DaveV talks like a pirate, me hearties!

[DaveV]

How I expect this game to end:

[DaveV]

Dreylin - Rhoanna (Fin/Exp) of the Hippus
Dave - Falamar (Exp/Cha) of the Lanun
TBS - Arendel (Cre/Spi) of the Ljosalfar
Bob - Averax the Cambion (Agg/Exp/Bar) of the Sheaim
Auroarcher - Varn Gosam (Spi/Cre*) of the Malakim
Qgqqqqq - Thessalonica (Ind/Spi) of the Elohim
Ellimist - Perpentach (Arc/Cha/Cre/Ins) of the Balseraphs
jalepeno - Garrim Gyr (Fin/Arc) of Luchuirp

[DaveV]

The password is "pirate" (no quotes).

[DaveV]

Reserved #3

[Brian Shanahan]

Through the infallible process I have developed for making all my decisions* you have been chosen to be my ded.-lurkee. Congratulations!

*Said process consisting of writing out my options, giving each a number and going on to random.org to roll a dice to see which one I pick.

[DaveV]

Welcome, Brian! I hope to provide some entertainment, at least.

[GermanJoey]

Here is your start for EITB PBEM XLVIII!




FYI:

Your starting settler has the standard FFH2 bonus promo, so choose your capital wisely. I also "squared" it's initial view range to keep that the same for all players.

The map was created according to settings requested in the thread, but as for what that ends up meaning exactly... you'll have to discover for yourself.

Q wanted one week to make picks, so feel free to take up till then. However, once all 8 players have their picks posted, I will lock them in that instant.

Good luck!

[DaveV]

Thanks, Joey, for the quick turnaround on the map. And for a start with some interesting decisions to make.

Thoughts on capital placement, in order of preference:

1. 3W: picks up corn (the best tile available in the starting area), wheat, silk, and reagents. Very good food, good commerce, riverside for future Deruptus. Next to a lake, though, so vulnerable to Tsunami. Can't build boats.

2. 2NE: picks up wheat, cow, fish (the latter two of which won't do me any good for a while), and two lighthouse lakes (which are a pretty meh tile in FfH). Good commerce, especially after researching hunting. On a plains hill, can build boats. Not riverside, vulnerable to Tsunami.

3. 2SW: best early commerce site, good food, not much production. On a plains hill, can build boats. Not riverside, vulnerable to Tsunami.

4. 2E: similar to my second choice, but trades dyes for gold. Dyes are typically available a lot earlier and provide nearly the same commerce. Riverside, but can't build boats and vulnerable to Tsunami..

5. 2SE: best food: four floodplains, clams, rice. All good but not great tiles. Desert hills are pretty poor tiles. Can build boats, riverside, vulnerable to Tsunami.




*Tentative* picks, awaiting input from my dedlurker:

1. Rhoanna: always strong, poor target for aggression. Starts with Agriculture, which would be great on this map.

2. Perpentach: I like the Balseraphs, and I think Perp is their best leader. Starts with Agriculture.

3. Auric Ulvin: Illians excel on marginal terrain, and there doesn't seem to be much here. Still a strong leader and civ. Starts with Exploration.

4. Cardith Lorda: Again, a strong leader of a strong civ. I suck at great people, so PHI is a bad trait to have. Cardith gets a lot better if the map size is Large or Huge, and worse if it's small. Starts with Agriculture.

5. Hannah the Irin: apparently the Lanun are pretty good. Who knew? Starts with Seafaring and Exploration.

6. Valledia the Even: the Amurites are always too slow to develop. Maybe a big game is what they need to come into their own. Or maybe they just get eaten first. Starts with Ancient Chants.

7. Faeryl Viconia: high mobility raider summons could wreck someone's game, but the elves are famously slow to develop. Starts with Agriculture.

[Brian Shanahan]

Thanks, Joey, for the quick turnaround on the map. And for a start with some interesting decisions to make.

Thoughts on capital placement, in order of preference:

1. 3W: picks up corn (the best tile available in the starting area), wheat, silk, and reagents. Very good food, good commerce, riverside for future Deruptus. Next to a lake, though, so vulnerable to Tsunami. Can't build boats.

2. 2NE: picks up wheat, cow, fish (the latter two of which won't do me any good for a while), and two lighthouse lakes (which are a pretty meh tile in FfH). Good commerce, especially after researching hunting. On a plains hill, can build boats. Not riverside, vulnerable to Tsunami.

3. 2SW: best early commerce site, good food, not much production. On a plains hill, can build boats. Not riverside, vulnerable to Tsunami.

4. 2E: similar to my second choice, but trades dyes for gold. Dyes are typically available a lot earlier and provide nearly the same commerce. Riverside, but can't build boats and vulnerable to Tsunami..

5. 2SE: best food: four floodplains, clams, rice. All good but not great tiles. Desert hills are pretty poor tiles. Can build boats, riverside, vulnerable to Tsunami.




*Tentative* picks, awaiting input from my dedlurker:

1. Rhoanna: always strong, poor target for aggression. Starts with Agriculture, which would be great on this map.

2. Perpentach: I like the Balseraphs, and I think Perp is their best leader. Starts with Agriculture.

3. Auric Ulvin: Illians excel on marginal terrain, and there doesn't seem to be much here. Still a strong leader and civ. Starts with Exploration.

4. Cardith Lorda: Again, a strong leader of a strong civ. I suck at great people, so PHI is a bad trait to have. Cardith gets a lot better if the map size is Large or Huge, and worse if it's small. Starts with Agriculture.

5. Hannah the Irin: apparently the Lanun are pretty good. Who knew? Starts with Seafaring and Exploration.

6. Valledia the Even: the Amurites are always too slow to develop. Maybe a big game is what they need to come into their own. Or maybe they just get eaten first. Starts with Ancient Chants.

7. Faeryl Viconia: high mobility raider summons could wreck someone's game, but the elves are famously slow to develop. Starts with Agriculture.

Agriculture is the key, aside from traits. Three west is IMO the best site, two agriculture resuources, two calender resources and three hills, all techs you want quick.

In my opinion what you want is a quick start with a dominating early unit that can scale. Early combat in the EitB PBEMs is generally far more rewarding than in BtS, even if you are only sniping a city to protect your borders, but the quicker you can get your big units out on the field the better in these games.

If you're going Hippus wouldn't Tasunke be the better choice, I know you're letting go of the economic traits, but raider horses are terrifying and virtually undefendable agaisnt.
I don't like Cardith, the Kurios take a lot of growing really shine, and while they have strong units up the path, they don't always have enough grease to make them.
I love playing Auric, getting out the priests early would be a big bonus, but his starting tech sucks for a compeditive game.
Lanun are Lanun, you can't argue against their strength.
I never got a feel for playing the Svarts or the Amurites whenever I tried them. The Svarts really need priests of leaves for economy but flavour wise that religion isn't want to be where they're at, and the Amurites just scream "turtle to tower of mastery" to me, so much so that I'd say you'd nearly be pushed into that.

[DaveV]

Agriculture is the key, aside from traits. Three west is IMO the best site, two agriculture resuources, two calender resources and three hills, all techs you want quick.

In my opinion what you want is a quick start with a dominating early unit that can scale. Early combat in the EitB PBEMs is generally far more rewarding than in BtS, even if you are only sniping a city to protect your borders, but the quicker you can get your big units out on the field the better in these games.

If you're going Hippus wouldn't Tasunke be the better choice, I know you're letting go of the economic traits, but raider horses are terrifying and virtually undefendable agaisnt.
I don't like Cardith, the Kurios take a lot of growing really shine, and while they have strong units up the path, they don't always have enough grease to make them.
I love playing Auric, getting out the priests early would be a big bonus, but his starting tech sucks for a compeditive game.
Lanun are Lanun, you can't argue against their strength.
I never got a feel for playing the Svarts or the Amurites whenever I tried them. The Svarts really need priests of leaves for economy but flavour wise that religion isn't want to be where they're at, and the Amurites just scream "turtle to tower of mastery" to me, so much so that I'd say you'd nearly be pushed into that.

I agree that an agriculture start is very strong; that's why several of my tops picks feature it. A killer early unit is good in a normal 4 or 5 person game, but I think this bigger game will be decided by mid or even late game units.

The problem with Tasunke is that he might as well be wearing a big sign around his neck that says, "kill me before I kill you."

I also have never been a big fan of Cardith and so am bad at dotmapping him, but his centaurs are really good and don't require a stable. I think he runs out of gas as the game goes on, so I'll move him down the list.

I don't enjoy the Lanun and consequently don't have a lot of experience with them.

Revised, still tentative, list:

1. Perpentach
2. Rhoanna
3. Auric
4. Valledia
5. Hannah
6. Faeryl
7. Cardith
8. Flauros. The vampires kind of suck now (pun intended), but if I get my last pick I'm going to lose anyway.