[SPOILERS] Scooticator and Pindooter give a sporting try

[SadGit]

Recap:
3) Why can't people use normal civ names? There's no way on earth I'm keeping track of who in the world "Tarquin" is in an 18 player game. Life is too short.

Based on the image Im guessing Tarquin is the lighter shade orange player. Perhaps there is a map somewhere in the thread showing which empire that belongs to?

[scooter]

Based on the image Im guessing Tarquin is the lighter shade orange player. Perhaps there is a map somewhere in the thread showing which empire that belongs to?

Yeesh, brain fart. I thought Tarquin was the civ adjective, not the player name . Orange is Bacchus.

[pindicator]

Did mackoti finish Astro?

His GNP was at 1500 teching Philosohpy last turn, but he had 2 pre-reqs so we may end ahead in bpt for a little while

[scooter]

Did mackoti finish Astro?

His GNP was at 1500 teching Philosohpy last turn, but he had 2 pre-reqs so we may end ahead in bpt for a little while

I didn't check, I only had a few minutes. His bpt has definitely got to be ahead of us right now (that demo shot was at 100%), but I'm hoping Free Market narrows it down enough that we're pretty close to being with him. The tech costs sharply going up at this stage should help a bit too with keeping things in control.

[scooter]

Did mackoti finish Astro?

On second thought, I would bet anything he did not. Astro still obsoletes Colossus in this version of the mod, right? I'm sure he's just waiting to finish Astro until we do it ourselves. And now he's grabbing Chemistry so he'll be ready to finish that too - at any moment he could turn science on (he's got a massive bankroll), burn through that, then mass-upgrade his fleet to defend against us.

I think that makes a lot more sense than something made him randomly change his mind to not finish Astro, then he decides to tech Chemistry for some unknown reason. I think he's waiting for us to make him obsolete a wonder that's providing him a good deal of commerce still.

[scooter]

Hoo boy, this game is getting fun. So I logged in to see this:



Well then. 300g is a chunk of change, but this is interesting. Sounds like a plea for help against mackoti, which is clearly in our favor if that becomes a hot war. After closing out of the diplo windows (yes PLURAL, I'll circle back to the other one), I see this:



That... was not how I left the turn at lunch time. So to recap, the timeline:

1) Mackoti razes Old Harry's city, ends turn.
2) I log in at lunch time. See the result.
3) Old Harry logs in, plays the turn. He actually hasn't even finished it yet, he's still in and has been for two solid hours.
4) Sometime in there, Old Harry sends us a diplo request that clearly sounds like asking for military help
5) Old Harry counter-attacks mackoti enough to spawn both of them great generals. Mackoti's comes first, which suggests catapults/softeners losing, then attacking at odds, that sorta thing
6) I log in to see all this.


Soooo my conclusion is this: Old Harry is pissed at mackoti. Rightfully so. Mackoti sniped a city, ruined his suttree invasion, and then burned Harry's city on top of that. So Harry is happy to be a thorn in mackoti's side, but would like our help in doing so since we stand to gain the most from it. I think we should do something. I honestly think even 300g - as ludicrously high as that is - would absolutely be worth it. Give him a free luxury while we're at it - we've got spare spice/sugar. Whatever he needs.


NEXT. I got this:



So this is easy too. These two are at war, and dtay has been consistently whipping. Dtay intends to finish the war he started 100 years ago, and he wants us to help both us and him by capturing the islands (fish). Pindicator and I have loosely discussed this possibility a few times, so I figured it was a matter of time before we got this from dtay. Pindicator and I actually discussed Black Sword's islands being our backup prize if mackoti is overly prepared (rifles or lots of boats or whatever) for our dreams of hitting him out of the fog. Here's what would be amazingly easy for us to grab if we want it:





Anyway, my knee jerk reaction is I kinda want to do both of these. Pindicator and friends, now is a great time to weigh in on your opinion.

[scooter]

Also, selling the stone is not an option now. WLP got some from mackoti. Ooooof course.

[Ceiliazul]

Pindicator and friends, now is a great time to weigh in on your opinion.

Look, here's a bunch of lurkers discussing their vote:

[Zed-F]

I can see why you are tempted to do both. Is that possible, or stretching too much?

[scooter]

Pindicator and friends, now is a great time to weigh in on your opinion.

Look, here's a bunch of lurkers discussing their vote:

I can see why you are tempted to do both. Is that possible, or stretching too much?

Well, they're not really related decisions. Old Harry seems to be asking for financial/material help, not military help. At least that's how I read it. Dtay is asking for military help straight-up. Highly possible I'm missing something from one/both of these, but they seem straight-forward to me.

Anyway, the main sticking point is what we do with our navy. We can help or not help Harry with money, that does very little to impact our other choices other than probably delaying Astro by a turn (just because of the gold). However, the main choice is do we still try to line up a mackoti raze or two, or do we go straight for Black Sword, or do we still try for mackoti, but develop a backup plan for Black Sword.

If my suspicions on mackoti delaying Astro and banking gold just for us (as well as him teching Chem honestly) are right, we should probably just abandon plans of hitting him, because his tech/gold choices indicate he's expecting it. Maybe the best choice is to take these two options of helping Harry while acquiring about a dozen island cities.