[SPOILERS] Regoarrarr rides again

[regoarrarr]

starting the thread to get my starting pic if and when it comes. Let's see how many posts I can spot the rest of the field before I start actually posting in here....

[Commodore]

For your consideration.


Fog-gazing is of the devil and should not be trusted.

[Cyneheard]

For your consideration.


Fog-gazing is of the devil and should not be trusted.

2nd Dead Lurker, checking in! (Assuming Darrell already has that job).

We're going to want to build a future city bordering the fish to the south; giving up the PH plant is not worth it.

[regoarrarr]

Well have we let the commoners get out to a big enough handicap in post count?

[regoarrarr]

Well? Have we?

[regoarrarr]

Gotta say, posting your pick, and then having 2 people (including the one who's up next) update their threads within 20 minutes definitely gives one a good feeling inside....

[BRickAstley]

Moar spam!

You haven't even answered the most important question so far: Naming theme?

[regoarrarr]

So then.... Isabella

Here were some of my initial thoughts:

To me, this start really screams out FIN, with all those river tiles. Not to mention improved plains hill river sheep are a 3/2/3 tile, which is probably even better than the dry corn.

Originally I had thought about something like Hannibal (FIN/CHM) of Egypt (Ag/Wheel), using my 5 points on FIN (4) and Agriculture (1), and going right for Pottery. But after I simmed that out, I was laying down cottages, but I wasn't working any of those river cottages because it still took awhile to grow.

Then I thought about something like Ragnar (AGG/FIN) of Zulu (Ag/Hunting), but didn't really want to start with a scout start. But that would be nice because I'd have cheap barracks (that contribute to maintenance reduction) plus being able to start on the double pre-req Animal Husbandry right away. (This was before the change to give everyone a scout start, which I think buffs Hunting starts)

Of course I don't really need to have double pre-reqs on Animal Husbandry. It displays as 11 turns with double pre-reqs and 13 without, but you shave a turn off once borders pop and you can work the 1/2/1 sheep tile. Worker takes 12 turns so even if it was 13t for AH that would be fine since the worker has to move to the hill.

This was all assuming I was going to settle in place. A bit of chatting with darrelljs led me to explore a Fishing start, and settling 1S. I believe this is what Scooter is planning on (given that he took a Fishing / Mining start). I simmed those out and I may still do that (picking Rome / Portugal / England)

But my most recent sim had me take MALI (Mining / Wheel). I actually went Agriculture then Pottery, and focused on laying down a few cottages while teching Animal Husbandry 3rd, forgoing the sheep in exchange for a super-quick granary.

Basic highlights:
T8: Agriculture
T10: Worker finishes (remember this is normal speed, so a non-EXP, non plains hill start takes till T15 to get a worker)
T14: Corn farm done
T16: Size 2
T17: Pottery, warrior built
T22: Granary built
T24: Size 3
T27: Animal Husbandry - worker starts sheep pasture
T28: Size 4
T29: 2nd warrior
T30: Pasture done
T31: Size 5
T32: 3rd warrior -> settler?

So at this point we're size 5, 20/30, just completed our 3rd warrior and have Ag, Wheel, Pottery, AH, Mining and 99b into Bronze Working



Potentially we could slip Mysticism in there before BW and make a run at Stonehenge? I do want to flesh out my Fishing start sim, just to make an accurate comparison, and will work on doing that (hopefully) before it gets back to my pick again. One downside I have is that there's only 1 Mining / Wheel civ, so if Pindicator or Ruff take it, I'm out of luck. At that point I either have to take a Fishing / Mining civ, or perhaps Mongolia (Hunting / Wheel) or even Japan (Fishing / Wheel)

[darrelljs]

Isabella is really fun. I'd probably go for Rome if available. Fishing and Mining are both good, the Forum is okay, and the Praetorian is very nice.

Darrell

[regoarrarr]

So to recap some of the chatting I had with darrelljs about civ pick. It's currently boiling down to these options:

Fishing / Mining (Rome, Portugal, England probably in that order)
Mining / Wheel (Mali) - simmed out above
Hunting / Wheel (Mongolia)
Fishing / Wheel (Japan)

I'm definitely lovin me some Wheel here

One thing I noted is that Hunting is 15b cheaper than Mining, but you do also save 15b on Animal Husbandry by having an additional pre-requisite. It is somewhat of a "false" savings though, since with this map setup you don't actually NEED Hunting any time soon, and it does delay you on the path to Bronze Working (which you definitely want ASAP).

I simmed out the Fishing / Mining starts but it was definitely slower than the Mali one posted above. Mostly due to the delay in getting the granary up - Mali gets it up on T22 and is size 5 by T31 :rolleyes:

My next sim to try is Japan and going Pottery first and seeing if I can start the granary right after the first WB.

Moar spam!

You haven't even answered the most important question so far: Naming theme?

And to show off how I am trying (at least for now! ) to write fewer, longer, more substantive posts, I didn't even separate this into its own post

I don't have an answer yet, but it did make me think of what I have used in previous games

PB1: Municipalities of Hamilton County, Ohio
PB2 (team): Cities that have hosted the Summer Olympics (aborted)
PB3 (team): Dance / Party theme
PB4 (team): Major roads in SW Ohio
PB5 (team): SNL sketches
PBEM5 (the one, the only, the original: It was going to be Cities of Ohio but after I started with Columbus, I changed it to famous explorers
PBEM8: Spices
PBEM17: Forum posters that posted in my thread
PBEM26: Your Mom jokes
Duel R: Vegetables (aborted after I whupped Pindicator - too bad he can't read this for awhile...)

My criteria is generally that I prefer schemes that I don't have to look up "what's the next one". So I'm open for suggestions at this point...