RAND REDUX - ASHDOD WINS (Calmon)

[DonCorazon]

Just curious - how did you guess it was calmon other than the fact he was winning? While the sad story of Caelum is best left unmentioned, it was basically a lesson in why I should have taken an awake SC pretender instead of a rainbow when diplomacy is not an option. Sandwiched between a dual Ashdod and Jotunheim rush IIRC - it ended before it even started. Hehe, thanks Pasha.

Congrats Calmon!

[WraithLord]

Intuition I guess, but I had this strong feeling that Calmon is leading Ashdod for a long time.

[Lingchih]

I was neighbors with Ashdod the entire game. We never came to blows until the next to last turn, when he beat my Angels sieging the Ermor cap. That was the cap that won him the game.

In retropsect, I guess I should have attacked Ashdod, but Machaka and Ermor were seemingly such easy targets. I lost a lot of troops to Fundikira, and my Cylcops got killed and horribly afflicted fighting him.

[WraithLord]

I have learned from bitter experience that in RAND games, when there is a top dog and you see a weak target, you need to resist the temptation and attack the top dog . Blindly, no questions asked no expectation made (of other nations to join).

I was TC in previous RAND, had a solid position, could have made a move to stop Micah, but instead I attacked what I thought was a weak target (Jomon or Yomi) and thus did a double wrong, for not only did I not help stop Micah - I had also prevented my target from doing that.

Same in this game. Had Pythium not attacked me, I could have been in a much stronger position to help against Ashdod. Pythium, alive, would have made a great difference what with his astral dominance. He could have MHed most of Ashdod's teleporting SCs. Now, I did my best to convey to Pythium that I don't want to fight him. At first when he attacked me I didn't retaliate, I let him capture and keep my provinces in hopes that he'll understand that the greater threat was Ashdod but he kept attacking (probably took my reaction as a sign of weakness) and after sometime I had to respond which led to a bitter war that spent both of us (me coming victories wasn't such a blessing since by then I was depleted).
Also, had R'lyeh not attacked Ctis and instead attacked Ashdod the smaller neighbors of Ashdod (Ulm, TC) might have had more courage in joining the attack and so on and so forth.

But that's all part of the fun in RAND, Its much more a practice in psychology than the diplomacy games. Bottom line, ppl were either afraid to attack Ashdod, or they had chosen weaker targets instead, or couldn't do nothing about it since were chosen as said weaker targets (like Aby who got jumped by Pythium).

[Zeldor]

WraithLord:

You should have attacked my Ermor early on. I lost my whole initial army to you. You had heat aura troops and I had F9 bles for my vestals. Your troops owned my vestals and I think it was really big mistake on your side not to pursue. I don't know what I'd have to do to stop you.

I had so many bad things happen to me that I launched suicide attack on Machaka, which turned much better than I expected [but spider webs own ethereality], but then came Marignon and mopped everything

[WraithLord]

The army that beat you was my starting and only army
I had no gold with which to even recruit more units. I didn't know whether or not you has an awake SC (unlikely seeing your bless but possible nonetheless). I was in truth dismayed by my horrible economy and hence switched to an extra timid modus operandi.

[Zeldor]

I almost panicked when I lost my army there, I expected your invasion to be imminent, considering that situation. Huh :P What a lame part of the world

[atul]

Originally Posted by WraithLord

Also, had R'lyeh not attacked Ctis and instead attacked Ashdod the smaller neighbors of Ashdod (Ulm, TC) might have had more courage in joining the attack and so on and so forth.

Assuming total knowledge of geography and easy access to everywhere. At the point I could've attacked Ashdod TC (for example) could have done the same only through me. So it was a move that most probably would have resulted in me being pushed into the sea, TC fighting Ashdod in my former lands and C'tis growing vast on my northern border. In the long run it might've been the right thing to do but it would have also meant that I'd be out of the game for leader position.

I hoped TC would have seen me attacking in other direction and thus become confident enough to go against Ulm et al and in the end Ashdod, but it really seemed that the nations in the west were locked into a stalemate staring at each other angrily until Ashdod came in and wiped the board.

Heh, hindsight is fun.

[WraithLord]

I think the nations were missing a leader, I know I was expecting you to take that role

Most of the game you were in the leading position with Ashdod and when he cast the FotA and started growing exponentially I was sure you'd confront him. What would have bought time for Marignon to wipe off Ermor (And secure his VP) and for me to recover from my losses and setback caused by war with Pythium.

I am confident that had Abysia been given 4-5 more turns to summon forge and research it could have made some difference. I had huge stockpiles of gems and was just bootstrapping my summon/forge/research machine as evident by the battle at 128. Of course this was not meant to happen

[atul]

Heh, anyone who's played with me can tell you I need a kick into pants to start any sort of leading business. With this no-names-don't-ask-don't-tell regulation no kicking and thus no leading.

I was really hurting for income (R'lyeh upkeep is nuts) and gems that I just didn't find any of, guess my major motivation was not to go into a war where I didn't know for certain whether I'd get anything out of. My bad, can't promise it won't happen again.