[SPOILERS] Boudica of Germany - Home of cuddly Anglo-Saxon pacifists, and TT

[Twinkletoes89]

As you will see from my choice, I have chosen the optimal 'peace-loving' strategy so that all my other 'rivals' will love me and give me lots of techs for free.

If they are really nice, Boudica will invite them over to help fluff her garfield, if you know what I mean

[Twinkletoes89]

Ok so we are playing on the Tech Trading version of the RB Mod, so things may turn out a little differently to a lot of the other games which have happened on these forums.

I have chosen to select Boudica (Agg/Char) of Germany because of the TT nature of the game, though with diplomacy completely banned, my plan could fail.

The Plan

Well my main theory is that first of all I must present myself as someone who is not worth messing with and that also am unlikely to develop into a run away leader before tech trading arrives.

With Barracks having the culture bonus now, I can build them at half price and ignore Monuments completely, which is a real boost for me as it won't put me back so much to build them and give me 2 promo units off the bat.

I am also a big fan of the change to Charismatic in the RB mod. 2 extra happiness without having to build anything means I can grow larger and/or whip more earlier unless luxury resources are really prevalent. While others may have to settle for things like Ivory or head quicker towards Calendar or Monarchy if happiness is not so easy to get, then I can instead settle for strategic resources/production and perhaps build up a strong army.

My main gambit is that there will be someone who would like to have an 'attack dog' on their side to take down their rivals and trade techs with me. If this becomes unlikely to the extent I would like, I also have the option of a high-promo early rush to get me more land. With no other player with an equally war-like leader, I may be able to dictate terms early without diplo channels to ensure fair agreements.

I decided on Germany as with quick speed and various nerfs, most early military units will be obsoleted too quickly and I have already cocked up one Impi rush and don't fancy another. An earlier Factory than anyone else and a cheaper cannon may prove much more useful to me should I still be in with a fair shout by that time.

With Munro's success in PB1 as a full out military pump on equal tech, I am clinging to the hope that should I be able to reach the end game in decent shape, I may be able to make a similar effort to be competitive.

With the diplo ban, this could be too risky & with 2 protective neighbours things could end up tougher if they are my neighbours, but I think that Tech Trading under the RB mod requires a different strategy to NTT, and that while an economically based leader can fall behind and be cut off as it provides less use to his friends, someone with a strong military cannot be discounted so easily and always has the potential to be useful.

Plus, its a test and as you all can guess, I am getting used to coming last so I have nothing to lose really

[Twinkletoes89]

Dazed: Willem of Russia

He is a strong player (though has the infamy of finishing lower than me in an RB Game) and Willem will provide him with a strong economic base as the game goes on - could well be a tech leader, but could also be a juicy target for me to hit. Russia is an interesting choice - another one with some changes brought about by the RB Mod and Cossacks aren't the worst unique unit by any means.

Starting Techs - Hunting & Mining

mh: Sury of Greece

Another strong-ish economic leader. Greece is an OK choice, but the Phalanx gives him some good defence from a real early rush as it is an axe which cannot be countered with chariots. He is another strong player, though he hasn't played so much in a while, he will still present a stiff test. He knows how to defend well too, so he may not be the easiest nut to crack and probably should be avoided in the early game if possible.

Starting Techs - Fishing & Hunting

Krill: Wang Kon of Inca

Krill knows the mod better than the rest of us and is also a very good player. Protective Inca means quick Terraces and so no monuments for him either. He also has Protective to give him some decent defence, though it is much more useful at Longbows than base Archers. Worth considering as a target as delayed Tech Trading until Paper will make things slow enough that there could be a window of opportunity.

Starting Techs - Agriculture & Mysticism

yuris: Gilgamesh of China

This choice does suggest 'culture victory' though Protective can help out his CKNs a bit and cheap granaries are always nice. I'm not sure what his plan will be if he isn't going for culture as he will struggle to keep up with the power civs and doesn't really have that much to offer them to trade with him. I seem to remember him mentioning that he is quite inexperienced so I need to keep an eye on him and see if he makes any of the silly mistakes I have made in the past and take advantage.

Starting Techs - Agriculture & Mining

[novice]

I'll be following with interest. Good luck and let's hope you're able to stay in contention longer this time.

[Twinkletoes89]

I'll be following with interest. Good luck and let's hope you're able to stay in contention longer this time.

Thanks, I have learnt from my mistakes in previous games so I *should* be able to manage any aggression a lot better this time.

I think that with some proper thought, I could use my promoted units to extort some land from my neighbours by using them to stop their units moving towards me. That may be a better use than going full out for war when some will be farmer's gambitting anyway.

I need to stake a claim early enough to be a force, otherwise I will need to find a friend most likely. Not impossible, but with diplo limits - more difficult.

I would also place a bet now that at some point in this game, someone gets a military tech of someone and then uses it to build units to kill them.

Who knows, that person could be me!

[Cyneheard]

I'm glad you grabbed Germany, because I want to see how the new civ plays.

And the Barracks/Cha buffs synergize very nicely to help Boudica out a bit, that's for sure.

[Twinkletoes89]

Yeah that was part of the reason for it as well - if its an experimental testing game I may as well test as much as possible.

Should be fun, as long as I play it well.

[darrelljs]

Good luck!

Darrell

[scooter]

Here is your start. First turn will be started soon. Enjoy!





(note: Some starts were changed, and this was purely for balance and had no interest in messing with anyone's plans.)

[Twinkletoes89]

Well if this is my finalised start may as well post some initial thoughts (any reason to avoid revision for tomorrow's exam!)

It looks like a pretty nice hybrid spot, possibly moving closer to production oriented than commerce or gp.

4 grass hill mines plus a silver mine with the food to support it would give me a pretty decent hammer per turn count as well as having the room for either some riverside cottages or farms. The silver mine will give some handy early commerce but i'd be surprised if everyone didn't have something similar or some floodplains instead.

I think that there may be a couple of better city sites out there than this one, but they would require at least 2 turns of not settling to reach them.

1) There looks like a plains hill SE of the corn which would be a production bonus but would be an almost complete stab in the dark as to whether it would be markedly better than SIP.

2) The plains hill with the hut on could be a very nice city too as it keeps the riverside bonus and would have some river grasslands and wheat with likely at least 1 more resource in the fog.

If I wanted to go for a full-on production city, I may be better off moving 1W with the settler as it would allow me 6 grassland hill mines and the silver mine whilst having the irrigated wheat and 3 grassland tiles which can be farmed to support it. The problem is if there turns out to be nothing nice E of the cows & corn then I may have wasted two top notch food resources.

I could also move 1E and settle there. I have a couple of hills plus whatever is uncovered by moving there, plus it can be more commerce focused by cottaging the river grasslands and using the silver. I could then share most of the hills between two cities using the pig and wheat respectively, and make three pretty solid cities out of it.

I think it may be worth my while to use T0 to move the settler 1E to see what I can see E of the food and then I have the choice of settling there or moving back to the hill so I can settle the best location on T1 with some more scouting info to help me out. The warrior will move SE to uncover the tiles fogged 2S of the capital to see if there is anything useful hidden there.

I would say that this is a pretty interesting predicament to be given on T0 by the mapmakers so credit to them - unless I'm being completely thick and there is a clear choice here and I can't see it.