[Spoilers] Louis XIV of Babylon

[SleepingMoogle]

Obligatory random post to avoid accidental mouse-over. I'll post some thoughts on the selections etc later on.


To take up a little more space, here's a dancing Diablo.

[SleepingMoogle]

Perhaps I should have picked Frederick of Korea after all. Hindsight is always 20/20 I suppose.

Snakepicks can turn out like that. As the last in line, planning in advance isn't all that productive because your choices are going to be limited to what the other teams leave you. Early considerations mostly went into pairings without an Expansive leader and as expected, they were quickly scooped before it was my turn to choose. Along with some other options, I had mostly settled on Frederick of Korea if they remained available (The Hwacha is a decent UU and cheap Seowons are quite nice in a NTT game), but two things made me change my mind:

*All but two teams had already picked a leader, and only one of them was Industrious
*Louis was still available

After weighing pros and cons, I decided to change my picks. Industrious is quite strong when the trait is relatively scarce, and I trusted that taking Louis would force the remaining leader picks elsewhere. Unfortunately that gamble backfired when both remaining teams selected an Industrious leader as well!

Anyway, Louis is still a fairly solid pick. I love Creative for all the advantages it provides:

*Easy border pops and cultural pressure.
*Being able to ignore bottom of the tree at the start of the game, because you don't need the culture from Monuments and religions
*Cheap Libraries for an early research boost.

With the amount of Expansive leaders, perhaps it wasn't too surprising that Louis remained available but I didn't expect it. Being Industrious is unfortunately devalued somewhat in a game where three others share the the trait and I am curious why the last two teams opted for Industrious leaders as well. At least there's still half-price Forges.

Pairing Louis with Babylon was mostly for synergy purposes. China has good starting techs, but the Cho-Ko-Nu and Pavilion are a bit too niche for my tastes, and Greece has crappy techs and a Scout start. Any Civ starting with Hunting was pretty much discarded immediately, as I don't want to train Warriors when half of the Civs can already train Workers faster than me. The Garden is a decent UB for cities looking to increase their health and happy caps, and it comes at half-price for a Creative leader. The Bowman is so-so, but as a deterrent against early rushes and chokes it may end up being quite valuable. Babylon has the added advantage of starting with Agriculture and the Wheel, two of the better ones.

[SleepingMoogle]

Some pre-game thoughts. Much like PBEM7 was an opportunity for me to apply lessons learned in PBEM3, so too should RBP4 improve upon the PBEM7 performance.

With that in mind, I will do my best to:

*Do a halfway decent job at diplomacy.
*Try not to be a total noob when it comes to warfare.
*Have all cities have a clear focus rather than try to be everything at one
*Make regular reports to this thread.
*And win of course.

Time will tell how well all that turns out, but those are the goals for now. As an example, just because I want to improve my warfare skills doesn't mean I'll be looking for fights (see point 1). But you can all help with point 4 by shouting at me when I start slacking on the updates.

When the game itself starts, I'll do some early turn planning. With Krill designing the map, I know better than to make assumptions beforehand.

[Gold Ergo Sum]

I was fairly surprised no one chose Korea. I like that civ.

Frederick would've been very high on my list as well.

Interesting not to have any Philosophical leaders.

[SleepingMoogle]

I was fairly surprised no one chose Korea. I like that civ.

Frederick would've been very high on my list as well.

Interesting not to have any Philosophical leaders.

That extra 10% beaker increase probably doesn't sound like much on paper, and without a Philosophical leader, there's really not too much that makes Korea hugely attractive as a Civ.

It might have been fun if there was an Ind/Phi leader, but that only happens once in a blue moon.

[SleepingMoogle]

Most spoiler threads are bound to have some analysis of the other team's picks, but since the start of the game is still a while away I might as well do something similar.

mackoti and Ioan76: Roosevelt (Ind/Org) of the Netherlands
As the team with the first pick, there were far better options than to go with the Dutch. I'm guessing Mackoti and Ioan took Krill's mention of there being water on the map to mean it would be water-heavy. Even if that turns out to be the case though (and that seems doubtful), there are better choices. Their UU and UB are quite powerful on an islands map, but by the time they become available it's likely they will really affect the outcome of the game. The starting techs of the Dutch (Fishing and Agriculture) aren't bad per se, but the former is wasted if the start isn't coastal.

The consequence of that pick meant Mackoti and Ioan were the last team to pick a leader, and most good ones had already been taken by that time. I suppose Roosevelt isn't a terrible pick, but even here I thought there were better ones available. There's little synergy between the leader and Civ traits (cheap lighthouses in case of a heavy water map is about the best I can come up with), and the Industrious trait in particular is devalued by having three other Civs share the trait in this game.

All in all, the picks will put this team behind from the start and they will have to play very well in order to be considered a serious contender.


Adlain: Wang Kon (Fin/Pro) of Arabia
Adlain was the first to pick a leader, and he immediately selected the only one with the Financial trait. Not much needs to be said about the power of Financial. I'm sure Adlain will try to leverage it as best he can but it also means his second trait stinks, but at this point it doesn't look like Protective will be levaraged at all.

Arabia as the final pick isn't too bad, but there's very little synergy with the leader. England had already been picked, so there would be no cheap Stock Exchanges, but perhaps pairing Wang Kon with Native America or Spain, to name a few, would have been a more interesting choice. As it turns out, the choice of Arabia means they the only Civ to start with Mysticism, and guaranteed a religion if Adlain wants one. He can then leverage Madrassa to quickly generate a great Prophet for a shrine. The Camel Archer is a decent-ish unit, but unless Horses and Iron are scarce, not that great a UU.

Adlain is in a prime position to leverage a religion to further boost his Financial edge, so this may turn out to be a quite powerful combination if played well. It will be interesting to see how well that will turn out.


plako: Catherine (Cre/Imp) of China
This seems to be the blueprint for a REX strategy. Get out lots of cheap Settlers, and establish a strong border using the bonus culture provided by the Creative trait. Plako will probably be one of the teams to watch, and teams starting near him had best beware. As the second leader pick, Cathy was a quite strong one and Plako has already shown in other games he knows how to set up a strong empire.

China was a bit of good luck as well. I had considered picking them for pretty much the same reasons Plako probably considered: Good starting traits, cheap Pavilions and a decent-ish UU under the right circumstances. This is easily one of the better pairings, and with Mining and Agriculture as starting techs, there's maximum flexibility to adjust to the starting conditions.

Based on picks and past performance, I have pegged Plako as one of the teams most likely to seriously contend for the victory.

[Sciz]

Hello Sleepingmoogle! I had forgotten about this until I was reading through the pitboss4 signup thread again while procrastinating and found out I was your dedicated lurker. Glad to be aboard, but don't rely on me for more than moral support and someone to bounce ideas with. Also I can play the occasional turn if you need to be away and whatnot.

Still I need to get back to my studying now, will read through this when I am done!

[SleepingMoogle]

Hey Sciz, good to have you here.

The game's not started yet, so there's enough time to take it easy for a while longer. Which is a good thing in this case.. I had planned to continue analyzing the other team's picks but haven't felt well the last day or two. I'll see about doing some more writing again tomorrow.

If there's anything you'd like to know or discuss, feel free to speak up. I'm curious what you feel about my choices myself.

[SleepingMoogle]

Alright, feeling a bit better again today so let's continue.

Locke and Cervantes: Isabella (Exp/Spi) of England
These two did very well for themselves with the pick. Isabella was probably my top pick going into this game, and having her available in the fourth place was great for them. Spiritual does need a little bit of work to make it a good trait, but just the lack of anarchy by itself makes it an above average choice for me. Even though Locke and Cervantes chose not to pair Isabella with a Civ starting with Mysticism, the fact that only Arabia does makes it fairly possible for them to pick up a religion if they wish.

There isn't too much synergy between leader and Civ, but England is a pretty solid pick, especially considering it was one of the last ones to go. Redcoats feel a bit like a defensive unit to me, but it's definitely possible to go on a rampage with them, and England picks up the ability to construct Stock Exchanges on the way to Rifling. The starting techs (Fishing and Mining) are a bit meh, but depending on the start can turn out to be quite strong.

I have no experience with Locke or Cervantes so I have no idea what their Civ skills are like, but their picks are solid at least and if they capitalize on them they are likely one of the stronger teams out there. Since early aggression seems unlikely, I wouldn't mind starting next to them and try to forge a strong friendship between our two empires.


sunrise089 and regoarrarr: Shaka (Exp/Agg) of the Zulu
Someone should tell these guys we were in fact using unrestricted leaders. This is still a pretty decent pick though. I'm guessing the Zulu were eventually picked because both their UU and UB work well with the Aggressive trait. Note that I included regoarrar as a player rather than a DL. That's what reputation will get you.

The slight downside to this is that the Zulus start with a Scout because they start with Hunting as one of their starting techs. I'm still fairly confident they will go Worker first if they can get the bonus hammer on the first turn though. The combination of sunrise and rego may be enough to make some teams reluctant to push an early offensive so that should be a pretty safe gamble. Doubly so with early access to Impis.

For what it's worth, Babylon's Bowmen could (hopefully) be enough of a deterrent for the Zulus to direct early aggression in the other direction. Having us start far away from each other would still be the preferred scenario of course. Sunrise and Rego are both Civ heavyweights, and should be handled carefully even if they picked Churchill of America.


Luddite and Atlas1998: Bismarck (Exp/Ind) of Sumeria
The first team to pick an Industrious leader, I wonder if Luddite and Atlas anticipated 3 more teams doing the same. Probably not, but they have a very useful second trait in Expansive nonetheless. Granaries and Forges are buildings and just about every city builds sooner or later, and getting them at half price is a great boost in getting them up and running quickly.

The decision to pair Bismarck with Sumeria feels a bit odd at first as there is no obvious synergy. The starting techs are good though (Agriculture and the Wheel), the same as Babylon's. As their UU gives them a reason to pick up Priesthood early, I'm guessing this team may beeline it and go for the Oracle. With only one team getting the Mysticism head start (and them not having an Industrious leader), this may end up working pretty well.

Luddite and Atlas should do well if their plan works out. Best of luck to them.


I'll write up some early thoughts on the last three teams later tonight.

[SleepingMoogle]

It looks like I forgot to mention the Vulture UB of Sumeria in the last post. Probably sums up my feelings about them well enough. :neenernee

Lord Parkin: DeGaulle (Cha/Ind) of Egypt
Lord Parkin's strategy seems to be centered around building Stonehenge, using the Industrious hammer bonus to land it and gaining benefit from his Charismatic trait and UU. His initial pick (Ethiopia) also has a UB Monument so I guess in hindsight it isn't too strange that he picked a Ind leader after two others had done so already. Thinking about it some more though, it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. There's not a lot of benefit from having Obelisks in every city over regular Monuments, because you don't really need to run Priest specialists if you already have GPP's coming in from Stonehenge itself. This leaves me a bit confused what the underlying idea behind the picks was. If he wanted Henge, he should have picked a Civ starting with Mysticism, or a Phi leader if he wanted to play around with Obelisks.

Still, Egypt has excellent starting traits (Agriculture and the Wheel) and arguably the best early UU in the War Chariot, potentially made even more dangerous by the Charismatic trait for easy promotions. I'm fully expecting him to WC rush someone if he can, which if succesful may put him ahead of the other teams. Unfortunately my Bowmen don't get their bonus against mounted units so hopefully we're not starting next to each other.

I have no firsthand experience of Lord Parkin's Civ skills, but from what I've seen in the signup thread he at least seems fairly sure of himself. His manner in the seems to be a tad overbearing and may rub people the wrong way, but time will tell if he can back up his posturing.


WarlordDr: Washington (Exp/Cha) of Greece
Another Expansive leader pick, this time combining the trait with Charismatic. A decent combination for all-round expansion by giving passive happiness and health bonusses, as well as the option to create an easily-promoted army. WarlordDr was a late addition, but still managed to come out of the draft with a decent leader.

His choice of Greece is a little more questionable though. I considered Greece myself for cheap Odeons, but Greece's starting techs (Fishing and Hunting) are easily the worst in this game. Perhaps the decision was based more around the Phalanx, which is a decent UU that will help against Chariot rushes. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of synergy between leader and Civ, so I'm not quite sure what the idea was here.

WarlordDr is a friend of sunrise, which may very well mean he has extensive MP experience. While I'm not too impressed by the picks, I'll have to handle him carefully until I have a better idea of his Civ skills.


Nakor and Gaspar: Asoka (Org/Spi) of the Vikings
It is a bit unclear to me what the idea behind this combo is. Perhaps Nakor and Gaspar fell into the water-heavy map trap as well? At least the UU and UB of the Vikings come into play when they will still make a difference, but I don't see much in the way of synergy outside of half-price Trading posts.

This combo does provide some flexibility by enabling a religious focus to gain benefit from Asoka's Spiritual trait but is hampered at the same time by bad starting techs (Hunting/Fishing) and a Scout start. All in all, the choices will probably but this team at a disadvantage at the outset, and they will need to compensate for it or never be a serious contender.

From what I've read on his RPB1 thread, Nakor seems like a fairly decent player. Gaspar is a bit of a wildcard, but they can both end up surprising all of us.