[SPOILER] Pitboss5, "The Pony Polka" (Kuro)

[Kuro]

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If you're thinking of entering Pitboss 5, another player, under the influence of drugs, secretly an alien, bleed indigo, have grown a dog snout and become omnipotent or dislike Civilization IV, turn back now!

[Kuro]

Prologue: Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect

Song reference here.

Hello, everybody. There's a large chance you do not know who I am: I'm Kuro, on some forums known as Ruki Motomiya and Pratty, but here Kuro.

I am a long time civ player, owning the original far back when Warlords was just announced. Unfortunately, I long lack the funds to buy it, and given my timing, my influence inside RB events was non-existant. I also often lacked BTS: Until a friend gave it to me via Steam.

Despite this, however, I was quite a horrible player: It took me like a year to win consistantly on Noble! For me, a large part of learning to civ good was reading Sullla's works on his website. So I definately credit that to my becoming a better player, heh.

However, I was never interested in multiplayer outside of my friends: Far too much just plain warring, not my cup of tea. I ran a lot of multiplayer, Pitboss-style games with my friends: They're not top tier players or nothin', they'd probably get crushed 'ere, but they're nice fellows. We always ran them without Pitboss though, so it wasn't very micromanage-y: Basically Single Player without AI, though we would include AI when we didn't have enough.

After some time, I refound Sullla's webpage, since I had forgotten where it was and had lost the link due to computer moves. I decided to read up on some stuff and noticed his Pitboss 2 page. Saw it, read it, was awed really.

So since then, I've been trying to get into a Pitboss game and experience it. Read up on Pitboss 2, followed everything in Pitboss 4, waited for a while to see what popped up. Made this account.

Then I saw Pitboss 5 was open, so I jumped on that. I jumped on Pitboss 6 now that I saw it too...but it looks like I'm too late to get into that =) Which is too bad, since I think it plays slightly more to my laughable "strengths", but oh well...

Going into this game, I have some facts about myself, which will of course taint my view on everything. Specifically, my pros and my cons.

Cons:
I am inexperienced. I have never played a single Pitboss game before! This means that I will not be competing against heavy hitters in areas of expertise in how things go. I will be the dog chasing cars: No idea what to do with one if I actually CAUGHT it!
I am not an expert micromanager. Ties into the first, I simply am not the great kind of mind who can think about how if I work seven turns on this cow then eight turns on this gold I can get this tech one turn sooner. I think I can do number crunching early on, with some work, fix up that, but...I'm not too confident in my mid-game and late-game civilization management skills. Or my early ones, really. Therefor, I cannot expect to defeat my opponent's my out-microing them.
Little Cloak and Dagger skills. Ties into the first again. Actually, I would really love some help here, maybe a dedlurker or something to help me understand what these values means XD Or at the least, some kind of resource into what the numbers mean(Like how BW apparantly raises soldier count). So I shouldn't expect myself to out-knowledge my opponent's here, either.

Pros:
I like to think of myself as excellent at diplomacy! ...Except diplomacy is off for this game. I will admit I heavily disagree with this(It won't do much to stop tech trading blocks), but it's not my descision to make. I would love to see something like "No diplomacy about tech trading" or something(MMm, maybe I should suggest that), but I doubt it'd fly. Does no diplomacy mean no NAPs? If so, scary, scary...
I have a LOT of time to shit around! ...Is that a good thing?
This one may not be much of a bonus, and if Krill decides to join(But I doubt he is!), then I'm outgunned here. But I'm going to be looking to tear apart the RBModifications and try to figure out what to do to get that extra "edge". If you don't have the civ skills to straight-up take advantage, you can try to shore yourself up in other areas, like diplomacy. With this being no diplo, this is going to try and be my area: thoughtful insight before the game begins on what the changes mean. Of course, I could be entirely off base and it could hurt me more than it helps or my opponent's could be just as insightful...but I need SOME meaningful pro here, don't I?

I'm sure Krill will at least be happy to know I'm going to try and test out RBMod fully =)

This concludes my introduction. Way too wordy, I'm sure I'm driving off lurkers already XD But whatever.

I'm going to include a small Table of Contents, as well. At the least, for the pregame shmup and maybe for some stuff after.

Table of Contents:
Currently empty.

Next post...a long one on trait and civic changes and what I think on them!

[Krill]

No diplomacy means no talking at all. So you can't say gimme alll your gold and I'll give you all my tech. Could offer to trade a single tech for x gpt though.

[Kuro]

No diplomacy means no talking at all. So you can't say gimme alll your gold and I'll give you all my tech. Could offer to trade a single tech for x gpt though.

Yeah, and that's why I don't feel it doesn't really do much to deter tech trading blocks(Just offer tech trades like usual!). I suppose it makes them slightly more risky because of potential miscommunication, but it's probably still going to happen =) Though without NAPs(Since no talking), this game is going to be...interesting anyway, I feel. I could be really wrong about this(Again, inexperience speaking!), but that's just my thoughts. And of course, that could not even be the intention of no diplo in the first place!

Either way, this game will be different.

[Krill]

Yeah, and that's why I don't feel it doesn't really do much to deter tech trading blocks(Just offer tech trades like usual!). I suppose it makes them slightly more risky because of potential miscommunication, but it's probably still going to happen =) Though without NAPs(Since no talking), this game is going to be...interesting anyway, I feel. I could be really wrong about this(Again, inexperience speaking!), but that's just my thoughts. And of course, that could not even be the intention of no diplo in the first place!

Either way, this game will be different.

Eh, alliances work so differently it's hard to understand the difference no diplo makes I suppose. In PB3 we just gave all gold, never thought about the exactly how much we were paying, you just gave. And you knew you'd get all the tech so only needed 1 set of multiplier buildings. In a no diplo game though that'd be suicide (combined with no NAP etc, or knowing what other players intended strategies are). I think the best example is that it will be more like an SP game in that it's not just 2 sided.

[Kuro]

Act One: Trait-ors to Civic Duties

One of the biggest differences between Vanilla BTS and RBMod is the changes of traits and civics. I would personally argue that they are the most important changes, though with my youthful inexperience among these matters in a competitive Pitboss enviroment I'm sure that's not worth much.

A person who fails to grasp these changes will be doomed to failure in this game. Evolution is the key. ...I'm hoping I can be in the latter and not the former, obv. XD But enough dramatic pretexts, let's move on to the changes.

-- Financial --

Ah, yes, Financial. THE uber trait for NTT games and one of the best in TT games. No leaders or civs are banned in this game, so all Financial leaders are free.

Financial, however, did suffer a small nerf. Outside of water tiles, you now need 3 commerce to get Financial's extra boost into play.

This is a relatively minor nerf. Water tiles still have this boost @ 2, which is good, although I get the impression one does not want to work TOO much water in a multiplayer game like this. The big thing is that Financial is now much more dependant on rivers: 10 turns to the commerce bonus, all things considered, is not that bad. On rivers, that's all you need. However, off rivers, a Cottage much grow into a for the boost to come in, or 30 turns working the Cottage/Hamlet. Therefor, Financial is no longer the uber trait it once was, it's more chance-y. It will, however, still work very well with the precious metals or some kind of sea-based economy.

Indirectly, it also serves a second nerf. Specifically, in how Watermills are now much better improvements. 2/2/1 isn't a bad tile, although not too great, but in Serfdom it become 2/3/1, the equivilant of a riverside grassland hill with a bonus food. Of course, Watermills can only be built on the riverside: So a Financial leader will have to choose between faster boosted cottages or an all-around great tile. While I doubt it will matter, since it comes so late in the game, Watermills can later become a 3/3/3 tile, which also gets the Financial boost. Very nice.

Overall, I would say the Financial nerf was Moderate. It is still an excellent trait, but it is no longer uber.

Best Financial Leader: I would lean towards Willem van Oranje(Cre/Fin) now. Not needing Monuments or anything will help speed you up in the early game, which will offset the slower new Financial. Closely following Willem are Darius I(Fin/Org), whose ability to get cheap Libraries is very helpful, not to mention Lighthouse/Courthouses, and Hannibal(Charismatic/Fin), whose boosted +2 happiness with no need for Stonehenge/Monuments(Which also makes it non-expiring) allows more efficient slaving with the new Slavery and better vertical growth(The more cottages you work, the faster you get the Financial boost). Pacal II(Exp/Fin) is also a good classic choice.

Best Financial Civilization: There probably is none. Financial works well with any civilization. India, with it's Fast Worker even after nerf, is always a good choice. With The Wheel as a starting tech for them now, you get to Pottery faster too. Japan with the new Pagoda is an interesting choice. They also get a fast Pottery. I'm sure at least one person will choose Portugal for it's now cheaper Feitoria, but I don't think it's worth it.

-- Expansive --

Expansive, widely considered(At least it seems to me) the "best" trait after Financial. Despite this, a large amount of Expansive leaders were allowed in Pitboss 4. Four of the ten leaders in PB4 were Expansive(Isabella, Shaka, Bismarck and Washington).

Unsurprisingly, it was one nerfed a decent deal. Specifically, they no longer get half-priced Granaries, a VERY large selling point for Expansive. However, they did get some good things. Worker production boost is now 35% instead of 25%, though I dunno how often this'll help. But more importantly, they now have a 35% bonus to Work Boat production!

That is very big. A Work Boat is half the price of a Worker, so it will already be done faster, while the bonus will produce it even faster. Notably, during this time as well, your city can grow, unlike with a Worker!

...Oh, and they also get special speed on Grocers. Which isn't bad, but not a huge deal usually.

Because of this, I say Expansive's nerf was low. Losing those special speed Granaries was big, but they got other stuff to make up for it.

Best Expansive Leader: It's close, but I feel I would go with Mehmed II(Org/Exp). He'll get 6 buildings half-costed, including Lighthouse(To go with your fast Work Boats!), Courthouse and the new Library addition to it. The -50% civic upkeep is not bad either. Washington(Exp/Charismatic) is another really good choice: I will explain slightly more under "Charismatic". Shaka(Exp/Agg) or Sury(Exp/Cre) are your choices if you wanna bother less with culture and Pacal II(Fin/Exp) is your old standby. Picking an Expansive leader depends much on your play style and which civ you want to make.

Best Expansive Civilization: India is the default choice, as you get a quicker Fast Worker. Civ is a game of snowballs and Expansive Fast Workers snowball hard. In a snake pick, you're liable to have a hard time getting this combo though, at least with your preferred Expansive leader. Other good options are America, who you will get double speed Malls on, start with both Fishing/Agriculture for good food boost early on and now has a usable but not great UU, and Carthage, which gives you half priced Cothons and Fishing/Mining start.

-- Creative --

The last of the power trio of Financial, Expansive and itself. Creative was valued for your ability to skip cultural buildings early on, making you go faster, leading to getting other goodies faster. It also got cheap Libraries, a key building.

Creative's nerf was extremely simple. It no longer gets cheap Libraries. It's a decent sized blow, the Library is a good building, but not too big.

They also got an indirect nerf, as Barracks now give +1 culture. For more on how this affects Creative, scroll down to Aggressive.

There is not much to say about Creative's nerfs. It's one of the trickiest to place, but I will say Low to Moderate nerfing.

Best Creative Leader: Probably Willem van Oranje(Fin/Cre). Sury(Exp/Cre) is also good, while Pericles(Cre/Philo) is a decent choice but under them. Creative generally wants another power trait to go with it, best making use of it's early game acceleration. Do, however, look at Zara Yaqob(Cre/Org), which gives you a bunch of good cheap buildings, including your cheap Library back, and Hatshepsut(Cre/Spi), which is hard to leverage but with good pay-off.

Best Creative Civilization: Getting cheap Ball Courts with Maya is a good idea, but Mysticism is almost worthless to you. Greece gives you a weaker version with the Odeon, but better starting techs. Choosing the Byzantine gives you the cheap Hippodrome alongside the good but nerfed Cataphract, but again sticks you with the worthless Mysticism.

-- Aggressive --

One of the traits that, technically speaking, got no change. Aggressive will still give you the same bonus as it does in Vanilla-BTS: Combat I on Melee and Gunpowder and cheaper Barracks and Drydocks.

And yet this trait got a MASSIVE boost, for one key reason: Barracks, although costing 60 hammers, now give +1 culture, just like a Monument!

This is a huge boost, IMHO. Aggressive leaders can now afford to skip Mysticism until they need a technology down it's line, speeding up the start game. A Barracks with Aggressive can be whipped out with 1 pop, just like a Monument. This significantly speess up Aggressive in the early game. About the only way this could be better is if the Barracks gave a more economy boost OR, more importantly, if a better building than the Drydocks was it's second doubler.

Overall, it is not an uber trait, but it is much improved. I give it a medium strength boost.

Best Aggressive Leader: I would personally say Shaka(Agg/Exp). Expansive speeds up your early game with faster Workers and Work Boats, while Aggressive also speeds it up by allowing you to skip other cultural buildings. Hammurabi(Agg/Org) can be a bit scary, with 6 cheap buildings which will be build in many places. Alexander(Agg/Philo) is your choice for a hybrid Rome. Kublai Khan(Agg/Cre) becomes possibly the worst leader in the game.

Best Aggressive Civilization: I would definately go with the Zulu. They get the Ikhanada, which will be cheap, and since it replaces the Monument for Aggressive leaders pretty much, you'll be building it in most cities. And with -20% maintanence, you'll WANT to build it everywhere! It's the marriage of form and function. In addition, Zulu has THE starting techs for RBMod, Agriculture/Hunting, which lets you hook up all land-based food and get a quick AH for Horses if need be. Impis also love that free Combat I. If you aren't choosing Zulu, you're probably going with Rome, as Combat I Praetorians with +10% City Attack(According to the Civilopedia) are roughly equal to old Praets, throw in some say a Shock Praet + Shock Axe + Spear for protection. Finally, if you aren't choosing Zulu or Rome, choose a civ based on your secondary trait.

-- Charismatic --

Charismatic has always been in an odd state of flux for traits, as it's always just kind of better than, say, old Protective, but worse than most other traits. Because of this, it has gotten boosted in the RBMod, and made into a MUCH better trait.

The biggest change, and the only one directly related to it, is that instead of +1 Happy from Monuments and +1 base, you get +2 from the start. This is huge, as it no longer means Stonehenge for Monuments everywhere. Granted, you will probably be needing to build Monuments in many places, buuut...still.

However, it also has a few other minor changes to it. The new Slavery favors lower pop, but more frequent, whips. This means your citizens get unhappy faster: Charismatic helps negate this with +2 happy. The phase for growing vertically may also be slightly increased, as the early game has been slightly slowed and the mid-game slightly sped up. With Vassalage a better civic, Charismatic gains a slight boost as well with it's faster promotions.

While none of these are absolutely elite changes, they push Charismatic into a much more usable economical trait. I really wish that they had some kind of boosted building though: It would of been fun to see half-priced Monuments, but that might of been broken. Perhaps they could get half priced Castles over Protective? But Castles kinda suck and don't fit flavourfully...Aqueducts?

Eh, I'm not the mod maker, I shouldn't even be discussing this, heh.

I give Charismatic a moderate boosted level.

Best Charismatic Leader: Probably Washington(Cha/Exp). You basically get a free Hammam in every city. Plus, faster Worker/Work Boat production means faster to the whip, faster growth and an economical edge, which offsets Charismatic's lack of bonus buildings or visible economical power. Boudica(Agg/Cha) allows you to use Barracks over Monuments, very nice with two warring traits, but offers no truly visible economical power. Consider Lincoln(Cha/Philo) for a Specialist-like economy with the boosted Caste System.

Best Charismatic Civilization: There probably is none, as Charismatic works on a basis of support. However, the Ottomans probably are the best, as you can get the Hammam to basically get a bunch of happiness regardless of resources or anything + faster promoted Janissary. If you want to go with Boudica, then the Zulu are THE option, with faux-Monument Barracks. Your opponents will be afraid with your warring traits, too.

-- Protective --

Ah, Protective, the much scorned trait of Civilization. If Civilization IV had a retarded small brother who had also lost both of his arms in some terrible car accident, that would be Protective's smarter older brother.

So, obviously, it's getting boosted here. You know how Expansive used to have cheap Granaries? Well, now that's Protective. Cheap Granaries are one of the best things to have in a game and that alone sets Protective up to be good.

In my opinion though, a critical error was also made while buffing Protective: Archery/Gunpowder units now no longer get Drill I. This means it's now only good for defense, and we all know huddling up Longbows in your cities might stop enemies from killing you, but you'll still be behind at the end. With draft warfare non-existant due to nerfs to Nationhood, Protective now literally has almost only one use: Cheap Granaries. At least with Drill I in, you could get cool Muskeeters.

Despite this, I have to give Protective a high change, for the fact cheap Granaries means it will actually be chosen.

Best Protective Leaders: Wang Kon(Fin/Pro) is probablt your best bet, but Mao Zedong(Exp/Pro) essentiallys give you old Expansive with a 10% Worker bonus + Work Boats. There are not a lot of good Protective choices.

Best Protective Civilizations: A Protective civilization should always be paired with the Incans, as the Terrace will eliminate your need for Monuments. In fact, if you are going for a Protective civ with your choice, I would recommend choosing the Incans first and your leader second, as nobody will choose a Protective leader except for denial purposes. And they'd have to choose both Mao and Wang to smother your best picks.

-- Organized --

Organized is a trait that has always existed in an odd state. It's not bad, but it is not good. It is merely there. It is the unimportant side character who repeatedly pops up in your books but isn't an Ensemble Darkhorse. But surprisingly, it did not get that much of a buff.

In fact, it only got one primary buff, which is the addition of cheap Libraries to it's repitoire. This is still a pretty good buff though, as Libraries are a great building. This all gives them a ton of cheap, useful buildings: Courthouses are always nice, Libraries need to be done to keep up in tech and Lighthouses at coastal cities.

It got some minor, indirect changes as well. With Feudalism's changes, Organized can abuse Bureaucracy best over all others. They're probably the main ones who will utilize Free Speech, as State Property without Corporations will push it forward for many others.

Finally, with Organized having four speeded buildings, more than just Creative/Organized can get six speeded buildings. Specifically: Pro/Org, Agg/Org, Cre/Org, Exp/Org.

Overall, it got a low boost. It's not much better, but it is better.

Best Organized Leader: I would go with Asoka(Org/Spi), as Spiritual allows you to best abuse the new balanced civics while Organized makes them cheaper, in addition to providing an early game boost. Zara Yaqob(Cre/Org) gets the same old 6 cheap buildings, with Creative giving an early game boost to Organized late game civic savings. Darius I(Fin/Org) is slow to start, but has beastly end game potential. Roosevelt(Org/Ind) is a great choice for Sumeria wanting Organized leaders.

Best Organized Civilization: Take a look at Sumeria. You can get cheap Ziggurats at Priesthood, costing only 45 hammers, which is important with new Slavery. Vultures are much improved, now being even with Axes in straight-up combat. Agriculture/Wheel aren't bad techs, either. On watery maps, although rare, take a look at the Vikings, for half-priced Trading Posts and 2 food techs at the start. Holy Rome is a classic combo with this and with Hunting changed their techs are not too bad anymore. Finally, the Aztecs can best abuse Slavery and Organized helps you get out that Altar faster.

-- Philosophical --

Philsophical has always been a good trait, but not elite. Because of this, it was left totally unchanged: I agree with this. Philosophical seems balanced very well right now.

Because of this, there is not much to say directly. It did, however, get some indirect buffs.

With Enviromentalism @ Liberalism now and giving commerce for Farms/Pastures + money for specialists, Enviromentalism helps you when you run specialists. Caste System got an indirect boost with Workshops being more viable, Enviromentalism helping specialists and Vassalage helping Pacifism. For that matter, that Feudalism/Pacifism boost really helps Philo. A civic range of Representation/Caste/Pacifism/Vassalage OR Enviromentalism could be very powerful indeed.

Although minor, the Forum's boost and Rome being unbanned also helps Philo: A Philo leader with a Forum and in Pacifism should be able to pump out Great People VERY fast.

Overall, I give Philo a low boost. They're much better in NTT instead of TT I feel, not least of all because the former usually has diplo, which means you can do things like trade Great People for stuff.

Best Philosophical Leaders: Alexander(Agg/Phi) lets you skip[ Mysticism and is THE combo with Rome, as Aggressive Praets are very close to Vanilla-VTS Praets + you get an improved Forum. Frederick(Phi/Org) means cheaper civics for the ones you'll be running. For speedier options, try Peter(Phi/Exp). For late game options, try Lincoln(Phi/Cha) or Lizzie(Phi/Fin).

Best Philosophical Civs: Rome gives you improved Forum and Praets. With a usable UU, the Khmer become a legit option, with the Baray's +1 food. Double speed Universities means they also combo well with Russia's new Research Institute or the old combo with Korea's Seowon. However, Philo civs are very flexible: You may wish to choose based on your second trait.

-- Imperialistic --

Imperialistic has never really been a premeire trait. It was servicable, but not really one you went after: It's primary use was on Cathy for super REXing. So it got a buff: Though now I feel it is, currently, the worst trait.

The first buff it got was a 10% boost on it's 50% Settler production. Granted, it may be my low micromanaging skills at work here, but I doubt this 10% really matters too much in snowballing, though it is still nice. The second is double speed Custom Houses, a building you're liable to only be building with The Great Lighthouse or as Portugal...but with TGL's nerf, even that is iffy.

They don't recieve much in terms of indirect benefits either, save possibly that others will have to wait just a bit to whip Settlers out and the Feitoria being cheaper.

Overall, I give them a low boost, since they did get a boost.

Best Imperialistic Leaders: It remains Catherine(Cre/Imp), I feel. It's still for REXing only, but at least it's good at it. The only other Imperialistic leader worth noting is Augustus Caeser(Ind/Imp), which can let you wonderchase and then catch up a little faster. Every other Imperialistic leader is almost strictly outclassed by another leader, save MAYBE Joao II(Exp/Imp) for boosts on both food boosters and Settlers. If it had some kind of economical building benefit or cultural equivilant to Agg's Barracks, it'd be REALLY good...

Best Imperialistic Civilizations: Portugal gives you really cheap Feitorias, but it's far too dependant on there being water. The Aztecs, Zulu Sumers and Holy Romans all have cost cutting UBs that can help REXing. However, there really is no best Imperialistic civ: Choose based on your secondary trait.

-- Industrious --

Industrious is a cool trait. eh builds wonders and only afraids of military

But as we've seen, it's not a very well taken trait: Pitboss4's 4 Industrious leaders doubles up the amount of Industrious in the other 3 Pitboss games, IIRC. Overall, however, it is a pretty good trait to have. It's also one that recieved almost no change: No notable wonders are different and it gained and lost nothing.

Therefor, honestly, I have little to say on this one. It is basically the same as before and that's okay. I rate it at no change.

Best Industrious Leaders: Really, basically the same as before. Qin Shi Huang(Pro/Ind) is now a decent choice instead of being laughable, however. Roosevelt(Ind/Org) builds your Lighthouses for TGL and Libraries for TGL faster.

Best Industrious Leaders: Sumeria is a good choice now, as you can Oracle and get Ziggurats at the same time. The only Forge UB is the Mint, which isn't worth choosing Mali for. Just go for whatever here, really.

-- Spiritual --

Spiritual. This thing...god, I dunno what to say. It is by far the most unquantifiable trait in either version, as it does not give any direct, quantifable from the start advantage. Everything here is MM leverage, baby, which means it's probably not for me.

Spiritual recieved no changes, because it did not need any. Spiritual works great as is. However, it did recieve some indirect buffs: With more viable civics and most important the Serfdom boost, I feel the ability to switch between Slavery, Serfdom and Caste, among others, will be a great thing. Pop to Feud/Caste/Pacifism to pop out better defenders and a great person, then switch back to Serfdom and what not, or pop into Slavery to whip.

For recieving an indirect boos like that, I give it a minor boost.

Best Spiritual Leaders: It's hard to say there IS a best Spiritual leader, as the trait doesn't really change between all things. It works well as a secondary trait to anything, though Asoka(Org/Spi) is a notable one. Gandhi(Spi/Phi) is also notable for Pacifism in-and-outs. Mmmm, two Indians, huh?

Best Spiritual Leader: None, all things considered. Choose based on your other trait. Top tier civs like India, of course, are always welcome though.

Thus ends my treatise of thoughts on all of the traits, as they are in RBMod. If I had to rate them, in order, via a simplistic tiering system, it would go...

Tier A:
Expansive
Creative
Spiritual
Financial
Aggressive

Tier B:
Charismatic
Protective
Philosophical
Organized
Industrious

Tier C:
Imperialistic

With traits out of the way, I would like to go on to Civic changes. These are not to be underestimated, as Civics play one of the largest roles in a civilization game...but I'm sure you would already know that =) So I'll cut to the chase on what I think of these new changes.

--- Serfdom ---

I'm sure you all expected me to start with Slavery and the massive impacts it will assuredly have on this game. But no, I decided to start with Slavery's much misaligned little brother: Serfdom.

Serfdom recieved a major boost this game. Instead of 50% Worker speed boost, it's 75%: That means even FASTER and, if I do my calcs right, 1 turn roads on Normal(I'll have to check later...). Faster Workers for more snowballing. However, the other boosts are not to be considered trifling: It gives +1 hammer to Watermills and Windmills now.

That Watermills boost? That is KEY. Watermills now start out by giving +2 Production, instead of +1 and then another +1 at Rep Parts. That means that, in Serfdom, every Watermill is a 2/3/1 tile(Since it has to be on a river). That is the equivilant of a Grassland, Riverside mine, except it doesn't slow down your growth. While only avalibile at Machinery, that's pretty huge. The Windmill boost isn't bad either: Serfdom Windmills on a Grassland hill give 2/2/1, 2/2/2 on a river. It's a nice, balanced tile. It also lets you plop down effective tiles on hills a city cannot work due to food. The larger build times of Watermills is offset by Serfdom's Worker speed boost, too!

An Expansive civ or India with this trait could be very frightening indeed, hm.

--- Slavery ---

Slavery is possibly the biggest change in the RBMod, as so much of the early game is based on abusing the poor suffering of your people to get delicious grains, Workers with lash marks all over them or Settlers who are not so much settling as "breaking out".

This was changed in one of the simplest ways possible: Merely reduce the hammer bonus Slavery gives you. Now, whipping more than 1 pop gives you 20 less hammers, making it much less efficient. This means to abuse Slavery, what you want is lower pop whips, but more often. The speed boost it gives you is still there and still good, however I feel Caste System and Serfdom will supplant it as the primary civic for this column after they become avalibile.

Aggressive civs love Slavery for their psuedo-Monument Barracks.

--- Vassalage ---

This is another big hitter, I feel, for changes in Civics. Unless I'm missing something, giving it military support as well effectively DOUBLES Vassalage's effectiveness. Obviously, this is untrue if they split the free unit support in two instead of just added in military support.

It's also now only Medium upkeep, which is very nice. I feel it can easily compete with Civil Service now: Free unit support + Lower costs means it provides an economical option to Bureau's high upkeep. In addition, Feudalism as a tech is VERY lucarative in this game, as it enables Serfdom(Snowball + Uber watermills) and Longbows. Vassalage's +2 experience is not trifling either, especially for the boosted Charismatic civilizations.

This civic is very good and should not be underestimated in RBMod.

--- Free Market ---

I don't know quite what to say about this one! Obviously, having +25% to Trade Routes is a lot better than -25% Corp in a no Corp game...but I dunno how good it will end up being. It does not compete against State Property or Free Speech and Banking is liable to do more for a specialist-based economy. The only thing I can really see this being used for, in it's current state anyway, is for someone with TGL before Corporation(After Corporation, you lose any edge you had with this) or as a stepping stone to State Property/Free Speech. But is it worth it to go into anarchy for a stepping stone?

Maybe if you can bundle it, I suppose.

Oh! It'd also be good if you could get a BUNCH of intercontinential routes, I guess. But SP/Free Speech should still give more.

--- Enviromentalism ---

The most changed civic in the game: It moved columns and got an entirely new effect. The new effect gives all of your Specialists +1 gold production, gives your Farms and Pastures +1 commerce and retains the effect of giving Forest Preserves +2 commerce.

This civic is now really good. The one idea I like with this is one that I have liked in some other games as well: A dedicated Great Merchant farm. With gold and multipliers, you can easily use a GM farm to give trade missions for a massive gold influx, but you can ALSO merge them for overall gold AND having all those Merchants means you can run the slider higher. Enviromentalism is very good for this because Merchants naturally give 3 gold: Just under 4 for a 25% multiplier to work. Enviromentalism means your 3 gold Merchants give 5 gold now. In addition, all your farms(And pastures if you have theem for food resources there) now give 1 commerce, thus giving your city some research with your higher slider. If you add in Representation, it gives you a lot of science!

This civic also gain a more sublte boost: Caste System's Workshop boost is now much more meaningful. Since they start with +2 hammers now, a Caste Workshop essentially allows you to convert any grassland tile into a basic Grassland mine of 1/3/0. Even your flatland cities can make some hammers now! With the +1 at Guilds, a good tech that needs the now more important Feudalism, you get a basic Plains hill which also pays for half it's cost. Thus, a Caste System/Enviromentalism civ can have production along with gold production and research. Enviromentalism also gives scientist farms commerce, so if you can afford to make a Merchant and a Scientist farm, you'll get mad everything. The biggest issue is it coming somewhat late @ Liberalism, so you need to be in good economic shape in the first place.

--- Free Speech ---

Not changed, BUT moved to the economical column and it now comes at Scientific Method.

I feel this got nerfed pretty bad. State Property, in a no corp game, is VERY powerful. Bigger empires get massive enough cost cuts to be close to Free Speech's Town boost, while it also gives +10% production civ-wide, which at this stage in the game is quite noticable, while ALSO making your Workshops amazing 2/4/0 tiles and giving you 3 food Watermills!

Free Speech's biggest virtue is coming at the required Scientific Method, while State Property comes at the unneeded Communism. If you don't feel you need Communism, stay at Free Speech. If you can afford the extra tech there, State Property is usually better. =)

That covers all notable trait and civic changes. Wow, that was long, huh? Just how long? I'll include at the end, just for you!

I wonder how many people I drove away with THIS wall of text...? XD It made me laugh when I saw Krill say wall of text in a certain other thread!

Next time, I'm going to go into rebalancing, the changes to Hunting/AH/Archery, Espionage and other tinkering doodads, and what Civ/Leader combos I'm hoping to get this game(And why!)

Word count: 4977!

EDIT: Reading more of Krill's stuff makes me feel like such a noob about some of this stuff XD Mostly Imperialistic...though I still don't know how much I like that trait ATM. And I still definately disagree with Fin being overpowered, except maybe in NTT. But that's one we'll definately see.

[Krill]

Are we going to end up in a post war, seeing who can write the most on the changes? Because I can promise you, if that is the case, I surrender right now.

[Kuro]

Are we going to end up in a post war, seeing who can write the most on the changes? Because I can promise you, if that is the case, I surrender right now.

Not really XD Especially since you won if you factor in time(That was probably written over 2-3 hours + ideas formed from studying the RBMod over the past 2-ish days). Besides, even if I have more words, I don't think I can match you in substanance of them.

But yeah...despite that, do you have any comments, even small ones? I can understand not wanting to comment too much due to, you know, lurker-age and stuff, but it'd be cool to see the RBMod maker commenting on me trying to say some stuff on it.

[Krill]

Well, I can't post now, working next two days, 12 hours each at that so wouldn't be able to add anything substantive.

I think the two things that really stand out are that Pacifism is actually worse for PHI than none Phi, because you get a smaller relative bonus (thus, the Vassalage bonus helps PHI less), and that the FM trade route bonus only workers on a per trade route basis and doesn't actually do anything in the majority of cases: you won't get a larger trade route yield unless the %bonus goes from, say, 175% to 200%, in which case that trade route will give you 1 more commerce. If it only goes from 150% to 175% you get nothing.

Also, I always like to read posts like this, even if I do disagree with some of it, it's nice to see how others think the changes are working. And, eh, I write crap, your post is readable, and interesting, mine just causes headaches.

[Kuro]

Well, I can't post now, working next two days, 12 hours each at that so wouldn't be able to add anything substantive.

I think the two things that really stand out are that Pacifism is actually worse for PHI than none Phi, because you get a smaller relative bonus (thus, the Vassalage bonus helps PHI less), and that the FM trade route bonus only workers on a per trade route basis and doesn't actually do anything in the majority of cases: you won't get a larger trade route yield unless the %bonus goes from, say, 175% to 200%, in which case that trade route will give you 1 more commerce. If it only goes from 150% to 175% you get nothing.

Also, I always like to read posts like this, even if I do disagree with some of it, it's nice to see how others think the changes are working. And, eh, I write crap, your post is readable, and interesting, mine just causes headaches.

I suppose that it does mean a smaller relative bonus, but I figured that it's still a bonus over anyone else running the same strategy and stacks on benefits. But I can see where a smaller relative bonus makes it less effective.

I didn't know that about Free Market though. FM seems really crappy to me then: Banking/SP/Free Speech will almost always outdo it, won't it?

Also...it certainly means something you think mine is interesting. I was really worried about people losing interest reading it!

Hopefully you can make it through that long work alright Don't go postal on 'em, alright?