Cheater Hater, Ruler of the Modbreakers

[Cheater Hater]

I know there was a point where I couldn't do anything more, but I just don't know where that point was--you could argue it was when dtay declared, you could argue it was when Whosit closed off my expansion by settling Plano, you could argue it was when my scout got trapped and I couldn't find more civs early--I'm just trying to keep improving, or at least find reasons to play something that appears to have so many flaws at the level of skill I'm at, yet clearly has something that makes it appealing.

Also, I'm hard on myself with everything I do--that's going to be a much harder mental shift unfortunately

As I mentioned, I don't know if I want to join the Greens+mentor game, but I'm certainly looking at it--it feels like it has a lot of the feel the demogame had that I'm trying to replicate, except that I would be in direct control.

In non-self-improvement news, dtay played, and took all three cities as expected. Again, what value is there playing at this point? Also, regardless of all the turn order swapping that's happened, I'm pretty sure Whosit playing his turn at the same time as dtay isn't supposed to happen (and I know they probably made peace, but still )

[Ceiliazul]

The value of playing now is in respect from forum mates for future games. One benefit of half-eaten empires is that they can be managed quickly: queue troops, fortify, beeline the nearest mil tech thats relevant.

Your talk of joining a game but not wanting the burden sounds like you'd be a good teammate. Especially since you're up for some of the less sexy stuff like demo analysis and sims. Consider FinHarryTourist in 13: none of them would have wanted to play alone, but they make a great team.

[Zed-F]

Regarding why dtay invades -- assume he's a rational actor and you're missing something from his perspective. This is usually the case when someone does something that doesn't appear on the surface to make sense (at least where emotional play isn't too likely to be a major factor.)

I believe 2-movers tend to be generally favoured over 1-movers around RBCiv for a lot of reasons. Mobility is pretty important.

As far as meta goes, the current meta around RBCiv appears to be "1. get good/lucky enough to have a solid core empire early, and a weaker neighbor. 2. Absorb said weaker neighbor with HAs and/or Knights. 3. ??? 4. Profit!" If you aren't in a position to achieve step 1 due to skill/luck factors, then you should expect to be someone's victim in step 2.

As far as enjoying games goes, personally when I do play MP games (which is rarely, and not Civ) then I feel much better about doing so with a partner or teammate. I sympathize with your feeling of being stressed; that I'm not that fond of the pressure of going solo, either.

[Cheater Hater]

T135, pictures here
Good news: 3 dtay knights are dead, and without any losses to boot! It also only used two of my elephants--the last knight died from a combo of a HA to weaken it (which got the retreat) and a chariot to finish it.
Bad news: Pyrulea and Ravnica are dead this turn if dtay wants them to be, and Lorwyn's defenses are very loose (since I forgot to switch a bunch of cities to WEs last turn), though I think I can hold it.
Good news: Both of my loans went through, so I have an infusion of 300 gold, though since I upgraded the warrior at Lowyn to an Impi I don't think I'll be able to get to Feudalism in a reasonable timeframe. Finharry also traded me silk and ivory (remember, I'm losing my source this turn) in exchange for my extra silver--this actually happened live.
More good news: with the exception of Lorwyn (which I might be able to hold--thank the geography for that, letting me shuttle a bunch of units in and whip 2 WE's), I think I won't lose any more cities after this turn--my cats are almost to Theros, and I think I can hold it this turn (I can't if dtay wins every combat, but he shouldn't win every single one--I have my GG Axe (which is C2 Formation), a WE, 3 Impis, and a CD1 max fortify archer, along with some random filler units).

Right now, the question is how long I can hold out--if Whosit has any clue what's happening (and he should since he can see dtay's declaration and how rapidly I pulled out my units) he should move a bunch of his units over to start attacking Kamigawa (assuming Krill/novice haven't started attacking him yet).

Edit: After logging in to fix the autosave, I found a surprising landmass:


1. Presumably this is at the bottom of the cylinder--this was hand-edited in right?
2. Is this my plan to survive to the end of this game? No one would bother to conquer me for that piece of land
3. Is a landmass like this where the lurker is hiding?

[Ceiliazul]

3. No.

[Cheater Hater]

Okay, what the hell--dtay somehow took 4 cities this turn. That's impossible--we know he's taking Pyrulea and Ravnica, so that's 2 cities. Technically he's in range of Theros, which means he could have taken that (even though he shouldn't be able to since I piled all my troops in there). After that I have no idea what city he could have taken--I guess he somehow managed to get a knight to Shandalar once Thero's borders disappeared? Seriously, add border disintegration to the list of mechanics that need to be fixed--losing one city shouldn't triple the enemy's troop movement. What's worse at this point--abandoning the game, whipping all my cities to size one, becoming a Gawsdak-bot?

[Zed-F]

The value of playing now is in respect from forum mates for future games. One benefit of half-eaten empires is that they can be managed quickly: queue troops, fortify, beeline the nearest mil tech thats relevant.

Pretty much this is all you need to do. For each turn, in each city, queue your best defender, dry whip, fortify, done. Optimize only if you feel like being especially thorny and can find fun in seeing how long you can last. Otherwise disinvest yourself from the game, turtle up, and wait for the end.

[Cheater Hater]

T136:
Things happened exactly how I predicted--Theros fell, opening the path to Shandalar for cities 3 and 4. Still, I managed to make some headway at least--I retook Theros by using most of my forward Cats:




Still, dtay still has a ton of knights left, his 1-movers are starting to catch-up to the stack (I saw a Cat in the mess), and now Whosit's counter-attacking. Somehow I'm still above multiple people in the standings though

[Cheater Hater]

T137:
Things aren't horrible--dtay obviously retook Theros, but I killed another couple knights, and Whosit's retreated his stack (even though I'm assuming it's just onto the hill between Plano and Kamigawa I don't have vision onto--worst case the stack was basically stationary, best case it's retreating to fight a dtay or Krill/novice invasion force). Krill/novice also offered me open borders, so I don't think they're planning on piling on at least--I don't see any forces coming to take out dtay though, just the stray bowman. I also offered Cyneheard Open Borders so my scout can keep doing stuff--here's the full foreign picture:


Ruff and Cyneheard are warring now--add another war to the pile. At least I've outlasted another civ--how many more will I survive longer than?

[Cheater Hater]

T138:
Not much new--killed another knight, lost more units, building a bunch more WE's, asked for some more loans (from WilliamLP and Krill/novice this time) in a vain effort to get to Feudalism, nothing new--I didn't even take any pictures this time