[PB66] Tarkeel and civac explore the untamed wilds

[Tarkeel]

Turn 244 (1670 AD)
A week later and we have our next turn. That's not a dig at P&P, their reason for holding up the turn was very valid, but just point out the turnpace we're at right now. They continue to lose cities on their western flank:


Mjmd burned Palmyra as expected, and this turn he took advantage of the railroad we built too hook the uranium to burn Abydos. We have two settlers completing this turn, one of which resettles Kaesora on the ruins of Abydos, and the other is shipped over to Shadowhaven.

We've also spotted the first TacNuke, in Rom. It probably won't go off this turn, but it could do so pretty soon. We spotted a sub in Neptun, and this area is just ripe for a nuclear exchange:


P&P's armies are mainly in Cpt Morgan and Tarentum, both of which can be struck by TacNukes from within Mjmd's territory. OutOnHoliday can likewise be hit, but has a much smaller garrison. There really isn't much defense behind these two stacks, but Mjmd seems to have stopped pressing his advantage in the western territories.

Mig is on his way out, there are three mainland cities and the island fortress left. The two cities we can see have been evacuated, and there's only a badly mauled stack left next to one of Gav's two stacks.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 245 (1675 AD)
With nukes and subs coming into play, each turn takes a bit long as the destroyer net needs to be moved around. Most of the time this turn however was spent on trying to get the best odds on the two great persons we're missing for a 4th golden age (We have a prophet and merchant):


Crushbone is the next city out in 9 turns, and as long as we can avoid the 1/3rd chance of a prophet, we should be good. Kelethin can then speed up working the specialists we don't have. This is a very high risk play, but we never planned on having a fourth golden age so it really is just a bonus if it works.

Mig is down to the last mainland city, and it's a race to see who gets it:


Mjmd hasn't played yet this turn, but it's not given that his tanks can crack those machine guns, but he might have air support in the area.

[Tarkeel]

What are everyone's victory chances?

Have some power graphs to digest, and then tell me (in the lurker thread) who you think is winning:



Any requests for the T250 report?

[Commodore]

Big zoomed out picture(s) with comments on force dispositions?

[Tarkeel]

I think I'll try to do some theatre of war overviews.

[Tarkeel]

I really enjoyed the last week with more free time and without stress to make my move in PB66. Since my private and professional situation will continue to be very stressful in the coming weeks and months, I wanted to ask how it looks with you. Personally, I can hardly imagine that a player can and will stand out from the other players for the rest of the game. But I can understand if you guys would like to keep playing. When else do you get the chance to play a modern war in Civ4? Of course, I would then try to continue playing as best as possible with limited time, at least until a replacement or clear leader is found.

I'm sorry to come up with this topic in such an advanced game. I had always hoped and also planned to finish started games myself. Especially private circumstances make it quite difficult for me at the moment.

I totally understand where Plemo is coming from here, and I'll agree to a draw between the four relevant players. That should also give Mig the pleasure of staying alive until the end.

However, the game is entering the phase where literally anything can happen, as nukes start flying around. I can only imagine how stressfull this must be for one of the frontrunners. Personally I've conceded to not being a likely winner, and we've been expecting to be eliminated for the last 50 turns or so.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 246 (1680 AD)
Mjmd struck another blow this turn, burning Tarentum, home of P&P's stranded army:


The city took three tacnukes, and the fleet south of it ate a fourth. Gavagai is angling for something, but we're willing to risk Nurga and Droga that he's not attacking us.


Erudin and The Hole are protected by enough destroyers to sink these transports, but I don't think that's in our best interest right now. Also visible is our sub tracking programme, trailing what we believe is a tacnuke loaded sub from Neptun to Mercur and now up the eastern coast.

Oh, and we successfully sniped the Fascism general. That's got to be worth something.

[Tarkeel]

I almost forgot this piece of diplo from Mjmd:


I have no idea what any of those components are supposed to mean. Fish probably something seaborne, and aluminum for nuke? It did make me appreciate that Arpinium can be nuked from Frontier Mountains, and Adrea from Seattle (or other parts of Gavland).

[Tarkeel]

Turn 248 (1690 AD)
Here's the aftermath of the nukes flying two turns ago:


Mjmd sent us this, which I take is his way of letting us take old Palmyra:


We've been careful in not antagonizing either of them and have delayed settling so far; Plemo has a settler in Viroconium.

In other news, we finished Industrialism last turn and have queued up a batch of marines and tanks, and some cities are getting industral parks. Radio is due next turn, and then we're heading for Laser as SDI is badly needed.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 249 (1695 AD)
Last turn, Plemo broke through on the land-front and burned OutOnHoliday, without using nukes:


This turn, Mjmd burned Viroconium, the last city on the western peninsula:


Note how he also settled in the middle of the peninsula, effectively blocking the city site he gave us in AI-diplo last turn. Yes, we can resettle on the ruins of Palmyra, but the tundra SW was such a better spot. Now, I shouldn't be too annoyed at this since he's the one doing the work of clearing the area, but then why did he pretend to give it to us last turn? He's been making good use of our port-city of Shadowhaven through open borders. We do resettle Echo Caverns on the ruins of Palmyra though.

Also note that Mjmd has no less than three general led tanks with commando around Viroconium.

Lastly, I thought CtH had eliminated fallout? There's some in the ruins of Holiday