This is a Spoiler thread - Dreylin, PB28

[Dreylin]

t204 -

Well then:


So I have another Island:


I gifted a Galleon to Jowy to help him return the garrisons to his land; did the same for Fenn last turn.

Then I turned around most of the Cuirassiers to head back to the mainland because:


Well I'm a little upset with Grimace, but at least I was watch and am prepared (more or less).

In extra-extra city news, I finally founded this mildly pathetic filler:


Ass you see, I found a food resource for it: Emancipation cottage. Which I plan to pave over as soon as it grows to a Village and then switch back to grow again. (unless that doesn't work, in which case, whatever)

With Destroyers on the way, I decided to risk committing to this:


But I suspect he'll see it next turn and kill them all.

Oh, and on the turn roll wetbandit scored the Great Person needed for his 4th GA:

[Dreylin]

t205 -

So as soon as I'd finished the previous turn, wetbandit sent me a note saying he was playing and I could probably take another turn soon. I replied that it was late and I'd likely not want to, but I couldn't resist....


Oh.
My.
Gawd!


Erm:


But:


Oh my.

I was literally whooping and pumping my fists! Then spent 10mins calming down and explaining the situation to my Wife (it was she who was responsible for introducing me to CivIV - I think the comment was "I'm not sure I like this new version, I'll stick with CivIII while you learn this and explain it to me").

The rest of the turn is far less important, but for good measure I also razed this:


His Cavs in Grimaceland killed my Cossack (~42% odds) and the two Sentry units that had been spying keeping an eye on the channels. I flooded the area with Cossacks but couldn't track them down - maybe they had been deleted - but I did down that Airship.

In Domestic news, the SoL will take 16t to build , but the Forbidden Palace should be a worthwhile investment in Whosit's old Capital:


Demos at EoT:


He's in Golden Age, but lost his Shrine as well as the AP. Also note the Great Artist in the first screenshot which will delay his (now regular-length) 4-person GA.

And just like that I might be back in the running.

I wonder if I can get this next turn....


Addendum: here are the PMs we exchanged:

Playing right now, you can probably get in a second turn tonight shortly. Just fyi.

Thanks for the heads-up, but it's getting late here so I probably won't want to...

OTOH, I couldn't resist looking....

I'm OK if you want to log in out of order to take a look at the situation without touching.

[Dreylin]

Also this:

Probably a bit of frustration talking now but my heart really isn't in this game. FWIW, I even posted to that effect before this happened.

I can't imagine that anyone else is really doing anything else and its between us two anyway. You have any thoughts about this?

Well I posted this in my thread on t200:

For the record, while I'm still having a lot of fun with this game, if everyone else is ready to concede to wetbandit then I'm not going to make them play on on the slim chance I can undercut him. Not a request to go out and ask the other players about it, but if they have already expressed the sentiment and I'm the last on the block.

Nothing came back, so either not all the others have posted concessions or the Lurkers thought it was worth letting "Operation Mel" play out.

Clearly the situation is a lot different now, but the sentiment is the same: I don't really want to force people to play on if they're not engaged with the game.

I suggest we sleep on it before deciding anything; I'd like to continue playing (my best showing since PBEM1! ), but if you as current game leader came to me and said you really didn't want to continue and offered me a draw, then I would accept.

And I'm off to bed.

[GermanJoey]

t205 -

So as soon as I'd finished the previous turn, wetbandit sent me a note saying he was playing and I could probably take another turn soon. I replied that it was late and I'd likely not want to, but I couldn't resist....


Oh.
My.
Gawd!


Erm:


But:


Oh my.

I was literally whooping and pumping my fists! Then spent 10mins calming down and explaining the situation to my Wife (it was she who was responsible for introducing me to CivIV - I think the comment was "I'm not sure I like this new version, I'll stick with CivIII while you learn this and explain it to me").

The rest of the turn is far less important, but for good

holy shit!!!!!

and, I'm really surprised that you'd take a draw at this point, instead of trying for victory after clawing back from near-certain defeat? it seems to me you just took away every advantage he had with a single Cossack!

[Commodore]

[Dreylin]

and, I'm really surprised that you'd take a draw at this point, instead of trying for victory after clawing back from near-certain defeat? it seems to me you just took away every advantage he had with a single Cossack!

Well not quite; I took away a large chunk of his ability to generate future advantages, but he's still got pre-built Levees, Drydocks, Cannon, and this:

Even if the economic changes mean it takes 2t rather than just 1, my estimate last night was that it would take me ~10t to get to the point of fielding my own Destroyers & Transports ... 10t of virtually unopposed control of the sea gives him a /lot/ of potential to do damage to me.

Plus he can stage a land invasion through Grimace should he so choose.

(Although thinking about it overnight, I'm not so sure it wouldn't be better for me to go to Assembly Line for Infantry so as to get there first and turtle until the wind finishes shifting)

Anyway, what it comes down to is that it doesn't seem like wetbandit is fully engaged with the game, and fighting against someone playing at 75% (or whatever) isn't as appealing. Especially if everyone else in the game is just playing on out of obligation (or whatever) and doesn't feel that they have any chance. (Maybe Borsche will feel differently now that wetbandit is down a peg?)

I think that some lurker polling of the other players is in order - go poke wetbandit for his thoughts! - but the message I'm getting from wetbandit is that he's just not that into it.

[Dreylin]

For the record:

I'm fine with sleeping on it, but if you wanted a draw I would take it. We'll talk tomorrow.

Well, if you'd prefer to concede to me, I'd be fine with that too...

G'night!

No concession.

But my heart is definitely not in this game. I've been playing on autopilot for the last month. You did well to get to this point and, honestly, I thought this game was always a bit closer because you have an easier path to more land. I think if I was a bit more attentive I could have done something to Borsche by now, but I don't really care at this point. I'll take the first 200 turns as my memory.

Well here are my thoughts from overnight:

• I am still enjoying this game and would really like to play on if that option seems tenable
  
• We rather discounted the other players last night, but maybe the shake-up in the status quo also shakes up their engagement with the game
  
• For that matter now that you're not coasting on autopilot to victory, maybe it shakes up your engagement with the game?
  

My suggestion was going to be that we give it a few more turns (5?, 10?) and see how you're feeling about the game at that point - hell, maybe you could find an unspoiled sub to take over - but if I'm the only one of the remaining players that really wants to continue, then IMO it's not fair to insist on doing so.

I asked the Lurkers to go and actively poke the other players' threads (incl. yours) to get their thoughts; let's see what they come up with?

[GermanJoey]

and, I'm really surprised that you'd take a draw at this point, instead of trying for victory after clawing back from near-certain defeat? it seems to me you just took away every advantage he had with a single Cossack!

Well not quite; I took away a large chunk of his ability to generate future advantages, but he's still got pre-built Levees, Drydocks, Cannon, and this:

Even if the economic changes mean it takes 2t rather than just 1, my estimate last night was that it would take me ~10t to get to the point of fielding my own Destroyers & Transports ... 10t of virtually unopposed control of the sea gives him a /lot/ of potential to do damage to me.

Does he already have Oil too? Destroyers and transports are available at Artillery but you still need Oil or Uranium+Fission to build them.

(by the way, this confusion has happened to EVERYBODY, and I mean literally every single person, as far as I know, who's played an RB/RtR mod game in the modern era )

[Dreylin]

Erm. Huh? Ohhhhhh.

He has /revealed/ Oil & Uranium (you'd have to ask Commodore if we have easy access to either), but if building the Oil Well is still at Combustion, and Fission is needed to power with Uranium, then no he doesn't! <pretends to search for end EpVI Han Solo gif>

[Commodore]

Not everybody has been confused by it. But it is common...the point is Metal Ships take a long time in RBmod.