[Spoliers] Oxyphenbutazone's Plays with Elephants

[Oxyphenbutazone]

I'll change the title when we pick...

[SevenSpirits]

[Oxyphenbutazone]

I reaallly want to pick Bismark of Aztecs with that start...

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Combo options:

Julius ORG IMP of Mongolia HUNT WHEE
Sury EXP CRE of Spain FISH MYST
Ramesses SPI IND of China AGRI MINE
Washington EXP CHA of Germany HUNT MINE
Bismarck EXP IND of Aztec HUNT MYST
Gandhi SPI PHI of Inca AGRI MYST
Hammy ORG AGG of France AGRI WHEE
Wang Kon FIN PRO of Zulu AGRI HUNT
Joao EXP IMP of Khmer HUNT MINE
Pericles CRE PHI of England FISH MINE

Turn order:
yuris125 - retep - wetbandit - Azza - Oxyphenbutazone

Therefore, pick order:

Oxyphenbutazone
Azza
wetbandit
retep
yuris125

Also, for some reason that is beyond my comprehension. Khmer was allowed to have ballistaphants, which pulls them from a low-mid tier civ to probably third best in the game. Now they have a broken UU that nobody even has a base copy of. Truly ridiculous.

Ok so the following combinations stand out:

Joao EXP IMP of Khmer HUNT MINE
Gandhi SPI PHI of Inca AGRI MYST
Ramesses SPI IND of China AGRI MINE
Bismarck EXP IND of Aztec HUNT MYST

Joao of Khmer has no real synergy, but both are very powerful on their own(remember WE are banned, except for ballistaphants). My start has an immediate plains hill and plains forest for a quick worker, 7 turns quick? Heh, I really am not used to quick speed I keep having to multiply or divide things by 3/2 in my head. Anyway, Joao is obviously amazing for REXing, that is slightly nerfed by the AW set up and the cramped map. Khmer has the best military UU in the game under these conditions. With all AH food, Hunting/Mining are probably the best starting techs. The worker will actually come before the AH tech, but only by a turn so he can just move to the resource.

Ghandi of Inca again is a non-synergistic, but scary combination. Non-EXP Inca is still amazing and Gandhi is a very solid leader. I'm not going to go for this, just because I'm playing Ghandi in PB11, but this will probably go second.

Ramesses of China is also very good. China cause solid UU and situationally-useful UB and you know best starting techs in the game blah blah. I really like Ramesses, SPI is very good especially on quick and IND can be useful if you leverage it properly. There's even some synergy there because Ramesses can build the best monk economy of any leader, which can be very powerful, though on a small map, not as much. Starting techs are nice for this start.

Bismark of Aztecs is probably the worst of these combinations, but it'd be the most fun for me. I really like the innate synergy between these two on a lush, high-food maps like Torusland. In short, the gameplan would be to grab basic worker techs then build the oracle, taking Metal Casting. Nobody sets up cities like Bismark. Grow to size 2, whip a granary, then grow to size 4 and whip a forge. And that works perfectly with the Aztecs whose cheaper UB is 2 pop whippable with a forge and OR bonus. Then the whip counter is set back to 3 turns. Fun stuff. Also hunting is about equal to agriculture with this start, so the atrocious Aztec starting techs aren't quite as bad here. Unfortunately, being last in turn order nerfs IND, and there are simply better combinations out there for first pick. Maybe another game.

So, if you haven't guessed yet, I'm going for Joao of Khmer, pending Seven's answer to my question in the tech thread. Out expand all of my neighbors and snap up the lions share of contested land. Then back it up with some decent military and tech up. I'll see how it goes, but it should be fun.

[Oxyphenbutazone]

So yeah, I went Joao of Khmer. Maybe not the best, but it will definitely be the most fun...

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Huh, Azza picked Wang Kong of the Zulu... that doesn't seem ideal

PRO is trash and FIN isn't amazing when you don't have that many cities. Then again neither is EXP or IMP but at least those help me get cities. Zulu is a good civ I guess. I really hope I don't start next to him and he like impi chokes me or something. Ghandi of Inca was always the best pairing here, I just didn't want to play him in two different games...

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Metagaming Post:

My 4-step plan

1. Find

2. Tech

3. Build

4. Profit?

[SevenSpirits]

Hopefully your plan also includes hunting and horseback riding?

[Commodore]

Hopefully your plan also includes hunting and horseback riding?

Well, he started with Hunting....

[SevenSpirits]

Hopefully your plan also includes hunting and horseback riding?

Well, he started with Hunting....

I'm the mapmaker, I do what I want!