[Spoilers] Dantski plays Rhoanna of Hippus

[Dantski]

I don't know if I need to put a bunch of useless text at the start of a thread or not since the forum move but here goes with some of my thoughts on the football (or soccer if you prefer) world cup.

Group A

Brazil
Mexico
Croatia
Cameroon

A deceptively strong group, Brazil are the clear favourites to progress but they aren't widely expected to win their home tournament after some less than stellar results over the past couple of years. I'm picking Mexico to finish runners up as they're usually a very solid team that doesn't get torn apart, with Hernandez up front they can always sneak goals. Croatia can beat anyone on their day however and shouldn't be discounted, I think they aren't working as well as a team right now though. I don't know too much about this Cameroon team but if they still have Eto'o (sp?) as their main goal threat I think they'll struggle.

Group B

Spain
Netherlands
Chile
Australia

I think anyone who's not Chilean will predict the 2 European teams topping the group, Chile are a good team though and could earn draws vs Spain and Netherlands if they stay compact and disciplined (this is the main problem for Chile IMO). Australia are unfortunately the whipping boys and will do well to get a single point. I think Spain are no longer unbeatable and the Dutch may top the group.

Group C

Colombia
Ivory Coast
Greece
Japan

One of the weakest groups, Colombia did well in qualifying but haven't done anything in a major tournament for a long time and frankly are fortunate to be so high in the world rankings. So its good for them that they avoided a strong European team and if they want to be taken seriously they need to top this group. Ivory Coast aren't the same threat as they were a few years ago with Drogba being older, but I would tip them to get slightly better results than the next 2. Greece are a solid but unspectacular team, they have no world class players but will rely on strong teamwork and a bit of luck to win or draw matches. Japan typically underachieve every tournament when they should be at least as strong as S.Korea, with one of their best players Kagawa not starting regularly at Man Utd, I don't expect them to have a happy WC.

Group D

Italy
Uruguay
England
Costa Rica

Maybe I'm just negative but as an Englishman I don't see England making it out of this group. Italy dominated England in the Euro's and although they aren't the best team themselves, I think they're good enough to get 2 wins in this group. Uruguay did well in the last WC and I wouldn't be surprised to see them replicate that performance. With some very talented individuals and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win, they could even top the group. England were unbeaten in qualification, but lost both recent friendlies at home, their main problem seems to be keeping possession and scoring goals at major tournaments and this is unlikely to change. Costa Rica might be able to scramble a 0-0 draw with England but are unlikely to achieve much more.

Group E

France
Switzerland
Ecuador
Honduras

Considering France struggled mightily to even make the tournament, they'll be delighted with the perfect draw. They won't be winning the WC but this group should be a cakewalk for them. Switzerland are bizarrely one of the highest ranked European teams (ahead of Italy and Netherlands???) but I'd expect them to have a tight game with Ecuador to decide who comes 2nd. I know very little about the Ecuador or Honduras teams.

Group F

Argentina
Bosnia
Nigeria
Iran

Easiest group to pick a winner from, if Argentina don't win all 3 group games they underachieved. After that its a tossup between Bosnia and Nigeria, I'm favouring Bosnia because they looked surprisingly good in qualifying. Expect Iran to put in a similar performance to N.Korea in the last WC. Their game with Argentina could see a lot of goals.

Group G

Germany
Portugal
USA
Ghana

Germany are my pick to win the WC so I naturally have to put them top of the group, I think they have strong individual talent backed up by the ever present German teamwork. After than its tricky to call, Portugal look to be utterly reliant on Ronaldo and that may be enough to get them into the last 16 but their game with USA might go either way. USA are solid but got a tough group, Ghana come last because I don't know anything about their current team.

Group H

Belgium
S.Korea
Russia
Algeria

Belgium are probably the most widely predicted team to fall flat on their faces this WC, they have plenty of well known players and they comfortably won their qualifying group, they've got 2 difficult games with S.Korea and Russia but you'd expect them to win 1 of them. S.Korea have a fairly good WC record and seem to have a knack of making it into the elimination rounds so I'm predicting they finish above Russia. The Russians can't be discounted but they are so unpredictable its hard to know what team will show up, they can top this group and cause major upsets if they're on their game but equally could lose to Algeria and go home with nil points. Algeria make every WC it seems and never make it out of the groups, expect more of the same from them.


My top 3 picks to win the tournament

1. Germany
2. Spain
3. Argentina

[Dantski]

Alright my picks and a look at everyone elses. I did briefly consider picking Decius/Decius/Decius but that's only for trolling sake and probably wouldn't be fun.

1. Rhoanna / Hippus

Hippus are a solid Civ to pick since they start with Agriculture (although Crafting is the best beaker wise), have a great world spell for fighting, get more mobile mercs and have +1 movement on mounted units. The downside is you can't build Alchemy labs later in the game (Sorcery) and can't get Cannons are Arquebus' at Blasting Powder. Also their hero Magnadine comes too late in the game at Warhorses. Overall they're ok but not really one of the best civs.

Financial / Expansive however makes Rhoanna one of the best leaders and this is why I had her as my first pick. Financial is always strong and the double speed markets will help finance the quicker cities you can get out by being Expansive. I really think after like 3 private games that Expansive is the one trait I prize most in FFH, the double production speed of naturally expensive settlers is awesome and much stronger than Imperialistic settlers in normal Civ. I was actually looking for a Expansive/Creative leader but FFH doesn't have any of those.

2. Cardith Lorda / Kuriotates

Less detail now since I won't be playing these other picks, Kuriotates can be a nightmare to play if your land is low quality but they excel with fertile river valleys and the leader is strong too with Philosophical/Expansive/Adaptive. This probably should've been my first pick but I was wary of playing them without much experience even though I could've got my Cre/Exp combo.

3. Falamar / Lanun

Wait Falamar? You idiot! Why not Hannah?!

Because I love expansive and value it more highly than Financial (even with Lanun). This is just a personal preference thing on my part and I'm not saying my pick is better...

So clam down

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUmDuPVsWg0

Also since I'm not a warmonger I'd prefer Charismatic over Raiders for the extra happiness and stuff!

Everyone knows the Lanun are hideously strong techers so I don't need to go on about that.

So about the other players.


Sian, Flauros (Fin/Org) Calabim

Vampires blah blah blah. Flauros gets to Vamps faster than the other Calabim leaders but has no combat bonuses. Solid choice but one I made sure to avoid after the AI randomed me 2 games of Calabim in a row. I think Sian is one of the weaker players in the game (hey just like me!). Flauros is probably the next best leader after the Lanun for coastal starts since he starts with Exploration and has Fin/Org traits. I expect Sian to play passively until Vamps.

Bob, Faeryl (Arc/Rai) Svartalfar

Faeryl was on my list of leaders I was considering but I felt she fell short of others. The main problem with this pick is the only non warlike benefit you get is faster mage guilds and xp on arcane units. So I think Bob is looking to get Adepts at least then start warring. He might even wait until Sorcery so he can get fireballs to knock down city defences as even Sinister hunters will struggle to beat archers with the blur promotion. Overall this is a bit of a weak pick but Bob is one of the stronger players in the game and has a reasonable chance of overcoming the handicap he's given himself. His other picks were Flauros and Thessa so I think Bob was looking for a Vampire game with a Magic game as backup.

GreyWolf, Varn (Spi/Cre) Malakim

If this was unrestricted I maybe have chosen Varn myself but the Malakim start with Ancient Chants which IMO is the weakest starting tech. Varn is a good leader and the Malakim are a good civ if you don't fall behind early on. I know nothing about GreyWolf but this looks like a builder choice to me. A wild guess says he might be trying to use Desert Shrines on his way to an Altar victory but hard to say. His other picks were Dain and Hannah so I think he is definitely looking to build.

Ellimist, Perpentach (Cre/Chm/Arc/Insane) Balseraphs

Too many damn Perpy games put me off the Perpster, its hard to plan too far ahead with your traits changing at random times but that also makes him a big threat. There were 2 big things I didn't want to face this game, one was the Illians which no-one picked and secondly was Loki. Well he's far less of an issue in games not involving AI's but he's still a pain. I think its impossible to predict how Ellim will play this but since there's a reasonable chance he'll get aggressive traits at some point I wouldn't put it past him to go a-conquering. AFAIK Ellim is an alright but not great player. His other picks were Decius of Calabim and Jonas which suggests he's looking to bash some heads.

Predicted strength of others in this game.

1. Ellimist, I think his Civ/leader is better than Bob's
2. Bob, would be 1st with a stronger leader and Civ
3. GreyWolf, I don't know him but he may be a stronger player than Sian
4. Sian, the least intimidating player and I don't think he'll be unmanageable even with Vamps.


If you hadn't guessed by my picks, I'm looking to not fall behind on tech and stuff this game. Also picked more "seriously" than in my previous games and not looking to RP.

[Dantski]

Just for fun I'm going to try and keep track of player relations in this post in a AI kind of way.

Bob -2 DEAD

-2 I feel an evil presence watching me...


Ellimist -5 Annoyed

-3 You declared war on us
-2 Your diplomacy left a bitter taste in the mouth


GreyWolf +1 Cautious

+1 You aren't Ellimist

Sian 0 DEAD

[Ilios]

Your post-fu has improved, young Dantski.

[Dantski]

Your post-fu has improved, young Dantski.

Actually its pretty standard for me to put 90% of my thread effort in before the game starts.

Not sure how long we'll have to wait for Merovech to make the map, regardless he'll have the first picture of the thread.

[Dantski]

Judging by the absurd number of views in Sian's thread I'm guessing he might be rushing Hyborem or something.

....

Well I've got nothing else to do while we wait for the game to start.

[Dantski]

Hooray first turn, lets see what the mapmaker has screwed me over with (I mean generously given me).



So Agriculture, Fishing and Hunting resources.

My initial thoughts are.

1. Move west with settler and stay on coast. Probably onto one of the plains tiles.
2. Stay in place and settle on Ivory. I think it gives me a 2 hammer plant but the city will have zero production other than that.

So moved scout 2W (on diagonals for extra vision) and warrior 1NE.



No hills in sight so I think I have multiple options.

1. Settle in place, who needs production right?...Right? Seems like the spot with the most riverside tiles.
2. Settle 1W on the plains tile. Allows me to work the wheat tile 3 turns earlier and gives me at least a 1/2/1 Ivory tile to work for production before Hunting. It does reduce the number of riverside cottages available.
3. Settle 1SW on the grassland tile. Possibility of a resource in fog but has the fewest river tiles in BFC.
4. Settle 1 NW on grassland tiles, chance of seafood on 2 fogged tiles but I have a strong possibility of not being able to hook up that fish particularly soon.
5. Settle 1N, same issue with fish as option 4, it doesn't work the wheat for 3 turns but it does get me plenty of riverside tiles.
6. Go east, give up the wheat tile on an utterly dumb risk of more food east.
7. Don't settle at all, settlers make great scouts! (okok re-using old jokes).

Well this is a toughie, 1W seems like the safe option so that's what I'll go with.

After some brief searching online I decide to go with a Winnie the Pooh naming theme. Naturally this means Rhoanna becomes Roo.

So what tech should I get.

Ancient chants is a stepping stone towards education and mysticism or cottages and godking if you prefer. Its a possibility.
Animal Husbandry lets me build pastures which I don't need and lets me give scouts subdue animal. I think I can count this out.
Calendar lets me build plantations later on and I can get early Agrarianism. Its a maybe.
Crafting means I can improve wines (useful right now!) and unlocks mining and masonry. Since I have no hills and no forests to chop I think I can skip mining for a bit.
Lastly there's Exploration, roads and access to Fishing, Hunting and Cartography. It's tempting but I don't think its my first choice.

So I'm choosing an education rush I think, then I'll get exploration and stuff.

Obviously worker first.



So that's what it looks like as I go to hit end turn. Now to spend an hour looking for an email for the next player...


Just an FYI I've been playing Civ4 in windowed mode and lower resolution for a while (1600x900) I can change to 1920x1080 if people would prefer screenshots in that size.

[Dantski]

Turn 2! With more screenshots already than my previous games! Hooray!

Moved warrior east, nothing interesting yet.

Moved scout west along coast, saw some wines.



League of Legends naming theme until I feel like changing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fESlNhLtDg

[Dantski]

I login to see an unwelcome sight



Not ideal, I'll bring my warrior back and it'll be in the city 1 turn before the goblin can get there. I'm not really sure on Civ rules regarding barbarians entering borders early on so I'll play it safe. The demographics show someone at 4000 soldiers so I guess someone's scout bit the dust.

Scout moved NW along the coast, nothing of interest there yet.

[Dantski]

Turn something or other. I've lost count already.



Volcanic eruption is my first event, as far as I know this doesn't actually do anything.



Goblin didn't enter my borders so I'm guessing it can't attack my city just yet, however I'm not sure so my warrior holds station.

Scout explores more of the coast NW, there's gold up there and some floodplains further along, could potentially put a city on the plains hill 2W of the gold later if the desert doesn't get infested with Scorpions.