Future Civ3 Games of the Month

[Kulko]

I dont really mind random games, even on higher difficulty levels. As far as unwinnable goes, Alan can always create the save and then quit the game, have a look at the overall map, and throw away if its too bad. But only if its really too bad. If you look at Trickys "Save the mongol" game you will see, that winning is possible with quite a lot of handicaps even on deity.

BTW I assume t has been discussed before, but given the current number of players wouldn't an agreement on a Vic Condition beforehand addd quite a lot to the challenge. Maybe define 2 possible goals one for the fast games (Con, Dom, 20K?) and one for the long games (Diplo, Space, 100K). and have all people choose one or the other. I am pretty sure right now if I choose the correct Victory condition I can get the award for free just bya being the only one who completes.

 

[Più Freddo]

Random games are certainly better than no games. Still I'm sure that there will be volunteers to create a little bit better maps than just random. If I remember correctly, some stepped forward the last time civ_steve had a little hiatus.

 

[AlanH]

I've posted GOTM 125. Spain at Regent level.

 

[Scratcher]

Firstly, thanks to AlanH for your efforts on the GOTM. It is appreciated.

Admittedly I haven't played as many GOTMs as I would have liked due to work, life and the fact that I can not get CivAssit II to work with my windows 7 OS.....but these are my thoughts..

Regarding the type of game. I enjoy playing both PTW and C3C versions of the game. I would like to see both the GOTM and COTM continue.

Regarding the frequency of games. I often find a month isn't enough time to complete a game. Furthermore, if the following game is at deity / sid / warlord then I would probably give it a miss as I find these levels too hard / too easy, but would rather spend the time completing the previous game then having a month waiting for the next release. So I think a monthly release (alternating between PTW and C3C) with a 2 month play time is a better frequency.

Just my ideas.

Scratcher

 

[AlanH]

Thanks. I see you have added the above to the new poll I have opened.

 

[greatbeyond]

I am late to the party I know...

Thanks to you AlanH for trying to get the Civ 3 GOTMs back on track.

I have time so I don't mind the once a month schedule. I find that I can't do too much testing on Civ3 GOTMs like I can with Civ4 where it is much easier to recreate a starting area and scenario. So I usually start the Civ3 GOTM and just go.

For those not use to it, the Scenario editor for Civ3 is not overly user friendly. I believe all the changes for GOTMs are done in the rules or scenario tab. I have created test games for the GOTMs before and used the editor to modify them. If there is a forum or anyone with intricate knowledge of the editor or hidden features please share them. I have looked at one forum before and there really wasn't much there. I don't want to really get into creating new units, tech lines, etc... There used to be the GOTM add on pack that used some custom resources and mods. I'm not sure how they added or integrated into the Editor.

I wouldn't be against creating some to contribute. As always, the ideas exceed the time available.

One idea that I have had before, is taking a just completed game and switching the starting Civ. This would mean not releasing the scenario file until after the initial GOTM was over.

There was also a GOTM along time ago, where you started with two settlers in different areas on the map and had to choose one or the other on the first turn and delete the other.

IIRC we also had one with a modern era start.

It is an interesting idea to make more details known ahead of time. I'm not sure how it would work. Time to go back to the recliner and think, think, think...

 

[Lanzelot]

One more point, which isn't quite clear to me yet: now that we'll switch to an eight-week cycle, will we need to play both games in order to have a result for every "age"? Or will it be like in the past, i.e. one GOTM and one COTM get combined into one "age" in the global scoring table?
(Having to submit every game would not relieve the play schedule compared to the previous format...)

 

[AlanH]

The global ranking page just groups sequential gotm and cotm submissions to build each "age". It doesn't look at the true ages of the games. So you don't need to play both to get an entry in any period. Playing both just gives you a second chance to post a good score in that period.