[Spoilers] The Egyptian Hannibalistic Commodore

[Commodore]

Whilst waiting for Brick's map, might as well do some analysis. We'll start at the ATM, as is only right:
Automated Teller (competent, beige) as Ragnar (Agg, Fin) of the Zulu (Hunting, Agriculture, Impi, Ikhanda)

AT is a solid mid-tier player of middling distinction; he won his first green game, and then has been unable to break through into anything more. He's a nice guy, has a good head on his shoulders, and never does out-and-out poorly, but he doesn't invest a crapton of time into this particular computer-game hobby, and it shows; he's not going to screw any pooches, but he isn't all about the long-term planning and preparation needed to seduce and screw someone else's pooch. Fair enough, this is a hobby after all.

He's driving the interesting-in-BtS Ragnar of the Zulu, so I definitely will be treating him with respect and caution. The phenomenal power of Financial is undeniable and kicks in early; he's going to have some awesome free commerce that everyone else (non-me edition) just can't realize. What he lacks otherwise is something to speed up his game; no cheap settlers, workers, granaries, free border pops, or even better whipping. His advantage is Aggressive impi, that do help him defend himself from barbs and people, and cheap barracks ikhandae when the time comes...that is a real advantage; you are going to want a barracks most everywhere eventually. Just not sure how soon that upside will kick in. I do like Agg as a navy trait.
Chance of winning this: 10%
Threat rating:
If combo was a car-

[Commodore]

Alhazard (careful, pessimistic) as Catherine (flirty, violent) of Sumeria (Agriculture, Wheel, Ziggurat, Vulture)

Alhazard is a decent player for a relative newbie...it should be noted he's the only one here who has beaten me before, in a duel I made a royal hash of. More power to him, although that as of yet seems to have been his best performance. He isn't a super-optimistic guy, prone to despair a bit when wrenches hit him in the works, but he still ain't precisely a pushover. Conservative player, both tactically and strategically.

He's not exactly conservative with this pick though; Cathy ain't for the faint of heart. She's probably about the second fastest leader off the mark behind only Joao, and with her free border pops and cheap libraries she's got some pretty good early beaker generation, too. Naturally, that does tend to lead to a bit of a drop-off in the midgame and beyond, but better to be a hare than a tortoise, most of the time. Sumer is a great civilization, too, probably the fourth best in normal circumstances, and on a smallish toroid you could argue maybe even third best over China. The cheap and early ziggurats are very nice, the only downside of course being that they are on the religious line for a creative leader. Vultures are pretty decent, obviously not against axes on flatland or whatever but certainly they give War Chariots more fits than normal. It's a bit of a theme with this field, actually.
Chance of winning this: 10%
Threat rating:
If combo was a car-

[Commodore]

Bobchillingsworth (snarky, interwebbian) as Joao (Exp,Imp) of China (Agriculture, Mining, Chucklenaught, Pavilion)

Bob is a verbose and guarded forum institution, and a very interesting dude. His online persona and his real world person are pretty separate, I feel; he's a grouchy, humorous, caustic ape-being around here, but in real life he could be a skinny sensitive guy who owns at least one pair of footy pajamas for all I know. You see it in his play, too...he growls and splutters, but he is actually decently passive. For all that, he is decently experienced, probably playing in half as many games as I have (that's a freaking ton).

Joao of China...that's probably definitely the fastest starting combo in the game. We're all playing Normal, he's on Quick. But you can crash the hell out of your economy if you aren't careful. I think Bob will be careful. But still kinda crash before researching Chucklegeddon. Still, play this right, you can turn into an unstoppable monster,
Chance of winning this: 20%
Threat rating:
If combo was a car-

[Commodore]

DTG (active, inventive) as Zara (Org, Cre) of Mali (Mining, Wheel, Skirmisher, Mint)

DTG has greatly impressed me; he's got a solid head for micro, a good understanding of game-state, and is a dynamic player...proactive, not reactive. A good newbie. There are a lot of unknowns, of course...he's not yet played in a vet crowd where first-to bonuses and hard settling patterns are tightly competed. Still, he's aware, keyed in, and hungry, that counts for much.

Counting for even more is Zara Mali. I think of all of our combos, the best is this pan-African monster. Zara Yaqob is amazing, perfect blend of speed and power, and Mali is grand.
Chance of winning this: 27%
Threat rating:
If combo was a car-

[GermanJoey]

Your start:



sim: http://media.rhizzone.net/civ/pbem70.com...wordWBSave

[Commodore]

PBEM 70
As you all saw above, I am the proud recipient of a Bog Standard RB Start; plains hill, small river, fish, dry corn, hill sheep. It's a decent enough place, so all hail Hume Forks. It's not the best start of the lot; some get themselves river food resources and/or forested luxuries for an extra commerce, but it's no biggie. Despite the first turn research shown, the actual plan is Fishing->AH->Mining->BW at the moment; worker then workboat then more foodhammers and pray for no wandering warriors is the early plan. It's all pretty simple, but I've got a simple combo here, what can ya say? Well, I guess I can say something...

What plate tectonics would make something like this?

Commodore (intractable, grinder) as Hannibal (Fin, Chm) of Egypt (Agri, Wheel, War Chariot, Obelisk)

If you've been lurking the forums for any amount of time, I'm sure you know who I am; about a third of all multiplayer Civ4 games here have had a me in them. You have the factual records of games, my only reports, and the foaming ravings of my numerous detractors. Up to you to decide on your own opinion. :shrug: I'm going to be playing this one trying to win.

North African Alliance, avunt! Hannibal is about as bleh as a strong leader can get; he is of course Financial and thus kind of broken, but Charismatic is kind of dull to combine with it; I actually manage zero cheap buildings. No, hush, Obelisks are no kind of synergy; I might make ONE for turning out a prophet otherwise they are bog standard monuments for me. All that said, War Chariots mean I never have to care about barbarians or early rushes, and my big, heavy cities will churn out some awesome commerce. Vanilla is the finest of the flavors, really.
Chance of winning this: 33%
Threat rating:
If combo was a car-

8 miles to the galleon, but man do I miss my first car.

[Commodore]

No love for the ancient Silverado? Dreylin, cars like that keep you employed man!

Notes from the first five turns' exploration:


-Warriors scout sloooow.
-Dry rice is hateful but abundant.
-Dotmapping that western mess will be ugly.
-Should have gone east.
-Calendar will be lucrative.

[Dreylin]

No love for the ancient Silverado? Dreylin, cars like that keep you employed man!

Heh, well it's a bit touch and go these days. Of course I drive a nice fuel efficient compact car.

[Coeurva]

Do you mind if I ded-lurk you, Commodore? I've never played Civ4 MP, but I wish I could have joined the fun years ago. There's hardly any greens left nowadays, much less BtS greens games, and it's not easy bein' green. I haven't looked at any of the other threads, of course, except for the signup one.

First thoughts on the start:

Possible tech paths and associated plans coming to mind:

(1) (Fishing ->) AH -> Mining -> BW -> Hunting -> Pottery [Sailing?]

Settle 2nd city on easternmost sugar (3f city centre) for a worker/settler generator using 15 fhpt @size 4; unfortunately requires obelisk whip/chop a.s.a.p. to unlock the critical forested ivory tile. If ivory camps leave forests intact, it's actually a 2/4/1 tile, so that's 16 fhpt @size 4 instead: overflow after building workers is 4h, which can be put into spears/axes to double-whip them at 29h overflow, i.e. 2 units in 2 turns.

EXP or IMP would excel here, of course. For FIN/CHM, the location can still prepare two riverside FIN cottages for the capital, and more importantly can take the pressure of settler/worker production duties off Hume Forks, so you can grow onto FIN cottages earlier; CHM + ivory add two of those to your free happiness (no dependency on HR). Ergo: an opportunity to leverage both of your traits.

I'm unsure how much an early Sailing would benefit you. You could build a lighthouse at the capital, as well as potentially save worker labor on early-game roads (risky if Ancient-era attacks aren't out of the question). The fish site to the south could be reached by galley, and its overseas trade route would reveal whether it's intercontinental (potentially useful map info); food/production at capital looks strong enough to afford one ship. Problem is that you would delay Pottery, which conflicts with the ideas in the previous two paragraphs.

(2) (Fishing ->) Mining -> AH -> BW -> Hunting -> Pottery [Sailing?]

Mine the sheep at capital (2/3/0 tile), relying on dry corn + fish for food. Nothing else changes.

How do you measure the value of a sheep mine vs. a sheep hill pasture? That is, would you always prefer the high-food tile?

Mining the sheep also kills 1 early-game commerce per turn that would be gained from the pasture.

(3) (Fishing ->) Mining -> BW -> AH -> Pottery / Hunting [Sailing?]

That is, rush to BW a.s.a.p.

Mine the sheep, build settler @size 4 w/ 1 chop and a 2-pop whip; if AH isn't researched yet at this point, settle near dry rice in the east, regrow to size 3 while completing a warrior, then build another settler at once (maybe even 1-pop whip him?) to claim the sugar site. Not sure how quickly Hunting would need to come in here to improve the ivory: perhaps you could sneak in Pottery (discounted by 2 prereq techs) before that.

Problem is that you're settling dry rice (although you could overlap the dry corn at the capital) and delaying AH, but perhaps this is the fastest way to produce a settler, and also the fastest way to improve one of the capital's forested hills with a mine. I haven't tested any of this in a sandbox, though.

Notably, if you can get both BW and AH in time for the chop-whipped settler, sugar city can be settled instead of dry rice, eliminating that disadvantage. Not sure if that's possible.

Looking forward to your reporting.

[Commodore]

Welcome to Realms Beyond, Coeurva! And of course, you're welcome to dedlurk along; if you want to see the next save just let me know your email.

I appreciate the start thoughts; Mining the sheep was actually not something I'd considered initially; that does allow an AH delay which is its own reward.

I'll grapple with the tech order a bit later, about to head out to pumpkin picking with the kids....