[PB56] Lazteuq's Cool Facts about Space

[Lazteuq]

[¡NO PB56 PLAYERS!]




Against my better judgement, I've joined another pitboss!
The turn reports will have cool space facts for your lurking pleasure. So even if my gameplay is boring and/or downright disgraceful, you can learn something.

Being a grad student in electrical engineering is pretty intense, so don't expect any fantastically detailed micro from me. However, I will at least make sure to always have an overall plan for the game. In other words, my plan is to have plans.

Pick thoughts:

• On one hand, I want something low-effort. I guess CRE and ORG are probably the lowest-effort traits....?
  
• On the other hand, I kinda like PHI. Maybe I'll grab Pericles again and try to improve on my PB51 choices...
  
• For the civ, I don't know. I'll just have to decide based on the starting screenshot.
  

Later, I'll post some thoughts on what I learned from PB51.

[superdeath]

Later, I'll post some thoughts on what I learned from PB51.

is one of these things, dont invade me?

[Lazteuq]

is one of these things, dont invade me?

Ha, maybe. PB49, 50, 51, and 52 have all demonstrated that you are hard to kill.  But I still think I could have succeeded, if I hadn't accepted open borders with you, and if I hadn't so foolishly thrown my knight stacks into the meatgrinder.
I guess the bigger lesson learned is that I should have tried to take on Plemo instead of you. I'm still not sure how though.

[superdeath]

pb49 isnt a good "omg superdeath defended well!" game. pb50 isnt imo either.

Could give you a list of the occasional times where i dont just get run over :P

[shallow_thought]

Against my better judgement, I've joined another pitboss!
The turn reports will have cool space facts for your lurking pleasure. So even if my gameplay is boring and/or downright disgraceful, you can learn something.

Well, if everyone quit afte one PB, the forum would be quite dull. I enjoyed reading your thread lsat time and look forward to seeing how you do in this one.

What are your thoughts on how the changes in CTH might affect your picks?

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

I assume your facts will be a little more serious  .

[Lazteuq]

Thanks for reading, Shallow_Thought. Here are some CtH thoughts:

• I like the PHI buff.
  
• I don't think the CRE nerf is too harsh, so CRE still looks good in my eyes.
  
• I'm kinda interested in AGG. However, since so much offensive warfare on RB is done with mounted units, I feel like AGG is pretty defensive. Sort of like the deterrent value of protective. Well, maybe I want that.
  
• I like the Serfdom change enough that I might actually use it, and I think it has some synergy with PHI because you want more farms and less cottages. However, I think Slavery is still so good that I would need SPI to make Serfdom work. And SPI sounds like the opposite of low-effort.
  

I don't have much else to say yet, I'll mess around in singleplayer a bit.

I assume your facts will be a little more serious  .

I do really like that book series, but yeah these will be more like space physics facts.

[shallow_thought]

Thanks for reading, Shallow_Thought. Here are some CtH thoughts:

• I like the PHI buff.
  
• I don't think the CRE nerf is too harsh, so CRE still looks good in my eyes.
  
• I'm kinda interested in AGG. However, since so much offensive warfare on RB is done with mounted units, I feel like AGG is pretty defensive. Sort of like the deterrent value of protective. Well, maybe I want that.
  
• I like the Serfdom change enough that I might actually use it, and I think it has some synergy with PHI because you want more farms and less cottages. However, I think Slavery is still so good that I would need SPI to make Serfdom work. And SPI sounds like the opposite of low-effort.
  

I don't have much else to say yet, I'll mess around in singleplayer a bit.

I assume your facts will be a little more serious  .

I do really like that book series, but yeah these will be more like space physics facts.

I feel your analysis is pretty sound. I've not really played a lot of PHI, but if you liked it in BTS, it's clearly better in CtH. And yeah, SPI is definitely buffed by the Serfdom changes, but it doesn't help much with early expansion and is famously hard work. But then, my understanding is that so is PHI - it seems to reward lots of careful forward planning for bulbs, as well as being dependent on setting up your cities for it from the start.

Personally, I always find it quite hard to get to Currency without FIN or (in CtH - although I'd have to check the exact state of this in the latest version) PRO. But PHI can definitely help with that.

CRE is just nice, even with the small nerf. As you say, it just makes dot-mapping less fraught, gets you visibility, helps keep the opposing stacks further away from your cities in peacetime. The cheap (ish) libraries do mesh well with PHI. I myself quite like CHA, with the cheap monuments, but it's not the same thing - just a convenient, low-hammer way of getting slow border expansion, losing badly in a straight face-off with a CRE plant (although the extra happy is obviously nice, and the XP thing keeps giving all game).

I would say that IMP has been very popular in recent games. The stable boost is only a small sweetener, but with EXP losing the worker bonus it's probably the strongest of the REX traits. Cheaper, easier settlers (that two-pop whip is very nice) translates into more and better city sites, more build queues, spare hammers to build troops to hold them. It sounds as if this map might be a bit more spacious than some have been, which may make it a touch less powerful though.

[superdeath]

[Lazteuq]

I got first in the snake pick, so I grabbed Byzantium. Cataphracts are just so nice. I've played some singleplayer a few months ago with them and it was great fun.
I guess the downside of Byzantium normally is the starting techs, but I'm not concerned by that here. Wet corn and dry rice means I'll have a decent amount of food just from Agriculture alone. Then, I'm not sure what is best. Starting with The Wheel means the worker will always be able to do something useful. I might go straight to Mining-BW and temporarily ignore the clams. Maybe the first settler will be chopped+whipped at size 4? I'll have to sim it to see if the timing works.

More thoughts:
-That stone is wonder bait, and I might just fall for it and take IND and/or PHI, trying to secure Pyramids. However, I'm assuming Superdeath gave everyone else stone/marble at their starts as well. I wonder if a lot of people will be taking IND...
-This map looks pretty wet around my start, so FIN looks better because of the 3commerce coast tiles.
-With 11 players, the game will most likely extend well into the renaissance, so ORG and SPI look better.
I'm last in the pick order for leader traits, so I won't think too hard about it just yet.

Edit: Shallow_Thought, I like your thinking about the value of CRE. I'm also very comfortable playing with CRE (maybe its a crutch).
Although I don't have much experience with IMP, the stable boost does synergize with cataphracts. This might be a good time for me to give IMP a try.

[superdeath]

Edit: Shallow_Thought, I like your thinking about the value of CRE. I'm also very comfortable playing with CRE (maybe its a crutch).
Although I don't have much experience with IMP, the stable boost does synergize with cataphracts. This might be a good time for me to give IMP a try.

If i could have a 3rd trait on ANY leader, it would personally be CRE. Not having to worry about border pops is just so nice.