[SPOILERS]Specialist of Everything: JC of the Zulu

[Gawdzak]

Got the Zulus.

I think I've talked about what I really thought about the Zulus. So what's next?

Well logic dictates that I would pair this civ with AGG right? For the UB synergy.

Well I'm probably NOT going to take AGG.

It comes down to am I willing to give up one of IMP/FIN/ORG for AGG and cheap Ikhandas. My gut tells me that it's not worth it.
Put another way, would I be happy to have the Zulus over other civs even if I built no Ikhandas? The answer to that question is absolutely yes. Zulus is a better option than all the Hunting/Mining civs and the only other civ that comes close is Mongolia. Ultimately I wanted to deny the Zulus to my opponents.

My top choice leader is still Julius Caesar. With only three people to pick their leader after me: Mackoti, Plako and REM, if no one before me have picked Industrious there's an argument for me picking up an Industrious leader.

Huayna Capac and Roosevelt are both too slow, so Bismark, Qin, or the other Caesar are all good option if I decide to go that route.

What's the chance that people after me picking up Industrious? Both Mackoti and Plako are experienced veterans in the game. So they would definitely recognize the meta implications. REM? I have no idea.

However, Plako is playing an Industrious leader in PB18, would he be inclined to play one again?
(Possible PB18 spoilers)

It surely gets repetitive building the TGLH every game right?

REM is also playing an Industrious leader in PBEM61, so there's that.

Mackoti have an reputation for his affinity for building wonders. So I think there's a good chance for him to pick Industrious if not many people have picked Industrious.

[Gawdzak]

Got JC too. I got my first choice leader and civ so if I lose it's the mapmaker's fault.

I even came up with a naming scheme! With the new title for the "threat", I'm sure you can even figure out what it is.

[Ichabod]

Got JC too. I got my first choice leader and civ so if I lose it's the mapmaker's fault.

[Gawdzak]

Picks are in, going to give a few general thoughts.

Commodore - Tokugawa of the Dutch (Agriculture/Fishing)
Gavagai -Huayna Capac of England (Fishing/Mining)
GermanBorsche - Shaka of Carthage (Fishing/Mining)
Dtay - Wang Kon of Inca (Agriculture/Mysticism)
Gawdzak -Julius Caesar of Zulu (Agriculture/Hunting)
Furungy - Darius of Vikings (Fishing/Hunting)
2metraninja - Pacal of Portugal (Fishing/Mining)
Plako - Roosevelt of Sumeria (Agriculture/Wheel)
REM/AI - Mehmed of Korea (Agriculture/Mining)
HAK and Flakes - Boudica of Egypt (Agriculture/Wheel)
Mackoti - Frederick of China (Agriculture/Mining)

5 Organized
4 Financial
3 Aggressive
3 Expansive
2 Protective
2 Industrious
1 Imperialistic
1 Charismatic
1 Philosophical
0 Spiritual
0 Creative

Organized is the most popular trait. Two of the best players in this game, Plako and Mackoti, both picked Organized. This makes me feel better about my own choice, because deep down I always wondered whether I'm a total nut or not for thinking Organized is top tier. Neither Spiritual nor Creative were picked, I guess those traits just doesn't seem appealing enough for people.

I have the only Imperialistic leader, which can be an advantage.

7 Agriculture
5 Fishing
5 Mining
2 Hunting
2 Wheel
1 Mysticism

Agriculture is the most popular tech, which is expected. What's interesting is that 5 people have Fishing. Perhaps a lot of people have a coastal start. I have a coastal start as well, although with no sea food.

Dtay have the only civ with Mysticism, he will have an advantage in founding the early religions.

Will talk about the individual picks in a later post.

[Gawdzak]

Individual Pick Analysis

I was going to write a more comprehensive analysis about each player's picks. However, I was half way done one of them before I realized that I don't have the willpower to do all that for everyone. I don't know how guys like Gaspar do it. So all I'm going to do is write a couple sentences for each player.

Commodore - Tokugawa of Netherlands (Agriculture/Fishing)

Tokugawa, now that's the guy I absolutely does not want to neighbour. Very difficult to conquer and have enough early game now to help out. However, Commodore's tech rate might suffer since he is one of the few people in the game without FIN or ORG. The Dutch is good in the late game, but no one should go into a game thinking he/the game will survive until turn 200. There's no obvious synergy. Commodore probably picked the Dutch for the techs with Agriculture/Fishing, where the Dutch is the best out of a bad bunch.

Twitch emote:

Gavagai -Huayna Capac of England (Fishing/Mining)

Financial/England. Doesn't get more vanilla than that. Synergy in the cheap Stock Exchange. Gavagai will be slow going in the early game and will have to make up for that by landing key wonders. With only two IND leaders in the game, he will have a good opportunity to do so.

Twitch emote:

GermanBorsche - Shaka of Carthage (Fishing/Mining)

Carthage is great as I said before. The synergy is great in this combo with EXP Cothons and cheap barracks and stables to pump out triple promoted Numidian Cavalries. This is another leader without FIN or ORG, so Joey would ideally use the Numidians to gain some advantage against his neighbours.

Twitch emote:

Dtay - Wang Kon of Inca (Agriculture/Mysticism)

Great combo here from Dtay. This is a combo I've considered for myself but Hunting is imperative for my start. Double speed Terraces for quick expansion with FIN to back up his expansion.

Twitch emote:

Gawdzak -Julius Caesar of Zulu (Agriculture/Hunting)

Simple strategy on paper from me. Use IMP to expand fast and help pay for the expansion with ORG and Ikhandas. No AGG for Zulu might raise some eyebrows but overall I'm happy with my pick.

Twitch emote:

Furungy - Darius of Vikings (Fishing/Hunting)

Seems to me that Furungy saw his buddies Zanth and Gavagai do well with Darius in a different game and decided to take it here. Mild synergy with ORG Trading Post, although that's not worth much. Darius is very good late game, but he will have to make it there first. I don't think Furungy will make it to the late game without an insurmountable deficit in this field.

Twitch emote:

2metraninja - Pacal of Portugal (Fishing/Mining)

2metra must have a coastal start: EXP for quick workboats and Fishing as a tech. The Feitorias are good in the late especially when paired with FIN.

Twitch emote:

Plako - Roosevelt of Sumeria (Agriculture/Wheel)

Well, Plako picked another Industrious leader. Sumeria is great of course. Roosevelt is a slow starter however. There's 2 great wonder routes Plako can choose to go for. The Oracle->Metal Casting route or the Great Lighthouse route. Both are good on a big and small map.

Twitch emote:

REM/AI - Mehmed of Korea (Agriculture/Mining)

Korea have good starting techs. Mehmed as I mentioned before is slightly under-synergistic between EXP and ORG but still good. REM and AI are new guys so we will see how well they do.

Twitch emote:

HAK and Flakes - Boudica of Egypt (Agriculture/Wheel)

I have no idea why HAK would pick up Boudica here. There's no strong economic boost. While Egypt is good, pairing it with Boudica have potential to be very dangerous. This is no game winning combo but certainly can make someone else lose.

Twitch emote:

Mackoti - Frederick of China (Agriculture/Mining)

China is a good civ. Freddy is interesting. In a game with no other PHI leaders, Mackoti will have a big advantage going for the Lib race. There's some synergy in PHI China in that he could try to bulb into Machinery for early Cho-ku-nus. He mentioned something about lurkers picking Frederick, not sure if he's serious or not.

Twitch emote:

[Gaspar]

-5 points for not working in OMGScoots.

-10 points for not using SwiftRage for Joey.

Otherwise good job.

[Gawdzak]

So I rolled a few huge big and small map. It's about 2900 land tile for 11 player so around 260 per player. That's pretty big. Imperialistic would be really good here to claim more contested land. I have no idea how balanced TBS can make the map since it's so big.

I should probably outline the strategy I'm looking to execute.

Basically the nerf to slavery, I feel whipping is no longer efficient. So the whip will be used sparingly. I'm hoping to beeline CoL and Guilds then swap to Caste and spam workshops. Cottages won't be built after 1AD.

That's why I picked Organized over Financial, I want to do something other than spamming cottages.

[Gawdzak]

While we are waiting for the game to start, should probably give a few thoughts on how I would play this start.




I have Agriculture/Hunting as starting techs. Only Hunting is needed to hook up both of my resources.

The scout will move to the grasshill 1 east of the pig. This is to check whether the plains hill 1 south east of the pig is worth settling. Chances are there probably wouldn't be much, because there looks to be some jungle down south. (Yes I know I'm not suppose to be fog gazing, but I did it anyways)

Assuming settling in place. I will have 5 forests, 5 riverside grasslands and a ton of hills. In fact way too many hills for the city to work because I only have one real food resource. (plains cow is not a food resource)

Techs path will probably be Mining->Bronze Working->Wheel->Pottery->Animal Husbandry. Of course this is subjected to change depending on what I'm able to scout.

Two option for builds, the first will be worker->warrior till size 3->worker->settler. Settler comes out turn 28.

The other option is worker->warrior till size 3->settler. Settler comes out turn 26, but only 1 worker.

Again, depends on what's out there in the fog.

[Gawdzak]

T0

Move the scout, saw nothing of note.




Settled in place.




With these demo, how could one lose?

[Gawdzak]

Turn 1




All that yucky jungle down south. Turning the scout around.