I guess it is quite clear that although all of us play the same games, we pursue different objectives in this game.

I picked other. When I first started GoTM it was all about comparing my games to others. Now I play for reasons 2-4 (the competition/comparison, eptathlon, medals). I used to play for #5 also (GPR), but that isn't important anymore. I guess the competition/comparison is still my biggest reason, but sometimes I also intentionally pick a victory condition that I think will have a good shot at an award due to low competition.

I often joke around about not liking to go "heads up" against Sir Pleb, Dynamic and the other really good players, but actually I like it when that happens. My ultimate goal is to play the same victory condition as all the Top Dogs, yet somehow pull out a Gold. That would be better than a dozen eptathlon awards! :D

Well, right now I'm going for a reverse-Eptathlon (all shield awards + green ambulance). Actually I'm calling it the golden ambulance. Even got halfway through making a pic:
http://www.lggaming.com/user/xerol/pics/goldenambulance.jpg

Well, right now I'm going for a reverse-Eptathlon (all shield awards + green ambulance). Actually I'm calling it the golden ambulance.

Hopefully someday I will win the Golden Ambulance Reverse Eptathlon as well. Other than that I want to be in the top 50 or so.

I second for including that award. Although I'm not clear on something, the highest scoring loss award should be included but not the last place one. Last place is too easy to get by purposely losing and you wouldn't want people to basically forfeit a month's game just to get it.

Yeah, it doesn't include the Red Ambulance. Unfortunately there's no easy way to tell how many of each shield everyone's got because it isn't listed. If anything, low-scoring victories for certain victory types is very difficult, namely Domination(need to not conquer anything until the Modern Ages) and 100k(unless you build REALLY tight from the start).

@bradleyfeanor - you are a really good player yourself. At least your name is in my list of the names for my victorius units (very short list).
As for myslef, my short term goal is the fastest domination. If I get it (not sure it will happen), then my goal will change.

Right now, my main motivation in playing XotM is to improve my game. I've gone from a so-so regent player to a confident monarch player and am no longer afraid of emperor.

Until this last December I have never played above Warlord, and even Warlord I had only played for one month. I always played on Chieftain. Now due to XOTM I have played on Regent (and won) and have played several games on Monarch (though I have never won on Monarch). Had it not been for XOTM I’m not for sure if I would have ever even tried to advance.

In other words, thanks to everyone, especially the XOTM Staff.

EDIT: Basically I play the XOTM games to improve my own game.

As for myself, my short term goal is the fastest domination.

In my humble opinion, it is only a matter of time. The level of you games has been improving at a remarkable pace, and you are now nearing the top echelon--as you showed in CoTM9. :goodjob: You beat me!

I'm in the same boat as DBear -- I play to improve my game. Like DBear, I've gone from a so-so Regent player to a confident Monarch player, although unlike DBear, I'm still scared of Emperor. :)

Well, I play games for fun. But I voted Eptathlon, since that would be real fun! So far I have nearly always gone for Domination, and I have improved a lot since I started XOTM several months ago. So I am currently experimenting with other victory conditions, like conquest :)

Playing for fun, mostly - I don't think I'm ever going to compete with the top players. I have decided to go after my own personal 'eptathlon' of all win types, though I don't really have the time/patience to milk a game to 2050.

I have not participated since October, but I think that an Eptathlon was what I was pursuing, so I voted Eptathlon. The best I think I could do is 5 of 7, though I'd have to hope that no one competed with me for the milk. I have been waiting for the right game to jump back in (started COTM8 but didn't manage to finish).

When I played COTM1, I was just really excited about competing with others and seeing how I stacked up.

I am forever caught in the middle: to big for the shields, too small for the awards. So I play for 'stray' awards that I hope get neglected in the game that I play. Like Karasu sometimes remarked: it's a game in itself to guess which victory type will be least used. :)

Not that I have been playing lately, I have started a few games, but RL tends to win the competition for my attention the last couple of months.

I voted 2, I only came across the XOTMs recently and I'm still in the learning phase. My last two games have been really successful though, one score-wise and the other regarding my finishing date, so I'm hoping that I can compete for the awards and the top spots in not too long. :)

I "voted" eptathlon but it comes with tons of modesty. It is obvious that some people could beat me in any victory condition 19 times out of 20. I have many domination victories but haven't been very close to an award. Some people just seem to have more determination and instinct whereas I am often afflicted by a sort of randomness or vagueness in my plans. I've played many games but it's easy to see that many people are more experienced and more in control of the parameters.

I could just as well have chosen "My goal is a specific award," namely domination, but if I should get that one I would, in my vanity, consider it the biggest step towards eptathlon.

Fun and comparison. It's all about learning for me. If I ever stop learning interesting ways to play this game I'll stop playing. But I know I'll never get good enough for an award/medal.

Is the Golden Ambulance really a serious proposal?

I miss the opportunity to checkmark two conditions. I checked #2 as it is fun, but I also like to see me climbing up in GPR :dance:

I actually submitted one game which results to #245 - lots of room for improvement :rolleyes:

While I try to learn from the big dogs, I rather compare my games to some other players I like (or don't)... :p

I play for fun, I don't even know what the awards mean.

I was a warlord until a couple of months ago but can now win on monarch so all the games have ben helpful.

I play for kicks. There's no way I'll ever be good enough to win anything (except maybe a shield in a particularly so-so game).

I checked the Eptathlon award, because it would be a great honor to be listed with the other recipients. However, if I were serious about that, I'd only play 1 game a month, and I usually try both.

So the REAL reason must be to play for fun, and compare my results with others (and to continue to improve.) :)

GPR is not a reason (although it's nice to be near the top); to be really competitive would mean playing a style that I'm not that comfortable with, mainly due to the time constraints.

i play for fun. i can beat deity without too big a problem. but by nature i always want to be on the top when competing with others instead of AI, and so i also want to win an award, thought it seems to be so far away from me with so many great players around.

Playing for fun to compare the games with the others. I just like the game and am not motivated strongly enough to play on my own. Besides, the XOTM scenarios are really good and thoroughly playtested. I also like the racing feeling when you are running head to head with the others but this is not as important.

Just for fun, and the hope (increasingly forlorn) that next time I really will play a good game all the way through.

It's very difficult to pick just one.

I think it is assumed that everyone is playing for fun. (Why play otherwise? :) )

I am trying to improve my game, but who isn't? Thanks to the great resources and even greater examples, I have seen some improvement. But too much focus on that can suck the fun out of the game.

I lack the discipline to to reach the level of the top players. So I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for an award much less the whole Eptathlon.

I do like to watch my name bounce around in the GPR, so I choose that. It's a good measure of consistancy. (Both participation and results.) Heck, with no awards, shields, or even a ambulance to my name, I have to take what I can get. :lol:

Is the Golden Ambulance really a serious proposal?

Depends on if this is a serious inquiry.

I started playing to learn and compare because I wasn't having much fun getting my rear end handed to me all the time. At least that doesn't happen anymore, or is that very often?

I still play for the joy of it, the challenge and to get better at it, someday???? :mischief:

I'd love to be able to play for 3 and 4......... :lol: :lol: :lol:

I started the XotMs to compare with other players and to improve my gameplay.

Depends on if this is a serious inquiry.
I asked first :mischief:

Well, first there'd need to be a list of ambulance/shield awards, like with the regular awards.

Like I said, it does take some skill to get a low-scoring victory for certain types. (Ones that you could win with a OCC/5CC not as hard, but I don't see anyone doing a 5CC domination victory.) I'd need to finish up the modeling on the ambulance too.

As a side note, I'm going to be VERY disappointed if I don't get the Domination shield for GOTM40.

I voted for Eptathlon but really I play for 2-5. I play for fun and like to compare my game with other players. GPR, medals and awards are my goal also. My dream is to win all fastest victory awards with gold medals simultaneously. :) But I hate milking and see on the future 20K and Histo victories with horror. :eek:

I play purely for fun. I'm really only a bad chieftain player but it's always fun to have those two cities left and people attacking each other from all sides while you try to please everyone with your bribes.

But maybe the golden ambulance would be something to strive for... 8^)

But I hate milking and see on the future 20K and Histo victories with horror. :eek:

Why do you think that fastest 20K requires milking? I always suspected that 100K is even worse from this point of view.

Well with GOTM40 stashed away (low-scoring Domination) I'm halfway through the shields. I'm also going to have a Green Ambulance attempt coming up soon as well, probably in the next Diety game. I don't think I'll intentionally lose, but I'll probably be able to come up with a good scoring spaceship loss or something. Here's my analysis of how easy/hard it is to get a low score with each of the victory conditions:
-20k: Very Very Easy. It can be done with a OCC and since you're concentrating just on one city with that, you never get much of a score, and most of the game you're accumulating culture, brokering tech, and keeping on everyone's good side.
-100k: Not so easy. 100k = lots of cities usually, although it can be done with 10-15 cities if you spread wonders around.
-Spaceship: Could be done OCC, but 5CC seems more likely with this. Once again most of the game you're just a tech broker trying not to be conquered, at least in a low-score attempt.
-Diplo: Would be easy but with one caveat: The 25% land requirement. This isn't to say you couldn't do OCC/5CC until the late Industrial, then conquer your share of land, but it's not as easy to "reverse milk" a Diplo game compared to 20k or SS because of the requirement to become eligible for voting.
-Domination: I had trouble getting this one, which surprised me. Best way to do it is probably stick around with few cities until the Modern Ages, then go all-out with Modern Armors.
-Conquest: Can be done OCC/5CC, just raze instead of capture. Still could be a challenge though, considering you'd need to not only conquer, but also keep other civs from filling in the razed gaps with settled cities.

-Diplo: Would be easy but with one caveat: The 25% land requirement.

I thought that if you were the one who built the UN you weren't required to fulfill the 25% land requirement?

Just starting with this, just submitting COTM10, and hoping to just become an overall better player. Though a medal would be nice, I don't think I have quite the skill I need. I still don't really understand everything that's going on in-game or even with the many acronyms, awards and many types of games that seem take place outside. Overall though, I think I did learn a lot from this first game, and I hope to enjoy many more =). Also, COTM10 was my first Monarch leveled victory on a regular game, so I'm quite excited about it.

I thought that if you were the one who built the UN you weren't required to fulfill the 25% land requirement?

Oops, forgot about that. Yeah, I guess that does make low scoring diplo a bit easier to achieve.

Also, COTM10 was my first Monarch leveled victory on a regular game, so I'm quite excited about it.

Congratulations!! :goodjob: The first win at a new level is always quite exciting. My first emperor victory came in a GOTM, actually (36). I also got my highest score and earliest finish (excepting a tiny chieftain conquest) in GOTM 35. It's done a lot to raise the level of play for many people, myself included.

Why do you think that fastest 20K requires milking? I always suspected that 100K is even worse from this point of view.

Because the 20K is usually reaching much later then 100K and for getting a good score I must milk the game balancing on the Domination limit. You can look at Aeson's COTM08 (20K) and how many time he spent for that. ;)

Well, first there'd need to be a list of ambulance/shield awards, like with the regular awards.

Check out the Pantheon. I've added lists of Lowest Scoring Victory awards for GOTM and COTM.

Ambulances aren't there yet, as I don't think they should be mixed with victory awards. Maybe if here's a demand we can add another table.

Good addition Alan :D . Even SirPleb,Aeson,etc have these distinguished shields (Most likely from being the only one in victory category :p ).

Because the 20K is usually reaching much later then 100K and for getting a good score I must milk the game balancing on the Domination limit. You can look at Aeson's COTM08 (20K) and how many time he spent for that. ;)

:hmm: But I thought this is because Aeson purpose was not (at least not only) the fastest award, but also a high score and consequently gold medal. I do suspect that he would beat his own date if he would not go for high score. And I doubdt that extensive milking is that crucial for the date. On another hand 100K requiers a lot of city improvements and therefore some extensive care for all cities in the empire.
I may be wrong, but this was my impression from reading spoilers.

My primary goal is to have fun, and I have never been disappointed. My secondary goal is to try to score in the top 50 (which I have only managed to do a couple of times - usually I hover around in the 60's, maybe even 70's).

My biggest problem is focus. My games are laways a mixed bag of Cultural, Technological, and Military 'mini victories'. I need to concentrate more on one of the aspects, but always end up dabbling in all of them. I don't like to be Culurally inferior, or Technologically backwards, or Militarily weak. I like to dominate all 3.

Only positive thing that I can say about my games is that I never lose at Emporer or below. Never.

I want an Eptathlon.

Set your sights high. :smug:

:crazyeye: :o: :crazyeye:

Check out the Pantheon. I've added lists of Lowest Scoring Victory awards for GOTM and COTM.

Ambulances aren't there yet, as I don't think they should be mixed with victory awards. Maybe if here's a demand we can add another table.

Sweet. Now the competition can really begin :D

Ahah! But is anyone else competing? It'll be rather a thin victory if you're the only one who thinks six shields is a worthwhile objective ;)

Check out the Pantheon. I've added lists of Lowest Scoring Victory awards for GOTM and COTM.

Hmm.. was something changed in the rules for who get the lowest scoring awards? I clearly remember getting a lowest scoring Diplomatic in COTM03, but it isnt on the list(s) anymore (IMPERATOR[SU] got it instead on the current lists).. but I originally got it.. can see that in the result thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=99409)

My goal is to get my global ranking higher than Aeson, and at the moment I'm only 77 places behind him. :smug:

BTW - nice addition Alan, I didn't realise how high-up the list I was! :D

:hmm: But I thought this is because Aeson purpose was not (at least not only) the fastest award, but also a high score and consequently gold medal. I do suspect that he would beat his own date if he would not go for high score. And I doubdt that extensive milking is that crucial for the date. On another hand 100K requiers a lot of city improvements and therefore some extensive care for all cities in the empire.
I may be wrong, but this was my impression from reading spoilers.

Of course, if the goal is fastest win only you are right. In this case 100K is harder. But if I want to get gold at the same time as fastest award I must do much work in 20K also.

Hmm.. was something changed in the rules for who get the lowest scoring awards? I clearly remember getting a lowest scoring Diplomatic in COTM03, but it isnt on the list(s) anymore (IMPERATOR[SU] got it instead on the current lists).. but I originally got it.. can see that in the result thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=99409)
Hmm I'm not sure. The award went to a Conquest player in the results listing, and I'm unclear on the rules here, so I'll have to refer to the Committee.

Ainwood publishes the results thread, and these days I think he takes the information directly from the results pages, but way back then he may have done the allocations manually himself. Alternatively, the award allocation code may have changed to ignore player class for Lowest Score awards at some point and then been reapplied to the older results.

The award calculation code is explicitly written to check player class for Fastest Victory Awards, or Medals, and not for Lowest Score awards, and is more complex as a result. I don't add extra code for the fun of it, so I must have checked this at some point in the past.

My primary goal is to have fun and I had it with the last cotm games! But with my overwhelming success in cotm09 - rank 16 - I now want to see my name in the global ranking list. At least once and rank 100 would be alright. May be my wish will come true before I prefere outdoor activities again.

@A&A
Who gets an award or shield if two players finished at the same turn?

@A&A
Who gets an award or shield if two players finished at the same turn?
The person with the higher score, IIRC.

The person with the higher score, IIRC.

OK for awards, but in case of shields it should be the lowest score.
So I need to reformulate the question: the same date and the same score.

OK for awards, but in case of shields it should be the lowest score.
So I need to reformulate the question: the same date and the same score.
Scores are actually stored in the save file as floating point numbers. As such, the chances of them being exactly equal is very, very remote. The published values are rounded to the nearest integer.

Ahah! But is anyone else competing? It'll be rather a thin victory if you're the only one who thinks six shields is a worthwhile objective ;)

A thin victory, perhaps, but a victory still. Anyway, I see lots of people up there with 2 shields that could probably catch me if they started making a run for shields, since I might miss a few awards(like GOTM39 domination).

EDIT: As far as the seventh award for the Golden Ambulance is concerned, maybe there should be a "Reverse Cow", for lowest base score(of a winning game)? Some other animal, perhaps, or maybe a flightless bird of some kind. Penguin comes to mind for some reason. Or maybe just a Blue Ambulance?

EDIT: As far as the seventh award for the Golden Ambulance is concerned, maybe there should be a "Reverse Cow", for lowest base score(of a winning game)? Some other animal, perhaps, or maybe a flightless bird of some kind. Penguin comes to mind for some reason. Or maybe just a Blue Ambulance?

IMHO it makes sense. OCC wil become rewardable. I suggest a buck. In Russia we have a saying about someone who is useless that is translated like this: "You are as useful as a buck milkable"

Edit: I just found that male goat is also called Billy. Whatever.

All this discussion of "Golden Ambulances" and the lowest score Shield awards made me want to look up the early discussions along these lines. Keep in mind that all Medals went to milked games until Jason scoring was implemented, so there was some heated discussions between the milking and non-milking camps. For your enjoyment:

Here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=28637) is a link to Col's challenge to win with the lowest score for GOTM X (Regent level, France.)

This Thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=32772) shows the first unveiling of the 'Philibuster awards' (by Philip Martin), portrayed as familiar Shields and Ambulances, given to the first recipients.

Fun.
Really. That doesn't mean I do not play carefully, or that I do not aim for an acceptable score/date.
I admittedly tried to learn how to play competively (well, I can beat Sid, but I cannot beat a score of 7000 for standard maps ;) ) for the first 2 CotMs I participated - but since I simply cannot get myself to use all those "strategies" ;), that's pointless.
And, if I do not like the map, I do not finish the game; especially 60% water maps on lower difficulty levels aren't worth it for me, sorry. Started both CotM6 and 10, but once I knew I will win, I just can't force me to milk for 1000 years...

A thin victory, perhaps, but a victory still. Anyway, I see lots of people up there with 2 shields that could probably catch me if they started making a run for shields, since I might miss a few awards(like GOTM39 domination).

EDIT: As far as the seventh award for the Golden Ambulance is concerned, maybe there should be a "Reverse Cow", for lowest base score(of a winning game)? Some other animal, perhaps, or maybe a flightless bird of some kind. Penguin comes to mind for some reason. Or maybe just a Blue Ambulance?

How about "Skinny Cow" ;) ?

Definitely just fun here for me. I just found Civ Fanatics a couple of months ago, and haven't submitted any GOTM yet (haven't won any yet either). Haven't even opened gotm 41, although i'm keeping away from the spoilers for this one just in case i get a chance to play it. I like reading about other people's games especially when they try for different victory conditions- i probably spend more time reading spoilers than I do playing because I can do that in an odd 15 minutes at work while RL rarely lets me string enough hours together to actually finish a GOTM. At this point i'm more motivated just to try to win games rather than get globally competitive scores.

I just play for fun. I don't play GOTM's enough to get a good global ranking. I am not a good enough player for a medal, so I just play. Not that I would be dissapointed if I got a medal, though. I just like to see how I did compared to everybody else and see how others played the same game.
In fact, I haven't played a GOTM in a long time, but COTM11 (Korea) looked fun so I decided to give it a go.

I'm currently taking a break from the xOTM having lost a bit of interest in remote island starts. But when I was active I wanted to see if I could climb up the GPR into the top 50. I did achieve that goal. I will be back prolly in the fall when my work and golf do not take up so much of my time. For now I am playing games for the HoF. It's a bit more relaxed there with no time frame and the competition of late has been amazing. I'm pretty sure if a COTM came up on a small world on with 3 cows while playing the Sumerians I'd have a good chance at a very good domination date :D

I had pretty much quit playing computer games after 9/11 as I was otherwise occupied for about two years. I got back into Diablo II when I returned from the Gulf, but it wasn't until I got to Okinawa and discovered CivFanatics that I got back into C3C. Getting an Eptathlon would be neat, but the main reason I'm trying for one is to improve my gameplay across the spectrum. Of course, it really improved by reading the detailed posts of masters like SirPleb who taught me offense, offense, offense. I prefer to get to Chivalry, quit research and go for a military victory. I think it was COTM9 that forced me to go beyond that in research just to reach the other civs, so that was cool. I think it was COTM08 when Ainwood put the iron and horses north of another civ, which was also awesome. I love the varied and unpredicatable challenges each game presents. I don't even play 'normal' games anymore.

Fun is obvious. :D
The reason is a mix of self-improving and challenge. Comparing my game with others i get both of them.