[Spoilers] Dreylin's short visit to a late Era

[OT4E]

I have some experience in later eras I will be glad to share if you, guys, accept me as a dedlurk

[Dreylin]

Thanks Elum, I'll have a play and see where it goes.

OT4E, be very happy to have you along ... although you might have to accept there's a good chance I'll build too many Mines...

BTW, the reference to cheaper Settlers in relation to Forges was in parallel to the tech thread discussion of Settler discounts.

[OT4E]

OT4E, be very happy to have you along ... although you might have to accept there's a good chance I'll build too many Mines...

I will continue trying to do something with it.

My trait rankings and explanation:

AGG - barracks are pretty cheap, star* is something you must use in very early conflict, later it is cavalry time. Drydocks in 2-3 well-developed cities are not a problem
CHM- with Vassalage and Theocraty you can make 3-promo cavalry. 3-promo cavalry >>> 2-promo cavalry.
EXP - 15 hammer for settler is not significant discount, but worker bonus is better than nothing (CRE or PRO)
FIN - good for developing
IMP - great
IND - useless, since forges are done and wonder options are very limited
ORG - pays off in the late game
PHI - great for developing and rushing technologies
SPI - the best option for both developing and invasion

So I would strongly recommend the following leaders:
Gandhi (Phi/Spi) of the Khmer, great for both agressive and development oriented behavior
Brennus (Chm/Spi) of the Vikings . Industrial era provides you very rich options for naval battles.
Montezuma (Agg/Spi) of Germany. The best option for rush imho but if you are focused to survive till tanks nobody can prevent you from.
Asoka (Spi/Org) of Aztec. You are not going to need mines with this civ.

Intersting combos:
Darius (Fin/Org) of the Dutch. Dutch has strong Galeon which can work impressive in the Industrial Era. UB+FIN is a dream combination, just grow and have fun. The only problem is its hard to survive early game without SPI and any bonuses for expansion and development
Boudica (Agg/Chm) of Russia, if you dont need to worry about being rushed with cavalries, the half of defensive measures are done. Commando infantries are available on 13 exp.

Not bad, but less flexible:
Peter (Exp/Phi) of India
Joao (Imp/Exp) of Carthage
Julius Caesar (Imp/Org) of Japan
Genghis Khan (Imp/Agg) of the USA

I would not recommend at all:
Augustus Caesar (Ind/Imp) of Rome
Fredrick (Phi/Org) of the Holy Roman Empire
Hammurabi (Agg/Org) of England
Lincoln (Chm/Phi) of the Mongols

[OT4E]

About the opening. You start with just 2 workers for 3 cities, this is great disbalance. So you need to build more workers as soon as possible. Losing turns for moving your settlers is not welcome because you get workers and new settlers later also.

Point 1. You start from Universal Sufferage and put your science slider on 0%. You also have 100 starting gold, so you will get +20-30 gpt when you plant and connect your first three cities. It will bring you 2-3 extra workers by turn 6. I would recommend to invest into the science only when you build Oxford.

Point 2. If you are SPI you can start from Slavery and whip 2 more workers in city #2 and #3. And on the turn 6 convert to Serfdorm. How good Serfdorm is I have to check. All games I played were on Quick speed and there you can build road in a single workerturn, which is great. But I am not sure it will work for Normal.

[OT4E]

For Oxford you need 6 cities(3 more settlers) and 6 universities and decent production in cap to build it. This is if you are focused on development, though you cant forget about military aspect also. If you manage to plant 6 cities you can easily make a circle of drafts. But this requires SPI to switch between civics. Being SPI you can use such luxuries as Emancipation, Pacifism and Serfdorm. If you switch on Emancipation early you will get eaten. But all those things can make your strategy much more interesting. Other leaders require special treatments, but they are playable too. Just wanted to say that building economy will be easier with Montezuma than with Peter or Darius, surprisingly.

[OT4E]

I have a draft of idea of Kremlin run. Kremlin combined with state property guarantees you production domination.
First 10-15 turns you play normally growing the first GE, it is the only chance to get 100% of GE. But you prepare 2 cities to grow GPs using Caste and Pacifism, this requires you not to put citizen as engineers as automated governer does and spam farms. Then you grow 2 GS for the scientific method and 1 GA for Communism. Or it can be 1 GS and 2 GA since Scientific method is cheap tech and can be done by raw output of Representation specialists. Artists can help you to push borders in fronts too.

This is alternative to Oxford shot, dont try to make both, lol. Each of those strategies can be adopted to the leaders strengths and weaknesses, though SPI and/or PHI are in the priorities.

[OT4E]

Whats on the other hand? The most fearsome opening is to make 5 cities, go for all farms and convert nationhood and draft for 6-7 turns. This will make you put drama slider on somewhat like 40-50%, but with such a military you can capture those whose dreams aimed on SoL, Oxford or Kremlin.

You can draft 3 cities per turn, but in fact you can also whip some basic catapults and trebutchets to bombard defenses or galeons to deliver your troops quicker.

AGG England can make somebody unhappy very early this way. But it can also work with other AGG or even non-AGG leaders from the list.

[Dreylin]

Well it's good to know I wasn't too far off the mark with Trait / Civ evaluations; which I think cements Gandhi as first-pick and I'll sort out an order for the next 6 picks.

Let's see who we get before making any decisions, but both options sound interesting. How do you rate Corporations in this environment; worthwhile, or too long to get to / get going?

Out of interest, is your late era experience primarily Duel, or larger games as well?

Oh, and I checked Serfdom and it won't allow 1t roads on its own - after Steam Power though, the two 50% should add up to 1t Roads.

[OT4E]

Well it's good to know I wasn't too far off the mark with Trait / Civ evaluations; which I think cements Gandhi as first-pick and I'll sort out an order for the next 6 picks.

Let's see who we get before making any decisions, but both options sound interesting. How do you rate Corporations in this environment; worthwhile, or too long to get to / get going?

Out of interest, is your late era experience primarily Duel, or larger games as well?

Oh, and I checked Serfdom and it won't allow 1t roads on its own - after Steam Power though, the two 50% should add up to 1t Roads.

I played 3x3 teamers mostly in this era, but I have some experience of individual games with many players, also few duels. It is my favourite era, because of very rich and many-sided gameplay.

Gandi seems to be great and balanced pick for this setup, but we could try something special also. What style of the playing are you leaning to? Early or mid-game aggression or balanced development?

[Dreylin]

Probably leaning against early aggression; I'd like to have a bit more of a look at the era's gameplay, so develop a bit before pushing against anyone.