[BTS] News: BOTM 135, starts July 24

[Deckhand]

BOTM 135: Darius of Persia.

Darius on a small Islands map. Emperor level, however you will probably need to take Deity Challenger save to get a medal. Events on because they are Fun and Infrequent.

Game settings:
Playing as: Darius of Persia
Rivals: 5 AIs
Difficulty: Emperor, Deity, or Prince
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No barbarians, no goody huts
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Archipelago
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Worldsize_small
Climate: Climate_temperate
Sea level: Sealevel_medium


Darius is Organized and Financial, and you start with Agriculture and Hunting.
The Organized trait gives -50% civic upkeep and double production speed of Courthouse, Factory and Lighthouse

The Financial trait gives +1 commerce on any plot that already has at least 2 commerce

Unique unit: Immortal (replaces Chariot)
The Immortal benefits from: gets defensive bonuses, and 50% combat bonus against archer units. This compares with the Chariot which has: does not get defensive bonuses.

Unique Building: Apothecary (replaces Grocer)
+2 Grocer

Starting screenshot

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




Note that in this game, any espionage-culture victories will be counted as cultural victories.

Adventurer Class bonuses:
Prince level. AIs start with Emperor level techs and units.

Challenger Class Equalizers:
Deity level. AIs start with Emperor level techs and units.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open on 24 Jul 2017. 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 31 Aug 2017.

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.

 

[Deckhand]

I was pleased with the participation in botm133 and so decided to create more deity saves.
That one was unintentionally hard. This one doesn't have barbarians and there is an extra AI on a small map. No edits to maps.

Picture found searching on Darius Islands. I have no idea what the Rainbow Islands game is. I wonder if this comment from that video applies to my game: "SERIOUSLY did they HAVE to make it THAT hard? I mean the numerous enemies was irritating enough, but the boss was so hard, it took me a half hour to beat it."

Spoiler Sorry I'm Late :

Had great intentions to create before schedule. But didn't make the time. Then created some maps just a day late. With random AIs. Didn't like that neighbors were the likes of Caesar, Toku, Shaka, and Monte (not all on same map). None of them are in this map (I chose the leaders.)

Spoiler Negotiations :

I was holding out for 5% raise plus 4 weeks of vacation. Settled for 3%, 3 weeks, and I don't have to do any map testing.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

Entre the competition, starting yesterday !

 

[lymond]

Events suck

Amphibious Deity Immortals!

Probably move scout E somewhere, but settling on nanners looks like a win.

edit: As Pangaea pointed out, nanners is actually not a win

note to self - read the fog

 

[Pangaea]

Would have preferred to settle on banana too -- unfortunately it's not coast 1-off coast in both directions with a capital would suck a fair lot. Maybe 2E would be okay? Automatically irrigates the corn (post-CS). Both places will be a bit short on hammers, unless there is BFC copper or something nice in the fog.

 

[Fippy]

It's a tricky start
Making seafood unreachable is always of concern on Archi maps, moving east could do that if it's only 3 tiles space there.
2w1s of our settler could be another food or so, wonder if the scout should look there..if nothing, i would probably move 1E rather than 2E.

 

[AlanH]

I've built the Mac saves and they are available. Maybe a small, or easy, or challenging game will tempt one or two Mac players out of the woodwork?

 

[WastinTime]

I wasn't going to play, but I want to support the fact that events are on I'll at least start this one. More fun!

probably need to take Deity Challenger

So, you're saying, unlike the usual (always?) "this will be scored like emperor", the challenger save gets the score bonus? Nice

 

[Deckhand]

So, you're saying, unlike the usual (always?) "this will be scored like emperor", the challenger save gets the score bonus? Nice

Guess that's what I said. But it's not what I meant. Oops
I don't know how we manage to score it as emperor although deity. It's been a while. It will be scored as usual (so probably as emperor).

My thinking was that the best players would be taking deity and with the tech bonus from the AIs those games would get the highest scores. We will see.

Maybe DS can give us some scoring insight.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Maybe DS can give us some scoring insight.

If I remember correctly, a long time ago, back in the days when challenger and adventurer saves were a regular thing, the decision was made to always score challenger as the contender difficulty. This was because challenger is supposed to be harder than contender, both to play, and to get any particular score - and that aim is undermined if challenger saves attract a higher score for the same sized civilization. You'd run the risk of some players playing challenger because they believe it makes it easier to score well - which is obviously the opposite of what's intended! I believe that decision would have been encoded into the GOTM software, so scoring challenger as contender would always happen automatically.

If I'm correct, than in this game, challenger will score as emperor (the same as contender), while adventurer will score as prince. I'll need to check that that is in fact the case and my memory isn't wrong, but I'd suggest people assume that is what will happen.

 

[nocho]

Spolier threads?

 

[Deckhand]

Spolier threads?

 

[samarghata]

When I try to load save i have information that this is protected save game ...bla blla. assetes directory, then click ok and nothing happens.

 

[Deckhand]

When I try to load save i have information that this is protected save game ...bla blla. assetes directory, then click ok and nothing happens.

Do you have BUFFY HoF mod 3.19.003 loaded?

 

[samarghata]

Of course, I have all steps required to launch game.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Do you have another mod installed? From your description it sounds to me like the kind of error message you'd get if a mod is installed that's incompatible with the HOF mod. If that's the case, I'd either try uninstalling that mod, or just reinstalling Civ to give a clean install.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

When I try to load save i have information that this is protected save game

I believe that this error message can mean that one of multiple things went wrong, with one of those things being that Civ 4 wasn't being run as an Administrator, although Civ 4 does need to be run as an Administrator in order for the BUFFY Mod (also referred to as the HOF Mod) to work.

You can get more info about playing the game as an Administrator and other possible issues with setting up the game, with the only bit of advice at that link which you may not want to follow is that of using Windows XP compatibility mode, which has worked for some people but hasn't worked for others.


Keep a treasury of Gold around to deal with unfortunate Events (it's easy enough to forget this gem of advice until it's too late), but if you do forget and you're past the time where you or an AI have Alphabet + Currency, Examine the City where the bad thing that you cannot pay for will happen, press the F4 key when in the City View, try to find an AI to whom to sell a tech, and then right-click on that AI's portrait on one of the F4 screens in order to get to the trading window and execute the trade. When you return to the prompt of how you'd like to deal with the Event, if you were lucky to find an AI who would buy a tech of yours, you might now be able to fund that Event in order to prevent its bad effects. "Dear AI. I forgot to stockpile for the harsh winter; help out an old pal of yours, won't you?"


Assuming that you don't want to just settle in place, which is a decent enough location, then moving the Scout 1 E G Riv Banana -> 1 NE G For, and moving the Settler 1 SE G Corn (which will reveal more of the water squares to the south-east and which will also reveal the square that is 3 E of the Settler) would give decent info with which to make a decision.

If you don't think that you'd settle 3 E of the Settler's initial location and cannot decide between 1 E or 2 E, then move the Settler to the 1 E location. After the Scout moves, you'll still be able to settle at either 1 E or 2 E on the following turn.

Or, if 3 E somehow looks really good, move to 2 E at the end of Turn 0 and decide between 2 E and 3 E after the Scout moves on Turn 1.

 

[samarghata]

I believe that this error message can mean that one of multiple things went wrong, with one of those things being that Civ 4 wasn't being run as an Administrator, although Civ 4 does need to be run as an Administrator in order for the BUFFY Mod (also referred to as the HOF Mod) to work.

You can get more info about playing the game as an Administrator and other possible issues with setting up the game, with the only bit of advice at that link which you may not want to follow is that of using Windows XP compatibility mode, which has worked for some people but hasn't worked for others.
.

Buddy, i did all those steps.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

When I try to load save i have information that this is protected save game ...bla blla. assetes directory, then click ok and nothing happens.

What are the results you get from running the Assets Checker program?

 

[samarghata]

Normally, should I just click on load game and go to the downloaded game path, or start with custom game / scenario?