Alright, pick analysis! So, last time I rated traits in a vacuum, but now we have traits paired with each other and with civs. I use the term synergy here a bit. What this means is that when you have two traits that complement each other, and give you a better advantage than if you had each one by themselves. For example, Agg and Imp pair nicely because Imp gets you more cities and Agg helps you pay for them. Pro and Inca pair nicely because you can just chop a terrace first-thing in every one of your cities, and thus you'll get a fast border pop AND fast growth onto those new tiles. On the other hand, anti-synergy means that the two traits overlap in a negative way. For example, Org helps you reduce expenses through cheap courthouses and half-priced civic maintenance, helping you keep the slider high, but Exp lets you build two cheap gold multipliers, the Market and the Grocer, which provide lose a lot of their benefit when the slider is high. So, the Exp/Org player will value cheap markets a lot less than other Exp players.
On to the picks!
1.)
Joao of Aztecs (Mysticism/Hunting) (Jaguar/Sacrificial Altar) as played by
retep
Pick rating: really good, I can't believe the Aztecs made it all the way to the bottom of the snake!
Joao lost his cheap granaries but gained cheaper workers and workboats on top of a solid mid-game economic trait that pairs perfectly with a wide empire. So, he's still the biggest REX king in the game, IMHO. The Sac altar means that he'll want to stay in slavery for a long time, so I'm guessing he wants a big empire blanketed in farms cottages instead of workshops, watermills, or windmills. Maybe he'll switch over to the latter two later. I don't think the Sac Altar needs Org to really be effective, especially as it can be built with multiple smaller whips, but retep will have to juggle Market and SA builds since they come available at about the same time. Joao also gets both cheap harbors and cheap custom houses, so that'll be really nice for him if he's got a coastal capital like I do.
Imp has a bit of synergy with the Jaguar, because Jags, despite being kinda crappy sword replacement in the RtR meta, are actually decent super-medic replacements. Agg Jags, for example, can get WIII + M1 at just 5 XP, giving the same 25% heal rate as MIII, while non-Agg needs just 10XP, a still very reasonable target. Thus, you can start planting your GGs right away, and you really only need as much XP as an Agg leader does to get Commandos. I don't think Jags are a bad unit, btw, as they're very cheap and can pull off some brutal sneak attacks, but they don't have a lot of the other nice things swords have going for them.
retep is a solid player but also a very lazy player. It seems he has many dedlurkers this game, but yet hates doing updates - so what will these guys talk about ??
2.)
Sitting Bull of Inca (Mysticism/Agriculture) (Quecha Warrior/Terrace) played by
Commodore and dtay
Pick rating: really good, this pick alone makes me despair at getting any first-to bonus in this game before the renaissance era.
A very dangerous combo here, all about getting ahead early and then winning-more later. Pro works well with Phi for working many specialists in big early cities. What they'll want to do is grow as fat as possible while securing some kind of big, chained first-to bonus, like the MoM + Taj, Lib (it is dtay after all) + Econ, TGL + Music artist, etc. With the do-it-all Terrace, half-priced with Pro, they should indeed be able to grow super fat. Quechas effectively give them half-priced garrisons even after copper is hooked and some irritating boating options.
Commodore and dtay are definitely the most veteran players here, making them perhaps the most dangerous team, but they do have pretty opposite playstyles as far as I can tell. Will they work well together, complementing each others weaknesses, or pull apart?
3.)
Rameses of Celtia (Mysticism/Hunting) (Gaellic Warrior/Dun) as played by
Grimace
Pick rating: poor, weak leader paired with a niche civ that doesn't fit
I have no idea what's going on with this pick. Celts with no Agg, Myst Ind where there was already heavy competition for Stonehenge and Oracle. Ramses is an ideal leader for AP bullshit but the celts were not the civ to pair with them here. I think the Celts are super interesting, I played them in PBEM58 to a lot of success before the game died. Gaellics are sorta like horse archers with defensive bonuses and +50% city attack, extremely dangerous units especially with a Morale GG installed, but I think you need Agg or Pro (or both!) to really make a rush with them work. IMHO Grimace shoulda first-picked a civ if he wanted Ramses - if he needed Hunting/Myst, Aztecs were a far better choice, especially for a Spi leader. Perhaps we should lookout for oracled Theology? He could do well with early OR too, that would give him an edge in getting wonders and his forges.
4.)
Shaka of Ottomans (Agriculture/Wheel) (Janissary/Hammam) as played by
Borsche and Agent427
Pick rating: great, tons of synergy
My PB18 combo, heh. It's got some really nice stuff going for it, synergy on both the UU and the UB. Drafted Agg Jans get odds on everything in the field up until Cuirs, which only get odds with double-promos. Exp Hammam is awesome, as it lets you barrel straight on from Math to Currency without ever needing to worry much about happy cap. You just keep growing and growing; 5-6 happy for 25 hammers a pop is as cheap as HR archers, without needing to research Monarchy nor pay upkeep on the archers, so good. Basically makes you an early game tech juggernaut because you can skip half the tree yet still get the benefits. There bit of anti-synergy between Agg's maintenance discounts and Exp's gold multipliers though, same with Hammurabi and Mehmed.
5.)
Mehmed of HRE (Mysticism/Hunting) (Landsknecht/Rathaus) as played by
HAK and Fenn
Pick rating: great, tons of synergy
Really great combo here. A fair bit of anti-synergy between Org's maintenance discounts and Exp's gold multipliers, but then you have late-game uber synergy between Org's half-priced factories and Exp's health bonuses to balance. A danger of this combo would be to get too infrastructure-obsessed near the end of the classical era and the start of the medieval, with half-priced courthouses, markets, and harbors all available, but luckily the HRE UU is an amazing defender. If HAK can expand well and keep his economy in order I think he'll do well this game. He will have a slow start, however, and I hope he doesn't try to beeline a religion like he did in PB20 against the other, stronger religious contenders here. Exp and Org have an alright early game together, especially if he has some nice coastal spots available.
6.)
Mao of Carthage (Fishing/Mining) (Numidian Cavalry/Cothon) as played by
Gavagai
Pick rating: great, tons of synergy
I've always wanted to play Mao of the Inca, but here's Mao of Carthage, also pretty great. Pro and Exp combo perfectly together. Cheap granaries mean you want to grow taller early, and Exp gives a way to do that with cheap markets as well as cheaper workers and workboats to make sure that you're always growing onto improved tiles. Mao is sorta like a super version of BTS's expansive in that way. Carthage gives him some good options in the midgame - numids can become amphibious attackers in lieu of Agg swords, and cheap Cothons work best when paired with big cities to take advantage of those trade-route multipliers.
7.)
Bismark of India (Mysticism/Wheel) (Fast Worker/Masoleaum) as played by
Donovan Zoi and AdrienIer
Pick rating: Ehhhhhhhhh....
So, RtR India... is a civ I do not like. The Fast Worker was nerfed hard (it is 2 move with mobility instead of 3 move, although its still the best UU in the game) and India no longer starts with Mining, instead starting with the wheel. Thus they're the slowest starter in the game and a huge pain in the ass to play early. Your early tech path and settling pattern will be entirely dominated by which resources you need to improve, and if you need a variety of techs to cover food then BW, the tech that really makes the Fast Worker shine, will be ages away. It is very likely that your FW will spend a lot of its time just building roads to nowhere waiting for techs to complete - this standard-size map should be a big help to them on the tech front at last. Combining India with Exp is totally anti-synergistic, because getting your first few FW even earlier, when you still don't have any techs only gets you... more stupid roads? Another big part of worth of the FW is that you need less workers in total to improve your tiles, meaning that getting them for even cheaper means that some of Exp's bonus is wasted. I hope these guys have a good, accurate micro plan or else this civ pick is a complete waste.
In BTS, picking India generally meant that you were a lock for Stonehenge, Ind India doubly more so. You could get BW as your first or second tech and then chop it out almost instantly. That could still be the case here, but since RtR India needs to also spend an extra 7 turns researching Mining then these guys will have to contort themselves to get BW early enough to matter. Like, if BW is your 4th tech, then that's already pushing close to T35 or so? Yet SH could fall by T40. retep's Joao and Grimace's Ramses are also SH threats so India better have a good gameplan. RtR Bismark is also special for having the cheapest discount on The Hanging Gardens, saving 50 hammers on the aqueduct via in addition to the bonus to the wonder itself from Ind. With stone, a forge, and OR, you can actually get this 450 hammer wonder for just 180 base hammers with Bismark!! A pity that they didn't pick one of the special aqueducts, like the Ottomans' or the Khmer's. Getting SH and THG should be critical to making this pick work for them, effectively turning Ind into a mini-Cre and mini-Pro trait.
As far as traits themselves, Exp and Ind have a bit of synergy, in that the extra happy from forges and markets helps you avoid the trap of HR as well as ameliorating the randomness of which happy resources you'll have on hand. Bismark will be a bit confused on where to tech in the classical era though, with two different beeline targets of MC and Currency. That said, both ARE on the path to Guilds...
8.)
Hammurabi of the Dutch (Fishing/Agriculture) (East Indiaman/Dike) as played by
Elkad
Pick rating: very poor, awkward leader + bad civ
I... do not get what's going on with this pick. Hammy can get an extremely high slider, paying less than 40% of his city expenses and half of civic costs. I think that could save me something like 500gpt in PB22, for reference. That said, Agg and Org overlap a lot in what they do for you. Your cheap courthouse won't save as much gold than it did before. I've found that with Agg, I don't really care about city maintenance at all except in the biggest, most faraway cities. In PB18, where I have a better slider due to the huge-size map and a more reasonably-shaped empire, a cheap Exp market gives more +gpt on average than a courthouse will! That said, this would have been a nice combo for the PB22 map, where my geographic situation is straight-up retarded. The one way Elkad can take advantage of his trait combo is to get libraries *everywhere* plus rush an academy in his capital. Beelining Astro for Observatories is also an idea... Zara woulda been a better leader than Hammy in that case, if Elkad really wanted do something Dutch with the Dutch.
But, IMHO, going Dutch isn't a good move in any case. I think was a terrible civ to pick, especially as second spot in the snake draft, unless Elkad knows something about the map that I don't. The East Indiaman is strong and very unique, but you need to get them filled up and into the water before your opponent gets Astro + Chemistry. In PB22, over half the civs had Astro + Chemistry before the Dutch civ ever had Astro. The Dike is also an amazing UB, but it only matters 200 turns in and then only if the map is right for it.
9.)
Genghis Khan of the Zulu (Agriculture/Hunting) (Impi/Ikhanda) as played by
Me, GermanJoey
Pick rating: great, tons of synergy
It was hard for me to choose, but I think Imp, in the end, was the better choice here, thank you based Sacajaweja dollar coin. There's some natural synergy between these two traits - Imp gives you more cities, and Agg+Ikhanda helps you pay for them. Like how Pro+Inca gets mini-Cre trait for free, Agg+Zulu get a mini-Org trait for free. In addition, Agg wants its Commando pump, and Imp makes it far, far easier to get there, so much easier that you actually have the option to, y'know, use your GGs to make super units. And there's no better unit to make super than Impis. For example, if I take Morale on a GG Impi, I get a 2-mover with mobility even if that unit is then upgraded to a rifle. I think I may want to settle my first GG, so that I can produce 7-XP impis in Vassalage, either to get 2 17-XP units (a mobility rifle and a commando rifle, for example) or a single 27 XP unit... a 27 XP Impi upgraded to a rifle gets 2-moves, mobility, C4, AND Commando.
And I don't necessarily have to upgrade, either - an mobility commando Impi in the age of railroads can penetrate up to 30 tiles into an opponent's border and raze backline cities defended by warriors, as long as you use spies to ensure that the path is clear.
My biggest problem with this combo is that I have no cheap growth or economic buildings. No cheap granary, no cheap forges, no cheap market, no cheap lighthouse, no cheap universities, no cheap Hammams, Cothons, or Rathaus. That means I've got to whip hard and often and chop early and plentifully. No saving forests for wonders or crap like that, and never chop a unit to completion (maybe an exception for the second or third worker) if I can help it. Whip settlers, buildings, and Impis to just above happy cap and then chill out the queue on a worker, rinse and repeat. I also need to beeline infrastructure techs like Writing and MC, because the earlier I can get started on that stuff the happier my whip timer will be. My chief advantage here will just be getting cities out more quickly than others, and hoping that better positioning and an earlier plant-time makes up for the poor infrastructure slew rate.
On a last note, later on, Imp's cheap custom house will be nice for when I want to switch the capital into Bureaucracy, likely in the same GA as when I switch into Economics. I think I will want an Academy at some point with this combo, although it won't be worth rushing early. Probably set it up during my first GA, and try to get that GA happening before 1AD this time.
whew...
