[69] Ginger and Miguelito do as fortune commands

[Ginger*]

But I agree with the sentiment - my geography was great, but I'd have thought it was terrible from the first 15 turns. And your other grumbles are more than justified.

That applies to the majority of players in this forum these days.

Well, it's interesting, I don't mind poor maps, I just like it if everyone experiences the same challenges. Which I have no idea of at this point
They could be swimming in wet corn and floodplains, or they could be crying like us

   
   
...speaking of tears...

[Cornflakes]

Just imagine all those plains farms in serfdom + golden age … bonus hammer and commerce on every tile!

[Amicalola]

AND you found a food and luxury resource in ONE turn!

[Cornflakes]

AND you found a food and luxury resource in ONE turn!

[Ginger*]

Just imagine all those plains farms in serfdom + golden age … bonus hammer and commerce on every tile!

Far more inspiring than the thought of some rather flaccid 2/1/1 tiles outside of this hypothetical perpetual golden age 

You know I've been meaning to ask you Cornflakes, how do you stay so positive* during a pitboss game and maintain high engagement? Because that choice is split down the middle for me, if I invest the time, thought, heart into a pitboss—it'll be terror and fear that I reap. But to disengage means to give up on all the joys of good gameplay that the pitboss mode offers.

*going off of your reporting. If you feel similarly but are just better at filtering it before hitting that "Post Reply" button, well

[Cornflakes]

You know I've been meaning to ask you Cornflakes, how do you stay so positive* during a pitboss game and maintain high engagement?

I think the secret is not taking the empire personally, and enjoying the journey and not just the win. I certainly have moments of disappointment and anger when things don't go my way (either through mistakes, or outside intervention), but after a couple turns of distance I reset the game state in my mind as the start of a new scenario, and take the best actions and decisions from there towards my new objective. I find just as much fun in squeezing more than it is thought possible out of a hopeless situation as I get from winning.

Part of this probably comes from the fact that I really enjoy board games but am more analytical than my family and friends, and therefore in order to not outright win everything (and thus get stuck playing only party games) I often play with certain self-imposed restrictions, and find joy myself in their happiness from winning. For example in Settlers of Catan: always accept resource trades with my sister even when I would much rather keep the resources that she's asking for. That one small rule allows my sister to have fun building more stuff even if she doesn't win, it makes it a little more difficult for me having to use resources that are suboptimal, and is virtually impossible for anyone to detect that I'm providing any assistance at all. Or maybe my Grandpa hasn't won Wizard or Hearts in a couple weeks and my objective is for him to win without anyone being able to detect that I took any specific actions in his favor, with a bonus objective of not coming in last place myself.

[Ginger*]

Superdeath as Mansa Musa of Sumeria
Pindicator as Pacal II of Mali
Bing as Victoria of Carthage
Gavagai as De Gaulle of Rome
Magic Science as Tokugawa of Khmer
Commodore as Saladin of Germany
naufragar as Montezuma of Spain
Ginger as Joao II of Celts

Combo ranking:

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S tier:
Pacal of Mali
Vicky of Carthage
Mansa of Sumeria

A tier:
DeGaulle of Rome

B tier:
Saladin of Germany
Toku of Khmer

C+ tier:
Joao of Celtia

C- tier:
Montezuma of Spain

Notes: because I rate SPI highly, I'd bump Montezuma up to B tier but only on the condition that Nauf is starting with fish, otherwise Spain really sucks, even with SPI/Mys synergy. Mansa of Vultures drops maybe a tier and half if Superdeath has to face any kind of early axe pressure. Toku is eh but Baray is verrryyy nice on maps like these

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Player Alignment:

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Emotionally unstable builders: 
Pindicator
Myself (Miguelito dedlurking  )

The Bard: 
Commodore

Psychopaths: 
GAVAGAI
Naufragar
Superdeath

Greens:  
Magic Science
BING (Civac dedlurking  )

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Bringing it all together, chances of winning and how...

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(With geography being held equal   )

Very strong chance:
Pindicator (Mali gives the smoothest of starts and Pacal does his thing) 
Gavagai (Praet offensive, either with or without forges) 

With a quest or two:
Commodore (Saladin fixes early happy with religion, maybe Oracle)
Me (Pretends that Joao reads "Industrious")

Will need a quest or three:
Nauf (Has capital fish and does a religion play)
Superdeath (Is left alone by reputation and Mansa of Sumeria carries him)

Will Civac go sicko mode?:
BING (Civac takes over as turnplayer and liberally applies Numids to someone's face)

Not if we go off of recent performances:
Magic Science (maybe he will build the Colossus for us this game?)

[Charriu]

I'm curious. Why do you rank Saladin of Germany so high other than Oracle and religion

[Ginger*]

I'm curious. Why do you rank Saladin of Germany so high other than Oracle and religion

I really like CtH Saladin.
Spiritual is arguably the best late game trait but does very little early unless you go Religion that early. Which is usually restricted by other shiny stuff like Bronze Working, Pottery, Animal Husbandry. Protective gives you the early tech you need to unlock that
Germany is decent start techs, and we might see their UU though I don't think it will necessarily be decisive. Definitely would pick over Celts

Edit: PRO Risengarde can also take Formation after only two promos, allowing them to resist Knight first strike Yeah I'd much rather have Comm's combo.

The problem with Joao and the reason Cathy and Surry are much better is that he just gives too much early production, puts huge strain on teching. It's a very weak leader if you run out of good, useful things to build.

[Miguelito]

Combos in order of how much rather I'd play them than João of Celts:

DeGaulle of Rome
Montezuma of Spain
Vicky of Carthage
Mansa of Sumeria
Saladin of Germany
Pacal of Mali (been there)
Toku of Khmer

But Ginger has found some nice tiles