kjn's Ryde (spoilers!)

[kjn]

Other players out!

Lurkers and dedlurkers welcome!

[Commodore]

Ah, nice to be a welcome lurker. This, or something 90, 180, or 270 degrees rotated, is your start:

[kjn]

Some points of interest in the thread

7: Choosing my civ
17: Setting the mood
24: Forming the initial plans
29: First micro-plan
40: The case for Skirmishers
42: How I hope this game will develop
43: First wonder planning
45: Start!
52: Naming scheme
55: Tentative final micro-plan
61: Some words on the map and cities
69: Contact with the Zulu
76: Military planning
83: Consolidated C&D until T12
87: Micro-plan as of T16
96: Standoff with Team Zulu
106: Slight micro change
117: Tactical discussion
121: C&D from a foodhammer view
133: Second city!
142: Barbs. Lots of barbs.
150: Building the Oracle
152: Wonder and tech thoughts

[kjn]

Pre-game thoughts

First, I don't have that high expectations for this game. AutomatedTeller and Catwalk have far more MP experience than myself. TheStick is more a wild card. I'm also quite unused to quick speed. I don't have that much of a feel for them, except that Catwalk has a tendency for wild ideas, quickly abandoned.

I tried preparing by starting a few quick tiny Mirrorland games on Monarch/Emperor. One thing that struck me there was that tech costs in the early game were quite low. Instead, maintenance costs are going to be horrendous. Since each city will carry high marginal costs and the map is cramped, this means that the usual method of increasing commerce as the primary means of improving the economy is less effective than otherwise.

So my leader and civ combo will need to be able to do as much as possible of the following:

• Increase the general size of the economy
  
• Provide cost-cutting measures
  
• Provide non-commerce ways to tech and get raw beakers/gold
  
• Provide military security early game
  

The civs that give me some levels of this, especially in the early game, are

Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Inca, Mali, Maya, Sumeria, Zulu

Traits that are most interesting are:

CHM, IND, ORG, PHI

[kjn]

Thanks Commodore! Feel free to come back anytime, but don't rotate things too much - I get dizzy easily.

Ok. 2-hammer plant with EXP bonus from the start. 4-strength tile in second ring that also triggers EXP.

Wet rice (5F), grass hill sheep (4F), freshwater clams (5F), ie +10F at size 3, and +6 health with the fresh water.

Ivory in second ring. Silver just outside the BFC.

Not much production. Only one hill apart from the sheep, and then there is the forest elephant. Hopefully there is copper in the BFC, but I think lots of hammers will have to come from the whip.

[Commodore]

Just a note, this isn't a Mirrorland script, it's a hand-drawn rotational mirror like in PBEM 34, and Emperor level makes techs actually noticable despite Tiny size.

[kjn]

So, what were my thoughts on putting myself in the fourth position of the snake pick? With only four players, there are plenty of viable civ and leader choices, and I could be pretty much guaranteed to get one of each. Being in the mid position gives two things:

1. The ability to tailor my pick to the other players
   
2. A guarantee to get some decent synergy between my leader and civ
   

Of these, the second one is the most important.

Evaluating the candidate civs

Babylon - great starting techs, decent UU, average UB

Egypt - great starting techs, excellent UU (horses), average UB

Greece - mediocre starting techs, decent UU (copper), good UB

Inca - average starting techs, decent UU, excellent UB

Mali - good starting techs, good UU, good UB

Maya - mediocre starting techs, decent UU, excellent UB

Sumeria - great starting techs, mediocre UU, good UB

Zulu - above average starting techs, good UU, good UB

With raging barbs on, early aggression and chokes will be relatively hard to do, but not impossible. Of course, one has to deal with the barbs too. A resource-less UU would be nice, but on the other hand the Holkan is worse than a regular spearman against the very units that should be its rightful opponent.

That decides my top civ choice: Mali. The 10% bonus on gold may not be much, but it will add up, especially if we can find some ways to generate gold directly (shrine, merchants, settled GPs), and skirmishers are probably the best anti-choking unit in the game. Mali should properly be paired with an IND leader, and here I think Ramesses would be my top choice. SPI allows me to run a religious economy and abuse the civics system. Roosevelt and De Gaulle are other good options.

I think my second civ choice would be the Zulu. Hunting isn't that bad with the sheep and the elephants, impis can be quite powerful if used aggressively and will remain usable a long time, and the ikhanda is excellent under these conditions. Here we need an AGG leader. Alexander would be nice here, and so would Stalin and maybe Ragnar.

[kjn]

Just a note, this isn't a Mirrorland script, it's a hand-drawn rotational mirror like in PBEM 34, and Emperor level makes techs actually noticable despite Tiny size.

Ah, it's tiny instead of duel. So 1.32 times nominal tech cost. Thanks for the clarification.

[waterbat]

i like the idea of Ramses of Mail - here is where being 4th will help you a lot. In a 4-person game, I think that double pick will definitely be a good spot to be in.

We wouldn't have a quick farm or camp or fish available with Mali's Mining/Wheel start. Are you thinking of creating a sandbox for the start before picking? It might be good to get at least 1 of Agriculture/Hunting/Fishing so our first worker has something to do.

[Merovech]

the Holkan is worse than a regular spearman against the very units that should be its rightful opponent.

The Holkan is better than a normal spearman against any unit without first strike immunity and identical as a normal spearman, not worse, against any unit with first strike immunity.