[PB59 Amicalola] The Vespertine Hour(s)

[Amicalola]

I launched a Golden Age. I would have liked to wait a few more turns but I need to be quick. Either Naufragar will kill Pindi and then come for me, or they'll make peace and Pindi will come for me. 


I'm going to whip as little as possible for these 8 turns, but afterwards my citizens are really going to feel the burn.

TBS is tearing Superdeath a new one nextdoor. Looks like he'll be the winner of that island, unless something major changes. I'm sure no one saw that coming.   

[Amicalola]

In a few turns, I will have a stack that I can send to assist Pindicator. I think I at least owe him that, considering my part in putting him here. He's losing by himself, but the two of us combined might actually be able to beat Nauf's stack. It's pretty close though. Pindicator is retreating, although it looks like a little more fighting happened. I pillaged a couple more of Naufragar's seafoods. I also killed his scouting chariot in Cairo's ex-territory. It's a tiny deal, but I suppose every little thing helps. Naufragar whipped a trireme (probably) in Hornblower, and I think the end is approaching for brave Shameless and Treasure Planet.  



Unfortunately, I had to play the turn while half-asleep. Hopefully I didn't make any decisions that were especially .

Edit:

[Amicalola]

T126

It might be a heroic last stand, but to me it looks like Pindicator has decided to screw me, instead of Naufragar (my internet is broken, and my hotspot isn't good enough for a picture). I can't really blame him, I'd probably be doing the same thing in his position. Which makes it even less excusable that I'm not prepared (although I would have been in 5 turns). But we'll see what comes next turn; hopefully I'm wrong.

I realised this turn that my power looks higher than Pindicator's because of all my pop and forges, not units. That was the main reason for my complacency, but he's actually militarily stronger than I am. Now that's embarrassing.

[Amicalola]

I launched a Golden Age. I would have liked to wait a few more turns but I need to be quick. Either Naufragar will kill Pindi and then come for me, or they'll make peace and Pindi will come for me. 

I'm too exhausted to report this properly, but it looks like it was this side of the coin. They made peace and Pindicator moved all his units up to All Neon Like. He also razed Aurora with two(!) GG galleys, which sucks. I had actually just transported a spear out of the city, because I had thought it was safe.  

They were quite coordinated with it, I think they've probably been planning this together for a few turns. It would explain the minimal fighting and bizarre stack movements on both sides. I wonder how they communicated it. 

On the whole, I think this ironically makes my continent a lot more interesting, even though it sucks for me. Instead of Mackoti killing everyone like usual, he and Naufragar will have an interesting duel for eventual control. As for me, I'll start whipping knights in 3 turns, and do my best to make Naufragar pay. I don't really hold a grudge against Pindicator - if anything, I worry he'll hold a long-term grudge against me. I can understand that I'm the 'bad guy' in our relationship this game, which honestly sucks; I think that's partly what sapped my enthusiasm. But Naufragar I will try to damage with every ounce of my civ's power.

Edit: Like I said, I'm completely exhausted today. I might be looking at this through a pretty skewed lens, and with too much Amica-Pessimism. Hopefully over the next few days it looks less bleak, with a fresh set of eyes.

[Hitru]

Don't take it too hard, looks like there's a lot of game left here. And I'm pretty sure there won't be any long term grudges here.

[Amicalola]

Don't take it too hard, looks like there's a lot of game left here. And I'm pretty sure there won't be any long term grudges here.

Thanks Hitru, I appreciate it. And hopefully you're right, especially about the second part. 

The first part... TLDR; I got shit on. Pindicator destroyed my retreating stack that I thought I'd covered adequately (I think 3 spears and 2WE, well promoted). Suddenly, I've gone from losing 2-3 cities to more like 5-6, I'd think. I think I got quite unlucky with the combat rolls, he had two HA's beat a spear and elephant at low odds. But a more accurate way to think about it is probably that I made my own luck by attacking his cities 50 turns ago. It's also possible that I should have just left the units in the city. At least then they'd have taken down more of Pindi's with them. I think I tend to underestimate what 2-move units are capable of - I did the same thing with Noble in PB56.

Edit: Oh, I also had a couple of HA's on the tile next door, 2 I think. I had assumed they wouldn't be necessary, but I totally could have accounted for a lucky result on Pindicator's end and covered the 3 dead catapults with them. Another example of making my own luck here. I guess at least I'm learning things to look out for next time I have a classical-era combat (the big one here is "horse archers are really good; don't underestimate them").

What does suck is that Pindicator could have thoroughly whipped Naufragar before he did this; at least that would have evened the scales a little. I'm sorry I'm not reporting this better. I've had a stupidly long week, and it's hard not to just whine, which nobody wants to read. I'm more than a little checked out; it's incredibly frustrating to know that without those reckless city razes, I'd be a genuine contender (I guess that's the point of what Pindi's doing). I wasn't remotely expecting that, so it was super exciting when it looked like it might materialise for a while.

[Lewwyn]

If you stab, stab all the way. 

[Thoth]

"Never do a small injury"

[Amicalola]

T129

These are dark days. We've lost our grip on the demos, despite our Golden Age. 



Pindicator continues tearing up the south. His invasion has smashed through the walls of All Neon Like, and he's razed the island of Aurora. His stack has stopped to heal, but will soon continue its destructive march northwards. Currently, there is little resistance. 



To make matters worse, Naufragar and Pindicator's alliance is official. The Indian army marches through Pindicator's lands, territory they so recently bled for, to join the action.



Mackoti's invasion continues in the north, as Cairo is reduced to just 3 cities. Cairo asked me this turn for luxuries, but my own cities are on the verge of unhappiness as is. Unfortunately, he's on his own. 




As the Vespertine Empire loses its pre-eminence on the world stage, I can think of only one plausible path to long-term relevance. And God, does it hurt: 


Every city is being whipped into the ground. There are no exceptions; not our islands, not commerce cities, not even our cottage capital Unison, or our (future) Heroic Epic city of Cocoon. There's no point growing cities if they'll be razed by Pindicator and Naufragar anyway. With a little luck, Pindicator's pause here may be exactly what we need to stabilise this mess.

[Amicalola]

T130

This stack of Horse Archers showed up this turn, ahead of Naufragar's main force. For anyone interested, Naufricator currently field 86 units for the invasion. My defending force currently numbers 31. So obviously things look pretty bad. 


I think Cocoon has to be our place to hold. It's better than half of our cities combined, with a 4-ring culture to impede movement, and huge production. If it's lost, the game is basically over. Full of Love and Undo are functionally dead at this point, with Joga, A Stain, and Pluto each at considerable risk. But for now, they're secondary. I'm massing military in the centre, to hopefully react in time to where Pindicator goes. Right now, it looks like he's either going for Undo or Cocoon, or both. Time is on my side right now, so if I'm really lucky he'll wait for Naufragar. Somehow, that seems unlikely. 

I've asked several players for loans to reach Engineering at 100% starting next turn (is there a standard interest-% for a loan in PB?). It would take 4 turns, but would help with maneuvering considerably if it comes in time. Defender's advantage is hard to leverage with only 2 movement, but with 3 it should be easier.

Edit: I also asked Pindi for a white peace treaty. Can't hurt, right?