BOTM 80: Sabella - Can You Beat Germany?
Can you beat a team that scores an extraordinary 7 goals in one game? Can you give Scolari the satisfaction of seeing German Civilizations crumble? In this game you play as Alejandro Sabella of Team Argentina, playing against 7 - shall we say, Germanic - AIs: One for each goal they scored in the semi-final. Obviously, you start at war against Joachim Löw's team, but perhaps you can manage friendlier relations with some of the other 'Germans'. Seeing as you are in charge of a football team, you'll want some fast-moving players (aka chariots), so you start with three of them, all on the same tile. Use them wisely! And don't think I'm giving you an unfair advantage - all the AIs - including Joachim Löw - have three chariots in addition to their normal starting units too! All must be fair in the beautiful game...
Oh, and there's one other twist. Most of the leaders are not leading their usual civilizations. Will you be able to figure out how I chose them? A mention to whoever first gets it right in the spoilers.
As a sub-competition, there'll also be a mention to whoever completely eliminates Jorchen Löw's team on the earliest in-game date - this will be based on what you report in the spoilers, so you won't get the mention unless you report it. (Note however that eliminating Jorchen Löw's team is not a precondition for winning an award.
Game settings:
Playing as: Alejandro Sabella of Inca (Team Argentina)
Rivals: 7 AIs
Difficulty: Emperor
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No goody huts, no events
Victory Conditions: All enabled
Map settings:
Map: Football field
World Wrap: None
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Tropical
Sea level: Low
Alejandro Sabella is Industrious and Financial, and you start with Mysticism and Agriculture.
The Industrious trait gives +50% wonder production and double production speed of Forge
The Financial trait gives +1 commerce on any plot that already has at least 2 commerce
Unique unit: Quechua (replaces Warrior)
The Quechua benefits from: free promotions: combat1, and 100% combat bonus against archer units. This compares with the Warrior which has: no directly comparable benefits.
Unique Building: Terrace (replaces Granary)
The additional benefit of the terrace over the granary is that it gives you +2 culture/turn.
Starting screenshot
This is the start of the game (click for a bigger image):
Note that in this game, any espionage-culture victories will be counted as cultural victories.
Adventurer Class bonuses:
You play on monarch level (but the AI still begins with emperor level starting units).
Challenger Class Equalizers:
You play on immortal level (but the AI still begins with emperor level starting units).
To Enter the Competition:
This competition will open at 00:01 am on 15 Jul 2014, server local time (UTC-6:00). From that date and time, you'll be able to get your chosen starting save >>>here<<<.
Submit the save after your victory (or defeat) here, by 15 Aug 2014.
Here is a link to a list of the differences between Vanilla, Warlords and BtS.
Software Versions
Windows: This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Civ4 Vanilla or Warlords), patched to version 3.19, and with the BUFFY mod version 3.19.003 installed. You can download the BUFFY mod here. Players using Windows Vista or Windows 7 are encouraged to read the notes on Vista fixes here.
Macintosh: This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Civ4 Vanilla or Warlords), patched to version 3.19, and with the Mac BUFFY mod version 3.19.003 installed. You can download the Mac BUFFY 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 your game outside those threads.
The GOTMs are intended for anyone who enjoys playing Civ and wants to participate in competitions, so feedback on what people enjoy is always welcome. Otherwise we'd have no way of knowing (other than by watching how many people submit!) what people like.
