Cheater Hater, Ruler of the Modbreakers

[Cheater Hater]

Right, I forgot how boring a single-player game could be--I tried to start one, got a crappy start, and didn't even get to BW
However, we now have all the pairings! I can start yet another mega-post ranking the pairings, looking for special synergies and the like.
Right now I'm just trying to comment on all the pairings; afterwards I'll try and rank them in order to spur lurker activity

Azza: Washington/Arabia (Exp/Cha)
Exp/Chm means big cities, at least in the early game. Arabia is unspectacular, even with the buffs of a cheaper library and better techs, mainly since the Camel Archer being resourceless doesn't mean much in these games where you're basically guaranteed all the strategic resources.
Old Harry + Fintourist: Victoria/Aztecs (Fin/Imp)
Fin/Imp means more of a city sprawl, since Financial means you don't care as much about crappy land, and you can more easily support all the settlers being pumped out. The Jaguar seems interesting with the Swordsman change, though more people having Archers probably cancels out not having to hook up Iron and being able to pump out Jags more quickly. Sacrificial Altar is interesting with the Slavery changes though--quicker degradation of whip anger means more efficient 1-pop whips more often.
Jowy: Alexander/Carthage (Agg/Phi)
Boring--Cothon is good with the Free Market change, but there's no obvious synergy between traits/civ
Barry Lyndon: Hatsheput/Celts (Spi/Cre)
Uh, did I miss Celt's getting any buffs? (besides making Dun+Gallic Warrior actually do something) Spi/Cre doesn't really do anything either--sorry Barry
pindicator: Qin Shi Huang/China (Ind/Pro)
Vanilla! This doesn't seem that good either--sure it got the natural Industrious and Protective buffs, but the Cho-Ku-Nu lost Drill I, and I think the Pavilion needed a buff.
Cyneheard: Mehmed/Egypt (Exp/Org)
Exp/Org is fine, if unspectactular. Egypt doesn't seem that good though--the Obelisk only seems good with a Philosophical leader (maybe Industrious if you can guarantee Stonehenge), and the War Chariot weakened with the weakening of chariots.
Dhalphir: Huayna Cupac/England (Fin/Ind)
Finally, we have synergy with cheap Stock Exchanges! Huyana Capac was one of the stronger leaders, but he'll be weaker here here because of the Financial nerf and the multitude of Industrial civs.
dtay: Mao/Ethiopia (Exp/Pro)
Mao hasn't actually changed much--it has the old Expansive with the Granary boost, and then the nerfed Protective is all that's left. Though with the Oromo Warrior it wasn't much of a nerf, since it already had Drill I--and what is it with these Monument UBs?
spacetyrantxenu: Kublai Khan/Germany (Cha/Cre)
New trait combo! Not much spectacular with it, but at least it's not anti-synergistic now
As I mentioned above, Germany is the civ I think changed the most radically, and both the uniques seem overpowered--kill him before the late game!
Oxybaii: Catherine/Greeks (Imp/Cre)
Imp/Cre is a scary combo, since it can dominate the map quickly--removing the library means there aren't many economic benefits at least
And we have another cheap UB, though Odeons don't seem that good--Phalanxs still seem powerful though for their era
darrelljs + Ichabod: Joao/Holy Roman Empire (Imp/Exp)
Joao will spend more time growing than other civs, since both settlers and workers are boosted. HRE seems less spectacular--the Landsknecht is fine but late in the tech tree, and the Rathaus is a good incremental boost, though affected by the Toroidal change.
Hashoosh: Stalin/Inca (Agg/Ind)
Agg/Ind is a sleeper, just because of how quick it can pump out good units in the middle game. Inca is probably the best civ remaining, although the Terrace not being that nerfed is somewhat balanced out by the Quecha going from "nearly useless" to "completely useless" (although the nerf doesn't matter as an Aggressive leader anyway )
Sullla (lurker civ): Fredrick/India (Phi/Cre)
Why was Sullla given a random leader? I guess there's no obvious leader to take out of the pool like India (even though I thought India was balanced correctly ), but still. Heck, there's no reason he had to take a civ/leader out of the pool anyway--just have 34+Sullla
wetbandit: Montezuma/Japan (Agg/Spi)
Spiritual is actually really good with Aggressive, since the majority of civics you'd want to switch to and back from are military-related (Police State, Vassalage, Theocracy). I mentioned that I think the Pagoda seems powerful, but I probably overvalue Observatories a lot.
Dazedroyalty: Elizabeth/Khmer (Fin/Phi)
Elizabeth is more interesting here--since you don't need to put cottages on riverside tiles immediately, you can get more food to take advantage of Philosophical while still getting enough cottages to use your Financial bonus. Is the Ballista Elephant really unchanged? I thought there was discussion with it keeping 8 strength and losing the mounted targeting, or is it 7 strength with the targeting? Vanilla Ballista Elephants seem overpowered in this mod.
MYKI: De Gaulle/Korea (Ind/Cha)
Ind/Cha seems unexciting--Charismatic means larger cities, which means more Forge bonus? Korea seems fine--the tech change is a big bonus, and both the Hwacha and Seowon are noticeable upgrades to stuff everyone builds.
Catwalk: Saladin/Mali (Pro/Spi)
Honestly, really boring--the traits are meh and Mali is unexciting.
Nakor: Darius/Maya (Fin/Org)
Darius probably got the biggest nerf of any leader, since both Financial and Organized got decent nerfs. And Maya doesn't seem appetizing at all--Holkans aren't that good unless you happen to be attacking archers, and the Colosseums aren't built enough to make the bonus of the Ball Court good enough.
The Black Sword: Gandhi/Native Americans (Phi/Spi)
Gandhi is fine, since switching to Pacifism is one of the main uses of Spiritual (although then we get to the whole "Pacifism isn't as good for Philosophical leaders" argument, which I won't get into now), but Native Americans don't seem that good, unless you're taking advantage of the Totem Pole to kill someone with Crossbows or something.
yuris125: Tokugawa/Dutch (Agg/Pro)
Tokugawa lost the advantage of Combat I+Drill I gunpowder units, but the traits became a lot better otherwise, so that's probably a positive
Dutch is fine--I think the Dike's super-powerful, but I overvalue late-game buildings, as you could probably guess from my other observations.
Scooter: Shaka/Ottoman (Agg/Exp)
Cheap Hammams is good I guess, and both traits are fine. Musket UU's are probably more powerful in RBMod than vanilla, since they can still be drafted for 1 pop when Rifles got bumped up to 2 pop--that probably means fewer Rifles, which means less need for Grenadiers, meaning more powerful Muskets have a longer period of dominance.
Bacchus: Churchill/Persia (Cha/Pro)
Churchill is actually playable now, which is a plus I guess. Persia seems kinda meh, with the downgrade of chariots in general.
Molach: Genghis Khan/Portugal (Agg/Imp)
Imperialistic works well with reduced city maintenance, so that's good. However, it seems like Portugal is insane: Feitorias got a great discount (and that's helped even more by being Imperialistic), and Carracks are one of the few UU's that actually does something unique. One of the few home runs in terms of synergy
AutomatedTeller: Peter/Rome (Exp/Phi)
This is a very interesting combination: normally Exp/Phi doesn't do much (though Exp provides more and quicker food with its bonuses), but having half-price (upgraded) Forums seems insane combined with Philosophical. Also, the new Praet seems great if I'm understanding it correctly--it's now a normal swordman, which means it gets the +50% city attack, right? That seems comparable with the normal Praet--not quite as good when out in the field, but insane when attacking cities. A contender for best combo so far.
Boldly Going Nowhere: Pericles/Russia (Phi/Cre)
This combo got nerfed a bit with Creative losing cheap libraries, but it still seems okay otherwise. The new UB seems really good, especially since you build universities everywhere regardless, and Cossacks are still fine.
BRickAstley + Mardoc: Wang Kon/Spain (Fin/Pro)
Wang Kon is interesting--it's like Pacal now (Financial+cheap Granaries), but it's not nearly as good. As for Spain, the Conquistadors are still fine, but I don't get why Citadels weren't buffed or changed--for that matter, why were Castles nerfed in the first place? Granted, I rarely see them (the tech paths I generally see/go to obsolete them before we can build them ), but they still seem fine for what they are :/
Caledorn: Brennus/Sumeria (Spi/Cha)
Another unexciting civ--is it just me or do I not like many, if any of the traits in the mod? Sumeria is fine--the Ziggurat is another actually unique UB, and while Vultures are fine, Swordsmen becoming more useful reduces their utility a bit.
Cheater Hater: Bismarck/Zulu (Exp/Ind)
I've already discussed this a lot--not much synergy, but Zulu got a boost by Ikhanda's becoming more useful.
Krice: Willem/Babylon (Fin/Cre)
Both of Willem's traits got almost purely nerfed, which means he now has two traits both best used on making the most of crappy land. Babylon's boring though--Bowman mean you won't be rushed, but the Garden is a near-worthless Colosseum replacement :/
WLP: FDR/Mongol (Ind/Org)
FDR's another unexciting combo, and Mongols are unexciting too--but I'm close to the end of the list!
Queeg: Zara/Byzantium (Cre/Org)
Zara's fine--you can control a lot of land and do it relatively cheaply. Byz is okay I guess--Cataphracts are okay (if nerfed a bit), but the Hippodrome is weird: it's one of the few uniques with a downside (not being able to hire artists), but the cheap happiness is fine, since you'll want a lot of theatres in the late game anyway.
Ruff: Augustus Caesar/America (Ind/Imp)
Another boring trait combo, but America's a lot more interesting--both the uniques were brought forward, but they don't seem that overpowered compared to, say, Russia or Germany. The Minuteman doesn't have that much of a change, but then the new Mall seems good, if a bit situational (needing resources to get any unique benefits).
Whosit: Hammurabi/Vikings (Agg/Org)
This is interesting--is there too much of a good thing with regard to reducing maintenance? Vikings are always a sleeper on any map with water, but it'll be interesting to see how much the Trading Post nerf affects them--notably, it's the same amount of promotions to Nav II as before.
Plako: Louis/France (Cre/Ind)
And we end with a boring vanilla combo--Cre/Ind is yet another unspectacular combo, but France is good, between Muskets becoming more desirable and the upgraded (and cheaper for Louis!) Salon.

And done! I don't think I'm going to rank all the combos (mainly since the game's already started by this point), but the highlights include Hashoosh (Stalin/Inca), wetbandit (Monty/Japan), Dazedroyalty (Elizabeth/Khmer), scooter (Shaka/Ottoman), Molach (Genghis Khan/Portugal), AT (Peter/Rome), and Plako (Louis/France). Obviously you can't call the game there, but it's a good starting point for handicapping the field--it'll be interesting to see other players/lurkers' ratings whenever the game ends (whether that's in two months or two years )

[Cheater Hater]

And...we're off! And I still haven't finished my pregame stuff
T0 Report:
And the start is...interesting:


Who's TXT_KEY_LEADER_PERICL? I mean, I assume it's BGN, but what's wrong with the name?
So there's crabs, pigs and silk all in the initial cross--scout moved SE-E and didn't see anything, so I settled in place:


So many huts! The SE hut is the main reason I went SE-E instead of SE-NE. I smell an interesting dilemma coming--focus on popping all the nearby huts or on scouting neighbors to get more map information and known tech bonus. In fact, the fact that there's so many huts and that map information is so important is a reason to debate actually going scout first. I decided against it in this case, since there's a lot of land to develop (notice the sheep in the fat cross), and the scout actually takes 8 turns to complete if I work the pigs. I'm hoping the two huts near me I'm not immediately popping will go unpopped for long enough for me to go scout-second. Of course, then if I go Worker->Scout->Work Boat->Warrior, I risk getting rushed--maybe the work boat will wait

Other than scout vs worker, the other main decision to be made with this start is Mining vs Fishing. I'm going with Mining->Bronze Working first, since there's so many trees, and getting mines down helps leverage my Expansive bonuses, as well as setting up possible Wonder rushes. In addition, there's no reason to rush Fishing--it'll probably be my third tech (unless I don't have copper and need to find horses).

[Cheater Hater]

And we're off--again!
Obviously I made the same moves again (I never did make a T1 move), but I'll put a picture in for completeness:


Wait--why is Mining taking 8 turns instead of 7? Nothing has changed in the shot (I'm still working the forest silk, to reduce the Worker build to 10 turns) except the time for Mining. I also don't think anything's changed with the mod, other than the logging components. The only thing I can think of is that something changed with the lurker civ--maybe in the original save it was forward an era or two, and since it knows Mining I would get a small known tech bonus? Other than that I have no idea.

[Cheater Hater]

And we're off...yet again...can we please stop doing this
I remade my first move--I'm not bothering to put in another picture since it's exactly the same as the last one (with Mining at 8 turns unfortunately ). The one thing I will do this time is remember to put my password in my thread, just in case:

zuluproud

Hopefully we'll finally be able to get this started--I want to see what's in that stupid hut!

[Cheater Hater]

T1 Report:
So it's time to pop the hut I've waited a week-plus to pop! So let's move the scout and the hut gives me...a map


Honestly, the map wasn't that bad, since it's telling me I'm at the southern end of the world, and my scout can immediately turn back and head towards the northern hut. As for the land itself: it's bad, but a lot better than you would expect for tundra. There's a lot of food down there, even if a lot of it's not high-quality. One city I really like (given the quality of the land) is the city 1SW of the scout--notice it has coastal access, which means it'll get a lighthouse to get delicious 3 food lakes. It might even have some seafood in the fog (though I doubt it, to be honest). Another not-horrible city is in the SW, but I'm not sure exactly where I want to put it--the plains hill 1SE of the hut has more lighthouseable lake tiles and is a plains hill, while the plains 1S of the hut has the crabs in its initial cross, as well as more possibilities in the fog--right now I'd settle it 3rd, but I really hope there's something a little better in the north

P.S: Why did the lurker civ need to start with 300 GNP? Why not just give it more Great Spies for each civ? Are you trying to make C&D completely useless, as opposed to insanely impractical?

[Cheater Hater]

T2 Report:
New turn!


Scout is moving N->NW onto the plains hill, then it can pop the northern hut--looks like nothing big will happen until T4, so come back then

[Cheater Hater]

T3 Report:
I will admit, after spending over an hour writing my PBEM 58 report (and that's not including C&D), being able to just post a scout move is refreshing


Although, coming up with commentary for these shots is difficult--hey, a hill I would move to next if I wasn't going for the hut! That's exciting, right?

Seriously, things should pick up next turn, as I pick up the hut, then start actually going into the fog again

[Ceiliazul]

T3 Report:
I will admit, after spending over an hour writing my PBEM 58 report (and that's not including C&D), being able to just post a scout move is refreshing

Yeah it gets overwhelming. You really are doing a on of work for 58... at some point, if the goal is to have fun, C&D becomes antiproductive...

[Cheater Hater]

I know--to be fair, it's not an hour straight writing it, it's an hour writing it and doing other things at the same time. But yeah, I mainly look at C&D in that game as a puzzle, and a lot of it is fun--we can discuss this more in my PBEM 58 thread if you want more details (to avoid polluting this thread/spoiling PBEM 58).

Edit: I posted my detailed thoughts on that here (PBEM 58 spoilers)

[bato]

Could you post your pictures with resource bubbles?