Pong Report

https://steamcommunity.com/games/289070/announcements/detail/1742234241889076456 http://well-of-souls.com/civ/civ6_gatheringstorm.html

In Pong 8 I chose Arabia. I wasn’t fond of any of my choices this time around. I considered Zulu but did not want to be forced down a domination path. I went in with a plan already. I was going to forgo focusing on religion and make use of Arabia’s ability to automatically get a prophet and rush to Mamluks. My plan would then be to expand via Mamluk rush either by conquering player’s cities or city states. Unfortunately, my plan did not end up working.   Starting position is acceptable. There are plenty of mountains in view for science or holy district adjacency and the territory seems relatively defensible. I begin focusing on getting to Mamluks. I am greeted very early by India to the southeast who threatens me with two slingers and a warrior after settling my second city of Sana’a. I laugh off the threat. I decide he would be the target of my Mamluk rush. He’s very close so loyalty won’t be an issue and if he declares a territorial war on me his units will benefit

Coming off my victory in Pong 7, I was pretty disappointed with my draft choices for Pong 8: Spain, Georgia, and Australia. I detest Spain's reliance on the random continent splits in Civ 6, and I while Australia is quite strong, I think their bonus production from receiving declarations of war and liberating City States is really gamey in multiplayer. And then there's Georgia, widely considered to be the weakest civ, and for good reason. Their unique unit and building both suffer from becoming obsolete very quickly. However, I wanted to see how much use I could get out of their other abilities: easier golden ages and doubling envoys in city states with Georgia's religion. I really like the idea  of Georgia, so hopefully I'll be able to make something cool happen with them. The Ancient Era My starting location is pretty mediocre. Lots of food from the sugar, but I've got a big desert to the south and more coastline than I'd like for a non-na