Quote:I don't really fault Whosit for speeding up his own death (he had no idea Spullla was coming for his central cities) because he no longer has any chance at this game.
Yes. This. As far as Whosit is concerned the central cities are way out of the line of fire. So his game if he didn't gift them away would be to have 3 cruddy island cities and spend the 30 or so turns before someone puts him out of his misery funnelling gold to Holy Rome and Ottomans.
As far as I can see he really did try his best to defend his land based possessions. It may not have been the best anyone could do, since he didn't bring out the slave whip enough, but he was clearly trying. In his thread he was talking about troop movements, making deals for unsustainable research to get engineering and combat simulations of forthcoming battles. It was only when his military situation completely collapsed that he started making plans to exit with the most benefit to his allies.