PBEM21 [Lurkers] can we beat the duration of PBEM18?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I noticed one thing - Marco's start looks a bit weaker than everyone else's in the starting screenshots. He can't have a freshwater start and the 1/4 deer like everyone else, and his food options are slightly weak.




Contrast that with sub's start:




Sub will have the wines, corn, deer, and amber all in the first ring. I feel like he'll get off the ground much faster.

The rest of the starts feel pretty much in line with each other, maybe a few slight advantages here and there, but marco's feels a bit shafted.

[Kaiser]

You are right, should I switch the PF W of the Warrior with the PHFDeer for Marco and inform him?

[Tarkeel]

I think that would fair.

[civac2]

You really should provide a new screenshot for MPTF (obviously without the extra info he asked for).

[williams482]

I'm glad Archduke has decided against trying an early rush, because he was going to be extremely disappointed.

[Tarkeel]

It did look like we'd get some doubles (especially Korea and Zulu), but if Alhambram goes with his lean, they'll be unique:
suboptimal: Cree
marcopolothefraud: Aztecs
Alhambram: Lean Zulu
TheArchduke: Korea
Thrawn: Germany

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Korea, Zulu, Germany, Cree, and, er, Aztec. 

Aztec feels like a mistake to me - despite what marco claims they're not a builder-oriented civ. The Eagle Warrior is a key part of their snowball and Kaiser made it pretty clear that this is a map designed to limit early rushes. 

Cree we've seen - I wonder if sub will be able to exploit them as well as TBS did? At least the basic gameplan is in place. They do suit sub's instincts, but as always it's not his micro that's the problem, it's his ability to see the big picture. It'd be good for sub to dedlurk thrawn or the Archduke sometime (or vice-versa).

Thrawn does a good job keeping his eyes on the prize in the two games we've seen, and this might just be the map for Germany to shine. I don't think we've seen the Krauts since PBEM7, and while Germany has always disappointed he'll have ample room to develop, and it'll be fun to see how long he can restrain his aggressive instincts. 

Archduke has a really strong civ in Korea - I would have runaway with PBEM8 if he hadn't conquered both his neighbors - but he haaaates doing anything other than conquest, which he's pretty solid at. It'll be interesting to see what wins out, but Archduke's strengths as a player really don't match up well with Korea, which takes some careful city-planning to really shine. 

Alhambram has my favorite pick in the Zulu, and this is a good map for them - he should be able to reach Corps fairly easily, with no Desert-Folkore-Work Ethic-Citystate Bonanza-Potato rush to worry about. I think Zulu can be unstoppable if given time and he'll have that time.

Right now I rate the field thrawn > Alhambram > Archduke > Sub > Marco, place yer bets.

[civac2]

My money is on thrawn. He is a good and proper obsessive.

[Kaiser]

Obsessive is the right word, I think win probabilities are>

Thrawn 50%
Alhambram 25%
TAD 15%
Suboptimal 5% (the map is not Cree friendly enough)
MPTF 5% No way to get early builders, later they pick up again with Builder charges in districts but you still have to build the builder

[Bruindane]

Is there an easy way to shadow play the starts?  Just download the map and go?   I'd give myself a suboptimal chance minus 5 at these sort of things, but have some time this weekend.