[PB59] Pindicator's One Thread to Rule Them All

[pindicator]

No dice. He was planning on dropping units off on his half of the turn on that hill. I've already moved everything around there, and put two units on a galley specifically to either threaten his city or help in defending mine, so nothing spoilered given to me.

Actually most of my movements have been made, I was just trying to figure out how I can not be screwed out of a worker but I'm not sure that's possible now.

Man this is really just not my game.

[pindicator]

Turn 088, in the Lagging of the Shire

Here's how we are set up.




Since i have a brief window with naufrager I'm goign to try and make the most of it. Everything is going west and all my cities are going to whip out settlers then go back to non-stop units. Well, the capital will not be whipping, but Brandybuck will whip next turn and once Took reaches size 4 it will start a settler and whip it. I'm envisioning Took as a bit of a whipping post for me this game, just going to whip units there as often and as efficiently as possible. Then when the anger catches up to it I'll hire scientists again and give all its tiles to other cities.

Next turn I think my stack goes across the river along with 4 workers. Then we can road and move NE-N to avoid detection. Or NE-NE to save time. There is a spear in the area, so who knows where that spear goes and what it spots.

[pindicator]

Turn 089, in the Reckoning from the Shire

Amicalola landed 2 axes on the forested furs.  I presume he loaded the axe/spear onto the galley next and moved another axe forward.  My dilemma was whether to go for the risky play of rushing forward to try to boat his city or to defend my own.  I decided that the chariot vs axe fight was too juicy to pass up and unloaded my units into Bolger.  The chariot won and my axe will heal within the city.




Amicalola's borders popped, so we are taking the fast route to approach.  Next turn he will see our stack on his borders.  But I wonder if he is continuing to shuttle troops to the island - will he leave himself vulnerable here with half his army on the island and not enough defenders in place? 

Naufrager isn't even bothering to move his army out of Hornblower.  I'm on a clock here.  So I whipped the settler at Brandybuck.  That was painful, I whipped off good tiles.  But I'm keeping it on the Gold and Gems.  I need to turn on research next turn for HBR.

[pindicator]

Lost another coinflip battle as Amicalola's axe killed the archer in Bulger. Seriously, this game sucks.

I'm really tempted to just throw everything at Amicalola and let naufrager take my core now.

[pindicator]

Turn 090, in the Resignation of the Shire

I cannot hope to survive if both my neighbors are going to throw their full weight against me.




Amicalola won that axe vs archer battle at 59% odds and only took 2 hits. I regret trying to be so damn nice to him earlier. I should have planted on the hill. I should have been merciless. Every time I am not I only make the game harder on myself yet something within me is just not ruthless and always fights these decisions.

Now I think I will lose Bolger but my hope is that the pressure of my army will cause him to sign peace. Or rather, this is what I have sent him:




Message here is: continue this war and naufrager gets it all. Like I said, I cannot hope to survive if both of them will go against me.

I sent a message to Old Harry, askign him to declare on Amicalola.
A message to Kan asking him to attack naufrager.

Gondor The Shire Calls for Aid!

[Krill]

I sent a message to Old Harry, askign him to declare on Amicalola.

Wut?

[pindicator]

I sent a message to Old Harry, askign him to declare on Amicalola.

Wut?

Sorry, diplo action in game.  No IMs sent, promise!

[Thoth]

[pindicator]

Amicalola took the city and then offered me peace back. Of course he won another 50/50 battle, but the city was likely doomed anyway.

Then he offered peace.

I rejected it and moved my stack up. Enjoy your winnings, naufrager

EDIT: I haven't ended turn yet because there's a chance I change my mind over the next few hours. If I do decide it is worth trying to scratch out a feeble living then I will go back and offer peace.

[pindicator]

I logged in to play, and now I'm stuck staring at this screen, wondering "Is it worth it?"




It's starting to look like Amicalola only wanted the island city of Bolger. And now the greater strategic implications are dawning on him that naufrager is going to get an easy core out of me.

IF YOU WANTED ONLY THE ISLAND CITY THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE ISLAND CITY AND NOT KNEE-CAPPED ME BY BURNING CHUBB AND SACKVILLE

That's the reason I'm pushing on you, Amicalola. Because you destroyed any chance I had at surviving. I would have had enough troops to attack naufrager's stack if you hadn't cost me a turn of production everywhere and multiple units out of Chubb. That was like 5 more units i could have brought against naufrager's stack. I would have been content to take Bolger as a loss and sludge on.

Now? Now, I'm staring at this screen wondering if there is a path forward or if Amicalola is just grasping for the next shiny thing in front of his face. I mean, of course Amicalola will only help with the hopes of conquering me for himself. But will he actually help? Because I need him to actually help or I lose it all anyway. Naufrager is building up again and he's probably coming with either swords or horchers this time. I don't have confidence that Amicalola is actually thinking things through enough to realize he probably loses out on my stuff anyway.

On the other hand, I feel like an incredibly bad sport for just continuing to march my entire army into his lands and obviously throw a game to someone else. No matter how much they may "deserve" it.