[SPOILER]The Acquiline Empire - GE's ode to "The Eagles"

[gingereagle1969]

*****FILLER*****

This thread would've been better if Crystal Palace had made more of their chances & progressed to the League Cup Final



"He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls."

The Eagle by Alfred Lord Tennyson

[gingereagle1969]

Oh well ... onwards & upwards!

Naming convention [will add to if needed]:

Cities [hopefully enough]:

Crystal Palace
Selhurst Park
Holmesdale Road
Whitehorse Lane
Wooderson Close
Clifton Mews
Claret Gardens
South Norwood Hill
Oliver Grove
Norwood Junction
Thornton Heath
Golden Eagle
Buzzard
Hen Harrier
Marsh Harrier
Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Osprey
Red Kite
Sparrowhawk
Goshawk


Workers [Managers, in order of preference; if I get down to the traitors, I'll be doing very well]:

Steve Coppell [SC]
Malcolm Allison [MA]
Dougie Freedman [DF]
Attilio Lombardo [AL]
Terry Venables [TV]
Iain Dowie [ID]
Alan Smith [AS]
Dave Bassett [DB]
Peter Taylor [PT]
Trevor Francis [TF]
Steve Kember [SK]
Terry Bullivant [TB]
Kit Symons [KS]
Paul Hart [PH]
George Burley [GB]
Ron Noades [RN]
Steve Bruce [SB]
Neil Warnock [NW]

Military units [Players; from the 70s onwards (omitting those that also managed Palace):

Paul Hinshelwood
Kenny Sansom
Vince Hilaire
Peter Nicholas
Andy Gray
Ian Wright
John Salako
Richard Shaw
Mark Bright
Alan Pardew
Geoff Thomas
John Pemberton
Eddie McGoldrick
Gareth Southgate
Nigel Martyn
Andy Thorn
Simon Rodger
Eric Young
Chris Coleman
Chris Armstrong
George Ndah
Bruce Dyer
Marc Edworthy
Andy Roberts
Steven Thomson
Neil Shipperley
David Hopkin
Andy Linighan
Dean Austin
Neil Ruddock
Aki Riihilahti
Tony Popovic
Clinton Morrison
Hayden Mullins
Fan Zhiyi
Wayne Routledge
Andy Johnson
Danny Butterfield
Shaun Derry
Ben Watson
Tom Soares
Mark Hudson
Julián Speroni
Fitz Hall
Matthew Lawrence
Carl Fletcher
Clint Hill
Sean Scannell
Paddy McCarthy
Nathaniel Clyne
Wilfred Zaha
Emmerson Boyce
Joonas Kolkka
Hermann Hreidarsson
Ray Houghton
Paul Warhurst
Carlo Nash
Darren Ambrose
Edgar Davids

[Nicolae Carpathia]

I’ve said it before, GE needs a good, kind and patient ded-lurker. I am none of these. Since no one better is stepping up to the plate, I guess I’m the next best thing

I'll basically try and give advice, explain the reasoning behind moves, point you in the right direction at the strategic and tactical levels, and scream at you whenever you screw up

Still, let’s hope this works. My goal is to turn you from the frumpy girl into the prom queen. And when the inevitable bucket of pigs blood gets dumped onto your head, I’m going to show you how to make them pay

[gingereagle1969]

I promise to try & listen ... if you give valid reasons instead of just saying "do this" & "do that" then there's a good chance I follow them

BTW, it's an Always War, so no diplo needed. Think it really calls for a military footing regardless of civ, instead of a farmer's gambit. But if we're lucky with a Financial leader, I'll spam out cottages to fuel a run on the Military techs.

[gingereagle1969]

Just spotted this:

Since I've difficulties making a desicions I've given you all a chance to choose between 2 alternatives concerning the leader. Also if you have common consensus that someone has too strong/weak leader compared to the rest of the crowd we can still take someone not listed here:

Kyan: Napoleon/Hammurabi of Ethiopia
Dazed: Suleiman/Alexander of Arabia
GE: Mansa/Hannibal of Greece
Commodore: Ramesses/Stalin of Japan
Ceiliazul: Brennus/Montezuma of Spain

Map will be Flat and there are neighbors close by. Official size will be Standard. Difficulty level is probably Prince unless you think Organized needs to be slightly boosted and then it could be Monarch.

Mansa Musa [Fin/Spi]

+1 commerce on plots with at least 2 commerce. No anarchy. Double production speed of Temples and the Cristo Redentor wonder.

or

Hannibal [Fin/Cha]

+1 commerce on plots with at least 2 commerce. +1 happiness per city. -25% XP needed for unit promotions. +1 happiness from Monument and Broadcast Tower.

Not played Spiritual or Charismatic to a great extent. Mansa means we can switch civics & religion regularly, quick Temples could hint at a religious route & try for a culture win. Hannibal would mean a more military footing as promos would come quicker during battles [assuming we win them, of course] and happy-cap is easier to manage.

Greece, huh? Fishing & Hunting? Is the map skewed in our favour to strengthen these starting techs? Maybe, however 1 of the other civs has Hunting & 2 others have Fishing. Eep! Just noticed that all the others have an Aggressive leader in their options! I'm confused

[mackoti]

Well because agresiv its good just if you try a choke with axes and nothing more, so dont cry after that.
I my book mansa its beter than hannibal, more flexible, but if you are close charismathci ould prevail.

[Sian]

cultural victories are effectively impossible in Multiplayer so don't even start thinking about it ...

the strong thing about Spiritual is that you painlessly can swap between warfooting (PoliceState/Nationalism/Slavery/Theocracy), infrastructure building (HR/Bureaucracy/Slavery/OR) and GP farming (Rep/CasteSystem/Pacifism)

With Spiritual Bonuses Temples is also one of the cheapest ways to get GP slots (Priests)

[gingereagle1969]

Kyan: Napoleon/Hammurabi of Ethiopia
Dazed: Suleiman of Arabia
GE: Mansa/Hannibal of Greece
Commodore: Ramesses of Japan
Ceiliazul: Brennus of Spain

That's 3 that have not taken the Aggressive option; Kyan did suggest Napoleon for himself earlier, but you never know - his thread is entitled "Warchief of the Horde".

"there are neighbours close by" is a worry. How close? Is there a barrier? Jungle? Water? Ice? What?

[Nicolae Carpathia]

The problem with Agg, even in Always War, is that victory usually goes to whoever can develop their empire into a winning position™. Commiting heavily to early aggression is usually a lose-lose scenario, slowing both yourself and your victim relative to the rest of the world. Krill's said it before, Always War games are conservative, Always Peace games are the aggressive.

So yes, worry about developing your empire first. I love SPI, but it's tricky to use properly. Ask yourself this: how deeply do you want to commit to this game, and how willing are you to learn?

Kyan on the other hand wants to be aggressive. There is little chance he's going to commit to simply ending someone with early axes. Instead, I expect him to use his units to slow down his neighbours, and use the opportunity to expand into the space left behind.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Greece on the other hand has its uses. Phalanxes are a great UU, it means you can devote all your early game military into the equivalent of axes instead of a mix of axes and spears. Chariots get +100% vs Axes on the attack, while Phalanxes get +100% vs Chariots. Yes, you'll need spears later to deal with horse archers, but early on it allows you to both apply and deal with pressure using but a single type of unit.

The techs (Hunting and Fishing) suck ass though.