News: GOTM71 Pre-Game Discussion

GOTM 71 Pre-Game Discussion

Well, I'm out of town for 2 days, so I better put a pre-game discussion thread up for GOTM71 ... a little bit early! We've never played the Mongols straight from the box for PTW because the movement abilities of the Keshik couldn't be recreated in Vanilla Civ (back when Vanilla and PTW were run as one competition.) There was a very enjoyable Mongols game back in GOTM25, but which used special unique units that required additional installs. Here is your chance to play Mongols in the PTW GOTM as provided straight from the game. That's fairly special, but this is our quarterly big game, so the map is a Large, Deity Pangaea with 13 AI civs - extra special . And you'll have an additional week to enjoy this bloodba ... er, GOTM. Have fun!

Civilization: Mongols
Rivals: 13
Barbarians: Raging
Difficulty: Deity
Land Form: Pangaea, 60% ocean, Large map.
Geology: 3 billion years old, Wet, Temperate



Expansionistic Bonus: Some of the closer Goody Huts will be eliminated to reduce the random effect of the Expansionistic trait, BUT I will leave in more huts than I normally do so feel free to explore widely. Conquest and Open levels will get a bonus Scout and 50 Gold.

Conquest-Class Bonuses:

1. Start with Deity Level AI Bonus Units!!!
2. Start with an Extra 150 Gold (in part to support the extra units)
3. Start with knowledge of The Wheel

Predator-Class Challenges:

1. Start without Pottery
2. Do not get Expansionistic Bonus
3. Your UU will not start your Golden Age

A reminder: do not post any game information to this thread after you have downloaded the save file. Absolutely no spoiler information for this or any GOTM is to be posted in this thread!

That's a lot of strong tiles. How about moving the Settler NW?

Più Freddo;5938845 said:

That's a lot of strong tiles. How about moving the Settler NW?

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Away from the river ??

I want an early extra worker because of the inevitable cutting down of some forests, so the extra food available from the start by moving NW is desireable. But no, I'll build another warrior first anyway - if I dare go predator, otherwise a scout.

neilmeister said:

Away from the river?

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As long as the capital is a Settler Factory, it doesn't grow larger than 6. Later, building an Aqueduct is costly but affordable. The advantage of getting the Cattle tile at once is considerable. Also the Game tile is very strong already without Worker actions. And we can found a city on Furs/Plains at RPC3, perhaps hoping there's a third of these tiles 2SE by the river.

I think I like NW also. Looks like coast 3 to the E so getting a bit further inland should give a better core. Scout 1st for explore. More contacts on Pangaea to decrease tech cost and increase trading opportunities. With this start and careful MM it should be a breeze.

The start site couldn't be better! I hope there's not a barbarian camp nearby; even if they stay at a distance they make me nervous . Scout to Game, then towards west or south. Second scout maybe 2E. I'll probably end up moving my settler NW to get as many surrounding RCP3 cities as possible next to a river!

This game looks exciting. I've only won on deity once- but on a tiny map- so this should be a real challenge. I just hope I can pull off a victory(time may also be a problem what with college starting again).

If my calculations are correct, settling NW will give a slightly better return of shields and food in the first 10 turns of the game even with the turn lost moving. Drawbacks are having to build an aqueduct eventually, and losing the defence bonus(though of course we won't be needing that).

Finally, a deity game! I haven't even downloaded a GOTM save since the last deity game.

This looks like great fun, pangaea large deity. I'd settle on the spot, build a scout then a worker then a granary then settlers. Probably start researching alpha at max. And maybe, if there's another food bonus near the cow and or wheat make a 2 turn worker factory. It's hard to imagine that a deity game with a UU that only needs horses wouldn't have horses somewhere around here, so I'll probably base my early game plan around a horsie rush. So maybe I'll research The Wheel first. Or maybe alpha to capitalize on brokering opportunities. I don't know.

If NW is better, might not 2NW be better still? 3E has water. If coast not lake, it likely continues not far south of current span of view. 2NW gives more room to fill in with southern cities, restores river access, and grabs a little more territory to the north where the territorial race is likely to ensue.

milr said:

If NW is better

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I don't know if it is.

milr said:

might not 2NW be better still?

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That's very far to walk, and you lose the Wheat for the fifth fpt. This is PTW, so cutting the forest for Game takes a small eternity. Irrigating Game for a total of 6 fpt gives you MM hell sharing with another city. I wouldn't do that.

milr said:

2NW [...] grabs a little more territory to the north where the territorial race is likely to ensue.

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You mean: 2NW puts us even closer to the nearest aggressive deity AI, making it more likely to devour us between its first and second breakfast?

milr said:

If NW is better, might not 2NW be better still? 3E has water. If coast not lake, it likely continues not far south of current span of view. 2NW gives more room to fill in with southern cities, restores river access, and grabs a little more territory to the north where the territorial race is likely to ensue.

Click to expand...

Is there enough shields for a 4 turn settler factory? There's no 2-shield tile after the game forest is cut.

milr said:

2NW gives more room to fill in with southern cities, restores river access, and grabs a little more territory to the north where the territorial race is likely to ensue.

Click to expand...

Erm... we do start in the far north east right? So it figures that our enemies will be in the south west.


There's enough shields for a four turn factory if you settle in place- the cow, the wheat, the game and mined grasslands is plenty. If you settle on a grassland, and there isn't another in the radius, then a forest will have to be cut down. The scout(s) will reveal whether there's more grassland or not. There may be a lot of hills instead though.

If you settle 1NW, you can use the grassland 1E of the start, so either way there is enough ammo for a 4-turner (sizes 5 and 6); irrigated moo, irrigated wheat, unchopped game, 2 mined grasslands. Once you get a fur chopped, irrigated and roaded, you can use that instead of the game, which can then be chopped for a worker pump.

There's enough shields for a settler fact. even if the game gets chopped, which would be a smart thing to do for the food bonus for another city.

I say I'll be dead before I get my second tech researched!

I like the 1NW idea since it shaves a turn or two off growth at first. 2NW kills that idea though. With no knowledge of what the land is around I wouldn't go 2 off start on a wild goose chase for better RCP. I think I'd keep game at status quo until the first worker and go irrigate the plain wheat across right after. The forest N of the N fur can be chopped for routing the beavers after fur and wheat have been worked.

Civ_Steve said:

Predator-Class Challenges:
Start without Pottery

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Giving me quite a headache. The problem here seems to be getting Pots before the 30-shield prebuild becomes a settler. I suppose if my scouts haven't found anyone from whom I can buy Pots, then I will just have to build an early second town.
Ignoring the Pots issue, I didn't find much difference between moving and settling place; moving gets the first settler out one turn earlier, and allows the game to be chopped and used by another town a turn or so earlier. Settling in place gets more commerce, in part because the factory runs smaller, at 3.5 - 5.5 instead of 4.0 - 6.0, so other towns will be less often burdened by lux taxes they don't need.

Well here goes. Wish me luck.

PaperBeetle said:

Settling in place gets more commerce, in part because the factory runs smaller, at 3.5 - 5.5 instead of 4.0 - 6.0, so other towns will be less often burdened by lux taxes they don't need.

Click to expand...

Is the extra commerce because the city will be on the river, or due to resources?

Regardless, I'll be settling NW, seeing as I've already advocated the move.

iirc the gross extra commerce for the capital amounted to about 70-80g extra, so yes; just the extra 1gpt for being on the river. Whether on or off the river, every other tile you work will sooner or later be at 2gpt. I forgot to note which scenario got the furs hooked quicker though... that's an important consideration when counting out the pennies.