[spoilers] Comm-ny-Sudragh

[Commodore]

I guess I need to do a bit of nosce te ipsum:

Commodore (yarnsmith, penultimate) as
Charlemagne (Imperialistic, Protective) of
India (Mysticism, Mining, Fast Worker, Mausoleum)
Hello everyone, I'm Commodore and this is kind of my shtick; I enjoy playing Civilization 4 with a bunch of other nerds for the entertainment of other nerds. This game has been around for almost a decade, but this weird little minority on the internet didn't like its sequel so here we are. I have a vast number of interests and hobbies currently curtailed by job and kids, so this little chop-of-time amusement is basically tailor made for me. I'm consistently the best bet for silver medalist when I play. Expect more of the same here.
Skill Consistency:
Fear Factor:
I coulda been a contender here with Chaz o' India, in my magical little dream world where the lurkers weren't smoking crack cocaine and including Vicky, Hannibal, and Bella in the lists. Be that as it may, I still think there is going to come some interest out of all of this; the mapmaker in his infinite wisdom set me near the best player in the game with the second best combo in the game. I need to out-duel him profitably and then somehow beat the rest of my rivals. India needs no introduction; Fast Workers are giving me a major turn advantage from birth. Charlemagne is...not very good, but he's also not a completely awful dueler; this is probably the fastest-starting combination in the game if the start techs weren't just hilariously bad for a double-pasture capital. Still...let's make a run at it.
Combo Power:
Early Game Power:
Middle Game Power:
Late Game Power:

Quote to keep in mind:
   

[Commodore]

That's Hunting for me, Pin, and now it looks like THH. Good deal! Mostly. Pin has Agriculture already, so I'm willing to bet that Hunting is for deer. Ivory and furs don't have amazing yields for the snowball, and charismatic isn't that desperate for happy early. Sadly, this also means chariots are probably *not* going to gank him with his pants down.


If the reader wants exercise:

So, here's More Information. Greed wants a cow/silver/pigs city there, but I'm not sure I could afford Meditation in the ensuing highly-escalated conflict. Because trust me, no part of this screenshot says anything other than "highly-escalated conflict". Ten tiles south; highly wooded, kind of hilly; I can work with this. Until I get Animal Husbandry and see horse, or a lack of horse, nothing solid can be planned of course.

One thing to remember! This means I'm also just sixteen tiles from Pindicator's capital to the north as well.

[spacetyrantxenu]

He's a devious player to have already ensnared you in a double enveloping maneuver four turns into the game. By founding his capital he is positioned to simultaneously perform a frontal assault and flank your position. Brilliant!

[SevenSpirits]

I think you can blame the lurkers for including a terrible combo for a laugh, but you can't blame them for otherwise following instructions and picking the 10 closest-together combos out of 20.

[Commodore]

Aha!

I think you can blame the lurkers for including a terrible combo for a laugh, but you can't blame them for otherwise following instructions and picking the 10 closest-together combos out of 20.

It was Seven in the Lurker Thread with Beaker Valuations that done the fell deed!

[GermanJoey]

Actually, Seven was one of many who argued that Charlemagne of India shouldn't make the cut...

[SevenSpirits]

Commodore means that he thinks my input caused lurkers to select a list including Victoria, Isabella, and Hannibal.

This is partly true. I said that I thought there was no group of 10 close-enough-together leaders and that my recommendation was to re-roll with a larger pool. But I also said which 10 leaders I would pick if I was forced to pick from those 20. I do think this list is almost as good as you can get out of those 20. Sure, you can lop off the top ones, but then you are forced to add some completely unplayable leaders on the bottom, and IMO with the options available, the differences in quality are greater if you do that. (It's the differences in quality, not the absolute quality, that is important.) But I know that you and I have differences in opinion about trait strengths in BtS. I think there are bigger differences in quality between the bad traits, while you think there are bigger differences among the good traits.

[GermanJoey]

I was just teasing. The list was really not easy to work with; t'was a real muffintop that no set of spanx could ever hope to fix.

[Commodore]

Eh, it's neither here nor there. Ought to have told Gawdzak he could swap some civs...

Water under bridge. It did give my biggest rival a slow leader and a civ with no early UU, so that's good. Unfortunately, Gawdzak opted to protect Mr. Pin's capital angle with a lake; otherwise I'd have been able to get a cheap kill with a warrior and two fast workers. I'm also jealous of Pin's 3/0/1 tile, I'd have had a much easier start with that spare beaker per turn.
   
I believe this is showing Ichabod chasing Agriculture and Dazed, AH. Given GNP and score increases. But what do I know?
   
Some people got a lot of water at the start. Poor unpicked Ragnar.

[Commodore]

I was just teasing. The list was really not easy to work with; t'was a real muffintop that no set of spanx could ever hope to fix.

Yeah, not as written. Seven actually majorly underrates Financial because he's a Civ-playing savant. For us mortals, its ease ups the power considerably. Next time, though...

Peter of Germany
Isabella of England
Ragnar of Portugal
Victoria of China
Justinian of Vikings
Frederick of Egypt
Charlemagne of India
Ramesses of Ottomans
Catherine of Ethiopia
Roosevelt of Rome
Hannibal of France

With three swaps, becomes:

Peter of China
Isabella of England
Ragnar of Portugal
Victoria of Germany
Justinian of India
Frederick of Egypt
Charlemagne of Vikings
Ramesses of Ottomans
Catherine of France
Roosevelt of Rome
Hannibal of Ethiopia

Still suspect Vicky, Bella, and the Grace of Baal ought to have been out...

Last I'll say on it. I'm not blaming anyone for me taking Chaz of the Orient; remember I had the grossly unfair Hannibal available. Mostly, I just love these "balance this set" kinds of problems. I will save my bitterness for the revelation of strat resources!