Oh my.
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TheArchduke and the Gentleman Bastards lead the Mongol Horde
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February 8th, 2018, 14:42
(This post was last modified: February 8th, 2018, 14:48 by TheArchduke.)
Well, there I was starting the thread for PBEM 8 and I thought to myself. How about this time I play a builder civ in full builder mode and make beautiful cities on an island sea map.
And then this happened:
See that first line? Everyone got a builder civ choice from the expansion, except me. I got Mongolia and instead of double your weariness Ghandi, bloodthirsty Chandragupta. Sigh. Well at this rate I will go down as the most bloodthirsty player in these PBEMs.  Let´s check things out. This will be quick. First off, this is not a water dominated map. So. Bachelor #1 Spain can build bigger fleets, mediocre missions, has a combat bonus with religious units and one per se. No bonus in getting a religion whatsoever and fleets. No. Next! Bachelor # 2 Norway has no not-water based bonus whatsoever, even on the UUs. No. Next! Bachelorette # 3 Egypt. A useless, overpriced UU. Bonus to districts on rivers, so terrain dependant bonus there. A so-so improvement and trade routes to other nations are good. I rather have a serious bonus instead of a +4 gold to trade routes which are MUCH harder to come by in Rise and Fall. No, this will not do. Next! Bachelor # 4 Mongolia. Even worse then Macedonia, Mongolia has not one economic bonus anywhere. And why should anyone accept delegations for more CS by me. Ugh, no. Next! Bachelor # 5 Arabia. Now they have some decent economic bonuses. A Great Prophet that you will earn no matter what, making your more relaxed about getting holy sites early, so you can focus on a campus. A good mameluck knight replacement if you want to do some aggression and a -90%! discount on the religious finisher building. Acceptable. Next!
February 8th, 2018, 14:47
(This post was last modified: February 8th, 2018, 14:48 by TheArchduke.)
Bachelor # 6
Ugh. War of territorial expansion, so no peace with your human players. Why should anyone give you that bonus. Stepwells are ok, the Varu is rather great. Follower belief? Useless. Barely acceptable. Next! . . . . . .. Wait? That´s it? Two water based civilizations, One mediocre River one, another warlike one trick pony, a barely acceptable religious civ and a jack of all trades war bonus civ which will never get peace. Where is Korea with its science? The Netherlands with its myriad of economic bonuses? Persia? Australia?  I honestly feel like getting the short end of the stick in the civ choice once again. I will need to think, I have no idea what to do atm.
February 8th, 2018, 14:48
(This post was last modified: February 14th, 2018, 08:39 by TheArchduke.)
City name list:
Adua Brock Holsthorm Isher Keln Ostenholm Talins Jadra Visserine Sipani Dagoska Daleppa Stariken Rostod Calcis Aulcus Uffrith Carleon Did not like the namelist for Mongolia.
February 8th, 2018, 15:29
(This post was last modified: February 8th, 2018, 15:29 by TheArchduke.)
Not at all, you are more then welcome.
 First conundrum. Do we devolve into our base instincts and take Mongolia? Or try to build a bit with Arabia? Or do both at once and none at all with India? Or go cry in a corner with the choices we have?
February 8th, 2018, 16:10
(This post was last modified: February 8th, 2018, 16:27 by suboptimal.)
I haven't downloaded the expansion, that'll happen tonight and I'll be taking it for a spin over the weekend....
Mongolia could be interesting but definitely war-first. A few comments about Mongolia's Ortoo bonus: - you don't need a delegation to get the first bonus since sending a trade route to an opponent gets it - you don't lose trading posts (IIRC) when you declare war, unlike delegations & spies - the game would have to go a while, but Printing would get another level of visibility and another combat bonus Edited to add - I believe the "base" bonus for more diplomatic visibility is +3 combat strength - Mongolia would then get +6 It might be worth testing this in-game and/or revisiting the Mongol first look video...hmmm. Does the Ordu provide the housing, production & GG points of the base stable in addition to the extra movement or is the extra movement instead of those? I think if you took Arabia an early religion would be the way to go, . Also, Warrior Monks, though that'd be exclusive with Jesuit Education. I pooched it with this civ in PBEM 3 and since I'm dedlurking Krill in PBEM 5 I haven't been tracking Alhambram's use of the civ. It might be worth going through the various governors and other new systems (particularly ages) to see if there are any synergies to be gleaned from them (Reyna as governor might help economically).
Yeah, 6+3 on horseman, which could make a for a nasty horseman rush. The issue with a Mongolia is and was with a Macedonia rush.
You see it coming by miles. I will do some test games, I doubt I will have a quick discussion. I was close to complaining about my civs in the org thread, but you play the hand you dealt with. Right now I think my choice is Mongolia, evilIndia or Arabia. Leaning towards Arabia.
February 9th, 2018, 04:34
(This post was last modified: February 9th, 2018, 14:16 by TheArchduke.)
Playing Scotland or Cree in SP.
What a science powerhouse Scotland is. Insane.  And I get a war of territory on Changdragupta. Pah I say. PAH!  EDIT: You know what I lean towards playing Mongolia for the novelty factor and for seeing the world burn. If I do not get to build, noone will!
February 10th, 2018, 04:50
(This post was last modified: February 10th, 2018, 04:53 by TheArchduke.)
So let´s see what the others might choose to make a more informed choice for myself.
Rowain Seems to be the aggressive type, way too many good choices to be aggressive. Zulu, Aztec and Sumeria are all awesome. Scotland looks deceptively weak on the first look, so I guess we will see Zulu. Whatever happens there I am confident we will see a rush civ. I call Zulu. Japper Even taking an aggressive civ like Rome seemed only to serve his builder instincts. I am not impressed with his performance so far, especially so in PBEM #5. Persia or Cree for him, probably taking Cree, Persia is the superior choice, if it not were for the rather nice improvement. Cree. Alhambram Builder at heart, and with the expansion new, I can not see another choice then Netherlands. Any other civ would be subpar. Netherlands. Chevalier Mal Fet Now this one I am not I can call. PBEM #7 choice was peculiar enough, and the choices are decent. Korea, Nubia for a builder or Scythia in the first non-ban game. I think he will go for the safe bet in the form of Korea, as Nubia is his partner in PBEM #7 and he does not strike me a rusher. Korea. Emperor K Emperor K got screwed over by the expansion setup as well. Georgia seems a weak choice, Indonesia is subpar for the map. But hell, Australia, China and Rome. What a nice lineup. I am not sure where he will go. Rome or Australia most probably, with his Poland choice not working out he may go with the strong, safe bet. I call Rome. So, if my gut is right against me are 3 builder civs, 1 rusher civ and 1 strong civ. So there is a decent chance I have a builder nearby. So it boils down in my eyes to Mongolia vs Arabia. Note that with the patch GGs became unstacked enhancing DotF by a huge lot and any + CS is even more important. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
