[SPOILERS] KHHHHAAAAAAAAN!!!

[Khan]

Khan Noonien Singh: Uh, Captain! Captain. Save your strength, Captain. These people had sworn to live and die at my command two hundred years before you were born! Do you mean he [refers to Chekov] never told you the tale? To amuse your Captain, no? Never told you how the Enterprise picked up the Botany Bay, lost in space from the year 1996 with myself and the ship's company in cryogenic freeze?
Capt. Terrell: I've never even met Admiral Kirk!
Khan: 'Admiral?' 'Admiral!' 'Admiral'... Never told you how Admiral Kirk sent 70 of us into exile in this barren sandheap, with only the contents of these cargo bays to sustain us.
Chekov: [furious] You lie! On Ceti Alpha V there was life! A fair chance --
Khan: [shouts] THIS IS CETI ALPHA V!!! [walks back to Chekov and calms voice] Ceti Alpha VI exploded six months after we were left here. The shock shifted the orbit of this planet, and everything was laid waste. Admiral Kirk never bothered to check on our progress! It was only the fact of my genetically-engineered intellect that allowed us to survive. On Earth . . . (grins wistfully). . . two hundred years ago . . . (sighs nostalgically). . . I was a prince . . . with power over millions.
Chekov: [angrily] Captain Kirk was your host. You repaid his hospitality by trying to steal his ship and murder him!!
[after Reliant's prefix code has been received]
Spock: Reliant's prefix number is one-six-three-zero-nine.
Lt. Saavik: I don't understand.
Kirk: You have to learn why things work on a starship.
Spock: Each starship has its own unique combination code.
Kirk: To prevent an enemy from doing what we're attempting. Using our console to order Reliant to lower her shields.
Spock: Assuming he hasn't changed the combination. He is quite intelligent.
[James Kirk has just seen Clark Terrell commit suicide and Pavel Andreievich Chekov collapse in agony.]
Kirk: Khan, you bloodsucker! You're gonna have to do your own dirty work now! Do you hear me? Do you?
Khan Noonien Singh: Kirk! You're still alive, my old friend!
Kirk: Still --"old friend!" You've managed to kill just about everyone else, but like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target!
Khan: Perhaps I no longer need to try, Admiral. [beams up Genesis components]
Kirk: Khan . . . Khan, you've got Genesis, but you don't have me! You were going to kill me, Khan; you're going to have to come down here! You're going to have to come down here!
Khan: I've done far worse than kill you. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on . . . hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me. As you left her. Marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet . . . buried alive . . . [voice drops to a menacing whisper] . . . buried alive.
Kirk: [exploding with rage, able to stand no more] KHHHHAAAAAAAAN!!!

[Khan]

And so, on to my first mistake. My leader picks. I determined FIN, ORG and EXP to be the best traits here with toroidal on Emperor difficulty. As such, my picks reflected this.

1) Asoka (ORG/SPI) of India
2) Pacal (FIN/EXP) of Maya
3) Darius (FIN/ORG) of Persia
4) Mehmed (EXP/ORG) of Ottomans

The idea being that the fast worker will give me some kind of early game advantage (lacking EXP) and that ORG will be massive. All that being said, on reflection I think I have out-thought myself. Pacal is probably the best choice here, but I figured everyone would think this. Therefore, if I pick Pacal first, it's going to be a clusterfuck and I could miss out on even my second choice pick (Asoka). So I gambled and figured nobody else would go with Asoka with their first pick and so I would be guaranteed him.

In retrospect, this means that somebody gets Pacal and then proceeds to stomp me. I guaranteed no chance of my first choice to insure against losing multiple rolls. Sigh, i'll message Qgqqqqq now and swap Asoka and Pacal if possible.

A strong start!

[Khan]

I changed, as per my conclusion of my introvert rant above.

Pacal is just too good. I would still be happy with Asoka also though. Darius would not be bad, it's just so slow.

[Khan]

Hah, getting Asoka after all that indecision was probably fitting.

I've been doing a little digging into the previous games of my opponents and it seems we have a bit of a mixed bag. Gingereagle1969 has not had a great deal of success but is prone to early aggression (sounds familiar). I will need to keep this in mind as I can be a bit overzealous with early aggression at times.
Bobchillingworth can also hold a grudge and seems to be an average player. I estimate us to be of a similar'ish level of skill. Sian has won a game and done so fairly convincingly so he has to be the favourite here.

In terms of their picks, they are obviously all strong. I'm glad Sian did not get Pacal at least but he chose the insane late game combination. My trade off here is to ensure Fast Workers and Spiritual together get me more benefit than Financial. With the snowballing effect, this should be possible.

[Khan]

I am very excited for this game to start. I have been playing a lot of single player with Asoka to try and get a feel for how I want to play this but it's all largely irrelevant as the starting terrain effects pretty much everything.

Pretty much my only idea so far that I would like to try is to Oracle Code of Laws. That's all I've got. Destiny, I await thee.

[Khan]

Activity in the lurker thread. Likely to be progress on the map. A christmas present perhaps? And in the spirit of good cheer, it would be a truly lovely and festive gift to let each player start with an extra special Christmas resource no? Sian can have an extra tree/forest tile to decorate. gingereagle1969, the lucky dog, can start with frankincense (incense?). Bobchillingworth gets to have myrrh (spices?). I guess that leaves me stuck with the rubbish floodplains Gold tile. Oh well, I guess I am ok with the obviously worst bonus. Qg/Santa: I'll leave this in your capable hands.

Unrelated, I have been in a quandary in relation to a theme for my civ. I have had two ideas so far. I was thinking of either naming each city after a nation and then all units built from that city would be named after a city. Eg. Capital of Deutschland and units built there being called Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg etc. Alternatively, I was thinking of naming the cities after famous Star Trek characters. Downside to that option is I don't know what to call the units, if anything. I am very open to an entirely new suggestion if anyone has any ideas though.

[Miguelito]

I like the countries. Maybe just because you picked schland for the example.

[Khan]

I like the countries. Maybe just because you picked schland for the example.

Consider it done. Do you have a preference for a German city that you would like a unit named after? Perhaps your hometown if you're German?

[Khan]

Ok, capital founded on the spot. I will get a picture up when I get a moment, I've just played the turn quickly before bed. Capital is named Deutschland. If anyone has any preference for any units (i.e. any German cities/towns) or would like to request a specific country for an upcoming city to be named in honour of, then just ask.

Qgqqqqq and Yuris, you can have dibs on second and third cities as a thank you for your considerable help in getting this going.

[Khan]

My start



Two fantastic food resources, but I need to tech for them first. They are also awkwardly spaced that even fast workers will have missed turns. I was trying to sim this out to not waste worker turns and I have made a decision that may well be atrocious.

I have decided to research Bronze Working first rather than Agriculture. The plan is this:

Build a worker and research BW. These will both finish on the same turn. That worker can then chop two forests (SW of capital and WW of capital). Second build will be a warrior until first chop completes at which point I will switch production to a second worker which will be left to finish with the natural production plus the second chop.

The second chop finishes the same turn as I research Agriculture. Both workers then work together to farm the corn. Here is where we lose some worker turns unfortunately (please do let me know if you can spot a way to not lose any!). Technically, I won't waste the turns as both workers can put 1 turn into a farm, but since I intend to cottage the two relevant tiles (E of the capital and S of the capital), in reality they are wasted turns. One of the workers will mine the grassland hill whilst the other chops the tile NE of the capital. Both workers will begin, but not finish further chops and then pasture the pigs once AH finishes.

That plan delays improvement of the initial resource and uses up a LOT of forests. The additional chops will go into a settler so I will be fairly quick to 2 cities with 3 fast workers. I am playing India and if I can use that advantage to snowball earlier via chops, then I think that is a good thing.