[SPOILERS] naufragar is not a number; he is a free man

[naufragar]

Thanks, Lewwyn, for getting this going. Lot to dig through here.

Seems a little stupid to do a whole Opponent Analysis for a game that’s in danger of flaming out already, but I’m big stupid, so here we go.

1. Miguelito + Rusten Pacal of France
2. Tarkeel Hannibal of Egypt
3. Jowy Kublai Khan of Byzantium
4. Amicalola Roosevelt of Ethiopia
5. civac2 Shaka of Sumeria
6. naufragar Joao of India
7. Mr. Cairo Darius of Aztec
8. Ramkhamhaeng Cyrus of Arabia
9. Mjmd Zara of Portugal
10. Automated Teller Justinian of Khemer
11. General KilCavalry Julius Caesar of Mongolia
12. pindicator Lincoln of Dutch
13. Elkad San Martin of England
14. The Black Sword Catherine of Chinese
15. superdeath Charlemage of Inca
16. Lazteuq Montezuma of Persia
17. Donovan Zoi Sitting Bull of Spain
18. mackoti Ghengis of Ottoman
19. Frozen + Dulland Victoria of Babylon
20. Piccadilly + Flunky Willem Van Oranje of Mali
21. Cornflakes Pericles of Native America
22. Charriu Ramesses of Greece
23. Commodore Lieu-Ye of Rome
24. Ichabod Hammurabi of Germany
25. Joshybravo963 Asoka of America

1. Miguelito + Rusten Pacal of France

The last time I analyzed this dynamic duo I drastically underestimated Miguelito. Rusten is still Rusten: micro-obsessive, all-around knowledge, etc. etc. Miguelito is no slouch himself, and he has no competition in the post count war. This team will do very well. It will do especially well if they can neighbor a weaker neighbor and slam musketeers into them.

Pacal of France (Agr/Wheel/Musketeer/Salon)
The last time this game was played (PB38) I died to musketeers. So, just based on that alone, I approve this pick. The techs are amazing, especially on such a slow start. Musketeers are amazing units, although they could be a touch late. We’ll see. Pacal in CtH is fine, I think. Financial is probably in an ok place these days; it’s just a strong late-game trait instead of a broken all-the-time trait. Exp is good. Not much else to say about this combo. Just all-around strong.

Mack Snax: 2/5


2. Tarkeel Hannibal of Egypt
I’ve dipped in an out of PB58, in which Tarkeel has been putting on a respectable showing. Don’t know too much about him, but I haven’t seen anything egregious at a glance.

Hannibal of Egypt (Agri/Wheel/War Chariot/Obelisk)
Monument unique buildings are interesting. Do I think Tarkeel’s gonna do some Great Prophet bulb shenanigans? Well, no. I’d expect something along the less subtle War Chariot route. For what it’s worth, every game I can remember that Egypt played in, they’ve wrecked someone with chariots. Having just gotten my butt kicked by normal chariots, I’m a little leery around the two-wheel death machines. Hannibal is…hmm. In my starting screenshot, I see three different luxury resource types. I suspect everyone’s start is similar, so Charismatic really doesn’t light my fire. On the other hand, there are likely easy ways to activate Financial’s bonus on this map. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that for this game, Hannibal is below average. Egypt makes up for it, though.

Mack Snax: 5/5


3. Jowy Kublai Khan of Byzantium
Jowy’s another one that I should know more about than I do. I haven’t been blown away by his empire management, but I also don’t think he’s a pushover.

Kublai Khan of Byzantium (Wheel/Myst/Hippodrome/Cataphract)
This ain’t it, chief. This pick inevitably antagonizes a neighbor early (Agg, Cre), so they get cranky and defensive and then spiky against the Cataphract assault, after which the Byz player isn’t as far ahead as he needs to be. Don’t get me wrong, C2+Shock Cataphracts are the business, but Agg/Cre/Wheel/Myst doesn’t build enough of a base to make profitable use of them without careful, careful planning.

Mack Snax: 4/5


4. Amicalola Roosevelt of Ethiopia
Amicalola seems like a decent fellow. In case it wasn’t obvious, I’m fallen behind on my lurking these recent months, so I haven’t kept up with Amicalola’s debut. Sorry folks.

Roosevelt of Ethiopia (Hunting/Mining/Oromo Warrior/Stele)
Oh look! Another Monument unique building. Monument unique buildings are fun, as a rule. The stele gives +25% culture and, due to a CtH change, no longer obsoletes. It’s like having another Cathedral for cultural victory attempts. Do I think Amicalola’s the one to show that off? Eh, we’ll see. The Oromo Warrior is quite good. Roosevelt is an interesting leader. It’s not that he’s bad; it’s that he’s quite touchy. Org is best when you’re cranking out cities, but it doesn’t get you there itself. People undervalue Ind. The forge bonus alone is very, very good. Typing it all out, I think I like these picks. Time will tell.

Mack Snax: 5/5


5. civac2 Shaka of Sumeria
Civac2, as he’s called on Realms Beyond, claims to not be a multiplayer veteran, but he’s got a ton of single-player experience and he wont his first (second?) game at RB. (He also put in a good showing in a SMAX PBEM over at Civforum. ) He’s going to be a strong contender, although we’ll see if the push and pull of multiplayer can throw him off.

Shaka of Sumeria (Agri/Wheel/Vulture/Ziggurat)
Another set of great starting techs. I admit I had to look up the Vulture. Looks pretty uninspiring. The Ziggurat, on the other hand, is delightful: a cheaper courthouse that comes earlier. Shaka’s also pretty solid. I know that Civforum types are less averse to spilling some blood early, and Agg helps a lot with that. This is a strong pick in the hands of a strong player. Genug gesagt.

Mack Snax: 3/5


6. naufragar Joao of India
Not yet.

7. Mr. Cairo Darius of Aztec
Mr. Cairo is a perennial contender, doing better the longer the game lasts. (Was it PB53 that he won after what seemed like the longest run PB on this site?) I think I already did a good job dissecting Cairo in PB54, so I’ll just copy-paste and get an early lunch. “Somewhere in the course of his long career, Mr. Cairo got a reputation for passivity. This is undeserved, and people holding this opinion should read PB42. What he’s got is a love of building. He, like Rusten, likes a comfortable tech/production/whatever advantage over his opponents. You can’t argue with his record.”

Darius of Aztec (Hunting/Myst/Jaguar/Sacrificial Altar)
I love the Aztecs. The Sacrificial Altar is the second best unique building in the game (after the Viking Trading Post. In BtS, the Terrace takes the #1 spot. Perhaps it still beats out the Altar in CtH). The Aztec techs can be quite rough if the start doesn’t cooperate, but I suspect that Lewwyn has covered all the options, so Cairo’s ok there. Darius gets cheaper Altars, but Altars are already 90h vs a normal Courthouse’s 120, so Org saves you fewer hammers here. As always, Darius dares his opponents to let him live. Frankly, I would’ve rerolled Darius, but he’s got to be the perfect leader for Cairo. Cairo can tend to under-expand a bit in order to build up a technologically advanced empire, and there’s nobody better at doing that then Darius.

Mack Snax: 3/5


8. Ramkhamhaeng Cyrus of Arabia
Ramk is a saint in online-forum-person form. For this alone, I wish him great success. From what I saw in PB51, he obviously knows his Civ4. I wish I had more insightful analysis than that, but I do not. I expect a good showing from him.

Cyrus of Arabia (Myst/Wheel/Camel Archer/Madrassa)
In PB38, Rusten put on a clinic with exactly this combo, so the combo has proven success. CtH buffs the Camel Archer, but as others have long pointed out, if you’re winning with knights, you’re winning with knights. You don’t need sprinkles on top, no matter how nice. Yeah, memories of Rusten running away with PB38 until Mack hit him are fresh in my mind. This combo is very strong.

Mack Snax: 3/5

[naufragar]

9. Mjmd Zara of Portugal
Mjmd is an earnest guy, and he has played some strong civ in PB52 before running into some morale problems. Actually that entire game was a big morale check for its players.  I expect good things from Mjmd if he can keep his focus up.

Zara of Portugal (Fishing/Mining/Carrack/Feitoria)
Portugal is very, very strong in some very, very narrow areas. Basically, I hope for Mjmd’s sake this is a watery map. If so, Carracks can do some sneaky things. Zara is good. Org doubles down on the watery map bet, and I can see water in my screenshot, so it’s a safe wager.  I dig it. This power level is where I’d expect a balanced random roll to be.

Mack Snax: 4/5


10. Automated Teller Justinian of Khmer
AT is a vet whom I should know more about. He reports, seems like a decent guy, plays good civ. All in all, I should feel embarrassed for not knowing more, but I don’t.

Justinian of Khmer (Hunting/Mining/Ballista Elephant/Baray)
Khmer’s good, but I can’t stand it. I don’t like the broken unique unit. I don’t like the crappy unique building. The techs are nice, I guess. Justinian is rock-solid. Spiritual got a nice buff from CtH’s change to Serfdom (and other civics, but Serfdom’s the earliest). This is another solid pick, maybe above average of where I’d expect a random draw to land.

Mack Snax: 2/5


11. General KilCavalry Julius Caesar of Mongolia
GeneralKilCavalry’s probably improved the most over the fewest games of anybody here, and he started from a pretty solid spot. As is the case for many of us, he can lose his cool when things don’t go his way, but otherwise he’s invested and determined.

Julius Caesar of Mongolia (Hunting/Wheel/Ger/Keshik)
Oh yeah, inject it directly in my veins. This is the good stuff. Every part of this is powerful. You build a bunch of cities, conquer a bunch more, and then set your mid- to late-game empire up to dominate. Great pick.

Mack Snax: 3/5


12. pindicator Lincoln of Dutch
Pindi is a super-vet, and I’m not really qualified to analyze him. He plays very strong civ, although he can feel a little beat-up when he takes one too many on the chin (see PB52 in which he stepped back from a winning position because of how dreary it felt). A fine fellow, good reporter. I wish him success that doesn’t infringe on mine.

Lincoln of the Dutch (Fishing/Agriculture/Dike/East Indiaman)
Busted, busted, busted combo. If there is any serious naval play to be made on this map at all, Pindicator won the pick phase.  When analyzing one of the earlier players (I can’t remember which; don’t make me reread), I took off points for being too late a pick. Well, I think I forgive Pindicator here, firstly because Cha/Phi can start helping surprisingly early; secondly because a crazy early Astro bulb into East Indiamen is just stupidly strong.

Mack Snax: 2/5


13. Elkad San Martin of England
Elkad doesn’t report. But he’s good.

San Martin (Chm/Cre) of England (Fishing/Mining/Red Coat/Stock Exchange)
Hey! A new leader. Nifty. But, um, he seems kinda bad. The monument discount of Cha and clashes with Cre and if my screenshot is any indication, Cha will have diminished value on this map. Hey, more power to Elkad for trying the new guy. England’s problem is what plagues it every game: it’s special stuff is wonderful but late.

Mack Snax: 3/5


14. The Black Sword Catherine of Chinese
TBS is one of the best Civ4 players, not just in the world, but probably in the entire universe. He’s got two outstanding traits: his micro is always tied to his macro, and he rolls with the punches when his micro gets upended. Fin.

Catherine of China (Agri/Mining/Pavillion/Cho-ko-nu)
Cho-ko-nu’s were slightly nerfed in CtH. Doesn’t matter. Still top 3 Unique Unit. Pavillion is cool, too. Better than Hammams, definitely. Catherine is my favorite leader of all time. She’s such a bully. She dares you to react, but of course, because you’re not Imp or TBS, you cannot. This combo isn’t broken. It just does exactly what it needs to do, exactly how it should.

Mack Snax: 1/5


15. superdeath Charlemage of Inca
Superdeath’s a good guy.

Charlemagne of Inca (Myst/Agri/Terrace/Quecha)
As hilarious as quecha rushes could be in Superdeath’s hands, the real eye-opener here is the 45h Granary. Make no mistake, this is a nerf to the Terrace, but really not by much. And, honestly, I could hear the argument that it’s no nerf at all. So Superdeath’s got blistering fast expansion in Imp+Terrace and he’s got Pro to keep his economy from combusting. This is a pick-phase win.

Mack Snax: 5/5


16. Lazteuq Montezuma of Persia
Lazteuq’s another whom I don’t really know much about. Haven’t really followed him in PB56, but there it seems like he’s had a rough go of it. Other than that, I’ve got bupkis.

Montezuma of Persia (Agri/Hunting/Bazaar/Immortal)
A great big pile of meh. Persia’s got lovely starting techs, but the Immortal is, in my opinion, not of much use except in a chariot rush. If Scooter had had immortals during his rush of me, he would’ve crushed my hasty archer defense. The bazaar I don’t know how to evaluate. Oh well. Monti is, um, good in very specific contexts, I guess? I just don’t know what this combination is supposed to do better than any other. Perhaps Lazteuq was forced to choose bad third choices. I’d be unhappy.

Mack Snax: 5/5

[naufragar]

17. Donovan Zoi Sitting Bull of Spain
Donovan Zoi seems like a good guy, prone to some unorthodox ideas. Heterodoxy isn’t always a bad thing, and Donovan has found some success with it (his scored the first kill in PB38). I don’t think he’s the strongest contender, but he’s not terrible.

Sitting Bull of Spain (Fishing/Myst/Feitoria/Conquistador)
Ok, am I gonna have to debunk some myths about synergy? People after the PB54 pick phase were all discombobulated that I picked Spain without picking Pro. The thinking went “Spain has a unique Castle, Pro saves hammers on the Castle, therefore Pro is good with Spain.” Think about how many Castles you built in your last game. Now double that number. That’s the number with Pro. Is that an exciting number of castles? No. And it’s not a reason to pick Pro. On this Huge, Emperor, stuffed-with-players map, I don’t see Pro as a winning pick. Maybe I’m wrong. Spain is not great without a focused game plan. This combo seems a little sketchy to me.

Mack Snax: 5/5


18. mackoti Ghengis of Ottoman
What’re the rules to a game of Civ4? You play for eight months, and then mackoti wins.

Genghis of Ottomen (Wheel/Agri/Hammam/Janissary)
This is such a mackoti pick. Genghis is his early game power, which he’ll leverage into a leading position. Then, he’ll actually be in a position to use the later-game goodies of the Ottomen. It’s not an overpowered pick, but in its owner’s hands, it’ll be sufficient.

Mack Snax:


19. Frozen + Dulland Victoria of Babylon
Here we have some Teutonic tourists. I don’t know anything about Dulland, but Frozen is very active on the Civforum, uh, forums. As with everyone coming here from there, I expect competency.
Victoria of Babylon (Wheel/Agri/Bowman/Garden)
Ah, the BtS bias is showing. Victoria’s still a fine CtH leader, because Imp is the loveliest, bestest trait played by the loveliest, bestest people. Babylon is ok. Bowmen are very respectable units. I’m not smart enough to know if the Garden’s CtH buff (+5% food stored) is any good. Does it round down? Trunctate? If so, it’s a better Baray. Not a bad pick. Average but sufficiently strong.

Mack Snax: 3/5


20. Piccadilly + Flunky Willem Van Oranje of Mali
Don’t know much at all about these two. Flunky is doing very well in PB88. On the strength of that, I suspect this team will do ok.

Willem of Mali (Mining/Wheel/Mint/Skirmisher)
Another BtS power combo. It’s still fine in CtH. Mali is always strong. Very few civs have both a strong unique building and a useful unique unit. I don’t think I like Willem so much in CtH, but he’s not bad. A fine combo.

Mack Snax: 2/5


21. Cornflakes Pericles of Native America
Cornflakes has been around the block and knows how to civ. I’m not sure if he’s had too many smash hit successes, but neither do I think he’s had too many flameouts. I’d bet he’s in the upper quartile of players.

Pericles of Native America (Fishing/Agri/Dog Soldier/Totem Pole)
Ick. This is one of the few stinkers in the whole 25 (which is a testament to Charriu’s balance). The Natives can avoid Mysticism for their monuments, but Pericles both does and doesn’t want to avoid religious techs. He certainly doesn’t need a monument. Nor does he want to axe rush someone with Dog Soldiers. I realize I said that synergy was overrated, which I stand by, but it’s nice to have your picks complement a plan. I don’t see the plan, although Pericles is good enough to perhaps make up for it. (TBS put on a strong show in PB38 with Pericles.)

Mack Snax: 3/5


22. Charriu Ramesses of Greece
A downright sweetheart. Charriu’s improved a lot over his past games. I get the sense he’s not the most vicious on this list, but he has performed well under pressure before. Not to be underestimated.

Ramesses of Greece (Fishing/Hunting/Phalanx/Odeon)
Um, why was the Phalanx changed? It was a perfectly fine unique unit in BtS. In CtH, it’s a strength 5 spearman with a +25% strength bonus in hills. Why did it get +1 strength as well as the hill bonus? This is a silly change. All the same, Greece is still a difficult civilization to use well. Ramesses has got to be my least favorite leader. I mean, he just sucks. This combo does not spark joy.

Mack Snax: 5/5


23. Commodore Lieu-Ye of Rome
I can’t figure Commodore out. As a civ player, I mean. As a human, he’s a rather straightforward concatenation Gen X nerdery and ye olde American individualism. As a civ player, he oscillates in my eyes between sublime genius and bonkers windmill-jouster. One day he’ll make a play that just floors me and then the next day throw the advantage away. Can’t figure him out.

Lieu-Ye (Org/Pro) of Rome (Fishing/Mining/Forum/Praetorian)
Well, Rome goes with Commodore. As always, the joy of Rome is the Praets. We’ve seen a resurgence of Elephant+Catapult attacks. Praet+Catapult attacks are even faster. Of course, the mere threat of Praetorians can often be enough to let Rome build up in peace. Lieu-Ye is new to CtH. He seems kinda dull. Comm takes what he’s given though, so he might not be sweating it too much.

Mack Snax: 1/5


24. Ichabod Hammurabi of Germany
Ichabod’s a good guy, lurked by Darrell, who’s a chill guy, and Serdoa, who is a micro-fanatic and macro-terrorist. This team will have very good micro, but I worry very much about their foreign policy. Time will tell.

Hammurabi of Germany (Mining/Hunting/Assembly Plant/Riesengarde)
Eh. This is inoffensive. Cre/Pro is something of an early-middle game combo. If this team can micro their way into the mid-game, have Hammurabi give them some middle-game staying power, and maybe reach Grenadiers, I could see it. Seems like a lot of work.

Mack Snax: 2/5


25. Joshybravo963 (Vanrober) Asoka of America
This guy isn’t actually playing, and it’s a little foolish of us to risk wasting 25+ people’s time because of the flakiness of one internet stranger. I hope I’m wrong, and he becomes a member of the community. In the meantime, I can almost guarantee that Vanrober will be playing the turns, Vanrober who has said he doesn’t have time to do the opening justice. Unfortunately, if this team neighbors a vet, that vet pretty much wins the game, since they get to double their land. Sorry. I don’t make the rules. We just hope he’s next to me.

Asoka of America (Fishing/Agri/Minuteman/Immigration Station)
America’s an ok civ in CtH. The minuteman is a musketman that starts with Guerilla 1 and Woodsman 2. With Asoka, those minutemen could be…interesting.

Mack Snax: 6/5

[naufragar]

Well, we're off, and I guess I was overly pessimistic about Joshy. He's here now.

We started PB59 off with a settler move:


Man, I've missed this. Has it only been a month and a half since my last civ4 turn? I was getting the shakes.

My opening doesn't get an especially fast second city, but cities 3 & 4 can happen quickly. Pretty straightforward to have 4 cities by turn 45. 5 cities by turn 50 is a nice milestone but it's tricky. By the way, if a forest grows onto the hill 1S of the wheat before turn 20, I rage-quit the game. Fair warning.

[El Grillo]

Thanks for all of the snack pictures and player reviews. I’ve got to try charred grapefruit sometime, I would’ve never thought of it.

Good luck in the game!

[naufragar]

Thanks! While were on the subject of heated fruit, I would never have guessed that grilled watermelon is as good as it is. The grill dries it out, so the watermelon gets this cool texture. For even more daring, add feta cheese on top. (I was skeptical at every step of this, but I became a convert.)

Lewwyn, I think I love you.



This is a Joao map. Food everywhere, tons of commerce. If I did my math right, the map's decently big. The Victory Conditions screen tells me that I have 0.22% of available land tiles. I think this means there's something like 3636 land tiles total, or ~145 per player, not counting the presumptive Astro islands. (The No Score mod we're using means we can't get the land tiles count from points anymore.)

Edit: I should add that the land I've seen actually makes Financial better. It's quicker to get 3+ commerce tiles, which is the threshold for the Fin bonus in CtH. Charismatic players can't be feeling too great, but it's not the end of the world for them.

Not that people care, but my build order is likely Worker->Warrior (coincident with growth to size 2) -> Worker -> Settler -> Work Boat(!) -> Hammer Sink to Size 4 (a warrior could finish up perfectly, depending on what my workers need to improve. Copper will make this timing doubtful.) -> Slow build a settler -> Two-whip another settler. So, in a hypothetically perfect world, on turn 43 we could have 3 cities, with the settler for the fourth finished and three workers. #JustJoaoThings But, as always, no enemy survives contact with the plan, so we'll see what the actual game brings.

[El Grillo]

I’ve had pickled watermelon salad with feta and red onions, but not grilled watermelon. Also sounds intriguing. I do like putting some thinly sliced lemon or lime on top of baked salmon or chicken thighs, or including apple or pear or plum in a braise.

[Lewwyn]

Lewwyn, I think I love you.

I hope everyone has a fun time on the map.

[naufragar]

I hope everyone has a fun time on the map.

I'll try. Trying to think of anything fun I could do with 8 forests and Stone. 




Riddle me this, Batman. What unimproved tile gives 4f?


Or what combination of city square + unimproved tile gives 6f. There are answers to these questions but strange answers indeed.

[Thoth]

3 food city centre + 3 food tile = 6 food.