Space-1: War While Waiting

[Karasu]

China looks obviously a good pick.

But why not the British? The combination of civ traits and UU is probably the worst choice we could make for an AW game...

 

[mad-bax]

Exactly

Though if everyone else wants and easier game......

 

[TedJackson]

I must confess that I've never played as Germany so I quite fancy taking them for a spin. But I'll happily play with whatever the team and/or Space chooses


Ted

 

[handy900]

Thank you, thank you very much! I can't wait!

Handy has to take a RL business trip from approximately Nov 18 to 21. It may stretch to the whole week. I'll remind you of this when we get nearer to the date. I won't have time to play my turns during this trip . Hopefully with 7 people I won't miss a turn.

EDIT: With regards to CIV, I truly do not care. But I have been thinking about it some more. We will have to research almost all of our own techs since we cannot trade, so scientific cheap library & university plus the free tech when we enter a new age does help alot. Militaristic gives you barracks at 1/2 cost, but scientific gives you library + university at 1/2 cost. I usually win by domination at AW, and the cheap culture will speed our ultimate victory. OTOH there are good reasons to pick China as I noted earlier. China and the Ottomans are both good picks. If you get forests you can chop a barracks pretty fast. Both China & Ottomans have good strengths, and weaknesses we can overcome with good play. If you make me pick one for a first time AWM game, it would be China by a hair.

I do recommend we consider this…
I always restart an AW game until I get a corner position in the mini-map. It does not have to be a 5 wine or 2 cow awesome hall of fame corner position, just a corner. Now, if you do happen to get a 2 cow start with luxuries in our area, don’t feel like you have to apologize . The corner start allows us to fight a one front war & work our way out of the corner. It’s us against the world and a two front war is a really hard road to travel. I’m still in if you decide you want to just play the first start we get, but understand it’s going to be much more difficult.

Looking forward to my turns….

 

[Northern Pike]

Glad to be in; thanks, Space.

On reflection, I wouldn't object to the "Thin Orange Line" challenge as the English, though I suppose the next step is to look at the starts Space posts. Perhaps we'll get a "Roast Beef of Old England" start--a difficult civ, but plenty of cows.

 

[TedJackson]

Originally posted by Northern Pike
Perhaps we'll get a "Roast Beef of Old England" start--a difficult civ, but plenty of cows.

Ted

 

[a space oddity]

The first Civ most people try. Somehow they seem very fitting in the context an Always War. They have a very nice but rather early UU, the Legionair, (3/3/1).

Their traits are militaristic and commercial. This means cheap barracks and the alphabet is very useful too.

The start position is nice, it has bonus food and a river. There probably are no Nothern attacks. Some coast is visible under the fog.

 

[a space oddity]

Persia is the next Civ to be presented. Persia is Industrious and Scientific. Like people have mentioned before, these are very useful traits too, even in an Always War. Since we have to do most of our research ourselves. Rapid early growth is essential, so is the ability to quickly re-build any pillaged tiles.

Persia has the Immortal (4/2/1) as their UU, again an early one.

The starting position is good, but not super. Food bonus, on fresh water, but no river. It is in a corner of the map though, that should give us a defensible starting land.

 

[a space oddity]

The next editor's choice are the French. The French feature a later UU, good for defense, the one and only useful musketman, the Musketeer (3/4/1).

On top of that they are Commercial and Industrious. The right choice for those who like a more difficult SG.

The start is favourable, with a cow, bonus grass, forests and a river. The defensive traits will be put to good use because there's a good chance there will be oppontents in both the North and the South.

 

[a space oddity]

And last but certainly not least: the English. Being Expansionist and Commercial, they are most unsuitable for playing an AW. Very fittingly they have the notorious Man-O-War. Not one but two strategic resources are needed to be able to build it (Iron, Saltpeter) but... remember that this is a continents map, the sea will play its role in this game!

The starting position is interesting too, in the middle of the map.
The map features a river, luxes and ... jungle. But again, folks, this is not necessarily bad, because jungle slows the early scouts and is a very good natural defense line.

 

[a space oddity]

So, Gentlemen, what is going to be you pick? Believe it or not, these where the first start of each civ I rolled, I have no knowledge of the maps, or the opponents.

The Barbarian level is Restless, re-spawning is OFF, cultural linked starts is OFF.

Can I have your votes, please?

edit: I left the Chinese and the Ottoman out since most of the people on the roster have used these two recently in other SGs.

 

[TedJackson]

I vote for Germany...

oops, make that France. That Joan is such a cutie


Ted

 

[handy900]

Rome.
I've never played Rome in an AW game, and have always meant to. Can't argue with the position. I'm playing Joan in another game now. The Persia starts looks like a very winnable one also...

But like I said, I'm up for any of these. Can't wait for the final choice so we can talk some strategy.

 

[a space oddity]

Patience, Grasshopper, all in due time.

 

[mad-bax]

Predictably I like the English start. The coastal location makes it easy to defend. No obvious settler factory, rubbish traits, useless UU and lots of jungle to clear with no industrious workers all just go to making it a nice gentle introduction to an AW game.

The most winnable start is the Persain start IMO. Settle NE on the silks for a coastal capital and Bobs your Uncle.

 

[Greebley]

I am going to stay with my earlier Rome vote.

I wonder if we should narrow the choice to two (the two with the most picks) and then have every who didn't choose one of the two then revote. The advantage to this is you don't lose your vote if you are the only one voting for a civ.

For example if 2 ppl voted rome and 2 voted england, and all 3 remaining wanted persia, but they see no votes for persia, so they pick one of the 2 "contenders". Persia loses even though it had the most votes.

Did this make sense?

 

[Northern Pike]

I'm not being outstandingly consistent here, but that start kills my enthusiasm for the English project. It's a thin line between challenge and masochism.

I vote for the Roman start.

 

[Karasu]

Originally posted by mad-bax
No obvious settler factory, rubbish traits, useless UU and lots of jungle to clear with no industrious workers all just go to making it a nice gentle introduction to an AW game.

Add to this a Continents map on Monarch with the random-generated number of 134 opponents, and you're flirting with disaster...

Therefore, my vote is England

If, on the other hand, we really want a winnable game, my second choice would be Persia.

 

[a space oddity]

I vote for the Persians.

The final tally:

France - TedJ
Rome - Handy, Greebley, Pike
England - Mad-bax, Karasu
Persia - Space

So the winner is... Rome! I'll post the save tonight.

 

[mad-bax]

I don't object to Rome, but just for the hell of it..
I was being facetious when I said I liked the English start. My vote was really for the Persians. I should have used more smilies, or better still, proper English.

But Rome it is. Hail Caesar Spaceous!