[SPOILERS] SevenSpirits plays a civ game, dun dun dun dun dun!

[SevenSpirits]

Welcome all. Well, all the good ones anyway. This thread is specifically for everyone who isn't Ichabod, Krill, Kyan, Serdoa or Thoth. Those people aren't allowed here! Cool kids only.

Yeah, I know you guys are jealous about not being a part of the best thread. Ha ha!


























Protip: use empty vertical space to make the uncool folks leave. I learned this from experts exchange.

[SevenSpirits]

Rules I must follow:

No diplo. Banter thread only.
No WEs, nukes, spies. GSpies can't scout or bomb.

For my reference:
No barbs, huts, events, or vassal states. Prince, Standard. 36x36 waterways map.
Everyone starts with a settler + scout on their starting tile.

Turn order:
1. Ichabod
2. Thoth
3. Seven
4. Serdoa
5. Kyan
6. Krill

Pool of combos to pick from:
Alexander (Agg, Phi)of China (Agriculture, Mining)
Asoka (Org, Spi)of Netherlands (Agriculture, Fishing)
Augustus (Imp, Ind) of Babylon (Agriculture, The Wheel)
Suryavarman (Exp, Cre)of Germany (Hunting, Mining)
Louis XIV (Cre, Ind)of Persia (Agriculture, Hunting)
Genghis Khan (Agg, Imp) of France (Agriculture, The Wheel)
Napoleon (Cha, Org)of Rome (Fishing, Mining)
Julius Caesar (Imp, Org)of Viking (Hunting, Fishing)
Charles de Gaulle (Ind, Cha)of England (Fishing, Mining)
Justinian (Spi, Imp)of Spain (Fishing, Mysticism)
Zara Yaqob (Cre, Org) of Celts (Hunting, Mysticism)

[SevenSpirits]

Opponent analysis, with a bold prediction for each one. I hope I will get some awards for predictions that turn out to be correct! Please!

1. Ichabod
Smart guy who apparently feels overmatched in this game. My impression, mostly from 45 vets, is that he tends to focus too much on specific goals and not enough on overall quality of development. Prediction: Ichabod will be first to lose a city.

2. Thoth
I don't really know how skilled a player he is. I think I watched one game with him. It was FFH and he crushed everyone. Prediction: Thoth will start the most exciting war of the game.

3. Seven
Seven is pretty awesome at this game, not to mention quite handsome, but needs to work on when and where to plant cities, and stop assuming worst case scenarios for what his opponents are doing. Prediction: All of Seven's pre-game predictions will turn out to be wrong.

4. Serdoa
Serdoa has an unusual but effective approach to micro, which gives him a sort of mysterious foreign allure. I think he builds too many mines. Prediction: Serdoa will be eliminated first. Don't ask me why - is a bold prediction not enough for you?

5. Kyan
Kyan is a great player but gets bored easily. Prediction: Kyan will bail on the game, leaving Q*** in charge.

6. Krill
Krill is playing a normal BTS PBEM?!? Krill who is really smart and experienced but seems generally uninterested in playing against RB's other top players? Prediction: Krill's thread will have the most useful, interesting, and new (to readers) strategic information of any thread in this game.

[NobleHelium]

You're disqualified from awards because you're betting that you'll get something right and nothing right at the same time. So you would be guaranteed an award if you qualified for them.

Well either that or your self-prediction is a paradox which I'm going to say also disqualifies you from awards!

[Ceiliazul]

Seven, your start:

[SevenSpirits]

Here's the list of options again.
Alexander (Agg, Phi)of China (Agriculture, Mining)
Asoka (Org, Spi)of Netherlands (Agriculture, Fishing)
Augustus (Imp, Ind) of Babylon (Agriculture, The Wheel)
Suryavarman (Exp, Cre)of Germany (Hunting, Mining)
Louis XIV (Cre, Ind)of Persia (Agriculture, Hunting)
Genghis Khan (Agg, Imp) of France (Agriculture, The Wheel)
Napoleon (Cha, Org)of Rome (Fishing, Mining)
Julius Caesar (Imp, Org)of Viking (Hunting, Fishing)
Charles de Gaulle (Ind, Cha)of England (Fishing, Mining)
Justinian (Spi, Imp)of Spain (Fishing, Mysticism)
Zara Yaqob (Cre, Org) of Celts (Hunting, Mysticism)

Nice looking river start despite the fact that I can't see any food resources. and I am guaranteed a grain or grassland deer/AH resource, plus another food resource. With no water visible it's probably another out of those and I can expect to want to research AH first and I pretty much need one of agri or hunting to be safe, as a double AH food resource start is not that unlikely. Fishing will be the worst tech for this start, mysticism next worst. I think my preference is Agri>Wheel>Hunting>Mining>Myst>Fishing. Let me start with some easy eliminations. (Maybe you can tell I don't want an aggressive leader.) Begone:

Alexander (Agg, Phi)of China (Agriculture, Mining)
Genghis Khan (Agg, Imp) of France (Agriculture, The Wheel)
Napoleon (Cha, Org)of Rome (Fishing, Mining)
Charles de Gaulle (Ind, Cha)of England (Fishing, Mining)
Justinian (Spi, Imp)of Spain (Fishing, Mysticism)

Just awful traits for the first two, and a combination of bad civ and mediocre traits for the rest. (Note: I'm not saying these are bad for all players. Someone with a coastal start or nearby precious metal could find fishing/mining respectively to be very desirable starting techs. And someone who can actually see their food can afford to be less choosy about being covered for AH.) This leaves:

Augustus (Imp, Ind) of Babylon (Agriculture, The Wheel)
Louis XIV (Cre, Ind)of Persia (Agriculture, Hunting)

These two have 2/3 best techs, but both are IND which I'm feeling a bit hesitant about.

Asoka (Org, Spi)of Netherlands (Agriculture, Fishing)
Suryavarman (Exp, Cre)of Germany (Hunting, Mining)

These guys have some fairly good traits, though I'd rather split the difference and take 1 trait from each, I think - the first two will be quite slow to start and the latter two have little staying power. And they have decent but not great techs.

Julius Caesar (Imp, Org)of Viking (Hunting, Fishing)
Zara Yaqob (Cre, Org) of Celts (Hunting, Mysticism)

Finally, these two have some pretty bad techs. But I think their traits make them worthy of consideration. Zara has the better traits, but mysticism with creative is kinda yucky.


Sury seems obviously better than the rest. The only EXP leader and he's also CRE?! Yeah. Louis is also a shoo-in to be picked, so we are looking at 2+ CRE leaders, meaning less religion racing amongst the rest.

Those are my initial impressions, I will do a more detailed comparison later based on trait value.

[zakalwe]

All the cool guys are Org/Spi.

I can't imagine Sury makes it to the third pick.

Edit: Louis XIV also looks good to me.

[SevenSpirits]

I can't imagine Sury makes it to the third pick.

Me either. Actually I wonder if the list-makers were a bit tricked by the apparent awfulness of Germany. Differences in trait value tend to be much higher than differences in civ value.

Question is really whether Krill picks him. We know Krill loves himself some early religion which doesn't happen with CRE, so: is he in an adventurous and/or playing-to-win kind of mood, or is he in a contrarian mood and won't want to pick the obvious choice? My guess is that he'll pick a different leader, but it's a close call given the rather disappointing nature of the non-CRE choices and his utter loathing of ORG.

I like Asoka and I won't be opposed to picking him if better options are gone. It'll be a slooooow start though, especially with fishing.

[SevenSpirits]

Krill picked Zara Yaqob. I think that makes him adventurous AND contrarian, but the contrarianism takes the leading role just like I predicted.

Not that Zara is bad. I just think Sury is clearly better.

[Ceiliazul]

I apologize for the delay, and the controversy. I know there is a split vote on seeing your food resources... that sucks for everyone.

My goal is for you players to have fun, and starting on equal footing is part of that. I will make a similar post in each thread. I will take the heat if folks get mad.

Seven, your start includes wet wheat.