[SPOILERS] The Reverend Suryavarman II of Babylon

[The Reverend Doctor]

Welcome to the home of my journey through RB PBEM #6!

Leading this great Babylonian civilization to glory is the mighty Suryavarman II. Who, if google image search is to be believed, looked like this.




Kick back and enjoy the ride, that guy sure is!

Unless of course you're one of the heathen civilizations I'll be conquering. If so, please return after said events have occurred.

[The Reverend Doctor]

So now that we've got a filler first post out of the way. Let's move onto the pre-game analysis behind the civ and leader picks.

Not that there really was much, but I can edit this if I win and pretend it was all because of some expert planning and skill.

The game setup is that we know basically nothing about the map, except huts and events are on, I have 4 opponents, and spying is limited to point-allocation and passive-graph-looking-at only.

First: my pick. Suryavarman (which I think I can spell from memory now!) of Babylon.

I was first (and last) in our snake pick. Which meant with the first choice I could do almost anything I wanted, I just couldn't count on having what I wanted to pair the first pick with after 8 other selections. Any leader that was Financial or Philosophical was forbidden in our game, which narrowed the choices significantly.

With this in mind I thought about what other traits are good to have. You guys have all heard the analysis before.... I decided that the boost to early growth and cheap libraries/free border pops of Expansive/Creative Sury was just the ticket for a noob like me.


He's kind of jaundiced looking... but he'll do.
I also loved this totally unsubstantiated claim about him on wikipedia "During his decades in power, the king reunited the empire, reversing many of the benign policies of his predecessor." Remind me to severely reverse some benign policies!

Since I rarely have played MP Civ (although I was well-versed in CIV II hot-seat action!) I'm not sure I've ever played a game with Sury. I rarely use unrestricted leaders and the usual UU and UB he's paired up really didn't do anything for me. I'll be learning as I go how to leverage his traits best.

When the pick got back to me I noticed a few aggressive choices on the board! (we'll get to that more later) I never had a good idea who I wanted to pair with sury. (I think) The only unique granary replacement, the terrace, was pointless being creative and all. So, for the tiniest bit of synergy, I figured a colosseum replacement (that I get half off) would be alright since I should probably get to that tech and catapults quickly seeing as I might have super Praets and Berserkers on my doorstep at some point. Thus, Babylon it was!


Also, I didn't see that CIV/Leader combo in any of the other games I follow and it's always nice to do something a little different.

My UB:


The Garden

Basically a colosseum with a couple extra health. Which, in addition to being expansive, will hopefully mean I never want for health in my cities. colosseums are often not worth building but half off with creative and with two health they might be a staple across my empire.

My UU:


The Bowman

An archer who gets an extra 50% against melee units. I'm hoping even against praets these hold up ok with creative culture bonus + inherent city bonus. Nothing great but useful.

Next (maybe) the other teams...

[The Reverend Doctor]

Let's take a look at the competition:

Athlete - Shaka of Viking
Jowy - Boudica of Rome
Nakor - Zara Yaqob of Byzantium
SevenSpirits - Isabella of India


Shaka of Viking


The first of two aggressive picks was Athlete with this selection. I don't think I've ever seen berserkers in action... but if this map has enough water this combo could make for a devastating sneak attack by sea. All boats with an extra movement, and aggressive macemen that don't suffer the amphibious attack penalty! I might want to think about a sentry net on the water too.


Boudica of Rome


Jowy also picked a beat-'em-up combo. Aggressive, more easily promoted praetorians are going to be a major threat for many turns. Well, at least I think Jowy made this pick for the UU and not forums... Hopefully I'm just not the person closest to Rome when those guys are on the scene.

Hopefully Athlete/Jowy/Nakor don't revive their alliance from RBPB#2! Anyone else secretly think they wanted to make absolutely sure their wars of aggression don't fail in this game like they did in that one and picked those combos to help? Maybe they'll just start on an island together and I can tech their UUs into obsolescence.


Zara Yaqob of Byzantium


Another pick with a bad ass UU! The only other creative leader.. so I'll have to remember that my borders won't automatically beat his back like I hope they will everyone else. At least Byzantium's starting techs are pretty lame with the wheel and mysticism (I believe). Since we know nothing about the map, an ORG leader could be a great pick or totally pointless. The difficulty/world wrap will tell us that on day 1.


Isabella of India


Ah Isabella, a foe I love to hate. Obviously not being controlled by the AI, perhaps I can actually have good diplomacy despite differing religious beliefs. Other than myself, SevenSpirits is the only member of this group who wasn't in RBPB#2. Seven picked India with the first choice and grabbed an expansive leader to get those fast workers out quickly. He'll probably do pretty well in the very beginning of the game. Spiritual would've probably been better if we had played this game on quick speed... maybe he'll try for a bit of a monk economy.

So it seems 3 of my 4 opponents picked leader/civ combos that would grant them some fire power. Perhaps the course of action will be to lay low until the Renaissance period is over and strike when all the UUs are obsolete. Only time will tell. I suppose my plan is to formulate a strategy as we proceed. Knowing nothing about the map I don't want to decide something now and hang on to it even if it's to my detriment.

Perhapos soon I'll have a picture of the start and I can begin making terrible moves you'll be dying to change! Try to resist the urge... but do feel free to comment on stuff you can.

[The Reverend Doctor]

Just a reminder of everyone's starting techs (mostly as a reference for myself)

Sury of Babylon (me) - the wheel/agriculture

Shaka of Viking (athelete) - fishing/hunting

Boudica of Rome (jowy) - fishing/mining

Zara of Byzantium - the wheel/mysticism

Isabella of India - mining/mysticism


Thoughts:
I think my civ pick yielded the best starting techs. I'm also glad there are at least two civs that start with mysticism. Hopefully they'll get a bit antsy about beating the other to a religion and research them first, but they're probably smarter than that. Also worth remembering that Athlete starts with a scout.

[pocketbeetle]

Lurker checking in.
Looking good so far, liking that you've gone for a more unusual civ/leader combination.

Quick question: there are two other types of Colosseum replacement UBs, the Greek's Odeon and the Mayan's Ball Court.
Did you consider them, and if so, why did you reject them?

[The Reverend Doctor]

Lurker checking in.
Looking good so far, liking that you've gone for a more unusual civ/leader combination.

Quick question: there are two other types of Colosseum replacement UBs, the Greek's Odeon and the Mayan's Ball Court.
Did you consider them, and if so, why did you reject them?

Welcome!

I did consider both of those choices, and might have chosen the ball court's +2 happy over the garden's +2 health if not for the fact that the very last pick came to me so I'd seen the possibilities of aggressive berserkers and praetorians on the attack.

Perhaps it was too reactionary a choice. But I figured any attack against me would not be chariot based, so Maya and Greece's UUs were largely pointless.
Not that bowmen are going to be great against those units.... but with cities' defensive bonuses they might make worthy cannon fodder.

[The Reverend Doctor]

BAM!

And we've begun!

Here's what I found upon opening the save.


I'll try to remember to turn the resource pointer on...

First move was to put the warrior on the forested hill south. He didn't see too much of interest. Founded in place.


A barb city! If there are a bunch of archers in there I'm researching sailing and going for that land to the southeast.

Maybe this could be a blessing in disguise? Will the barbs elsewhere travel through that city to get at me? At least my capital and even that city seem to be easily defended at choke points.

I think my starting techs (agri and the wheel) work well with the surroundings. Hunting will open up Archery which i'll want ASAP. And it will let me improve two resources right at my capital. AND it will give me a discount for AH. I'll probably go hunting/animal husbandry first. This may or may not be a good idea.


Inside the capital.

Thoughts?

I'm thinking our starts must be fairly mirrored. They wouldn't box me in a with a barb city and not everyone.

...Right?

[The Reverend Doctor]

Turn 3 is finished and VII's border's popped!

Let me show you what's been unveiled.


A view of the landmass to the southeast.
Nothing to write home about... figured I'd be tempted with a hut or something!

My warrior is trudging west to investigate the barb city...


...Which now appears to be on a hill.

At least it looks like I could sneak by if nothing were to attack me out of the city.

[The Reverend Doctor]

So I forgot about turn 0 and I guess now Turn 3 is finished.

About as much crunching the numbers you'll get out of me:

Look! Everyone founded the first turn.

More importantly... look what our warrior revealed in the barb city.



Good news:
-Just one warrior on a hill. Archery could be my next tech and a bowman gets better than 75% on that warrior with full fortify bonus.
-Looks like a pretty good city site.

Bad news:
-I can't sneak my warrior around for scouting... I guess he doesn't have much to do for the moment.

Here's hoping that barb city grows before I come to take it! If it's still at size 1 with no culture when I have a couple bowmen lined up I'm not sure what to do. Raze it and get it over with? Or perhaps save the cost of a settler and wait it out?

Stay tuned.

[T-hawk]

Here's hoping that barb city grows before I come to take it! If it's still at size 1 with no culture when I have a couple bowmen lined up I'm not sure what to do. Raze it and get it over with? Or perhaps save the cost of a settler and wait it out?

In the Apolyton demogame, we had this question. We chose to wait until the barb city grew in order to keep it, and we were happy with that decision.

Can you see what tile the city is working (there will be a little graphical hut or something on the tile) and judge when it will grow based on that?