[SPOILERS] naufragar is not a number; he is a free man

[naufragar]

Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to replay PB38? Superdeath's thread title is about PB38 revenge. TBS's title makes reference to his own fight against Superdeath in PB38. This game was advertised as a "big PB like '38." But here's the thing guys. PB38 was trash. You know why PB38 was trash? Because I started next to Mackoti. 

Oh, you want a PB59 turn report?



   

(Quote from the ongoing EitB PBEM54, so I'm not going to provide a link)

He [naufragar] better start praying not be near me in the big pitboss  , ha ha ha.

   

I realize PB38 was almost three years ago, so perhaps people weren't around for it or don't remember, so let me indulge myself. PB38 was a 25 player game, played on a beautiful, balanced, hand-crafted map. Lewwyn is a little unlucky in the comparison because the '38 map was made by a committee over something like 5 months. I can't comment on Lew's map yet, but it's going to be tough to compete with the sheer, ridiculous amount of man-hours put into PB38's. PB38's beautiful balance was a little bit upset, as map balance always is, by neighbor luck. Mackoti (the most ruthless crusher in these parts) started next to two complete newbies, one of whom I think we scared off. (Come back, Aretas! There are less intense games!) The other newbie was me. We both got eaten alive, and Mack went on to win. I know from his thread in that game and later, he was not especially happy with me then.    I had some pretty impressive combat luck that stalled him longer than it should have.

So, Mack and I have some history in the game that this seems to call back to. I'd like to say I've improved since PB38, but uh... the truth is that game remains my best performance of any of my five pitbosses. So it will be interesting to see how this turns out.   


I see Pindicator has posted; he finished his turn literally 2 minutes before I logged on, and I wish I had played before him:


He's known Mack for a few turns (and Mack has also met another neighbor), but Pind has felt compelled to keep his EP on me since I was putting all of mine into him. Hopefully he remembers to check espionage next turn, so he knows to switch off. I've moved to get graphs on Mack. If I've very lucky, Mack will think that since Pind found him first, Pind is the closer neighbor and focus his EP on him.

And here's the domestic stuff.


I wanted to settle for the mining luxuries first, but the worker dance is neater going for copper. It's possible I incorrectly evaluated. If I were truly serious about the Pyramids, I should've gone for commerce ASAP, but I can't resist neat micro even if it ends up being slower.  

Edit: Oops. I don't have the minimap in the screenshots. Mack's to the north.

[naufragar]

We settled a second city, and I'm souring on the naming theme:


I wanted to go with locations in the Village, but they aren't easy to come by. I might switch to Prisoner episode titles. Oh well. I hope no one was fooled by the X signs. They would've made for terrible city spots.

Mack fortified his scout on his copper in the north. Guess he doesn't trust me.  When I see especially fast starters, they seem to always get there by skimping on warriors. I'll have two very soon, which slows me down a tad, but I couldn't fathom passing them up. Pind founded his second city and whipped for a worker, I believe.

[naufragar]

If Mack founded on his plains hill, I can get sight of his capital next turn. If he founded on his 3f tile, I won't be able to.


Note that Mack has marble 5 tiles away from his capital, as do I. Since I think Lewwyn paid close attention to resource balance, I'll assume that everybody also has stone at roughly the same distance away from them as my stone is from me. This complicates any plans of building the Pyramids. Hmm.

On a broader level, Pind's pick (Cha/Phi of the Dutch (Eastindiamen/Levee) will prove very good if he can hold on until the age of sail. I suspect this map will have tons of archipelagic warfare. Also, I wish I could remember the game, but sometime in the past few years I remember Pind just loading up an axe on a galley and randomly going around pirating. I think he burned a city off Elkad who definitely wasn't a neighbor? I'll have to look up that game. All this to say, Pind is not an inactive sort of player.

Edit: I found it. In PB46, Pind had an axe on a galley for many, many turns before finding an undefended city of GeneralKilCavalry. This wasn't totally reckless. GKC was Pind's neighbor, but Pind came up with the galley plan before he had a target for it, looking, in his words, to cause a little chaos. My second city, which is on the southern coast, should get a couple units for garrison sooner rather than later.

I guess I can use this space to talk about Pindicator a bit. I know I've dwelt on Mackoti. The urge to hype this up is too strong, but Pind will be just as important a neighbor. He's a super-vet and has been playing forever. He's good in a way I've never thought of as flash, but he does quite well. He is prone to demoralization. (I mentioned in the big player overview that he stepped away from a winning position because it was such a grind.) But he tends to attack in his games, so I'll have to be careful. I'll be honest, neighboring Mack and Pind is not really my idea of a good time.

[DaveV]

Yes, that's truly terrible neighbor luck. Emulate your role model, number 6, and don't let them wear you down!

[naufragar]

Looks like all the cool kids opted for +1f.

Yes, that's truly terrible neighbor luck. Emulate your role model, number 6, and don't let them wear you down!

So you're saying I can overcome two talented, tenacious neighbors and my own sub-optimal start?

[naufragar]

WAAAAAR!!!


Because "war" sound more ferocious than "scout trespass." I moved the scout back to the forest out of Mackoti's borders and offered a ceasefire. I did not think for a second of camping his silk. Let me tell you a little secret about Mack: while he may seem nonchalant in his reports, he hates when his plans are disrupted. Honestly, just by declaring war (and I told him via PM, which gives him more time to get angry) I've probably offended him. So I wasn't going to camp his resources unless I thought it would win me the game.

Things we learned from getting vision on his capital: Mack has every incentive to go for Animal Husbandry and he starts with Wheel. I would really prefer not to get chariot-rushed, so we have to pay close attention. I'll have hooked Copper. Could Mack get AH before I get Hunting for spears?  The second thing we think we know is that Mack's second city is likely building a settler. I don't think he'd work a plains hill mine otherwise.

Here's the area between us:



Edit: Oh, P.S. I got my second forest growth of the game at the capital. Can't complain about the RNG...yet...

[naufragar]

In response to my ceasefire offer, Mack sent a peace treaty. Very well. We're at peace.

Turn 38 demos are practically useless for assessing how we're doing, but have them nonetheless:


We're doing ok in Crop and Mfg due to the Imp+Fast Worker combo, obviously. It looks like everybody has Bronze Working. Of interest is the 7k pop points for Rival Worst Population. That person founded their second city on turn 36ish after being on size 1 for 29 turns. This was long enough that I wondered if they were being choked. Apparently not. The rival highest GNP and rival highest Crop are both impressive. Who the heck has 32 food on turn 38??

Also, Pind's working a lot of hammers. Wonder what he's up to.

[naufragar]

Rusten once called me "notoriously indecisive and cautious." (And this was after my Montezuma escapades.) Here's an example:


It would be delightful to go for Pottery now, since I want to get Granaries on line. Unfortunately, I'm two techs behind my neighbors (Mysticism, which I started with; and Fishing, because I like to fish), so they could be knocking on Animal Husbandry. I was chariot-rushed in my last game, and I don't want a repeat of that, so Hunting it is. I'm probably being too cautious, and this pushes off Pottery for a very long time, but I'm optimistic that this map is so rich that it's virtually impossible to crash an economy.

Note also my careful attention to my copper.

Here's the Power graph:


That spike by Pindicator is scary, but I believe it's Wheel. (No-score mod strikes again.  )

[naufragar]

Welcome into the world, Kosho Pit:



Kosho is a sport invented for The Prisoner. It's quite silly.

Why does that scene go on as long as it does? No idea, but it's delightfully strange.

Net positive and will be extremely helpful once the gold gets improved. It's nice to get a quick third city, but my demos don't look so great, and my neighbors' power keeps climbing.

I'm quite certain Mack has Animal Husbandry and will settle his own third city for horses either this turn or the next. I get Hunting in three turns and connect my copper shortly after that. Can I beat a chariot down if he somehow connects horses the turn he settles his third city (i.e. by founding on horse)? I think so. But honestly I'd prefer not to have to deal with it at all. Mack with Chariots to my north. Pind with galleys to my south. The valley of death indeed.

Edit: And my lazy sandboxing begins to hurt. In my sandbox, Kosho Pit costs 1.39 gold in maintenance, instead of the 1.14 in the real game. The discrepancy comes from the world dimensions. Oh well. I refuse to care.

[naufragar]

Mack founded his third city for Gold and Pigs:



Notice Pind too has a third city now. I played before them on turn 44 and after them on turn 45, so I don't know exactly when their cities were founded. Pindicator, especially, seems to have made a fantastic opening, keeping up with the Imp civs as Cha/Phi. Perhaps we should take his tech thread declaration that he's too old for micro with a bit of skepticism.

Speaking of Pindicator, he's putting his full complement of EP into me. I get it: I'm closer than Mack. But I'm doing the gentlemanly thing of splitting my EP into him and Mack so everybody can watch everybody. Putting 2EP into Pind for his 4 will keep graphs. Still, it's the principle of the thing. I grow more and more deeply suspicious.

I'll show Demos when I can bear the sight of them. They are currently garbage. With Imp+Fast Worker I can barely beat the Cha/Phi guy, let alone the Agg/Imp one.  Can't help but feel I failed the test on turn 0 when I moved away from the 3f plant. Doom doom doom. Everything is doomed.