I'll do my opposition research in a similar fashion to Fintourist, split into groups by how I think they will perform, with comments on the player and their leader/civ combination. We'll start with the frontrunners, one of whom I expect to win the game:
Frontrunners
dtay - Genghis Khan (Agg/Imp) of Celtia (Gallic Warrior/Dun)
Dtay suffers from tall poppy syndrome. He starts most games ridiculously well and attracts unwanted attention to try and drag him down. He seems to hate building roads, which may have something to do with his fast starts but can leave him vulnerable. He's picked a warlike combo which I wouldn't like to start near.
Top five finish. Would swap combo.
Mackoti - Suleiman (Imp/Phi) of France (Musketeer/Salon)
Mack ditched Fin/Cre/Ind/Phi before taking Suleiman so I guess he wanted Imp. He's going to know how to get the most out of Phi too. France is a great civ and he's going to make some nice conquests around knights/muskets.
He lost out to tbs in pb31 (which may have been due to a dumb move on my part), so he's out for revenge and will get a top three finish. Would swap combo.
The Black Sword - Pericles (Cre/Phi) of Zulu (Impi/Ikhanda)
TBS took Pericles in the second round, does he have a plan, or did he fear getting a choice of IND leaders with a re-roll? TBS only ever fails to win when dtay stops him. He's beaten everyone in this field and doesn't have much to prove, so maybe he'll take it easy this time? Even with a long sequence of nerfs Zulu are still intimidating.
I'm expecting tbs to be first or second in this game. Hopefully second. Would swap combo.
plako - Justinian (Imp/Spi) of Inca (Quechua/Terrace)
I'd sell fintourist to get this combo. Plako has it.
Plako isn't the all-conquering behemoth he once was, supposedly because he hasn't been putting so much effort in, but with a great civ and a high-skill leader (and decent neighbour luck) I expect him to engage and possibly pull off the culture victory that we were planning if we got SPI.
Top five finish. Would swap combo.
Frontrunners
dtay - Genghis Khan (Agg/Imp) of Celtia (Gallic Warrior/Dun)
Dtay suffers from tall poppy syndrome. He starts most games ridiculously well and attracts unwanted attention to try and drag him down. He seems to hate building roads, which may have something to do with his fast starts but can leave him vulnerable. He's picked a warlike combo which I wouldn't like to start near.
Top five finish. Would swap combo.
Mackoti - Suleiman (Imp/Phi) of France (Musketeer/Salon)
Mack ditched Fin/Cre/Ind/Phi before taking Suleiman so I guess he wanted Imp. He's going to know how to get the most out of Phi too. France is a great civ and he's going to make some nice conquests around knights/muskets.
He lost out to tbs in pb31 (which may have been due to a dumb move on my part), so he's out for revenge and will get a top three finish. Would swap combo.
The Black Sword - Pericles (Cre/Phi) of Zulu (Impi/Ikhanda)
TBS took Pericles in the second round, does he have a plan, or did he fear getting a choice of IND leaders with a re-roll? TBS only ever fails to win when dtay stops him. He's beaten everyone in this field and doesn't have much to prove, so maybe he'll take it easy this time? Even with a long sequence of nerfs Zulu are still intimidating.
I'm expecting tbs to be first or second in this game. Hopefully second. Would swap combo.
plako - Justinian (Imp/Spi) of Inca (Quechua/Terrace)
I'd sell fintourist to get this combo. Plako has it.
Plako isn't the all-conquering behemoth he once was, supposedly because he hasn't been putting so much effort in, but with a great civ and a high-skill leader (and decent neighbour luck) I expect him to engage and possibly pull off the culture victory that we were planning if we got SPI.Top five finish. Would swap combo.
Completed: RB Demogame - Gillette, PBEM46, Pitboss 13, Pitboss 18, Pitboss 30, Pitboss 31, Pitboss 38, Pitboss 42, Pitboss 46, Pitboss 52 (Pindicator's game), Pitboss 57
In progress: Rimworld
In progress: Rimworld