Originally posted by cracker
I encourage you to get off the pot and play the games and then make an informed input into the process.
My assessment would be different if according the database you had played at least one QSC or one GOTM game in the past 6 months.
Cracker,
Is a post like that supposed to encourage me to play? I began playing last month but never finished it to submit. I'm up to about 750 BC this month. Yet, just because I haven't finished one and turned it in means my opinions mean nothing?
I was merely comparing the GOTM as it stands today, to the GOTM as it was back in the days Matrix did it.
My two main points are that GOTM was so much simpler to join onto back in the days Matrix (Which I find it interesting you addressed me in a harsh manner and called me out, yet did not even acknowledge Matrix who basically said the same jist I did) did it, and that GOTM now does not follow the default rules, which was the premise of GOTM.
However, if I am not allowed to voice my opinion about the current state of the GOTM, then I guess GOTM has changed even more than I thought it had.
Back in those days, you didn't have to download all these files to play. You didn't have to learn different ways of playing each month to keep up. We used the default rules that came from the out of the box version (except stuff that was changed in patches) and it stayed that way from month to month.
Cracker, while I appreciate the work you put into GOTM, what ultimately I am bringing up is that the GOTM is not following the set premise anymore that it was set up to follow. When it first started, the premise was to play by default rules, putting everyone on a level playing field, and not having bonuses to AI civs.
What impact does adding a new civ like the Minoans/Peltast have on the normal strategic play of the game?
From a game play mechanics standpoint, the answer is "virtually no impact". They just represent something new and interesting but the play sort of like a genetic cross between Hammurabi and Shaka. Yes, this is something new but it fundamentally does not change strategy principles.
True, while on the surface, it doesn't impact the game itself. But are the Minoans part of the default rules. No, which is what I am trying to bring up, GOTM is no longer following the default rules and no longer is following the premise that GOTM was founded upon. While you may see it as something "new and interesting," I see it as having to learn something new to survive. This adds one variable to the test of who was the best player this month. we are not used to the Minoans, therefore, their play style will affect the outcome of the game.
What impact does adding the Azap and Muslim Caravel have on the game strategy?
From a game play mechanics standpoint, the answer is "absolutely none". This change was implemented solely to address some of the concerns raised by Muslim players about having Christian symbol units insensitively implemented for Muslim Civilizations. Yes, this is something new but it fundamentally does not change strategy principles.
Yes, this doesn't impact the game at all. Yet, it is something that serves little to no benefit yet is required. I could really care less whether a unit has a christian symbol on it or not. What's next, making a synagogue for Jewish civs? A mosque for Muslim civs. To me, this is something that is really unneeded and just not needed.
What impact does adding the Fog and Squid have on the game strategy?
Technically these features do impact strategy, but only when you take them out of context. We could accomplish some of the same things by using larger or huge maps with very low land ratios and this would just make the game file larger and harder to move around. Essentially these features just shift the strategic risk of larger scale games and put them into smaller boxes.
Once again, not the fact of these affecting strategies or not, but that it moves away from default so I won't rehash that.
What impact do the GOTM21 resources have on the game strategy?
This impact is primarily one of taking the grassland effects and making them look like deserts, hills, and in some cases plains, and mountains. The strategic impact slows down the worker tasking benefits of the human being and makes these decisions more critical to game play. I can't talk too much about this game at this time duw to spoiler constraints but you also have to open your eyes to the fact that this game was advertised six months in advance to be something that is clearly different from other GOTM games and as such the included modifications to resources where a part of the "expected something different." You will generally not see lots of random resource mods in GOTM games but as an advance warning this issue is being addressed by features in the Civ3Conq game expansion so it will all become somewhat standard anyway. You just get to play it for free now and in advance so that you can begin to see the impacts that it will have on game play.
Maybe these are going to be in Conquests, but as it is now, they aren't part of the default rules we know now. True it was advertised, but in addition, the same premise moves it away from default rules. These resources add an additional variable that will affect who ends up winning this month on who can cope with the changed resources the best. Something I'm not a fan of.
You have to put the GOTM enhancements in context of what they are and not draw a parallel with the MOD games you see in creation and customization. Well over 95% of the mod games end up fundamentally altering the way the game is played by eliminating strategic choice elements that the mod makers generally do not like; while the GOTM changes are specifically chosen not to do this.
Well then obviously our ideas of a Mod Game differs. Me, as well as the way the game is, recognizes a mod game as anything that varies from the default rules. Whether they "fundamentally alter" the game or not, it still changes the way the game is played in one way or another and as such is a Mod Game. You obviously classify a mod game as something that changes the game completely from how it is now, which in my mind is not the level it takes to be classified a mod game. Therefore, that's why I called it a mod game, because it changes from the default rules.
Anyways cracker, I hope this isn't the way you welcome people back to the GOTM community. True, I haven't played it near as much over my hiatus from CivFanatics, but I am merely commenting upon how much the GOTM has moved away from the reason it was founded. It is no longer the GOTM that I used to play, and thus the reason for my posting in this thread. If you don't like input from a variety of sources, I'd suggest closing down the option of adding new topics to this board, but rather limit it to mods opening topics. Until then, I will continue posting my input in threads that it pertains to.
EDIT: Fixed a messed up quote.
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