[SPOILERS] Welcome to the Kuro Corporation! (Kuro and BaII)

[Kuro]

I was early taught to work as well as play,
My life has been one long, happy holiday;
Full of work and full of play-
I dropped the worry on the way-
And God was good to me everyday.

- John D. Rockefeller, Age 86, summing up his life.

[Kuro]

So yes, if it wasn't obvious, I decided to take the "KuroCo" name Teleh gave us and run with it, so welcome, employees of the newly founded Kuro Corporation!

I was thinking of theme naming the cities after famous businessmen/businesses following this. I even made a list because of a lack of life.

John Rockefeller (Must be put down as "JohnRockefeller" to fit)
Harvey Firestone (Must be put down as "HarveyFirestone" to fit)
Bill Gates
Steve Jobs
Henry Ford
David Buick
Walter Chrysler
Louis Chevrolet
William Durant
Eber Brock Ward
John Dodge
Horace Dodge
Michael Wytrwal
Edward Carlson
Fred Harvey
Elliot Handler
Mark Cuban
Walt Disney
Albert Warner
Jack Warner
Harry Warner
Sam Warner
Kirk Christiansen
Andrew Carnegie
Lakshmi Mittal
Frank Perdue
William Hearst
Charles Hinde
Carlos Slim
Warren Buffett
Sam Walton
Cornelius Vanderbilt (Must be put down as "C. Vanderbilt".)

Obviously not a complete one and I didn't test if they could all fit, but myes. With random leader/civ choices and mostly new people, there wasn't much civ theorizing to do, so I made theme names instead...

[Kuro]

In terms of opponents, Azza and BoldXenuBrick are the only ones with any notable experience, right? I know I've seen Azza around and I was dedlurking a PBEM w/ BRick in it. From what I recall, BoldXenuBrick seems like the most dangerous pre-game...anyone else signed up for this game play/playing one?

[BaII]

BoldXenubrick will most likely be our biggest opponents. They all seem to be relatively decent at Civ from what I've seen. Also be ready for some early rushes if we spawn next to Azza. In PBEM 46 he tried to use Keshik rushes to his advantage. (It didn't pan out) and I think he tried to do a rush of some kind in Pitboss 8 as well.

[Kuro]

BoldXenubrick will most likely be our biggest opponents. They all seem to be relatively decent at Civ from what I've seen. Also be ready for some early rushes if we spawn next to Azza. In PBEM 46 he tried to use Keshik rushes to his advantage. (It didn't pan out) and I think he tried to do a rush of some kind in Pitboss 8 as well.

Hmmm, I see. Something to keep in mind for sure. I'll read up on 46 and PB8 to see how that went.

Has WilliamLP ever been in a PBEM/PB? His name seems familiar.

[BaII]

I read up on pitboss 8 Azza planned to do a praetorian rush, but it got interrupted

[Kuro]

I read up on pitboss 8 Azza planned to do a praetorian rush, but it got interrupted

Ah, I see. Well, when you got Praets, you kinda have to rush really.

[Kuro]

Oooooooh, our leader is Joao II of Portugal! Despite being unrestricted leaders, we got a restricted one.

Joao II, also known as "T-REX" by his friends (not really), is the ultimate in puking out cities like he just drank 12 twelve-packs. Expansive means that we get faster Worker builds and a top tier trait, in addition to faster Granaries (Oh, when you wish you could have gotten Inca...). Unfortunately, we probably can't get Stonehenge, thanks to all the Industrious leaders out there: Augustus (Ind/Imp), Huanya (Ind/Fin) and De Gaulle (Ind/Chm). This means we'll have to build Monuments in our cities. Bleh to that! I hate having to build those! No wonder I love Creative so much...still, most teams are in the same boat, as we only have one Creative leader in Kublai Khan!

Imperialistic I actually feel is an underrated trait, even if it isn't great. I love quick speed Settlers and feel like it is highly useful, while GG emergence can actually be pretty good to get West Point. Plus, Medic III. Droooooooool. With both Expansive and Imperialistic, we should get cities out the fastest, but will need to watch our finances for over-expansion.

Portugal is a bit of a lame civ. Feitoria's are actually really strong, but quite expensive and come too late to be a game changer. UU is a ship lol. Though the Carrack is probably the best ship UU IMO. I doubt we will get much use of it, though. Fishing/Mining is actually a cool tech combo if we start near water, as we can go Worker -> Chop out Worker -> Chop out WB or something.

So overall, I am happy with what we got, as Joao is fun + unique and the tech combo keeps Portugal fine as a civ.

I'l discuss the other player's rolls next post.

[Kuro]

Team Alpha Teleh is Hannibal of Persia
Molach is Kublai Khan of Rome
Team ʥ Sisu is Huayna Capac of Russia
Team 1 Oxphenbutazone is Gandhi of Netherlands
Team 2 BaIIkuro is Joao of Portugal
Team SpaceBrickNowhere is DuGaulle of Byzantium
WilliamLP is Mehmed of Arabia
Azza is Augustus of China
Retep is Asoka of England
Team Suttree is Fredrick of France

---

Team Alpha Teleh, which to my knowledge consists solely of Teleh, got Hannibal (Charismatic/Financial) of Persia!

I actually feel this is one of the stronger combinations that got put out. Hannibal is a pretty good leader: IMO Charismatic is also a bit underrated and since we're getting a map that is rolled then balanced, happiness resources might be low enough Charismatic's happiness bonus is more important. In addition, Persia's UU is the Immortal, and horse units tend to work well with Charismatic due to the Stable and the 1 XP from withdrawing. Financial is the strongest trait in the game and is only shared with Huanya this game! In addition, +1 happiness from Monuments is pretty good. The Apothecary is an okay UB, but it won't mean much in the long run unless he has a lot of Jungle or Flood Plains. Peria's starting techs are Agriculture/Hunting: Agriculture is the second best starting tech in the game (Mining is first, of course!) while Hunting's primary weakness is negated, so it's a fairly good combination. It's very possible they tech early AH for an Immortal rush.

To my knowledge, Teleh has never been in a MP game and, no offense to him, sounded a bit clueless in the tech thread. At the same time, most of that was asking why we did certain things, so I wouldn't be surprised if he actually had fine skills and was just inexperienced with some settings or general MP play. I think we should watch out for him.

Threat Level: Moderate-High

After that we had Molach, who got Kublai Khan (Aggressive/Creative) of Rome!

This is, in my opinion, the best combo anyone got in the game. If Aggressive Praets come at you early enough, you don't really have much of a chance, and Creative gives him more freedom in where to place his cities to find iron. In addition, Rome's gameplan (KILL PLUNDER PILLAGE SHIT ON THE CORPSE) runs very counter to Mr. T-REX. And Creative would hurt our borders if, say, he ignored us and murdered someone else's faces. So starting next to him in general would be a Very Bad Thing. Aside from the Praet rush, Aggressive is a meh trait, but Creative is top notch and seems especially helpful for Rome: Half-priced Libraries will help keep the post-war economy afloat while no need to build culture buildings lets them save time in all ways. Rome's UB shouldn't really have a big effect no matter what. Rome's starting techs are the same as ours, Fishing/Mining, which is a pretty good combo.

Molach is a complete dark spot for me. Has he played any PBEM/PB games? Praet rush is pretty easy to get down anyway I think, so he is severely worrying no matter what. I think he'd be the worst person to start near.

Threat Level: High

Sisu was next and he got Huanya Capac of Russia.

Huanya is a good leader. Financial is, as always, the best trait in the game, and Industrious is pretty nice, letting him nab wonders better than most and giving him delicious half-cost Forges, making him a prime target to try and slingshot Metal Casting IMO. That's the only double speed building they have, though. They'll be hampered by having Russia as their civ, though: The Research Institute is a strong building, but the game will be decided by the time it comes into existance, and Cossacks have been nerfed down so they only have bonus vs. other Mounted, so it's practically not even a UU. They're basically playing a vanilla civ. Russia's starting techs are Hunting/Mining: Not as good as Fishing/Mining (Fishing helps discount Pottery and lets you make coastal cities faster!), but with the all-Scout start it's decent.

Sisu is also an unknown to me. I don't think he has been in any games. This is a Greens game, so no surprise. I think Huanya helps out, but being Russia knocks down the threat level a good deal.

Threat Level: Moderate

After that we come to a player with a long name as we arrive at Oxphenbutazone's rolls of Gandhi (Spiritual/Philosophical) of The Netherlands!

This is a really unlucky break for these guys. Gandhi gets great use out of Caste/Pacifism, but Spiritual is a trait that requires great skill to bring to full potential, and Philosophical also requires deep thinking, so I doubt that he'll get 100% mileage out of them in his first Pitboss game! What makes this unlucky, though, is the Netherlands pick: insert another "UU is a ship lol" comment here! But more seriously, the Dike is one of the strongest UBs in the game...too bad it comes so late that it influences maybe 2% of all games. East Indiamen are actually pretty good, but they come late to be descisive and still die to Frigates. If the game is close when their glory age arrives or if they tech up quick, they might be able to pull off some Doctrine stuff on our booties, but I don't think it'll be a huge deal. Fishing/Agriculture is the name of their starting game, but unfortunately that leaves them 2 techs away from Bronze Working while giving no double AH discount. If this team goes for a slow-expanding start, they could be put behind the 8-ball before the game gets going!

I don't know anything about Ox, which is what I will call him from now on, and I think this is also his first game. While he could surprise me, I think his leader/civ roll puts him behind from the start and he will struggle to win this game. But hey, if he goes out and proves me wrong, power to him!

Threat Level: Low

I already covered us, so let's skip us...

We got the only other (to my knowledge) multi-person team in the game with BoldXenuBrick! They got De Gaulle (Industrious/Charismatic) of Byzantine.

This is an unfortunate combo in some ways. They're basically a lock for Stonehenge, being Industrious and starting with Mysticism, so they'll get lots of early happiness to go with cheap Forge happiness. And Byzantine's Cataphract is up there with the Praetorian and the Fast Worker as one of the best UUs in the game. But on the other hand, Mysticism/The Wheel are very poor starting techs, requiring techs to do anything but road and being far from both AH and BW, and if they go for Stonehenge they will be even further behind. De Gaulle is a fine leader and Byzantine is a fine-to-great civ, basically. Hippodrone is arguably a good UB: Doubles h ow much happy per culture slider spent, which could be useful in times of war, and gets happiness from the much more common Horse instead of Dyes. It also provides +1 Happy on it's own. This team will be drowning in happy citizens.

This team also has the most skill on it's roster. I remember Lurking one of BRick's games (I forget the PBEM...) and he seemed okay and to my knowledge all three have at least one MP game under their belt. So they're the most likely to leverage their strengths the best, I feel. Our best bet is they start near Rome and die quickly or pursue a slow growth plan and fall hopelessly behind. Very dangerous if they can keep growth up.

Threat Level: High

WilliamLP got the combination of Mehmed II (Expansive/Organized) of Arabia.

Mehmed is a pretty good leader. Expansive is a high-end trait and Organized is useful with the agreed-upon map settings, while getting some good cheap buildings (Lighthouse, Courthouse and of course Granary). He's not top tier, but he's decidedly above average. Unfortunately, Arabia isn't that good of a civ: Wheel/Mysticism is a bad tech combo, Camel Archers aren't that great (If you don't have metal at that point, you're probably screwed anyway!) and...well, the Madrassa is actually pretty good, but it really needs to be paired with a Cultural leader to be it's most effective. I don't feel Mehmed makes up for the bad civ.

WilliamLP is another one who I think is playing their first game? He's got a bit of an uphill climb, I think, and I'd say he'd be one of the better ones to start near. He could surprise the competition if he goes more all-in on his traits and ignores his civ, I think. Those starting techs, though...

Threat Level: Low

Poor, sweet, dear Azza got the combination of Augustus Caeser (Industrious/Imperialistic) and China.

Augustus is a weird leader, in that his two traits run counter to each other: Imperialistic wants to REX, Industrious wants to build wonders. I feel the best way to use him is to do more REXing up and choose strategic times to build wonders. Industrious might be a bit lower than normal in goodness on this map, I imagine: Random + Balanced makes me think Stone/Marble will be on this map, even if I doubt it'll be close. China has the best starting techs in the game, Agriculture/Mining, and the Cho-Ko-Nu is actually a pretty good UU, though the Pavilion is only worth it to Creative civs who get it cheap IMO. I think that this is actually a pretty fine combination, though, as he has decent ability to start quickly in a few ways and has some good flexibility.

Azza's got some experience under his belt and while his usual civ play seems to be quite fit for a Greens game, that experience will likely do him good. I'm not sure I'd rate him as a very high threat from what little I've seen so far though. Again, no offense, and power to him if he steamrolls the competition. I think he is the one with the most volatility in how good his rolls and how good he will do is.

Threat Level: Moderate-Low

Retep landed the fairly nice combination of Asoka (Organized/Spiritual) and England.

England's Redcoat is one of the better UUs and comes just on the cusp of being useful. Breaking down Redcoats behind Spiritual is PAINFUL because they can swap to, say, Theocracy/Nationhood and start drafting CGI Redcoats to defend against every unit of the time (IIRC, Grenadiers don't get their bonus vs. Redcoats, and either way the Redcoats 25% Gunpowder helps negate it). If they can get into a good position entering the Rifling era, we could be in some deep trouble. The Stock Exchange is a fine UB and can become downright frightening if they get a Shrine. Organized/Spiritual are good traits, but I once again think Spiritual is unlikely to be 100% leveraged in a Greens game. Still, it's a solid combination to go with a solid civ, for an all around solid choice. Fishing/Mining gives them a fairly standard start, but being Organized for half-priced Lighthouses might make Fishing slightly better?

Retep is another unknown-unknown, I think. I don't think they are as dangerous as Rome or Byzantine, but perhaps slightly more than Persia.

Threat Level: High-Moderate

The TIRO FINALE of the rolls is Frederick (Philosophical/Organized) of France. Suttree got stuck with a bit of a poor combination!

France begs and yearns and pleads for an Aggressive or Protective leader (Tokugawa of France is actually REALLY FUN), as Musketeers are good (You can use them with Knights to protect the Knights and turn them into a bitch to kill) but can become deadly invaders or defenders with those traits. Salon is poor, though with Philo I guess he can use it to boost a GP farm or something. Philosphical and Organized are okay, but there isn't a lot of synergy and it's a bit slow, but if you set up a good farm it could be worth it. Agriculture/The Wheel isn't that great, I'd say poor even, but it's certainly better than Mysticism/The Wheel! Slow to Bronze Working, though...

I know nothing of Suttree, ecetera. I feel this is a weak combination, but is barely better than some others, and Philosophical/Organized could turn out good if they get past a slow start. I feel this is one of the weaker foes.

Threat Level: Low-Moderate

Those are my thoughts on everything! Opinions? Tips? Answers to any questions? Anything for my good friend BaII to add?

[Kuro]

Something else to consider: Cloak and Dagger Department. How much do we do, if any?

My skills in C&D aren't that great and with 9 players it'd be pretty hard to keep track, I feel. Especially since so many people will start off the same. Then again, maybe that will make it easier.

BaII, think it is worth the time and effort to get any kind of C&D advantage?