[PB63 - Spoiler] JackRB attempts to avoid the sophomore slump

[Hitru]

Then no for PRO from me.

I think IMP/FIN would be great and ORG/IMP also fine (I think PHI is actually pretty good eco trait but harder to pull of than "cottage everything" FIN). In general 1 early trait + 1 eco trait is good idea. Half cost granaries from EXP is not bad either, but would prefer IMP for fast tech.

[JackRB]

Well, we successfully got our FIN/IMP Vicky, very nice.

Picking is also done, barring Fabled's Civ pick. Will get some analysis done tomorrow, but some very interesting combinations here. Surprised to see the abundance of CRE/CHA picks (which all feel like gambling on what the map is gonna be like), and uh, I really hope we don't start next to Cornflakes! Boudicca-powered War Chariots, no thanks.

[JackRB]

Fashionably late [although PB map is still yet to be hosted, so maybe not that late!  ] picks analysis, mainly for personal future reference

(and in no particular order)


Fabled: Mehmed II (ORG/EXP) of the Ottomans (UU: Janissary, UB: Hamman, Wheel/Agriculture)
Amusingly enough this is a restricted leader combination - and a decent one at that, if not spectacular. ORG/EXP is as solid as ever, Janissaries are good at fending off medieval junk (if not amazing itself), and Hamman's give some nice access to happy (if again, not always amazing). The pick doesn't show any obvious strategies other than being able to do everything decently well.

Fabled himself is part of the group of 4 (whats the number 4 version of triumvirate? quadrumvirate?), with little experience - and there's not too much I can gather from his PB62 exit, other than I hope for his sake Fabled can avoid a repeat!

Cornflakes: Boudicca (AGG/CHA) of Egypt (UU: War Chariot, UB: Obelisk, Wheel/Agriculture)
Wonderful, the bonafide rush pick of the PB. Strong on intimidation and likely dumping someone out of the PB early, but not much else. I'd expect a rush to be successful as well, given how heavily the pick pivots towards said strategy, but let's hope that a) they can't snowball out of control and b) we don't start anywhere near them!

By my reckoning, has played in 7 PBs over a long period (going off the PitBoss google spreadsheet list), most recently in the ongoing clustertruck of PB59
Would be good to read up on a few early PB rushes, if only to gain a better understanding on how to not be rushed heh

JackRB: Victoria (FIN/IMP) of Vikings (UU: Beserker, UB: Trading Post, Fishing/Hunting)
Hey, that's me! I wanted a boring all-rounded pick, and I think that's what we have. More interesting is how this combination is unique compared to the rest of the field, no-one else picked either FIN or IMP [I don't count SD randoming an IMP leader, not that he won't just throw hammers into units instead :D], so we're inherently able to win the settling game a little harder than others, ideally, and leverage that to spam cottages everywhere. Easier said than done, mind! Might be fun to try and throw Beserkers at someone too, but we'll see.

I also have a grand total of 1 PB game experience, and while there were a lot of mistakes, there were a lot of positives too - be good to build on it amongst some tougher opposition!

Mjmd: Napoleon (ORG/CHA) of Sumeria (UU: Vulture, UB: Ziggurat, Wheel/Agriculture)
Well, the ORG/Ziggurat combination certainly is powerful, getting dirt early+cheap Courthouses, and certainly facilitates lots more expansion. [My only question, is, if going for this, why not go ORG/IMP?] Outside of this super-combo, though, there's not a whole..? lot else? Vulture's look good until you realise they lose to ordinary axes - is that what CHA is for? Because I don't see it doing a whole lot else. Shrug.

Mjmd has been in quite a few of the recent PBs, so is definitely one of the more dangerous ones, regardless of picks.

Ginger: Gandhi (SPI/PHI) of Rome (UU: Praetorian, UB: Forum, Fishing/Mining)
Bold picks for a newbie, and has my respect for picking some pretty tricky-to-use traits. The Rome pick, whilst far more conventional, is still an excellent pick, considering Praetorians are still as strong as ever, and I guess there's some light PHI/Forum synergy (although Forum's are kinda lackluster overall)? The main glaring weakness, however, is that there's no easy economic crutch here to exploit. 

Mr. Cairo: Suryavarman (EXP/CRE) of China (UU: Cho-ko-nu, UB: Pavilion, Agriculture/Mining)
The first of a trio of almost successive CRE picks, and this will definitely look to get off to a strong start and build from this early advantage, using both earlygame traits as well as the coveted Chinese starting techs. Not a whole lot of staying power outside of this early game, and not sure how much the Chinese civ can be used, despite how cool and unique Cho-ko-nu's are.

Cairo definitely has one of the most PB participations [alongside Pindicator], so reasons to be watchful regardless.

Superdeath: Augustus (IMP/IND) of Maya (UU: Holkan, UB: Ball Court, Mysticism/Mining)
not sure I can analyse dicerolls :D, and this looks exactly what a Random of Random pick looks like
fitting that the force of nature known as SD also transcends analysis

Pindicator: San Martin (CHA/CRE) of Greece (UU: Phalanx, UB: Odeon, Fishing/Hunting)
This is... certainly a unique pick! I'm not really seeing the logic in these picks here (strange trait pairing, imo subpar civ pick), but then again, I'm not the one picking here - and I'm sure I've missed something. I'd need to be enlightened though.

Another longtime PB player, so would be interested to try and learn what the hell this is all about

Bing: Zara Yaqob (ORG/CRE) of Mali (UU: Skirmishers, UB: Mint, Wheel/Mining)
Last but certainly not least, we have BING, with, imo, one of the better picks, especially in the 1 early/1 late vein. Skirmishers shut down any early-game aggression, and that's not gonna be fun with BING's cities spewing out Creative culture. 

Last of the inexperienced 4, did well fending off an early rush in PB61, although unfortunately got Superdeath'd in PB62.

Other assorted info:
Trait count:
CHA: 3
ORG: 3
EXP: 2
IMP: 1 + 1 random
AGG: 1
FIN: 1
SPI: 1
PHI: 1
IND: 1 random

May be worth reading some older games from the more experienced guys playing here, if only to get to maybe get a general sense of how they play? could be worthwhile, especially considering PB63 doesn't seem to be starting anytime soon

[civac2]

Did you notice that Charriu changed the Greek uu?

[Miguelito]

Fabled himself is part of the group of 4 (whats the number 4 version of triumvirate? quadrumvirate?), with little experience

Duo you like a quadriga?

Mjmd: Napoleon (ORG/CHA) of Sumeria (UU: Vulture, UB: Ziggurat, Wheel/Agriculture)
.... [My only question, is, if going for this, why not go ORG/IMP?] ...

Funny, because I was thinking the same, but looking at your pick

[JackRB]

Did you notice that Charriu changed the Greek uu?

I had noticed, looking at Greece as a potential pick, but thanks for giving me a reason to go back and check again, because I still thought it was an axe replacement! (in my defense that's exactly what it is in base game BtS) Makes a lot more sense now, and definitely a lot better than what I gave it credit for initially. Whoops.

Fabled himself is part of the group of 4 (whats the number 4 version of triumvirate? quadrumvirate?), with little experience

Duo you like a quadriga?

Mjmd: Napoleon (ORG/CHA) of Sumeria (UU: Vulture, UB: Ziggurat, Wheel/Agriculture)
.... [My only question, is, if going for this, why not go ORG/IMP?] ...

Funny,  because I was thinking the same,  but looking at your pick 

well, touché. My thin excuse is that it's exactly the same as what I picked last time

and quadriga is a cool word. there's not enough 'group-of-4' words considering the absolute abundance of 'group-of-3' words, I suppose because 3 is far more culturally significant given the perpetual ubiquity of having things in 3 groups. The number 4 needs more love imo.

[JackRB]

Well, its finally time to start the PB!

Passport for future reference:

filosofem

And here's the first turn! (and I've already made a misclick! great job me, i hate laptop trackpads, wanted to move the scout 2NE but whatever)



I start using initial setup earlier, starting on a WB, researching Agriculture. (the gems in the distance are intruiging me already!)

And now to the least most important part, the naming convention, which is going to be novelty hits/one hit wonders from the UK charts. And I'm starting off with one of my favourite novelty hits, from the '80s, which is Loadsamoney (Doin' Up The House) by comedian Harry Enfield.



It's a fantastic novelty hip hop/dance track, and while it uses one of many, fairly one-note characters he created to take the piss out of the politics of the day, it still works divorced from that through the ridiculous video, and the fact it feels like a complete and utter parody of the 80s, rather than something authentically conceived at the time. Its fun, its ridiculous, its more of a succession of dumb jokes rather than an actual song, and it got all the way to #4 in the charts in 1988.

[Miguelito]

playing with a trackpad sounds harsh. If you have to, are you using the G key to move units? Seems safer for avoiding misclicks. You culd also use numpad, if you have one.

[JackRB]

playing with a trackpad sounds harsh. If you have to, are you using the G key to move units? Seems safer for avoiding misclicks. You culd also use numpad, if you have one.

I'm only temporarily using a trackpad (midway through moving house actually -> I would definitely not recommend trying to move during December time!), so I basically know none of the civ4 hotkeys - not using G key to move stuff, might be a good idea (although the misclick came about me trying and failing to zoom into the map and try to read the tilebleed, god forbid)

I'll just move my scout beforehand next time /shrug

[Hitru]

That gems tile looks good especially if we can share some food from cap. How badly do we need commerce, is tech assumed to be the bottleneck for us?

How do you plan to get culture, is founding religion needed/important? If it is, then need to check what kind of competition we have but maybe Judaism could be founded fast enough with gems fueled eco?