[No Players] Lurker thread, to lurk and chirp

[Ceiliazul]

I'm in my phone, Fin, hoping someone else can answer your questions in better detail. From the game, here's JoJo's proof that ignorance is bliss:

SICK event, if only I had the desire to build any crossbows...

Jojo hit crossbows only and thinks it's great... did he see what Commodore got??

Well score!

Hot damn

[Old Harry]

I'm catching up here a bit. Anyone care to provide an overview of the game so far? I have below 9 questions. E.g. getting one sentence answer to those would be great!

1. Anything special with map or settings?

Unbalanced map was requested, leading to much bitching about eg Mackoti's three golds (although TBS balanced them by giving him no food).

2. Any interesting picks? (this being the first RtR snake pick IIRC)

That was so long ago that I don't remember...

3. Someone with especially strong or weak land?

REMAI got a small amount of tundra and through a terrible second city ensured that they couldn't compete for the land they were supposed to contest. Plako said he'd had something like 50 barb fights already due to tundra and deserts. Jojo, dtay and Gawdzak all have pretty nice starts.

4. Award for the strongest early game?

Gawdzak's isolated builder-fest is in the lead, but dtay's start - surrounded by the warlike Commodore and DreyOTja has been pretty impressive. The northern border seems secure, question is how much the eastern civ feels it has to attack him...

5. Any early conflicts?

Plako vs Barbs, score draw. DreyOTja vs REMAI for their island, DreyOTja win. REMAI vs GermanJojo, Jojo wins on points (in spite of RNG). Jojo vs Furungy for territory down south, Jojo win. Commodore vs Plako, Commodore win.

6. Which players still have chances to win this? / Current ranking?

Tier 1 - contenders:
Gawdzak (about to get Lib)
Mackoti (just started 60 turns of golden age)
dtay (double the size of his neighbours so *should* be able to eat them...)
Jojo (picking his fights much better this time around)

Tier 2 - also ran:
Plako (don't really know what went wrong, other than crappy land)
Gavagai (a successful war against HAK will just mean he neighbours Mackoti more )
DreyOTja (could promote themselves if they can damage dtay)
Commodore (surrounded by Plako and dtay - no more easy land to get)

Tier 3 - cannon fodder:
Furungy (no idea what he's done)
REMAI (bad second city and two lost wars)
HAK (built the Hanging Gardens with only six cities)

7. Current conflicts/races

HAK is about to die, Com and dtay could come to blows over the pacific, Jojo should eat Furungy soon.

8. Any game-changing events/conflicts/decisions ahead?

Yes

9. Something else that is interesting? Surprises so far?

No-one dogpiled dtay yet.

[SadGit]

A freak string of events lead to Coms settling, which shows the power of reputation.

At turn 14 Com posts a dotmap with a city three tiles from cap across the water. At turn 18 Plako walks around there with a scout gained from 1 (2?) hut pops -> Com settling that city past turn 100. Which means he has to fight to gain the cities over there and thus forgoes or delays the plan for westward island empire -> Dtay gets to settle those on top of his initial better land.

Plako might have pressed from the north if Com had focused on the western parts, but those eastern jungle cities ensured Com would (forever) be squezed between the scary neighbours. Detour for sailing would have slowed a bit but given the land west of the cap, Im guessing those 3-4 cities could have provided the entire western island expansion and not left Com too far behind grabbing mainland turf.

But Im just an armchair general forever thankfull of the entertaining provided by you lot.

[Fintourist]

Thanks you all! Understanding the situation makes lurking here more

[wetbandit]

I'm pretty sure that Fintourist's questions directly led to the new Gav-Mack war. Thanks!

[The Black Sword]

Another interesting point about the game, there are two very large slices of land left unsettled and it's near turn 150.

1. The vast southern lands of what Commodore dubs Seaworld. And I mean vast, surely there must be room for 20 cities down there. The land is supposed to belong to REMAI but they went to war with GJ. HAK is the other direct neighbour, but his settling pace has been slow all game and he'd have to settle through jungle. Now, 3 new competitors have emerged:
A. Ninja Dreyote are looking to use Portugal's Caravels to settle a beachhead over there. This seems the most likely scenario to me right now.
B. Gavagai expressed some interest in the land before the first HAK war. He's the only other player with easy galley access and he probably has a direct land connection now through land secured in the second HAK war. He might be a bit pre-occupied though.
C. Commodore is considering an East India beeline.
D.(ok, I lied) It can't be too long before GJ gets some access, either through killing REMAI or Astro.

2. There is a reasonably sized island, probably 7 cities worth to the North East of Mackoti and Gavagai, both have galley access. Neither of them appear to have discovered this yet, though Mack did mention sending a galley and axe past a mountain island, which sounds like its en route. I've been expecting Mack to get this since Gavagai has so much other directions to compete in.

[Old Harry]

Weirdly enough, I don't have a clue who will actually win this game. Is there even a clear frontrunner? I just know it won't be us.

Place your bets folks!

Obviously it'll be Mackoti, he's just playing possum right now.

[The Black Sword]

It really is weird. I guess we usually see someone having conquered a neighbour by now. I still wouldn't be counting plako or mack out yet. Actually, I'd really love to see a plako update, we're getting all these little tidbits from the others.

I'd go with dtay for the moment I think, largely because Gawdzak doesn't seem to want to win.

[Ceiliazul]

Dtay will leverage the islands and commodore doesnt want to risk a two-front war to tell him otherwise. I think dtay wins. Runner up mackoti: he'll eventually eat HAK and gavagai cant keep up with the turmoil of war.

[wetbandit]

I thought that GJ was going to be in a very good long term position, what with absorbing a good chunk of furungy and being able to out-tech REM/AI before their next fight. He has a better path to expansion than dtay or even Gawdzak. This might change, as REM/AI's stack of ancient era units might catch GJ slightly unprepared.