[PB73 SPOILERS] scooter's Oracle

[scooter]

The GNP is insane.
So if you "survive" ~ 5 turns, you think you will win ?

Game-wide GNP this low at this stage of the game truly is bonkers.


But to answer your question, yes, I believe so. I'll have superior tech on land and sea with also superior research ability, and also still a mobility edge. The only thing stopping me from exploiting much of that right now is the stack next to Shiv. If/when it's gone, I'll be even more free. He is so broke he did a civic swap this past turn, and I think that was partly motivated by Anarchy being better than losing a bunch more gold at 0% tech (plus he likely needed to get into HR for happiness). That said, whether I'll actually survive or not feels tight. My build queues are quite low right now - can't lose this one in particular.

[scooter]

Well, we're nearly at 48 hours now for this Oxy turn, and while he did login for awhile last night, he still has yet to even move units. His turns are getting longer and longer, and I'm torn between understanding these turns are difficult and high leverage and my general feeling that spending days on your turn is annoying and also a real advantage honestly.


The real reason for this feeling though is that not knowing if I'm gonna hold at Shiv is eating me alive. I still have no idea if he has more units on those Galleons, and the game likely hinges on that question.

[Zed-F]

Looks like congratulations are in order! You’ve successfully achieved a morale victory. ✌️

[scooter]

Wait, before I celebrate and/or spoil myself, what is with the apparently non-consensus going on in the public thread?

I assume the "condition" being discussed revolves around Luddite, as he humorously seemed to think Oxy was a lock a few days ago. Is that what the confusion is over?

[Zed-F]

There is some question about whether concession-related questions in Luddite’s thread could be considered leading. I don’t really think so, but apparently some folks’ mileage may vary. TBH I don’t think there is any way Luddite can catch up on naval tech and production in time to matter; though some folks seem to give him as much as a 10% chance to come back, I don’t see it.

[scooter]

There is some question about whether concession-related questions in Luddite’s thread could be considered leading. I don’t really think so, but apparently some folks’ mileage may vary. TBH I don’t think there is any way Luddite can catch up on naval tech and production in time to matter; though some folks seem to give him as much as a 10% chance to come back, I don’t see it.

HAH, Luddite's chances of victory are 0. He's eras plural behind.

[scooter]

BOOM, we're done here. After dozens of games and countless podiums/draws, I finally won a game here. What a crazy game. I think I lose without the Hampstead raze, but Oxy's concession likely means he doesn't have anything left to send, which yeah, that means I've basically got it.


I definitely feel like Civil Service was the right choice for this setup, but the caveat here is that neighbor luck, which already decides games regularly, is like 10x more impactful in this setup. For example, if Oxy and Yuris were to have swapped positions, I probably would have won this 50T ago. If I was next to Cairo, I probably would have gotten conquered. Very happy with how this very silly game turned out.


Will try to do a big state of the empire post soon to send this one off.

[Qgqqqqq]

Wait, have you never won before?

Congratulations, very well deserved. I think the Vikings pick also deserves mention - I don't think anyone else processed the implications of a B&S map as well as you did.

And yes, I think lurkers were way overestimating Luddites chances.

[scooter]

Wait, have you never won before?

Congratulations, very well deserved. I think the Vikings pick also deserves mention - I don't think anyone else processed the implications of a B&S map as well as you did.

And yes, I think lurkers were way overestimating Luddites chances.

Nope! I've had a few draws where I was in a ~50% chance of winning situation, and I've lost games where I should have won, but I believe I've long held the title of most accomplished player here to never win anything.


Vikings rule. Curious if anyone else considered them. I think I got a lot of mileage in general out of "Vanilla Civ4 BS" and I'm curious if others considered these things, or if Bureau just meant I got to them all first.


And yeah, I can't even fathom how Luddite would win? I'd be on Destroyers by the time he gets Frigates. And he would have to invade me, as he couldn't possibly beat me to space, even if I skipped 40 straight turns. Finally, if I could get past Oxy, I had some big power spikes coming up. For example, I had Vanilla MoM, and I could grab Taj and pop a 3-man for a 24T GA to really explode post-war. There wasn't really a path for him.

[luddite]

Congrats scooter! Looks like I was way off in my sense of the game, I really did think Oxy was a lock. But I guess you were the only one with a still functioning economy. What a crazy game.