[SPOILERS] PBEM 57 Lurker Thread - It's Red Magic Time

[SevenSpirits]

I thought it would have become clear from the last of this kind of game that giving people extra military units a the start adds some pretty stupid randomness to the early game. But maybe the players want that? I dunno.

[Ceiliazul]

Well, the hill defense bonus isn't minor, but yeah...

well, commodore agrees about the hill...

Edit 3 days later: interestingly, 2 players settled the hill, 2 players settled one off the hill for more food. also, Qq is doing well!

[Ceiliazul]

Oxy seems to be pretty good at analyzing the potential battlefields, I'm looking forward to seeing him develop in this game.

[SevenSpirits]

I gained vision on his city. He suicided a warrior doing no hits, then won the coinflip with his chariot. Overall, good hammer exchange for me, but certainly not a catastrophic loss for Ruff. No need to spite attack me

So... -50h for ruff, -20h for Oxy? That is not a good hammer exchange. In a four player game you need 3:1 or better to have a "good hammer exchange". On top of that, Oxy's lost chariot was a valuable 5xp sentry, and he only got 1 great general point. Meanwhile Ruff got 4xp on his chariot and 8 great general points.

Throw the fact that he annoyed an opponent and IMO this was a very bad outcome.

Talking about whether it was a good choice or not... it's hard to say. Obviously, he didn't know how well-defended that worker was before capturing it. Since he's taking it with a sentry chariot, he can probably predict whether it's safe to keep the worker, so there is a decent chance there that he gets +1 worker for free. Still, it's not a move I would have made. There's great value to having a demilitarized border.

[Ceiliazul]

Border with Q. I really hate how it looks right now; I'll be pushing culture here, starting with the GW in Mad-eye and whipping a library in Carrow.
...
The point of this attack would be to improve my border situation with Q by getting rid of his culture in the area as well as generally weakening Q, who has the pyramids.

If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both. Honestly Oxy in a conservative game like this I'd probably take the peaceful route. The great wall doesn't suck as much on AW anyway.

[Ceiliazul]

What a beautiful Taj spot it would be, right on the corner of the empire where the culture can do the most good.

This will be the last place that gets cottages...unless I decide I can beeline Communism fast enough for it to not matter. We'll see how Liberalism Race goes. This might be a Taj Chopping Place.

Pretty good game so far, no one is completely out of it yet.