[NO PLAYERS] The Kibitzer Klub: PB13 Map & Lurkers

[Rowain]

I think it is perfectly fine, as well as being fun and useful for other players to have an idea of who an experienced player thinks would make for an even game. Ask yourself if PB12 would have been a better (more competitive) game if all players had been in the same "level" or area of skill. Serdoa played, Noble lurked, and they predictably roflstomped the competition.

Not necessarily. But, if the players want a better (again, more competitive) game, then Perhaps not. Having a handy list to see who is generally perceived to be around your level of skill is a good thing to me, especially when you are investing so much time and effort into a game, only to find out that you are apparently horrible because the veterans ran away with the game.

I have no problem with a broad general ranking like putting Krill, Serdoa Seven plako, mack etc separate from say nakor, suttree,... but I find it useless and not plausible to make a detailed list of who is the best of those. There is no basis for that. We would need each of them playing 10 or more duel games against each other to even start a ranking.

[zakalwe]

I'd like to echo the praise of Mackoti's macro skills. Also, as a general point, I feel that macro skills are an order of magnitude more important than micro skills. You can have the slickest micro possible, but it matters very little if you're pursuing the wrong macro goals.

In PBEM47 I helped Gaspar and Lewwyn come up with a pretty slick micro plan to land the Oracle very early, before Mackoti could feasibly do it. However, that was a terrible strategic goal to pursue and we fell behind. Moreover, we kind of got snookered into that failed strategy by Mackoti during the snake pick.

In PBEM49, Mackoti coached me a fair bit, particularly in the opening stage. We came up with The Great Lighthouse as a strategic goal, which was an excellent decision IMO. Mackoti also gave me very valuable general advice on prioritizing roads and not being too obsessed with chopping. And we had a long discussion about where to place the second city, where he suggested we place the second city on the west coast, away from where you intuitively wanted to expand, so it could have time to grow big, in preparation for building TGL. That was the important macro decision. I came up with the micro myself (which again was pretty slick, IMHO), but the truly important decision was to get that city started early. Optimizing for a specific short term goal isn't so hard in my mind, but deciding on an overall strategy demands a lot more experience and a deeper understanding.

In the RB demogame, I also had fun making elaborate micro plans for landing certain wonders, while outputting X gold, Y beakers, and Z GPPs. But again, it was really just a game inside the game, because I was just relying on the experience of my teammates to decide which particular goals we should be pursuing.

As an aside, I also think that SevenSpirits is a very good player, but I have a feeling that his incredible micro skills isn't really the main reason for that. He just happens to be excellent at the macro game, too.

[SevenSpirits]

I'd like to echo the praise of Mackoti's macro skills. Also, as a general point, I feel that macro skills are an order of magnitude more important than micro skills. You can have the slickest micro possible, but it matters very little if you're pursuing the wrong macro goals.

Yeah, totally.

I know what you mean.

[zakalwe]

Good. I wasn't sure how to explain it... or describe it.

[Ceiliazul]

So theoretically we're just up against Yurimack, which is never going to be easy, but might be fun!

If HarryFin are seriously interested in fighting Mack, maybe the game isn't over yet! ...maybe.

So I guess what I'm saying is, I'm really looking forward to us coming oh-so-close to beating mackoti this game only to get our still-beating hearts ripped from our chest by Commodore or something.

Also, lol. Grudge Island is still a ticking bomb... how long can peace last?

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

So theoretically we're just up against Yurimack, which is never going to be easy, but might be fun!

If HarryFin are seriously interested in fighting Mack, maybe the game isn't over yet! ...maybe.

So I guess what I'm saying is, I'm really looking forward to us coming oh-so-close to beating mackoti this game only to get our still-beating hearts ripped from our chest by Commodore or something.

Also, lol. Grudge Island is still a ticking bomb... how long can peace last?

As long as the game is down, plus 50 turns.

[Ituralde]

I like the Commodore vs. Pindicooter dynamic that's about to unfold.

Pindicooter want to attack Nakor, but are always aware of what Commodore is doing.
Commodore sees that Pindicooter is about to attack someone and starts whipping in defenders to not appear too weak.
Pindicooter see Commodore building his military and get all paranoid. Their only solution is a preemptive strike!

This is like a self-fulfilling prophecy unfolding. If Pindicooter and Commodore are at war 10 turns from now, you know what happened!

Interesting times.

[Ceiliazul]

ichabod is having a ridiculously easy war. With all those forests his new territory will be productive in record time! Slow didn't even bother to ferry his island troops back?!

Ichabod may even be able to wheel and put a hurt on william... icky's ancient age forces may as well keep fighting before they go obsolete.

Also, Plako v Mackoti war? report pleeeeeze!

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

My guess is that this is a mack boat going through borders and isn't actually anything. What do I know, though?

[zakalwe]

They had open borders.