I wrote a bit more this time...
Link to previous Power Rankings:
http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthrea...#pid394061
Post-Pairing Power Rankings
Biggest Gain: Ichabod/Wetbandit & Bacchus +5
Biggest Drop: WilliamLP -4
1. plako as Ragnar of Maya
Prev Rank: #1
If anything the loss of Krill/Seven as a team and the addition of Ragnar of Maya makes knocking plako off the top spot even harder. Will the map turn this into a laugher?
2. Serdoa as Mansa Musa of America
Prev Rank: #4
Giving arguably the best leader in the game to Serdoa and a reinvented America is more than enough for him to contend for the top spot.
3. Pindicator & Scooter as Darius of Vikings
Prev Rank: #5
All four seafaring civs are in this game and with good leaders. I still like our combination the best.
4. Bigger, Lewwyn, & Qgqqqqq as Gandhi of China
Prev Rank: #3
It's hard to drop a team that lands Gandhi and China, which should say a lot about the pairings that other people got. I think this has the potential of a trap combination for them: they just landed the best leader/civ pair in the game to win a CV with. And everybody will be watching them to do exactly that. If they resist the Culture and just play straight up Gandhi of China then they should do well.
5. Commodore & Kurumi as Victoria of Portugal
Prev Rank: #6
I was tempted to put this pairing higher -- FIN/IMP and Portugal seem like a fantastic pairing for Big & Small map. But in practice I wonder if they are going to be able to solve the production problems that working all those water tiles is bound to cause. It could be a trap to over-emphasize, and then you have to get to Economics to even set it up. Put me down for cautiously optimistic that Commodore pulls off the right balance.
6. Ichabod & Wetbandit as Shaka of Greece
Prev Rank: #11
This is a team that I do not want to start next to. They have the best combination for an early axe rush, and EXP is now the "recovery trait" on top of being cheap worker trait. If they can gobble up a lot of land early then this could be a team that most easily follows Commodore's path in pb8.
7. retep as Sitting Bull of Khmer
Prev Rank: #7
I'm giving retep the benefit of the doty/retep ranking before since I was basing it off of what I saw of retep early on. I think he's one of the two newcomer teams that are most likely to make a splash akin to Slowcheetah in pb8. Sitting Bull of Khmer is basically what Commodore rolled in pb8, except his Ballistaphants are slightly worse and his second trait is slightly better.
8. Fintourist & Old Harry as Montezuma of Babylon
Prev Rank: #12
If karma has a heart they will place these guys right next to Commodore. But I'll setle for anywhere not bordering us, because I would bet money that somebody is going to get bowmen rushed. Fintourist has carved up the competition in pbem45, and Old Harry, long-lost cousin of oledavy that he must be, has caused Serdoa fits in pbem46. This is the other team of newcomers (aside from retep) that I think has the best odds to make a splash in this game, and they arguably have a better civ/leader combination to do it. Now I'm wondering why I don't place them higher...
9. mostly_harmless as Qin Shi Huang of Sumeria
Prev Rank: #13
This is a very solid combination by mostly_harmless. You may be excused for forgetting what Qin Shi's traits are (it's PRO/IND), but all you have to know is that he's the RBMod equivalent of Bismarck to understand just what mostly_harmless has here. If there's a civ out there that will frustrate yuris' inevitable Oracle run, it is mostly_harmless trying to sling it himself. And while there aren't lots of shiny combinations in this pairing, the all-around goodness of cheap granaries & agriculture/wheel as starting techs combined with the inside track on an Oracle slingshot means mh has a lot of tools in place to build a potential contender from.
*****
I'm putting a mental demarcation here. Every team above this line I feel has at least an outside shot of winning the game. If a team below this ranking line wins, I will be the first to congratulate them and happily dine on crow. But in reality I don't see that happening.
*****
10. suttree as Huayna Capac of Spain
Prev Rank: #8
The drop doesn't feel justified, but these way-too-early rankings are going to be inherently fluid as we get more information. Huayna Capac is a solid if slow-starting leader, and I sincerely wish suttree better luck with him than we received. Spain is a very good UU for suttree to chase ... if this were BtS. In RBMod I wonder if the inflated tech costs are going to make cuirassers come too much later. As far as leader/civ pairings go, I have to file this in the solid but not spectacular category. Which is how I would also categorize suttree's play in pb11. And that translates to a middle-of-the-road finish.
11. Slowcheetah as Ramesses of Mongolia
Prev Rank: #9
Slowcheetah showed that if he's given a sandbox with high walls he can tech along with the best of them. But when it came time for war he got beat by a civ that was less than half his size. By drawing Mongolia he's getting a crash course in warmongering. Ramesses as a leader & Gers as the UB mean he doesn't necessarily have to attack at Keshiks, but he does need to have a clear plan is he chooses to delay. I think I would play this by targeting one or two early wonders and then going straight for Knights. Then use spiritual civic swaps & Gers to produce 3-promo knights out of the gate. Then go stomp a neighbor.
12. Azza as Joao of the Dutch
Prev Rank: #15
I keep waiting for Azza to break through and this may be the game he does it. He's drawn a nice combination here as Joao of the Dutch. I think that while Joao lost the amazing benefit of cheap granaries, he potentially has an easier road to recovering his economy with cheap markets and grocers. (But I'd still rather have the granaries.) The pitfall for Azza is that he has a history of being rushed in almost every game he's been a part of. If he can find a way to REX with Joao and not lose ground to an early attack, then he could be dangerous later with the Dutch UU & UB at his disposal. Azza could be the surprise of the game.
13. Bacchus as Suryavarman of Carthage
Prev Rank: #18
This is the first of three combinations that play awesome in BtS but lose some of their luster in RBMod, but Bacchus combination retains a lot of toys. If the map cooperates and he is able to take advantage of cheap Cothons then he'll be able to bring in the benefits of a Great Lighthouse that doesn't obsolete and is built on a per-city basis. I'm also curious to see if he can make hay out of the re-designed Numidian Cavalry.
14. Nakor & CFC Jester as Wang Kon of Rome
Prev Rank: #11
After reading Nakor & CFC Jester's pb8 thread I really hope they do better. They are a great pair of guys, and Jester shows a great willingness to learn in the aftermath of pb8, so I initially had them ranked higher. So why the drop? I feel like this is a potential trap of a pairing for them. If they lean on their builder assets (FIN, PRO, forums) then I think they will do a lot better than this ranking. But I worry that they are only going to repeat another SP-to-MP mistake and shoot for a Praetorian rush instead.
15. Yuris as Mehmed of Ottoman
Prev Rank: #16
Unlike my teammate I actually like this combination, restricted leader or not. If there was a civ I would want to test the new EXP on it would have to be the Ottomans. Having a Hammam that costs only 50h puts it on par with the Mayan Ball Court, and I don't think you'd have any trouble finding someone who would tell you how great a UB that is. But Yuris is ranked this low because history has shown you will get 2 things with Yuris: 1) A fantastic Oracle run. 2) A developed empire for his aggressive neighbor. Unless he has become more aggressive, I see Yuris building somebody a nice empire.
16. Jowy as Pacal of India
Prev Rank: #17
A lot will depend on how focused Jowy can stay on his goals and how fast he can use India to develop that economy. He's also got one of the combinations that wishes this game was regular BtS. But his is the least affected by RB-Mod changes: he still gets Fast Workers at +35%, which are still good at chopping trees despite their nerf. So he could really get an economy going here. However, I think Jowy also has a real shot at reprising the role of Nakor & CFC Jester played in pb8.
17. dtay as Alexander of Germany
Prev Rank: unranked
These last two players I know nothing about. They've also ended up with the two weakest pairings in the field, which is why they round out the bottom of the list. (I hope I get proven wrong by both of them!) Alex of Germany is a pairing that seems very doable but also difficult to pull off. dtay is going to need to have successful wars to maintain a land advantage and timely bulbs either for reaching that key military tech or for recovering his expanded economy. If he can manage to do that then his prize is a renaissance war with the uninspiringly-named kanone. It's going to be a difficult path.
18. WilliamLP as Isabella of Inca
Prev Rank: #14
This is the final pairing that I would love if this were a BtS game, but under RBMod I think it's the worst combo here. Cheap Terraces would make Inca good, but these Terraces are full-price. Full-price terraces mean that if you need a fast border pop then you theoretically could have an instance where monument first would beat out terrace first. On top of that, you have the anti-synergy of being faux-CRE and being spiritual. Ideally you want to get a religion with Isabella but ideally with faux-CRE you want to take advantage of avoiding the religious tree. There's just so much that clashes or duplicates efforts; it's like a basketball team that has a bunch of athletic wings and forwards but no true point guard or center. I don't like this pairing at all.
Link to previous Power Rankings:
http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthrea...#pid394061
Post-Pairing Power Rankings
Biggest Gain: Ichabod/Wetbandit & Bacchus +5
Biggest Drop: WilliamLP -4
1. plako as Ragnar of Maya
Prev Rank: #1
If anything the loss of Krill/Seven as a team and the addition of Ragnar of Maya makes knocking plako off the top spot even harder. Will the map turn this into a laugher?
2. Serdoa as Mansa Musa of America
Prev Rank: #4
Giving arguably the best leader in the game to Serdoa and a reinvented America is more than enough for him to contend for the top spot.
3. Pindicator & Scooter as Darius of Vikings
Prev Rank: #5
All four seafaring civs are in this game and with good leaders. I still like our combination the best.
4. Bigger, Lewwyn, & Qgqqqqq as Gandhi of China
Prev Rank: #3
It's hard to drop a team that lands Gandhi and China, which should say a lot about the pairings that other people got. I think this has the potential of a trap combination for them: they just landed the best leader/civ pair in the game to win a CV with. And everybody will be watching them to do exactly that. If they resist the Culture and just play straight up Gandhi of China then they should do well.
5. Commodore & Kurumi as Victoria of Portugal
Prev Rank: #6
I was tempted to put this pairing higher -- FIN/IMP and Portugal seem like a fantastic pairing for Big & Small map. But in practice I wonder if they are going to be able to solve the production problems that working all those water tiles is bound to cause. It could be a trap to over-emphasize, and then you have to get to Economics to even set it up. Put me down for cautiously optimistic that Commodore pulls off the right balance.
6. Ichabod & Wetbandit as Shaka of Greece
Prev Rank: #11
This is a team that I do not want to start next to. They have the best combination for an early axe rush, and EXP is now the "recovery trait" on top of being cheap worker trait. If they can gobble up a lot of land early then this could be a team that most easily follows Commodore's path in pb8.
7. retep as Sitting Bull of Khmer
Prev Rank: #7
I'm giving retep the benefit of the doty/retep ranking before since I was basing it off of what I saw of retep early on. I think he's one of the two newcomer teams that are most likely to make a splash akin to Slowcheetah in pb8. Sitting Bull of Khmer is basically what Commodore rolled in pb8, except his Ballistaphants are slightly worse and his second trait is slightly better.
8. Fintourist & Old Harry as Montezuma of Babylon
Prev Rank: #12
If karma has a heart they will place these guys right next to Commodore. But I'll setle for anywhere not bordering us, because I would bet money that somebody is going to get bowmen rushed. Fintourist has carved up the competition in pbem45, and Old Harry, long-lost cousin of oledavy that he must be, has caused Serdoa fits in pbem46. This is the other team of newcomers (aside from retep) that I think has the best odds to make a splash in this game, and they arguably have a better civ/leader combination to do it. Now I'm wondering why I don't place them higher...
9. mostly_harmless as Qin Shi Huang of Sumeria
Prev Rank: #13
This is a very solid combination by mostly_harmless. You may be excused for forgetting what Qin Shi's traits are (it's PRO/IND), but all you have to know is that he's the RBMod equivalent of Bismarck to understand just what mostly_harmless has here. If there's a civ out there that will frustrate yuris' inevitable Oracle run, it is mostly_harmless trying to sling it himself. And while there aren't lots of shiny combinations in this pairing, the all-around goodness of cheap granaries & agriculture/wheel as starting techs combined with the inside track on an Oracle slingshot means mh has a lot of tools in place to build a potential contender from.
*****
I'm putting a mental demarcation here. Every team above this line I feel has at least an outside shot of winning the game. If a team below this ranking line wins, I will be the first to congratulate them and happily dine on crow. But in reality I don't see that happening.
*****
10. suttree as Huayna Capac of Spain
Prev Rank: #8
The drop doesn't feel justified, but these way-too-early rankings are going to be inherently fluid as we get more information. Huayna Capac is a solid if slow-starting leader, and I sincerely wish suttree better luck with him than we received. Spain is a very good UU for suttree to chase ... if this were BtS. In RBMod I wonder if the inflated tech costs are going to make cuirassers come too much later. As far as leader/civ pairings go, I have to file this in the solid but not spectacular category. Which is how I would also categorize suttree's play in pb11. And that translates to a middle-of-the-road finish.
11. Slowcheetah as Ramesses of Mongolia
Prev Rank: #9
Slowcheetah showed that if he's given a sandbox with high walls he can tech along with the best of them. But when it came time for war he got beat by a civ that was less than half his size. By drawing Mongolia he's getting a crash course in warmongering. Ramesses as a leader & Gers as the UB mean he doesn't necessarily have to attack at Keshiks, but he does need to have a clear plan is he chooses to delay. I think I would play this by targeting one or two early wonders and then going straight for Knights. Then use spiritual civic swaps & Gers to produce 3-promo knights out of the gate. Then go stomp a neighbor.
12. Azza as Joao of the Dutch
Prev Rank: #15
I keep waiting for Azza to break through and this may be the game he does it. He's drawn a nice combination here as Joao of the Dutch. I think that while Joao lost the amazing benefit of cheap granaries, he potentially has an easier road to recovering his economy with cheap markets and grocers. (But I'd still rather have the granaries.) The pitfall for Azza is that he has a history of being rushed in almost every game he's been a part of. If he can find a way to REX with Joao and not lose ground to an early attack, then he could be dangerous later with the Dutch UU & UB at his disposal. Azza could be the surprise of the game.
13. Bacchus as Suryavarman of Carthage
Prev Rank: #18
This is the first of three combinations that play awesome in BtS but lose some of their luster in RBMod, but Bacchus combination retains a lot of toys. If the map cooperates and he is able to take advantage of cheap Cothons then he'll be able to bring in the benefits of a Great Lighthouse that doesn't obsolete and is built on a per-city basis. I'm also curious to see if he can make hay out of the re-designed Numidian Cavalry.
14. Nakor & CFC Jester as Wang Kon of Rome
Prev Rank: #11
After reading Nakor & CFC Jester's pb8 thread I really hope they do better. They are a great pair of guys, and Jester shows a great willingness to learn in the aftermath of pb8, so I initially had them ranked higher. So why the drop? I feel like this is a potential trap of a pairing for them. If they lean on their builder assets (FIN, PRO, forums) then I think they will do a lot better than this ranking. But I worry that they are only going to repeat another SP-to-MP mistake and shoot for a Praetorian rush instead.
15. Yuris as Mehmed of Ottoman
Prev Rank: #16
Unlike my teammate I actually like this combination, restricted leader or not. If there was a civ I would want to test the new EXP on it would have to be the Ottomans. Having a Hammam that costs only 50h puts it on par with the Mayan Ball Court, and I don't think you'd have any trouble finding someone who would tell you how great a UB that is. But Yuris is ranked this low because history has shown you will get 2 things with Yuris: 1) A fantastic Oracle run. 2) A developed empire for his aggressive neighbor. Unless he has become more aggressive, I see Yuris building somebody a nice empire.
16. Jowy as Pacal of India
Prev Rank: #17
A lot will depend on how focused Jowy can stay on his goals and how fast he can use India to develop that economy. He's also got one of the combinations that wishes this game was regular BtS. But his is the least affected by RB-Mod changes: he still gets Fast Workers at +35%, which are still good at chopping trees despite their nerf. So he could really get an economy going here. However, I think Jowy also has a real shot at reprising the role of Nakor & CFC Jester played in pb8.
17. dtay as Alexander of Germany
Prev Rank: unranked
These last two players I know nothing about. They've also ended up with the two weakest pairings in the field, which is why they round out the bottom of the list. (I hope I get proven wrong by both of them!) Alex of Germany is a pairing that seems very doable but also difficult to pull off. dtay is going to need to have successful wars to maintain a land advantage and timely bulbs either for reaching that key military tech or for recovering his expanded economy. If he can manage to do that then his prize is a renaissance war with the uninspiringly-named kanone. It's going to be a difficult path.
18. WilliamLP as Isabella of Inca
Prev Rank: #14
This is the final pairing that I would love if this were a BtS game, but under RBMod I think it's the worst combo here. Cheap Terraces would make Inca good, but these Terraces are full-price. Full-price terraces mean that if you need a fast border pop then you theoretically could have an instance where monument first would beat out terrace first. On top of that, you have the anti-synergy of being faux-CRE and being spiritual. Ideally you want to get a religion with Isabella but ideally with faux-CRE you want to take advantage of avoiding the religious tree. There's just so much that clashes or duplicates efforts; it's like a basketball team that has a bunch of athletic wings and forwards but no true point guard or center. I don't like this pairing at all.
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