The Swiss Pauli Ancient Era Review
I wanted to get something out around T50, but those plans went agley so here we go. From the top…
Team Rego (Peter of Byzantium) came up with the cunning, if somewhat obvious, plan to play quietly, shore up one flank diplomatically then crush a neighbour or two under the hooves of their overpowered UU. Started well enough, though their highly cautious approach to scouting left them lacking early contact with their neighbours. Then they discovered Gold near the Ottomans (who were to be their target) and promptly went mad: city 2 was placed so aggressively that it seems they will become the hunted.
Team AK (Willem of the Ottomans) made the terrible decision of going warrior first. If you’re worried about an ultra-early DoW then, if you start with a warrior as the Ottomans do, leave him at home. Intriguingly, they may get back into the game if their chariot rush of Byzantium succeeds. However, with their opponents sure to have archery, both times are likely to see their chances plummet.
Team IKZ (Mehmed of Inca) gained early notoriety by eliminating their southern neighbour. Aside from that, their play has been poor (e.g. last to get city 2 settled), hampered by the fact that Kodii is busy with RBPB1 and Zeviz not owning BtS. Got lucky to snag Hinduism on a coin-toss (with HRE). Lots of space to settle into, so could come back into it, assuming they can harness their EXP & ORG traits.
Mortius (Ragnar of Zulu). Oh dear. Started with a scout, and went worker first, only to be undone by Tem IKZ marching into his empty capital. Absolutely the right call from IKZ, and utter foolishness from Mortius.
Whosit (& LiPing): Shaka of Rome. LiPing’s Settler move utterly undid all the work the mapmakers put into balancing the capitals and their immediate surrounds. Won a lot of lurker sympathy for the diplomatic battle with Korea that could have ended up in another early elimination. After some initial wobbles, Whosit kept on the path to AGG Praets, and has correctly identified the need to get an economy boost thereafter (though I think early BUR would be preferable to a Great Library gambit). Has Iron the capital’s BFC, and with the Korean NAP soon to end…
Broker & plako (Gandhi of Korea). Made the surprising decision to settle in place even after finding a second river wheat within 1 move of the starting position. Having decided on peace, Korea then found that they had no copper within range as a result of Rome’s Settler move. Struggling to come up with any sort of plan to deal with the threat posed by Rome. Have recently discovered some off-shore copper, and, unbeknownst to them, have Iron 1N of Pyongyang’s centre tile.
Nakor & DMOC (Darius of HRE). Not a great deal of interest to say about this team which has been going quietly about its business. Forced to settle aggressively towards for Mali for their Copper, it will be interesting to see how they fare now that they are finally getting contact with other teams. Lost a coin-toss with IKZ for Hinduism last turn which is a setback, though they do have marble nearby which makes a Great Library gambit an appealing option.
Dantski (Julius of Mali). Quite a shaky start from this one-man show. Some odd tech choices (Archery & Mysticism before Agriculture, for example), rather gauche diplomacy (agreeing NAPs when you actually do have Skirmishers at large, not seeing through Sullla‘s rather transparent settling email), and a lack of workers don’t bode well. Not favoured by a map where the food resources are relatively far away from the capital, creating a disparate empire that may be vulnerable to attack.
Sullla & Speaker (Liz of India). The bookies’ favourite now has its nose in front (on the scoreboard at least). Settler move went well, but not overwhelmingly so. Favoured by having plenty of food close to home, but they‘re also the team that‘s putting the most hours into their play. First to three cities, this team looks well set to make good on their plan to get a game-breaking tech lead then smash some heads.
Jowy (& Yaz): Pacal of Greece. Had to endure some bad breaks in the early running: losing their initial scout and the first warrior they trained was tough, but things looked grim when they discovered there was no (mainland) copper to claim. Were also late settling city 2, but with the fact that city 3 is soon to be founded then maybe they (or more right Jowy since Yaz is away) can get back on track.
