[SPOILERS - NO PLAYERS] The Final Clusterfuck: The PB38 Map and Lurker Thread

[Coeurva]

Pin thinks he's oddly behind the field. I'm trying to figure out why that is. From his last screenshot, it stands out how little he has chopped. There's two unnecessary roads in the Kalla region, too; and hooking up luxuries or health may not have been so useful when all his cities are small and whipping AGG barracks / granaries. Just 2-whip the tall capital if it passes the cap.

I think his position isn't all that bad, though -- what I'd do now: push for early Maths and prepare to settler-spam once you hit the +10h on chops, helped by AGG/ORG and being close to Currency to mitigate maintenance, and ~5-6 cities as the production base. Until then, focus on granaries and AGG barracks to get more forests into cultural range.

[Ghostpants]

Christ, Fintourists recent posts really hurt to read. Feel so bad for these guys right now

[scooter]

Sure seems like a lot of key players have had some combination of terrible luck and/or minor mistakes that are getting punished unusually harshly.

* Commodore lost a settler
* TBS has had horrendous barbarian luck resulting in multiple lost warriors and a slightly suboptimal city placement
* GermanJoey lost a city to a barbarian after it killed his escort I think? Or he seemed to indicate he was about to.
* OH/Fintourist got 2v1'd and lost a city and possibly more


And that's just the players who would generally be lumped into the contenders category...

[Japper007]

Sure seems like a lot of key players have had some combination of terrible luck and/or minor mistakes that are getting punished unusually harshly.

* Commodore lost a settler
* TBS has had horrendous barbarian luck resulting in multiple lost warriors and a slightly suboptimal city placement
* GermanJoey lost a city to a barbarian after it killed his escort I think? Or he seemed to indicate he was about to.
* OH/Fintourist got 2v1'd and lost a city and possibly more


And that's just the players who would generally be lumped into the contenders category...

Even funnier is that Donovan made a lot of mistakes and he just got extraodinarily lucky with an almost free elimination/city conquest... this game is weird

[ipecac]

William is playing badly. He should have not teched Archery, but instead teched AH directly. Subsequently he should have settled on horses, which would have gotten him chariots at least 5t earlier, maybe earlier than OH, and Dragon Age could have fallen.

[Japper007]

Old Harry's "next suicidal city" pin seems very apt. If he settles that city he denies OT4E and William direct access to eachother without first going through his city. It seems like that is destined to put him in the same 2v1 situation again, since he then becomes the only directly reachable target for his neighbours. Also why not just go settle his uncontested north? Am I seriously undervaluing the strenght of that spot vs other options or something?

[Mardoc]

It seems like that is destined to put him in the same 2v1 situation again, since he then becomes the only directly reachable target for his neighbours. Also why not just go settle his uncontested north? Am I seriously undervaluing the strenght of that spot vs other options or something?

My guess is that they're convinced they'll be in the 2v1 again shortly anyway, no matter what they do. So they're discounting diplomatic considerations entirely.

Pushing forward means that they get to play strategic offense and tactical defense. They don't *have* to fight again, since they already occupy the land. But by claiming such a disproportionate share, they're setting up a situation where they theoretically win either way. If they don't fight, they have more land and can outgrow the enemy, and fight once they're ahead. If they do fight, they get all the advantages of roads, culture, walls, stack defense, and vision. That is, assuming they can build roads and culture and walls before the next battle, of course, which first-ring double food ought to help. They also deny OT4E and William the chance to trade, which might start to matter soon. They also possibly set up a situation where the same force can defend against both OT4E and William, so long as those two don't happen to time their attacks simultaneously. And they get triple GG points. By claiming the land right now, while they have a brief respite, they're choosing the next battlefield.

I'm sure they will settle the backlines shortly as well, but there's no race for the backlines cities.

[Thoth]

It seems like that is destined to put him in the same 2v1 situation again, since he then becomes the only directly reachable target for his neighbours. Also why not just go settle his uncontested north? Am I seriously undervaluing the strenght of that spot vs other options or something?

My guess is that they're convinced they'll be in the 2v1 again shortly anyway, no matter what they do.  So they're discounting diplomatic considerations entirely.

Pushing forward means that they get to play strategic offense and tactical defense.  They don't *have* to fight again, since they already occupy the land.  But by claiming such a disproportionate share, they're setting up a situation where they theoretically win either way.  If they don't fight, they have more land and can outgrow the enemy, and fight once they're ahead.  If they do fight, they get all the advantages of roads, culture, walls, stack defense, and vision.  That is, assuming they can build roads and culture and walls before the next battle, of course, which first-ring double food ought to help.  They also deny OT4E and William the chance to trade, which might start to matter soon.  They also possibly set up a situation where the same force can defend against both OT4E and William, so long as those two don't happen to time their attacks simultaneously.  And they get triple GG points.  By claiming the land right now, while they have a brief respite, they're choosing the next battlefield.  

I'm sure they will settle the backlines shortly as well, but there's no race for the backlines cities.

Speaking of GGs, did FinHarry ever mention in thread how close to getting one they were? Or did they get one?

I didn't want to ask in their thread in case they had forgotten to include a near GG in their war/peace decision making.

[Mardoc]

Speaking of GGs, did FinHarry ever mention in thread how close to getting one they were?  Or did they get one?

I didn't want to ask in their thread in case they had forgotten to include a near GG in their war/peace decision making.  

I didn't see a mention. Doing a little digging, I see an Immortal with 3 XP, an axeman with 3 XP, and an axeman with 4 XP. That would add to 30 GG points, but I think they'd have mentioned it, so probably one of those XP came from a barb fight.

edit:

1XP axe vs 66HP shock axe - 70%... WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (1 hit! And our luck is back!)
1XP Axe vs C1 spear - 96

The question is where those 1XP axes got their XP, whether that was murdering barbs or William's warriors. Probably could figure it out but I don't feel *that* curious.

I'd guess they're only one battle away, but I don't think they're quite there yet.

[JR4]

Oh my, how did Finharry get a free swing at a Carthagian city? It looks like the tables have turned there. That could be costly for OT4E/chumchu. The conflicts on the NW peninsula are very well reported - entertaining indeed.