[Spoilers] Banzailizard's Wurst Thread

[Banzailizard]

I'll rename the thread to something more interesting probably once I know my civ or if I have a good idea for a naming pattern for cites.  


Anyways I have gone from planning to dedlurk rho21 (because he does have such nice tables) to actually playing.  It is a first outing for me other than the one ongoing duel I have with EmperorK. I've kind of been remiss in updating that thread.  Good news is that makes me a bit of an unknown quantity.  Bad news is that doesn't actually change how well (or poorly) I play.  I would appreciate a dedlurker, if anyone is so inclined.

So far I have submitted my list of civs. 

Germany
Russia
Japan
Rome
Arabia
China

I will admit not the most interesting list.  All are fairly strong, though I am probably putting Japan too high up. Thoughts were as follows on each:

Germany - Hansas, extra districts, free card slot is never bad, and the U-boat might even get some play on continents if the game goes that late.
Russia - Larva and Cossacks. Do you really need to say more? I also wonder if I could make use of Grand Embassy with someone on a different continent latter in the game. It would be risky though.
Japan - continents might mean divine wind could be of use.  Cheaper encampments could help steel away a GG from Archduke or other warmongers if they are on my continent. Samurai got a buff in the last patch too, but they still cannot be pre-built and upgraded so not the best option. Meiji restoration makes your cities better and there is nothing wrong with that.
Rome - Free monument is great, roads are nice, legion is solid, bath is useful just when you need it.
Arabia - Last Prophet is questionably useful.  Depends on other people's civ picks, and even then there might only be lackluster beliefs left.  Still the Mameluke takes one of the strongest units in the game gives it cheaper maintenance, and no resource requirements.
China - Extra boosts are nice, and grabbing some key early wonders can be important. Almost switched them out for the Kongo though.

[Banzailizard]

Well I am Germany, which is good.  I think they are one of the strongest civs int he game, and as the new person here I probably need all the help I can get.

No worries, I actually have to work tomorrow, so I will work on the map tomorrow night or Monday latest if I have to stay late. However I am sure you guys would like to start your theory crafting so here are the final picks and turn order

Up first is Pindicator who will lead on the mighty Aztecs

Cornflakes is up next with Brazil

TheArchduke will take Russia to the world stage

Rowain plans to go Spartan style with Gorgo's Greece

rho21 will command the legions of the Roman Empire.

and last but not least Banzailizard has a chance to rule with Germany

So in short rolled a 6 from a random number generator and that put Pindicator as first player. No duplicate first picks so every one  got there first choice.

Ok so, interesting that everyone got their first choice, and what their first choices were. I do not know much about any of the other players so I can do little insightful metagaming as to why they picked the civs they.  I will however speculate about myself and what are likely to be my problems this game:

1. I am at heart a builder not a fighter and I know it. One of the reasons I picked Germany was for those extra districts.  Planning out optimal cities is just fun. That means though I neglect the military side of things and I simply cannot do that in a competitive game. I am wary of over-correcting though and damaging my growth curve with too early of a strike.  Finding a balance will be key.

2. Compounding this I am the new player which likely makes me a target, not much I can do about that unless I play well enough to scare people off.

3. I am risk adverse - across all kinds of games I tend towards safer predicable strategies rather than surprising and unexpected ones that might carry more risk.

I will probably go skim some of the older threads for my opponents and see what I can gleam before I speculate further.

[Banzailizard]

Ok I did some skimming and here we go:

Pindicator (Aztecs) - my first thought was "huh really?" I mean the Aztecs are ok but not great. Then again I would have thought the same thing about America but he did well with them too. Anyways, a good handle on the district-discounting and overflow mechanisms means builder charges are better spent on strategic chopping than districts themselves. If they ever fix the overflow issue it would really buff the Aztecs a bit actually. I am not sure what the percentage chance is convert units to builders too. I think I read somewhere it depends on the difference in unit strength. I am also not sure if the pyramids affect the charges of captured builders. [takes a moment to look it up] yes it does. I would imagine he would gun for that then if he has the right tiles. The bonus to combat from luxuries is more concerning, and again if it factors into capture chance, could help give his economy lift. Germany is a bit soft early and picks up speed as the game goes on. If I am next to him early it might mean trouble. On the other hand I will be looking to take out city state early with my +7 bonus, that might slow him down a bit. I cannot see a shared continent as desirable for either of us. I would probably mark him as the third biggest threat in the game.

Cornflakes - Brazil: From what I have read Cornflakes has a solid understanding of strategy. I am a bit meh on their rainforest ability since chopping is so strong. Useful early but not so much longtrem. I do not know if starting bias features into this kind of map. If not it might be even harder for him to use. The great person bonus though is quiet strong. It says it refunds 20% of the cost though so its not as if he will snipe them early per say; he still has to have the points/faith/gold to buy them at the same price as everyone else. Brazil's discounted district is probably the least useful and is one of the latest to arrive unless you can get a strong cultural opening. I expect he might try to grab the oracle and divine spark pantheon. There probably will not be a lot of competition for religion so it is doable. The Minas Geraes might play a roll since it comes so early and this is a continents map. Actually the more I look at what could be done with them in thoughtful hands, the more concerned I am. I would mark him as the second biggest threat in the game.

TheArchduke - Russia: TheArchduke has a reputation for aggressive play, but more to the point, high quality aggressive play founded on a detailed understanding of the tactical game. I am not sure if his thread title is a joke or not. Russia could go either way. If he wanted to play peaceful, he could aim for a religious victory, or even a cultural one. He would use his early religion to grab defender of the faith and turtle up, grabbing just a bit more land than everyone else. If he wanted to go on the attack, well he has Cossacks for that. Again, not sure if starting bias comes into play in this sort of map making scenario. Without China or even Japan he is all but guaranteed first religion. Mostly because of his civ, I have him edging out Cornflakes as the biggest threat in the game. We'll see how that changes.

Rowain - Gorgo's Greece: Rowain did not report much in the last civ game he was in so he is a bit of a mystery for me. Gorgo is arguably the stronger of the two Greek civs. Pericles is stronger late game in a single player setting where that 10% boost to culture can really make a difference. Here though, city states will probably die quickly, and those that are left will be contested frequently. The early boost to culture from kills is nice though and gets you to Greece's unique district faster. I could see him going for a wonder early too. While the district is late like Brazil's is, the cultural boost makes all the difference. I am also a big fan of the free wildcard slot. How he uses it remains to be seen.

rho21 - Roman Empire: I have been skim reading rho21's thread from PBEM 10. He is very thorough and methodical which is dangerous to have in an opponent. Rome is just an all around solid early civ too. Monuments for culture mean an early government, which means more policy cards to play with. Baths can net you bigger cities, and legions can crush early resistance. The roads are nice. I think his methodical play-style will blend well with Rome since timing is everything with them. You need to use those early game advantages to put yourself in a winning position from the start. I do not know if he will or will not prove aggressive enough though on the second expansion phase using legions to claim cities.

Banzailizard - Germany: I already went over some of my own personal weaknesses. I think I will need to 1. be methodical as possible this game. I am probably going to keep a spreadsheet and track culture, science, population, cities, districts etc. There are a lot of early game aggressive civs and until I get my Hansa's up I might be a real target. When in doubt an extra military unit will probably not hurt me. I cannot go for an early religion likely. Even with the extra districts I will need to focus on Campuses, Commercial Districts, and Hansa's, maybe a theater district here and there for culture. Holy sites are just too low priority to grab and I do not have anything to boost faith. In short, to paraphrase Voltaire, I will be neither particularly roman nor holy. Hopefully I will be an empire though. If I can find some expendable city states I should take them and otherwise bottle up until I can explode with production.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Good luck, Banzai! I'm already spoiled or I'd offer to dedlurk you. Rooting for you, though, as the one new face in this game. The competition will be stiff, particularly pin, the Archduke, and Cornflakes, but they can't do anything you can't. 

I'll try to drop by so your thread doesn't feel lonely, that can be tough. :D

[Banzailizard]

I really do appreciate the post as it was getting lonely in here. Maybe I will get lucky they will all get the same continent and stalemate one another.

[Emperor K]

Starting screenshot

[Emperor K]

Please check general thread for map info.

[Banzailizard]

Das ist ganz toll! I will probably settle in place.  The exact starting spot could be better, but that U shape river  means that, with a little careful planning, I can turn 3 cities into a mega city with massed Hansa/commercial district production.  For refrence a Hansa with 3 commerical districts next to it would grant +7.5 production.  6 from the Hansa 1.5 from the district bonus. Only way it could be better is if I had a t shaped set of rivers.  I will need a dot map for sure and maybe to scout a bit more first.  Overall promising though.

I also need to reveiw the district discount mechinism when I get a chance.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I definitely recommend checking out Archduke and Singaboy's Germany threads in PBEM4 and 7. In 7, Archduke built up some truly monstrous adjacencies. It took him a while to get going, but once he did, his civ was one of the best in the game, no question.

[Banzailizard]

I definitely recommend checking out Archduke and Singaboy's Germany threads in PBEM4 and 7. In 7, Archduke built up some truly monstrous adjacencies. It took him a while to get going, but once he did, his civ was one of the best in the game, no question.

I absolutely intended to look at Singaboy's thread but I will add the Archduke to that.  City planning is honestly one of my favorite aspects of VI so this should be fun.

Going to start, mostly for my own edification, reviewing the district cost formula:

FLOOR(BaseCost * (1 + 9 * FLOOR(100 * MAX(CompletedTechs / 67, CompletedCivics / 50))/100))

Yikes, this makes sense but it is hardly intuitive and I doubt I will be calculating it out per say.  Point is as my techs or civs go up the cost of my districts go up.  Therefore, I want to prioritize building districts, and their techs as much as is reasonably possible. Hence I started with pottery, it goes towards writing, currency, and apprenticeship; the three techs for the three districts I want most. I may wish to hold a bunch of techs 1 turn from completion as well.  This has the added benefit of obfuscating how well I might actually be doing from other players.

Speaking of other players, no one but Rho21 settled in place.  I really debated moving south east one tile and having a one turn delay but decided against it for a few reasons.

1. None of the nearby spots were sufficiently good enough on yield to justify the move. Actually I would be moving away from a 2/2 f/h tile.
2. Germany is slow to build anyways so any delay is more dangerous.  I will be fine once I get Hansa's up but that will not come until partway into the game.
3. Related I am player 6, everyone will be getting everything else first anyways. One turn might make the difference on a good pantheon or on a settle.

No dot map just yet, I want to explore a little bit.  Frist build is going to be a slinger for the scouting, the protection, and a boost to archery - a key tech on the way to hansa.  I debated going scout first to capitalize on Germany's extra military card slot to fill it with survey.  Might also give me free envoys on city states.  However again, just too worried about the military weakness that might give me. I do not have much to build at the moment, so maybe a scout second.  We'll see how the cards fall.