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An analysis of Gathering Storm and its members by Godking:
Organization
The team is a dictatorship. The government is run by nye, with Sir Ralph as second in command. Meshelic is their diplomat with other nations. They plan on having a General, or other supreme military commander, along with either a domestic minister or economic minister (they have not yet decided which position is more important, but have decided to only allow one additional position). Their thread is apparently (by report) rather disorganized, with people starting conversations on any topic they like, kinda like our forum. They are military minded, and plan on winning the game in a military manor. If given the option (ie, they have not yet been killed off) they will use a strategy of surprise attack using nuclear weapons.
member list and analysis
alexman - He is a regular poster on the strategy forum, and has a decent reputation. He is still learning the nuances of the game, but should be considered a difficult opponent on one-on-one. He is good towards a balance with war and peace tactics. He has had mod powers, but I don’t know from what (I know this because his join date is 1969).
alva848 - A regular on poly, he can be found wandering in and out of almost any forum. His skills in civ are unknown from how he posts, but can be assumed to be above average in most categories.
antoniomilla– an unknown to me. He has 0 posts on poly. NYE indicates he is an unknown to even his own team.
Arrian – so called master of the game, he has supposedly played on deity and is able to repeatedly win. Many of his tactics are about how to play on the weaknesses of the AI. He leans toward warrior strategies. Against humans is a new concept for him. He is a prime candidate for the chief general when they get around and appoint one.
asleepathewheel – A law student, expect him to be sneaky. Very active on the boards, he averages over 4 posts per day so far. He is by far one of their more active members. He is a generalist by what I gather from his posts, playing and winning in different methods. He often challenges himself and sets new goals. Expect him to be important for this team in the long run.
Conqueror – an unknown to me. A Finlander, as so many on poly are. He is not hear often, and is more of a lurker than anything else. He is here mostly to use the PBEM.
DeepO – another regular on the strategy boards, he is a former programmer and a PhD student. Expect him to be a strong runner up with Arrian for General. He has no set patterns for winning, although he does tend toward war strategy. Expect him to be trouble for us if he becomes heavily involved.
Dominae – A new person, I don’t know much about him. He posts mostly on the strategy forum, and is an above average player. Although I don’t think he is one to watch out for at this time, he well can develop into a very lethal player judging by who he hangs out with on the boards.
FrustratedPoet – Most often found in the off topic forum, he is well known to most people here on poly. His abilities as a civ player are unknown, but he has undoubtedly learned quite a bit by just surfing as much as he has. An unknown threat.
gooberboob – lurker. See antoniomilla above.
JTFreak– lurker. See antoniomilla above.
ManicStarSeed – A fairly recent addition to the Poly civ community, he is well spoken and known within the big C3DG. Civ playing skills are unknown, but judging from his posts he is above average. He is often found on the demo game pages or the strategy forums. As an Engineer by profession, expect him to be rather analytical and very conscious of the details.
Meldor– lurker. See antoniomilla above.
Meshelic – FAM for this team. Above average civ player. Very devious. Expect him never to say what is what, why, where, how and when without wondering what is going on. His strategies are generally familiar from the big demo game, but he is aware of the fact that we know him and will most likely change or do some unexpected items because of this.
nbarclay – an unknown to myself, Nathan Barclay is a Program Analysis by profession. This means that he is very nitpicky and prone to notice details. By far the majority of his posts are on the strategy forums, where he is often seen in those threads that are not regularly visited but do have a small, regular, vocal group discussing the topic. Watch out for him.
notyoueither – Leader. He originally started this team to “kick trip’s ass” as a kind of joke and it spiraled out of control from there. I suspect the popularity he has gained caught him by surprise. He is well known for having a level head and analyizing things quickly and accurately. He is one of two players on this team who actually plays the game (the other being Sir Ralph).
OPD – A true war monger. He is well known from the big demo game. Expect him to promote battle solutions rather than peaceful solutions to problems his team may encounter. His strategies by himself are often not perfect in details, but with the other talent on this team, that will not be an issue. He is excellent with his long term planning and looking at “the big picture”.
Randolph – A new comer to Poly, he is usually browsing the MOO3 pages or the PTW demo game. An unknown threat.
Shiber – A long time regular on the big demo game. He is often critical of others. Expect him to notice errors and omissions within plans made by members of his team. He leans toward a battle minded attitude rather than peaceful.
Sir Ralph – Second in command. He is the other person who plays the game for this team. He is a leader in martial strategy, coming up with such concepts as the Archer Assault. Expect him to promote war, but war on his terms. He is well known for his use of sneak attacks, pillaging of improvements, and masterful planning of assaults.
Soren Johnson Firaxis – The programmer of the AI. He is acting as a lurker here. He often is trying to improve the AI and ways it handles threats on the strategy boards and is looking in on this team due to the high proportion of persons who are regulars on the strategy boards. He is not actually helping this team directly, but may inadvertently do so if he posts by the types of questions he asks. I would suggest that we offer him the opportunity to view our team as well, and offer him a membership.
Theseus – Another regular on the Strategy boards. He loves civ style war just for the sake of making war. Excellent in details and in strategies vs. the AI, he is probably one of the most versatile of the players this team has recruited in various battle strategies. Watch out for this one.
tjordan– lurker. See antoniomilla above.
Velociryx - The last of the regulars from the strategy forums that was recruited by Sir Ralph. He is probably the most willing of the ringers to listen to other people before stating his opinion. Highly skilled, he is the one to watch out most from in regards to the military strategies from this team in my opinion.
Zeit – a regular from the big game. An average player, who will stay involved. Good with domestic issues, particularly in regards to economics. Expect him to be named the equivalent of a domestic minister or economic minister from this team.
Conclusions:
How to take advantage of them:
Organization
The team is a dictatorship. The government is run by nye, with Sir Ralph as second in command. Meshelic is their diplomat with other nations. They plan on having a General, or other supreme military commander, along with either a domestic minister or economic minister (they have not yet decided which position is more important, but have decided to only allow one additional position). Their thread is apparently (by report) rather disorganized, with people starting conversations on any topic they like, kinda like our forum. They are military minded, and plan on winning the game in a military manor. If given the option (ie, they have not yet been killed off) they will use a strategy of surprise attack using nuclear weapons.
member list and analysis
alexman - He is a regular poster on the strategy forum, and has a decent reputation. He is still learning the nuances of the game, but should be considered a difficult opponent on one-on-one. He is good towards a balance with war and peace tactics. He has had mod powers, but I don’t know from what (I know this because his join date is 1969).
alva848 - A regular on poly, he can be found wandering in and out of almost any forum. His skills in civ are unknown from how he posts, but can be assumed to be above average in most categories.
antoniomilla– an unknown to me. He has 0 posts on poly. NYE indicates he is an unknown to even his own team.
Arrian – so called master of the game, he has supposedly played on deity and is able to repeatedly win. Many of his tactics are about how to play on the weaknesses of the AI. He leans toward warrior strategies. Against humans is a new concept for him. He is a prime candidate for the chief general when they get around and appoint one.
asleepathewheel – A law student, expect him to be sneaky. Very active on the boards, he averages over 4 posts per day so far. He is by far one of their more active members. He is a generalist by what I gather from his posts, playing and winning in different methods. He often challenges himself and sets new goals. Expect him to be important for this team in the long run.
Conqueror – an unknown to me. A Finlander, as so many on poly are. He is not hear often, and is more of a lurker than anything else. He is here mostly to use the PBEM.
DeepO – another regular on the strategy boards, he is a former programmer and a PhD student. Expect him to be a strong runner up with Arrian for General. He has no set patterns for winning, although he does tend toward war strategy. Expect him to be trouble for us if he becomes heavily involved.
Dominae – A new person, I don’t know much about him. He posts mostly on the strategy forum, and is an above average player. Although I don’t think he is one to watch out for at this time, he well can develop into a very lethal player judging by who he hangs out with on the boards.
FrustratedPoet – Most often found in the off topic forum, he is well known to most people here on poly. His abilities as a civ player are unknown, but he has undoubtedly learned quite a bit by just surfing as much as he has. An unknown threat.
gooberboob – lurker. See antoniomilla above.
JTFreak– lurker. See antoniomilla above.
ManicStarSeed – A fairly recent addition to the Poly civ community, he is well spoken and known within the big C3DG. Civ playing skills are unknown, but judging from his posts he is above average. He is often found on the demo game pages or the strategy forums. As an Engineer by profession, expect him to be rather analytical and very conscious of the details.
Meldor– lurker. See antoniomilla above.
Meshelic – FAM for this team. Above average civ player. Very devious. Expect him never to say what is what, why, where, how and when without wondering what is going on. His strategies are generally familiar from the big demo game, but he is aware of the fact that we know him and will most likely change or do some unexpected items because of this.
nbarclay – an unknown to myself, Nathan Barclay is a Program Analysis by profession. This means that he is very nitpicky and prone to notice details. By far the majority of his posts are on the strategy forums, where he is often seen in those threads that are not regularly visited but do have a small, regular, vocal group discussing the topic. Watch out for him.
notyoueither – Leader. He originally started this team to “kick trip’s ass” as a kind of joke and it spiraled out of control from there. I suspect the popularity he has gained caught him by surprise. He is well known for having a level head and analyizing things quickly and accurately. He is one of two players on this team who actually plays the game (the other being Sir Ralph).
OPD – A true war monger. He is well known from the big demo game. Expect him to promote battle solutions rather than peaceful solutions to problems his team may encounter. His strategies by himself are often not perfect in details, but with the other talent on this team, that will not be an issue. He is excellent with his long term planning and looking at “the big picture”.
Randolph – A new comer to Poly, he is usually browsing the MOO3 pages or the PTW demo game. An unknown threat.
Shiber – A long time regular on the big demo game. He is often critical of others. Expect him to notice errors and omissions within plans made by members of his team. He leans toward a battle minded attitude rather than peaceful.
Sir Ralph – Second in command. He is the other person who plays the game for this team. He is a leader in martial strategy, coming up with such concepts as the Archer Assault. Expect him to promote war, but war on his terms. He is well known for his use of sneak attacks, pillaging of improvements, and masterful planning of assaults.
Soren Johnson Firaxis – The programmer of the AI. He is acting as a lurker here. He often is trying to improve the AI and ways it handles threats on the strategy boards and is looking in on this team due to the high proportion of persons who are regulars on the strategy boards. He is not actually helping this team directly, but may inadvertently do so if he posts by the types of questions he asks. I would suggest that we offer him the opportunity to view our team as well, and offer him a membership.
Theseus – Another regular on the Strategy boards. He loves civ style war just for the sake of making war. Excellent in details and in strategies vs. the AI, he is probably one of the most versatile of the players this team has recruited in various battle strategies. Watch out for this one.
tjordan– lurker. See antoniomilla above.
Velociryx - The last of the regulars from the strategy forums that was recruited by Sir Ralph. He is probably the most willing of the ringers to listen to other people before stating his opinion. Highly skilled, he is the one to watch out most from in regards to the military strategies from this team in my opinion.
Zeit – a regular from the big game. An average player, who will stay involved. Good with domestic issues, particularly in regards to economics. Expect him to be named the equivalent of a domestic minister or economic minister from this team.
Conclusions:
- They are highly prone to violent action.
They are detail oriented.
They are here to win, and do so as quickly as possible.
They will make war with all of their neighbors.
They are probably going for a domination victory.
How to take advantage of them:
- They will probably over-analyze things.
They will come up with intricate plans, which we just have to toss a couple of monkey wrenches into.
They will delay their attacks until they have built up massive amounts of resources. Hit them first before they have the opportunity to complete their preparations.
Pure defensive tactics will not work well. A higher level of offence will be needed if we are on the same land mass, striking them from unexpected places.
They have many prominent people from the strategy threads, who are used to a fast paced situation. Slow them down and perhaps many of their strategists will become bored and drift away to other pursuits.
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