News: GOTM 105 (Alexander, Monarch) - Starts Aug 1

GOTM 105: Alexander of Greece.

After lots of themed games, this one is back to traditional, pure, unedited, Civ (Well, unedited, apart from removing Goody huts). And I even asked the map generator for a random leader - and got back Alex. Have fun!

Game settings:
Playing as: Alexander of Greece
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Monarch
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: None
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Yes, it's played on a map
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: Medium


Alexander is Philosophical and Aggressive, and you start with Fishing and Hunting.

The Philosophical trait gives +100% great people birth rate and double production speed of University

The Aggressive trait gives free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units and double production speed of Barracks and Drydock

Unique unit: Phalanx (replaces Spearman)
The Phalanx benefits from: base strength = 5. This compares with the Spearman which has: base strength = 4. This is substantially different from the phalanx in BtS


Starting screenshot

This is the start of the game (click for a bigger image):




Adventurer Class bonuses:
You play the game on prince level (but the AI still has monarch level starting units)

Challenger Class Equalizers:
You play the game on emperor level (but the AI still has monarch level starting units, and the game will be scored as if on monarch level)

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 1 Aug 2014, server local time (UTC-6:00). From that date and time, you'll be able to get your chosen starting save >>>here<<<.

Submit the save after your victory (or defeat) here, by 1 Sep 2014.

Here is a link to a list of the differences between Vanilla, Warlords and BtS.

Software Versions

Windows: This game MUST be played in Civ4 Vanilla (NOT Beyond the Sword or Warlords), patched to version 1.74, and with the HOF mod version 1.74.004 installed. You can download the HOF mod here. Players using Windows Vista or Windows 7 are encouraged to read the notes on Vista fixes here.

If you have not installed BtS, you will need to update the relevant DLL files in order to match the Locked Assets checks. These are available here.**

Macintosh: This game MUST be played in Civ4 Vanilla (NOT Beyond the Sword or Warlords), patched to version 1.74, and with the Mac HOF mod version 1.74.002 installed. You can download the Mac HOF mod here.

While playing...

Remember - for your entry to be accepted, it MUST be your first attempt to play this game, and you MUST NOT replay any turns. If you make a mistake while playing, you have to live with it, learn from it, and carry on the game without replaying.

We will open 'spoiler' threads during the month for players to discuss what happens in their games. Do not discuss any details of your game outside those threads.

Thanks. I for one am happy to be done with football, and will be happy to have names/faces/civ colours that I know how to pair instinctively!

As for settling... Well, we only see one resource, but it is an excellent one. We have to keep that in the BFC. Since this is a random map, in place should be decent, as the starting generator should assure that. It might however be resource poor... IIRC, the generator counts flood plains as half a resource. If my wesern gazing is correct, we have 4 fp if we settle in place, so those + the corn would be 3 resources. Maybe there is nothing else...

I LOVE settling on plain-hills, and 1N looks like it grabs extra riverside tiles as well. It does give up 2.5 hills (.5 being the one settled on) so if there are no hills in the north, it could be production poor, but with enough forrests to chop, and whip production it should be OK.

Probably I will move scout SW-SW to make sure that I am not passing up anything juicy, but if he doe snot reveal anything that 1N is almost certainly my choice.

Even with the probably existing FPs in the west, SIP looks a bit dry to me, especially for philo. So I may prefer 1N as well.

1N looks appealing.

Scout to go SW - SW to see if settling 1N would deprive us of anything nice.

ditto
had same SW-SW, 1N conclusions from starting picture

I did suggest a soccer theme to DS, but (thankfully) alas it was not to be.

Jastrow said:

Thanks. I for one am happy to be done with football, and will be happy to have names/faces/civ colours that I know how to pair instinctively!

Click to expand...

Even I can see a subtle(?) hint with the image of a certain structure.
Does it mean buildings should be white because it's hot in the game and white reflects more solar energy?
That it's so hot even paint peels off the buildings leaving only bare marble walls?
That it's good to build a city on a hill like this pillars'R'us store was built?
Something else, perhaps something quite wondrous?

I'm guessing the picture refers to the economic crisis that has left Greece bankrupt and cost EU members obscenely much when they should have just kicked the corrupt country out of EU. The picture is of a ruin and that's what's going to be left of us in this game.
I'm guessing we share a smallish continent with Montezuma, Shaka and Isabella and won't have time to build even a single pillars'R'us before they all declare on us.

This game is number CIV on C-IV. How much more CIVilized can it get?

High King J.J. said:

This game is number CIV on C-IV. How much more CIVilized can it get

Click to expand...

Excellent observation.
We should have done something really special for this game. "traditional, pure, unedited, Civ" is perfect.

Isn't it the previous game, GOTM 104, that would have been CIV? As far as I can make out, this one would be CV - still quite suggestive though.

DynamicSpirit said:

Isn't it the previous game, GOTM 104, that would have been CIV? As far as I can make out, this one would be CV - still quite suggestive though.

Click to expand...

That would be the case, using Roman numerals. But this game is Greek to me.

I think it is CV; a weaker follow up to Civ4.

I think I will go to space with Alex. Like to settle on FP but may not end there. I am concerned about hammers.

Htadus said:

Like to settle on FP but may not end there. I am concerned about hammers.

Click to expand...

You will move the settler NW, and consider settling there - giving up one flood plain for a strong capital with lots of riverside if the revealed tiles are good enough?

Deckhand said:

You will move the settler NW, and consider settling there - giving up one flood plain for a strong capital with lots of riverside if the revealed tiles are good enough?

Click to expand...

That was the idea. I do want a strong science/bureaucratic capital. So more river tiles the better. I also want a hammer capital to be able to build a wonder or two and the Oxford as fast as possible.I was actually going to have the city on the tile 1W if there is a gold resource on that plains hill to the SW.

SIP gets 12+1 river tiles for sure and 5 mines.
SoPH gets 13+1 river tiles plus the possibility of 3 more river tiles. It has 1 mine and the possibility for 3 more.
SoFP also gets 13+1 river tiles and the possibility to get 6 more. It has 2 mines and the possibility for 6 more. This is pretty good so far. But it can have 1 desert tile too.
S1W get 12+1 also and if there is gold it will make up for the missing river, that will be my choice. It has 4 mines now and the potential for 3 more. But I have a feeling at least 1 more FP on this location and the potential for 2 desert tiles also.

So the question, is it better to loose a turn?
Send the scout to check the SW hill and send the settler to the fp and decide where to settle on?

If there is gold then settle 1W of original location. Else? Maybe 2N or 2N1W? All know at the moment is that I want that corn in the BFC.

Only other thing I know is that I am thinking too much. Off to bed me.

Anybody considering to settle on PH could anyway move settler to FP first, have a look around there, and then decide, if to stay, to climb the PH or go elsewhere.

I probably will send the scout NW, because I don't expect usable land in the south. Even if there would be another resource, it could not match up all the river tiles.

Has the issue with playing the steam version been fixed? I have not played GOTM since the patched removing gamespy.

DynamicSpirit said:

Isn't it the previous game, GOTM 104, that would have been CIV? As far as I can make out, this one would be CV - still quite suggestive though.

Click to expand...

You are correct. My cognitive functions are impaired by the excessive ambient temperature which exceeds my CPU's operating temperature requirements. The situation (and temperature) are similar to the end of T2. I believe molten steel would actually cool the local climate here.
I had intended to make the CIV comment a month ago but since I'm both fed up as well as sick and tired of football I didn't.