[spoilers]Casually, Commodore: Isabella of Sumer

[Commodore]

Heh, well, people still pick Ottomen all the time, so...nope, there. But I don't think we'll have Pacal of China as a "fair" combo, at least.
Anyway, let's talk about another Agr/Wheel combo with a much scarier musket-replacement UU.


Nicolae Carpathia (Imp/Exp) as Mansa Musa(Fin/Spi) of France(Agr/Wheel)

Mansa Musa is an excellent leader, usually in close competition with HC as forth pick on an unrestricted snake. For good reason, his Financial yummy goodness and the flexibility of Spiritual makes him a contender anywhere, and pairing his slightly slower start with the aforementioned rocket-start techs that France owns is a good choice. Salons are about as dry and underutilized as UBs can get, but who cares? Draftable two-movers are terrifying, particularly when Nationalism is much simpler to slip in and out of (Spi!).

Nicolae is a strong player who has romped to victory convincingly in two green games and was not-as-good-as-Seven-or-Novice until he left in a veterans game. The first romp, we need to note, was with France...I expect Curs/Musketeers as his preferred clobbering device/time-frame. Um. Let's have rifles before then? Only trouble, of course, is the Nicolae is a good builder too, so he'll be ripping up the tech tree. I would not at all be shocked if he won this one.

[BRickAstley]

And now I'm definitely following this thread

[Commodore]

Rounding out the typical civ-set, let's look at Krill's other half in the PBEM4:


DazedRoyalty (Phi/Chm) as Darius (Fin/Org) of Egypt (Agr/Wheel)
We needed only Babylon here to round out the Agr/Wheel quintet. Probably the best of those civs in a vacuum is Egypt, home of a situationally useful UB and the amazing War Chariot. There are a few better UUs...Fast Workers, Cataphracts, Preatorians...but not many, and Egypt is a great civ on all other marks too. Darius is a solid choice in this setup, with Fin being Fin, and a Prince toroid with a fair bit of coast buffing Org considerably. He's a slow starter, but War Chariots cover a multitude of sins.

Dazed is odd to peg...he's played some very very good games, and also some fairly ones. I know he's got two little kids eating his time, which is great and also hard on the ole' CivTime, so he's probably not going to be in his best form. But still, he's a solid fellow, especially on the short-term planning.

[Commodore]

Finally, let's talk @:


Automated Teller (Fin/Pro) as Mehmed (Exp/Org) of Holy Rome (Hunt/Myst)

Ah, yes, the newbait civilization of Holy Rome. A lackluster UU, terrible start techs, and a good but needs-work-to-leverage UB. I've actually played the HRE twice, and having cities half to a quarter as costly as everyone else is nice. Having terrible techs and a UU that means you're in bad shape if you're spamming it? Less nice. Still, Mehmed is good at spamming cities, and if AT is disciplined about his REX and his CoL fast this could be a good combination. Tricky, though.

AT is the newbiest of the bunch here, but he's been playing a lot since his debut (won the greens game) and seems to be getting better. His fundamentals are good, his planning is nice, and once his tactics catch up he'll be scary. As it is, he's not my top seed by any means but I do expect him to do well.

[Fintourist]

Hammams are fucking awful /PBEM4

Interesting you should mention that, because I was reconsidering my letting them pass above. Really, just a terrible UB: Why would I want to spend 100 hammers (normal) for 2 ? If I'm in HR, 50 hammers gets me two archers, if, as here, I'm Spiritual, I can use a 40h temple per happy and get a priest slot for my troubles too. Sure, it sounds nice, but if you're building a ton of Hammams, you're at the killing time/effort point.

Pro tip here for you all greenies:
If you can use both the happiness and the health I think Hammams will be a good deal. Of course, that is unlikely to happen early in the game. 100 hammers for improving only 1 of the areas indeed is a pretty expensive investment.

[Krill]

A granary, a grain resource and two other food resources, plus base health is 6 health. And that's on the seriously low side. Even random, food poor maps will have 5 different food resources nearby, so you shouldn't run into health difficulties until size 8 without fresh water. Usually can get to size 12 without needing the aqueduct. Its not until factories giving the unhealthiness that you really need aqueducts.

[Fintourist]

Exactly, at that point +2 happy is a nice bonus, but hammams definitely won't help you to snowball ahead in the early game. But hey, most of the UB's won't do that either.

[Commodore]

Illustrative: Look instead at the Garden. Sure, +2 health is weak, weak, but if you do need the health, a cheaper building like the Garden is just great, and cool, bonus . Honestly, on quick speed I think Babylon should be picked more, bowmen for all weakness at least have a much much longer window of opportunity and usefulness than Jans.

But an even bigger newbie point: Techs are vital. Ottomans who never build a single hammam or Janissary still might be better over some poor Spanish bugger saddled with a Fishing/Myst start.

[Fintourist]

But an even bigger newbie point: Techs are vital. Ottomans who never build a single hammam or Janissary still might be better over some poor Spanish bugger saddled with a Fishing/Myst start.

That's what I dream of in 45G

[Krill]

By the time factories are around you can get to +30 happiness from resources and buildings, ignoring the culture slider. +2 happiness is nothing.

The other UB, except for the colluseum UB, are useful because they give boni on buildings that are built for their main efffect, the the UB bonus just being essentially free on top of that, with no opportunity. The aqueduct is junk on a scale that to make use of the Hammam you have to find 100 hammers to build it, which means you can't build other stuff.