The results are semi up! (No links yet)

GOTM12 Results (http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3gotm/civ3gotm_results_12.shtml)

Would love Matrix to move the results to "http://forums.civfanatics.com"

www.civfanatics.com blocked by my work firewall!:(

One comment on the results! Congrats to Cracker. You outmilked me with 2000 points! I thought I was doing well. Will have to spend more time reaading your starting thread thingy!;)

Hmm... TF shouldn've made a news post. :rolleyes:

I'll make one as soon as my collage is over. :lol: (The second half starts about now.)

Are you kiddin'?

My failed Milking attempt got 14th place :crazyeye:

Are all players in?

I'd have expected a 30ish place.

Congrats for all especially Bamspeedy and Aeson.

Edit: didn't see matrix post. Guess it's not final. I'm 25th in Global Ranking (I'm IN THE GREEN

Where is my result?
Hi Matrix! If you didn't accept my submit please say why.:(

Wow, you guys got this one done fast.

Good: Got 2nd for fastest spaceship victory!
Bad: Kemal whooped my butt by 340 years :eek: lol (64 turns right?)

Originally posted by Matrix
Hmm... TF shouldn've made a news post. :rolleyes:

I'll make one as soon as my collage is over. :lol: (The second half starts about now.)

Oop's sorry:rolleyes:

Couldn't resist when I saw the link was up....

Would still love the results on forums.civfanatics.com

4th place and only 36 points behind third. I wish I had continued milking a few more turns. I stopped in 1977 because I had no more time left to play.

Originally posted by Serg
Where is my result?
Hi Matrix! If you didn't accept my submit please say why.:(
You reloaded far too often!

But I've understood there are some other high scores (including thefrenchzulu and Kemal) which the GOTM police haven't taken a look at, so the scores aren't sure yet. I don't know why they don't have them though. :undecide:

The making of the results really need to be automated! :(

Originally posted by Yndy

I'm 25th in Global Ranking (I'm IN THE GREEN

Just what does the color coding in the global ranking mean? I'm guessing Standard Deviations?

Originally posted by Matrix

You reloaded far too often!

But I've understood there are some other high scores (including thefrenchzulu and Kemal) which the GOTM police haven't taken a look at, so the scores aren't sure yet. I don't know why they don't have them though. :undecide:

The making of the results really need to be automated! :(

OK. I know my reload counter is big. But the discussion about that was started after I've played most part of the game and I didn't look at my reloading. In the future I will try playing more correctly though it will not be simple: I must play the game by many session (It's my regime of the work and rest).

I don't cry about my result isn't included in the list (8274).

I obviously sucked on that one but I suppose close to last is better than last. Right? Someone make me feel better. I feel that I'm 10 times better already though, due in part to all of the great strategy articles on this site. Thank you all for helping me to waste my time in a more strategic and resourceful manner.

Congrats to Cracker.

This is gonna generate some great controversy ! I love it !

I am surprised though results are published before the "GOTM Police" checked all the games !

What if Kemal or the FrenchZulu have the same number of reloads as Serg ?

Looking at the results : a space race in 1385 !

Wow ! I really do not know how to play this game : this is just an amazing result :eek: :eek:

Congrats on the winners !

Originally posted by Skyfish
This is gonna generate some great controversy ! I love it !

I am surprised though results are published before the "GOTM Police" checked all the games !

What if Kemal or the FrenchZulu have the same number of reloads as Serg ?

Skyfish,

Its not about controversy.

This is a balance between getting the results out in a timely manner, and checking the games thoroughly.

As Matrix said, some games still require checking.

Congratulations to the winners.


>>>> The making of the results really need to be automated!

Matrix,
If you need help in order to create Macro with Excel that can automate some taks, you can ask me because I'm working on this kind of problems all the days for my work.
So maybe, I can help you...

You can join me directly by email if you want!

LeSphinx

Originally posted by Vedder
I obviously sucked on that one but I suppose close to last is better than last. Right? Someone make me feel better. I feel that I'm 10 times better already though, due in part to all of the great strategy articles on this site. Thank you all for helping me to waste my time in a more strategic and resourceful manner.

Congrats to Cracker.

Don't feel bad My first GOTM I was 96 of 99 killed in 450 BC
I've improved to a fair to middlin 73 of 115.:rolleyes:
The important thing os to have fun ruling the world

Originally posted by ainwood


Skyfish,

Its not about controversy.

This is a balance between getting the results out in a timely manner, and checking the games thoroughly.

As Matrix said, some games still require checking.

ainwood, none of the findings from reviewing the games were changed in the results, it is a waste of time.

My first award, and up to 18th in the Global Ranking. :)

Congrats to all who played and submitted.

I see there's again some debate going on about cheating/reload counters etc, I think it would be best not to put up the results until all games are checked and proven clean, even if this means having to wait a bit longer, so to avoid having an "air of controversy" hanging around certain people's results.

This is especially so if, as Cartouche Bee states, any findings done by the GotM police will not change the results once they are put up on the site.

EDIT: corrected Global Ranking position.

Ainwood,
Don't get me wrong : I do believe in thorough checking !
I approve the "police" procedure entirely.
Example : reading Serg's posts and (Matrix's post about Serg's game) it is obvious to me that he was "reloading " a lot before ...
Problem is he is one of the best GOTM players according to the Hall of Fame and rankings.
So what do you do about his previous games ? he says himself "In the future I will try playing more correctly " that means to me he will finally play without reloading when the game goes wrong for him...no ?

Aww S**T. The GOTM police should check my game too; I missed this whole reload discussion.
I play domination style, so near the end of the game I've got too many cities to check them all every turn for imminent civil disorder. It's way, way quicker to save, end turn, note if any cities fall into disorder, then reload and take care of them before they fall. I can only imagine what this strategy will do to a reload counter. Trouble is, without it, I'd never have time to finish a game in a month. Too bad for me; I'd just pulled into the blue zone in the Global Ranking and was giving myself a hard-earned pat on the back. D*MN!!!!

I think everyone can rest assured that reload count is not the only issue that gets looked at.

There are a number of things that can be done to look at whether a game is a credible submission or not. As the automated tools get better and as the review process gets better defined it will be easier to detect things that have been "cheated".

In the big picture, the game has an element of randomness and luck built into it and there are only so many perfectly lucky decisions that you can make in any one game or in any sequence of games.

The "miraculous conception" counter is on and working well, So those players who just "luck" into 5 or 6 perfect plays that would only really be possible via cheating the map or artificially rolling back the fog will begin to stand out.

I should add that in my game this month, the only reason my score got up to the top was because CB went for early domination instead. ;) It helps when the worlds number one dairy farmer takes a month off to pound burgers.

Here are the GOTM 12 results (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=597209#post597209) from a different perspective. :D

Sorry Melinder but even this I consider cheating.
If one of your city falls into "civil disorder" well tough luck let it be so change the worker setting and get on 'til next round.
What's the big deal ? If you want a real high score then take the time to check all your cities...
Reloading is just a real easy way out, and it should not be allowed in any case (i.e except real huge mistakes caused by a wrong click maybe)

One question to Cartouche Bee : why is it "a waste of time" please ?
Are you part of the "police" or of the one of the organisers ?
Is it fair if the "police" is also participating in the GOTM ? Who is checking their games ?

Sorry I am a bit new to GOTM and those questions might not be relevant...don't want to stir up anything here...

Originally posted by Skyfish

One question to Cartouche Bee : why is it "a waste of time" please ?


It 's a waste of time if the results are posted without regard to any of the efforts put into looking at the games.

That's why there are always so many errors in the list.

There are people in that list that did not submit games or Matrix avoided making them available by his own choice. Clear and simple.

OK so there is a debate about the legitimity/impartiality of the organizers of the GOTM.

I'd like to know more and have some background as to what is going on...is there any threads that talk about this ?

Could you give me some background info as to why :
"There are people in that list that did not submit games"
but still Matrix would post a score for them ? If they did not submit how could they be on the list (I assume you are talking about the GOTM12 results lists) ?

I am very curious to know why you have some issues with Matrix even though you obviously are the best GOTM player ?
I have probably missed many episodes but I'd love to know more...

Thanks for your help,

Melinder - When you start getting too many cities to micromanage, use the governors (control citizen moods). Or at least for all your corrupt cities, and just micromanage your important cities by your palace(s). The governor does a pretty good job (although not perfect, but it won't matter much in your higher corrupt cities).

Skyfish - In defense of Serg, the reload counter counts how many times you load a save. If you only play 5-10 minutes at a time, you will end up having several more 'loads' than someone who plays for a few hours at a sitting. Serg claims that because of work and his schedule he just plays a few minutes at a time. Now that he knows that this would skew his 're-load' counter he would try to only play when he can get a long period of game time in (and that is what he meant by 'now I will play more correctly'). Of course, I have no idea what really happened or have any idea how many 'loads' he had, but I'm just clarifying what the deal is.

You can read about some of this in a few of the threads here. I don't remember the exact names of the threads, but they all have 'cheater' in the title of the thread.

This isn't a courtyard where we decide between live and death. It's just a bunch of very experienced and very good researchers who go to the bottom on investigating the savegames and decide on whether the game is legit or not.

<rant>
I just saw someone made a truly ridiculous poll trying to somehow make a connection between a suspected murderer and a suspected cheater of an online competition of a computer game, in which i am sure you wouldn't even tell your parents and neighbours about if you'd won, simply because they wouldn't give a flying f***. Anyone taking bullcrap that serious should really spend a while outdoors to get snapped back into reality. </rant>

Anyway, there are a number of people who do have short sessions purposely, and looking at their savegames we can conclude there is a regularity and consistency in their games. But unfortunately there are also a number of people (i can mention two but i won't) who try to cheat their way to the top enormously obvious, while hiding behind an excuse. The thing is they don't want to come out with it because they hate to lose their good face. Especially those who were previously so respected by the other gamers for their (false) accomplishment.

I can assure every gamer here that we really have a high tolerance, and that those who do get excluded from the results truly exceeded the boundaries of common sense by about seven miles. If you still do have any doubts let me remind you you play this game voluntarely.

When we discovered that we were missing games this month it was decided that a list would be posted to help receive missing entries. Some people were able to submit those games to Matrix as confirmed in that thread but those games were not forwarded to be reviewed for reasons unstated.

We also discovered that some of the entries on the list did not have games associated with them and I was told that they do not need to be reviewed because they don't cheat. Some entries had the incorrect win type associated with them, but they were not updated with the results that were posted.

I have been trying to at least get the results to match the games that are submitted (without any success at all), this has nothing to do with cheating but simple administration. The games in the zip file that gets posted should match the results for that month. I know, I'm weird, and no one else involved is really concerned about this but I think that it's important and it's my opinion that we should be trying to achieve a better result.

You're right, CB. I did forgot to take your notes into account. That's because I rushed the results because it was so late; I'm sorry. :( I'll make those changes when I'm back home (monday).

89th place!
This was my first GOTM, since I just bought Civ3 about two months ago. I have to say that it was a lot of fun. My main goal was not to lose, because it was also my first game on monarch difficulty. But I did fine, and I couldn't have done it without all the help I recieved from reading the strategy articles and forum threads on this site. 89th may not be very high, but it was a victory for me. And hey, I did get the fastest diplomatic victory, but there are no awards for that.
I'm currently in the middle of GOTM#13 with the Aztecs, and I am looking forward to submitting that one too.
I just wanted to say this site is great, and thanks for all the help.

To you checkers: idle curiosity on my part, but could you generate a distribution curve of the number of reloads? Maybe show the number of reloads in groups going from 10 to 100+ , in groups of 10? (e.g., 3 games had between 10-19 reloads, 8 games had between 20-29 reloads, etc...) I'd be interested in seeing how that stacks up.

Civ_Steve,

It is not really within my remit to publish these - it is up to Matrix to decide.

However, I would think that it is not very constructive to do this. The reason being, is that it would generate lots of suspicion, even if we don't put names or scores or score brackets against the list. In addition, people who don't reload might be encouraged to thinking that they can a few times, because they are below average and could (possibly) get away with it.

What I can say, is that the number of reloads has dropped significantly since it was announced that they can be counted, which is exactly what we wanted to happen.


<side note>

People, please! I don't know how many times it has to be said, but this is a FUN COMPETITION! The results don't really mean anything, except for the indivual who can see there pseudonym placed in a list against other pseudonyms.

However, if you read through this thread and a few others in this forum, you will see that it isn't quite so much fun for Matrix in particular, and a few others involved.

I hope he doesn't mind me saying this, but since he started becoming aware of people cheating, Matrix has lost a lot of enthusiasm for administrating this competition.

If the cheating continues, then the game won't. Simple as that.

I really like this game. It is the only Civ I actually play any more. I am giving up a lot of my free time to write utilities to help Matrix and the others. The others are also giving up a lot of their time to check gamnes. As you can probably tell from some of the posts above, they are starting to wonder whether its worth it.

You cheaters sort it out, or you'll find the competition evaporating before your eyes.

I know it must feel like all you can see are cheaters at times, Matrix. But there are a lot of gamers out there who play honestly for fun and appreciate what you - and the others - do.

If GOTM is abandoned then the cheaters have won.

Ainwood - Fair enough.

And I echo Col's statements. The Civ3 GOTM is very popular, and the participation has grown considerably. I like the pseudo-competition aspect of it, and it's fun to see all the different results that players attain from a common starting point. I'm sure the vast majority of the participants compete fairly and for the enjoyment of it.

Originally posted by col
I know it must feel like all you can see are cheaters at times, Matrix. But there are a lot of gamers out there who play honestly for fun and appreciate what you - and the others - do.

If GOTM is abandoned then the cheaters have won.

I feel the same way. I don't usually play civ because I don't have much free time, but once in a while, I do really want to test my skill against the world best players. Therefore, I think this forum is really great and Matrix had done a very good job in keeping it that way. When I posted that silly poll the other day, I was just playing around. I don't mean to offend anyone, especially Matrix. I'm really sorry about that and it won't happen again. From now on, I will always mean business when I post and no more kidding or playing around.

As for the cheaters, they don't really bother me much. Even in their best cheating games, they would hardly match any of the top honest players. Therefore, we shouldn't let a few cheaters spoil the fun.

Originally posted by Matrix
That's because I rushed the results

You need to join the team.

Ainwood, you're da man! :) Indeed, I grow tired of the cheaters, but I also think that in particular reloading is something which you might do without really realizing you're actually cheating. It's so easy and obvious to do.

Moonsinger, fair enough. ;)

Cartouche Bee, I don't understand...

Originally posted by Matrix

Cartouche Bee, I don't understand...

That explains it! ;)

Matrix and Ainwood, you guys are doing a geat job !
Please keep the GOTM going and if people don't like it then they don't have to play it !

CB, your animosity towards Matrix is obvious however I don't seen any substance in any of your posts about why ?
Please state your issues in a clear way.

When the discussion about reload counter was begun I looked at my counter: it was terrible. I often must play with short time session, now I play only if have several hours for playing the game - Bamspeedy was right. I havn't power comp and 'J'-operation and someone else let me confuse result. I reloaded in this case. When I have many cities (>50) I often couldn't end one turn in one session. And when I loaded the game from the site I always start the game and immediately save it with other name.

I didn't want play the GOTM13 because havn't enough time for this especially if I can't play short session. But I try begin the game only for read what the game is in this month. And I... get early settler (placing first city one tile left and entering the hut by worker - best chance to get free settler). Further on the monarch level all are clearly... and I'm affraid to submit this game (if I will ended it, now only 1300BC 5 session - 5 reloads).:confused:

Originally posted by Skyfish
Matrix and Ainwood, you guys are doing a geat job !
Please keep the GOTM going and if people don't like it then they don't have to play it !

CB, your animosity towards Matrix is obvious however I don't seen any substance in any of your posts about why ?
Please state your issues in a clear way.

Skyfish, if nothing else all the games that win medals were to be reviewed before the results are posted. At least 2 such games were not submitted for review.

Originally posted by Serg
When the discussion about reload counter was begun I looked at my counter: it was terrible. I often must play with short time session, now I play only if have several hours for playing the game - Bamspeedy was right. I havn't power comp and 'J'-operation and someone else let me confuse result. I reloaded in this case. When I have many cities (>50) I often couldn't end one turn in one session. And when I loaded the game from the site I always start the game and immediately save it with other name.

I didn't want play the GOTM13 because havn't enough time for this especially if I can't play short session. But I try begin the game only for read what the game is in this month. And I... get early settler (placing first city one tile left and entering the hut by worker - best chance to get free settler). Further on the monarch level all are clearly... and I'm affraid to submit this game (if I will ended it, now only 1300BC 5 session - 5 reloads).:confused:

I feel for you Serg, I've tried to get them to make some sort of rule with regard to this for 2 month's but it's a fence sitting game.

CB
If that REALLY is the case than I have to agree with you, IMO specifically the top games should be checked in priority !

It seems very logical to me no ?

Originally posted by Skyfish
CB
If that REALLY is the case than I have to agree with you, IMO specifically the top games should be checked in priority !

It seems very logical to me no ?

Makes sense to me too, I processed the top 50 games (other than for reloads) and notified him of the results (subject to other input and scrutiny from other members) that I was then waiting for the late games and his brothers game that was missing from the submitted games also before I would continue, I expected those games no later than last Tuesday, (the day after the cut off date for the late submissions). I'd let it go but this sort of thing has happened every month since we started the process and the results are a big surprise every month to everyone except for the one person that makes them up.

His brother ?

One of the games not reviewed is of my brother (Nitro), but that doesn't matter cos he doesn't cheat. I know so. ;)

CB, I understand your concern and feeling of usefulness, but I'll make the changes you suggested done and post the other games a.s.a.p.. And now ainwood has suggested a way to check the games and make the results in a more structured manner (in the GOTM police thread). Please don't give it up. :(

Like Serg, I also use a lot of sessions, so I save and reload often.
In addition, I may reload if:

(1) I misclick or mi**** a key (I want the game to reflect my decisions, not my mastery of the keyboard);
(2) (if I have many cities) I may end the turn without checking for riots, for the sole reason to save RL time, then go back and adjust any rioting cities;
(3) I go back to an older save because I forgot to log something, to make an image, or to see what in the world happened to my Spice colony.

In none of these cases I gain any advantage from reloading.

I have no idea what my reload count is and what is considered 'too high', but I have no intention whatsoever to adjust the way I play the GOTM, which I consider 100% fair, let alone my life in order to qualify for the rankings.

Just like I have no intention to spill precious hours on milking, only because that gives a higher score. I know when I've played well and when not. If the rankings don't reflect that, so be it.

In addition to the above, it is actually very easy to cheat bigtime with a minimum of reloads. Just save 10 instances of the same decision moment under different names when you want that map knowledge, settler, flip, Great Leader, wonder or unique tech, and play 9 extensive try-outs for 1 reload. Don't turn off your computer until the game is finished and if you aren't too hopeless a player you can cheat your way to the top with say 5 reloads a game.

Mm - not sure about (2).

I sometimes get careless and check at end of turn if I have any cities actually rioting, adjust them then find a city riots because it grew at the end of that turn. I'd consider reloading to go back and adjust any city that riots somewhat dubious.

Originally posted by Ribannah
(2) (if I have many cities) I may end the turn without checking for riots, for the sole reason to save RL time, then go back and adjust any rioting cities;


Here something you can try:


1. Upgrade your smiley graphic with this mod:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10197&highlight=smiley

2. Before, you end your turn, go to the first advisor screen and you will notice any unhappy citizen instantly.

Before I upgraded my smiley graphics, it was so hard to tell if they are unhappy or content. Now, It's so easy to recognize them; therefore, I'm able to keep all (98% or more) of my citizen happy all the time. And happy citizens means higher score.

I'm in the minority, but I was under the impression that you had to actually submit a game to be included in the results.

Why dont you just spell it out CB?

Originally posted by col
Why dont you just spell it out CB?

I t-h-o-u-g-h-t y-o-u h-a-d t-o a-c-t-u-a-l-l-y s-u-b-m-i-t a g-a-m-e t-o b-e i-n-c-l-u-d-e-d i-n t-h-e r-e-s-u-l-t-s. :)

Originally posted by Cartouche Bee
I'm in the minority, but I was under the impression that you had to actually submit a game to be included in the results.
They all did. But it was because they resubmitted when they noticed they weren't in the list of participants that I'm the only one who has the savegames. Anyway, you can download them now (look at the GOTM police thread). :)

P-e-r-h-a-p-s y-o-u c-o-u-l-d g-e-t a-l-l t-h-e g-a-m-e-s t-o-g-e-t-h-e-r b-e-f-o-r-e y-o-u p-o-s-t t-h-e f-r-i-c-k-i-n-g r-e-s-u-l-t-s.

Where is that thread actually ?

As for Ribahanna I am sorry but reloading because you get rioting cities is just cheating, you do get an advantage from it.

Skyfish, that thread is for GOTM police only. It's a private forum that no one else can get access to.

Originally posted by Skyfish
As for Ribahanna I am sorry but reloading because you get rioting cities is just cheating, you do get an advantage from it.
No, it just saves time compared to checking ALL your cities three times to make sure EVERY turn. I wish there were a riot warning appearing automatically, opening the city screen for adjustment each time rioting is imminent, it would make game progress so much smoother.
Of course I don't reload if the riots are the result of a luxury trade gone sour or an enemy unit stepping on my gold square.

Ribannah said:I wish there were a riot warning appearing automatically, opening the city screen for adjustment each time rioting is imminent, it would make game progress so much smoother.

I do so agree!! Civ2 had the Attitude Advisor, which helped, but in Civ3 you have to use F1 and count heads. Yet another case where Firaxis could easily make the play of the game less onerous!! (Like having to actually open diplomacy to see what the AI has to trade! F2 displays available resources, but Techs and Treasury are only visible in diplomacy.)

While I agree that reloading may be a quicker way to prevent rioting than checking each city, there is no way to differentiate between reloading for this purpose and reloading for a clearly improper reason. And the GOTM rules clearly state "Most importantly, it is not allowed to reload. Only when the game crashes or you accidentally press the wrong button you may continue from an autosave, but otherwise never." Not even to simplify riot control. :(

Ribannah you are found guilty of reloading, a crime punishable by the GOTM Forum. :)

There are two ways to prevent disorder in cities:
1. Governors - which are stupid AI helpers
2. Manual checking - which takes time

You have to decide for one of them like we all do.
I, for instance have every game about 20 times when cities go in disorder because i'm not careful. Do I reoad? No!
I can handle the consequences and at some point I start using the governors despite the disadvantages.
It's the way the game works.

Originally posted by Ribannah

No, it just saves time compared to checking ALL your cities three times to make sure EVERY turn. I wish there were a riot warning appearing automatically, opening the city screen for adjustment each time rioting is imminent, it would make game progress so much smoother.
Of course I don't reload if the riots are the result of a luxury trade gone sour or an enemy unit stepping on my gold square.

I wouldn't have thought that checking your city in a OCC is that onerous....

No, Ribannah, it is reloading in an illegal manner. Don't do it next time. There are other ways (like making the (un)happy citizens clearer to see) to counter-effect rioting.

By the way, does that really matter that much: preventing a city from rioting? I never check my cities before the end of the turn and make my city happier when it is rioting.

Originally posted by ainwood
I wouldn't have thought that checking your city in a OCC is that onerous....
LOL - of course in my OCC games even I can manage happiness in the normal way, so it appears that in the games I actually submitted I have not commited a crime. :)
The games that I didn't play OCC I couldn't submit because I was unable to finish in time ....
Originally posted by Matrix
By the way, does that really matter that much: preventing a city from rioting? I never check my cities before the end of the turn and make my city happier when it is rioting.
You lose production, food and commerce from that city for the turn.
Note: there is annoying bug that may display cities rioting the turn you chose a new government, while in fact they aren't (the screen is still based on happiness under anarchy, but the calculations correctly measure happiness under the new government).

Originally posted by civ_steve
While I agree that reloading may be a quicker way to prevent rioting than checking each city, there is no way to differentiate between reloading for this purpose and reloading for a clearly improper reason.
That holds for the allowed reasons for reloading, too. :)

There is basically only one (still limited) way to check for cheating: to demand that everyone keeps a written log of the game, so that suspicious cases of extreme luck can become apparent.
This is how we ran the old Civ2 OCC challenges, and it was very entertaning to see those logs posted, too. Of course there were only a handful of us at the time, but I would enjoy reading the game logs of the top scorers.

Originally posted by Ribannah
Note: there is annoying bug that may display cities rioting the turn you chose a new government, while in fact they aren't (the screen is still based on happiness under anarchy, but the calculations correctly measure happiness under the new government).

I believe the domestic advisor recalculates the mood of your citizens each time you move the science/luxury sliders. So when facing such a problem (which also happens when losing/acquiring a luxury during a turn) just move your science/luxury slider up and back once to see the correct display of citizen moods.

It does, but you still have to compare # of happy heads to # of unhappy heads. This can be very time-consuming for a large empire! (The Civ2 Attitude Advisor would also change the color of the Name of the city from Red to White, clearly showing that the city has been brought out of disorder. Civ3 F1 Advisor doesn't do this.)

If I'm cognizant enough of my cities' statuses, I'll adjust prior to riot (typically early on or small # of cities.) Later on, with large # of cities, if 1 or 2 do riot the effect is not as significant. (Still, this is annoying, because the choice is to diminish your game result a bit vs diminish your game enjoyment by constantly checking. Firaxis shouldn't punish the players, their customers, like this!)

Originally posted by Yndy
2. Manual checking - which takes time

Ever since I upgraded the smiley graphics, it's so easy to manually check for unhappiness. Instead of checking for it city by city, I just go to the advisor screen and look at the list of cities.:) Take about 2 seconds to look at that list (I normally have at least 300 cities in my game; so we are not talking about a small list here;)).

And the GOTM rules clearly states "Most importantly, it is not allowed to reload. Only when the game crashes or you accidentally press the wrong button you may continue from an autosave, but otherwise never."

I guess if you don't have a crash or press the wrong button you have to play the game through to the end, nonstop. ;) Thank goodness for crashes and button pressing.

Reminds me of Earth: 2025 when we had a huge war going on. Staying online 24/7 was required as to survive a full-blown attack you had to play turns. Since I had to be around anyway I traded my way to the top, placing new orders the moment the last batch was sold. :)

I just downloaded the smiley heads. I was #1024 to do so, a magic number! :crazyeye:

To change the subject here:

WOW, i ended 5th place and am now in the green in the global ranking. Gosh, very proud of myself as no one else has noticed this. :jump: [party] [party] [party] :beer:

Thanks all for all the good game-play advice.

Matrix, hope you keep up the good work, CIV-life woudn't be the same without the challanging of GOM. :goodjob:

MPF

Again, I ask:

What do the color codes mean in the global ranking?

Note, it really doesn't matter much for me since I am solidly in the grey. <sigh>

Iver-P, they don't mean sh*t. It's just a psycological border, which I added just for fun and because it looks better. ;)

What a day, just saw I'm 6th in gotm11, 9th in gotm12, and 2nd in tournie 3-1 leader div.

All those hours of wasting my life behind the pc are finally paying off :)

Think I have to continue gotm 13 after all and try to get in top 25 global ranking.

ProPain