[SPOILERS] Consider it a Divorce! Doug Quaid and Elizabeth of Egypt

[Douglas Quaid]

Hi, folks.

This is my first time playing in a Pitboss game, so it's going to be a learning experience for me. I've played in a lot of SGs, and also enough multiplayer over the years to understand how the MP game is vastly different from the SP game. But I think Pitboss will probably be a lot different from a traditional Civ MP game, sort of like the difference between Chess and Speed Chess. Players will have much more time to make optimal decisions and crunch plans, which is precisely what intrigues me about this type of play.

I'm expecting to get curbstomped, so my goal is really to just put up enough of a fight that I don't wind up being 'that guy' who lets his closest neighbor steamroll him and win the game.

Depending on what I get for my start, I'm looking at breaking the mold and trying out the new Agr/Pro traits in this mod. I really even want to just pick a non-financial Civ and see if I can swing a hybrid economy. To that end, I'm considering taking Arabia or Egypt to run some early priests, or possibly Sumeria and sprinting down for an early religion and Monarchy. I'm thinking that the new Phi trait is probably a necessity, as popping a lot of Great Prophets could actually keep me from rolling right over with that sort of plan.

I would say that as a player, my greatest strength is that I am willing to gamble, and that I'll hang in there when a gambit fails miserably. My big weaknesses are likely to be poor unit micro during warfare (haven't played MP in a while) and suboptimal city placement. I always put cities in those spots where an observer will look at it and immediately say "Should have put it 1SW of there."

Lurker feedback is always welcome, as I tend to make much better decisions (in Civ, in life, and in business) when I type up all of my dumb thoughts and bounce them off of people.

[Krill]

Douglas Quaid

[Commodore]

Hi, folks.

This is my first time playing in a Pitboss game, so it's going to be a learning experience for me. I've played in a lot of SGs, and also enough multiplayer over the years to understand how the MP game is vastly different from the SP game. But I think Pitboss will probably be a lot different from a traditional Civ MP game, sort of like the difference between Chess and Speed Chess. Players will have much more time to make optimal decisions and crunch plans, which is precisely what intrigues me about this type of play.

Pretty much this; it's altogether a different experience from the rush of Gamespy or the languid AI-abuse session of SP. It's one of the more singular and challenging strategic experiences out there, and this is a top flight community of thinkers and generals. Basically, welcome!

[Douglas Quaid]

Interesting start.

Good stuff:

1. Plains hill start if I don't move.
2. River corn!
3. River wheat.
4. Coastal start.
5. So many river grassland tiles...

Bad stuff:

1. No luxuries visible.
2. Terrain looks real limited for my first ring of expansion cities.
3. Unless I start with hunting (which would be stupid, I think), my scouting for city placement is going to be real limited.


Looks like I'm going to settle in place. The lack of visible luxuries and the mountains bother me a bit, but that is a lot of food that doesn't require AH, Hunting or Fishing. That's a real nice surplus of 7 food working just two tiles. Possibly 9 food if I pick an Agricultural leader.

This capital site seems strong enough -- and has so much food -- that I want to try running a hybrid economy with specialists. So, Philosophical it is. Strong non-financial pairings here would, I think, be Creative or Agricultural. That leaves me with the two Greek leaders as obvious choices, and I'm really leaning toward Alexander here. For Civ choice, I definitely want Egypt, because my MacGyver plan is to get up an Obelisk in the capital right as it grows to pop 5 and run a pair of priests starting on turn 25 or so. After Mysticism, I'm going to grab AH, Pottery, and Writing so I can swap the Priests to Scientists.

If no one has founded Buddhism when that GP appears, I can burn the GP to pop it, instead of just settling him. We'll see what happens, but I think that with Financial being essentially dead weight in the first few turns now, this is actually a competitive start that can keep me on contention as long as I don't horribly botch it after the first ~35 turns.

I'll botch it.

Trying to think of which other leaders would work for Egypt in this situation, Pericles or Elizabeth would be fine. Sitting Bull, Gandhi, or Frederick would likewise be acceptable, I think. Actually, the more I really think about it, Elizabeth is the best choice here. I'm going to assume that if I pick Egypt first, she won't be available for me later, though. I'll have to think about it. I think Sitting Bull might wind up being a good fallback option if both Elizabeth and Alexander are unavailable.

[pindicator]

Welcome to Realms Beyond!

I would say that as a player, my greatest strength is that I am willing to gamble, and that I'll hang in there when a gambit fails miserably.

I think I just became a fan of this thread

[Douglas Quaid]

Thanks.

Right now I'm torn on what I want to do with the 4th pick. Elizabeth is far and away the best leader choice for what I want to do, and I highly doubt she will be there with my latter pick.

But really, the entire crux of what I want I've come up with is based on being able to run a couple of priests by turn 30, so I'm committed to Egypt at 4. I'm sure it will be there.

I think my two most favorable fallback leaders are Alexander and Sitting Bull. I am planning to swap to Caste System once I have Code of Laws unless the situation is dire, which makes Agr/Pro pretty desirable.

As I see it, my ability to stay afloat in this game essentially comes down to how quickly I can get Writing and Monarchy. If I can grab them in a timely fashion, I think I can be competitive. If I fall behind early, I'm screwed.

I really, really, really, really hope I have gold or even silver nearby. Having a mining luxury that I can work for a bunch of commerce would make what I have planned here a lot more feasible.

[Krill]

If you want to see what happens when you play PHI Egypt and rush Priests look at this game: http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showt...p?tid=3263

[Douglas Quaid]

If you want to see what happens when you play PHI Egypt and rush Priests look at this game: http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showt...p?tid=3263

Going to read that this week, thanks.

I've done it in MP games in the past and did stunningly well with it, though as I mentioned previously about 'real time MP' games, the quality of play on GameSpy is much lower than what I've seen here.

[pindicator]

Kind of like the difference between blitz chess versus correspondence. Bullet and blitz are still fun though

[Douglas Quaid]

Hey, I know some people who are really good at Blitz chess.

I'm reading that thread Krill linked and it immediately occurs to me that my priest gambit might not go so well as his. Tech trading was on in that game.

The way I see it, if I don't get Writing fast, I'm sunk. I suppose I could also just run priests and cottages, which... now that I think about it, is also a pretty good idea, especially if I somehow score Elizabeth.