News: BOTM 100 - Starts 1 Feb - Prince, 100th Anniversary Game!

BOTM 100: Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia.

100th anniversary BOTM??? Yes, it's hard to believe that BtS games of the month have been going for that long! And to celebrate, we're doing the same thing as we did for the 100th GOTM a couple of years ago... We're going to give you the chance to relive the first ever BOTM. So this BOTM will be played on roughly the same map as BOTM 01. And coincidentally, it's at the same level too - Prince!

Although the map is the roughly the same as BOTM 01, a few things are different. Most obviously, as you can see from the starting screenshot, a bigger area than usual is visible, and I've also marked the horsies (there's no copper or iron in the visible area). That's to ensure that anyone who by chance remembers anything about the original map doesn't have an unfair advantage in choosing where to settle.

Because this map has been out before, there are a few extra rules.

Firstly, don't bother looking for the BOTM 01 game announcement, spoiler threads or results - they are all temporarily deleted until BOTM 100 is over. I can't guarantee that there aren't other places online that mention BOTM 01, but you should consider it against the rules to go searching for any information.

Secondly: BOTM 01 was 8 years ago, which I reckon is long enough that most people who played it won't be able to remember much about the game. If you are one of those people and you can vaguely recall some details, then - think of that memory as an extra reward for having been part of the BOTM community for so long! You are still allowed to play this game. However, please DO NOT try to look at any files you might still have on your computer from that game (obviously, we'll have to trust you on that).

Game settings:
Playing as: Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Prince
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No goody huts
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Big and small
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: Medium

Zara Yaqob is Creative and Organized, and you start with Hunting and Mining.

The Creative trait gives +2 culture/city each turn and double production speed of Colosseum, Library and Theatre

The Organized trait gives -50% civic upkeep and double production speed of Courthouse, Factory and Lighthouse

Unique unit: Oromo Warrior (replaces Musketman)
The Oromo Warrior benefits from: immune to first strikes, 1 first strike, and free promotions: drill1 and drill2. This compares with the Musketman which has: not immune to first strikes, and 0 first strikes.

Unique Building: Stele (replaces Monument)
Where the monument gives +1 culture/turn, the stele gives +1 AND +25% culture. Could be useful for extra border pops or cultural victories!

Starting screenshot

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




Note that in this game, any espionage-culture victories will be counted as cultural victories.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 1 Feb 2016, 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 Mar 2016.

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

Software Versions

Windows: This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Civ4 Vanilla or Warlords), patched to version 3.19, and with the BUFFY mod version 3.19.003 installed. You can download the BUFFY mod here. Players using Windows Vista or Windows 7 are encouraged to read the notes on Vista fixes here.


Macintosh: This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Civ4 Vanilla or Warlords), patched to version 3.19, and with the Mac BUFFY mod version 3.19.003 installed. You can download the Mac BUFFY 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.

In case anyone is curious: BOTM 01 was played on epic speed and with the no-tech-trading option. For this game, I've swapped to normal speed, and removed the no-tech-trading option - so you can trade techs as normal. I've also made a few minor modifications to the map, in such a way that, although not many tiles are changed, anyone who tries to play by relying on memory of BOTM 01 runs the risk of getting caught out!

I have somehow never noticed how seriously good the Oromo Warrior is! Zara pretty much never DoW's on me.

Does the 25% bonus from the Stele disappear with Astronomy? I'm assuming it does, but the +1/+2 culture should still stay around. Don't think I'll go for Culture, since I never really enjoy it, but that should be something to consider for others going that route.

I wonder how different the settling charts will be between this and the original game. Knowing that there's horses makes settling on elephants to get the 2 hammer capital square a lot more appealing, despite losing the fish.

The first GOTM I played was BOTM 99, so memory of BOTM 01 is sketchy at best

Knowing there is horses to the west is nice, and makes me consider settling on the elephants. But not sure losing the clams is worth it, especially for such a hammer heavy and river-starved capital. It probably needs double food, particularly if there is some hope of working those pesky plains hills. Because we are creative, that 3rd border pop will come pretty soon anyway, when it will fetch the horses and marble. It may be better to simply settle in place, and put another city on the forest in the north west, that gets horses, gold and fish. Shame to kill that forest, though.

As this is a B&S map, the Great Lighthouse is obviously a very strong play, which I reckon most will go for with such a hammer heavy capital. With both horses and elephants nearby, there should be plenty of options for early warfare as well.

ORGanized is good for space games (big empires), particularly with a corporations approach. You'll need courthouses and factories everywhere, so getting those at half price is nice, and of course half price libraries are good too. Then we have half price lighthouses too, on a watery map. Many strong points with start, leader, traits and civ here

(I hope it's okay to discuss things like this in here, I'm still new to all this GOTM malarky )

Hi Pangaea, yes... any discussion inspired by the opening screenshot is both allowed and welcomed! Basically, until you download and open the starting save is fair game. (in usual...in this special case, if anyone remembered BOTM 1, he should refrain from posting spoilers from that as well)

As for my thoughts, I will need to meditate some more, because the first set if nothing more than random brain synapses:

-I LOVE settling on plain hills.
-Adding coast to the capital is usually a bad idea.
-What is the tile yield for settling on Ivory?
-I dont need the horses before city two, but there are better city #2 cites available.
-1E or marble on T2 and back-fill the clams and elephant/horsies later?
-On marble on T3??? Supercharged home square means the worker finishes 1T EARLIER than SIP, but we lose 4 turns (40 beakers) or research and AH will not be ready in time for the worker.

So many things to think about...

Yeah, I'm seriously eyeing that marble tile. 3 turns can be made up I believe

40 beakers? really? Doesn't the game still store your passive beakers?

settling on the ivory gives you an extra hammer

I was going to claim that I hadn't played that game, as I don't recall the starting area, but it appears that I did submit that game. Here's a list of players who submitted games for BOTM 01. I'm going to assume that this info isn't meant to be hidden, as knowing whether someone submitted isn't a detail that will spoil anything about the game itself.


Thanks for revealing so much of the surrounding starting area!

I see several decent settling locations for a capital:
1. In place (Turn 0)
2. On the P For that is 2N of the P Horses (Turn 2)
3. On the G that is 1NW of the G Riv Corn (Turn 2)
4. On the G that is 1N of the G Riv Corn (Turn 2)
5. On the P Ivory that is NE + N of the G Riv Corn (Turn 3)
6. On the PH Marble (Turn 3)
7. Further to the north-west, 1NE of the Fish, grabbing Magical Fish + Gold + Rivers + something in the hidden squares (Turn 3)

It's hard to go wrong with any of those settling locations.

Settling 1W on the P Ivory is initially tempting, since settling on P Ivory gives us a 2-Hammer City Centre square (settling on a G Ivory will not provide such a benefit). However, that location fails to have sufficient Food for a capital, especially given how that's a GH Pig instead of a G Pig.


Thanks for taking the time to explain the changes made to the settings and the map; even though I can't remember the original game, it's nice to know about the changes. Also, thanks for clarifying the locations (or lack of) of early-game Strategic Resources. These points apply even from the perspective that I originally thought that I hadn't participated in BOTM 01, only to afterward be surprised to see my name on the list of players who had submitted.

lymond said:

40 beakers? really? Doesn't the game still store your passive beakers?

Click to expand...

I think that Jastrow is referring to the fact that simply by settling on Turn 0, you will earn at a minimum 10 Flasks per turn at a 100% Science Rate; 8 from your Palace, 1 from your City Centre square, and 1 free Flask per turn, plus any Commerce earned from whatever square your Size 1 citizen works. You get 0 Flasks per turn when you have not yet settled your capital.

So, by settling on Turn 3, relative to settling in place, we will have missed out on 3 turns of:
Palace = 8 Commerce
City Centre = 2 F + 1 H + 1 C
GH Pig = 2 F + 1 H + 1 C - 2 F (from the Size 1 citizen consuming 2 F)
Free Flask = 1 Flask
Assuming that we're running at a 100% Science Rate, that's:
3 turns of 2 F + 2 H + 11 Flasks = 6 F + 6 H + 33 Flasks

If you settle on Marble, you don't need to research AH, for your first worker tech. Ag will let you work the wet corn.

Beakers are saved for not having a tech selected, but if you don't settle a city, it won't save the 10 commerce per turn for your capital (not even the free commerce per turn).

Settling on the elephants is not that great in the long term, but if you plan on moving the palace, it could be a strong early play. Obviously would need to scout more, but the Gold + Fish seems like it would be the best place for the palace in the mid/late game. The disadvantage of settling that location as your capital is that you don't know if there's any land based food there, so you could be screwed having to research fishing before being able to build your work boat.

lymond said:

Yeah, I'm seriously eyeing that marble tile. 3 turns can be made up I believe

40 beakers? really? Doesn't the game still store your passive beakers?

settling on the ivory gives you an extra hammer

Click to expand...

It stores the beakers, but during the 4 turns of moving before you settle, you dont earn the 9 or 10 beakers per turn you normally earn.

Wow, my name is on the submission list...I have NO recollection what so ever of this. I am now wondering if I won, and if so, by how many centuries I can beat that effort, given 8 years of extra experience...

well, that does make sense. never really think of that when I move the settler.

I"m starting to think that in place is pretty nice. Settling on ivory is good, but the clam will help make that city a better longer term production city (ofc, it makes for a better overseas city on the island as well). Work on getting first settler asap for marble. Horses, can get picked up by fish,gold city. Depends on ones desire to get horses up asap. In place or on ivory favors AH opening, so horses could be up fairly quick.

ikotomi said:

I wonder how different the settling charts will be between this and the original game. Knowing that there's horses makes settling on elephants to get the 2 hammer capital square a lot more appealing, despite losing the fish.

Click to expand...

We didn't do where-everyone-settled maps in those days, but once BOTM 100 is finished, I'll probably do a retrospective one for BOTM 01 so people can compare. I would suspect that being able to see so much more of the starting area will mean that this time round, people will on average be more inclined to move further - since doing so involves less risk.

Dhoomstriker said:

I'm going to assume that this info isn't meant to be hidden, as knowing whether someone submitted isn't a detail that will spoil anything about the game itself.

Click to expand...

That's fine. That information is public knowledge and, as you guessed, not spoilerish (even if it is a bit scary seeing just how many submissions there were!).

Jastrow said:

Wow, my name is on the submission list...I have NO recollection what so ever of this. I am now wondering if I won, and if so, by how many centuries I can beat that effort, given 8 years of extra experience...

Click to expand...

And of course, once the results are published, everyone will be able to see whether people such as yourself and Dhoomstriker have improved. So - no pressure at all...

I wasn't born when BOTM01

Looks fun! Quite undecided where to settle, although for now top contenders are SIP or on marble.

lymond said:

I wasn't born when BOTM01

Click to expand...

In a civ sense I presume, or did you sign up to this site while in dipers still?

I'd be very hesitant to settle anywhere else than on the marble.

Going there, I'd make it a stake to get a coastal high production city as city 3, at the latest.
It's a pity, somewhat, that the horses cannot be worked with the same city as the clams. I suspect the horses are best left to work with an offshore city or should just not be worked early on.

If you settle on the Marble, the worker will be out in 10 turns, right? Maybe something that ought to be considered, indeed, though I don't ever trek that far before settling the first city. Naturally much less risk here than in a 'normal' game, since we know so much of the surroundings.

Also, is it in turn 5 barbs can show up? So it should be possible to do this without, shall we say, unfortunate luck

Jastrow said:

Wow, my name is on the submission list...I have NO recollection what so ever of this. I am now wondering if I won, and if so, by how many centuries I can beat that effort, given 8 years of extra experience...

Click to expand...

wouldn't it be nice to know which VC you went for?

I was thinking the same thing, but I am not sure... I certainly was not very experienced back then, so whatever it was may well have been a very bad decision. Maybe I am better off not knowing.

In any event, the games will be quite different. Not only are tech trading and the game speed big changes, but I am heavily leaning towards settling on Marble. Since, as I understand things, the same area was not revealed in BOTM1, I assume I SIP, on the elephants or on one of the southern PH, which means the start of the game will be drastically different this time.

Looking forward to the game . B&S is one of my favourite maps and I like that it's possible to see so much of the starting area and even know where the Horses are. I would have gone for the Gold medal so points and simply played for fastest Sushi, would have growed all of my cities and then ended to round via Domination, but as I accidentally won the Gold Medal last time already, I'll probably make a try for Space again . Maybe I can make up for lacking experience with Prince level by choosing a victory condition I'm currently well trained for .

Btw.: Wasn't Prince the level, where one could Warrior-rush the other AIs, because they also only start with Warriors? If so, then it could be very interesting to maybe at least settle with the Horses in the 3rd ring to maybe make a Chariot or HA rush from 2 cities. Zara is creative, so the Horses become available earlier then.
Elepult will probably enough for the whole game, not even sure if it's needed or adviseable because of the slow movement, therefore good, that the game is on Epic .

As Pangaea pointed out, GLH will be very strong play on this map if going for a late-game victory condition, this might also influence the choice on where to settle the capital. This is all towards the comment that settling on the Marble would be best choice in almost any case, I don't think so necessarily, though I'll need to think a lot about dismissing that 3 center-tile capital with all that nice food aswell.

Good luck to all participants (you'll need it ) .

^ Yes, AIs start with Archery from Monarch difficulty.
So on Prince they only have Warriors to begin with.


I read speed is Normal, by the way, not Epic.