Subject: The worst part is knowing that this may be a countdown
Author:
Posted on: 2019-02-22 16:48:00 UTC
I mean, I'd much rather be blissfully unaware of it until Pokemon Day where they may inevitably announce it.
THE WAIT. IT'S TO MUCH.
Wasn't sure I was going to make this one, but here we are.
Fandom News
... I have no idea! Neshomeh already found the Tolkien biopic trailer, which dropped last week, and other than that I've been totally out of the loop this week. So you tell me! What's the exciting bit of fandom news for this week?
Old News
Wikipedia
On Thursday in 1828, the first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix was published in New Echota, capital of the Cherokee Nation. It was the first newspaper to be published in a Native American language. It was four pages long.
Two years later, in 1830, the US government began the process of forcing the Cherokee people from their land. In 1834, the Cherokee Phoenix ceased publication. In 1838, the entire remaining Cherokee Nation was driven down the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma, with thousands of deaths. Their former lands are now part of the State of Georgia.
In 2013, a pair of artists completed a project in which Cherokee syllabary printing type was used in New Echota for the first time since the Cherokee Phoenix was shut down, over 170 years before.
New News
BBC
Meanwhile In Britain... 11 Members of Parliament have quit their parties (8 from left-wing Labour, 3 from the right-wing Conservatives) to form a new centrist Independent Group, which is... honestly a terrible name, given that there are already 8 Independents in Parliament. They seem to be doing this because they're anti-Brexit, which is a stance I can get behind, but I'm... not sure how this is going to help?
As far as I can tell, the government's working majority (the Conservative party + the DUP, who have pledged to support them in most things) is now down to three or four. It's actually down to 0 - they have 314+10 of the 650 MPs, which is less than half, but the Northern Ireland party Sinn Féin refuse to take their 7 seats, so there are only 643 voting MPs. It's all a bit weird.
PPC News
The Magic System Splinterwar continues to rage across HQ. A group of affected agents attempted to stabilise things by producing a kernel for HQ (Young Wizards), but this foundered when the default portal for the PPC (The Kane Chronicles) opened on top of them and overwrote the magic setup for the cafeteria. Meanwhile, the record-breaking 15-hour system stability in the Department of Angst was finally nullified when a Boromancy-induced broach (The 'Mancer Chronicles) broke through the Protego shield (Harry Potter) set up by a group of pre-Splinter wizards.
When asked what they thought about the magical war raging through the PPC, our focus group responded, "What war?", "Sounds cool," and, "You think I have time to worry about that when I've got a mission waiting?".
Clerical News
DeviantArt
(From the top down)
DEX: "Sorry, I, um, can't really carry anyone with me."
INT: "I've always wanted to try this!"
CHA: "This -- is really -- outside my -- skill set."
CON: "Just a few thousand more shovelfuls... then I'll have a nice ramp..."
WIS: "Hey, you girls know there's a door round here, right?"
The tower is based off Windsor Castle, and the 'barrows in a hill fort' setup comes from my holiday this week. Nods to Pern and Young Wizards are entirely intentional. ^_^
hS
The Roundabout link on this page does not work anymore.
... doomed to die"
"Laurelindorenan" places us firmly in the Second Age in my opinion (though Treebeard never really says). "Ras Morthil" is really interesting, because the only thing we know about it is that the Druedain - the Woses - lingered there for a long time. "Enedhwaith" is possibly even more interesting, because LotR and Unfinished Tales both have it without the medial H, though Tolkien preferred it in later writings. And "Belfalas" is a noted haven of the Numenorean Faithful.
(On the Twitter version, they've also fixed the compass, which is heartening.)
hS
I'm considering putting together a Civ 6 Plort AI run to go with the Civ 4 one. But... there are a whole host of leaders now, and only 10 Barons. I'm considering adding Protector Tomash and High Priestess Scapegrace to the mix, but even that only makes 12...
I have some of my own notes on which leaders could fit for which PPCers, but I'd like some other input! I don't currently have Gathering Storm (which is a shame, because Eleanor of Aquitaine has some pretty Neshomeh hair going on there, and Dido looks fantastic for Kaitlyn), but other than that I've got everything.
So... based on appearance, personality, traits, countries, or whatever, who do you think I should use for our 12 players? (Delta Juliette, Zingenmir, Hieronymus, Kaitlyn, Phobos, Neshomeh, PoorCynic, Larfen, Iximaz, Scapegrace, Tomash... and me.)
(In case it makes any difference, I figure on adding map-edge continents stuffed with city-states, if I can make it work. Having them share Konti-Nyuum with the PPC would be a bit messed up.)
hS
Forgive me, but I'm going to be using Gathering Storm civs and leaders in this one. If nothing else, it means there's going to be more women to choose from. =]
For a bonus challenge, I'm gonna try not to use the same picks as hS did last year for ANYONE involved. Here goes nothing...
---
Delta Juliette: Cleopatra, Egypt
Egypt is a pretty strong nation that benefits from trade, and its bonuses to Wonder production seems like a good fit. Also, putting giant statues of cats everywhere just seems like something she'd do.
Zingenmir: Jadwiga, Poland
Jadwiga is a ruler defined by her faith, just as Zingenmir is defined by hers. She also has military flexibility and favours an aggressive-defence strategy, which I think would work well given Barony Zingenmir's location on the map.
Hieronymus: Harald Hardrada, Norway
This is based in large part on Harald's unique unit, the Viking Longship. Hieronymus shows up in mission posts to prod people about spelling errors; the Longship is one of the best harassment units in the game, as it's able to pillage improvements on dry land as well as those in the sea.
Kaitlyn: Dido, Phoenicia
They look alike, which always helps, and Phoenicia's focus on Loyalty is incredibly strong as well as fitting. It also feels right for her to have a bit more of a naval focus, with her Barony's connection to the sea.
Phobos: Mansa Musa, Mali
Big, burly guy with a beard? Check. Focus on trade? Check. Making SO much money? Check. Okay, maybe not that last bit for Phobos himself, but Mali is a gold-focused Civ the likes of which we've never seen before.
Neshomeh: Eleanor of Aquitaine, France
The flowing hair makes this one for me, I have to admit, but it also works with the culture aspect. With England's UA having been reworked considerably for GS, the French focus on mid-game Wonders - which tend to have Great Work slots - and culture allows her to generate a boatload of it per turn, sprinting through the civics tree and also meaning she can spread Great Works around to manipulate loyalty.
PoorCynic: Pericles, Greece
City-States aren't going to be major players in this game, but you still get a bunch of bonuses from them and that synergizes well with Pericles' Leader Ability. Holding sway over smaller players for no readily apparent reason also seems to fit the guy who wrote the Newbie Guides. =]
Larfen: John Curtin, Australia
Going with your countryman here, Larf. Not much to say beyond that, except possibly "Crikey!" or "By oath!".
Iximaz: Amanitore, Nubia
Some of you might be wondering why this isn't Tomyris, who is a real-life horse girl and just as annoying to fight. Some of you might be wondering why this isn't Gitarja, who builds up and out into the seas themselves with the Kampung. I'll tell you why I picked Amanitore, and that's one thing: archer spam. The Pitati Archer (replacing the, er, Archer) is a brilliant unique unit and Nubia has a 50% production bonus to ranged units. Ix's agents also use bows a lot. It seems to work.
Tomash: Cyrus, Persia
This might be a slightly odd choice, but what I like about Cyrus for this pick is his ability to both wage war (on pill-selling spambots) and build advanced infrastructure (made of code). It also encourages trade, which will make Phobos happy. =]
Huinesoron: Pachacuti, Inca
Doing a lot with a little - especially in mountainous terrain - seems like a great fit for out friendly neighbourhood utterlygeriatricbie's Baronial incarnation. I think that powering enormously large cities with nothing more than expert farming fits his sensibilities.
Scapegrace: Kristina of Sweden
She has my hair, she's a big ol' nerd, and she gets an enormous library to build as part of her leader ability. Nuff said.
With three lists to work with, plus a few opinions, I feel like throwing together a 'hS's Preferences' version. (Also I'll finally put the 12 in alphabetical order...)
Delta Juliette: Cleopatra, per Scapegrace. The cats swing it. ^^
Hieronymus: Pericles, per me(2). The grey beard is just a cap on the cultural theme of Greece.
Huinesoron: Pachacuti, per Scapegrace. Those magic mountain tunnels are perfect for Baron Other Side of the Mountain.
Iximaz: Tomyris, for the horses. I'm actually playing as Amanitore right now, and love throwing archers everywhere - but I think Ix deserves the horses.
Kaitlyn: Dido. She just looks spot-on, and the idea of moving her capital around is perfect.
Larfen: John Curtin, mate!
Neshomeh: Eleanor of France, per Scapegrace. Baron Nesh is still working to bring all of Wechi back under her control...
Phobos: Robert the Bruce. Mansa looks lovely, but requires desert, which isn't too common in Plort. Robert is possessive of his people and a firm ally - and also, I can totally imagine Barony Phobos filling up with golf courses.
PoorCynic: Poundmaker. The more I look at him, the more I like him. He has a unique improvement which has to go next to a bonus/luxury resource, which is just about perfect.
Scapegrace: Kristina, per Scapegrace. Though you'd better found a religion while you're at it, or there'll be no justification for you even being on the map.
Tomash: Cyrus. Hmm, I notice that this guy is good at performing sudden, unexpected coups. Hmm. HMM. ^~
Zingenmir: Jadwiga, per Scapegrace. I also think she looks a fair bit like her.
So that's the twelve, but there's two other authorities to consider...
The Mords of Diskord: Wilfrid of Canada. Being nice to the Chat for once, they get to be the consummate diplomats, usually getting their way, and (with their tundra farms) taking a little and making much of it.
The Marizu League: Gitarja of Indonesia. Not only does she have a flower in her hair (a sure sign of a Suvian), she heads a nation of fanatics who swarm across the seas to attack Konti-Nyuum. By virtue of her southerly position, she will also probably have multiple city states on hand to dominate or conquer.
Oh, and one for luck:
Fafka and Plopos (the Observer Civ): Lautaro of Mapuche. Has some spectacular posturing in his animations, but locked away on his tiny islands, will achieve precisely nothing.
hS
With parenthetical notes from Modern hS.
JULIETTE - *Catherine de Medici - spies - France (I have no idea why.)
ESHAKHAR - *Cleopatra - trade, military - Egypt (... also no idea why. Vaguely eastern?)
HIERONYMUS - Gandhi - religion, peace - India (He's old, he's peaceful)
KAITLYN - *Gorgo - Culture - Greece (Greece is cultural, which fits nicely. Also El Jheycom was always Greek-inspired.)
PHOBOS - Harald - Navy - Norway (Big beard. ^^)
PC - Monty - Luxuries, military - Aztec (Monty is a resource-hogging military type; Baron PC rules over the mines that supply our weapons.)
HUINESORON - Peter - faith - Russia (... he's got my hair? Best guess is I was aiming for science + expansion.)
LARF - Teddy - Military - America (Because Teddy is funny. ^^)
IXIMAZ - *Tomyris - military - Scythia (Ix is a terrifying warrior for Goodfic. Also something to do with horses?)
NESHOMEH - *Victoria - expansion - England
(I have no idea why.)
~
Okay, so now my current thoughts:
-Is Larf Australian? In my head he is, so must be John Curtin of Aus.
-I like Kaitlyn of Greece, and would love Kaitlyn of Phoenecia, but in the absence of GS, I think Wilhelmina of the Dutch would work well. She has a focus on culture and loyalty, as well as trade, which Kaitlyn is ideally suited for.
-Neshomeh has to be a writing-focussed leader. Victoria's museums actually fit pretty well; Jadwiga of Poland is another possibility.
-Phobos obviously needs to be big, burly, and bearded. ^_^ Harald is a bit rubbish on a single landmass, but Cyrus of Persia (trade), Robert of Scotland (happiness), or Gilgamesh (exploration) would be good. All are very warlike, too. (Barbarossa is a backup choice, but relies a bit too much on city states.)
-I still like Monty for PC, but Poundmaker for trade also looks good.
-If Kaitlyn is no longer Greece, Hieronymus has to be Pericles, owner of the only grey beard. He's also cultural, which goes well with HG.
-Juliette should be a science leader. Seondeok of Korea looks good for her.
-Cleopatra actually works well for Eshakhar, who is at the junction of multiple trade routes.
-Tomyris still looks good for Ix, or possibly Gitarja of Indonesia, who would work well on the coast (and Ix's largest settlement already has an Indonesian theme).
-For myself, Peter still looks decent. Baron Me has a bit of a religious bent, which fits well.
-Priestess Scapegrace obviously must be a religious leader. Jadwiga of Poland is a perfect fit.
-Tomash, like Juliette, should be a scientist... but through an interesting quirk, most of the science leaders are women. Failing that, Qin Shi Huang of China has a science boost, and gets in on the 'building wonderful things' side of Tomash.
hS
I am in fact from the great land down under, the lucky country, the home of the hoop snake and the drop bear. The Lord's land.
I actually looked up the leaders for that game a bit earlier and it was all these ancient figures, Pericles, Gilgamesh, and then suddenly John Curtin just pops up out of nowhere. Spooked me good. Aussie legend.
I know nothing at all about any of the game mechanics so I will just inherently trust you are making good options here!
I was actually amused when you suggested I have something to do with horses because I don't think you knew that I used to take riding lessons... I dunno, did you?
Sorry I don't know anything about Civilization aside from Nuclear Gandhi, or I'd do more than watch with interest.
And now I have the amusing mental image of HG going full-blown Nuclear Gandhi. Thanks. :P
But really, I'd prefer Tamar of Georgia. Purely for the music. Have you heard her Industrial theme?
Also I would also propose Matthias Corvinus of Hungary for Iximaz. Hungary's ability to upgrade levied military units for free leads to some INSANE early rush potential. Beeline Swordsmen, become suzerain of some nearby City-states, FLOOD ENEMY WITH SWORDSMAN CARPET OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOM. This seems like a fit for the Iximaz Goodfic Hosepipe. =]
I don't think I've been her yet; that's some pretty cool music.
I would love to use the Raven King, but I've been avoiding the GS leaders for now. It also wouldn't work too well with a Plort setup, where the city-states are too far away to be levied. ^_~ Tomyris and her 'ALL the cavalry' technique seems a close second.
Hrm. With all these secondary options, I maaaay have to step back from FireTuner and delve into Worldbuilder itself. That way I can make a single map and run it with different setups, rather than being stuck with the civs I started with.
hS
Canada's Industrial theme sounds like the soundtrack to some forgotten classic Christmas film and I love it.
Which is a shame bc Kristina of Sweden has my hair and is a big ol' nerd.
Oh, BTW, England's garbage ability is changed in GS. They're now a mid-game production powerhouse and they get more base Iron and Coal from their mines than other Civs do (yeah GS shakes up a lot about the gameplay), which means they get a lot more to sell to other parties. =]
Okay, so with GS released and some interesting DLC out, I need to take a closer look at Civ 6 before the interesting stuff really starts kicking in. I will get back to you closer to the time.
There's speculation that the much-anticipated Gen 8 will be announced on Pokémon Day, which is February 27th. It seems like the devs have been already starting to build hype that just might culminate in an announcement later this week. Let's hope so, since the new games are supposed to come out later this year and we still know practically nothing about them.
So, any guesses on what sort of PocketsMon there'll be this time around? I'm feeling like mythology is a pretty untapped field; sure, they've done dragons, and [checks] dragons, but the world's myths are stuffed with weird and wonderful creatures they could draw on.
No, I do them a disservice - there's a lot of Japanese myth showing up in their. Point stands, though - they did 'sword' before they did 'manticore'.
hS
I mean, I'd much rather be blissfully unaware of it until Pokemon Day where they may inevitably announce it.
THE WAIT. IT'S TO MUCH.
I've been hoping for Gen 8 news soon, so if this is true I'm very interested. Can't wait to see a proper PokémonbSwitch.
*Pokémon Switch
Oops, sorry about those typoes.