[spoilers] Mr. Cairo Steels himself for another Pitboss

[Mr. Cairo]

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[Mardoc]

Your first round choices are:
   Korea
    Frederick (Org, Phi)
    Boudica (Agg, Cha)

[Mr. Cairo]

uh, that's a pretty crappy start by current RB standards, but better considering the change to workboats; I'll certainly be going WB first with this start. Agriculture is also not a priority, as my only other food are the plains cow, which need Hunting. I did a little test, and working the Ivory Tile (1/3/0) gets me a WB in 6 turns, and Fishing will also (probably) take 6 turns. So I don't need a civ with Fishing for maximum optimization.


Mining is a tech I generally want to start with, which is good for Korea, and its UU and UB are decent. But as I said above, Agriculture isn't very good with this start, which is a mark against Korea.

Frederick is a pretty high level leader, thanks to PHI, which is something I haven't played before. ORG is of course good, but perhaps not as good on this smaller map than it was in PB38.

Boudica seems pretty popular these days for the warlike among us, but I don't know if she's really lived up to the expectations. I'd still favour a more economic set of traits, but I don't know if Fred counts.

I do want to play a PHI leader this PB, and while ORG is good, Fred doesn't have any sort of early-game boost and I'm not so skilled that I can remain competitive without one. So I think I'm going to re-roll the leaders. The only other PHI leader I don't want is Alexander (PHI/AGG)

Now the civ. Korea is a good civ, and pairs well with my desired trait of PHI, but the starting techs are sub-par for this start. Even Mining isn't that important considering I'm going WB first, so my worker will be delayed. And while the UU and UB are decent, neither one is extremely impactful. So I'm going to re-roll Korea as well.

Final decision: re-roll civ and leaders please.

And thanks Krill and Mardoc for the map and quick set-up.

[Mardoc]

Your second round options:

Julius (Org, Imp)
Pericles (Cre, Phi)
Arabia

[Mr. Cairo]

Arabia sucks. Myst + Agri is not what I have in mind as starting techs, and while the Madrassas are good with PHI, I can find other ways to get Great Prophets, assuming I even need/want any. The Camel Archer is also underwhelming, since everyone should end up with access to horses and iron. So I'm not keeping Arabia.

Now the leaders, well, I got my wish with Pericles. Creative is one of the better early-game traits, not just from the saved hammers from the automatic border pops, but because it allows a certain latitude when settling.

However, JC is the man. Imp/Org is a great combo, probably one of the best available in RtR. It's also not very skill-intensive, unlike Phi. I'd probably have a better shot at winning with JC than Pericles.

But then again, I did say I wanted to play a Phi leader this game to try and learn what it's all about. I suppose the smart thing is to play some SP with Phi leaders before jumping feet first into a Pitboss here with Pericles. But I don't have the patience any more for regular SP Civ4, so Pericles it is.

Lock in Pericles.

Reroll Arabia

Edit: changed my mind, see below.

Anyone know any good threads from previous games with a Phi leader showing off the best way to exploit it?

Also, have the bulb preferences changed at all in RtR?

[Krill]

I don't have the links to hand but they aren't hard to find.

PB18, TBS playing Gandhi to something appropaching victory (I still don't know who won that game)
PBEM23, Seven et al bulbed into a brick wall that was mackoti. Described as the best game ever.

[Mr. Cairo]

I don't have the links to hand but they aren't hard to find.

PB18, TBS playing Gandhi to something appropaching victory (I still don't know who won that game)
PBEM23, Seven et al bulbed into a brick wall that was mackoti. Described as the best game ever.

Thanks, I guess it's time to jump back into PB 18, I read quite a few of those threads as the game was winding up but I don't think TBS was one of them.

[Mr. Cairo]

Initial thoughts as I'm reading TBS's report from PB18:

maybe I do want Arabia? I don't really know, those starting techs are so bad, I'll need to go Fishing -> AH -> Mining -> BW. That's a lot of time before I can chop or whip a settler. Something like The Wheel would at the very least let me build roads to my first city spot to save time that way. Maybe I can afford to skip AH, but it still seems really poor. The reason to keep Arabia is the Madrassa, which seems pretty damn good with Phi, giving a reliable and early source of Great Prophets and Great Scientists (although an early Academy is not all that appealing with this capital, only 8 riverside tiles and only a few of those grassland).

So with that said, I'm taking back my earlier commitment to reroll Arabia, and I'll remain uncommitted for now.

More thoughts to come.

Edit: one other thing, if I do decide to ditch Arabia, but not re-roll the leaders, am I required to pick a leader now, before I see the civ I get? I'm asking in case I reroll Arabia and get the Aztecs, in which case I'd prefer JC over Pericles.

[Mardoc]

Edit: one other thing, if I do decide to ditch Arabia, but not re-roll the leaders, am I required to pick a leader now, before I see the civ I get? I'm asking in case I reroll Arabia and get the Aztecs, in which case I'd prefer JC over Pericles.

If you claim a leader, the other one goes back in the pool.

[Mr. Cairo]

Edit: one other thing, if I do decide to ditch Arabia, but not re-roll the leaders, am I required to pick a leader now, before I see the civ I get? I'm asking in case I reroll Arabia and get the Aztecs, in which case I'd prefer JC over Pericles.

If you claim a leader, the other one goes back in the pool.

right, ok then, it was a pretty niche situation anyways, but if I do end up with the Aztecs I'll be pissed.