Personally, I think we still have some time before we must have a final roster. The game does not start until midnight on Friday, so we still have a couple of more days to allow our missing players to check in. What we do need to do is get busy on picking a team name. Alan is going to need this from us BEFORE Friday. If we don't pick one, then he will pick one for us.
Regarding the Worker vs. Warrior discussion, I am inclined to go Warrior. But, not for the early exploration benefit. Normally, I would start a new game building a Worker. This game is different, because we are already at war with the Inca. We have no clue what type of map we are on, whether it be pangea, continents, islands, etc. Capac may be our neighbor for all we know. For this same reason, I like the idea of starting research on Animal Husbandry to locate our horses. And hopefully we have horses or our UU will be nothing but a sad joke.
Do we want to consider the Oracle/CS slingshot? I've never attempted it on Monarch difficulty, so I do not know if it is even doable. Of course, if our neighbor is Capac, then all bets are off and we are in full war mode production. But, if we do have the time, I think it is something to consider because of the early bureaucracy benefits. And, if we do beeline for bureaucracy, I think getting cottages up as quickly as possible is the way to maximize the bureaucracy benefit.
Regarding the Worker vs. Warrior discussion, I am inclined to go Warrior. But, not for the early exploration benefit. Normally, I would start a new game building a Worker. This game is different, because we are already at war with the Inca. We have no clue what type of map we are on, whether it be pangea, continents, islands, etc. Capac may be our neighbor for all we know. For this same reason, I like the idea of starting research on Animal Husbandry to locate our horses. And hopefully we have horses or our UU will be nothing but a sad joke.
Do we want to consider the Oracle/CS slingshot? I've never attempted it on Monarch difficulty, so I do not know if it is even doable. Of course, if our neighbor is Capac, then all bets are off and we are in full war mode production. But, if we do have the time, I think it is something to consider because of the early bureaucracy benefits. And, if we do beeline for bureaucracy, I think getting cottages up as quickly as possible is the way to maximize the bureaucracy benefit.