I'm open to suggestions for this one. :)

Please consider a small map for those of us that have low spec computers.

EDIT - combine it with whatever the LEAST represented win condition is (besides time victory of course) that is not conquest or dominate.

While I can side with you a little bit, I had a really low end comp not too long ago, small maps mean shorter games. With gauntlet 2 conquest victory is being achieved pre-2000 BC and games that short are more about luck than skill.

I think the players would love to see a game that would take them a week to finish instead of one they can hammer out in a couple hours. The only problem with this is that almost any victory condition can be met relatively quickly if you are only going for speed of finish.

The game I would like to see:

Difficulty: Monarch, Emperor, or Immortal
Mapsize: Large or Huge
Victory: Time
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Epic or Marathon

I haven't achieved a time victory yet, so I honestly don't know how difficult it would be on those difficulty levels. I think having a large or huge map would keep from accidentally getting a domination victory.

This would allow for the most game play in the guantlet and would result in a well rounded game. The only problem is how do you judge the winner? I mean the winner would be the person closest to having enough land for domination, a huge population, the most research without an opponent getting a space victory, and having a lot of culture, but not 100k of it.

Would be extremely hard to achieve at those difficulty levels since the opponents could gain space race or diplo victories. Would require reducing your opponents to only 1-2 cities and keeping them there. Not sure how fun it would be though.

Some other settings you may want to think about:

Selecting the map type. Archipelago, Islands, Oasis, and Terra would be all good choices. Continents would be ok as well.

A team game. I feel that having teams holds back the human player in single player, but this can result in a more difficult game. Team battlegrounds left vs right is a good choice map for this. I played this way once, got stuck in a corner and didn't settle a coastal city fast enough, so I couldn't attack the enemy until I had airplanes.

One city challenge game.

A cultural or diplomatic victory win. Would be even better on an island or archipelago map.

An always peace game. Would be even better with the default or higher number of civs for a map size. This would be interesting for almost any victory condition since the land rush would be crazy.

Something that would be really nice would be if no one could declare war until 1950 or later. There isn't a setting in game and if you just tell us not ot declare war doesn't keep the computer from declaring on us, so that isn't really an option yet. Unless someone can somehow rig a mod ;)

I kept all these posts separate since they were all different ideas.

Anyway, what about creating your own scoring algorithm? This would solve the early game conquest giving the highest score problem. I doubt this could be done before this gauntlet starts, but it is an idea for later ones. I would be willing to help with creating the algorithm.

Things that would need to be considered:

Less emphasis on time.
Total population
Largest city size
Avg city size
Total culture
Largest city culture
Avg city culture
% of land controlled
When that land was gained
Whether or not you warred any opponents
Whether or not you destroyed any other civs
Year you started fighting
Strength of opponents

Some other stuff as well. Would be an extremely complex algorithm. Would also be interesting to create a mod where it had your algorithm as the ingame score. Could also be nice to be able to change that mod for different gauntlets. So that way gauntlets with a conquest victory aren't just about speed of conquest.

My vote goes for Tiny Cultural on Emperor or Immortal (it's easier on smaller maps because you get more religions and wonders).

Also, I don't think HoF should include variants or land types. It's intended to compare players' best games, and they're usually played on optimal preferences. If you want variants and/or tricky starts, go to SG's or GOTM.

GOTM doesn't do any variants as far as I know. I would like to see OCC and AW gauntlets, since those features are now part of the game.

edit: My vote for gauntlet 3 is a cultural game, though. Small map on emperor or immortal would be nice.

I'm with Pentium and Shillen but would extend the difficulty range to include Monarch, I just don't think its valuable to be forcing such a high difficulty already.
Might also be interesting to go smaller than small, which would force the players hands a bit with handling the key cultural issue which is to get 9 nice cities. Thats assuming map size remains a separate list otherwise there is no point in playing such a suboptimal map size.


Also, I hope Time is never considered a real "victory" and used as such in a gauntlet.

Smaller maps are easier due to having fewer opponents. I did a duel cultural game once and it was ridiculous how easily I could get every wonder and religion. The bigger the map the more likely the AI will beat you to them.

Yeah.
I have been playing lots of emperor cultural games and there are advantages to beign smaller.
First less AIs. On small and lower I can usually get all religions with the English that dont start with Mysticism.
Oh yeah Smirk did you know on small and lower you only need 2 temples per cathedral :)
There are actually a lot of differences between map sizes that ppl dont know about.
Most number of building reqs change, for example.
So you only need 6 cities.
And on large or huge it goes up to 4 per cath. I would need to go back and check.

EDIT:
for the gauntlet, I would vote
-cultural (very different from the others)
-anywhere from noble to emperor
-not sure on map size. Standard or lower probably to give a chance to everybody

I think a one city challenge would be interesting.

I also like the idea of doing something different than conquest or spaceship. Cultural or diplomatic would be my preference.

I believe the difficulty should be Prince or higher. At Noble it is too easy to outpace the AIs in tech if you develop your cities properly.

the key cultural issue which is to get 9 nice cities. Isn't it 6 cities? And they don't have to be nice, the other 3 only have to build Libs, Universities, Theatres and lots of Temples. The rest production can freely go to units. :)

GOTM doesn't do any variants as far as I know. I would like to see OCC and AW gauntlets, since those features are now part of the game.

edit: My vote for gauntlet 3 is a cultural game, though. Small map on emperor or immortal would be nice.
Immortal would be better, I think. When you can pick your opponents, Emperor is pretty easy and would basically boil down to a repeat of the Gauntlet 1 strategy.

I think culture is a lot different from a fast space race. You don't have to tech very far down the tree at all for a fast culture win. Liberalism is as far as you have to go. You also have to be really good at managing great people, unlike a space race victory. Optimizing production vs commerce is another huge strategy. Do you set your city up so it can build wonders or do you cottage it so when you turn the culture slider up it can get culture that way? Or somewhere in between? A lot of different choices to make.

Immortal would be better, I think. When you can pick your opponents, Emperor is pretty easy and would basically boil down to a repeat of the Gauntlet 1 strategy.
The point of the HoF is not nec. to make the game hard.
Some very interesting challenges in the HOF 3 were at very low diff levels, since you are being compared to the other players in any case.
Sometimes taking an easier diff level makes it harder in a sense because the optimal strategy becomes less obvious.

In any case, I also think space race and cultural victories have significant differences.

Isn't it 6 cities? And they don't have to be nice, the other 3 only have to build Libs, Universities, Theatres and lots of Temples. The rest production can freely go to units. :)

Depends on map size.
As I said above its 2 temple per cath for small map size and lower, 3 for std and not sure about large and huge either 3/4, 4/4 or 4/5.

When you can pick your opponents, Emperor is pretty easy and would basically boil down to a repeat of the Gauntlet 1 strategy.

For Space race you dont need Drama, Culture, Great Artists, Religions - looks like very different to me ...

I think culture is a lot different from a fast space race. You don't have to tech very far down the tree at all for a fast culture win. Liberalism is as far as you have to go. You also have to be really good at managing great people, unlike a space race victory. Optimizing production vs commerce is another huge strategy. Do you set your city up so it can build wonders or do you cottage it so when you turn the culture slider up it can get culture that way? Or somewhere in between? A lot of different choices to make.
Agreed. But I can almost guarantee that the winning strategy will use the friendliest, tech trading opponents and attempt to get to Liberalism as quickly as possible. There's more to it than the tech race alone, but that's a huge factor.

In any case, I'd love to see a cultural gauntlet at any difficulty level and any map size.

Isn't it 6 cities? And they don't have to be nice, the other 3 only have to build Libs, Universities, Theatres and lots of Temples. The rest production can freely go to units. :)


I'm speaking from the stance of a standard size map and epic speed since thats about the middle of the road and for that you need 3 temples per cathedral, so 9 total. I guess you are playing smaller maps or faster speeds where only 2 are needed. I wasn't aware there was a difference but that certainly changes things, but I assume still there is a point where it still the larger amount and thus a smaller map with the same temple count basically means a suboptimal game.

I'm speaking from the stance of a standard size map and epic speed since thats about the middle of the road and for that you need 3 temples per cathedral, so 9 total. I guess you are playing smaller maps or faster speeds where only 2 are needed. I wasn't aware there was a difference but that certainly changes things, but I assume still there is a point where it still the larger amount and thus a smaller map with the same temple count basically means a suboptimal game.
Only map sizes affect number of temples needed.

Small, OCC, Diplo, Settler.

Yeah, I must have take the values from a Small map (but I play on Epic on Marathon, not Quick). I though that it's 2 temples per cathedral on every mapsize. Now I know it's not, but again it's not that hard to have 9 cities on a standard map.

Diplo is also very interesting, but I'd rather keep it for some furute gauntlet. Although I'm a very peaceful player, I haven't got a Diplo victory yet. They just don't like me. ;) Diplo would be good for me, but I'd still rather go with Culture.