Slingshot in v208

[uffe]

I seem to pull it off in prince almost always. This may be partly due to my prefences for the civ/leader. I use random, but start immediately over, if I get a bad result, i.e. protective, or somehow otherwise undesirable combo. But, I'm not particularily picky here, so I don't need financial for example.

Marble definitely is not needed for the slingshot, since it is always about getting maths and CoL, not about having the time to build the Oracle (after granary, library, at least one settler and some defenders). With Marble, you can, of course build more stuff while researching for Maths and CoL, but for the slingshot it is not needed.

Assigning the two scientists in the capital definitely helps, even though many times I don't even get the Academy much before the slingshot.

One thing is though, that I've almost always relied on the slingshot in my games, even with the Warlords and 208 patch, so I'm pretty bad with all the other alternative opening strategies.

[Arrian]

My two favorite leaders are both good at the sling: Rameses and Huyana Capac.

Using the inca is obvious, b/c they are IND/FIN

Egypt is a tad less so. I like it b/c they start with the ability to research pottery (though I usually go AH first) and if you are able to secure horses, a very small number of War Chariots can not only make you safe from barbs, but also put you in position to do bad things to a neighbor (worker stealing/settler team whacking, at least). You don't have to invest much in defense, basically. Plus SPI lets me switch to slavery w/o losing a turn to anarchy (yes, I research BW as well, even though I'm going for the sling, because I like to whip out my settlers).

-Arrian