[SPOILERS-PBEM14] Sandover(phi/spi) of Egypt

[Sandover]

Turn 75

Lets have a look at what my explorers are up to. Starting with Mardoc:



All of that is going to Gaspar since Lewwyn is busy with his current vendetta. I'm not about to vedge myself in between the of them. Makes me think the land off to my west might be fairly substantial though.

Rowain?



Turned out Serdoa had another iron near his capital. His empire is in a pretty sorry state, as can be expected.

I also sent someone suitable to explore that western island I was talking about:



By suitable I mean I don't mind too much if the boat keel over in a storm somewhere off the coast.

[Sandover]

Too damn hot today to fiddle around with screen shots. You'll have to settle with this:

Prophet Gaspar,

I've opted to avoid theology for now. Grabbing construction next, maybe machinery after that. I really don't know how to play this. Probably just going to build as many catapults as possible before machinery makes the NAP void and head in with a stack of axes and war chariots. Horse archers will beat that easily, but if he don't see it coming I can probably raze his border city and have a pretty decent head start on the way to guilds. The big question is whether he can anticipate the attack or not, and what troops he's keeping around for defense. I'm winning the border fight so I'll get visibility on Candy Land before too long.

His Dark Lordship, Pharaoh Sandover

[Sandover]

Turn 77

I had a quick chat with Lewwyn not too long ago where he said all he wanted was to focus on his personal vendetta with Serdoa.

Lies!



I'm really gonna have to look into my diplomatic principles for the next PBEM.

I expect Lewwyn to come at me with some mounted units as well, so Thespis Hill will probably fall. I've not been bothered about defending properly against him because I didn't think I had to do it based on that chat. Quite a bummer.

[Sandover]

This is where things currently stand:

Lewwyn,


I was planning on going after scooter, because it was pretty much the only chance for either of us to stop him from winning. The fact that you took my designated HE-city kinda ruins whatever limited chance I had of actually winning such a war though. So if you want to complain about scooter running away with the game, don't try to blame me for it. You're the one forcing his only neighbour who hadn't spent a lot of effort building ancient crap to do just that.


You've got a decision to make. Either hand me my city back and give me a safe front so someone can finally do something about Byzantium, or pray you can hold off a 1v2 long enough to not be the first civ eliminated. Honestly, I think we might as well congratulate scooter on the victory already as you've put such a huge dent in my war preparations even if I do get Thespis Hill back that I don't see myself making any real headway. Nevertheless, if you want me to give it a shot anyway I'm all for it. I'm only going to make this offer once though, because if I use my great engineer to bulb machinery rather than research it my NAP with scooter is still in place, and I need to make the decision whether to use him or hold him off next turn.


His Dark Lordship, Pharaoh Sandover

[Sandover]

Lewwyn did indeed have some horses coming along, so Thespis Hill was never close to holding him off. I reatreated my war chariots and left the few axes I had to defend. Sadly they only managed to kill the first catapult, as the second one withdrew, but if I had a choice I would rather save my luck for later battles so I guess it's not all bad!

At this point I have two priorities, in the following order:

1. Liberate Thespis Hill from the capitalists.
2. Prevent the capitalists from ruling the world.

Once my empire is whole again I'll do my best to support Gaspar. Whether I'll have to fight for it to happen or not is up to Lewwyn at this point. If I have to fight for it we probably won't be able to succeed in this crusade, as scooter will simply be too damn strong in comparison to the civs around him, but we'll see.

[Sandover]

Nope.

You attacked ME dude. We were at WAR. War indicates I will come after you. If you didn't want me to come after you don't declare war "to get vision" on my capital. Are you so arrogant to believe that the only way someone could defeat you is if they "tricked" you, while they were in a war with you that you initiated, into believing they wouldn't attack? Don't insult me further.

I don't have to pray that I can hold of a 2v1 until the end of the game. I'm pretty damn sure I can achieve that much considering I will not giving the city back and every turn I have more units. Fairly shortly Scooter will have teched up enough to join in the war on you.

I've had an alliance with Scooter since the beginning. You know? We kill everyone else until we're the last two standing? I won't be attacking him, if anything when you do attack him I'll come at you from the side. I am not complaining about Scooter running away. I'm more likely to complain that Serdoa is throwing the game and you're helping by declaring war on me. I'm upset that you're all holding me back. I don't let shit like that go unpunished. Of course I'd like to win, but it's a little hard to do that when Serdoa won't accept peace and NEITHER WILL YOU! I asked for peace and not only did you tell me you wanted to settle next to my capital you said you wanted to keep your options open with war. What the fuck did you think I would do?

Now I don't have to aid Scooter any more than I have, but if you won't give me peace I will do everything I can to make sure he wins and I come second.

Lewwyn

'Boy he sounds angry! Don't know what I did to make that happen. Guess it's the Sandover-effect again.

Anyway, I felt compelled to apologize. It's just a game after all:

Lewwyn,


Sorry if I insulted you, it wasn't my intention. I tend to come off a lot worse in english than I do in my native tongue. I'm just not very good at casual writing, and come off as more arrogant than I really am. Honest!


Anyway, it's good to know where you stand. I don't think it's justified to say I held you back since all I did was pillage a mine. Or well, I guess it is justfied, but the particular wording makes it sound like I did a lot more.


Don't think we'll have reason to do more diplo this game, so let me end on a high note by wishing you an enjoyable summer!


His Dark Lordship, Pharaoh Sandover

About the actual in-game stuff, it's fairly interesting that he's got an alliance with scooter. I'm gonna call it game here. Time to alert Gaspar and congratulate scooter on the victory:

Prophet Gaspar,


Bad news I'm afraid. Lewwyn just admitted to being in scooter's pocket. That's probably game for us, because even with Serdoa fighting Lewwyn geography have them in such a major advantage where you can't feasibly do anything to pressure them anywhere for a long time still.


I'll give them as much hell as I can. I suggest you do your best to grow your empire while I'm able to serve as a buffer between you and them. With clever use of drafting later on maybe you can gain a winnable position. I don't mind being a martyr if that's what it takes to bring those cookie-cutter specs down!


His Dark Lordship, Pharaoh Sandover

Scooter,


Lewwyn just expressed his willingness to support you to victory and settle for second. I'm not about to call a surrender vote, but as far as I'm concerned that alliance means game over right there. Let me congratulate you on a well played game and deserved victory!


Oh, and have an enjoyable summer by the way.


His Dark Lordship, Pharaoh Sandover

I'm not sure whether I'll be motivated to do more updates after this. I guess there will be some interesting war moves being played out that I could report, but it does seem somewhat pointless with the outcome being so clear. Hm, I don't know.

Any lurkers out there still thinking this game is worth following during the summer? Speak your minds!

[Mardoc]

Any lurkers out there still thinking this game is worth following during the summer? Speak your minds!

PBEM 14 is the only BtS game I consider worth watching. You're a big part of that. I'll still watch even if you're blown out of the water.

[Hesmyrr]

Yup. PBEM 4 and 14 are also only BtS PBEM I pay frequent attention to, and the former has more to do with me just waiting for certain someone to blow up everyone.

[Sandover]

So I'm down to 2 lurkers? Think I actually had a higher number of dedlurkers at some point.

Oh well, I'm going pretend you're not cheating on me with the other threads.

Feels a little bit better now.

Hell, since you're being that loyal I might as well muster at least a minor update. You deserve it!

Turn 82



Told you I'd gain control of that hill, didn't I?

Yeah I did!

VICTORY FOR SANDOVER!!!

[Rowain]

No worry I'm still here

And grats on conquering the Hill