[Spoilers] When Commodore is 64

[Commodore]

Okay! New turn, new tech, new theme! Plus the beginnings of a dotmap. Sequence I'm looking at now is Andreyasn->Tagon->Elf, but that might change.
    Yes I know I need to claim fast westward too...

Name list:
Schlock
Andreyasn
Tagon
Foxworthy (or Elf)
Ennesby
Bunnigus
Thurl
Theo Fobius
Murtaugh
...and so on...

[Ichabod]

You are settling Andreyasn one off the coast instead of 1N to save a river grassland?

[Commodore]

You are settling Andreyasn one off the coast instead of 1N to save a river grassland?

That's a bonus. Mostly, though, it's because I'm not what my rivals are...Creative (get the second-ring cows easily) or Financial (coastal tiles worth a damn). That one is subject to change, if the Wheel is just too much to handle I'm willing to shift it north for the free connection.

[Ichabod]

But wouldn't your capital borders have gotten the cows when you settle it? Or are you going for an extremely fast settler?

[Commodore]

But wouldn't your capital borders have gotten the cows when you settle it? Or are you going for an extremely fast settler?

Normal speed. So no pop for Schlock this side of turn 50.

[Ichabod]

But wouldn't your capital borders have gotten the cows when you settle it? Or are you going for an extremely fast settler?

Normal speed. So no pop for Schlock this side of turn 50.

[Commodore]

Well, it would be pretty oppressive except we've been reeling off a great 2t/day pace and we're already past the very first hump of boredom (worker born now woohoo).

[Commodore]

Yuri (great, small)
as
Zara Yaqob (Organized, Creative)
of
Japan (Fishing, Wheel, Pagoda, Samurai)

Yuri is easily the one of the nicest guys on RB, and actually fairly underrated as a player...depending on his focus. If he's keyed-in, paying attention, and working on a single game he can manage some really solid play...unfortunately (glass-house-dwelling stone-chucker warning), he's also prone to spread himself thin on several games. He's split into three already, and anybody watching the Hobbit movies can tell you, that's bad. If he notices incoming pain, he'll give a good fight and go down swinging...but he's bamboozlable.
Skill Consistency:
Fear Factor:

Yuri is rocking and socking the excellent Zara of the can-be-okay Japan, good for him. I having nothing but good things to say about Zara Yaqob; he's got the ideal mix of strong early-game trait with a mighty late-game trait.

Creative lost some of its early economic power with the library going away, but for expansion, it's hard to top free border pops, particularly on normal speed where the rest of us must endure painful ten turn waits after missionary, monument, or barracks come online. Look above at my dotmap, then imagine how much easier all of that is with Creative. The remaining cheap buildings of theater, coliseum, and pagoda are going to be nothing groundbreaking, but hey, who cares? Secure borders uber allies.

Organized, on the other hand, lost naught at all, which makes it strong contender for the best trait in the game. The always-on bonus of civic savings is pretty substantial, and lighthouses are an excellent cheap building (particularly where they're needed most, in low-hammer fisheries), but where you really see it pop is when courthouses come online. Holy crap on a cracker, is it nice to save 60 hammers on a building that really should be essential basically everywhere on Monarch. Factories, well, you know the code there. Win-more mechanic, blah, blah, whatever Org is still a powerhouse economy trait.

Japan is actually reasonably decent here, given we're all on what appears to be the same page. Fishing/Wheel, when you have capital fish? Yeah, I think we're all okay with that. Japan's uniques are cool but weak. Creative pagodas will be built everywhere that makes enough hammers to not get rounding-screwed, so I expect Yuri to embrace Astronomy fairly early on (hai, RBmod tech cost). Samurai can get cover/shock at birth and formation with reasonable ease, so basically call them maces as good as my own (Agg). Ish. Mildest of mild synergies: Civil Service is even better for Organized than most (halving that huge Bureaucracy cost), so unlocking the unique unit is pretty obvious. Over all, this is a pretty decent combo that I think Yuri can definitely have some fun with.
Early Game Power:
Middle Game Power:
Late Game Power:
Combo Power:

Biggest threat to:

Yum

[Commodore]

Yuri's scout is 3S; he's following me to meet Flugauto/Wetbandit/Pindicator up here. Looking nice, but I'm pretty sure this land belongs to someone else.

Hey! It's a couple Xenus!

Here's the capital Schlock, with our new worker just beginning to farm the wheat. It'll work out very nicely to land the work boat and then a warrior before going second worker->settler. This means a late-for-Imp second city around turn 30, but Wheel and Hunting are needed anyway. All these riverside tiles plus the fish makes delaying Pottery hardly painful at all.

Exactly micro available on request.

[Commodore]

Yon panther eyes the Andreysan site hungrily; definitely going to need warrior(s) for this bold expansion plan. Ideally, archers, but that ain't happening. The worker is cheerfully farming away though and we'll be able to afford some protection before hurtling madly into the abyss.

Panthers suck, what can I say.