[SPOILERS] Pindicator, God-King of the Egyptians

[pindicator]

Obviously agriculture and wheel paired with the best UU in the game is too good to pass up.

Wait, this isn't civ 4?

[pindicator]

So why am I signing up for this game?

I wanted to try something new. I've dabbled around in Civ 5, but never taken it too seriously, and this seemed like a fun chance to get out and try some multiplayer while things were still in their infancy and strategies weren't too developed. Well, they are elsewhere, and I'm sure people know how to research if they want. But we are all inexperienced, so there should be more lattitude for making wrong choices.

Tonight I'll put together a "Why Egypt?" post.

[Merovech]

Not the best UU in CIV either. :P

[pindicator]

Not the best UU in CIV either. :P

I'm allowed a little poetic license

Here's what Egypt does in Civ 5:


Monument Builder - +20% production to wonders (including National Wonders, but not projects)

War Chariot - chariot archer with +1 range and does not require horses
Burial Tomb - Temple with +2 happy and no maintenance


Anyway, so why did I pick Egypt if I didn't really think I was playing Civ 4? I was tempted to go several different directions. Playing a tall game with Ethiopia: Legalism on the Tradition line would have gotten me a steady source of faith and likely the first religion for zero extra effort. Then grow tall to take advantage of the UA and defend until I have technological superiority. China was also tempting, especially when I discovered the changes that were made with Citadels: they now flip tile ownership like great artists do. And then seeing all the chivalry UU civs being taken had me thinking quite a lot about taking Germany and spamming out landsknecht.

But with this being a game where I'll be learning as I go, I figured flexibility was more important. And while with a lot of civs you know exactly what they're going to do, Egypt has a number of avenues it can take. Jack of all trades, master of none. For this game Siam is probably the next closest, except you know Siam is going to try to have a City-State strategy.

• I can grow tall: Focus on building Wonders and play defensively, growing cities. Early on that will be The Great Library and Hanging Gardens. Then target wonders and tech to them. With start bias on, Petra will be a goal. Edit: After double checking, Egypt has no start bias, so scratch the automatic Petra goal
  
  
• I can grow wide: Temples cost as much as a Colosseum and provide the same amount of happy (+2), while costing zero maintenance and 2 faith. Well, temples will actually cost a little more because you have to build a shrine first. Growing wide also melds nicely with a religious game.
  
  
• I can pursue a religious strategy: Use the wonder bonus to grab Stonehenge and emphasize Burial Tombs to get Faith coming in. Then use religious enhancers & Piety policies to make super shrines / temples, or perhaps go with Holy Warriors to purchase units with faith. And cheap temples go hand in hand with growing wide.
  
  
• I can rush: Over flat ground, War Chariots can be an early harassment tool. I can run in and grab workers before the player even knows I had a WC in the area. They aren't a fantastic UU, due to the terrain limitations of chariots, but depending on who I border I may decide aim for a quick Wheel and churn out a few chariot archers.

With lots of options, I plan on playing the map. Who my neighbors are, what the nearby land is like - those will be stronger contributors to what i end up doing. It should be fun

Achilles Heal: Burial Tombs may make me a target, due to people receiving double pillage money when they take my cities. Also, a lot of civs have win buttons: Mongolia has Keshiks, Maya and Korea can tech away much easier, Siam has city states. While I have been touting flexibility as a strength, it also means i need to stay focused on my goal and not go chasing too many rabbits at once. (Just because I have +20% wonder production doesn't mean I should build every wonder. If I rush, I need to keep in mind that there are still 4 other players besides the one I attack.) But I think Arabia and I have to "manufacture" our win button more than the other players do, so picking a good strategy and staying focused on it will be crucial.

[pindicator]

Let's meet the opponents!

Ichabod is...


Mongolian

Mongol Terror - +30% combat vs city states and city state units, Mounted Units gain +1 movement

Keshik - Knight replacement with a ranged attack. Not as strong as a camel archer, but with 5 move. However, it is not as deadly as simultaneous play
Khan - GG replacement that has greater movement and provides healing for nearby units.


Look for Ichabod to beeline for Chivalry. This means he'll get down 3 or 4 cities, turtle up early, grow tall, and have 4 - 6 horsemen ready to upgrade when he hits Chivalry. At that point he will go on the offensive and someone becomes very unlucky. My goal is to not be that unlucky person. So if I neighbor him, I need to decide if I need to rush him, or be strong enough that I encourage him to go in another direction (especially if that other direction is Serdoa or Oledavy).

Early Game
I would expect a bit of turtling and tech from Mongolia early on. He may even go for The Great Library and try to catapult towards Chivalry a bit more, but he definitely will want early libraries and Tradition policies to grow and tech.

Watch Out For
Keshiks & Khans

Achilles' Heel
Keshiks seem like an all-or-nothing proposition (even if they are super awesome for a long time). Also, he may be suseptable to an earlier military attack from Composite Bowmen or earlier. But it may be better to just point him in another direction instead.

[pindicator]

Serdoa is...


Mayan

The Long Count - After researching Theology, gain a free great person every 394 years. Must take a different GP every time this comes up. For flavor, it also changes your year date to the Mayan Calendar. (I wonder if this is to get around the earlier-turns-are-worth-more-years that the normal calendar has?)

Atlatist - An archer that can be built without teching archery.
Pyramid - Shrine replacement. +2 faith, +2 science (shrine is +1 faith)



I imagine Serdoa's goals will be Tech & Religion, using early Atlantae to delay teching Archery and emphasizing more economic techs. If Serdoa gets too wrapped up in bee-lining theology he may leave himself open to the THREE Chivalry UU of the game (Siam, Arabia, and Mongolia). Pyramids give him a little flexibility in going wide or tall, but he still wants to go tall for the fastest teching to get the most out of his UA. Serdoa will want to get an age or two ahead in tech and then go on a-conquering. However, if he gets too focused on unlocking his UA he may be vulnerable right around the time all those chivalry UUs come on the scene.

Early Game
Strong contender for Great Library to accelerate his Theology goal. But Serdoa is too smart to get wrapped up in a deep beeline without precautions. I don't see him being derailed by anything but a dedicated rush, or someone taking the wonder ahead of him.

I imagine Serdoa will be the first person to found a religion - teching Pottery first and then building a quick Pyramid seems a no-brainer. And with his shrine UB producing double the Faith of a regular shrine, I don't see any of the other civs beating him to 134 Faith to unlock the first religion.

Watch Out For
Serdoa sitting back and teching away. If he is allowed to have an early Theology unmolested then he could easily shoot off into tech with his increased GG generation.

Achilles' Heel
Will he get knocked off by one of the Chivalry UUs? He's going to be perceived as an early favorite, so I imagine he'll get more attention.

[pindicator]

Jowy is...


Arabian

Trade Caravans - +1g per trade route. Oil sources give double the resource amount

Camel Archer - Knight replacement with a strong ranged attack
Bazaar - Market replacement. Oasis worked by the city get +2g. Luxuries for this city give double the amount


I would think Jowy goes wide with Arabia to take advantage of the increased trade routes. Then Chivalry to unlock his UU. It's hard to say if he'll stick to this or get distracted by wonders along the way - I don't have a lot of experience playing with Jowy, but from reading his PB9 thread I wonder if he'll stay disciplined on a strategy or will start chasing wonders. I will need to read up on his PB9 thread to get some generalizations about his play style, but we can't draw too many conclusions since everybody is relatively new to Civ 5 MP.

Early Game
After getting initial worker techs, I imagine he will want to focus on the lower economic side of the tech tree: Wheel for roads, Currency for Bazaars, and Guilds for Macchu Picchu. I don't think he is a strong contender for early wonders, although Hanging Gardens does line up nicely with the earlier tech path.

Watch Out For
Once again, watch for a military push when Chivalry is learned. Camel Archers may not be as desireable as Keshiks or as strong as Naresuan's Elephants but I would think Jowy would want to use his Unique Unit. Aside from that, keep in mind that Bazaars will always make Jowy a potential trading partner, so "watch out" for him having a luxury to trade if I need one. Finally, if Jowy gets to the era of oil units then he could push an advantage in double oil.

Achilles' Heel
Unsure. Arabia doesn't have any dominant strength (that I can tell), so Jowy will need to play an all-around good game. I would put Jowy as one of the weaker Civ 4 players in this grouping, but I don't think that says anything about how it will do in Civ 5.

[pindicator]

Azza is...


Siamese

Father Governs Children - City States give +50% more food, culture, and faith

Naresuan's Elephant - Knight replacement. Only 2 move, but at 24 strength it isn't rivaled until lancers.
Wat - University replacement that gives +3 culture


I was chatting with oledavy a few days ago about civ choice, just bouncing around ideas, and he was of the opinion that Siam is the strongest MP civ in the game. It may not have the best UA, UU, or UB, but it is very strong in all 3. Azza's insistence on having 12 city states indicates he is going to pursue a city-state heavy strategy, perhaps trying to follow in the footsteps of SevenSpirits' winning strategy from PBEM1.

Early Game
I would expect Azza to go wide to get the most out of his UA and city state bonuses. Going wide and gaining more per-city bonuses would theoretically mean more income. We could also see him go heavy military early and attempt to gain favor among city states by fulfilling quests. I don't think one tech path would be above others; he probably is most flexible early on with an ability to play the map. Later on he will focus more on city states, perhaps even grabbing the religious enhancers that help city states along the way.

Watch Out For
Amassing City State allies. Don't let him run away with a bunch of city-states in tow, otherwise he may use that to balloon a lead. Ichabod may already be thinking about thwarting him, considering his bonus to fighting city states, so hopefully those two end up being neighbors. And you're probably tired of hearing this by now, but here is a third civ that we need to watch out for once Chivalry is known.

Achilles' Heel
If Azza can't get a sufficient city-state base, then he won't be as strong later in the game. If I can win a city state from him (or take one over militarily) then I should consider doing so. And as I said before, Ichabod may naturally do this.

[pindicator]

oledavy is...


Korean

Scholars of the Jade Hall - +2 science for all specilaists and for all Great Person tile improvements. Receive a tech boost each time a scientific building / wonder is built in the korean capital. Tech boost is equal to a Research Agreement, (but I'm not sure if that is affected by policies and technologies that boost RAs).

Hwach'a - replaces Trebuchet. Nearly twice as strong as a treb, but weaker versus cities. Also requires no resources
Turtle Ship - replaces Caravel. Nearly twice as strong as a Caravel, but cannot enter deep ocean.


Well, davy did a 180 from his original idea. When we were talking he seemed pretty high on taking Denmark, not because he thought they were great but because he wanted to stay thematic. Maybe the strong civs picked by other players changed his mind. In any case, he decided to join Serdoa in the tech away and win late category. Neither of Korea's unique units are good for attacking cities, but both are excellent at defending against invading units

Early Game
Korea would want to grow tall, so I would expect Davy to make a play for The Great Library, especially if he thinks he can get it. Wonders built in the capital give a boost to tech, so I need to keep an eye on davy and make sure to emphasize any wonder I want to get. Thankfully my UA likely has him thinking the exact same thing. He could potentially attack with Hwach'a support, but I think it's more likely that he tries to out-tech Serdoa and win that way.

Watch Out For
Like Serdoa, we don't want Davy to tech off into the sunset. If he is competitive in the midgame then he's a threat to run away in tech as cities grow onto specialists. Watching his tile improvements will be key; if he's laying down academies then we need to make sure they get pillaged or risk him running away.

Achilles' Heel
We may want to war chariot rush Davy if I find he's my neighbor. No need to take cities, just pillage and steal workers and keep him from developing.

[Merovech]

Is the civ 5 war chariot really good? I remember reading something, I think by T-Hawk, where he dismissed it.