Bleys
Deity
This is the fourth installment a series called Pick Your Leader. The idea is based on a single, common map, but a selection of AIs to choose from, each with his own unique starting position on that map.
The goal is to see how wildly varied the map becomes with various players taking control of their own choice of Leader.
Due to a bug in the World Builder saves, and how the games are created from scenarios, there are some issues about having a choice of leaders and difficulty AI bonuses. This makes it necessary to do things slightly differently than "normal" saves. This months ZIP files contain 14 WB Saves, two for each leader, labeled "M" and "P", one for those who wish to play Monarch, Emperor, or even Immortal and Deity (Labeled M) and one for those who wish to play at Prince or Noble (labeled P).
Now that we have that taken care of, I will move on to this months theme.
Watery Leaders!
This is a group of Leaders known for their prowess on water based maps. All but one start with Fishing, and most have traits or UU/UBs that are very strong on this type of map.
Once again, I am not going to post Starting Locations. I am simply going to list the leaders, and attach the ZIP, and we can go from there. I will say that the map is a Medium and Small, Unpredictable Continents, regular Islands, with the Island Region mixed in.
I would like to have as many do reports and progress updates as possible, but it is not a requirement of any kind. This is designed to be a FUN series, to see what happens when we alter the human-element in different spots on the map. I am sure most of us have played games where were saw an AIs capitol and starting location and though "Wow, I would like to have tried starting from that spot!" Well this is how the idea was born.
I do ask that all reports be labeled and formatted as follows:
Choice of Leader, Difficulty and Speed, Years covered in report. And then the report itself inside a Spoiler. For example:
Willy, Monarch, Epic, 4000 BC through 1 AD:
This is so that others who do not wish to gain pre-knowledge of the position or resources of others can avoid reading them until they wish too. Sort of like "Since I know Bismark is a Wonder-hog, and saw stone in his starting position, I didnt bother with the Great Wall" kind of thing. Thats kind of another reason to not publish the starts right away, so players can pick a leader without being biased by the starting tiles. If it doesnt work out this way, and folks would rather see the starts like I have done in the past, just mention it. This is YOUR series, not mine. So tell me what you prefer, I dont mind criticism at all, as long as its constructive and polite.
Here is the list of leaders for this month. I went with the normal 7, because water can slow expansion, so there should be plenty of room to get a solid game going.
Isabella, Spain, SPI + EXP
Jaoa II, Portugal, IMP + EXP
Hannibal, Carthage, FIN + CHA
Willem, Dutch, CRE + FIN
Washington, America, CHA + EXP
Mehmed, Ottoman, EXP + ORG
Ragnar, Vikings, FIN + AGG
FIN is well represented, and no wonder, it is widely considered the strongest water-trait because of the instant commerce from Coastal tiles. However, there is a solid mix of Leaders with other strong traits to choose from. I didnt include an IND leader, though, but I am planning an all-IND game soon, with a blind map!
Since all the WB Saves are in a single ZIP this month, all you need to do is download that ZIP, and extract the file of the leader you wish to play, the M for Monarch and above, and the P for Prince and below, and place that WB Save into your My Docs\My Games\BeyondTheSword\Saves\Worldbuilder folder.
Then start the game normally, load your favorite MOD if you wish, and choose "Play a Scenario" from the menu. You will see a listing for the leader you chose, pre-fixed by "PYL IV".
In the Scenario menus, you may choose whichever level of difficulty and speed you wish. All bonuses should be correct now, no more Warrior Rushes on Monarch, and the AIs wont be as slow building Wonders and teching, since they have been given Archer in the Monarch-saves.
If you are a "Prince trying to learn Monarch" level player (I think this is a VERY common skill level on these boards), there are actually 2 choices for you, "Monarch-Light" (playing Monarch level with the Prince ZIP-save, no Archery for the AIs) or "Prince +" (playing Prince level with the Monarch ZIP-save, AIs start with Archery, but will play at Prince "skill" so to speak)
ONE SIDE NOTE: I am pretty confident that the saves are all correct, but if ANYONE runs into any problems, please PM me or post here ASAP. I did not start every single save, I edited one, and started it, and then just made minor changes and re-saved each file, but a stray character here or there is all it takes to muck em up.
The goal is to see how wildly varied the map becomes with various players taking control of their own choice of Leader.
Due to a bug in the World Builder saves, and how the games are created from scenarios, there are some issues about having a choice of leaders and difficulty AI bonuses. This makes it necessary to do things slightly differently than "normal" saves. This months ZIP files contain 14 WB Saves, two for each leader, labeled "M" and "P", one for those who wish to play Monarch, Emperor, or even Immortal and Deity (Labeled M) and one for those who wish to play at Prince or Noble (labeled P).
Now that we have that taken care of, I will move on to this months theme.
Watery Leaders!
This is a group of Leaders known for their prowess on water based maps. All but one start with Fishing, and most have traits or UU/UBs that are very strong on this type of map.
Once again, I am not going to post Starting Locations. I am simply going to list the leaders, and attach the ZIP, and we can go from there. I will say that the map is a Medium and Small, Unpredictable Continents, regular Islands, with the Island Region mixed in.
I would like to have as many do reports and progress updates as possible, but it is not a requirement of any kind. This is designed to be a FUN series, to see what happens when we alter the human-element in different spots on the map. I am sure most of us have played games where were saw an AIs capitol and starting location and though "Wow, I would like to have tried starting from that spot!" Well this is how the idea was born.
I do ask that all reports be labeled and formatted as follows:
Choice of Leader, Difficulty and Speed, Years covered in report. And then the report itself inside a Spoiler. For example:
Willy, Monarch, Epic, 4000 BC through 1 AD:
Spoiler :
This is so that others who do not wish to gain pre-knowledge of the position or resources of others can avoid reading them until they wish too. Sort of like "Since I know Bismark is a Wonder-hog, and saw stone in his starting position, I didnt bother with the Great Wall" kind of thing. Thats kind of another reason to not publish the starts right away, so players can pick a leader without being biased by the starting tiles. If it doesnt work out this way, and folks would rather see the starts like I have done in the past, just mention it. This is YOUR series, not mine. So tell me what you prefer, I dont mind criticism at all, as long as its constructive and polite.
Here is the list of leaders for this month. I went with the normal 7, because water can slow expansion, so there should be plenty of room to get a solid game going.
Isabella, Spain, SPI + EXP
Jaoa II, Portugal, IMP + EXP
Hannibal, Carthage, FIN + CHA
Willem, Dutch, CRE + FIN
Washington, America, CHA + EXP
Mehmed, Ottoman, EXP + ORG
Ragnar, Vikings, FIN + AGG
FIN is well represented, and no wonder, it is widely considered the strongest water-trait because of the instant commerce from Coastal tiles. However, there is a solid mix of Leaders with other strong traits to choose from. I didnt include an IND leader, though, but I am planning an all-IND game soon, with a blind map!
Since all the WB Saves are in a single ZIP this month, all you need to do is download that ZIP, and extract the file of the leader you wish to play, the M for Monarch and above, and the P for Prince and below, and place that WB Save into your My Docs\My Games\BeyondTheSword\Saves\Worldbuilder folder.
Then start the game normally, load your favorite MOD if you wish, and choose "Play a Scenario" from the menu. You will see a listing for the leader you chose, pre-fixed by "PYL IV".
In the Scenario menus, you may choose whichever level of difficulty and speed you wish. All bonuses should be correct now, no more Warrior Rushes on Monarch, and the AIs wont be as slow building Wonders and teching, since they have been given Archer in the Monarch-saves.
If you are a "Prince trying to learn Monarch" level player (I think this is a VERY common skill level on these boards), there are actually 2 choices for you, "Monarch-Light" (playing Monarch level with the Prince ZIP-save, no Archery for the AIs) or "Prince +" (playing Prince level with the Monarch ZIP-save, AIs start with Archery, but will play at Prince "skill" so to speak)
ONE SIDE NOTE: I am pretty confident that the saves are all correct, but if ANYONE runs into any problems, please PM me or post here ASAP. I did not start every single save, I edited one, and started it, and then just made minor changes and re-saved each file, but a stray character here or there is all it takes to muck em up.
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