[PB78] Dreylin boldly goes

[Dreylin]

T83 -

So here's Gav's new city:


I can live with that.

The jury might be out over here though:


I really hope the plan is to settle on the Silver and not come further North. It does feel like that is the plan based on the arrangement of the Worker and Settler - if the Settler is looking to found on the pfh the Worker is occupying, why reveal it by moving it onto the Silver hill, and wouldn't the Worker be on the Silver hill instead. It also fits with sharing the Pigs from the city he used to replace Carib.

If he comes further North I might need to bring the HA force to test his (predicted) Longbows. Either way I'll probably also be skipping Orange in favour of planting the white dot city in the mountain pass.

Oh, and while I was checking Superdeath's city list I also noticed that he's flipped a second Barb island city (Megaton). <sigh>  Top 2 city count players have both augmented by picking up these Barb sites ... oh, and these are the 2 CRE players. I did come in fully aware and prepared for the planned disparity in terrain, but it's disheartening that there was a One Right Choice™ for Trait. I'm trying very hard to roll with it and not be salty, but today that's not working too well - sorry scooter.

[Dreylin]

T84 - moving on...

"Casey's" was indeed founded on the Silver. I could have easily left my Chariot out of sight but in a position to snipe Superdeath's Worker next turn, but I want to keep it in hand for the assault on Apache. Maybe if that goes well I'll see...

Meanwhile in foreign news Magic Science has completed the Great Lighthouse (while expanding during a war), but more importantly Gavagai & Thrawn have signed peace. That means 2 things, #1 I can recall my Copper guilt-free when I need it, and #2 I can reassess my relations with Gavagai. A while back he asked for Open Borders and then asked me to war with Magic Science; neither of which were on the cards at the time, but with the winds shifting I can see the benefits. So this turn I offered to Open Borders, and we'll see what he thinks.

[coldrain]

How much investment in military would be needed to capture New Vegas island by force? Any navy used in the operation could be transferred to other fronts too via fort canals, so you're not left with a useless navy sitting aorund?

[Dreylin]

How much investment in military would be needed to capture New Vegas island by force? Any navy used in the operation could be transferred to other fronts too via fort canals, so you're not left with a useless navy sitting aorund?

I'd probably need 6-8 HA plus a couple of misc. units for cleanup if things went badly. OTOH, taking Little Lamplight would probably just need 3-4 and the rest could be making a dent in Anti-Tyre and he neighbouring city...

[Dreylin]

T85 - Turning the tide

First order of business is acquiring my own Barb City:


Nice. I move the 2 HAs into the city to heal and the Spear promotes Medic I to speed it up. The Quechua moves past the city heading towards Pink Dot, and the Chariot moves into position.



Not that I'm super excited to make that snipe, but let's keep the option open...

The World is at peace for the first time in a while, but maybe not for long; Superdeath showed up with an offer for non-aggression between us while we pursue separate targets - He is after Magic and suggested Gavagai for me. I thought about it a bunch and then countered:


I picked what I thought was his first island city to try to explain why I want to target Magic, but perhaps I should have added the Gold to make it clear?

Meanwhile I tried to signal to Thrawn that I want my Copper back for a while, but also want to keep trading for his Gold:


I'm already sending him Pigs, but that trade can end next turn. I don't need the Copper urgently - although Sulu needs a Spear sooner than later - so I'm not canceling it straight off - and all my cities have happy space to lose the Gold, but I do want the flexibility. We'll see if the message gets lost in translation.

Maths at EoT and I'll roll over into Sailing which will be 1-2 additional turns depending on saving, etc. then save for Currency.

[Dreylin]

T86 -

Thrawn understood the message, cancelled both existing trades and re-offered the dual health for Gold.

Superdeath's Chariot looped back around past Chapel seeing my Horse Archers. He also whipped 4 times. I showed his Worker the butt of my Chariot to say "I could have, but didn't". However in the West my Chariot stumbled across a Magic Worker chopping a forest alone out of borders. I'd exhausted my move though, so didn't have to decide this turn whether to snipe.

I also spotted that Thrawn was the first to Currency, which means he was also the first to Maths not Gavagai as I had thought. Hmmm. Meanwhile I finished Maths and am sending the overflow into Sailing. By next turn I should be able to 1t it when I need it, but right now I don't so will continue to save gold. Currency is ~11t at break-even, but should improve as Chapel comes out of revolt and other cities grow.

[Dreylin]

T87 - giveth & taketh away

It seems like Superdeath may not have quite understood the intent behind my showing him my Chariot's rear end:


This reads to me like classic "I can't stop you taking this city, but if you do I will DESTROY you" posturing. And incidentally was sent prior to Magic Science declaring on him and taking a city.    Still I moved my Chariot back and responded with a Pig-Pig trade.

On the other side of the world, Magic Science himself had left the Worker where it was, exposed and undefended ... but I decided to leave it be and the Chariot carried on for a bit more defogging. Maybe I'm too averse to conflict, but I don't want to have Magic look this way until I'm ready to hit him for real and take the island.

Speaking of RNGesus, it was time to take out the Maceman between Chekov & Chapel. Sent in a fresh HA with Flanking I to soften it up; it rolled the 30% survival and damaged the Mace down to 2.0 health!    So I sent in the 7xp C2 to get the kill:


Well shit.    Ah well, the tests said I should expect to lose 1-2 HAs to remove it, so overall it was a success. The injured HA will stay to heal, while the other will head West to join some fresh forces to liberate the threat from Sulu.

Settler is leaving Spock this turn and will be able to found Pink in 5t with additional Archer support coming from Uhura. I'll get Religion in ASAP, but I think I will also want a Monument here to get as much control as possible. I won't get the second ring, but this is still a perfect chokepoint city - it may not be quite visible in this shot, but the Berserker is held on an Oasis, which means that as long as I control it and the SW hill, it can't be hit by 2-movers out of the fog.

[T-hawk]

It seems like Superdeath may not have quite understood the intent behind my showing him my Chariot's rear end:

I'm not sure this works - I'm not sure that other players always see the direction a unit is facing? The experts would know more than I do, but I remember some discussions that the game doesn't really store the facing direction and so when someone logs in they just see all the units facing forward.

[Dreylin]

It seems like Superdeath may not have quite understood the intent behind my showing him my Chariot's rear end:

I'm not sure this works - I'm not sure that other players always see the direction a unit is facing?  The experts would know more than I do, but I remember some discussions that the game doesn't really store the facing direction and so when someone logs in they just see all the units facing forward.

Huh, that's weird. If so it must affect some players differently; you can clearly see the direction of Superdeath's Chariot in that shot. I know you can override it in some situations by reselecting the unit and fortifying it, but in a persistent Pitboss it would have to actively forget the information - or only display it to the unit-owning player and not the opponents? All my unit directions are preserved in my view between turns, so the information is definitely still there.

[Tarkeel]

You should be able to see the facing of units, but I have had instances where it didn't show the graphic of tiles being worked, so who knows what bugs are possible in this realm. Note that it also requires your opponent to actually look at the unit closely.