[SPOILERS] Scooticator and Pindooter give a sporting try

[Krill]

Strategically, the major effect of this mod is that the games will be longer, they will go further up the tech tree, that SS victory is the main yardstick that games will be judged by. The issue that this implies is that if games cannot be ended by SS, then the whole yardstick that balanced is judged by is suspect. Sabotage production itself is implemented in such a way that SS victories are technically impossible under a not insignificant amount of circumstances: bluntly, if this change was not implemented this would be game breaking. It's game breaking in base BtS, but we never see it because we yield games. Those games are not decided. They could actually go either way, depending on player skill, but we decide to end them so we can start new games. PB8 is a good example. That game could actually have gone on for a long time with plako revolting Biggers cities so he couldn't hit a CV; the same effect should have occurred with Serdoa revolting any city of plako that tried to build an SS part. Espionage acts as a great leveller, players do not need many resources to effectively shut down stronger civs so that a straight forward win is not possible.

This problem leads to the change we're commenting on, which exists, at least in part, to give validity to our yielding of games.

[Ceiliazul]

Good post Krill, made me think. Still don't like the mod, but you make a good case there. (You must be at least half-sober by now, right?)

Aaaaand, to possibly change the subject: Where's our t75 Power Ranking?? If Peter King is an hour late on Monday morning quarterback his Twitters get burned up by angry viewers!

[Krill]

Actually I'm still drinking. The more I drink, the more verbose I get.

Also, I agree with Ceil, give us our power rankings

[pindicator]

Actually I'm still drinking. The more I drink, the more verbose I get.

Also, I agree with Ceil, give us our power rankings

It will be up tonight. I just got out of the game -- we won handily for once -- but i won't be home for another four or five hours.

And for what it's worth, i agree with the choice to take out Sabotage Production. To be able to see how many hammers are in an opponent's city regardless of your EP level is pretty cheap.

[NobleHelium]

I think the best part is that Krill admitted that the mod is incorrectly named.

[pindicator]

I know i'm going to start referring to it as the smegheads mod from now on

[scooter]

Anyway Krill, I just flat disagree, and I think the scenario you set up is very easily avoided by just making an agreement/rule about it or whatever. I don't really want to discuss it further here though, so I'll drop it.

I think the best part is that Krill admitted that the mod is incorrectly named.

There's a reason I almost always call it Krillmod.

I know i'm going to start referring to it as the smegheads mod from now on

[pindicator]

What are you planning to do with that galley? I thought we'd keep sending it east but it was brought back.

[pindicator]

Turn 75 Power Rankings


Link to previous Power Rankings:

• The Way-Too-Early-To-Tell Power Rankings
  
• The Post-Pairing Power Rankings
  
• Turn 25 Power Rankings
  
• Turn 50 Power Rankings
  

I'm running out of things to say about teams I can't even see. Makes me wish I had done C&D this game, just for the power rankings. If you don't like that we don't know more about the world, we've got galleys now and will be able to start exploring more of the world with them.

Biggest Gain:  +6, Fintourist
Biggest Drop:  -5, Slowcheetah


1.  Jowy & The Black Sword as Pacal of India
Prev Rank: #2
By the log-ins, this is 90% Black Sword, and he seems to making the most of his debut at RB. Pacal of India is a strong leader combination, even in Smegheads Mod, and they are playing it very well with an early Oracle as a notch in their belt.


2. Pindicator & Scooter as Darius of Vikings
Prev Rank: #4
We just keep bumping along near the top of the scoreboard. I hear we're going to attack a neighbor. Hope that goes well


3. Bigger, Lewwyn, & Qgqqqqq as Gandhi of China
Prev Rank: #6
Really tempting to put this team higher as their demos are looking great right now. The bacon empire is feeding it's people fat and they have lots of natural land to expand into, whether that's trying to take over Azza or developing jungle or going overseas.


4. plako as Ragnar of Maya
Prev Rank: #1
Plako must have taken a small border city off of dhalpir, otherwise I would have expected more gains from him. Going by the information we have available (score), plako seems to have slipped off his top perch but is still in the top tier.


5. Ichabod & Wetbandit as Shaka of Greece
Prev Rank: #5


6.  Yuris as Mehmed of Ottoman
Prev Rank: #7


7. WilliamLP as Isabella of Inca
Prev Rank.  #3


8. Fintourist & Old Harry as Montezuma of Babylon
Prev Rank: #14


9. Dhalphir as Mansa Musa of America (previously Serdoa)
Prev Rank: #12
Serdoa had a strong move up the scoreboard going on before he handed over the reins. I would have had him ranked higher, but dhalphir taking over and losing a city has to be seen as a knock against this team's chances.


10. Azza as Joao of the Dutch
Prev Rank: #9
Five cities, but he's got an awkward border against Lewwyn. Perhaps some real-life war weariness will keep the tension on that border low, as neither team likely wants to reprise what happened in pb8. (Sound familiar?)


11. dtay as Alexander of Germany
Prev Rank: #10


12. mostly_harmless as Qin Shi Huang of Sumeria
Prev Rank: #11


13. Slowcheetah as Ramesses of Mongolia
Prev Rank: #8


14. Commodore & Kurumi as Victoria of Portugal
Prev Rank: #15
Slowly moving up the rankings. But still in the bottom third.


15.  Nakor & CFC Jester as Wang Kon of Rome
Prev Rank: #17
Maniacal neighbors are never good for your game chances.


16. Bacchus as Suryavarman of Carthage
Prev Rank: #18


17. retep as Sitting Bull of Khmer
Prev Rank: #13


18. suttree as Huayna Capac of Spain
Prev Rank: #16

[scooter]

What are you planning to do with that galley? I thought we'd keep sending it east but it was brought back.

First, ***west. :P /Noble'd

Anyway, I do agree, but I wanted flexibility. In the odd case that we decide we need the CG2 archer from Bulldogs (not promoted but it has 2 available) into 49ers fast, we have the option. Again, not ideal for a lot of reasons, but I just wanted us to have one additional option on the table as a precaution.

So the question is - can he get another unit in there before next turn? Another unit from a nearby city is basically out of the question. The odds of that are very small. It's not possible to get a 1 mover in, and I don't think they even have a chariot yet based on horse connect date and power graph. The real question is do they have hammers into a unit to be able to whip it? If yes, we take our worker and go home. If no, city is ours. I'm pretty optimistic.

So I meant to correct this last night when I got home, and I forgot. So the lurkers understand, here is the timeline of how last turn and this turn play out:

T76A: Nakor played. Ended turn.
T76B: I logged in, declared, dropped units on hill. Reported it.
*turn rolled pretty recently, Nakor hasn't logged in since he finished in the first half of T76
T76A: Nakor will log in, see we're at war. Maybe he whips, maybe he doesn't, but the unit won't appear in time
T76B: We take the city

So my paragraph there about him whipping in a unit was irrelevant, hopefully that didn't confuse too many of you. Just a brief brain fart when I was typing. Anyway, so the only way we don't get it is if he was slow-building a unit and it finished naturally last turn. Or if he had a chariot a few tiles away. Otherwise it's ours, and then we just have to hold it. So I'm just going to keep an eye on Civstats - hopefully Nakor plays soon.