GOTM 120 - 10th Anniversary Game - Results and Congratulations

[DynamicSpirit]

This 10th anniversary game was immortal but on a small, crowded map which hopefully made it a little easier than immortal typically is. And 10 of the 13 people who submitted did manage to win. Domination dominated the victories - to the extent that anyone who chose any other victory condition (That means Minou and nocho) was basically guaranteed a fastest-finish award through lack of competition! Gold went as usual to Cactus Pete, who also secured fastest domination (1070AD), while Xcalibrator secured silver with the only conquest victory in this competition (1480AD), and nocho won the bronze with an 1500AD domination. Minou's 1864 space win was remarkable for his base score of 7507 - very high considering this was played on a very small map, so not much room to get a high base score without triggering domination. And noone apparently tried to go for culture or diplo.

As always, well done - some impressive dates there!


Summary of Medal Winners:

Cactus Pete: 1070 AD Domination Victory, 315,799 points.

Xcalibrator: 1480 AD Conquest Victory, 205,096 points.

nocho: 1500 AD Domination Victory, 152,887 points.



Fastest Finish Award Winners:

Minou: 1864 AD Spaceship Victory, 79,702 points.



Other Award Winners:

craigholl: 1932 AD Domination Victory, 36,576 points.

UB40: 1936 AD Spaceship Loss, 8,292 points.

herewego: 1947 AD Spaceship Loss, 7,071 points.


>> See the full results here.
>> See the updated global rankings here.
>> See the latest Pantheon of Heroes here.
>> You can see and compare graphic replays of all the submissions here.
>> Award symbols are listed here.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Here's where everyone settled.

The Small Print:
The numbers by each player's name indicate the turn settled on (starting turn is 0). Players are colour coded by game class (challenger=red, adventurer=blue). Symbols indicate victory condition, if there's no symbol then the player either retired or was defeated. The yellow border indicates the land that was visible at the start of the game.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

In this game I set an extra challenge - a special mention to the first person who figured out and posted to say how the map was related to the 10th anniversary of vanilla Civ.

Evidently this puzzle was harder than I expected because although there were some good attempts to suggest possible answers - notably from High King J.J., Xcalibrator, Falabello and Daijin7 - no one came anywhere near the correct answer (although I think everyone correctly realized that the answer - whatever it was - was written using the water tiles)

In fact, the answer was that every civ started next to the number 10, written in that civ's own language. Thus America started next to - well - the number 10. Rome started next to an X (10 in Latin). China started next to a cross (10 in Chinese script). Sorry guys, that cross was NOT an addition sign! For Arabic and Devanagari (the script used in Hindi), the numerals 1 and 0 are shaped a bit like the 1 and 0 used in English, but are curvier - hence the shapes by Saladin and Gandhi's starts. The harder one was Huayna Capac. The Incas represented numbers by tying knots in ropes. So what most of you thought was a 'T' was actually a rope hanging from a bar with a knot in it! (Yeah, you can't get much detail out of water tiles. Especially on a small-sized map...)

Thanks for participating, everyone. I enjoyed reading the imaginative ideas you came up with.

 

[Daijin7]

Hi DS, that was a really nice idea! And I think that puzzle was potentially resolvable, not too hard.

I believe there were two steps I missed: 1. realizing that the "1 0" was near Washington and 2. I did not assume that the "X" at Rome was at this specific location intentionally.
With these two steps I might have remembered the chinese "+" and the Inca knotted ropes which both I could have recognized.
I was only looking for a general pattern, a single writing or similar, in the water tiles. It's interesting how thinking in only one direction is blocking oneself.

Thank you very much for a fun puzzle and an interesting map!

 

[Daijin7]

Analysing my results:

In the last 5-10 GOTM I took part, I realize that I improved my Civ4 abilites much in the last 10 years. I started considering Monarch impossible, now I survive Immortal, and studying the forums and tips here on civfanatics, I assume I generally play well. Still I see my results are usually "okay" but never "good".

I did a lot of comparizons with other players by the replay function with event log. I studied the games of the top result players: cactus-pete, Jovan Kukic, Solyaris, Jastrow, Xcalibrator. But I found that their starts (until 1000 BC) don't differ too much from my own. There are quite different approaches among them and my own starts are quite within the possible spectrum.

I also tried different strategies: fast education, civil-service-slingshots, early horseback-riding, early rexing (within financial limits until currency), concentrating only on the capital and expanding later, starting with stone, Stonehenge and Pyramids, or starting with military and getting the wonders from other civs, getting fast to grenadiers or fast to cavalry. And of course I try to "play the map" having no prejudice about the best way to go.

All strategies worked well, but around 1000 AD I am always too slow. I am usually top in score and have a flourishing empire. It's sure I will win, but never fast.

So what I believe is, I put too much weight on the "flourishing empire". I usually want everything
being beautiful and well done. If I have observed the replays correctly the difference of the top players is: they follow a specific plan and don't do anything not necessary for that.

For example, there are successful games where science stops at construction, because the world is conquered with elepults. This is really difficult for me: I feel "pain" considering to not doing any research any more, even if I want to do a conquest. I still found cottages and build markets when probably I should build only units and wealth anymore.

Also my wars are always too slow. I have usually one great stack, being a safety-fanatic, while I see other players attack at two or three points at the same time. But I am not sure how other people get enough units. Probaly I am using the whip too rarely.

Well, after all it's still a game full of secrets to discover. Comments welcome.

 

[craigholl]

So what I believe is, I put too much weight on the "flourishing empire". I usually want everything
being beautiful and well done. If I have observed the replays correctly the difference of the top players is: they follow a specific plan and don't do anything not necessary for that.

For example, there are successful games where science stops at construction, because the world is conquered with elepults. This is really difficult for me: I feel "pain" considering to not doing any research any more, even if I want to do a conquest. I still found cottages and build markets when probably I should build only units and wealth anymore.

Also my wars are always too slow. I have usually one great stack, being a safety-fanatic, while I see other players attack at two or three points at the same time. But I am not sure how other people get enough units. Probaly I am using the whip too rarely.

Well, after all it's still a game full of secrets to discover. Comments welcome.

I have a similar assessment of my own play. I want a great empire which is not the same as a quick and great win. I'll keep trying to learn, but I sure do have fun anyway!

Thanks for all the great games!

 

[Falabello]

All strategies worked well, but around 1000 AD I am always too slow.

Well, after all it's still a game full of secrets to discover.

I have a similar assessment of my own play. I want a great empire which is not the same as a quick and great win. I'll keep trying to learn, but I sure do have fun anyway!!

One more !

Well DS, this challenge would be impossible for me. I was thinking something with 10 and 120. But so far away for this answer ! Thanks for the effort by the game and the challenge !!!

Congrats for all players that submited and for the winners! Domi in 1.070 AD??? !

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I was only looking for a general pattern, a single writing or similar, in the water tiles. It's interesting how thinking in only one direction is blocking oneself.

You're right. I guess in these kinds of puzzles, the brain tends to find one way of thinking about the problem and then keeps trying to resolve it using that way of thinking. And if that isn't the way of thinking about it that's required to solve it, you're stuck. In this case, noticing where each civ was placed in relation to the water patterns was the crucial thing required for the solution.

Analysing my results:
I also tried different strategies: fast education, civil-service-slingshots, early horseback-riding, early rexing (within financial limits until currency), concentrating only on the capital and expanding later, starting with stone, Stonehenge and Pyramids, or starting with military and getting the wonders from other civs, getting fast to grenadiers or fast to cavalry. And of course I try to "play the map" having no prejudice about the best way to go.

All strategies worked well, but around 1000 AD I am always too slow. I am usually top in score and have a flourishing empire. It's sure I will win, but never fast.

I suspect you're not the only one there. I too have tried a variety of starts aimed at better spacerace times, and seem to have also reached the point where up to 1AD I seem to be able to keep science levels comparable with what some of the top players claim to have achieved. But then it goes wrong and by 1000AD I'm usually way behind those players. I also suspect your comment about focusing on the single goal rather than on the flourishing empire is also correct, and is possibly my usual mistake too - but figuring out what exactly to do in the game to change that focus is a lot harder than recognizing the problem...

 

[Cactus Pete]

Late to post here (been away), but thanks for a quicker and interesting game, DS.

Clever puzzle, but the Einstellung effect got me too. A plus sign is almost hardwired to represent addition in my mind.