GOTM 51 - pregame discussion

[Più Freddo]

I'm worried by PF's ancient age posting... judging from the situation he should be able to get the dom limit around 750-800 ad, and it won't be easy to beat such a date.

That's why we call it a challenge.

a science effort may be fun to try

Spanish in space it is. Predator. If you dare. And don't forget: Toda la vida es sueno, y los suenos suenos son.

 

[King Of America]

Back to the initial map...

PF--do you see furs? I see game.

Gozpel--looks to me the bes sites for pop expansion are hills surrounded by grass. Settling on a gold hill gets us a lot of commerce right away. If I understood you correctly, you said talking about which hill to settle on was "nuts". What am I missing? Thanks.

 

[FadeAwayNot]

I'll be playing my first GOTM, and my primary goal is to end the game with a win - period.

I will go for domination, but will not limit myself to that goal if my Spanish warriors don't seem up to the task.

I anticipate it will be a challenge, as I typically don't start a game until I find a map I like. Look forward to seeing how the better players do.

 

[tR1cKy]

Spanish in space it is. Predator. If you dare. And don't forget: Toda la vida es sueno, y los suenos suenos son.

Hehe. I was unsure on how to play this one, but now you solve my problem pal.

How about a variation? We could play till the beginning of the modern age, then compare the results. At this point we can go on with the challenge, or if one feels to be lost, may (publicly) give up the challenge and try to snatch up the diplo award. Since the deadline for this game is feb 22, we could set feb 15 as the date limit for the comparison. Sounds good?

EDIT: welcome to the party FadeAwayNot!

 

[Più Freddo]

We could play till the beginning of the modern age, then compare the results.

I don't care about the awards, but do let's compare results along the way. I'll post an industrial age spoiler by February the 15th.

 

[pdathert]

my GOTM game (first) was going fine Moderator Action: deleted spoiler info when this error happend:

Load Error
Error Reading File
Missing Entry in text\PediaIcons.txt: ANIMNAME_ (Moderator Action: deleted spoiler info )

The game will now exit.



I admit I cried.


Is this something i can fix, FYI prior to this game i did a clean install of Civ III then upgraded to conquests then downloaded and applied patch 1.22

Help!

 

[tR1cKy]

You need to post more info. What file you downloaded, and what version you're using. For example, if you loaded the GOTM file into Conquests, you're likely to get errors or crashes, and your game would be invalidated anyway.

Please don't put any possible spoiler info on this thread. It would ruin the fun of the competition.

 

[denyd]

Since this is a GOTM, I'm guessing you probably need the GOTM resource update. Check the game available thread. There is a link to a download that will allow additional resources (wool, lambs, etc). It also includes new units such as the MDI replacement. I'm guessing you're probably playing Vanilla Civ. If this isn't the issue send an e-mail to AlanH with the last game save you have and he'll check it out. Normally you'll be able to continue right where you left off.

 

[AlanH]

@pdathert:

1. Once you have started to play, you must not post outside of the official spoilers until the game is over. If you have technical problems then send a private mail to the staff.

2. From your description, it sounds as if you downloaded the vanilla save for version 1.29f, and then loaded it up in Conquests expansion version 1.22. If this is the case then I'm afraid your game is not usable, as only the COTM games can be played in Conquests. Having started, of course, you cannot now go back and replay the game in the correct version, as you now know too much about the map.

3. If you are sure that you have played it using the Civ3 1.29f executable then your error means you didn't install the GOTM mods for that version. In that case you may be able to recover by downloading the installer in my sig.

You must not play Classic GOTMs in Conquests. It is sufficiently different from vanilla and PtW that we have to run two different competitions each month. Unfortunately we can't stop you loading the GOTM vanilla start file in Conquests or in PtW, so it means you just have to be careful which executable you start up.

You should play future GOTM games using your Play the World executable. It should be called Civilization 3X, and download the PtW start file. You must play COTM games in Conquests.

 

[pdathert]

Thanks for the help.

Sorry I didn't really realise/click that they were spoilers first one I can't even remember what i put. 2nd one i was trying to explain the error message in exact detail in case it was important.


Now I'm all confused about whats what with regards to GOTM and COTM.

What I have is this:
1 Game - Civilization 3 original (is that what "vanilla" means like "original"?)
1 Expansion - Conquests.

I loaded Civ 3 then loaded the expansion and then downloaded the latest patch which i gather for conquests is v1.22.

So I guess i am running Conquests patched to v1.22.

I have never owned PTW. I didn't even realise that it was a separate thing - I thought Conquests encompassed it.

So...
1. basically with this set up I can never play GOTMs?
2. I can only download and play COTMs?
3. And I should download some mod that gives me Wool and Lambs! Or is that just for GOTMs and is there something similar but separate for COTMs?
4. Because i have cocked up here basically it means that i can't play or at least submit this GOTM now because i know what's where? How is this moderated?

I have tried to read around all this but it is complicated to grasp.

Thanks in advance.

-------------------------------------------------

This bit is a separate rant to PC games developers.

I consider myself not to be a technical PC expert, my job has really nothing to do with computers and basically I just want to play the odd game here and there. However I do consider myself to be more PC literate than the average joe and I would suggest that the average joe is probably put off the PC industry for life.

How are people who don't know much about computers expected to be able to play anything these days; games either don't run or are pretty bugged out of the box with the industry relying on patches and mods to make the game good. The average Joe probably doesnt know much about this and probably doesn't want to spend time having to check for things like this and download stuff etc etc.
These people therefore will probably buy consoles and this will lead to the slow demise of the PC games industry as less people will have the energy to make the games work properly.

PC gamers, don't let apathy win. Games should not be a total mess out of the box and probably if you are reading this you are pretty decent at computing but not everyone is and they won't be buying games that are unlikely to work!
The more this is stood for: "ahh I'll wait for the patch" the more the companies will release sub-standard efforts.

don't get me started on Civ IV

Theres only so far the good will of gamers will stretch, and in my opinion some companies are putting profit over all else and it will eventually backfire.

end rant

 

[lroumen]

pdathert.

I'm in the same boat as you because two days ago I tried to start GOTM51 as my first GOTM attempt as well (after lurking the forums for a while).

I own the dualpack of Civ3+Ptw as well as the Conquests expansion. My installation is Civ3 + Conquests which is supposed to have Ptw installed as well. It says so on the disk and when I start up Ptw with my Ptw cd, it has always worked fine. I can play the Ptw expansion, but when I started it up I noticed I had version 1.00 (or something) so I had to upgrade to 1.29f for the sake of the GOTMs. There it went wrong because now when I start up Ptw, I get the error "insert Ptw disk" which is already in the dvd-driver and I can't play anymore... odd stuff.

I can still play Conquests without problems though, so I'll just continue doing that. I don't know why GOTM isn't allowed with Conquests but it's probably to do with the software they use to check the save files. Doesn't really matter much though. I guess I'll try to join a COTM.

 

[tR1cKy]

pdathert: yes, PTW is included in Conquests. But to play it you need to launch the PTW executable and not the Conquests executable. You can recognize them by the different icon.

About the patches, for what i remember every patch is for the specific version only. So you need to patch PTW as well, and vanilla (the original) if you like. Simply download the PTW patch and install it.

So, if you want to play GOTM you have to:

1) patch PTW;
2) download the PTW start saves, depending on what class you want to play.
3) fire up PTW, load the game and enjoy!

You can also play the vanilla version, but things are a little bit more complicated.

About your questions:
1) already replied;
2) already replied;
3) no. You can play GOTMs with the plain PTW, dutifully patched. A mod is necessary only for the vanilla version.
4) you are disqualified for this GOTM because at this point you have prior knowledge of the map and the opponents, and this gives you an unjust advantage over the other players. But you can play it anyway and compare your result with other's player once the spoilers and then the scoreboard are out. You're likely to learn a lot (as i did). Don't forget that this is basically an honor system, it's not possible to detect a "cheater" if it's skillful enough. But this would make the whole competition pointless. How can you be happy about your victory if you know you've cheated?

About your rant (a bit off-topic BTW) i'm pretty much d'accord. I won't buy CIV4 until it will be definitely fixed, and i refuse to buy Conquests exactly because there are bugs that are still unpatched and that will never be patched.

 

[AlanH]

Clearing up a few loose ends from the recent posts:

The latest, and final, versions of the three variants of Civ3 are:

Civ3 "original" (aka "vanilla"): 1.29f (1.29b2 for Mac)
Play the World: 1.27f
Conquests: 1.22

If you have bought and installed a Conquests expansion pack then it should already include Play the World version 1.27f, which was already released by the time Conquests was put into CDs, so no update is required for PtW. In fact, if you do apply a PtW updater to it you will mess it up, because the "updater" actually reverts it to an earlier publisher release, and it will then expect a different CD to unlock it (Infogrames instead of Atari?). You will probably have to update Conquests to version 1.22, though.

My sig contains links to the updaters for "vanilla" Civ3 for both Windows and Mac, and these should be applied if you intend to play "vanilla" games and have an earlier version than 1.29.

The GOTM mods are only required if you intend to play the Classic GOTMs in "vanilla". I recommend anyone who has PtW to use that instead. The GOTM mods do install extra resources such as wool and lambs etc. but they are never used in current games to avoid having to add them to PtW as well. The important things installed by the mod are extra civs, with equivalent Unique Units, to emulate the PtW ones, so that the same GOTMs can be played and compared on vanilla and PtW.

If you really want to see the extra GOTM Mod resources in action then have a look at earlier GOTMs (21 to 30-ish) or the Succession Games (SGOTM).

The partial error message reported by pdathert probably referred to "Persian Mercenaries", which are the vanilla look-alike for "Medieval Infantry". This indicated to me that the vanilla save had been played in the wrong version, or in unmodded vanilla, and couldn't find this unit.

 

[TruePurple]

So how do I join? Just download it and play it then submit the save? Can I play it through conquest?

I would like to play a GOTM with certain challange rules, like no armies or built slaves for example. Where would I submit such suggestions?

 

[Redbad]

@Niklas

I see you haven't got the conquest award. Maybe a small competition for that one in this game? open class.

 

[AlanH]

So how do I join? Just download it and play it then submit the save?

GOTM 50 closes on 1st February. GOTM 51 runs until 22 February.

Step 1:

Go to the GOTM 50 or GOTM 51 release page on the GOTM web site. Read the game description. Check out the penalties and bonuses for the different player classes - they are called Predator, Open and Conquest, and, yes it is confusing, Conquest is nothing to do with "Civ3 Conquests".

Step 2:

Choose the one you want to play and download it.

Step 0: [Out of sequence but I didn't want to give you the bad news first].

Check the Rules and note the cardinal rules:
(A) you must never reload to replay a game situation.

(B) you mustn't read the spoiler htread for a game until you have reached the qualifying conditions in its first post.

(C) You must NEVER post anything about the game outside of the official spoilers until the game is over.

Step 3:

Play the game as well as you can in Play the World software and upload your final save before the deadline using the GOTM Submission form.

Step 4:

Wait for results publication a week or so after the deadline expires.

Can I play it through conquest?

If you mean using Conquests version of Civ3 then NO. As stated above you must play the Classic GOTMs in PTW (or vanilla, but why add the complications of therequired mod to your life?). If yuo mean can you play to a Conquest victory, then YES. All standard Civ3 victory conditions are enabled.

We run a separate series for Conquests. The current game is COTM 20 and closes on 1st February.

I would like to play a GOTM with certain challange rules, like no armies or built slaves for example. Where would I submit such suggestions?

Via PM to anyone with a GOTM Staff caption in their profile.

 

[TruePurple]

GOTM 51 runs until 22 February

You mean thats when we need to turn in our first save?

 

[AlanH]

That's the latest date when you can turn in the ONLY save. We only ask you to upload your final save after the game is over. You should also keep a few saves from critical points in your game in case we have any queries about your play.

Please read the submission page instructions, and do a little exploration of the GOTM web site, as I really don't want to copy and paste it all here. If you then have more questions, please come back.

 

[tR1cKy]

So how do I join? Just download it and play it then submit the save? Can I play it through conquest?

I would like to play a GOTM with certain challange rules, like no armies or built slaves for example. Where would I submit such suggestions?

I'd like to add a few rows from a gamer's perspective. Basically what you need to do is to spend a few time to read the GOTM pages. The important part (to read first) are the "code of conduct" and the "submit civ3 gotm" where it's explained how to submit a game. Usually this is enough, but if you still have doubts etc. the staff is happy to help.

With Civ4 eating up all the attention, a new contender is more than welcome. But remember: this is basically a honour system and a friendly place. Players here expect you to compete honestly. Sometimes the temptation of reloading after a SOUR (String Of Unlucky Rolls, the mother-in-love of the RNG ) is great. The same can be said for peeking at the spoilers when you're not entitled to. Probably long-time GOTMers don't even think anymore about cheating... but as a newcomer, be ready to feel the urge, and to resist of course!

 

[socralynnek]

I would like to play a GOTM with certain challange rules, like no armies or built slaves for example. Where would I submit such suggestions?

In the pre-game discussion you can try to find some people competing in a variant with you as was done for example there was an Ancient Age units only Challenge in a COTm once, and similar.
But you see, some players here in this thread decided to make a Space Race challenge.But not all players have to play a variant.


For this, there is the SGOTM where there are variants mandatory.