RMOG: Renaissance Men of Genius

[oledavy]

Unfortunately there isn't much else to talk about while we wait for the map to be finished. While we have talked a bit about what to do with settlers, units and techs we can't finalize anything until the game starts.

Any other lurker questions before we begin?

Yeah, I'd like to do more sandboxing this Sunday, but realistically our decision may change after moving our explorer. I am glad the game is starting next week though, after my life will have calmed down a little bit.

How do I go about installing El Grillo's mod? I assume it's pretty straightforward (I just ask because I've never used a mod with Civ 4 before)

As far as naming scheme, I still haven't come up with any great ideas. I thought briefly about making city names the "RB drinking game," but I feel like we would run out of characters for most things we would want to write.

We could also resurrect a years-old meme from PBEM17/PBEM24 and echo your naming scheme in PB6 by naming each city Pindicator (Roman Numeral). That might also get us Pindicator as a lurker.

My favorite naming scheme that I can recall was NoSpaceSeven's from PBEM23 (Moons).

I do, however, have a moment to write for now, so without further ado:


Realms Beyond Presents, Real Men of Genius
(Real Men of Genius)

Today we salute you, Mr. Overenthusiastic Newbie
(Mr. Overenthusiastic Newbie)

With your great person bulb list in hand and a pennant waving from your overstuffed backpack, you are going on an adventure. (Don't forget your flashlight)

Anti-Mackoti Jan Spray at the ready, you only want people to leave you alone.
(Watch out for bears too though)

Beelining democracy, bulbing satellites, the sky is the limit for Eagle Scouts like you.
(Pacifism for the win)

So enjoy playing in your sandbox Mr. Overenthusiastic Newbie, and who knows, maybe nobody will come stomp in it. (Mr. Overenthusiastic Newbie)


Real Thoughts

Gandhi (Spiritual/Philosophical) of the Ottomans (Hamman/Jannisary)

We both thought 2nd spot in the draft was probably earlier than Gandhi should have fallen, that being said, it's pretty clear Alhazard has something very specific in mind with this pick. We felt it was a slightly weaker early selection just based on the lack of very strong early wonders or first-to bonuses.

He does get whatever he wants out of initial wonder options at the very least. I expect him to be a lock for Notre Dame/Taj Mahal if he wants them, maybe both. He may also go the Priest Economy route (although I forget who asked about the AP in the tech thread), taking advantage of spiritual temples. He is also a strong candidate to beeline liberalism and get an early Oxford, which could be a really good move with capitals as strong as they will be this game.

The Ottoman pick is solid, and almost definitely influenced by Mackoti. The +2 happiness is nice but won't be useful until latish outside heavy whipping and/or a high pop capital. The Jans though, are really solid and his ability to flip into NH and draft them will make him extremely prickly for Mackoti, or any other would-be rusher.

Gandhi will have a narrow window of optimal strength this game. He needs to leverage his early GP bonuses into getting key techs and wonders, without getting rushed or not expanding at all, but while still acquiring enough of an advantage that he's not outpaced by the ORG civs late game. I think the Ottomans were a great Civ to pair with Gandhi since they render him difficult to rush and solve his early military problem. Jans will allow him to delay rifling a little longer than other civs since they can deal with Curs and Cats. Now, his chief concern needs to be hitting his tech/wonder targets while still expanding.

I know next to nothing about Alhazard as a player, and have little clue how he will play this game. The pick indicates he intends to stay very involved. [/i]Due to the tightrope this pick must walk to win this thing, we feel like he is more likely to tumble than perfectly execute it. That being said, as long as he stays up in tech, SPI will be strong for a long time and will allow him to respond to a variety of changing game situations. I look forward to seeing how many civic swaps he does this game.

Alhazard, hope you have better luck with Gandhi here than I did with him in PBEM38!

[GermanJoey]

Alhazard definitely isn't a newbie. He's played in at least 6 PBEMs and one pitboss at this site before this game.

[oledavy]

Alhazard definitely isn't a newbie. He's played in at least 6 PBEMs and one pitboss at this site before this game.

I blame WK for feeing me slanderous lies, and Mardoc, because:

Rule #1
- Always blame the mapmaker

I will post a revised ad painting a picture of an older, more grizzled Alhazard.

[oledavy]

Realms Beyond Presents, Real Men of Genius
(Real Men of Genius)

Today we salute you, Mr. War-Scarred Veteran
(Mr. War-Scarred Veteran)

War never changes, but Gandhi's civics do
(Every five turns)

With your tech bulbing prowess, you plan to never be caught unprepared
(He learned that in the Boy Scouts)

And when Charlie comes a knocking, well, you have just the thing for that
(Jannisaries for the win)

So, enjoy your latest game Mr. War-Scarred veteran, because the only hazard to your win, is your high skill cap leader. (Mr. War-Scarred Veteran)

[oledavy]

And while I'm on a roll:

Realms Beyond presents Real Men of Genius
(Real Men of Genius)

Today we salute you Mr. Italian Biscuit
(Mr. Italian Biscuit)

You took one look at the snake pick and said: "What would make other players freak out the most?"
(Channel the inner Commodore)

With your pick, you reigned over the snake pick through fear
(Please can I have the Ottos)

But then you remembered this is a lush map, and so decided that games are not won by horses alone
(Never go full Tokugawa)

So enjoy having the best of both worlds Mr. Italian Biscuit, and when you somehow manage to win, well, can't say we didn't see it coming. (Mr. Italian Biscuit).


Real Thoughts

Byzcoti of Mackzyntium

err

Mansa Musa (Financial, Spiritual) of Byzantium (Hippodrome, Cataphract)

Much can be said about this pick, or very little.

TL;DR Version: lol, Mack picked a rushing civ on a lush map.

Longer Version: I think its more complicated than that, and I don't think Mack intends to rush anyone. I think he got Byz for the fear factor and for having a utilitarian high strength cheap horse unit. Either that or he didn't get the leader he wanted. However, with IMP/CHA and SPI/CHA on the board, He deferred on going full rush mode. Obviously it will still be a threat, but double promoted cats are a lot less scary than triple promoted cats.

We valued France and Byz much lower seeing the starting screenshot. On a lush map that is slightly bigger than normal, our take was that teching up and developing your land will prove superior to going and trying to take another's. I think Mackoti plans to do this while keeping everyone at bay with Cats. An early and mid game focused leader like Mansa might be vulnerable to early military normally, but when he has cataphracts, ehhhhhhh. I don't think anyone will be picking a fight with Mack for a long time. Using his cataphract deflector shield, he will be set to farmer's gambit away and focus on early tech goals. Based on traits alone he has perhaps the best shot at getting liberalism. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Hippodrome. Overshadowed by Byzantine's UU, this should still be a cool +2 happiness in every city, from a cheap building you'll probably be using to pop borders. Not as good as the hamman by any strech, but decent.

Mackoti's early pick of Byzantium is forcing me to re-evaluate me and WK's conclusion on militaristic civs, but I guess this game will offer more definitive conclusions. While I expect him to be open to rushing, I feel he is more likely to use Byzantium like we used AGG Rome in PB6. It painted a giant "Don't fuck with us" sign on WK's back for a long time and allowed us to secure a lot of land from Sunrise that should have been contested.

Mackoti again, needs little introduction. Solid all-round player, seems to be weaker on the micro than a lot of other top players players but has a keen understanding of exactly when to press an advantage and when to do what. I'm going to love seeing him and Plako go at it again though in a PBEM25 reprise (wow that was a long time ago).

It occurs to me I have reservations about every pick this game (including our own), with the exception of Asoka of Khmer (Which I think was the absolute best available at those points in the draft). Each one so far has some inherent risks and drawbacks in my mind:

Scooter/Sullla: What if the map doesn't allow for a degree of constant slaving to make SA's really worthwhile.?
Alhazard: What if Gandhi can't eke out enough of an advantage in your narrow window to secure an edge?
Mackoti: What if the map/player skill presents you from getting too much value out of cataphracts?

I'll be very curious to see which of these risks pay off, and which turn out to actually have not been risks.

[Dreylin]

And while I'm on a roll:

You certainly are Sir, well played!

[Mardoc]

I blame WK for feeing me slanderous lies, and Mardoc, because:

Rule #1
- Always blame the mapmaker

You wanted some extra jungle at your start, right? And some 'global warming'?

[GermanJoey]

Lovin' these player previews!

[WarriorKnight]

Alhazard definitely isn't a newbie. He's played in at least 6 PBEMs and one pitboss at this site before this game.

I blame WK for feeing me slanderous lies...

Well to be fair, he is the only person here who's name we don't immediately recognize back from the good old days (along with REM, but winning the game that inspired this one does a lot in building a reputation). With nothing else to fall back on what else can we use? (thanks for plenty of lurker suggestions to choose from )

... and Mardoc, because:

Rule #1
- Always blame the mapmaker

No Dave, Rule #1 only comes into effect after we start the game! I hope it's not too...

You wanted some extra jungle at your start, right? And some 'global warming'?

..late

[WarriorKnight]

How do I go about installing El Grillo's mod? I assume it's pretty straightforward (I just ask because I've never used a mod with Civ 4 before)

Well first download and extract the folder. Then you will want to place it here: (this is for my machine anyway, may be different for yours)

"C:\Users\xxx\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\MODS"

where xxx is your username.

After that you can run the mod, by loading the mod as an advanced option in the main menu of 3.19.

If you want to load the mod without loading 3.19 all the time, this might be helpful:http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.p...ostcount=3

I don't know if anything special needs to be done to log into the game once it goes up though. Does the NatNeg sevrer apply for the pitboss games?

As far as naming scheme, I still haven't come up with any great ideas. I thought briefly about making city names the "RB drinking game," but I feel like we would run out of characters for most things we would want to write.

We could also resurrect a years-old meme from PBEM17/PBEM24 and echo your naming scheme in PB6 by naming each city Pindicator (Roman Numeral). That might also get us Pindicator as a lurker.

My favorite naming scheme that I can recall was NoSpaceSeven's from PBEM23 (Moons).

One of my (few) regrets in PB6 was such an unoriginal naming scheme. Anything but that again.