Sullla's AI Survivor Season Eight - Game 2 Alternate Histories Thread

[Eauxps I. Fourgott]

I am not sure why Plains-Cow has not posted this one, but given it's been half a week now, I'll go ahead and put a place up for discussion.

Game 2 saw the triumphant return to form of Justinian, who formed a perfect religious coalition and killed the economic game en route to an easy win. Pregame favorite Gilgamesh ended up second place after surviving an early 2v1, when Bismarck threw away his chance at a playoff spot with a suicide attack on the Byzantines. But was this "supposed" to happen? The alternate histories (run and written up by yours truly this time) have now been posted!

Write-up: https://www.sullla.com/Civ4/civ4survivor8-2A.html

Short version: I confirmed that we did see a largely ordinary outcome. Justinian and Gilgamesh dominated this map, and the rest more or less just bumbled around with nobody doing particularly well. My congratulations especially to the Justinian backers - I thought you were wrong at the time, but clearly it was me who misread his situation!

Discuss the results below! And if anybody has any questions that aren't addressed in the writeup, fire away and I'll shed as much light as I can.

 

[Fippy]

Well i never was so sure before (in any game) that the relatively low % of Justi picks were strange (and i picked him for the contest without thinking as result), nice to see that confirmed.

 

[lymond]

Also, it was nice to see that my Genghis pick was ridiculous

 

[Thrasybulos]

Also, it was nice to see that my Genghis pick was ridiculous

I certainly wouldn't posit Genghis as one the better AIs, but his Survivor record might be underselling him somewhat.
Under favourable circumstances, he can prove efficient.
And in that series' playoffs, in a game featuring HC, Justinian, Hannibal, Pacal, and Cyrus, and where he seemed undeniably the odd one out... he sure didn't come on top, but he clearly outperformed both Cyrus and Pacal.

So I wouldn't say backing him is "ridiculous"... rather, "tricky" ?

 

[Eauxps I. Fourgott]

So I wouldn't say backing him is "ridiculous"... rather, "tricky" ?

For this particular map, "misguided" would also apply quite well.

 

[Eauxps I. Fourgott]

Another map's alternate histories are now out. @lymond , should we make a new thread for them, or should you combine the existing ones into one megathread since they haven't had as much engagement?

 

[lymond]

Separate threads are fine. Easier to identify and isolate the discussions. Some games may be more engaging than others.