[SPOILER] Dazedroyalty: Winter is coming!

[dazedroyalty]

Boldly, who do you favor? Who's your favorite character(s)?

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Boldly, who do you favor? Who's your favorite character(s)?

This is all written after having read most of two books, and is written so as to not give up too much of the story. Some jabs, like everyone dies, are not to be taken literally and as such are not intended to be spoilers.

The series is written to favor the Starks in a Good vs. Evil kind of way. The Starks represent some values that can be ascribed to "good"; honesty, honor, and an inclination toward self-reliance. See how the lords of Winterfell mete out justice for an example of "do it yourself" responsibility. Above all, as the story unfolds, they are the underdogs and play by the rules, and do so honorably. On the other hand, the Lannisters are, collectively, gilded, arrogant, and dishonorable. Things that are taboo and cringe-inducing are right in their wheelhouse. That makes it hard to root for them, with a few exceptions. But, those exceptions (Lannisters that you can feel good about rooting for), through their own individual virtues or challenges, serve to contrast the negative traits of House Lannister in such a way as to reinforce the overall depravity of that House, making them even more difficult to support. They are large, in charge, and you want them to die so, so hard. Mostly.

Jon Snow is probably my favorite character after two books (not quite to the end), though his youngest sister Arya is an awesome character too, as is Tyrion Lannister. Jon is the underdog (bastard, and accordingly disinherited and outcast) son of the most honorable leader of the most honorable family, seems to be finding his way through adolescence/young adulthood despite difficult circumstances (doing so with a healthy dose of self-reliance and a dash of melodrama) and is proving himself to be adept and courageous. This is a good character to root for, and one you feel good about wanting to overcome circumstances and rise to the top. Having said that, everyone dies, so I'll be sad if/when his turn comes up.

The author's greatest success IMO is creating such a vast set of intricate, flawed characters. None of them are perfect, even the rigid, honor-obsessed Eddard Stark with his bastard son, and yet even the most deplorable among them have a shred of humanity. No cardboard cutouts here.

If I get a unit named after me, or you settle a city in the tundra, it should be Boldly Going Snowhere because winter is coming.

[dazedroyalty]

This is all written after having read most of two books, and is written so as to not give up too much of the story. Some jabs, like everyone dies, are not to be taken literally and as such are not intended to be spoilers.

The series is written to favor the Starks in a Good vs. Evil kind of way. The Starks represent some values that can be ascribed to "good"; honesty, honor, and an inclination toward self-reliance. See how the lords of Winterfell mete out justice for an example of "do it yourself" responsibility. Above all, as the story unfolds, they are the underdogs and play by the rules, and do so honorably. On the other hand, the Lannisters are, collectively, gilded, arrogant, and dishonorable. Things that are taboo and cringe-inducing are right in their wheelhouse. That makes it hard to root for them, with a few exceptions. But, those exceptions (Lannisters that you can feel good about rooting for), through their own individual virtues or challenges, serve to contrast the negative traits of House Lannister in such a way as to reinforce the overall depravity of that House, making them even more difficult to support. They are large, in charge, and you want them to die so, so hard. Mostly.

Jon Snow is probably my favorite character after two books (not quite to the end), though his youngest sister Arya is an awesome character too, as is Tyrion Lannister. Jon is the underdog (bastard, and accordingly disinherited and outcast) son of the most honorable leader of the most honorable family, seems to be finding his way through adolescence/young adulthood despite difficult circumstances (doing so with a healthy dose of self-reliance and a dash of melodrama) and is proving himself to be adept and courageous. This is a good character to root for, and one you feel good about wanting to overcome circumstances and rise to the top. Having said that, everyone dies, so I'll be sad if/when his turn comes up.

The author's greatest success IMO is creating such a vast set of intricate, flawed characters. None of them are perfect, even the rigid, honor-obsessed Eddard Stark with his bastard son, and yet even the most deplorable among them have a shred of humanity. No cardboard cutouts here.

If I get a unit named after me, or you settle a city in the tundra, it should be Boldly Going Snowhere because winter is coming.

Based on the TV show, I like Danerys the most but I'm waiting to see if she comes out as well in the books. I heard that the show is very faithful to the books to start (definitely true now that I'm 50 pages from teh end of Book 1), but that it starts to diverge more later. We'll see!

I was glad when I read that George R.R. Martin had given the show runners an outline of how the series is going to end just in case he dies. I hope that he doesn't but he is taking his time and the books are getting longer as he goes so it's good to have a "just in case" plan.

Here is what I know of the Sunset Lands so far:



It's not cold enough to be the North. Not enough plains to be the Dothraki Sea, so I am gonna say we're in the south somewhere.
It's too bad that my scout went East first and then circled back West since it seems the West has come to an end most likely while the East would continue on with fertile land. Definitely want to get my Financial self on those grasslands, especially near rivers.

Don't pay too much attention to the city signs. I was just brainstorming a couple of turns ago while bored. Will change greatly most likely as map is uncovered. I'd like city 2 to either overlap with the capital to work some cottages for it or claim a strategic resource, preferably bronze. Still no clue where that is, though.

I picked Victoria because 1) can't skip Financial but 2) Want to redeem my PBEM29 overuse of IMP. I'm Darius in another game I'm in now and Elizabeth doesn't interest me because I don't enjoy great people management. I'm hoping to chop some settlers to take advantage of the hammer benefit I get. Would have liked a few more forests in the capital so here's hoping for some random growths.

I've been thinking a lot about religion--will the Seven Kingdoms follow the Old Gods of the First Men or the New Gods of the Andals (i.e. get an early religion or late)? Since I'm not Creative or Industrious (Stonehenge), I think religion is the best bet for me to pop borders--I hate monuments. I unfortunately, I had to research fishing first, then I'm gonna get bronze. At that point, I should have all the techs I need to develop the visible land. If I go religion, though, I need Mysticism plus the religion tech(s). Which would mean delaying pottery. However, I think it's worth it. I didn't get an early religion in PBEM49 and wish I had even though I got Stonehenge. The OR bonus is just so nice for setting up new cities. I'll be watching when religions fall but the tech path may be Mining->BW->Mysticism->Polytheism and then onto Monotheism if necessary. That woudn't be ideal to have to go to Mono to get a religion but it would open up a possible early Monarchy and the double revolt to OR and Hereditary Rule.

I don't have a good idea about when to switch into Religion though. I wish I could switch religion and civics in the same anarchy. I might consider delaying Slavery until I get a religion if that was the case. Alas... 1t for Slavery, 1t for religion and 1t for Org/HR is a lot of early game turns--and that's assuming I wait for HR to get into OR.

I don't have time or interest to do opponent analysis in this game but Serdoa is the clear favorite (duh!) and WarriorKnight's team has strong potential. None of the others really scare me though I guess there could be some dark horses. Don't know.

Long term plan: keep using IMP to claim land early but do a better job of watching the maintenance costs. Depending on the land layout IMP could be immensely valuable to beat opponents to a site or it could turn out to suck. We'll see.

Finally, Benjen Stark has been out exploring so long that Jon Snow is despairing for his return. Lord Mormont has clearly assumed him to be dead. But never fear, he's still out there ranging the wilderness to bring back information.



Come to think of it, since we're getting immediate knowledge of what he finds, he must be sending back crows. Which makes Jon and Lord Mormont look kinda dumb for thinking him dead...

[spacetyrantxenu]

Does this mean you're required to build the Great Wall to keep out the white walkers?

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Nice report. This is going to be fun.

Does this mean you're required to build the Great Wall to keep out the white walkers?

No, The Wall goes in the North, everyone knows that. This looks more like the upper (northern) end of The Reach, north of Highgarden. The Gold Road will run to the west to Casterly Rock, and the Rose Road to the south to Highgarden. Based on this information, I recommend you continue scouting to the west and alt + click upon meeting someone.

As for religion, it might be that the new gods are more powerful for you than the old, if for no other reason than that as an Imperialist power, you will need to see to your own share of the gold to pay for the costs of your empire. Don't leave it all to the Lannisters. You'll need some kind of (currency) of your own to pay your way. On the way to such a boon, you may run across a (code of laws) that gets you in touch with a higher being.

(But, if for some reason Hindu/Buddha are still around, go for it!)

[dazedroyalty]

Nice report. This is going to be fun.

Does this mean you're required to build the Great Wall to keep out the white walkers?

No, The Wall goes in the North, everyone knows that. This looks more like the upper (northern) end of The Reach, north of Highgarden. The Gold Road will run to the west to Casterly Rock, and the Rose Road to the south to Highgarden. Based on this information, I recommend you continue scouting to the west and alt + click upon meeting someone.

As for religion, it might be that the new gods are more powerful for you than the old, if for no other reason than that as an Imperialist power, you will need to see to your own share of the gold to pay for the costs of your empire. Don't leave it all to the Lannisters. You'll need some kind of currency of your own to pay your way. On the way to such a boon, you may run across a code of laws that gets you in touch with a higher being.

(But, if for some reason Hindu/Buddha are still around, go for it!)

The Great Wall would be so fitting, if only I could hack the game to make the barbs white instead of black!

I'm not entirely sure what you're advising, Boldly, regarding religion. I like the thematic connections, but maybe a quick parenthetical description would help me know exactly what you mean as well)

[spacetyrantxenu]

I think he's suggestion you skip the early religions in favor of CoL and its empire wide courthouse savings, and grab Confu while you're at it if you desire religion.

If we had minor nations in play they'd be light grey, right? Almost white!

And I can't compete on lore, I haven't read any of the books, just watched seasons 1 and 2 so far. I'm behind on season 3 because once I start watching them I'll be impatient for the next episode. So to prevent that kind of annoyance I'll wait until the season ends and then watch the whole thing in a few sessions. Until then, I'm for team Stark. Die and burn, Lannister bastards! (Except for Tyrian or however you spell it, he's OK, he's not an ass like the other Lannisters).

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Fixed my post, but Xenu parsed it rightly. If you can get an early religion, great! But, if not, go balls out for CoL. The only problem is if you gimp your economy with too many IMP cities. You have to time it just right, leaving yourself just enough economy to get to Currency without it taking forever. At that point, you can explode the economy with as many cities as you want, so long as you have some production base to build enough wealth to cover the gap. Eventually, the cottages will make the explosion of cities profitable. You just have to carry the short term deficit. The bad news is that your capital is light on river tiles. The good news is that the two cities you have tentatively marked that are closest to the capital (and thus probably next to found) have a decent number of river tiles that will give three commerce immediately. That, plus one each from trade routes and the city center ought to leave each of those cities cost neutral-ish. The one on the PH can steal the wheat and grow to 2 while you cottage the river tile. The third city would probably best wait until borders pop third ring in the capital to get the oasis in play, but it would also have FP and river grass first ring, as well as the cow, so the border pop there isn't as critical as it might be.

It's a little early for all that, though, until the map gets uncovered some more.

[Commodore]

*nods* I was just over the sea as the free cities in 34s. Not a bad theme, although I don't have much hope of those books ever resolving.

[dazedroyalty]

Well he claims to have an end already planned but he keeps adding more in between... We shall see.