Chevalier Makes Do

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Sadly, occupation is somehow even worse in the expansion - it still exists, but the city ALSO immediately starts losing loyalty from nearby cities with no grace period whatsoever. We didn't see it in PBEM8, because Archduke quickly conquered small empires, but in SP I've taken a city, garrisoned it immediately, moved in a governor, and ensured I had the proper policy to boost loyalty from military units, and STILL had conquered cities revolting - you gotta steamroll the entire cluster of cities quick or you'll find your entire military rudely booted out by "Free Cities" that you have to conquer all over again. It's an extremely goofy mechanic.

[Japper007]

Another trick I've found to quickly boost loyalty is saving up lots of traders, then sending them all to the newly conquered cities. Then run high food routes. Population is the largest single provider of loyalty. Magnus-chopping jungles also works. But it is a dumb mechanic, no doubt, especially in Multiplayer where quick blitzes are very hard without immense tech edge or numbers. There's a reason civ 4 only had "city flipping after conquest" as an option that defaulted to off.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Ooh, that's a clever move. Never thought of that. Is it worth losing out on the traders' yields while you wait to conquer the city, though? I haven't played enough single player R&F to really know.

[Japper007]

It depends on how valuable the city is to you I suppose, but if it was a garbage pile you'd probably just raze it... Sometimes even trash cities can be worth it just for the extra healing on your dudes, even if it flips away later. 

Oh and the free city created is hostile to everyone so it can also just be worth it to make the other guy have to deal with rebelstomping ( I remember a certain someone who lost a city to a City State AI he was ignoring ).

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Oh and the free city created is hostile to everyone so it can also just be worth it to make the other guy have to deal with rebelstomping ( I remember a certain someone who lost a city to a City State AI he was ignoring ).

Ha! Sounds like a damn fool, you'd have be a total idiot to let a city-state raze one of your cities.

[Cornflakes]

Starting screenshot:

   

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Heeey, that looks quite nice! Rice and cows for food, three hills for production, a mountain nearby for a campus, and no less than 4 stone for chopping! Desert to the north, but with an oasis there might be viable expansion up there, and overall the position looks very defensible.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

1. Grotsnot - Japan
2. Alhazard - Greece (Gorgo)
3. Alhambram - Rome
4. The Black Sword - Russia
5. marcopolothefraud - Arabia
6. Chevalier - England

Arright, so we're looking at 

Grotsnot - Japan

Grotsnot's first PBEM, but he is dedlurking me in PBEM12, where I am probably disappointing him. Japan is a good civ, not great, but solid. Easy access to Encampments and Holy Sites could make him a fearsome religious warmonger. Can't remember if we decided to ban DOTF or not. Crusade, though, seems a natural fit for Japan. Saving grace is that he only has access to the weak Samurai unique unit and the all-but-useless-in-multiplayer Electronics Factory. Curious to see how he does, I know he's read enough that I mustn't underestimate him.

Alhazard - Gorgo

He's played a lot of Civ IV games, but, uh, I haven't read any of those except the ones Sullla wrote up, and those were years ago. I've no idea of his abilities as a player - I guess I could go and read his current threads (because I totally have the time to do that on top of everything else). Gonna assume that he's well aware of what he's doing, and while he may get tripped up on VI specific mechanics, he's definitely not a stranger to multiplayer metagaming considerations. One to watch, for sure. And Gorgo makes him a natural warmonger. Hoplites aren't as weak as they used to be, and the ban on city-state captures doesn't hurt him much since he can farm them for culture until he's ready to take the site himself. 

Alhambram - Rome

I think Rome is competing with Russia for best civ in the game. The Legion is a great early rush unit, aqueducts help make Rome strong in later eras, and the free monuments is undoubtedly the flagship ability - Rome just has such a dominant lead in culture early that it snowballs to earlier civics, which means more early production, which feeds into more of everything else...

Alhambram is playing in his 4th? PBEM at this point (same as me, Gods, how'd that happen?), but unlike me he has a win under his belt. He tends to start slow, but is creative and sneaky. His slow start often means that he gets overshadowed by events elsewhere on the map, like Pin's America or Archduke's hordes, but if that doesn't happen (PBEM2) he can be extremely dangerous. In every game, he's made a strong timing push with his civ's UU - Cossacks in PBEM2, Mamluks in PBEM5, Immortals in PBEM6. Definitely don't want to start next to him, and if I do, then I need to maintain a strong military. 

The Black Sword - Russia

Another Civ IV vet, so duplicate Alhazard's notes here. Keep an eye on him, but I have no idea what to expect. Russia is a monster, of course - extra tiles means every city can be strong, and Russia can settle anywhere. The lavra is a fantastic district, maybe the best unique district in the game, with a lock on early religion and tons of culture later. Emperor K kind of dropped off in PBEM7, but he's new and I did the same thing, after all. Bet TBS won't. And, of course, no one has yet defeated a Cossack assault. DOTF or Crusade will both be dangerous in his hands - I think I'd prefer Grotsnot get Crusade and that DOTF be banned, but I honestly can't remember. I probably won't divert resources to a religion in this game, unless one looks like a cheap pickup. 

Marcopolothefraud - Arabia

Marco could have gone with Germany, which is still a strong choice. Germany just needs time to get up and running. I got cute with Arabia in PBEM12 when I could have taken Rome or Germany, but that's mostly because I'm goofing off in PBEM12. Is Marco doing the same? That'd be nice. Arabia is a nice civ, but its weaknesses are well known: Nothing to help get an early religion, and needs a lot of setup time (so does Germany, of course). Has the Mamluk and the Madrasa, and can run a strong science civ later in the game. Early, though, nothing to write home about. I don't know anything about marco, but based on Civ choice alone I would feel safe starting next to him.

Chevalier - England 

India would have locked me into an early Varu attack, and I didn't want to do that. Dharma just isn't a great abiity, and Gandhi's war weariness penalty is nice, but nothing to write home about. So I would have been limited to basically the Varu and the Stepwell.

As England, I'm hoping for a decent amount of water, obviously. Gameplan here is similar ot PBEM7, although there won't be land bridges to dominate. Spam lots of RNDs to get a lock on admirals. Use the trade routes generated to boost culture, science, and gold above my foes - I was competitive a LONG time in science and culture in PBEM7 even without monuments or campuses. If I'd been a better builder in that game, I could have extended that lead. Nan Madol would also, of course, be an absolute joy to discover. Venetian Arsenal is banned, of course, but the Mausoleum...is a DLC wonder that I probably can't use. Damn. Well, in any case: Dominate the coasts. Have lots of trade to give me a development edge. Maintain a strong army to hold the land, but use it mostly to support the navy rather than the other way around. That's my rough gameplan.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Actually, Stonehenge is a thing, and I have a -shitton- of stone.

Maybe I WILL go for a religion. Agoge harvest one of those stones, beat Russia to the punch, grab Church Property and Jesuit Education? Hmmm...

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

England pt 2 - Turn One! 

Hold on to yer butts, everyone, 'coz PBEM13 is off and running! I have an extremely dramatic and exciting Turn One to present to you, with sundry entertainments and feats to provoke wonder and delight in all ages! 

First, I settle my capital, which I forgot to rename according to my backup PBEM7 naming scheme:




The virgin, untamed wilderness becomes:




The glorious new village of London Manticore. 

Next, I move my warrior:




Then I click End Turn. 

There, now wasn't that exciting?

Look, these are the jokes, folks. I've only got so much material to work with, unless I do something completely insane like write 100+ page story about a baseball team I liked once. Fortunately, only a complete madman would do something like that in his thread, and if there's one thing I ain't, it's a complete madman. Anyway, here's my rough gameplan:

1)Screw Stonehenge. I don't need nor do I want a religion. No use spending the resources chasing one, we'll just take my neighbor's religion instead, I'm sure it'll be awesome. 
2)Instead, we have 4 stone available. We want to chop as early as possible to maximize snowballing potential, and we're not waiting around for goofy wonders. No, what can accelerate our growth curve more than anything else? 
3)Two things: Either settlers, to build more cities, or military units, to go beatu p our neighbor and take his cities.
4)Military units can also destroy city-states, but we're not allowed to capture in this game because it's becoming the One Right Strategy. 
4b)Also, I specifically avoided India because I didn't want to do a Varu rush, and doing a Horseman rush as England feels wrong somehow. 
4c)Also, a horseman rush would really profit from a Great General, and with Rome/Japan/Gorgo in the mix, I'll have a tough time getting an early one. 
4d)Then again, no great general means I have the element of surprise?
4e)Also, military units means security from Rome/Japan/Gorgo. So there's that.
5)Settlers though can be churned out, 2 for the price of Stonehenge. With lots of stone, we can chop out a LOT of settlers. Will need to alternate settler chops with military units to defend them, probably?
6)Early Empire and Craftsmanship are the key early Civics we need. No tech is necessary. 
7)Prioritize cultural growth, population growth = builder before settler. Get Craftsmanship for Agoge, then evaluate whether we go military or settlers.
8)Scout neighbors early to determine military potential. 

There it is, there's my rough gameplan. So, we're going Scout first - I like the extra knowledge on a Pangaea map. Slinger is probably better if I'm sticking close to home, but I'm not. Warrior is too expensive, and Builder leaves me too open to annoying barbs - can't rush Agoge until I have 3 builder techs unlocked. We need mining, pottery, and animal husbandry for the ideal improvements. We get started with mining for the 2/3 quarry ->Masonry potential.