[SPOILERS - NO PLAYERS] The Final Clusterfuck: The PB38 Map and Lurker Thread

[Mardoc]

Peace with Plako. I waited until Commodore declares on him and cashed out, taking from Plako 70 gold.

This is because it is enormously more profitable for Commodore to split Plako with me, rather than vice versa. And this is exactly how it worked during our very first war - Commodore jumped in on my side. But in the next war he flipped allegiances. Why? The only answer I can come up with is that he got pissed at me for making peace with Plako.
And if this answer is accurate - I am pretty sure it is accurate - it sums up everything you need to know about Commodore. This is because I did not ask him for help and did not promise him anything.

Dude...you made no literal promises, but 'stayed at war until Commodore declares' is just about as close as you can come in a no-diplo game. Besides, there's another explanation than 'pissed at a broken promise'. The simple matter of demonstrating to Commodore that 'split Plako with me' isn't possible! Therefore, of course he's going to look for another approach to winning the game, one that doesn't lean on you this time. It may have lower odds than 'split Plako with me', but you have no way to tell him that this time you're going to cooperate.

I, however, have a much, much more burning question to discuss. Why B4ndit had only 2 land neighbors while I had 4? Not that I am against it but we are playing on a toroidal map exactly to prevent this kind of things from happening. I hate toroid maps but for me (and, I am sure, for many others) neighbor balance was always a decisive argument for playing on them.
Now, we are playing on a toroid map and the number of neighbors is very blatantly off balance. The fuck? Seriously, the fuck? Why are we playing on a toroid then? It's a fraud, that's what it is.
Keeping this in mind, it is rather funny that mine and B4ndit's capitals are identical for practical purposes. Mapmakers do know where their priorities should lie when they do balance.

Playing on a toroid because people demanded a toroid. No one said anything about neighbor numbers....certainly not you! You may have thought it was implied, but no one forbids diplomacy with the mapmakers...

Besides, what do you expect when the demand is for natural looking asymettric maps with well balanced everything? Perfection isn't possible, especially with the time pressure people put on mapmakers and a monster game.

[scooter]

Nailed it on the summary of what Gavagi is missing here in the metagame. Crucially, Commodore seems to have figured out that Gavagi bailed on him intentionally while Plako did accidentally. I think this is a pretty easy decision from both Commodore and Plako's perspective.

FWIW, I think a fantastic job was done with the map given the ridiculous set of requests and timeframe. Obviously there are some issues here and there, but in these kinds of games, I've always believed map balance is a pretty minor factor in comparison to neighbor luck. Everyone here had a chance to win at T0. 

Also, go ahead and offer Gavagai an iron for iron trade. It'll suck when we backstab him in 7 turns but I think we need to keep up appearances

[Krill]

Watch Xenu blow up and attack Adrien just because he won't share.

The Xenu none sharing platter is going to be a great appetizer for the Gavagai Just Dessert with a thousand and one Arabian (Invading) knights, the Mackoti special, as an unexpected surprise main course. Everyone is served that at some point, whether we want it or not.

[Mardoc]

with a thousand and one Arabian (Invading) knights, the Mackoti special, as an unexpected surprise main course. Everyone is served that at some point, whether we want it or not.

Somehow it is always a surprise, just like the Unexpected Hanging, even though it happens every time .

[Krill]

So does someone need to take over and euthanize OT4Es civ?

[Mardoc]

So does someone need to take over and euthanize OT4Es civ?

I...think it's ok, given the situation and given that he's considering subbing for Gavagai? He definitely jumped the gun, but I'm not sure there's any tangible effect, what with them being on opposite ends of the world and OT4E being already mostly dead.

Unless we feel we need to establish a precedent, that is.

Here's what I'm talking about:

How about Chumchu with OT4E in a few turns?

OT4E would work just perfectly.

[Hollybombay]

Well, don't quite know how to tell you this, but you were cheating by reading Gavs thread. Given RB runs an honour system, fuck knows what happens now.

Who cares?

So what DOES happen now, any prior cases that we can fall back on?

[Bobchillingworth]

There isn't any formal policy for punishing players who break the rules of fair play, besides that which the players decide to enact themselves. This isn't a community where regulations are tightly enforced, mostly because there's almost never any need.

[Ituralde]

If only TBS knew that there's a big landmass to the East he can colonize all for himself, instead of getting bogged down against Commodore in the west.
Interesting to see that the two Astro players are so close to one another. Or are there other players that I have missed?

[Zed-F]

TBS has got ships in both seas, can't avoid that given where his ports are. So at first he's certainly going to explore both directions. Whether he curtails westward expansion given Comm or they come to some other (potentially hostile) arrangement is an open question.