[SPOILERS] The Rise and Fall of Whositania (all glory to Whositania!)

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Oh, maybe it was Barry Lyndon (Hatshepsut, Celts, Bronies) who got Hinduism. The tracker lists him as the only one gaining score at the start of the turn.

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I saw Cheater Hater played his turn, so I went in to check. He did end turn with his scout on that hill! Granted, the scout will probably live, it's only a Lion, but he's got a much greater chance of biting it than my scout. Still, I hope that I am able to log in and play next turn before he can so I can get that hut. Also, I hope my scout doesn't die to some fluke, but I'm pretty sure the first combat is still an auto win on this difficulty. I wasn't absolutely sure, so that's why I used the promotion.

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I hope this connection problem doesn't cost me that hut. Grumble, grumble.

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I finally got in, but luck is not with me this time. Let's go down the list.

Thanking my lucky stars for auto win first combat, because look at this! That Lion would have killed my Scout otherwise. At those odds. Not outside the realm of possibility, but it does not do anything to change my mind about having terrible scout luck in MP lately. Used second promotion to heal, but I think I'm going to have to sit and heal for several turns before I risk moving out again.


Also, Cheater Hater's scout survived, which makes me sad. He had already fought a barb, so couldn't get an auto-win, was slightly wounded, and had worse odds, but survived with plenty of health. Bleh.

The hut was just some chump change, too, so that was disappointing as well.

Finally:

I suppose it was bound to happen, but this was not a team I wanted to start near. I guess I'll be doing another analysis post, but first some initial thoughts:

Strong team that I am unlikely to beat with strategy or tactics. UU will make early rushes a poor choice, and worse, will probably also deflect Zulu, making it more likely for me to be targeted with Impis. Bleh.

Things do not look good for Whositania (all glory to Whositania!).

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[size=x-medium]Opponent Analysis: Krill & Novice as Willem of Babylon[/size]

Traits: CRE/FIN
Techs: Agriculture/Wheel
Unique Unit: Bowman (Archer)
Unique Building: Garden (Colosseum)

(Went off recent memory there, so hopefully that's all accurate.)

In BtS, Creative and Financial were both powerful traits, and made Willem one of the top tier leaders. Both traits have been nerfed in krillmod. Creative used to be a favorite trait of mine, but without the cheap Library, I've found that I don't like it quite as much. However, the free bonus culture can't be underestimated, and any new city plants will be difficult to dislodge. Financial's power, as I've been learning, shines the most with lots of coast or dry grasslands. I haven't seen enough of the map, or Krill/Novice's land, to know how good it will be here, but based on what I've seen so far, I think there is room to make it work, and I think this team can make it work. Oh, and Financial gets cheap Banks, which is a pretty good deal if you make it that far (and they will).

Bowman is an Archer with +50% bonus vs. melee units. It will basically take Horsearchers to have good odds on them. Axemen could beat them, but not at an efficient rate. Most problematic for me, as I mentioned in the previous post, is that I fear that the Bowman will serve as a deterrent to Zulu aggression. However, it's hard to say for sure until I find out where the Zulu are.

I forget how well the Garden is rated, but considering it combines some happy with health, not a bad building. Plus, they get the CRE discount on it. My understanding is that Colosseums are rarely built under ordinary circumstances, but it being cheap with an added bonus to it makes me think they'll be making 'em. Cheaper than an Aqueduct for sure.

I don't think I need to go and look for any particular games to know that Krill is regarded as one of the best players on the site. To be honest, I'm less familiar with Novice, but I'm pretty sure he's good, too. I think it's safe to say that the grass cow and everything east is going to Babylon, and more if I'm not quick. It's too early to say, because I haven't located my other neighbors, but I may have to prioritize eastern settling if I want any of that. Getting those wines would be nice... but unlikely. If I'm lucky, the land to my east (their west) is less tempting than other land they have.

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Oh, and one more thing that I believe I've forgotten to mention.

I wonder if every team has Ivory, Stone, and Marble reasonably within reach. It wouldn't surprise me, but we'll see.

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Decided to throw some ideas together for possible east settling:

This is the more conservative configuration based on current intel. The north city I'd rather have 1 East to pick up the wines (although that loses the ability to share the capital's sheep), and I sort of want the southeast city to be 1 North to line things up better, but the current location is probably the stronger spot.

I think something like this is probably doable, maybe more with luck. I think if I tried to squeeze another city into the east, I'd have to put it on a hill for protection, even if it wasn't ideal. Anyway, just dreams for now. I have so many directions I may have to settle in, I just know I'm going to get squeezed somewhere.

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Hasn't really been anything to report. Scout is just healing outside of Krill territory. They have dry wheat and plains wines that I can see. Don't have capital vision, and I don't think I'll get it since it doesn't look like they are on a hill. I could declare war to get a peek, but I don't think I want to do that to Krill and Novice. Zulu city made it to the top 5, so I see it's among the size 2s out there. Not a surprise. My worker is going to finish at the end of this turn, finally, so now I can start growing, build a Warrior, improve food, etc.

I'm still incredibly disappointed that after 4 hut pops, I got no techs, but at least I swiped one from Krill. I feel it's unlikely that I'll come across any more huts, especially with my scout's down time. At least I have several golds to see me through many turns of teching?

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Scout finally healed to 90% hp, so I feel safe moving out. Nothing really happened during that time (well, besides my Worker popping and starting to improve sheep back home). However, sitting around yielded a contact:

Not up to doing a big analysis, but I'll try to do that tomorrow. I don't think I know an awful lot about dtay, but I'm pretty sure he's capable. Then I moved the scout:

Another hut! I decided to just leave the scout in place because it seems safest. Only thing that could get him would be a wolf and I think he'd still survive. I wonder why Krill never grabbed all the huts that were right outside his borders. Maybe planning to get them with border pops? Or didn't think anyone else would nab them? Or... giving himself a handicap? But that seems really unlikely.

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Some good news today.

First, I saw that Krill moved his Worker onto his Wheat. I'm going to presume he either has another land-based food resource, or has a similar capital set up to me. Hopefully I'll be able to get more scouting in and figure out how things are arranged.

Now the good bits:

Finally, a free tech! I don't know how this hut was still here, but this was just what I wanted! And Animal Husbandry is a pretty good grab, both in beaker value and in strategic value. Now I think when I finish off Bronze Working, I'll grab The Wheel and follow it up with Archery for some cheap defenders. And where are Horses?

Right here. Only horses I can see so far, but I'd imagine everyone has them nearby. These are right under where I was thinking of putting a city. That could be good, and I think it will add +1 hammer to the base city site, but on the other hand, pastured Horses are a pretty good tile. Well, I'll get the Horses in my capital borders on turn 50, but if I need them earlier, I can always just plop a city on top of them after I get the Wheel and I'll have access to chariots.

Finally, look at the demos for what little that's worth:

So, even though everything is skewed by the lurker civ, I can tell I'm on a slow start. At the end of this turn, at least, my food will increase by 4, and my production by 1. Oh, and my city will grow to size 2, so at that point I can at least get a better sense of how many people are behind me. I'm not going to attempt to do any serious demographic analysis, but I will check it periodically to try and at least get a sense of how I'm comparing to everyone else (doing my best to account for funky numbers).