[SPOILERS] Small Wunders and Izzy of Inca: The fat lady sings

[WilliamLP]

So this is kind of annoying:




I assume the Privateer is Ichabod's. I don't know if it's going to tear up my nets (I assume Privateers can do that?) but I don't have a good way to deal with it. I don't know what the expected number of Caravels is to take one out. But I definitely can't afford to think about Astronomy right now.




I'm 3 turns to MT. I'm sure there's a case to be made for attacking Hippo with knights right now. But I'd take some losses doing so and it would be a shame to burn knights right before MT comes in. Also, just making the border with Plako closer isn't really a good thing. If Plako weren't as far ahead as he is I'd have more ambitions to try and gain land out of this. As it is, every bit of damage Bacchus can do helps me not die.

Plako is surely attacking with Cavs, Rifles and Cannons (though I haven't actually seen an attacking stack). That's not something that can be dealt with while behind in tech. If my purpose in this game is to not die to Plako and let him rule and entire continent, my best goal might just be to wait this out and see if I can get to my own rifles in time.




So, yeah. Plako lost basically nothing so far, and my power is lagging pretty badly. I'm going to gear up for all-military again, we'll see if it's in time.

[BaII]

It takes 3 Galleons to take out 1 Privateer. With Carvels I would guess around like 6 or so.

[WilliamLP]

Perhaps the worst thing about still being in this game is reading discussions elsewhere and then getting to the really interesting part, and then they drop a *PB13 SPOILERS!* fold in. And I have to resist pressing the big red button that says "do not press".

Anyway, the pirates aren't Ichabod's which I know from logging in and seeing that my fish nets were pillaged before he moved. Why me, why anyone?! Damned piracy, it only hurts everyone. I'd guess it's probably either Harry or Dtay. Maybe I should narrow it down and find out who it is with inter-turn logins and try to offer GPT in diplo and see if they're willing to plz stop. Because I can do this, their mystery element seems to be much stronger in PBEM.

(Actually looking at CivStats now, it's probably Dtay since Harry ended turn before I played. It seems like there could be some tricky end case issues with privateers and double-moves, doesn't it?)

I've decided that I'm not going to attack Bacchus at a loss because priority number 1 is to try and get enough defensive tech and force to put up a fight when Plako inevitably pierces through. So I offered open borders plus sheep to him so that if he accepts I can have some notice to see what Plako is coming with. It's kind of a boring way to play but the value of taking losses to grab land that takes time to develop and is just moving borders closer to the guy far ahead and bent on continental domination seems debatable.

[WilliamLP]

Geez, judging by CivStats these days, "Poked Bear" is looking more like a fully impaled one roasting on a spit.

[Ceiliazul]

haha! funny thing, bears can take a lot of damage and still be dangerous.

[Hashoosh]

haha! funny thing, bears can take a lot of damage and still be dangerous.

Doesn't stop them from becoming endangered species

[WilliamLP]

Another turn goes by in my empire which somehow has become a peaceful side of the world. My 7 universities are up for Oxford and I'm trying to beg Mackoti for one of his two stone resources. I've been gifting him spice for like 50 turns and obviously I'm no threat to him and potentially a thorn in the side of one of his major competitors so hopefully he'll give it.

Military Tradition is up next turn and I'm going to spam Cuirs nearly everywhere to get my power graph back up until (if?) I can reach rifling.

I captured a wild Azza and I now have the complete deck of world graphs!




I'm below the big kids, obviously. The main thing going for me is the RBMod known tech bonus. The next boosters of it are the techs that enable map trading: Corporation, Sci. Method, Steam Power. None of them will come very soon. (And nobody will ever have to worry about this strange mechanic again because the whole system have been overhauled in later RBMod versions...)

My plan to move from 7th place to 6th place is the usual one: Don't die and let Mackoti and Dtay do work on Harry.

The RBMod changes to slow the tech pace are doing what they advertise! Only just this turn have Scooter and Commodore finished Steam to unlock Assembly Line. Rifles and MT horses have been state of the art for a very long time. On the seas too, sails are relevant for many times their BtS lifespan and Ships of the Line are getting play. My handful of galleys and couple of caravels are not too frightening in either case.

Meanwhile Mack still lacks Steam Power but he's running State Property plus Biology in a GA right now.




Hammers have been my best stat for a while. I'll get anther little spike when I get back into Serfdom in a couple turns. I think it's a little better for me than Caste because I'm running so many windmills and watermills.

Both Bigger and Bacchus are clearly in danger of elimination. Azza has been on life support for the whole 50 turns of the graph.




My food is getting close to capped by what my land can provide. This is a level about one half of what Scooter and Mackoti have.




The only encouraging thing here is that Bacchus's military hasn't been completely broken in a final decisive battle yet. He still has a lot of units, though from what I see a lot of it is junk like longbows and spears. I'm going to start a steady climb.

Also infantry and machine gun stacks are going to appear shortly but Plako is behind on this stuff compared to the rest of the leaders.

[WilliamLP]

This six city empire is all that is left of Bacchus now:




Demolished Man and its chokepoint is a logical spot for Bacchus's final stand. I should be able to get a look at Plako's forces next turn with my scouting chariot.

I should also think pretty hard about whether trying a pre-emptive strike against Plako while he's still in Bacchus's culture is a good idea or not. Ideally it would be Cats and Cuirs against a large wounded victorious stack when he isn't expecting it. What could go wrong?

And, as usual there are larger forces at play than I can control, like Mackoti's next move, and what Commodore decides to do. Comm and Dtay signed a Defensive Pact! I don't know the mechanics of those at all, just that they force a declare if the other party is at war. Beyond that? Can I still attack someone I'm in a defensive pact with?

Comm making a move with Infantry is very plausible since he's close now. Rifles (let alone Muskets) fall down easily to them and their counter isn't until Railroad which is a long long ways away.

I still don't know who controls the pirates! Whoever it is skipped a turn on their move, either because they were worried about double-moving me, or they were being tricky. Either way they're a big meanie. I'm still guessing it's Dtay but it could still be Harry. (Is this the kind of behavior they're teaching these Harvard Physics kids these days?) In theory it could be Plako or Mackoti but they're very far away and I think they'd have trouble getting a Privateer that far north without it being sunk by a frigate.

I can rule out Commodore and Ichabod because of CivStats. I had a theory that maybe Goreripper made him do it.

I guess I could try to buy a Frigate from someone. E.g. gift a caravel to someone (Commodore? Lol.) and offer the upgrade gold, plus interest, in a trade. That could go hilariously wrong, obviously. Realistically I think I just need to cope with the loss of seafood in the north.

[Ceiliazul]

defensive pact doesnt limit the actions of either party to start a war. only effect is if someone declares on Commodore, Dtay will auto declare (and vice versa) if either side declares an war themselves the deal simply ceases to exist.

[WilliamLP]

I caught a glimpse of the action on the Plako / Bacchus front:




Bacchus has an interesting arrangement of defensive units all over the place in small divided stacks. I'm not sure what he's trying to accomplish with that. I think I've only seen 1 knight of his, and the rest is muskets and numidian cavs, and a not too impressive stack of cats.

The numbers Plako is showing in this screenshot aren't terrifying. However with his power graph he must have much more behind this.

I'm pretty sure I'll have time to get to rifling at least before Plako is poised to attack. I can get RP in 3 right now and think I'm going to do so, rather than immediately save gold to upgrade all knights to Cuirs immediately.

Builds:




I think I'm going essentially all military from here on out, though I've claimed this before.

If someone like Commodore comes crashing in with Infantry, the only slight hopes I'd have would be either sheer numbers and/or cannons. But I think Rifling is slightly more pressing at the very moment.

As always I'm very curious about what the lurker sentiment for this game is, these days. Also whether my land is on anyone's immediate radar for takeover, obviously.

Ichabod has been playing sub-10 minute turns. I don't know if I could even be sure my empire has no spy specialists in that amount of time.