Mardoc and Friends plot and plan [spoilers, whole tournament]

[Mardoc]

Alright, Northstar wants a bigger map (Tiny or Small), with more water, and Blessings of Amatheon. I'm going to try to talk him out of BoA due to the resource problem, but otherwise I'm ok with all that. I don't see anything there that makes Volanna worse.

Edit: Well, I'm worried about Small for a duel, too. But I guess I can stand to have one game that goes overtime.

Or, um. Looking at the v11 changelog, she's now Agg/Cre, not Agg/Exp. Maybe that calls for a Ljo? Especially if I agree to a Small size (two up from Duel), it'll be a long game with plenty of time for economy. Dunno, Cre might be fine.

[HidingKneel]

Cre isn't as strong as Exp, but it's still a nice economic trait.

But the strength of Volanna in this context doesn't come from the economic trait... it's the massive synergy between Aggressive and Sinister. As soon as a scout kills animal (or if it starts with xp from Apprenticeship) it can take a Shock promotion, and will thereafter have odds on the attack against warriors out in the open (even after the opponent gets Bronze).

[Mardoc]

Cre isn't as strong as Exp, but it's still a nice economic trait.

Yeah, thinking on this, you're right.

But the strength of Volanna in this context doesn't come from the economic trait... it's the massive synergy between Aggressive and Sinister. As soon as a scout kills animal (or if it starts with xp from Apprenticeship) it can take a Shock promotion, and will thereafter have odds on the attack against warriors out in the open (even after the opponent gets Bronze).

Ah...forgot about the asymmetry in promotion options for recon vs other. Ok, I'll stick with her, then. Northstar apparently took Volanna against Bob so I'm sure she'll be available.

[Mardoc]

Generally the map size isn't going to do much to slow the game except make it take a little longer for armies to march across the map. The reason larger maps usually take longer is because they have more players involved... One we reach a critical level of development where we're both ready for war, I don't see how a little wilderness between our borders is going to change much...

So, are you OK with Small?

Ok, so I'll probably agree to Small. Vast, but that's good for elves. But the idea of 'critical development level for being ready for war'...yeah, scout harass is a great idea here! And so is following up with fawn harass, and maybe hunters, and generally keeping the pressure on.

And, um. His advice in the Old Lion duel...yeah, this isn't going to be one of the hard games.

[HidingKneel]

And, um. His advice in the Old Lion duel...yeah, this isn't going to be one of the hard games.

He's got some odd ideas, for sure.

I can totally understand where they come from. I played oodles of single-player FFH games before finding this site, and
I had some bad ideas about strategy as well (like: it's good to delay the founding of your second city until you research a religion, so your capital can also be your holy city!) And the AI is so bad that you can get away with those kinds of things, even at high difficulties.

But the extreme confidence with which he advocates such terrible play (2F2C is a strong tile? Really?) is sort of off-putting...

[Mardoc]

That's true, SP is a very different animal. I remember spending a long time trying to make the cottage economy outdo aristofarms, because I thought it *should*.

Maybe he'll learn a thing or two, or lose a little bit of his confidence. Should definitely get some evidence of how things work, anyway.

[Mardoc]

Not terribly surprised to see Lanun from Northstar after his pressure for more water on the map. Against, well, against a HidingKneel I'd be worried about being able to harass effectively with the economy in the ocean - and with such a large distance between us. Against Northstar...this should still work. As long as I don't dilly-dally too much.

So now the main thing is to get threads created for the Bob and Northstar games, and get those games started to fill those threads. May be a little while before I can manage that, though; have houseguests arriving tonight, staying til Sunday, on top of the normal weekend chores. And keeping my already-started games moving along, of course.

[HidingKneel]

Not terribly surprised to see Lanun from Northstar after his pressure for more water on the map. Against, well, against a HidingKneel I'd be worried about being able to harass effectively with the economy in the ocean - and with such a large distance between us. Against Northstar...this should still work. As long as I don't dilly-dally too much.

Yeah, Lanun are pretty much the best choice to counter the Volanna scout choke. You won't be able to stop him from putting up a cove or two. But it's possible that you could make it difficult/impossible to ever found a second city (if you get the choke in place fast enough). And even if the scout choke doesn't work, you'll trounce him economically.

So now the main thing is to get threads created for the Bob and Northstar games, and get those games started to fill those threads. May be a little while before I can manage that, though; have houseguests arriving tonight, staying til Sunday, on top of the normal weekend chores. And keeping my already-started games moving along, of course.

On the bright side...

This is a tracker for Erebus_in_the_Balance_35

It's turn 111
Yell0w has the save.
168 hours 36 minutes passed since the save has been handed on.

[Mardoc]

Bob and I are both busy, and he's going away from his civ computer next week, so we're planning to launch this around March 1st. Maybe I can get at least the Old Lion duel into mid-game by then.

[Mardoc]

Well, after playing against Bob's Doviello with Charadon, I'm willing to put them back into my potential lineup. That was a challenge and a half; being able to put three promos onto units from Education is about equivalent to being a tier ahead in tech. And it's flexible.