[SPOILERS] Lurkers Rooting for More Destruction

[Krill]

Deterministic barb combat is broken due to first strikes right? Still this is another reason why it's not a bad concept in practice.

[scooter]

If Thrawn can get lucky and flip that barb city quickly AND recapture his old capital.... he might be able to salvage this? He'd still be quite behind, but he could flip that city very quickly if he gets lucky. And if anyone deserves some luck...

Deterministic barb combat is broken due to first strikes right? Still this is another reason why it's not a bad concept in practice.

Yeah I think that was the issue. It seemed like in 71 it worked ok when first strikes weren't involved, but got very funky when they were.

[Mjmd]

Calling it now: Thrawn flips the island city and then loses his other city to the barbs.

[Jabah]

And then flip back his 2nd city of course

[Mousey]

And then flip back his 2nd city of course

Hmm, cities that are conquered can't be flipped back to the previous owner under standard rules, but now that I'm thinking about it I don't know if that includes the barb civ.

[scooter]

It sounds as if he got quite good flip RNG if he really has flipped it so quickly. Something tells me he'd prefer the good/bad RNG to have gone in the opposite direction though.

[scooter]

Let's see if I have this right. It's possible I've missed some things. The action so far.


Magic Science: Got pillaged a little and lost I think 3 warriors to barbarians, but is otherwise intact. Damage level: moderate


Dreylin: Low barb spawn + proactive with Quechua's == all barbs suicided. Damage level: none


Thrawn: Pillaged, then lost multiple 90% fights, and lost capital. Then flipped a barb city and burned an Indian city? Damage level: maximum


Gavagai: Pigs Pillaged, diverted hammers into Great Wall as a reaction. Then lost a city to a Thrawn G2 Archer?? Damage level: high


Superdeath: Absolutely 0 barb activity as far as I can tell, and flipped a barb city. Damage level: negative.


So it seems Superdeath is the massive winner from the early turns, while Dreylin is a moderate winner. Creative looks like it was a great choice here. I suspect it's helping SD's fog-busting quite a bit, and of course it flipped a city for him and just generally made it easier to settle OP cities.


Also, I'd be tilted off the planet if I was Gav and I lost a city that way. Who in their right mind expects an opponent to have a Guerilla2 Archer on T55. I've never heard of such a thing. Let alone for it to be on the one and only fogged tile in range. I am curious if he will be able to fight back tilt or not. The reality is he is probably the best player in this field with two good wonders and a crippled neighbor. I don't think he's actually out of contention here. But it's understandable to view it as a lost cause.

[Mjmd]

Finally got my overview shot of Thrawn land and ya pretty pointless antagonizing attack on Gav. 



Sure he stopped Gav from having A sheep, but in return got an enemy. His explanation is he was worried about Gav taking more land towards him, but all he had to do was settle a city on the hill SW of his sheep that also gets 2nd ring clam. You then have a situation with lots of room between your cities, no contested resources, you are on a hill for defense, and Gav doesn't feel like he has to war you because you took his land. What other land are you worried he will settle towards you? I mean seriously look how close Thrawn's replacement city is to Gavs capital vs his original capital. Even the closer sheep is technically Gavs by distance, so again, just planting a city on the hill SW of it is a win.

Obviously this is good for literally everyone else as they now get to freely take ACTUAL Thrawn land (and prob some Gav land) while he and Gav have a staring contest.

[El Grillo]

The NA player is thrawn, not Thoth, but otherwise I agree. These early military build-ups rarely end well for either player.

[Mjmd]

Hehe fixed.