While the general Hall of Fame is an ongoing competition, we like to run time-definite competitions between updates that we call Gauntlets. Standard Hall of Fame rules (*) still apply, but any games meeting the settings will be counted towards the Gauntlet.

(*) Please read the >> HOF rules << (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/rules.php) BEFORE playing!


Any submissions meeting the following criteria will be considered Gauntlet entries:

Difficulty: Deity
Mapsize: Huge
Victory: Domination (though ALL victory conditions must be enabled!)
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Marathon
Submitted on or before: Feb 24th.


Whichever game has the earliest finish date will be declared the victor. The winner (and settings for the next Gauntlet) will be announced with the next Hall of Fame update.

While each map can only be played once, players are more than welcome to generate new maps and submit multiple games. Also, as everyone is playing their own distinct maps, there is no need for spoiler limitation within the forum. In fact, we encourage detailed posting of strategy and gameplay, although all conversation about this Guantlet should stay within this thread.

Any games not finished before the submission cutoff may still be submitted to the Hall of Fame as general entries.

New players:
Please note that we need two files for Hall of Fame submissions. A save from your initial 4000bc turn, and the turn after you win. For the last file, when you win the game, you'll be displayed your sequence of victory screens and then be prompted if you wish to exit or play "just a few more turns". Select just a few more turns, and then save the game immediately without playing further.

Meh, huge marathon games take forever.

Looks like its going to be Caeser killing everyone with preatoreans. The perpetual anarchy thing is allowed, right?

Yep, it is still allowed for now. (Atleast I am pretty sure) I think someone will make the top 10 with someone other than Caesar. Not sure you can break top 3 with someone else though.

Meh, I'm sitting this one out. Just not interesting... this game has been analyzed to death. The only point in its favor is the fact that its on Deity.. but the deity AI fights exactly the same as the noble AI.

- Bill

The perpetual anarchy thing is allowed, right?
Could be a nice twist to change the way this game would play out if it was not allowed. It would certainly make it harder to achieve such huge scores.

Could be a nice twist to change the way this game would play out if it was not allowed. It would certainly make it harder to achieve such huge scores.

i greatly 2nd this.

deity..:cry: ..too hard for me.:crazyeye:

Also sitting this one out. I have no desire to practice the anarchy exploit. Well, maybe once just to understand it better, but I'm not going to practice it on Huge, Marathon.

I will give it a shot. I would have liked it to be on a island map so that it wouldn't be all about caesar. The good thing about this is that no one has played a Deity Huge Domination yet, so this will fill up a few more spots on the tables. I would also imagine this will result in some amazing scores.

Good luck to all.

There's a bit of a conflict between high score and quick date in whether to wipe out your opponents or not. The domination limit increases by 2% for each opponent wiped out. So, for a high score you'll want to wipe out all but one to get the highest domination limit. For a quick date you may well want to keep a large number of opponents barely alive so the domination limit is kept low and can be reached quicker.

Too bad that this type of game is very dependent of the computer. I just tried a game and first of all, generating a game took about two minutes, then after a while in the game each turn really takes a lot of time before the computer is done.

A_Turkish_Guy: Don't shrink from this gauntlet because its on deity, its not nearly as big a problem as you think. In a non-aquatic Domination gauntlet (as this will assuredly be) the building advantage of the AI is rapidly negated by the fact you're taking everything they build. If you can run a good assault on Noble you can run the exact same thing on Deity. There's a whole lot of documentation on this over in the Strategy forum.

However, as noted above, this gauntlet is going to be an exploit-fest and slow as hell. So if you're not the sort to turn on NoClip in Counterstrike or to micro a titanic empire every turn, you might want to reconsider this one.

- Bill

I have played 3.5 hours of gametime. That is the longest game I have ever played on civ 4. It is VERY monotonous and boring. I currently have 34 cities I think, and occupy MAYBE 30% of the map. I will finish this game but it is taking forever. Doubt I will be playing another.

I haven't played huge conquest/domination games before. I was hoping to finish off most of my enemies before they got to longbowmen or war elephants. They just appeared :( I don't know if I will even be able to win the game before gunpowder and then it will be pointless for me. I am running out of trees as well.

I am thinking that 300 AD may be to goal for this gauntlet, not real sure, might be way past that. I am around 200 AD right now and know someone else could be way past me in terms of land area.

I don't know if caesar is the way to go with this though. Someone else may be able to take out the enemies faster than I can and win the game before longbowmen and war elephants come up but with me I think I am not gonig to be able to win before gunpowder.

I'm lost on this one. By the time I have built 3 cities the AI has overrun me. I can't even get to Iron Working to build Praetorians. It takes too long and the AI is so far ahead. Better leave this one to the experts....:)

You have to make sure the cities you build have river squares, you need the gold from them. Gold or gems are nice as well. Build 2 cities, save the other settler until you know where the iron is. Tech path is bronze-wheel-ironworking and that is it, set science to 0% after that.

By the time you reach iron working and make your 3rd city your opponent will have 6 cities or so, each. Then chop rush praet's and start taking out your enemies. Go for the civ with the pyramids ASAP. Chop rush barracks and praets in all cities. Then you have to do the anarchy exploit.

I haven't finished my game, I gave up. The enemy was going to get gunpowder before I could do anything so I decided to try again some other time. Not sure if I will though. I would like to finish the game once, even if I don't place, so see how well I did.

Not sure how many entrants this gauntlet will have, by the looks of this thread, very few.

I have no intention of staying away from larger mapsizes or higher difficulties in Gauntlet selections, but I will admit this particular combination has proven uninspiring.

I agree, I enjoy playing larger maps and think that Deity is pretty achievable on all victory conditions. Putting the huge, deity, domination combo together results in a VERY long game that you don't know if you can win until you have played 3 hours of the game. Think it would have gotten a better response if it woudl have been something other than domination.

Thanks Big_Ben for the advice. I will have another go if only for the learning experience.

superslug,
Keep the Diety coming. I love it. Huge is also not a problem. Maybe if the anarchy exploit was either fixed in the next patch or just banned from this gauntlet... Or maybe if we were on Islands, the anarchy thing wouldn't work. Islands would also take the combat out of the Ancient era.

I needed a break from Civ 4 anyway. Looking forward to Feb 25th.

Yeah, I was all for a islands or team continents domination game. Huge would have taken forever but would have been fun. Having to tech up to astronomy to start warring would have been sweet. Would have almost eliminated caesar as an option.


Has anyone finished this gauntlet yet? I have been playing some different games for the HOF and haven't had another go at this yet. If I am going ot try and do this one I need to give myself enough time.

A_Turkish_Guy: Don't shrink from this gauntlet because its on deity, its not nearly as big a problem as you think. In a non-aquatic Domination gauntlet (as this will assuredly be) the building advantage of the AI is rapidly negated by the fact you're taking everything they build. If you can run a good assault on Noble you can run the exact same thing on Deity. There's a whole lot of documentation on this over in the Strategy forum.

However, as noted above, this gauntlet is going to be an exploit-fest and slow as hell. So if you're not the sort to turn on NoClip in Counterstrike or to micro a titanic empire every turn, you might want to reconsider this one.

- Bill

thanks for the advice.i believe i can play on Noble but i will try to get higher levels later.i am now finished my first chieftain and try warlord.:D

Deity is fine, huge not so much. Waiting until the next patch and seeing if that helps with some of the problems would be greatly appreciated. I personally cannot play huge maps without major problems.

I am just starting to play with the goal of submitting to the HoF and I checked the Gauntlet page of the HoF and it is still advertising a gauntlet due on January 24th. I did not think about looking in the forums to find the most recent gauntlet before today. :blush:

You should really update that page and include a link this forum. On the other hand, maybe I am the only stupid enough not to find it. :blush:

Fortunately (or unfortunately), I really don't have enough time to play such a long game, even if I started on Feb. 10. I am not good enough to play at deity level either.

You should really update that page....
Just did. Sorry that didn't get caught in the last update.:blush:

yeah, i probably should have mentioned that. i saw it last gauntlet as well and forgot to post about it. i check on here first anyway though.

Has ANYONE been able to win a game with the current gauntlet settings? I just restarted a new game, doing pretty well but I'm just not sure if I can make it before some puter launches a spaceship. Playing Roman, got 20% of the map 910 BC, but my economy has reached 0 and I don't know how many more cities I can conquer without using the anarchy exploit, which disqualifies an entry...and if I don't take more cities the computer will soon be at a stage where my pretorians are less effective. Wonder if I'll make it, and if so, if I'll make it before the 24th.... anyway lets keep tryin folks!

ummm.... the anarchy exploit is allowed, it isn't banned from the HOF yet. The entire first page of this thread is about how people aren't going to play because it is only about the exploit.

I myself have tried 3 times so far. I was about 40%+ around 200 AD on my longest attempt I think, can't remember. The computer started getting war elephants and longbowmen. My other two attempts got screwed, one by the map layout, the other by getting war declared early. I am going to try and hammer out a finished game before the end of this just so I can say I finished it, but it will take FOREVER to play.

I keep getting attacked early also. I have yet to figure out the right number of AI or which ones to use. My best start I was attacked early by isabella lost that city but kept playing had Iron in my main city then attaked the leader Asoka (He also had Pyramids). I took four small cities and was going to the city that had pyramids and he had longbowmen.

Had the best start so far. played for almost 2 hours. probably have 3-4 more hours of play time left. I am playing with 17 opponents. When I tried with 6 they were teching too fast for me, so I maxed it out. Left out all of the aggressive trait leaders and mansa. I am also declaring peace when the enemy has 1 city left, if possible. That way I have to conquer less land. We will see if I can get it done in 2 days, working both days :(

Hmz I remember a whole thread between moonsinger and the mods about the anarchy exploit. I thought they had decided to ban the exploit from the HoF, but I guess I may have been mistaken. Anyway I'm finishing the game WITHOUT the anarchy exploit.
So far so good, my game is now in 550AD, I kicked Tokugawa and Napoleon. I now have 30% of the map (can run up to 35-40% if I fill in the holes with some culture). Managed to catch up in tech (sortof and able to run 70% sci) Of the remaining 4 comps 2 have just achieved gunpowder, but so have I. Now researching my cavalries, hoping to beat them to it, or at least get them at the same time. I have 2 specialists standby for a 16 turn goldenage, hopefully that will give me the productionboost I need to pump out a legion of cavalries before my AI rival China is able to do so. If I succeed my main rival can be taken out and my land quota should almost be at the 64% total landmass needed. Lets hope I have time to finish the game before the 24th!! Perhaps I'll be the only one without the anarchy exploit... that could be fun!

Good luck. I really would like to see someone finish this without using the exploit. I think you may have been thinking about the GOTM. They banned the exploit but the HOF is leaving it in for the beta. The HOF staff are hoping Fireaxis will fix it. It would be a lot more trouble than it is worth to check every game for it in the HOF. They are getting a couple hundred submissions each update.

Anyway, I just finished. I used Caesar with the exploit. Finished in 230 AD. Caesar isn't the right guy for this though. I know who would be the best for this gauntlet but I will let you know tomorrow. I am going to try and get 1 more game in before the 24th. Using the anarchy exploit a BC finish is possible.

But seriously, good luck not using the exploit, I would like to see someone prove that it isn't necessary, I just don't have the time or patience for that long of a game right now.

BTW, my score was only 173k. I could have milked it out and probably gotten in the 300k+. Not sure if I could have beaten the record though.

A little off topic, but will the HoF be updated at the end of this gauntlet? Just curious as I'm unsure how much time I have left to finish my current game (non-gauntlet game).

We're aiming to do updates around the 10th and 25th for the Civ4 HOF. The 24th for the Gauntlet just gives us a little breathing space to verify any last minute submissions.

Difficulty: Deity
Mapsize: Huge
Victory: Domination (though ALL victory conditions must be enabled!)
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Marathon
Submitted on or before: Feb 24th.


You guys must be crazy to attempt this!:crazyeye: I'm really looking forward to see who can pull this off.:hatsoff:

Heya Moonsinger, do you mean to say that you are not participating in this one? I was kinda hoping you would, since you invented the ceasar/anarchy strategy, I was hoping you would join me in a game without the exploit. I'm sure it can be done! I'm going back to my game in 4 hrs when I get home. I have made my plan of action, slightly adjusted.

I have already changed to nationhood, this will give my 30 somewhat cities +2 happiness, which I will use to draft +/- 2 musketmen each city (giving -2 happiness for 30 turns). That should give me about 45 Musketmen. My main rival has not even upgraded his units to muskets (if he has the tech, which I believe he just got). Those 45 Muskets will join my (hopefully) 15-20 cavalry (researcing, eta 16) turns which I will obtain fast after that by gaining a goldenage using 2 great ppl in combo with slavery. My research/economy will drop dramatically again, but since I can afford 70% sci atm, I'm sure I'll have the cash to support this army. With any luck I can overrun China and once that is done victory is assured. Anyway, hopefully I'll have the result of my battleplan tonight if all goes as planned I expect a finish time of approx 1100 AD WITHOUT the anarchy exploit..... wish me luck! :king:

Heya Moonsinger, do you mean to say that you are not participating in this one? I was kinda hoping you would, since you invented the ceasar/anarchy strategy, I was hoping you would join me in a game without the exploit. I'm sure it can be done! I'm going back to my game in 4 hrs when I get home. I have made my plan of action, slightly adjusted.

Since Christmas, I have been trying to see if I can win a Deity game on a huge map. So far, I haven't yet won one.:( Of course, I didn't use the anarchy exploit in any of these games. Good luck on your game! Btw, may want to watch out for their defensive pacts. The strongest AI often signs some kind of defensive pact with the dying civs.

I'll eventually do a huge deity without the exploit, but definitely not in time for this gauntlet. Only thing I would really need to change is to make maybe 4-5 more workers in the beginning while researching pottery. Just have them laying cottages the entire game. Would only take 5 cottages per city to break even if I stopped researching. I could probably pull off 700 AD with my strat and no exploit. May take me a couple tries though, and I don't have the time for that.

After this gauntlet I am going to go for high score sometime as well. See if I can milk out 500k on huge deity. Will be REALLY long though. I am interested in seeing your score on this spike. Mine was pretty early so it wasn't that high. With you tech and size you may beat the record so far. Once you have your military out switch pure population generation. If you can get your cities pretty pop heavy you may be able to break the record.

My battleplan worked like a charm, I pulled an all nighter in order to finish the game... but I'll sleep over the weekeind! As planned got my cavalry before china, got 1 goldenage from my 2 specialists AND managed to beat AI to Taj Mahal for consecutive goldenage! Needless to say poor Mao was soon toast. Still didn't have enough land, so regrouped quickly, pumped research to get riflemen, then drafted again to get huge army of defence rifles and declared on Huayna (or whatever his name is). Finished the game 1126 AD, so more or less what I expected. Final score 195k. The score is a little dissapointing, but with all my drafting and constant need to build units I guess my final pop was not as high as it could have been, but that would have taken away a lot from the finish time. Now lets hope my game doesn't get lost in the 50th place behind all the exploit games.

Gauntlet concluded. No submissions. :blush:

Finished the game 1126 AD, so more or less what I expected. Final score 195k.

Congrats! Have you submitted this game to the HoF? IMO, any win on Deity huge map is a glorious win no matter how low the score may be.