[PBEM22] Friends with Benefits

[Krill]

I will need to write my update tomorrow, but one request: Next time you play, please can you fix the typo in the "Training Ground" tack?

[Krill]

Don't worry, the iron was accepted, I have the screenshot as evidence

[Krill]

Turn 60




Shipbuilding is in and the warriors will go on their way to collect new goody hut yields, hoping for a govenor title.





I imagine that other players will be wondering why I was slow to this but era points is the answer.








Bit of a no brainer really. The only thought provoking point is what to spend the faith on at some point in the future (I'm guessing buying the second GS might be on the table as a dark horse).





?! trading cities gives eurekas and inspirations. Who have thought it.








Please tell me I didn't screw it up this time.





Everything as planned, settler eot.





Accepted.





Proof of acceptance.





Agreed on the camping tile, it should enable 24XP/turn into a unit. How much is needed to get a quad to the final promotion, 150XP? Given the way it would work that would theoretically take, what 8 turns (1+2+2+3)?





Do we think they have anything to pillage yet? Chev must have HS that are coastal and Phoenicia should be getting close to finisihing another two Cothons...





I take it Kavekana is the first target so there is a city available to upgrade warriors to zerkers? In which case attack to commence T63?





I take it the gold is being saved for a ram and zerker upgrades? Seems like the most effective options right now. And I'll soften up the warbs for you to kill with a spear.

[Krill]

Question: The Uruk campus costs 107 - is this correct?

[Krill]

Confirmed, changed to 63 production at placement.

[Krill]

Turn 61




Now at 33/50 Era points. Bunch of eurekas and inspirations landed due to Thrawn.





Re-confirming that the Campus landed at 63 production cost, can just see it peeking out behind the city info band.





Given a little bit of healing at Mitla, do we think that we are likely to find another (captured) CS in Wodens hands that could be liberated in the next 6-8 turns?





I'll just say it: The Free cities mechanic is unfair in this scenario. Do you want to try and hold T-Fuji though?





I think they have abandoned the Lahore attack and are running south. I don't think there is any point in trying to force a battle over there, but leaving units on guard seems even more expensive. That said, how far are you from zerks?





I don't know how you feel Thrawn, but looking at this I feel disrespected for some reason. I imagine the did not see the longboat by the settler, and they will retreat next turn, but City_II looks like a killing ground. Have they retreated from Kavekana yet?

[Krill]

Right now I see two ways to end this: The straightforward one is to cripple England and dent Gaul and let everyone know they can concede. The other is to just buy the land units and remove Portugal/Japan from the map, and at the same time take out Chev complete and play more of a delaying action at Gaul and England (ie focus more on pillages then setting up for an invasion). In reality this is just a prioritisation of how to reach conquest.

In neither of these cases do I think you actually need me to do anything except hold iron and in some cases drop it into sword builds so I can take yet more from you to enable the warrior purchase>Zerker upgrade.

[Krill]

I don't know how you feel Thrawn, but looking at this I feel disrespected for some reason. I imagine the did not see the longboat by the settler, and they will retreat next turn, but City_II looks like a killing ground. Have they retreated from Kavekana yet?

Why feeling disrespected?

There were some boats by Kavekana when I passed but I ignored them. Like Japan's they are not a threat when out in the wild and we have many boats that will pass by there so we can kill them and capture at any time.

This is more a reflection on my own mental state and expectation of others behaviour, rather than the actual player behaviour (read: choices that are made). I hope the lurkers note this point.

I think the standard of play in Civ 6, in general, is poor on RB. This game, PBEM21 are examples of you running rings around people. The level of understanding is just not there.

I'm used to an extremely high level of play in civ 4, based off years of experience. This is nothing to do with anything I've contributed to this game, but I expect players to identify the short and long term risks ie I would have expected the players in this game to have figured out your plan and taken steps to respond. Woden seems to have done this to some extent but Englands boats are out of position and I hope that next turn Gaul actually puts you in a position to finally lose a unit this game. If you can win this game with the only contribution from Sumeria being a relic to speed up GotF, gold so Norway doesn't go bankrupt and as a resource holder, without losing a unit, then that would put this game on a pedastal that few games achieve.

Right now I see two ways to end this: The straightforward one is to cripple England and dent Gaul and let everyone know they can concede. The other is to just buy the land units and remove Portugal/Japan from the map, and at the same time take out Chev complete and play more of a delaying action at Gaul and England (ie focus more on pillages then setting up for an invasion). In reality this is just a prioritisation of how to reach conquest.

In neither of these cases do I think you actually need me to do anything except hold iron and in some cases drop it into sword builds so I can take yet more from you to enable the warrior purchase>Zerker upgrade.

Which way do you prefer?

Based on your current assets, you'll reach Square rigging on T105 with about 60 science per turn. This will be reduced as we add more campuses, harbours, and ziggurats but will still be at least ~T90. I didn't expect the game to be this easy, otherwise you could have joined in with war carts...

We can go the route of killing the other teams and engaging Woden a little later. Generally I prefer to go straight for victory but it will be a little bland if the game ends now and it will be fun to kill TAD and Chev. Then we'll also have a reliable one turn per day which will get us to Renaissance ships pretty quickly.

Honestly I'm apathetic, rather than ambivalent.

I generally say "No showboating" and play to win, but at the same time I value playing in a novel and unorthodox manner, outside of an expected metagame as opposed to playing in the same, stolid routine.

In this game though, whilst I would not want to be perceived as arrogant and depending on how the next few turns go, I'd suggest that playing for the spectacle and the story is probably a better way to stay engaged with the game. In that sense, if you see a way to play this as a clear cut 2v6 and go for total domination, then I'm up for that. I don't want to say "do this and spend time doing something you don't want to do", as you are doing the heavy lifting with planning, but if you want to play this out in a way that you will find the most fun, then I'm happy to tag along and offer what observations and documentation via screenshot that I can.

[Krill]

Do you want me to buy a catapult to try and break through at Portugal?

[Krill]

No dispute about the cheaper option of Zerks but a single cat would also fulfill the option of sucking up the XP quicker at Portugal and allow the quads to go to Banzai, Woden and Chev. Plus it would very quickly get to level 4 for the +1 range for an extra tool to support the Zerks in a land war.