[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[T-hawk]

I totally feel like I'm spamming, but I guess that there's not much else that I can do in my thread, now is there?

I'm reading along with everything. You're just so thorough that there's no need for comments.

[Whosit]

Well, I can live with being thorough. Hopefully time will prove me to be "accurate," as well.

Not so good news from the Rebel Alliance front, though you've probably already read all about that. I'm going to give more thought to the possibility that slaze is really just trying to lure me in. I would be sad to lose Bespin, but there's not much invested in it, other than being a "free" settler, so I could resettle it later if need be. I'd rather retreat to Bestine if he sends a stack at me.

Anyway, question for lurkers with World Builder experience: Is it possible to set the health of units? So far, I have found the answer to be "No." Some of my battle sims have suffered in accuracy because I cannot easily account for damaged units.

[Whosit]

Plako completed Machinery this turn, so now he has everything in place for Macemen. I expect to see them next turn at the latest (I assume that he has had some Axemen in production that will automatically get switched to Macemen). The only good news is that he doesn't have the cash to upgrade at the moment, and that Macemen cost double what an Axeman does, so he can't produce them quite as quickly. Small comfort.

I'm still too far away from Machinery + Archery to feel comfortable.

All I have is a couple of Catapults to cover each of my border cities, and whatever troops I still have in place. Plako can surely launch an attack before I get Crossbowmen.

I think that this was another case where it was foolish to fight with slaze. I may have to seriously consider trying to make peace with him, even if it leaves the Rebels alone, but he might not even accept that, and it's still a long walk for my troops to get back to the other side of my empire.

Augh, I really put myself between a rock and a hard place. That's on fire.

[Whosit]

(Just to make sure that it doesn't get lost in my thread-spam, I'm still wondering if it's possible to edit unit health in World Builder.)

Some quick thoughts: Depending on what plako throws at me and when (and I am not expecting him to move until he is sure that he can overwhelm me), I may considering giving up Nar Shaddaa for peace. Really, it was stupid of me to put an Academy in Ryloth, but because of that, I'm not going to give it up easily. Problem is: Plako will probably just take what he can by force. Hmm.

But, I don't want to play this game with the mindset of "I'll go down fighting just because." I want to retain my sovereignty, and maintain my civilization, even if I make concessions, on the chance that I can come back. If I hit the point where I am forced to give plako cities for peace (assuming he doesn't just take them and presses on), I'll also have to make peace with slaze.

At that point, my plan is to city spam Centralia, the outer islands closest to me, and grab the few spots on the mainland that I have marked out which slaze hasn't gobbled up yet. The loss of Nar Shaddaa and Ryloth will be very painful, but there is room for a couple of (sub-par) commerce cities to my east.

Survival is the name of the game here, not pride.

The question, of course, is if I can make an economic comeback, or if I will continue to slide into irrelevancy. I completely underestimated the Korean's abilities to make a comeback like this. Plako is no MP slouch, that's for sure. I'm having fun, but I'm really just a mediocre player when it comes down to it. I wonder what LiPing would think of what I've done with her civ so far.

[timmy827]

Well, I'd encourage you not to be to despondent. At least not until you can show the lurkers highly detailed pictures explaining just how screwed you are
Seriously, maces beat Praets one on one, but you can build three for every two, and with your Aggressive to give them all Shock right away I'm not convinced that you can't put up a fight.

Also remember that Korea in a two front war as well.

[Twinkletoes89]

Just keep the faith mate!

Its in no way over yet - just take a step back and a few deep breaths and look long and hard at what is next. It ain't over til Ky sings!

[Whosit]

Well, I'd encourage you not to be to despondent. At least not until you can show the lurkers highly detailed pictures explaining just how screwed you are
Seriously, maces beat Praets one on one, but you can build three for every two, and with your Aggressive to give them all Shock right away I'm not convinced that you can't put up a fight.

Also remember that Korea in a two front war as well.

The one problem is that, with Vassalage in place, Plako is essentially Aggressive as well, and can slap Shock on all of his Macemen, as well. And I'm not sure how much Nakor/DMOC are contributing to the war at the moment. They understandably have to worry about a joint Romali-Killer Angel offensive. I'm a bit worried, too. It looked like they captured a Korean Worker with a Chariot, but despite my urging, did not delete it, and plako recaptured it with a Spearman.

I think if I get some more Catapults out before plako launches his attack, I can hold out longer, but that's just a temporary fix.

[Kyan]

Just keep the faith mate!

Its in no way over yet - just take a step back and a few deep breaths and look long and hard at what is next. It ain't over til Ky sings!

[offtopic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1PhQrJL6Ow

[/offtopic]


I'm still cool with to play those turns by the way matey. No probs there.

[Whosit]

Brief report: Athlete took a pounding (as expected) and he's suggesting that we parlay with slaze. I support the notion, although I am quite worried that slaze will be less than willing to cut a deal.

If things go well enough that he's willing to talk peace, I'm hoping that I can manage to hold onto Bespin through negotiations, since I had really, really wanted that city. Not to get too far ahead of myself, of course. Slaze may be perfectly happy to fight us all to the death.

Here's the messages Athlete and I exchanged:

Hello Whosit,

I've been thinking things through...and provided Slaze doesn't attack
me I think I'm going to pull my stack back to within my borders. I
will then aim to out produce him and reenter the fray when I have a
sizeable advantage. That shouldn't take a whole lot of time but I
thought we might want to consider talking peace with Slaze.

This would be a prime opportunity for India to pull away and I suspect
they'll declare on Greece soon to finish them off, leaving my backside
completely exposed. With you in a 2-front war maybe we need to
reconsider this plan.

Care to share some thoughts?

Athlete
The Rebel Alliance

Dear Athlete,

I agree that a withdrawal would probably be a wise tactical option. Taking peace with slaze would be desirable; I'm hoping I can keep Bespin, but I suppose I'll have to give it back to him if he demands it. This doesn't do very much for our prestige, unfortunately.

Although attacking him has probably put him in the camp of our enemies, if he could be turned, he would be a powerful ally. I am not sure how, precisely, we could convince him to join our ranks (and I feel we would still want to turn on him, eventually), though I would probably open the discourse along the lines of: "We thought you would be easy pickings, but we were wrong. As you told us before, you took over a broken civilization, but you have done very well with it. We would like to reestablish peace with you and, if you will accept it, reestablish trade. At the very least, a Non-Aggression Pact between the three of us should give us all a chance to recover from this conflict. What do you say?"

As a carrot, I'm willing to gift him my source of Silver (it'll hurt, but I'll have another source in the nearish future). Are there any spare (or not spare) resources that you have which he does not? I wouldn't mention these concessions in the first e-mail, but we should each be willing to give something up, because there's a good chance he'd be perfectly fine with going on a counter-offensive. I'd like to handle the diplomacy if you don't mind, unless you feel that you'll do better at it.

As a side note: In the future, we should probably assume that all of our enemies are much stronger than we anticipate.

Best regards,

Whosit, Galactic Emperor

I hope that he'll respond today, because I don't want to delay negotiations too long. I might give slaze a call on my own if I don't hear back before the turn reaches the halfway point.

Do I think that I can convince slaze to join our group? Not a chance in hell, but it's worth a try, right?

Edit: I really hope that future conflicts won't end in my grovelling towards my enemies. I liked my first war the best.

[Adlain]

Although attacking him has probably put him in the camp of our enemies, if he could be turned, he would be a powerful ally. I am not sure how, precisely, we could convince him to join our ranks (and I feel we would still want to turn on him, eventually)

you have abit of a sith lord thing going on here, your definitly well in charactor here