[SPOILER] Smegbeth heads to the terrace for a prawn cocktail and beer

[Krill]

Anyone got any thoughts on charismatic combined with a t20 granary?

[Krill]

Or is imperialistic combined with FIN better? Given that I want to be first to knights.

[Krill]

Everyone seems to be picking late game combinations which is a bit scary. Starting to think Lizzie and get a t50 library in the capital.

[novice]

Sounds fun.

However on a very general note everything seems boosted in this mod, e.g. better civics and 50% more traits. Doesn't this mean that snowballs snowball faster?

[Krill]

Maintenance still bricks you in the face. That's one mechanic that hasn't been changed. But if you can deal with that then yes snowballs should snowball harder.

[Krill]

OK, I've checked and it is possible to go Agri>Wheel>Pottery, and then get the granary either eot T21 by slowbuilding, size 2 with 14 food saved, or whipped eot T20. I think that the whip is just plain better but does require Agri>Wheel>Pottery>Hunting>Archery, only after this point getting AH so the pasture loses a little bit of food for a few turns.

I'm not convinced by the speed of the start, but I don't think that IMP is necessary. Just hope we don't start next to Joao.

[Krill]

OK, potential traits: Only 10 available, but having chosen Inca PRO is already taken.

I don't think that AGG or CRE should be picked with Inca given that PRO has fallen. That leaves 7 traits.

• CHM: I don't feel gives enough to us in this game. I'd rather gamble that we have some happy resources that we can claim. The cheap buildings I'd care more about if I was picking a CHM civ (Maya jsut seems solid) or if we picked FIN as well for 40 hammer quays that gave +2 commerce on coast.
  
  
• IND: Already 2 IND players so wonder contention may be difficult. I'm not competing for Henge, I think I'd be slightly concerned if someone could Oracle Machinery though but more power to them if they do.
  
  
• PHI: I'd use PHI to cover my general disdain for a good tech pace between T50 and T100 by using the capital to run 4 scientists and push out the first GS for an Academy and the second I'd probably just settle in the city before stopping; that'd be a 30bpt boost over 15 turns and allow me to focus other cities on stuff like further expansion and preparation for knights. I think that PHI is a good choice here, the capital is not the absolute best cottage city but more than good enough for a 7 player game.
  
  
• FIN: It's Fin, it works on river tiles again, needs Quays to work on coast or ocean now. The 3 commerce requirement means it takes slightly longer to exist again but it's still there. Cheap Banks are underrated. If I pick this then I'm praying for happy resources because I want to plant cities wide and I need to be able to grow each city to work it's own cottages. CHM/FIN (Hannibal) is a legit choice but I'm not certain of it because I think I will not maintain a strong enough tech pace in this game.
  
  
• ORG: Nah. I'd have picked this if I could use the cheap lighthouse but games with less than 8 players should be over before Factories. Good choice if I hadn't picked civs though but with Inca I think there are other choices.
  
  
• EXP: This would get teh worker out 2 turns sooner, which means I would have to go Agri>Pottery and would not have Wheel, which affects worker micro. I don't see any of hte market happy and I don't want to beeline Currency from T0 due to no trade route. Now gives cheap customhouse not cheap harbour so I don't quite have the start to use the early and mid game advantages from EXP right now. I would reconsider this if Joao was up but Pin took him.
  
  
• IMP: Premier early game trait, will work exceptionally well with the quick double whips form the granary. Only cheap building is the Harbour but with that giving a free trade route that could be a good amount of gold but requires an early Compass beeline. If I pick this along with PRO then I need to either win early (ie snowball) or pick a solid late game trait.

Right now I'm thinking that PHI/FIN for late game strength and to bolster my bad mid game research rate is the easy option, but if I have no happy resources I'm screwed. I don't quite want to pick IMP enough to play it now; just don't want to unbalance the leader/civ combination so much and fall short in the late game.

I think right now that Lizzie is my first choice, but CHM/PHI (Lincoln) and CHM/FIN (Hannibal) are legit choices. IMP/CHM (Cyrus) is worth picking if I can plant all my cities CxxxC distance or greater and the late game strength comes from having my cities about 25% larger than my opponents but I'm still going to fall behind on tech in that.

[Krill]

Yeah, I'm going with Lizzie. I'm not convinced that PHI is so good that it's worth picking 4 times in a 7 player game, but two people are using the IND/PHI combination which explains some of the increase in number of PHI chosen. I also think that Pindicator may have chosen Ethiopia for the Merchants slots to help keep up expansion with Joao: he may be aiming for Henge. It's hard to beat Joao to Henge unless you get it before a settler as the hammer savings from the settler make up for the hammer bonus from IND on the wonder itself.

I think I'm positioned as well as I could be for a late game showdown with FIN against everyone save Plako with widely spaced CRE cities using FIN and ORG Rathauses, but I should have a better early game most except for Pindcator with Joao. No one has chosen CHM yet with Tokugawa still to gain a civ, but I kinda hope that QBrick take Maya because that combination is terrifying.

[Krill]

Interesting thought experiment. Given the choices taken so far, what should you take with Tokugawa?

I'm torn between taking Carthage for Imperialistic and trying to run people over with NM, or Maya for a midgame knight murdering spree. I kinda think ORG is a mistake given AGG and FIN isn't going to do enough although India would not be a bad choice for FIN.

[Commodore]

Zulu! Purity over all else!