Announcement: Welcome to the Civ Fanatics Competition (CFC)

[Bangau]

Welcome all members to the Civ Fanatics Competition (CFC)!

With the permission of @Noble Zarkon and @Ozbenno (this forum's moderators) I'm starting the CFC on the HOF forum part for everyone on here to have fun and learn from each other. It's an experiment, so let's see how it goes. Feel free to give your opinion how things could be improved, if this is something that'll stick I bet it needs some over time adjustments here and there.

I will post one (or more) actual competition threads after this introduction, I think those will show you best what the idea is. The format for any competition is as follows:

***
Each new CFC thread in the HOF forum is a new competition. Create one and describe all the following info:
***

CFC: [name of the competition]


Welcome to the Civ Fanatics Competition where we will find out who can pull off [competition goal, e.g. fastest, biggest, most creative... something]!


***


Start conditions


To participate, start and play a game that matches the following conditions:

• #players: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Leader: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Ruleset: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Version : [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Difficulty: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Start Era: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Game Speed: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• #City States: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Disaster Intensity: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Map: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Map Size: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Resources: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• World Age: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Start Position [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Temperature: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Rainfall: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Sea Level: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Victory Conditions: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Advanced Options: [set the condition, 'Any' if any will do]
• Mods: [set the conditions, 'Any' if any will do]
• Special conditions: [set the conditions, 'Any' if any will do]

***

Rules


To make sure it’s a fair competition, make sure to:

[use the following rules or adjust them for this specific competition]

• Not cheat and/or use exploits (you know when you have, it’s that subtle feeling of shame when you post a score you did not earn fairly ). This off course includes using any in game cheat codes, restarting maps or playing maps you have seen others play, reloading previous saves after mistakes (not crashes, but even then you shouldn’t replay more than one turn).
• Follow the GOTM rules, especially the ‘what should we consider as exploits’ (see https://forums.civfanatics.com/forums/civ6-game-of-the-month.545/)
• If you participate and anyone shows you accidentally or purposely violated the conditions or rules of the competition, your name will be crossed from the top 10.

***

Participate in the contest

To be eligible for a ‘top position’, post a reply to this thread where you:

[use the following rules to participate or adjust them for this specific competition]

• Mention the number of turns it took you to win.
• Claim your position in the ‘top 10’.
  • End your post with the new ‘top 10’ with you in it (see below).
• Add the first turn save game and the last turn save game (post victory).
• Mention the game seeds.
• For flavor: post screenshots of interesting parts of your game, or even make a video.
• Describe (the more flavor the better) what your strategy was and how the game went.

***

Current Top 10

Copy and paste, and enter yourself into the top 10 list if your score is worthy!

[use the following top 10 or adjust it for this specific competition]

• 1st place: [player] - [number of turns] - [leader/country]
• 2nd place:
• 3rd place:
• 4th place:
• 5th place:
• 6th place:
• 7th place:
• 8th place:
• 9th place:
• 10th place:

 

[Thorak]

Nice initiative. I will start contributing once I completed my current game...

Just to clarify. It is ok to start a game on huge with only 1 opponent AI for science and for domination it is ok to start a duel map with only 1 AI? I think you should set a limitation of at least 7 AI players no matter of the map, otherwise many of the victory types will be played with only 1 AI player.

 

[Bangau]

Hi Thorak, glad to see you join in. For these competitions the answer to your question is: yes, in most cases the fastest victory will be in a duel situation (but I'm curious if that's always the case, maybe there are strategies for a cultural or diplo victory where multiple opponents is beneficial?). These first ones are to really test the 'maximum speed run' scenarios. I have many ideas for more competitions, like: fastest wins with default settings (small map 6 players etc..), city with the most yields competition, highest score competition, etc. And I invite everyone to come up with their own competitions. But I didn't want to start off with too many different ones to start with. Hoping that some more people will find these threads and join in. I really love to see how other players play the way they do and by learning from them keep the game interesting and challenging.

(@All) What do you think? Should I add the 'fastest wins with default settings' competitions as well already? Maybe those will be more likely to get people to join in?

 

[Thorak]

(@All) What do you think? Should I add the 'fastest wins with default settings' competitions as well already? Maybe those will be more likely to get people to join in?

Ok, well I think it's fine then. It might be interesting to see the difference in turns between the "optimal" scenario and a more "standardized scenario". As HoF has had no posts for a very very long time I guess people stopped looking here (I just found this thread by coincidence). Also I think many are awaiting the new patch as well. But I think you might get more people to join if you post some commercial posts linking to this thread, in game of the month or general forum.

 

[Shader]

This excited me so much I started a new account (can't remember old one). I love that this is going to be happening again and I really want to play a part in making it big as it used to be. For whatever reason the GOTM is a shell of what is was in the Civ4 days. I wish we could get people from all over the internet posting. Very popular game, but there just aren't a lot of big competitions out there and learning from people's detailed notes is what has taught me so much over the years.

Anyway, a few suggestions:

1. You've submitted a ton of deity games. I think that's a big excessive to begin with as not everyone is a deity player. I will try, but you are unnecessarily limiting the number of players who will succeed.
2. IMO there need to be rules on map size, number of players, etc. If I'm choosing domination with 5 civ's and someone else is choosing domination with 14 civs on the biggest map, times will be different.
3. I'd try to stick by the old HOF rules as much as possible. This is a great start, but imo it's far too broad. Map size/speed/# Civ's/# City states need to be the same at a bare minimum.
4. Like Thorak said, start linking people to this thread so we can get some traction.

 

[Bangau]

As HoF has had no posts for a very very long time I guess people stopped looking here (I just found this thread by coincidence). Also I think many are awaiting the new patch as well. But I think you might get more people to join if you post some commercial posts linking to this thread, in game of the month or general forum.

True, if you look at the view numbers most people only watch the general discussion threads unfortunately, but I'm hoping to create some momentum when the first people start to join. I was thinking of PMing people who play the GOTM ans ask them to join this competition, might do that.

This excited me so much I started a new account (can't remember old one). I love that this is going to be happening again and I really want to play a part in making it big as it used to be. For whatever reason the GOTM is a shell of what is was in the Civ4 days. I wish we could get people from all over the internet posting. Very popular game, but there just aren't a lot of big competitions out there and learning from people's detailed notes is what has taught me so much over the years.

Great to see you're excited to join in. I think the best step now to help is play a game and join in the competition. What you describe would be my ultimate goal: getting people all over the world to join and compete with one another, would be very cool.

Anyway, a few suggestions:
1. You've submitted a ton of deity games. I think that's a big excessive to begin with as not everyone is a deity player. I will try, but you are unnecessarily limiting the number of players who will succeed.

I was thinking that deity players would be the most likely ones to be in for a competition, but you're right: the majority of players probably aren't deity players. We totally need non-deity competitions as well, any suggestions to start with? For competitions where the goal is to be the fastest, I also think that deity players will often get faster scores on lower difficulty levels than people not accustomed to min/maxing all the time.

2. IMO there need to be rules on map size, number of players, etc. If I'm choosing domination with 5 civ's and someone else is choosing domination with 14 civs on the biggest map, times will be different.

Every thread is a different competition and I've tried to describe how each competition has its own rules. E.g. we could start another competition 'fastest prince domination on 8 player standard map'

3. I'd try to stick by the old HOF rules as much as possible. This is a great start, but imo it's far too broad. Map size/speed/# Civ's/# City states need to be the same at a bare minimum.

I didn;t know there were 'old' HOF rules! I read a bunch of older threads in the HOF and found that sometimes they aimed to do something similar as what I had in mind, but mostly it was just a bit too different. Can you point me to a thread or threads that describe the old rules more?

Thanks for participating!

 

[DanQuayle]

Under the current proposed format, faster win times will all be achieved by picking the most favorable settings (most of them involving small maps with few opponents).
e.g. Religious victory on a tiny duel map against Kongo

You either want to create different tables for each combination of settings like the halls of fame from previous civ iterations (e.g. Domination/Deity/Standard speed/8 players/Pangaea etc.) for higher comparability
or adopt the former Gauntlet format of this forum (which has died off).

Personally, I prefer the 6otM format since it removes the highest RNG factor of civilization which is the map generation and offers greater comparability.

 

[Thorak]

Under the current proposed format, faster win times will all be achieved by picking the most favorable settings (most of them involving small maps with few opponents).
e.g. Religious victory on a tiny duel map against Kongo

You either want to create different tables for each combination of settings like the halls of fame from previous civ iterations (e.g. Domination/Deity/Standard speed/8 players/Pangaea etc.) for higher comparability
or adopt the former Gauntlet format of this forum (which has died off).

Personally, I prefer the 6otM format since it removes the highest RNG factor of civilization which is the map generation and offers greater comparability.

This is true if you want a fair game and you're in it for the competition. I am a bit curious myself however, how quickly certain victories are acievable. However, in it's current format I would say probably the only fair game would be science as it is not totally obvious that a certain map type will be the best in that scenario. For religion and domination especially it will be very favorable to start very small maps. For diplomatic, science and culture I am not so sure the answer is that obvious though?

Anyway, I will start a science game today with "cooked" settings to maximize what I think will be the most efficient way to win science quickly. I can post the save for you afterwards @DanQuayle and we can see if you can beat my turn count on that map if you're up for the challenge! Then it will be almost like a 6otM!

 

[Thorak]

I have been rolling around a bit with some strange settings with huge map and only 2 players with max city states. It feels kinda like cheating though so I will likely just play a more standardized science game with a more normal amount of players...

 

[Casualty of war]

There has to be some constraints and guidelines or people will just gravitate towards Aztecs and Incans over and over again.

 

[Bangau]

Thanks everyone for your input! For now there's a few things mentioned often:
- It shouldn't be only on deity --> I agree and will create other difficulty threads as well.
- It shouldn't be only 'cooked speedruns' (often resulting in a duel game on an optimal map having the best odds for a great time) --> I agree and will create 'standard speedruns'.
- It shouldn't only be speedruns --> I agree and shall enter some other types of competitions. I invite everyone to come up with their favorite playing style turned into a competition as well. Looking on Reddit people really love the huge yields cities, I think I'll for instance make a competition out of that!

 

[Thorak]

What kind of annoys me is that it is too much about how patient you are with the rerolls of the map and these rerolls are very annoying. I would prefer a format more like the 6OTM where a single map is picked and played by several players. It will give everyone the same starting conditions and it will prevent these annoying rerolls. So maybe put up a turn 1 save that we all can play from and pick a victory condition to follow? I am currently preoccupied with 6OTM71, but once I am done with that I am totally up for another deity game in the same format. I have been trying to come up with a better format for a competitions, but it boils down too much on performing multiple rerolls...

I also think you should narrow down the amount of parallel competitions to focus players more on the same one.

 

[Bangau]

It's hard to balance 'different competitions for different play styles' vs. 'not too many different competitions at once' in a game as divers as CIV. I'm hoping these threads will be there 'for the long run' and hope that those competitions that appeal to the most people will 'surface' once more people join in. For me it's like an athletics competition: you have the 100m, but also javelin throwing and the 10K, it's all athletics but for everyone a different discipline to compete in. We'll see, we got our first contender at least!

I live how GOTM let's you compare how you approached a map versus how others have. I don't think we should create a sort of copy of that in here, the GOTM is good as it is. (71 is out? I'll need to took a look...)

The rerolling is certainly an issue. I do think though that for this competition its ok if someone really wants a great start and rerolls some times. There is some luck involved in CIV, there's no other way to level the playing ground than GOTM is already doing.

 

[Falabello]

Hi! First of all, congrats for this initiative. This is a nice and hard work !

I have been waiting for the HOF Tables since the fisrt time I played Civ6, but it's not possible yet. Although I don't have the time I wanted currently, I'll try to participate...

So, a question about the game seeds. Yes, all HoF games needs rerolls... It makes no sense to start a HoF game with a poor Capital (we need at least, not a perfect, but a decent one). So, I'll do it, not a hundred times, but only a few times! Then, after set up all my game, including choosing all the opponents (AIs), the map offers nothing, but I have the game seeds. Can I only go to "MENU" and "RESTART", to maintain the same game seeds and begin a new game, or do I have to start (set up) all over again? (for a new valid game seeds?) In fact, I don't know what exactly what the game seeds represents ...

BTW, it seems to me you're new here. Congrats again, you're doing an excellent job .

 

[Bangau]

Hi! First of all, congrats for this initiative. This is a nice and hard work !

I have been waiting for the HOF Tables since the fisrt time I played Civ6, but it's not possible yet. Although I don't have the time I wanted currently, I'll try to participate...

So, a question about the game seeds. Yes, all HoF games needs rerolls... It makes no sense to start a HoF game with a poor Capital (we need at least, not a perfect, but a decent one). So, I'll do it, not a hundred times, but only a few times! Then, after set up all my game, including choosing all the opponents (AIs), the map offers nothing, but I have the game seeds. Can I only go to "MENU" and "RESTART", to maintain the same game seeds and begin a new game, or do I have to start (set up) all over again? (for a new valid game seeds?) In fact, I don't know what exactly what the game seeds represents ...

BTW, it seems to me you're new here. Congrats again, you're doing an excellent job .

Thanks @Falabello ! Joined in June after lurking for a few months, so yes, relatively new here.

To answer your question: the game seed is shown in the bottom of the menu when you do an 'advanced setup'. The seed is the number 'fed' to the games map generation algorithm: if two people start the game with the same game settings (like size etc.) and seed, they will get the exact same map and starting position. When you reroll you get a new 'random seed', and since you are now no longer in the advanced setup screen you don't see it there... fortunately you can also see it when you go to the ingame menu (ESC) and hold your mouse still on the bottom of that menu screen. For an example look at the screenshot I made in the last post I made in the 'fastest science victory' thread.

Looking forward to seeing your first contribution to the Civ Fanatics Competition!

 

[Falabello]

Thanks for your answer. This tip (the seeds in the ingame menu) will help a lot.

 

[Victoria]

and we can see if you can beat my turn count on that map if you're up for the challenge!

No offence but my money is on Dan.

 

[Bangau]

No offence but my money is on Dan.

You mean @DanQuayle ? I've seen his GOTM games and I agree he's probably one of the best players on this forum. Hope he likes to join some time.

 

[Eyswein]

A GOTM player who just found this thread. Hope more find it and start posting games. I always learn from detailed posts from others and hope mine help someone. For the fastest victory ones, it states select any leader, but not whether you can select the AI leaders.

 

[Bangau]

For the fastest victory ones, it states select any leader, but not whether you can select the AI leaders.

Good point. I changed it in the descriptions. The 'fastest' CFC are meant for anyone to find 'cheese' the optimal settings for a win, so you can choose your opponents too. The 'fastest standard settings' ones are meant to find the fastest strategies in a (more or less even) standard game. So there one should pick random opponents.

Looking forward to your (and others) entry! As you said, it's a nice way to learn from how other players play the game.