Gaspar, Lewwyn, et al go full Sartre

[Lewwyn]

Wow. That is awesome.

[Lewwyn]

BTW Gaspar first told me he wanted ORG. Then he said he wanted CRE too. Then we decided Zara was best. Now Gaspar is thinking we missed out on Cathy. Even though we got the two traits we identified as the one we most wanted to play.

Gaspar is incapable of happiness.

[Gaspar]

BTW Gaspar first told me he wanted ORG. Then he said he wanted CRE too. Then we decided Zara was best. Now Gaspar is thinking we missed out on Cathy. Even though we got the two traits we identified as the one we most wanted to play.

Gaspar is incapable of happiness.

This is not news.

[BRickAstley]

I love you gaspar, never stop being entertaining.

[Gaspar]

I love you gaspar, never stop being entertaining.

Not entertaining enough. Commodore has half the views on a third of the posts. What the hell is wrong with you people? I'm the most entertaining one here! I AM THE LAWNMOWER MAN!



you too, Brick.

[Gaspar]

Okay, bringing out the opponent previews. We'll start with the guy I know the most about. I'm going to do a hybrid of my usual preview style combined with my new "Player as AI" idea that was broached in the PB13 lurker thread (talking about Lewwyn, oddly enough.)

The Enemies - A Tactical Guide

Volume I - Commodore



Was there any doubt? He's playing as:

Ramesses of Rome (Spiritual, Industrious, Fishing, Mining, Praetorian, Forum)




Praetorian - suddenly scary again?

Known Knowns:

Commodore has played the most games here of anyone in this game - possibly of anyone, period. It certainly feels like he's in every game. He's had three distinct periods of his MP Civ career here. Period 1 - Peaceful builder early, spiteful warrior late. Period 2 - I AM COMMODORE, HEAR ME ROAR. Period 3 - No, seriously, look at me all peaceful and Canadian. I think we take a little of column A and a little of column B. There's no question though that he didn't like his angry young man reputation but there's also no question that he's something roughly akin to an immovable object. That in and of itself won't win you anything, but it sure as hell means its hard for you to lose. He's quite capable at managing a midgame economy but he's a little too in love with some of the same themes, particularly Liberalism and Fishing Villages. He's a good player - better than I've previously given him credit for. But I see him as roughly the same skill level as me. He has better micro, I'm better at seeing the whole picture. His biggest weakness is that he loves the cute play, and I think that shows in his pick.

Ramesses of Rome is a very Commodorian choice. He probably just immediately decided he wasn't taking anybody Cre or Exp because they're too obvious. Still, both traits are strong in a vacuum and share some synergy. Ramesses is best used to grab the Monk Wonders, which are extra exploitable with Ind to build them and then Spi to get the roided up temples cheaply. There's a perception that Ramesses really wants the Pyramids but really, you don't want to swap that much in the government column. Sure, you can get some use out of Police State that way but mostly you just want to be in Representation (maybe USuff late.) Spi's Civic swapping is most useful in the labor and religion columns, where you can basically swap between Unit/Building cycles and Whip/GPP cycles. Its a lot of fun to play, in the same way that managers like to bunt to a lot even though it doesn't help much, because you feel like you're in control a lot.

Rome on the other hand, is a pretty lousy Civilization. Fishing is the worst starting tech and the Forum is complete garbage. Praetorians are obviously very powerful but they require dedication to really execute. How early are you willing to research Iron Working? Especially how early are you willing to research them when your leader wants Religion and Wonders? Still, they're a strong deterrent - you're just not attacking Rome with Horse Archers unless you're Mongolia or something. There's no real synergy in the two, though if I know Commodore, he'll do his damnedest to make Forums work for him.

Known Unknowns:

The big question for Commodore is whether he's really happy continuing to play peaceful builder or he feels like he wants to send a message again. The other Ind player is dtay - if they get battling for wonders, that's good for everyone else. You've got to expect the Spi/Ind guy is going to have a leg up on Oracle. If he can leverage that to a production advantage through cheap forges, well, could be bad news for everyone else.

CommodoreAI Profile

Peace Weight: 5/10
Unit probability: 10/10
Wonders: 7/10

Flavors: Tech, Military

Commodore's Yearbook

Hearthstone Card He Most Reminds Me of:

Likeliness to Succeed:

Quality of Selection:

Exploitable Weakness: Overly dedicated to maintaining his rehabilitated image, falls behind in land grab, plays to another dull 3rd place.
Biggest Fear: Overly dedicated to reminding us he's excellent at being a prick when he wants to be, decides we're the team to make an example of.
Pregame Prediction: 3rd of 7

[BRickAstley]

I love you gaspar, never stop being entertaining.

Not entertaining enough. Commodore has half the views on a third of the posts. What the hell is wrong with you people? I'm the most entertaining one here! I AM THE LAWNMOWER MAN!



you too, Brick.

You need to insult more than just lewwyn, plenty other targets for ire here.

[Lewwyn]

(talking about Lewwyn, oddly enough.)

When are people not talking about me?

[Gaspar]

@Brick - Well, I did just compare Commodore to an abom, does that count? We'll continue cycling through the opponents with the guy I know the second best and on down the line. This is the last free preview - if you want the rest, I'm going to need to get comments, though.

The Enemies - A Tactical Guide

Volume II - Pindicator



More on this later.

Washington of Carthage (Expansive, Charismatic, Fishing, Mining, Numidian Cavalry, Cothon)




From first hand experience, that enhanced retreat on Numids can be quite nice.

Known Knowns:

Pindicator is one of our communities biggest feast or famine players. When he gets it right, he's been dominant. When he gets it wrong, he's been irrelevant. He loves a gambit and sometimes those blow up in your face. He's also been known to fade in and out of his games. Sometimes he's locked in and he can really be scary. Sometimes he's looking for a replacement early. Certainly, hope for the latter here but there's not a whole lot we can do to impact that choice. As a general rule he's got solid micro and good planning. But the real message is if every player here played their best possible game, Pindicator's is the strongest of the lot.

Washington of Carthage is a pretty bland choice on the surface. Expansive is the clear #2 trait but its a trait that just makes things easier, it doesn't really define a strategy. Charismatic is a helper trait, its better on maps with less happy resources, of course but generally speaking it doesn't do a ton for you. When you put the two together, well... Commodore referred to it as the whipping starter kit in PBEM24 and there's some truth to that but eh... its a pretty dull combo. Solid, but dull.

Carthage has a solid if underrated UU and UB. The Numidian Cavalry can swing wars - the high retreat combined with Charismatic can mean well promoted units that last for a long, long time. Upgrade a few well promoted ones to Knights later on... yeah, it can be a devastating force, especially paired with a Medic III unit. The Cothon isn't anything special but it makes the highly situational Harbor a much more attractive build. Of course, you have to tech Compass to take advantage of them, but still. Assuming typical Lakes style map, they're very situational. The start techs are still awful, though. Commodore and Pindicator both grabbing Fishing/Mining makes me think that they have coastal capitals. Still, work boat first is almost always weak. Even if you get your food in play quicker, you still have to build a damn worker. Unless you have Lake Fish or something, which they better not have.

Known Unknowns:

The big question as stated above is how dialed in Pindicator is. My gut feeling is he got talked into this game a bit, so I dunno how invested he ends up being. Still, he was especially eager for the picks to resolve so... it could go either way. His best performances have come on teams so its possible he feels like he has something to prove. That could be ugly. Also worth noting that along with us, he has the least obvious gameplan heading into the game. A lot of times that's much, much better. Coming in with a "I'm going to take this leader and do that" plan often leads to games like mine in 47 where you sell out for something despite the game handing you a different best play. Coming in and just intending to play good Civ can often be the best strategy. He's the biggest threat in my mind.

PindicatorAI Profile

Peace Weight: 2/10
Unit probability: 7/10
Wonders: 5/10

Flavors: Creativity, Planning

Pindicator's Yearbook

Hearthstone Card He Most Reminds Me of:

Likeliness to Succeed:

Quality of Selection:

Exploitable Weakness: Makes elaborate plan, fails, gets bored.
Biggest Fear: Makes elaborate plan, succeeds, kills everyone.
Pregame Prediction: 2nd of 7

[novice]

We all love you, Gaspar. Great posts.