The (Second) MGE Sailing Succession game

[-Jrabbit]

Re: A note on "Xinning"

Originally posted by Scouse Gits
If only the plain sea squares of Scylla are converted to Eins the yield is: 10 beakers, 3 shields, 2 gold and a 2 sheaf surplus -- the trade route now has value 1

FWIW, Stu, that's what Scylla was doing on its alternate turns.

The loss of camels =3, not 4 (2 delivered, one drowned).

I really thought this would be a simple turnset. Guess I wasn't in any condition to be making decisions last night, as I was playing reactively, not analytically.

That's sad enough, but what's really depressing is that I've learned a couple things today.
Guess I forgot that you can always learn more, and should always be ready to...

As noted previously, I'm now paddling to The Institute, thanking my lucky stars that we don't have Gunpowder for SG[1]'s blunderbus.

Please continue the RCC. It amuses and occasionally enlightens...

[Bloody Monk]

Re: Re: A note on "Xinning"

Originally posted by -Jrabbit

The loss of camels =3, not 4 (2 delivered, one drowned).

No, no, no!! This is too much denial.

There were four camels and a boat in the home islands. Now there are none. All will need to be replaced. All four camels were (will be) cashed for less than value re: SOL. Two cashed in Troy and two sent on a fool's errand. You have to admit that trip to Athens was lucky beyond belief. It will be a huge surprise if those camels bring more than 140g total.

That you tried two such trips I can only guess must have been the result of willful determination to ignore Stu's reminder to "hug the coast." This is not like you. I hope you are not coming down with something.

Monk

[La Fayette]

good news (at last)

LF comes to power , looks at the "empire" and gets scared: is THIS the first sxn game we are going to lose in horror and disbelief?

Our empire is split into small pieces that our poor triremes are unable to put together and 50% of our precious trade arrows are coloured black.

LF doesn't see any other way out than: run towards Demo, buid SoL, switch to Commie and run towards Navigation (starting stealing techs from the Zulu would mean commiting suicide)

Main events:

1460: 2 hungry and thirsty camels delivered to Athens;
camel from Circe brings 64g; camel from Charybdis brings 42g: nothing to brag about (but 106 gold and beakers is much better than drowned camels).

1540: Chinese start building ... THE STATUE

1550: Hut gives musket
Spanish chariot will have Republic ... or else... we say "please, help yourself" = peace, OK for tech swapping (Astro, Feudal, Gunpowder, IronW, Magne, Math, Myst, Navig, Philo, Physics, Steam, WarriorC)
We choose Magnetism and don't ask for more (because we still need Demo ASAP)

1560: Chinese abandon

1580: Chinese start building ... THE STATUE (but we are now 3 turns from Democracy and about 4 turns from completing the 8 camels required, and a brand new Galleon is sailing at full speed towards our core islands , should get there within 4-5 turns).

Note to my successor: pleeeaaase do what you think is best (IMHO = build SoL and switch to Commie, and then do what you think is best ).

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Possibly pointless plan.

I just looked at the save; looks good, La Fayette. When did we get Engineering and Invention, though? The log doesn't mention those.

We're not quite out of the woods yet. The Galleon near Cimmeria has about 37 tiles to cover in order to get to Circe and down to Troy, picking up Camels as it goes. That's 10 turns. So, we may need to rush a Galleon in Circe instead of finishing the Camel there (and eventually disband the Galleon in Troy if necessary). We could have the Circe Galleon next turn if production is changed. A Galleon from Circe could make the trip to Troy in 6 turns, including stops at all home islands.

Circe has 1 Camel already.
Scylla has 1 Camel and another in 6 turns.
Charybdis would have 1 Camel in 9 turns.
Institute has 1 Camel and another in 13 turns.
Troy will have a Camel in 2 turns, another in 8 more.

This assumes we do no rushbuying. IMO we will need to rushbuy if we really want to get SoL. If we adjust taxes to a 50:50 split, we can gain 16 g/turn for rushbuying, as opposed to the 1 g surplus we have now. That would mean we would get Democracy in 5 turns instead of 3 turns... but we can't build the Statue for at least 6 turns, anyway! (So what's the rush?)

So my suggestion to Straybow (or duke, if Stray is still MIA) is to adjust the taxes upward. Build the Galleon in Circe instead of a van. Rush the 'van in Scylla this turn; next turn move both 'vans in Scylla to the NE corner of the island. They board the Galleon the start of the third turn. Now there are 3 'vans on board.

Then, rush the 'van in Charybdis, board the Galleon and make a beeline for the NE corner of Troy's isle. We should get there with the first move of the 5th turn. Unload all 4 'vans, which would reach Troy on turn 6. With the second move, pick up the 'van in Institute (if we have the cash, we could rush another 'van the previous turn, too). With the remainder of the movement, we could move the Galleon to within range of Troy for turn 6. Then we have 5 (or 6) 'vans delivered to Troy in 6 turns, and we should know Democracy by then, too. On turn 6, the Galleon arrives in Troy, which would have 1 (or 2, with rushing) 'vans built by itself. Either way, we should have 7 or 8 'vans in Troy. Disband the Galleon and/or the Diplomat if we're a bit short of shields.

(and no, in case you were wondering, I did not play ahead to see if this would work. )

Bottom line is, time is of the essence.

/me is still awake at 1am and can't stop thinking about how the farmer got the corn, the goose, and the fox over the river, and can now imagine how Jrabbit felt last night

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Re: good news (at last)

Originally posted by La Fayette
LF comes to power , looks at the "empire" and gets scared: is THIS the first sxn game we are going to lose in horror and disbelief?

Putting a scare into the students of the Institute is hard to do.

[La Fayette]

Re: Possibly pointless plan.

Originally posted by Six Thousand Year Old Man
When did we get Engineering and Invention, though? The log doesn't mention those.

We're not quite out of the woods yet.
(and no, in case you were wondering, I did not play ahead to see if this would work. )

1) It was on purpose that I avoided mentioning that in the log: the reader was supposed to be happy when reading that we were 3 turns from Democracy .

(we discovered Engineering in 1460, and Invention in 1530 IIRC)

2) Your 'pointless plan' corresponds roughly to what I had in mind (3 camels already available + 5 more under building in our core islands; Democracy to be discovered in 1610 = switch to zero science at once, in order to help with heavy rushbuying; 'western galleon' on the spot in 1620, but rushbuilding of one more galleon certainly very useful).

3) You seem to have had great fun designing that plan = why not play your next turn if the archer doesn't show up within 2-3 days ?

[La Fayette]

Re: Re: Possibly pointless plan.

Originally posted by La Fayette
why not play your next turn if the archer doesn't show up within 2-3 days ?

Sorry, I forgot the duke, who plays on sundays, and should therefore be my successor if the archer is missing.

[Scouse Gits]

Sounds good, LaFayette

Has the library in Ulundi been plundered?
Why have we got a Cease Fire with those clever and generous Zulus?
They are building Darwin!!!

We are not out of the fire yet, gang! My money says that there are at least 5 WoWs cooking out there...

Remind me is this a 'Spotless' game?

Stu

[duke o' york]

The Rules
1. No trade with the enemy. Period.
2. No city bribe before Robotics discovered.
3. No peeking at the map
4. All wonders and governments are allowed.

It seems we're allowed to be as as we feel appropriate.

Posted by LF
Is THIS the first sxn game we are going to lose in horror and disbelief?

*The duke's legal team assure the press that the team's dip in form is entirely a matter of coincidence and nothing to do with his introduction.*

I haven't seen anything from Stray for some time now, but will not download the game until late Friday afternoon so if STYOM wants to sneak in in front of me then he may, if Stray doesn't turn up that is.

[Scouse Gits]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
... , but what's really depressing is that I've learned a couple things today.

Depressing? Absolutely not - reasons to be joyfull !

Cheer up, Bunnyman! Only another 6,999 rooms to go - and you never know Julius might have cleaned the odd one or two by now ...

[duke o' york]

Travellers report that the Straybows have begun a great wonder: the OT!

If he takes the game before tomorrow then good, but otherwise I'll play this weekend.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

I just played, so I'm not going to be jumping in again until everyone's had a turn. Straybow (or more likely duke) is next.

Looking at what I wrote last night, though, I feel I may have crossed the line between 'advice' and 'playing someone's turns for them'. Sorry... got carried away in the moment.

Still...

Originally posted by Scouse Gits

We are not out of the fire yet, gang! My money says that there are at least 5 WoWs cooking out there...

If we want the Lady in 6-7 turns instead of 10, that IS possible... and that was the point of my longwinded plan. And if there are a lot of AI wonders in process, we may need to be done in 6 turns.

[La Fayette]

Originally posted by Scouse Gits

Has the library in Ulundi been plundered?

Why have we got a Cease Fire with those clever and generous Zulus?

1) Steal a tech from Ulundi? Certainly not: we have a top priority, which is building SoL and switching to Commie. Stealing one more tech now would mean running the risk of being beaten to SoL by the Chinese (I took Magnetism from the Spanish, only because being able to sail across the ocean also was a high priority).

2) Cease Fire with the Zulus: they offered it and I said yes (because it should help them refrain from killing our dips and sinking our triremes while we are exploring their land)

Of course I am strongly in favour of stealing techs (the Zulus have 17 that we haven't ), but not before having galleons and being commies.

[duke o' york]

Does anyone fancy telling me what I won't do then?
I've already decided not to follow STYOM's advice from above, and am looking to break some more hearts with this one. If I had put all of the 'vans into the Statue and then changed production because I noticed we needed a warrior for martial law miles away then that might cheer everyone up.....



[edit]Out of interest, which Zulu cities have we already nicked techs from? I don't want to blunder in and get the dips retunred to the capital. [/edit]

[Scouse Gits]

Hlobane has been 'done' - by me
LaFayette denies plundering Ulundi - so that's still fair game - we know of no more at this moment

Stu