[Spoilers] BRickAstley views the status and determines that it is not quo.

[BRickAstley]

Sorry Commodore, I shan't refer to you by that name again :D

[Gaspar]

The only thing I hate more than my reputation is how accurate it is.

[Selrahc]

Seriously? Go watch Dr. Horrible. It'll take 45 minutes. It'll get you singing catchy tunes. It'll give you hope about May's Avengers movie.

Also, Commentary: The Musical. The "DVD commentary" for Doctor Horrible which just happens to be in musical form. Quite good.

Moist gets a song.

[Mardoc]

Hmm. You're active, and know all the civs that will be picked ahead of you, yet you're not discussing your plans. And I can't even weigh in with my personal thoughts!

Ah well. "Everyone's a Hero, in their own way. Everyone's got something they can do!"

Time to go watch that Commentary, if I can't find my entertainment here tonight :neenernee

[BRickAstley]

Hmm. You're active, and know all the civs that will be picked ahead of you, yet you're not discussing your plans. And I can't even weigh in with my personal thoughts!

Ah well. "Everyone's a Hero, in their own way. Everyone's got something they can do!"

Time to go watch that Commentary, if I can't find my entertainment here tonight :neenernee

Ha, I'm only kinda online, I'm staying here to post my pick when it's my turn, but I don't have time for philosophizing about their picks or my picks yet because I'm in classes and working on some pretty heavy homework today (Anybody happen to know anything about processor chip digital designs and pipelining, or even better working with Circuitmaker? )

Short of it is I'm going to be going China, good starting techs and my best option after Egypt got picked by our sweet, sweet Music Man. Since slow went with the Ottos, which I had no designs on at all, looks like we'll be going with the wonderful CKN's *yayyy....* after all. Just gotta wait for Bert and Ernie to make their pick and then I can post mine in the planning thread. Hopefully I'll be able to offer up a more detailed analysis tonight, as well as starting a tech thread.

And btw, Bert and Ernie should be obvious. Look at Sian & Catwalk's playstyles and communication and tell me that that isn't a good designation that they won't get to see until later (props to Commodore for coining that one too)

[Mardoc]

(Anybody happen to know anything about processor chip digital designs and pipelining, or even better working with Circuitmaker? )

I had a roommate who did, but I'm afraid not much rubbed off on me.

Now, if I could talk you into switching majors, I might be able to help .

[BRickAstley]

Now, if I could talk you into switching majors, I might be able to help .

Well I'm all for that! Just let me know what you could help with if I was majoring in, and I'll set up a Paypal fund at BRickAstleyTriesAgainAtCollege@TotallyaRealEmail.net, and with you paying for all of the costs of switching majors and providing help for me as I go that transition I'm sure a good time will be had by all!

[Mardoc]

Well I'm all for that! Just let me know what you could help with if I was majoring in, and I'll set up a Paypal fund at BRickAstleyTriesAgainAtCollege@TotallyaRealEmail.net, and with you paying for all of the costs of switching majors and providing help for me as I go that transition I'm sure a good time will be had by all!

Oh, gee, I don't know, you make it sound so tempting .

Of course...my EE-roommate would look for crucifixes whenever I brought up chemistry; maybe you're similar.

[BRickAstley]

Ah scary picture!

But anyways, I'm officially going to be Willem of China :2dance:

Though this isn't my first choice in either category, we're still got a really strong combo, and we're going to be FIN cottaging all up in this place.

But anyway, more thoughts about my leader and civ:

Willie van Oranje:
Financial and Creative.
We're going to be using the Financial for money money money, add that on to our cheap creative libraries and we'll be soaring in the tech department as time goes on. Creative will also give lots of helpful border pops, securing our BFCs and adding cultural defenses and such. Um, that's the big thing for traits, and I'm not too experienced at this so is there any other sort of analysis I can give to this?

China:
Cho Ku Nu's, Pavilions, and starting with Agriculture and mining.
Almost exclusively chosen for the starting techs, agriculture and mining are very very nice to get a worker start and start that improvement and economy snowball. Now while Cho Ku Nus are.... not really too much better than Crossbowmen, and Pavilions aren't.... that much better then theaters, neither of them are that horrid either. And the pavilions are boosted by our creative trait so we'll have them built faster than usual.

Overall strategy in brief:
Use our awesome starting techs and traits to secure early territory and develop it fast. Get a good lay of the land, and figure out who's around me. If I get a REALLY good chance to wipe someone out and gain territory then I'm not adverse to taking it, but I'd rather build up all nice and safe and newbie like, and let myself grow nice and plump until I'm ripe for conquest... and by ripe for conquest I mean all nice and built up and ready to crush the world with our Chinese boots

So, I am still working on more detailed battle plans. More to come, and suggestions are welcome, after all this is my first PBEM and all

I'd like to also do a more detailed analysis of enemies and what to do about them, but here's a short version:

Music Man aka The Pied Piper: He's so encouraging from his posts, but he seems to be relatively new to the game here. A wild card, but probably not up to the rigors of multiplayer here. We'll be nice, but if we get a chance somehow to use him for gain, well I suppose we'll be the big bad guys on the block Also, he took my Egypt :/ Early Rushes? Just likes obelisks?

Azza aka Alphabet Man: He seems a bit quiet, all we know is that he was just rushed and murdered by Seven in the PitBoss game. And his thread title displays that ire, so regardless, he'll be very, very definite to do whatever he can to keep from dying. So let's not rush him Also with him as well as music man, if we can organize a loose "hey we're new let's try and keep from getting killed by the big boys" deal, and again try and stave off the big boys while giving ourselves time to build up and develop and eventually win. Also, with Ind he might be targets of the Indians, but I'm not sure yet who wants what wonders. More on that as I figure it out.

slowcheetah aka Aspect Ratio Boy (seriously, have you seen the pictures he posts? ): He's not bad from what I've seen, then again all I've seen is 29 where he's teaming with Catwalk. Not too sure what his plan will be, need to look at standard-ish Lizzie play to get a sense.

Lastly,
Sian and Catwalk aka Bert and Ernie: Yes, Bert and Ernie, their personalities are so fitting. Almost for sure the favorites to win this competition, Sian's got the skills and strategy, and Catwalk likes to talk, and exert fun diplomacy. (something I aim to compete with him with) They will probably do what they can to build themselves up while identifying and crippling their greatest threat, and I'm not sure yet if that's going to be me with the Commodore backing, or slowcheetah. Be very very wary of them, and find some way to oust them and run away with the game. Also, I thought they'd be going Industrious with India and super wonder rushing, but now that they've got Hattie (Spi Cre), not sure exactly the path they'll take.

Obviously, the plan is to rush to tanks and then crush all of them.

[oledavy]

I'm not too experienced at this so is there any other sort of analysis I can give to this?

I like your pick BrickAstley. The Creative + Theatre synergy is nice, but theatres are so cheap it doesn't end up being that big of a boost. Pavillions do mean you'll be able to win any culture war you fight. CKN's are a kinda meh UU in general. Solid, but not stunning. imho, their biggest advantage comes from the fact that they can inflict collateral coming off of boats, making boating pre-industrialism much more viable. I have no idea how much water is on this map though, so that ability may end up wasted.

Your starting techs and traits are where its at. Financial needs little introduction, and creative the third strongest trait in the game - though that may depend on who you ask. Cheap libraries mean you can get leverage that +1 commerce on cottages into beakers more effectively, and put you on the fast-track to getting an academy up.

With Pacal off the table, Willem was the best leader available. I'm frankly stunned he lasted long enough for you to get him in the snake pick.

You have the best leader and best starting techs, now go kick some ass