[PB64] naufragar's bingo parlor for assassins

[naufragar]

The barb threat is passed. (The northern spear managed to kill a defending warrior.)


You can't see it, but Amica's warrior is on the same tile as my scout. He researched Writing, so I imagine he pings me with an Open Border request once he gets close. I sense I'll get flamed for rejecting it, but we don't have trade connections and any information gained would be one-sided until I get my own scout into his lands. But maybe he doesn't even offer.

I thought I took a pic of my south, but I guess I forgot. Instead, have a pic of the world's first Jewish city:


I'm glad to have landed this in Caesar's. This means that in 10 turns I will have those furs 3S of Caesars in my borders. (I've been desperate for a happy resource.) For the "naufragar learns new Civ4 mechanics every day" file: apparently the order at the end of turn goes: discover tech->found religion->add culture->start new turn. So we already have +5 culture in the city. By the way, am I going crazy? I thought a holy city was +4 culture? 

[Mjmd]

+5 as far as my experience. I'm always re-pleasantly surprised every time I get the initial +5 culture, as I always forget about it

[RefSteel]

Both correct, actually: The holy city gives +4 culture per turn as long as you don't have a different state religion, but it's in addition to the +1 culture per turn provided by each religion to every city it's in when you don't have a different state religion!

[naufragar]

Neat, Ref! On the mouseover in the city screen, it just says +5 culture, but sure enough Civilopedia never lies and does show the breakdown.

But there are yet more mechanics I can screw up:

This means that in 10 turns I will have those furs 3S of Caesars in my borders.

Don't know why I was expecting a city to get 3rd ring borders at 50 culture rather than 100. Caesars needed 20 turns, which means I need to plant for the furs sooner than that.




No happiness resources + some emergency barb defense whips=holy smokes we are completely out of gas. You can see me slow building food units.  Completely straightjacketed.

In the wider world, we've lost graphs on Commodore.  And Amica keeps spending EP on us, so we've yet to get his. Our power is now quite high and Gavagai still dwarfs us.

[naufragar]

Sorry guys, I screwed up bigly again, worker misclick, requesting a reload (to first log-in), details and pictures and explanation in my thread for lurker review.

Given the game's circumstances, I would really appreciate some lurker input before we allow it. I have not been here for a while but last time I played frivolous reloading in the middle of a war was rather unusual.

I'm curious how lurkers will score this one. Back in the day we used to not reload for any misclicks at all. I suspect the increased frequency of reloads is due to Ramkh's responsiveness and the power of his web architecture. I can't think of a precedent of a reload in the middle of a war.

My opinion? Like in all aspects of life, I'm a fanatic, so I believe clicking is as important as micro and neither should be given second chances. Lord knows I've held myself to the same misclick standard. 

Oh yeah, btw, Ginger and Gavagai are at war. 

Edit: Woah. Looks like Ginger founded a city before his misclick? That's a lot of action (& new information like unfogged tiles) to roll back.

[naufragar]

Well butter my biscuit.


Comm's been a-watching us. I take his warrior guard to mean that he is on the other end of this isthmus. I also take his low city county to mean he might be having pink dottish thoughts. Fascinating.

Amicalola is dumping all of his EP into me rather than splitting them with his neighbors.  We've got his graphs now, and I'm happy to turn the Zigguraut spending towards him once that's ready.

Edit: Oh, and Ginger's midturn score increase was not a city but choosing Metal Casting from the Oracle. Good luck, Gav!

[naufragar]

Interesting and interesting-er.


What do we think folks? What's that road doing there? Why has Comm parked a warrior on this narrow pass? Is he boxed in or does he have a back way out?

I had planned on planting a city on the open square between the gems and the forest, but I don't know if how much that'll piss Commodore off. He seems to be the weakest player so far with just 3 cities (and 3 clams resources, poor guy ), so do I step on his throat or worry about cornering the wolf?

I should mention that Amicalola is a Machiavellian fish. I worry he'll warn Commodore somehow or otherwise poison the wells etc. They hadn't met before this.

[naufragar]

Oh well. I was nowhere near this. (I am so far behind practically everybody. It's rough. )

I'm trying to catch up by building more cities...


I've sent Commodore a clam-for-clam deal to signal "don't be mad please." I'm currently last in soldier points by about 5k and Comm has a smaller empire so is able to bring more troops to bear immediately. Let's hope he drags his feet. I have no idea what his land is like. If he has nowhere to expand than through this jungle... We could be seeing some fireworks shortly.

[naufragar]

PBSpy is down, but Comm posted in the tech thread that the turn rolled, so I wanted to hop on to get a peek at the time. It is way, way past my bedtime here, so I don't trust myself to play sensibly. Just wanted to get a peek, plus I guessed I'd have some diplo from Comm to mull over.

I don't have the knack for AI diplo that some people like Mjmd or Superdeath have. I don't think to use it, and I don't often understand it. Plus, what's the point of diplomacy anyway?  But let's try and decode the three missives Commodore sent.

First:


Hmm. Commodore just met Amicalola when Amica's warrior encountered Commodore's borders, so Comm doesn't really have any stake in military action against Amica. Amica did just land the Great Lighthouse though, and he isn't getting mauled by Gavagai. (Ginger lost a city to Gav. I think I forgot to mention that.) So this message probably reads, "Listen, whatever you think you're doing, we have a pretty sizeable outside threat and we should cooperate or at least not hinder each other to the Big Bad Guy's benefit."

Second:


Continuing from the first: "Because if you do make trouble, I swear to Christ I will wage Ancient/Classical era warfare until one of us is dead." This message I'm pretty sure about.

Third:


Ah. Here's the bad news sandwich. (You know, it's when you say, "Nice thing, criticism, nice thing" to end on a positive note.) I read this as "If we don't step on each other's toes, I'm content to make Ginger my primary rival if you do the same with Amica."

Ok. Let's assume I read all that correctly. (And the joy of AI diplo is that it's never correct.  ) Before we even think about our response, let's ponder a few things. First, is Comm right that Amica is the scary threat? I'm not so sure. He's got lots of potential land, a gold resource, a very strong wonder, and he neighbors me, who is blocked off by jungle, and Gavagai, who is at war with someone else. Ok. Maybe Amica is the scary one. Second consideration: do we care about Commodore's threat? As for the pieces on the board, maybe. It'll be 5 turns before I can get a spear to the gems site, in which time, Comm can definitely destroy any city there if he bends his civ towards it, which he has indicated he would. As for the long term threat, we absolutely take that seriously. It's possible he's bluffing. Very few people have the stomach to ruin their own pitboss game and log in daily just to spite another play for weeks on end. Commodore? Hell, man, don't ask. Maybe he's bluffing, sure, and maybe that bluff is made stronger by his reputation. (In his last game, PB59, he declared early vendetta against TBS on turn 73 and essentially didn't stop until the game ended.) But bluffs are most convincing when a player's played their hand consistently, and Commodore's pugnaciousness is nothing if not consistent.

Ok, so assuming Comm's right about Amica and assuming we believe he would attempt what he's threatening, our third consideration: do we have another option other than our present one? I'd have a settler stranded in the middle of a vast, otherwise resource-less jungle and I'm critically behind in development compared to the leaders. Can I afford to back down?

Plus, I have my own reputation to think about. I've crippled two players in the ancient era in my last two games. (Three if we count my defense against Scooter in PB54.) Do I lose my title of "most likely to roleplay Montezuma" if I back down here?

What do you think, lurkers? Please let me in on Comm's innermost thoughts and Ginger & Amica's potentialities.

Myself, I need to go to sleep. It's far too late for thinking. I'll decide tomorrow.

[Mjmd]

SD diplo is usually a lie. I like to think mine is pretty good, if sometimes super confusing. You don't seem bad at it /shrug.