Ilios Wrote:Well, at least you must have learned a ton of stuff!
Is there a top five of things you wished you had done differently?
I . . . suppose. I feel that there are one or two major things I should have done differently, but each would have had a major influence on the rest of the game, so none are really interconnected as far as I can tell. For example: If I had kept my entire army of Praetorians home so I could destroy Korea. I won't know until I go through their archives, but based on their willingness to surrender, I have to imagine that the addition of 8 more soldiers (with more being produced every few turns), I would have been able to successfully overrun them and kick them off the continent (they may have gotten a city onto the island before I took Seoul). Had I done this, I would not have forged the close relationship with Athlete and Nakor/DMOC, but on the other hand, we can see all the good that did me. It's too hard to say what might have happened next. I don't think that I would have gone after HRE. At that point in time, there would have still been a lot of room to the east to expand, and the Inca had some nice land.
Of course, if I had the whole of Korea, and if I had spent more energy on expansion, I may not have needed to go to war again. I would probably have tried to pursue a diplomatic position of benign isolation, although I would have agreed to work with the others towards the goal of eventually defeated Sullla/Speaker. I cannot say if they would have trusted me or not, but they would probably have been too busy reeling from their failed attack to do anything to me. Assuming the attack still went forward, I see no reason that anything would have gone differently on that front (since my troops never played a part). Dantski would probably have jumped ship, and Jowy would have been overrun and eventually defeated. If I was strong domestically, the survivors might have seen me as a potential ally to be cultivated rather than an enemy. Of course, this is all simple conjecture based on what I perceive the motives of the others to have been.
The other big turning point, which might have made a difference, was my utterly stupid decision to open a two-front war. I don't even understand why I needed hindsight to see why that was a bad idea. Probably too much time playing single-player where you can actually pull that off because the AI is retarded. Could I have held out against Korea with my full force? I honestly cannot say, but I would have stood a better chance. I would probably have launched an offensive myself (well, I probably
should have done that in) to try and keep plako/Broker from taking advantage of my long front.
One more, relatively minor thing: I should have settled the islands off my shore. I had been hurting all game long for a good hammer port on the outer sea, and it turns out that the island nearby offered my best bet for such a city. If I had settled that around the time I got, say, Kuat, I might have been able to have built a fleet with which to protect myself. Byss was never good enough, and the now-destroyed Ryloth completely lacked hammers.
Oh, right. I suppose, way back, I could have broken the NAP with Korea and killed their capital with my Warrior (or, at least, captured their first Worker). That would have helped, too, although I still think I did the right thing to honor the deal.
On the other hand, now that I'm remembering things, I guess #5 is breaking the NAP to try and capture their city with a Spearman. All I did was broadcast my intentions much earlier.
I have certainly learned a lot. Always learn more from my mistakes, I do. Just kinda wish I could have gone out with more of a bang. In the end, I feel that the only reason I can avoid the Templar "Award" is because I actually built roads to connect my cities.
However, I was basically steamrolled without much effort and I don't think that my life or death in this game has really affected how things will end up playing out in the big picture. I was a speed bump for Korea. I didn't even do much to advance my allies (although, with no tech-trading, it's harder). So, that's where things stand.
There's PB3, though I'm really just a back-seat-driver.
PBEM4 is all me, and with diplomacy effectively disabled, all I have to rely on is my strategic and tactical skills, which are certainly . . . inconsiderable.
Anyway, I've really appreciated all the interest everyone has given my thread. Even if my play hasn't been superb, it's nice to know that my writing and reporting is alright. Anyway, I probably have just a few more turns left in-game. Depends on how long Korea takes to finish off Byss.
Thanks for your detailed reports, and especially for not only describing what happened and what you did, but also why you did it and what your thoughts about the alternatives were. 