[SPOILER] Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand

[Grimace]

Opening up my thread.

This will be my first PBEM, so it ought to be interesting. It seems to be more or less similar to a PitBoss game without having to worry about double moves, but instead having to worry about a player reloading and replaying turns in order to try to get a better outcome in battles.

Seems like a lot of effort to me.

I haven't messed with the Creative trait in any multiplayer game yet, and since Krill asked for feedback about it, I may give it a try this game. With only 4 players, there should be a lot of options available. Leader-wise, I'm thinking about Cathy, with her CRE/IMP traits to get those settlers out faster. I'm also thinking about Zara/Augustus and their CRE/ORG, which also seems like a strong combination -- cheap libraries and cheap courthouses? Yes please! Lots of good civ options with that combination of traits.

Civ choice will, as always, depend on the start, so I'm going to wait to see that before I start thinking seriously about them.

[BRickAstley]

Here is your starting 5x5.

[Grimace]

Hmmm. Definitely a high-production capital, and I will need to get some fishing boats out fairly quickly if I want to grow. That means Fishing should be one of my first researched techs if I don't pick a civ with it at start. My first build doesn't need to be a work boat, but it'll need to be fairly soon after. I do have the pigs which are a better food tile, but they don't provide any commerce, and I'll need the crabs to really grow the city.

As far as civs go, I'm thinking about Rome, Greece, or Viking. It looks like there might e some water on this map, so the Vikings may have some benefits. Rome...well, everyone knows why Rome is good. And Greece has a UB that would synergize well with CRE/ORG and a half-decent UU, especially if Egypt or Persia are on the board (screw your chariot-based units!). I'll have to see how I feel when the pick arrives. I definitely want to do something I haven't done before, and I haven't played any of those three civs (or the leaders I mentioned above) in any other game, so any choice is a good one.

[Commodore]

Just a note, Jules is the Ind/Org Caesar, Gus is Ind/Imp.

[Grimace]

Argh. I don't know how that happened in my spreadsheet. Must have screwed something up somehow. Thanks for catching that. That means Zara is the only CRE/ORG leader (which makes sense as there shouldn't be any duplicates).

[Grimace]

Brick updated the starts and I noticed I now have two rivers to give me fresh water and some extra commerce! That's a welcome addition. Won't change anything as far as picks go, but still will help overall.

[Grimace]

Interesting...3 Creative leaders on the board, plus Genghis.

I'm starting to lean towards Greece as my civ choice. I'd actually like Sumeria, but the starting techs don't really help me...I mean I guess Wheel is always useful, but I'd have to research Hunting & Fishing before I'd be able to improve my food tiles. I guess I would be able to bring down Hunting by the time the Worker is out, and Fishing not too long after. Hmmm. Maybe Sumeria after all...I like the idea of a cheap courthouse that I get a bonus production on, since they tend to help immensely in terms of maintenance and they're the only espionage buildings for a while.

[Grimace]

Ok, I am officially Zara of Sumeria.

General plan is to go for a fairly early Priesthood with the idea of possibly nabbing one of the first religions, but definitely unlocking my cheap/fast-built courthouse to support expansion. I'm not specifically going for an early religion, but if I'm lucky I may get it.

Since I start with Agriculture and The Wheel, I'm going to open with Hunting, which I will definitely get before my worker is built. Then Mining->BW->Fishing->?
Depending on how things go, maybe AH next, or Pottery. I'm not going to have a great capital for cottages, though I'll have some. Lots of hammers, though. Maybe Mysticism. We'll have to see how things develop. I should be up to 2 cities by then.

[Grimace]

Turns 0 & 1

Greetings, lurkers! The game hath begun!

I didn't post for T0 because I didn't have time, but now I do! So you can see what terrible decisions I make from the start!

First off, here is what my territory looked like after my first scout move. I moved my scout first to see if it was worth moving my capital north to give more space to a city on the peninsula to the south. Though I couldn't see all of it, I had a feeling that was the case.


As you can see, when I did so I saw desert, stone, and a distant wheat. Had I moved 1N, which I considered, my capital would have been severely food poor, so I decided to settle in place instead. I can still put a crappy city on the tip of the peninsula later, and I felt it was more important to have the food for my capital city.

Close up of the capital -- I'm still deciding on a naming scheme...I was thinking about going with San Diego cities/communities, but I'm still pondering. Might change my mind if I think of something better. I'll decide for sure when city #2 is ready.



I next move my scout SSE with the intent of sweeping around my capital in a counter-clockwise fashion. And across the lake I can see pigs!


It's still too early to decide on a second city location, but at least I have two decent possibilities already -- wheat/stone to the north (or maybe stone/pigs) and pigs/whatever to the east.

Aha! I just thought of my naming scheme. To be revealed next turn, though I will change my thread title for a teaser...

[Grimace]

Turn 2

Moved the scout onto the pigs and revealed two resource tiles -- crabs and gems -- and the gems are under a forest, so no waiting for Iron Working!


Right now city #2 is looking like it might be the tile SW of the pigs...pigs + crabs + lighthouse-able lake = pretty decent.

Also, as my thread title would have told you (if you're a Firefly fan) is that my naming convention is going to be Firefly characters, starting with Captain Mal as the capital.

If you haven't seen Firefly, go watch it.