[SPOILERS] - PBEM26 Lurker thread

[oledavy]

in other news ... recaptured a city (Sherman Lagoon to the west of my cap)

Something else to add to Gaspar and Commodore's woes.

It's interesting how different this game might look if Gaspadore had gone after Yuris instead and Sian - who in turn was planning on attacking Rego. He was the only one to recognize the huge threat Rego posed early on. Had he assaulted him and forced Rego to build military, the game would look quite different.

[timski]

Anyone noticed how Pindicator got talked out of winning again?

Pindicator built a huge army, devised a massively detailed war plan, trashed the enemy in the opening battles, and then immediately settled for peace. A peace which yields several cities that are going to be culturally swamped short-term, and hard to defend long-term, but do hike up maintenance dramatically regardless. A peace that leaves Pindicator's huge army drinking tea, since Rego is untouchable, and Sian/Gaspadore are only accessible through another's territory. On paper Yuri's offer wasn't bad, but in practice it's a mess for Pindicator.

Pindicator seems very good at finite planning (Stonehenges, build-ups to war), but (frankly) lousy at the in-finite planning (what-ifs, talking). Intriguing how those extremes play out.

[zakalwe]

I don't know... you make it sound like drinking tea is such a terrible fate. By his own reports it sounded like he might not have been able to make the same gains by force. Having several new and freshly gifted cities and an army drinking tea is better than having several newly conquered and constantly revolting cities, a battered army, and a bitter enemy preparing to counterattack.

[oledavy]

I don't know... you make it sound like drinking tea is such a terrible fate. By his own reports it sounded like he might not have been able to make the same gains by force. Having several new and freshly gifted cities and an army drinking tea is better than having several newly conquered and constantly revolting cities, a battered army, and a bitter enemy preparing to counterattack.

I concur, I don't think it was a bad deal for him. He nets six cities (four with infrastructure intact), an additional city site, plus some settlers and workers for building a military and losing three beserkers. Since he was unlikely to capture much more than that without a pro-longed fight, that's a win in my book. He made his gains and avoided becoming embroiled in a slogfest like Yuri ala Gaspadore vs. Sian.

However, I would have liked to see him turn those beserkers around and go after Rego - prevent him from using that golden age on infrastructure. As things stand, Rego is teching into the sunset and the only one who can stop him is standing idly by.

[Bobchillingworth]

People playing in games where diplomacy is allowed really need to learn that signing a long NAP with an experienced player in a decent position is a terrible idea. It happens again and again, often by players who really ought to know better (or hell, who even say that they know better, see Gaspar in 24), and it pretty much never works out well for them. I guess some people figure that they can rely on a late-game dogpile to turn things around on the leader, but RB dogpiles are kind of like chemotherapy for terminal cancer- all they do is make you feel sick and delay the inevitable.

[fluffyflyingpig]

Pindicator needs to sell off his army at absolute firesale prices so that gaspar can hit reggo. I wonder if he sees this, or can be talked into it.

Gaspar the psychic hasn't lost a beat though, pegging the pindicator/reggo connection. That guys seriously needs to take up poker.

[Ceiliazul]

Gaspar the psychic hasn't lost a beat though, pegging the pindicator/reggo connection. That guys seriously needs to take up poker.

Pindicator, on the other hand, should NOT take up poker. I posted below some of his diplo about Rego, and now he's flat contradicting himself... I don't see this ending well for Pindicator, especially if he tries to wiggle out of the NAP.

[oledavy]

Man, Rego is going to flip out when he sees Carthaginian Beserkers on his borders.

I'm all in favor of Pindicator breaking off his alliance with Rego. Something along the line of emailing him, telling him he's ending the alliance, and enacting a 10t NAP so Rego has a little time to prepare. This just seems a little underhanded though. I know it isn't explicitly against the terms of their alliance, but it certainly is against the spirit of it.

Of course, Pindicator could claim that he thought Gaspadore would use the units against Sian/Yuris and try to keep his relations with Rego intact, but I seriously doubt he would buy that.

All that being said, kudos to Pindicator for taking decisive action and not just riding out the game to an Ottoman victory. This should work out pretty damn well for him. He has +7 cities courtesy of Yuri, and he gets to set up his priest economy and probably nab the Taj for a MoM enhanced golden age. Meanwhile, Rego gets taken down a notch by Gaspadore. He'll be set to be the next runaway - or at least be on par with Rego - if he plays his cards right and develops his economy well. The problems he runs into next should will all be diplomatic. This fire sale will estrange him from Rego, and Gaspar & Commodore don't trust him as far as they can throw him. If he's going to take this step, he really needs to cozy up with Gaspadore to forestall a future dogpile, i.e. - not trade iron to Sian.

I really like that the outcome of this game will again be in question after being a foregone conclusion mere few turns ago Much more interesting to lurk.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Surely Rego has graphs on the two, and a military gift of that magnitude is going to send the alarm bells ringing.

[oledavy]

I don't know what's going on with team gaspadore, but the deal is now off. No cash again on t110 despite telling them they had to give me the funds immediately in order for it to work.

....aaaaaannnd there goes the game....again.