Gotm20-Spain Wild Speculation Thread

[denyd]

Credit below to Nightfall:

The first posting of the GOTM 20 start

[Cracker-muttering]
I'll show em....I want this...no bonus grasslands..whine whine.....want more of the start...I'll give 'em a start....
[/Cracker-muttering]

[Cracker-evil laugh]
Bwahahahahahahahaha
[/Cracker-evil laugh]





For all concerned, THIS IS A JOKE...this is NOT the GOTM 20 start (some ppl are too serious )

 

[Takeo]

i would say it will be deity, cause we haven't had that difficulty level since december. it will be a large map with only 80% landmass. spanish side of the world will be archipeligo and the other side will be the 'new world' that we will need navigation to get to. there will be 3-4 enemies close by in the archipeligo and one left all alone on the large continent.

 

[Nakhimov]

The starting area will probably be plains, with a good deal of hills and mountains nearby. If there is a new-world continent or archipelago, I think that the civs in it won't have access to any horses. A quick strike with Knights or Cavalry upon discovery of the could be devastating to them if this is the case. I also think that any such area will probably have a lot of commerce-boosting resources and opportunities.

 

[Txurce]

Nakhimov, the "no horses in the New World" notion is inspired. It also dovetails perfectly with the Spanish UU.

 

[LKendter]

So far I have identified one consistent theme with Cracker's games. His theme is GOTM as a history lesson, or at least changes that are relevant to history. This shows up in something as simple as renaming the Ottoman capital to match historical naming better. The question is how will this affect us?

Spain had several strong naval rivals to compete with to head overseas. That means England will be in the game as they are naval heavy. Carthage Scandinavia, Japan and Greece are already oriented to naval building. Two of them will be selected to act like Portugal and / or Holland. This could be one landmass with just 4 deity civs that is a bit scary with aggressive Japan and Greece.

The other continent will have one of more key items for the long-term game and getting to that continent will be critical. There is a good chance that all oil or rubber will be on the other land area. My predicted civs are the two historical of Aztecs and Iroquois. No guess on the third civ.

My biggest worry is that it is deity and the eqWorkers appear for the AI civs. Deity is difficult enough with out helped out the AI. I just hope we don't get another GOTM#14 and sharing a landmass with a single deity AI. That IMHO is the single worse scenario to face in deity. The best thing that can happen is several deity wars while you quietly build to a position of strength.

However, I am not sure if this will be deity. I thought I remember a post of regent, 2 monarchy, 2 emperor and 1 deity. That would put the next deity into June. I don't like the Spanish for deity as you lose the explorer that is good for 20-shield partial rush. Partial rushing is very valuable at deity and the weak UU doesn't justify the loss of the only 20-sheild unit.

 

[Zwingli]

originally posted by LKendter
I thought I remember a post of regent, 2 monarchy, 2 emperor and 1 deity.

Since the new GOTM website started keeping track there has been 1 regent (17 Carthage), 2 monarch (15 Russia/18 Keltoi), and 2 emperor (16 Rome/19 Ottomon). So I would predict a Deity game as well, probably continents along the "old world" vs. "new world" line of thinking. There might be at least 1 strong civ alone on its own island which still has early contact with the "old world" continent (ie England or Japan) since these types of civs always provide a challenge for conquest victories.

Edit: Maybe the two landmasses will be connected by a sea lane to enable caravel crossings a la Cristobal Colon (I have no idea on the spelling ).

 

[tao]

Originally posted by Zwingli
Since the new GOTM website started keeping track there has been 1 regent (17 Carthage), 2 monarch (15 Russia/18 Keltoi), and 2 emperor (16 Rome/19 Ottomon). So I would predict a Deity game as well,

That was also my thinking. OTOH 7 was deity, 14 was deity, and cracker is a very organized person .....

 

[King Of America]

Deity seems likely (I said it a few days ago).

Given Spanish history and the fact that Navigation is the required tech for the UU, I think we can expect to see 2-3 continents (and squid and FOG).

We haven't been offically introduced to the Arabs yet, in terms of GOTM, so I don't think we'll see them unless they are the barbarians of the month (I think the Moors are more likely than the Arabs in that role).

If Cracker goes ahistorical, we might see the Aztecs early (Cruel would be Deity with Aztecs 4 tiles away...and with early extra units) or to play off of Nakhimov's idea...what about Hiawatha controlling all the horses?

 

[DaveMcW]

I will name one of my explorers Juan Ponce de Léon, and send him on a quest to find the mythical Bonus Grassland Cow.

 

[Smirk]

I would like to see a backwards new world continent, or else the conquistador would never see any use.

I think we'll see this with the Aztecs and Iroquios and/or a horde of placed barbs to keep them down, in addition to making any landing from the old world more difficult. With that in mind, I expect to see England, France and maybe some others nearby with a predisposition to seafaring, otherwise this new world would just be there for the taking by human players. Which of course isn't much of a challenge. I think it will be diety or at least emp, to also make it challenging to be the first to colonize that untouched fertile land of the new world.

I'll name my first suicide galley Leif Erikson and look for a northern island hopping route. Since the Vikings aren't slated to show up yet (but here's hoping) this is the best I can do.

 

[Darkness]

Originally posted by tao
Deity is a good guess. Since our UU is the Spanish Missionary (aka conquistador), we need somethig to reach after navigation. It might be something like the imperialism map, with key resources on another continent.

PS: No diety, please.

I agree with this. This would go well with historic perpective, which cracker seems to like....
Like Yndy I also hope this game will be less modded, so there'll be no handicapped civs like Rome in GOTM19....

 

[ltcoljt]

I don't care about much except give us the Jason calculator up front and don't play games .... if there ain't gonna be any shield grassland under the forests and jungles tell us up front.

Its supposed to be strategy not a crapshoot.

 

[kmark]

My bets:

- Deity level

- 2 land masses with several small islands. That would represent the conquest part and the race for every land

- the small islands contains most of the luxuries. guess why

- Spain as religious and militaristic as they were in the history

- I would like to see a water unit as the UU in this game. A frigate or some sort (the spanish synonim for that) would be perfect for Spain

- Other civilizations as England, France, Germany, China, Aztecs, Iroquis, Americans, and probably Russia and Zululand as well.

- Im expecting a lot of alliance warfare!

- would be an interesting idea if the "european landmass" contains the luxuries and the "american landmass" contains the resources or balance it somehow that one side have something the other side doesnt.

- Goldmines in the "american landmass" definitely

 

[Yndy]

Originally posted by Darkness

Like Yndy I also hope this game will be less modded, so there'll be no handicapped civs like Rome in GOTM19....

OT: Except that I believe that the Romans were too powerful (until Siphai) .

Since I plan to have a lot of free time in June (I wonder what my boss thinks about that), I’ll use a lot of personalization. I’m considering naming every unit built before 1000BC (Miguel the Warrior), zoning the territory into 72 tiles areas named after Spanish provinces (Andalusia) and creating a bureaucracy with written policies and stuff (“The objective of our happiness policy is to hook up the dyes within the following 20 turns”).

Which reminds me: Maybe we’ll get the luxuries and resources in Spanish like in the Rome game (tinturar, marfil, piel, hierro).

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by Yndy
I’m considering naming every unit built before 1000BC (Miguel the Warrior)

How do you do that? Is this a new feature in PTW or something? It would be so much easier to keep track of them for the QSC if I know how to rename all my units.

 

[rabies]

Moonsinger

<shift> N when you have a unit selected allows you to rename them. Not sure if that is new to PTW or not. Very handy for the QSC!

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by rabies
Moonsinger

<shift> N when you have a unit selected allows you to rename them. Not sure if that is new to PTW or not. Very handy for the QSC!

Thank you very much! I didn't know that.

//Edit: It must be a new feature in PTW because I just tried it in Civ3 and <shift> N does nothing.

 

[Darkness]

@Yndy: I meant handicapped because cracker said the Roman governors had wonder productions switched off. In my game they were also quite strong, miltary and culture-wise...

 

[ControlFreak]

I agree with most that it will probably be deity. If it follows history it will be a pennisula with Romans on one side and Arabs on another with Carthage within a boat ride. Carthage gets soupped up navally. Lots of mountains around the perimeter of the pennisula for natural defense. France and Germany over the mountains and a new world that is somewhat held back either by jungle, barbs, lack of food bonus, river but lots of luxuries.

The important question is not the symantics but what experiment Cracker has cooked up.

GOTM16 - Introduced the regionally intense barbs (new world?)
GOTM17 - ???
GOTM18 - Lack of rivers, luxuries -> low research
GOTM19 - {Trying to avoid spoiler} A Civ in under a belljar.

Basically we've been taught to expect the unexpected and yet still find ourselves trapped in preconcieved notion of how the game should function.

If this is going to be Deity, there are some preconcieved notions and some potential Cracker, "rock your world" modifications:
"Researching yourself will be hopeless" - maybe we'll start with all the luxuries and rivers, the AI get none.
"Early conquest futile because of the numbers advantage" - maybe eqWorkers will REPLACE the extra military units the AI gets.
"Building ancient age wonders is impossible." - All the AI have their governer's set to not build wonders.
"The AI expand until they run out of room." - Few civs on large map with extra military units at the start.

 

[TedJackson]

Originally posted by ControlFreak
GOTM17 - ???

The luckless suicide galley. Not to be confused with the "Suicide Squid"

Ted