[SPOILERS] Commodore, Mist and the Weed. A Farce in three acts.

[Mist]

Just because Commodore is not here and I can start a thread

And he seems to be out of witty title ideas anyhow

[Commodore]

Holy crap! And your thread proves prophetic/ironic day one!

Okay, what's your gmail, we need to coordinate, obviously.

[Mist]

Sent you a PM Seems like a wonderful start to the project

[Commodore]

Sigh. Here's the intro I wrote:

Hi! We here at Mist/Commodore productions would like to thank you for stopping by our thread. Together, I, Commodore;



...and this fellow, Mist;



Are probably responsible for half of the purely handmade maps here. Join us now as we critique this mad experiment from the inside. Remember, we know what's were talking about.

Oh, we're also trying to win a game of civ, but meh, everyone does that.



Off to a great start, folks!

[Commodore]

Okay, so, picks. You have some thoughts, Mist? I'm most interested in playing with some combination of Creative, Imperialistic, Philosophical, and Protective (assuming free worker). That being said, the part of me that wants to win has a hard time not picking Financial. It was my first combo ever, but if this map is a high-maintenance toroid with coast ironically Darius of the HRE would be very good. In general, much as 25 has been a bloodbath re:economy, if we don't go Org then either Aztecs or Sumeria, with their 25% discounted courthouses, might be in order.

Final selections will need to wait for Seven posting both starting positions and the offsetting bonuses, but that's where my head is. Pacal of Inca is probably still the One Right Choice here, but I'm not much interested in that.

[Mist]

[SIZE="4"]Act I, in which Commodore has hope, Mist has no clue and the Weed abounds[/SIZE]

Heh, did I mention I have no clue yet?

And in whole seriousness -

You're probably right that sensible option is something Fin based ( Fin / Org ), provided bonuses/nerfs ratio compared to other traits is not crippling. If we go this route though, you're on your own as far as setting up competitive economy goes. There's no AristoFarms in this weird Civ mod we're going to play and I have no idea how to *properly* set up Fin based economy here.

Option I'd be comfortable with involves Phi. Specialists economy does not differ that much from my FFH experience, I can dig it, even if not to Krill-high standards. So get something that opens quick route to 'Mids and try not to die. Interesting twist on this would be the Priest economy.

And there's always the crazy way (Phi/Pro). Spies are not banned. Can we work spies?

[Commodore]

Heh, did I mention I have no clue yet?

Option I'd be comfortable with involves Phi. Specialists economy does not differ that much from my FFH experience, I can dig it, even if not to Krill-high standards. So get something that opens quick route to 'Mids and try not to die. Interesting twist on this would be the Priest economy.

And there's always the crazy way (Phi/Pro). Spies are not banned. Can we work spies?

Huh. Well, spies are open, but the big draw of the spy economy is tech stealing, which is banned, and great spies aren't allowed to infiltrate. So we will be using spies, I'm sure, but sadly they can't be the staple.

I'm totally up for something with Phi. I've done the whole cottage economy twice, once with Fin, once without it (CE still is strong without Fin long-term, just too slow for MP). A specialist economy with a strong bulbing focus appeals to me. In an AW setting, Protective isn't as worthless as it would otherwise be, actually, although neither would be Agg (Alexander of Rome, scary looking, but actually just wants to tech). Other fun pairing would be Phi/Cre (cheap libraries est uber allies), Phi/Exp (because well, it's Exp), Phi/Org (if it's as brutal in the maint department as 25). I'd love to figure out a good bulb path, possibly even setting up an absurdly early Constitution rush if some Ind loon looks to be able to beat us to the 'mids.

Also, because it's our thing, culture victory?

[Mist]

Also, because it's our thing, culture victory?

Hell yes

From a quick glance through the leaders/civs :

Sitting Bull of Babylon?

Rex with minimal garrisons and laugh at them until the time they get cats.

Lincoln of something might be interesting. So would Phi/Cre.

[Commodore]

From a quick glance through the leaders/civs :

Sitting Bull of Babylon?

Lincoln of something might be interesting. So would Phi/Cre.

Hum, I like where that's headed, but why not an earlier Iranian culture? Alexander of Sumeria. Same great starting techs. Agg vultures, while not as amazing as Pro bowmen, still pack a punch. Meanwhile, the Philosophical Oracle gambit means we'd be bee-lining Priesthood, so we'd get cheap courthouses there as a bonus.

Really need to see the map/settings. Fishing if we have fishing start, etc. I like Org on toroids, so Fredrick wouldn't be entirely out although that means we'd want MC even more badly for Colossus to spam coastal cities (cheap lighthouses being the other big draw of Org). Lincoln is more of a solid middle-ground generalist, but if we're going for generally good leaders Pericles is a head and shoulders above the other Phi leaders in question.

[Mist]

Really need to see the map/settings. Fishing if we have fishing start, etc.

Seven said it'll be like PBEM 25, so while there's some water, I don't think there will be enough of it to warrant Fishing, Colossus or TGL. So probably not Frederick.

but if we're going for generally good leaders Pericles is a head and shoulders above the other Phi leaders in question.

I can be completely sold on Pericles of Arabia.