Pre-Poll Discussion: Civ Choice

[Kuciwalker]

Nope.

Let's stay barbaric conservative right-wing hawks, like usual

[Kloreep]

I see a lot of warmongers here... if that's the way the game is gonna go, we should definitely choose Germany.

[Beta]

Originally posted by GhengisFarb

I'm not really big on India.

Ok then let's go with Greece. Or better yet - England.

With a military civ in SP, we are going to make hay way to easily.

Although it is interesting that in Fried-Pstilon's rating of the civ traits for MP, Germany is last. Scientific is the worst-ranked trait - and militaristic the second worst.

Also - Greece has wonderful roleplay potential. But with our crowd, I'm sure we can have fun with any civ in the game.

Vikings ... hmmm.

When we have the final poll for this, it would be good to do it in stages - one with all the civs mentioned to-date in this thread, or all of them available. Then a run-off with the top three vote getters from that first poll. Or something along those lines.

[Aggie]

Here's a novel idea lets randomly choose our civ, thats what I do, it really teaches you to play with anything.
Aggie

[Sharpe]

How about eliminating from consideration the civs used in:

the 1st single player game
all of the civs used in the PTW PBEM game
the Multi-site game

as obviously someone saw those civs as being feasible to use in those formats.

That would eliminate:
Egypt
Carthage
China
Spain
Ottomans
Persia

and perhaps Arabia (although it is used by a non-Apolyton player so perhaps we could use it)

Would be left with:
1) England
2) France
3) Germany
4) Rome
5) Greece
6) Americans
7) Zulu
8) Aztecs
9) Babylon
10) Japan
11) Iroquois
12) India
13) Russia
14) Celts
15) Mongols
16) Korea
17) Vikings

To narrow down the list even further we could eliminate those civs that are being used in the Intersite game even though Apolyton isn't using them

[GhengisFarb™]

Germany, Vikings, or Rome have good Roleplay potential. Which ones left are Industrious?

[Hot_Enamel]

Yep - I would like to do random...excluding the civs already used.

[DeathByTheSword]

probably said already....but germany or chineze are always good choices....americans are fun too because the have a UU that come in very very very LAte.....random is cool too

[Jonny]

Vikings, Babylon, or Celts would be my choices.

Or, to make things interesting (and a little more challenging), we could chose a civ with the expansionist trait, since it is probably the weakest trait.

[Master Zen]

How bout the Mongols??

It would be fun for it's roleplaying aspects (think of "civilized barbarism" ).

It's also not a particulary strong civ so it will be challenging.

The Japanese would be nice too.

[Kloreep]

Germany!

Or Greece, or Korea, or...

[MrWhereItsAt]

Hmm... not much of a discussion thread so far, is it?

To try and get things a little on track, so we're not just saying what we want and not discussing things to a degree....

I like Greece. This civ does have a lot of RP potential, more so than almost any other. This will force quite a different style as they are Scientific and Commerical (IIRC). We will likely be a lot less about war, especially since our UU is such a great defender. There will not be as much need to worry about resources for some time either, seeing as we have this defense without Iron. The earliness of the UU is my only issue, but that is not as important seeing as we are dealing with just the AI here.

A strong case can be made for the Vikings, more of a warlike civ. As the Egyptians, we had many wars, but were also strong builders. Being Militaristic would mean that we could (and might NEED) to attack early and keep doing so without much pause for development. Although this does detract from other aspects of the game, there's nothing quite as exciting as a war in the game (that's when people are most interested), and its another style to what we were trying in game 1. If we ended up in an island world, I can just imagine a few of the members getting carried away in their raping and pillaging...

Finally, the Americans could be a great choice too. This is one of my fave civs. We have that Industrious trait that is such an advantage, and Expansionisitc would either be good to begin with then not an advantage, or useless the whole way through. This gives us a challenge, as does the fact that the UU is too late in the day to help. We would have to rely on consistent performance to get us through, and the GA would have to be triggered by Wonders. I am not a fan of UU induced GAs, especially where the UUs come so early as to make the GA useless, or where we have to restrict their use in order to plan the GA. And the roleplay? Well what COULDN'T we do with this civ? Wars of liberation, anti-terrorism, the fight of freedom of speech with moral values....

And now an against:

NO to Carthage. We are playing them in the ISDG, their UU is too early and they are basically Egypt with a better UU. We want to try something different and perhaps challenging. I urge everyone to think seriously about whether we want the same sort of game as before or not. If so then we choose this. If we want some new ground then let's choose someone else.

[lmtoops]

I like the idea of have a two stage pole.

Please have "Random" as part of the poll. I am leaning towards that decision. My only concern is if Random ends up and Egypt or Carthage; that would be sad . But then again who cares; let's just play the game.


DOWN WITH ALL ROLEPLAYERS!!!!!

[realpolitic]

Industrious civs give us the best start.

Expansionist is worthless - those scouts are about the equivalent of 4 extra warriors.

Commercial takes forever to kick in, under decent circumstances we'll be getting techs in 4 turns by then.

Eliminate Germany- their UU is too late.

[Kloreep]

Originally posted by realpolitic
Industrious civs give us the best start.

Agreed. One of the reasons I'd avoid it.

Expansionist is worthless - those scouts are about the equivalent of 4 extra warriors.

Don't forget that you START with a scout, getting a free unit before your first city is even built. That, combined with improved hut chances, make the trait potentially powerful, especially in it's potential to pop a settler from a hut. But it depends on luck...

Commercial takes forever to kick in, under decent circumstances we'll be getting techs in 4 turns by then.

Eliminate Germany- their UU is too late.

Exactly why I like those two. It'll make the climb up that much harder, but the end game will be easier and more fun.

[Hot Mustard]

I like the idea of a random determination, excuding industrious civs and those picked in any 'Poly demo games (SPDG, PtWDG, ISDG). I want a challenge!

[E_T]

Random has it's advantages....

I like the Idea of Greece for it's cheap Libraries and free Techs.

And it will give us a killer defensive unit.

E_T

[MrWhereItsAt]

So far we have expressions of interest in:

Vikings
Americans
Chinese
Carthage
Korea
Germany
Greece
India
Babylon
Ottomans
Rome
Celts
English
Japan
Random
Mongols

Civs requested to be avoided
Egypt
Carthage
India

Well at least we have some narrowing down...

I'll leave it another day and then try a poll with all of the above options, including random. A run-off of the top three (or however many come close) will be done afterwards. Sound good?

[Master Zen]

Random actually sounds nice

after all you can't chose what nationality you are born in now can't you?

Hell, every setting should be random except Huge world and the victory conditions.

[ZargonX]

I would vote for random; facing the unknown can be a great challenge unto itself.

[Kloreep]

I agree Random could be fun, but I'd also like to have some choice in the civ.

Maybe we could compromise - narrow it down to 5-8 civs and have someone randomly pick one from there.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Rome and Greece would be allot of fun to RP with, but so could Vikings especially on an island map.

Rome is one of my personal favorites, both in terms of roleplay and UU. Militaristic and Commercial can REALLY combine in the later ages to make for a war machine should we choose to be a bit more aggressive with tanks...The Legions do come early, but early GA's are not the end of the world either. Legions are also able to be usefull for a long time if we need to time it for later.

Greece would be allot of fun RP wise. I have not played them much in the game, though. My concern here would actually be a lack of warmongering. It does seem that our highest attendance has been through times of war. Not to say the Greeks could not make a decent war machine if we chose to. I personally don't like defensive UU's much, since you are not always in control of triggering the GA.

The Vikings, well, Rape, Pillage, what more can you ask? An Island map intrigues me with these fellows. We could even make raiding parties and name the Berserkers after members here, possibly allowing individuals to order movements for 'themselves' for brief times. Would be funny watching an argument over who was going to attack the city first to say the least. The Island map would put a strangle hold on the Expansionist trait, though, making it less likely to be usefull. Berserks are great, period, and can be used effectively all the way up to Infantry with some care. They also make a use for using more archers in the ancient era. So, with an island easily defensed, and our UU, we wont NEED any resources for a good long while.

So, I think those would be my own top 3: Vikings (prefer to be island map), Rome, then Greece.

[GodKing]

1) Vikings - particularly with an Island map, but first either way
2) Rome - Could be lots of fun
3 Random - the Greeks just don't interest me all that much. I would much rather see us with the Military Trait than any other as I think it would be lots of fun. And what could be more different from all teh other games than one where see power was a necessity.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Poll is up! Make your choice and the top few choices will have the final repoll.

[Kickbooti]

What about Spain?

I have had some fun with them. In an island game industriousness is not as critical. The religious aspect is nice for government switching cultural improvement.

Comercial isn't bad for the money.

And the UU is fun. Who uses Exploerers anyway? The Conquistador isn't half bad, especially for getting into the enemy infastructure and pillageing.

Not that I would ever encourage war or anything...