GOTM Game Requests

[DynamicSpirit]

Couple of things that struck me could be interesting for future GOTMs

1. A map where you are separated by ocean from some of the civs - meaning it's impossible to get a conquest or domination victory before astronomy. (In my own games, playing 'continents' has frequently generated maps with that feature, but not seen one on a GOTM yet? Not sure about GOTM1 as I never saw that map, but to my knowledge every GOTM from 2 to 6 has allowed early access to every civ, either by virtue of them being on the same continent, or only requiring galleys to reach the other continent. And the current GOTM, GOTM7, is on a pangaea map). Both GOTM4 and GOTM6 were on map types that might have separated civs by oceans, but as it turned out, didn't.

2. Even more extreme - a map where you start alone on an island. That'll really force some different playing strategies.

3. A map where Ainwood doesn't tell us what map type it is. You just have to play it and find out... (For maximum effect, an inland starting point so you can't even tell whether there is any sea or not. And the number of AIs might have been edited so you don't even know in advance how many opponents you have)

 

[DaviddesJ]

1. A map where you are separated by ocean from some of the civs - meaning it's impossible to get a conquest or domination victory before astronomy. (In my own games, playing 'continents' has frequently generated maps with that feature, but not seen one on a GOTM yet? Not sure about GOTM1 as I never saw that map

The GOTM1 map required Optics to reach all but one other civ (and most high-scoring players killed that one opponent early on, since the difficulty was low and the player civ was Romans, so effectively it was like starting on an island alone).

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The GOTM1 map required Optics to reach all but one other civ (and most high-scoring players killed that one opponent early on, since the difficulty was low and the player civ was Romans, so effectively it was like starting on an island alone).

OK ta for the info! Shame I missed that one (I didn't really discover GOTMs till GOTM 3 was being released)

 

[ZerrorR]

3. A map where Ainwood doesn't tell us what map type it is. You just have to play it and find out... (For maximum effect, an inland starting point so you can't even tell whether there is any sea or not. And the number of AIs might have been edited so you don't even know in advance how many opponents you have)

You can always go to victory conditions screen and see what type of map it is once you start the game

 

[DynamicSpirit]

You can always go to victory conditions screen and see what type of map it is once you start the game

Is it possible to disable that (eg. with some mod?).

Of course if the map has been edited sufficiently, that information could be useless anyway

 

[Lexad]

Yep. In SGOTM-1 the type is "SGOTM-1 Map"

 

[jimbob27]

Is it possible to disable that (eg. with some mod?).

Of course if the map has been edited sufficiently, that information could be useless anyway

It'd be great if they could. It'd make the games more interesting. You'd have to have an adaptable long term plan. As soon as I saw pangaea for the last one, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I'd be nice if they'd hidden a civ on another island to mess up my plans.

 

[ainwood]

At the moment, I'm largely working-through the map scripts. Given that there are only two that target multiple land-masses, there is a bit of a lack of variation. I will endeavor to improve this, however.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

At the moment, I'm largely working-through the map scripts. Given that there are only two that target multiple land-masses, there is a bit of a lack of variation. I will endeavor to improve this, however.

Cheers for the response, Ainwood! Yes, you're right the available map scripts do seem to lack variety in that regard, and I suspected that was partly the issue. Perhaps that ties in with Civ4's general lack of units to support complex naval strategies.

<pedant>Aren't there three that target multiple land masses though? Fractal (usually multiple land masses, though occasionally generates a single one by chance as happened in GOTM6), Ice Age, and Continents.</pedant>

(Not sure about archipelago: In my experience, tiny islands always generates islands that can always be reached by galleys so have a similar accessibility to continents, not sure if that's true of snaky continents though).

 

[LordKestrel]

Something that would be a lot of fun is a Terra type map, but have the second continent pre-seeded with a few barbarian cities, workers, worker techs, etc. I've played with the world editor and made a few maps like that, and they were great fun. Trying to found a city on a continent covered in barbarian maces is quite a challenge

 

[dcstevez]

It could add a new element to our starts if we were effectively founding our civilization thousands of years after some or all of the other civs. Players would really have to think creativelly in such a situation . . . and it might make conquest before the modern age impossible. There are many different variations that could be tried. You could start with a group of 6 other young "barbarians" surrounding an Indian Civ which already has 3 cities, roads, irrigated fields, hinduism and the parthenon. Alternatively, you could have your settler, two archers and a worker in a river valley surrounded by already established hostile civs. Maybe you could even have a situation in which you don't realize what has happened until you conquer your first two neighbors and realize that the Roman empire is roaring right back at you from the other side of the world because they already had Praetorians while you and everyone else were trying to rub sticks together for a fire.

 

[ainwood]

It could add a new element to our starts if we were effectively founding our civilization thousands of years after some or all of the other civs.

This is more of a scenario. We tend to keep games more traditional - although we can achieve similar effects with resource and civ placement. I think we'll continue to keep the games fairly standard for a while at least.

BTW - if you want to try Conquests Civ3 COTM 22, then it was a bit like that....