News: BOTM 252: Roosevelt, Noble - Starts May 2, 2023

[MarleysGh0st]

BOTM 252: Roosevelt of America.

Ladies and Gentlemen! For your entertainment, Elder Sibling is proud to bring to you the First Annual Undernourishment Olympiad! Our contestants have each been placed on a poor plot of land, with nothing but some clams to sustain them. Will they do their best to build a city on this spot or will they search for some place better? Their traditional military escorts have all been relocated far away, for a glimpse of the Cornucopia, a place that may be much more appealing. Their weapons have been confiscated, but in exchange they have been given a boat that may be useful in reaching this place. But first, the contestants must find a way or make a way for the boat to reach them. Contestants, may the RNG always be positively biased!

Game settings:
Playing as: Roosevelt of America
Rivals: 5 AIs
Difficulty: Noble
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: Ring
World Wrap: Toroidal
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: Medium
Map latitudes: -90°S to 90°N


Roosevelt is Industrious and Organized, and you start with Fishing and Agriculture.

The Industrious trait gives +50% wonder production and double production speed of Forge

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

Unique unit: Navy SEAL (replaces Marine)
The navy seal starts with the march promotion, meaning it can always heal when moving. It also gets 1-2 first strikes, which the marine lacks.

Unique Building: Mall (replaces Supermarket)
Where the supermarket makes your citizens healthier, the mall makes them more profitable and happier too: +20% commerce in its city, and +1 happy with each of hit musicals, hit singles and hit movies!

Starting screenshot

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



Adventurer Class bonuses:
There is no Adventurer Class in this game.

Challenger Class Equalizers:
These low level games are no challenge for you, so you play on Deity level! The AI still have the (customized) Noble level starting units.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 2 May 2023, 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 12 Jun 2023.

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]

You all have been clamoring for a new game, so I have uploaded this game and started it immediately. Go! Play!

AlanH prepares our Mac saves and I've sprung this on him by surprise, so there may be some delay before the Mac saves are available. And be aware that if you do start playing right away, you'll be forfeiting your right to participate in the pregame discussion. If you want to discuss the game, first, then delay playing the game for as long as you think necessary. For as long as you can resist the temptation?
I have added a few extra days to the end date, to compensate for this.

This game is a "tribute" to reality shows and to a particular movie with a reality show theme. I had a special idea in mind when I designed this game, but play testing revealed that the AI just couldn't handle it and so were no competition at all. As a result, I've modified the map somewhat. You can probably guess what my original plan was. I'll reveal the answer after the game is over.

Noble Zarkon has promised to have BOTM 251 released soon, so you'll have a hard track game to play, as well as this easy track one.

 

[Frederiksberg]

You all have been clamoring for a new game, so I have uploaded this game and started it immediately. Go! Play!

Sorry for bugging you. The game is much appreciated

Interesting dilemma. And hard to solve without knowing the coastal route back to the settler. Solution is probably to scout for a few turns before deciding. There could be better land to the south of the settler and maybe there is a fairly short path for the galley going north and east.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

Yay - thanks! Clamoring worked

 

[Fine_Distinction]

I am not sure if we are supposed to know this - but looks like AI settlers are also stranded on islands?

 

[LowtherCastle]

My goal is to be the first get the crabs.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Sorry for bugging you. The game is much appreciated

Interesting dilemma. And hard to solve without knowing the coastal route back to the settler. Solution is probably to scout for a few turns before deciding. There could be better land to the south of the settler and maybe there is a fairly short path for the galley going north and east.

And also without knowing if the landmass the settler is on is large enough to spawn animals.

 

[Powerfaker]

The secure way is SIP and create a short cut to the other side with borderpop. To build a settler with such a city will be hopelessly slow, not very appealing.
I wonder if there's a better spot on the .... island (?) I don't think the boat will arive within 5 turns, when animals start to spawn, so either the island is small enough to fogbust everything with the settler.so we can afford to wait on the boat, or we are forced to settle somewhere on this side anyhow, will there be a better spot then? So ....uhhhm... how trustworthy is this mapmaker ??? I think I will try walking.and find out, on noble one can take such risks.......
Then the question is, move south first to see if the boat needs to go north or vice versa ..... (NE first)?

You don't auto-die after x turns not settling right?

I am not sure if we are supposed to know this - but looks like AI settlers are also stranded on islands?

I think that is the part that didn't work and has been adjusted.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

I am not sure if we are supposed to know this - but looks like AI settlers are also stranded on islands?

The hint was deliberate. All of the AI have starting positions just as impoverished as yours. I can be cruel, but fair!

Did I say you're starting on an island?

There was one line in the game announcement that might have been misleading, so I have edited that. I'm repeating the line here, for everyone's attention:

But first, the contestants must find a way or make a way for the boat to reach them.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

You don't auto-die after x turns not settling right?

@Powerfaker, no, there was SGOTM recently where teams got a bunch of settlers and kept them for centuries, nothing happened.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

My goal is to be the first get the crabs.

On the bright side, we do start with fishing - @LowtherCastle

 

[Xcalibrator]

Well, things moved pretty quickly in the game! Spoiler threads, please?

 

[MarleysGh0st]

Well, things moved pretty quickly in the game! Spoiler threads, please?

Didn't waste any time, eh?

Spoiler threads are up!

 

[Fine_Distinction]

The tile yields are not on and the Mac save is not available yet - I am trying to sandbox it, but not sure what are the non-desert tiles near settler? Are these plains? 11?

 

[MarleysGh0st]

The tile yields are not on and the Mac save is not available yet - I am trying to sandbox it, but not sure what are the non-desert tiles near settler? Are these plains? 11?

I'm sorry about the Mac save. As I said, that's out of my hands. And you're the player who needed this right away--Murphy's Law in action.

Yes, the tiles ESE and 2SE are plains.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

I'm sorry about the Mac save. As I said, that's out of my hands. And you're the player who needed this right away--Murphy's Law in action.

Yes, the tiles ESE and 2SE are plains.

Lol don’t worry - some of my best games were the ones where I had to plan and sandbox a lot due to lack of save. In the worst case I would ask for an extension, but I will be back in 2 weeks. In the airport now

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Interesting idea for a starting theme. Thanks for the game, @MarleysGh0st!

The secure way is SIP and create a short cut to the other side with borderpop. To build a settler with such a city will be hopelessly slow, not very appealing.
I wonder if there's a better spot on the .... island (?) I don't think the boat will arive within 5 turns, when animals start to spawn, so either the island is small enough to fogbust everything with the settler.so we can afford to wait on the boat,

I'm pretty sure it's not small enough. Just looking at the tiles visible in the starting screenshot, there is no tile the settler can sit on from which he can see all the other tiles.

As an extra challenge, it looks to me like it's also impossible to fogbust all Cornucopia land tiles from a boat, which means that if you transport the settler, there's a nonzero risk of him getting eaten or clubbed to death the instant he steps off the boat.

Having said that, if I was playing (I probably won't have time to :-( ) there's almost no way I'd settle on the starting desert while Cornucopia is there as an option. Once we open the starting saves and can see the World map, it should become evident where the boat is in relation to the settler and how far away they are as the crow flies. I can't imagine it would be very far as otherwise transporting the settler would become too high risk to be playable, and us mapmakers are usually more trustworthy than that!

You don't auto-die after x turns not settling right?

No

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The hint was deliberate. All of the AI have starting positions just as impoverished as yours. I can be cruel, but fair!

That then becomes even more interesting: I'm pretty sure the AI is not intelligent enough to transport the first settler on a boat - so they will all just settle in place straight away. So we can expect some seriously backward AIs!

 

[Fine_Distinction]

That then becomes even more interesting: I'm pretty sure the AI is not intelligent enough to transport the first settler on a boat - so they will all just settle in place straight away. So we can expect some seriously backward AIs!

I was initially thinking that @MarleysGhost may put AI settlers on the boats in Cornucopia to prevent it - but does not seems to me the case, since he stresses "same starts". Hmm

 

[Fine_Distinction]

Mac save - yay! Thank you @AlanH