THE Noble's Club Bullpen, MK II

TheMeInTeam

If A implies B...
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Hello all! This is a thread for the compilation of all past and present noble's club games. It will also serve as the sounding board for suggestions for future games in the series. Since I'm probably going to be around for a while at least, I figured I'd just take over maintenance here:

First of all, here are the games in the series...with a big thanks to Anomander Rake for compiling them!
  • Original Idea Thread which has some discussions. A good read for those intersted in this format. This is where it all began.

  • Nobles Club I, Elizabeth. FIN and PHI are traits that are fairly easy to play.
  • Nobles Club II, Ramesses II. SPI/IND, another set of great traits, on a Continents map.
  • Nobles Club III, Kublai Khan. CRE/AGG, Pangaea Map, great UU for a Conquest/Domination situation.
  • Nobles Club IV, Frederick. Map unknown. but an attempt to try and learn to play an SE with a strong leader for that style.
  • Nobles Club V, Hannibal. A water based map with a very strong leader on that type of map. Trade Route Economy learner.
  • Nobles Club VI, Brennus. Another "war oriented" type of game, with Aggressive AI setting turned on, and a Civ with solid warmongering traits and UU/UB.
  • Nobles Club VII, Sitting Bull. Who is the AI that makes you groan the most when he pops up? For me, its no contest, SB takes it by a mile!
  • Nobles Club VIII, De Gaulle. A flexible leader suited for war or building, on a Pangaea map!
  • Nobles Club IX - Joao II! OK guys, here it is, another water leader with a solid UU. I requested some special features this map, but I dont want to give away too much. I will tell you that rolo used the new Tectonics format, but he assures me we will be able to have both some Barb lands and AIs that arent reachable pre-Optics.
  • Nobles Club X - Zara Yaqob! Our leader = Zara has an excellent combo of traits, both of which aid in one of this games primary goal, grabbing land. His starting techs arent bad either, although unless you start with deer, you need food to get some food techs going:
  • Nobles Club XI - Catherine! A known backstabber, Catherine has traits that truly excel when REXing. CRE means fast border pops and IMP means fast settlers. But beware, overexpansion is a very real possibility in the hands of the human player.
  • Noble's Club XII-Elizabeth Revisited! Alright so a bunch of us (me (Krick19) included) thought Elizabeth would be a great leader to take us to the next level. So she's back and badder than ever! Her traits are great, FIN and PHI, two of my faves. This calls for a great hybrid economy. Her UU, the Redcoat gets a 25% bonus against Gunpowder Units, which is really helpful when you're attacking muskets or rifles. Lastly the UB is a Bank with 65% more income instead of 50%. This combines for a nasty combo.
  • Noble's Club XIII - Alexander of Greece Hello everybody, TMIT takes a break from messing with AI XMLs to present the 13th installment of the Noble's Club series! Our leader is Aggressive and Philosophical. This match of traits allows for some economy (especially early) and some warmongering!
  • NC XIV - Saladin of Arabia Sal is considered by many to be a weak leader, lending mostly to his protective trait. Nevertheless, he boasts a solid, early UB that allows for some culture control and religious manipulation via great prophets...only Egypt can get them this easily other than Arabia! The UU is a knight that does not require Iron, and with a hefty bonus to its withdrawal chance, making medieval combat a little more intriguing.
  • Noble's Club XV: Roosevelt of America America...America. We bestow questionable UUs and UBs on thee. Nonetheless, the collection of leaders for this civ have strong traits, and the starting techs are nice and allow for versatility also. Our leader today is known for wonderspam and for the fact that he is probably the fastest person to get the Great Lighthouse in the game.
  • Noble's Club XVI - Shaka We all know him. Some probably hate him. Tied with 3 other AIs for the most probability to train units, Shaka is a devastating warmonger that declares at pleased. The Impi is a utility troop and is a little difficult to use against targets with metal, but if an opponent lacks it has all the devastating power of traditional mounted troop charges. The UB is among the top in the game, early maintenance reduction in a barracks that coupled with the courthouse is nearly as strong a total effect as Holy Rome's.
  • Noble's Club XVII - Tokugawa One of the game's biggest one-trick ponies, Toku is all military and no economy. Unless, of course, you count having more cities as economy. The UU is fairly strong if you get there in time, the UB is not that strong in my opinion but hey, at least you're guaranteed to have full advantage if you get infantry. Not that you'll need the help with the game's best gunpowder troops.
  • NC XVIII: Willem This time we are using: THE NETHERLANDS! Many will argue he's a top leader on a water map due to the UB. I personally think the UB is good but far from great, because it comes later. However, it has the potential to shine on a map like this. Combine it with Moai for some true abuse. The UU is a bit cooler, since it's more cost-effective to invade. Good hunting!
  • NC XIX: Napoleon This time we are using: France. With the little general. UB isn't the worst thing ever, just close. The UU IMO is underrated, as are units with >1 move in general. Musket smackdown! How fast can YOU get to gunpowder?!
  • NC XX: Montezuma Whip till you bleed! It's everyone's favorite zealous backstabbing #2 tier (as an AI) warmonger, Montezuma! The UU is a niche unit but quite useful potentially. The UB? One of the best in the game. It's borderline unlimited whips.
  • NC XXI: Ragnar Rangar, everyones favorite wannabe Horn Get ready for some intercontinental delivery of pain. UU is a Maceman with added city attack and free amphibious, perfect for building an medival coastal empire, UB is a Lighthouse which makes your ships faster.
  • NX XXII: Suleiman: Silly Man! It's been gone over in recent times, but the Ottomans are among the most well-rounded civs in the game. Silly Man gets less of the spotlight than the dreaded Mehmed, but is actually a top flight leader with powerful expansion and power tech traits!
  • NC XXIII: Hatsheput: Hatsheput. When there are discussions for "best leader in the game", Hatty rarely sees #1. Ask people for their top 5? Suddenly, it's different. The better warmonger of Egypt's starting two, Hatty can set the tone with war chariots, fast expansion and great people, and flexibility. Others rate her looks, but this isn't the place for that .
  • NC XXIV Wang Kon: Wang Kon of Korea is the leader of the day. Usually when played by the AI he's a weakling which nevertheless manages to have a lot of friends, due to his Religion, and able to keep up in tech even when pitifully small.
  • NC XXV Cyrus: okay ... next NC, this time with Cyrus, Usually seen as the more warmongering of the persian leaders, whereas Darius is more of a economic jugganaut ... Cyrus is able to both get many big cities early on due to his faster settlers and +1 happiness, or if the map lets you, get a big, fast promoted, army and clean out any enemies close by.
  • NC XXVI Pacal: Your UU is a resource-less spear, the UB is the quite-good ball court. Try to use the UU for anti-barbs (and fogbust enough to avoid seeing axes), and the UB can allow for an early elephant/cat war to be more appealing if you want to go that route.
  • NC XXVII Charlemagne
  • NC XXVIII Gandhi:Gandhi is considered by many the weaker of the two Indian leaders. His traits: PHI allows for early great people, while SPI is asking for civic abuse. All in all his traits lend to a specialist heavy warring game, while bulbing key techs. Our starting techs are Mysticism and Mining.
  • NC XXIX Stalin: "If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves." Joseph Stalin.
    Stalin is both aggressive and industrious. He is also the only aggressive leader to start with mining, giving possible early access to BW. The other Russian starting tech is Hunting.
  • NC XXX Boudica: The Celtic UU, Gallic Warrior, is a swordsman who starts with Guerrilla I; you need Iron Working, but only copper (or iron) to build them. The UB, the Dun, is a wall that grants Guerrilla I to units built in the city -- but only Archery, Recon, and Gunpowder units qualify. It seemed to me her civilization's UU and UB would both work better on a Highlands map, which tends to have more hills. Standard size, Temperate. Mountains form ridgelines with normal peaks (both default), and lakes are large. Because there is less water than on some other map types, there are 7 opponents instead of 6.
  • NC XXXI: Charlemagne: The burger king is all over your face.
  • NC XXXII: Louis XIV: Guy? Girl? Bad hair? Sniveling backstabber/culture whore? You decide.
  • NC XXXIII: Washington: He doesn't tell lies and doesn't take prisoners. He charismatically grows his healthy cities and liberates them from the incompetents who don't follow his model.
  • NC XXXIV: Pericles: Eek, more GREEK...CULTURE! A lot of facial hair and even more helmet makes for a balanced leader. Put on your armor and join the fray.
  • NC XXXV with Julius Caesar: THE leader of the Romans is the better warmonger of the two, and very dynamic. He can pound out 2-3 opponents on any level below deity with prats alone (and can probably take down 1-2 on deity if they're softer targets). If he doesn't have neighbors, he can set his cities up cheaply and quickly and has the means to pay for them. You don't get a top UB, but you can't have everything, unless you take it with prats ;).
  • NC XXXVII: Victoria: Combining expansion speed with long term commerce potential just got easier. Milk the overrated UU best you can, but use the traits to carry.
  • NC XXXVIII: The Keshik tornado returns after a long time off in the Noble's Club.
  • Nobles club XXXIX - Asoka: Asoka greets the NC, with balance traits and a UU that never gets old. The UB is less known but can be nice if going for a mid-game espionage push or planning a big war.
  • NC XL Mehmed II: One of the game's most balanced leaders takes on a fantastic start on the big and small map script, which I personally dislike about as much as archipelago. Mehmed's traits and uniques leave most strategies open...so "play the map" :p.
  • NC XLI Lincoln: America is back! Use your fishing tech to your advantage as this time you are swimming early.
  • NC XLII with Qin
  • NCXLIII: Bismarck
  • NC XLIV Darius I
  • NC XLV Zara Yaqob
  • [NC XLVI Isabella
  • NC XLVII Mansa
  • NC 48, Suryavarman

May the NC continue on, to victory!
 
Thank you TMIT and Bleys and all other hosts.

Although I'm lagging behind in the game playing. These games made me going up from Noble to Prince solidly. I have finished the first 3 games with on Noble and officially moved to Prince on NC IV, and heavily experimenting SE there. I'm also cruising through NC V enjoying the TGL enable TRE and a little REX, pretty cool stuff. Now, I feel like I can beat Prince fairly sound. Maybe it's time to start experimenting Monarch?
 
i just finished the NX XXII: Suleiman game again a domination vicotory i made some epic mistakes during the end game. Will start with egypt soon.
 
@TMIT: Could you update for Wong Kon's game? Thanks.
 
:agree:

The KK NC was a great learning game, fun Map for sure. One of my all-time favs from this series.
 
Since I am now officially stuck at Prince I'll give these a go.:)
Hopefully I can learn and win a game again. It has been too long...
 
Any thoughts for the leader and map type for NC XXV?

I would like a Philosophical Leader as I would like to try my first specialist based game. Any map type but Pangea. I like the wind in my sails and the salt on the air.
 
:agree: I like having the Civs separated as it makes the game more interesting in my opinion. Even though warring is easier on Pangaea.

I vote for Pacal II for NC XXV. Continents or Fractal for the Map type.
 
allready made the next map ... going to be Cyrus :p ... posting the game when i've gotten some SS and got some breakfast :p

but i'm open for suggestions
 
I've never played as Cyrus, always played as the other guy (Darius?) when I'm Persia. Either way, still more leaders to go through! I'm stuck on Prince so maybe this next NC game will get me my first prince win.
 
Razzlesnaff ... i've compliled a list of which leader thats allready been though NC, and i intend to keep running nonplayed leaders till i run dry :p
 
Haven't played as Cyrus either, but he sounds interesting. Those traits and immortals ask for early war if there are horses. I'm going to try prince on this next nc and hopefully have my first prince victory too.
 
@TMIT You have a numbering error starting from Hatsheput
 
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