Gavagai's spoiler thread

[Gavagai]

Just to be clear, I would have taken their workers with delight. At no point have I said it was a bad decision. I'm just trying to show you that it was aggressive and it had consequences. 2 workers? Totally worth it.

I wouldnt, so there you see both side are good but have diferent payments.And yeah Lewwyn is agresiv,but i think you are same Gavagai(not only from this game) so people need to react.

To be frank, I don't understand what "aggressive player" means. Taking two workers for free is not aggressive, it is rational. I don't see how not taking them can be rational. It is like having four forests and never chopping them.
(Risk of retribution is a non-factor because it is rational to assume that you would be attacked anyway.)
What is aggressive in my book is building a stack of horse archers without any hope to make gains for yourself and with no other purpose but to make your neighbor suffer and also nuking your economy in process. But somehow it is me who is aggressive and Gaspar, apparently, "hates early war" (a statement for which this game is hardly a proof).

[Gavagai]

...and yet another aggressive move:



Bantams still has 2 axes, an archer and a warrior in his capital. Expected losses are two HAs.



This is his capital. It is on a hill and with 60% culture. I will need cats and maces to take it. Happily, maces are close.
Also, by DOWing Bantams I killed my trade routes with Ad Hoc and Mikehendy. Should have foreseen it but forgot. As an alternative trade partner I have wetbandit across a channel to the east:



I offered him OB a few turns ago but he ignored it. This turn I offered him OB and 5gpt (which is a lot, I think) - still got ignored, even no counter-offer. He has OB with Gaspar, though. Really, what the fuck...

[Catwalk]

I appreciate your detailed thoughts on the past Gavagai, it makes for very good reading when contrasting with Gaspar and NobleHelium's thoughts at the time. Why was Plame Affair's location interfering with your dotmap? It seems to me that you could have still settled SE of Neon regardless.

[Gavagai]

I appreciate your detailed thoughts on the past Gavagai, it makes for very good reading when contrasting with Gaspar and NobleHelium's thoughts at the time. Why was Plame Affair's location interfering with your dotmap? It seems to me that you could have still settled SE of Neon regardless.

I still could but I would need to do something to be sure that I can claim the Pigs. Actually, I was going to: my plan was to chop a Monument ASAP after settling the city. But then they founded Buddhism which made any culture war with this city impossible.
By the way, on the stage of "chop a Monument" plan, I was quite worried, whether I would be able to improve this Pigs without putting my workers at risk. I realized that making a Pasture there should be a non-trivial military operation. It, actually, was one of the factors because of which I decided to postpone this city until later.
Now, it looks like Gaspar wasn't worried about such things at all and this is precisely why he was able to claim this territory before me. To get things back into balance I needed to cause him some damage or, at least, force him to put up a defence.

[Gavagai]

(Another important factor is that a potential city NE from Neon will be right on Gaspar's cultural border.)

[Gavagai]

Pasargadae is taken, renamed into Sodium. He added a spear there, not sure where it came from. I was froced to waste an additional HA to take it out but, to compensate, another HA killed an axe at unfavorable odds. So, I lost two HAs as expected.



I noticed a worker on a hill NW from Tarsus, sent a HA to capture it and... wtf, a spear!? It came completely unexpected. Tarsus is pretty much isolated from Bantams' core, doesn't have any production of its own and it didn't have this spear when I checked it only a few turns ago. So, I have no idea where did it come from. Crap. Moved more HAs there in a hope to discourage him from attacking out. But really, greed is a mortal sin.
(I'm not going to actually capture Tarsus, the city has zero strategic importance.)

[Gavagai]

Well, that was a really questionable move by Bantams. These units were sitting inside Suza with 40% culture defense and fortify bonuses. He moved them 1S for some reason. I used an unpromoted HA to weaken the spear. HA, actually, survived, retreated from the battle. After that I just slaughtered everything (except an axe in the west) and captured Susa.
Now a lot will depend on how fast I'll be able to take Persepolis. It is currently defended by a spear and two city garrison archers but I will need a few turns to bring catapults there. With a hill and 60% culture it's not really an option to attack without siege.
Also, my peace treaty with Gaspar has expired. I declared a war and immediately offered peace and 100 gold tribute. Really don't know if he would accept or not. If he would, I will be able to shuffle two catapults to the western front and also some maces.

[Gavagai]

Also, Gaspar has a chariot in the area sniffing around. One consequence of an enforced peace with Gaspar may be a good old cottage pillaging we have seen before. If he would do it after he took my money, I would consider it a pretty dick move, even dishonorable.

[Gavagai]

Gaspar took peace. Too good for Gavagai? Yes, apparently. Because after that the following shit happened.
I logged in to look around at the start of the turn. When I was online, Bantams also logged in and played his turn. After that I started playing mine. My first move to check if it is safe to kill a random immortal in the south and proceed with killing it.
Then...



Bantams moved these units after he pressed enter and after I moved my HA in place. I called him out on that in the chat and our conversation proceeded as following:





...and then he retired. HE FUCKING RETIRED. I'm just speechless.

[Gavagai]

Sury AI did kill a vulnerable HA at the start of the turn which Bantams had spared. So, yes, I'm facing a tougher opponent now.