[SPOILERS] Fire and Blood: Nyles Standish and Zalson watch the world burn

[NylesStandish]

Spoiler free image. Unused image I made for my PB32 thread.

Sorry I took so long making the thread.

Actual commentary, discussion and reporting coming soon*.

[greenline]

ABOUT TIME

hey big stupid idiot dumbo head make a thread so i can post this there

your start:



tiles in the fat cross of the settler's current position won't change

fog gazing is of the devil, MAKE A TRHEAD

[NylesStandish]

Current Picks:

1. Borsche - Mehmed II of XXX
2. Gawdzawk/Chumchu - Julius Caesar of XXX
3. GSorel/DMOC/Ichabod - XXX of Zulu
4. Nicolea Carpathia - Brennus of XXX
5. Elkad - Asoka of XXX
6. DTG/picklepikkl - XXX of Inca
7. OT4E - XXX of Ottomans
8. wetbandit/ipecac - XXX of China
9. StarDoor - XXX of XXX- UP
10. dcodea - XXX of XXX - ON DECK
11. NylesStandish - XXX of XXX
12. pindicator - XXX of XXX

Since only pindicator goes after me I'm almost guaranteed whichever combo I wish.

Financial is kind of nerfed from base BTS since it doesn't work on rivers, but it's still good, and could be very good depending on how much water there is. greenline said in the setup thread that there's a 'significant' amount of water, which covers a lot of possibilities. Depending on stardoor and dcodea's picks, I could have my pick of any trait to go along with financial.

I'm leaning towards Wang Kon. Protective I mainly want for the cheap granaries, but I think that the cheap walls and city defender promos are underestimated. Once siege weapons are out, the walls become more of a speed bump than actual defense, but they're pretty good early game.

I also like Imperialistic in PB32, although I haven't used it as well as I could have. Charlemagne's still available but I'm not going to play him in two games at once.

For civ, I really want to get at least one of hunting or agriculture and maybe one of mining or the wheel. Persia's got hunting and agriculture to start and the Immortal opens up options for early aggression. Apothecary is ass but whatever.

I COULD live up to the thread title and make a troll pick: Boudica/Tokugawa/Ragnar of Rome/Mongols/Egypt, but I don't think I'll do that.

While typing this and doing other stuff StarDoor and dcodea picked Shaka and Joao, respectively, and I'm up next. I'll need a few more minutes to think about it.

[NylesStandish]

1. Borsche - Mehmed II of XXX
2. Gawdzawk/Chumchu - Julius Caesar of XXX
3. GSorel/DMOC/Ichabod - XXX of Zulu
4. Nicolea Carpathia - Brennus of XXX
5. Elkad - Asoka of XXX
6. DTG/picklepikkl - Mao Zedong of Inca
7. OT4E - Bismark of Ottomans
8. wetbandit/ipecac - Winston Churchill of China
9. StarDoor - Shaka of XXX
10. dcodea - Joao II of XXX
11. NylesStandish - Wang Kon of Aztecs
12. pindicator - Suryavarman II of India

I picked Aztecs entirely because of the Sacrificial Altar. Jaguar warriors could be fun but I doubt I actually rush somebody with them. Hunting start is good, too.

There's 2 other guys with Mysticism starts so I'm far from guaranteed Buddhism or Hinduism. I'm thinking of using The Oracle Code of Laws, so going for Meditation immediately wouldn't be a waste even if I don't get it.

You may be wondering why I picked Wang Kon and Aztecs. 'If you wanted financial and sacrificial altars, why not get Darius, who also gets half price courthouses?' The answer is that I hadn't completely decided on Aztecs. I should have completely decided on both before picking leader. Darius is better in general anyway, since the reduced upkeep keeps paying dividends all game, whereas the cheap granaries are most useful early on. 45 hammer SAs would be absurdly easy to whip out.

[Zalson]

Hi Nyles,

Thanks for welcoming me.

Have you made your pick yet? Are we for sure Wang Kon of Aztecs? Fin/Pro, starting with Hunting/Mysticism? Have you performed any simulations?

That's something I can likely help with.

This start certainly wants hunting and bronzeworking. Maybe a hunting/mining civ?

I'll check back in once I've familiarized myself more with the mod and with the setup till now.

[Zalson]

And I see we already made that selection. Unless Joey's got a the worldbuilder file already made???

It looks like our top priorities are going to be some combo of agriculture, mining, bronze working, wheel, and pottery... So just a lot of techs...

[NylesStandish]

Welcome, Zalson.

I haven't simmed the start yet, and haven't received a worldbuilder file from Joey yet. I can make one in WB myself pretty quick, though.

I'll claim the Civ right now and look around.

[Zalson]

I've never played in a PitBoss game before, I must confess, but I will hopefully ask enough annoying questions to be useful. Which were the two games you had played in before? I can search the forum, obviously, but it's always nice to ask. I'll check them out to familiarize myself with your style and previous results.

[NylesStandish]

BFC looks correct based on the pic from greenline. We can trust the tile bleeds now, though. The bodies of water to the northeast and northwest are salt water, the others I think are fresh water. I could have confirmed just by mousing over the adjacent tiles, but somebody was trying to get in so I got out.

I doubt there will be anything in the fog good enough to settle off of the plains hill. A coastal start might be useful with the amount of water this map has. On the other hand, the capital is safe from boats where it is.

I'll probably move the scout either E->NE or SE.

With regards to tech path, I'm thinking either Agriculture or Mining first. I picked Aztecs entirely for the Sacrificial Altar (courthouse replacement; whip unhappiness lasts 5 turns per whip instead of 10), so the Mysticism start was an unfortunate side effect of that. Early religion would be more tempting if there weren't three other mysticism starts in the game (Arabia, India, and Inca iirc).

I like the idea of getting the Oracle for Code of Laws and therefore early Sacrificial Altar and probably Confucianism, so if we go down that route Meditation wouldn't be a complete waste if we don't land Buddhism immediately. However, we'll need chops to get the Oracle, so it's better to get BW earlier for the early growth.

So I'm currently thinking either Agriculture or Mining first, then BW. Thoughts on Oracle, etc.?

The password for our civ is:

targaryen

[Zalson]

E->NE seems better to me. I'll install the mod and try to play a few openings tonight.

Tech paths to test:
Agri > Mining > BW
Mining > BW > Agri

Warrior > Worker
Worker > Warrior

An early oracle seems like a worthwhile play. We'd need:

Mediation, Priesthood, (Wheel, Pottery or Animal Husbandry or direct to Writing) plus Mining/BW to chop it out. I'll see how fast I can get Oracle, as well. While it's a worthwhile goal, it might be more valuable to get a settler and a worker instead of trading 150 hammers for 350 beakers? We'll need to see what develops but that's worthwhile goal.

I'll let you know what other thoughts I have.