[PB64] Lurking Randomly

[Mjmd]

Nauf sees Gav retreat, sees Amica whip a bunch, advances with his small army   To be fair he probably*  has a turn to retreat still.

[Mjmd]

Nauf sees Gav retreat, sees Amica whip a bunch, advances with his small army   To be fair he probably*  has a turn to retreat still.

Or Amica assumes Gav has perfect information and keeps all forces on the front lines. /shrug. I at least would have been tempted to split off units to kill Nauf stack.    I realize Amica's frontline city is important, but without cats I'm also not very scared of Gavs stack.

[Mjmd]

I love how Nauf rejected Amica's gold peace offers and now is offering his own. This game is great! I like how Gav has played this. Now just let the two top dogs fight it out and he lost nothing really.

[Magic Science]

I love how Nauf rejected Amica's gold peace offers and now is offering his own.

Times change.

Amica does not seem so distraught anymore, so I doubt that nauf needs to fear a full spite-death-duel war from him. But I also doubt that this war ends with nauf in control of The (New) Wheel and its natural jungle fortress, because his power isn't enough to hold a newborn city there against Amica's full power, so he failed his main objective.

Maybe nauf could try threatening Zero Pharaoh and then offering peace + lots of gold? Then Amica would have to choose either Zero Pharaoh + slightly earlier gold OR The New Wheel. Does Amica have a settler to resettle The Wheel immediately, like nauf does already?

[El Grillo]

What a whiplash-inducing turn of geopolitical events. I can't recall when I last read two players in such mutual existential despair Now we just need a report from Gavagai to round it out.

I am still somewhat concerned about Amica's finances, since it sounds like there was no gpt component in the peace that was accepted. Adding yet another hefty chunk of distance maintenance sounds a bit dangerous.

[Mjmd]

Nauf is somehow saying this is some huge victory for Amica, but Amica had to whip a lot of population during a GA and lost two cities. I am surprised Nauf gave that city for peace. If he lets it be taken its one thing as then culture would still be his. By giving it its going to be harder to get back. Amica probably* would have razed it and he could have resettled. I guess it does mean he didn't have to whip though, but still not a fan.

[Krill]

Sorry nauf, didn't intend to send you down that rabbit hole.

OTOH I always seem to get to a point where I question his strategic decision making. Not saying he made a wrong move at different points, but trying to understand what he is trying to achieve.

He needs to play a game with Commodore.

[Magic Science]

Seems like naufragar’s disastrous last few turns were motivated by the belief that he needed to kill Amica sooner rather than later to avoid being outscaled, and
Nauf now + Gav now vs Amica now is better than
Nauf in 15 turns vs Amica in 15 turns.
But the + Gav was a lie, and Amica’s total no-cottage crash means he may never outgrow nauf, or not for a very long time.

[Mjmd]

Krill were you alluding to him building two settlers during a hot war / in build up to it? Because that is one of my thoughts. I think resettling the wheel was like a 10% odds (IE you expect Gav to stay in for no gain). I don't mind him settling the southern cities, but if doing so meant costing him 4 units that might have been enough units to not have to sign over a very important city for peace............

[Mjmd]

Naufs complaining about Amica resettling razed cities reminded me he also overextended and isolated some of his forces to raze one of those cities, which also was probably the difference in not having to hand over a key city for peace.

Again, I loved how Gav played this. Do some damage to the leader while also making sure the two leaders fight. He gets off with city raze gold (and a wet corn if he can hold culturally) and loses nothing really. It isn't Gavs fault Nauf overextended his forces and built settlers instead of military.

I do think handing over that city probably changed it into an Amica victory even if the whipping during a GA hurt. But I do think it was avoidable.