Gandhi of France II - Assuming Direct Control

[oledavy]

Ah Yes, "Reapers"

[scooter]

Are you planning on updating this at a rate comparable to PB6? If so, I may ded-lurk.

Edit: first post STOLEN.

[oledavy]

The end of Pitboss Six:



PBEM38:

The Normandy Reborn

Let's see if we can't hold the line this time around

[oledavy]

Edit: first post STOLEN.

Oye, you're fast.

Are you planning on updating this at a rate comparable to PB6? If so, I may ded-lurk.

I'm going to try. Would be great to have you aboard

[hinaru_23]

Ded-lurking with considerable interest. Although I won't be of much use considering I'm fairly busy and I suck at cIV...

Looking forward to another game to lurk

[oledavy]

Ded-lurking with considerable interest.

Awesome

[oledavy]

So, just going to be completely up front here, I'm almost certainly going to lose this game, for two reasons.

Reason #1 - My Pick

Gandhi of France is rather weak compared to the rest of the selections in this game. The pick isn't particularly synergistic in and of itself; and the only synergy coming from pairing Philosophical with the free artist from the Salon. The reason we had this pick for PB6 was because we needed a Gandhi player to produce great people, and we wanted French musketeers. This pick was designed to function as part of a larger team - as a cog in a clock - not to stand by itself. Now that's not to say Gandhi of France isn't a strong pairing for a medieval start. However, for an ancient start, not having any expansion trait (exp, cre, imp) is going to really hurt. Going against three financial leaders and Izzy is going to be a tall order. Gandhi simply doesn't have the early game expansion potential of Izzy, or the late game economic strength of Darius, Huyana Capac or Victoria. Musketeers are a strong UU, but lacking AGG and so far away in the tech tree, hardly noteworthy. Salons are such a meh UB they barely need mention. Observatories are expensive and free artists are hardly going to make or break my game. The redeeming aspect of France are it's starting techs, the wheel and agriculture. Overall though, I'm working with the weakest pairing in this game.

Reason #2 - I Play Weak Ancient Era Openings

Brief history of my games on RB:

PBEM17: Took over on t87.
PBEM25v: I only played the initial couple dozen turns.
PB6: Took over on 117 (t37), Medieval Start.
PBEM30: Medieval Start.

Since getting into serious MP gaming, I have never had to completely play through an ancient era opening and hone my skills. In the two games I did complete, I took over for someone else at some point. Consequently, it is the weakest part of my game. Not saying I am a complete noob at this. You're just probably not going to see the same level of optimization that Gaspar/NH are going to achieve.

So, now that I've finished being gloomy, how am I going to try to win this game?

Basically, Izzy is going to out expand me, then the financial leaders will stomp me into a GNP hole late game with their mature cottage economies. There is only one way I am competitive, which is running full-blown specialist economy. With any luck, I can achieve a tech lead and military advantage mid-game through bulbing (guilds and military tradition come to mind), and then go kill someone to acquire more land. SE is my preferred method of play, so this will be in my comfort zone. I'm just not sure if I can run a tight enough one to pull out a victory here against three financial civs. If ever a leader pick screamed "I need the pyramids!" this is it. Unfortunately, I may have to compete with an IND civ to get them. If I do manage to land them for representation, I'll feel significantly better about my chances to win this game. If I miss them, however, then my game plan really goes to seed. So, the early game is going to be an all or nothing rush to the pyramids. After that, I'll reassess. If nothing else, it should turn into a fun ride

[scooter]

Still deciding on ded-lurking - I'd like to and I haven't read other threads yet, but there's just so many good reporters in this game. We'll see if I can resist temptation.

In the meantime, are you thinking rush/pray for stone for Pyramids or do the Oracle-> MC -> forge engineer route?

[Shoot the Moon]

While I agree your civ/leader is the weakest, I wouldn't worry too much about the inexperience with the start of ancient era. Honestly in my experience unless you are getting choked it just comes down to doing your simulations/WB sandboxing thoroughly. As long as you are willing and able to put in the time you can get a pretty good opening just by doing the work necessary wih sims.

[oledavy]

Still deciding on ded-lurking - I'd like to and I haven't read other threads yet, but there's just so many good reporters in this game. We'll see if I can resist temptation.

Can't say I blame you. This game has some really great personalities who update frequently. If I wasn't playing, I would probably lurk globally. NH and Gaspar's chats alone would make it worth it

In the meantime, are you thinking rush/pray for stone for Pyramids or do the Oracle-> MC -> forge engineer route?

It's going to depend on the situation that confronts me in game, mostly if there is stone in the vicinity or not. I'm partial to the Oracle/MC/Forge/Engineer play, especially since I'm PHI and can get that engineer out the gate more quickly. However, it's too early to make a definitive decision on how to approach it.

While I agree your civ/leader is the weakest, I wouldn't worry too much about the inexperience with the start of ancient era. Honestly in my experience unless you are getting choked it just comes down to doing your simulations/WB sandboxing thoroughly. As long as you are willing and able to put in the time you can get a pretty good opening just by doing the work necessary wih sims.

Never had the patience for doing extensive WB sims in the past, we'll see if I can't develop that skill for this game. Since my entire game is going to revolve around batting the pyramids, it would definitely behoove me to micro everything very precisely up to that point.