Mouseover blocking is all the rage don't'cha know?
|
[SPOILER] Sareln and Spices
|
The Picking Scheme:
Quote:Pindicator asked for my opinion on setup rules, so here's something I believe is pretty fair. I realize it's on the complex end. The Pick:
Finalized Pairings and Turn Order: Sareln as Bismark (EXP/IND) of Rome (Fishing/Mining) Azza as Victoria (FIN/IMP) of England (Fishing/Mining) Viqsi as Suryvaraman (EXP/CRE) of Carthage (Fishing/Mining) Fintourist as Hannibal (FIN/CHA) of the Ottomans (Agriculture/The Wheel) Hydra as Asoka (ORG/SPI) of Spain (Fishing/Mysticism) Other Game Setup Stuff:
Thoughts on the Picking Scheme:
Interesting choices. Let's expand the list out so that we get a full view here: 5 point pick. 4 - FIN 3 - EXP, ORG, Inca, India 2 - SPI, IND, CRE, Viking, Dutch 1 - PHI, HRE, Agriculture Civs 0 - IMP, CHA, AGG, PRO, All other Civs So the most straightforward form of Analysis I can think of right now is to list all the leaders and civilizations and their point values, so let's do that. Civilizations: Leaders: Those weren't very readable, so I've got them into a spreadsheet. Anyways, the takeaway is that the following leaders are straight-up banned in a 5 point game (With IND counting for 2, all of this is with IND counting for 2).
Easiest way to think of the narrowing field then is to think about the effects of picking any of the high point options, this is mostly civilization based thinking, because traits come in pairs, so you can pick a civilization and wait to see whether you get ORG/EXP, but if you pick a leader you've already locked in how many points you're going to spend on your leader. Additionally, you don't need to spend all your points, but that's probably a question of whether to spend 4 or 5:
Thoughts on the Picking Scheme, cont.
So without seeing the map, but knowing that water will play a big enough role to justify the additional point value on Vikings and the Dutch, what do I want to play today? Intuitively, on water-heavy maps we know that production will be harder to come by, worker labor will be less valuable due to fewer tiles to improve, and city maintenance will be higher. From a warmaking perspective, 2 movers becomes slightly less valuable since you're shipping things around, and ships naturally become a much bigger deal. Financial, as usual, is quite strong, but the price to pay for it in the point buy is also very high. Vikings increase in values because of the +1MV on their ships, and their Amphibious Maces. Dutch increase in value due to the massive production advantage they will garner once they hit the industrial age. Dutch will have a huge target on their back as they would be a ticking time-bomb for the game, while Vikings will just be more dangerous than a non-viking civilization. I think my choice will depend heavily upon my position in the pick. An earlier pick can afford to take one of the 3 points civs, but I think a later pick should just take one of the high-powered leaders and play with a Fishing/Mining CIV. We'll see though.
Incidentally, city names will be coming from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cul...and_spices
For your consideration.
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0006.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/28594063/Maps/PBEM45/Civ4ScreenShot0006.JPG) Fog-gazing is of the devil and should not be trusted. Welcome back!
If only you and me and dead people know hex, then only deaf people know hex.
I write RPG adventures, and blog about it, check it out.
So green...
Fishing/Mining + PHI/FIN just hopped up front as my instinct. Settling 1S. Have to move the scout before any permanent decisions of course. General gameplan I want to play is a buildering to the middle ages and then try to kill/expand on the offensive inflection points in the tech tree.
Picks and Thoughts
Alright, so I have a choice here. 1 person has picked CIV and 3 people have picked leaders. If I pick my CIV now I get whatever I want (sans Spain) and I have to pass my leader pick through Hydra. The nice thing is that there are two 5 point leaders remaining with IND (paired with EXP and ORG; Bismark and FDR) so I can pick up IND with one a good trait or dive down to Rammy for SPI/IND and be in pretty good shape for a pyramids based game. So I could pick my CIV and then see what Hydra picks as his leader to inform whether or not to grab IND as one of my traits. I think that would actually be a very strong choice, so the question becomes what CIV should I take?
(Simply speaking, if I can be the only IND leader in the game, that would be awesome, and I'll have a decent trait to pair it with either way as long as I take a 0 pt. CIV). Screw it, let's pick ROME! I can take Ragnar (AGG/FIN) to threaten rushes, or take Bismark (EXP/IND), FDR (ORG/IND) or Rammy (SPI/IND) depending upon how it all looks at the end of the pick. |
