So next is traits. While Dazed and I were debating over Hunting/Mysticism, Krill sends me a chat that says "I call you noob if you don't pick Joao :P"
So here's the thing - we're probably not picking Joao
. CALL ME A NOOB. However his greater point (Imperialistic = strong) is something we agreed with. So let's run down a trait recap:
Protective - +2 population sounds pretty cool, but this seems like too much of a suckers choice. That pop would be more interesting if you could grow one size and whip quickly, but you don't dare start with Mining and Agriculture which means you want to research Agri out of the gate which means you're three turns from Bronze Working. NOPE.
Industrious - Mediocre trait with a weak bonus. Would be interesting-ish if it was a Forge, but I probably still wouldn't do it. NOPE.
Organized - If this was Emperor like PBEM25 (or whatever game this is mirroring) I'd consider this. The +1 food from Supermarket is pretty cool, but I'm not sure it pays off quick enough. Is that 1 food really any better than the food saved by getting quick Exp granaries for example? I say NOPE.
Charasmatic - I liked this at first glance, but I'm really not sure a single Granary has that huge of an impact. I could estimate out the amount of food saved, but I can't imagine it's much different from the amount of hammers saved from Imp settlers or Exp workers/granaries. Sure it gets the snowball rolling quicker, but I feel the advantage would be gone within 50-60 turns, and then you're left with an okay-ish trait the rest of the way. NOPE.
Aggressive - I briefly liked the idea of Agg/Phi for a SUPER early Academy... But I just don't think the early Academy is all that strong of a play, especially in a game with Toroidal maintenance. In reality, the Grocer is a better bonus than the Library to begin with. Sure, AW and all that, but land is power and all that too. NOPE.
Spiritual - This seems really fun and just not all that powerful. I want to have fun here but my thread title is here to remind me that I also want to win (thereby having fun). So.... NOPE.
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So that leaves Financial, Expansive, Creative, Imperialistic, and Philosophical. Again, my original thought was to grab one of the big 3 (Fin/Exp/Cre) and pair it with a mid-tier trait with a nice bonus, and Imp and Phi both fit that criteria.
Creative - I just don't like this as much as Fin and Exp, and I don't feel the Courthouse EP bonus is particularly impactful. Brian Shanahan apparently disagrees, but I decided to go ahead and eliminate it.
That leaves us with Fin/Exp/Imp/Phi. Pick two. Realistically, I'd be happy with any 2 of these 4, and we're guaranteed to get one of them, so I'm happy with our situation. Seems wise at this point to identify which trait I value most and which I like least. My list looks something like this:
1. Imperialistic - I liked this a lot, but Krill pointed out to me how wonderfully this capital is set up for an Imperialistic player. Grow quickly to size 4 and you have 1h (center tile) + 5h (rr hill mine) + 1h (deer) + 3h (plains hill forest) = 10hpt => 20hpt when building a settler. Cool. Also, Grocer is really quite cool. Like I said, I'd expect the +25% gold to be better than the +25% beakers. Also, the ability to run Merchants for an early Great Merchant is a strong possibility, though not necessarily something I'd commit to at this stage. Could bulb Metal Casting or even settle the Merchant (really like the idea of settling it really early actually). So I rank this one top priority.
2. Financial - Not nearly as many words need to be spent here. This is still super good and yeah. It's a good trait.
3. Philosophical - Honestly I have no idea how to properly rate this trait. I really do think this is ripe for abuse (the airport part) and really hope someone takes it (if we don't) and does a good job of detailing its use in their thread. See, I think the turns saved by shuttling settlers, workers, and missionaries are not insignificant at all. That's to say nothing about the tactical advantage the Airport can give. It's literally the ability to potentially save a city by instantly shooting in an extra defender at any time. That's pretty amazing. Also, this trait is hands-down the most fun-sounding. So it's hard for me to put this 3rd. My choice at the beginning of the day was Fin/Phi largely because of this trait and Imp was my fallback, but I just can't pass up Imp. But I do love this trait here.
4. Expansive - this could easily be #2. I just chose to put it here because the other 3 are more interesting to me. No real reason other than that.
SO. Where does that leave us. List?
List.
1. Fin/Imp - Top choice at the moment. Subject to change, but unlikely to change.
That was the easy part. Now the hard part for me is rounding out my top 3 in case Vicky gets swiped. So here's my current stab at it:
2. Imp/Phi
3. Exp/Imp or Fin/Phi (I keep going back and forth on this but leaning towards Joao)
Krill may mock me for putting Joao 3a instead of 2, but that's how I feel at the moment. I really like Philosophical. Does anyone agree with this evaluation at all? I can just think of so many uses for Phi. Shoot I could even build workboats in the capital and airlift them to smaller cities to save them startup time... Right?
Alright, so that's my trait extravaganza and far too many numbered lists for one post. Discuss.
EDIT: fixed hammers for RR mine
