[SPOILER] Pacal II of Byzantium - Tredje

[Tredje]

So Kyan did beat me to Lib by 1 turn. On a day that was bad to begin with this is a hard pill to swallow. The annoying thing is that I could have got it 1 or 2 turns earlier if I hadn't been waiting for Universities to come in to turn my slider up. I am very disappointed with myself and how I managed to waste this opportunity.

[Tredje]

So, I haven't update my thread in ages. And when I see that even Malakai has updated more recently than I have, something has to be done!

But to be honest, not much is happening. After losing Lib I started thinking about what to do next. I soon figured that attacking Kyan with Riflemen would be suicidal, as he will have Machine Guns by the time our NAP runs out. So I decided to head for Communism, which is done, followed by Democracy, which was finished this turn (AD 1060). I have two Great People standing ready for a GA, and I will now make a switch to Universal Suffrage/Free Speech/Emancipation/State Property/Theocracy (after I finish Theology). The plan is to build the Kremlin so that I can rush buy whatever I need.

I have about 20+ turns until my NAP with Kyan runs out. By then I need to get some defence in my border cities. I am cutting it as close as I can to get as many economical techs first. Might bite me in the ass, but I need to take risks if I am to keep up.

I have NAPs with the small guys until T150, with Nakor/Gaspar until T145 and with Kyan until T135. What I want to do is to hit Kyan with Infantry/Artillery, as I think that is a unit composition that will work for some time before going obsolete. If he gets Tanks or Air units we can get SAM/Anti-Tank. But when I discussed it with Gaspar he seemed rather lacklustre, and it appears that they want to attack someone small instead. I think that is a sure way of handing Kyan the victory, as he can respond by attacking a smaller target himself and negate any gains we make. Kyan actually contacted me and asked me if I wanted to NAP him for a long period, so that we could hit Nakor/Gaspar and then the smaller guys. He really doesn't like Nakor/Gaspar too much, and I think the feeling is mutual. In any case I didn't agree to it. Even if I thought it was a decent idea, I would have two massive fronts against Nakor/Gaspar, while Kyan only has a small one.

I am not sure what will happen next. If Nakor/Gaspar don't want to attack Kyan I might just NAP them both (if they agree to it) and see if I can beat Kyan to space (which is probably unlikely). Or I might attack GE/Malakai.

[Tredje]

Two more things:

Whosit has messaged me about how I plan to finish the game. If Nakor/Gaspar agrees to attack Kyan I will attempt to include him in our plans.

Malakai has been spending all his EPs on me, and I only just realized this. He told me that he can see my tech progress, and I would not be surprised if he has provided Kyan with information about this. I really should have noticed this earlier and dealt with it. My inexperience in multiplayer shines through here I suppose.

[Tredje]

A couple of days ago Malakai sent me an email saying that he had been approached by several civs regarding a dogpile on me. Now, I have no reason to trust this information, since me and Malakai haven't had much communication, but I will take note of it.

At the same time Nakor and Gaspar are being conspicuously silent about the future. Could this be a sign that they intend to betray me? Whatever the case may be I need to get to Rifling asap and start building an army. I risked heading for Communism/Democracy first, and it will pay off in very a very short time, granted that I am left in peace.

[Tredje]

And just as I post that I receive this mail from Nakor/Gaspar:

Hey Tredje,

Sorry for the delay, we've both been very busy.
We agree with your plan and would like to hit Kyan with Art/Inf.
When will you be ready to field those units?

We would like to sign a long term NAP as well. Here is what Gaspar said on our thread:

We need to negotiate very long term NAPs with Tredje and Whosit, and then get together to discuss a specific long term plan. We should probably include some sort of MPP as well, since we're most likely to get attacked. I would say the NAP should be 3-ways, duration equal to as long as Kyan is in the game. MPP to basically indicate that if any one of us gets attacked by Kyan, all of us agree to support (with units) the attacked Civ. Then the three of us need to sit in a gchat until we can figure out a specific date, location, troop composition for an attack, along with what specific goals said attack would have. I think anything other than pillage and raze is doomed to fail, personally.

What do you think?

Kind regards,
Nakor

They are on board. Good.