[BTS] News: BOTM 210 - Mayan Fool, starts April 1, 2021

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 210: Fool of Maya.

Welcome Fools! In keeping with April 1 traditions, I recommend you all try to settle in place. Please note your starting warrior has been
upgraded to an amphibious war elephant, which you may or may not use foolishly. In addition to MYSTICISM and MINING, I have made your lives
easier by granting you the technology of SAILING. All victory conditions are enabled, (but you may not need any of them yourselves) .
In order to keep things exciting on all three saves of the game, I granted Barbarians all Ancient Era technologies, and even started them with a few
cities for you to play with. Enjoy!
Note, QUICK game speed to help those who have time constraints that prevent you submitting completed games. If you are uneasy with that, you can
choose to play at Normal Speed by selecting the Adventurer save.
Game settings:
Playing as: Fool of Maya
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Noble
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Quick
Options: No goody huts, no random events
Victory Conditions: All enabled
Map settings:
Map: Big and Small, medium seas
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Tropical
Sea level: Medium
Map latitudes: -90°S to 90°N
Fool is Financial and Expansive, and you start with Mysticism, Sailing and Mining.
The Financial trait gives +1 commerce on any plot that already has at least 2 commerce
The Expansive trait gives +2 health/city and +50% hammers for worker production and double production speed of Granary and Harbor
Unique unit: Holkan (replaces Spearman)
The Holkan benefits from: immune to first strikes, requires knowledge of Hunting and Bronze Working, and requires access to nothing. This compares with the Spearman which has: not immune to first strikes, requires knowledge of Hunting, and requires access to copper or iron.
Unique Building: Ball Court (replaces Colosseum)
Unique building for the Maya; Replaces Colosseum
+3
+1 per 20% rate
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.

Adventurer Class bonuses:
You will play the same game with the same conditions at Noble level, but will play at NORMAL game speed instead of Quick. Even experienced
players may choose this save, but the score will be discounted and awards uneligible as per usual Adventurer policy.
Challenger Class Equalizers:
You play this at Monarch level, but still at Quick game speed. AI start with Noble level units and tech.
To Enter the Competition:
This competition will open at 00:01 am on 1 apr 2021, 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 maj 2021.
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 3.19.005 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.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

Hmmmm. Are both our units swimming, or have you given the amphibious war elephant transport capability?

I really would like to settle in place, but I'm guessing the Fool is not a merman. Since the corn appears to already have a farm, the sheep hill looks like a great starting location. Research fishing, while starting to build a galley for expansion off that little island. Or perhaps we should research BW first, so we can whip that galley?

 

[kcd_swede]

"have you given the amphibious war elephant transport capability?"
No. Is that even possible???

 

[MarleysGh0st]

"have you given the amphibious war elephant transport capability?"
No. Is that even possible???

I don't know. How is it possible that land units are swimming?

 

[LowtherCastle]

Deliciously fun opening. I’m glad we have a head start with our waddling elephant since they are notorious for not being Quick!

LOL at the comedy icon. (I forget the proper CIV name for it).

 

[LowtherCastle]

"have you given the amphibious war elephant transport capability?"
No. Is that even possible???

It just looks like there’s no galley there because it doesn’t show up in the lower left corner either.

edit: nope. No galley.

 

[kcd_swede]

I don't know. How is it possible that land units are swimming?

They are not swimming, they are walking on very thin ice.

You can move them off that tile, but you can't move them back on. So you might want to before choosing where to move them.

 

[kcd_swede]

Deliciously fun opening. I’m glad we have a head start with our waddling elephant since they are notorious for not being Quick!

LOL at the comedy icon. (I forget the proper CIV name for it).

Hit Musicals. Try mining them to see what you get.

 

[Pangaea]

I'm worried about the elephant in the room.

 

[Powerfaker]

Oh yes baby. This start will explode.
That elephant looks like a hungry barb slayer to me.

Hit Musicals. Try mining them to see what you get.

I checked this. Cannot mine it. Roading is not good enough. You need a fort or settle on it.

I really would like to settle in place, but I'm guessing the Fool is not a merman. Since the corn appears to already have a farm, the sheep hill looks like a great starting location. Research fishing, while starting to build a galley for expansion off that little island. Or perhaps we should research BW first, so we can whip that galley?

If the corn was farmed it would be 5F, so I think it's flood plain. Although missing the corn for 3T, settling on stone will be stronger I think. => 2 extra hammers and if you need more there is the marble tile.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Barbs starting with all ancient Technologies means that they will spawn axes and spearman from the beginning of unit spawning. Happy days.

 

[mscellaneous]

Barbs starting with all ancient Technologies means that they will spawn axes and spearman from the beginning of unit spawning. Happy days.

Yeah, barb galleys can also spawn immediately.

Also, knowing barbs can build Spears, would you take the Phant for an early barb raid? When settling on the Stone a T7 Galley is possible (edit: assuming Quick speed).

 

[krikav]

Havn't tried quick speed, and a crazy game might be a good place to try it out.

 

[Powerfaker]

I maybe over enthousiastic about the phant. But it's noble level. How much spawning will there be? Are barb warriors still possible or are they off the table? In the case of a spear, a shock promoted elephant can handle it (not 100% sure of course). Care is certainly in order when moving. Taking over barb cities is too juicy to let is pass without trying, again because it's noble level.

Havn't tried quick speed, and a crazy game might be a good place to try it out.

That's my thought too.
The danger is that progress feels fast, then when you look at your time line it's not.

 

[krikav]

I maybe over enthousiastic about the phant.

There where apparantly barb cities pre-placed too, and we had sailing so a quick galley for that elephant might be really nice.
If attacking from a galley, there is zero risk for retaliation->death when attacking cities.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

If the corn was farmed it would be 5F, so I think it's flood plain. Although missing the corn for 3T, settling on stone will be stronger I think. => 2 extra hammers and if you need more there is the marble tile.

I agree. Stone is by far the strongest for a quick start. And with the bonus that it enables a super-quick great wall so we don't have to worry about supercharged barbs (other than for capturing their cities).

My only concern is settling there is likely to cause massive city overlap: I can well imagine wanting to settle on the hit musicals and on the sheep later on (unless there is other land we can't see very close by that allows you to take advantage of more of the visible resources). But I don't think that's enough of a downer to outweigh the huge advantage of the stone.

Is getting the great wall as early as possible big enough to be worth researching masonry first and so delaying sailing and worker techs? I'm very tempted. It would be quite a sacrifice - especially since without a galley any worker you build can't do a lot, but it'd also be incredibly frustrating to go sailing first and then lose the great wall.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

You've convinced me about settling on the stone. As for the Great Wall, didn't someone learn a hard lesson in a recent game about the GW only working on its home continent? So if it's built on a tiny island, the benefit might be rather limited.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Are barb warriors still possible?
.

Yes. 25% odds to spawn warrior/archer/spear/axe. If you spawn a spear, you might be one of the few unlucky ones.

 

[Xcalibrator]

As for the Great Wall, didn't someone learn a hard lesson in a recent game about the GW only working on its home continent?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

As for the Great Wall, didn't someone learn a hard lesson in a recent game about the GW only working on its home continent? So if it's built on a tiny island, the benefit might be rather limited.

Aaargh yes you're right! That's what these discussions are for lol. So the Great Wall is basically useless if you build it anywhere in the starting area. In that case, sailing first it is. And settling on the stone is just for the faster start.