[SPOILERS] And Now for Something Completely Different

[Rusten]

Protective is good too. Honestly there are so many good trait combinations that I don't mind playing which is why I'll almost always favour picking a civ first.

You're right, forget about charismatic. Shouldn't overreact to there not being luxuries in the starting BFC -- I'm sure RefSteel will have added plenty. Remove Cyrus and add Charlemagne to the list.

[Raskolnikov]

The sandbox. Picked Cathy since you showed interest

  PB49 RustenRaskol Sandbox BC-4000.zip (Size: 27.5 KB / Downloads: 1)

Time to work

edit: Mod link in the second post (I find the first post good as it is. In French we have a joke that goes like this: "Tmr I'll pay the drinks, and the naives will be served first!" )

[Raskolnikov]

Mr.Cairo picked Persia and Elkad Joao... Choices will be easier to make.

[Raskolnikov]

9) Miguelito / pindicator -  JUSTINIAN of INDIA
8) Ruff_Hi - MONTEZUMA of Native American
7) Superdeath / GKC -  ______ of ROME [up]
6) Fintourist / et al - ______ of INCA [on deck]
5) Elkad - JOAO of ______
4) Mr. Cairo - ______ of PERSIA
3) Cornflakes / giraflorens - ______ of BABYLON
2) Raskolnikov / Rusten - ______ of CARTHAGE
1) Commodore - ______ of JAPAN

Justi of Indi... Spot on!

[Raskolnikov]

We are up for leader choice. Cathy, JC, Charlie all opened... Did you consider any other leader?
I thought about Suley. His traits are fun though kinda anti-synergistic... Cyrus can do 4 turns settlers with a size 7 capital (32h/t if I counted right), though I guess the map will be cramped fast and we won't be producing zillions of settlers

edit: rereading the traits modifications, I may f(l)avo(u)r Cyrus over Cathy. Both get the cheap libraries, but I value the +2 happy more than the +2 culture (sure nice for border pops, but less usefull for culture fight).

[Rusten]

Of the spritual leaders remaining, if you truly fancy that, Saladin is probably your best bet. But I played him in PB41 already.

Cyrus is totally fine and I wouldn't complain, but if we pick Cathy we'd be the only creative leader in the game which means we can bully any neighbour when it comes to settling cities. I think that's a big plus for Cathy. Commodore has the only leader pick remaining and he'll likely want aggressive for his samurai which means not picking creative.

I'm off the Julius train, but Charlemagne is still OK. I'll leave the final decision to you but I'd probably pick one out of Cathy, Cyrus, Charlemagne or Saladin, with a personal bias towards Catherine when taking into account what the other players picked.

[Rusten]

That said Cyrus is the safer pick. We already know that we can take advantage of a high-size capital early. If we don't find nearby luxuries then Cathy is much worse, but I'd be willing to risk it personally. Handcrafted maps are usually full of happy resources. Up to you.

[Raskolnikov]

Let's go with Cathy then. I too think there will be happy ressources nearby. I'll get to do some tests now that we chose our leader (that is after the micro post I am preparing for pb48 )

[DaveV]

I approve of the theme.

[Raskolnikov]

I approve of the theme.

I guess I failed being original. Feel Free to lurk Dave!

Cheers