RBP2 Lurker Discussion Thread - No Players!

[Krill]

Based on the fact that there are now 9 longbows in Endor, I don't think I'm going out on a limb by suggesting that Kathlete probably abandoned his two eastern cities and retreated all their units back into the capital. Apparently the abandonment strategy continues! I usually don't write this way, but athlete, this is a noob play. What we're seeing here has all the skill and ingenuity of a 13-year old on Battlenet. Hope you're having fun noobing it up, my friend.

There is a part of me that wonders how you can have a forum mod that belittles and insults other posters in this manner.

[MWIN]

Nah.., your insults (in your threads) were better

There is a part of me that wonders how you can have a forum mod that belittles and insults other posters in this manner.

[Krill]

Nah.., your insults (in your threads) were better

But with luck, I will never be a respectable member of the establishment.

And for after the game...Athlete had no option but to retreat to Endor (the ultimate prize for either side) and watch Slaze and Spullla argue over who gets it. Realistically...Spullla could just keep on walking around the map until they get Dom, but holing up in Endor does slow that down.

[Cyneheard]

I find the China vs. Ottomans discussion going on in another thread quite amusing, though. Something tells me there are other issues fueling that debate.

Considering how many Chinas are in all of the PB and PBEM games, I think this may be telling me something that I shouldn't know. Especially since one of those China games is a Cannot Talk Or Negotiate, it's hard for other players to...uh...know what's going on with the other five teams.

[novice]

Considering how many Chinas are in all of the PB and PBEM games, I think this may be telling me something that I shouldn't know.

If it is, you're reading too much into it.

It was a purely off topic discussion regarding the relative merits of the Chinese and Ottoman civilizations in Civ4.

[Adlain]

There is a part of me that wonders how you can have a forum mod that belittles and insults other posters in this manner.

i think its more harsh critique rather than belittling, its a fine line, but its just about the correct side of it.

[zakalwe]

I don't understand why Spullla are building Sistine's. Can't they just build culture or something if they need to pop borders? If they are going to win by domination, surely it won't hinge on the final 1-2 turns that are required for border pops... Am I missing something?

[Krill]

Spullla have Marble, so costs 300 base (about 267 hammers with forge) for that, they will get border pops in all new cities without having to build culture because they are running Merc. It is much simpler than building culture (which is pretty simple in itself).

[Kyan]

There is a part of me that wonders how you can have a forum mod that belittles and insults other posters in this manner.

Bah. I agree with Sullla's assessment. Athlete hasn't exactly been nice to them this game and now they're finally getting revenge.

He may normally be a mod but in this particular case, he's a player, and not doing anything a mod (or admin! ) would tell him off for.

If Athlete finds it harder to respect him after or whatever, then he needs to grow up and grow a pair in my oh so humble opinion (and likely yours as well if i know you half as well as i believe i do).

[Erick the Red]

I don't think it's possible for Athlete to successfully defend and live, he just doesn't have enough units and tech. I can sympathize if Athlete just wants things over with quick, but assuming instead that the goal is some combination of living as long as possible and inflicting as many losses as possible I think it would be far better to put say a janissary and longbow (or better yet pikemen) in most or all of the cities that were abandoned and keep them there. The rest of the units I would pull back, looking for an opportunity to counter attack.

I don't have multiplayer experience, so I'm well aware that I'm probably missing something. I do think I have a pretty solid understanding of the math behind the combat system. Double move units are powerful in that a stack of them can be very hard to react to. Balancing this is that they are expensive, don't have access to city raider promotions, and of course there are counter units. They can move deep into enemy lines where they have the possibility of taking lightly defended cities, but they do have to sacrifice some units to do so. This sacrifice is usually worth it because the result is a captured or razed city.

Abandoning cities is frustrating to me because it seems to be giving up the one tactical edge that Athlete has - that India should be having to spend some expensive units to quickly capture so many cities. The problem with stacking all the defenders in the capital is that catapult collateral damage will kill them very cost effectively.

I think there's a big difference between how I would play Athlete's position and leaving 4 rifleman in a bunch of cities, although one could argue that it's moot since the final outcome wouldn't change. I'm hazy on the details of RBP1, but in general the dynamics change in the modern age. Air and naval power are alternative ways to bombard cities, it's relatively easier to flank away an attackers siege units, etc. Also, four defenders are enough that siege units can be spent to efficiently kill them.

In any case, Krill says he thinks Athlete should have withdrawn and Speaker thinks it's a noob move, and both are better players than me. I'll just sit back and see how it plays out, but my prediction is that Athlete's defenders are engaged in combat, it will be with worse odds than if he had left a token defense in the outlying cities.