[SPOILER] Asoka of the Vikings (Nakor & Gaspar)

[Krill]

Your start:

[Nakor]

Thanks, Krill!

Well, Gaspar, lot's of water indeed! Seems like we made a good choice with our Civ...

What a great Hybrid starting location if we settle in place. Cottage all the riverside tiles, mine the hills and camp/pasture the animals...

So, what do you think we should do?

[Gaspar]

Yeah, looking forward to our Trading Posts.

I'd move the scout S-SE to see what else there is, but I imagine settling in place is the right move. On the plus side, we can work those deer right away since we started with Hunting. AH is probably the logical first tech, even if cows do suck. Anyway, we'll have to snap a pic after moving the scout and make a decision there. I've very curious to see how close together we are, I think early warfare has happened in just about every PB game I've seen, so we'll need to see if we're the hunted or the hunters, though obviously I'd rather wait til Zerkers.

I'll take a longer look later...

[Gaspar]

Logged in, didn't move the scout yet since we have many hours left on this turn, nobody else has logged in yet, and I wanted to confer with you. Nonetheless, here's a SS of the game settings:



So what's newsworthy here? Not much really, other than the huge world size means ORG is less powerful here, since if I recall correctly the larger the world size the lower the maintenance costs per city. Certainly, if we go a-conquering it will pay off, but anyway, that's an issue for later.

Also, Krill messed with all the Civ's colors, which is going to confuse me all game long.

[Nakor]

Huge map size does indicate water to me, so our Trading Posts should become usefull some time.

Let's move the scout, settle, and build a warrior first, worker second. In all those PB's so far, there have been early eliminations and I don't want to be that one.

Tech wise, AH is good, but if we go warrior first, we could tech something else first.

[Gaspar]

Much as I hate the cautious play, you're probably right in warrior first. I think AH is the right play regardless, I don't want to chase early religion in a 10 player MP game on a map designed by Krill.

Unless the scout reveals something enthralling, settle in place, warrior build, etc.

My early game tech path would probably go:

Animal Husbandry -> The Wheel -> Mining -> Bronze Working

We could switch AH and Wheel so we don't waste working turns on the forested deer by not being able to road them right away. If we have horse nearby that's probably the best second city site, Chariots should keep us safe unless we're next to sunrise/rego. We still have somethings to decide about our play in this game, I don't think this will be the peaceful builder map that PBEM12 is. Hopefully a couple turns of scouting will let us know just how close the companion Civ's will be, and that will let us make some decisions about how aggressive we'll need to be and how much of a farmer's gambit we can play.

Last but not least, we need a naming scheme! Any thoughts? If I don't use Soccer naming themes I usually either name my cities after towns near me or something in the house there's a lot of (Band Names from CDs, old video games lying around the computer, books I've read, etc.) So I may not be the most-creative one here. Hopefully you have a brilliant idea before we're naming Cities after Talking Heads albums and units after songs!

[Nakor]

Regarding the naming theme, what kind of books do you read? Naming cities after Lord of the Ring or The Wheel of Time could be fun.

Tech wise, with Warrior first, let's mess with all the C&D and go Wheel first, AH second.

I think there will be some room between all civs, but we'll have to wait and see.

Game plan: Staying alive!
Seriously, we really need more info to make a coherent plan that isn't to far in the future. Would be nice if we could use Beserkers against someone. Then again, classical warfare isn't that profitable...
So, going for a strong economy with a good tech rate and a nice army to defend sound like the best opening plan to me...

[Gaspar]

I read a little bit of everything, I have read the LotR books, I have not read WoT, but I've been a bookstore manager for 12 years, so I'm pretty versatile as far as books go, whatever your fancy I probably at least know something about it. I agree on Wheel first, I don't think I'd ever suspect that as someone's first tech, and AH isn't priority, we'll want to improve both deer tiles before the cows anyway, since cows suck.

I do think Classical warfare is usually a bad idea, but I also think given the relative lack of strength of our Civ/Leader, we need to be prepared to be opportunistic. If we get chariots up fast and can drive into someone's capital, its worth doing. Not saying we should build our whole game plan around it, but unlike in PBEM12, where we have two strong economic traits, if we sit around, all those Expansive Civs will have blown past us.

Anyway, as you said, its far too early to make these sorts of plans. Just want to sort of stake my theory that we might need to think aggressively here. Anyway, if you want, feel free to move scout and play the turn, since I think we've agreed on everything now. If you don't get the chance, I'll grab it tomorrow when I wake up.

[Nakor]

Founded our capital on the spot after moving the scout.
There is water east and lots of hills south.

No time for pics...

[Gaspar]

Sounds good. Any additional thoughts on the naming theme. Hate for someone to stumble upon an unnamed unit.