GeneralKilCavalry is still around

[GeneralKilCavalry]

We’re gonna zoop the competition.

[BabaYetu]

Signing up as teammate. There's no zoop like civ zoop.

[The Black Sword]

[GeneralKilCavalry]

Time for some random thoughts organized by section:

Thoughts on the geography:

Yikes, that's 5 sea tiles in the BFC, not the best start. If we make it to the mid-game, the capital will need to be moved inland, this spot is good early but cannot be a capital in the late game.

City here (assuming capital is moved) is like an automatic moai candidate - I count 14 water tiles.

Clams/sheep are mediocre food, Plains corn is great. Agri+Fishing or Agri+Wheel?

On traits:

TRAIT FIRST unless we pick something really blatantly rush-worthy.

Financial: +1 commerce on all non-river tiles that have 2+ commerce. +100% production of Bank. +35% production of Library, Market.

Looks decent enough here. Lots of coast. We're not gonna get Oracle this game - there are no forests for it, too many players in the game, some of which are bound to be IND and I'm tired of the strategy.

Expansive: +2 health per city. +35% production of Worker, Work Boat. +100% production of Market, Aqueduct, Grocer, Harbor.

1 extra hammer on very early workers and workboats, saving a turn or two. Useful, but the tiny snowball effect can sometimes go unleveraged. However, with free markets/aqueducts, this train has suddenly become 25% of charismatic and financial. I've always loved Expansive, so why not Pacal?

Creative: +2 culture per city. +100% production of Theatre. +35% production of Library, Observatory.

I hate creative. No. It could help with nearby opponents but jeez just send a stack at them or something. (mild sarcasm, but the point stands)

Charismatic: +2 happiness. +1 happiness from Broadcast Tower. -25% XP needed for promotions. +100% production of Colosseum, +35% production of Library.

Yes yes yes, more happiness. On cramped maps, there won't be sources, and early game happiness is crucial. Hannibal would be awesome.

Protective: Free Drill 1, Drill 3 promotion for archery and gunpowder units. +100 production of Granary, Walls.

Everyone loves the new protective, but honestly, It's not worth it unless paired with an early defensive UU (mali) to choke someone as well. AND YES I KNOW ABOUT THE GRANARY BONUS OK.

Imperialistic: +50% production of Settlers. +100% Great General points. +100% production of Custom Houses. -10% city maintanence [Bonus not shown in interface. Bonus is multiplicative with other maintenance modifiers. Final displayed city maintenance value is correct and includes this bonus.]

Not often chosen at RB. A 12 turn Settler first would be absolutely hilarious and make the lurkers and players cringe and ban me from future RBs.

Aggressive: Free C1 promo for melee and gunpowder units. -25% city maintenance [Bonus not shown in interface. Bonus is multiplicative with other maintenance modifiers. Final displayed city maintenance value is correct and includes this bonus.] +100% production of Barracks, Stable, Drydock.

Maintenance decrease is wonderful, and could give wonderful synergy with IMP and Sumeria rexxing up the wazoo.

Philosophical: +150% Great Person production, +100% production of University.

Everyone trashes phil, but the extra 50% makes it all the more viable. Pair this with egypt and you have priests at a time where +5 gpt and 2 hammers makes an enormous difference. Or you can get an early golden age to switch into slavery and hereditary rule. Not bad, but unless we go civ first, not picking this.

Industrious: +50% wonder production. Does not apply to Pyramids. +100% production of Forge. +35% production of Bank, University. -15% civic maintenance.
Yes, but also no. Two games in IND and I'm tired of it. Except if we do Germany/Mali first. Pro/Ind Mali could work?

Organized
Yea, I like organized. It's just a solid all-around trait that gives bonuses to very critical buildings.

Spiritual
Too much micro, but also too much micro without it (planning golden ages). Not gonna first pick this.

Tier List:
1. Fin/Exp/Chm
2. Agg/Org
3. Phi/Pro
4. Spi/Cre
5. Imp


On civs:
EARLY RUSH - Aztecs, Celts, Carthage, Sumeria, Babylon, Maya: if we want a chance to go big this game, we need to knock out or cripple a neighbor or three.

On Opponents:
We have a lot.
A great many.

1. Old Harry + Hitru   - idk
   
2. Commodore   -   He is good
   
3. Borsche     -   he is cooked 
   
4. GKC    -  
   
5. Krill  - He has 6 pages in his thread already. He must've run a thousands sims on his position and determined exactly what to pick by now. Ouch
   
6. TBW -  no clue
   
7. 2MetraNinja  - no clue
   
8. Elkad -  I should read Pb43
   
9. Pindicator  - idk
   
10. Gavagai   -   relentless
    
11. Rusten    -  idk
    
12. BeardBeard   - sounded aggro in organizing thread
    
13. BaII   -   idk
    
14. superdeath  -  if he's next to us, he'll get a taste of his own medicine.
    
15. Adler   -   gave me solid advice in PB44. Long time lurker and knows the meta and the ppl way better than I do.
    
16. Dark Savant  - idk
    

I really should read through some of the quality old PB games.

[BabaYetu]

So we've chosen the Aztecs. There'll be a longer post on general strategy analysis later, but for now, let's look at some potential traits that will supplement our Meso-american friends. Effectively, any combination of traits listed below is more than acceptable. Fin, Chm, and Org are acceptable with a secondary trait not on the list.

Financial: there's not much to say here. Financial provides the most consistent bonus that doesn't require any significant shift in playstyle to accommodate for. Given the quantity of water tiles in our start, we can expect roughly a 10 commerce boost within our first few cities. When you combine flexibility and scalability, you get a top tier trait. Simple as that.

Charismatic: Sacrificial alters are basically a built-in charismatic trait. So it'll be like playing Chm/Chm with another random trait. Given our start, food likely won't be an issue, so say hello to larger cities. It's also interesting to note that excess happiness isn't really a thing for the Aztecs. Too many smiley faces? Lead em to the sacrificial altar. There's no deadweight loss here.

Organized: More altars. More cities. More whips. When you're playing the Aztecs, it's quantity over quality. Extra synergy with financial, since coastal cities will effectively pay for themselves.

Aggressive: Self explanatory.

Expansive: Similar to financial, expansive provides a consistent bonus for any playstyle. As GenKilCav mentioned, it'll save hammers, especially in the early game. Unfortunately, expansive doesn't scale as well, which leaves it as a solid secondary trait.

Philosophical: Financial's younger, more annoying brother. It can be every bit as good as financial in the mid game tech-wise, but it lacks both the punch in the early game and the scalability into the late game. We'd also need to tailor our strategy if we want to bring out the true power of Phi. Respectable trait, but definitely not top tier.

[Irismono]

Irismono here to dedlurk, Fin/Org looks really good atm.

[GeneralKilCavalry]

Order of preference:
Hannibal
Ragnar
Darius
Wang Kon
Lizzie
Mansa
Napoleon (Org/Cha)

I bet Krill will pick one of the above fin leaders for synergy with England. wang Kon or Hannibal is my guess. TBW is probably going to go Ragnar or Exp/Agg.
Metra probably needs phi. No clue about what Elkad would do, but Toku would be absolutely hilarious.

[GeneralKilCavalry]

Went for Darius in the end. Cheap lighthouses are going to be a boon on this map, and the 45 sac altars are a bigger savings than the cheaper barracks. REX TIME

Edit with more thoughts:
Really happy with the pick, I think we came out with one of the best combos overall. We won't have much in terms of direct combo bonuses, so we'll need to rely on sheer strength courtesy of mass whips. Getting judaism + org rel is the likely strategy going in.

[Irismono]

I like this plan, all hail Darius of Azteca.

[GeneralKilCavalry]

Here's the secret sauce that'll let us defeat our opponents.

Can't touch this.

My-my-my-my meta hits me so hard makes me say oh my Krill
Thank you for blessing me with a mind to whip and two pre-chops
That's good when you know you're down
A super dope homeboy from RB-town
And I'm known as such
And this jaguar, uh u can't touch

I told you homeboy (You can't touch this)
Yeah, that's how we whippin' and ya know (You can't touch this)
Look in my eyes, man (You can't touch this)
Yo, let me bust the funky snake picks (You can't touch this)


Fresh new cats, and swords
You gotta like that, now know they movin' forwards
So move outta yo seat
And get some micro and catch this wheat
While it's farmin', hold on!
Mine a little bit and let 'em jaguars spawn
chop this, chop that
Damaged their stack, so fall on back
Let 'em know, that you're too much
And this is meta, uh, they can't touch

Yo, I told you (can't touch this)
Why you roadin' there, man? (You can't touch this)
Yo, sound the bell, turnsplit, sucka (You can't touch this)

Give me a trait, Financial
Makin' 'em sweat, that's GNP for 'em
Now, traits prized
You talkin' 'bout maintenance , you're talkin' Organized
That's hyped, and tight
Longbow's are sweatin', so pass them a wipe
Or a tech, to learn
What's it gonna take in the mid-game to burn
The charts? Legit
Either whip hard or you might as well quit

That's word because you know (You can't touch this)
(You can't touch this)
Break it down!

Stop, Hammers time!