A proposal for the next GOTM

[Muumuu]

I want to thank you all for the latest (and my first) GOTM (#9). I'm glad about my position in the top-ten. But damn good players you are here, it's a tough competition! In fact, has the level of play been rising considerably, or why do I have the impression that scores in this GOTM were much higher than in previous ones?

Then to another issue... I have recently been playing the Rise of Rome scenario a lot, and do like it very much. It seems to be much more of a challange than a normal Civ game, as it begins in a position where all competing nations start with some six cities, quite close to each other, and armed to the teeth. Also, tech is 3x normal price, and building wonders is not allowed (however, the ancient 7 exist). It seems that the only way to progress is to try to slug it out with elephants & catapults vs defenders mostly behind city walls.

Thus I would like to propose that the next GOTM would be this Rise of Rome scenario, possibly with a free choice of a nation and no huts (as the computer does not seem to know how to use them). And at Deity level, of course. Can you finish in less than 100 years? (starting 278 BC, 1 turn/year)

What do you think of such a GOTM? Would it fit in the spirit of this competition, or is the GOTM always supposed to be a start-from-the-zero-on-an-unknown-map thing? I myself would very much prefer various scenarios as GOTMs, just because Civilization seems to be such a great platform for very different simulations. Beginning the game with one settler and mostly the same parameters will produce much more similar games, regardless of variations in the map.

And btw, are there any forums or threads where this Rise of Rome scenario or other scenarios are discussed? I didn't find any, even with the search.

 

[el_kalkylus]

Yeah, that would be fun, even though I have never played a scenario. But there should be a scenario that noone knows about. I know there are cheaters in the Gotm. On the other hand, it doesn't matter. The cheaters can use the cheat code anyway, then reload.

A scenario gotm seems like a good idea.

 

[noughmaster]

I know there are cheaters in the Gotm.

There WAS one that I know of.
It's usually simple to tell from the .sav file.
What exactly do you mean by "cheat code"? Is there some code going around which cleans up the significant bits of the .sav file?
If so, I'd be surprised if it could hide all traces of anything larger than adding a few units later in the game.

 

[el_kalkylus]

Sorry, I should have written cheat-button.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

The main prblem with scenarios is that some people have played them and most haven't. The ones who have played them will have the advantage of know ing the map.

There was a discussion about this many months ago and the best solution at the time was to play a 'scenario' that everyone knew; the earth map.

 

[Muumuu]

Originally posted by Duke of Marlbrough
The main prblem with scenarios is that some people have played them and most haven't. The ones who have played them will have the advantage of knowing the map.

There was a discussion about this many months ago and the best solution at the time was to play a 'scenario' that everyone knew; the earth map.

If knowing the map beforehand is a problem, we could still play scenarios where the map is not hidden. I should have mentioned that in the Rise of Rome scenario I suggested, the whole map is revealed already in the beginning. I also assumed that as this scenario comes together with the game, everybody would be more or less familiar with it, but maybe this is not true.

I personally don't think knowing the map gives almost any advantage at all. It just saves you from building a few explorers, but that's really a marginal cost. Thus it either doesn't bother me very much if someone uses the cheat mode ONLY to reveal the map, although of course that would be unfair.

More of an advantage from playing a scenario comes from learning the strategies that work in that scenario, as they might differ very much from the basic game. However, this exactly is the challenge and fun of playing scenarios.

Since players may have a different amount of experience of different scenarios, we could offer different classes for "new" and "experienced" players. Or we could outright require that the "experienced" players not participate at all.

For example, for the Rise of Rome scenario, I could disqualify myself (unless my old .savs were allowed to be submitted). Instead I could volunteer to help organize this particular scenario GOTM game, as I hope others would in scenarios familiar to them.

As to cheating, I agree with el_kalkylus that this is nothing to worry about. The GOTM system is based on trust, and there's nothing we could do to prevent cheat-reloads anyway. Except of course to expose those stupid enough to leave the cheat mode on in their save-files.

I could also suggest other scenarios. For example, the al-Andalus scenario by this Spanish guy (what was his name??) seems VERY interesting and well-written. Probably his other scenarios would do too, I just haven't examined them more than superficially.

Would anyone have other good scenario GOTM ideas in mind?

The reason I really prefer the Rome scenario is that it's relatively small, and thus fast to play. Other scenarios are often just too massive with hundreds of units.

If there's enough interest I promise to suggest specific rules for the Rome scenario GOTM.

 

[golem]

I would like to test it - I think it could be funny. Maybe it shoud be paralel "scenario GOTM" to nornal one.

 

[Matrix]

It has been suggested before. The main problem with this is: not everyone likes scenarios. Playing on a pre-made map already was somewhat special.

Furthermore, scenarios can already be played at any time. Perhaps you should try to persuade people to all play the Rome-scenario so that you can compare yourself. Perhaps even make a list. Also, the Romans rule there. Anyone playing any other Civ is being foolish, if you ask me.

 

[noughmaster]

How about a hand made large map with 7 identical, small, more or less equally spaced islands on a high level?
Once you have explored your island, you'll know what everybody else has. People will need to experiment with a naval tech branch first. I know I don't usually follow this path.
If the islands are small ie. about 10 or 12 squares, nobody will need to make 300 engineers and spend ages farming.