So this is a little blog to follow my first PBEM ever.

Obviously, if you are playing in this game, don't read on.

Other people are welcome of course to comment and criticise within the usual RB no-spoiler environment.

OK, a quick pre-start analysis:
Small map size = the place will fill up quickly. Being imperialistic (cheaper settlers) should help me there.
Quick speed = normally favors a builder approach, or so I read somewhere. I am not very familiar with quick speed (mainly playing the epics), but then I am a mediocre CIV player in the first place.

As far as my opponents are concerned, I am looking forward to play against all of them, especially the three Apolyton Demogame team members. I have not read a report from Athlete I have to admit (should probably do that).

I did not choose HRE, but asked Sullla to assign a random civ. So I have no preset plan how to play. Certainly have never played Charlemagne before (mostly for the poor traits, in my eyes), so it should be a new experience.

Charly is Imperialistic (50% faster on settlers - that's good & 100% faster GG appearance - ugh, warfare is not my strength)
and Protective (some promos for archery and gunpowder units & cheap walls and castles).
So very military focused.

Furthermore, I start with Hunting and Mysticism.
I hope there is a camp resource around early on naturally and there might be chance to land a early religion. Of course their are two more Mysticism starters with me (Saladin and Ghandi).

I will probably run a little C&D here as well, see how it works for a sequential game.

Enough of that. I finally got a non-corrupted save file from Athlete, so here is my starting position:



Hmmm, one food resource, one flood plain, one happy resource. A lot of forest, a lot of hills. The river runs south.
The snow on the firs in the north indicates I am on the northern hemisphere. There are more forests and hills in the fog, which I guess from tile bleeding.

Will I move the settler? The in-game points say everybody has settled their capital already, so delaying by one turn is loosing one turn in the tech race (religion).

I will move the scout S-SW to reveal a few more tiles:

A lot more forests and hills and a hut. There is nothing to suggest I should move the settler, so I settle in place.
This reveals even more forests and hills.

EDIT: Actually here is a screenshot missing, will post it tomorrow.

You can see that I choose Meditation. I want to get an early religion to boost culture and well, because I am the HOLY Roman Empire. From the demographics I can see that I probably lucked out in working a 3food tile (like everyone else) with an additional gold. However, to play absolutely sure, I will stunt growth by working the wine instead of the floodplains. That will give me Mediation at turn 5 while delaying my second pop to turn 7. On top of that I double my hammers. Sounds like a good compromise.

I will be back with more comments tomorrow.

mh

I'm sorry this was delayed for a few days. I sent the files off to Griselda on Monday, but I haven't heard back from her since. Gris is probably busy this week, so for the moment I'll simply post the relevant info in this thread. Sorry for the delay!

I've been organizing a team for HA over at the Basin and there's still an opening, so I figured I'd see if anyone here was interested. I meant to post this at the same time as the other one but just plum forgot. Sorry. Anyways, the thread in question is this one. Basically it boils down to a set team meeting twice a week (tentatively Tues and Fri evenings) and playing HA together in a more serious environment than what we normally do on Mondays. If you're interested, pop on over there or let me know here and I'll add you.

seems everyone is recording here - I'll be back when the game gets back to me with some thoughts and screenshots.

I'm going to use this post as a table of contents.




Table of Content

• T50: 1000BC Summary
  
• T67
  
• The birth of DeTOG
  
• T79 Summary - Post 1
  
• T79 Summary - Post 2
  
• T97 - Passive Spying
  
• T97 - Defense against The Sooooo
  
• T97 - Active Spying
  
• T97 - Charts
  
• T140 - Cities
  
• T141 - Charts
  
• T143 - Sooooo declares War!
  Sooooo looses 2 cities but crushes my stack on the flat ... I turtle and try to rethink attack plans
  
• ... still thinking at T160
  
• T160 - Mini Overview #1 & #2.
  
• Sparta Campaign II (T186)
  • Pre Engagement Planning
    
  • Turn 1 - Sooooo
    
  • Turn 1 - Ruff
    
  • Turn 2 - Sooooo
    
  • Turn 2 - Ruff
    
  • Turn 3 - Sparta Falls
    
• Dissolution of DeTOG / Formation of GaPR
  

My scout popped a hut (gold) and I settled on the spot. Sullla's maps rarely have tricks at the starting position. I could see a hint of coast in the north before I settled.



Possibly 1NE would have been better since it makes my capital coastal, but I'm happy with my starting position. I like my river. I get to work a 3/1/0 sugar tile to start which is great.

I started with a worker and agriculture, neglecting early defence. Surely no-one would warrior-rush the guy who set up the game, right?

When chosing my leader, I knew I wanted creative. For me it's the best trait for this kind of game - you save many hammers in the early game by not having to build monuments. Also you can culturally bully your neighbours. For the second trait I took a punt on philosophical to see how well it worked in multiplayer. Possibly it won't be as strong as vs the AI because you cannot guarantee trade partners for techs you lightbulb. But I think it could be good early-game trait - an economic boost without having to work a load of cottages.

Having revealed stone and bearing Pericles' traits, I'll give serious consideration to the pyramids. My initial tech order will be agriculture - mining - bronze working.

Our glorious Leader!



Now with big-map attached!

Just what the title says. I will get around to creating the game today and shipping off the save files to Griselda. I have been.... insanely busy for the past ten days, but things are finally returning to normal now.

So, I've decided I want to have a bit of a mini collection, and, like any collection there are a lot I don't have and won't be getting just because those birthdays have passed and won't be coming again.

In any case, here's the laundry list of what I have:
[Green]
Bone Dragon, Gwen, Varesh, Kuunavang, Black Moa Chick

[Gold]
Pig, Celestial Pig, Celestial Rat x2, Celestial Ox (thanks Courin!)
Y1: Rurik, Shiro
Y2: Lich, Water Djinn

[Purple]
Y1: Burning Titan (thanks Courin!), Charr Shaman (thanks Xyn!), Kirin
Y2: Elf, Palawa Joko, Koss
Y3: Nornbear

[White]
Y1: Temple Guardian x2, Jungle Troll, Necrid Horseman, Jade Armor, Fungal Wallow, Siege Turtle, Hydra, Whiptail Devourer
Y2: Aatxe, Wind Rider, Harpy Ranger, Juggernaut, Thorn Wolf, Mandragor Imp, Fire Imp
Y3: Forest Minotaur, Mursaat, Abyssal, Raptor
Y4: Dredge Brute, Quetzal Sly, Kveldulf

Need:
Y2: Heket (don't ask me how I missed that one)

Oh yeah, if anyone's interested in one of my extras lemme know.

Edit (this one and future edits) for updates.

Hi all. I'd like to set up a Realms Beyond PBEM game. The idea is that it has the multiplayer strategies of the apolyton demogame without all the stress. Also, unlike online multiplayer, you have plenty of time to consider your actions.

The settings are designed to favour a quick game: Maximum of 5 players (one of which is me!), Small Map, Inland Sea, Quick Speed, latest official BTS patch. Other settings sorted out later.

The game is meant to be short and friendly; hopefully the community we have here will allow turns to progress at a reasonable rate and with a decent standard of play. Despite the relaxed atmosphere though, the settings may produce some violent play. Don't sign up unless you are prepared for that, but MP experience is not necessary (I have very little).

So I am looking for a maximum of 4 players for this venture, who will be reliable and willing to play on until the end of the game. Subs can be sought for temporary outages if announced in advance. Also I will require a map-maker.

If there are more than 4 sign-ups I will give priority with equal weight to (1) order of sign up and (2) if I perceive you to be "reliable".

So, with the new Zaishen quests around and (at least, for now) them being character based, I thought it would be a good time to start a thread about having a timeslot when we know other people will be online in case we want to group together to get them done.

For me, the best time would be around 7PM EDT since I'm generally available on that day, every day. After 11PM would also work, but I'm less likely to be lucid by that point.