Nothing like the Prodigal Sons: The Odd Couple actually play as themselves.

[NobleHelium]

Well at least we know what it's like to join a greens game.

[Azarius]

Jesus just pick already dude. We're all losing to 7 anyway, it's not that big of a deal.

It does seem bad luck (for everyone else) that of everyone playing, Seven got first pick.

[NobleHelium]

Seven is obviously handicapping himself by picking Zulu, so that's not really what Gaspar is talking about.

[Azarius]

Well ya, I don't think he meant you were all doomed because of impis. (Although after pindicator's zulu game I'll never look at them the same. ) I meant that the player who least needed an advantage got first pick. He has a good shot at winning no matter who he ends up with.

Why Sumeria over Egypt? Are ziggurats that big of a deal on a toroid even at prince?

[NobleHelium]

Ziggurats are very good, although probably not as good as I previously surmised before I played 45. Or maybe it's because we had so little production on that map and were too busy stretching across the map to get the stone that Commodore refused to give us. (In case it's not obvious yet, one of my main jobs in this thread is to bash Commodore as much as possible.) WCs are good but not that good, and I don't think we're going to get much if anything out of obelisks. To be honest I think we might be better off with France than Egypt, but I'm not sure.

As for the difficulty level, toroidal is a huge step up from cylindrical. Prince is the only level that makes it bearable usually, but we are also used to playing smaller PBEM maps. In the larger Pitboss maps where distances are larger, maintenance is not as bad if empire sizes are similar (i.e. before you get close to late game). So perhaps Sumeria may not be as good. In PB12 I'd say the ziggurats have been a good buildings for sure, but we're also ORG there so it's hard to say how much the additional discount has really mattered.

[Serdoa]

Well, PB12 we definitely needed Courthouses, so having cheaper ones was obviously beneficial just because you need to build them nearly everywhere in any case. Imo that's the issue with most unique buildings, even if they are in theory good, if you just build 2-3 of them or if you have to build a building you would normally ignore (Aqueduct anyone?) it just doesn't help much.

But then, I also believe that besides the Terrace and the Trading Post all UB pretty much are unimportant for the most part anyway.

[NobleHelium]

Hmmm well if we end up with a CRE pick I could see us picking Maya. Those ball courts really are worth building when they're that cheap. Without CRE though they become much more situational.

[Gaspar]

Hmmm well if we end up with a CRE pick I could see us picking Maya. Those ball courts really are worth building when they're that cheap. Without CRE though they become much more situational.

Mysticism/Mining - no thanks.

[NobleHelium]

Oh yeah. Forgot any that part.

[Gaspar]

So pretty much down to Louis, Zara, Bismarck or Mansa.