News: BOTM 102 --Starts March 01--

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 102: Hannibal in the World of Finance

[img=right]http://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/botm102civ.JPG[/img]

You will play as Hannibal of Carthage (FIN/CHM traits). Because you and all your opponents have the financial trait, you all start with the knowledge of Currency - in addition to your normal starting techs, which are Fishing and Mining. All the world's stone and marble resources are visible in the starting screenshot - so if you need some help with the raging barbarians (who start with hunting and archery), the Great Wall might be your friend. A special 1-time mapmaker's award for Total Number of World Wonders you BUILD will also be announced in the Results thread - the Most Wonderful Game Award! (Number of turns it takes you will not be considered). Builders... have FUN! Note: Espionage culture victories will count as normal culture victories for this game.



Game settings:
Playing as: Hannibal of Carthage
Rivals: 7 AI
Difficulty: Monarch
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: RAGING barbarians, no huts, no events
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Pangea, Low Seas
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Standard


Your traits are Charismatic and Financial
and you start with knowledge of FISHING, and MINING and CURRENCY



Unique unit: Numidian Cavalry (replaces Horse Archer)
Unique unit for Carthage; Replaces Horse Archer
Immune to first strikes
Doesn't receive defensive bonuses
Can withdraw from combat (20% chance)
Flank attack against Catapults and Trebuchets
Starts with Flanking I
+50% attack vs. Catapults and Trebuchets
+50% vs. Melee Units
Unique building is the Cothon; Replaces Harbor
Can only be built in a coastal city
+1 trade route
+1 health from Fish, Crab, Clams
+50% commerce from trade routes

Starting screenshot

This is the start of the game (click for a bigger image):






Adventurer Class bonuses:
If Monarch level is normally too hard for you, since this is the "easy" cycle in the BOTM schedule, and Adventurer save is available to help you master Monarch level. The barbarians start with NO technology (compared to Hunting and Archery in the normal save), and you have a worker from the start - located 1E from the settler.



Challenger Class Equalizers:
N/A

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 01 March 2016, server local time (UTC-6:00). From that date and time, you'll be able to get your chosen starting save >>>here<<<.

Submit the save after your victory (or defeat) here, by 01 April 2016.

Here is a link to a list of the differences between Vanilla, Warlords and BtS.

Here is a link to a list of the differences between Vanilla, Warlords and BtS.

Software Versions

Windows: This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Civ4 Vanilla or Warlords), patched to version 3.19, and with the BUFFY mod version 3.19.003 installed. You can download the BUFFY mod here. Players using Windows Vista or Windows 7 are encouraged to read the notes on Vista fixes here.


Macintosh: This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Civ4 Vanilla or Warlords), patched to version 3.19, and with the Mac BUFFY mod version 3.19.003 installed. You can download the Mac BUFFY mod here.

While playing...

Remember - for your entry to be accepted, it MUST be your first attempt to play this game, and you MUST NOT replay any turns. If you make a mistake while playing, you have to live with it, learn from it, and carry on the game without replaying.

We will open 'spoiler' threads during the month for players to discuss what happens in their games. Do not discuss any details of your game outside those threads.

 

[Jastrow]

Huh????

So, its: RAGING Barbarians and NO Barbarians ????

What am I missing??

 

[High King J.J.]

Huh????

So, its: RAGING Barbarians and NO Barbarians ????

What am I missing??

You are missing the fact that mapmakers are inherently
I'd wager the barbs are raging, no barbs just doesn't fit the trait.

We all have some traits. I challenge all to think of their own and share them with the rest of us.
For example my traits might be and with maybe

 

[Seraiel]

Too bad the HoF currently offers a Deity Major Gauntlet, I'd really have loved to settle on the cow ^^ .

 

[Jastrow]

Great wall??

Assuming stone is hooked up, it will cost 75 Hammers to build, so "only" 5 warriors. If we can find a way to make use of the great spy, it is likely worth it. When do we need it however??

On Monarch, human barbs appear on T25. They will appear once animals die off and make room for them. Animals die at ~1-3 per turn (depending on how quickly they are hunted. Natural deaths is 1/turn). Assuming ~1200 un-owned land tiles on T25, the map would "fit" ~34 animals and 30 humans, so likely the first human will appears on T28. It will bee-line a city, but it wouldl be very bad luck if this barb was less than 5 or so turns away from you, so most likely, the first barb which can threaten you is ~ turn 35.

Is getting the great wall up by then feasible? At size 3, we could work Cow+Sheep+Quarry, and assuming we settled on a resource hill, that is 12 hammers per turn, so 7 turns to build. If we settle on stone, this means masonry by turn 28, which is easy, but settling on stone is very food poor. If we settle on Marble, the quarry is 6 turns. That means Masonry by T23.

Masonry itself will take 9 or 10 turns to research. If we want AH first (taking hunting path) should be 17 turns. So, it looks like the wall would be about 3 turns "late"...


QUESTIONS:

1. If we settle 1W of the settler, will the stone 1E be connected without a road? It is on a different river.

2. Is the wall worth it??

 

[kcd_swede]

I have updated the OP; it is Raging Barbarians (the No Barbs text was a copy/paste error).

 

[High King J.J.]

Has anyone tested if the GWall can be built, the techs (Currency) make this a Classical Era start? Or doesn't it count? I've never played with the worldbuilder enough to confirm this.
(The writing on the Wall says it can only be built on Ancient or earlier starts...)

 

[Jastrow]

I dont beleive the techs make this a classical era start. I think that is a specific game option.

 

[kcd_swede]

I dont beleive the techs make this a classical era start. I think that is a specific game option.

That is correct.

 

[ikotomi]

Since barbs start with Archery, it's probably game over if you went AH or BW and didn't pop the resource.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

I'd really have loved to settle on the cow ^^ .

I'm assuming that you're joking, since doing so would mean a capital that could hardly work any of the vast amount of Resource squares available.

Settling on the PH where the Warrior stands would mean being able to work Clam (with a Lighthouse for +1 Food), Cow, Sheep, 1 G Riv Farm, then all 4 of the Stone + Marble Resources with a net Food of zero at City Size 8. You could Farm another 2 G Riv squares and just plan not to need to whip your capital, also probably planning on moving your capital later or not playing for Space.


From what we can see, I think that the best approach for a Space game is to settle 1W on the PH Riv Marble that is NW + W of the P Cow.

Doing so leaves space for a City later settled where the Warrior starts, allows for a Stone Quarry on the PH Riv Stone that is 1SW of where we'd settle and which is on the same River (thus, we wouldn't need a Road to get it connected), keeps the Cow (+1 Food), Sheep (+1 Food), and Flood Plains (+2 Food; seriously, Farm it, don't Cottage it if you want to live), while giving us +2 Food from the City Centre and the option to Farm or Cottage several G Riv squares, plus possibly picking up another Flood Plains square.


Alternatively, we start with Fishing, so settling where the Warrior starts would put us off to a decent start: 5 Hammers per turn gets us a Work Boat pretty quickly. The biggest downside is that we would need The Wheel in order to start building The Great Wall and our Culture would be going over top of the water, so more spawn-busting would be needed. But, settling on the Coast is decent for a Financial Civ and we could easily net ourselves The Great Lighthouse; whether that Wonder will be worth it on a Pangaea type of map may the tough question to answer.


Unless you're willing to spend a couple of turns exploring for a better source of Food, it's hard to pick anywhere else from what we can see. 1N of the Settler or 2N of the Warrior could end being good spots if there's a nice Food Resource hidden up there, but do you have the patience to explore that long to find out?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

1. If we settle 1W of the settler, will the stone 1E be connected without a road? It is on a different river.

Does it matter? The stone W-SW of the settler would definitely be connected without a road if you settle 1W, so having the one 1E connected is only useful for trade or as a backup in case of barbs pillaging the first stone.

2. Is the wall worth it??

My guess would be, possibly not if you're planning to go for early military and wars, and suitable strategic resources can be hooked up quickly. But very useful if you're a builder at heart and want to get by with minimum military for as long as possible.

Settling on the PH where the Warrior stands would mean being able to work Clam (with a Lighthouse for +1 Food), Cow, Sheep, 1 G Riv Farm, then all 4 of the Stone + Marble Resources with a net Food of zero at City Size 8. You could Farm another 2 G Riv squares and just plan not to need to whip your capital, also probably planning on moving your capital later or not playing for Space.

From what we can see, I think that the best approach for a Space game is to settle 1W on the PH Riv Marble that is NW + W of the P Cow.

I rather agree that based on what we can see, 1W looks the best option. For people who want to play safe and get the great wall as early as possible, even at the expense of growing the capital, it even offers the possibility of researching masonry, getting the stone hooked up and working it before you've even built any roads. I'm very tempted to do that. It's probably not an optimal strategy if you want the possibility of a super-early win, but less risky than building other infrastructure before you build the great wall.

I also thought about settling where the warrior is standing, but if early great wall is a priority, I probably don't want to be spending turns building a workboat and then having to road up a stone.

Food is an issue wherever we settle around the starting area. I suspect that wherever I settle, I'll end up moving the capital later to somewhere more amenable to having lots of towns.

 

[Folket]

Where did the deity game go? I thought February was deity month but it had an immortal game so I expected this one to be deity.

 

[Jastrow]

@DynamicSpirit

Yes, it matters if the stone 2E is connected. If we want an early great wall, the limiting element could well be worker turns (assuming we want both animals pastured first to get some food supply). The Easters stone can be reached in one turn from either animal. The west one is 2 turns from Sheep and 3! turns from cow.

 

[Folket]

I guess someone should try it, but if I remember correctly the stone 2E will be connected by the tile 1N which is shared by both rivers.

 

[Rusten]

Don't worry... next time I'm giving the human player the only sources of marble/stone [...]

Seems you weren't kidding.

Where did the deity game go? I thought February was deity month but it had an immortal game so I expected this one to be deity.

If I were to guess then the deity game begins on the 10th. This one replaces BOTM 100 which was on prince.

 

[Folket]

If I were to guess then the deity game begins on the 10th. This one replaces BOTM 100 which was on prince.

Thanks, but it leads into my other question. Has there always been two BOTMs in parallel?

 

[Rusten]

No. New system.

 

[Folket]

I guess that explains why my expectations are off by one month as well. Is the new schedule explained anywhere? i.e. are both 1st and 10th game running on a 6 month cycle?

 

[leif erikson]

Please see and discuss the scheduling of games in this thread.

For background, you can read this thread.