Leader / Civ selection

[Azza]

Maybe... all depends on what's there by the time it eventually gets to our pick. Might be good not to tip anyone off that we're going for IND by choosing civ first - but then that might just make the two sites after us more likely to choose an IND nation if they are rarer.

I just really wish WePlayCiv would get a move on and place their vote. They've been discussing it for days... and I'm pretty sure they originally suggested the "24 hours per decision" thing. How much time do you really need to decide to pick a Financial leader?

I think it's perfectly reasonable that they haven't decided yet, given that difficulty level is still up in the air.

[fluffyflyingpig]

Let's be fair, without a firm agreement on the difficulty level they have every right to delay.

[Lord Parkin]

Had forgotten that was still an issue. Made a reminder post.

[luddite]

Well, we're definitely not going to get Huayna. Spiritual offers a potential mini-industrious by taking an early religion and OR, but admittedly it's not as good on normal speed and with slow early teching.

So basically I think we have to choose whether we want a wonder-heavy strategy or a FIN cottage strategy.

[Amelia]

Isn't that obvious though? We go with the strategy that wasn't chosen. If everyone else picks IND, we go FIN, and if everyone else goes FIN, we go IND. Partly because IND only works if there are less of it, partly because if everyone takes FIN we're left with the bad FIN leaders only...

If Huayna is still available at 7th pick i would have nothing to say.

[antisocialmunky]

Well, we're definitely not going to get Huayna. Spiritual offers a potential mini-industrious by taking an early religion and OR, but admittedly it's not as good on normal speed and with slow early teching.

So basically I think we have to choose whether we want a wonder-heavy strategy or a FIN cottage strategy.

Dont forget StoneHenge and the free creative.

[sunrise089]

Dont forget StoneHenge and the [strike]free creative[/strike] +1 culture per city.

Sorry to nitpick, but it's important to remember what Cre really offers so as not to overvalue/undervalue certain traits.

1) It offers fast and free border pops, saving hammers on an early culture building and making city placement less dependent on first-ring tiles. Stonehenge only provides this feature, and it's a lesser version at that - border pops slower than Cre but faster than culture buildings, after the wonder is built.

2) It helps with contested cultural borders. +2 culture per tile means you generally out-produce your neighbors, and in a situation where both sides use hammers on cultural buildings the half-priced Cre buildings mean you probably keep an edge.

3) It gives a production bonus on the second or third most important building. After the Exp granary boost, half priced libraries help speed up an economy the most. Libraries come early, and you want one in most cities, so Cre saves you a lot of early game (hence more valuable) hammers.

[nabaxo]

So Suryavarman is a pretty good leader choice I hear...

[Lord Parkin]

To go off-topic a bit... what do we think would be the worst possible picks for this particular setup? Tough call, but think I'd go with Charlemagne (Pro/Imp) of America. (Little use for Settler spam with extreme maintenance - and the rest should be self explanatory.)

[pindicator]

I might quibble with you on the civ: america at least starts with Agriculture. The Celts OTOH have lackluster UU & UB and also start with Mysticism/Hunting