Talks about music. The famous talk show feat. yuris125 & Nicolae Carpathia

[yuris125]

And the next song of our show is here:

http://youtu.be/u6KXgjLqSTg

[yuris125]

OK, we now know what we're up against. What concerns me is that half the teams picked civs with an early UU. We might see an early rush in this game, hope we won't be the target. 4 our of 6 leaders (including ourselves) are creative, only 2 are expansive

1) Luddite / Pindicator: Suryavarman (Cre/Exp) of Zulu (Agri/Hunting)

Sury was a clear number one pick, he would work nice with any civ. Ikhandas are an early UB which provides benefits all game long, and that 10% maintenance discount will be quite valuable on Emperor. Impis hopefully won't be a factor, a Cre/Exp leader doesn't really want an early war. Starting techs are above average; assuming every team has a similar start, Hunting isn't a wasted tech early

2) Mackoti: Pericles (Cre/Phi) of Greece (Fishing/Hunting)

I don't quite understand why Greece is picked relatively often in RB games. UU is mediocre, UB is mediocre at best, starting techs are below mediocre. Why is it getting picked over e.g. France or Maya is beyond me. Pericles is an excellent pick, but I think there were better civs available

3) Novice / Spacemanmf / Sevenspirits: Isabella (Exp/Spi) of Egypt (Agri/Wheel)

I really, really don't want to start next to them. I hate War Chariots when they're against me. As I said in our pre-pick discussion, I would have preferred a civ with a late draftable UU with a Spi leader, but I guess Egypt will work just fine, thanks to good starting techs and excellent UU

4) Sian / Ichabod: Hatshepsut (Cre/Spi) of Ottoman (Agri/Wheel)

I like this pick a lot. There is little synergy between leader and civ, but it's difficult to get synergy with Ottomans and their Aqueduct replacement UB. The leader, UU, UB, starting techs - everything is well above average. Very solid pick, a certain long-term threat

5) Fierce: Cyrus (Imp/Cha) of HRE (Hunting/Mysticism)

This is the pick I don't like at all. The only good thing to say about HRE is that its UB is very good. But if you want to spam Rathauses, why not pick an Org leader? Mehmed was available, Zara was available... why Cyrus?? All in all, Fierce ended up with a mediocre leader, subpar UU and bad starting techs. Maybe I don't see something, but I think it's the worst pick of the draft

Finally, our pick: Louis (Cre/Ind) of Byzantium (Wheel/Mysticism). Considering that we were last in the draft, I'm very happy about our choice. Leader is good, being the only Ind civ in the game is a nice advantage. UB is decent, UU is awesome. Starting techs are the only thing I don't like too much, but we can work with them. Especially if we're going to Oracle Metal Casting: we need both techs to do it, and having them from the start is nice

Hope we don't end up on the receiving end of an early rush. I'm already hearing war tunes. The song for today: http://youtu.be/Fc6thwTVwtU

[Lewwyn]

CRE in CTON is great.

Really don't want to start next to WC but I will say that we won't face a protracted war. We're gonna need copper asap though.

I don't know about Mackoti. I like the leader, civ could be better, but that UU will be deadly in Mackoti's hands. Do not want to start near him... he doesn't get enough respect on RB.

Sury Just so strong early!

One thing about Egypt, it could have influence Greece and Zulu picks,which followed it, for sure.

You like Sian's pick because that was your early pick XD

Fierce, Cyrus? Not great. Agg would be worth more in this CTON than Cha

[Nicolae Carpathia]

I've grown to appreciate Phalanxes, as it means you don't need spears until Horse Archers appear on the field. Fierce is pretty new to RB, so he's probably not familiar with the PBEM/iron man metagame and is thinking from an SP perspective.

NS7 is the ones to really watch out for, cf. Nospace in PBEM13 and 17, and Sevenspirits in PBEM19. I hope they get distracted enough by early war that we can stomp everybody with Cataphracts!

Sury is still awesome, but I don't think having 2 early game expansion traits is the win-all end-all on Emperor difficulty. I think the most ambitious thing we should on this map is to set up a brutal timing attack with Cataphracts. Oracle MC, build Colossus, and rex off coast tiles while emphasising growth and production in the majority of our cities so we can will be in position to simply end one or two of our neighbours.

[Lewwyn]

BTW you guys need to post available play hours in the tech thread.

[yuris125]

I've grown to appreciate Phalanxes, as it means you don't need spears until Horse Archers appear on the field.

Didn't look at it from this perspective. Probably because in most cases if you need Spears before HAs appear, you screwed up your diplo Oh wait, there's no diplo! Oh well

NS7 is the ones to really watch out for, cf. Nospace in PBEM13 and 17, and Sevenspirits in PBEM19.

Yeah, they're definitely the scariest team out there. But if we kill a couple of opponents, we should do fine Especially if NS7 are one of those opponents :neenernee

Sury is still awesome, but I don't think having 2 early game expansion traits is the win-all end-all on Emperor difficulty.

Sure, it's not overpowered, but they will be a major threat if they leverage the traits well

Also, a point of order: this is not exactly a CTON, more like PBEM20 diplo: you can offer and accept deals in-game via diplo interface, but can't exchange messages in any way

So, are we agreed on our opening? Settle 2E on the plains hill where the Warrior stands, tech Agri first, build Monument first :neenernee, then research Mining/BW unless something extraordinary happens

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Absolutely. Alternatively we go AH after agriculture, to get that beautiful 3/3 tile hooked up asap. Horses are always useful, and if we're really desperate we can always pull chariot rush someone.

[yuris125]

AH is worth thinking about. It's off the Oracle path, but it indeed opens the 3/3 tile, helps in planning new cities (I want at least 2 Settlers out before we start building Oracle), and Chariots will help a lot in early barb defence and scouting

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Yeah, we're not isolated, so there's going to be competition for land, that we're going to be at the weak end of if we push too hard for Oracle. I say go for it, then Mining/BW, then Buddhism.

[Lewwyn]

Yeah you're pretty much set for the opening.

I'm not sure if you need to get AH right away. I think it depends on what others tech. I would keep an open mind. If Buddhism falls early maybe we grab Hinduism before going for AH. Fierce is the other civ that starts with Myst. Oddly enough he's also CHA so Stonehenge is a target for him... that might help st him back in terms of expansion.