live that long


Square: heh
its only a dream

[Dreylin]

I guess everyone's ow waiting for me to play, but there's a lot going on at the moment and I haven't found time yet to even glance at the turn. I did chat with Krill & SL as the attack turn happened:

me: We're not Peaceful, so it can't be me you're attacking this time...?

de: not entirely truth full. I've just captured all 4 cities on your island

me: ah
Are you sure you have the range to do that?

de: If you want to go and villify me publicly, I think I deserve it
I have already done it and turn passed on

me: (well obviously you do if you've done it)
well poo
you've probably burnt them down as well, haven't you?

de: No, I've kept them

me: gosh

de: I take it you have an army on the boats though, ready to take them back
or at least try

me: well at least the waiting's over
so how do you plan to beat Darrell in the end?

de: Domination

me: there's enough land without his territory?

de: yup

me: well then

de: Although had has already said he is happy to finish this game now.
TBH, it all comes down to what you plan to do

me: and have you been playing me false the entire time?

de: No
when you read my thread you'll realise my situation
it hasn't been straightforward
And yes, I'm a bastard.

me: heh
it never is straighforward


by "it comes down to what (I) plan to do" you mean whether I roll over or fight back effectively?

de: or if we as a group decide to end the game
but basically, yeah
obviously I have your power graph

me: and I yours
SL tells me you only took 3

de: You didn;t trade maps that showed him Laodicea

me: ah

de: and no I didn;t know it was there either, until I captured Trebizond

me: heh
but you still managed to take it

de: foresight and a little bit of luck

me: so are you (or Darrell) going to propose terms for ending the game publicly?
*I'm going to fight on for a turn at least!

de: Terms? I don;t really mind. I'm happy to keep on playing while you want to put up a fight.
I'm not playing to win, but to play well

me: well, you implied that Darrell was for ending it

de: I think the quote was, he was claiming second place
if we did end it

me: Aha
so if I fight long and effectively enough to hamstring you
I could get him the victory

de: You could, but when he has already said he is effectively my vassal I wonder at that motivation.

me: well there's only your NAP stopping you from having him over a barrel

de: Which he blackmained from me, true
winning an MP game by conquest is pretty rare
but as I said, I'm not aiming for the win, but to play well
if I end up winning, then great.

me: Sure

Meanwhile with Krill.

Square: PBEM 2 just took an interesting turn... Krill has captured all 3 cities on your stone island...

me: yep
all 4
he says

Square: only 3 gone
I have the save open now

me: you may not have the newest one on your maps

Square: I am taking a turn of anarchy to swap to Rep-Nat-Theo - best get ready..
you'll see the situation soon enough

me: yeah
guess so
:/
(wonder if we can still cheese and AP victory)

Square: ha ha let me check the bud spread...
darrell hasn't got bud as far as i can tell

me: bah
I thought so

Square: I can hook up ruff and ask him to send a missionary...
just going to finish the turn..

me: well, I've got another 2+hrs of work
and then I'm going out this evening
so no rush!

Square: ah ok

me: as of this weekend, I'm only 3hrs from UK time, and in a fortnight, it'll only be 2hrs!
anyway, meeting.....

Square: hmm - getting closer... Continental drift reversing? laters

[Dreylin]

t125 - Well that didn't go well.







Well the army I have loaded on the Galleons is 5Cannon, 3Musket & 1Gren, so really isn't suitable for a Naval assault on Nicaea. Probably the best I can do is unload it in the Fort and try to take back Nicomedia ... but what I didn't know before was that running ships into Forts only works when you control the territory. So I can't attack this turn, but I think that it's still the best option.

As I'm about to move the Grenadier to join the rest on the Fort, I realise that everything he's brought is a 2-mover, and therefore he can get re-position much faster than I ... unless I cut the road link in the Forest. Gren does so and then promotes C1, Pinch.

In the main force, I promote Caravel-Spotter to CG1 (since he only has 1promo), the Gren and another Musket to C1, Pinch, and the 2 Cannons with only 1promo to Drill1.

I also run the 3 overlooked Workers into one of the Galleons for evacuation.

I have 2 Grens in the Galley offshore Nicaea, and I chain them around using the Galleons to be in range of the Fort next turn - the lookout Frigate returns to guard them, and the Frigate and 2 of the Galleons from the Fort move across as well. SoL & 2Galleons remain in place.

Use the Frigate outside Adrianople to kill the Caravel. Promote the new SoL to C2 and put it onto the injured Frigate since using it to attack woul leave 2 injured ships on different tiles.

East of Nicomedia I strike at his fleet with the SoL & 2 Frigates, killing 3 of his Frigates. I move up the 2 Frigates from East of Laodicea to sit on top.

Leonidas joins Wabbit Season to create a super-medic and then climbs on the second Galley with a Musket. I move it one tile SW to create distance from Krill's forces and then upgrade to Galleon. Then the new Gren from Antioch loads.

Civics switches: Representation, Nationhood, Mercantilism

Draft: Constantinople, Thessalonica, Adrianople.

Start Heroic Epic in Antioch, and will whip next turn. Iconium starts Grenadier to be whipped soon. Rest will finish Grens and ships next turn.

Bump research by 10% to bring PP back down to 2t.

Guess we'll see how things go next turn...

[Dreylin]

t126 -

Constantinople - Grenadier
Thessalonica - SOL
Adrianople - Grenadier
Angora - Forge

Vote: Stop the War, Stop Trading w/ Darrell - Think I'll skip both at this point.

No attacks back from Krill, but some shufflings going on.

4 Frigates outside Nicomedia, but still only 6 Muskets inside - just enough to stop me taking it this turn. Judging from the troops missing from Nicaea, my guess is that he has loaded some of them up again and sent them to lurk back in his territory to go where needed. That would mean he could threaten Adrianople as well as reinforce the Island, so I'll have to make certain to keep it well-garrisoned.

He can reinforce from Laodicea, but that's not going to stop me whittling it down. Top CR2 Cannon has 76% odds vs. "Maybe a Cannon killer" ... and withdraws. Next one has 97.5% odds; it and the rest retreat without loss.

Grenadier has >99.9% odds, as do the 4 Muskets - 5 Muskets killed with just a single remaining at 1.8/9h. I add the two Grens and bring back 2 of the Workers for future use.

I leave the Grenadier securing the forest between the Ni's.

Frigates aren't going to have odds on his stack, so I keep them in place to take defensive advantage. But I will take out that one lurking in Constantinople's waters with the SoL next to the island. The injured Frigate heads to heal in Const.

Shuffle a few more units between transports to accelerate trip to Island:



Constantinople: Cannon
Thessalonica: Frigate (tweak tiles to get in 1t)
Adrianople: Grenadier
Antioch: decide against whipping HE for 6pop to save 2t.
Angora: Grenadier

PP due next turn, so I'll ask SL to offer RP on his turn.

Ooooo, Ruff has Vassalised to SL!

and now the bad news, Krill goes Golden and adopts Nationhood & Police State.



Well let's see what Krill & co. make of that....

[Ilios]

Ooooo, Ruff has Vassalised to SL!

My memory regarding the vassalage mechanics are rusty. Do either Ruff or SL get any bonuses for this?

[Selrahc]

My memory regarding the vassalage mechanics are rusty. Do either Ruff or SL get any bonuses for this?

+1 happiness for SL "We influence other civilizations"
-1 Happiness for Ruff "We resent this foreign influence"
It also locks them into an inescapable peace treaty, SL can enter Ruff's land without open borders(although not vice versa) and SL gets an espionage bonus against his vassal. Ruff can no longer make war declarations, SL's war decs automatically drag Ruff into the fray. If anyone declares war on either one they also declare on the other.

[novice]

+1 happiness for SL "We influence other civilizations"
-1 Happiness for Ruff "We resent this foreign influence"
It also locks them into an inescapable peace treaty, SL can enter Ruff's land without open borders(although not vice versa) and SL gets an espionage bonus against his vassal. Ruff can no longer make war declarations, SL's war decs automatically drag Ruff into the fray. If anyone declares war on either one they also declare on the other.

SL gains visibility on Ruff's territory (I think)
SL's cities get their full BFC in culture wars against Ruff

I'm assuming capitulation and vassalage work the same, except for the mechanics on how they end?

[T-hawk]

Half of Ruff's land and population counts for Square Leg instead, for purposes of domination victory. Score too, though that has no in-game effect besides foreign perception of you (both AI and human.)

[Dreylin]

t127 - Oh look; Krill has graciously offered to let me Capitulate to him in return for Peace ... I think not.

SL sends across RP, so that means I need to start researching something. Hmmmm. He's on Rifling now, while Darrell is off for Sid's and Krill is about to finish RP ... I think I'll make a start on Steam Power, but on 0% for a turn or two.

Thessalonica: Frigate - head NE to remove a pesky Caravel from Iconium's Crabs.

Wow, I just got hosed.

Krill threw his land-based stack at mine and got the following string of results:

win @24%
win @21%
win @24%
win @24%
win @27%
win @28%

I lose 3Cannon and 3Grenadier, which leaves me with 2Cannon and 4Muskets. I'm honestly not sure how to come back from that hosing.

Oh, and my Frigate stack was wiped out as well, but I think that was inevitable and at least they managed a single victory in the bargain!



I've got a Gren, Musket and my GG Chariot coming to be dropped off next turn, so I think I've just got to press the attack. If I don't, that means he's got free-rein to send his full Galleon-fleet against any of my cities, so I guess I press to keep him distracted.

Cannons retreat and send the two healthy Muskets in to kill a Musketeer and a Musketman ... wait a Musketman!? So someone (Darrell most likely) is supplying extra units to Krill. Great.

I wonder if Krill would consider attacking him if I were to Capitulate and give him all my units? I mean honestly if the #2 civ is not even bothering to compete, where's the incentive for the rest of us...

Caravel-Spotter (Musket) has 85% odds on a defending Musket, but loses. That leaves an injured C1/Pinch guy who has just 78% on a War Elephant, but he'll heal in a single turn so I hold him back.

I do get a second GG - who heads to Adrianople to add a Military Academy.

Draft Constantinople & Adrianople and shuffle the troops around a bit.

Oh, and start a new SoL in Thessalonica.