[SPOILERS] Athlete and Lewwyn are SHAKA OF THE VIKINGS

[Lewwyn]

Good write-up, Athlete and Lewwyn!
I really had no idea you and Seven were so close, if I had known, I would have used my GA a bit different.
Good game, but you made it easy for seven as well. Was there a way you could have won from this point?

Nah, not really. Thing is I didn't have a choice once I entered the game. TRD had attacked and taken the city. Athlete had borrowed money from Seven and I had to pay it back. Plus There were already existing trade agreements for happy resources. In addition to that Athlete had already signed a NAP until T200. I did make it easy for Seven but only because I didn't have much of a choice beyond that. I was at war with TRD and you had participated in a fake War with him so I was under the impression you were allied. Thus it was TRD and you versus me.

Taken all that into consideration, you would have been better off not participating in that fake war. When you did that you forced Athlete/me into looking for an ally in case you two come calling. Thus it was your own actions that forced Seven and I closer together. Even if I had wanted to try and go against Seven, by the time I finished my war with TRD he was so far ahead I couldn't have done anything. And since I still was NAPed with Seven if I had tried to help you by declaring on Seven I would have been setting a very bad precedent for myself in attacking such a loyal ally. Plus I don't think I could have actually done anything to him until I got grenadiers which was still far off by the time Seven had started in on you. By the time I had the abiilty to do anything to Seven you were already a goner.

I only took 3 of your cities, He took the rest. He had tons of wonders, tech was miles ahead even though my rate had finally caught up with his new land he'd crack his rate up even further.

Now, if I had been playing from the start, my diplo with Seven likely would have gone very differently. You and Ruff would have ended up as my most likely allies based on geography.

[SevenSpirits]

I would add that this game had a really low quantity of diplo. Not only were there very few NAPs, I don't think people talked that much at all, nor tried to cooperate much. So we too just got a big benefit from being the only two teams who really did so. It's pretty hard to do well without friends.

[Nakor]

I agree, Diplo was pretty low this game. But I think that was also due to the map. The map didn't make it necissary to go into diplo at the start, while those early turns are the ones to make good friends and talk diplo.

I agree as well that my alliance with TRD was obvious, didn't try to hide it either. To bad the war didn't go as planned. Then again, he didn't had that big a military advantage, so the war would be a struggle no matter what.

This was my first PBEM and I see it as a learning game. I think I did pretty well in the landgrab, but should have focussed more on commerce and maybe a few good wonders. Also need to use civics more, but I'm trying to get the grip of that with my two new Asoka games.