Woden's and Chevalier Mal Fet's [Insert Clever Name Here] Team Thread

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I'm good with you going Nubia. Let's take 'em for a spin - the other bonuses are quite strong even without a Classic Age archer rush (but you can still whack city states with 'em), and I want to see how Nubia plays.

My priorities are, I think going to be 1)Russia (for Grand Embassy, Lavras for culture generation, complementing your science focus), 2)China (landing as many Eurekas and Inspirations as possible, since both civs effectively can share China's 60% bonus, and otherwise emphasizing my super-builders and economy, and finally 3)Egypt (for super-trade and faith generation).

If none of those three are available, well, dang. Then something of Arabia/England/India must be left and we can discuss one of those (probably England).

[Cornflakes]

Starting Screenshot:

   

[Woden]

Thanks Cornflakes!

CMF, Both spots look good for Nubia. If they get the Viking's spot, will probably need a turn of movement to get next to the desert. If they get the Japanese start, should be able to move to the SE plains tile and settle on turn 1. Either way, both cities can get the 40% district bonus.

Edit: Looks like Cornflakes will let us choose starting spots. I would say let Nubia have the Japanese start with 2 mined resources for extra gold.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I agree, let Nubia take the Japanese spot.

Woden, I was thinking on my drive today (commuting back and forth for Thanksgiving here in the States) that England is actually a really strong pick - maybe even my first choice, like Dave has been urging.

For one, we know how strong their navy can be. Archduke's Royal Navy was able to decimate a fleet many times his size in PBEM4, and he totally thrashed Singaboy's navy. The extra-continental combat bonus/free units are nice, but nothing game breaking.

But the thing that appeals to me is that the RND gets extra trade routes, even with a Commercial Hub! That means that for gold generation, England is absolutely insane. Every city can slap down a commercial district and RND and run trade everywhere on our continent, which can then feed into whatever we want to do. Then we have the combat bonus at sea, which means as long as we're even sort of competitive scientifically, our own continent will be very tough to invade. English marines and Nubian ranged units complement each other well on the war path, or Nubian armies alongside English fleets. I won't have a coastal start bias on the custom map, but that's no biggie. Nor can I easily generate faith, but with 4 teams and 5 available religions there shouldn't be too much competition anyway, especially with so many good beliefs available now.

I think England lets us do a lot well. My current draft order is England, Russia, China. If all of those are picked, well, then Rome or Germany ought to be available, or I can go to Egypt/Arabia as a last resort.

[Woden]

England could very string choice, hopefully they are still around. I do agree that you should be able to get one of the 5 listed (England, China, Russia, Rome, or Germany) unless multiple teams don't pick a DLC civ. A small part of me is wanting to try a China-Russia cultural victory but a bigger part wants to try Nubia. Too much uncertainty with landing both and it would be much harder to get a fast cultural victory with just one. Anyways, I am going to post Nubia as my pick before I talk myself out of it.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

So two of the generic strong civs taken - Rome and Germany, no surprises there.

Japper and Mike seem to be trying something cute with Kongo/Khmer - I guess going for either culture or victory? The idea being Khmer's missionaries fuel Kongo's relic economy? I can see the appeal, but I don't think it'll work all that well - condemn heretic (killing a religious unit with a military unit) doesn't create a relic, I believe, which means Khmer's Martyr-promoted missionaries should be relatively trivial to bypass. If it does create a relic, then they might have a neat synergy there.

Two picks left and Russia, China, and England are still available, so I should land one of my desired civs, particularly since DLC civs are still available to those two teams.

[Woden]

Looks like you will get to choose from China and England. I am liking England a little more. I think people are discounting them because I assume Cornflakes is having everybody start in the middle of a continent, since no one has chosen a navy-centric civ yet. But hear is the thing, we don't need to worry about who founds a city, we can swap if Nubia founds a coastal city. We could also have Nubia build a commercial district first and then swap to England to build a harbor and get the double trade routes. Also, if there is a continental divide any where on our continent (even if it is a small area), we could use that city to swap back and forth to get an army of melee units for free. It will be tougher to get a religion with England, since there is no bonuses towards it but if we focus right away, we might be able to get the first if we are determined and chop out a few projects. We might be able to abuse Nubia's 50% ranged production bonus by running the 50% card and chopping the last turn for 100% bonus on the chop. Might be able to get a few projects done in a matter of a few turns. Anyways, I think if we go England, we should try for a fast science victory. I have been playing around with ways to speed it up and will get into strategies a little later.

With that said, China will be an awesome pick too. We have a good starting outline on how to use them from PBEM2. I would say go with what you think and who you want to play. We can come up with good strategies for both.

Interesting that only 2 DLC civs have been chosen. Maybe Singaboy will pick one (not sure which one). we will see soon.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

SIngaboy will probably make things easier on me by choosing one of England or China - if I had to bet I'd say China, it seems to pair nicely with Rome's powerful culture; plus it's one of the stronger civs in the game and I'm frankly surprised it hasn't already been taken. Else, he might go for a DLC civ, but I think only Australia really shines (and coupled with Rome makes them very prickly in the early game, between Legions and Citadel of Civilization). I'm almost certainly going to choose England, unless you think a wonder-whoring China might be fun again.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Made it easy on me.

England it is!

I'll write up a player preview post later tonight.

[Woden]

Nice! Interesting choices all around. I will try and work out a general strategy options in the coming days.