So I joined this PB with the intention of playing a Spiritual leader, since I haven't yet on RB. All these shenanigans with religion and barb holy cities have somewhat dampened my enthusiasm, but nevertheless, let's try and get a Spiritual leader.
Here they are:
2. Asoka of Egypt
Org, Spi
WC, Obelisk
4. Justinian of Mongolia
Spi, Imp
Keshik, Ger
5. Gandhi of China
Phi, Spi
Cho-Ko-Nu, Pavilion
10. Mansa Musa of Arabia
Fin, Spi
Camel Archer, Madrassa
17. Montezuma of France
Agg, Spi
Musketeer, Salon
First, let's get rid of Ghandi, I don't have enough experience with Philosophical to play that well enough, and I'm sure someone else will want him anyway.
Monty of France: Agg is not so great, but the Musketeer is pretty good.
Justinian of Mongolia: Imp is very good, especially with the increased settler costs, but I think both the renaissance and industrial pitbosses showed that it isn't as amazing as it may at first appear. However, that may have been more to do with having mirrored maps than anything else, and (afaik) this map isn't going to be mirrored, so perhaps Imp can live up to the hype. Mongols are good if I'm interested in early warfare, which I'm not. I'd imagine that those players interested in going after the barb holy cities will put this combo pretty high on their list.
Asoka of Egypt: Org was very good in the ren pitboss, and will probably be very good here as well. Egypts UU and UB are somewhat lackluster however.
Mansa Musa of Arabia: BTS Fin is deservedly the best trait, and since this map is supposed to be watery, Fin will make those coasts that much more attractive. the Madrassa and Camel Archer aren't too exciting, but libraries and knights are going to be built anyway, so I won't have to go out of my way to use them. The Madrassa's priest slots could open up some interesting bulbing opportunities. Of these Combos, this is my favourite.
Vetos:
Elizabeth/Portugal and Roosevelt/Dutch
Both are powerful leaders with powerful civs, both too good. If they don't get veto'd I'll obviously have to put one of them as my number 1 pick, but hopefully they'll get changed.
Other Potential picks:
Julius Caesar of Germany: Good set of traits, Imp for rexing and Org for later. UU and UB come pretty late however.
Victoria of Russia: Ditto above, although the Cossack will almost certainly play a role.
Darius of Japan: Great traits, and the UU and UB aren't too bad either.
Catherine of Khmer: Good traits for rexing. UB not as good as ren and ind PBs as it doesn't come free, but the UU is, as always, excellent.
Napoleon of Spain: Org is good, Cha is ok. UU and UB are pretty meh, the Citadel will only ever be worth it with a Pro leader, and Pro sucks. Knights that get defensive bonuses are pretty good though.
Genghis Khan of Aztecs: Ren PB showed how powerful the Sac Altar can be, but it's not paired with an Org leader, and I'm not as good as that team.
Suleiman of Maya: Phi is a trait that requires playing around, and I don't have enough experience to really do that, but I can always try.
Pericles of Korea: Same as above.
Current list (not final, assuming Liz and Roosevelt get vetoed)
1: Mansa Musa of Arabia
2: Darius of Japan
3: Justinian of Mongolia
4: Asoka of Egypt
5: Victoria of Russia
6: Monty of France
7: Julius Caesar of Germany
8: Catherine of Khmer
9: Suleiman of Maya
10: Pericles of Korea
Since the veto deadline has passed and neither Roosevelt or Elizabeth got vetoed, here's what my list will look like.
1: Mansa Musa of Arabia
2: Roosevelt of Dutch
3: Darius of Japan
4: Elizabeth of Portugal
5: Justinian of Mongolia
6: Asoka of Egypt
7: Victoria of Russia
8: Monty of France
9: Julius Caesar of Germany
10: Catherine of Khmer
Seafood start, kinda annoying as it requires more micro.
I did some simming, but I'm going to wait until the game is up and running and I can do some scouting before making any definite plans.
Main question is whether to settle in place or not. If I don't SIP I will want to settle somewhere with corn in the first ring. The first turn is of course going to be anarchy, so I can afford to take a turn moving.
Right now I'm leaning towards SIP with the 2nd city going somewhere near that other corn.
More to come (with pictures) when the game goes up.
The game begins. I log on and do some scouting with the missionaries to reveal a little more land:
The first question is do I settle in place, and I think that the answer is yes. The only other option I could think of was to settle 1E between the whales and fish, with my second city 1N of the spices. The problem with that is the second city would have to build its own WB. If I instead SIP I can put my second city 2N of the spices, still in range of one of the fishes and, hopefully, some more resources in the fog. And I can get the second WB out of the cap much more quickly with a chop.
The micro plan:
SIP, worker starts on corn next to cap, work the fish.
After farm is finished worker goes to the copper and start chopping.
Whip first WB as soon as cap grows. Growth in 1t.
1st WB improves caps fish, cap starts on 2nd WB and chop completes finishing it in 1t.
2nd WB improves 2nd city's fish, which at size 2 (working fish and unimproved corn) starts worker (to be whipped). Cap builds wealth/research for 1t while growing to size 3. Worker starts mining copper.
Cap starts on worker at size 3 while working corn, fish, whales (swap to copper once mine completes). Worker is not whipped. Grow on warrior to size 4 then start settler. Worker out of cap goes to chop that settler.
And that's as far as I am comfortable planning, for now.
