[SPOILERS] TheArchduke blasts into Space as Russia

[TheArchduke]

[TheArchduke]

Here we go again.

First round of picks:

Alhambram: Inca, Persia, Korea, Australia
Cornflakes: France, Macedon, Rome, Japan
Kaiser: Mali, Greece, Mapuche, Indonesia
Pindicator: Sweden, Georgia, Kongo, Mongolia
Suboptimal: England, Poland, Spain, Nubia
TheArchduke: Phoenicia, Scotland, Russia, Germany
TheBlackSword: Ottoman, Cree, Dutch, India

[TheArchduke]

A recurring theme has been that my pick of Civs has always been rather mediocre or straightforward.

Good news, this is not the case this time around.

I have:

Germany

   

Germany is a builder´s wet dream in CIV VI. One additional district means you have a lot more flexibility with your districts. Basically this enables you to actually build an industrial district. The best you can do at the start of the game (if you do not take religion) is imo: Campus (1), Commercial/Harbour (4), Encampment/Cultural/Industrial/etc..)
With Germany this comes down to: Commercial and Industrial (1), Campus (4), Encampment/Cultural/etc...(7). Couple this with the boni that industrial and commercial couple this is awesome.

Add +7 CS against City States, and additional Mil Policy everything is super useful. Forget about the U-Boat. Way to late into the game to make a difference.
Did I mention that Hansa´s being half price?

Phoenicia

   

Really great boni if you have water access. All frontloaded, but way too risky for MP.

Russia

   

2 absolutely useless things and 3 awesome ones.

Half cost holy sites (as good as Japan). One of the best unit in the game (Cossacks) which can close the game for you if you can get to it. Extra Territory for cities which is just awesome (better tiles, more money, etc..). The Tundra boni are meh and the grand embassy is useless.

Scotland

   

I can doublequote myself on this:

Robert the Bruce of Scotland 

First off you can declare a War of Liberation. This is actually a useful trait as there is no clear upside to an Always War Dow that Persia, Australia or Chandragupta´s India invite.
If you are the target of a War of Liberation you have to see it coming. So this could actually see some use, but is highly situational and nothing to rely upon.

The Highlander although strong on paper is an upgrade to the scout of all things. A Ranger class unit you do not have the excellent promotions of War Cry or Tortoise available which shine in any player vs player war. Whilst the idea of a mass cheap scout build upgraded to a Range appeals to me that is something I would have tried on dry land. (Once again blame the PBEM #8 draft for not seeing a Highlander attack on another player)

No the strength here lies in +1 and freaking +2 GS (which really push your science ahead) and the same bonus on GE that happy and ecstatic cities get.
This is a really strong bonus. Divine Spark pushes that so your ecstatic cities produce +4 Great Scientists points which is insane! [img=14x15]file:///C:/Users/THMITT~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/img] 

In any case, you basically lock down the game´s GS for your civ, with the GEs as a quiet but nice bonus by going with fewer cities that you can keep happy, making entertainment districts, the Temple of Artemis and the Collosseum much more worth it. And not overexpanding.

Complemented by the golf course, which unlocks not too late in the game to matter.

Given that I have played aggressively enough, Scotland would be a lockin on a land-based map.

So, is Scotland still a lockin? Well, the GS advantage is freaking huge. Happy is a city with +1 amenity. This is easily doable, especially if you opt for fewer cities. This is the only civ where a tall, space race play style is really encouraged and something I could try to pull off in MP.
Great Engineers are not that all great and situational, but still given that you are getting them way quicker than the rest, they could prove more useful. 
The golf course is useful and ties into keeping your cities happy.
Scotland would lend itself to a tall playstyle, where a Temple of Artemis or a Collosseum could very, very valuable indeed. The Highlander is underwhelming. It comes in way too late and I would need to establish a scout storage somewhere to take advantage of it. Or build zounds of them quickly.
The thing is I need to defend my tall empire and outbuild the other players, something which honestly, everyone else seems to be better at.

[TheArchduke]

Let us look at the likely options:

Alhambram: Inca, Persia, Korea, Australia
Cornflakes: France, Macedon, Rome, Japan
Kaiser: Mali, Greece, Mapuche, Indonesia
Pindicator: Sweden, Georgia, Kongo, Mongolia
Suboptimal: England, Poland, Spain, Nubia
TheArchduke: Phoenicia, Scotland, Russia, Germany
TheBlackSword: Ottoman, Cree, Dutch, India

I will be curious to see who rerolls.

Alhambram:

I find it hard to pinpoint Alhambram. Sometimes great play, sometimes unfocused.

I have a good draw, Alhambram has a godlike draw. Not one civ is bad. Inca, Persia, Korea or Australia.
He did Persia once. Inca is a bit map dependant. I would go Korea, a second choice being Australia. 

Cornflakes:

Maybe someone will want a second stab at Macedon. I would take Rome.

Kaiser:

Except for Indonesia a strong pick. I like Mapuche, others might take Mali. 

Pindicator:

Except for Mongolia trash. Pindicator seems to think aggressive expansion dirty, so I guess a reroll. I would, but only because I did Mongolia before.

Suboptimal:

Nubia is the civ I would take if I had a free choice overall as I did in a Duel. I think suboptimal knows how good they are, thus Nubia.

TheBlackSword:

Difficult to pinpoint. India is a strong choice, maybe a reroll?

So with India (Varus), Nubia (Archers), Rome (Legions) and maybe Korea, Mali and a reroll.

So we might be victim of another rush.

Without China in the running, Russia with an early DotF could work nicely.

Leaning towards RUSSIA for myself, maybe Germany. For something new I would need to reroll.

[williams482]

Remaining civs:
America, Arabia, Aztec, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Khmer, Norway, Sumeria (not banned?), Zulu.

There's some good civs left in there, but Russia and Germany seem like much safer choices than asking for a new random draw.

The case for Germany, in addition to what they were during PBEM7, Hansas (and all other IZs) get a very solid boost with the adjacencies from aqueducts, and the 4x multiplier of stacking both coal plants and the adjacency card on top of that. Given the opportunity, Germany can still out produce anyone else from the renaissance era on. Russia's Cossack isn't quite the terror it used to be either, given the nerfs to cavalry attacks on walled cities. They are still strong, but you'll need muskets+siege towers or a bunch of bombards to clear out enemy fortifications in a reasonable time.

All that said, I agree with you that Russia is the right choice here. Virtual lock on first religion (and DotF) unless someone rerolls China, and one of the safer bets in the game to both get and use a classical Monumentality GA on top of that. I think Russia will start much faster than Germany would, and by the time Germany and their Hansas catch up, Russia has a still excellent UU to play with.

[TheArchduke]

I agree, Russia is frontloaded and you always want frontloaded civs. (I mean boost in ancient and classical)

Germany only shines when it can use it +7 CS to really hyperexpand into CS and I have been burned on this one in PBEM #7.

Russia looks increasingly likely, especially as I still want to do a religious game where I do not die in like 5 seconds.

Remaining civs:
America, Arabia, Aztec, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Khmer, Norway, Sumeria (not banned?), Zulu.

The list is underwhelming. Aztec is still strong, China for Wonders could be an idea (and could easily ruin a religious play via Stonehenge). Nothing spectacular around else.

I will go back into my thinking space, but Russia has a very strong case going for it. Not being forced to buy tiles is very, very strong.

[TheArchduke]

Well, I am definetly not rerolling.

And the question is Germany or Russia. I agree the Monumentality pushes the balance a bit further to Russia.

RUSSIA it is.

Possible naming conventions (as I have done the Red Army Choir already)

Space programm:

Sputnik
Vostok
Luna
Mars
Venera
Soyuz
Salyut
Mir
Buran

Science Fiction:

Professor Dowell´s Head
Monday begins on a Saturday
Hard to be a God
The Doomed City

Not enough.

Design Bureaus:

Koroleav
Bratukhin
Ulyushin
Yakulev
Tupolev
Sukhoi
Yangel

Dunno maybe inspiration strikes me. Shame about my Cowboy Bepop theme though, but it was best suited to Japan.

[williams482]

Alternate naming proposal:

Tchaikovsky
Stravinsky
Rimsky-Korsakov
Balakirev
Borodin
Mussorgsky
Cui
Glazunov
Prokofiev
Rachmaninoff
Rubinstein

Plenty more on that motif.

[TheArchduke]

Uh, I like that one.

[MJW (ya that one)]

Sumer didn't make it on my banned list because with our handcrafted maps you cannot start right next to someone else and the war cart becomes obsolete too quickly. There was a game here Sumer was picked and didn't do so well.