Third time's the charm - Mardoc plays the Pirates [SPOILER]

[HidingKneel]

IF I understand correctly, no, aquaformers are also invisible inside friendly territory and can't be revealed by any means short of him actually taking cities. Given that one of his subs ended up on the same tile as an Aquaformer, I think that's a correct understanding

Well, that's something, at least.

Good to have Sareln and Maniac on our side, though it's not clear how much they'll be able (or willing) to contribute.

Looks like we're entering the home stretch. What's the plan? Mostly military from here on? What are our chances of regaining naval superiority?

Last I looked at the save, Iskender had an advantage in production and you had a substantial lead in commerce. My intuition from SP FFH games is always to prioritize the commerce, but I'm pretty sure that's bad advice. Particularly in this game where tech leads don't seem to translate into huge power differences between units.

It's only a game. It's only a game.

A cruel game. We build such lovely sandcastles, only to watch them get washed away to sea...

[Mardoc]

Well, that's something, at least.

Good to have Sareln and Maniac on our side, though it's not clear how much they'll be able (or willing) to contribute.

Ironically, I would say that Sareln's probably willing to contribute all he has, which isn't much, while Maniac's probably hoping for some sort of balance of power thing, is capable of more but will trickle it in according to his assessment of our chances. The 'surely you don't expect heavy lifting' bit implies that he's trying to do this on the cheap. We're all in, though. Have to be.

Looks like we're entering the home stretch. What's the plan? Mostly military from here on? What are our chances of regaining naval superiority?

Last I looked at the save, Iskender had an advantage in production and you had a substantial lead in commerce. My intuition from SP FFH games is always to prioritize the commerce, but I'm pretty sure that's bad advice. Particularly in this game where tech leads don't seem to translate into huge power differences between units.[/quote]
Hard to say. Most of Iskender's commerce is unconventional - for instance, 22 improvements worth of pillage cash. :-/. Also, hammers seem to be counted whether or not they're being used for Stockpile Energy - we're now something like 3rd in GNP because we're spending all hammers on military.

It's a race. Can we use the current naval tech advantage, and allies' contributions, to kill his navy and Sirian away his ports before he can gain collateral of his own and kill us?

Although I think Cryogenics will still be a gamechanger, we have to survive for now. And keep our improvements, too, and get boreholes built. I think it's got to be a hammer focus until Isk dies or we do, and trust in our ability to out tech Maniac and Sareln later if need be.

A cruel game. We build such lovely sandcastles, only to watch them get washed away to sea...

Ayup. Starting to reconsider whether I want to sign up for another one of these, or if maybe I should switch over to being an Epics player. Or compromise, and go to the BtS games where defense has the edge.

[Mattimeo]

A cruel game. We build such lovely sandcastles, only to watch them get washed away to sea...

But... aren't most of Mardoc's sandcastles built out in the middle of the ocean anyway?

[HidingKneel]

Poked around the save a little. While I don't have a super-good sense of the game, I still like our chances. Iskender's done (and will continue to do) a substantial amount of damage, but it doesn't look like you're in any immediate danger of losing cities (except for the one you lost this turn, which I guess didn't have a drop trooper in it). I guess the danger is that he saps away your tech lead, and overwhelms you somewhere later down the line. The fact that aquaformers are invisible in your territory is a huge break. And Iskender's now at war with the whole world, which is something. I think you want to really want to play that up in the public diplo... sound the alarm that we're hurting, and encourage the others to contribute.

So is the tech plan fusion -> cryogenics? Do we have the ability to cash-rush?

[Mardoc]

So is the tech plan fusion -> cryogenics? Do we have the ability to cash-rush?

Yes, and no. I don't think cash rush is present until a later tech, and even then is only for buildings.

Maniac has the ability to cash rush, as a faction ability. Man, would that be useful!

[Qgqqqqq]

Good luck!

[Qgqqqqq]

How's it going?

[Mardoc]

How's it going?

Verrrryy slowly. I think we may have had one or two turns since my last update.

At the moment it's basically stalemate. I've killed enough subs that Iskender has stopped pillaging me except in the north where his pillaging subs can return to port every turn. I still can't do anything about his ports but have pillaged his sea improvements near me. Was reminded that I get bonus beakers for pillaging, so I think I'm going to have to find some way to go on a pillage party of my own. Have started to put up Boreholes again in the backlines.

He's been lowering defenses in one base of mine by bombardment, but I've put in some extra Drop Troops and I don't think he can take it. He hasn't tried yet, anyway.

I don't really have any ideas on how to break the stalemate, except One More Tech . I'll accumulate Drop Troops and hope their mobility will let me do something, while continuing to tech toward planes.

[Bigger]

it kind of feels like this game is dying due to lack of interest :/

[Mardoc]

it kind of feels like this game is dying due to lack of interest :/

Well...sorta. I'm less interested than I was, anyway. But the pace recently is more the result of Sareln's trip to Thailand, I think. He was surprised to have worse internet than he expected, and then when he came back I imagine he took a while to recover from the jet lag and catching up on the rest of Real Life. I think the pace of this one will speed up a bit now that Sareln seems mostly recovered.