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

[Gaspar]

While FFH7 is one of the 4-5 most epic threads on this forum

Which threads would you rank as the other 4?

Off the top of my head the most epic threads on the forum:

FF7 - Gaspar/Mardoc/MBTM (+Azoth, Noble)
FF1 - pocketbeetle
PB2 - Spullla
PBEM13/17 - nospace
PB6 - Real Men of Genius

I'd probably put them in that order, but in fairness, I'm heavily biased. PBEM13 had some epic war turn reporting, PBEM17 was a more interesting game, so I'll lump them together. Next tier:

PBEM3 - Sandover
PBEM8 - rego
FFH3 - Thoth
PB7 - Ichabod et al
PB8 - scooter/pindcator
PBEM29 - Gaspar/Noble
FFH11 - Bob
FF8 - Ravus Sol

There's a lot of other good ones, but those are the ones that particularly stood out to me for one reason or another. Keep in mind there are games where I was playing or dedlurking where I didn't really get the chance to read the epic threads in them, and I never do more than skim postgame. Also keep in mind I've not really followed Pitbosses 9+, PBEMs 40+ or FFH20+, so if there's anything great in there, I don't know about it. I also kept to one thread per game - for example in PBEM3 scooter's and GES's threads were highly entertaining but Sandover's was the best so he gets the nod or in FFH11 your thread was also really good but there's no beating Bob's coining of the PYFT war.

[Gaspar]

Totally forgot Ilios' FFH2 thread. That definitely belongs in the discussion.

[Azarius]

Thanks for the explanation, and the listing of good threads. I've read some of them, but it's nice to have some to read through I know will be good. I'll definitely read through PBEM 29.

[NobleHelium]

I think 29 is depressing in how many stupid mistakes we made there (mostly at the start), but I learned many important lessons such as:

1) Building monuments is generally fine as long as you have a strong tile or two immediately.
2) Don't grow on a granary at your capital really early in the game because you won't finish it until you're happy capped. It's also less useful early in the game because you'll regrow faster than your low happy cap can support whipping. And because early game warriors are quite important.
3) Try hard for wonders or not at all.
4) Commodore really likes plains cows.

[Gaspar]

Thanks for the explanation, and the listing of good threads. I've read some of them, but it's nice to have some to read through I know will be good. I'll definitely read through PBEM 29.

Yeah, 29 is a matter of perspective. There's no stellar gameplay to watch there. 38 was much, much better in terms of reading for quality play. I just think we were much more entertaining in 29. There's a lot to be learned there as well if you read it that way.

[sunrise089]

@Thoth: Sullla+Speaker PB2 for combination of reporting, skill (in the early dark ages of pitbosses), and drama.

Pocketbeetle in FFHPBEM1 remains the most entertaining thread I've read here.

[Gaspar]

I never did get around to a pregame prediction thread, though I'd guess my previews and particularly the wrestlers I assigned them should give you a decent idea of my thinking. I've also been asked a few times if I intend to update the player previews to reflect Bantams in for Jowy and ad hoc in for Zaldax as well as the change from Byzantium to the Dutch. I do not, but I will briefly touch on them here.

Bantams:

The little bit I got from him was that he was a CFC'er. That he thinks of 2metra on the same level as Krill tells me he's probably not that good himself and can't distinguish the difference. That's common for weaker players - everyone better than me is godlike. Only the good players really notice the difference. I can tell you from lots of games there really is nothing more demoralizing than playing against Mackoti, which is why I believe he is the best player at RB. While plenty of players have slightly better micro or whatever, there's absolutely nobody who has better instincts. Seven is probably second for my money, then there are 4-5 guys in the mix at the next level. Anyway, even if 2metra is better than I'm giving him credit for, he's not remotely in Krill's class. I expect he will be better than Jowy, however.

ad hoc, Dutch for Byzantium:

ad hoc is a really nice guy. He's reliable and patient and pleasant. He's not very good at Civ. I'd go so far as to say he's one of the 5 or so least talented players on the site who have played multiple games. I don't want to say anymore than because I legitimately think he's a really good guy. Netherlands is vastly superior to Byz on this map. Vikings are much better than the Dutch as a water civ in an ancient start, no TT game however. Still, if you make it Steam Power, Dikes are probably the second best UB, so there's definitely an upgrade there from Byz, who are awful plus Cataphracts.

On to the predictions. Here's the current roster:

1.Sevenspirits/Krill - Montezuma of Zulu
2.ad hoc- Huanya Capac of the Netherlands
3.Gavagai - Darius I of Aztecs
4.2metraninja - Roosevelt of Sumeria
5.Bantams- Suryavarman II of Persia
6.Dhalphir & Hashoosh - Mansa Musa of Ottomans
7.Gaspar/Noble - Bismarck of Mali
8.Retep - Mehmed of Carthage
9.Kuro - Isabella of China
10.Mikehendi - Elizabeth of France
11.wetbandit - Hannibal of Egypt
12.Goreripper - Zara Yaqob of Greece

No chance of winning:

ad hoc, Bantams, Dhalpir/Hashoosh, Kuro, Mikehendi, wetbandit, Goreripper, Gavagai.

These guys are all already proven as weaker players, showed they didn't know what they're doing with their civ/leader choices or are just way too green to win with some of the studs in this field. Of this group, I like wetbandit's chances best.

Need some luck:

Retep, 2metraninja

Both of these guys have shown skill elsewhere on the board. If they get the right combination - namely the right neighbor, a good break, something, on a big map they can win the game for sure. I like 2metra's chances best since his leader choice strongly suggests GLH which looks like it will be absolutely amazing on this map.

Clear 2nd place choice:

Gaspar & NobleHelium

Not sure if I've said this before but I really don't like either the NoGas or NobleGas name combinations. I'm perfectly willing to accept a nickname for our combo, but do better guys. Anyway, we're the only other ones here with multiple wins (Noble's won 3 games, I've won 1) so we have to be considered the second favorites. I think we have one of the better combos as well. That said, Gavagai has already shown the randomness inherent in these huge games can screw you. If he sends a warrior down in 10t and makes us play on the back foot while say, retep is neighboring the eternally passive ad hoc, retep could very easily finish ahead of us. I think it is more likely than not that we actually finish middle of the pack, but we're definitely the second most likely team to win and therefore placing us anywhere else would be disingenuous. I'm fully aware, by the by, that this ranking is more an indictment of Noble than I, before anyone thinks I have a big head about things.

Huge favorite:

SevenSpirits (& Krill)

One of the things that amazes me is how many of the best players are front-runners. Krill is probably the 2nd worst front-runner on these boards (feel free to post this part verbatim in their thread btw, I'd love to hear a response.) Nicolae is the worst. (Other gigantic front-runners: Kyan, Noble, Lord Parkin.) I personally have a LOT more respect for the players who play it out with a spirit of true competition when the game doesn't go their way than the ones who frequently jump in guppy pools and/or frequently bail on games once they're not winning. Someone like novice or rego comes to mind here. Anyway, I find it absolutely fucking hilarious how Krill has pussed out of basically every opportunity to play against mackoti or Seven but here he is, all over a base BTS game because he gets to steal a little of Seven's glory. I say this liking Krill btw, but I just fucking hate front-runners.

Anyway, only Noble and I jumping in this game made this in any way reasonable for Seven to even be in here, and he's still proven in multiple instances that he's much better than us. Realistically, there are maybe 10 players on the whole board who can ever beat Seven in a game that doesn't have a ton of inherent randomness. And Seven would be favored against all of them but mackoti. This game doesn't have a ton of inherent randomness, but it does have enough that Seven can lose. All it takes is one of his neighbors giving him the Xenudore treatment from PB7 while we get a free pass, for example. That's unlikely, particularly as we have an aggressive neighbor, and its also entirely likely Seven could fight it off. (Especially as aggressive Zulu.) Regardless, I fully expect him to win and Krill to stick around as long as that's the case. And then maybe after this, the two of them will stop being scared little girls and play each other a neutral field (i.e. not a Krillmod game) preferably with mackoti and a few other heavyweights in the field. Give us the game we've been waiting for since PBEM17.

[Gaspar]

Also, for all the people who talk about turn pace in the PBEM vs. Pitboss debate, if this was a PBEM we'd be on T25 by now, guaranteed. That people don't hit end turn when all they have to do is move a scout is really annoying.

[Gaspar]

You guys are super lame.

[Gaspar]

t7 - All your food is belong to the north.

wetbandit, Dhalpir/Hashoosh and ad hoc all got techs this turn. Thus ends the portion of the game where I do C&D.

Now this is more like it:



Next turn the scout will head NE-NE as we try to head towards defogging the area between us and Gavagai. No sign of Gavagai's scout, who I'm assuming headed SE. There's no sign as well of anyone else, though I'm guessing pretty strongly there's another civ roughly behind that peak SW-SW of the scout. Tempting as it is to make contact, given the known civ tech bonus, I don't think we really want to get distracted from the main goal of scouting close to home. Given that we are packt like sardines in a can, I'm guessing there's a LOT of unclaimed land overseas. I've never really played one of these heavily naval games, unless you count 26, which I do not. Should be interesting. I think what happens close to home will be what matters most, however.

This serves no purpose other than the Radiohead reference above making me think of it. Might be apropos long term, however.



Finally remembered to do this:



Here's the demographics.



Everytime I crop Kuro's dumbass too long name, it makes me want to invade him. God help him if he's a neighbor.