REM goes on the Sudric Express [Pitboss 33 spoilers]

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

As you may have gathered from the above post things have calmed down here. Mrs went out last night giving me a lot of time to think and also get the game out of my mind too, and is much less annoyed. Should hopefully be no issues going forward, especially with the pause.

I am also rather glad of the post Dreylin pause as this will inform my play next 5 turns. I genuinely have no idea what will happen in the attack. He has 3 inf all double promoed and a machine gun vs a horde basically. I think I counted around 15 attacking units in range all mildly damaged and about 5 cats. It will be touch and go what happens here. Dreylin has enough zeppelins to fully damage all the units unless he gets very unlucky re the machine gun intercept chance. I placed 8 cavalry that can hit this location next turn should Dreylin leave it lightly defended. I have a double worker to road, and one hidden in the galleon in the city (plus 2 in the galleon) I can't declare until next turn, and if appropriate I will fall into line with the turn split and try and join the second half.

However. This is not ideal. I can't be be sure of scooters input, and despite minimal military builds I am still 2nd power with the pentagon adding to his total too, so I don't think he has much in the way of new infantry.

Also the old Gaspar cities are very thinly defended from attack, and just a few inf on galleons could do well there. However I have nothing in this theatre.

Long term, as well as needing to hit Dreylin I also want to remain an economic power. Shale plants need to go up everywhere which unusually as mentioned above won't hurt my healthiness. Also huge wealth/research builds will get me marines ASAP, and possibly a lot of opportunities.

So competing priorities. Basically unless there is a really sweet opportunity to inflict a lot of damage on Dreylin I won't be attacking. It would be nice to keep him from completing the attack smoothly with a cavalry threat though.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Went in to have a look. Diplo locked with a DP and big resource trade from Scooter so hard to see much. I accepted the DP trade as why not - I can auto trash it should I choose to war and signals to Drey4E we are working together.

Drey4E maaged to take the northern Stattplant city and has 2 units of some sort in there. ONLY 2! He has a few more chaps waiting on the wings from those that won their combats (I guess some heavily damaged cav that withdrew and the other units that won their combat. He also managed to take Scooters cap which had IIRC 2 infantry in. That must have been costly.

IMO now he is winning this war far too fast. Scooter has 4 cities left, the newish plant with just a cav in, the deer/whale city with just a rifle in, his wax trax corn/iron city I cannot see and his new cap by his sheep/wheat with a couple of inf and a GG.

Realistically, the time to strike is now. I'll need to jump in after someone else has played with an unpause to confirm, but I'll probably hit up the draft and get a few infantry to begin with. Not ideal to draft away specialists in a GA, but I think this is the right plan. plonk an inf/rifle or so on the sugar hill tile and see how Drey4E responds, because I will need to let him play again after doing that. Cav will all still be in range, and I HOPE he doesn't realise that I have a worker on the galleon so can double road the tile between us, and it just looks like a show of power. Then on the west I will take and hold that city, and he should have problems with my tech advantage without a mobility advantage with the old DZ cities.

Out west, I don't have much I can really 'do' to him. I stupidly full moved my galleon out of range of his cities, so I won't be able to hit him next turn on the island. I still have a second ring tile in his border city with me. Current plan of get a couple of units and prepare for invasion of at least that city there too.

Unsure what to do with my GG. He is currently sitting in the cap. The cap will be plowing out huge HPT next turnafter the shale plant build, enough for 1 inf per turn, so an instructor could be a good idea. Or a super unit. I could get a free upgrade to an inf on a unit and a double mover, or start a unit down the commando path. Or a fast moving ship to work with the fast marines.

But essentially, unless something big happens or I see something worrying, I will declare on Drey4E next turn (but I need to get in and draft a bit first)

[Epoxy]

Went in to have a look. Diplo locked with a DP and big resource trade from Scooter so hard to see much. I accepted the DP trade as why not - I can auto trash it should I choose to war and signals to Drey4E we are working together.

Drey4E maaged to take the northern Stattplant city and has 2 units of some sort in there. ONLY 2! He has a few more chaps waiting on the wings from those that won their combats (I guess some heavily damaged cav that withdrew and the other units that won their combat. He also managed to take Scooters cap which had IIRC 2 infantry in. That must have been costly.

IMO now he is winning this war far too fast. Scooter has 4 cities left, the newish plant with just a cav in, the deer/whale city with just a rifle in, his wax trax corn/iron city I cannot see and his new cap by his sheep/wheat with a couple of inf and a GG.

I think you mean Donovan, not Scooter

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Went in to have a look. Diplo locked with a DP and big resource trade from Scooter so hard to see much. I accepted the DP trade as why not - I can auto trash it should I choose to war and signals to Drey4E we are working together.

Drey4E maaged to take the northern Stattplant city and has 2 units of some sort in there. ONLY 2! He has a few more chaps waiting on the wings from those that won their combats (I guess some heavily damaged cav that withdrew and the other units that won their combat. He also managed to take Scooters cap which had IIRC 2 infantry in. That must have been costly.

IMO now he is winning this war far too fast. Scooter has 4 cities left, the newish plant with just a cav in, the deer/whale city with just a rifle in, his wax trax corn/iron city I cannot see and his new cap by his sheep/wheat with a couple of inf and a GG.

I think you mean Donovan, not Scooter

Names are more personal, but with multiple people per civ perhaps sticking to generic civs is easier. Khmer just doesn't roll off the tongue for me.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

This game has made me realise 2 things, and shows how little I play into the industrial era and beyond. Genuinely always thought that a power plant boosted production by a further 25% and not an additional 50%, and I always thought a coal plant was +6 unhealth and power +4 unhealth, rather than coal +4 and non coal +2... whoops. Really need to reevaluate factories in other games I am in too!

I'm a fool. And really not familiar with this gameplay functions. I don't think I have even ever lauched a bomber or fighter mission in a competitive game...
(I should quantify this, gamespy games rarely reached beyond the medi era often being decided by then. I have also played a chap who didn't bother getting infantry and just used nukes and rifles...)

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

I would love to war Dreylin - but is it the right time? After looking in, my nightmare scenario here is myself and Khmer slogging it out, and Scooter being able to build wealth/research until he wins... Gah. This is a prisoners dilemma. Neither Scooter nor I move - we both loose. One of us moves - the other is likely to win. We both move, equal chances of winning...

Dreylin has a couple of rifles in the city currently, and a few things quite heavily damaged next turn. Theoretically I could go first next turn as I have not moved anything since finishing my turn, but after my fiasco I don't want to do that to anyone else. I can't see any possibilities on the other side.

The deal scooter sent didn't accept, so I sent it back, and asked for a resource trade too. I'll wait and see his move first now on reflection. If he is still able to tech railroad in 4t then I know he is not serious about attacking, and he has more of a need to move than me. God this is so confusing. After my GA and factories/shale plants I shall be in a great position here, and could feasibly attack then too. I think dreylin will struggle to take the last DZ cities more than the last Gaspar cities, and it is much easier for me to intervene now to.

[GermanJoey]

This game has made me realise 2 things, and shows how little I play into the industrial era and beyond. Genuinely always thought that a power plant boosted production by a further 25% and not an additional 50%, and I always thought a coal plant was +6 unhealth and power +4 unhealth, rather than coal +4 and non coal +2... whoops. Really need to reevaluate factories in other games I am in too!

I'm a fool. And really not familiar with this gameplay functions. I don't think I have even ever lauched a bomber or fighter mission in a competitive game...
(I should quantify this, gamespy games rarely reached beyond the medi era often being decided by then. I have also played a chap who didn't bother getting infantry and just used nukes and rifles...)

I was this way in PB22. I'd never played Modern era stuff on Gamespy, and if I ever went for space over conquest or culture in single player, which was rare, I was usually on autopilot by the time the game was in the modern era. Then I get into a modern era pitboss game where I'm on one side of a thousand unit Mexican standoff. Not knowing a few modern mechanical minutiaes (about aerial combat, interception, missile rebasing, etc) definitely cost me HUGE. I recommend trying out some of this stuff in single player now before you get bit in the ass too.

btw, I think you got the health malus wrong. it breaks down like this:

+1 unhealth for a city with a factory
+2 unhealth for a city with a coal plant or shale plant
+2 unhealth for a city having access to power
+2 unhealth for a city having access to dirty power (coal/shale plant are both dirty; nuclear and hydro are clean)
+2 unhealth for a city with a factory and access to coal
+2 unhealth for a city with a factory and access to oil

so, potentially 11 total unhealth!

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

This game has made me realise 2 things, and shows how little I play into the industrial era and beyond. Genuinely always thought that a power plant boosted production by a further 25% and not an additional 50%, and I always thought a coal plant was +6 unhealth and power +4 unhealth, rather than coal +4 and non coal +2... whoops. Really need to reevaluate factories in other games I am in too!

I'm a fool. And really not familiar with this gameplay functions. I don't think I have even ever lauched a bomber or fighter mission in a competitive game...
(I should quantify this, gamespy games rarely reached beyond the medi era often being decided by then. I have also played a chap who didn't bother getting infantry and just used nukes and rifles...)

I was this way in PB22. I'd never played Modern era stuff on Gamespy, and if I ever went for space over conquest or culture in single player, which was rare, I was usually on autopilot by the time the game was in the modern era. Then I get into a modern era pitboss game where I'm on one side of a thousand unit Mexican standoff. Not knowing a few modern mechanical minutiaes (about aerial combat, interception, missile rebasing, etc) definitely cost me HUGE. I recommend trying out some of this stuff in single player now before you get bit in the ass too.

btw, I think you got the health malus wrong. it breaks down like this:

+1 unhealth for a city with a factory
+2 unhealth for a city with a coal plant or shale plant
+2 unhealth for a city having access to power
+2 unhealth for a city having access to dirty power (coal/shale plant are both dirty; nuclear and hydro are clean)
+2 unhealth for a city with a factory and access to coal
+2 unhealth for a city with a factory and access to oil

so, potentially 11 total unhealth!

This is what I originally thought and how the in game read outs suggest it is IMO.

However, you are one malus twice. The extra +2 unhealth from dirty power is actually the stated +2 unhealth in the readout from a coal plant rather than an additional +2 from access to coal.

But regardless, I'm good. We have free aqueducts and harbours for a lot more health than normal. Also I have no need for coal to be hooked currently

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Just looked in again, Scooter is now making full gold it seems at 220gpt and teching at a rate of 136 turns to railroad.

It seems he is prepping for war. These bloody diplo windows though. It is so awkward to get in to do anything! Is there like only 1 person who can unpause currently...

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

So finally able to look at things without a diplo window. Some interesting thoughts.

I'm making too many hammers in some cities... (In the GA) As in with the 120% boost from forge/factory/power/SP/shale 51 base hammers consistently 1turns infantry. No point making more.

I have no idea what to do with the GG unit... Settling gives some sci and a nice xp bonus. No need for extra hammers as above. I see limited value in a GG unit now too, unless an extra 3 moves on a transport...

I could really smash out ICS here. Every city coming with 3 pop and a free specialist is making money from The turn it is built. I might get a stack and settle around old India area

I don't see the current benefit of going into a draft. It just won't be very effective. Would much prefer to plan a better attack out in a few turns without so much signalling. So 4t to electricity and powering on to inustrialism. Attack pending depending on his progress v DZ and my buildup.