News: TSG12 Announcement

Welcome to the twelfth game in the GOTM V Training Series! There are plenty of new features in Civilization 5 to explore and the Training Series games will allow new and old GOTM fans to try out these new 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.

In this game, the designated VC is Diplomatic. You may win by any VC you wish, as all VC's are enabled, but the results will be posted with fastest finish by Diplomatic victory and then all other VC listed below by fastest time. Good Luck!

In this game you will play as Elizabeth and lead the English civilization to victory. It’s a standard sized fractal map played at Emperor difficulty and at standard pace. Diplomatic victory is the designated VC for this game, all victory conditions are enabled.

A note for Mac players. Your version of Civ5 is still not compatible with the Windows version, given the recent update. Results from the two version would not be comparable given the extensive game play changes. We hope your update come out soon.

Please note that you are only allowed to build Oxford University one time.

Civ V - TSG12 game settings
Playable Civ: Elizabeth - England
Number of AI Opponents: 7
Number of City-States: 16
Map type: Fractal
Map Size: Standard
Difficulty Level: Emperor
Temperature: Temperate
Game pace: Standard
Game options: Quick Combat is disabled (You can enable it by following instructions in this link.) Promotion saving is enabled. Policy saving is disabled.

Playing as Elizabeth, you possess Sun Never Sets. You receive +2 movement for all naval units. You can train Longbowman, which replaces the Crossbowman. The unit is a medieval ranged infantry unit that has one additional range compared to the Crossbowman. It requires Machinery to build. You can also train Ship of the Line which replaces the Frigate. The unit is a powerful Renaissance era naval unit that has a slightly higher ranged combat strength than the Frigate, can see one hex further and is a bit less expensive to produce. It requires Navigation and Iron to build.



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.

Game In Progress 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.

After Action Report 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 two week 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 two weeks, 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)

edit - Please note that the GOTM Server has been acting up a bit and, should it go down, please submit when it comes back up. If you have tried repeatedly, please post your save in the After Action Report thread and one of the staff will upload it for you. Thank you fo your patience.

This game runs for two weeks and ends Monday, 30 May 2011.

The Save can be found here.

Yay, new game!

Interesting starting spot, we get a Natural Wonder! I'll have to look up what Mt. Fuji gives us.

The question is, do we settle in place or do we move next to the mountain for observatory? It would require moving away from the coast, but I only see the one fish for a coastal resource, and we can always build another coastal city.

Sadly, I won't get a chance to play till this weekend.

Neuro said:

Sadly, I won't get a chance to play till this weekend.

Click to expand...

At least we have a full month!

For this GOTM(and for later ones) i will not sign a single RA, or trade luxuries for lump slump of gold. Only gold per turn is allowed. Barbs can pillage luxuries without much consequences. In fact, i HAVE to protect them if i want to maximize potential. (Edit : Most turns possible in peace with partners too)

I will surely not finish in top 3, but if players tell they will not use the RA system in the action report thread, i will make a partial list of players and determine a personnal ranking for this kind of setting. Banning lump slump of gold is an idea from mine, but i will include players who like to get big pots of money as well.

At emperor, it will be an interesting challenge, bringing different strategies and no stress about what and when to get from RAs.

Good luck everyone!

RAs aren't the problem, Tech Blocking is.

Well, RAs as currently implemented aren't exactly wonderful. Personally, I think they should add a fixed amount of beakers based on which era you were in when you signed the RA.

Sadly, I *will* be using RAs. It's the only way to remain competitive with guys like DaveMcW.

RA is the problem too. If we can't block tech, do you want to take a risk and spend 200 gold to only get sailing?

Yes the current system is broken. It wasn't supposed to be like that from what we can read from the game's manual.

I understand your point. That's why i decided to create another ranking, and to see how much people dislike the actual system.

Edit: Alright leif.

Please move the continuation of this discussion to the exploits thread.

Does "Mount" Fuji count as a mountain as far a building an Observatory? Anyone know?

backnine31 said:

Does "Mount" Fuji count as a mountain as far a building an Observatory? Anyone know?

Click to expand...

yes, and it counts for the Mac. Pic. as well

Sign me up for Tabarnak's no RA challenge!

Neuro said:

Yay, new game!

Interesting starting spot, we get a Natural Wonder! I'll have to look up what Mt. Fuji gives us.

The question is, do we settle in place or do we move next to the mountain for observatory? It would require moving away from the coast, but I only see the one fish for a coastal resource, and we can always build another coastal city.

Sadly, I won't get a chance to play till this weekend.

Click to expand...

You could settle on top of the sugar. That would give you the observatory and maintain the coastal start. You would lose some food and gold from the sugar and couldn't build the water wheel, but also gain one more riverside farm and the capital would be much harder to attack. Plus that looks like marsh, so you'd lose a turn by moving there. You would also be able to build the 2nd city on the coast right next to Mt Fuji, so it could also have the observatory.

Thinking about that, I may just settle on the sugar myself.

Tabarnak said:

RA is the problem too. If we can't block tech, do you want to take a risk and spend 200 gold to only get sailing?

Yes the current system is broken. It wasn't supposed to be like that from what we can read from the game's manual.

I understand your point. That's why i decided to create another ranking, and to see how much people dislike the actual system.

Edit: Alright leif.

Click to expand...

I rarely sign RAs anyway.Mainly because I'd rather use the cash for allying a CS. However, if you were to do so, you could avoid getting a cheap tech, not by "blocking" it, but by researching all techs in a column before moving left. Once you've signed an RA that is. The down side, of course, is it will take longer to get through an era. The up side is you will have those small techs completed and the random tech received wouldn't be a waste of money.

Im thinking settling on the hill 2 squares down nexto riverside mb

Monthar said:

I rarely sign RAs anyway.Mainly because I'd rather use the cash for allying a CS. However, if you were to do so, you could avoid getting a cheap tech, not by "blocking" it, but by researching all techs in a column before moving left. Once you've signed an RA that is. The down side, of course, is it will take longer to get through an era. The up side is you will have those small techs completed and the random tech received wouldn't be a waste of money.

Click to expand...

And if you go for a particular path like science, diplomatic or cultural victory you have a chance to get only bottom techs.

I'll play without RAs (as last time) and will probably settle in place. With England's sea advantages and the need to find and ally with all CS's for diplo, I want to stay on the coast. Will move warrior west to see what's over there before deciding. Need to think about optimal number of cities to settle to play effectively for diplo.

Farrapo said:

I'll play without RAs (as last time) and will probably settle in place. With England's sea advantages and the need to find and ally with all CS's for diplo, I want to stay on the coast. Will move warrior west to see what's over there before deciding. Need to think about optimal number of cities to settle to play effectively for diplo.

Click to expand...

Im think a total of 3-4 cities in a peaceful game? Or is that way to little?

Anyone else have opinions?

Farrapo said:

Need to think about optimal number of cities to settle to play effectively for diplo.

Click to expand...

The only optimal question is how fast can you fill in Patronage? The 2nd one is how many RAs can you find to go with the GSs you're going to produce to hit the UN fast.

You need gold, so expanding is important. (via peace or sword) Bigger empire = more gold. Just don't forget to fill in most of Patronage before you do a big expansion.

Since this is a fractal map, we don't know if it turned into a Pangea or a water map at the beginning, so whether or not to also go into left side of commerce will be questionable until you get there. Otherwise, left side of Rationalism for the two free techs.

ssjos said:

Im think a total of 3-4 cities in a peaceful game? Or is that way to little?

Anyone else have opinions?

Click to expand...

Well you really only need the Patronage tree filled and maybe a few other policies. Policies that max out income. This is good, since more cities is probably better to get enough income and research to get all the allies and to build the UN asap. So as long as you can manage the happiness, all the extra cities with markets and banks to pop GM's often will be a big help.

Priority techs would be the luxury techs, Astronomy, Currency, Banking and Globalization. I'd probably grab writing, luxury techs and currency before hitting Education and Astronomy to ensure I have enough income for when I meet the CSs, also so new cities can make markets their first build.

I just hope this map doesn't turn out like the test game I played with England on a fractal map. In the test game, I got stuck on the main continent with several aggressive civs nearby. While it was nice that I had a wide variety of luxuries near the first few city spots, this made trading a big harder.

For the start location, I'm agreed that the best choice seems to be settling on the sugar. It appears to be marshed, so it'll take two different tech paths to get it otherwise. There is a lake there, so you won't lose the 'river side' buildings by going there. Keep the coast, get an observatory/Mac. Pic. option and there seems to be lots of hills for you to farm by the lake.

Another city can go work Mt. Fuji. There may also be additional resources on the other side of those mountains, since we can see that this side is fairly empty. (though strategic resources might be hiding there)

I'm planning to settle on the sugar. I agree there's got to be another luxury or two out in the east- I'll probably move the warrior to that hill to see what other info I can get.

I'd say you will definitely want a coastal capital, especially if you need to beat up on a diplo-oriented civ. Even if you don't, the Ships of the Line should be helpful for puppets and/or liberating city states as so many spawn on the coast.