Best GOTM/COTM?

[AutomatedTeller]

Just out of curiosity - what would you guys who have been playing for awhile say are the best GOTM/COTM? Both for enjoyability and for learning.

I figure that playing old GOTM/COTM would be good learning experiences, especially as you can then see how others played them. I have found that they are interesting challenges, as opposed to just playing random games (which are fun in themselves, but I tend to drop starts I don't like, where the GOTM kind of give you a reason to keep going with a bad start)

Anyway - I was just wondering if there was a way to tell.

 

[ainwood]

There was a poll here that asked people for their favourite COTM map - although that may not be much use for your purposes.

I would suggest that some of the older games might be better for the learning aspect - simply because many of the spoilers included a lot of the why details for peoples strategies - as the community as a whole was learning the best strategies, people used to post more about them and debate them. Now, many of the main / most-successful strategies have been identified and are commonly used, so (typically) the why is not as important, and therefore not covered and debated in the same detail.

 

[azzaman333]

Try COTM 13. It was my first ever XOTM that i finished. Playing on Diety can teach you a great deal more than on Regent or Warlord.

 

[PaperBeetle]

Before I summoned the courage to play my first GOTM, I played through BamSpeedy's Quick Start Challenge turn log for GOTM15 - easily the most edifying 80 turns of civ I ever played.
Also, back in those days, the QSC was analysed by hand, with a detailed strategic comparison of the different styles of play. Great stuff.

 

[Megalou]

When you have learned from all that great stuff, go for GOTM 14. I was new to CivIII then but would still rate it the hardest one that I've tried. It will be the ultimate test and there are two great articles by Bamspeedy ("Babylon's Deity Settlers") and Zachriel (don't remember what he called his; you can find a link in one of the GOTM 14 threads).

 

[Paul#42]

Starting to "think" Gotm in game 38 I was deeply impressed by Sir Pleb's strategy in that game. He first (for me) explained general concepts like RCP and showed a great switch from builder to warmonger style (Which I still usually do much too late...).

Of course I was also deeply im-(de-)pressed by those Babylon Deity Settlers but I never played it myself so the deep connection is missing there.

Up to these days when the most skilled players of the early days already left for CIV I find it surprising that nearly every xotm provides it's own new concepts or techniques like that 100k-technique by kuningas in Cotm15. So every Gotm has its own appeal though some (like Mongols in Cotm10 or Babylon in Gotm44) had such a bad start I did not really like it.

 

[civ_steve]

Most of the games from GOTM14 through GOTM26 were pretty amazing for education and entertainment. That year had the highest involvement of players with Civ3 GOTM, the practice of generating maps for the GOTM came into full play, and lots of experimental mods were first tried such as Differential Naval Movement, the 3 different classes of game (Predator/Open/Conquest), impediments like Volcanoes, Fog and Squid, alternative units (Arabic units for the Ottomans, Asian units for the Koreans) and alternative civs (such as the Minoans in GOTM21, the Mediterranean Melee). I especially enjoyed Gotm25 (Mongols) with several unique units replacing the Keshik. I would recommend Gotm18 (Celts) for education and entertainment; some pretty extreme games were submitted with great Spoilers, and its pretty fun to play the Celts.

 

[AdrianE]

We did a SGOTM on the Babylon Diety Settlers map. You might look at some of those threads.

Cracker's Mongol game (GOTM 25?) was a good one. Huge map with lots of civs. His Greece one (GOTM 20?) was interesting as well (It had Atlantis as a civ). His Korea map was also unique with about 7 different flavours of Japan. Actually the SGOTM based on this map with the humans as the ODA was cool as well.

You needed to download lots of files to play cracker GOTMs though.

 

[denyd]

I've got a couple of favorites

GOTM 14: A great learning expierence. Not only was this played as a GOTM, but the same map was later played as a Succession Game (kind of a pre-SGOTM game) about a year later with some truly amazing games being played by the three teams.

GOTM 25: With the Mongols special unit set was a lot of fun. Four new mounted unit, each with a special ability were added to replace foot units. The neatest being the Turghaut Cavalry (replaced swordsman) that instead of being upgradeable, could found a city once it became obsolete. The game came with a great map to show off the abilities of the fearsome Mongol mounted troops.

GOTM 21: Was also a special game as it was the first to introduce new Tribes (the Minoans) with a new UU (the Peltast) and for most players their first encounter with the defensive first strike. Also a great map.

Finally, I'll add GOTM 51, which was (partly because of how I played it) the most difficult GOTM that I've completed. Only a couple of lucky events allowed me to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

[Edit: That'll teach me not to finish a post right away as CivSteve & AdrianE stole most of my thunder from a post that sat idle for about 2 hours]

 

[socralynnek]

For me, it is COTM 18.
For one reason, because it is the game in which I have played best.
The other reason is the made was good balanced to provide a hard but doable challenge.

 

[AlanH]

You needed to download lots of files to play cracker GOTMs though.

Actually, for vanilla, you just need one big file that does it all - look for the GOTM All-in-One Installer links in my sig. For the old GOTMs you need to swap a couple of resource graphics files after installing the mods, but it's all explained in the readmes.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

This has been great - thanks. This is the first GOTM I have played (the ottoman's one, on Deity, which just terrified me) - I am playing the iroquois COTM but made so many early mistakes that the end game is less fun. But I am learning a lot.

I will have to try the babylon deity settlers, though, of course, it's not the same, since I have read bamspeedy's article quite a bit.

 

[Megalou]

You can find Zachriel's GOTM14 (and some others) here: http://www.zachriel.com/gotm.asp