GOTM Schedule Announcement for 2003

[cracker]

Civ3 Games of The Month Schedule for 2003

January - GOTM15 – Russia
February - GOTM16 - Rome
March - GOTM17 - Carthage (or equivalent) **
April - GOTM18 - Celts (or equivalent) **
May - GOTM19 - Ottomans (or equivalent) **
June - GOTM20 - Spanish (or equivalent) **
July - GOTM21 - Mediterranean Melee (civs TBA) **
August - GOTM22 - Scandinavians (Vikings)
September - GOTM23 - Arabs
October - GOTM24 - Mongols
November - GOTM25 - Korea in an Asian Melee
December - GOTM26 - Game of the Year (civs TBA)

Game files for GOTMs 17 thru 21 will be available for competitors to play in their choice of Civ3 V1.29 or PTW single player (patched to the latest software release). Each player may play the games one time and submit the result for either Civ3 or PTW (but not both) and the GOTM Staff will compile combined results for each monthly game event.

Quick Start Challenge competitions (QSCs) will be supported for each monthly GOTM game event.

** Players will not be required to purchase and install PTW in order to fully participate in the GOTM games that will be available during the transition period.

Details on the specific game conditions and map configurations, plus the implementation of special game features and the equivalent civilizations for the special PTW Civs, will be announced in the forums and on the GOTM web pages in the weeks leading up to each game event

To support this new schedule of game events for the coming year, the volunteer roles on the GOTM staff are being expanded and more clearly defined. We are actively preparing to implement changes and upgrades to a number of the features of the GOTM process.

In the coming weeks, we will announce changes to the game score accumulation system that will allow us to integrate and reward the results from all the different game events that players may choose to participate in each month. These changes to the Global Ranking will reward player performance and consistent achievement by players who participate regularly in multiple game events but will also continue to recognize strong individual game performances.

In the coming weeks, I ask you to follow along closely with the various GOTM staff volunteers as they introduce themselves to you and work to present the various new features and processes. We will work closely with you to make sure that all the changes and added features will work to enhance the GOTM experience for all the participants who have made the game so successful up to this point in time.

It will seem like a large number of changes will be coming to you in a short period of time, but all of these changes add up to supporting the transition to where we need to be in the coming year.

Play and submit the GOTMs each month and give us the results we need to continue building a stronger community of GOTM players with you as an active member.

 

[JonathanValjean]

Thanks for the hard work that you are doing as the new GOTM administrator, Cracker. I look forward to beginning to compete in the coming months, especially in those melees! Keep up the good work, and BTW, your "opening plays" lesson in the war academy is excellent!

 

[Melinder]

Whoa! Something tells me we're not in kansas anymore! I'm really glad we aren't being forced to buy PTW too early - thanks for supporting us slow adopters. maybe by the time we have to use it, I can PTW on my mac against all the PC-ers here

 

[cgannon64]

Hurray! Just wondering: "Or Equivialant" means the vanilla civ that has the same traits, right?

Good to see the new GOTM staff is hard at work. And its nice to see some at least semi-variant games in there, hopefully the GOTM can start heading that way.

CG

(I could still use a job, you know...)

 

[flexo]

For the sake of simplicty could someone please list what the "equivilant" Civilizations would be. If there is more than one equivilant one does that mean you can choose?

 

[Bamspeedy]

Yes, if equivalent means civs with same attributes, the one game where there are 3 civs with same attributes would be the Celts/Japan/Aztecs. In that game I would think the civ would be Japan since we played the Aztecs so recently.
Carthage-France
Ottomans-Persia
Spanish-Indians

 

[pilferman]

I can't wait for the Asian melee! Perhaps more games should have "chosen" opponents...

 

[abla]

Does anyone know if PTW has been released in UK yet? None of the usual shops in Aberdeen have it in stock and the staff seem not to know anything about it?

 

[cracker]

flexo,

Bamspeedy is on the right track but we will work out the specific details of the "equivalency" just after the New Year.

Stay tuned here in the forum, because you will be involved in every step up the process and information will be shared with everyone before the game begins.

Essentially we will be looking into ways to have the GOTM game version for Civ3 and the GOTM gave version for PTW be essentially the same so we can continue to have one big community of players throughout the year for 2003. This may mean more than just straight substitution of civs but be patient as we sort this out in a way that tries not to screw anything up while also trying not to deliberately exclude any players.

As we sort these issues out, some short foramt sample games should be available to help players prepare for the events if they have any hesitation. Most of the higher level players will perform the same assessment that Bamspeedy has already listed and as such they will easily transition to the new civs or their equivalents.

The process will not require you to purchase PTW in order to participate in the near term because this would have a negative impact on a number of our European, Asian, and African players as well as potential cross platform and patch compatibility issues.

 

[Gandalfe]

I've just barely found this site, having been playing CIV III for about 4 months - and just bought PTW for Xmas. I'm very excited to participate, but must ask: What level are these games at?

 

[Bamspeedy]

The difficulty level will vary from month to month. Most games are Regent-Emperor level. We have had 2 deity games and 1 warlord game, but the other 11 games so far have been regent-emperor. The map sizes vary usually from small to large. I think there has been a tiny map once or twice, but never a huge map (due to time constraints for many participants). Most will be standard size maps.

 

[Gandalfe]

Thanks! I tried looking in the FAQ to see if it was set to a standard, but no such luck.

Also, I've noticed some discussion about this, but don't recall the official word: Will GOTMs 15/16 be available to be played in PTW, or just vanilla Civ III?

 

[hbdragon88]

That's the exact problem...I'm trying out GOTM15 (first participation) and losing, losing fast. Obviously the chieftain/warlord player is no match for the monarchy this game...

Anyway at least now I know the list for gotms...if I knew the difficulty levels...

 

[Japes]

Won't having PTW units give an advantage , or was/is the AI different . Some of the UU in PTW are substantial as well as mideveal infantry and guerillas.

 

[cracker]

Japes,

Trust in my skills as your "great leader" to make sure the games will work when we get to the PTW cut over.

I assure you that the civs in the Civ3 v1.29 version and the civs in the PTW version will have equivalent units. There are a number of added features in PTW but these may not have any strategic value as it relates to high level play skills. We are play testing these features now and will have more details for you in February as we get close to where they will be needed. We will even have a quicky practice scenario that players can test to get familiar with the equivalent civ features in just a few hours. All this will be announce in February.

We have lots of new stuff coming and the primary delaying factors with PTW are the built in bugs/exploits/ and cheats that make the game currently unusable for GOTM play. We are just lucky that has the separate Civ3 executable installed and available to every player so that no one gets excluded while Firaxis sorts out the programming issues.

For now, play Gotm15-Russia and have fun.

 

[WildFire]

This is my first GOTM and this is fun! It has actually pulled me away from playing MOHAA and Battlefield

Anyway, who picks the game? (like the starting position?)

Too bad its on monarch. I guess i'll go back to regent (again)

 

[hbdragon88]

The GOTM team, of course.

Cracker:
So it's a bit modded to be a true equivalent from PTW to CIv 3?

"Mod" can be a dirty word in some people's view point. There is a difference between a modified game and a standard game that includes expanded content. The key issue is "do the features in the game play essentially the same as the way that the game is designed to play."

 

[WildFire]

Just wondering, is Accelerated Production on for this months GOTM cracker?

Accelerated Production will never be on in GOTMs. I have used it to test some features but basically it is a bone thrown into the game to appease the impatient lower segments of the the civ game market. It really screws up the game severely in almost very case. - cracker

 

[DaveMcW]

You shouldn't have many problems with this map if you are used to Regent. The start position is great and helps cancel the AI's small Monarch bonus. The only thing you need to be careful of is the unhappiness at size 3.

Cracker sets up the game, and I suspect he micromanages the map creation just as much as he does his in-game empire.

Accelerated Production is off. I'm glad, since it unbalances workers and unit movement, and it doesn't speed up gameplay at all in single player.

 

[cracker]

Originally posted by DaveMcW
... and I suspect he micromanages the map creation just as much as he does his in-game empire.

Hopefully as we get into the games a bit more, you will see what impact this has on the big picture of game play. Since I can't play the actual games due to conflict-of-interest, I have used some of that time to set up and preplay a few test setups on each map.

A peek under the hood as to some of the testing that went into this map and others that you will see is that I artificially load the starting civ with 20 or 30 settlers that can move up to 60 spaces and then test out early city placement positions. I also test the exact movement count distances to all neighbors and verify any goody hut positions.

A lot more goes into the map generation than just letting the game randomly fall out of a bucket like you would have to do if you were locked in a lonely room by yourself to play the game.

You will see some features of how this can effect the analysis of game play as we proceed into the discussion phases of each game.

Again try not to speculate too much until we get later into January and early February when you will have a great deal more to base your thoughts and discussions on. A lot of exciting stuff will be happening in the next 10 days and looking to the future, the Chieftain/Warlord players have a lot of work they can do to get ready for Gotm16 and Gotm17 because these will not be Chieftain or Warlord games.

I am committed to sharing all the gory details of each step in the process, but we are still in the process of switching over management processes for the GOTM to fully put all our great volunteer resources to work where they can serve you and the game in the best way possible.