[SPOILERS] plako

[plako]

Maybe some day you'll get a proper update...

[Mardoc]

I'd settle for a minimal update.

You got the starting screenie?

[plako]

Screenie is ok.

[plako]

So I picked PHI/IMP Suleiman of England. I don't have any experience on starting this era, but it feels like IMP is by far the best trait. Not quite certain why Justinian was banned. It would have given 1 more IMP option to pick and I don't think it is much more powerful than the pairings with ORG or FIN. I don't particularily like PHI, but none of the other IMP-options felt worth picking. At least one can start accumulating Great person points right from the start without an extra cost.

[BRickAstley]

Part of the after-game discussion from the PB33 Industrial Start game was that by general consensus, IMP and SPI were hands down the top 2 traits, so Justinian would be a lot more powerful than IMP/ORG or IMP/FIN.

[GermanJoey]

I still don't think Phi was utilized to the max in that game, although Dreylin & OT4E did do really well with it. Perhaps its star will shine brighter here...

[plako]

I guess I could do some thinking while waiting. Not gonna test out this start since there will be 1-2T of anarchy right from the beginning giving time to scout a bit further away to make the settling desicion easier.

Picks:

Scooter - Julius Caesar (IMP/ORG) of Aztecs
Alhazard - Gandhi (SPI/PHI) of Ottomans
Mackoti - Mansaa (FIN/SPI) of Byzantium
RMOG - Victoria (FIN/IMP) of the Dutch
Nicolae - Asoka (SPI/ORG) of Khmer
Plako - Suleiman (PHI/IMP) of England

Concerning my pick:
IMP is obvious beast in this game and a trait suitable for my style. Easy to use and I don't need to make very long term plans with it.

PHI is a lot harder to take advantage of. I should try to get me some of the early game prices available via bulbing or rushing wonders with Engineers. The main problem is that Gandhi can do these easily faster than me so I need to find a path where our intrests don't collide or make the cost of losing as small as possible. If I'm too slow also SPI leaders could compete via running Pacifism so had to keep that in mind too.

Main early game goals available only to 1 are Taj, Liberalism and Economics Merchant. I should probably also pursuit very early Oxford, but that will be available to me no matter what. Main thing for me is to try to guess what Gandhi player does. Direct beeline to Econimics does not make sense. However he could do that through Liberalism so I guess my safest bet is to go towards Taj. As spiritual Taj isn't that valuable to Gandhi. However I could also use an early Golden Age for generating couple of the Great persons during it so I think I'll be pursuing towards Nationalism.

My 1st great person will be Engineer on T15. Bulb would go to Gunpowder. It won't be very appealing unless I desperately need Muskets. Probably not gonna happen. So Taj would be ideal target to use it. If that fails I could also fire 1 man GA to generate more Great people, but probably growing a bit would be nescessary. Rushing Apostolic Palace could be also considered and trying to get Religious Trifecta could also be alternative goal.

Most relevant parts of bulb order. There is nothing I can do to speed up Nationalism (not gonna run caste and artists) here and Scientist bulbs are preferable so I'll be probably generating Scientists after early Engineer.

Great Prophet:
Printing Press
Education
Liberalism

Great Scientist:
Scientific Method
Physics
Education
Printing Press
Fiber Optics
Computers
Laser (BTS)
Chemistry
Fission
Fusion
Optics
Astronomy
Biology
Electricity
Flight
Genetics
Compass
Satellites
Medicine
Ecology
Advanced Flight (BTS)
Steam Power
Liberalism
Gunpowder
Refrigeration
Superconductors (BTS)
Rocketry
Combustion
Plastics
Composites
Stealth (BTS)
Military Science (BTS)
Radio
Democracy
Corporation
Communism
Economics
...

Great Artist:
Mass Media
Radio
Nationalism
Printing Press
Liberalism
Democracy
Education
Military Tradition
Communism
Astronomy
Computers
Feudalism
Constitution
...

Great Merchant:
Economics
Corporation
Constitution
Railroad
Industrialism
Fascism
Mass Media
Printing Press
Flight
Replaceable Parts
Satellites
Nationalism
...

Great Engineer:
Assembly Line
Industrialism
Combustion
Replaceable Parts
Steam Power
Steel
Robotics
Railroad
Fascism
Plastics
Corporation
Electricity
Gunpowder
Constitution
Economics
Chemistry
Fission
Genetics
Fusion
...

[darrelljs]

How many REN games have you played plako?

Darrell

[plako]

Haven't played a single game. Nevertheless I've plenty of experience from normal games and I've also done my homeworks i.e. checked out some internet resources.

[darrelljs]

You could play it cold Turkey and still win . I was thinking it would be interesting to see what you come up with if this is your first game...

Darrell