[SPOILERS] scooter's Rule of Three

[scooter]

Well that did not last long.






Not that I'm even remotely surprised. I did consider leaving Yuris alive specifically for this reason, but I was afraid it would just turn into a 3v1. There's very little I can do if they coordinate and stick with a 2v1. Attempted to buy Commodore out first.

[scooter]

Seems highly likely I'm dead. Both players are sending their full army at me, and there's very little I can do about that. If they both conclude they're happy with a post-me duel, then I'll just die. If one of them starts to wonder if that's a good situation for them or not, then maybe there's an opening. But that seems pretty unlikely.


I do still like the game format though. There's no world where they take a city or two and then leave me stuck with a rump civ for 4 months. I'm gonna die within the next 48 hours which makes it really easy.

[scooter]

I should have taken a screenshot of it, but if you're global lurking, you should have an idea of what their stacks look like. The interesting thing is what happens this turn. They each have a stack 2 tiles away from my main southern city on defensive terrain. I stuffed enough units to keep their 2-movers from getting a kill. This means they will both have to step onto flatland.


I cannot stop them both. However, I'm not gonna huddle like an AI - my best units are attackers, not defenders. And I have enough to really hurt one of them. Are they really gonna let me pick the winner? Because I think whichever one I don't attack is likely to win the game.


I think I'd prefer Commodore to win as CF feels like he slightly back-stabbed me. However, Commodore's stack looks way easier to wipe.

[scooter]

Actually, here you go. You're welcome.






You can see how very, very dead I am. But you can also see how I can put a dent into one of them in a way that would especially sting if the other came out unscathed, especially with their peace ending in 8T.


Now, I do have 3 lives. Meals is dead. I put a few units in there this turn to prevent Commodore from burning it freely with his HAs, but it's not going to live. Olympic Medals is going to die too.


So maybe you could make an argument that I should cede those two and make a last stand further north. In reality though, Amigos is on flat land, and I'm nearly tapped out whip-wise. It's not going to get significantly better. So no time like the present.

[scooter]

Oh, one other detail that is important that is not obvious if you're just lurking. The play order is myself (just played) -> Commodore -> Cornflakes. So Commodore is going to have to decide to advance his stack without knowing if Cornflakes will do the same.


Would be quite funny if he moved forward and CF sat for a turn. Or if he hesitated this turn causing CF to suspect a rat.

[scooter]

Oh man.





Commodore did indeed chicken out, and Cornflakes just said OK? Why would you do this? Well, wish granted.






Nowhere near enough from me of course. The city will burn next turn probably. But he lost nearly 2/3 of his Knights in this stack here and the rest were all bloodied. Does he not understand he's going to need those against Commodore? Important reminder, you cannot capture cities, so there's no spoils to be had here beyond raze gold.


Would really love to know why CF allowed himself to take the brunt for Commodore after Commodore has spent the whole game attacking him.

[scooter]

Shark fins! I definitely got the worst of it, but I did extract my pound of flesh. Will lose my second city next turn, and third city in 1-2 turns?

[scooter]

By the way, before Cornflakes did this, I offered him 500g for peace. He declined. Let's review pros and cons here.


Accept the deal


* You get 500g. That's probably enough gold to fuel research to another level of tech, keeping in mind Commodore still does not even have Guilds.


* He'd have 9T of peace with both players and 10T with me, and Yuris land just went poof and is full of improvements. He could fix his one deficit - land


* He could rest knowing that either 1) Commodore and I would fight each other while he's at peace, or 2) I definitely wouldn't be paying Commodore 500g peace also, particularly because 500g was all my money.



Reject the deal

* 2v1 me, and by 2v1 I mean 1v1 while Commodore watches you do all the hard work

* Lose 20% of your military for some minor raze gold

* ???


I think I get Commodore's rejection more. He still hasn't lost a city and is going to get a duel against a player down to one life at no cost to himself. And Cornflakes can still win this for sure. He's got a lot of edges against Commodore.