RBPitboss #2 Athlete4life10 & Kalin

[kalin]

For those lurkers out there (before Kalin joined up) I was originally hoping to pair a Fin leader with a civ whom started with mining, and oracle to get MC and hire an engineer to build the Great Library. In some practice play testing if I had a high food, high forest cap, I could generally have 3 cities with a worker each and the oracle completed by turn 70. I tried once with china to go to Machinery and had it done by roughly 86 I think but I definitely could have gotten it faster if I hadn't rushed through it. That being said my opening in all of them was research to BW, and build worker/worker/settler. Not exactly a great opening in MP as it's probably a surefire way to death. So any real planning of early game strategy will probably start after we see the starting position and as the map gets scouted.

*edit*
Oh I had also tried Huyana Capac of Mali (man that was fun ) which allowed me to the oracle in the early to mid 60's!

I think that a plan that goes through a wonder is too risky in MP. Also, with Willem we'll want writing soon to get those cheap libs online!

I commented on the worker/worker/settler opening above.

EDIT: I will be out of town until Monday. I will hopefully have internet access, but it's not guaranteed. Since the civ choice is very important I would prefer to reach a consensus before choosing Also, looking at the list of civs I noticed the Aztec as a possibility. Not great but their UB is very interesting.

Kalin

[athlete4life10]

Agreed about civ choice needing to be reached asap. When do you leave? I probably can't comment any more until later tonight...

[kalin]

Agreed about civ choice needing to be reached asap. When do you leave? I probably can't comment any more until later tonight...

I am leaving tonight, but will be quite busy packing so little time to check and reply.

We can try some gmail chat, if you are around.

Kalin

[athlete4life10]

Tier 1: Arabia, Ottomans

Tier 2: Greece, England, Babylon

I'd say lets choose from these then. Out of them I could probably eliminate Babylon for the near useless UU so we're down to 4 if you agree.

[athlete4life10]

I'd say we could eliminate greece or atleast put them at the bottom of the 4 if the other 3 were to get chosen...

[kalin]

I'd say we could eliminate greece or atleast put them at the bottom of the 4 if the other 3 were to get chosen...

Yes sounds good. How about this ranking:

1. Ottomans
2. Arabia
3. England
4. Greece
5. Babylon

Kalin

[athlete4life10]

Yes sounds good. How about this ranking:

1. Ottomans
2. Arabia
3. England
4. Greece
5. Babylon

Kalin

I'd prefer to switch England and Arabia, but maybe your's is better. Lets just hope we can land the Ottomans.

[athlete4life10]

The Aztec UB would be pretty fun, but I really don't like the UU and we can probably do better as a civ on whole.

[athlete4life10]

Well we got the OTTOMAN'S!!!

Probably one of the best choices we could have made though I was definitely enthralled with the idea of Red Coats, and Kalin's plan for Arabia would have been great if it worked out. Lurker's can feel free to weigh in on what they would have done now that the choice is made.

So where do we go from here?

Not a lot we can decide without map intel but I have an idea about what I'd like to try. Again it has to do with The Great Library, as I think that will be a very powerful wonder in this game. With 3 Phi civ's it's denial value is pretty big as well.

How do I propose getting it? Expand as quickly as we can. We're the only Cre civ so border disputes will always go our way in the early game. Get to Math asap to unlock our UB and land The Hanging Gardens. Immediately after get Metal Casting and whip a forge in the city that builds The Hanging Gardens and then head to Literature to use a GE on The Great Library.

Of course we can pursue many a path and really until it comes time I don't think we need to lock ourselves into this. It's just an idea I'd like to discuss further in the game as it unfolds.

[athlete4life10]

My opinion on the other teams choices:

Broker33 + Plako - Ghandi (Phi/Spi) of Korea (Hwacha/Seowon):
I have no idea who Plako is but I'm not terribly worried about Broker33. I toyed with the idea of a Phi Korea, but the UB comes reasonably late and the Hwacha isn't a game breaker. I think we should be able to outlast this team.

Jowy + Yazilliclick - Pacal (Exp/Fin) of Greece (Phalanx/Odeon)
I don't know either of these players but from Yaz's initial posts on the Pitboss 1 game for taking over Krill he has a pretty good handle on civ. I love the leader selection, I was very close to selecting him myself and I'm a fan of Greece. They've got a decent UU and UB that both come reasonably early. I feel this team will probably do pretty well.

DMOC + Nakor - Darius (Fin/Org) of the Holy Roman Empire (Landsknecht/Rathaus)
I bet these guys probably found Confucianism! You heard it here first. Actually given they start with Mysticism they may grab something earlier but regardless this combination is pretty strong. Again I know nothing of either player but their selection has good synergy and they'll probably be able to capitalize on that.

Iamjohn + Kodii + Zevis - Mehmed (Exp/Org) of Inca (Quechua/Terrace
The Exp Inca at work again. All three of these guys are quality civ'ers I think and they'll be the only ones that can fight us culturally early on. Problem is they can probably out expand us as well. Shouldn't be much of an issue as I'm guessing we're gonna get some space between civs but I think this team very capable of leveraging the Inca to the fullest.

Speaker + Sullla - Elizabeth (Fin/Phi) of India (Fast Worker/Mausoleum)
This team is . I expect them to do very well. I don't get the huge fascination with India everybody has but I guess an extra worker movement point can really aid things along. Regardless these guys will probably know everything (atleast) their closest neighbours are doing and will plan everything out to get the most value out of their civ. Elizabeth provides great traits for those that can maximize both cottages and GP's and if anybody can do that it's this team.

Mortius - Ragnar (Agg/Fin) of Zulu (Impi/Ikhanda)
I loved Mortius's first pick of Ragnar. I strongly considered the vikings knowing there is going to be some decent water on the map but Ragnar is probably the best leader for the vikings and seeing as we're playing unrestricted I didn't want to do that. I'm slightly mystified about the Zulu pick. Cheap barracks with maintence redundancy is certainly good but I'm under the understanding most people like the UU for a rush. While it could provide trouble to a close neighbour, unless you dedicate your entire civ to it for a while you're not gonna eliminate anybody, just piss them off. I'm not terribly worried about the Zulu.

Dantski - Julius Caesar (Imp/Org) of Mali (Skirmisher/Mint)
I'm a little miffed by this selection. Org is certainly getting it's use in this game and I love Imp so with cheap courthouses I suppose this lends itself to ReXing. But with Mali I'm pretty sure a Fin civ is the way to go. The UB is great and the UU is great when you don't have copper or horse but that probably won't be the case with anybody here.

LiPing - Shaka (Agg/Exp) of Rome (Praetorian/Forum)
I really enjoy this combo though Ragnar of Rome would have been better I think. I do not want to start next to Rome as it would definitely require a more conservative approach to expansion.

Regoarrarr + darrelljs + sunrise089 - Peter (Exp/Phi) of Byzantium(Cataphract/Hippodrome)
This team is to be feared by names alone, though even big names can screw up sometimes (Sunrise089 in RBPB#1). I don't quite understand the synergy (if any) between leader/civ selection but if they get to Cataphract's which they shouldn't have a problem doing, we should definitely be on their friendly side.