WOTM 03: Celtiahttp://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/wotm03civ.jpg

This game MUST be played in Warlords patch version 2.08. We will NOT accept any games played under any other patch versions, and you can't play it in vanilla (plain) Civilization4!

Further, it MUST be played using the latest version of HOF mod for Warlords.



Game settings:
Civilization: Celtia (Leader: Brennus; Traits: Spiritual & Charismatic)
Rivals: 8 (2 more than standard for map size)
Difficulty: Monarch
Map: Fractal
Mapsize: Standard, cylindrical
Climate: Rocky
Water level: Medium
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: epic
Victory Conditions: all enabled
Other settings: Aggressive AI


Brennus:
Brennus is Spiritual and Charismatic; starting with mysticism and hunting. Spiritual allows you to switch between civics and religions without any anarchy period, and gives double production on temples. Charismatic is a new trait in warlords. It gives 1 free happy face in all cities, +1 happy face from monuments and broadcast towers and units require 25% less experience to gain promotions.

Unique unit: Gallic Warrior
The Gallic Warrior replaces the swordsman. In addition to the normal swordsman statistics, the Gallic Warrior gains a free Guerrilla I promotion. New from 2.08 patch is also that Gallic warriors can be produced with either Copper or Iron, so you are more likely to have the required resource to construct them.

Unique building: Dun
The Dun replaces the normal walls, and gives a free Guerrilla I promotion to all scouts, archery units, and gunpowder units that is constructed in the city before the Dun goes obsolete with the discovery of Rifling technology. Should also be mentioned that the 2.08 patch added a change to the normal walls, that also affects the dun.. It lowers the bombard damage from artillery units by 25%. This means that if an artillery unit normally can remove 20% culture defense per turn, it can only remove 15% if the city has a wall/dun (castles/citadels will lower this with a further 25/50% )

About the Guerrilla promotions:
2.08 patch brought a further change to the Guerrilla III promotion. Units that has this promotion now receives a 30% retreat chance in addition to a 25% hill attack bonus. This retreat chance works everywhere, no matter if you attack onto a hill tile or not.

The starting screenshot is here (Click for larger version)
http://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/wotm03small.jpg (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/wotm03large.jpg)

Adventurer Class bonuses:
Start with a worker.
Start with knowledge of Mining.

Challenger Class Equalizers:
Start without the knowledge of Mysticism

Haven't played the Celts yet, so this should be fun.

8 rivals on a standard map? Aggressive AI? An early UU that takes advantage of rocky terrain? Sounds like an early expansion by the sword will be needed.

Typically with a Spiritual civ that starts with Mysticism, I like to grab a religion or 3 first, but given how crowded and bumpy (i.e. rocky) this map will be, it seems that military and building techs will be a priority.

Initial techs would likely be AH (cows), then Mining/BW (any copper for those Gallic warriors?). I'd also want to get Masonry to take advantage of the unique building (Dun).

Builds would likely start with Warrior/Worker (if size 2)/Warrior

The start looks like it would be tough to beat with access to 4 resources, and defensible on a hill. Certainly a peek E or NW to either hill (or 2S to check the Southern suggested spot) with the scout first would be advisable just in case anything dramatic shows up someplace.

Looks like fun!

Looks sweet. We have the advantage. Nice start area. Is the challenge the aggressive AI? Or Monarch?

Watch there not be any Copper or Iron close by. What a twist?

We'll see.

-Nick

Interesting looking game. Settling in-place looks good, though I'm also slightly tempted by NW of the settler - loses the forest but avoids losing the production from the grassland-hill that happens if you settle in-place, and also retains all four of the starting resources. Loses the grassland-river and what I think is a jungle-grassland-river though which isn't so good for commerce.

btw it's well worth looking at the details of the 2.08 patch. I've not yet tried playing with the patch, but I've read the list of changes - there's a lot of quite significant changes to the game, including improved AI intelligence (which I'm guessing means this game will be a bit harder than you'd expect for monarch level if you're used to pre-2.08 games). And for anyone planning on CS slingshot, mathematics is now a prerequisite to civil service (I'm guessing that means a straight Oracle-CS-slingshot is now all but impossible). Hopefully there'll be someone around who has played with the patch who can give more details of any differences in game flavour?

I've messed around with the patch some but not finished any games yet. The new AI seems more aggressive. Some of them like to tech and build fewer units while others love going for domination/conquest. If Augustus is in the game, we're in for a good challenge. He can usually dominate the early game with his Praetorians and he's also creative for faster border expansion. The new AIs also have some odd looking city placement preferences too. A few practices games should give you a good idea of what you're up against.

And for anyone planning on CS slingshot, mathematics is now a prerequisite to civil service (I'm guessing that means a straight Oracle-CS-slingshot is now all but impossible).
It's not actually a whole lot harder to do the straight Oracle-CS slingshot (though, it is a lot harder to do the Great Prophet-CS slingshot). Most of the time when going for the CS slingshot, you'll be getting an early library and running a few scientists to speed research of CoL and get an academy in your capital as soon as possible. Now, instead of building the academy, you just have to use the Great Scientist to discover mathematics.

I'm undecided like DynamicSpirit, between in-place and 1NW of settler.
Scout NW can help the decision, but ususally i don't like to loose 1 turn, also on Epic (but monarch difficulty).

I'm curious too too see the changes, some practice game is mandatory.

It's not actually a whole lot harder to do the straight Oracle-CS slingshot (though, it is a lot harder to do the Great Prophet-CS slingshot). Most of the time when going for the CS slingshot, you'll be getting an early library and running a few scientists to speed research of CoL and get an academy in your capital as soon as possible. Now, instead of building the academy, you just have to use the Great Scientist to discover mathematics.

OK, thanks for the explanation! So that basically means you have to use scientists for at least some of your research, rather than, as I've tended to do when going for a CS slingshot, using cottages. That also means there no longer is any choice about whether to build a library or not.

Interesting looking game. Settling in-place looks good, though I'm also slightly tempted by NW of the settler - loses the forest but avoids losing the production from the grassland-hill that happens if you settle in-place, ...

Settling NW also loses a grassland hill; from what can be seen now, in both situations there are 2 workable grassland hills.

Question: Are the huts near the capital removed?

I think I'd rather keep a forest than gain a grassland hill...Thus unless my scout sees something better than cows to the S, I'll settle in place.

I also will not likely go for a CS slingshot, simply because I am not really good at doing it...so I don't want to mess with trying for it now when there are 8 AI and all of them are aggressive. I think I'll go either AH, Mining, BW, then probably Masonry, or Meditation, Mining, BW, AH. Perhaps this time I'll actually go the military route like I've been attempting to do for the last 3 GOTM.

Additionally, the added requirement for CS makes a feudalism slingshot much more interesting for warlords(especially since it gives you access to vassal states) Anyone want to try for that?

Question: Are the huts near the capital removed?
All huts that was reachable in a certain amount of turns has been removed.
I wish there was a way around that, but I saw all too well in SGOTM2 what the consequences of not removing nearby huts could be..

2.08 + BLAKE + Monarch + 8AI + All AGG = :eek:

Lake + mysticism = early religion?

I am thinking about trying a cultural victory again. I have tried this on the last few GOTMs and I think I am getting better at it. I like early expansion by warring with this civ & UU. If not a Pangaea, maybe I will even try to clear the continent before really kicking the cultural stuff into gear. With aggressive AIs I worry a lot about the "cocoon" period where the AI can tech to cavalry or something.

Am thinking about settling 2S so that my capital can get the benefit of the river tiles and the associated commerce bonus.

This time around I may try for only wonders that give great artist points (with the possible exception of pyramids for Universal Suffrage and/or great library for science boost in the rush to liberalism). I have not tried the pyramids for U.S. in my last few cultural games, but I could see how cash rushing cathedrals could help. Of course with spiritual trait, could also slip back from caste system into slavery pretty easily... so not sure about this one. Pretty sure I could always find a use for a great engineer. Not as sure I can always figure out what to do with a late game scientist.

By "Warlords v2.08", does that mean with or without the Hot Seat fix? (Or does it matter?)

Sam

All huts that was reachable in a certain amount of turns has been removed.
I wish there was a way around that, but I saw all too well in SGOTM2 what the consequences of not removing nearby huts could be..
How about "No tribal villages" option?
GH may give player some Classical techs and Astronomy(!) theoretically.
IMHO This is too much random factor in tournament game!?

By "Warlords v2.08", does that mean with or without the Hot Seat fix? (Or does it matter?)

Sam
Good question (It does matter)..
I guess the majority of players does not have the hotfix installed, and those who have it installed already knows what file is in question.

Therefore it seems easiest to make the savegame require you to not have it installed (hopefully those that has installed it made a backup of the original file like suggested in the hotfix thread)

Any other suggestions?

Good question (It does matter)..
I guess the majority of players does not have the hotfix installed, and those who have it installed already knows what file is in question.

Therefore it seems easiest to make the savegame require you to not have it installed (hopefully those that has installed it made a backup of the original file like suggested in the hotfix thread)

Any other suggestions?

Sounds good to me.

Rivals: 8 (2 more than standard for map size)
Map: Fractal
Mapsize: Standard, cylindrical


Isn't standard number of rivals 7 for a standard sized fractal map?

Isn't standard number of rivals 7 for a standard sized fractal map?
Nope.. 6 rivals (7 civs including yourself)

Maybe it would be a good idea to link to the latest version of the HOF mod for newcomers to GOTM/WOTM. It may put people off to have to find it by themselves, even if that is fairly easy.

Isn't standard number of rivals 7 for a standard sized fractal map?

The standard number of *players* is 7 -- you plus 6 rivals

Some good, some bad for my tastes. I like the non-financial civ for a change...too many of those lately...and epic / monarch is nice. Not fond of rocky + aggro AI + crowded map...plays well into the UU for an early expansion via IW, I guess.

Smart thing would be to ignore early religions and go worker / military techs with worker 1st build. Think I will be stupid and try the Buddhism gambit since we have a 2f2c square 1south of starting position. Try to leverage a quick temple, priest specialist, and Oracle...get most of the religions and spread a couple of them selectively with missionaries to set the AI's against each other rather than me.

Probably won't work, but I'll give it a shot.

cas

I don't see any screenshot of the start map. Why?

WOTM 03: Celtiahttp://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/wotm03civ.jpg

The starting screenshot is here (Click for larger version)
http://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/wotm03small.jpg (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/wotm03large.jpg)


I don't see any screeshot of the start file. Why? :confused:

I don't see any screenshot of the start map. Why?
My guess is that your work is blocking all webpages that contain the word game

Here's a practice save for use with the HoF mod.

Anybody can please explain what this "BLAKE" is?
I've seen for the first time in the list of changes of 2.08 patch.

Don't answer "an english poet", please (i love The Tiger).

Anybody can please explain what this "BLAKE" is?
I've seen for the first time in the list of changes of 2.08 patch.

Don't answer "an english poet", please (i love The Tiger). As I understand it, Blake is a poster at Poly who designed an improved AI, and some of his work was incorporated in the warlord's patch.

Anybody can please explain what this "BLAKE" is?

Read the following thread. He explains quite a bit of his thought process on developing a better AI.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=191685

Nope.. 6 rivals (7 civs including yourself)

uuups!! :blush:

as I understand it from reading the thread BLAKE has posted in CFC about his changes...most people seem to think Monarch level now plays like emperor+ because of the higher intelligence of the AI combined with its monarch bonuses.

Considering the possible ability to have both 'swordmen' and axemen with copper though, I'm definitely gonna be going for early military.

I think the 2.08 patch has some interesting changes, such as Math required for Civil Service and fixed Vassel States. I didn't see barbarians listed, so I'm assuming we're back to normal this time? I think the extra number of rivals will be interesting, not sure how I'm going to play that, but think some early military expansion is in order in any case. Not sure yet where I plan to move to start. I really like 2S as it then brings 6 hills into my capital, which would just be a ridiculous amount of construction capability, though I'd like to have woods in my sites also for chopping, which would be lost for the early game. Hmmm.

The AI is indeed better, but I don't know if I would personally say Monarch is now like Emperor.

A couple specific things I've noticed since the patch: it's worth remembering that Barbarians can and will build spearmen now (no chariot-rushing early barb cities) and the AI definitely is not as stupid in how it used to sacrifice huge numbers of troops at a unit or two fortified in a wooded hills square, for example. In general, the AI stays within their cities more when attacked--it's harder to lure them out. It's irrelevant to this particular game, but this means Quecha rushing is nowhere near as easy.

They AI seems to tech slightly faster too, and it's harder to fund a continual 100% science bar with trades for gold when you are way ahead in tech. The AI is stingier with its cash.

Also, I settled on a gold square in one game recently, and I DID NOT receive the plus one gold bonus that I used to in my city start square.

It might be a good idea to research Alphabet early (or use Oracle to get it). Plenty of AI, lot of trade opportunities. An interesting start might be: Polytheism, Priesthood, Writing, Alphabet (Oracle), (Literature?). This would probably imply delaying the worker, building warriors/scouts instead to contact civs, search huts, fog bust, steal workers (?). How fast can the capital build the Oracle (with unimproved terrain...)?

Perhaps barbs will not cause too much trouble on a crowded map. And the Great wall gives only one GP point now, it won't help that much.

Has anyone played the "practice" save above?
If so...thoughts on Monarch & new patch/AI?

Although not a Monarch player yet, I find that I swiftly fall behind in Tech and blow my economy trying to stay in the initial "power" race. The "real" WOTM should be fun.

perhaps the further improved AI(BLAKE has improved the AI even more since his work was included in the patch) is what people were talking about as making monarch equal to emperor.

I'd say that I'm perfectly happy with an improved AI, it may make the game harder, but it eliminates some of the 'exploits' that used to rely on AI stupidity. Since I was really bad at doing that, perhaps I'll do comparatively better now ;)

I haven't played the test save yet, although I will if I ever get time to(not likely though), and I'll test out my strategy of going for a religion followed by Mining/BW and going for early enough Gallic Swords and Axemen that I can do some fast damage.

I tried a couple of practice games up to 100ADish to get a feel for the patch, and also to see whether CS slingshot is achievable. Several things I found:

1. It looks like you can no longer see troops on board enemy ships. It's hard to tell for certain, but a couple of times I had troops land unexpectedly on my shores and the only plausible source each time looked like a galley that I'd ignored because it looked empty. That's going to make defending coastal cities by rushing troops to them only as needed a lot harder.

2. The AI does seem to tech a fair bit faster than on vanilla civ. Dunno about the late game, but based on the early game I now tend to agree with the people who say 2.08 monarch plays like vanilla emperor. Also a couple of times I've noticed several workers simultaneously around a newish city in a way that I'd do but I've never seen the AI do before - that makes me think the AI is using its workers and workable tiles more effectively. The AI is still pretty stupid at warmongering but not as stupid as before (It's less likely to suicide troops in battles with poor odds).

3. Direct CS slingshot with the oracle looks far too risky, certainly without gold in the start location - the AI is likely to have built the oracle before you can research COL.

4. Great-prophet CS slingshot is now much harder to do: You can't do it by by-passing masonry any more as the prophet now offers to research masonry ahead of CS, presumably because of masonry now being given a higher religious weight. Seems the only way to do it is to get theology first (perhaps from the Oracle).

5. A consequence of 4 is that also means that notagoodname's list of great-person tech preferences at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4135261&postcount=13 isn't totally accurate any more. I'm hoping the masonry thing is the only thing that's wrong and it's still good apart from that. Anyone know for certain btw?

6. One good thing though - early religion seems to be very achievable. I'm guessing the AI doesn't prioritize it as much as before.

I tried a couple of practice games up to 100ADish to get a feel for the patch, and also to see whether CS slingshot is achievable. Several things I found:

1. It looks like you can no longer see troops on board enemy ships. It's hard to tell for certain, but a couple of times I had troops land unexpectedly on my shores and the only plausible source each time looked like a galley that I'd ignored because it looked empty. That's going to make defending coastal cities by rushing troops to them only as needed a lot harder.

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to discover this.. it is one of the changes in the patch that isn't mentioned in the patch message

6. One good thing though - early religion seems to be very achievable. I'm guessing the AI doesn't prioritize it as much as before.

Some do and some don't.


Some of the nations now prioritize Alphabet a lot more than before and aim for Great Library with alacrity rather than pursuing pious pathways.



For this months event, I think I will dogmatically dash along with a settler build first tactic and then see where that leaves me.

I draw the following conclusions from the settings of the WOTM:

Rocky: more cities will be built on hills = costly to defeat without cats
Monarch + AI Patch + 8 rivals : Alphabet will be researched pretty early by a couple of AIs.
8 rivals + Aggressive : It's important to meet as many AI as possible when tech trade becomes possible to compensate for the risk that AI does not want to trade tech.

This leads me to think that going for battle early on is not the best strategy. First, I will fall behind in tech due to unit suppy. Second, I will get alphabet too late. Thus I plan to skip both Bronze Working and Iron Working.

Instead I'll aim for a powerful capital, early expansion and tech trade. Research will then be: Polytheism, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Archery, Wheel, Writing, Alphabet. This will enable me to improve tiles and grow my initial cities. Depending on the map, I would like to build one production city, one commerce city and one food city (for Great Persons) in addition to my capital.

Possible production: Scout, Worker, Settler, Warrior, Archer, Archer, Worker, Settler, Library. This seams to fit well with my research during test trials. New cities will build monument, archers, worker. These plans will probably be abandoned after 50 turns ;) I would love to build a barracks, but I'm not sure I can squeeze that in.

I want an early religion, and I hope it will spread. I want the extra +5 culture / turn and the happiness increase. I can afford having a religion penalty with a couple of AI, as long as my chance to trade tech with one or two AI increases.

Long term, I will try to build the Great Library. I will also aim to use specialists from a library, both for boosting research and to get a Great Scientist (discover philosophy/metal casting or engineering). Fighting

My trial games indicates that the barbarians will field archers much earlier than I'm used to. Is this related to how many civilizations that have access to Archery? I never figured out how the discovery of tech is connected to barbarian unit types. One other thing I noticed is that a) the AI will prioritize alphabet more and b) they seam to focus more on research in general.

Victory condition? Conquest...

Lake + mysticism = early religion?
I don't think the lake can be worked without fishing, but the southern dye is as good I suppose.

The starting picture provokes me to research all the "hard" worker-techs first:
mining for the hills
bronze for the forests
agri for the corn
ah for the cows and finally
wheel for the connecting roads

If I'll do that then hammers and food will in great supply but research will take forever. So my research would rather be wheel, agri, potts, mining, bronze, ah.

I think that I will try to aim for 3 cities and gun gun for ironworking. I can see that this months challenge is going to be a bloodbath!

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to discover this.. it is one of the changes in the patch that isn't mentioned in the patch message

Anything to oblige ;)

I think that is quite a sensible change. In real life you wouldn't expect to be able to see what's inside an enemy ship.

And -- 'one of the changes' -- you mean there's more unannounced changes to be discovered? This could be interesting... :crazyeye:

oy...maybe I shouldn't read this thread anymore, it's making me unsure of how I should start out my game :)

possibly my problem is that I am not very good at warmongering, so I'm very nervous to start out being aggressive toward the AI.

oy...maybe I shouldn't read this thread anymore, it's making me unsure of how I should start out my game :)

possibly my problem is that I am not very good at warmongering, so I'm very nervous to start out being aggressive toward the AI.


Ditto for me. I'm terrible at warmongering. The big decision to me is whether to go the BW/IW route or head towards Alphabet. Maybe one could go for BW and if copper pops up close by, then early use of the UU would be the way to go??

Guess I'm going to try some test games.

I did some practice games and I sucked hard!
Once I had to forfeit because the AI moved his nice mix of units better than I did. That was quite a shame and also shows how much it improved.
I can only warn you not to underestimate this one.
About expansion:
I had space for about 3-4 cities... not enough to win peacefully.

Looking at the difficulty level plus the commnets about the changes to the AI in 2.08 I fear I'm going to get stuffed this month round even with the adventurer bonuses (not that I've been doing so much better in previous months). Anyway, my plan (for what it's worth)

1. Move Scout south to check out that blue circle. Dpeending on that either settle in place or move accordingly.

2. Make a grab for a religion

3. If stone is around head along the bottom of the tech tree, otherwise detour briefly for some resource techs before heading for bronze working.

4. Have a big scrap with everyone; lose horribly.

One quick question: the submission deadlines: is it on or before the day in question? Still playing through WOTM2 and want to know how late I have to stay up tonight.

the submission deadline, if I'm not mistaken, is the end of the day, at the end of the world, on the day mentioned on the actual GOTM website.

In fact, if you go to the GOTM website, I believe it tells to the hour how much time is left for you to submit it.

Thanks to the people who answer to my question about Blake.

It seems we'll have a completely different game, all levels will raise in difficulty, but at least we'll stop to see the AI do really stupid things.

This reopens an old question:
With this improved AI and so on, why the programmers has not lowered the discount in units upgrades?
This is unfair, IMO: at monarch an AI can upgrade archer-longbow-rifleman using less money than the human for archer-longbow, avoiding to build new units or building an indecent number.

One more thing: there has been so much land in the past 3-4 G/WOTM's. Pls pls pls pls pls let there be less land pls pls pls...

So far I've done ok with some practices game. I get the feeling that this game is going be a long slog that is borderline dull. Even when the AIs are Pleased they won't do even trades. The upward climb is a struggle. The only way forward is with military might and even then it is rough going.

So far my best game was going with AH->Archery->Mining>BW> and Warrior>Worker>Archer>Settler

Even when the AIs are Pleased they won't do even trades.

That's Agressive AI's for you, and they won't give up techs for peace either so you'll have a tough time all round.

I'm going to follow Sun Tzu's advice - My victorious swordsman are going to WAR! as soon as I find Iron. Mercy will only be given for techs.

I've had aggressive AIs trade techs when they are pleased...the main difference between aggressive and normal is that on aggressive AI they'll be more likely to attack you, and they'll start out at a negative attitude toward you.

What could be influencing the tech trading with the AI is that they are smarter in terms of what trades they'll do.

I think that the only way to win this week will be a galic warrior rush and start producing plenty of warlords for the bonuses. If you war enough you should be able to get 3 warlords fairly quickly. I usually use these to make the accademy (bonus production) and then a super medic and a super atatcker. If you can get these happening you should be able to make a super stack that can sack most cities.

I'm tempted to try for Buddhism for an early religion and then early holy war - create a bit of space for expansion, and hopefully get a good religious ally or two.

I think that the only way to win this week will be a galic warrior rush and start producing plenty of warlords for the bonuses. If you war enough you should be able to get 3 warlords fairly quickly. I usually use these to make the accademy (bonus production) and then a super medic and a super atatcker. If you can get these happening you should be able to make a super stack that can sack most cities.

The Gallic Warriors do work fairly well with a rocky climate. Give them GIII and they are great at taking cities on a hill then are able to fend off a counter attack with ease. The AI is more likely to field Axemen in addition to their other units so you also need some Axemen. They also seem to like Chariots so you need some Spearmen too. Doesn't hurt to bring in some catapults eventually because their capitals are often at 50% culture or higher.

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to discover this.. it is one of the changes in the patch that isn't mentioned in the patch message

I noticed that cities with "my" religion are revealed without the need for a shrine. I haven't noticed that before.

I noticed that cities with "my" religion are revealed without the need for a shrine. I haven't noticed that before.
You never needed a shrine.. you just need the holy city of your state religion

...I usually use these to make the accademy (bonus production)...


Remember that the academy works different (+50% prod) and can only be built if you have researched Education.

One more thing I noticed in testgames:
When I stole a worker early, the AI didn't calm down after some time, instead their attitude went consistently down to -13. I don't know if that's a matter of the patch or the aggressive trait.

Lots of interesting insight and options so far. :)

In my test games, my best results have been going down the religion/culture path. When I find an early religion, build the requisite Stonehenge/Oracle etc. for the GP and shrine, then spread the religion relentlessly to others, I found that I could at least compete in the tech race by staying at 100% research (the religion income is significant once it is spread far and wide), but the late game it started to get behind somewhat in the research.

Most approaches that I took that would leverage the UU Gallic Warrior quickly (e.g. beeline Min>BW>IW) would leave the development of cities behind. Therefore, production of said Gallic Warriors would also lag since I didn't have AH/Ag/Wheel/Pottery (cottages) etc. to help them grow. And certainly any religious research to get to Priesthood (Oracle) was left behind as well in favor of 'higher priorities'.

It will be interesting to see all of the different paths taken, and their results.

After I downloaded the practice save, Civ 4 seemed to hang at the opening blue screen. There's an error message about the HOF mod directory or something like that.

I downloaded the HOF mod before and successfully used it to play the WOTH 2. After that I downloaded and installed the Warlords patch.

Question: do I need to down load and install the HOF mod again or ... ????

Thanks.

you need to install a new version of HOF mod for 2.08 patch

This game looks scary. For a test, I piled on all the AI's on a standard sized map and we were right next to each other. I'm hoping to stay out of the AI's way, maybe by spreading an early religion to their territory to help align them with me. I haven't found resources too readily available in these games, so I'm not counting on being able to use my UU easily.

Its scary allright. I did one single mistake and in anger i forgot to save before i quit. So no WOTM for me this month :( Damnit...

Its scary allright. I did one single mistake and in anger i forgot to save before i quit. So no WOTM for me this month :( Damnit...

I would've guessed that that situation is similar to a system crash, as long as not saving was a genuine mistake, and that you'd be OK to carry on and submit as long as you play from the latest autosave and repeat as far as you can remember the exact same moves you did before, including your mistake. But no doubt Ainwood or AlanH will be along soon to confirm or deny that...

I think the big challenge with this game is the land grab. - With std map and 8 AI's the world will fill up very quickly. No need to worry about Barbs as they wont have much of an impact. - Therefore priority is tech's that allow settler build and expansion. - But...Just when you've started to expand you find yourself way behind in Tech (Due to the Monarch advantage for the AI.) - So you have to get Writing quickly and build a Library.(And dont forget to appoint a Scientist.) - By the time you've done this you have a very short space in which to build UU Swordsmen before the AI's have longbows. -

In my practice games I've found the AI's switching to Slavery very quickly. - I've missed almost all the early wonders...Mostly because I've forgotten to whip. - But I have managed to get to Alphabet and Literature first. - My best games went either similar to Redbad AG/MIN/AH/Wheel/Pot/Mas/Writ/IW/Alpha/Maths..... or Myst/Poly/Mono and the religious route. - When I tried to combine expansion and early religion I couldn't get it to work.

Also to echo other posts. - This new AI is smart. - In a few of my games I've found myself at war with and AI. - I rush to defend my land border only to find AI galleys landing units way behind my front line. Also Augustus rocks in the early world. - Watch out if he's in the game.

Anyway I'm off to give the download a try.

Good luck everyone.

Its scary allright. I did one single mistake and in anger i forgot to save before i quit. So no WOTM for me this month :( Damnit...
You really should enable autosave on every turn!!!!

I've played some more practice games. In my last one I was able to build both stonehenge and the Oracle. I also had a stack of axemen ready to conquer the nearest AI city. I used the oracle for the MC slingshot. I didn't have much problem taking the AIs cities until their capital. It was well garrisoned with promoted archers, had +50% culture and was on a hill. Just as a test, I tried taking it with a stack of 6 axemen and failed. The next problem was that once I hit four cities my research rate plummeted to 20% and I still didn't have CoL.

Yeah alenh I will for my next game. It was a stupid mistake by me. I totaly understand i cant load the autosave since I know what will happen some turns in advance. I guess its just one of those things one learns from. Anyways my own mistake. A bit sad since I was looking forward to playing the new Ai but I will have my shot at in december :)

Okay, I'm giving it a shot. I'm going to go for a quick religion. I think I'll need the extra XP for my troops when I get that civic. I'm going to look around, and probably the first person near me, I'll take his city. It'll depend on how big the landmass is. If space is a real premium, I'll try to hold his city. If it isn't, I'll just raze. We'll see how far this carries me, and I think I'll give my first real rundown of it all now that the HOF is mandatory (the log works well, I hear). TTFN!

Greetings:
I am an old time civer from CivI days, but this will be my first WOTM. I'm looking forward to it.
I've played a lot of normal or epic game speeds on monarch difficulty online, and I've also played numerous games since 2.08, and I can tell you the AI plays a lot better... at least they manage their economy/teching better. So much so that now they often outstrip even experienced players, so I'm really looking forward to this challenge.

Bigben34

BTW... I did read the article for first timers... But I want to be clear: I can't ever exit the game without manually saving it first? Sometimes I get tired late at night and just exit the game... If I have autosaves set to every turn, then I can just exit without worrying about a manual save? --Thanks.

BTW... I did read the article for first timers... But I want to be clear: I can't ever exit the game without manually saving it first? Sometimes I get tired late at night and just exit the game... If I have autosaves set to every turn, then I can just exit without worrying about a manual save? --Thanks.
There is an option in the HOF mod I believe that allows you to automatically save when you exit the game, its safest to manually save before you exit thou..

Autosaves would also autodelete if you should start another game before you finish.. so it isnt safe to trust only those

Relying on autosaves is better than nothing, but (a) it means you replay the current turn after a reload, and (b) you will wipe all your autosaves as soon as you start a new game either inadvertently or for some light relief from the GOTM. As Gyathaar says, a manual save is safest. It's not much to ask - two key actions - Control-S and Enter.

I did find out that you can get Buddism by working the spice.

In another practice game, I went with Meditation>AH>Agriculture>Mining>BW>Wheel

My scout got lucky on a far away hut netting me Fishing before Meditation and founding Buddism. Some of the AIs were immediately annoyed even though I didn't declare it my state religion.

Build order was warrior>worker>warrior>settler

You definately want to get to IW early on. In my last game, both Izzy and Khan delcared on me on the same turn shorty after researching IW. Izzy had swordsman and axemen. Khan had swordsmen and chariots.

Wow, this WOTM really looks interesting! Im wondering if there will be Romans. Becouse if there is Romans in this map, I think all the warmongering strategies I have read so far in this thread are worthless. The gallic swordsman is a powerfull unit ill give you that, but once against a praetorian i dont think it will be able to dominate the game play. So Im think war will have to come much later with lots of technology. But thats one opinion. Would any one cara to comment a comparison between GS and Praetorian?:goodjob:

Wow, this WOTM really looks interesting! Im wondering if there will be Romans. Becouse if there is Romans in this map, I think all the warmongering strategies I have read so far in this thread are worthless. The gallic swordsman is a powerfull unit ill give you that, but once against a praetorian i dont think it will be able to dominate the game play. So Im think war will have to come much later with lots of technology. But thats one opinion. Would any one cara to comment a comparison between GS and Praetorian?:goodjob:


Axemen with Shock promotion counter Praets very nicely, especially against an AI Rome. No real reason for direct combat between the two (GS vs. Praet), from the Gael perspective.

The AI does a better job of teching, gaining resources and building troops. It is still stupid when it comes to warfare and using good tactics. It still tries to win by brute force. It just has more brute force to work with now.

Still, if you star to build a lot of axe´s you will waste a lot of turns since they cost a little more than the GALLIC SWORD. I wasnt familiar with the effect of shok + axes against romans, I guess thats why in some games, my might prats get a little tired. Well, another thing is that if you specialize in axes, to fight off romans, there will be other invaders. Thats though

Sorry for the newbie question, but what exactly do you all mean when you write that you've played practice games?

And where does one find "the practice save"?

Sorry for the newbie question, but what exactly do you all mean when you write that you've played practice games?

And where does one find "the practice save"?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4747942&postcount=28

Sorry for the newbie question, but what exactly do you all mean when you write that you've played practice games?

And where does one find "the practice save"?

it depends, some practice games seek to recreate the known conditions of the game and the starting location, others just use the same settings and play on a world map. It is basically just a way for many players to figure out what type of start they think they'll go for.

Greetings:
OK, once I've finished the game (or resigned), how do I submit the results?

Dan Quayle
a.k.a. Bigben34 :-D

Oh, and what if I'd like to play again? The mod someone prevents people from restarting? Or is that an honour code?

Greetings:
OK, once I've finished the game (or resigned), how do I submit the results?
The submission page (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/submit/civ-gotm.php)

Dan Quayle
a.k.a. Bigben34 :-D

Oh, and what if I'd like to play again? The mod someone prevents people from restarting? Or is that an honour code?
You can restart, the mod won't stop you doing it. Just don't do it before you have submitted your first attempt.

Oh, and what if I'd like to play again? The mod someone prevents people from restarting? Or is that an honour code?

As Alan alludes to - you can only submit your first attempt. If we could find that people had submitted their second or later attempts, their entries would be null & void.