[Spoilers] The Egyptian Hannibalistic Commodore

[Commodore]

Fish for fish means "yo, bro, let's be bros". I assume. I'm chill with that signal.

[Commodore]

   

[Commodore]

Willing to concede if Al/Bob want to, but I suspect Al is going to fool himself with his tech rate a while longer.

[AutomatedTeller]

Whilst waiting for Brick's map, might as well do some analysis. We'll start at the ATM, as is only right:
Automated Teller (competent, beige) as Ragnar (Agg, Fin) of the Zulu (Hunting, Agriculture, Impi, Ikhanda)

AT is a solid mid-tier player of middling distinction; he won his first green game, and then has been unable to break through into anything more. He's a nice guy, has a good head on his shoulders, and never does out-and-out poorly, but he doesn't invest a crapton of time into this particular computer-game hobby, and it shows; he's not going to screw any pooches, but he isn't all about the long-term planning and preparation needed to seduce and screw someone else's pooch. Fair enough, this is a hobby after all.

He's driving the interesting-in-BtS Ragnar of the Zulu, so I definitely will be treating him with respect and caution. The phenomenal power of Financial is undeniable and kicks in early; he's going to have some awesome free commerce that everyone else (non-me edition) just can't realize. What he lacks otherwise is something to speed up his game; no cheap settlers, workers, granaries, free border pops, or even better whipping. His advantage is Aggressive impi, that do help him defend himself from barbs and people, and cheap barracks ikhandae when the time comes...that is a real advantage; you are going to want a barracks most everywhere eventually. Just not sure how soon that upside will kick in. I do like Agg as a navy trait.
Chance of winning this: 10%
Threat rating:
If combo was a car-

Can't argue with that analysis

[Commodore]

Can't argue with that analysis

I massively overrated myself, though. Glad I had DTG pegged as the worst threat though, he's a worthy addition to the vet ranks:
   
Can't dispute Livy:
   

[DTG]

GG Commodore. Sorry that you got Bob'd so hard.

FYI, I was probably 2–3 turns away from declaring war with Cavalry. I'd planned a new naming theme: "Inn of Whines," "Tavern of Laments," "Bar of Complaints," etc. One day I will avenge LT, but not today.

[Bobchillingworth]

Bob, when you read this after the game ends in another two hundred turns (so next week given pace): What did I do to you to make you hate me so much? This has been like a textbook example of "how to war zero-sum".

A: You were my only neighbor for like 95% of the game. I don't think my culture ever even touched DTG's or AT's (I guess there was like a 1-tile island which had sea borders, heh). The land between me and everyone else was ice; the land between us was largely grassland.


B: I out-expanded my economy (because of course I did ) and had convinced myself that you were going to try to make up for your land disadvantage by attacking me as soon as you inevitably had an edge in tech, given that the others were doing much better on that front. So I wanted to fight on my terms while I still enjoyed rough tech parity but a hammer advantage. Was I wrong in this analysis?


C: I was hoping someone, anyone else would join in against you, especially in the second war (AT had given me hope for the latter by earlier poaching one of your cities). If you had collapsed I might have made much more substantial gains.


D: I really didn't like you taking tiles from Mango, which was by far my favorite city (hence why I kept at least half my military stationed near there ever since I captured it with one of my first Axes). Despite being petty and short-sighted, this was actually one of the most important factors, which sums up my play pretty well



Idk. I won the wars but lost the game, but I was losing anyway due to other factors so lesson learned (????)

[Commodore]

Actually, DTG had annoyed me and was my bet for "worst threat", so I was thinking of striking either his way or eating AT, but cest la vive...

[AutomatedTeller]

I was a tasty treat!!