[SPOILERS] PB7: Winning The Hard Way - Mao Plays Craps

[Commodore]

whats your EP ration to smack like?

Not amazing, something like 190/110. It'll require running slider, then, which is [strike]probably[/strike] definitely sub-optimal. Still, they're a couple turns from spies and counter-espionage themselves, so this is the one shot I have at playing around with tech stealing. It's more funner.

[Bigger]

it's not that suboptimal. it works better if you have jails and intelligence center's in place though <g>

I actually ran an experiment in SP - vs. 3 diety ai's, industrial start. I researched scientific method and communism (for great spy and intelligence agencies) then turned the research slider off for rest of game, just using EP's. I was able to keep up w/ tech quite easily. of course the +50% from jails and +50% from intelligence agencies helped a bunch. As did the AI's spreading their EP's out among each other (in a duel map I attempted it was much harder - with the AI putting all his Ep's on me).

[Commodore]

Hah! Multipliers, yeah, right! We're looking at a staining effort to get to courthouses, let alone such far-off objectiveness as jails and intel agencies. Still, spies are very handy military assets too, and you can bet we'll be posting one in LP's land to guard against boats, and the HAK/Plako area for opportunistic sniping.

[spacetyrantxenu]

It's a good idea to be vigilant toward HAK and Plako, and definitely LP as well, but I may suggest keeping spies at their borders (well for HAK and Plako anyway) rather than inside culture where they can be seen. I see no reason to antagonize them while we sit between a pile of rocks and an empire eater (I guess LP is "the hard place" in this extended expression). As for Team Hunter Gatherer, unless there is some sort of cease fire I'm not aware of I say send spies into culture to explore and cause trouble. It's both productive and fun. Also, if they created a story about bad starting territory I'd love to post that in the diplo thread to earn some "poor Azza, poor Native America" sympathy -- not that it's worth anything though.

Now putting spies in LP's land is interesting...we need to break through and meet other people so we can get known tech discounts. But being invisible units, can spies make contact with new civs? I assume they can so that if they get caught causing trouble the victim would know who to be mad at. Anyway, about spying on LP, it would be rattling the bear's cage a bit...how good is our western defense? I'd like to irritate him, so mighty in GNP, but we have enough going on without having to use our uber PRO trait defending west and east against hostile forces. I'd suggest caution with spying LP. Then again, if there's an opportunity to do harm...why not?

[Bigger]

yes, spies make contact with other civs just as if they were scouts or military.

[Commodore]

So small issue about them spies in SMackland. Note the tech they're finishing up:



I guess it could be a setup for an Optics bulb?

[Commodore]

Boldy, your haiku
Was noted, enjoyed, and liked.
Refrigerator.



Here's the empire lads. Not a lot going on right now, just getting smoked in research, growing, building, and preparing for the next big offensive/push:

Operation: Winter Storm

[oledavy]

Operation: Winter Storm

Care to elaborate?

[Commodore]

Care to elaborate?

Yes. Eventually. And it's really more of a slow push.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Hi there, it's your absentee landlord, just popping in to make sure you haven't burned the house down while I've been away. I've taken some photos in case a disaster befalls us and the insurance adjuster wants to know what the house's valuables were worth.

Massive photo dump inbound. I'll save the story telling for the more gifted story teller.

Phase 1: Overly Large Flying Camera World Maps!

Phase 2: Roll Face Across Function Keys And Get A Picture Of It!

Phase 3: Shiny, Shiny Casinos!

Phase 4: Everything Else You Never Wanted To Know About Us And Weren't Going To Ask!

Not Pictured: Anything pertaining to how to win when playing craps, as is typical for threads about playing craps.