The Black Sword - (Johnny Cash) ft.
Pericles (Cre/Phi) of Zulu
There's a man going around taking names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won't be treated all the same
There'll be a golden ladder reaching down
When the Man comes around
TBS hasn't been around as long as some of the top tier Sharks but he has been successful in (almost?) every game he's played. He has no glaring weakness. An excellent civ manager and very good at profitably waging war, TBS has a great feel for the game. He seems to have keen insight into when to make the big move and when to stand pat. I am not aware of a glaring weakness. You just have to grind and grind away at him (a gavagai war) and hope that he quits or life gets busy for him. When he's engaged and into the game you don't want to face him.
The hairs on your arm will stand up
At the terror in each sip and in each sup
Will you partake of that last offered cup?
Or disappear into the potter's ground
When the Man comes around
TBS is a highly rational player. You can count on him to either take you out or not to force you into a mutually destructive arms race. In this way, he's a good neighbor to have. You just have to be sufficiently strong to deter him from getting to "Hands Full" mode on you. If he sets his sights on you it will get ugly. If you can set up a border that is defensible and back that up with a credible stack you can rely on stable relations until his economy outperforms yours and you get boated at Astronomy or double-bulbled to knights. Or something. He is creative and inventive. Never forget the morale trebuchet.
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum
Voices calling and voices crying
Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come
TBS is not as feared as Mackoti but he is clinical at civ in a way that Mackoti is not. For me, TBS's cut is more precise like a scalpel where Mackoti has the nastiest club around and a propensity to hit you with it over and over until you stop twitching. Certainly, TBS is to be feared no less than any other player in this game. That said, I'd be much happier to have TBS as a neighbor than many others in this field due to my perception that I can predict a rational outcome with him that could lead to mutually beneficial development. I had a similar arrangement with Old Harry/Fintourist and their coterie in PB18 that worked well for both of us.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts
And I looked and behold, a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him.
In the end, though, there can be only one winner (PB18 is the rare exception) and TBS would come calling eventually. He is likely to be still standing at the end. Many of the rest of us will not be.
Civ/Leader
Zulu is strong. Probably too strong. Of all the RtR civs this is the only one that probably could use a little downward revision. AGG Ikhandas can do wonders for minimizing expenses and save an economy from over-expansion hell. The Impi is certainly a tremendous advantage. I'm glad he won't have AGG to boost those.
I played Perecles (CRE/PHI) in PB18. If the player can keep up in expansion then things become much easier as the game progresses. With PHI, you invest less food for the same number of great people, ultimately yielding more great people as the game goes on and you get them sooner (tech snowball?). With a large map that means lots of golden ages. I had 6 (!) in PB18. I think that TBS will do similarly well. He'll eat a few civs' worth of land then run lots of GAs to maximize tile yields and plow ahead of the field. We can't let him get MoM to extend this advantage further. CRE is obviously helpful and it's stronger here than when I played it as it once again receives a bonus building libraries, a benefit that I sorely missed. I would have been satisfied to play these traits for competitive reasons but I've already spent a year on Perecles so I'm fine with what I have instead.
Civ: :
(interestingly enough, still blue; OP)
Leader:
(all the golden ages, bulbariffic)
Player:
(if not the very best you aren't good enough to tell the difference; will pummel you, but politely and clinically)
Chance of winning:
Top 10 finish: Automatic unless the server dies before T25.
Don't Say I Didn't Warn You:
(All of the golden ages. Protect the Mausoleum!!!)
Conclusion: Quarternary Consumer (A Great White Whale, A Great White Black Shark)
Up next: Someone else who will beat me but not as badly as these listed so far.
Pericles (Cre/Phi) of Zulu
There's a man going around taking names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won't be treated all the same
There'll be a golden ladder reaching down
When the Man comes around
TBS hasn't been around as long as some of the top tier Sharks but he has been successful in (almost?) every game he's played. He has no glaring weakness. An excellent civ manager and very good at profitably waging war, TBS has a great feel for the game. He seems to have keen insight into when to make the big move and when to stand pat. I am not aware of a glaring weakness. You just have to grind and grind away at him (a gavagai war) and hope that he quits or life gets busy for him. When he's engaged and into the game you don't want to face him.
The hairs on your arm will stand up
At the terror in each sip and in each sup
Will you partake of that last offered cup?
Or disappear into the potter's ground
When the Man comes around
TBS is a highly rational player. You can count on him to either take you out or not to force you into a mutually destructive arms race. In this way, he's a good neighbor to have. You just have to be sufficiently strong to deter him from getting to "Hands Full" mode on you. If he sets his sights on you it will get ugly. If you can set up a border that is defensible and back that up with a credible stack you can rely on stable relations until his economy outperforms yours and you get boated at Astronomy or double-bulbled to knights. Or something. He is creative and inventive. Never forget the morale trebuchet.
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum
Voices calling and voices crying
Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come
TBS is not as feared as Mackoti but he is clinical at civ in a way that Mackoti is not. For me, TBS's cut is more precise like a scalpel where Mackoti has the nastiest club around and a propensity to hit you with it over and over until you stop twitching. Certainly, TBS is to be feared no less than any other player in this game. That said, I'd be much happier to have TBS as a neighbor than many others in this field due to my perception that I can predict a rational outcome with him that could lead to mutually beneficial development. I had a similar arrangement with Old Harry/Fintourist and their coterie in PB18 that worked well for both of us.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts
And I looked and behold, a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him.
In the end, though, there can be only one winner (PB18 is the rare exception) and TBS would come calling eventually. He is likely to be still standing at the end. Many of the rest of us will not be.
Civ/Leader
Zulu is strong. Probably too strong. Of all the RtR civs this is the only one that probably could use a little downward revision. AGG Ikhandas can do wonders for minimizing expenses and save an economy from over-expansion hell. The Impi is certainly a tremendous advantage. I'm glad he won't have AGG to boost those.
I played Perecles (CRE/PHI) in PB18. If the player can keep up in expansion then things become much easier as the game progresses. With PHI, you invest less food for the same number of great people, ultimately yielding more great people as the game goes on and you get them sooner (tech snowball?). With a large map that means lots of golden ages. I had 6 (!) in PB18. I think that TBS will do similarly well. He'll eat a few civs' worth of land then run lots of GAs to maximize tile yields and plow ahead of the field. We can't let him get MoM to extend this advantage further. CRE is obviously helpful and it's stronger here than when I played it as it once again receives a bonus building libraries, a benefit that I sorely missed. I would have been satisfied to play these traits for competitive reasons but I've already spent a year on Perecles so I'm fine with what I have instead.
Civ: :
(interestingly enough, still blue; OP)Leader:
(all the golden ages, bulbariffic)Player:
(if not the very best you aren't good enough to tell the difference; will pummel you, but politely and clinically)Chance of winning:
Top 10 finish: Automatic unless the server dies before T25.
Don't Say I Didn't Warn You:
(All of the golden ages. Protect the Mausoleum!!!)Conclusion: Quarternary Consumer (A Great White Whale, A Great White Black Shark)
Up next: Someone else who will beat me but not as badly as these listed so far.
.
