This was my first PBEM game (I usually stick to CFC's Hall-Of-Fame and Game-Of-The-Month challenges) and was a lot of fun. I thought both akots and Kuningas played smart games....whereas I, being stuck in the middle, played a rather speculative, even dubious game.
My plan was to go for a Cultural Victory......using Slave sacrifices and getting slaves from the barbarian camps and the AIs' towns. We were supposed to be playing on Deity level, which made me think the AI would be fairly strong, or at least numerous.......a reason for the cultural victory decision in the first place! (viz. Farming for enslaved workers.) It turned out, for some reason, we were playing a Regent-Level game and the AI rolled over at the first opportunity.
After a bit of bad luck in my early confrontations with akots......did he tell y'all about the massacre of my 8 slaves?...I really wasn't sure what kind of win to go for. I know akots with the Aztecs would have to expand from the North into my teritory and Kuningas with the Incas would come at me from the South. The only trump card I had was that akots and Kuningas couldn't communicate with each other.....I made sure of that. Perhaps one of them could have sent an expensive (and otherwise useless ship) to the other's borders.
Then I thought....Hmmm....Incas are a long way off.....no battles.....just cruising along...........to have any chance here, need to make a deal with akots (Aztecs). I figured he had NO, ZERO, NONE chance of winning unless he attacked me to the South OR made an alliance with me against Kuningas, who was cruising along to a Domination Victory, AND was also leading in Culture (City & Civ)!
Since I had put all my eggs in the non-science-research-basket not wanting to waste money on techs I didn't need for a cultural win, I had to churn out archers to attack akots if he made a move or I attacked him.
In the Late(?) Game, I was hoping akots would see there was no way to win.......I had about 50 military units, good defensive positions on my northern border, and was churning out a few more units every turn. So, the plan was to ally with akots against Kuningas who was expanding and cruising to a Dom Win. Akots somehow though he could erase me AND then go on to beat Kuningas.
I thought if we combined forces, we could immediately head South and try to stop Kuningas in his tracks and avert his Dom Win. (There would have been plenty of battles, akots!!)
Since akots was only offering me a "Slow Death" option I went to Kuningas and offered him an instant Pain-Free Dom Win! He turned me Down!!.....I couldn't believe it!
I thought: "Hey, am I breeching some Rule Of PBEM Etiquette here....or Missing something?"
Anyways, I waited a few turns to see if akots would attack and realize his only chance was to ally with me against Kuningas. Nothing happened. So I went to Kuningas with a formal Peach Treaty: Offered him all my cities-1 for Peace and an instant Dom Win. This time he took it!!
Footnote: I probably shouldn't even tell you this akots....BUT....if Kuningas had declined my offer AGAIN, I was going to ally with you against him...........and then offer you my cities if and when he had been defeated.......This way you would not have had to worry about what would happen after Kuningas was defeated........since you had already rejected my "Coin Toss" idea!
When Kuningas accepted my offer, I immediately emailed him the response of "Good Choice"!.....Congratulations Kuningas.
It was a fun game guys. Well Played.....You are 2 Tough Opponents!!
Best Regards, EMan.
P.s. The CDZ Link (101 PBEM ***SPOILER*** thread) is
http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=80
