Machiavelli Institute: Analysis of Lost Civs

[Robber Baron]

An entire world has opened before us, fellow Aploytonians. Time to roll up our sleeves and undertake some geopolitical analysis.

Some early thoughts:

The Zulus (aka, the Gem Tribes)
These people don't have much room to work with -- a cramped island, which seems to have undercut this people's expansionist advantages and left it crippled. All those gems, though! Shaka will have to try to wheel and deal his way out of backwardness -- not his strongpoint. A central location and a relatively small size makes this civ an attractive possibility for overseas expansion, IMO .

The Indians (aka, the Furry Folk)
They dress well, and they seem to have gotten the edge over the Chinese. With their civ qualities and their territory they might be able to play themselves into power status -- if they weren't hobbled by ineffective AI algorithms. It would be fun to play this civ in this game. In any event, these people might be very effective to cultivate as trading partners and allies.

The Chinese (aka, the Luxless)
They have only one lux tile in their home territory, and their bid to extend the fur monopoly (via Macao) seems to have been checked effectively by the Indians. A rider/war elephant war might help them recover, (they do have iron and horses, and a human player could put together a devastating burst attack), but at this point I doubt it.

The Japanese (aka, the Silken Ones)
Watch out for these people. Fate handed them an isolated start. But they hold a fair amount of territory, including prime oil possibilities. (So do the Indians, by the way. Our best hope for oil closer to home lies in Abananaba Minor.) The Silken Ones will be forces to reckon with.

Other thoughts or observations?

[Shiber]

A good overview of the newfound civs. I think you should add several scenarios of possible wars between these civs in the near future to your analysis.
I'm still waiting for a more verbose report though. I want my numbers and pie charts!

[joncnunn]

The only war I see breaking out anytime soon is an Indian-Chinese war. (Not counting AI declaring war on an AI but not fighting.)

If we were playing either the Indians or Chinese I'm sure we would have conquered the other by now to gain supreme status over the home island.

Looks like if we were playing the Japanese we would have had a boring existance for a long time.

And if we had started in the Zulu spot, there would probably have quickly been calls for a restart.

[zeit]

Looks like if we were playing the Japanese we would have had a boring existance for a long time.

And if we had started in the Zulu spot, there would probably have quickly been calls for a restart.

looks like the banana really smiled upon our ancestors.

[Robber Baron]

Originally posted by zeit


looks like the banana really smiled upon our ancestors.

How ironic! The oldtimers among us will remember how we cursed and moaned over those first few turns, as our scout warriors plunged into what seemed like a sea of endless jungle above our tiny peninsula.

[Reddawg]

I'm going to release and addendum to the State of the Nation that specifically analyzes the new civs we've found; I hope to have it out by Friday.

[joncnunn]

You know, if the AIs were like some human players:

1. Zulu player 5 turns after the game starts demands a restart.

2. Abe demands a restart after he loses one city to us.

3. Joan of Arc demands a restart after losing Paris to us.

4. Xerxes demands a restart after we take the Pyraimds.

5. Japan, China, and India demands a restart upon checking the foreign advisor after contacting us and discovering our most advanced unit is Calvary and they are only still very early in the middle ages.

[Robber Baron]

Originally posted by Reddawg
I'm going to release and addendum to the State of the Nation that specifically analyzes the new civs we've found; I hope to have it out by Friday.

Yer the man, 'dawg. I was hoping you'd pick up on Shiber's request.

[Panzer32]

So true, joncnunn, so true.