[spoilers]Chumchu gives Huitzilopochtli his due

[chumchu]

Game info:

1) Settings:
Pangea mapscript, cylindrical wrap, Emperor level, mapsize and other settings at mapmaker's discretion.
No villages, events, vassal states, technology trading.
Normal barbs.

2) Bans:
AP resolutions, blockades, active espionage (espionage is enabled in settings but no spies can be built; no limits on Great Spies), nukes, War Elephants, city and unit gifting (including city transfer as a part of a peace treaty). No ban on GLH (should not be OP on Pangea), SoZ, Corporations.

3) Rules:
AI Diplo. No communication with other players in respect to in-game events other than offers in trade window. No use of texts, city names, unit names, numbers (specific amounts of gold) to communicate.
Otherwise, please follow etiquette rules as described in this thread: https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/show...p?tid=7311

4) Pick method. Point-based snakepick. Everyone is limited by five points, features are priced as follows:
4: FIN
3: EXP, CRE, India, Inca
2: SPI, IND, ORG, IMP, China.
1: PHI, Agriculture Civs
0: CHM, AGG, All other civs
-1: PRO
Picks are done blind, before seeing starting positions.

5) Player roster and snake pick order:

1. Superdeath
2. Commodore
3. Irismono & GeneralKilCavalry
4. Chumchu
5. Gavagai
6. Alhazard
7. Donovan Zoi
8. RegentMan


6) Mapmaker: Krill. He is supposed to roll a reasonable map, balance capitals and give everyone strategic resources. No further balancing effort is expected.

[chumchu]

Ideally you want early hammers for rexxing combined with the economy to get you to a military unit to conquer a neighbor.

We play on emperor so maintenance will be a thing. Economy should be prioritised.

Leaders that fit the bill: 1) Mehmed. Exp is so good early.
2) Julius are top picks as the only leaders to get both hammers and economy
3) Catherine gets hammers and bit of eco/defense from creative.
4) Hannibal, Ragnar. Combines financial with warfare and leaves a wide choice of civs.

I think that there are a lot of good civs for 0 points so I will choose them later. Byz, Rome, Ethiopia, Aztec, Mali. I would not mind Mehmed of Aztec or Holy rome.

1 points: France, Ottomans, Zulu, Sumeria, Egypt are also nice. I would not mind playing JC of Sumeria or Ragnar of Zulu.

[chumchu]

Got my number one leader: Mehmed of Aztecs.

There are two concerns: starting techs and unique unit are garbage. I would not do well in a pure fishing start. I'm gambling that since Krill is balancing the starts there will be plains hills for all players and reasonable resources as he has stated a strong preference for that in other threads. If that is the case I should do okay.

On the bright side, leader and unique buildings are amazing. As long as I can get to CoL in a reasonable timeframe I should be set economically. It is super easy for new cities to get going with granaries and altars with both being at +100% production and after that they can whip infrastructure or units at a high pace.

How do I get there? Oracle is the easiest path as I start with mysticism and have expansive workers. The main competitor is Roosevelt of Mali who probably wants to oracle metal casting. I'm going to beeline it hard, trying to establish 4 cities fast and then teching to priesthood and chopping it to completion. Self teching is a bit slow with emperor maintenance. In that case I would also need to limit my expansion so as to not crash economically before I get there. Since the quickest path is from priesthood there is no real downside to go for Oracle and a big upside if I get it.

[chumchu]

Starting location.

Plains hill, double deer which is as good as it gets for an expansive hunting start. We have a fish as well which is not ideal but it can wait until later. Tech is bronze working to put down a mine and then chop workers/work boats.

https://flic.kr/p/TsBd8G

[chumchu]

Password is: khorne

Opponents

Brennus of India: Commodore
Very much a commodore combo, unorthodox. Plan is probably to eat a neighbor early as they have no economic power. My strategy is to not be that neighbor by getting altars and horchers early. Prediction: will eat someone early and be a main competitor but lose to Gavagai someway.
 
Hannibal of Egypt: Superdeath
A combo I was thinking of myself. A defensive cautious player with an aggressive combo. Trying to make himself have to be aggressive maybe? Would be good neighbor to have after spears are up. Prediction: will try and attack someone early but hesitate and be turned back by spears.

Mao of Inca: Donovan Zoi
A combo I was thinking of myself. Known wonderspammer. Defensive player with a defensive setup which should work just fine. Prediction: will go for early religion even though he does not need it with Inca.

Ragnar of Rome: Gavagai
Aggressive player with an aggressive pick. Has a lot of power with financial so does not need a conquest as bad as Commodore. Will probably get it anyway. I hope he ends up far away from me and near commodore/superdeath. Prediction: will eat someone early and win the game.


Zara Yacob of Mongolia: Icehazard
I know nothing about this player. Good leader, decent civ but no combo.


Peter of Ottomans: Regentman
I know nothing about this player. Ok leader, good civ and combo.

Roosevelt of Mali: Irismono /GKC
I know nothing about this player. Meh leader, good civ and combo. Our competitor for the oracle. Prediction is that they will build too many wonders and be eaten by commodore or gavagai even though they have skirmishers.

[chumchu]

Went for worker first to improve the two deers lay down a mine and then chop out a 3 pop settler before chopping the fish. The limiting factor is tech but I have some gold mines nearby which is going help immensely. The land around is mostly plains/tundra/ice which is not great but there is decent resources so it is workable. No solid second city yet, but that might be clear after more scouting and bronze working. The best location I have found is on an isthmus to the south (gold, pigs) but it is a way off. My scout is going in that direction to see if there is any competition for the site.

[chumchu]

Indeed there is. 12 tiles south of me Gavagai of Rome no less. The plant is to make a defensive plant on the gold hill that secures the border until boats arrive. To my north, 11 tiles away are Superdeath of Egypt. We will have a long border so spears all around are in order-

[williams482]

Any pictures?

[chumchu]

I'm have nopt found a good hosting site, dropbox does not work anymore and flickr did not work well either.

[williams482]

That's fair. Imgur functions, but I would hesitate to describe it as "good." Some of the other players have used dropbox and photobucket. I have no experience with the latest iteration of either.