[PB64] Amicalola Gets To Heaven with Tarkeel and Ljubljana

[Amicalola]

T131 - The Tide Turns
Well well well, how the turn tables...


We don't accept. Without any way to sustainably get graphs on Nauf, this peace means exactly what it says (10 turns of peace) before our border turns into an unstable nightmare where I can't tell our opponents' strength. The problem gets worse if they get a peace at the same time, because then they can attack at the same time. Furthermore, Naufragar might resettle The Wheel before I do, which would just be a disaster. And finally, two razed cities and a lifetime of whips is worth a hell of a lot more than 400 gold. So no, there will be no peace. Not yet. Nauf missed his chance for easy peace - now we do it the hard way.  

(You'll have to excuse my ugly dotmapping tool. I was playing around with ideas last night).

Commodore also took peace for 5gpt last turn, maybe because he saw that Gavagai had. The island is battered, bruised, and beaten, but it is alive. Kind of like our Empire, really.


I wonder if he was just bluffing/stalling to make me whip, or had a real plan to take it.

In the north, Naufragar did exactly what I was hoping and split his stack up. Zero Pharaoh is safe now, no matter what he does. 


Our immortals take out the two exposed vultures, before we move on. No need to take these guys out straight away anymore. 

Naufragar desecrates the ruins of The Wheel even while offering peace.  


The looters, at least, are removed with extreme prejudice. 


(Also pictured: Teletype gets our second event of the game!)

My hope here is to either capture or raze Uruk. I could live with the border when my city had an established cultural control, but not anymore. Here are the defenders I can see, although I'm not sure what's in the city itself. 


Finally, I do send Nauf an offer of peace. All he has to pay is Uruk, and 20 gold per turn. Harsh? Yes. I don't think he'll take it. But you know what was harsher? The last 10 turns.

[Amicalola]

T132 - Peace in our Time
Naufragar offers Uruk without the money. 


After a long time thinking, I decide to accept. I can't afford to spend long pushing, because Gavagai can always start Round 3 if I'm not prepared in 8 turns. In fact, that might be what he's hoping for; Gavagai has refused my Open Borders requests since peace. Naufragar also likely has enough troops to stop me after taking Uruk anyway, and might even have enough to prevent that. I discovered after accepting that he has crossbows! It's possible that Naufragar and Gavagai will just be back for more in 10 turns, and I should have twisted the knife while I could. But my instinct is that to decline and push would just hurt Naufragar and myself, with Gavagai as the winner. Big no to that.

The city has two Calendar resources, which will cost Naufragar a lot if I can hold it long-term. I, of course, do not have Calendar, as with most techs. "What are these strange materials and how do I farm them?", say the poor, ignorant citizens of the Everything Empire.  



I notice Ginger pillaging my old improvements, so I figure I might as well get in on the action. 


Hey, every little bit helps. Ginger also offered Open Borders. I had to spend a while thinking about it; he has a unit ready to scout me, and the reverse is not true. I also have not forgotten that he kicked out my unit just before I completed circumnavigation many years earlier. But in the end I accepted - can't win a game without any allies, and maybe this is the start of something. Ginger converted to Serfdom when he launched a GA recently - nice life for some.


So, the economy is beyond wrecked, we're friendless, surrounded by enemies, and our GNP, MFG, and population are disastrous (behind both Commodore and Superdeath!). 


If this isn't a desperate situation, I don't know what is. On the bright side, I've had some practice at desperate recovery.  

Every other team has now researched Maths, some currency, and Civac both currency and Calendar (and built Mausoleum; hey, I said he was game leader!) while we still just save gold at 25% breakeven. Anyway, just thinking about what I should have done differently, and focus more on commerce from T70-90 is definitely high on the list... I think 'do something cool/fireworks' is more realistic than 'win' at this point. Still, we shall see!

So yeah, I bungled the start of this game pretty badly... But while we are significantly further behind than we could have been, and winning is no longer on the cards, our game is also not completely over. To suggest that was melodramatic. Besides, waiting for a slow, inevitable demise is boring. Let's try to work with what we've got.  

This turn the picture is my demos, on the turn following war. The biggest problem is population, which I've been whipping like crazy. Hopefully that will rise now. You can see I've fallen behind, especially in GNP... but to be honest, I don't think I'm out of contention yet, as long as I can pull off a Classic Amica Mid-Game Recovery. 

I am tentatively optimistic.

[Amicalola]

I spy with my little eye a player who is not to be trusted.  

[Magic Science]

Building a cottage? What kind of maniac would do such a thing?

[Amicalola]

Building a cottage? What kind of maniac would do such a thing?

Hah, that too! 

[Amicalola]

T134
Step One of miraculous recovery. We need money. 


I've been playing RDR2 recently, about partway through Chapter 3. Looks like I'll be RP-ing Dutch for a little while. 

Our Great General attaches to 10 mounted units, all of which need 2 EXP for their next promotion. The alternative was to settle him in Get To Heaven, which is our best hammer city, and that is better if we can hold the city long-term. The problem is, it's so vulnerable to Gavagai that I'm not at all convinced we can do that. 



It also lets us instantly get a sentry immortal, which we use. And we find...


Not units! That's surprising, although the sword is still very sketchy. But that's a promising sign of peace. Of course, Gav can always move his units back over in time for the treaty to end, is trickling in more swords, and he won't sign OB, so... 

Gavagai, for his part, is apparently running VERY low on money. Note that he's working two non-lighthouse coast tiles.


He's also making 0 gold per turn, with 17 in the bank. I still fail to see how him attacking again could possibly be worth it in that circumstance, but you never really know.

To the surprise of no one, the big winner of all these wars was.... the person who stayed out of them. Ginger currently looks very good, although it's hard to tell how much of that is temporary GA and how much is lasting strength (I thought that of Nauf 20 turns ago, which sure changed quickly). Who could have possibly seen such a thing coming?

[Amicalola]

Naufragar and Gavagai keep re-logging after each other. I wonder what sort of lovely diplo they could possibly be checking on. I'm sure they're just updating tile micro they forgot about. For uh, 20-25 minutes... Yeah, I'd say Round 2 of 'everybody beat up Amica!' is looking pretty likely.

[Amicalola]

Either I was wrong about the diplo or the diplo was unproductive. Gavagai offered Open Borders and fish/fish!

[Tarkeel]

That's great news!

[Amicalola]

GAVAGAI POST ALERT

But what could it mean?  

And thanks, hopefully it is the start of recovery.