[spoilers] Commodore is absolutely confident this will end well.

[Commodore]

With a dedicated beeline and brutally ignoring all nonessential techs, I expect to be able to reach Iron Working by turn 200.

It's not too late to set the game speed to Marathon.

Shut your damnfool mouth.

In other news, I see Vanrobber posting in Joshy's thread, so...saved? 

I'm really not looking forward to that "S3" tile getting a jungle spread, but what can yah do. Grumbles about tech rate aside, Rome really is a good pick for this format. Praetorians are monsters in the German-style civ even in BtS, now with most war elephants nerfed? Nice. Very nice. Pretty sure the winning play is going to be related to cheap Protective walls with Praets on the defense, with beastly strength-9.6 C2 Praets off of galleys as the natural attack vector. Can't ignore Horse Archers, of course, but having something with that base strength very early is definitely a good start.

[Thoth]

Vanrober is covering.

I think you scored a great prize with Rome. 50 hammers for a st 8 unit that's available with IW and lasts until late Ren era? With slow tech speed settings? Oh, Yeah!

[Lewwyn]

In other news, I see Vanrobber posting in Joshy's thread, so...saved? 

Half saved, he wants to be a dedlurker rather than primary full time. If worst is worst he'll play but only casually, which in 25p game is more acceptable than in a smaller game. I sent up the bat signal in the org thread. Maybe we can find another turnplayer to help out.

[Commodore]

I think you scored  a great prize with Rome.  50 hammers for a st 8 unit that's available with IW and lasts until late Ren era?  With slow tech speed settings?  Oh, Yeah!

40 hammers, actually. I see no reason to build anything other than Praetorians and Horse Archers this game, at least until the hyper-lategame where catapults come online.

[Thoth]

40 hammers, actually

Same as a regular swordsman? Damn. It has been awhile since I've played Rome, I thought Prats were more expensive.

[Hitru]

If you build nothing but Ha and praets it indeed will be hyper late game until you get to cats

[Commodore]

If you build nothing but Ha and praets it indeed will be hyper late game until you get to cats

No point in making workers if it takes 100 turns to tech worker techs.  

[Commodore]

All the final picks are in, woot. Looks like a mixed back, as expected. I’ll grind down to in-depth analysis as I meet people, but I can give quick gut-checks on each combo. As always, NEIGHBORS ARE EVERYTHING FOR VICTORY.

1. Miguelito + Rusten Pacal of France

Fresh off a very convincing victory in their last game, Migusten are here for blood, expect Effortposting and much quality time in-turns. Pacal is sitting here with majorly nerfed financial and expansive...but still will be getting the essentials of “great cottages, worthwhile coasts, cheap granaries”. Boy still works...although he’s running Null Unique of Good Techs. There is about zero chance this game is undecided by Gunpowder or Astronomy, sorry Musketeer Salon.
Player: ****
Leader: ****
Civilization: **
Overall Threat: ****

2. Tarkeel Hannibal of Egypt

New fellow to Realms Beyond who clearly has a good head on his shoulders, you love to see them...I expect good things from Tarkeel. His leader is very nice, a nice commerce pile plus cheap border expansions (heh, with priest slots). Egypt is baller in this game format, with a powerful UU that will be unlocked by turn 100 with a dedicated beeline plus some good starting techs.
Player: ***
Leader: ***
Civilization: *****
Overall Threat: ***

3. Jowy Kublai Khan of Byzantium

Ah, Jowy...he has improved since being so savaged by Sullla long ago, but he's still weirdly passive. Kubels the Khan is trying to help here, with good border-claiming and a lovely low maintenance for a big army, the civ is absolute junk though...I know, I know, cataphracts...but Guilds is light years away here and the techs are crap.
Player: **
Leader: ***
Civilization: *
Overall Threat: **

4. Amicalola Roosevelt of Ethiopia

Amicalola did well in his first game, but he still is very new (and prone to stress. I don’t like Industrious in this setup, wonders are hard in a 25-player game, and Organized is going to take a while to matter too...all while his civilization is just ok. Good starting techs and not-useless UB (fractional culture still accumilates)...Gunpowder, again, worthless.
Player: **
Leader: **
Civilization: **
Overall Threat: **

5. civac2 Shaka of Sumeria

Civac2 is good at this game, folks. After taking over from Ruff he cruised to a very convincing win last game, and he is more used to the Ancient Era All The Time settings here than most. His leader Shaka isn't bad, huge stacks are cheap and now with added XP? Great. Granaries and barracks are the only two buildings that always get built, that's swell. Sumer is also very good, solid start techs, an early UB, and a too-often-maligned UU that can use its higher base strength very well with a free combat 1. Uh-oh.
Player: *****
Leader: ***
Civilization: *****
Overall Threat: *****

6. naufragar Joao of India

Now Frogger is one of my favorite posters on this board, and he’s a hella smart dueler...but he hasn’t had a game with stirring success yet. Unlucky, but his unluck didn’t really apply to his combo here, with Exp/Imp making him feel nice on the hammer side of expansion, and his fast workers giving him a real (if nerfed) benefit. His techs are going to hurt him, though.
Player: ***
Leader: ***
Civilization: **
Overall Threat: ***

7. Mr. Cairo Darius of Aztec

Cairo is smart and dogged but this is another Unlucky Player for what its worth. Darius is still Mr. Economy of course, but he was already very slow, now...just don’t see this being the best, fam. Still, at least the cheap lighthouses will let him ignore the annoying Fin nerf. Aztecs aren’t particularly impressive but they can be okay; jaguars still suck, but SA are nice (albeit very late-game). Couple with those techs...yup, unluck continues.
Player: **
Leader: ***
Civilization: **
Overall Threat: **

8. Ramkhamhaeng Cyrus of Arabia

Ramk is great, best host we’ve ever had. Seems to know his way around some Civ too, although not as scary as some of the Germans. I love Cyrus, kind of a more balanced Catherine, very good Emperor Huge leader. Arabs...are okay I guess? As before, Guilds don’t matter but I am fond of the religion fun access of Madrassae. Bad tech tho.
Player: ***
Leader: ****
Civilization: **
Overall Threat: ***

9. Mjmd Zara of Portugal

Mjmd is another good gift to this site from the covid era, I like the guy a lot, he’s had some decent performances thus far...lots of games ongoing right now though, so he’s got to be playing without his full interest. He got a generally solid leader in Zara, not having to worry about culture is a good thing at least. Portugal is kind of interesting to me here, not a bad set of techs and although Paper/Astronomy will never come, Optics is something achievable in the very very late game, so that might be fun.
Player: **
Leader: ***
Civilization: ***
Overall Threat: ***

10. Automated Teller Justinian of Khemer

AT is fine when he’s keyed in, but alas he often finds himself distracted, and he has quite a few games going right now. Not something to combine with Spi and the premier economy-crashing trait. Khmer is awesome for this game format, the only base 8 unit available in a sane time span...except for my own, of course. Good techs too, with a funny UB...I see why Khmer is a default pick in CtH.
Player: **
Leader: **
Civilization: ****
Overall Threat: **

11. General KilCavalry Julius Caesar of Mongolia

GKC knows what he’s about, although I get a slightly pacifistic vibe at times with him. Julius will help fight that tendency, with a ton of cities being flung far and actually not crashing the economy. Couple with the Horse Archers Are Good theme of Mongolia, I like GKC’s odds here...remember, keshiks are the best unit in this game format.
Player: ***
Leader: ***
Civilization: ****
Overall Threat: ***

12. pindicator Lincoln of Dutch

Pindicator likes careful planning and hates people peeing on his sandcastles, he’s good when he can plan though. Philosophical and Charismatic? Definitely his kind of pick, for all that it’s a slow slow choice. East Indiamen are what I’d normally call a fool’s game in this game format, but given Pin’s proclivities I’m sure he’ll manage some huge long bulb path that leads him to invading somewhere with axes off of Eis before the rest of us figure out compasses.
Player: ****
Leader: **
Civilization: **
Overall Threat: **

13. Elkad San Martin of England

Reindeer+ here is a good thinker but a quiet player, I don’t think he has the time to properly unleash his talents. San Martin is a very interesting choice, anti-synergistic as heck but I do like the individual parts. England, well, I yelled at them enough earlier. Too slow even in a normal game.
Player: **
Leader: **
Civilization: *
Overall Threat: **

14. The Black Sword Catherine of Chinese

The single most perfect player of Civilization 4 that has ever existed or ever will exist, The Black Sword is a machine, wish he’d post more so that we could properly bask in his beauty. Catherine is fun here, just ignore religious techs and go buck wild on your expansion. China is also very very nice, with the best unique unit in the game and reachable in the timescales of Emperor Huge if bulbed. Couple with good techs? Aw yiss.
Player: *****
Leader: ****
Civilization: *****
Overall Threat: *****

15. superdeath Charlemage of Inca

Unlearning, unreflective, without empathy or a theory of mind, Superdeath is less player, more a tireless elemental map hazard with pretty decent reporting. I like Pro/Chm here with early economy and later economy (happy) coupling nicely with the snowball boost of a cheaper granary and even more happy from the 15h MP unit until maces. The crummy start techs aren’t enough to stop this from still being a very fine combination.
Player: *
Leader: ***
Civilization: ****
Overall Threat: ****

16. Lazteuq Montezuma of Persia

I don’t have a strong picture of Lazteuq as a player, but he seems like he’s new but not insane. Montezuma is as an AI personality, as well as a kind of strange pair of traits to work with. At least we have an excellent unique unit here in the immortal, frankly a unit I like even better than war chariots thanks to it gaining defensive bonuses, great start techs too assuming he has a very similar start (I assume we’re all going to have similar starts, actually).
Player: **
Leader: *
Civilization: ****
Overall Threat: **

17. Donovan Zoi Sitting Bull of Spain

DZ is solid enough, can definitely wreck a face, and has recently suffered under the lash of the Eternal Game Mode so that’ll help. Philosophical can be good here but I’m betting it’s more just a fast academy, Pro gives cash and all...I like this. Spain is a mirage in general with those late goodies, here even moreso...I love persistent cheap castles as an idea, but I don’t see them mattering post turn 200.
Player: **
Leader: **
Civilization: *
Overall Threat: **

18. mackoti Ghengis of Ottoman

Hey mack, you are skillful definitely. Hopefully we can be nice and reasonable on other sides of the map, otherwise you know the deal, I’ll keep posting my diplomacy here in thread, you know I’m gonna blow up my empire before giving you an inch. Aggressive is still nice enough, as discussed before, and mack will get plenty of money saved from this. Ottomen are techs and nothing else in this game, but they are nice techs.
Player: *****
Leader: ***
Civilization: **
Overall Threat: *****

19. Frozen + Dulland Victoria of Babylon

Another German about whom I know nothing, but Vicky is solid enough and having +50% melee archers is very nice for this format. Nervous about them here, to be honest.
Player: ???
Leader: ***
Civilization: ***
Overall Threat: ***?

20. Piccadilly + Flunky Willem Van Oranje of Mali

I believe I heard from the Germans that Piccadilly is good; I’m willing to believe that. Willem is pretty nice here, honestly...financial is wandering pretty Far From Home at this point, but pair it with Cre? Sure. Mali is very nice here, skirmishers are solid even normally but in Huge Emperor Hellscape those 4-strength archers never obsolete. This is a scary one.
Player: ****
Leader: ****
Civilization: *****
Overall Threat: ****

21. Cornflakes Pericles of Native America

Cornflakes, a good solid all-rounder. Judging by posting, looks like Cornflakes was a third-rounder with either civ or leaders or both. Ergo, this mildly anti-synergistic combination...but I like each of the parts individually. Pericles enjoys cheap libraries, of course, and I’m just generally impressed with Phi, while dog soldiers are a mild axe upgrade but having all that bonus XP on archers is great for this game format. Synergy is overrated.
Player: ***
Leader: ***
Civilization: ***
Overall Threat: ***

22. Charriu Ramesses of Greece

This downright sweetheart is a community treasure, and proved to be a dogged defender his last outing. Industrious and Spiritual will probably have Charriu pushing in bad directions, but having the superweapon that is New Hoplites ought to make him die pretty hard, given the Ultimate Endgame here are horse archers or war elephants. Odeons are eh, but sure.
Player: **
Leader: *
Civilization: ***
Overall Threat: **

23. Commodore Lieu-Ye of Rome

Not a terrible player, but my win/loss ratio with Commodore in the game isn’t something to fill me with hope, frankly I think the guy is just kind of old and tired at this point. Lieu-Ye is a new leader so that’ll be fun, the lack of early snowball boosts will suck though. Grumbles aside, the normally mid-tier civilization of Rome is top kek here, with the only strength-8 unit available before the game ends in the field besides Khmer.
Player: *
Leader: **
Civilization: *****
Overall Threat: *****

24. Ichabod Hammurabi of Germany

Ichabod was quite good a long time ago, he has a troll in Darrel and looks like a skillguy in Serdoa as dedlurkers, no idea how focused the team will be but if focus is maintained then they’ll do well...at least, they would do well if they didn’t have Mr. Slow here (albeit very low maintenance) of far-too-late. I have to imagine they just took Germany for the start techs. I like grenadiers at Chemistry normally, but obviously that’s way too slow in this setup.
Player: ****
Leader: *
Civilization: *
Overall Threat: ***

25. Joshybravo963 Asoka of America

This is actually a hyper-disengaged Vanrobber, who had a hell of a freshman game last time but doesn’t seem very engaged here. Asoka has the eh trait of Org along with the needs-a-lot-of-work trait of Spi, America has way-too-late bonuses here, harbor and muskets? Sheesh.
Player: *
Leader: *
Civilization: *
Overall Threat: *

[Commodore]

I'm not dropping more hot takes unless I get some engagement here, lads.

[Thoth]

If you want lurker posts, I'm going to need about $3.50