[spoilers] The Emperor Protects(?) Mr. Cairo PB45

[Mr. Cairo]

Why did I sign up to this again? I just started working nights and I barely have enough time/focus to play EitB and occasionally sub in for BGN in 43.

Oh well. More civ is always better.

But don't expect frequent reporting.

Civs I want to try in the new RtR:
Native America
Portugal
Mongolia
Korea

Traits I'm interested in:
Aggressive or Protective
Charismatic
Expansive if paired with the Khmer
Financial looks good as well

Some pairings I like the look of:
Mehmed/Pacal of the Khmer
Anyone Protective of Native America
Anyone Financial of Portugal
Boudica of Mongolia
Anyone Philosophical of Korea

I'll decide when it's my turn on the snake pick.


Edit: password:

adeptus

[Commodore]

Hai:

[Mr. Cairo]

1. Magic Science + Chumchu +Charriu
2. naufraga
3. Boak
4. Superdeath
5. Borsche
6. Mr. Cairo
(So then following...)
7. Mr. Cairo
8. Borsche
9. Superdeath
10. Boak
11. Nau
12. MSCC

I think I got the best place in the snake pick. There aren't so many players that there wont be good options left, and I get to pick my combo right away.

Start looks fine, good mix of food, plenty of forests and lots of hills and plains. Looks to be more of a hammer cap than a cottage cap, but I'm ok with that.

[Mr. Cairo]

1. MSCC- Kublai Khan/???
2. naufragar and Rusten- Japan/???
3. boak and GeneralKillCavalry - Vikings/???
4. superdeath - Sury/???
5. Borsche - Carthage
6. Mr. Cairo -UP
6. Mr. Cairo
5. Borsche
4. superdeath
3. boak and GeneralKillCavalry
2. naufragar and Rusten
1. MSCC

Well, nothing that I'm terribly interested in has gone so far.

I'm looking a little more in-depth at the choices and so far one interesting combo has snuck up on me: Hannibal of the Maya.
That combo gives super cheap Libraries and a 40 hammer building 4 happiness building in the Ball Court. That's an insane happy cap without needing any resources. Unfortunately Myst/Mining are pretty crap starting techs. Also, there's no guarantee this map will have enough food that I'll be able to really take advantage of that happy cap. Hannibal is a good leader by himself though.

Another one is Wang Kong of China. Protective CKNs can be pretty devastating.

Also anyone Aggressive of America. Looks like it can create some really highly promoted units, especially with Boudica. But no real economic bonuses, and it just seems as though it'd put a target on my back. Buuut, playing a very aggressive game could be fun, although with such a small set of players, possibly deadly if everyone else gangs up on me.

Finally, I do think one of the traditionally OP BTS leaders like Willem or Pacal are still very good.

[Mr. Cairo]

Right now I'm thinking Willem of China. China for the starting techs and decent UU, and Willem because, well, its Willem, and from what I can see of the map, there aren't a lot of rivers anyway. And Creative is such a good trait, I honestly think it's one of the best in RtR, since some of the others were nerfed.

And I think I have a decent shot of actually winning this game so having a solid economic combo as opposed to something a little more experimental seems like a good idea.

I'll decide shortly

[Mr. Cairo]

Willem of China it is

[Mr. Cairo]

1. MSCC - Kublai Khan of Babylon
Cre/Cha. Bowman/Garden (now a Granary replacement)
Gets the 70% bonus on Libraries, but I still don't see Charismatic being better than a pure eco trait in isolation. And Babylon just seems underpowered, maybe I'm wrong but I don't think getting Granaries at Agri will make any difference at all, and the 15 saved hammers aren't hugely impactfu. The Bowman is largely irrelevant, especially since they got to pick their Civ after everyone else and no-one picked any ancient/classical era rushing units. If I were in their shoes I'd have picked a civ with a more useful UU to go along with the CHA trait.
Wheel/Agri - Not as good as Mining/Agri, but still, could be worse.

2. naufragar and Rusten - Alexander of Japan
Agg/Phi. Samurai/Nanban Harbour (a Harbour that gives +2 xp to land units).
I was looking at Japan myself, but why they didn't pair it with an Expansive leader is beyond me. I suspect they'll find themselves not building that UB as much as they think they might be thinking, 80 hammers is a lot. Also, pairing PHI with a non-eco trait like AGG (-25% city maintenance doesn't really count) seems like a poor decision, I played PHI/CRE a few games ago and I didn't like it much at all. If I picked Japan I would have gone with Washington as leader. EXP for the cheaper UB (and other bonuses it gives) and CHA to better take advantage of all that xp. Samurai are just kinda meh. Maces always seem to have a really short period of usefulness. Too expensive to be whipped en masse and quickly overshadowed by Knights on offense, and the Samurai isn't so good that you build them anyway (unlike the CKN)
Fishing/Wheel - poor starting techs, even with seafood. Having to leave BW to the third or even fourth tech researched just feels bad man.

3. boak and GeneralKillCavalry - Bismark of Vikings
EXP/IND. Berserker/Trading Post (Lighthouse with half a dockyard attached)
Vikings will be good on a water map obviously. Bismark I'm not so sure about, but being the only IND civ is still good. I expect an early attempt at the Pyramids and/or GLH. Or a plan that involves the Oracle. Solid combo, although the Berserker has the same problem as the Samurai, but is slightly better on a watery map.
Fishing/Hunting - decent starting techs for a WB first start only.

4. superdeath - Sury of Korea
EXP/CRE. Hwacha (now can kill units)/Seowon
I was looking at Korea when making my selection but decided the CKN to be the better collateral unit, but in most other respects Korea is the same as China, although the UB is better if we get that far. I'm interested to see how the Hwacha does. Sury is still a great leader. This looks like a combo picked with the same thought processes as my own so I have no criticisms  
Mining/Agri - Still the best starting techs.

5. Borsche - Mehmed of Carthage
EXP/ORG. Numidian Cav (HA with bonus vs. non-spear melee units)/Cothon (Harbour with +1 TR)
Another power leader like Willem or Sury. I don't know if ORG will be as good on a small map, but this combo will save an awful lot of hammers on all the buildings it gives production bonuses to. Carthage looks pretty good, the NC is gonna be the same as a HA on the offense, but better than than the HA at killing invading stacks. The Cothon is just a better Harbour, and will actually get built with an EXP leader.
Fishing/Mining - Good if there's a three-hammer tile and seafood by the cap, otherwise fairly slow.



Me - Willem of China

Creative is still in the top tier of traits. It's hard to quantify the difference free border pops makes, but I can really tell the difference without them. It makes city development and dot-mapping so much easier.
China is also still good. Best starting techs and a top tier UU. I definitively want to be on the offensive once CKNs start to appear.

Overall, there are some good combos here and some I don't understand. But the only way to really know is to play the game.

[Mr. Cairo]

Theme will be Warhammer 40K, because that's what I've been reading a lot of lately

[Mr. Cairo]

Here we are. I'm going to scout 2NW next turn, that floodplains looks like a decent area for next city. The wet corn to the south is tempting, but there doesn't look like there's much good land down there and it's probably backlines. I expect to settle to the west or north.

I plan to build 1 worker, then 2 warriors, then a settler at size three. the settler comes out at turn 32. I'll do a test for two workers before the settler.

Tech path is BW->Hunting->Wheel->Pottery.

My worker will farm the rice first, then do the sheep and cow, in which order depending on whether I want to settle to the west (sheep then cow) or north (cow then sheep) so that my worker is in the right place after finishing to start roading towards the new city.

[Mr. Cairo]

Actually, scrap most of that, just did a test of Hunting first, improving sheep->cow-> rice and I ended up with the settler coming out at the same time but with an extra Warrior.

Getting another worker at size 2 seemed suboptimal, unless I don't improve the rice at all and just chop a couple forests into the worker and then the settler all at size 2. Which seems like a waste when I can grow to size three and improve all the food. I can whip the next worker out.