plako Wrote:Gaspar/NH are too negative concerning their chances. They still have a pretty good shot at this game.
Merovech Wrote:Seriously...
I've actually been reading many of the old PBEMs and it seems that a lot of people get very fatalistic when their first and second plans fall apart, not that I necessarily blame them.
I can sort of understand getting a tad fatalistic, but yes, this game is a bit over the top. Gaspar is always overly fatalistic in all his games though. Reading Gaspar, he says they have no chance but also says Mistabod is a clear #3. Reading Commodore, he bemoans that his last update is the "high water mark" for his civ. Dave is clearly getting pounded pretty bad by Cataphracts. So... does this mean Yuri is set to win??
I do agree with Gaspar that Mistabod really do look badly under-cottaged. Despite that though, I really do think we have a true 3-horse race here to the end, which is pretty rare for a 5-player PBEM at this stage of the game. It's going to come down to the conflicts - who can execute theirs most efficiently.
Also, I don't really understand why Gaspar and Commodore have this horrible blood feud because of a minor skirmish that happened in the first 25T of the game. Like... what? What's the point? They're like a couple that broke up YEARS ago but both still have a massive martyr complex over the breakup. The #1 reason Mistabod has a great chance to win this is because Commodore and Gaspar are holding silly grudges for reasons I can't comprehend. This is more true of Gaspar than Commodore, but Commodore too seems to bend all his plans around Gaspar. It's just weird, and the spurned lover parallel just feels appropriate.
Yeah I think the last time a game was this competitive this far on was PBEM17, and ironically enough, the one guy I would have said was OUT of it in 17 (Dave) ended up winning (although with AP cheese-o-rama)
I do think Gaspar has kind of Moby Dick'd on to Commodore - reading poorly into a lot of Commodore's actions, when in fact, Commodore had no real ill will towards him (at least as far as we the lurkers can tell)
thestick Wrote:...so, is Dave going to build any Maces of his own?
That's what I read his post as meaning.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
oledavy Wrote:[At any rate, this might finally be the game they outright win, which I would be quite content to see If I know Gaspar though, with Commodore netting Liberalism, the Taj, and Mistabod expanding rapidly through me, he's getting more pessimistic with every update - I can only imagine.
Ah - it's always fun to see these bits of insight . I agree, 100% - Gaspar's incredibly pessimistic, and the geopolitical situation is actually pretty good for China right now.
I think Gaspar needs to team up with someone else sometime. Gaspar needs a teammate who will disagree with him when he gets fatalistic instead of correct his grammar.
I'd really like to see China make a run at a Cultural victory. They have 3 home-grown religions and SPI trait, so they're nicely set up for it.
