Well, here's the last turn, it was a pretty fun one. I first poked around and looked at the Island of Serdoa's Ire. Yeesh, duelers vs. this was kind of grossly unfair. Yuri, while second in score, was pretty much in fourth place here, with a decent number of cities but not as much potential as our 21 or Gav's 18. While he could certainly roll forward into Mali with effort he'd have to make real sacrifices to do so, mass-drafting musketeers and whipping a ton of knights, wrecking his currently sweet economy. Gav could also pile on and Yuri would definitely not gain enough to make him winner; Gaspar dies harder than that, folks. 
As for me and myself, I had to at least fulfill the prophecy above. Siege reduces more defense, then it is send in the cats. Who all died, giving Hashoosh a GG, but they served their purpose.
I try as I attack to pay attention to experience gains; if I can shave a tiny odd off to get a better XP return I will. Once a stack of defenders has been good and sieged, even the odds and sods get good odds. Phalanx and crossbows finished off most of the defenders...
...and the final redlined longbow? Chariot, wassup. I renamed Poland "Theopompus" because that's the Greek ancient historian name that always amuses me the most. The healthy gold pile from the capture lets Paper be one-turned with ease, and the city is definitely a winner. Plains cows! Guys, it's got plains cows the bestest and most wonderfullest tile in the game!
Hashoosh for reasons probably related to hashish
poked a single mace next door to Porphyry. Mkay. Crossbow gets 70% odds, inside my borders, need 6 more great general points...
...score. Patchy Cutie! Hey guy! Not that it matters overmuch, but he'll be welcome as an instructor in the heroic epic city in the magically funhouse world where Seven doesn't exist.
Thales, alas, never will get those cows/wheat boosts to stop its embarrassing food hemorrhage situation. It's a good capital, more hammery than some of the ones I've seen. I think (know) it could have been managed better, but it's still a fine little guy. Bureaucracy would make it really pop, and at size twenty it could appear on the world stage without hanging its head in shame.
A very real advantage is Plutarch here as well. Hashoosh did a good job getting in an academy, a real coup to capture. With a library and university, this would definitely be a big asset as a secondary beaker pump; develop it just as you would a capital by having little side cities grow its cottages. Hashoosh, as a note, you might have wanted to settle a backline fishing village a little sooner just to cultivate cottages for this sucker. I'd have also cottaged these green hills but that's a personal preference.
A nice big shambling horde of units converges on the last citadel of the Ottomans; two turns remaining for them I think. Bombard/gather another three siege units next turn, then go in the same old way. Hitters aren't a problem, and a ton of knights get very mauled but who cares, they can take their time healing.
Not that any of this matters but a whit. This tells the story of why; Marconi rushed the Taj Mahal for Seven, who has the MoM. This means a good 12-turn golden age, which can be used to make another, and another, and probably another. Spiritual means he doesn't have to continuously chain them for swaps, but the next fifty turns can almost all be golden age turns if he wanted. And he's massively ahead even now.
...case in point. Greece is actually second in land area and once everything is out of revolt and borders are filled in there won't be much difference at all, but check out that population! Sure, regrowth is fast and all but this victory screen should tell you that in tried and true Civilization fashion, the snowball is now an avalanche.
An odd quirk of the map is that the Atlantis Solution really would work. Which is a damning indictment, actually. In that magical world where Seven offends the gods and vanishes whole into the seas, then Greece is probably in a very narrow defacto lead. Regrowth would see that population and thus crop yield skyrocket, while the MFG and GNP are poised to crack that runaway stage you get in base BtS. Now Gavagai and Yuri are very close so it would be dicey, but...would have beens. Dust in the wind.
Charts for the interested. Sullla's lead was always an illusion.
Top five cities shows the top five players' capitals, as you would expect. A winning capital is how you win. Although I am amused that you can see even here why Gaspar's capital is a little sub-par. Dem lakes!
That's it, then, PB16 is won and done. A final parting shot of Greece, having enacted The Illiad all upon Turkey. I will say it's one heck of a sweet duel map...
"Strange ugly square continent homeland" indeed.
As for me and myself, I had to at least fulfill the prophecy above. Siege reduces more defense, then it is send in the cats. Who all died, giving Hashoosh a GG, but they served their purpose.
I try as I attack to pay attention to experience gains; if I can shave a tiny odd off to get a better XP return I will. Once a stack of defenders has been good and sieged, even the odds and sods get good odds. Phalanx and crossbows finished off most of the defenders...
...and the final redlined longbow? Chariot, wassup. I renamed Poland "Theopompus" because that's the Greek ancient historian name that always amuses me the most. The healthy gold pile from the capture lets Paper be one-turned with ease, and the city is definitely a winner. Plains cows! Guys, it's got plains cows the bestest and most wonderfullest tile in the game!
Hashoosh for reasons probably related to hashish
poked a single mace next door to Porphyry. Mkay. Crossbow gets 70% odds, inside my borders, need 6 more great general points......score. Patchy Cutie! Hey guy! Not that it matters overmuch, but he'll be welcome as an instructor in the heroic epic city in the magically funhouse world where Seven doesn't exist.
Thales, alas, never will get those cows/wheat boosts to stop its embarrassing food hemorrhage situation. It's a good capital, more hammery than some of the ones I've seen. I think (know) it could have been managed better, but it's still a fine little guy. Bureaucracy would make it really pop, and at size twenty it could appear on the world stage without hanging its head in shame.
A very real advantage is Plutarch here as well. Hashoosh did a good job getting in an academy, a real coup to capture. With a library and university, this would definitely be a big asset as a secondary beaker pump; develop it just as you would a capital by having little side cities grow its cottages. Hashoosh, as a note, you might have wanted to settle a backline fishing village a little sooner just to cultivate cottages for this sucker. I'd have also cottaged these green hills but that's a personal preference.
A nice big shambling horde of units converges on the last citadel of the Ottomans; two turns remaining for them I think. Bombard/gather another three siege units next turn, then go in the same old way. Hitters aren't a problem, and a ton of knights get very mauled but who cares, they can take their time healing.
Not that any of this matters but a whit. This tells the story of why; Marconi rushed the Taj Mahal for Seven, who has the MoM. This means a good 12-turn golden age, which can be used to make another, and another, and probably another. Spiritual means he doesn't have to continuously chain them for swaps, but the next fifty turns can almost all be golden age turns if he wanted. And he's massively ahead even now.
...case in point. Greece is actually second in land area and once everything is out of revolt and borders are filled in there won't be much difference at all, but check out that population! Sure, regrowth is fast and all but this victory screen should tell you that in tried and true Civilization fashion, the snowball is now an avalanche.
An odd quirk of the map is that the Atlantis Solution really would work. Which is a damning indictment, actually. In that magical world where Seven offends the gods and vanishes whole into the seas, then Greece is probably in a very narrow defacto lead. Regrowth would see that population and thus crop yield skyrocket, while the MFG and GNP are poised to crack that runaway stage you get in base BtS. Now Gavagai and Yuri are very close so it would be dicey, but...would have beens. Dust in the wind.
Charts for the interested. Sullla's lead was always an illusion.
Top five cities shows the top five players' capitals, as you would expect. A winning capital is how you win. Although I am amused that you can see even here why Gaspar's capital is a little sub-par. Dem lakes!
That's it, then, PB16 is won and done. A final parting shot of Greece, having enacted The Illiad all upon Turkey. I will say it's one heck of a sweet duel map...
"Strange ugly square continent homeland" indeed.
If only you and me and dead people know hex, then only deaf people know hex.
I write RPG adventures, and blog about it, check it out.
I write RPG adventures, and blog about it, check it out.
