Luddite/Pindicator

[luddite]

One more game!

[pindicator]

Oh now that's hilarious timing. Can an admin delete my thread?

[Commodore]

Your start (everyone gets a scout and warrior):



The settings:



Snake pick away!

[luddite]

haha... perfect timing.

[luddite]

Well, the first thing that occurs to me about this start is that settling in place, with an expansive leader, immediately gives us 4 hammers to activate the expansive bonus.

[pindicator]

Well, the start makes things interesting. Since coastal capitals are weaker, I think you'd have to put a capital on the plains hill where the warrior is standing. (Although I like that the resource variety makes it possible for us to choose a civ with hunting or fishing at the start if we want that.) If anything, the start tells me that we have the flexibility to be a little more open with our picks since there are so many options.

So if Lewwyn's list is the one being used then we get first pick. I would use it on a leader. Sury isn't banned, just Fin leaders, so it's awful tempting to pick him. But in a PBEM setting where you can plan out moves I'm really big on picking a Spiritual leader. With that said, my top 5 leaders would be:

Isabella (Spi/Exp)
Sury (Cre/Exp)
Asoka (Spi/Org)
Mehmed (Exp/Org)
Hatty (Spi/Cre)

My only hesitation in picking Isabella is that she just got a pretty big showcasing in PB4, and I like being creative (edit: creative as in a personal trait, not the leader trait Creative ). Sometimes too much for my own good.

Edit: Maybe we should chat on this a bit?

[luddite]

We're thinking to move onto the plains hill 2 west. It sucks to lose a turn moving on quick speed, especially since our current position is already pretty good. But moving gets an even better spot (+8 food instead of +6), and it moves towards the center of the continent (better for land grabbing) and it secures a good spot on the coastal plains hill, for later.

Either way, I'm hoping to find another location later, with more rivers, so that we can move the palace there for bureaucracy.

[pindicator]

Wow, I don't think I've seen so many creative leaders in one game before.

With civs I was going to suggest Maya for a little Creative synnergy -- Ball courts for 40 hammers? Yes, please -- but I don't think that one will make it to us. A poor-man's version would be to pick Greece. I like Egypt because of the easy access to Great Prophets. Arabia may also work for the same reason, but their UU and starting techs are not as impressive.

How much do you want to bet Fierce picks a warring civ next? In the wake of PB6 picks my money is on Mongolia.

[luddite]

Yeah it's interesting that 3 others picked creative leaders (Pericles, Hatty, and Louis), but there's only one other Expansive leader (Isabella). So we may not be able to push people's borders around with creative.

Louis may be a really strong pick, as the only industrious leader.

edit- I'm not too keen on the maya idea, though. I usually feel like, by the time I can build coloseums, there's plenty of ways to get happiness.

[luddite]

So fierce picked HRE. That's... kinda weird. Admittedly the rathouse is nice on emperor difficulty. Normally the starting techs are awful, but I guess it'd be ok if they get the same start as us (with deer).

I'd really like to get Egypt, if it's still available. Zulu or Ottomans would also be a possibility.