PFS02: Churchill of the English

[pholkhero]

Part ALC, part Role-playing challenge, it’s Pholkhero’s Flavor Series. My pet project (which I had MUCH more time to work on with my previous job) was Pholk’s Corner over at the DM site. This SG series is an outgrowth of that.

I’ve always thought that each Civ leader was designed with its own unique personality and playstyle so that the strategy that works for Montezuma will fall apart if applied to Gandhi. Sistuili's ALC series is a great example of the unique strategies that groupthink comes up with. However, i wanted it to be more "in character" as well . . .

With that in mind, the aim of this series of games will be to try and come up with a generalized strategy for each leader that we play. We started with Charlemagne of the Holy Romans, and spread our empire all over the world, and now we turn to the next leader: Churchill of the English

Rivals: 6
Difficulty: Monarch/Emperor?
Map: Hemispheres, 2 or 3 continents, all else random
Mapsize: Standard
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Epic
Victory Conditions: All enabled, but see PFS Rule 3.
Variant Settings: No Tech Brokering (I like the slower tech pace; it feels right), Choose Religions, Never Raze Cities

There are also the PFS Standard Rules:
1. Every city must have every 'special' building, including the civ's Unique Building, as well as those which earn double production boni. This means we must build Monuments, Walls, Stock Exchanges, Castles, Broadcast Theatres in every city.

2. From the time of discovery of Redcoats, until its obsoleteness (by my definition ), we must produce it on a 1:1 basis with ALL other land, military units. Ideally, too, the time of our Redcoats should be used for a bit of militaristic expansion, if necessary.

3. We must discuss our victory condition AND the strategy leading there beforehand, designed to best leverage the leaders unique trait combination, as well as the special buildings, UB and UU (see the ALC series for an excellent example of this). Therefore, as Churchill of the English, we will aim for a Diplomatic victory.

Additional PFS Variant Rules:
1. We must revolt to Nationhood as soon as possible.
2. We can build only one (1) wonder.
3. Espionage-themed one (to be decided)

and using DMSG Etiquette, of course.

Spoiler DMSGEG :

Alpha: The quality of your report outweighs the quality of your play. We’re here to have fun, and, of course, winning is fun, but losing in style is preferable to a boring win.

Bravo: Reports should be detailed, with plenty of screen shots and player commentary, explanations, musings, etc; an auto-log dump will not suffice. Shots of the F9 screens and overview shots of the empire are nice too, once in a while.

Charlie: Punctuality rocks! “24/48” means post a "got it" within 24 hours of when the last save was posted, and play within 48 hours of that ‘got it.’ Waiting 47 hours to ask for a skip is lame. Punk out two times in a row, and you’ll be dropped from the roster. Skips and swaps are fine, but try to let us know sooner, rather than later.

Delta: Major game decisions (war/peace declarations, religion swaps, city placement, etc) should be arrived at via group consensus.
1. If the team disagrees with you, either argue your case better, or do it their way. Do NOT just blow them off and do it your way because it's your turn.
2. However, if there’s no consensus and you’re up, do it your way and explain why. Conversely, if someone else is up, don't whine when they do it their way.
3. Similarly, overruling techs or city builds is rude and should be done via consensus, barring an emergency.
4. In extraordinary situations, sometimes an opportunity presents itself that the group didn't foresee. If the consequences of it are great, players should stop, and refer the question to the group.

Echo: Being a better player does not give you the right to belittle anyone else or their play. Other people are going to disagree with you on major decisions; get used to the idea, and play nice. If not, take your ball and go home.

Foxtrot: Thread spam is good. Trash talking, poking fun, gentle ribbing, virtual noogies, and generally horsing around are all encouraged, but don’t be rude.

Golf: Automate sparingly.
1. Workers should almost never be automated, except perhaps late-game or building a trade network. However, if you have to, set your game options to “disallow automated worker forest chopping” and “keep previous improvements.”
2. Use of the “Emphasis” buttons is fine, but let the group know and explain your reasoning (specialization is a major game decision). If you prevent growth in a city, let the group know and remind them to take it off. Do NOT let the governor select build orders.
3. Sending units on go-to routes that last beyond your set is acceptable only if they’re heading for a rally point or if you otherwise inform your teammates.

Hotel: NEVER fortify Great People. Is it so hard to push the spacebar 15 times??

India: Sign spamming is rude. Signs can be helpful reminders, but too many signs makes them easily ignored. Once a sign is no longer valid, delete it. [The only exception to this are city specialization signs.]

I'll accept anyone if they'd like to be an alternate, ready to pick up the flag should one of the regulars falter.

Roster from PFS01:
Quotey
Bindamel
Ad Hoc
pholkhero
Ozbenno
negyvenketto

Finally, there's still a bit of rules to work out.

1) Level? I'm not sure if it should be monarch or emperor ~ thoughts?
2) Espionage rule ~ Churchill should focus on espoinage to a greater extent then most. What sort of rule should we use to simulate that? Must keep EP spending equal w/Science? Go Spy economy??
3) Victory Condition: the rules say backdoor diplo now, but we should all discuss which one best suits Churchill's traits and Englands UU, UB, etc. My thoughts: Fav civic: Nationhood; favors: military (!) & gold; aggression: medium. i say, with CHA's higher cities, we aim for a backdoor diplo as the required VC (which, remember, you have to have). Go to war early on with either a whipped army (which would work w/the extra happy) OR larger cities from the extra happy, and then be able to protect anything we take immediately with our archers. Go to war again with Redcoats & Canons to get more of the needed pop, and then aim for the UN that way.

And of course, what's the one wonder we can build?

Start to come once we get some more input and solidify the rules ~

 

[Quotey]

Ugh, only one wonder? It will be hard to get broadcast towers up without Eiffel, but it's a waste. Stonehenge is nice, I supppose, but that means we blew our wonder early, and if there are ones we would want better later... :/. Why only one wonder?

Espionage theme: How about we run a spy specialist in every city and make courthouses a priority? We tech normally and supplement it by stealing. I' pretty sure you visit the strategy and tips forum, so think madscientist's Mao II RPC. A fantastic showing of espionage.

I'd rather not bother with the great wall, tbqh.

I have also had bad experiences with rushes in the past, as in I hate warring until cats because the odds are very stacked towards the defender, and often if the AI has 4 cities you won't be able to kill them off.

And thanks for selecting No City Razing.

 

[Ozbenno]

Checking in.

Backdoor diplo sounds right. As for spying, the EP slider = research slider could work. Plenty of games here have shown you can win easy enough using the EP slider.

Happy with Monarch for now. See how we go.

 

[Hackapell]

Good luck all.

Maybe you should have Roosy, De Gaulle, Toku (posing as Hirohito), Bismarck (posing as hitler), JC (mussolini), and Gandhi as your opponents. They (and the people they represent) were all involved in WWII or had an effect of Churchill's life, and It would increase the flavor of the game imho.

 

[Chieron]

Good luck all.

Maybe you should have Roosy, De Gaulle, Toku (posing as Hirohito), Bismarck (posing as hitler), JC (mussolini), and Gandhi as your opponents. They (and the people they represent) were all involved in WWII or had an effect of Churchill's life, and It would increase the flavor of the game imho.

I'm missing Stalin and/or Mao in this list (Churchill was Anti-communist). Would definitely add flavor - although in CIVs alternate history you might end up as an Axis power..
But good luck to you, Pholk, your SGs are always fun to follow

 

[Bindamel]

Here!

I haven't read the variant rules yet, but when has that ever held up a Pholk game!

 

[negyvenketto]

I would like to join

 

[Ozbenno]

Welcome aboard negyvenketto!

Only one wonder heh! Who thinks of these silly rules

If we are going to run somewhat of a spy economy, Pyramids wouldn't be a bad choice. Representation and running spies will give us beakers and EP. Great Library or Hanging Gardens would be my next choices. Better to do it early and get the GP points accruing.

Just to throw this out there, does UN count as a wonder?

 

[Mesousa]

In this game http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=268640 MadScientist used espionage to truly great effect, without ever touching the slider, but just using settled Great Spies and Scotland Yard. It would probably mean your one wonder would have to be the Great Wall though (combined with the National Epic to spam Great Spies).

List of techs he stole in that game:

Spoiler :

Horseback Riding
Meditation
Polytheism
calender
Compass
Optics
Music
Banking
Military Tradition
Military Science
Steel
Physics
Steam Power
Corporation
Military Science
Railroad
Assembly Line
Radio
Biology
Rocketry
Fission
Fascism
Ecology

Can you keep conquered cities that contain wonders?

 

[Ozbenno]

Can you keep conquered cities that contain wonders?

No City Razing is selected so all wonders are kept.

Essentially if we have a large empire, we will have lots of EP to spend. Not keen on Great Wall as our wonder. Settling spies and spy bombs are maybe better than Scotland Yard.

Another spy link is The Thief Economy game. After Alphabet, research was set to 0, all techs after that stolen and a space win.

 

[Ad Hoc]

Just checking in.

i don't usually build the GW but in a spy heavy game i think it may be the best choice.

EP slider = research sounds okay

 

[pholkhero]

where to start?

Why only one wonder?

And thanks for selecting No City Razing.

as i answered in PH13, in the xml, churchill 'rarely' builds wonders (which makes me think, it it says "Often" do we have to build one in every city, a la, PH04...or was it 5??) and, no problem about NCR!

It would increase the flavor of the game imho.

I like that idea, but in the middle of the Charlemagne game, i decided that i wanted to use the leaders that were coming up next as our enemies, so we can get a "feel" for their personality before we play them. ergo, the enemies in this game will be the next 6 PFS game leaders.

But good luck to you, Pholk, your SGs are always fun to follow

thanks! you're always welcome to join one up!

I haven't read the variant rules yet, but when has that ever held up a Pholk game!

i think the appropriate question is: when has it ever held up pholk!

I would like to join

in, of course ~

Just to throw this out there, does UN count as a wonder?

i like pyramids as well, but am not "married" to the idea. I would be open to something else ~ somethign more flavorful even ~ stonehenge?? and, no, the UN doesn't count as a wonder for us

In this game http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=268640 MadScientist used espionage to truly great effect, without ever touching the slider, but just using settled Great Spies and Scotland Yard. It would probably mean your one wonder would have to be the Great Wall though (combined with the National Epic to spam Great Spies).

I'm not sure this would work w/o the early spy generation from the GWall. wish there was another early way to generate spies ~

EP slider = research sounds okay

I like this idea most of all i think.

start coming in a bit ~

 

[pholkhero]

and here YOU all go ~

ugh. nothing to write home about. lots of forests, though ~ maybe good for chopping a quick stonehenge (the more i think on it, the more i like this as our wonder ~ free pops, free monuments for our CHA trait, thematic . . . )

as far as founding: maybe in place?? maybe 1 NE and hope for a fish there?? i don't know

techs: BW > ??
builds: worker > warrior

Roster:
Quotey >> UP NOW for a couple techs
Bindamel >> on deck
Ad Hoc
pholkhero
Ozbenno
negyvenketto

 

[Quotey]

I won't play today, but the save would be appreciated.

 

[Ozbenno]

That's not a bad location actually. Plenty of chops, a tad light on production but nothing shocking. Move the warrior 1NE to check but I'd settle in place.

Stonehenge does seem thematic doesn't it. The extra happy would be nice.

Maybe tech BW -> Mysticism and chop it out.

 

[Bindamel]

I won't play today, but the save would be appreciated.

Just play from the screenshot, Quotey

 

[negyvenketto]

Just play from the screenshot, Quotey

I'm fine with Stonehenge, too.

 

[Ad Hoc]

Unless something spectacular is seen from moving the Warrior NE i'd settle in place. 2W 1S looks like another hill to me so production won't be too bad.

Stonehenge chopped seems a good idea especially as it's thematic.

BW - Agri - AH, i can't see there is anywhere Copper will pop in the BFC.

 

[pholkhero]

I won't play today, but the save would be appreciated.

I thought it was fairly obvious you were to generate your own from the parameters of the game until you came up with teh exact same set-up as that screenie, but, fine, if you're too lazy



~ consider this the start of the 24 hrs ~

 

[Quotey]

Goddamnit Pholk, I was ill today and wasted my time doing just what you described.... I nearly had it too.


Turn 0 (0)

Go through all the c- Uh. Fine. Most enjoyable part of my sets does not exist

Warrior 1NE reveals... an unirrigated wheat.

Starts on worker. Them Cockney bastards start on Agriculture. PRESERVE THE GREEN BELT! (UK references throughout this game from me- I hate how it's the English empire as opposed to the British :/ 2 of the leaders are Brits, too!)

Turn 6 (6)

~~~ We find some Corn ~~~~~~ ! (first make fun of Pholk in the thread?)

Turn 12 (12)

I missed a hut just outside the capital.

It's the one in the starting screenshot. "..."

Sweep the landscape for more huts and I forgot to take a screenshot of it, but if anyone really wants to know I could whip something up.

Goddamn low graphics settings.

Turn 14 (14)

Weee!!!!

Turn 18 (18)

HIDDEN HUT pops for 34 gold. That hidden thing is such an annoyance. Unfortunately, there's no real way to ring up Firaxis.

Turn 21 (21)

Turn 23 (23)

Worker completes, warrior next. Oh, and in the excitement I forgot to note that Agriculture completed, and we set research to Animal Husbandry.

Turn 30 (30)

Animal Husbandry completes, I stop there. At this point I notice Pholk suggested I go BW first. Hope my change was justified, but Stonehenge doesn't require immediate BW -> Myst, obviously. (Hey, I was reading that deity sg type thing, and I think SH fell on turn 36 in one of them. WhatT???"?)

Save ~~~