GOTM in several times

[Eul_Bofo]

Hi.

I'd like to play a GOTM, but having a family life, I can't do it in one time. So I wondered : can I save the current position, and continue later from this position ? Or do I have to play it in one time ?

Another related question : can I take the saved file from my laptop, and continue it on my desktop ?

Mind you, I don't want to spoil the result, I just want to try those interesting games, and discuss with other players. But as I said, I usually don't have more than 2 hours before someone wants to use me or my computer(s)

One more reason is the "warlord" level of the last Gotm. I'm quite newbye to the game, and usualy don't play above Prince !

I hope someone answer me soon, I've allready loaded the initial save

\bye

 

[nbcman]

@Eul Bofo
You are allowed to save a GOTM and continue from the save. You are not allowed to reload from a previous turns save though.

To confirm this though you may want to check with one of the GOTM admins. I've requested that this thread get moved into the GOTM area so they can answer it.

Edit: For reference the GOTM forum is located at:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=165

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Yep, nbcman is correct, you don't have to play in a single session. You can save the game whenever you want. The requirement for GOTMs is that you must not replay any turns (our 'no reloading' rule). That means that saving the game should be the last thing you do when you end a session, and that when you later return to the game, you must always load that last save, not an earlier one, so you don't replay anything. You should also set the autosave for your civ install to autosave every turn, so that in the rare event of a computer crash etc., your latest backup save is as up-to-date as possible.

Swapping between computers is also fine, provided you always use the latest save and so don't replay anything.

Good luck playing!

 

[Orry]

I dread to think what kind of sleep deprived monsters would result if GOTMs had to be completed in one session.

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

I dread to think what kind of sleep deprived monsters would result if GOTMs had to be completed in one session.

Huh? What? You mean we don't have to complete the game in one sitting???

Somebody owes me some

 

[jesusin]

I dread to think what kind of sleep deprived monsters would result if GOTMs had to be completed in one session.

Ha! As if being allowed to stop would make any difference!

 

[Eul_Bofo]

Thank you everyone.

I completed the game... in one big shot, in fact (afraid of what could happen, silly of me )

It was fun, but a bit long... Next time, I will play in several shots, to have time to think.

Is it correct to post some impressions on the game on this forum, or would it spoil the challenge ?

\bye

 

[nbcman]

@Eul Bofo

There will be a series of spoiler threads started by the GOTM admins that will allow you to post your impressions on the game. For example, the first spoiler thread is intended to allow the players to post game progress through 500 AD.

BTW-you are only allowed to submit your 1st attempt at the GOTM. But you are allowed to replay the game.

You may want to refer to the GOTM guidlines at:

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/1st_visit.php#rules

 

[da_Vinci]

@Eul Bofo

There will be a series of spoiler threads started by the GOTM admins that will allow you to post your impressions on the game. For example, the first spoiler thread is intended to allow the players to post game progress through 500 AD.

BTW-you are only allowed to submit your 1st attempt at the GOTM. But you are allowed to replay the game for your own personal interest, AFTER you have submitted your first attempt.

You may want to refer to the GOTM guidlines at:

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/1st_visit.php#rules

I made a little clarification in red to the quote above. Mods, do you agree with the added precision?

I note that DynamicSpirit advises to set autosave to each turn without providing the instructions ... do we have a "to do" list for GOTM participation that has all of these pearls (or links to them) in one place? Things like the dlls if you don't have BTS, the HOF mod, the Vista permissions issues, etc. Or are they still kind of scattered about?

dV

 

[Htadus]

Swapping between computers is also fine, provided you always use the latest save and so don't replay anything.

I had a game specifically disqualified for swapping between work, home and Dads computer. So you may not want to do that Eul_Bofo

My work and Dad had better computers....had....not any more......

Just 4 civing ....... and for bringing work home .

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I made a little clarification in red to the quote above. Mods, do you agree with the added precision?

OK with me.

I note that DynamicSpirit advises to set autosave to each turn without providing the instructions ... do we have a "to do" list for GOTM participation that has all of these pearls (or links to them) in one place? Things like the dlls if you don't have BTS, the HOF mod, the Vista permissions issues, etc. Or are they still kind of scattered about?
dV

We don't currently have such a list. Getting one together is on my to-do list as I agree it would be useful.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I had a game specifically disqualified for swapping between work, home and Dads computer. So you may not want to do that Eul_Bofo

I don't want to start discussing individual people's games in a public forum, but we don't disqualify games for swapping between computers; we disqualify games where it's clear from our analysis of the submitted savegame file that GOTM rules have not been followed. I have often swapped between my desktop and my laptop while playing, copying over my latest savegame file to continue the game, and have never had a game rejected (including before I became one of the staff).

(Of course, if you copy and play an earlier save rather than your latest save, between machines, which I guess isn't too hard to accidentally do if you're not careful, then you will be disqualified, but that would be because of the turn replaying, not because of the use of different machines).

 

[Sabean]

I have three jobs, one college course, a wife, a one year old son, and precious little time. In other words, I save the game quite a lot. I have found that playing 15-20 turns per day with my morning coffee works very well. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

I think there is a guideline rule to try to keep your play sessions longer than 1 hour. In one GOTM submission I got a caution because I had a couple of short play session ie 5-15mins.

 

[Sabean]

I think there is a guideline rule to try to keep your play sessions longer than 1 hour. In one GOTM submission I got a caution because I had a couple of short play session ie 5-15mins.

That's weird. I just played GOTM 32 in more than twenty sessions, and I think not one of them was more than an hour long. My total playing time was only 4 hours and change. It wasn't exactly a spectacular performance, so for most of the game, there were no options and nothing to do but hit the end turn button. I am wondering if some of the staff might weigh in on this question.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

There is a guideline about playing longer sessions. It's not a rule, it's a guideline that we ask people to follow if they can. There's really two reasons for it:

• A game in which the player played in - say- 15 short sessions is potentially more work for us to analyze than a game that's played in eg. 2 very long sessions.
• Each time you load a new session, you have to manually load your latest save - there's some scope for human error there - you accidentally click on the wrong file and don't notice until it's too late and you've made a couple of moves, thereby breaking GOTM rules. Clearly, more sessions increases the risk of that.

So it's better if you can play in fewer sessions. But if you need to play in short sessions, eg. because of the requirements of your life outside Civ, or if because you need to stop to think about your strategy etc., then that's fine, we won't reject your game purely on account of it. If you have had a warning or a game rejected, then I'd be pretty sure it was because of some other reason, but for obvious reasons I'd prefer to discuss individual cases privately, not in puiblic forums.

In a rare, extreme borderline case, I could imagine that if there is something iffy about a game, and it was played in lots of sessions, then the extra difficulty in our analyzing it may prevent us from being able to clear the game as valid, and hence result in a warning being sent out or the game being excluded, where if the game had been played in fewer sessions it would've been fine, but I emphasize I'm talking very rare case here.