News: GOTM 73 - Starts 1 December

[jesusin]

GOTM 73: Cyrus

Deity level is not to be taken lightly. Anyway, this game is winnable so you should try your best. Enjoy!




Game settings:

Civilization: Persia (Leader: Cyrus; Traits: Expansive, Creative)
Rivals: 4 AIs
Difficulty: Deity
Map: Continents
Mapsize: Small
Climate: Temperate
Sea Level: Medium
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Epic
Options: None. All GH have been removed.
Victory Conditions: all enabled

Cyrus:
Cyrus is Expansive and Creative; starting with Agriculture and Hunting. Your Expansive trait adds 3 health per city, and doubles production speed of Granary and Harbor. Your Creative trait adds 2 culture per city, and doubles production speed of the Theater and Colosseum.

Unique unit: Immortals (replaces Chariot)

Immortals are mounted units with 2 movement points. They have a 30% chance of retreating in combat rather than dying, and get a 50% strength bonus against archers.

Starting screenshot

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




Adventurer Class bonuses:

1. Escort: You receive an extra Worker and 2 extra Archers, all sharing the Settler tile.

Challenger Class Equalisers:

1. No techs: No starting technologies.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open on 1 December 2011. From that date, you'll be able to get your chosen starting save >>>here<<<.
Submit the save after your victory (or defeat) here, by 1 January 2012.

Software Versions

Windows: This game MUST be played in Civilization 4 (NOT Warlords or BTS), patched to version 1.74, and with the HOF mod version 1.74.004 installed. You can download the HOF mod here. Players using Windows Vista are encouraged to read the notes on Vista fixes here.

Macintosh: This game MUST be played in Civilization 4 (NOT Warlords), patched to version 1.74, and with the Mac HOF mod version 1.74.002 installed. You can download the HOF 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 the game outside those threads while it is in progress.

Please write here or send me a Private Message for any technical queries, eg. if you have trouble opening the game. Do NOT post in this thread once you have successfully opened the starting save.

 

[magicgunnar]

Um, I don't normally play deity, but I guess the key to victory is a lot of Immortals and early wars. I found this guide: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/ancient_blitzkrieg.php but it is for warlords so much of it does not apply. In fact the only Deity I have won was on a duel map. This map is small, so maybe I have a chance?

One thing I am wondering about, do you guys build your first worker or steal your first worker?

Does cheap granaries mean that we should build them and do a lot of whipping?

On the minimap there is an area to the south that is explored, is this a hint from the mapmaker about were we have to go?

Edit: I played a testgame and it went really bad. The french had axemen and citywall when I arrived with my Immortals, and it turned out they weren't really immortals.

 

[High King J.J.]

Great. Another Gotm to lose miserably.

On the minimap there is an area to the south that is explored, is this a hint from the mapmaker about were we have to go?

It's the scout, scouting on that hilltop. But he's crouching to stay hidden from the deity level wildlife as well as human players who are going to send him to his death at the claws of a bear, lion or jabberwocky

I'd be tempted to SIP, however the PH NW is also tempting. I'll scout NW on gold to see what there is to see. Potential second city site 4S of settler. River will provide an instant trade route to capital.

Enough of my misguided ramblings. Can't wait to fail in this one.
(Unless we are alone on the starting landmass. Sure, that'll happen)

High J.J. (about to be brought low yet again)

 

[babybluepants]

Expansive doesn't give you a worker bonus and creative doesn't give you a library bonus. That's a lot worse than it sounds.

 

[jesusin]

On the minimap there is an area to the south that is explored, is this a hint from the mapmaker about were we have to go?

It is just a mistake by the mapmaker. Sorry about that, everybody.

 

[WelshGandalf]

Expansive doesn't give you a worker bonus and creative doesn't give you a library bonus. That's a lot worse than it sounds.

Also Immortals get a +100% vs. axemen in BTS but not in vanilla, so overall this would be a whole lot easier in BTS.

 

[kcd_swede]

I'm either settling in-place or on the PH 1NW. Will move scout to help decide.

Epic speed brings Deity down almost a level. Too bad for me... I rarely win on immortal difficulty level either.

4AIs... at least one will have to die. (This map aint big enough for the 5 of us ). Would be best if I get company in that war, make some friends... perhaps set up for a diplo VC. On a Jesusin map, though, gotta think culture first. No neighbors on my landmass and I'll probably aim for that.

 

[Xcalibrator]

That's a scout, right? Move him to the gold either way, then choose between SIP and the PH to the NW. Worker first. We'll want Wheel (opens chariots), Animal Husbandry (reveals horses), and Mining (for the gold), but which first? AH is roughly double the cost of the others, so go with Mining or Wheel. Probably Wheel because the worker can camp the deer, then road it and continue onto the gold hill, then mine when Mining comes in. The extra commerce then speeds up AH.

It seems too easy, and my early-game play tends to be subpar. Would it be better to go with AH first and focus more on growth (with deer and sheep)? Should settling a 2nd city take precedence over getting out that first immortal? Can the expert rushers advise, please?

 

[Conquistador 63]

Anyway, this game is winnable so you should try your best.

Hmm, maybe this is the time for my 1st Deity GOTM win?
Wishful thinking, since it's Xmas time, maybe the mapmaker gave us horses in the plains tile 1S of sheep. That way, SIP and get horses autoconnected by the river.

Without thinking too much, I would tech AH/Wheel/Mining/Pottery...The gold mine plus some FP cottages should suffice to fund initial expansion. Maybe it is the time for playing a test game, it's been forever since I last bothered doing it.

 

[damnrunner]

I'd think mining 1st is optimum as you can improve the deer right away with just hunting. Then you can work the gold as soon as you hit pop 2. The extra commerce from working gold earlier should let you tech through AH, roads (and then BW and pottery) sooner.

 

[Deckhand]

On a Jesusin map, though, gotta think culture first. No neighbors on my landmass and I'll probably aim for that.

No neighbors means no religions, which slows down your culture victory.

Gotta go culture on a Jesusin map because not competing with him for fastest time.
But I won't get that if anyone else goes culture, so :shhh:

 

[Xcalibrator]

I'd think mining 1st is optimum as you can improve the deer right away with just hunting. Then you can work the gold as soon as you hit pop 2. The extra commerce from working gold earlier should let you tech through AH, roads (and then BW and pottery) sooner.

That sounds pretty good. Now what about builds? Worker first, but then... another scout to quickly find the neighbors? Nah, leave that for the first immortal. Start a settler at population 3? Hmm, a test game is looking more and more like a good idea.

 

[FiveRings]

The Southern PH looks very tempting but also best suited for production city. The Northern PH looks better for the resources available and with cottageing might become a good science or wealth city. But will the move North entail bad tiles to the Far North and the Northeast that are currently hidden (which looks much less likely in the South)? Moving the Scout to the Gold Hill won't reveal enough but looks like a must at least to secure that little damage is taken. Pity, this might mean losing a couple of important recon moves to the hills in the South...

Damnrunner's tech past looks optimal to me, thanks for externalising it, D! I am not sure whether Pottery should not come before BW: working the Gold, and with only the Sheep, the Deer and FP as food resources might not be too advantageous for early whipping. And Pottery would allow for early cottageing as well. The final decision might well depend on the availability of Horses close by which itself (close neighbors are a given on a Small map, I assume) will either provide or withhold the opportunity of early war.

 

[Hescumet]

Please excuse the somewhat off topic, but: After another year where I hadn't time to play Civ IV (again) decided to see in a one week holidays what new games were on the market, tried a lot titles getting rave reviews. Turns out none of those are as well balanced entertaining and continiously challenging, - not by the long run - compared with good plain old vanilla Civ4.

And a big part of my enjoyment of Civ4 comes from the GOTM. A big thanks to all the map-makers, mod-makers and moderators . While I have submited very few of the games (most of the times don't get to play them in 1 month) I very much enjoy playing old GOTM. This doesnt contribute to the discussion here I know, but just needed to be said once more

 

[Balton]

I am a long time lurker as it can be seen from the number of posts versus & join date. I have not tried a deity but this one looks too good to be missed. And since designed by Jesusin, I will try for a cultural win. I shall also take the adventurer save.

The only thing that worries me is that after a while artefacts show up on my MacBook Pro making improvements black and gets a bit harder to play on Warlords. But since this is Vanilla it may give me a chance to finish or die honourably...

 

[Balton]

I am a long time lurker as it can be seen from the number of posts versus & join date. I have not tried a deity but this one looks too good to be missed. And since designed by Jesusin, I will try for a cultural win. I shall also take the adventurer save.

The only thing that worries me is that after a while artefacts show up on my MacBook Pro making improvements black and gets a bit harder to play on Warlords. But since this is Vanilla it may give me a chance to finish or die honourably...

I could only locate my Warlords CD, so till I find my original Civ 4 CD no more GOTM

 

[SamSniped]

I have a question regarding GOTM games-can they be set to a lower level of difficulty? I want to play it, but I am definitely NOT at Deity level

 

[neilmeister]

Once the game has finished, the Worldbuilder file is made available on the results page. When you open this file with Civ, you can select the difficulty and even the civ you want to play.

If you want to play a current game, you have the option of the adventurer save, which gives you a bit a leg up. The next GOTM will be at Noble level, and that will be available in a week.