The Lost Battle (Deity AW)

[Revent]

He did not wish tribute, nor song, or monuments or poems of war and valor. His wish was simple. "Remember us" he said to me. That was his hope, should any free soul come across that place, in all the countless centuries yet to be.

For centuries, our people have suffered the onslaught of the barbarians killing us off slowly, one by one whilst they prospered. With one last party left, you decide to make a stand. No longer will you let your people suffer at the hands of those that claim to be civilised. Your journey shall you choose to take this path will lead to a battle far greater than anything you could have ever imagined. Victory is almost impossible. But will you choose to stand and fight or will you flee letting the deaths of your fathers be in vain?

The Settings:
Deity
Always War
Pangea
Unrestricted Leaders
No Technology Trading
No Technology Brokering

These settings are prone to change depending on what we as a group agree on. I've based the settings previously on what I've read and tested out for Deity Always War games though so that we actually have a chance of winning.

Roster:
1. Revent
2. r_rolo1
3. Tachywaxon
4. Open...

 

[Revent]

Leaders:

Since the settings have unrestricted leaders, I think leader choice and civilizations should have two different headings for discussion. From what I've read and tested, protective is pretty much a necessity and probably the most powerful trait in Deity AW. Other traits are up for debate however. So our options are as follow:

Charlemagne Pro/Imp- Interesting combination as we can get settlers out faster and a +100% GG emergence universally. However, this trait is no longer as good if we build TGW.

Churchill Pro/Cha- Once again, an interesting and probably powerful combination as we will almost certainly be getting super powerful units over time. However, the usefulness of this will tend to decrease as happiness will become less of a limiting factor and it becomes a lot more difficult to get to the next promotion. However, everyone does love CR III Cannons out the bag so it is pretty good.

Gilgamesh: Pro/Cre- Normally a solid leader, creative just doesn't seem to be as good as it normally is in an AW game.

Mao Zedong: Pro/Exp- Expansive is normally a great trait early and late with the cheaper workers and the health bonus but it might not be as good as others.

Qin Shi Huang: Pro/Ind- I think this may also be a great trait because of the cheaper wonders since we will want some wonders no matter what and being able to build them cheaper is great.

Saladin Pro/Spi- Not so great trait in AW as it does not directly help our cause. No anarchy is obviously great though, just not a game saving trait.

Sitting Bull Pro/Phi- An interesting combination as if we go for the Mids, getting more great people is always a bonus. Cheaper universities may not be so great because our slider will be lower than what it usually is anyway.

Tokugawa Pro/Agg- Rifles with three free promotions sounds great! But for that, we will need to survive until then so it's not that great. We do want something to keep our research going after all.

Wang Kon Pro/Fin- Financial is generally considered to be the best trait, but not sure how useful it is in AW since the AI tend to pillage everything. This could obviously be solved by only cottaging our core cities which could work fairly well.


From the leaders above, I think the ones we should really consider are: Charlemagne, Churchill, Qin Shi Huang, Sitting Bull or Wang Kon.


Another alternative is that we could actually prepare to war right from the start, and go for a Quechua rush, War Chariot rush or Immortal rush. Problems with this would be holding the cities we capture and our economy in general.

 

[Revent]

Civilizations:

The Malinese. Is there really much else to say here?

I guess arguments could be made for other Civs though so I'll do it anyway.

Babylonians- A mid game building that gives +2 health is a bit lame but the key for this empire is that they have the bowmen which is an archer that has 50% against melee units. If defending against a melee unit, the bowman has a base strength of maximum 6.75 with 1 first strike whilst the skirmisher has a base strength of up to 7 with 1 or two first strikes whilst defending. The difference is small, but the Babylonians start with two great starting techs, Agri and TW.

Egyptians- A lame UB (although it can have its uses if trying to gamble on an early GS or if going for a SSE) with solid starting techs and a very powerful chariot UU. With a base strength of 5, it can have a strength as high as 10 when fighting axemen and is immune to first strikes. Great if we want to go on the offence and even try to raze/capture an AI capital right from the beginning. Great starting techs.

Incans: A great UU and UB. Alright starting techs. Quechua rush if desirable.

Malinese: Obviously, I think this will be the first choice because the skirmisher is an amazing UU for this type of game. Starting techs are good and the UB gives a gold bonus which is great in AW since our slider is more often than not, lower than 50%.

Native American: Great UB for the promo's and can synergise well with Cha. It's UU the Dog Soldier can be built without copper so may be good for choking AI and what not since they can be built as soon as BW is in. Can have an attacking strength of up to 8 if fighting a melee unit which is stronger than an Axemans 7.5. Starting techs could obviously be better.

Persian: Great UU which has 8 base strength against axes and 6 against archers. A great unit for attacking before AI has access to iron. Lameish UB and starting techs allow for early archery if necessary but could be better although lead to a cheap AH if we want to go for horses straight away.

Romans: Praetorian. Need I say more? Starting techs are okay and the forum is not too bad

Sumerian: Vultures are okay and actually have the same base strength as an axe when fighting melee but have the advantage of a higher base strength when not fighting a melee. A ziggurat unlocked at preisthood also means that we could expand a bit harder as well.

 

[Revent]

Start:

 

[ben-jammin]

I'd take a crack at this, but only with input from the better deity players

 

[Revent]

Snaaty has offered to do that for us. So I'll take it that you're in

 

[ben-jammin]

I recall from the last deity AW that you really can't maintain many cottages at all, so financial is not particularly strong. Also not sure how strong GS bulbs will be, I would think char/imp are strong second traits. Industrious would be not very good without marble or stone in the capital's bfc.

 

[Revent]

Yeah, that's what I think as well. But if we get a chokepoint, Fin may prove to be useful. However, that is a gamble of course.

As for Phi, I think we will be doing a lot more settling and less bulbing because, well the beauty of bulbing is normally tech trading but since that is off, we will find GP a lot more useful.

I personally am leaning towards Cha or Ind for our second trait though with a slight preference for Cha though.

 

[LKendter]

Lurk mode = ON

NOT a signup, I've never won a standard diety game.

 

[r_rolo1]

Signing up.

I don't care much about civ or leader, so I'm ok with anything you get

 

[kossin]

Lurker comment
Protective is super-powerful for this variant, so is Charismatic.
Financial will help you to stay afloat... try either Wang Kong or Hannibal is my suggestion

...of Mali, of course.

 

[Rusten]

Ah, the temptation

 

[Revent]

@Kossin, Wang Kon is a possibility that is definitely going to be looked at. Not TOO sure about Hannibal though as he lacks Pro.


@Rusten, give in to it! It'll be a fun game

 

[Manco Capac]

I'm in I suppose. Deity AW is complete madness. Only few players here will be able to sustain a minimum survival under such conditions.

 

[kossin]

@Kossin, Wang Kon is a possibility that is definitely going to be looked at. Not TOO sure about Hannibal though as he lacks Pro.


@Rusten, give in to it! It'll be a fun game

Hannibal may be slightly more shaky at the very start, but cheaper promotions stack up later on. Another benefit is the 2- from Charismatic in case you don't have super-rich land.

In any case, protective is king.

 

[Revent]

Hannibal may be slightly more shaky at the very start, but cheaper promotions stack up later on. Another benefit is the 2- from Charismatic in case you don't have super-rich land.

In any case, protective is king.

Thanks for the insight I'll look into Hannibal in some test runs actually


I've updated the third post for Civs. Malinese seems like a no brainer, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway

 

[admtanaka]

I'll lurk this one as well. Good luck guys!

 

[Manco Capac]

Why No Tech Brokering when NTT is on?

 

[vranasm]

lurker lurking....

I HAVE to watch this one

 

[Revent]

Tachy, I don't think it makes a difference, does it?

Also, are you guys okay with BUFFY?