Sullla's AI Survivor Season Seven - Championship Game Thread

[Saxo Grammaticus]

Welcome to the Championship Game of Sullla's AI Survivor Season Seven where we will crown a winner Friday, July 28th on Twitch starting at noon EDT, 5pm BST! Kindly note the one-week break.

You can catch Playoff Game 3 on Twitch.

While there are no seeded leaders in the championship, it is worth noting that Darius' performance has assured him a seeded position in next season's draw, and every AI aside from Ramesses has the potential to break into the second pool.

This season has produced an unusually balanced game in terms of peace weight. Darius represents the heroes, Louis and Mehmed the villains, and Churchill, Ramesses, and Saladin the neutrals. Though you may recall Churchill threatening an outlier victory last year, he is not currently a champion and one may only hope he trolls us not. Mehmed on the other hand won Season 5 and would be the only repeat champion thus far if he wins again. Most of the AI have shared not only a playoff but also an opening round. Darius and Saladin were in Game 6, with the latter moving through with a Wildcard win. Louis and Ramesses placed first and second in Game 8.

Saladin is the only AI to start with Mysticism; however, there is plenty of cultural flavor between Louis and Ramesses. Darius is the only Financial leader. The abstract nature of the championship map means that all AIs start with the same land though varying proximity to one another.

Watch the preview here, read up on the game here, and make your predictions here. All are welcome to discuss the game in this thread and follow along for what will hopefully conclude a dynamic and entertaining season in style!

And if one contest just isn't enough, stay tuned for the finale of @Fippy's parallel odds!

EDIT: Misidentified Ramesses as a higher peace weight AI

 

[AcaMetis]

This really was the season of the unseeded leaders taking their revenge on the seeded leaders, and now fighting has broken out within their once united(-ish) ranks as they squabble over who deserves to replace those seeded leaders who were outright knocked off of their perches in the process. One last bout to see who gets crowned the king of vengeance .

 

[danjuno]

My focus drifted away during playoffs, but this is definitely an interesting line-up for the championship.

 

[Fippy]

They always scout with their workers on turn 0..i wonder how that code works, later they are not?

 

[Plains-Cow]

What....what is this? No plains-cow tiles on the entire map?!

 

[Fippy]

What....what is this? No plains-cow tiles on the entire map?!

No super-advantages for anyone on the championship map

 

[Plains-Cow]

No super-advantages for anyone on the championship map

Then I'll need to pick the AI that had the most plains-cow starts. I suppose that means, hmmmm, Saaaaaladin?

 

[Fippy]

Problem with Sal is he usually gets second

 

[Plains-Cow]

Problem with Sal is he usually gets second

I'm open to suggestions, but otherwise I'm going for the Man of Meccow.

 

[Kaitzilla]

This really was the season of the unseeded leaders taking their revenge on the seeded leaders, and now fighting has broken out within their once united(-ish) ranks as they squabble over who deserves to replace those seeded leaders who were outright knocked off of their perches in the process. One last bout to see who gets crowned the king of vengeance .

Ya, not a single Pool 1 or Pool 2 leader made it to the Championship game this year.
Brutal!

What....what is this? No plains-cow tiles on the entire map?!

No plains cows.

In fact, Louis does not have a Cow at all...

 

[Keler]

Why does he have to have same errors every single time on this map but just doesn't edit the wolrdbuilder file he corrected before every time is interesting.

While I have no tests autoplayed yet, I can only wish Darius's luckster must come to an end now. Saladin with pw 4 should be the favorite. Ramesses is usually a culture win favorite but very tricky here, down the road he needs Sal as friend and they are likely to have different religions at some point. To his advantage Louis might use his initial aggression on Darius instead of Ramesses. I really don't know if Louis gets a different religion than Saladin instead of Ramesses. That would be the luckiest outcome for Darius but eventually if some civs die and Darius gets nothing out of it then will he win still? I think Churchill is just as more likely to win then Darius with his potential conquest over Mehmed.

Overall I like Saladin most, Mehmeds chance to snowball over Darius is totally depends on whether Churchill comes to destroy him in 2v1 or not and that depends on will they both share same religion or not. Also what Louis does first is tricky. I would expect Saladin or Ramesses win this the most likely outcome. I should check again after 5-10 tests.

 

[Plains-Cow]

No plains cows.

I feel it in my soul. I guess I'll go with who had the most of them? I'm not really sure how to even judge that... based on starts? Conquests? Oh geez...

 

[The Rook]

Why does he have to have same errors every single time on this map but just doesn't edit the wolrdbuilder file he corrected before every time is interesting.

I feel your pain. Should we make our picks based on the existing errors or assume Sullla will make all the corrections on the last minute?

I have great respect for all the effort Sullla has made to make AI Survivor special, but I'm bored of seeing the Commodore map in the final. It's overused to the point of being stale, isn't really balanced (due to all the errors) and there isn't a plains cow in sight. Most importantly though, the map is publicly available, so there's nothing to stop anyone from carrying out their own tests and knowing the best percentages in advance.

Personally, I would be in favour of another random map being used for the final. It might not be fair to the AIs, but from a fairness perspective the entire tournament is a farce anyway. For me the picking contest is what AI Survivor is really about, and imbalance is what makes the tournament interesting. While we can all see the imbalances, it is clear from the many discussions that we don't grade them the same way.

 

[lymond]

Yep, I tend to agree. This map is not very exciting. I'd rather Sulla roll random and then maybe make some balance adjustments after the fact to resources and terrain. I think raging barbs would be cool in the finals too.

And the lack of plains cows is an egregious oversight and insult to all the Plains Cows of the world.

 

[elmurcis]

"Plains Cows adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar world" (Sun-Tzu; The Art of Moo)

 

[Fippy]

Last game Darius was the clear winner after ~100t already.
I think this map at least avoids those scenarios..

Did someone who chats with him ask Sulla about correcting those bugs?

 

[lymond]

I don't know exactly what the bugs are ...resource distrib? But if we ping @Sullla here, maybe he will pop in for a drive-by. He has a coupla times so far in this series.

Maybe someone would not mind listing them out here.

Ha..well I'm watchin' the preview and see at least 1 aluminum on a coastal tile.

 

[Plains-Cow]

@Sullla

Add at least ONE plains-cow tile. Ideally a start, but even only one on the map in general would suffice.

 

[Fippy]

Lou has 2 wines in his west area, other AIs have 1 wine & green cows.
Resi stuff like that yup.

 

[AcaMetis]

YT comments on the preview video are also worth checking RE: mistakes, at least one was pointed out (one AI as an Alu resource in the water instead of a Fish, for instance ).