[SPOILERS] Emperor K will see how many Polack's it takes to play civ 6 with the vets

[Emperor K]

My enemies for reference

Suboptimal - Australia
Emperor K - Poland
Alhambram - Persia
Archduke - Macedon

Inland sea, tiny, 10 city states

Early goals
Get first GG, get a religeon, don't loose to barbs, don't let Alhambram declare war on me, don't declare war on the aussie's, avoid archduke.

More to come when i get the start, hard to game up a strategy when i don't know what i have to work with. Jammin out to a wonder i always had to build because the music is awsome from civ 2 days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YRlCLLVDRQ while i wait for the game to start

Looks like the game will start tonight. Got to check that image links will work. Test image replace after i get a game screenshot. Going to scale down the images to 720p seems to still have good quality and will use less bandwidth.
Test Spoiler

[Emperor K]

Initial pregame  assessment.

Suboptimal - Only thing i know about this guy is his reporting from PBEM 3 and me and him are dedlurking krill in PBEM 5. 
From what i can tell he knows the game well and other than a bad decision in PBEM 3 his game play seems to be solid.
If i was Australia i would focus on city development and tech while keeping up on the power score. I would wait for war declarations from others at the same time I would have to be mindfull of Persia if they are a direct neighbor. I hope him and Alhambram are close.

Alhambram - I read his entire PBEM 2 report and he played an FFA game like it should be played. Never be seen as a threat then explode when a power spike is reached, he let the rest of the world fight while he just got to his UU. I expect him to be a major threat in this game especially if/when he gets a GG. Also immortals are pretty powerful so got to keep an eye on him until medieval era. If i were Persia it would not be as crucial to get a GG as long as I would be able to declare war. I expect early war declarations on me and Macedon. He will also most likely pursue a religion. The trade route bonus is really good IMO so should be able to dedicate more hammers to military.

Archduke - I have real all of his PBEM reports, and i think he is itching for a win more than any one. He has probably the best early game team that suffers no war weariness. If i were Macedon i would definitely exploit this with early GG, followed by war declaration. I would probably declare ware on my closest neighbor and never sign peace with intention of winning the war of attriction. I would not really have to worry about who is next to me given the Australia war bonus is not as problematic when there are only 2 cities. Probably just declare war as early as possible to get it out of the way.

[Emperor K]

Polish pregame Overview

Poland Civ bonus - Golden Liberty - Building an Encampment district or Fort in friendly territory claims all surrounding tiles, even from foreign cities. One military policy slot is turned into a wildcard slot.

The territory gain can benefit in two ways from what i can tell. One it will allow me to save some gold on tile purchases throughout the game. However given this is an MP game i will most likely prioritize strategic placement instead of optimal tile gains. The second benefit is grabbing tiles from enemy cities once borders have been established, this along with Jadwiga's free conversion to my religion seems like it has the potential to be very powerful. Problem i see is building an encampment in my outer settlements will be a high priority so it's usefulness will only be seen if i forward settle on an enemy. I also don't think that a religious victory will be possible this game given that Persia and Macedon are most likely going to want to be at war from the get go.

The military to wildcard bonus is what is going to dominate my early game. Given my rivals civs, I have the ability to grab the first GG most likely with no competition. Although i don't intend to start an early war i do not want Macedon or Persia to get a fast GG considering they both have early game UU's and Macedon specifically will want to expand via military from the start.

Unique Unit - Winged Hussar - Polish unique Medieval era unit. Pushes defending enemy units back from their hex in any battle where they score more damage. Defenders that cannot retreat suffer additional damage.

I have mixed feelings about this unit. On one hand the special ability seems borderline OP if i can get placement down correctly, on the other hand nothing upgrades into them so I would have to somewhat beeline to the civic mercenaries to get as much use out of them as quickly as i can. Overall i am planning my invasion of the weakest neighbor with these in my army, so I will try to avoid early aggression. Also to note these are medieval units so the first GG i get will benefit them.

Unique Building - Sukiennice - Replace's Market in Com District
+3 Gold
+1 Citizen slot
+1 Great Merchant point per turn
International Trade Routes from this city gain +2 Production
Domestic Trade Routes from this city gain +4 Gold

This building is just awesome. Probably my favorite part of this civ. To utilize i will need to prioritize commerce districts in every city if possible. Note the bonus only applies on trade routes from this city, not when the city is the destination.

Leader bonus - Lithuanian Union - Claiming territory off another city via Poland's Civ Ability converts it to your religion. Relics provide +4 Gold, +2 Culture and +2 Faith. Holy Sites have increased adjacency bonuses.

This ability in MP seems to be the least useful. Extra adjacency for holy sites is just an extra bonus so that is nice. The Relic bonus i think is going to be hard to pull off. The only thing i can think of is either build the Mt. Saint Michel or get the martyr promotion when i buy Apostles and suicide them with one spread left into someones lands. This however has to much luck involved so i don't know how many chances to actually try this. If the game does turn into a holy war this can become useful though.

[Emperor K]

Turn 1

The start (after i moved warrior, he started on the 1/3 next to capital) I did this move to see what the south looked like.
Also you can not see it in the screen shot but i can see the northern map boarder and the west map boarder.
This puts me in the upper left corner of the map.

After looking into the start I did not see any benefit to moving the settler anywhere that would require me to settle on turn 2.

Settling in place would allow me to have another city on the coast, however after seeing that the city would have almost no production and either have to settle on the banana's or the plains tile i just did not see the advantage of settling in place and leaving a spot for a city there.
Moving to the flood plains tile leaves me the option the put a harbor (333) of the capital as well as get me closer to the horses that i may end up depending on if there is early aggression. Settling down one opens up a city to the north along the river as well depending on how the land is up there. Hopefully I will not regret this move in the future.

This is where i finally settled. I really want to open with 2 scouts. I think that it is imperative to find out how close macedon and persia are. Also there are 10 city states and i want to meet as many of them as possible. This opening will allow me to send one east and 1 south.
I am working the 0/4 food tile to get to size 2 in 4 turns. My calc put the scout out in 7 turns if i work the 1/3 tile at size 2.

I would also like to add that any and all lurkers are welcome! Reading the other PBEM reports is part of the reason i wanted to play one so i intend to report as often as possible.

[Ituralde]

As a general lurker I will follow this game with interest and look forward to your reports!

[Emperor K]

Turn 2

Not much happened this turn. Other than questioning my initial settler move i also counted how many tiles it was to the north and west.
My capital is 9 tiles from the north, and 17 tiles from the western edges of the map. From the one test game i ran the northern tundra is 4 tiles thick compared the the southern tundra being 9 tiles thick. This should still allow for a city north of my capital.

End of Turn Pic

Finding the deer there makes my decision to move my settler on turn 1 a little regrettable. A city settled on the banana's could turn into a formable city down the line. Still having a coastal city right next to my capital just seems very risky if i am unable to build a strong navy to defend against an invasion.

[Emperor K]

Turn 3

@Ituralde - Thanks I hope you enjoy them!

A nice move with view of a new fresh water source and a possible candidate for city number 2. I prefer my second city to be a production monster and this spot looks promising.

Also checked the score and every one is tied at 6 in empire.

Shot of my location on the map.

I tend to use my first warrior more for defense than for actual scouting. My current plan for the upcoming turns is.
Build 2 scouts.
Build a settler.

While we were setting up this game over the weekend I played several (3 or 4) test games with this game's map parameters, trying out different starting strategies. Specifically building Stonehenge and getting and encampment down while running the GG card to secure the first 2 great people. My best results got me the wonder as early as turn 44 with my capital building scout->scout->slinger->builder->builder->Stonehenge. My worst results were around turn 64. (this map type rolls for SP are completely unbalanced, for instance in the game i got the wonder done on turn 44 i first met 9 of 10 cs) I have discarded this option completely as building the wonder has to much luck and really slows down development.

So this changed my strategy to go for first GG and first GP, with the capital building the holy site and city #2 grabbing the encampment. 
Then grabbing {divine spark / military tradition} or {mysticism / build an encampment in capital} and slotting the card most needed.
Can also build a barracks / shrine to help in this category.
Ideally I can get the first GP from hold site / divine spark skipping mysticism and running GG card.

Getting the first GP is not detrimental to this game from what I can see. There are 3 religions available and I do not see Macedon trying to acquire one. So getting the first GG is my top priority of the 2. The only way I see this gamble working, is if i commit 2 cities exclusively to this cause, joined with proper pantheon and civic choices. 

I do not want Macedon or Persia to run get away with an early rush so I really think the best course of action is to make sure I get the first GG.

Also with there being tundra to the north it makes settling towards the equator (middle / western edge of the map) a better choice to expand towards.

My current assumption is that all players are in the corners of the map, however I have no way of confirming this other than to scout so sending one each way around the lake will hopefully yield more CS first contacts and locate my opponents.

[Emperor K]

Turn 4

Revealed more land to the southwest. Settler view does not show any important information.
Worth mentioning in case some lurkers are unfamiliar with this map type, there are 2 continents, and the continental line always runs from north to south close to the center of the map.
Checked score again and all of us are still tied at 6.

Current Map knowledge from inside my capital

Although it might be hard to see the tile picker shows the capital will get the horses next in 5 turns. It has been on this tile so far the entire game and I really hope that it does pick this spot. A 2/3 (after pasture) will be welcome in the capital.

A shot of the Great People available this game.

Definitely not the best ones. The only noteworthy one i can see is the Great Engineer, as adding another district is always a welcome bonus. Don't think i will pursue any of them in earnest. We shall see how the game progresses.

[Emperor K]

Turn 5

Score still tied at 6

Capital grew to size 2 and started working the 1/3 and 0/4 tiles available

Settler view did not show anything new.

[Emperor K]

Turn 6

Archduke and I now have an Empire score of 7
Alhambram and Suboptimal are tied at 6 still.

Overview shot, settler view still does not show any new information.

Hear is a strategic view shot as well.

Capital still shows that it will grab the horse tile which is due in 2 turns.