[SPOILERS-PBEM14] Sandover(phi/spi) of Egypt

[Sandover]

Scooter discovered tech t5.
Serdoa discovered tech t5 (founded late).

[Sandover]

Just to say that I'm lurking and that you need to keep this thread updated :neenernee

I reckon I'll update almost as much as I did in PBEM3. My thread reached over 500 posts that game so there should be no need to worry.

Could you share some thoughts about the other players picks?

Sure.

< opens civ to check the civilopedia for starting techs >

< start singing along with the intro music and almost forget what I was doing >

Ok, assuming I recalled the picks correctly:

Scooter(fin/spi) of Byzantium (the wheel, mysticism)

Financial is always good (albeit boring). I'm personally a big fan of spiritual for it's overall usefulness, and he has some synergy assuming he can use his mysticism start to grab a religion. Cataphracts are awesome, as we all know.

Main strength: Medieval warfare.
Main weakness: Huge target on his back during the ancient era.

Gaspar(exp/ind) of Maya (mysticism, mining)

Bismarck is a very strong leader even without the restrictions we used for this game, and Gaspar's alone in having industrious. Maya offers some synergy in the sense that starting with mysticism will help him claim a religious wonder of his choice (Stonehenge, Oracle), and is possibly the top civ in the game following India and Inca (that were both banned).

Main strength: Superiority in wonder competitions.
Main weakness: -

Lewwyn(fin/chm) of the Ottomans (the wheel, agriculture)

Charismatic is underrated and I view Hannibal as a strong pick. There's no real synergy here, but I think the pick was made because of janissaries being able to offer much better resistance against cataphracts than regular musketmen.

Main strength: Better counter against cataphracts than other civs.
Main weakness: Lack of synergy between leader and civ.

Serdoa(fin/agg) of Mongolia (the wheel, hunting)

Aggressive isn't bad, and I can fully understand the desire to mess around with keshiks, but aggressive + Mongolia is actually anti-synergy. Why not Rome instead? Or financial + another trait? Definitly the worst pick of the selection.

Main strength: Ancient warfare.
Main weakness: Anti-synergy between leader and civ.

Sandover(phi/spi) of Egypt (the wheel, agriculture)

Spiritual was an easy choice under the rules used for the snake pick. I didn't want financial because it's boring to play and way too mainstream, ruled out creative because I played it last game and decided not to go expansive since I couldn't team it up with neither Inca nor India. I was left with wanting to play either Ramesses(ind/spi) or Gandhi(phi/spi). Not exactly leaders someone was expected to steal from me, so I started looking at civ selection instead.

I didn't feel like going for a military powerhouse civ, so those were out. I thought about Ramesses of Maya (easy access to both religions and wonders for great trait synergy) but decided against industrious since Bismarck had already been picked. That left me with Gandhi, who happens to have decent synergy with Egypt - and I do love my Pharaoh title. Also, I'm certain to not forget what civ I'm playing.

Bottom line, playing something fun was more of a priority than playing something powerful. Based purely on the selection, here's my tier list:

Tier 1:
Scooter & Gaspar.

Tier 2:
Lewwyn & Sandover

Bottom tier:
Serdoa

Lewwyn is borderline tier 3 in my mind, but the janissaries vs. cataphracts scenario keeps him in the same tier as me.

[Sandover]

I remembered to send the save today. Go me!

Turn 6



Definitly looks like my capital is at the centre of a penninsula at this point, or possibly even an island. Darrell will reveal whether my entire west is coastal or not within the next few turns.

[Sandover]

Scooter

The Wheel
Mysticism
Agriculture t5?

Building a worker so he had to get a tech that lets him connect food.

Gaspar

Mysticism
Mining

Capital grew t4.

Not building a worker. Likely going for an early religion (or maybe bronze working).

Lewwyn

The Wheel
Agriculture
Mining t4?

Building a worker and already has agriculture, so makes sense he would go for bronze working.

Serdoa

The Wheel
Hunting
Fishing t5?

Delayed founding by one turn, like I did. Judging by demographic scores he has a coastal capital and lack a tile with more than 2 food unimproved in his capital's first ring. He could've gone for agriculture or animal husbandry right away if he had any such tiles to improve, which he didn't, so I'm inclined to think he's only got coastal food to work with (and possibly even clams rather than fish).

[Sandover]

Early analysis (Based on both facts and guesswork.)

Lewwyn is off to an early lead followed by Sandover. They both started with agriculture and the appropriate food tile, and can head straight for bronze working without worrying about feeding their citizens. Earlier slavery, earlier forest chops and earlier connection of copper.

Scooter is playing a solid game but has fallen behind some due to having to research agriculture. Will he try to secure an early religion to compensate or is he about to focus purely on expansion?

Gaspar is playing it safe, training extra defense first and foremost. Slow and steady usually doesn't win the race in civ, however, so he'll be stressed to make up for it even if he is to grab a relgion in the meantime.

Serdoa's play is somewhat unorthodox thus far and is therefore hard to place. He has secured the only coastal capital, but is now looking to build up using primarily coastal resources with a civ that doesn't even have knowledge of fishing! Can he make it work?

[Rowain]

I think I'll watch if the great pharao can rule the world this time

Good Luck

[Sandover]

Thanks Rowain.

Gaspar got a tech on turn 8. No religion discovered so that just got to be bronze working.

Darrell is still a few turns from confirming my west don't lead anywhere. I'll take a screen shot of exploration once that happens.

[Sandover]

Turn 10



Darrell confirmed the suspicion I had that my west is completely coastal. He also encountered another landmass reachable by galley, so I'm starting to think this could be some sort of island based map.

Not much sexiness encountered in terms of city locations as of yet, sadly. I'm yet to find a single food resource that yeild more than 4F without secondary improvements such as irrigation or a lighthouse, and the lack of production capacity is fairly abyssmal. I also foresee trouble keeping up with the financial civs if the presence of workable coast tiles makes itself known in a similar fashion across the world.

I like this map.

[Sandover]

Serdoa discovered tech on t10. I suppose, if his first tech was fishing as I do believe, that he now has mining and is heading for bronze working next.

Gaspar has slaved away one population point so bronze working is confirmed in his case.

[Sandover]

Turn 12

I woke up to an email from Gaspar today. The save arrived 20min later from Serdoa (I love the regularity of this guy!), and I was presented with this scenario:



Yup, I'm dead.

If Gaspar is ballsy enough, that is. He has one turn head start if he decides to go for my capital. If he moves west next turn he'll have to fight Darrell to take it.