BOTM 238: Pericles of Greece.
Hello, I'm MarleysGh0st. You may know me from the mediocre middle of the GOTM game rankings, going back for the last 14 years or so. When I was invited to join the GOTM staff, I jumped at the chance. After being taught the secret handshake, I toured the clubhouse. Oh, the wonderful Trophy Room--where else can you see a full-sized Humbaba mounted above the fireplace? And then there's the Security Center, with its big, red button--but I was told never to touch that!
After sitting down to work on a game, though, a question occurred to me. How does this work? Luckily, the veteran staffers, particularly DynamicSpirit and Noble Zarkon, have been very generous with their help. Now I think I have everything ready to host my first game, so let's see what happens. If all else fails, I could always try pushing the red button.
You are Pericles of Greece and you've just had a wonderful idea: Democracy!* You share this idea with your advisors, but they have some questions.
Domestic Advisor: What if the people don't want to vote for us?
Financial Advisor: What about the wealthy?
Military Advisor: What about our noble war leaders?
Corporation Advisor: Aren't corporations people, too?
Foreign Advisor: Our neighbors will not like this!
Religion Advisor: Shouldn't the people get guidance from the temples?
Civics Advisor: You know where the people do get guidance? Twitter.
Technology Advisor: How does this work?
So, maybe you need to mull this idea over for a millennium or two. Perhaps you'll decide that the old ways are best, after all. Let the campaigning begin!
*To be clear, yes, you are starting the game with the Democracy tech, in addition to your regular starting techs. Whether you wish to change your civics is up to you.
Game settings:
Playing as: Pericles of Greece
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Monarch
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No goody huts, no random events
Victory Conditions: All enabled. Espionage Cultural Victories count as Cultural Victories.
Map settings:
Map: Custom Continents (lightly edited)
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: Medium
Map latitudes: -90°S to 90°N
Pericles is Philosophical and Creative, and you start with Fishing and Hunting.
The Philosophical trait gives +100% great people birth rate and double production speed of University
The Creative trait gives +2 culture/city each turn and double production speed of Colosseum, Library and Theatre
Unique unit: Phalanx (replaces Axeman)
Compared to the axeman, the phalanx is much less vulnerable to chariot attacks, having +100% defence against them.
Unique Building: Odeon (replaces Colosseum)
The odeon gives an amazing +2 happiness and +3 culture in its city. It can also turn 2 citizens into artists, and gives an extra +1 happy from hit singles.
Starting screenshot
This is the start of the game (click for a bigger image):
Adventurer Class bonuses:
You play on noble level. But watch out, because the AI have monarch level starting units.
Challenger Class Equalizers:
You play on deity level, because nothing less is a challenge for you! The AI still only have monarch level starting units.
To Enter the Competition:
This competition will open at 00:01 am on 1 Jul 2022, 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 Aug 2022.
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.
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