So I guess while waiting for a new turn I could write some thoughts of my oppoents and their picks.
Dreylin, Rhoanna of Hippus (EXP/FIN):
The Horselord. First things first, please not next to me
. Hippus is a strong civ, their WS is also very scary as it comes from the get-go. Dreylin chose the more economical Hippus leader, which I think was the right choice. EXP is one of the best traits to have, getting the early snowball running. But what's more important here is that FIN pairs pretty well with EXP. You get those cities fast up and also use cheap Markets to overcome the maintenance costs. I think Dreylin has a very solid pick and a gameplan, he has a military advantage due to his WS (none will attack him too eagerly) and he has great econ traits too.
Dreylin as a player is also good and he has enough experience in FFH games to compete & win. I think of him as more of a BtS player still. I will always remember how he destroyed me in Duel Tournament with Hippus, for what that is worth
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Dave, Falamar (EXP/CHA) of Lanun:
The Pirate. Another EXP leader paired with strong Lanun civ. Obviously a very good econ civ once they get their coves up and running. Having basicially two gold mines with food for your every city is pretty darn good. EXP pretty much means more "gold mines" faster. They also get cheap 30h Sea Heavens (mini courthouse -10% maintenace & +1c for water tiles). Considering the map I predict they'll do very well. CHA gives +1 happy and also -25% xp needed for promotions. That could be handy for getting 2 promotions with ease. Also one of the best worldspells for this map setup. A strong winner candidate.
Dave is a strong player, having played tons of FFH games here. He knows the tricks of the game very well, which made me lose bunch of units in EitB 47. I believe he will play even better when he gets some feedback from his lurkers. He reads the game very well and knows when to react. Also usually rather plays safe than takes risks. Usually a good neighbour.
TBS, Arendal of Ljosfalsar (SPI/CRE):
The Elf. First a little bit "unexpcted" & odd pick to me. Ljos have been doing fairly poorly lately in games, maybe that has been because of the wrong players or smaller maps, but yeah... they have not done well. I consider them weak, their early game is slow, they need forests for extra hammers (even slower to improve). Their WS is okay, especially if it was used offensively once. Usually it's used as a emergency button when you're already losing. Maybe TBS can do something else with it. SPI obviously works very well with the usual Priests idea. Cheaper Temples are also handy. CRE helps to save early hammers, TBS definitely should put those into extra workers. Maybe TBS wanted to try something new, something that's not one of the usual choices?
TBS is a very good player, no doubt of that. I'm sure he can make even a weaker civ feel like a strong civ. He has won bunch of games, and I do remember at least 2 great EitB/FFH victories that were both very well played. Doviello domination (or concession) and Kurios Tower victory IIRC. He's very good at micro and also empire planning, he just doesn't put a city somewhere without having a plan for it already. Can play both builder and aggressive, that's also one streght of this guy.
Bob - Averax the Cambion (Agg/Exp/Bar) of the Sheaim:
The PZ. Another EXP leader, you can see it's a popular trait. AGG is interesting, but I think BAR will suck in this map. With so much water + no lairs, the trait just won't help Bob that much. Others without BAR won't need to build that much of extra hammers for units in this game, so that doesn't really help Bob either. AGG/EXP are still scary and I don't want to face his PZs untill I can deal with them. I still expect this civ to fall behind others, unless they can kill someone. Which I think their plan should probably be. Of course Sheaim has all those cool PGs which I'm sure Bob might consider but AGG is rather useless then.
Bob is a very longtime FFH player. He is indeed very experienced with the game, decent micro and city management. I consider him as a solid player but he is kind of lacking something... I'm not sure what exactly. But I feel like his early enthusiasm often fades away too quickly, especially if things are not working his way, which then leads into bad decision and in general not having fun enough with the game. He has also burned out with civ a couple times. At best Bob plays pretty well, he usually knows what he should do, but the execution is often missing. Instead later you can see him saying what he shoul've done 10 turns ago - not being able to plan ahead but instead sees the mistakes he has done.
Qgqqqqq - Thessalonica (Ind/Spi) of the Elohim:
Well, the only Ind civ. Wonders then? Faster workers too. I have never played with Ind much, I have no idea how to use it effectively other than getting the best wonders. SPI is good trait of course. Elohim has been kind of "meh" civ to me always, I can't get the feel of the civ. They now have March promotion for free for every unit which is handy of course. Not sure what to say about them, I consider the civ weak but I'm not very familiar what to do with them to be sure.
Q is also very solid player, like pretty much all in this game. He's got great skill to plan ahead and he knows what his empire is capable of, and especially what his empire is not capable of - yet. And he knows how to get there.
Ellimist - Perpentach (Arc/Cha/Cre/Ins) of the Balseraphs
Perpy Perpy, the Clown guy. Three traits is always nice, especially if you get 3 very good one! Depending on their traits they can do bunch of stuff... it's hard to analyze their "traits" because they may change so often. Their strenght is of course in puppets but Freaks are also okay, especially if you get some decent promotions on them for upgrades.
Ellimist has been called as one of the best FFH players here in RB. And there's a reason for that, he has won a lot of games, probably more than any other FFH player here. I haven't counted but I'm pretty sure that's true. I have never played with him but by reading his threads I've noticed he is very good at details. He reads the game very well, knows his own position, when to strike, when to wait... Sun Tzu all over, it's a pleasure to read his stuff.
jalepeno - Garrim Gyr (Fin/Arc) of Luchuirp
Garrim Gyr, again. I think jale had the same pick in the losers game (EitB 47). I guess he wants a revenge? I mean, they're not all that terrible. Golem workers are super fast, but... Golems, slow and strong. No surprise attacks
. Arc also doesn't really pair with Golems IMO. If you want to use Golems you can't be picking Arcane techs too much... though, at Sorcery you can build that one building I can't remember but it allows fireballs for all Golems build in the city. That's very good, but to get there... yeah, that's the problem. In this game, maybe. Their WS is also solid, pretty much guarantees Great Engineers, surely earliest ones. Can pick up Bone Palace easily before Q can do anything if he wants.
jalepeno is solid player too. His weakness is aggression (similar to me, we play actually quite same way). Sometimes he hides in his corner too long when he should react, sometimes he reacts at wrong time. He manages his empire decently and his micro isn't terrible. I think he often misses overall strategy for the game. How do I win this game? But he knows his stuff, knows his civ and uses all the potential of it.
Auroarcher - Varn Gosam (Spi/Cre*) of the Malakim
I've already spoken about Varn/Malakim a bit so I'm just going to analyze myself as a player.
Well, I think skillwise I'm about middle. I'd rank Ellimist and TBS above me for sure but then it's closer between others. I have pretty good micro, and also pretty good city management. I'm still a noob in longterm planning. I tend to not have an overall game strategy, I build military when I feel like I need to, I'll be shifting units towards enemy front to accomplish something maybe later, instead of having a plan already. Agression is my Achille's heel for sure, I tend to declare war without a clear picture in my mind. What I'm going to get from the war? What are the casualties? How to make a peace even when winning but just not getting enough profit from the war, and instead turning it into a no profit war (yes that's problem for me
). Basically what I'd need to learn is to start with a basic idea of what I'm going to do with the empire, make plans and try to go to those plans from the get-go. This means worker actions, buildings, etc. all those should follow the general plan. To know what I am going to need and build it, instead of building it when I notice that it's already missing.
Wiuh, that was a long post.
. Any last words dear Lightbringer before you become a meal? The chance of Griffon just flying away are there but I don't have a good feeling about this.
+ commerce and Incense as well.
. It could be almost Ellimist too as he got a pretty big score spike between T54 and T55, but then it wouldn't say "Unknown owner" in the religion section. I think. Guess I'll find out to be sure next turn.
