A Challenger Appears!

[Tankra]

[Tankra]

Greetings lurkers and lurkettes, and welcome to Tankra's first PBEM on Realms Beyond!

It's already my turn to pick. Dear me, I think I'm getting the vapours. All joking aside though, I shouldn't dawdle too much. So let's get right at it.

The picks up to now have been:

The Stick - Peter (PHI, EXP)
Automated Teller w/ Sareln - Isabella (EXP, SPI)
Sian - Bismark (IND, EXP)

All that's left for the first round of the snake pick is myself and then Nicolae. I've got very little knowledge about any of these players, but I'll try and analyze the situation a little bit here:

The Stick is just as new to the forums as I am, and his level of skill is still unknown. His pick, Peter, seems to me to be quite strange. I don't see much synergy between Peter's traits, although undoubtedly they are quite strong traits. I can't guess what he has in mind, but the pick itself doesn't worry me too much. He's not playing any other PBEMs at the same time, so he might have a lot of focus to devote to this game.

Automated Teller is not new to the forums, but has been playing in "greens" games. I haven't had time to lurk those, but his skill level shouldn't be too bothersome, given these precedents. He is, however, playing with Sareln, who seems at least a little bit more experienced. The only game I could find of Sareln is PBEM18 (apprentices), where he lost to Nicolae. Ooo, the plot thickens! Perhaps there are old feuds to be resolved here. Their pick, Isabella, is strong. In fact, I had half a mind to pick her myself before they picked it. Overall, the pick is what scares (and bugs) me the most.

Sian is experienced but obviously not a veteran, as he's the one who decided on creating an "intermediate" game in the first place. If I'm not mistaken, he's currently playing in PBEM29g as well as PBEM30, so this will be his third simulateous one. That might divide his focus a little bit; it's something to keep in mind, at least. His pick, Bismark, leads me to believe he plans on chopping out a few early wonders. He'd certainly be in a good position for the 'Mids, were he to get some stone. Overall, he's maybe a little bit more threatening than the first two.

Last but not least is Nicolae, who played and won in PBEM18 and played in PBEM21 as well. From what I can see (and I might be wrong), he's the only player in the lineup who's actually won a game on RB. For this reason alone I'll consider him as the top dog.

So, the conclusion of this preliminary TL;DR is that the threat I feel from these players, from most threatening to least threatening, goes as follow:

1. Nicolae
2. Sian
3. Automated Teller + Sareln
4. The Stick (because I honestly don't know where to place him; this is the advantage of being a new challenger, from which I benefit as well)

So, my beloved readers, have I missed anything in my analysis of these players or the picks so far? By all means, tell me I'm full of it.

Next post shall be about what I will be picking.

[oledavy]

Next post shall be about what I will be picking.

Pick Hattie

[SevenSpirits]

Seems like pretty spot-on analysis to me. Hope you continue to update like this.

[Tankra]

Pick Hattie

Gasp! How did you know I was favouring Hatshepsut?

Seriously though, that's messed up. I'll probably be going with her, but I just need to give it a bit more thought.

[oledavy]

Gasp! How did you know I was favouring Hatshepsut?

Seriously though, that's messed up. I'll probably be going with her, but I just need to give it a bit more thought.

You indicated you liked Spiritual by favoring Isabella. With her and Mansa Musa off the table, Hattie was the logical third choice. You could make an argument for Gandhi. However, the tradeoff is that he doesn't really have an early game expansion trait - so Hatshepsut is probably the more balanced pick.

I'm a big fan of spiritual myself. If you're going to go that route, I would recommend Hattie or Gandhi. Rameses might be strong if you wanted to go a bit off the beaten path. However, Sian has already picked Bismarck, which weakens IND a little.

What were you thinking of for you civ?

[Ceiliazul]

Pick Hattie

Nice analysis Tankra. I agree with Dave.

Regarding your idea of picking a civ first, it's not terrible. What are your top 2 leader choices? What are your top 2 civ choices? Which of the two backup options has the greater dropoff?

One caveat: Sian is a known wonder-lover. Picking another IND leader (like Ramesses) would perhaps allow you to compete for a chosen wonder or two. Yes CRE is a better trait, just something to think about... solo IND is a huge bump in a 5 player game, especially in the hands of Sian.

[Tankra]

Onwards to picking.

Now I don't know how traits are ranked over here for ancient starts, but I'll venture a guess and say that after FIN, EXP surely comes in second. And I can see why. Faster Granaries, Harbours, Workers and a nice little +2 health on the top. As a result of this, all three of my opponents have already picked an EXP leader. Now, I'm not a hipster, but just for that reason alone I don't want to pick another EXP leader. It's a powerful trait, but if everyone takes it, boringness will ensue. Also, Isabella has been picked already and Sury is banned, so that leaves me with disgusting choices like Shaka (AGG), Washington (CHA) and Joao (IMP). Although Mehmed (ORG) is not that bad...

Which brings me to my next topic of discussion: ORG. It's a very strong trait, but as many have mentioned before, it's slightly boring. And it really only starts shining later in the game when you start building courthouses and get expensive civics. As we all know, Civ is a game of snowballing, which makes ORG inferior to a bunch of other traits in ancient start. And I'm Canadian; I know all about snowballs.

Speaking of snow and the spiritual calm it brings us when it falls on a calm winter night, let's talk about SPI. I know, worst segway ever. I'm a fan of SPI, and I might be inclined to rate it right after EXP. Its offensive power is greater than AGG due to Theo/Vassalage bursts. Its GP growth is similar to that of PHI due to Caste System/Pacism bursts. And it boosts your economy by letting you save turns, which is cool. Building Temples is decisively "mehhh...", but that's not the point of this trait.

So seeing as SPI can replace AGG and PHI, why even talk about them at all? I know, I'll ignore those traits altogether. Sorry, Gandhi. I also won't be talking about PRO because I am a mortal being and deign my time best used at non-futile tasks.

We're thus left with four traits I haven't talked about yet: IMP, CHA, IND and CRE. IMP is strong, but not in ancient starts. I'll pass on that one. CHA is fun and gets you great armies filled with veterans, especially with Theo/Vassalage. Altogether pretty cool, but slightly gimmicky. I don't think it would be wise to consider CHA for my first leader in an RB game. Perhaps once I have more street cred. IND is definitely a good trait, maybe even an awesome trait, but is very situational. Sure, if you've just oracled Metal Casting, you're thinking "man, IND is awesome." But if you're stuck in wars all game and have no time for wonders, you're thinking "why the hell am I not protective? I need those walls, STAT!"

CRE, on the other hand, is also extremely powerful, and I can't imagine a single game where it wouldn't be immensely useful. No need to build those pesky Monuments, and who doesn't need Libraries? And if you're say, the Maya, the faster Colosseums sounds pretty good as well. Also, the trait reaps its benefits very early in the game, almost as early as EXP. How's that for faster granaries; no need to make a monument beforehand!

---

So, given all of that, there are essentially three traits worth looking into for me right now: SPI, ORG and CRE. That gives us Mehmed, Hatshepsut and Zara Yaqob. Seeing as I value SPI more than either of the other two, logic dictates we should say goodbye to Mr. Yaqob here. And ORG is both less entertaining and less early-game than CRE. I think we must have a winner here, and I think he or she wears a ceremonial false beard instead of an everyday full one.



Now, I know I had a bias towards picking her even before I started this wall of text, but at least I can rest assured that there is at least some manner of logic behind my desire to pick her.

Upon reconsideration, Celiazul, I've come to the realization that my Civilization is probably less important than my traits at this point, and that I'll have plenty of choice for that anyway, once the pick comes back to me.

Also, I guess you're right oledavy. It wasn't that much of a stretch to assume Hatshepsut after I said Isabella.

Next post shall be about my Civ pick.

[oledavy]

I wouldn't exactly say IND is situational. Quick forges are good for any game type. Also, the hammer bonus on National Wonders is often downplayed or outright ignored, but is a very strong aspect of the trait. Mackoti and I once batted around the idea of leveraging IND into a faux-PHI by beelining literature and throwing up a really early National Epic.

All that being said, Hattie is a really strong pick, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with her.

[Ceiliazul]

Hatshepsut (SPI/CRE) of Native America (Dog Warrior, Totem Pole)

Well, we're front loaded a bit on our traits. (Which is OK!) I love CRE in the early game, and dog warriors recently helped Plako beat off a 3v1 dogpile in the ancient age in PBEM 25v. I like it.

SPI is something I honestly haven't played with much. I understand it's a late game power trait, and you said you value SPI highly. I look forward to seeing how you use it.

Starting techs (fishing, agriculture) are good if we get a seafood start, average if we don't. Here's hoping for fish!