Best guesses:
Thrawn/TAD will take Vikings or Australia, probably Australia since Thrawn was pushing it hard to included them.
Macro/CMF will take Indonesia (macro show preference)
Sub/Roland will take whatever Thrawn/TAD don't.
Best guess is we have to pick between Dido and Victoria. Both are awesome but I think Dido is stronger. +50% to all ships and +50% to settlers with a Cothon. I am already playing her in PBEM18 but am fine with playing her again.
Alternatively, if Australia is still available, we could take them and have me be the economy civ and Japan be the coastal warrior.
Yeah, despite their thread title, I'd be a little surprised if thrawn went all-in on a rushing civ for the second straight game after specifically asking for a water game so it'd be more buildery. Australia seems like a likely pick. That, or they might be thinking like we're thinking and have the battle-hardened Archduke take Scandinavia while thrawn builds behind them.
If we end up going for a militaristic Japan, I wonder if taking a page out of thrawn's book with Crusade might be workable? +15 strength against coastal cities with the religion would be huge, although a dedicated rush might be a little suspect without any military production bonuses (besides Encampments, I guess).
(November 17th, 2020, 13:33)ljubljana Wrote: Yeah, despite their thread title, I'd be a little surprised if thrawn went all-in on a rushing civ for the second straight game after specifically asking for a water game so it'd be more buildery. Australia seems like a likely pick. That, or they might be thinking like we're thinking and have the battle-hardened Archduke take Scandinavia while thrawn builds behind them.
If we end up going for a militaristic Japan, I wonder if taking a page out of thrawn's book with Crusade might be workable? +15 strength against coastal cities with the religion would be huge, although a dedicated rush might be a little suspect without any military production bonuses (besides Encampments, I guess).
I totally expect an early rush from TAD/Thrawn. I think, although he was talking about not wanting a warring game, he benefitted from it in PBEM19, why change it. The good thing is that I have always wanted to fight TAD (never have after 4 games) and my tactical skills have improved quite a bit since my early failures.
That's a good question! I'm certainly more comfortable with and better at building and later combat. At some point I'll have to break out of that comfort zone, both for my own development as a player and to keep from acquiring a reputation as an overly passive player...but I'm not sure if this'll be the game to do that. One nice thing about a Japan pick is that they can be fearsome on either side of the game depending on map circumstances.
If you're hoping for early combat though, I definitely won't begrudge supporting you in that respect . That'd be a nice lesson for me even if I end up mostly observing the direct military side of things.
I have been playing these games (Civ 6) pretty much since they started here at RB and have some strong opinions on how to play but also want to make sure I am not steamrolling you and your opinions. Please don't follow me down some of the rabbit holes I might throw out there just because I am the "vet". Make sure you question anything you don't understand or agree with. It will let me explain or rethink something and be very help for both of us.
Thank you for saying that! I definitely don't feel inclined to defer just for the sake of deference, and will happily question you if I feel like I disagree. But also when I'm wrong about things, please feel free to tell me as well! What pushed me over the edge into signing up for this game was the opportunity to learn from an old hand, and you definitely don't need to worry about intimidating me with criticism either .
Thrawn/TheArchduke
This team will definitely be aggressive and be looking for an early kill. I am going to put the rest of my analysis in spoilers because you (Ljubjana) are still in PBEM19 and don't want to give any spoilers just in case you are unaware of any aspects on my analysis. You can always come back and look after that game is over.
PBEM19 and PBEM18 spoilers:
TAD is going to be looking for blood after his humiliating defeat in PBEM19 and Thrawn is going to see the success in PBEM19 as a way to win this game. I expect them both to take aggressive civilizations and go for an early classical war. No point in a water map for an early ancient war since shipbuilding in a classical age tech. In addition, they probably perceive the bulk of players in this game to be "builders" and easy prey. I am hoping their arrocance is their downfall.
A coupe of issues arise from this thinking. PBEM19 shook out because of bad map design. In theory, it was a good idea but having all the city states centrally located, where everybody can fight over but Thrawn, rightly, identified that with his early unique unit, he was able to conquer them all first and then abuse Desert Folklore/Work Ethic into massive production. This was the reason he was able to build a unstoppable, massive army. With the changes to work ethic, map makers need to make sure they don't create areas where work ethic can be exploited in such a way.
Alternatively, I was able to overcome the exploited work ethic because Ichabod focused more on wonder building than an army, which let me build a nice indutrial complex of 4 Industrial Zones with adjacencies ranging for 7-10, which equals his work ethic driven Holy Sites. Thankfully, in water maps such massive production will be hard to achieve. The only civilizations I can see exploiting Work Ethic are Australia and Indonesia (to a lesser extent).
Overall, I don't see such an early push working as well as PBEM19. That said, it doesn't mean TAD/Thrawn won't try. We will have to make sure to have a defensive early game and make us as prickly as possible, which fits well with my play style, as I
usually try to build my defenses first and build out science and culture afterwards. A big issue is that the others don't and Thrawn/TAD are able to take over another team quickly. I expect them to be aggressive, build a massive navy/army at the start and look to eat their neighbor. If not successful, they will fall behind and we can eat them.
Best guess for civilization picks are Vikings or Australia as 1st pick then somebody good at fighting (land or sea) as 8th pick. If they go for Australia first, I expect somebody with water bonuses. Pretty sure the powerhouses will be picked, so maybe someone underrated like Spain (TAD showed preference in tech thread, they get fleets and armadas at Mercenaries) or Eleanor for double GA points and cheap harbors. If they go for Vikings first, best bet is a civilization that has a good land army and bonuses to land attacks, maybe someone like Mapuche (golden age bonuses), Nubia, or Zulu. There are others and we should be able to tell their overall plan by who they take 1st and 8th.
Roland/suboptimal
Not sure how Roland was classified as a newbie, since he has threads for 6 PBEMs. He dropped out of PBEM14, which ended up being abandoned short afterwards. I don't think his games have accomplished much but PBEM14 is the only game I played in with him and don't remember what occurred in the other games (other than PBEM3 where Ichabod steamrolled everybody). Suboptimal on the other hand is well known to me, having played with him in the last 3 games I have played in. His biggest issue is getting lost in his own plans and not seeing the metagame around him. He is a good builder and decent fighter but usually gets into an unwinnable situation because of what is happening outside his empire. He is a very conservative warrior, typically choosing to conserve his units over trying to break open a defensive line and therefore can be stopped with a good defense.
Best guess for civilizations are for the 2nd pick, probably Phoenicia, Indonesia, or Vikings (if still available). I don't think they will take Victoria since suboptimal has played them a few time before. For the 7th pick, I am looking for them to go with a builder civ, maybe someone who is good at science or culture. Maybe someone like Rome, Korea, or Gorgo.
marcopolothefraud/Chevalier Mal Fet
Marco start one PBEM and dropped out. Really don't know much about him. CMF is a good, well rounded player. He does typically think of grand plans that sometimes work, sometimes fail. His games have been all over the board but in general he is competitive. He was my teammate in the last team game (PBEM7) and exploited Nan Madol to the point where they became banned.
Best guess for civilization are for 3rd pick, probably what is left between the 4 powerhouse civs. England might be in the running because CMF has doen pretty well with them. Like Roland and Suboptimal, I think there 2nd civ will be a builder civ focusing on science or culture.
Ljubljana/Woden
To be honest, I have not being following PBEM19 very close so don't know much about Ljubljana (maybe he can provide his play preferences or thoughts). Looks like a decent builder. As for me (Woden), I am an excellent builder but have been pushing myself into wars more and more in the last few PBEMs. PBEM14 was a little of a stalemate with suboptimal but think I was starting to make gains against him before that game fell apart. In PBEM15, I ate CFCJesterfool early and was able to flip that into having an empire larger than the other 2 combined. In that game, my navy was very crucial because it spotted suboptimal's army coming across the ocean and I was able to destroy them before they made any trouble. Finally in PBEM18, I continued my warring ways and able to attack into a +12 CS disadvantage and still make gains. I should be in good position to win that game.
I will discuss our picks in another post.
Overall, I think we are in good position to win this game. I have a few new strategies that I learned from PBEM18, especially the classical age tech slingshot and how to defend against a frigate attack (through my attacks on Ichabod).
Thanks for this oppo research! Yeah, I'm not going to read the spoilered sections quite yet (as the one PBEM19 player who hasn't conceded), but it's almost certain that that game will end before this one starts, in which case I'll come back and take a look at them .
I'm not sure how much oppo I can contribute for the players other than thrawn, since I was out of contact with CMF/Archduke for the entirety of PBEM19 and so have little idea of how their games went (well, besides that which can be gleaned by following empire score trends). Thrawn's clearly a skilled warmonger, and while their building looks fairly untested as of now (I think they founded a total of two of their own cities in PBEM19), I'd be surprised if it was significantly below their warmongering level, since strong understanding of one aspect of the game seems to be well-correlated with at least decent understanding of the others. I do think they're being genuine about their desire to play a more buildery game in the organizing thread...but that doesn't at all mean I doubt that they'll go for an early kill if the opportunity arises.
As for ljubljana, not quite sure what to make of this player, tbh. My building was okay in PBEM19, but not great or anything - as the only civ not bogged down in wars, my economy should probably have taken off much quicker than it did. My preferred playstyle leans buildery, but I also know I need to work on my fighting skills, so I think I'm happy to delay a decision on our respective roles somewhat based on civ picks and map conditions.
I haven't read through your PBEM18 thread yet (I've mostly been lurking CMF/williams), but I promise to do so sometime during the next few days .
. That'd be a nice lesson for me even if I end up mostly observing the direct military side of things.
, which equals his work ethic driven Holy Sites. Thankfully, in water maps such massive production will be hard to achieve. The only civilizations I can see exploiting Work Ethic are Australia and Indonesia (to a lesser extent). 
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