[SPOILERS] Gems, elite tile smeg

[plako]

I've not paid much attention to this mod. As a first glance Philosophical combined with Pyramids seems grazy strong and now you have also possibility to combine IND/PHI.

[flugauto]

[plako]

Unless scout reveals something better planting 1S to switch Sheep to pigs and preserving a forest seems best. Seems to be lots of rivers up in the north.

I hope I'll find a bit more time to think this out before choosing, but currently I'm thinking to playing one of the BtS powerhouses or going grazy with specialists. Latter is already a bit less appeling because of Mali already picked i.e. this path is most preferential without competition for Pyramids. Of course one could do this also totally without Pyramids, but IND+PHI seems still by far the best combination to go for specialists.

BtS powerhouses
Pacal i.e. Exp-Pro-Fin - Inca+Pacal would have been the best for this, but Krill took already Inca. I still could make this with India. Even if getting fast workers from Machinery is too late to have significant impact on the game. There are also other pairings worth considering.

Willem i.e. Cre-Fin-?? or Sury i.e. Exp-Pro-Cre - Creative nerf hits these. Still there are some pretty potent combinations available here. Liking Willem version a bit more. Could even try out Cre-Fin-Phi that would benefit a lot from couple of Academies supported by the settled Great Scientists (seeing there is lot of rivers in the north makes 2 commerce cities with Academies good idea). Balance between working cottages and specialists is a quite hard to manage though.

Specialists:
Main alternatives are PHI+IND+something or Rome+Pericles(Phi+Cre). Latter is now a bit more appeling because of Mali gone.

Concerning opponents we've only 1 top tier player here i.e. Krill. Cheater Heater and Brick are a from the weaker side and all the rest are in the very competent category. We have chances to win, if RNG gods are helpful enough.

[plako]

Picks:

BRickAstley + Qgqqqqq - Tokugawa of Maya (AGR-PRO-CHA)
Krill - Elizabeth of Inca (FIN-PHI-PRO)
Cheater Hater - Peter of Mali (PHI-EXP-IND)
Pindicator - Joao of Ethiopia (IMP-EXP-PHI)
Thoth - Pacal of Portugal (FIN-EXP-PRO)
GermanJoey + Donovan Zoi - Sitting Bull of Germany (PHI-PRO-IND)
Plako - Willem of HRE (FIN-CRE-ORG)

Yeah. Many picking the new and shiny powerhouse PHI. Was anticipating this so decided to go mostly boring old CRE and ORG to see, if those are still solid enough. At least FIN is a bit different from the previous version. Having a monopoly in ORG is a nice bonus. It will be easy to overwhelm others with EP points and of course ORGanised rathauses+FIN is very strong late game, if we get there in decent shape. HRE's main disadvantage of bad starting techs is also removed. I like the synergy of things. Commerce from FIN + keeping the expenses down will keep my slider high and I can build those cheapish Libraries. I hate that how Krill changed the discount from 100 to 50%. It is also quite easy to generate an early Scientist for Academy in this mod.

From picks Bricks choice is only real weakling although is a real warmongers choice. I don't like EXP much in this mod so a bit surprised about its popularity.

[plako]

T0 not straightforward

[plako]

Tempted to move to west and claim cows, rice and pigs. That would make the best short term capital. Long term it would be a weaker than settling in place or 1S: less forests, only couple of hills, coastal tiles and no fresh water. Also losing that silk commerce and 1 turn for moving would hurt. Had to sim it through to see, if I can get worker techs fast enough without that silk tile.

[plako]

T1 - I decided to go for max food. Whip will be my friend early game.

[plako]

T5

[plako]

Some comments concerning the mod:
* Creative is junk trait - Giving back its original glory would be in order IMO
* Financial is back in the very powerful category
* Commerce/beakers are too easy get e.g. New trade routes, Finacial, Philo, Pier
* Previous makes expansion traits like IMP better and ORG weaker

Map looks pretty decent. I think Lakes scripts is the best for pitboss games.

[plako]

My strangely wide empire. Trying to claim resources and land. Also making a solid border city towards Krill was high priority. I Was accidentally trying to start chopping while not having Masonry so had to finish it before Maths that is 2T away after Masonry.