[SPOILERS] scooter, pindicator, and Huayna Capac try some fast Zulu cuisine

[Gaspar]

Reason #546589654 I'm never playing another Pitboss.

[scooter]

Reason #546589654 I'm never playing another Pitboss.

I really think it's totally worth it. If nothing else - for normal speed. I really dislike how much quick speed distorts a game of civ, and normal speed PBEMs are just not fast enough unless you get them going at a good clip. I also like having more than 5 players in a game, as it really does change how you play.

Although, if I had played a full diplo pitboss like PB4 or a full Be-A-Jerk Mode pitboss like PB7, I'd probably be swearing them off too.

[Gaspar]

I really think it's totally worth it. If nothing else - for normal speed. I really dislike how much quick speed distorts a game of civ, and normal speed PBEMs are just not fast enough unless you get them going at a good clip. I also like having more than 5 players in a game, as it really does change how you play.

Although, if I had played a full diplo pitboss like PB4 or a full Be-A-Jerk Mode pitboss like PB7, I'd probably be swearing them off too.

I'd agree with 1 out of 3 - there's no question if you want more than 5-6 players, Pitboss is the only way to go. And larger playing fields definitely add a layer of strategy that the smaller PBEM fields can't match - for one, going after a wonder or a first-to bonus is a *much* bigger risk in a field of 10-12 players, and that changes the valuation of traits, etc.

The other two points - eh. I agree that quick speed has a few huge drawbacks, the biggest of which is that basically once you get to T75 or so, the eras just start flying by so fast that you end up with this weird game where you spend ages in ancient/classical era combat then a slight amount of time in medieval... and the next thing you know everyone has Infantry and you're in the age of Sirian Doctrine. Normal has serious downsides though - the main one being the first 50 turns are a gigantic snorefest and the game doesn't *really* get rolling until T100 or so. That's fine in SP, where you bang those first 100 turns in no time but in MP... There's really no reason we can't play PBEMs on normal, we just don't very often. Its more a choice that getting "into the game" sooner is worth the tradeoff of an accelerated midgame. I don't know if its the right choice, but its the one we make.

And that leads to me which I believe is the biggest drawback of Pitboss. We've gotten very good at running PBEMs around here, to the point where a turn a day in the first 75-100 turns is a slow game. You usually are on T50 or so within a month and the first 20 turns rarely take more than 10 days. The larger playing fields of Pitboss accompanied by a lower sense of urgency mean you basically spend the better part of two months doing little other than scout moves and executing an early game micro plan you devised on the second day. Its really boring, IMO.

I mean, I just started following this game a little over a week ago, so I don't know but you guys are on T70 and are what - 2 months in? When you add that to the other issues - stuff like accidentally putting your impi on auto-explore and losing a tactical advantage or what Ceiliazul just described plus things like sunrise losing power for the 356093469th time, etc, etc... to me its not worth it. I certainly don't mean to knock anyone who enjoys it, but for me the PBEM is just a vastly more fun format.

Didn't mean to hijack your thread - I like the conversation and good to hear you're having fun with the game.

[scooter]

Ok, I popped in-game. I did a few other things and I have graphs to show in a bit, but I did want to confirm one thing with you guys before I end turn:



I'm thinking we should leave the units like this. The axe could move onto the gold, but that will not let him attack the hill any sooner - all it will do is let Commodore know we have an axe there. The northern Impi could move within range of the archer this turn, but it seems better to wait on that until all 3 units are in range of the hill.

Also, I have included the odds for each attack right now. They will worsen slightly, as he only has a 5% fortify bonus right now. So if he puts that second archer on this hill, it will be kind of dicey to take both of them out.

The other possibility is to move the north Impi forward now. That way, if he leaves the archer on the hill without a second unit, we'll have the option to 2v1 his archer before he can get a second unit onto the hill. That's a pretty reasonable option for us. The only reason not to do it is if we fear moving up will encourage him to put a second unit on that hill next turn if he would not otherwise do it. Thoughts?

[pindicator]

Let's wait and move them all in at once

[scooter]

Ok, turn ended. We should probably try a map trade with Azza pretty soon - he and Commodore have had contact for a few turns now. We've got graphs for Azza now (EPs shifted back to Commodore for the moment now), so I'll post those screenshots in a couple hours.

[Ceiliazul]

Seriously?? First, that's definitely reload-worthy. Second, that explains a lot. I have no idea how I missed that in the post-game thread reads. Anyways, I always wondered during that game why your team's start seemed slow compared to what I would have expected. I just attributed it to your relatively low amount of forests to chop, but I really wasn't sure what the answer was. Anyways, I feel less bad for myself now, this wasn't as significant as even losing 1 worker.

.

Yep.

I didn't quit the game because of that, I was already looking for a sub. Real life just took over... but Pitboss made the decision a bit easier!

[athlete4life10]

Scooter,

Where are the workers right now? And what turn just got played, 70? Going by some previous screenshots I think we might be able to squeeze a lilttle bit more micro out of them as they prepare for the next city by Commodore.

Let me know if you can and I can review tomorrow morning...

[scooter]

Nice timing Athlete, was just going to post that up now. Here's the domestic situation:



The 2 road patrol workers went west and completed the half-built cottage. They'll move on to Pindicator's road plan next I believe. The extra worker that was on the plains hill went and started chopping the forest 1E of the pigs. We'll probably finish that by dumping it into a settler in LJS - it'll be a math chop too which is a nice bonus. Anyways, I dumped McDonalds overflow into an Impi:



I'm thinking about logging in real quick and swapping this to a granary. The Impi would make me feel better though - we're likely to lose one here to Commodore in taking this hill, so it would be nice to have a backup plan. Building all this military is painful right now, like we have a choice.

[scooter]

And graphs:



Ouch for Azza. However, our horse gift seems to have worked really nicely:



That's quite a few chariots (our graph doesn't reflect our axe yet fwiw). We need to remember to cancel the horse gift as soon as we can. It's really unlikely IMO Lewwyn will meet us in the next 7 turns or so, but we don't want to press our luck. Plus, Azza is guaranteed to have iron since he has no horse/copper, so he should be able to use those chariots to lock down his iron, unless Lewwyn is spear-rushing him in which case he's probably dead . MFG:



Horrifying Demos:



Let us never speak of these again.