Well, having finished the GOTM, I rather fancy another game.

Anyone fancy being involved in/setting up an informal game for people to load and chat about? I don't want to wait 3 weeks...

If this is the wrong forum for this, apologies.

me too, since the game is so popular, we could run a game every 15 days, or even 10 days, or even each week~

maybe we should get game of the week~~

running a civIV gotm every 15 days would be nice! makes playing civ much more fun than it is now just waiting for mod´s and future expansion´s to release...

Anyone fancy being involved in/setting up an informal game
Please don't underestimate the effort that goes into these events. To give you an idea of the volumes involved, we currently have over 120 submissions for this game, within one week of starting it.

Think about what you mean by "an informal game". Would it have support, rules, cheat checking, results, rankings ....? If none of the above, how would players know how well they've done? Would you simply exclude people who don't happen to have time on their hands to play within days of the start - possibly many of the better players?

Let's get this rolling properly, then maybe we can think about doubling up. But we're only on the first month of this, and there are a *lot* of issues still to resolve - look around here at the problems some people are having just playing someone else's saved file.

We actually run two Civ3 competitions a month right now, because there are two different versions of the game and they are not comparable. We also run some "Quick Games" for Civ3. I'm sure we'll launch more competitions for Civ4 once we are on an even keel and know what Civ4 can do, and we have the automation in place to handle the volume.

Please don't forgot that the GOTM Staff are all volunteers. They are doing these competitions on their own time. They deserve our thanks and some consideration of the effort our requests put upon them. :thanx:

Also, creating a fun and balanced map isn't just a matter of generating a random game either. I wonder how much time Aeson spent getting the GOTM-01 map ready.

if 15 days interval is too short to handle all the submissions, then recruit some more staff, im sure people will volunteer that.

and yes, people dont start the same day, but if games are running more frequent, its ok to miss a game or 2.

if 15 days interval is too short to handle all the submissions, then recruit some more staff, im sure people will volunteer that.
I don't think I said 15 days was too short, just that this is still the first month and we are only just getting the systems in place to handle the new software.

and yes, people dont start the same day, but if games are running more frequent, its ok to miss a game or 2.
Not for people who are trying to build a good record in the Global Rankings, which average performance over a sequence of games.

You could look for other competitions in the meantime if you like. Is Apolyton running something? I know that RealmsBeyond has started its first CivIV epic -- be warned though, the culture and ruleset there is quite different than the GOTM.

And there's always CIVIII, if you have it. There are still two games per month going for that.

I loved my first GOTM and can't wait for the next one. Hopefully after a few months there will be 2 GOTM, like there is for Civ III. But I'm sure the start-up problems associated with starting a new project and dealing with noobies like myself make having more than one GOTM unattractive at this point.

Yes, thank you to the GOTM staff. Good show, and all that.

Personally, I'd just like an idea of what civ / difficulty / speed we'll be playing next, so I can practice...

I was just thinking of someone posting a save on a forum somewhere for a totally informal game. Not with proper rules etc, just to compare notes on a game rather than competitive, post stories and scores on a thread. I appreciate (and am impressed by) the logistical efforts of the staff here, and wasn't implying they should up their workrate at all!

Apolyton had a game last month pre patch, so I might give that a pop to see how I compare. RealmsBeyond have a tourney but it's an epic game with weird rules. I'm not really a civ3 man, I'd rather play civ2 (or even civ1 for that matter), but that's a topic for another thread that's no doubt been done to death already.

Yeah, I realised what you were hoping for, I just think you'd find you had a tiger by the tail. Players would start asking difficult questions. Or you'd have high rollers putting in high performance results, you'd wonder how they did that, and before you know it you'd have a more formal event on your hands.

If you really think you can get away with keeping it nice and friendly and uncompetitive, I guess the appropriate place for it would be the Stories and Tales forum - next door to Succession Games.

yea, if there seems to be enough time we could try a "quick" game

Definately many thanks to the GOTM staff and the great work acomplished!

Civ4 really makes for very short games, it seems it takes from 4 to 10 hours to complete one...

It is probably inevitable we come to the conclusion that one game a month is not much. I also think a game every 15 days is not very practical. I see two easier solutions:

- Make the civ4 gotm epic games (but I never tried it myself)
- Make 2 gotm every month, and if 2 are submitted, the best one counts, as was done with the civ3 gotm/cotm, except here both saves would be available at the beginning of the month


my 2 cents...

- Make 2 gotm every month, and if 2 are submitted, the best one counts, as was done with the civ3 gotm/cotm, except here both saves would be available at the beginning of the month

I would rather if the two scores are averaged together. For one I think it's unfair to the people only playing one a month if they don't get two attempts to get a good score. Another reason is if I get a really good score with my first game I will tend to not try hard in my second game because I know I probably won't beat my first score. I'd rather go into each game thinking they're both going to count for something.

I would be happy to see a couple of games a month... when you're good and ready to do it officially.

I can appreciate the work that goes on behind the scenes - I run my own forum (on a totally different subject/hobby) and spend many, many hours on managing it and organising group projects. I have a few mods to help me and I enjoy the voluntary work but, being the 'boss' it does require an awful lot of time and commitment that I don't think most members fully appreciate. From time to time regular members attempt to organise things too but they lack the experience to do it properly, it gets a bit messy sometimes, and others can get let down. :rolleyes:

I have to say that it's really nice to be one of the 'unwashed masses' here, without any responsibility for a change and I believe you when you express doubts about how good/useful an informally organised game would be. Just like on my forum, no doubt there are issues and pitfalls that the less experienced will be unaware of.

I just wanted you all to know that I know where you're coming from and wholeheartedly appreciate all the time and effort you mods put into these forums. Thank you! :goodjob:

GOTM is fun to play and two per month would be cool. I think part of the excitement is that it's only once in a month. If GOTM were played more often it could lose part of it's excitement. Therefore, I assume, that the number of players wouldn't double. That's just my theory. Maybe we shold try it in practice... :mischief:

You could look for other competitions in the meantime if you like. Is Apolyton running something? I know that RealmsBeyond has started its first CivIV epic -- be warned though, the culture and ruleset there is quite different than the GOTM.
Another option to hold you over is the informal Monthly Challenges at Evolution Games (formally known as CDG).

Civ4 Monthly Challege ~ Nov-05 (http://www.evo-games.net/Home/viewtopic.php?t=1884)

CMC: Dec-05 - The British Are Coming! (http://www.evo-games.net/Home/viewtopic.php?t=1980)

I wouldn't mind seeing two 4oTM games a month, but only if the higher of the two scores is counted toward Global Rankings (like in civ3). Otherwise, missed games would play havoc with the rankings.

I seem to remember--in some thread--Ainwood suggested that one game be epic and one normal. That sounds like a good idea as well.

Another idea might be to start a new game every two weeks, but allow submissions for four weeks.

Example:
1 december - 1st game starts
16 december - 2nd game starts
1 january - 1st game ends, 3rd game starts
15 january - 2nd game ends, 4th game starts

I find with my own schedule that 'Epic' games would take too long... I have a hard enough time finding the cycles to play a normal game :)

There is the HOF gauntlet challenge as well for people to try if they get tooooo board. It is an Epic challenge.

There is the HOF gauntlet challenge as well for people to try if they get tooooo board. It is an Epic challenge.
I don't usually advertise the HOF in the GOTM forum, but since you mentioned it, here's the link. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146326) :mischief: :lol:

It's a very good idea to update the HOF for CIV4.
As game in civ4 last less time than in Civ3, One month for a gotm is quite long. The problem is the gotm callenge takes time to the GOTM staff!
A good solution is to put again the HOF challenge and all the things made in order to interrest players (The introduction of the concerpt of the Quartermasters competition is a very great idea and concept).
Now with the gauntled game, one more thing... Great job guys!
Congratulations to all of you who made the CFC site a great thing for civ addicts like us....

LeSphinx

I realize that most people here wish to play more CivIV GOTM games but since thats currently not possible, you might as well head over to the CivIII GOTM Forums (http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49) and join in on some of those.

Right now, you can play lots of game CIV4 by your own and submit them in the HOF CIV4 competition.

LeSphinx

I realize that most people here wish to play more CivIV GOTM games but since thats currently not possible, you might as well head over to the CivIII GOTM Forums (http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49) and join in on some of those.
Great idea. :D I've just released GOTM 50!

I'm not sure if this post is kosher here or not, but I created an informal GOTM at a forum with a small amount of civ4 users. We had our own civ3 gotm going, but our creator doesn't have the cpu power to keep it going.

I created a map and edited it a bit for our first gotm. Keep in mind I'm an amateur gotm creator and I made one or two errors in changing the start posistion.

It's pretty similar to this GOTM, but I tried to balance the different victory conditions more. It's Peter on a Noble continent map.

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=212634

You should be able to play without actually getting a login for FBGs.

As long as this doesn't get deleted and me banned I might move this to the main gotm forum as a thread...

Please don't take this further here until it's been discussed. My first instinct is to delete it.

Definately many thanks to the GOTM staff and the great work acomplished!

Civ4 really makes for very short games, it seems it takes from 4 to 10 hours to complete one...

It is probably inevitable we come to the conclusion that one game a month is not much. I also think a game every 15 days is not very practical. I see two easier solutions:

- Make the civ4 gotm epic games (but I never tried it myself)
- Make 2 gotm every month, and if 2 are submitted, the best one counts, as was done with the civ3 gotm/cotm, except here both saves would be available at the beginning of the month


my 2 cents...

Or perhaps GOTMs at different difficulty levels released at the same time? Not all difficulty levels all of the time, but hitting 2-3 difficulty levels seems to be feasible... (I think scoring in Civ4 already takes into account difficulty level--the ultimate awards can go to the highest score still for each victory on the highest difficulty, but there can be sub-awards for high scores in other victories.)

That seems like it would add less work.

GOTM crew--thanks for the hard work; you do such a great job, people are clamoring for more!

Sam