Anyone up for an EitB SG?

[Brian Shanahan]

Ok the saves.  First the settings



And now our potential first civs:

Behind door number 1 (please read the descriptions in your best Cilla Black voice):

Keelyn! She's bad, she's mad, she's dangerous to know! But you know when you pick her you'll get the ride of your life.

Behind door number 2:

Averax! He's moody, he's broody, he's on a log and in your face! But you know when you pick him he'll slay the competition!

Behind door number 3:

Arendel Phaedra! She's elusive and hard to get! But you know when you catch her, she'll make you sweat!

Behind door number 4:

Valledia! She's got the potions, and the incantations! But you know when you choose her, she'll tease you and unease you, all the better to please you!

Behind door number 5:

Auric Ulvin! He's cold as ice, he's willing to sacrifice! But you know when that heart warms up, he'll only have eyes for you!

And the saves for your perusal. My thinking door number two is overpowered, door number five is underpowered, and door number one is just right.

[haphazard1]

Hmmm, lots to think about with the starts. Auric does not look very promising with all the water, although he does have some frosty stuff nearby. Arendel has some forests, but the only resource in view is the one corn. The crazy lady does have some useful stuff nearby. Hmmm, need to try to load the saves, make sure my EitB v12 install is working properly.

Edit: OK, saves seem to be loading without any problems. The Keelyn start does look promising, but that could be the madness speaking.

[DaveV]

The things that makes a start desirable for me are 1) food and 2) commerce (ideally, one that is enabled by calendar). My analysis:

1, Keelyn: Only a dry rice for food, and the commerce tiles require crafting->mining. I'd be tempted to go wandering with this start, or at least spend the first turn moving onto a hill to get a better overview (do I see a sign peeking out of the fog 2S of the gold?). The nearby Ruins is a major drawback: lizardmen are very annoying in the early game with their speed and strength.

2, Averax: The Remnants is by far my favorite unique feature, especially for the early game. Extra hammers and boosted happy cap are just what you need to turbo charge your start. Only riverside grassland for food and commerce, although there might be something good lurking in the fog. The silk tile is just a distraction, since it requires four techs (agriculture->calendar, crafting->mining) to use.

3, Arendel: Dry corn and riverside grassland for food. The forested riverside grassland tiles would take forever to farm, and wouldn't give commerce. Again, I would spend the first turn moving across some of those forested hills to look for a better spot.

4, Valledia: NW of the settler's position would be a decent start: several riverside grassland tiles, two wines for a little food and commerce. Just pray that the jungle doesn't spread. The jungled rice and sugar are just there as a tease, they won't be clearable until we've already switched away.

5, Auric: Yuck.

[Brian Shanahan]

Actually looking at the starts again, the two best are 1 and 2, with 2 being the stronger, I think.

I haven't taken Averax for a while so in a normal game his Pyre Zombies as art critics game would be what I'd go for.

But in this game I think Keelyn would be the more fitting, let's add an extra bit of randomness to an already random game.

Edit: seeing as we're pretty much all set up here, I'll go ahead and ask Sullla to move the thread to Succession Games

[superjm]

You all do realize that not picking Auric now just means we're going to be playing Auric when the AI's already done completely ruining his already terrible start, right?

[Lord Parkin]

I'm assuming these are five different rolls from the main menu, meaning this isn't five locations on the same map? If so, then each game could have different civs for the AIs.

I don't particularly mind if we end up as Auric, I've never Ascended him before. Then again, after 200-something turns of the AI messing him up, might not be the easiest win...

Overall I like the look of 1 and 2 most. Haven't played Keelyn or Averax so happy with either. Remnants of Patria is always fun though, so maybe 2? (Also, splodey zombies! Though we may not get a chance to play with those before we switch.)

[Mr. Cairo]

I like 2 more than 1 as well, Remnants are good, and most considerations regarding most enjoyable to play probably won't apply since we'll have swapped out before we'd get to that point. Remnants will probably get us to the top faster than anything the other starts have to offer

[haphazard1]

I prefer option 1 (Keelyn) to option 2 (Averax). The Remnants are great to have, but we can't see what else might be to the south to combine in a city with them. Might be great, might be terrible. Pretty big gamble to take right at the start.

[Brian Shanahan]

Ok that seems to be three votes for start 2 with Averax (DaveV, Lord Parkin & Mr. Cairo) and two for start 1 (meself & haphazard). Superjm hasn't picked a civ to start with (except maybe Auric). So as it stands we are going with Averax the Cambion.

Also yes Parkin is right all five starts are from five different saves.  The only things I've seen more than the rest of ye are the two extra Keelyn starts I rolled (neither better than the first one), and the slightly better than Auric start I rolled with the Dovs, which was on Epic speed.

Unless there are objections I'll get the game rolling tomorrow about 7pm Irish time, with 25 turns to start. First round, everybody gets twenty turns, after that we'll see the pace and adjust accordingly.

Order is:

Brian --------->> UP
Mr Cairo --------->> ON DECK
Lord Parkin
superjm
haphazard1
DaveV

unless somebody wants swapsies or is out of pocket. Usual 24/48 rules apply (with appropriate leeway, we'll give you an extra three hours if you're getting married the day your set is up ).

As it is the first set my plan is simple, scout out the area, get agri, get a worker out (usually I go warrior>worker in EitB, but as I'm a barb I don't need the extra protection).

Oh, and a screenshot of the pale blue dots.



I'm not 100% sure how the picker chooses best settling sites with the features on (I'd say they don't get factored much if at all), but it is interesting the remnants aren't in the BFC of either. Feck it, I'm moving the scout and warrior and posting the results.

Back in a mo...

Edit: after moving the warrior NW and the scout SW>SE this is what we get:



No extra food, but still very green land. I think the best move is to put the settler SW>S onto the forested hill 1N of the Remants and see what we can see. That would even be a decently strong Aristograrian capital with six hills, the Remnants and 6 (later 8) farms.

[haphazard1]

And we have begun

Hmmm, as I was worried about there are no resources visible near the Remnants. Might still be something, but moving to the hill just north of them sounds good for what we currently know. The area is very green, and we have the river.

Getting a worker out sounds good to me. Good luck!