[NO PLAYERS] Lurking and Mapmaking PB52

[Sullla]

Mjmd probably lost the game this past turn:




There was never going to be a better time to hit pindicator/Old Harry than right now and he still offered peace after two turns of war and the razing of some unimportant border cities. Mjmd has had everything possible break in his direction from a big picture standpoint (western neighbors either crippled or stuck in endless warfare, eastern and northern neighbors all weak, zero pressure the entire game) but he still refuses to seize the moment and make use of his advantages. Carthage is going to build Taj Mahal in 4 turns and there's absolutely no excuse for that whatsoever. With 30 cities and a million Protective trade routes to exploit, it won't be long until Old Harry closes the tech gap and that should be the end. (Mjmd is *STILL* not thinking about hitting the collapsing Charriu for half a dozen easy conquests. I don't get it - either dedicate yourself to stopping Carthage before they recover or go smash the backwards players. This constant vacillating makes no sense.)

Also, if anyone wonders why I don't take part in these games anymore: Old Harry spent 3 hours simming and playing yesterday's turn. That's not a knock on OH, I just don't have that kind of time to invest in Civ4 MP anymore.

[scooter]

Agreed on Mjmd. I definitely understand and can relate with being torn on your options, but you really have to pick a plan (mess up pin/OH or vulture Charriu) and commit heavily to it. Doing neither just lets the others catch up.


On the other side, Jowy's conquest is killing me. So let's make some productive suggestions for next time when he reads this.




The time he's taking to capture these cities is brutal. If he could conquest Charriu quickly, this game is still extremely winnable for him, but he's a bit too worried about stack preservation. I think he's seeing the topline odds against the well promoted longbows and forgetting that Charriu has a lot of junk underneath them. I wonder if he's simmed these fights at all? I know those are a pain to setup, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and do it. The real issue to me is the underbuilt catapults and boats. In this kind of situation, build a lot more cats than you think you need, and be willing to throw them away doing collateral damage. They're so cheap at this stage anyway. Then, use boats to chain in new ones instead of trudging through culture. Even if you only have Galleys, you can set up a chain of them 2 tiles apart across that center ocean and move a single catapult a dozen tiles in one turn. It takes some time to set it up, but it's saved me many times. Then you just slam them into these cities and let your superior power and numbers clean up, which also denies Charriu the time to produce a well-promoted longbow every single turn in every city. You might still lose some topline battles, but once you crack the top defenders, things start to turn really fast.


You have to think of the opportunity cost of delaying your conquest every turn. Every turn you spend moving into position or bombarding is an additional unit in almost every city you now have to cut through, which effectively is a couple more future unit losses, not to mention the delay in starting your economic recovery. Defender can reinforce easier than you, so don't give them the time to do so unless you literally have no other choice.

[superdeath]

That last battle.. Ooof.. Did he just stack attack?

[scooter]

They all just... let Carthage have Taj.

Where we stand on tech:
Mjmd- 40,345 beakers - The important techs he has are Rifling and Astronomy, but he can grab Mil Trad for cavalry next. Hopefully he detours to Constitution instead to get Rep for the end of his golden age.
Jowy- 28,684
Cairo- 22,705
Us- 19,864
AT- 13,257
Charriu- 12,840

They're TWENTY THOUSAND BEAKERS behind Mjmd, and they built Taj first. I've... never seen that before in a game that didn't involve an AI.

[superdeath]

Pindi/OH are just THAT much better players? Thats all i can guess.

[vanrober]

Im just needing to see how can they deal vs cabalry being behind on tech. I dont see them worried and i would be on panic.

[Thoth]

Pindi/OH are just THAT much better players? Thats all i can guess.

They wanted it more.

[scooter]

Btw if I'm at war with multiple people some of whom are already at war. I'm assuming I just observe some sort of turn split......

Is it possible at all that Mjmd doesn't know Jowy and Charriu made peace?

[scooter]

Btw if I'm at war with multiple people some of whom are already at war. I'm assuming I just observe some sort of turn split......

Is it possible at all that Mjmd doesn't know Jowy and Charriu made peace?

Well Jowy and Charriu made peace. That is interesting........ I was going to hit Jowy. Unsure why Charriu took that peace.

[Lewwyn]

Pindi/OH are just THAT much better players? Thats all i can guess.

They wanted it more.

Just recognizing the Taj value makes them better players. Mjmd needs more direction and game awareness.