[pb72 spoilers]: the esteemed gentleman's literature and book club

[Qgqqqqq]

How are you feeling about the game state?

[greenline]

My chances of winning are very low. My economy has been in the gutter for the last 30 turns. Aetryn is up at least three big techs on me (flight, electricity, industrialization), plus he has Cereals, CreCon, and the Kremlin. If bing had not crippled me with his attack I probably could have kept pace with Aetryn, although with Cereals + Kremlin whips he would still have the edge.

Bing might have had a chance to catch up if he was able to absorb my shrine+HQ, but Aetryn rightfully recognized it was better to pressure him instead of eating more of my land. A lot may depend on how he handles the invasion Aetryn is doing. I have no vision on that part of the map, but it looks like Bing has been retreating rather than committing to a decisive battle. The best unit Bing has is artillery, which can put a severe dent in tanks. But once Aetryn gets to Bombers, I don't predict Bing doing very well at all.

I should apologize to Tarkeel for not playing so well for the past 50 turns and not asking for more advice. When I had to burn the economics merchant to get to Corp and then Bing refused to get off the warpath it really affected my mood, and I started dreading playing the turns for a while. That lack of focus meant Bing was able to secure a lot more in his initial invasion (if I played correctly he should not have been able to take Creation, at least without losing 90% of his army in the process). But I will take some satisfaction from noting that the end result of Bing applying pressure on me and only me for the past 50 turns has been Aetryn becoming the clear runaway in both land and tech. If Bing had let me be the one to fight Aetryn I think he would have a chance come out further ahead. Now he is down a shrine and an HQ and has a metric ton of tanks bearing down on him.

But yeah, Aetryn's game to lose. Bing might make some kind of comeback if he gets a commando factory going, but he's still down even more in tech and he hasn't been able to turn his economy around even with MinInc + the hindu shrine. But it seems more likely Aetryn grinds him down with bombers and then eventually nukes.

[greenline]

some shots from the current turn:




My national park city, which was delayed many turns from losing MinInc, is now slowly starting to look respectable. Given the general food paucity of my terrain, 6-7 free specialists is about the best I can do for GPP generation, so if the game does not end I will eventually build national epic here.

I also finally am building Heroic Epic along with West Point, just because I actually have the promoted units for it now. Could've built HE earlier, but my mind was so focused on getting back Creation that I didn't do it. Probably a mistake.




Airship scouting shows a bit of the action going on here. That stack could take The Good Earth, if backed up with air support. Perhaps Aetryn is waiting on bombers to move forward.




He also has a tank stack building up here. It would need more siege to take Bing's city nearby. Although Aetryn might not trust me enough to move it through my borders.

[Qgqqqqq]

God it's been 50t since then? The pace in this game has been incredible.

[greenline]

It was 1t a day for a while when Bing was invading me and xist was still alive, but with xist eliminated we sometimes get 2t a day, depending on when Bing plays.

[greenline]

Cards on the table: 2/3 of the remaining players have indicated they would be willing to concede. However, every player has indicated they are still having fun, so it is up to you what you choose to do with that information.

My one note would be that this has been a remarkably even, phenomenally paced(record-breaking?), good-spirited and generally well-played game, even for a "greens" one. It has even (selifshly) been very self-reported. Y'all should be proud, whatever you choose to do.

is the 1/3 non concede vote Aetryn? 

If Bing still thinks he can win, I am happy to play along for however long he keeps feeling that way. I've found a lot of the lategame warfare mechanics to be not that fun, combined with my weak position, that I am happy to concede from my own position.

[Tarkeel]

I should apologize to Tarkeel for not playing so well for the past 50 turns and not asking for more advice. When I had to burn the economics merchant to get to Corp and then Bing refused to get off the warpath it really affected my mood, and I started dreading playing the turns for a while. That lack of focus meant Bing was able to secure a lot more in his initial invasion (if I played correctly he should not have been able to take Creation, at least without losing 90% of his army in the process). But I will take some satisfaction from noting that the end result of Bing applying pressure on me and only me for the past 50 turns has been Aetryn becoming the clear runaway in both land and tech. If Bing had let me be the one to fight Aetryn I think he would have a chance come out further ahead. Now he is down a shrine and an HQ and has a metric ton of tanks bearing down on him.

No worries, it's your game to do with as you please, I'm just the wise man in the corner rambling to himself. It's very easy and understandable to lose the will to report when things aren't going your way, and modern warfare is very intensive.

[greenline]

Not much to report this turn. Aetryn finally discovered Radio - Bing still doesn't even have combustion, so the real pain is about to begin for him once Aetryn can slide some bombers up to the front.

[BING_XI_LAO]

Xist10 & Superdeath: Boudicca of Rome

This pick makes me sad. Agg and Chm are already the most so-so traits in the mod, with Agg needed several buffs to get to where people want to pick it, and Rome being the poster child for failed, game losing rushes. I have a hard time believing this wasn't an idea heavily pushed by superdeath in an attempt to set a new record for ruining someone's game. This pick has almost zero economic value, and the map doesn't even lend itself well to rushes with it being on the larger side. About the best you could do with it, if you handed it to me, would be to grab IW and just pink dot people in every direction before backfilling, while hoping that praets on hills would let you get away with it. But I don't trust any team involving superdeath to have that level of insight.

 I hope to one day become half as infamous as Superdeath.

[greenline]

 I hope to one day become half as infamous as Superdeath.

I don't think that's likely! The attacks you pulled off here were all tactical success, just one of them was a strategic failure. With no offense to superdeath, some of his efforts tend to be failures on both levels at once.