YARG2 , 24 players EA RAND game [7/24 players left]

[PriestyMan]

Now we get to see the vets begin to fall........ Mwahahaha

[WraithLord]

Thank you for the game Calahan.

Thanks for the AAR as well! I really respect your power to withstand all that shxtstorm for so long. in my book this is good performance

I don't want to slide into a topic that might divulge information but I want to make a comment re. your opinion of the Pan player/s. I had similar situations in other RAND games (although not that annoying I admit), I always tried to give the other player a possible good reason for behavior that seems irrational. Two examples of things that did happen to me:
- Being attacked by a nation, send that attacker reeling, then being attacked by same nation after a few turns ( I couldn't fight back since I was engage in another front). I mean wtf, you attacked me once, saw my mettle, nothing has changed - you'll only lose time and material by attacking a strong nation led by a player that you now know can fight back.
- Being neighbor to super bless nation together with another weak nation. Other weak nation attacks me, I fight him for ~12 turns and nearly kill him when the obvious happens, the bless nation kills us both

go figure, this is what happens when communication is forbidden

[rdonj]

C'tis may have been vanquished, but it shall never be defeated. The tales of its valor and remarkable will to survive will live forever in song and poetry. Men will boast to impressionable tavern wenches that they were there to witness the fall of the unassailable kingdom of C'tis :P

[WingedDog]

Thanks for the game and AAR, Cal. Though your nation was very tiny - it's influence on the course of events was huge. The world map might have looked very different way by now if it wasn't for you.

Damn, so far I didn't guess a single player correctly. Surprise every time!

[rdonj]

For the record, while christmas breaks are pretty traditional around here, I've gotten no requests to extend the timer, and have no plans of doing so unless an extension is requested. Given the 120 hosting time, that may be sufficient anyway. But as always, extension requests will be granted.

[WraithLord]

Guys, observing the nations still playing and those that are doing well I notice that, contrary to what one would expect of hard research settings, many of them or not bless or rush nations.

I think the hard research settings made for a more interesting game in which the shifting curve from sticks & stones to nuclear weapons was notably more moderate than in your average game.

I'd like to hear your feedback, now, or if you want to share or state specific details then when the game ends.

BTW, I know that players who didn't made the strategy adjustments to deal with that were screwex so let's not bring that angle back again

[Squirrelloid]

As a dead player, i think hard research really hurt my ability to do anything, and survived as long as i did only through the incompetence of the nearby bless nation (who is still alive, and thus the guilty cannot be excoriated. I hear he should have known better).

In fact, the death of a number of traditional power bless nations rather than their dominance is almost certainly due to player incompetence or inexperience. Example: Lanka dying to Ulm reeks of incompetence.

I mean, Agartha (me) was not the first dead nation by a long shot. Someone screwed up if that was the case, hard research or no, but hard research stopped me from turning that oversight into a position from which i could do something.

[WraithLord]

And how would you explain the same phenomena in first YARG, that was even won by non bless nation?

I'm looking for feedback so I could decide on the settings for the sequel. I'm not hell bent on hard research but it's certainly different than your run the mill game.

Perhaps the players, dead or alive, would be kind enough to say yes or no (or elaborate if they want to) so that I can get that feedback.

As for your position, in retrospect, was your build optimal or do you think you could plan or do things differently and do better?

I know that both in this game and the previous I made grievous errors that severely hurt me. That said, in previous game I had the non bless Bogarus and got as far as staying alive until endgame.

[Squirrelloid]

So, non-bless nations tend to have stronger late games, its true, which means if a few survive the early game, one of them is likely to win. (There are exceptions of course - Lanka and Mictlan both have strong mid and late games).

I have no idea what even happened in the first YARG game, so i can't comment.

Also keep in mind that there are non-bless nations that have good early games. Sauromatia in EA, for example. Bogarus has an amazing early game, so making it to late game with them isn't surprising.

Regarding my position: I was EA Agartha. There was nothing plausibly useful i could do except hope i could gain a sufficient research advantage while i still had material left to do something. That i survived as long as i did was a miracle, especially given my neighbors. But it took so long to research essential spells that I just ran out of material before I could do anything.

TBH, i had planned on being dead by turn 20. It was kind of shocking when that failed to happen. But i pushed my research as hard as i could in the time i had, it just wasn't soon enough.

My recommendation? Don't include (non-LA) agartha in RAND games. Ever. They're simply so bad that they're unplayable when you can't conduct diplomacy.

[PriestyMan]

Bogarus has an amazing early game, so making it to late game with them isn't surprising.

i'm really hoping that you are joking here