View Full Version : Mongols Halloween Treat Game - Gotm25 Prequel


cracker
Oct 30, 2003, 11:46 PM
This game should be a Halloween treat and intruductory quick game for players who may not have previously played a GOTM but would like to get a feel for what the process is like.

Players can also use this treat game to test their game pack setups and make sure that they have followed the setup instructions.

This Treat game is also an excellent way to familiarize yourself with some of the characteristics of the special Mongols Unit Pack that gives you the choice of 5 unique units that can be mixed and matched to implement specific strategies of Mongol warfare just as the great Mongol General did during the first 50 years of the 13th century when they almost conquered the known world.

Quick Game Synopsis and Story Line

The time is now early in the 1200's AD (ignore your Civ3 internal game timeline except as a turn reference) and you have been summoned before the great Mongol High Council of Elders because your father legendary father Yesugei has died of injuries sustained in horseback riding incident.

The Quiriltai of elders has selected your to assume absolute leadership of the Mongol people and all the armies and horse of the empire.

The Middle Ages have just dawned on the world and the Mongol armies have been amassing a great treasury through the conquest of rich but cowardly far off lands. With this wealth you can equip and train new Mongol military units to center arround your experienced troops who are engaged in fierce barbarian battles on the frontiers of the realm.

Mongol scouts have reported the your two remaining neighbors have grown rich and aggressive and dark storm clouds of war are on the horizon.

Your destiny and the destiny of the Mongol people is to conquer the world as quickly as possible while building as large and as rich of an empire as possible.

Ringing in your ears are the words that your father had often whispered to you as he tucked you in at night beneath your yak skinned blankets, "Remember my son, the greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters."

Game Situation

You begin the game with all of your military fully engaged protecting the frontier but your empire is strong and you are in the Mongol equivalent of Monarchy with 10,000 units of gold in your treasury to be used to focus your empire on the objectives that your shall define.

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/2003images/gotm_treat_frontier_horde.jpg

Technologywise you have already obtained the secrets to Monotheism, Feudal Warlords, Samurai Code, Engineering, and Invention.

Your two enemies are similarly financially endowed and they have military powers that will potentially overwhelm you at specific times and places on the map.

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/2003images/gotm_treat_start_mini.jpg

Rules

Do Not Attempt to Submit this game as a QSC or complete game for scoring. Just play the game and then share a synopsis of how you did by taking some basic notes and capturing some screenshots as you play. Do not get into such an impatient rush that you sprint past all the fun things that will be happening around you.

You must be properly setup to play Gotm25-Mongols before attempting to play these Mongol Treat Games.

This thread is not a spoiler thread for this game. Do not post game reports or game information here. Please post a reply to this thread to indicate that your may be playing one of the choices listed below. This post is sort of like your registration for the game so we can get a little bit of an idea of how many people attempt to download and start playing one of the Mongol Treat games.

Choices

You can choose the diffculty level of the game that you will play ranging from a Warlord difficulty game in the Conquest Class all the way up to a Deity difficulty game in the Predator Class. The games are essentially equal in their start positions in strengths but there may be tiny differences in the exact unit experience levels and health fo just one or two units due to RNG effects in the setup process.

Civ3v1.29 Conquest Class Mongol Treat Game - Warlord difficulty (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/saves/treat_game_v129_conquest.zip)

Civ3v1.29 Open Class Mongol Treat Game - Monarch difficulty (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/saves/treat_game_v129_open.zip)

Civ3v1.29 Predator Class Mongol Treat Game - Deity difficulty (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/saves/treat_game_v129_predator.zip)

PTW Conquest Class Mongol Treat Game - Warlord difficulty (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/saves/treat_game_ptw_conquest.zip)

PTW Open Class Mongol Treat Game - Monarch difficulty (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/saves/treat_game_ptw_open.zip)

PTW Predator Class Mongol Treat Game - Deity difficulty (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/saves/treat_game_ptw_predator.zip)

Have Fun! Don't get killed. ;)

Txurce
Oct 31, 2003, 12:13 AM
Cracker:

1. How can GOTM26 top this effort?
2. This is a really good idea, both for the practice, and to calm the nervous nellies.
3. Where are the Mac downloads so I can join in the fun?

cracker
Oct 31, 2003, 12:18 AM
Originally posted by Txurce
1. How can GOTM26 top this effort?
Trust me, it already does! ;) ;)

Originally posted by Txurce
3. Where are the Mac downloads so I can join in the fun?
Coming shortly. Sound scripts translation are the limiting factor and I'll get those to alanh shortly.

SirPleb
Oct 31, 2003, 12:59 AM
Wow, thanks Cracker! I'll be trying it, PTW/Deity.

PS: I'm sending you a PM re a setup issue.

DaveShack
Oct 31, 2003, 01:10 AM
Looks like it will be fun. :D I'll try PTW / Monarch, and also sent a PM about a setup issue... :(

Karasu
Oct 31, 2003, 01:23 AM
I simply *have* to give it a go, even though I'll need to pass the game into the other dimension (you know, the one where days last 48 hours)...

It will be 1.29f Open as usual.

tao
Oct 31, 2003, 01:31 AM
Definitely count me in for deity (as soon as the Mac version is available:) ). It will be a great learning experience on how to put the new UUs to their most devastating use. :D

cracker
Oct 31, 2003, 02:05 AM
We had a little bug in the way that PTW seems to handle diplomacy with some civilizations that do not exist in the actual game. So i have included a couple of extra graphics files to bypass the conflict for you if it comes up in your game version.

If you downloaded the save game pack before this message, please accept my apology for any inconvenience and just redownload the zip folder and it should have verything you need to play the treat game.

karmina
Oct 31, 2003, 03:58 AM
Great! I'm heading for Civ1.29f/Open.

Hammurodi
Oct 31, 2003, 04:18 AM
Wow, you seem to read minds. All last night I've wondered
how I could have a practice with these new units and next
morning there's the halloween treat... :D

PTW1.27 conquest monarch for me.

Cheers,
Hammurodi

kryszcztov
Oct 31, 2003, 05:12 AM
Well, I actually don't care for Halloween, it's not in our latin culture, and it's currently invading our children's hearts thanks to pure marketing issues... But I will surely try this treat game ! :) Yesterday I was puzzled when I ran into the GOTM 25 announcement : all those new units ? Are they all UUs ? Do I play with the Keshik or what ? Now I start to see what the deal is, the GOTM event is a real modded game... fortunately it is done very well.

PTW 1.27f Predator for me, and probably for GOTM 25 as well : same obstacles than for GOTM 24, which didn't hurt me a lot... Hoping for great battles and strategies. :cool:

leif erikson
Oct 31, 2003, 06:51 AM
Thank you very much Cracker. What a CivFantastic Halloween Treat. So much for Trick-or-Treat time with the kids, today will be a CivTreat for Dad! "will i ever be in trouble".:eek: :crazyeye:

gogoK
Oct 31, 2003, 07:23 AM
Am I the onmy one that is getting the "Missing File ottoman_crest_all.pcx" message?:confused:

zamint3
Oct 31, 2003, 07:26 AM
Originally posted by cracker
We had a little bug in the way that PTW seems to handle diplomacy with some civilizations that do not exist in the actual game. So i have included a couple of extra graphics files to bypass the conflict for you if it comes up in your game version.



It still doesn't work for me, now there are some other files missing. :(

I guess that Cracker is working on it, but the thought that everybody else is playing is killing me! :cry:

Anybody playing??

I just saw gogoK's message, yes that's the one!!
Now I have peace in my mind! (for another hour ;) )

gogoK
Oct 31, 2003, 07:36 AM
I have actually resolved the mentioned problem by copying another .pcx file and naming it ottoman...pcx, the game loaded further and stopped again with another missing file. This time it was too long to memorize and it was related to the turghaut cavalry folder...
Am asking too - is anybody playing?:wallbash:

King Of America
Oct 31, 2003, 07:52 AM
Same ottoman.pcx message for me. I suspect no one's actually playing.

I'm sure it will be OK in the end. cracker always comes through. And for a chance to test drive the UUs with a whole lot of spending money, the wait will be worth it, I'm sure.

Enjoy the holiday--it never caught on in Israel, although some of us American-Israelis enjoy a nice Thanksgiving dinner (yes, for folks like me, the US is "the old country").

CdB
Oct 31, 2003, 09:09 AM
@King of america / gogok / zamint3

You should PM cracker with information linked to version you are playing what level of the game.

Look at the readme.txt , you need the full setup of GOTM games to be able to play....

It is okay for me using Civ3 and Open Level (Open http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/civ3.jpg)

:worship: Many thanks Cracker :worship:

cracker
Oct 31, 2003, 09:18 AM
Actually, if you encounter the Ottoman pcs file error then it can be simply bypassed by doing the trick of copying the arabs_all.pcx file and renaming it to be the "ottoman_crest_all.pcx" file.

These extra civs are not in the game so it appears to be some sort of new undocumented file reference issue related to one of the more recent PTW patches.

We'll fix this internally in the pediaicons file for the main gotm25 game but for now you can hotwire it by copying and renaming advisor pcx files that really have no impact on any games for the PTW players.

The crash message related to the "turghaut cavalry" would tend to indicate that the two small initialization files that were included in the dowload have not been replaced. Again this problem seems to be related to referencing a file animation that is not used but somehow being called due to a more recent PTW patch. The source of the error is a type that the added xxxxx.ini files fix but it is referenceing a file that is never used by the "turghaut".

Justus II
Oct 31, 2003, 09:25 AM
Count me in! I will try the [ptw] Diety version, since I am debating Predator vs. Open for the actual GOTM.

zamint3
Oct 31, 2003, 09:41 AM
Originally posted by cracker
Actually, if you encounter the Ottoman pcs file error then it can be simply bypassed by doing the trick of copying the arabs_all.pcx file and renaming it to be the "ottoman_crest_all.pcx" file.




Thanks a lot - that saves the day, and the weekend, my wife is out of town and I'm looking forward to playing xx hours :D

bluebox
Oct 31, 2003, 09:53 AM
this is a very good idea - i really wanted to play a try-out game. :goodjob:

actually, i was just busy with fine-tuning a brief scenario with zulus as "Pseudo-mongols", starting in medieval age. i copied the russian cossack four times, renamed them, and implemented the new uu-s with the given stats, together with copied horseman, archer, swordsman in the upgrade path. :D

to play the treat game will be much more comfortable. let's see what were my efforts worth in face of an "official" test game. ;)

bradleyfeanor
Oct 31, 2003, 10:18 AM
Thanks for the Happy Halloween, Cracker! I was really worried about my assumptions on the new units, but this solves everything. As soon as I can get home from work I will download and play Civ classic Diety.

Poonchance
Oct 31, 2003, 10:54 AM
You know...I've never gone through the trouble of downloading any mod packs or GOTM files....yes, yes, I know. Call me a traditionalist. And I've been lurking on this since site before CIV3 was out. Let me say this:

Whoever designed this really has outdone themselves. Because of this scenario/hype (heh), I'm downloading this bad boy. It looks too fun...and basically, it's an expansion pack. (get a job at Atari!)

Seriously, mad props to the people working on these things. I can only imagine how much time is spent on them...and all just for fun. I just want to say thanks.

Peace out....
P..

zagnut
Oct 31, 2003, 11:05 AM
I'll give this a try on PTW Predator level. Thanks for the extra bonus, cracker.

A couple of suggestions if you get the ottoman_crest_all.pcx error:

1. If you follow cracker's advice and rename the arabs_all file make sure you copy the arabs_all file first. Left click on the file. When it is highlighted, right click on it and then left click on Copy. After you rename the arabs_all file then you can just paste back the original arabs_all file into the subdirectory. You will need both files in the Art\Advisors subdirectory for the game to run.

2. When you rename arabs_all, leave off the .pcx extension. Just rename it to ottoman_crest_all. The directory automatically knows it is a pcx file. If you add the pcx extension the program will not load.

This is how I got the game to run on PTW version 1.21.

Wolp
Oct 31, 2003, 12:22 PM
Ah Cracker, once again you amaze us with your effort and brilliance. A full-size candy bar for you at my house for sure! Not one of those infuriatingly small "fun size" ones. What's fun about a one bite candy bar?

As soon as the Mac files are ready I will indulge in this treat in Open mode CivIII 1.29f(b2).

Thanks again, and happy Halloween!

Txurce
Oct 31, 2003, 01:18 PM
The Mac files are ready. The game seems to have no hiccups. I'm playing Predator, and hope to really get into it later on today.

Puppeteer
Oct 31, 2003, 06:03 PM
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. I'm gonna start on the Open Class treat, but not sure if I'll finish it between 6-2 and soon-to-be-released GOTM 25.

EDIT: Having all sorts of missing file problems in addition to the ones mentioned, but I have separate installs of [civ3] and [ptw] and either I or the installer is getting confused. I'm probably just going to reinstall the whole thing in the normal place and try again. (This is not a request for help...still trying to figure it out myself.)

smackster
Oct 31, 2003, 08:37 PM
[ptw] 1.27f Open

I am playing this as I write, lots of fun, lots to learn, so as to keep to the spoiler rules I will only say that I highly recommended loading this before playing GOTM25, and it doesn't really need to take all your time to get a feel for the new units. However, well, ok I'll let you find out.......back to the battle.

psebold
Oct 31, 2003, 09:58 PM
Folks, so far I get a load error every time, and i've even tried to reload the packs from GOTM 21 and 24 ... still nothing. I get:

missing entry in "text\pediaIcons.txt" ANIMNAME_PRTO_Pictish_warrior


anyone?

DaveShack
Oct 31, 2003, 10:49 PM
Hi psebold,

Welcome to GOTM! :)

When seeking advice for this type of problem it is usually best to PM cracker. Also it is critical to state the program version and patch level (CIV3 vs PTW, and 1.29f or 1.14f/1.21f/1.27f. Also if you happen to be on a mac, that's important too.

Also be very careful to load the mod packs corresponding to your game level, and follow all instructions carefully.

Best regards and good luck!

Puppeteer
Nov 01, 2003, 02:18 AM
For the benefit of others having troubles, here is how I solved mine with PTW 1.27f (PC/US) Open Class:

First of all, follow all instructions very carefully. My mistake was carelessness in choosing the folder during the setup. Note that it says to pick the directory "civilization3.exe" is in. In my case the default wasn't right, and I had to choose the right one. (But this is my fault for trying some fancy stuff with installs earlier.) If you reinstalled or didn't play GOTM21 and GOTM24 then you have to make the right choices installing those, too.

Also, there are several files that may need to be placed by hand. See crackers post on page 1 of this thread if you get the "ottoman_crest_all.pcx" error, and note that there are 4 files in the test game save zip that the readme.txt instructs you on how to place/replace.

Making sure all of the above correctly allowed me to load the test game and see all the screens including the Civilopedia and F6.

psebold, I suspect your problem was choosing the wrong install folder or perhaps the wrong setup files for your game type (PTW vs Civ3). When I tried to reinstall my GOTM21 & GOTM24 I had to pay close attention to getting the folder right, but again I think this is because I had some goofy installs and then reinstalled.

Okay, time to play...:goodjob:

EDIT: The GOTM25 saves are available now, and the PTW zips include an updated PediaIcons.txt as cracker said they would. I presume this will work with the test game and fix the "ottoman_crest_all.pcx" error, but I haven't tested that theory yet.

Boyd
Nov 01, 2003, 12:53 PM
cracker...

love it! I was musing that I didn't want to start gotmXXV without understanding the units and playing them and then... voila!

I am starting the on the open class (MAC) and will probably not get to gotmXXV till late next week (again open on MAC 1.29).

So far no problems, including installation... with all due respect to those who say it is too cumbersome, without the installer it takes me less then five minutes and is really quite smooth.

Thanks again.

Hergrom
Nov 17, 2003, 10:45 AM
Originally posted by Puppeteer
EDIT: The GOTM25 saves are available now, and the PTW zips include an updated PediaIcons.txt as cracker said they would. I presume this will work with the test game and fix the "ottoman_crest_all.pcx" error, but I haven't tested that theory yet.

As of Nov 15th, the the PTW zips with updated pediaIcons.txt do not solve the "ottoman_crest_all.pcx" error. The affore mentioned copy and rename fix, however, does.

Better late than never, right?

Hergrom