TH3 archipelago high seas tropics immortal

[Dave Hartwick]

TH2 is wrapping up and due to a great start and solid play we blitzed through emperor faster than we did monarch, both in turnsets played and undoubtedly in the year of victory as well. So, turning it up a notch.

This SG is unusual in that we're basically applying the same formula to higher difficulties rather than trying to be all original each time out. We can take another player, but you want to keep that in mind. There will be less discussion of, say, whether or not to build the Pyramids, than you might expect.

Five random starts with five random leaders, vote in order, each player can apply a blackball to a particular start. That is, you can't veto a start out right, but if you really hate one of them, say so and I'll count your vote as negative one. So if you vote A > B > C > D > blackball E, the vote is counted A = 5, B = 4, C = 3, D = 2, E = -1. The votes are then averaged and then we make the voting process useless by taking the second highest or whichever one Loki likes best.

OK, on to some screenies.

The setup:

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High Seas 3A leader:

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High Seas 3A start:

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High Seas 3B leader:

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High Seas 3B start:

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High Seas 3C leader:

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High Seas 3C start:

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High Seas 3D leader:

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High Seas 3D start:

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High Seas 3E leader:

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High Seas 3E start:

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And the guidelines, which haven't changed since last game.

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This is at least partly a learning game for some of us, so if you can provide constructive criticism, please do so. If you have a nonconventional strategy you think might work, spit it out. Making fun of an idea you think dumb is discouraged. Above all, contribute to the planning of the game, not just the execution.

Keep communication clear: announce when you see the save and check the thread before playing your set. Log tech trades in particular and your pregame analysis.

Keep it moving. Post if you can't make your round, and don't be shy about asking for a swap if you're not sure. Have your save posted within 48 hours. That said, somebody (like me) may ask for a stop in play for a day to allow time for the team to discuss the situation.

Be amusing if you have it in you, but it's not mandatory. Screenshots are not mandatory either. I'd actually rather not see yet another screenie of Alexander the Great saying there will be peace in our time. A simple note that we met him is plenty.

The first player will be chosen at random and gets to change the team name to something more stylish than HP_Administrator.

Loki Strikes, Whosit, Sengir, and nocho all have a spot reserved, should they choose to take it. I surely hope they all do. I think we could take at least one more player, though.

 

[Whosit]

Ah, democracy at its finest. I'm honored to have a spot kept for me despite the fact that I never really had a chance to prove myself (one way or the other) in the last game. I'll do my best to keep up on immortal. By the way, did you goof in the setup? Sea level was medium, not high. Oh, well.

(This part of the post has been deleted because it is no longer relevant.)

Ok, so votes on the new starts. Nothing pops out quite as much as last time, and England is the only civ that starts with fishing. Though something just feels right about conquering the seas with England. I'd move 1W, though.

Nevertheless, I vote: B > D > A > C > (blackball) E. That's just an ugly start.

 

[Dave Hartwick]

Well, you just earned your keep right there. I haven't really taken part in an SG until I've done something stupid, like rolling medium sea level starts. "Medium seas" just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it.

I'll go make new starts and try to get it right this time.

The new starts are up. In a way it's better as we don't have leaders we've already played.

 

[nocho]

Checking in!

Where's Ragnar??? I would have liked to try him. Since this immortal and since that scares the s*** out of me, I would vote for the strongest leaders, more so than the start itself.
So given the options, it must be D, followed by a long time nothing, ...., a bit more of nothing, ...., wait I see something! Yes, there come E, C, B and A.

Ok, we've proven to be doing quite well on the high sea setup so far, but for immortal I only would seriously consider Elizabeth, the start itself looks good too. Too bad about the jungle up north though.
But if you roll some more starts with Rags and Willem for instance I may go for another thing than D.

 

[Sengir]

Checking in.

A: Decent starting position, more land visible in the fog. The leader is pretty meh for what we're going to do, with late UB and UU, and traits that won't be the most helpfull.

B: Again the start looks good, but the leader... not so much.

C: Start is good again, and this time the leader can be usefull as well. Fast worker is nice, Spiritual isn't half bad either, though less usefull then on a pangea. Organized helps expanding. Not too sure about the island size though, but should be able to hold three cities on what I can see. No islands in the fog for now. Scratch that, there's an island in the SW.

D: Two nice traits, no make that two strong traits for this game. Draftable UU (always nice). Island looks pretty small though.

E: Financial is strong again, spiritual nice. UB and UU are so so. Island looks pretty good, though starting resources are nothing to write home about.

Vote: C > D > E > B > A

 

[Dave Hartwick]

After reading the last thread again I see now that we were going to go with Ragnar for this game. For some reason I thought we wanted him for the deity game. I can reroll the starts again.

However, we gave the AI a brutal mauling last game, so I'm thinking we could go with one of these and reserve Ragnar for a retry if we lose this one. His UB and traits are quite good.

Out of what we have here, A has a weak leader, lots of food and some hammers.

B is Charlie so I'm going to blackball it on general principles.

C. Hm. It's interesting but I don't see Asoka fitting the strategy very well, other than being organized. Could work the seafood and probably score Hinduism. There's some forest, hills, and gold... it's a good site.

D. OK, Elizabeth fits. Draftable UU, if it goes that long. Starting techs are ideal for going after the Great Lighthouse. Site is weak, though. I'd suggest settling 1W and making the capital the spec farm. Good commerce, lousy hammers.

E has a decent leader, I guess, but I've never really made spiritual work for me. Financial is great, of course. The UB is, well, not all that great as it's not on the build list. The UU, eh, won't see use. The site is food poor, although there should be some more in the fog. Maybe rolling up some starts with Ragnar would be a good idea.

My vote is D > C > E > A and blackball B.

 

[Sengir]

Let's try it with the rolls we've got. If we fail we can try again with Ragnar as you suggested.

 

[nocho]

Let's try it with the rolls we've got. If we fail we can try again with Ragnar as you suggested.

How brave! I wouldn't mind if you'd roll a couple more, one with Ragnar and a few with other random leaders. The ones you rolled apart from Liz really didn't appeal much to me.

 

[Sengir]

If we really need such a strong start, it means we're not ready for the move yet. I'd rather try it with these rolls first and rerolling only on defeat, to see where we stand with this strategy. (It's either brave or suicidal, take your pick )

 

[nocho]

Suicidal!

We did take strong leaders in TH1 and TH2, so a strong one here would be my pick again. Ok, I may be a bit chicken, but I'll readily swallow my pride for a first time try on immortal!

 

[Dave Hartwick]

I'd say D and C are at least good starts, and if there's land to settle like last game, maybe strong starts. Elizabeth is the better leader, IMO. Last game was over by the time rifles came along, but it may go longer this time.

Both our earlier games were easy wins. I've never tried immortal, of course, but I think we can afford some confidence. I mean, we never even got declared on that I recall, and certainly never got invaded. Good thing too, what with the warriors we light heartedly called garrisons.

 

[Liquidated]

In general about multiple starts, might want to random one leader then roll 5x maps for said leader. Otherwise what happens is you are pretty much 100% going to get a hof leader to ride around with as no one in their right mind is gonna pick BK with even the best of maps

Poor Old Charley Boy, Red Headed Step Child of Cvi4

Cheers!
-Liq

 

[Loki Strikes]

Checking in, ofc I'll play, I like the Asoka start + I like Asoka so its nice , if we wanna go overpowered, Liz and Mansa both look good in terms of land + traits

Start C also is good because Liz and Mansa will not give us a fair game lol.

 

[Whosit]

In general about multiple starts, might want to random one leader then roll 5x maps for said leader. Otherwise what happens is you are pretty much 100% going to get a hof leader to ride around with as no one in their right mind is gonna pick BK with even the best of maps

Poor Old Charley Boy, Red Headed Step Child of Cvi4

Cheers!
-Liq

Oh dear, and I voted for Charles. I wonder what that says about me.

Well, Liz still looks like one of the better choices, but the votes seem to be all over the place, so I guess we'll just have to see what ends up adding up.

 

[Dave Hartwick]

Name	A	B	C	D	E
Whosit	3	5	2	4	-1
nocho	1	2	3	5	4
Sengir	1	2	5	4	3
Dave	2	-1	4	5	3
Loki			5	4	3
Average	1.75	2	3.8	4.4	2.4

I had to guess at Loki's votes a bit, but no matter, C & D are the clear leaders. It especially doesn't matter because I just realized that I rolled up standard speed starts and not epic, like the other two SGs. I think staying up late last night to play my turns in the last game turned the part of my brain that's in charge of paying attention into mush. Sorry, everyone.

So, 5 new starts with Ragnar as discussed in the last game or what?

 

[Whosit]

Oh my, I'll take partial responsibility for that. I only caught the sea level mistake. Hmm, normally I'd just go with it, if it were a single player game, but I seem to understand that Normal speed isn't considered appropriate for a Succession Game (though someone please correct me if I'm wrong!).

The main benefit to rerolling would be to give us an excuse to play with Ragnar as previously planned. He certainly fits the pirate mold. And, honestly, I'm not too concerned about taking a "strong" leader because this is Immortal. Though I have some faith because this team did breeze through Emperor.

I guess if we really want to prove ourselves, we can roll with poor Charles, right?

 

[Dave Hartwick]

Hey Liq, if we take Charlie will you join the team?

 

[Sengir]

Yeah, rerolling is best, as I for one am not adjusted to normal speed. I think that going with Ragnar is best in that case, as that's what we discussed in the other thread. It will also cause us to focus more on the map then on the leader for choosing the start.

 

[nocho]

Yeah, reroll with Ragnar!

And liq is right that at least I for one look more at the leader than at the map when having 5 all random starts.

 

[Loki Strikes]

Meh go ahead and reroll, 5 Ragnar immortal high seas tropics epic speed starts (mouthful)

Chuckie isn't that bad really, his UB is awesome and imperialistic is one of my favorite traits, with protective wall whips you can also spam out some seriously gold while you are waiting to get his UB up.