Nothing like the Prodigal Sons: The Odd Couple actually play as themselves.

[Gaspar]

The Enemies - A Tactical Guide

Volume VI - Dhalpir & Hashoosh



(For some reason, that's what the name combination made me think of)

Mansa Musa of the Ottomans (Spiritual, Financial, Agriculture, The Wheel, Hammam, Janissary)



(I've previewed Mansa it feels like a dozen times. There's only so many ways to riff on it.)

Known Knowns:

I'll start with the team before the combo this time. Dhalpir is the guy who posted the thread with the basic worker question and it turned into some basic questions thread. He's obviously a fairly recent adopter of Civ4, at least at a semi-competitive level, so I don't expect a ton from him. He has however completed an SG and jumped into a handful of games, based on his signature. He's irritated me a couple of times in the setup thread with his "why can't we all be nice and understanding routine." Don't get me wrong, I'm generally a peacemaker myself, but I also don't think there's anything wrong with, say, giving a new player a short leash for his disappearance. While it sounds super great that we should be super nice to everybody, we've seen plenty of situations where a new player's excitement wanes quickly and it holds up and even ruins games. I'm all for an inclusive community, but you have to balance the needs of the many against the needs of the one and it's less fair that a new guy gets unfairly replaces than it is for a new guy to ruin a game for 12 people. That didn't happen here, but I don't personally need a lecture from him either. Anyway, seems like a try-hard. I'd expect he'll do okay, since there's an obvious interest in learning, which plenty of vets haven't shown the ability to do.

The combo is solid. Mansa was easily the best leader on the board when they picked, and the Ottomans were easily the best Civ left (in a vacuum, of course. One could make a compelling case for say, the Vikings, who weren't picked.) There's no synergy but synergy doesn't matter. Everything about what he gets here brings something to the table - Spiritual is still a decent trait in the hands of an inexperienced player, still saving several turns of anarchy and letting you pop your GAs when you need the boost, not when you need a Civic change. Its not the weapon it is in the hands of someone who knows how and when to juggle civics and can make the cheap temples work, but its still one of the easier traits to get something out of. Financial is the easiest trait to use and the best. There's nothing to help much early on, of course, so you expect a Mansa player to fall behind a bit before really shining in the midgame. I analyzed the Ottomans a bit before our pick, Ag/Wheel is beakeriffic and allows you to get cottages in play quickly. Hammams are an upgrade on a useless building, but not enough of one to build many unless you're lux starved. Janissary's are a win more unit, helping you clean up against a backward opponent but pretty much just muskets against an even or advanced one. They have a place but they're nothing special.

Known Unknowns:

One of the big questions is how do they attack the early game. There's a heavy temptation for a newer player with Spi to go for early religion, which is a dangerous tactic in a 12-player game. It is important though to get any leverage out of the trait. Certainly a delicate balancing act. With 3 IND civs and no stone/marble, you'd think they'd avoid any early wonder chasing, but it can be a tempting mistress.

Unknown Unknowns:

Again, don't think there's much left unsaid here.

Dhalpir and Hashoosh's Yearbook:

Pro Wrestler Their Personality Most Reminds Me Of:

Likeliness to Succeed:
NSFW

Quality of Selection:


Exploitable Weakness: They haven't quite mastered the ins and outs and play decent but mistake-filled game.
Biggest Fear: Noble's abrasiveness in the signup thread makes them dedicate their game to screwing us.

[NobleHelium]

As I said, I'm not impressed by Dhalphir. He's the kind of person who thinks you learn things by memorizing them. That's not going to get you far.

[Gaspar]

As I said, I'm not impressed by Dhalphir. He's the kind of person who thinks you learn things by memorizing them. That's not going to get you far.

I remember it getting quite a few tryhards far in my high school.

[Gaspar]

The Enemies - A Tactical Guide

Volume VII - Jowy



Suryavarman II of Persia (Creative, Expansive, Agriculture, Hunting, Apothecary, Immortal)



(I've previously used Suri Cruise )

Known Knowns:
Sury is the undisputed champion of the fast start - there is literally nothing that starts faster than Sury of India. I don't think we've ever seen a successful game by a Sury of something else in the unrestricted era (though Timmy had an early lead in PBEM3 as Khmer that got him dogpiled.) I'd say Sury is also at the top of the "most likely to be errantly dogpiled" leaderboard. He has to jump out to that early lead, because he doesn't have a later game economic trait to bolster him. Still, quick border pops, no need to waste beakers or hammers on getting culture in play along with faster workers and even faster than that granaries - you better believe Sury will be top of the scoreboard on T50. If you're not, just give up, because all those FINs and ORGs will start kicking your ass soon enough. Persia tells me that we probably all have similar starts - a less experienced eye might look at this start and think Agriculture, Hunting was the best start tech since it put both the farm and the camp in play. However, Hunting is one of the two cheap start techs, along with Fishing, and unlike Fishing, where you might want to start with it because it allows you to go work boat first (sometimes the right play - see PBEM25) you can ALWAYS research Hunting before your first worker is finished. So there's really no need to actively seek it out. Given that both of Persia's uniques are absolutely worthless, there's just no reason to take them, unless you really like teal.

Jowy is sort of the patron saint of unlearning. While I haven't followed his recent games, his early games had a tendency to follow the same pattern - screw up, blame others, learn nothing. He likes to take a contrarian viewpoint and paint it as attacking the hivemind, but to my ears, usually what he's really doing is not listening to the reasons why - there are some discussions about diplomacy in Civ games where this has reared its head. He also had a reputation earlier as a quitter, he bailed on PBEM6 and Diplomacy 2, from my memory - there may have been others. I do know he finished his most recent Pitboss though, so I'll give him credit for maybe turning over a new leaf. Nonetheless, on players in this game that I've seen play before, I'd put him second worst ahead of only Kuro.

Known Unknowns:

The big question for Jowy is simply how he tries to leverage his start. There's an obvious "right path" for Sury - worker techs then down the line towards Maths and CoL, hopefully getting Currency and Courthouses in play just when you've outexpanded your economy. If we see him getting a religion or building Henge or something along those lines, we know he's missed the boat. He shouldn't even consider that part of the tree until CoL is in.

Unknown Unknowns:

The big thing is has he improved. Anyone who followed his most recent games who wants to chime in, I'd appreciate it.

Jowy's Yearbook:

Pro Wrestler Their Personality Most Reminds Me Of:

Likeliness to Succeed:

Quality of Selection:


Exploitable Weakness: Overextended and beyond ability to recover, leaves the stagnation adventure to his conqueror.
Biggest Fear: He decides he wants to spend his game trolling Noble for pissing him off in the signup thread (are we sensing a theme?)

[NobleHelium]

As I said, I'm not impressed by Dhalphir. He's the kind of person who thinks you learn things by memorizing them. That's not going to get you far.

I remember it getting quite a few tryhards far in my high school.

There were a lot of stupid people with decent grades in mine, I wouldn't say it got them far.

[Gaspar]

In the interest of managing expectations, I think its unlikely I will get the remaining pregame posts done before the game starts. I will endeavor to finish them before the weekend is done, though.

The remaining posts being:

4 more opponent profiles
Our profile
Pregame predictions

[Lewwyn]

You're forgetting the Mapmaker profile.

[Gaspar]

The Enemies - A Tactical Guide

Volume VIII - 2Metraninja




Roosevelt of Sumeria (Industrious, Organized, Agriculture, The Wheel, Vulture, Ziggurat)



Known Knowns:

2metra is the second contender we've looked at in this series. I haven't followed anything he's done terribly closely, save the duel league, but as a general rule my impression is that he's a decent player. His opinion of himself is much higher than that, but he absolutely does have a legitimate shot at winning this game. He's very, very aggressive in tone, which is exasperated by English not being his primary language - the subtlety lost usually results in a harsher tone, often unintended. In 2metra's case, however, I do think it is sort of intended. Regardless, he's at least proven competence.

The selection is synergistic, but it's smart. FDR is the king of GLH and I'd be shocked if GLH weren't at least a good wonder here. Sumeria + Org = spam to your hearts content. The problem of course is that everything he wants to do requires a lot of early beakers. GLH requires Masonry, not generally a tech you want to research early. Ziggurats require Priesthood, which is otherwise off the beaten path. If you go for both, you're likely to start wasting early hammers on Oracle and the next thing you know, its T100 and your behind the expansion curve. Not saying any of this has to happen, but it can happen. If it all goes right, you expand properly, land GLH and in the midgame you've got cities all over the place paying for themselves almost immediately with GLH trade routes and super cheap Ziggurats reducing maintenance.

Known Unknowns:

The biggest question is how good is he really. He got smoked in the duel league but he was just adapting to RB style and a good deal of hubris was involved there. He beat RB at its own game in the demogame, but that was more due to his conniving than his Civ skill. No diplo here reduces the chances of that. We do know he and mackoti are friends - will mackoti be taking a quiet but active hand in his Civ? If so, shoot him right to the top of the contender board. He had a good but uneven performance in the TT PB as well. I'd guess he rates out as solid. If he's very good, this can be a winning combo. If he's just average, he probably can't win with it.


Unknown Unknowns:

Again, nothing to see here. Would love to hear more 2metra analysis from the crowd.

2metraninja's Yearbook:

Pro Wrestler Their Personality Most Reminds Me Of:

Likeliness to Succeed:

Quality of Selection:


Exploitable Weakness: Tries to do to much, accomplishes little.
Biggest Fear: He executes his plan flawlessly, lands MoM and has some huge Golden Ages with a huge and profitable empire, rocketing to a win.

[Gaspar]

For the record, if you guys want these done faster, more comments is the way to make that happen.

[NobleHelium]

Going to be pretty busy until I get off work tonight most likely.