News: TSG103 Announcement!

Welcome to the One Hundred and Third game in the GOTM V Training Series! There are plenty of features in Civilization 5 Brave New World to explore and the Training Series games will allow new and old GOTM fans to try out these features in a friendly environment. You are all encouraged to post your questions, stories, advice, tricks and failures in the dedicated game threads described below. You can read more about the GOTM and Training Series concept in this thread. Before going into the details of this game, we would like to ask you to abide to our most sacred rule: don’t replay any turns. If you make a mistake, accept it and try to recover. It's better to do the bad moves in the Training Series instead of in the actual GOTM competition, once it starts.

Please note: If you wish to make a video of your game, please do not post any links to it until after the game submission date has passed. This is because of the potential spoilers that are created by posting before the end date. Thank you for your cooperation.

Intentional use of the Science Overflow Bug is banned. Its use will result in your game being disqualified for results.

In this game, the designated VC is Domination. All VCs are enabled but results will be published by fastest Domination victory turn.

In this game you will play as Harun al-Rashid and lead the Arabian Empire to victory. It's a standard-sized Pangaea Plus map played at Immortal difficulty and at standard pace. Domination is the designated VC for this game, all victory conditions are enabled. You will have until March 1st (2015) to complete the game and submit.

Civ V BNW - TSG103 Game Settings:
Playable Civ: Harun al-Rashid - Arabia
Number of AI Opponents: 7
Number of City-States: 18
Map type: Pangaea Plus
Map Size: Standard
Difficulty Level: Immortal
Game pace: Standard
Game options: Quick Combat is disabled. (You may turn it on using the game options menu at any time during gameplay.)
Game Version: This game was created in Civ5 Brave New World version 1.0.3.279. DLC is required for this game. You must have Mongolia, Wonders of the Ancient World, Explorer's Map Pack, Gods & Kings and Brave New World.

In this game, you will be playing as Arabia, you possess Ships of the Desert. Caravans gain 50% extended range. Your trade routes spread the home city's religion twice as effectively. Oil resources are doubled.

You can train the Camel Archer, it replaces the Knight. The Camel Archer is a fast Medieval ranged unit that is weak only to Pikemen. It damages enemy units that are 2-hexes away and can move after combat. The Camel Archer is less powerful than the Knight in melee combat. The Camel Archer requires that you discover the technology of Chivalry and requires the Horse resource to build them.

You can also build the the Bazaar, it replaces the Market. The Bazaar provides a Gold bonus to the city as well as providing an additional copy of each luxury resource the city has within its borders. The Bazaar also provides +2 Gold for each Oil and Oases source. The Bazaar requires that you discover the technology of Currency and you do not need a resource to build them.

This is where you will start:




Information about threads associated with TSG
TSG Announcement thread (this one). This thread is used to announce the game and clarify the settings and rules (don’t be afraid to ask questions). It’s also used to discuss the game before you start, and post problems with opening the save. Please don’t post any information from a game you have started. Instead use the next thread.

Opening Actions thread. This thread is used to discuss the game once it's on the way. There are no reading or posting restrictions as such (apart from normal decency), although we encourage players to use the spoiler tags for screenshots. Here you can post questions related to the game and share your achievements/anger/frustration/victories while you play. During the time the game is active, please do not post any information concerning the game outside of the spoiler threads including screen shots, videos, or recorded/live-cast Let's Plays on other websites.

After Actions thread. In this thread you can post the results of your game. Please state (preferably in the post title) your victory date and score, as recorded in the Hall of Fame, and the most important: your path to glory! We will create a separate thread with the results at the end of the one month submission period (sorted by date and score). Players are encouraged to provide feedback on the game. Some players like to replay the game, and although we will not record the results from a replay, you can still post your new experiences. The game will not be closed as such, but after one month, the results will be compiled, and will not necessarily be updated with reports coming in after the finish date.

File Upload System
We now have a game file upload system you can find here. Please use it to upload your completed first attempt by saving the game on the turn after your victory or defeat. (by using the "lemme play one more turn" feature) Please note, you must submit your game on the turn following Victory. If you continue to play, the game overwrites the data and your submission could be rejected by the submission system.

This game runs for a month and ends Sunday, 1 March 2015.

The save will be available for download on 1 February 2015, midnight Central Daylight time (UTC -6:00) in the US.
The Save can be found here.

Looks like another fun game. Settle in place on the hill. Anyone know what pangaea plus map is like? Guess a test game is required.

The "Plus" maps put all or most of the CS's on islands instead of on the continent(s) where the players start. Other than that it's just like a regular map.

While crossing the river to stay coastal and be next to a desert for Petra might be tempting I think settling in place would be better. It keeps all 3 salt in the capital and on Immortal the IA will most likely get Petra first and probably in a city that can't even benefit from it.

So is it worth opening with Honor? You only get a base +5% vs barbs so They wont be easy to beat even with the additional 35% Settling in place seems obvious as you get the extra hammer and the extra food from the cattle. A quick scout and a quick monument. Im not sure religion is worth chasing on Immortal. Having it a plus map makes the ships of the desert not that useful with the domination VC. This should be a challenge.

Monthar said:

on Immortal the IA will most likely get Petra first and probably in a city that can't even benefit from it.

Click to expand...

Every single time

Settle in place. Writing>IW>Colossus>Bazaars. Look for a second coastal spot. Buy Granary. Earth Mother.

Come out, my little horseys. I want to play with you! Camel Archers rock. Sounds fun, though Immortal tends to be a bit over my head. Guess I got time to practice.

Yeah, settle in place seems the likely play. But those other hill spots are a bit intriguing....

I think it might be better to move over to the desert to settle the cap and get DF and Petra. Settle your Expo back towards the start. Of Course since your going domination you might not need to waste the time getting Petra and just settle in place. The 3rd option which I find very fun is go scouting for the first 7-10 turns and try to settle up next to another Civs capital for an early rush.

Thought I'd play a practice game to check out the map which I've never tried before - if you click the 'advanced' map button when setting up the game the 'pangea plus' is not available but *is* listed in the drop-down menu, wierd.

Also, is there a way to bias to a coastal start? Wanted to play a game similar to the starting point in the GOTM but Arabia seems to tend to be in-land next to deserts, had to re-roll the start about a dozen times before I got some coast!

StrideColossus said:

Also, is there a way to bias to a coastal start? Wanted to play a game similar to the starting point in the GOTM but Arabia seems to tend to be in-land next to deserts, had to re-roll the start about a dozen times before I got some coast!

Click to expand...

It's funny you say that. I rolled a few practice games last night as well. I got quite a few coastal starts but many were super forested for some reason. I expected more what you experienced. Weird chance I guess.

I got a coastal start and was totally isolated. I never met anyone for 130 turns. LOL

No idea where I will settle. I know I will check out the desert hill with the warrior and then I will decide. Petra is indeed attractive but there is no guarantee of getting it, so it will all depend on what do those desert tiles look like. I wonder whether we can do this with Xbows only? Last 2 caps with camel archers? We'll see. Great exploring will be key.

Just made an account and going to join this contest. Should prove to be fun!

Welcome to CivFanatics and Game of the Month.

Best of luck to you and we'll enjoy watching you improve as you play.

Sorry for the rookie question but how do you get the required DLC loaded? I am not seeing it in Steam and it won't let me load the TSG saved start without it.

Go to your Steam Library, right click Civ V, select Properties, and then DLC (the tab on the far right). That tab will show you which DLC you have purchased and its install status. If you have purchased but not installed the required DLC, you can select install.

If you have not purchased the required DLC, you can go to the Steam Store. Depending on what you have and what you don't have, you might buy the missing DLC individually or you might be better off buying Civ V Complete (which includes all expansions and DLC except the most recent DLC -- the scrambled map packs, which aren't generally needed). Sometimes DLC and Civ V Complete are on Steam sale (but not right now). You can also look around for sales at other sites, like Green Man Gaming, etc.

This seems to call for an unusual build/tech order. I'm not as good as most of you, so feedback on some thoughts?

1: 'plus' implies the CS's are off in the water, so there is lots less $ to earn w/o sailing. But this is far from a useful path for a short Pangea game. The salt would make up for it... but you'll want to DoW on those that are likely to buy.

2: Domination - would most of you go for 2 cities and then war?

3: CB & CamelArchers seem to be the way to go.

4: is this one of the weird times that Honor might make sense? CA's with 2x attacks sounds nice.

5: Do you get the free Cargo ship w/ Colossus even if you haven't researched sailing?

6: Don't bother w/ Shrines, Monuments(if going Tradition), scout instead (or hunt for CS's)?

Thanks,
-z

The save file link seems to be broken - any help would be appreciated

The link is fine, but the server where the save sits is down. We're working on restoring it now. Hopefully it will be up again soon.

If not, I will post the save as an attachment in the thread in a while.

Still down...any alternate links?