The Gotm20-Spanish game will be a Deity level event but for players who wish to have a greater challenge we will support an optional and more difficult game version known as the "Predator Class" game.

You may only choose and play each GOTM game once. This means that the "Predator Class" games represent an extra set of optional risks and challenges for experienced players.

The central event of the GOTM will continue to be the "Open Class" game just like all the games we have played in recent months. All players will be measured against the results tables and standards set by the experienced and successful "Open Class" players.

There will be NO added scoring differential for "Predator Class" games versus "Open Class" games.

"Predator Class" games may be submitted to the QSC scoring process. For the purposes of the QSC ranking only, the "Predator Class" games may receive a QSC scoring offset to compensate for some obvious differences in the games. The scoring offset for the QSC should be fairly straightforward but may not be determined in advance of the games until we collect some better examples of actual game play.

Predator Class games will be played on the same maps as Open Class and Conquest Class Games and will start from exactly the same starting positions. The production difficulty levels and AI costs advantages will be the same for games in the Open and Conquest classes of play. Instead of changing the game mechanics by increasing the key features that get set in the "difficulty level" we will use other techniques to encourage players to rise to new challenges while still keeping the basic game strategy issues similar enough to the Open Class games to facilitate meaningful discussion and comparison.

Participation in the Predator Class games will be open to all players who do not chose to participate in the Open Class or Conquest Class events for that particular game. There is no obligation or implication that a player must continue to play the Predator Class game instead of the Open Class game.

The differences between the Open Class games and Predator Class games can be significant depending on the difficulty level of the Open Class game. The differences may include voluntary restrictions on chosen victory conditons and/or the usage of specific units and/or improvements/wonders. The use of certain traceable but normally allowed "game exploits" may be voluntarily restricted in the Predator Class game announcement.

For Gotm20 we will keep the definition of the Predator Class game simple in order to help identify the procedural mechanics of how the game will work.
For Gotm20-Spain the Predator Class games will:

have the opening hut benefits reduce to zero
have the Barbarian intensity raised to "Raging"
Target a victory condition of "Conquest"
Must play the game in PTW


http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gifPredator Class games will be internally marked for identification by the GOTM scoring process but it would be helpful if Predator Class players would display the CFC Swordsman icon at the beginning of all their message posts in any strategy or spoiler discussion threads so that other players can help to keep any discussions framed in the proper context.

Originally posted by cracker


Must play the game in PTW



Why? Is there any technical problem or is this the first hint suggesting that the plain CivIII players will have less opportunities also in the future?

Not really a technical problem, just that I made the decision for now that raging barbarians in PTW would be the choice for the Predator Game for Gotm20.

Not less opportunities for Civ3 players just less work for Aeson, Cracker and all the other GOTM staff.

We monitor who is playing the game in what version of the software and for now this lets us just eliminate one permutation in a month when the open class game would be at Deity level anyway.

After reading the changes regarding the conquest class I was skeptical, but the additional difficulty is very nicely put. Raging barbs are a like half a level above deity until the middle ages. Conquest victory is somewhat harder to achieve, avoiding the diplo or spaceship ‘easy ways out’. I’m definitely into this.
Some comments and questions.
I guess that starting with the Predator class save but ending up with a different victory condition will automatically qualify me for the ‘open’ class while a defeat will give me some honor in claiming a ‘Predator’ defeat.

I guess that a milked conquest victory is still a conquest victory.

Could you please spell-out why precisely conquest and not conquest/domination for example or culture?

How do you see the Predator class going in the future GOTM (same conditions or will predators play with one arm tied to the back?)

I have mixed feelings about the new classes. I am not sure I even want to finish # 19 now.

Well, I am sure that all of the top players will go to predator class and so will I also, otherwise the purpose of playing GOTM will be lost to me, no way to compare my game against the most experience players.

But gee whiz.........things change too much too fast in this GOTM business for people like me who have to work most of the time and can only game part of the time.

Now pehaps some of the top players will not like being restricted to conquest and then play open. Suddenly the GOTM no longer exists as some of the top players play pred and others open and the THERE IS NO GAME WHERE YOU CAN PLAY COMPARATIVELY AGAINST THE TOP PLAYERS. The is a sad day I fear as the GOTM may have shot themselves in the foot.

My great and last hope is that 90% of the top players will refuse to play in the Pred class in protest to having only one victory condition.

This whole thing is extemely dissapointing. I could understand perfectly a junior class for inexperienced players.

ltcoljt,

It is not necessarily guaranteed that the predator class game will always have a specified victory condition. SOme of this will depend on the game concepts being applied.

I would not recommend that you attempt to play the Predator Class game at this point in time. The choice will be yours, but my impression is that a few more games in the open class may help your perspective a little and might give you a stronger sense of community. This next game is going to be a Deity level game and my evaluation of the things I have read and seen would lead me to feel that you will get more out of the game if you continue to

We are particularly sensity to NOT doing things that do segregate the community into permanent divisions. We are fairly conficent that these games implemented the way they are designed will not produce this unwanted segregation. There will still be one game, with one map, but some players may choose to play the game with one arm tied behind their back will other players will be given a little extra help to aid them in participating as active and full members of the community.

Gotm17-Carthage was your first and only full GOTM game with us. I urge you to give the process and the community and well as yourself more time to find the participation level that is right for you and that will let you develop respectful relationships with the players around you.

You also rest assured that all of the top players will not make the jump to the predator class games because that is not the designed intent. There will be no scoring incentive to make that jump and the game will generally require a much different intensity than the Open Class game that we design with you in mind. You have my assurance that these three game intensity levels will not create divisions or a reduction in the quality and quantity of game play discussion because we will intervene externally to make sure that these key features of the GOTM games are preserved at all costs.

Originally posted by ltcoljt
I have mixed feelings about the new classes. I am not sure I even want to finish # 19 now.

Well, I am sure that all of the top players will go to predator class and so will I also, otherwise the purpose of playing GOTM will be lost to me, no way to compare my game against the most experience players.

I will always be in the "Open" class. Since I'm a builder, I don't like raging barbs and barbs in PTW are very smart too.

Well I wouldn't consider myself a top player, but I probably won't play the Predator class either. I'm still a little undecided, but I was thinking to go for a culture victory. I played conquest in gotm17 and I like to spread my victory conditions around a bit. Keeps the game more fun for me. I think culture victory would be just as hard as conquest in a deity level game, depending on the map size. If it's a large map then conquest would be much harder, but on a small map culture would be harder.

I still consider myself as a beginner at civ3, hopefully that will change soon so I can play a fun predator game.

Question: The human can only win this class via conquest...does this mean the other victory conditions are turned off? Can the AI still win via Diplomacy/Space?

I want to apologize for anything inappropriate or offensive in my post above. I tend to go over the top sometimes and sometimes my emotions get ahead of my brain.

All of the victory conditions are ON in the game but in order to receive recognition as the highest scoring game in the Predator class you must meet the designated victory condition. Humns could still technically play this predator game for a different victory condition other than designated target but that would not qualify them the recognition as the best game.

All Predator Class games will still be scored into the results tables just like the Open Class games so essentially the Predators just have all the same risks and strategy problems plus a few extra issues that would not appear in the Open Class game.

For this game example, since Gotm20-Spain is already a Diety level game, the differences between the Open Class game and the Predator Class game may seem relatively small compared to what we might see if the Open Class game was at Regent of Monarch difficulty.

ltcoljt: I'm skeptical that very many people will play Predator, at least the first month. Seems to do no harm if they want to. Remember that there are any number of "top players" that don't play GOTM at all. Maybe this change will increase the total number of participants (presumably this is one of cracker's goals). The idea that you need to be able to compare yourself against every single possible opponent in order to enjoy playing seems wrong to me. I think it makes sense to have a higher difficulty option when the GOTM is Regent level, it just seems boring to play against such weak opponents (no offense).

Originally posted by Moonsinger
I will always be in the "Open" class. Since I'm a builder, I don't like raging barbs and barbs in PTW are very smart too.
I don't like raging barbs either, I think they're the optional challenge I like least in CivIII.

I sure do like the concept of the Predator class. But between the raging barbs, having gone conquest in GOTM19, and this being a Deity game already I may not go Predator this time. I guess it will depend on map size and time I expect to have available to play - conquest does have the advantage of being one of the faster games...

(Edit: And Predator might make it much faster again :lol: )

Originally posted by Moonsinger
Since I'm a builder, I don't like raging barbs and barbs in PTW are very smart too. I dread to imagine what the "End of Era" uprisings are like at raging on Deity in PTW. Probably capable of wiping out your entire tile improvements to date :lol:

Ted

Originally posted by SirPleb
I sure do like the concept of the Predator class. But between the raging barbs, having gone conquest in GOTM19, and this being a Deity game already I may not go Predator this time. I guess it will depend on map size and time I expect to have available to play - conquest does have the advantage of being one of the faster games...

I'm going with you on that.:) I would like to take back what I said previously about the "will always be" part. Sure, the Predator class can be fun too. Since I rarely get anything good from the huts anyway, I probably won't notice anything different. Raging barbs can be a blessing in some game because it would definitely keep the AIs busy for awhile.

PS: Since this is a Deity game, I will go with the "open" class for now.

Am I the only one who is truly frightened by the concept of a Deity level game with the cards stacked against you from the start? I hope not.

I do like the idea, however. Because this is a competition against other Civers, difficulty settings are arbitrary. Should these "divisions" continue in subsequent GsOTM, I think I'll have to give "Predator" a try.

I'll stick with "Open" for now. I've never beaten Deity....until GOTM 20. (must.....remain.....optimistic.....)

I'll stick with "Open" for now. I've never beaten Deity....until GOTM 20. (must.....remain.....optimistic.....)


ditto :lol:

If anyone doesn't think raging barbs on Deity are tough try Epic 26!

The barbs will probably eat me alive, but I think I will go for the Predator class game. I can hardly do worse than in GOTM19 :)
Fast expansion would appear to be the key so there is as little FOW as possible. I've also seen people use empty cities as barb magnets at the time of the uprising, reducing the losses caused by plundering.

The best thing about Barbs on Deity is the AI expands fast enough to eliminate most uprising possibilities. Then all that's needed is enough Warriors to keep the open spots free of FoW around the turn of the era.

The only time barbarians are really nasty on Deity is if you have an isolated start.

If the AIs are anywhere near you, they'll wipe out the barbarians pretty quick.

Getting no hut bonuses is no biggie, since you wouldn't normally dare to enter huts on Deity anyway unless you were expansionistic. The few you got through 'safe' methods probably wouldn't yield much anyway.

-Sirp.

Considering the place of peanuts on the foodchain, this humble Peanut would very soon be the prey in Predator class. Especially a peaceful Spanish Peanut surrounded by very hungry diety class rivals and swarms of raging barbarians with a taste for light snacks.

However it seems a great idea especially if we less experienced players can gain some deeper insights into how the GOTM Predators approach their game - strategies, techniques, how they handled unforeseen problems and so on.

So, all you Predators out there - please put your thoughts and experiences in writing.

I will be watching keenly to learn something new, probably from the relative safety of the Conquest class (unless I feel particularly bold this month).

I am impressed by the thought Cracker and his team have put into the GOTMs, as well their willingness to put in long hours to help all of us have a more enjoyable game experience.

Sirp makes a good point about the relatively low impact of the barb and hut modifications. It pretty much comes down to whether you want to go for a conquest victory or not. Since I don't have PTW, I don't have a choice.

I am looking forward to more radical Predator mods in future, lower-level games that are available for 1.29.

Well, I wouldn't rule out an isolated start, in which case the barbarian changes make a BIG difference. Do we know what the barbarian settings are going to be for everyone else?

-Sirp.

I don't know what the barb settings are in the other two classes but, based on the last two games' difficulty levels, I'd be stunned if the deity game had an isolated start. For me, that would be tougher than all the Predator modifications combined.

I don't agree with the hut assesment, huts are always of value, its just the value is reduced as the difficulty goes up. I still have no problem trading a few warriors for a free tech. I'm not one to ignore huts and let the expansionist civs get them either.

Also the threat of barbs is minimal, as always. There are acceptable loses, this is mainly workers and improvements. I would never let them sack an important city and destroy a lot of shields, and usually they don't take much gold if you don't have it, so its possible to be wary and ignore barb defense. But in all diety games I doubt this will be much of a problem, the problem will be the civs who have production benefits and a strategy for building real units with real goals. In other words if you are playing defensive and can't stop barbs, its not likely you'll be able to stop any aggressive civs. (Except that you can't bribe barbs with tech deals and the like.) On the other hand if you are the aggressor, then barbs hardly stack up.


I'm undecided whether I am going to play the Predator class, it sounds fun, but I usually get annoyed when the computer opponents gets too many cheating advantages. However, I suspect that cracker's goals are to make for a better challenge in a raw strategic sense, not in the sheer production numbers advantage that is the bulk of the current diety difference. That is, things along the lines of the benefit Rome got last game, and the macer units in gotm18.

Originally posted by pilferman
I'll stick with "Open" for now. I've never beaten Deity....until GOTM 20. (must.....remain.....optimistic.....)

Same here pilferman.... :)

No predator class for me this month (says Renata, who has yet to beat deity on her own), but looking forward to seeing what some of the modifications are for the lower levels in future months.

Renata

Well I wouldn't expect to see you playing predator class, Renata, but I do hope you're not tempted to play conquest class. I have full confidence in you to get your first Deity win this month. :)

Oh, and you haven't beaten Deity on your own *or* in a group.....yet :)

-Sirp.

Yeah, just waiting for Borealis to put the hammer down. :D Nope, no conquest for me, either. I may even have time to try a couple of deity practice games before June.

Renata

Sigh me too. I've lost the last two deity GOTM games I've attempted and won all the Emperor ones comfortably. I expect there are a lot of others in the same position.

Hopefully next month, there will be a lot of folks beating deity for the first time - and the open game will be fine for me thanks. Sneaking a UN win or a launching spaceship while all the AIs destroy each other will be my aims. ;)

@ col: LOL that sounds like a plan. :D

Renata

Yes, it does. Assuming I'll last that long, off course...:(

Wow, I expected a few more bravado posts. I certainly won't be trying Predator myself, but I expected to see a few heavyweights sign up. No mention of a N city challenge, either.
;)

Barbs could be a real problem if left unchecked, but it could also be a huge cash cow/vet factory if you can farm it.

I'm not crazy about the Conquistador (horses+Nav), but it would probably be useful for the conquest victory.

I'll try it. Since I got outscored by many in the last GOTM's I'll go for Predator only for the glory of doing so. I could justify a defeat with the higher level and claim additional laurels should I manage to get a victory. I lost the Babylon Deity GOTM in December but it was close. I've won several deity games back home but none with raging barbs.

Yndy, you OUTSCORED me {in the last game if I recall correctly} I think this conquest in Deity will be probably draggin me into the late industrial or even modern ages.

{GM, let us avoid discussing currntly open games and the partial score results outside of the spoiler threads until the games have closed - cracker)

I'm so glad that Cracker didn't mandate that upper 25% to be in Predator Class.:) Let's hope that he doesn't change his mind on this.;)

Go away for a few days, and see what has changed at GOTM! Predator Class! Sounds tasty :D ... but not at Deity level. (Maybe GOTM21)

I like the idea of ramping up the challenge for the more experienced players, while providing additional bonuses to aid the less experienced. This type of simple tailoring should expand the attractiveness of GOTM to the typical player.

The plus to isolated starts on diety is that you may be able to get a signifigant amount of land without needing to go through an early war. It is however very important that you (assuming Islands land mass) get contact with most cives before they do, and use some superior trading techniques to catch up on the techs (Hint - don't trade contacts untill right before they would get them anyway - do trade maps)... which means some boats will be lost in the sea/ocean... I've generaly found raging barbs to work in my favor - it does slow the AI down a turn or two, sometimes more if they manage to kill a settler. If you adjust your play (I build a few early archers - since on PTW you can't depend on them to attack your spearmen...) everything should be fine...

No GOTM19 spoilers please guys :(

I like the idea of Predator class and will certainly give it a try, but I don't really like Conquest victories though...

If you recall the ONLY Conquest victory in GOTM14 was from Sirian with Modern Armors in 1750. Since I always have very little time to finish GOTMs I probably will not have the time to finish Predator for GOTM20 :aargh:

Will still have to ponder that decision...

Yes I must admit, it seems a little strange to me that you 'have' to win by conquest to qualify in the Predator division.

Anyone who wins by domination or culture could certainly have won by conquest if they wanted to.

I can understand diplomatic and spacerace being excluded though, as they are slightly easier options.

-Sirp.

Originally posted by Skyfish
If you recall the ONLY Conquest victory in GOTM14 was from Sirian with Modern Armors in 1750.

If I remember correctly, there was at least one other player who reduced each of the two remaining AIs to just one city, then milked all the way to 2050AD. If that isn't "Conquest" victory than I don't know what else.;)

I usually find conquest to be a pretty boring mopping-up of a domination victory, but I do see a difference on deity. Like almost all players, I won't seize control of a deity conquest game early on. Playing catch-up, my civ won't really come into its own militarily until well into armored warfare, sometime between 1600 and 1750. By then, I'll have to potentially alienate the powerful civs in short order by knocking out a few spaceships. Then I would have to take every city by 2050 from civs that probably still have big, powerful militaries, thanks to the deity production bonuses. It could be tight, whereas there is no time factor at any of the lower levels.

Originally posted by Sirp
Yes I must admit, it seems a little strange to me that you 'have' to win by conquest to qualify in the Predator division.
It may only seem strange if you allow yourself the luxury of lack of perspective.

The mapmaker get to choose the conditions and if a restricted victory condition in either the Predator or Conquest class makes sense then you will probably see these restrictions. You can still play the Predator class game and go for another victory condition, but this will not qualify you for recognition this month as the top Predator class game.

Some of these decisions are based on big picture issues of looking at the actual game itself plus the participations profiles of players that we believe will be potentail Predator class participants.

There is nothing really strange or wierd about the "conquest" victory designation for the Predator class game for Gotm20-SPain when you consider the traits of the civ, combined with the UU as implemented by Firaxis, and then even a minimal historic perspective of Historic Spain an her role in the Reconquista/Holy League/Conwuest of the New World/Holy Roman Empire/Armada .

Utimately it comes down to choosing what this game would be at the more intense game level for this given month. (don't be picky, just smack 'em).

If I remember correctly, there was at least one other player who reduced each of the two remaining AIs to just one city, then milked all the way to 2050AD. If that isn't "Conquest" victory than I don't know what else.

Aha...see if you had not milked your game maybe I would remember it :)
Winning in 2050 has *nothing* to do with a Conquest victory since you could as well win by Domination, Cultural or Space so sorry but you did not win by Conquest in my eyes.
This does not take anything away from your game of course.

Well, if the AI is down to 1 city, I highly doubt taking that very last city would all that difficult. It would be considered conquest in my mind, they just didn't go through the process of killing the last city that would have taken 2 seconds to accomplish.

There were actually 4 people who held off winning until 2050 A.D., and I'm sure most of them (if not all) kept the last remaining AI(s) down to 1 or 2 cities to prevent them from launching spaceships, etc.

Has anyone ever LOST in 2050 AD? It should be possible to arrange a domination/conquest/diplomacy multi-loss. Spaceship is a bit harder but not altogether impossible. :)

Don't forget histographic! :crazyeye:

Originally posted by Ribannah
Has anyone ever LOST in 2050 AD? It should be possible to arrange a domination/conquest/diplomacy multi-loss. Spaceship is a bit harder but not altogether impossible. :)
My GOTM18 final save is set up so that one of the options is a 2050 Diplomatic loss - build the UN and vote for Hannibal. That isn't a hard one to set up of course.

I've tried in the past to get a conquest loss in 2050 from a couple of my HOF games and it is surprisingly difficult. I gifted all cities but one to my rival, disbanded all troops, declared war, and let them take a shot. Even with railroads providing trivial access to come in and take me, they didn't do it. I tried once leaving just a settler as a sitting duck. They still didn't take the bait. Something about the overwhelming number of new cities seems to stop them from focusing on the final blow. So although I imagine there's a way to do it, the obvious approach isn't a sure thing.

A domination loss in 2050 would take a lot of work I think. Problem with this one is that giving away cities results in them losing their cultural expansion. An approach which I think ought to work would be a carefully established ICS where all territory remains held without any culture. Expand just short of Domination, then gift it all to an AI having set it up so that it remains the same size when gifted.

Space, culture 100K, and culture 20K - tough ones! I can't think of any way to control the timing on those for 2050...

I thought I remember Aeson one time donating all of his cities to France at 2050 AD. I think he had enough points to earn a medal or something, but he didn't get it since it was a loss (must be a victory to get the award). I can't remember if it was a GOTM, tournament game, or HoF submission, as it was a long time ago.

Diplomatic would be easiest, if you time the UN right, just vote for the other guy. Domination could be accomplished by donating all your cities. Conquest, abandon all cities, but leave 1 right next to the AI (and hope they have fast moving units). Spaceship and culture would be the hardest to lose by at exactly 2050 A.D.

A domination loss in 2050 would take a lot of work I think. Problem with this one is that giving away cities results in them losing their cultural expansion. An approach which I think ought to work would be a carefully established ICS where all territory remains held without any culture. Expand just short of Domination, then gift it all to an AI having set it up so that it remains the same size when gifted.

Or have extra settlers lying around like I did in GOTM18. At 2049 A.D. found all those new cities, then donate them all.

What I was thinking of is this: sign a ROP and move in your Workers. By irrigating and mining you can control the speed of the AI's production. It still has to start building those spaceship parts to begin with, of course.

20K culture is somewhat similar, you make sure the AI has sufficient wonders to build and then you sit back and hope. It'll be rare.

To get both would be miraculous!

Originally posted by cracker

You also rest assured that all of the top players will not make the jump to the predator class games because that is not the designed intent. There will be no scoring incentive to make that jump and the game will generally require a much different intensity than the Open Class game that we design with you in mind.


I have no question that plenty of people will jump on conquest class.

However, I wonder how many will jump on predator class. I won't play a more difficult game without getting a bonus for it.

Playing this would simply lower my score in the competition.

I was going to be a Predator in 20, but after more thought, sweaty palms, and reading posts I think I'll stay in the Open class for this one. I've only won a couple of diety games and adding raging barbs would be a nightmare!

Open for me. I still need a solo deity victory, and I don't need to stress out my recovering health over Deity-plus. :p

Originally posted by LKendter



I have no question that plenty of people will jump on conquest class.

However, I wonder how many will jump on predator class. I won't play a more difficult game without getting a bonus for it.

Playing this would simply lower my score in the competition.

Depends why you're playing. :) I will *definitely* be doing predator class in future games at lower levels (Regent, Monarch, possibly emperor depending on what the conditions are). I get bored with a game fast if it gets too easy. So far I've been lucky, in that the GOTM levels have been increasing each month at a similar rate to my own skills. But I had been wondering how much fun it would be for me when the level went back down.

Renata

Renata,

This is definately one of the reasons for introducing the "Predator" Class game concept while we are at or near the top of the curve.

There will be a lot more "predators" when the difficulty of the open class game is lower, but the difference in intensity between the Open Class game and Predator Class game may be greater when the actual difficulty setting of the open class game will be lower.

Originally posted by LKendter
... I won't play a more difficult game without getting a bonus for it. ... Playing this would simply lower my score in the competition.
This may be one of the totally legitimate decision criteria that you may have to use to decide where the right intensity level will be for you to play. For many players, the increased challenge of the Predator class may not result in an overall decrease in their resulting score for the game because they will define ways to turn the increased difficulty elements into a bonus the benefits their chose strategic approach to play.

In some ways the Predator class is designed to just install an additional level of bragging rights that tries to move us further away from overfixating on "score" elements as opposed to stories of strategic events that are backed up with some numeric data. There is a slight difference here that I in particular am hoping we can comfortably emphasize.

Posted by cracker :
In some ways the Predator class is designed to just install an additional level of bragging rights that tries to move us further away from overfixating on "score" elements as opposed to stories of strategic events that are backed up with some numeric data. There is a slight difference here that I in particular am hoping we can comfortably emphasize.

...and I thank you very much for this cracker as the Predator class has strongly rekindled my interest in GOTM.
The Predator class is a great idea and a move in the right direction, I will do everyhting possible to support it, i.e. playing it in GOTM 20.
I am definitely not a score player, but because I like trying new stuff I went for a different style of play in GOTM18, enjoyed it pretty much and was greatly rewarded with an 11th place. Even though I believe I could get in the top10 one day, I am not too much interested in "playing for score".
With the advent of the Jason scoring system and this new development, I am guaranteed more exciting games in the future.
:)

Can somebody point me to instructions on how to display the swordsman icon, the ptw icon and the other stuff that Cracker wants, as well as site guidelines on posting screenshots. All of this stuff should be linked into the main GOTM web page but simple stuff like that which would be helpful is being overlooked, probably because of staff workload.

You may use the "Quote" button to display the code content of any message that presents an example of doing things your would like to copy or emulate.

As an example you can go to my first message of this thread and push the quote button and it will display a box that contains all the inner workings of that message. This will include the img tag link directly to the swordsman icon that you may choose to display if you play the Predator game.

For posting images, examples are the best teacher of techniques that are not listed in teh site FAQ. Go to any message that includes mutiple images from someone who you admire their style and then use the quotae button to see how the did it. A MIRACLE WILL OCCUR and you will be enlightened.

good luck in the game.

Give a guy some code and he will have some code.

Teach a guy to steal some code and he will go around thieving and leave you alone.

cracker: Why not see if you can include those icons in with the smilies More page? I would assume vBulletin is as configurable as phpBB which allows that sort of thing. This would certainly be much easier than remembering the links and or how ever else someone would do it. (ie :ptw: :swordsman: ...)


So has anyone decided to play the predator game?

The lose of Wheel would seem to be the most harmful to the score (not from lack of it, but the trading value it represents that early). I'm assuming since the first tier techs no longer add any to score, than the absense of the tech wouldn't matter. So ignoring that path will bring you closer in competition to the open game.

Arrrrrr, much as I'd like to compete against Skyfish, I think I'll go with the open class... I've been doing other things than Civving these past few months, and so I think the Deity level will be challenging enough. Maybe some other time.

No worries guys !
I'd be perfectly happy to be the only one going for Predator :D

:lol:

I think Cracker ought to create a special spoiler thread just for those who lose this game. We could call it the Skyfish Realm.

just kidding


:D

Skyfish--just so you do not feel lonely--I'll join you. First GOTM, Predator it is!

Let the carnage begin :hammer:

Of course, I am not a distinguished member of the RSPAI, like you... :lol:

Originally posted by LKendter



I have no question that plenty of people will jump on conquest class.

However, I wonder how many will jump on predator class. I won't play a more difficult game without getting a bonus for it.

Playing this would simply lower my score in the competition.

To be honest, I was up for it. Unfortunately I don't have PTW.

I'm partly relieved and partly disappointed - a victory on Predator would mark a real achievement for me at this stage in my Civ education.

Still, if you've played plenty of GOTMs I can understand why you'd be wary of playing a tough game for no reward. No disrespect of anyone's choices - I'm just listing mine.

Cracker, you start doing Predator class in 1.29 and I'll be there. Maybe a few others will join me.

Just so you don't feel lonely. I am bringing the :hammer: this game too. After two peaceful victories maybe this will encourage a bit more war mongering and actually help to improve my diety game.

Hotrod

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif

Alright Hotrod! Looks like you, me, Jack Merchant, and Skyfish that I can see. I have no idea how I am going to do, and with two new Epics opening, I am in serious feast mode.

No new SGs for me for this month.

Also, don't plan on seeing me in any of the discussions until I am finished (pummeled? :lol: ). Then there will be a lengthy report. Nothing against the GOTM community, just my tastes--I do not want to discuss a game at all until I have played it--no pregame, no in-game. Just me against the AI. See you when the carnage clears :hammer:

P.S. In light of my listing of who I know to be the participants--one thing that would be useful to know is all who are planning to take on this challenge, I'd would be nice to know who is sharing the *fun* :eek:

Feel the same Bam-Bam I never played with spoilers and never read s single GOTM spoilers until my game was finished.

I will certainly start this game however I have no idea if I can finish it...I know Jack is playing it as well...

Good luck to you my friend !

:D

Indeed - I have already started and I think I will be allowed to say, even with the spoilers closed still, that it's tons of fun !

I have no intention of joining the Skyfish realm though :eek: ;)

Aha I see my club is getting bigger and bigger :
Welcome Jack !
Nice to have you with us the more the merrier :band:

I have no worries about your chances, Skyfish, after watching you and the rest of that AWE team put the :hammer: down in 1060 AD. OMFG!!! :worshp: And to think, I got my #$% handed to me in AWM.

This game will be um, fun, even if it is :suicide: :lol:

Welcome Bam-Bam,

Hopefully we will see more of you "Predatating" the AIs in the future.

I just want to emphasize for your benefit that the discussion processes both pregame and the in phases as you complete the game are part of what helps to make the GOTM games a community.

Execution of the processes in a high skill manner is just as improtant as trying to keep the answers secret from the otehr players.

I encourage you to look at the recent spoiler threads and some posts of well respected players to get a better idea of how we encourage you to use these phased spoilers to convey the stroy of your game in a way that will let other less experienced players benefit from your skills and experience long after the game is over.

You can feel free to withhold your spoiler stories until after the game is close if that is your desire. But I do encourage you to try and reinforce a process that is working well while it continues tos support restricted access to much of the information about the game progress.

You will also have a little more fun if you can join in on some discussion of game elements after you finish your sections of the game that would be covered by those discussions. We are fairly rigid in the protection of these discussion threads to keep inappropriate spoiler information excluded from the early discussions.

Good luck in you game.

Oh no worries there cracker,
I think I can speak for myself and Bam-Bam in saying that we will definitely keep track of our progress and report our misfortunes through a report. We both are members of Realms Beyond which as you know requires that each participant provide a full report of their game, so we will definitely do our best in sharing the experience, won't we Bam ?
;)

Absolutely!

Cracker--while I respect how the in-game discussions are important to many if not the large majority of the GOTM community, I cannot feel comfortable playing a solo game and discussing what is happening in the game while I am playing. That is just great for SGs (in fact that is necessary for team success). I feed of the input of folks and learn a whole lot, but comparative games, for me require that I play the whole game without a net. The analogy that fits best for me is that of a test. This is NOT about keeping information away from others--it is ENTIRELY about a test of my own playing. I do not care that others avail themselves of the discussions--more power to them. It does not matter to me that their games may have some benefit from the pre- and during-game discussions--that is others' cup of tea.

Ideally, if I were to play devil's advocate to my own position, I could share progress on my game so that others could benefit (or go down in flames like me....). First, I would not presume that my strategies or tactics would be any better than most (all) of the good players here (in fact they are likely to be worse), and quite frankly, I do not have the time to clean up a report while a game is in progress. The way I keep track of things is with a whole lot of detail--at one point in a game I was reporting, it was like an SG log--which does not make for a good total game report--maybe a good QSC. I have backed off a little, but I do not wish to share uncut, unrefined reporting. I may send in a QSC log, but that will depend on how much feasting is ongoing. Completing the games in progress always wins out over putting work into the report, especially when I know that a report reads better when the author has final knowledge of the game (better perspective leads to a report that has long-term readability).

That being said, I revel in the postgame discussion and promise to provide a very detailed report. While I am not one of the greatest authors, there will be lots of information about the hows, the what's and the why's including lots of screenies. I a game I am currently playing, I have about 50 screenshots taken so far. I suspect that I will use at least 30-40 of them for the report. I haven't yet pulled off a total roleplay report, but I have the itch--maybe this will be the first one? :hmm: