GAVAGAI

[Gavagai]

My entire gain from Currency was eaten up just by the fact that I rearranged citizens to work better tiles. I actually worked things like unlighthoused coast before and pretty much all lake tiles I had available (these great lakes were another life savior). Also, thanks to Naufragar I now do not have enough good foreign trade routes. Offered OB and fish for fish to SD, let us see how he reacts.

[Gavagai]

What is Naufragar doing, seriously? In the north he has two more Crossbows, three Vultures and a bunch of spears. Still, it won't be enough to take the city but if we actually fight, there will be heavy losses for both sides: a tedious battle to sim but sim I must because the choice between turtling in the city and attacking out is not obvious. The first option allows him to weaken me with catapults and pull in more reinforcements, the second option gives him 25 percent defensive bonus. In both cases there will be a long string of battles with close to 50 percent odds. Aren't he worried about Amicalola coming to finish him from the north at all? From Amica's perspective, it makes a lot of sense to do it because Nauf has a much better economy and would at the very least be able to take back his cities unless severely weakened.



And this is the city that sparkled the war: I am set to burn it next turn (It has two Vultures under the spear). Really, Nauf, you gonna die for a Deer?

[Gavagai]

I cannot get over the sheer insanity of Naufragar's stunt. He needlessly escalates at every corner. First I just asked him not to settle the city, indicating that he will earn my enmity by doing that. I expected a counter-offer of some sort but he just declared war on me, removing many of my reasons to keep the peace. Now, when I want to keep the conflict localized, he is moving a million units into my territory, trying to turn it into some kind of total war. It is insane for me that he is completely indifferent to Amica's most powerful army on the map. Does he know something I do not?

[Gavagai]

Btw, I gave SD open borders for better trade routes but now I regret it. He DID NOT return my fish for fish and now has all the opportunity to discover I have no army on his front.

[Gavagai]

And on the topic of Naufragar once more: why he wants so desperately to fight now? He is whipping out crappy units while he has a better economy than anyone else and could just tech towards something better instead. I am just explaining why it is so mystifying to me what he is doing and how I could not predict this at all. More than anything I would like to know what the hell is going on in his head.

[Gavagai]

Ok, this is what I did. I hopped into the game and offered Naufragar white peace, dangling the prospect of raising his city as a threat. An incredibly painful decision as Alexander II is a total junk without a Deer and I am pretty sure I would have an upper hand in this war. But someone has to be an adult in the room. I cannot overstate how incredibly vulnerable to dogpiles I am and every turn I am at war increases the risk of getting into one. Naufragar can doom me just by retreating back his army and refusing peace. I am not willing to ruin my game for a Deer and if Nauf is - well, he won. And yes, least than anyone else I want to reward ppl who do that kind of bullshit and I am certainly going to derive an ENORMOUS amount of pleasure from destroying Nauf when the time comes. But for now, I desperately need peace.
And yes, I fully realize that this all could be a bluff and Nauf was just going to accept my white peace anyway after I raised his city. But it is a bit too much a commitment for a bluff, he is already putting himself at huge risk by not having all these units in the north.

[Gavagai]

Naufragar accepted peace but he rejected all my follow-up offers: OB, fish for fish, gold for fur. Apparently, I am getting ZERO goodwill for the fact that I decided not to burn his Deer city, even if I could. All this goodwill, apparently, goes to Amica with whom he now has OB and resource trades - to the guy who just took a city from him. I am so fed up with this guy.
Also, here is an interesting fact I realized while scouting around Amica's territory: he has no cottages. And not just that, he is not building any, he builds farms instead. And, IIRC, he is not in Serfdom, even though he has Monarchy. I initially thought he is just fucked but now - I do not know. He has his Lighthouse and Protective internal trade, he has island cities, and he will revolt to Serfdom eventually (I hope). Maybe this is viable. Still, it puts him (longer term) as the weakest power between us three, and that makes Nauf's behavior even more insane. Amica will be his food soon, he needs to secure the border with me and go go go.

[Gavagai]

We have pretty funny exchanges with Commodore in the diplo window. He is trying to induce me to go to war with Ginger; I am completely uninterested in that in simply ignore all his offers but I am very much interested in trading my spare gold for one of Commodore's luxuries. He is, in turn, ignoring all those offers, not sure why (he does not have gold).

[Gavagai]

Just so you understand how weird is Amicalola's play, here is a screenshot of his core from a couple of turns ago:



Makes one's eyes bleed, does not it? That's not at all what you are supposed to have by T140. Ironically, it partially explains why he is doing so well. Nonriverside cottages are a very long-term investment. Just think of it, you need to work it for 40 turns before it starts to outperform a freshwater tile. If you do not work cottages, you probably work better tiles which puts you ahead short-term. As I remember, on high difficulties in single player it is actually not recommended to build cottages - you are supposed to capture them from AIs.

[Mjmd]

As I remember, on high difficulties in single player it is actually not recommended to build cottages - you are supposed to capture them from AIs.

 I did not know this, but it makes sooo much sense.

So what are your plans   ?