Okay, so I’ll start with my general thoughts on the game, the competition, my reasons for selecting Augustus, and how I intend to play the game.
The Game
So. We have highlands with raging barbs & quick speed. No financial or philo civs, and tech trading is off. I’m pretty happy with this setup, particularly because it fortuitously happens to closely mimic the basic settings I’ve been using for a several recent single-player Fall From Heaven II games. Obviously playing unmodded BTS with actual people will be a far different experience, but the basic geography and principles for early barb defense should be fairly similar. Noble level barbs aren’t very tough, raging or otherwise- the main issue will be dealing with the constant pillaging if I let things get out of hand. I start with mining, so early Bronzeworking will be likely, if obvious, target.
I’ll have more to actually say about the map once I explore it some of course.
The Other Guys
Twinkletoes, Bismark: Alas, someone else had to go and pick Industrious… a wonder-heavy strategy seems likely from him. When we meet I may want to look into working out an arrangement with him that has us divide up the rights to certain wonders. We’ll see. I doubt that there will be much in the way of military aggression from him, at least early on. His creation of a “please help give me basic Civ strategy!” thread suggests that he perhaps isn’t particularly skilled, but I’m not going to underestimate someone before we even get to turn 1.
Scooter, Zara: I briefly considered choosing Zara, but decided not to on the grounds that he and his civ are boring. That was pretty much all the reason I needed to rule him out, which says a fair amount about my attitude toward this game. It’s a builder choice, using secondary econ traits to make up for the loss of the Big Two. Ormo warriors seem like they’re really annoying to fight against, but thankfully muskets obsolete rapidly, especially on quick speed. He’s in PB3 with Sandover, but if you’re looking for some spoilers regarding that game, look elsewhere
Timmy827, Suryavarman: Uh, pretty much see my comments for Zara above, except that poor Sury/Timmy lacks the advantage of a decent UU. Or any, for that matter. Lame builder leader, lame builder building; a sensible choice. Sensible is boring
I don’t know much at all about Timmy as a player; I think this is the only RB mp game he’s currently participating in.
Sandover, Hatshepsut(?): Not sure at this time if Sandover is sticking with Egypt… If he does, yet another builder civ chosen more for leader traits than any other reason. His UU is a dangerous one, and I’m fully aware that I’m a tempting target with my oh-so-scary UU, so if I meet him early on and he’s close by, I may need to work some diplo magic to allay any temptation on his part to take an early swing at me.
SleepingMoogle, Brennus: Saved the best for last
– literally, actually; I think Moogle is the most dangerous player in the field, from what I’ve observed of his abilities (assessment subject to sudden revision). Moogle is skilled with micromanagement, and I don’t foresee much chance of outbuilding him early on. His leader isn’t a great builder choice though; I wouldn’t be surprised if he went for early religion, but otherwise Brennus seems weak. The UB and UU normally suck; they’ll be a bit stronger with the tons of hills that the Highlands script produces, but they also come pretty late to try to launch a choke. He might consider going to Guerrilla II for fast movement all over the map, but Highlands also generally has a lot of forests, which will slow him down. The elephant in the room is of course my participation with him in PB3, but I know that he’s a competitor here, and he gets no special treatment. Other players might not feel the same way though, so I’ll need to keep that in mind with diplomacy.
Interesting that no one went for an aggressive leader or Asoka. Asoka was my second choice, the traits are average but the fast worker is invaluable on quick speed- except I’m terrible at micro, and I had/have no interest in planning out every worker move 20 turns in advance for maximum efficiency. Ah well, I had other reasons for selecting Augustus anyway, which I’ll get into…
My Leader Choice
Now. So before selecting a leader, I identified three major areas that will be important to exploit with a leader / civ given the current map settings. Those are:
- Tech potential. With the two arguably best tech traits gone, civs are going to need to look to abilities like Creative and Organized as alternatives. Obviously this fact occurred to all of my competitors, as their choices almost universally reflect tech-oriented characteristics. No tech trading makes keeping up pace even more important than usual.
- Military potential. Kind of self-evident, while having advanced units is critical, having
good ones also has substantial advantages. Moogle is the only person in the game besides me with any military-oriented traits, which is curious.
- Long-term potential. Less important than the other two, but still worth considering- here I mean the ability of a civ and/or leader to remain useful even into the late game. Both PBEM1 and PB1 went or have gone into the modern ages; eventually the games reach a point where economic traits become less useful and innate bonuses more due to diminishing returns of abilities like Philo. Thus if they can stay alive into the modern age, civs like Tokugawa and Monty can once again become real terrors. Now without allies to boost me in tech actually dragging myself into the modern age will be a challenge enough, but it’s still a factor I looked into. Timmy’s civ seems to be set to take advantage of the late-game, whether by design or simply as a byproduct of getting his preferred leader.
So with all that in mind, I chose Augustus because he, and Rome, are flexible. For economic purposes I have Industrious and a 4th of a philo trait thanks to my UB. If I can get lucky with some wonders than I can further boost my civ through the addition of pseudo-traits. Imperialistic isn’t a great economic trait, but it will ensure that I have the advantage in any early land grab. I may wish to consider making a serious effort at the great wall, which will end the problem with barbs and which has some synergy with Imp, but I would rather not waste GP points on a semi-useless spy.
Imperialistic is a decent military trait, but more importantly my civ has the all-mighty Praetorian. Okay, so it’s not that overwhelming without the addition of aggressive, but it’s still a mighty fine unit. I have no intention of any early rush (although I’m not going to rule one out); the unit is also an excellent defender, and can help make up some if I start to develop a tech deficit, at least until maces hit the scene. The Praet fits in pretty well with my goal of a versatile civ.
As for long-term potential, how well my civ does here depends on how much use I can get out of my other traits. If I can generate & settle several Great Generals by exploiting Imperialistic, then I can get the game-long advantage of the a ad-hoc aggressive trait. Same if I can swing permanent wonders like Notre dame. If I fail to do so, then Imp and Ind are kind of crappy late-game traits, so oh well
My Strategy
Well, flexibility is obviously part of it. Like I’ve noted somewhere above, I don’t really have much patience for intense micro, so don’t expect to see anything like that here. In PB3 I’m my team’s chief diplomat, which I’d like to think is my best ability. I surely intend to make use of it here as well, but PB3 takes priority for me, so if I’m in a time crunch then that game will get most of my efforts. In regular Civ single player I can win consistently at Emperor, so I’m not totally clueless or anything, but I assure you that this thread will not be lacking in weed.
I go into this game with few preconceived plans. I could play as a mercenary, selling cheap settlers and other units. I could try to get an early Stonehenge, bulb religions, and experiment with a holy economy. I could just mass Praets and throw them at people. Perhaps some combination thereof. Who can say; much of the fun is in not knowing just what will happen
Oh and for the all-important Theme of my civ- I will be representing the Universal Union of Dr. Breenchillingworth. Which means Half Life, for those unaware
I might indulge in some other Valve properties as well if I start to run out of names, or get bored, or something.
So yeah, I obviously like to type a lot. Uh, comments are welcome & encouraged!
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, but it only took 3 turns, and I think the extra security is worth it, as I do intend to send my 1st warrior far from my borders on a long-term and inevitably fatal scouting mission.
Nice work there.