[SPOILER] Fate/stay close (to home)

[Jowy]

Analysis: 4. Ruff Hi / civac2 - Victoria of Rome
Vicky's Fin/Imp combines two eco techs. Rome's Praets lose out on the +25% city attack bonus Swords get. The difference attacking a city is only 7.5 vs 8.
Not sure about the Civ pick. There were better options still open. Since IMP gets cheap Stables, why not combo it with a 2-mover UU instead like Byzantines, Arabia or Mongolia.

[Charriu]

I'm up for a Civ pick. I'm going to go with Native Americans. Start techs are good for this start (Agri/Hunting) even if they are cheap.
The XP bonus from Totem Pole will be relevant for a long time. The culture bonus means we can ignore the religious path.
Dog Soldiers I'm not sure if they will be relevant. But we can for example not worry about our Copper being camped because Dog Soldiers don't need it.

Awesome. Glad somebody gives them a ride.

[Jowy]

Awesome. Glad somebody gives them a ride.

Fighting against you in PB52 actually inspired me to go with Pro and now ending up with Native America. I don't think Pro is OP, but it fits the playstyle I have in mind.
Which is to forget about expanding through people and instead focus all in on teching up and going to space and only fighting to defend. We'll see if it's possible to win like that.

[Charriu]

Awesome. Glad somebody gives them a ride.

Fighting against you in PB52 actually inspired me to go with Pro and now ending up with Native America. I don't think Pro is OP, but it fits the playstyle I have in mind.
Which is to forget about expanding through people and instead focus all in on teching up and going to space and only fighting to defend. We'll see if it's possible to win like that.

Again no spoiler at this point, but my plan in PB52 was not to defend myself against every single neighbor I have.

[Jowy]

Again no spoiler at this point, but my plan in PB52 was not to defend myself against every single neighbor I have.

Yeah that'll be something to avoid! But if it does come to war, cheap castles and highly promoted longbows are quite good at holding cities and slowing down the attack.
On top of that you get other advantages when fighting in your own lands: Higher maneuverability with roads, faster reinforcements, faster healing, lower unit maintenance cost.
Ideally I will get a tech edge and threaten space victory while making it as difficult as possible to invade me. Non-conquerors victory in PB might not be possible, but I want to try it out.

[Charriu]

Again no spoiler at this point, but my plan in PB52 was not to defend myself against every single neighbor I have.

Yeah that'll be something to avoid! But if it does come to war, cheap castles and highly promoted longbows are quite good at holding cities and slowing down the attack.

I think we both know by now that that is true.

[Jowy]

Analysis: 6. Amicalola - Hannibal / India
Steal of the draft. Hannibal could be argued to be the best leader in the current version. Chr was going to get nerfs, but they were held off for now.
India on the other hand got buffs to make the Fast Workers normal price again. Nobody would fault you if you picked either this leader or civ at #1, and he got both at #6.

[Jowy]

Analysis: 3. Superdeath - MAO / Carthage
It's clear what the plan here is: Trade route economy. What I'm kind of doubting is how needed Protective is for that anymore?
You really want foreign trade routes for the bonuses, and apparently someone will always be foolish enough to give them to you.
That said, in the early game Pro will be a nice eco boost, and you get cheap Castles for a +1 trade route. So it's definitely still a great pick.

[Jowy]

Analysis: 2. Commodore/Pindicator - Saladin / Celts
???

[Jowy]

Tentative plans



City:
Worker
Warrior
Warrior (until size 3)
Worker
Settler (two chops cut 3 turns)

Workers:
w1 farm corn
w1 camp deer
w1 camp ivory
w1 chop grassland hill forest
w2 chop plains hill forest

Tech:
Mining
BW
AH (horse revealed as settler spawns)