[SPOILERS] PBEM 8 - WarriorKnight's Spoiler Thread

[WarriorKnight]

This space is reserved for some completely random text so people who are not supposed to read this thread don't spoil themselves by accidentally mousing over this thread. Should they find themselves in the position that they have read this text by mousing over this thread for whatever reason, they should be eternally grateful that this text is here to prevent them being spoiled by information that they are not supposed to know and in their gratitude, they should give me all of their cities, units and cash or offer some other form of payment that I deem acceptable.

The space below is reserved for some completely random picture so that the people who are not supposed to read this thread but accidentally do so are not spoiled as soon as they clicked this thread. Should they find themselves in the position that they have clicked on this thread for whatever reason, they should be eternally grateful that this space reserved to be a picture is here to prevent them from being spoiled immediately by information that they are not supposed to know and in their gratitude, they should give me all of their cities, units and cash or offer some other form of payment that I deem acceptable.













(I will seriously put a picture here when I find something......appropriate)

[WarriorKnight]

So, welcome to my spoiler thread. Do make sure you come and post often, and in return I'll make detailed turn reports. The reverse also applies too. :neenernee (OK maybe not, but still feel free to spam at least somewhat relevant posts here).

I'll introduce myself a bit here, as I haven't done so yet anywhere on the forums.

I haven't played Civ before Civ4, but I have owned and played the game since it came out. Most of my experience is primarily SP games, although I have recently begun playing some MP games (not to mention RBP3, but you won't find much of that in here). I do think I can play somewhat competently as I play on Emperor/Immortal in SP, but I guess time will tell how competently I play compared to everyone else.



Now, as for my civ/leader combo, I am Peter (EXP/PHI) of Inca.

I hope you can guess why I chose EXP with Inca. Inca has one of, if not the best UB in the game which is a Granary that gives culture and EXP just means that such an essential building is that much cheaper. With such a good expansion combo, I hope that I'll be able to get cities up and running very quickly in comparison to my rivals. I am also Philosophical, which I find is a very useful trait to have. Great People provide many benefits, and Philosophical just gives you them quicker and more often. I will be looking to use GP in as many ways as I can.

However, there are downsides. I am not Financial, and with only 5 people in a NTT game, I expect that everyone else will be, so I expect to end up behind in tech. I will be trying to leverage PHI as much as possible to make up for this. Additionally, I have nothing that can help out in a war situation (aside from my UU, which becomes obsolete rather early), so I will also be looking to avoid war, at least in the early game where I am weak and vulnerable. Although if a situation presents itself that I can effectively use my UU, I might very well take it.

For other civ choices, I was also considering the Ottomans since they are also quite a good civ, but I was them in RBP3 and would prefer to be something else this time. Most of the other civ choices available just aren't as strong as Inca. The main other leader I was considering is Elizabeth. Elizabeth of Inca would solve the FIN problem, but that would miss the awesome EXP/Terrace combo. I decided that the latter was better than the former, although I hope I'm not wrong. (If I lose, I should've taken Elizabeth )



I'll look over what everyone else has chosen when the snake pick completes, but hopefully this wall of text is enough to keep you going until then.

[Tatan]

(OK maybe not, but still feel free to spam at least somewhat relevant posts here)

By the way, is Civilization a cool game or what???



Seriously though, any turn reports you do will definitely have my audience , as you pick holes in my precious map-masterpiece ["WTF is this tundra/floodplains?!!"].

[WarriorKnight]

By the way, is Civilization a cool game or what???

Civ is like hte UUber kool3st game 4eva.

Seriously though, any turn reports you do will definitely have my audience , as you pick holes in my precious map-masterpiece ["WTF is this tundra/floodplains?!!"].

That reminds me, I need to put a disclaimer in:

I reserve the right to hereby criticize to any degree any person(s) responsible for the map if I deem the map unsatisfactory for my needs. If I deem the map satisfactory (and I have high standards, let me point out), then I will be eternally grateful to the map makers (however, I can not show my gratitude since they aren't in the game with me).

Aright, analysis of other civs next post.

[WarriorKnight]

[SIZE="3"]Cjreynol - Victoria (FIN/IMP) of Mali[/SIZE]

I Don't really know Cjreynol that well from the forums. He has mentioned that he is a decent Monarch player, so he might not do as well as some of the other players. Guess we'll have to see if he can prove me wrong.

His Civ/leader choice on the other hand is underwhelming. Choosing Mali as the 2nd civ pick is strange, seeing as there are definately were better choices out there to choose from. Mali is really only good for their Skrimishers, so either he's going for a choke, or going for max early safety. I find it hard to believe the first when you don't know what the map will look like though. Fortunately, my UU gives a bonus against archery units, so I don't have to worry about them as much as everyone else does. Victoria is a decent pick, although not that great. While it has Financial, I find Imperialistic is a somewhat mediocre trait as you only get 2 bonuses from it and neither is exceptionally good, just 'nice to have'.

Overall, I have a feeling that Cjreynol will be one of the lesser teams, but let's see if he can prove me wrong.




[SIZE="3"]meatbalz - Pacal II (FIN/EXP) of Ottomans[/SIZE]

I know meatbalz as HRE from RBP3. However, I believe Ilios has done most of the heavy lifting there, so that doesn't help much. I'm not quite sure how good he is in terms of raw civ skills, but seems to be a relatively new person to MP (same as me really).

On the other hand, meatbalz has an extremely good civ/leader combination. both Pacal and the Ottoman are awesome choices, although there is minimal synergy between them. Ottomans have above average techs and UU and a UB that compete's with mine while Pacal has the awesome FIN/EXP combo for fast teching and expansion.

We'll see how meatbalz does, but his Civ/Leader choice will mean I will have to be weary of him throughout the game.




[SIZE="3"]Shoot the Moon - Willem (FIN/CRE) of Byzantium[/SIZE]

I also know ShoottheMoon from RBP3. However, I have had minimal interaction with him there, so I'm not sure what to expect from his play.

Shoot also has another power combo. Byzantium has hte UUber UU in the Cataphract, in addition to the power combo of FIN/CRE. If I start next to him, I will have to be weary of him, and will have to try and find a way to deal with Cataphracts before they come into play if things don't work out between us. FIN/CRE will help him get to Cataphracts faster too, so that will be important to remember.

Shott is tied to Cataphracts via the golden handcuff's, so he might be treated cautiously be everyone. We'll have to wait and see if he can use them effectively or if he gets taken out before he can use them.




[SIZE="3"]SilentConfusion - Sury (EXP/CRE) of India[/SIZE]

Silent has played as Mali in RBP1 and although his time there was minimal as he was a late game replacement, he seems able to analyse situations and act on them. He's a newcomer of sorts to RB, but is not new to Civ. I will have to be weary of his abilities.

I thought I would be the only non-FIN leader, but I guess that is not the case. India helps with Expansion via the UUber Fast Worker and EXP/CRE will be very helpful in expansion (not to mention having a cheap UU). However, he has no economic bonuses, so being on a higher difficulty level won't help at all.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens, but Silent will be an Expansion threat regardless of the difficulty level.




I'll see if I can get some pre-game thoughts down before the game starts.

[WarriorKnight]

[SIZE="3"]Pre-game thoughts:[/SIZE]

Traits:

FIN-3
EXP-3
CRE-2
PHI-1
IMP-1

I am the only Philosophical civ in the game. While not quite as good as being the only Industrious civ in the game, it is quite nice. Since I will be trying to use PHI as much as possible, hopefully my advantages there will be more noticeable.

There are no Industrious civs in the game (wonder if I should have picked Bismark, but it's hard to tell) so everyone is on an even footing in the wonder races. Some early wonders that I show some interest in:


Great Lighthouse: map dependent, but it can be very powerful. I'm not sure if I can commit the resources to building it though.


Pyramids: Very expensive, but as I'm PHI it is also tempting. If I have stone I might try for it.


Hanging Gardens: I will probably have other priorities, although it is nice if I can get it


Great Library: Again, as PHI it is tempting. I will have to see how much interest everyone else has in it though.


Mausoleum: The 3rd PHI wonder that I'm interested in, although I probably won't chase this one unless no-one else goes for it.


Starting Techs:

Myst-3
Wheel-3
Mining-2
Agri-2

3 civs (including myself) begin with Mysticism. However, we are all CRE (or in my case, mini CRE) so I'm not sure who will think about going for a early religion. I probably won't chase one unless no-one goes for one and instead try and bulb Taoism.

Can't think of anything else, anyone have any questions?

[Pegasus]

Can't think of anything else, anyone have any questions?

Yeah, I do. How do you plan on winning this game?

[WarriorKnight]

Yeah, I do. How do you plan on winning this game?

You choose if I'm the left or right one.

Anyway, here what I got when I loaded the game.



Quite a bit of Jungle there. Also note the East side of the map.

First thing to decide was where to move the Quechua. SW revealed the most tiles thanks to the lake so I went there.



Revealing even more Jungle. There is no better place to found then the capital site (only other place that gets all 3 resources is SE, and that is off the coast and overlaps the E border) so I settled in place.



And the Demogs after ending turn:



I'm winning!

[WarriorKnight]

So, my thoughts so far.

Evidently the map maker got my bribe as I have 2 early high food resources, and a ton of grassland. On the other hand, there are no forests and only 1 hill, so production will be limited and we'll have to slave everything. Also no rivers except the one to the SW covered in jungle.

The Eastern border is interesting, since it doesn't wrap E-W, it has to be a flat map (well, it could be tilted axis, but jungle on the E side sounds off).

It looks like I'm just above the jungle belt, since the N has minimal Jungle. Only problem is that I've started scouting in the wrong direction, and going back through the capital for a scouting unit seems iffy. I'm hoping that this sea near my cap ends soon so I can loop around it and see what is to the north of my cap.

Looking at game settings, it seems we are on Monarch difficulty, small, temperate, with no barbs. No barbs is what sticks out the most, so depending on how far away everyone is I could very well run a farmer's gambit. Temperate suggests I should scout N of my cap, which I plan on doing.

[WarriorKnight]

I'm also in the market for a naming scheme. Does anyone have any suggestions? (I'm offering free cookies if I like it)