GOTM as a CIV learning tool - make it easy PLEASE!

[Più Freddo]

What ?!? You had a 10 M hard disk ?? Sheer Luxury ! You must be a just a young fellow !

Well, the PC AT was only the second model of IBM PC's. The very first IBM PC was the same minus the HD. Other "personal" computers existed before, most notable as precursor to the IBM PC the Apple II, but we don't know if Grampa didn't have one or more of these as well. He only said his first PC was an AT.

I confess to having programmed a 4K RAM computer. What were those text-based adventure games called? "You are in a small room. You see a hammer, a fish, a nail."

 

[ControlFreak]

What were those text-based adventure games called? "You are in a small room. You see a hammer, a fish, a nail."

Do you mean ZORK? I loved those text adventures.

 

[Methos]

Do you mean ZORK? I loved those text adventures.

Zork was awesome! I tried explaining to someone about text based games and they looked at me like I was weird. Lol. I wouldn't mind playing that game again. Of course there was also beyond zork, zork2, zork3 and that horrible non-text game return to zork. Urrg.

Sorry I got off topic.

Edit: I recall playing zork 2&3 but can't remember what they were about. The first one I remember very well. Just shows how to some of us at that time a text-based game was great technology and a blast. The first one is easy to remember but the follow-ups are tougher since the technology was already out. Maybe technology is the incorrect word.

 

[Gyathaar]

There are still lots of text-based online adventure games around.. MUDs (see eg. http://www.topmudsites.com/ ). Most are free aswell.

 

[ControlFreak]

There are still lots of text-based online adventure games around.. MUDs (see eg. http://www.topmudsites.com/ ). Most are free aswell.

My friend got lost in the world of MUDS for months. Be warned...you thought civ was addicting, there's no 2050AD limit in MUDs.

(sorry for the )

 

[AlanH]

Anyone else remember playing Lunar Lander on a Teletype? Display refresh rate was a little sluggish, as you had to wait for another 24 lines of ascii text to roll out of the printer at maybe 10 characters per second.

In a no doubt vain attempt to drag this thread back on topic, I've now included copies of the Reference Thread details for GOTM games 17-32 in the results pages for those games. These were relatively easy to add, as the data was already collated, but we'll add the details for other games over the next few weeks as a rolling exercise.

 

[AlanH]

@HangingChadDad: To get right back to your original question, there's one training resource associated with GOTM that hasn't been mentioned at all ... the Quick Start Challenge. Every game has a QSC associated with it, where players can optionally submit their 1000 BC save and a detailed timeline showing how they played the first 80 turns. The timelines produced by the high ranking players can be a valuable training aid, as the foundations of a good game are usually laid during those critical early turns. Some are detailed enough that you can replay them to a reasonable accuracy.

You can find the QSC submissions for completed games here. We provide rankings based on a scoring system that rates progress at 1000 BC on territory, food/shieds/gold, technology, units, diplomacy and population. You can also compare these factors with the eventual full game results for those players who submitted both.

 

[HangingChadDad]

What ?!? You had a 10 M hard disk ?? Sheer Luxury ! You must be a just a young fellow !

The first desktop I worked with only had 2x 5 1/4 " floppy drives (128Kb each), a 2-colour screen (black & sort-of-white), 32K memory and ran CP/M (kind of DOS around before Microsoft was born). And we were very excited when Borland's Turbo Pascal v1 came out (ie. Delphi as it was back about 20 generations).

... Oops ... back on topic ... I do encourage you to go back over the older GOTMs say from 14 or 15 onwards and read the published accounts of the different ways people played. I found it very instructive.

HAHA.. well truth is the printer and HD were a later add-on (HD alone cost me 800 bux) It started out as a 2-floppy sys (at least mine were the newfangled 5 1/4 units not the crappy old 8 inchers.. just as u describe.. oh.. and *pssst*.. "4 color" was just their name for 4 steps in black & white Trust me there was no color to it.. lol plus the screen was 80x40 resolution (ya I had the fancy new ones .. hehe) where any "pixel" was a "text only" item and graphics had to be "faked in" with pseudo characters.. of course u know all this, u old f**t. My original "screen" was dots on the teletype, but I didn't think anyone would buy that one ..

Yep, Borland rocked in those days of "anyman" pc & sw development

And thanks.. I do plan to hit the older GOTM's .. i fooled around with 18 this week.. i'll take ur hint and do the 14-15 ish ones

 

[HangingChadDad]

Anyone else remember playing Lunar Lander on a Teletype? Display refresh rate was a little sluggish, as you had to wait for another 24 lines of ascii text to roll out of the printer at maybe 10 characters per second.

In a no doubt vain attempt to drag this thread back on topic, I've now included copies of the Reference Thread details for GOTM games 17-32 in the results pages for those games. These were relatively easy to add, as the data was already collated, but we'll add the details for other games over the next few weeks as a rolling exercise.

I logged onto the site today and WOW... u guys are nothing if not RESPONSIVE!! The new touchups to the intro look great to me.. If a new player can just find his way to the gotm .net page, they should be set.. u guys are amazing.. thanks..!!

 

[HangingChadDad]

here[/url]. We provide rankings based on a scoring system that rates progress at 1000 BC on territory, food/shieds/gold, technology, units, diplomacy and population. You can also compare these factors with the eventual full game results for those players who submitted both.

Yes I stumbled onto this this week.. but I thank you for pointing it out here. I have pointed my son toward this as he kinda likes CIV but has too little time with school and all his "stuff". I think he'll love it.. I do. It is a GREAT CHANCE for people to "polish up" their skills while not spending their life doing it.. in a couple of hours u can have a great time and learn a lot! Based on what I have seen so far, this is the best idea yet in Civ learning. The start definitely hits on the real meat of the game.

 

[HangingChadDad]

...., but we don't know if Grampa didn't have one or more of these as well. He only said his first PC was an AT.

I confess to having programmed a 4K RAM computer. What were those text-based adventure games called? "You are in a small room. You see a hammer, a fish, a nail."

LOL.. listen u young whiper snapper!! "grandpa" did have/use those things.. when I started in engineering school, I worked in a lab where we used new things called "transistors" from Texas Instruments experimental group that cost 400 bux apiece. I was programming an analog computer (like the military used.. vacuum tube of course) that filled an entire classroom and was "programmed" by hand-connecting op amps, capacitors, etc with cables.. and when I was in graduate school I wrote a compiler for a 4k pc that was the size of a desk and had only paper tape input and output and was the size of a healthy desk.. hehe.. *sigh* think of the stories you'll be telling YOUR kids..

Well so much for old f**ts replaying the old days.. I want to thank all of you fellows for all your help and for the staff's work on the GOTM pages to make them even easier yet! Nice job!

 

[Methos]

When I was around 10 or so my parents bought in 8088 IBM. I recall Wordstar was the word processor at the time and our bootup disks were DOS 1.0 and DOS 1.1. Back then a floppy disk was in fact 'floppy'.

I guess this means I'm one of the young whipper snappers.

 

[HangingChadDad]

I guess this means I'm one of the young whipper snappers.

Heck ya, you qualify as far as I'm concerned..
I was never 10 yrs old.. (at least not as I remember)

 

[chiptooth]

Wow, this is almost eight years later, but here I go...

...I'm using the Steam installed version of Civ 3 Complete - can I play GOTM? Which version should I download? Thanks!

 

[AlanH]

Hello, welcome

Civ3 Complete allows you to play two versions of Civ3 - Play the World or Conquests - and you choose which when you launch the software.

The game-play in these versions is a bit different, so we release two games each month, one for each version. You should be able to play either or both of them.

Go to the GOTM Home page. In the left hand column, choose a current game - "C3C" games are for Civ3 Conquests, "Classic" games are for Play the World. Click an image to go to the Release page for that game.

Choose the level of difficulty that you want - "Open" (the normal level), "Conquest" (a bit easier), or "Predator" (a bit harder) - and click the Download button for that game.

Put the downloaded Save file into the appropriate Saves folder on your computer. I don't have the Steam version, but I expect it is in C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\

Launch the game, select Conquests or Play the World, and select Load Game. Choose the file you have downloaded. Play the game through once, without reloading. At the end, after the ceremony, click "Lemme play a few more turns". Save the game at this point. Submit the save before the deadline, using this page.

 

[chiptooth]

Tremendous, yes it works. Thanks very much for your tip! Now let my archive exploration begin! Cheers!