[SPOILERS] Chevalier Mal Fet and Marcopolothefraud lead a Soviet Down Under

[williams482]

Unfortunately that Melee nerf is just my vote, not a passed resolution. I highly doubt it will pass, but if it does it would only hurt melee class ground units (zerks, warriors, etc, but not spears or caravels).

I'll see if I can encapsulate instructions for Marco into 20 character pins. The gist of it is play defensive and don't lose your fleet, but if not under pressure then burn any targets of opportunity in former England/Japan.

Assuming Marco does actually pass the turn eventually. It's been almost four days now. In the unlikely event that there's a genlurker out there who wants to play Australia, I can always tell Marco via pins that someone else is willing to take the turn if he'd rather surrender it. I doubt there are 20 turns left in this game, one way or another, but at this rate that will take us into November.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Oh, oops. Reading too quickly.

Possible future trick: instead of encampment, should have shut down city centers. No walls until Steel, nerfs everyone's defense but us

[williams482]

Oh, dang. My hope was to make sure nobody was able to boost Totalitarianism and take a maximally efficient path to Fascism, but that would have been a much quicker ROI.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I hate the World Congress so much...two weeks lost. What abysmal turn pace all summer. We made it less than 20 turns in 3 months since May.

It's especially a bummer since I think if Marco had really invested in Australia with the time and attention I gave Russia this game would have been over in a rout already.

Maybe Woden and Ljubljana will just give up? :D

[MJW (ya that one)]

I hate the World Congress so much...two weeks lost. What abysmal turn pace all summer. We made it less than 20 turns in 3 months since May.

It's especially a bummer since I think if Marco had really invested in Australia with the time and attention I gave Russia this game would have been over in a rout already.

Maybe Woden and Ljubljana will just give up? :D

Why cannot you just take over his civ?

Normally I would not suggest this but your so close to winning.

[williams482]

This is infuriating.

It's no secret that taking the reigns in this game wasn't exactly my first choice, and I've frequently struggled to get the turns passed on time (hell, some of the days Marco missed would have been left waiting on me instead), but this definitely is not the way I wanted this game to end. I think we have a 70-80% shot to win right now, enough to make us clear favorites but not nearly enough to justify concession under normal circumstances. With an idiot robot in charge of Australia that drops to a tossup, maybe slightly worse, as the Raiders won't need to worry about any kind of well coordinated strike from the Aussie fleet and can engage the Russians with their combined force.

Marco, if/when you read this, I'm not mad that you got busy and couldn't handle playing your turns anymore. I'm mad that you didn't communicate about it. We've heard nothing from you about your status for this game since July 13th, and nothing at all in the forums since July 19th. Informing us preemptively that there was a risk you'd be forced to drop entirely and volunteering to surrender your slot if someone was willing to take it would have gone a long ways would have been greatly appreciated. Same if you'd hopped in here a week ago to tell us that because of whatever (and you don't even have to tell us what!) you are going to be unable to play turns for a while. We'd grumble, but we all understand that life gets in the way. Just as long as we're not blindsided about it.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I physically can't play or I wouldn't have roped Williams into this mess in the first place. The last 3 months I have been traveling constantly, without even reliable access to a pc bang. Right now I'm at Incheon airport, two weeks ago it was Jeju Island, a month ago Yeosu, etc. And wedding planning on top of all that.

Then in a few hours I'll be winging my way to Qatar and then South Africa, where I'll bounce around Durban, Joberg, and Cape Town for a while - and unlike Korea South Africa has neither cheap wifi nor common PC rooms, so I really can't promise turns from that country. So no, I can't shuffle into Australia, although I think me/Williams as Russia/Australia (however we split it up) would take the team's victory chances from 70% up to north of 90%. So it's frustrating that Marco flaked. 

I haven't criticized his gameplay, believing he should get to make his own decisions since it's a team game to learn and not "Chev plays two civs" idea and I've tried to include him in everything so far so it's clear he's a valuable ally, not Austria-Hungary, but I WILL echo Williams and criticize his communication. The commitment when you sign up is important, and while OF COURSE real life comes first, you just need to respect us enough to communicate that and find a solution so the experience can come down to a successful finish.

Sadly, I don't think the other teams fully recognize how strong our position is. Sandbox I expect to have -no clue- about geopolitics given their track record, Kaiser/Archduke are probably paying no attention, and the Raiders have scouted us the least of all other teams. Our primary strength - production - just isn't reflected on the scoreboard- and Marco's lackadaisical behavior and the jong raid will lead people to underestimate what is actually a quite formidable Australian civilization (I'd rate them about equal to Phoenicia at this point, with Norway and then Russia finishing the top half).

[roland of gilead]

i could take over? I mean massively spoiled but need to push this through to the end?

have a think and we can discuss.

[roland of gilead]

sorry wrong thread but haven't read anything of note. Noting of note happening right now for anyone.

[williams482]

Roland, if/when the others give you the go ahead to take over, I suggest you start reading at this post from Chevalier (and continue to the present) to get a good understanding of where we're at and what we've been planning to do. 

Thanks a bunch for volunteering; it will be great to be able to really collaborate again.