[SPOILERS] Mardoc decides what kind of loser he wants to be

[Mardoc]

Aurorarcher called me on my farmer's gambit, invading with ~5 Moroi, taking one of my border cities. Normally I'd expect this to be the end; he has double my production, a tech lead, and better unique units. Given the circumstances, however, I might be able just barely to squeak out survival. March of the Trees bought me five turns, Priesthood just came in (so I might be able to fight with summons rather than hammers if I can get a critical mass built), and most importantly: Plako declared on Aurorarcher right after I popped my worldspell. Plako's army is almost equal to Auror's.

I still think I likely lose this in the end, but at least Auror will have to work for it.

[Mardoc]

Well, now I have Clownish chariots and catapults taking advantage of my open borders; presumably I'm getting reinforcements against Auror. Maaybe they even arrive in numbers soon enough to matter to me .

Or else the game will be over in 10 turns, if Auror can fight the world and win he'll get a quick concession I'm sure.

[Mardoc]

Well, now I have Clownish chariots and catapults taking advantage of my open borders; presumably I'm getting reinforcements against Auror. Maaybe they even arrive in numbers soon enough to matter to me .

Dave's up to 8 chariots and 2 catapults, spread out at the moment (one close enough to the front to observe, the others trickling in). Auror's stack is about the same size, although better promoted. I think Auror's going to lose his stack if Dave can keep a close enough eye on it to pick a good moment (probably right after Auror takes another of my cities)

I'm up to three PoL. Not a huge force, not enough to stop Auror, but it is enough now that I can push him to stack up. He had sent a Moroi to capture one of my workers, and the PoL let me kill the Moroi with only tiger-deaths (inside my own culture, so no WW). Sure, it only buys time, but at the moment time is pretty valuable. 2 PoL/three turns, and DaveV's stack keeps growing....

What seems most likely at the moment, if DaveV and I play perfectly: I keep harassing Auror, and stacking up Warriors. He takes another of my cities, mostly losing only health on his stack. Normally that would be acceptable, but this time DaveV hits him and wipes the stack. I then push back to my original borders (again!) while I keep stacking up PoL.

If DaveV and I don't play perfectly...then Auror will defeat us in detail, eat me, and then proceed around the donut to eat everyone else too (until concession).

[Mardoc]

Well, this is possibly the worst of both options. Auror pressed onward, took one more of my cities and razed one. Then he got a Hawk, and spotted DaveV's chariot stack. Now he's backed off, fortified in my ex-cities, and I'm not really sure if anything can happen. The turn order goes me->Auror -> Dave, so I can't wound a stack for Dave to finish off and expect it to stick. But I don't have the hitters (or the mobility) to finish off a stack that DaveV wounds, not unless he gets it to the verge and just lacks hitters.

So the game will likely drag on for a while now, until someone can figure out how to break a stalemate. Every turn that goes by cements my position as fourth place, regardless of the war's outcome.

[Mardoc]

Alright, stalemate over. Aurorarcher broke my front city this turn, killing most of my PoL, warriors, and one of my two cities that could produce more PoL. I think I killed one Moroi in exchange. He didn't kill much Clownish stuff, but DaveV isn't likely to be able to get a first strike anywhere, when I can't hold my own cities. I estimate I'm killed off the mainland in 5 turns, and dead as soon as Auror builds a navy to invade my island. Happy to concede whenever DaveV/plako have enough info to realize it's over. But no particular need to, since Auror should be able to kill me entirely shortly.

I'm tempted to gift my island to DaveV to make sure I'm dead sooner, but I don't know if that would be sporting.

This has been a frustrating, not very fun game. I'm not sure what to blame it on. Some theories:

1). Elves are still bad. Elf econ only really got rolling by T100-110. The game was basically over at that point. Elf workers definitely slowed down my early game, and there wasn't enough time for me to come back from that.
2). Calabim are still way too strong. Auror managed to outproduce and outsettle an Expansive Mahala who started with two capitals!
3). Too gimmicky of a map. I never did explore beyond the portal, but a small lush deforested donut map is pretty much the worst case for Ljo.
4). Me. I haven't had the time I'd normally have for a game like this. Rushed many turns, never really optimized workers or settling plans or tech path. Haven't even had the time to report to my usual standard. Maybe I simply need to step back from turn/day games for a while, until/unless I can find more (and more consistent) free time.

[DaveV]

Elves are pretty bad, I think. Slow workers, no catapults, lots of competing priorities. I think that's the strength of the Calabim: they have a golden path (Code of Laws -> Trade -> Feudalism) that gives them most of their goodies and a strong economy in the process.