Game Schedule 2015 - 2016

Più Freddo

From space, earth is blue
Joined
Jan 26, 2005
Messages
2,252
Location
Vienna, Austria
Game | Civilization | Level | Required VC | Release | 1st Spoiler | Final Spoiler | Submission | Creator
COTM115|Austria|Emperor||8 Jul 15|11 Jul 15|18 Jul 15|24 Aug 15|Più Freddo
GOTM143|Rome|Monarch|Space|3 Aug 15|6 Aug 15|13 Aug 15|14 Sep 15|templar_x
COTM116|Byzantines|Demigod||19 Aug 15|22 Aug 15|29 Aug 15|30 Sep 15|greatbeyond
GOTM144|Iroquois|Deity||9 Sep 15|12 Sep 15|19 Sep 15|21 Oct 15|Atishay Jain
COTM117|America|Monarch||30 Sep 15|3 Oct 15|10 Oct 15|11 Nov 15|kuningas
GOTM145|China|Regent|Domination|21 Oct 15|24 Oct 15|31 Oct 15|2 Dec 15|Più Freddo
COTM118|Spain|Deity||11 Nov 15|14 Nov 15|21 Nov 15|23 Dec 15|greatbeyond
GOTM146|England|Emperor|100k|2 Dec 15|5 Dec 15|12 Dec 15|13 Jan 16|templar_x
COTM119|Korea|Regent||23 Dec 15|26 Dec 15|2 Jan 16|3 Feb 16|Più Freddo
GOTM147|Persia|Monarch|Conquest|13 Jan 16|16 Jan 16|23 Jan 16|24 Feb 16|Lanzelot
COTM120|Celts|Emperor||3 Feb 16|6 Feb 16|13 Feb 16|16 Mar 16|Più Freddo
GOTM148|Japan|Regent|20k|24 Feb 16|27 Feb 16|5 Mar 16|6 Apr 16|templar_x
COTM121|Ottomans|Demigod||16 Mar 16|19 Mar 16|26 Mar 16|27 Apr 16|Più Freddo
GOTM149|Carthage|Emperor|Diplomatic|6 Apr 16|9 Apr 16|16 Apr 16|18 May 16|Più Freddo
COTM122|Mongols|Monarch||27 Apr 16|30 Apr 16|7 May 16|8 Jun 16|Più Freddo
GOTM150|Arabia|Monarch|100k|18 May 16|21 May 16|28 May 16|29 Jun 16|kuningas
COTM123|Babylon|Warlord||8 Jun 16|11 Jun 16|18 Jun 16|20 Jul 16|templar_x
GOTM151|Germany|Deity||29 Jun 16|2 Jul 16|9 Jul 16|10 Aug 16|Più Freddo
COTM124|Netherlands|Emperor||20 Jul 16|23 Jul 16|30 Jul 16|31 Aug 16|Più Freddo
GOTM152|Egypt|Regent|Space|10 Aug 16|13 Aug 16|20 Aug 16|21 Sep 16|templar_x
COTM125|Hittites|Demigod||31 Aug 16|3 Sep 16|10 Sep 16|12 Oct 16|Lord AJ
GOTM153|Zululand|Emperor|Domination|21 Sep 16|24 Sep 16|1 Oct 16|2 Nov 16|Più Freddo
COTM126|Maya|Monarch||12 Oct 16|15 Oct 16|22 Oct 16|23 Nov 16|templar_x
GOTM154|India|Monarch|Diplomatic|2 Nov 16|5 Nov 16|12 Nov 16|14 Dec 16|Più Freddo
COTM127|Scandinavia|Sid||23 Nov 16|26 Nov 16|3 Dec 16|4 Jan 17|Più Freddo
GOTM155|Russia|Regent|Conquest|14 Dec 16|17 Dec 16|24 Dec 16|25 Jan 17|templar_x
 
I've created the above table with the idea to never have the same civilization trait two games in a row (per PTW/C3C), and also circulate the unique units between early, middle and late. The difficulty level goes for Play the World:

  1. Regent
  2. Emperor
  3. Monarch
  4. Deity
  5. Regent
  6. Emperor
  7. Monarch

and for Conquests:

  1. Regent
  2. Emperor
  3. Demigod
  4. Monarch
  5. Deity
  6. Regent
  7. Emperor
  8. Demigod
  9. Monarch

The idea here is to have varying difficulties between high and low, and with 7 and 9 items in each list, the combined pattern over both games is pretty long.

The following section is obsolete:

I've extended the required victory condition system for Play the World to include also Emperor games and introduced required victory conditions also for Conquests, but in pairs:

  • Scientific - Choose Diplomatic or Space Race
  • Military - Choose Conquest or Domination
  • Cultural - Choose 100k or 20k
I think that depending on the map, the one or the other will be better suited. So this reqirement on victory condition is less inhibiting and still allows for a strategic selection.


Please comment and suggest corrections and improvements!

I created a new thread so that I can easily edit the first post, adding creator IDs and so on. This will unload the work to update the picture in mad-bax' thread from AlanH.
 
  1. Rome
  2. Iroquois
  3. China
  4. England
  5. Persia
  6. Japan
  7. Carthage
  8. Arabia
  9. Germany
  10. Egypt
  11. Zululand
  12. India
  13. Russia
  14. France
  15. Aztecs
  16. Greece
  17. America
  18. Spain
  19. Scandinavia
  20. Korea
  21. Celts
  22. Ottomans
  23. Mongols
  24. Babylon
 
  1. Rome
  2. Persia
  3. England
  4. Japan
  5. Inca
  6. Carthage
  7. Iroquois
  8. China
  9. Greece
  10. Arabia
  11. Germany
  12. Portugal
  13. Sumeria
  14. Egypt
  15. Zululand
  16. India
  17. Russia
  18. France
  19. Aztecs
  20. Austria
  21. Byzantines
  22. America
  23. Spain
  24. Korea
  25. Celts
  26. Ottomans
  27. Mongols
  28. Babylon
  29. Netherlands
  30. Hittites
  31. Maya
  32. Scandinavia
 
I don't like the idea of having sponsored victory conditions also for C3C.

And also: why should we drop Warlord? Once in a while it should be ok for a "quick'n'dirty" game or to attract new/inexperienced players?!

Otherwise the variety looks very nice! :goodjob:
We should also make sure to have a good variety of pangea/continents/archipelago and of good vs bad starting locations. (And not only "bad at Warlord / good at Deity", but also occasionally the other way around... :crazyeye:)
 
I don't like the idea of having sponsored victory conditions also for C3C.
Me too. SVC for PtW is enough.

but in pairs:

Scientific - Choose Diplomatic or Space Race
Military - Choose Conquest or Domination
Cultural - Choose 100k or 20k

seems good for PtW.

And also: why should we drop Warlord? Once in a while it should be ok for a "quick'n'dirty" game or to attract new/inexperienced players?!

Good Point.

Why we drop Sid? 1 Sid Game in the year for the freaks. :D

Otherwise the variety looks very nice! :goodjob:

Yes :goodjob:
 
I think a sponsored victory condition is reasonable, because there are only very few players participating in each game, and if each plays his or her own victory condition, each and every one winds up being the fastest in their category. For this reason, if nothing else, we should, if we decide not to sponsor victory conditions, stop issuing the Heptathlon award, or at least change the rules so that only medal-winning games count towards it.

Since even the Jason scoring system fails at providing scores that are comparable between victory conditions, without sponsored victory conditions, the Game of the Month becomes less of a competition. And given that even fewer players participate in writing spoilers and discussing the games, we end up being just a small, sorry group of individual players how by happenstance privately play similar games of Civilization III.
 
Regarding outlier difficulty levels, my suggestion is the following: For nominally Regent and Deity games, the game designer may decide to lower or raise, respectively, the diffculty level at his discretion. Ideally, the design itself should then be adapted to fit this alteration.

Generally, I'm for giving the game designers as much freedom as possible and have for this reason not stated anyting about climate, land/water ratio, size and clustering of continents etc. in the table. Also the amount of Barbarians, goody huts, resources etc. and starting locations are for the designer to decide freely, keeping in mind that variation from game to game is preferable for all design choices.

When it comes to map size, I think we have established that the standard map size is much preferred for most games. Especially large maps are not welcome due to the long playing time incurred. Since we have a fix schedule of six weeks per game, it is reasonable not to vary map size too much -- although difficulty level of course also affects the required playing time. So slightly larger maps would fit the lower levels and vice versa.

Please feel welcome to volunteer to design a game. I will then enter you into the table and, if you wish, adapt the difficulty level from Deity or Regent to Sid or Warlord, respectively.
 
I'm pleased with just about anything except Sid levels (but once a year would be fine). I like being forced to accept the starting conditions, otherwise when I play alone, I'm in danger of cycling through 'random' multiple restarts till they suit me. I also like required VCs as I have never mastered the quick domination/conquest, but have made progress with other types and I suck even worse when comparing my 100k victory score with an expert's conquest score. My primary challenge is to win every game and my secondary one is to win myself a medal. Although I can't always get to it, I really look forward to GOTM & COTM and have given up playing CIVIII unless it is one or the other.
 
Here are the BIX and BIC scenario files to be used when creating GOTM and COTM games, respectively. I've updated the scenario files to fix the "default rules" as required for these competitions. Respawn AI is now impossible unless explicitly turned on in the scenario properties in the editor.

Also provided is a PediaIcons.txt file including definitions for allowing Austria as a civilization. All players are encouraged to always use this file in lieu of the one installed with the game by default. There are only additions, and they don't interfere with normal games. The file must be placed in the <installation directory>\Conquests\Text directory, e.g. in my personal installation:

Code:
c:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Text\

It is prudent to first rename the original file and then copy the one provided here into the directory. The process is then reversible. This change to the installation must be made only once.

There are two base scenario files for COTM. COTM.BIQ includes China but not Austria and COTM_A.BIQ includes Austria but not China. It is not possible to have more than 31 civilizations in a BIQ file, so for 32 civilizations we need two different files. It is up to the game designer to pick one of these for each COTM game. In this way, it will be possible to include Austria as AI player as well. Of course, games based on COTM_A.BIQ will only be playable after the change to PediaIcons.txt has been performed.

Edit: I've uploaded a new version of COTM.zip containing a new version of COTM_A.biq which hopefully solves the issue with false upgrade paths.

Edit: A new version of the files have Custom Map and Custom Players set. The new version of GOTM.bix has the operating ranges of airplane set to the same values as in Conquests.

Edit: A new version of PediaIcons.txt fixing two typos "atr" -> "art".

Caution: This version of COTM_A.biq might have some issues with the upgrade paths, making Knights Templar produce Ancient Cavalry and enslaved Frigates to appear as Keshiks.

Edit: Added a German-version PediaIcons.txt file. Only use this file if you have a German-language installation. Rename the file to PediaIcons.txt.

Edit: A new version of COTM.biq with less disease.

Edit: A new version of GOTM.bix without Mobilization.

Edit: A new version of COTM.biq with all rules re-entered from scratch in order to fix a bug with regards to popping

Edit: Fixed bug concerning the number of bonus Workers and Settlers for the AI at higher difficulty levels.
Also fixed the bug in COTM_A that made The Statue of Zeus produce Curraghs and Knights Templar produce Ancient Cavalry. That means that COTM.biq and COTM_A.biq can both be used for COTM games.
 

Attachments

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  • De_PediaIcons.txt
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  • COTM.zip
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  • GOTM.zip
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Last edited:
In accordance with the result of the poll, there will be no sponsored victory conditions for COTM in the period covered by this thread.
 
  • The Great Wall Wonder: gives free walls in all your towns/cities on the continent
  • Explorers and equivalent unique units have been moved from Navigation to Astronomy
  • Space Race - SS Stasis Chamber Has been moved from Synthetic Fibers to Robotics
  • Republic Government Unit maintenance cost is 2 gpt/unit with free unit support of 1/3/4 for town/city/metropolis
  • Mobilization has been turned off
  • Archer/Bowmen added defensive freeshot at 1/0/1
  • Longbowmen added defensive freeshot at 2/0/1
  • Marines Increased attack strength from 8 to 12 and cost increased to 120 shields
  • Radar Artillery Movement increased to 2 and rate of fire increased to 3
  • Lethal Sea Bombardment for all air units that can bomb targets
  • Lethal Land Bombardment for all bombers and steath bombers
  • Fighter operating range increased to 6
  • Bomber operating range increased to 10
  • Jet Fighter operating range increased to 9
  • Stealth Fighter operating range increased to 12
  • Stealth Bomber operating range increased to 16
  • F-15 stats increase to 8/4/1 (range of 9) with bombard at 6/0/2 lethal land & sea
  • Helicopter transport capacity has been increased to 3
  • Stealth Fighter stats increased to 8/6/1 with bombard at 6/0/2
  • Stealth Bomber stats increased to 0/5/1 with bombard at 18/0/3
 
I've stuck this thread and unstuck the previous schedule thread to avoid confusion.

There are posts in the old thread that describe how to set up games. If someone wants to collect those posts together into a new thread just for setup instructions, I'll stick that one.
 
  • Flood Plains do not cause Disease
  • Jungles and Wetland have their Disease level lowered from 50% to 25%
  • Knowledge of Sanitation cancels Disease in Jungles and Wetlands
 
why is there no sids level in c3c cotm?

See above:

Regarding outlier difficulty levels, my suggestion is the following: For nominally Regent and Deity games, the game designer may decide to lower or raise, respectively, the diffculty level at his discretion. Ideally, the design itself should then be adapted to fit this alteration.​

On the practical of this, it is a tremendous challenge to design a Sid-level game properly. We are now preparing the games ourselves in the player commuity, and few of us are accomplished game designers. So far, no one has stepped forward to volunteer to design a Sid-level game.

The next opportunity is Scandinavia in about a year's time. If anyone would like to design it at Sid level, please step forward. We also solicit game design for upcoming games: Celts, Japan, Ottomans.
 
Più Freddo;14067076 said:
See above:

Regarding outlier difficulty levels, my suggestion is the following: For nominally Regent and Deity games, the game designer may decide to lower or raise, respectively, the diffculty level at his discretion. Ideally, the design itself should then be adapted to fit this alteration.​

On the practical of this, it is a tremendous challenge to design a Sid-level game properly. We are now preparing the games ourselves in the player commuity, and few of us are accomplished game designers. So far, no one has stepped forward to volunteer to design a Sid-level game.

The next opportunity is Scandinavia in about a year's time. If anyone would like to design it at Sid level, please step forward. We also solicit game design for upcoming games: Celts, Japan, Ottomans.


Is there a sid gotm game before probably in 2013-2014 or 2014-2015? I just want to try.
 
Hi. There were four Sid level games, all in Decembers, interestingly:

19 - 12/2005 -Netherlands
43 - 12/2007 - Polynesia
55 - 12/2008 - Greece
79 - 12/2010 - Byzantines
 
of course... they were Christmas presents! :D
t_x
 
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