SPOILERS : Twinkletoes' Mystery Thread - PBEM7

[Twinkletoes89]

Right........

Well lets just say I've never been that angry on a birthday before!

But the cold light of day has arrived and I am a lot calmer now. I have received messages from both scooter and Serdoa and I think the hatchet can be buried (at least with scooter who (if he had sent his message first) probably wouldn't have ended up with such an over the top response).

I have told Moogle not to break the deal now, as that truly would be compromising the integrity of the game and a spiteful act of teenage petulance which I thought was long behind me!

I am still hurt by their suggestions, but I've got a cracking day planned today and I won't let a game spoil that!

At least my thread became entertaining again!

[Twinkletoes89]

Well its been a while and I am sure you are all pretty much up to date with what has happened from the other threads, but I might as well do a small update now.

My mainland cities are pretty much gone now. Pharsalus was lost 2 turns ago and Zama is likely to fall soon as most of my defence (which wasn't much) was in Pharsalus and i'm just adopting a scorched earth policy with my units now.

Things are a bit calmer diplomatically (probably because Serdoa knows how much this war has cost him in relation to scooter & even Moogle). He spent the time being arrogant and crowing about victory, but now he's trying to make peace. There will be no peace with me now my game is done. My main plan now is to build a fleet of 10 tririmes and take down some seafood nets before my island is invaded.

With the question of my survival only a matter of time from being answered, its time to take self-inventory over this game.

Good Bits

- I think my city placement was a lot better than in PBEM3
- Also my peacetime economic development was good, as I believe I was working mature cottages some time before the others.
- Early expansion was pretty solid and I didn't fall miles behind in the early game
- The agreement to get half of the land between me and Serdoa while everyone else was just giving up that land was a good move.

The Bad

- Complete failure to build up a strong defensive military, even after a warning of war over 10 turns in advance. I tried to research for better units for too long after that without building the units I had in the meantime.
- Not expanding to the offshore islands fast enough. That is where I fell behind in the mid-game.
- Not sniffing out Serdoa's switching of sides (which seems based on a false accusation of my lying) but he guaranteed me a safe flank and then attacked me which was something that made me neglect my southern defences (even more than my northern!)
- Taking too much offence at scooter's mail - he was unlucky that Serdoa got me riled and then got the brunt for his mail which was annoying, but not massively offensive. He is still in a strop over PBEM3 (as was Moogle & I bet bob & timmy are too) which annoys me as I believe you shouldn't take diplo from one game into another.

There may be a few others under both good and bad but those are my main thoughts at this point of time.

Overall, I think that my peacetime economic game has improved big time from my earlier games in that I was competitive for quite some time. I still have weaknesses in military build up & execution and my diplomacy still needs some work, but I am pretty happy with my improvement and the way I played the game up until the Moogle NAP debacle.

It'll be interesting to see the other threads soon. I'm sure Serdoa's will be fully of diplo 'anger' and some quirky stuff, plus I want to see just when he and Moogle decided to gang up on me. Scooter's will just be solid and neutral with pretty good play though he will probably mention PBEM 3 a few times in regards to me. Moogle's will probably be similar. Dazed will be anger with Serdoa mainly and the lurker thread will probably have loads of stuff about the dazed war and my defeat and not loads else. I just hope they are civil!

[Twinkletoes89]

2 updates, well I must have nothing better to do...*cough*

Well I might just have come up with a provisional plan to extend my stay a bit.

Instead of wasting hammers on loads of triremes with caravels around the corner, I am going to churn out some 1 turn galleys, a couple of settlers, group together what workers and LBs I can and 'Sir Robin' to the East.

I have no idea what is there and if its totally travesible by galley (though the fact magellan went early suggests otherwise) and see if I can escape far enough away that they won't follow.

Serdoa will have to war with Moogle or scooter or he is stuck in third place as he cannot out-expand them. If I can survive until that point, I may be able to grow out on the islands for a bit (I imagine its just islands out east - probably should've scouted there now!) and maybe sneak up a place!

Is it worth it? Probably not if islands aren't good, but what else can I do?

[novice]

I think your self-evaluation is fairly accurate, you did well in your peaceful buildup, good job. Unfortunately when conflict loomed you continued your always peace variant.

(I said as much in the lurker thread so I may as well say it to your face. )

Your Sir Robin plan sounds interesting, I'm sure there is still some fun for you to be had from this game.

[Whosit]

Yikes. Sorry I disappeared for so long. Not sure if my advice would have helped you or not, though. Catching up, though, it seems like your evaluation is pretty accurate. You needed a larger army. Can't remember if I told you to do that or not. If I didn't, someone should shoot me. Not sure if you want any comments from me on the treaties you signed.

I'm not sure if I can say anything useful at this point. It sounds like you've lost too many cities to stay in the tech race, but hopefully your "Sir Robin" plan will keep you in the game a bit longer. I suppose the trick now is to find a way to prove yourself more useful to someone else alive rather than dead.