GOTM Competitive Balance

[morpheus11]

I would like to do a more serious poll. I would really like to know what difficulty people here are playing competitively. By competitively I mean not winning everytime you play. Please ignore games where you imploy special rules to make the game harder for yourself.

For example I win pretty easily on Warlord, but I rarely win on Noble. So, I am putting down that I play at Noble. That is my limit of competitive balance at this moment.

Also, please pick if you would play in the game of the month (GOTM) if there was a game that you could enjoy and compete in at your level of difficulty.

Thanks for all of your input.

 

[Jastrow]

Depends on map, leader, etc...

With a financial leader on a standard map with normal number of players, I should win 90%+ on Emperor, and be competitive on Immortal. With a random leader, Emporor is probably my even level.

 

[morpheus11]

Wow, Jastrow you beat in getting the poll up. You will see that in the poll I have lumped Emporer and above into one category. I figured that people playing at those levels could probably be competitive with most leaders.

Have you ever played in a GOTM?

 

[Jastrow]

Yes, several... I was a nobel player when I started them about a year ago. Have been making steady progress since.

 

[morpheus11]

Jastrow did you ever play using the adventurer start in a GOTM?

 

[xanadux]

Emperor and above might not be the best for your poll. I think there are a lot of us that destroy Monarch, have a good game on Emperor, but struggle to beat Immortal. And there are quite a few players here for whom Immortal is pretty easy and regularly beat Deity.

 

[Kennigit]

Emperor is probably the best for a competition for me. On the recent monarch GOTM/WOTMs, there was lots of competition for the fastest spacerace (which I usually always aim for, which is not expected anytime soon) but the games were too easy IMO. Emperor would allow me to still compete for a quick spacerace while providing some challenges, but not enough so that I wouldn't be able to win consistenly. Immortal is where I should be at now, but given a bad map or not the best start I would not win consistenly enough to compete for something.

edit- I don't think anyone regularly beats deity. Deity has too many games where its near impossible from the start, where either you have bad land or neighbours rush you or barbs overrun you. With a good start, some players do have consistent wins so long as they make it to 500 AD or so in a good position but far more restarts/difficult maps occur for them to say they consistently win based purely on games started.

 

[Jastrow]

Jastrow did you ever play using the adventurer start in a GOTM?

Honestly, I dont remember for sure if I played one or two early on, but I dont think so....

Actually, I just went back and checked, and my very first GOTM was a win on Monarch, so no, I nerver qualified for adventurer. This was GOTM3, which I would point out was an incredibly easy monarch game... 175 wins from 290 submissions... I scored some 90K in a 1640AD domination victory, and did not make the top 50!

 

[oyzar]

IT should be noted that Difficulty levels are actually very dependent on versions with BTS being a whole lot easier than warlords for example...

 

[Gliese 581]

I don't always crush the opposition on monarch but I very rarely lose, even if I'm in for a long haul, so my level is probably emperor.

 

[IDave]

When will there be a BTS GOTM?

Coz letsface it just about every1 is playing BTS now.

 

[cabert]

there already was a poll in the GotM subforum, showing monarch as the "central" level to play

Personnaly I beat monarch under most circumstances (AW is a bit difficult), but have a hard time with emperor.
I've played the GotM for a while now, be it warlords or immortal. I don't always win, and that's fine.

 

[morpheus11]

Emperor and above might not be the best for your poll. I think there are a lot of us that destroy Monarch, have a good game on Emperor, but struggle to beat Immortal. And there are quite a few players here for whom Immortal is pretty easy and regularly beat Deity.

There are tons of competitive games run through this website for players that can compete at Emperor or above. But, there are very few games for players that are having a hard time beating noble or prince. I wanted to see if I was the only one that would like to play GOTMs but feel that the difficulty is too high. That is the reason for the Emperor and above category.

there already was a poll in the GotM subforum, showing monarch as the "central" level to play

cabert ~ I saw that poll, but I thought I might get a different result in a forum designed for more inexperienced gamers.

 

[cabert]

There are tons of competitive games run through this website for players that can compete at Emperor or above. But, there are very few games for players that are having a hard time beating noble or prince. I wanted to see if I was the only one that would like to play GOTMs but feel that the difficulty is too high. That is the reason for the Emperor and above category.




cabert ~ I saw that poll, but I thought I might get a different result in a forum designed for more inexperienced gamers.

OK, I see what you're talking about.

I have a different point of view.
IMNAHO (In My Not Always Humble Opinion) most players that dedicate time to this forum will one day be reasonably confident at monarch.
You may not be there yet, but you will, I'm sure.

Furthermore, what's the point to play competitive games where 90% of the players have a walk in the park and don't fight for the win but for the score/time? This is what already happens to "normal settings, monarch or less" GotMs.
Some people like to milk their score or to find superb strategy to win in the BCs, but I don't and have the feeling it's a bit tedious.

So I'm really glad that the GotMs are played at levels I'm not always comfortable with, or with settings making them a lot harder than your regular game.

 

[morpheus11]

I understand that the GOTM needs to be entertaining for the more experienced players, I was hoping this poll would help me convincing that having multiple saves could help to increase the number of players that participate in the GOTMs. I am going to try the first GOTM using BTS no matter what difficulty it is on. There have been some conversasion about how to increase the number of people playing GOTMs. If you want take a look here http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6216430#post6216430

 

[nokem]

I'm new to CIV. Completed a couple of Settler games and one at Warlord. I like the GOTM idea because I can learn from more experienced players but I'm not particularly bothered about comparing scores.

Emperor's way overpowered for me. I may give it a go for a laugh but more likely I'll turn the difficulty down and not worry about submitting the results.

Given the choice I'd prefer an easier difficulty option and happily play in a 2nd division against other newbs. But like I said it's not a big deal if my score goes on a webpage or not.

nokem

 

[jesusin]

I would like all GOTM to be 1 or 2 levels about my level.
That way, I would always struggle and fail. Then I would compare my fruitless efforts to the bright strategies of the winners and learn a lot.

Imagine my happiness the day I would win a game... that would be sweet.

 

[ngraner42]

I think Jesusin may have hit on a fundamental differences in what people want from GOTM.

I want a game where, if I play well, I have a 80-100% chance of winning. Given that mistakes will be made, I want at least a 50/50 chance. If the game requires perfect play for a 10% chance of winning, I don't want to play it.

Some people want winning assured, some want it to be in doubt, some want it to require a perfect effort.

 

[ngraner42]

I agree that cutting off the vote at Monarch is misleading. I think there is a solid group of us who easily beat Monarch, but fear Immortal.

 

[morpheus11]

I'm new to CIV. Completed a couple of Settler games and one at Warlord. I like the GOTM idea because I can learn from more experienced players but I'm not particularly bothered about comparing scores.

Emperor's way overpowered for me. I may give it a go for a laugh but more likely I'll turn the difficulty down and not worry about submitting the results.

Given the choice I'd prefer an easier difficulty option and happily play in a 2nd division against other newbs. But like I said it's not a big deal if my score goes on a webpage or not.

nokem

nokem, you and I are in the same boat. I think there is some serious consideration to adjust the difficulties into tiers of the GOTM. Then you and I will be able to compare our strategies to help each other improve. That is my goal.

I agree that cutting off the vote at Monarch is misleading. I think there is a solid group of us who easily beat Monarch, but fear Immortal.

I lumped everything from Emporer and higher togther not Monarch. If you are beating Monarch easily than your next step is Emporer.