BOTM 79 Final Spoiler

[evil_spock]

225 AD conquest with a bunch of merry equestrians.

I completely forgot the great wall until the barbs started to pour in like German players inside the penalty box (maybe because it's been around six months since I last played any BTS...). Luckily I managed to build it quite fast thanks to the generous start.

With a little bit of thought and planning, I think a BC victory would be doable here.

Thanks for the game.

 

[WastinTime]

I let my game sit for weeks...figuring I would fail to submit (again), but today I decided to skip the culture game I planned and just do a quick Diplo.

1250 Diplo, challenger save.

The right thing to do with this map was to steal everyone's workers and go to war, but I needed some votes.

 

[WastinTime]

I missed out on the seafood. We should see some high scores. Could someone post a full map screenie? for those of us that turtled up in the desert.

 

[neilmeister]

I started this and only got to about 700ad. Was on track for mid 1600's space IMO.

Didnt see the fish but i was wondering if there would be an easter egg out in the ocean. I was guessing a treasure island maybe

 

[Htadus]

I ended up quitting this game in frustration.

I had, I think, 4 random events nearly in succession (did not even know that was possible). First 3 were no biggies, slave riots kind of stuff but the 4th was the mediator event and I accidently accepted it. My 3 groups of attackers zoomed out as they were getting ready to take the cities from Joao. Granted it was my mistake but still crap random events suck on xOTM's.

Next time give AI's something like rifles or infantry if the game need to be made more interesting for those who seek high adventure and make that the challenger save. Or better yet, make the Challenger save have random events for the bored players. Sorry for the rant but random events have no place in a competition format unless it can be guaranteed all players get it.

 

[WastinTime]

I don't want to start a discussion (argument ) I respect your opinion Htadus, but I have to counter that with how some others feel because I don't want the game designers to be intimidated. They're doing a great job . Variation is good.

I like events. Thx for putting them in the game sometimes. I like the mostly-good, sometimes-bad, but always-fairly-irrelevant twists and surprises. An occasional quest is also an interesting strategic decision.
Keep in mind that IIRC, BUFFY has removed the events that had too great of an effect.

 

[neilmeister]

I also like events and variety, but I also welcome criticism.

I realised long ago that there is no such thing as the perfect game that keeps everyone happy.

This game was fantastic because of the artificial setup with all those FP's yet no hammers. Awesome!!

 

[Deckhand]

Thanks for Pro-Events posts.
This has been discussed several times. My opinion is that they don't belong in a serious competition, but that what we run here is a fun competition. We vary the settings and events are enabled 1 or 2 times out of 5.

This game was fantastic because of the artificial setup with all those FP's yet no hammers. Awesome!!

How many of you built levees? I assume everyone that went to space.

 

[Htadus]

If I intimidated any game creators with my comments, I sincerely apologize for the any hurt. Really. But not saying what I think of the game would also be dishonest since it is feed back. If the game designer(s) uses it or not is another matter altogether.

The thing with events is that a player can influence certain event via selection of techs and such while others are fully random. A while back I played with random events and became very good at triggering favorable events but it felt like I am cheating and that is the reason I stopped liking it. There is a great resource in the War Academy for anyone who want to use it.

I don't want to start a discussion (argument ) I respect your opinion Htadus, but I have to counter that with how some others feel because I don't want the game designers to be intimidated. They're doing a great job . Variation is good.
You will get an argument from me that the designers are doing a great job and I loved the center of the donut and all the FP's. The map was great. The game designer did not force me to do anything that I did not decide to do. I am positive that I said nothing bad about the game concept in the above post.

I like events. Thx for putting them in the game sometimes. I like the mostly-good, sometimes-bad, but always-fairly-irrelevant twists and surprises. An occasional quest is also an interesting strategic decision.
Keep in mind that IIRC, BUFFY has removed the events that had too great of an effect.

Preferences are each persons realm. I am glad you liked events and I hope you got some good and bad one that you enjoyed.

@ deckhand
I guess I do take this as a serious yet still a fun competition. If it is not serious, why not permit reloads and replays? Let the players learn from the mistakes and replay to learn a different strat. But we do consider it a form of cheating because we are serious about keeping the fun factor in the game. Just for clarification no reloads for me please. I do agree that civ is a fun game to play so it will always be a fun competition.

Anyways, I, who mainly play xOTM's, and does not have enough time to finish most of them of late, will continue to take it as a serious competition or I will loose incentive to find time to finish the few I do or will just stop playing them completely. So, I will keep playing and imagine in my head that it is a serious comp.

 

[Deckhand]

@Htadus, no offence taken and no apology needed. I'm sorry your game was spoiled by the events. You expressed a strong recommendation and I felt it needed a response. I spoke just for myself, not the staff (but we all seem to feel the same about this).
If you know the event triggers well enough to take advantage of them, it is fair to do so in the competition. With events on, I avoid slavery until I need it. Without them I switch as soon as possible.
My Civ playing is also xOTM exclusively these days. I usually didn't finish games until playing the xOTM. I still submit incomplete games when I can't finish them in time.
The Serious vs Fun distinction is just how I rationalize keeping them (occasionally).

 

[lymond]

I will come to the defense of Htadus and state that I don't think Events should be in the BOTM either (and I feel strongly about that too). Besides the random factor, I think the events are crap and only serve to piss me off way more than not. They do not make the game fun for me. (I will also pleasantly express that I've never understood - and never will - why a player like Wasted is such a big proponent of them...at least in semi-serious competition)

With that said, I believe it has already been determined, as stated by Deck, that events will occasionally be present in the GOTM and if that makes some people happy some of the time I guess we have to deal with it.

However, I would like to state that I would appreciate it from the staff if they would make it far more clear to the player when events are on, which was not the case here. Knowing events are on require me to play the game a bit different, and getting the shock of the first (of many) nasty craptastic event is quite infuriating.

 

[whb]

I quite like the events. They do change my play style a little (for instance, there's a little pressure to keep a little money in the bank; slavery has a cost, etc)

 

[Deckhand]

However, I would like to state that I would appreciate it from the staff if they would make it far more clear to the player when events are on, which was not the case here.

Will do. And apologies for not being explicit this time. And if we forget to mention them in the announcement, someone should ask for clarification in the discussion thread.

 

[Conquistador 63]

I played up to 400AD and ragequit in disgust because of a random event - the infamous 7:1 event, I thought Buffy had removed it?!

j/k

Seriously, I ran out of time and also didn't feel like playing as Scolari after real life events, but did submit my incomplete game.