News: BOTM 30 - Starts 17 May

[Niklas]

BOTM 30: Maya

Game Details:

Yes, it's another Deity game! The one that started two months back was more like Prince in disguise, so this time you'll get the real thing. Pakal is your host for the month, allegedly one of the "best" leaders out there. Can you lead him and his Mayans to victory? Good luck - you'll need every ounce of it!


Game settings:
Civilization: Maya (Leader: K'inich Janaab' Pakal; Traits: Financial, Expansive)
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Deity
Map: Big and Small
Climate: Temperate
Sealevel: Medium
Mapsize: Standard
World wrap: Cylindrical
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No Tribal Villages, No Random Events
Victory Conditions: All enabled

K'inich Janaab' Pakal:
Pakal is Financial and Expansive and starts with Mining and Mysticism. The Financial trait gives +1 commerce from any plot already giving at least 2. The Expansive trait gives +2 in all cities, +25% production of Workers, and +100% production of Granary.

Unique unit: Holkan (replaces Spearman)
Holkans have the same +100% against Mounted units that normal Spearmen do. On top of that they are immune to first strikes, and also don't require any metals to build. However, they still require the Bronze Working technology.

Unique building: Ball Court (replaces Colosseum)
The Ball Court gives an extra +2 , on top of the +1 and +1 per 20% culture that the Colosseum normally gives.

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


Adventurer Class bonuses:
Game will be played on Immortal level. AI starting units will still match that of Deity level.

Challenger Class Equalizers:
BSE: The Cows near your settler had to be put down.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:00:01 on 17 May 2010, 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 17 June 2010.

PLEASE NOTE that there will be no separate "Saves Available" thread for this game.

Software Versions

Windows: This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Warlords or Civ4 vanilla), 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 are encouraged to read the notes on Vista fixes here.

Macintosh: This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Warlords or Civ4 vanilla), patched to version 3.19, and with the MacBUFFY mod version 3.19.003 installed. You can download the MacBUFFY mod here.[/QUOTE]

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.

 

[Lexad]

Not bad, decent happiness reserve due to UB.

The plains hill 2N is intriguing.

 

[srad]

Ok, I also wanted another deity ... now I have it.


Think Maya starts with Mining and Mystic.

 

[Jove]

I like the hill 2N too.

The trouble I have had with games like this is making too many decisions before I have the right info. A rush with Holkans might be a good idea, but it really depends on the presence of a convenient victim. Gotta hedge that bet.

 

[Niklas]

Think Maya starts with Mining and Mystic.

Quite right, a cut and paste error. Fixed, thanks!

 

[Rashiminos]

There are 7 jungle spaces in the initial BFC and fog-gazing hints at 3 more and a peak. I suspect moving north will be the right play, unless someone wants to gamble on the southernmost bare hill having copper/iron (and choosing to go elsewhere with 2nd city).

Likely Agriculture and Bronze Working to start...

 

[Fluroscent]

Holkans are nice barb control units, so that is one less worry. Settle PH tech AG-BW... And then..

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Yup, looks like it'll be the plains hill for me too...

With eventually at least 4 major food resources, the capital is going to be huge!!!

Hmm, which way to send the warrior?

 

[srad]

Some thoughts:

Settling on the PH. Worker first, warrior, worker. Improve Corn, Riverside Grassland Hill, Corn.
Teching: Agri, BW (for Barb defense and Slavery), AH, ?
Think we are north of the equator, so I tend to send the warrior on the dye to start a clockwise scouting around the capital. Or 1S1E on the Grassland Hill?

Question:
Will you steal a worker if possible? Depends on the neighbor?

 

[Jove]

Question:
Will you steal a worker if possible? Depends on the neighbor?

Since we get a bonus for building our own workers, I am inclined not to steal a worker and focus on growth instead. Inclined I said.

 

[Rashiminos]

Some thoughts:

Settling on the PH. Worker first, warrior, worker. Improve Corn, Riverside Grassland Hill, Corn.
Teching: Agri, BW (for Barb defense and Slavery), AH, ?
Think we are north of the equator, so I tend to send the warrior on the dye to start a clockwise scouting around the capital. Or 1S1E on the Grassland Hill?

Question:
Will you steal a worker if possible? Depends on the neighbor?

Without regard to the second question or the map type, I'd be loathe to pick a fight from a central location until I'm ready. There are a few exceptional neighbors...

Big and Small has a wide variation of settings, and the potential for the lack of an immediate neighbor.

 

[Ronnie1]

I'm sending the warrior SE to the hill to see if there might be a reason to NOT move the settler 2N. But that PH 2N is riverside and there doesn't really seem like a reason to not go there. It of course probably has copper or iron, which would be a trade off a map maker might create for us. Worker first, Ag first seem like no brainers...try to mine the south GH before a jungle can grow there. Great leader for a go at deity! Worker steal if neighbor is close just to try and slow them down a bit maybe.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Settling on the ph also appears to offer a forested plains tile to the NE, enabling us to build the worker in 10t.

Looks to me like mountains to the SW and SE with this little jungle patch between. If we're on the small continent with 2 AIs, they might both be to the south, giving us a brief moment to REX to the north. So to worker steal, the warrior would want to go south, to defog for REX, he'd want to go north...

Btw, anyone notice that the plains hill and grass tile were defogged for us by the mapmaker?

----

 

[Lexad]

I won't be surprised if plains hill was our initial spawning point.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Agriculture costs 101b, which is 11t if we build the worker in 10t. But...if we meet someone who knows agriculture before we're done with it, we get it 10t. Another reason to scout south?

 

[babybluepants]

Nice observation. One wasted worker turn isn't the end of the world - it's still a very fast corn farm.

I'd scout north for a good second city site. The jungle isn't very appealing, and I fail to see why we'd bother with worker stealing here. Their scouts will find you pretty quickly, anyway.

 

[Capt Buttkick]

How about settling on the banana? +1 instead of +1 on the PH.
If there is indeed metal on the PH, it's a good improvement over settling there. And it keeps the two southern hills in play for the capitol (with IW).
Closer to the jungle, but with Exp, shouldn't be our greatest worry.

Only case I can see against it is if there's another 2 tile to the north, like plains forest. That would get the initial worker out quicker. I don't see the forest that LC sees, but then I'm terrible at fog gazing...

 

[Jove]

It looks like a plains forest NE of the PH to me, too.

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Since we get a bonus for building our own workers, I am inclined not to steal a worker and focus on growth instead. Inclined I said.

It is a good question.

I think I won't be stealing a worker as I want to keep my options open diplomatically. Annoying a neighbour at this difficulty level might not be a good decision, plus mine usually get eaten on the journey home.

I might try choking an AI with Hokans depending on what resources they get, but I'm sure I'll spend alot of time just killing barbarians.

This time I must decide on how I'm going to win early on and set out my strategy accordingly.

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Who thinks we have a chance of researching buddism before the other AI?