(NO PLAYERS) Lurker Thread

[Quagma Blast]

I hate this Ioan horseshit. At least he and Kaiser want the same pick, so I can move forward with the civ rolls.

Unpicked:
1. Canada
2. Sweden
3. Kongo
4. Phoenicia
5. Georgia
6. Norway
7. Spain

Players to roll for:
Woden (forbid Canada and Sweden)
Archduke (forbid Norway and Georgia)

So what I'll do is randomize the list, give Woden the first two that he isn't forbidden from, pull them out, and repeat for Archduke. Fortunately there are few enough rerollers to guarantee this produces a valid result.

First result (for Woden) is:
Phoenicia, Kongo, Georgia, Spain, Norway

Second result (for Archduke) is:
Sweden, Canada, Spain

Poor Archduke...

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I think picking Canada really is crippling to Archduke's chances. The free cities that CS function as are just too good a snowball opportunity to pass up. The fact that no one can Surprise War dec him is poor compensation, since I think aggressive war really isn't the meta in GS anyway (see my final comments from my brief adventure in PBEM17). War is mostly only good now to raid and burn down an opposing civ, it's no good as a means of building up yourself.

Right now, I'd rank Ichabod as having the best chances - Brazil has consistently been a strong performer in our PBEMs before and I frankly don't understand what it's doing here. Then probably Woden (curious to see what he can do with Phoenicia), then Kaiser/Sub/Archduke. I don't trust Kaiser yet, though I hope he can learn, and I think Egypt used well can be a strong performer. Archduke has a civ with basically nothing going for it at all, ever (what, his killer app is hockey rinks?), but maybe he can make something happen with the WC. And I don't like sub's thoughts of a culture win, but a more straightforward domination play wtih RNDs might be better.

[Cornflakes]

Two other immediate thoughts:

* I don't like the scout build at all, especially for such a low production start. If barbarians pop up in higher than average numbers, you're left with a single warrior that can function militarily paired with a capital that has almost no production capability. Better hope nothing unexpected happens in that scenario. I know that some people love the scout opening but I much prefer an early warrior who can actually fight and clear barb camps. (I do think scout first is better than slinger first; slingers are terrible at revealing the map and they wilt instantly in melee combat with their base 5 strength.) You probably want to follow up the initial unit with a builder into a settler, then get more military after the settler finishes and Agoge can be slotted into place. So that's why I think the scout opening is bad: the timings don't line up very well for the build queue and you're forced to either slow down the growth curve with a second early unit or stick with a single warrior for far too long.

* Why is the initial research into Pottery? Surely Animal Husbandry is a far better initial choice, right? It's needed for the sheep anyway (at least one builder charge is guaranteed to be used on a sheep) and the tech also reveals horses. If there are horses anywhere near this capital, that's a very big deal indeed! Is there a need for Pottery here that I'm missing (?)

These were my thoughts exactly when I saw CMF's T1 report. What CMF doesn't know is that his start is buffed by 2 horse resources (1st and 2nd ring). But 2 sheep tiles including 1 first ring should be enough to steer research to Animal Husbandry.

[MJW (ya that one)]

Note, the CS types were generated randomly. I only know what type you get when you post about it.

I'll have an evilgasm if Nan Madol appears. Someone did find a way to remove fog-of-war IIRC so this is just a map-maker error.

[MJW (ya that one)]

[gamblor]

The early scout build from CMF is really hurting atm. Although two (possibly three) barb camps is particularly unlucky.

[Cornflakes]

The early scout build from CMF is really hurting atm. Although two (possibly three) barb camps is particularly unlucky.

CMF’s barb luck seems to often happen when I start with a scout build. Slinger isn’t much better because of their low strength. I wholeheartedly endorse the warrior as first build.

[Cornflakes]

Lots of scientific CS spawned on the map, did they get any militaristic or industrious?

[gamblor]

Yeah there is a lot of science CS floating around.

Also Subomtimal keeps mentioning how far barb camps are from the capital and whether they 'belong' to him. Is there some set way camps spawn?

[shallow_thought]

I don't really play Civ VI, and have barely any MP experience, so I have very few, small, weakly bound stones to throw here.

Nonetheless, I'd love it if someone could explain to me exactly what it is that Kaiser thinks he's doing here. As far as I can tell he's managing to lose hammer/cog trades with a weaker civ while moving towards ... no particular strategic objective? I don't have the knowledge to definitively judge his decision to declare on in order to rob an opponent of a civ-state bonus; that actually seems to me fairly sound. It's just the way he is dividing forces as if that was a real front and dithering around Canada seems ... unwise.