[Spoilers] Commodore is Kublai Khan of Greece...yeah.

[Commodore]

Okay, honestly? I like the color. It was between the Greeks and America. I wonder if I should have taken Americans...

Here's the very very public start:


...and yes, moving from SIP is to be considered lame.

[Commodore]

So here's the initial question: Work boat or worker? It's a biggie.

Work-boat first means going straight for Bronze Working. The actual first thing hooked up by a worker (whipped out, naturally) is the copper, which appears on the rivered tile in between the gold and the clam. A fast second city to claim the shared clam/copper, plus gold, would enable good research for a while along with the furs. The capital gets up and running solidly, but not quickly.

Pros: Unpillagable food online first, great to get the copper enabled for the wonderfully versatile Agg phalanx out early and often. Commerce-heavy approach.
Cons: Lacks the versatility of a worker first. The massively strong tiles of wet wheat and riverside grassland cows(!) are slow in coming online.

Worker first is less rigid but will generally start with Agriculture->AH, then going up for Mining->BW before getting rolling. Creative means that third-ring borders are popped fairly fast, so horses come online for defense first most likely. The second city shares cows and maybe wheat. Capital is up fast, although bronze is delayed.

Pros: Unlocks the best tiles first, flexibility about which gets hooked when.
Cons: Very sensitive to chokes, which given the scout start hurt somewhat. Slow getting Agg Phalanx online.

There might be a third way, but that's what I'm seeing right now. Thoughts?

[Gaspar]

Worker.

[Commodore]

Okay, here's the actual start, it's flipped from above. Password is GRRM.



And here's what I did.



And here's what that did for me.



Love that power rating!

[Commodore]

Okay, I know the only reason you guys tune in is because of these:


Commodore (Warborn, Peacelonging), as Kublai Khan (Creative, Aggressive) of Greece (Hunting, Fishing)

Yep, that's me. I know darned well that this wasn't the best choice in the game, but it seemed like fun and Creative is the only trait I've never really played with in RB MP thus far. Obviously, in a tight AW map both cheap border pops and aggressive will come in handy during the expansion phase. Creative Odeons will be a minor happy boost but a great culture building, while Agg Phalanxes, no impi or Preats, are very strong and flexible units. The general plan is to push expansion by war or peace with cheap Libraries' scientists provide the beakers to power along the Currency path.

It's hard to accurately acess myself as a player, in general. My micro tends to be very solid, if occasionally prone to tunnel-vision due to my aversion to sandboxes. I own the WB file here, though, I really ought to be able to manage it this time. I'm aggressive, prone to making very high-risk attacks that only occasionally pay off. One day the RNG and my opposition will hand me all aces and I'll win, until then I'm a highly entertaining failure. I'm learning how to care less, which seems to be increasing the entertainment (PB5) and decreasing the failure (PBEM 38, where when I do lose it will be due the skill and good play of my opponents, not self-sabotage. Probably).


Automated Teller (Promising, Reactive), as Louis (Creative, Industrious) of Sumeria (Agriculture, The Wheel)

AT chose a good, solid combo here that screams "ORACLE" like nobody's business. Priesthood is an amazing tech for him, given the Oracle and Ziggurats are unlocked there. I expect him to grab Metal Casing early and use his solid vulture UU to defend himself while he techs to bigger and better things.

I do sense some reactiveness in AT, for all that he is probably the best newbie we've seen on RB in some time. Tatan's vultures in their duel have been effective, thus he goes for vultures. For all that, he does own this map here, having driven Lizzie of the Natives to a commanding victory in the greens game. I will treat him with caution, but I also am very glad to fight him if that comes, as Agg Phalanx ought to rock anything he can throw at us.


Scooter (Wheeler, Dealer) as Gandhi (Philosophical, Spiritual) of India (Mysticism, Mining)

Well here's a restricted pairing, how very old school. However, this is probably the third best restricted pair after HC/Inca and Pacal/Maya in a normal game setup, so that's very solid. The plan here is all about economy, pairing the fast worker's excellent snowball-food with Gandhi's great Great People generation. Given bulbs are extremely strong on such a small, expensive map, this is a very good plan. The lack of any particular military edge will be tough to overcome, though.

Scooter is a solid player, but it is interesting to note that he has had his greatest RB successes in the Diplomacy games. Scooter plays the players, not the game, which has both its advantages and disadvantages. He's a solid civ microer, macroer, etc, but his concern is very largely external. This means that he can be counted on the try and make deals, even in AW CTON (see 32, where we basically DMZ'd a border to great mutual benefit). So...let's see how we should deal with him. If he starts settling GPs, by the way, he'll probably automatically flip from "useful buffer" to "delicious buffet".


Pindicator (Three Spreadsheets to the Wind) as Zara Jacob (Creative, Organized) of Maya (Mysticism, Mining)

It's really nice to see that I'm not the only one picking suboptimally for fun. Zara isn't a bad leader for the setup, but his lighthouse discount won't be used, and his civics reduction will be less than impressive. Maintence will be horrific, so those courthouses will come in handy, but that's about it. Creative Ball courts are happy-heavy, but this is a very luxurious map. Holkans are nice in that they don't need copper hooked, but he'll really need axes online quicky anyway.

Pindicator is a very very good player who still lacks confidence in himself and his abilities. His logistics are impressive, see PBEM 26, 39, and no doubt PB5 (I'm assuming Rego is smart enough to let Pin run that side), and he is a good microer. But he expects to fail repeatedly, which gives him an edge of caution a lot of the time. Still, he's a solid general and I expect him to be a tough match on the battlefield. Good thing we cheat by being Agg.

[Gaspar]

I think Peaceborn and Warlonging is probably more appropriate for you.

I won't do full-blown analysis because as we know, I am in fact the world's worst dedlurker but I'd say you largely nail everyone pretty well. Scooter plays too fast and Pin loses focus, otherwise they both have the skills to be top tier. Pin probably is on that next level below the very best players, and scooter on the level below that with the likes of you and I. I confess I've paid no attention to either of AT's games so I don't have any real insight there.

You won't win this because you took Greece. If you had taken Sumeria yourself, maybe. But the format suits you so I expect you to do well.

[Commodore]

So, the mapmaker here was insane, this is some really lush land. I briefly entertained the notion of a five food city. Then chuckled, because we're pushing an ICS grid here kids.

You won't win this because you took Greece. If you had taken Sumeria yourself, maybe. But the format suits you so I expect you to do well.

Okay, but what if I take Sumeria?



Seriously, it's a thought, but I'll actually probably be skirmishing more with Pindicator and Scooter. Speaking of, that's Scooter's "India for originality" civilization over there to the left.



Cool. Here's the demos, post-EoT 1. Brick, you were trying to work on your C&D? Here's an easy chance, we know the mirror for each player.



One cool bit. Working clam plus knowing Sumer gets Agriculture down a turn. Nice!

[Commodore]

Got a complete set!



Know most of the world too:



Scooter seems defensive and cautious.



Pindicator will be choking.



Definitely Mining -> BW next.

[Commodore]

These are the chronicles of the Free Cities, their histories and their records.

In the world of Shadow, Euclidean geometries meant little. This was a land where north became south and east became west, but northwest also became southeast. In this strange and fantastic realm, barbaric peoples dwelt from time immemorial, free and nomadic. It is not clear how it came to pass, but four immortals were born to a small tribe on one day.

These four brothers grew and learned and quarreled, and eventually the four split ways.

In the original tribe of Bruce Spring, the one known as AT became a leader. Though he was the youngest of the four brothers, he was gifted with prophetic dreams, visions of an empire that had conquered the whole of Shadow or a world much like it. He was a creative man, and industrious, and he knew he could follow the prophecies to conquest in Shadow. But first, he would need to find an oracle for confirmation.

The next youngest brother was Scooter, and he came to lead the tribes of India. He was a spiritual man, who soothed away anarchy wherever he trod, and his philosophical nature led to him teaching many great people. He too suffered from visions, although his were of failure and exile. Scooter's philosophy was largely to compensate for the haunting nature of those dark visions.

The eldest brother was Pindicator, adopted by the Mayans. He was a creative and interesting thinker, but it was his organized ways that set him most apart from his brothers. His adoptive tribe loved him and would follow his lead anywhere, for all that we would rather have spent his every waking moment in scrolls and spreadsheets.

However, amongst the brothers the second eldest, and the most aggressive, was the man known as Commodore. His people were known as hoi polli, the Free Citizens. Upon the shores of Lake Kakatiti, the first great city of Volantis was founded.

The Commodore knew his people's strengths and knew the weakness of each of his brothers. In the world of Shadow, only if all the land was united could the raging barbarism of the past be fully eradicated. Arming his first followers with hornwood bows and teaching his people how to farm as well as hunt and fish, the Commodore knew he had the power to unite the world.

Although he knew every nook and cranny of Shadow from his centuries of wandering, Commodore also knew it was vital for his people to know the world too. Thus, while his brothers concerned themselves with arming warrior bands, the Free Citizens sent out scouts to map the world.


The four brothers all knew each other well, and in their centuries they had learned much to pass on. The first few hundred years of The Estrangement, each of the four did much the same, showing their small tribes how to work the surrounding lands.


The Free City of Volantis grew prosperous and strong, its cultural influence spreading wide, and it was well...for the Age of Beasts was soon to come.

[Commodore]

Turn 7, Pindicator moves forward in what could be a choke.



The oldest of the Free Cities, Volantis, was founded in the earliest mists of recorded history by Commodore's people, then known as the Greeks. With the settlement of the city upon the rolling hills north of Lake Kakatiti, the tribe took to calling themselves the Free Citizens, for they lived lives of great ease and comfort compared to the hunter-gatherers around them. Two well-trained archer battalions were stationed at all times around the lake, and the city's influence spread for miles around.

Strange as it might seem now, in those old days a city of a thousand people was vast and impressive. So much so, alas, that the Volantians were harried by the Mayan tribe in the north. Pindicator, fearing his brother's aggression, sent out fully half of his own archer strength to harry the Free City. Although the Volantians could have taken to the field in full strength and wiped out the Mayan battalion, Commodore feared the losses that might occur.



For the Free City had a secret; it was the least powerful of all four cities in the world. All four brothers had their guardian battalions, but the others had companies of warriors too. Although the Free City now had a work force standing ready to irrigate the wheat plains northeast of the city, with the looming threat of the Mayan archers they dared not risk leaving the city's close hills. So for the first centuries of the city's life, it was to the lake that the Free Citizens looked for food.