[PB59 Amicalola] The Vespertine Hour(s)

[El Grillo]

Speaking of Inca, is that a dry rice I see in that screenshot? :D I know the bonus now is the cheaper cost, but I can't help myself counting the marginal pre-Civil Service food.

Good luck with your plans and hope you're having fun!

[Amicalola]

T80 - Big Turn Today

Superdeath didn't accept open borders. That wasn't very cash-money of you, SD. This on the other hand:



I'm not sure if I would have accepted it if Superdeath had accepted mine, but considering he didn't this is an easy sell. TBS is presumably doing pretty well, so this might be a bad idea. My reasoning?


And yes, that does mean I 'get' to do another player preview, for the 4th turn in a row. Getting less sure that was a good idea.

Pindicator did settle the island this turn (you can see it under that OB screenshot). I will stick with my safe site, and hopefully be able to chop MoM there. Speaking of wonders, someone unknown (Charriu?) built the Colossus, so that pipe-dream is dead.  

And wait, there's more! Here's a look at Naufragar's food graph. Gee, I wonder when those extra IMP cities built their cheap EXP granaries...


But that dip... it's intriguing. So I went to take a look at the power graph, and sure enough:


Yeah, those are units being whipped. So the question: is Naufragar under attack, or is this an offensive operation?

Speaking of Inca, is that a dry rice I see in that screenshot? :D I know the bonus now is the cheaper cost, but I can't help myself counting the marginal pre-Civil Service food.

Good luck with your plans and hope you're having fun!

Hey Grillo, good to see you here; it is! I remember in PB55 I was really tempted to pick Inca, and ended up doing the exact same thing the whole game.  The good news is, the terrace still irrigates alongside being cheaper! So I'm still tempted to try it one of these days...   Thanks, I'm having a lot of fun. I've finally figured out new techniques to play/report without having a stress aneurysm every 10 turns. It's good; hope you're enjoying lurking the game.  


The Black Sword (Catherine, CRE/IMP) of China (Cho Ku Nu/Pavilion) 

This is my pick for strongest combo in this Pitboss. Catherine expands you out to a snowball lead, you tech to currency to stabilise, and then absolutely massacre someone with Cho Ku Nus. It's very scary, and neighbouring Catherine of China must be a nightmare. The only catch is that you have to be good enough to take advantage of the early lead...

Erm, TBS is my pick for strongest player in this Pitboss; I think he can probably take advantage.  My understanding of TBS is that he's amazing at economic management, and ruthless in conflict. He's supposed to be RB's best player. I'd give TBS a huge relative chance to win this, something like 25%. The main ways he doesn't are that someone attacks him early, someone else gets an even better snowball off, or he stagnates in a war (lol). Hopefully he's next to GKC?

[Amicalola]

T81

Settled (All is) Full of Love. This fish will net next turn, and the city will build a lighthouse before granary. I settled here because I want to chop MoM here, but even in the real world where that doesn't work out, I prefer the safety; better to lose 1-hammer than to draw an attack from Pindicator. 

[Amicalola]

T82



My other new city, Unravel. This city will chop/whip a lighthouse/granary ASAP, before building Moai. I settled it now partially because it doesn't require a defender, which are in short supply.

In other news, Pindicator declared war on Naufragar this turn, so I am going to shuffle some military down there on the off-chance I can snipe something. It's probably Pindicator trying to snipe something himself from Nauf's conflict, since Pindi has low power. We have fish-for-fish (for some reason he accepted it?), but if the war looks hot I might cancel it, giving him a few turns notice. I'm not sure if that would be a dick move or not though.

[Amicalola]

T83



Greeted by this when I logged in now. Presumably it means join him against Pindicator, though I find it weird that he used horse and not copper. That must be intended to mean something; perhaps that I should be fast? I have a chariot nearby that was intended for scouting but could also be offensive... I cancelled fish with Pindicator this turn, I wouldn't feel comfortable without giving him at least 1 turn of notice (maybe I should give him two?). I might send Nauf horse and copper, but probably next turn. The other factor is whether Nauf and Pindi's war is hot. It sure seems like it, with the diplo offer, but maybe Nauf is just trying to bait me into doing something stupid. Maybe I'm overthinking all of this...

Edit: scouting chariot found this (note the northern spear that was returning home but has now taken a detour):



If Pindicator doesn't whip a defender here, it will be incredibly hard not to declare and wipe out Chubb next turn.....

[Amicalola]

T84 - Part 1



If I declare war this turn, I have a 98% chance to raze Chubb, a major city. This would make capturing the fur island easier as well. In addition, my spear can move and threaten Sackville. With the fish being cancelled last turn (and the aggressive spear move), I would feel less bad about attacking now - he's had 1.5 turns of warning and still did nothing (and even moved an axe out of the city!). It almost feels like he's counting on me chickening out, which makes me inclined not to.

In fact, Pindicator has had tiny power until recently, while I've been guarding my cities carefully. He went full farmer's gambit (which isn't bad, it's just frustrating retrospectively - I should have called it when the power graph came up, and I had that spear nearby). However, I would make an enemy for the game, and Pindicator would have nothing to lose anymore by just dragging me down (at least, that's how I'd see it). I've logged out, I need to take a day to think about this.

Edit: I've just noticed from my screenshot - it looks like Naufragar captured a city from Pindicator (8->7, 11->12). That's interesting.

[Amicalola]

T84 - Intermission

With the fish being cancelled last turn (and the aggressive spear move), I would feel less bad about attacking now - he's had 1.5 turns of warning and still did nothing (and even moved an axe out of the city!). It almost feels like he's counting on me chickening out, which makes me inclined not to.

This is really a sticking point for me, when I think about what to do this turn. I was criticised a lot for not attacking Civac midway through PB55, after I agonized for ages about it. This feels quite similar, except here I've already cancelled the fish, AND I have a unit in position, AND Pindicator ignored this. I don't want a reputation for letting people get away with ignoring my borders, just because I'm too anxious/indecisive to call them on it.

[Amicalola]

T84 - Part Two: Decision Time


Screw it, we're doing this.

[Lewwyn]

razed? 

Are you going to bring more units to attack Pin?

[Amicalola]

Yeah, razed. Currently there are few units in the area - the spear that is threatening Sackville, and the chariot that did the razing (will probably die on the interturn, but didn't delete just in case it wins a low-odds roll). This is purely a war of opportunity; the chariot was there to scout, and the spear was heading back to my lands, with the Pindi/Nauf war being the trigger to get me into position. I razed the city because I can't hold it, and if I get a chance to attack Sackville, I will raze that too. 

Right now, the main reason I did the razing was the near-guarantee of a crippled neighbour, at virtually zero cost. I have a whipped galley that will arrive in 4-5 turns with 2 axes to try and take the fur island, and another that will arrive a few turns later if Pindi has 2 defenders there already. Otherwise, I am currently trying to decide between more units to defend a counter-strike, or IND-forges before another round of expansion. It depends on how badly Nauf hurts Pindi in the next few turns. Most likely, I will try to strike a balance between the two. I need more units near Cairo - currently, my entire northern military is 1 axeman.  

I am going to settle the jungle-bridge between us on T88 (should have been 87, but his warrior didn't teleport where I thought), which is a border I'm happy with. If I can get further, great, but my investment so far has been minimal. I realised that Pindicator's only copper was at the city I razed, so that's been disconnected. If I'd known I'd be able to raze it 10 turns ago, I'd definitely have units here to take advantage, but I'll settle for making a counter-attack difficult. 

The 95% roll to take Chubb was the closest I've ever come to understanding gambling addiction.