[SPOILERS] Joao "can't think of a fancy thread name" of Persia. yuris125 & Commodore

[yuris125]

With this leader, I guess it's best to play OCC...

[yuris125]

I will write hopefully a long and insightful analysis of the teams after work. For now, here's the list of the civs for future reference

1. Sunrise - Genghis of Egypt
2. Plako - Mehmed of Netherlands
3. Team FFH: Ichabod, Ilios and DaveV - Hannibal of Mali
4. Slowcheetah - Wang Kon of Inca
5. Nakor, Tatan and Serdoa - Darius of Rome
6. Team Googly: TwinkleToes and Square Leg - Louis of Carthage
7. Pindicator - Lincoln of China
8. Team Pyramids: Mackoti and Sevenspirits - Justin of Germany
9. Team bounty hunter: Lewwyn - Boudica of Korea
10. Catwalk - Shaka of Aztec
11. Spacetyrantxenu - Mao of Native America
12. Team Nyan: Lord Parkin and Nabaxo - FDR of Ethiopia
13. Antisocialmunky - Hatty of Mongolia
14. SleepingMoogle - Peter of England
15. Yuris and Commodore - Joao of Persia
16. HitAnyKey - Brennus of Ottoman
17. Azza - Washington of Viking
18. Meiz - Gandhi of Khmer

I'm reasonably happy with the leader/civ we ended up with. Joao is of course the monster of expansion, and 100% GG generation bonus can be very handy in a AW game (although his ability to expand is diminished for the same reason). Persia is nothing special, but at least we don't start with Mysticism, and Hunting is not too bad when it doesn't mean getting Scout instead of Warrior

The main problem I see with out combo is that there is no synergy whatsoever. Joao wants to build Settlers and Workers early, only deviating to Warriors when there's no choice. Persia suggests beelining to the Wheel and Immortal-rushing someone. On the other hand, it might be good that we have both avenues open in the early game, and can choose the better one after initial scouting

[Commodore]

Well, I'm glad you're happy with the combo, I was actually a bit bummed. I'd much rather see something brokenly overpowered or broken. :neenernee Ah well, at least everyone is in the same boat...poor Xenu though, he's going to be known as "that Mao guy" from here on out.

Mysticism actually wouldn't be a tragic tech to start with in this setup...18 players, AW... religions are going to be few and far between. Actually, now that I think about it, the best way for us to get religion is probably through the traditional Persian missionaries:



Culture in general will be an issue, unless of course we opt for doing what Joao does best, an actual ICS sprawl. It'll be map dependent of course, but right now I say let's try to pack as many cities closely together as we possibly can. No plan will survive contact with the enemy, of course, but in general, I think we should look at crashing the economy sometime before Pottery, if at all possible.

[Mist]

Your start

[yuris125]

Thanks Mist

Erm...

...everyone has at least 1 real food resource (at min grassland cows, grass hill sheep or irrigated rice)

PH sheep != GLH sheep. I have to assume we have another food resource in the fog

[Commodore]

Whoa. That's...kind of an awesome start, actually. Moving 1SE gets a PH plant with 2 more hammers available to push out an Exp worker (forget the freshwater, we have overpowered Apothecaries ). Soooooo many forests, if every single one of those trees isn't sunk into a settler, a worker, or a granary then we're doing it wrong. Scouting is going to be a bit of a tricky choice. I guess scout goes NE, NW and warrior goes either SW or W to ensure we don't move away from a real food bonus somewhere.

I am 100% serious about my suggestion to lay out cities in an ICS grid or even tighter. The capital, near so much river, will want to work a ton of cottages to become a bureaucracy monster but everything else should probably work on getting +4 or +6 food and just work librarians.

Merely a humble dedlurker, sahib, but I'd go AH-> Mining -> BW ->Wheel -> Pottery -> Writing -> *economy crash* -----> Math -------------> Currency -> *economy crash again* ----------------> CoL. If you want to go for a rash early war/immortal rush I am 110% behind that plan as well. All these trees would make for a lot of immortals.

[yuris125]

The start would've been awesome if we had a little more food. Definitely agree with AH - Mining - BW opening. Then we'll see, but I like going for Pottery next, picking up The Wheel for Immortals on the way. Depending on our neighbours and keeping in mind it's AW and we start with Hunting, we may consider getting Archery earlyish

Agree about ICSing hard too, the only way to play Joao is to crash economy by T40. Unless we start next to Lewwyn

[yuris125]

As for scouting, Scount definitely goes NE (because that is the only direction where the other food resource can be lurking), the second move depends on what he sees I think. I like Warrior W. Moving off the river will have effect later, as we won't be able to build a Levee... but I guess early game hammers are >>> late game hammers

[Commodore]

As for scouting, Scount definitely goes NE (because that is the only direction where the other food resource can be lurking), the second move depends on what he sees I think. I like Warrior W. Moving off the river will have effect later, as we won't be able to build a Levee... but I guess early game hammers are >>> late game hammers

Yeah, which is why I'd take a gl cow over a wet wheat if it meant being able to settle on a plains hill. Actually, as much forest as we have, if we find Ag or Hunting food, it might be better to just go Mining->BW. 1/4 tile sound good?

Warrior needs to scout too, I think. There should be nothing but farmer's gambit here...ideally, nobody attacks us. If they do...well, there is a Hannibal of Mali out there, and a Wang Kon of Inca, and a Louis of Carthage. Winning isn't going to happen by playing conservatively.

Econ crash by turn 40? That's a good goal. I'm thinking five cities, five workers, one scout, one warrior at that point.

[yuris125]

I'm thinking five cities, five workers, one scout, one warrior at that point.

That's unrealistic unfortunately. There are barbs out there in addition to bloodthirsty players, so we need at least Warrior defence in every city, preferably Archer or Axe (although that's too many hammers not spent on Workers/Settlers)