[Spoilers] Woden takes on the World (PBEM18)

[Woden]

Nothing to say right, just want to get a thread going. If you are playing in this game and not me...get out!

[Woden]

Players

Suboptimal-He has had some good games and some bad games. He seems to focus too hard on his chosen path and doesn't seem to be flexible and change paths of something goes wrong. Still think he has a problem seeing the forest through the trees. He is good at micromanaging his cities and building an empire if not distracted by long, drawn out wars.

Ichabod-Has played in one PBEM where he dominated right out of the gate. He went straight to warrior mode and overran everybody. I expect the same here. Not sure how much he has been playing with the new content, since PBEM3 was in vanilla.

TheArchduke-Monty of the Civ 6 community. TAD does well when he goes full Monty in his games. He is a great tactician but seems to get frustrated if the game becomes a build off.

Ioan76-Complete wild card. New to civ 6 but he has been around RB for a while. He will have CMF helping him out, so he could do pretty well.

Woden (me)-I think I still have the reputation as a builder but don't know. I tried to be more aggressive in my last game and seemed to work out well. I tend to play my turns a little to quick and end up making mistakes. I will work on that this game. It should be an interesting game.

Predictions
I think most of the players are evenly matched but if I had to rank them it would be TAD>Woden>Ichabod>Suboptimal>Ioan76. I rank it this way because I think this is going to be a war game. TheArchduke and Ichabod are aggressive players and will look for early war. TAD is ranked highest since he is a very good warrior. I ranked Ichabod lower than me since he hasn't player a MP game of Gathering Storm and not sure how much he has played lately. Ioan76 is last since he is completely new, I could be greatly underestimating him and he could whip all our asses, IDK. I predict that if either TAD or Ichabod are next Ioan76, they will go for an early war to test him. If he folds like a deck of cards, then we can be in a heap of trouble. If not, there might be an opportunity to dog-pile or gain some ground. Regardless, I will need good defenses and look for an opportunity to attack. I don't think this will be a builders game.

[Quagma Blast]

Your random civilizations are:

CANADA
or
SWEDEN

Post in this thread, or send me a PM, confirming which of these civs you would like to play; or declare that you will reroll and get a different set of two from which you must pick.

[Woden]

Well, I was think about playing the worst of the worst and Canada and Sweden are definitely at the bottom of my power rankings for this list of civilizations. Will have to think this one over.

[Woden]

My choices:

Canada: 

Civ Ability:  Cannot declare Surprise Wars or war on City-States. Surprise Wars cannot be declared on Canada. For every 100 Tourism earned, gain 1 Diplomatic Favor. +100% Diplomatic Favor gained from succesfully completing Emergencies and Competitions.

Leader Ability:  Can build Farms on Tundra tiles, and on Tundra Hills tiles with Civil Engineering. Snow, Snow Hills, Tundra Hills, and Tundra tiles cost 50% less Gold to purchase. On those tiles, resources accumulate twice as fast, Mines and Lumber Mills receive +1 Production and Camps receive +1 Food.

Unique Unit:  Mountie - +5 Combat Strength when within 2 tiles of a National Park. +5 additional Combat Strength if the park is Canadian. Low Gold maintenance cost, Ignores enemy Zone of Control, Has one build charge and can establish National Parks with it. Unlocks at Conservation.

Unique Improvement:  Hockey Rink - +1 Amenity, +2 Appeal to surrounding tiles, +1 Culture for each adjacent Tundra, Tundra Hills, Snow, and Snow Hills tile, +2 Food and Production (with Professional Sports), +4 Culture if adjacent to a Stadium. Unlocks at Colonialism.


Sweden

Civ Ability: +50 Diplomatic Favor upon recruiting a Great Person. +1 Great Engineer points from Factories and +1 Great Scientist points from Universities. Sweden's presence in the game adds three unique World Congress competitions in the Industrial Era.

Leader Ability: Buildings with at least three Great Work slots and wonders with at least two Great Work slots are automatically themed when all slots are filled. Gains the Queen's Bibliotheque unique building in the Government Plaza.

Unique Unit: Carolean; Pike-Shot Replacement +10 Combat Strength vs. light, heavy, and ranged cavalry units, +3 Combat Strength per point of unused Movement. Higher Movement (3 vs. 2). Lower Gold maintenance cost (3 vs. 4).

Unique Improvement: Open-Air Museum: +2 Loyalty per turn in this city. +2 Culture and +2 Tourism for each type of terrain (Snow, Tundra, Desert, Plains, or Grassland) in which at least one Swedish city is founded (10 culture maximum). Unlocked at Nationalism.

I have a hypothesis that most civs aren't bad as long as you can find what they are good at and exploit it. Problem here, these two are good in SP but both their strengths come way to late in an MP game. 

Canada's no surprise war ability would be interesting but it also means no declaring on city states. They are also heavily dependent on making use of tundra. Problem with that is that non tundra cities are just so much better. Could go for the pantheon that adds faith per tundra tile but I would first have to find tundra and in a custom map, probably not going to start near it. 

Sweden is too geared to cultural victory and its strength comes way too late. You should already have good culture by the time the open-air museums come on-line and the extra GP points come at tier 2 buildings and not sure how much they will help. 

If I choose either of these civilizations, I would be playing a generic civilization until the late stages and I don't think either boosts would play much. Therefore,

I am requesting a re-roll 

At least I won't get what I consider the worst 2 civilizations for MP games.

[Woden]

Civilization Power Rankings

Here are my ranks of the 10 worst civilizations that we might see in this game. I am basing these rankings on a standard Pangaea MP custom start and not considering any starting bias you might get in a SP game. The ranks most powerful to least

Phoenicia/Dido- I think Dido is among the lower tier outside of a water map, as many of her abilities are water related. However, I still think on a Pangaea map, she is the most powerful in this group. All you have to do is find one coastal city with decent production (or even a city near a lake) and you can have a settler pump for fast expansion. You can have it produce settlers with a 150% production bonus. She as gets additional trade routes from the Government Plaza and buildings, which can be very helpful. Always having full loyalty on the same continent as your capital (which you can move) can be very useful with forward settlements and holding captured cities. I think we will most likely see her in this game. 

Brazil/Pedro-I put Pedro on my list of worst civilizations because his abilities total depend on the amount of jungle around his cities and that is not always guaranteed in a custom MP game. That being said, you still get some jungle and a well planned city layout can lead to some nice adjacency bonuses. I played Brazil in PBEM4 and they were pretty good but that was a water map. I don't think we will see their unique battleship and their unique district is not very useful. Not sure we will see Brazil unless Ichabod gets to select them (he is Brazilian) but maybe others will hope for some nice jungle. 

Spain/Phillip II-I think Spain could be really powerful in a MP game. +4 CS when fighting an opponent following another religion. A unique unit that can get +10 CS if in same tile as a religious unit. Problem with Spain, your opponent has to be following a religion and their unique unit comes a little later (musketman replacement) but not too late. The mission could be powerful, providing faith and science (if next to campus) We have seen Spain in at least 1 PBEM (PBEM4, I think) and they didn't amount to much. Their other abilities revolve around continents and that could be tough to get.

Egypt/Cleopatra-No floodplain damage and production bonus to districts is good and the sphinx provides culture and appeal. Egypt is not necessarily bad, IMO they are just not that good compared to others.

France/England/Eleanor-Eleanor's abilities revolve around loyalty, which is not a huge issue in MP games. Not seeing alot of loyalty issues outside of conquering cities. Both France and England are decent civs (England being better than France) but I don't think Elenaor's abilities pair with either civilizations that well when compared to other civilizations or their alternative leaders. 

Georgia/Tamar-Extra dedication bonuses in Golden Ages will keep you in multiple Golden Ages and the extra envoy if a city state is following your religion is nice but you need to have a religion and spread it. Unique renaissance walls will take effort to build but you do get a production bonus. The Khevsur looks like a decent unit but they are not unique and can't be upgraded into. I have no experience with them. Overall , I see her as a meh civ.

Kongo/Mvemba a Nzinga-Kongo is a decent civ but its biggest problem is they can't found a religion or build holy sites, which hampers faith generation and limits use of Monumentality. Their unique neighborhood is awesome and early. Might see them in this game. 

Norway/Harald Hardrada-The vikings are awesome on a water map but not so good on a land based map. All their bonuses revolve around water and since we are playing a land based map, they will be hampered. 

Canada/Wilfrid Laurier-A surprise war can't be declared on Canada and they can't declare a surprise war, which means no attacking city states. This can easily be worked around in an MP game by denouncing them when you meet them and continue to denounce them all game long. That way you can declare when you want. They are designed to make the most out of tundra and are cool to play in SP but I think their power is limited in MP and don't provide much to work with.  

Sweden/Kristina-Sweden is designed to chase culture and great people. All their power comes online late in teh game. I don't see anything to work with in an MP game. Cultural wins are hard to do in MP games and she really doesn't have anything to get that going early. They are a SP only civilization.

Overall, I think we will see Phoenicia, Brazil, Spain, and Egypt plus either Eleanor, Georgia or Kongo in this game. I doubt we will see Canada, Sweden, or Norway, they just don't have anything to work with.

[Quagma Blast]

Your second-round civilizations are

PHOENICIA
or
KONGO

You must select one of these to play.

[Woden]

Since we saw Kongo in PBEM 7 and this game is to showcase other civs, I will choose Phoenicia.

[Quagma Blast]

Confirming Woden's pick as PHOENICIA.

[Woden]

And since everyone's made a selection, the players and civs are:

Ichabod - BRAZIL
Suboptimal - ENGLAND (ELEANORE)
Woden - PHOENICIA
TheArchduke - CANADA
Kaiser - EGYPT

(Archduke was monstrously unlucky - first round civ roll was Norway and Georgia, second round Sweden and Canada)

Poor TAD, he got stuck with my first round picks. I hope he doesn't rage quit in the first 20 turns. Part of me wants to offer letting him pick from the un-select civs so we have an engaging PBEM but not sure if the others would be up for it and don't want to it out there, just to fan the flames of rage if they don't agree. Anyways...prediction...TAD will rage quit before turn 50. 

All the other picks are the strongest of the group, sans Spain.