Gotm 75

[Peaster]

Then to the South Continent 63 ..since black clicking reveals also the visible mass to the SW was 63....

That's odd - "63" is usually reserved for lakes. Maybe the designer has taken some measures against black-clicking ? Also, it's a clue that the game is a scenario, with no "2/3's rule" on tech choices (which you can verify from the civ score menu).

I am still undecided about whether to aim for Lighthouse or for Seafaring first. With seafaring, and ship-chaining, you can send units across the sea (up to about 6 tiles wide) without risking the units. Only one boat might be lost, which seems an acceptable risk. But I am concerned about the beaker cost, of researching pottery+seafaring so early... well, such decisions make Civ2 fun!

As for what to produce first, why not a settler, as usual? You can even try the size-one trick. Of course, you'll need a boat pretty soon, or your settlers are deadwood.

 

[Agni Neres]

I am still undecided about whether to aim for Lighthouse or for Seafaring first. With seafaring, and ship-chaining, you can send units across the sea (up to about 6 tiles wide) without risking the units. Only one boat might be lost, which seems an acceptable risk. But I am concerned about the beaker cost, of researching pottery+seafaring so early... well, such decisions make Civ2 fun!

Hey Peaster,

Not sure what you mean here. Lighthouse comes from MapMaking, and so does Seafaring. There is a 25% chance of losing a trireme with SEA but no LH. Do the units automatically transfer to a waiting boat if the first one sinks on its 3rd move?

 

[saintjimmy43]

Hi there, saintjimmy43 here with my opinion on this game of the month thing. I've compiled all my thoughts into a brief pro and con list, and a summary.
PROS:
-Good island format, straightforward and uncomplicated.
-Easy enough to catch up to other civs.
-Easy to keep citizens happy under republic or democracy because there isn't any land for your units to be away from home on.
-Good placement of resources. I hate it when whales and fish are in the freakin middle of the ocean.
CONS:
-Too hard to get off to a good start, what with triremes getting sunk and units getting lost, barbarians, and starting way behind in intelligence.
-Have to get a ship to go to war, settle new island, etc = annoying.
-Stupid Persians........
-Have to go too far to get a city with good production, what with most production squares being from the water.
-A tad large to be filled with tiny islands only.
OVERVIEW:
Interesting, yet sort of annoying. I rather liked the idea of "Island Hopping" at first, but it became tedious after a while. Catching up was also difficult and frustrating, but it was cool to actually be behind in the race for once. I'm only partway done with my game, but I predict that I'll suck. I look forward to GOTMs in the future.

My Rating: 2/5

 

[Peaster]

Well, if you build LH then you don't have to research seafaring, at least not right away. I don't usually research that in my conquest games unless I want harbors for growth or explorers for huts.

Here's one way to shipchain fairly safely across an ocean with 6 tiles, "ABCDEF". Post a loaded trireme at A, and an empty one at C (and hope it floats). Next turn, move the first boat from A to B and transfer the units to boat 2. Then both boats can safely return to tiles A and F.

On this map, it seems you need to cross oceans only 4 tiles wide. If so, there is NO risk, after your first trireme gets across successfully. Two boats can do ABA and DCD ... every turn, forever.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Ali, are you sure about this? The Cost of Research threads don't mention any discount for lower levels, ...

You have got a good point. I cannot find any research that indicates the cost is lower at lower levels. My guess is that this was the case in Civ1 and always assumed it is still the case. Thanks for catching that.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

That's odd - "63" is usually reserved for lakes.

The continent number only goes up to 63. If there are more, all the ones above 63 also get assigned the number 63. In this case, nearly all the islands in the bottom half of the map are 63.
I suppose if you deliver from one 63 island to another 63 island you would not get the overseas bonus either; but I have not tested that.

As for what to produce first, why not a settler, as usual? You can even try the size-one trick. Of course, you'll need a boat pretty soon, or your settlers are deadwood.

You do not need another settler if you are playing OCC. In a normal game, the settler is arguably the best first choice.

 

[Ace]

Thanks for the heads up. But I do not think this is detectable till you start playing.

Yes it is. Before you build your first city, you can check your tax rate and it will tell you what form of government your in. Normally, at the start of a game, it will say despotism, but in this one it says anarchy.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Thank you Ace. Now I do not feel bad having taken advantage of it.

 

[Ace]

Ali, just for the record, there are two other ways to tell if your in anarchy before you build your first city. 1: when you first load the game, your title comes up on screen, and if your in depotism, it should be Dictator Caeser, but in this game its Mr. Caeser...Dictator being despot and Mr. being anarchy( pointed out by Macmgr). and 2: before you build your first city, you can consult the high council. In any other gov, you will get the "normal" screen with them waiting to answer you, but in this game, you get the chaos of anarchy.

 

[Magic_gorter]

@Duke: The link to GOTM 75 is broken. Checking the site noticed that it's completely gone. GOTM 74 is now the one which can be downloaded.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

There were some server issues and TF reverted the data to the last back-up he had. I'll restore the info when I get #76 posted.

BTW, the server issues may have also affected e-mail's as well. We'll put together a list of games that were received to let people know if we got your game or not. If you sent your game to us within the last week or so, odds are we didn't get it.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

We only received three submissions for GOTM 75. All the others were lost when the server crashed.

Ksiaze
Magic_Gorter
Agni Neres

DO NOT RESUBMIT YOUR GAMES YET.

Just hold on to them, we're still trying to get the e-mails figured out.

 

[TheViking]

This problems with the emails is fortunate in a way because the game became extremely tedious towards the end due to the many islands. Freight/trade planning was complicated, several airports and dozens of transports were necessary.

I assume the lack of updates means I shouldn't submit the game yet (I just finished the game).

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

We are still trying to make sure the new set-ups are working correctly. Hopefully it will be worked out in a day or two.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

OK. You can submit your games for 75 again.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Games have been received from:
Ksiaze
Magic_Gorter
Agni Neres
CharlieChuck
Peaster
TheViking
AliArdavan

If you are not on this list we do not have your game.

 

[ceaserhall]

I had to play this game twice. The spanish kicked my butt the first time. I came back to it and restarted (so obviously this won't count). I did much better the second time. I learned a lot from this game: spies, spies, and more spies!

Thank you for a very challenging game.

and it's nice to know I can download the GOTM file to a PC formatted floppy and load it into my mac and it will play.

R.Hall
ceaserhall