Chevalier Makes Do

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

so here is my thread I guess

not a lot of time to report these days (check PBEM12 for details unless you are the Archduke, Emperor K, Rowain, or Japper, in which case live in mystery for now), but I hope things will calm down within a month or so

Haven't found a humorous photo to serve as the splash screen yet, but I am open to suggestions

EDIT: Best I got, it IS 6:30 in the morning here in my defense





okay here we go

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

REPOSITORY OF GOODIES






Combat  formula (quick 'n dirty): 30 * 1.041^StrengthDifference
Combat formula (math nerd): Damage = 30 * e^(StrengthDifference / 25) * Random(0.75, 1.25)




GP purchase costs: For faith : 150+ 10*GP point remaining
For gold : 200+ 15*GP point remaining.

Gold costs: 4*hammer cost, rounded down to nearest 5
Gold upgrades: 10+0.75*(gold cost difference)
minimum 30 = 10+.75(4*hammer cost new - 4*hammer cost old) = 10+3(hammer cost difference).

Should also get the district formula here. EDIT (2 weeks later): Got it.

C = total number of completed districts (regardless of type)
P = placed districts of the specific type in question (e.g. Commercial Hub), this includes the sum of completed and uncompleted districts of the specific type
A = available districts to build, which is based on techs discovered. (e.g. Astrology + Writing + Bronze Working = 3 available districts)

For a specific district type, the discount is available only if both of the following are true:
1) C>=A
2) C/A > P

Okay, civ choices - 

France, India, and England? Ugh, really, Archduke? C'mon.    No Rome for me? No Aztec? No China, Russia, or Germany? Well, we'll make do, as we always do - oh, there's a better thread title, gotta change that. 

Anyway, France is right out - apart from the +3 combat bonus from my Visibility I'm playing a Vanilla Civ. 

India or England? England is the stronger choice, but also boring as hell, I've done England before. India doesn't seem as strong, but I could maybe make Varus work. I dunno yet. I'll get back to ya. For now, the far more important business of adjusting my threat title and splash screen.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Hell with it, I thought about it at work and we'll do England again. Don't wanna bother with religious mechanics, RND is a nice boost, and might get lucky with continents. Not sure about updated England, need to review.

[RFS-81]

Good luck! I'm already spoilered so no dedlurking this time. I hope that two games aren't too much for you with your schedule. Is the marathon in a month?

[BUFFBUNNY]

Good luck, Chev!  Sorry to give you so little time to prepare   .  I'll be dedlurking you every chance I get.

I had decided on playing on England as well, so I'll be watching to obtain some pointers as you progress.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Good luck! I'm already spoilered so no dedlurking this time. I hope that two games aren't too much for you with your schedule. Is the marathon in a month?

It's at the beginning of October, so I've got ~6 weeks to go. My longest daily mileage has reached 18, a PR for me, but I've still got 8 more miles to work up to in those 6 weeks! Once it slackens I should have more time to report in the morning, which is the real issue - I have sufficient time to play a turn, but not the spare hour or so it takes me per report. I've also got an online course wrapping up in two weeks, so once I finish that I'll get a bit more writing time as well.

Just not gonna report this game in much depth until PBEM12 ends, in all likelihood. 

Good luck, Chev!  Sorry to give you so little time to prepare   .  I'll be dedlurking you every chance I get.

I had decided on playing on England as well, so I'll be watching to obtain some pointers as you progress.

I keep waffling on England. India gets Varus early - maybe I WANT that? I've never gone with an early rush civ, and I think that's the way you have to play India. It's too bad I couldn't draw Chandragupta, at least that would get me some offensive potential. 

The issue with England is its dependence upon the map. In PBEM7, notice how I basically got the worst result possible for England: Stuck in the middle of the largest continent in the entire map, with absolutely no possible way to build a canal to use my full navy together. I never triggered the RND's ability once the entire game. On a Pangaea map, there's every possibility I'll end up on suboptimal's position in PBEM3, where he was smack dab in the center. I'll be in dire need of coasts to build RNDs on, but if I am near coasts, then I can probably make it work - build maybe 2 CHs for later inspirations/eurekas, but otherwise get my trade routes from the cheap harbors. I also know that trade can be a big boost to the economy if done right, although most players have figured that out by now. 

India, on the other hand, mostly offers the varu, more faith, and some religious stuff. Let's see...

The Varu is nice. We know that. That'd be my main reason to take Gandhi - grab a GG, chop out a boatload of Varu, and then go to town. Even if someone else takes Defender of the Faith - which I believe is banned? - just one Varu + GG would negate that bonus entirely. Multiple Varu flip it in my favor. So that's appealing. 

Gandhi gets +5 faith for every civ he meets and is not at war with. That COULD be up to +30 faith per turn! :o That's actually pretty good, and pairs well with Goddess of the Harvest. There's not a LOT you can do with faith in the base game - but three possibilities present themselves: Jesuit education, Theocracy, and Valetta's suzerain bonus. All, I trust, are self-explanatory. 

EDIT: Wait, I forgot the self-founded religion requirement. So nerf that to +15, max, more likely +10. That's okay in the beginning, but quickly pales. Darn. Possible strategy of pushing for religious win, forcing other players to found religions? Still maxes at +15. Bah. 

The Stepwell seems decent. Can't spam them too much, but I should always have housing and always be able to grow. That's a big weakness of mine - I found cities on the coast, and then struggle to grow them. Big reason I tend to fall behind in games. Stepwell could mitigate that, and pad the faith income a bit. 

Dharma...eh. I've NEVER seen a player spread religion apart from going for a religious win, which no one is crazy enough to try anymore ("Dude, Alhambram is right there."), so the odds of someone helpfully bringing me JE or Choral Music or something seems unlikely. 

Possible beliefs I could profit from:
Jesuit Education
Choral Music
Divine Inspiration
Feed the World
Religious Community
Reliquaries
Work Ethic
Zen

So two good ones and a lot of stinkers. 

SO yeah, India comes down to making something happen with Varu. Not sure that's what I want to play...but I also am not sure I wanna be stuck with England again.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

RNDs? Or Varus? When it comes to India, everything not related to Varus is irrelephant. 

fuck it we'll do England again. PMing the Archduke.

[Quagma Blast]

It's too bad I couldn't draw Chandragupta, at least that would get me some offensive potential. 

Chandragupta's ability sounds powerful, but as it requires using a casus belli it runs into exactly the same problem as the Nationalism inspiration - i.e. it carries a prerequisite of a denouncement going in at least one direction and a wait period if you're the one doing the denouncing, which means people can see it coming a mile away and short-circuit you by just declaring their own war first.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I didn't know that you needed to denounce first - I thought it was enough to be within 10 tiles of someone.

Weirdly, abilities triggering on war hasn't stopped people from making great use of them. Alhambram got lots of free movement from Persia in PBEM6, and EVEN THOUGH it amde all kinds of sense to pre-emptively declare war on the Mongols in PBEM8, I'm the only player who bothered to prevent the Archduke from sending a trader my way. So Chandy's ability I would have a chance of using, as opposed to Gandhi's ability, which would require

a)someone else founds a religion with a follower belief I want (ie, basically Choral Music or JE)
b)they spread that ability to enough of my cities that I get the benefit
c)I also ahve another religion with its own good follower belief (otherwise I'm no different than any other Civ - everyone gets majority follower beliefs).

Which seems even more unlikely than Chandragupta's declare war ability.

That said, I'm waffling. The stepwell and the Varu - are they better than RNDs and extracontinental melee units? If I get a good map, England is better, I think. If I get a poor map, then I'm stuck playing a vanilla civa nd India would ahve been better. But India isn't all *that* much better than vanilla! I think England is the stronger choice, but damn, 'tis a hard decision. None of my options are really great, or even all that good, given the map settings. I'd be happy even with Brazil or Gorgo, let alone Germany, Rome, China, or Russia. Alas. :/

[Quagma Blast]

I think both of those you mentioned have crucial differences from Chandragupta that make them more usable. Mongolia is capable of sending a trade route to anyone they can reach and then immediately declaring war, pivoting to anybody that's available, and even so PBEM8 was widely considered bad play. Persia not only can but is required to use surprise war declarations and can do it to people on the other side of the map to gain a local advantage, especially if (as in PBEM6) you are trying to prop up an Australia who is under attack by your rival.

Meanwhile, a denunciation from Chandragupta would be a big flashing warning sign to counter-dec, and that specific casus belli is only usable against the people who will be most worried about your military capabilities. In theory, if you could cultivate a very good relationship with someone on one side of you and coordinate well enough for THEM to denounce YOU a turn before you start attacking a third party... but good luck working that out with AI diplo. The Nationalism boost really is a much better comparison, and we've seen people run into that wall every time a game gets to that era.

Reworking that ability into something appropriate for multiplayer wouldn't even be that hard: "While within (~5 maybe) tiles of both an unoccupied city you own and city you are at war with, units get +2 mp if starting in your territory and +5 cs while in enemy territory." Declare war, take the border cities with your combat bonuses, peace out. (At least, I think that'd work, I haven't bothered to get the expansion - was the Occupied status replaced with the Loyalty mechanic?)