Mr. Cairo PB 56 [spoilers]

[Mr. Cairo]

thread.

password:

bruce

Theme: Bruce Cockburn songs. It'll be a bit of a challenge because many of his best songs have titles too long for Civ 4, but he does have a lot of songs, so I'm not too concerned.

[superdeath]

[superdeath]

Thoughts on players/picks?

[Mr. Cairo]

Ugh, fine.

Lazteuq --- Sitting Bull (PHI, PRO) of Byzantium (Cataphract/Hippodrome)
I don't see any decent synergy with the picks here, but Phracts are good. I don't think PRO's tr bonus is as good with it only effecting domestic routes. Obviously is more valuable once everyone is in merc, but before then you're still better off with ICTR with other players. I've never been a huge fan of PHI, I think it takes too much work to make really good.


Jowy --- Gilgamesh (CRE/PRO) of Carthage (Numd Cav/Cothon)
This is a good combo, PRO and Cothons are good. Numidian Cavs are also pretty good, but not against HAs. I like the leader, I think CRE is one of the strongest traits, always has been.


giraflorens --- Catherine (CRE/IMP) of Mongolia (Keshik/Ger)
Well, IMP with Mongolia is an obvious combo, they'll definitely want to be warring when Keshiks are still good. Catherine is one of my favourite leaders. She lets you just not worry about a lot of stuff in the early game, you should never struggle for land with her.


Amicalola --- Victoria (IMP/FIN) of England (Redcoat/Stock Exchange)
Obvious combo, IMP is always good and FIN is pretty much required for England imo, you just got to hope that by the time Stock Exchanges come around you can actually take advantage of them.


Ruff_Hi --- Wang Kon (FIN/PRO) of Spain (Conquistador/Citadel)
Leader of money in this version of CtH, nothing wrong with that. I've been wanting to try Spain for a while now, I'm looking forward to seeing how good it is.


vanrober + Chumchu --- Charlemagne (PRO/IMP) of Celts (Gallic Warrior/Dun)
I've never understood the Celts. Their UB gives a promo that their UU already has. It's so situational. But I suppose depending on the map it can be made to work. Obviously PRO is what you want with a Wall UB. I've just never seen it really work out.


NobleHelium --- Willem (FIN/CRE) of China (CKN/Pavilion)
Classic combo. Good leader, good civ. No real synergy or whatever, but that's not really the point. I was this combo pretty recently (in RtR though), and I thought it was pretty good.


Mjmd --- Genghis Khan (AGG/IMP) of Rome (Praetorian/Forum)
AGG Rome will either conquer someone early on, or be dogpiled early on (or do nothing with AGG Praets and then what's the point). If I neighbor MJMD I'll probably plan an attack asap.


civac2 --- Suleiman (PHI/IMP) of Khmer (Ballista Elephant/Baray)
Ballistaphants are good again. In terms of power to hammer cost they're one of the best until Rifles and Cavs arrive. Not a fan of the leader, I would want an EXP leader with Khmer, otherwise the Baray is kinda wasted, although it's not particularly good anyway.


Mr. Cairo --- Washington (EXP/CHA) of Ottomans (Janissary/Hammam)
I wanted to try out a CHA leader, and the Ottomans with their happiness boosting UB seemed like a good choice, so I chose Washington for the cheaper Hammams. Janissaries are also pretty good. Also, super cheap monuments are a decent substitute for CRE, my favourite trait. I don't have a lot of experience playing with CHA or EXP really, but I think it's a pretty good combo.


El Grillo --- Nebuchadnezzar (PHI/IND) of Inca (Quecha/Terrace)
Terrace isn't as good as it used to be, not by a long shot, but it's still good. But to be honest, it seems like a pretty weak civ now, since the UU is not great. PHI/IND also doesn't really help in the economy at all, so I expect he'll be going for a lot of wonders to really exploit his pick. I kinda expect him to build most of the ancient and classical wonders, then to get eaten by a stronger neighbor.

[Mr. Cairo]

OK, I've changed my mind on the naming scheme. It's going to be Coldplay songs instead.

[Mr. Cairo]

I like the map, none of the rice (so far) is dry, very few of the cows are plains. There aren't lots of dead tiles all over the place. I haven't even found any desert yet. There are lots of rivers, and more grassland than plains. I can't speak yet to the overall design or even the balance of the starts, but I do wish every map were like this. I think that relatively sparse maps magnify slight imbalances in the starts. In a map like this, the map-balance is less important and player choice more important. Which I think should always be the goal.

[Mr. Cairo]

I am getting so fucking tired of getting squeezed for land in every single game I ever play lately:



Three IMP civs are near me, and they all expand towards me.

I'm fucking losing it.

[Mr. Cairo]

Alright, so I took action a little earlier than Horse Archers. Civac was keeping minimal defenses in the cities bordering me, a single Axe each. And he wasn't popping their borders, so I figured I could do something with Chariots. In the end he put a spear in one of them, so I couldn't take them both out, so one will have to do.

Here is last turn:




This turn he moved the Axe out of the city, leaving it empty.



I burned it and settled in place with that settler:



I did offer peace, which might have been a mistake. But I don't expect him to accept it anyway.

Although it says I have .9 power to him, I know that population is calculated into soldier count so I don't think he's actually stronger than me. He could probably whip a lot and try and overwhelm with numbers, but that's not how you win at this game, I should know. Hopefully he does too.

[Mr. Cairo]

So, he is trying to overwhelm with numbers, and he got 6 Axes to my new city faster than I though he would.
However, I still think I can defend.


Basically, what should happen, barring any unlucky dice rolls (by either of us), is his first three Axes die to my Axes, then his next three kill Chariots. What's could happen is he ends up killing one of my Axes instead of a Chariot or loses an Axe to a Chariot. Or he gets really lucky and kills one or more of my axes at the initial 20% battles.

However, I feel I need to play the odds. If things go the way they "should" I end up with Shock Axes, and his surviving Axes get C1. I have more units on the way, including Archers, which are actually better than Axes at defending. I only lose Chariots, which aren't very useful anymore. In most circumstances I should be able to hold the city. Not much I can do about it if he gets really lucky.

[superdeath]

Long term plans?