[PB81] naufragar is a rock. He is an iiiiiiiiiisland.

[naufragar]

The mask slips. Mjmd reoffers Open Borders, this time throwing in a wheat. I would've repeated my Open Borders for gold offer, but if he logs in again this turn, he can move his scout far enough to see my galleys massing.


Can't have that, so we can't offer Open Borders, which means he should know what's up. He's reinforced Fire on the Water with an impi. More chaff to chew through.

As you can tell from my signs, it'll take what feels like forever to sail my invasion force up. It's entirely possible Mjmd will have built a sufficient defense. If so, eh. If I can keep the macemen alive, they can be my eventual newbie continent conquistadors.

TBS initiated a golden age and revolted to Serfdom. I toyed around for a second with ways to get my galleys to him, but the geography just doesn't work. More's the pity. Plus there's the problem that if I did real damage to TBS, he can't recover, whereas seizing Mjmd's coast keeps him in contention.

Who knows, maybe I get cold feet and call the whole thing off, but I've got this really lovely Boudicca/maceman hammer and I'm looking for a nail.

[naufragar]

Merry Christmas! I hope you are spending quality time with loved ones, but if you have a minute, here's a question:



If Mjmd were to give me FireOnTheWater for peace, what would its borders be? It's entire first ring?

Haven't ended my turn because I need to test, but not sure how and would love lurker wisdom.

[naufragar]

Second question as an addendum to the first. Our tech thread rules:

No abusive or lopsided city trades; Extorting for peace is OK but check with lurkers?

Are we in agreement that me demanding 200 gold plus FireOnTheWater is a legitimate extortion?

Thanks for your input; now get back to Yuletide cheer!

[Commodore]

Merry Christmas to you, Nowfrogger.

And yes, first ring.

[Qgqqqqq]

That's clearly a legitimate extortion.

[naufragar]

Thanks, Comm and Q!

Mjmd got a sentry chariot into a position where it could see a couple of my galleys, so I was greeted with a flurry of diplo when I logged in.

(In spoilers for length.)

I know I've written about this elsewhere, but it feels like players constantly use diplomacy as a "give me what I want" button. Apart from the first message, which offered a furs  , none of these messages are anything more than the statement, "You should be enemies with TBS." Ok, let's imagine I've already considered and rejected that, what's the point of stating it again, let alone multiple times? And if I haven't considered it, is there any argument besides "TBS is in 1st. You're in 3rd." If I'm attacking Mjmd because I think it improves my position relative to the rest of the field, TBS included, the argument "Ignore me and focus on TBS" isn't very persuasive.

So I gave Mjmd the opportunity to put his money where his mouth is. If you think the 3rd place player should ignore the 2nd place player to go after the 1st place player, prove it. Feed me, lower your own position, and focus yourself on TBS.



Otherwise, I'm going to use my waning tech advantage to take what I can from you.

[naufragar]

Yarr! 


Mjmd moved his defenders out. One impi went to the marble. The axe defender went onto a galley. Got 88 gold from the capture and now I have 3 island cities, which are enough for +2c domestic routes everywhere.

Offered Mjmd a way out of further destruction. Upped the price to compensate me for the loss of FireOnTheWater's infrastructure. 


TBS is racing to knights. It's possible I have to detour to Construction ahead of Optics for security, which would make me very sad.

[naufragar]

Mjmd accepted the treaty terms:


Perfect. Had to whip out Macemen instead of Courthouses, but a third island city plus 330 gold (capture gold plus treaty gold) and no units lost? I'm going to say that was worth it.

I'm still researching Optics ahead of Construction. This might be my death. TBS is saving more gold than I do at full economy while teching faster than I do at full tech. But I'm betting he's still something like 7ish turns from Knights? And then he has to build them, so I'm hopeful I can go Optics->Construction->Engineering before his knights show up at my doorstep.

TBS is playing phenomenally, by the way. He has double my economy (MoM golden age, admittedly). He just revolted into Vassalage. It'll be interesting to see where this game goes next. Since I just took a city off Mjmd, it makes sense for TBS to target me, under the assumption that he doesn't have to worry about Mjmd for a bit. If I'm TBS, I consolidate my half of the continent to get on equal territorial footing with Mjmd and then trust the mass of wonders and American libraries to get a decisive edge over the Org player.

Very, very interesting game. But it looks like I have to pay close attention to TBS rather than shipping my army overseas to torment the newbies. I'm sorry, lurkers.

[naufragar]

Oh, better far to live and die under the brave black flag I fly, than play a sanctimonious part with a pirate head and a pirate heart.






TBS just revolted to Vassalage last turn, so even with his golden age, he needs ~4 turns to switch to slavery. But man, TBS is just so good. He will be able to swap back with golden age turns and avoid anarchy. His power's also been climbing, which smells like catapults to me, although he's only had the tech for 5 turns. But his capital can 2-turn them, so I'm expecting 5ish by the time I'm in range. So he very well might be able to kill my stack with just what he's got. Oh, plus 2 turns until he can build crossbows. Terrifying, but you can't sit on the pirate throne and not roll the dice.

[naufragar]

Man, it sucks playing against people who are on their toes.



I gave TBS about as little warning as I could, and he's already got a force together than can just about destroy mine. The three workers ready to chop the jungle so I can't stand next to Antioch safely is a nice touch. (Serfdom, so only 3 workers needed.)

Decent shot I can burn Ashurbanipal, but I have a bad feeling about stepping close to Antioch. Sims say I win the engagement with what's shown, but he'll finish building stuff and is undoubtedly bringing up troops from the fog.

If I can get a t119 peace treaty, I'll consider that as much cover as I could reasonably hope for in which to get anti-knight defenses up.

Mjmd and TBS no longer share open borders. Don't know whose idea that was. My read of Mjmd is not of one quick to jump on an opportunistic dogpile, but we'll see if he pushes towards Celsus in the next couple turns. If he doesn't start moving right now, I likely won't still be in the war when he gets there. (Or if I am in the war, it's because I've been beaten on the field and am in desperate retreat. )

TBS is good! Fun to play against!