[BTS] News: BOTM 143 starts November 19

[Deckhand]

BOTM 143: Mehmed the meh of Ottomans.

[img=right]http://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/botm143civ.jpg[/img]
Mehmed II of the Ottomans hasn't starred in an xotm since Aug 2013 which was his third WOTM appearance. His only BOTM as player was July 2013. Mehmed the meh really isn't meh at all. Half price granary, lighthouse, courthouse (and more) and civics is pretty sweet. And the unique building and unit are pretty good as well.
No map edits were made. AI civs all have something in common. Only one other civ on your continent; you can meet the others with workboats. Barbarians don't have any techs but they could still be a problem if you aren't prepared. Map save may be delayed as only one day of discussion so you can start play on Sunday. Sorry I'm late.

Game settings:
Playing as: Mehmed the meh of Ottomans
Rivals: 5 AIs
Difficulty: Immortal
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No goody huts, no random events
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Big and Small
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Worldsize_small
Climate: Climate_temperate
Sea level: Sealevel_medium


Mehmed the meh is Expansive and Organized, and you start with The Wheel and Agriculture.
The Expansive trait gives +2 health/city and +25% hammers for worker production and double production speed of Granary and Harbor

The Organized trait gives -50% civic upkeep and double production speed of Courthouse, Factory and Lighthouse

Unique unit: Janissary (replaces Musketman)
The Janissary benefits from: 25% combat bonus against melee units, 25% combat bonus against archer units, 25% combat bonus against mounted units. This compares with the Musketman which has: no directly comparable benefits.

Unique Building: Hammam (replaces Aqueduct)
Provides 2 in addition to Aqueduct's 2

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:
Immortal is too hard for you, and Emperor level is a stretch; so you get to play at Monarch level.

Challenger Class Equalizers:
Barbarians don't start with any techs.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 19 Nov 2017, 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 22 Dec 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.

 

[nocho]

Interesting you should announce a BOTM in the SGOTM forum.

Looks fun anyway!

 

[Fippy]

Think i would move 1w (and probably settle there), painful being exp and no 3h tile in sight
15t worker vs 10t..giving up fresh water is certainly less problematic with expansive too.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Interesting you should announce a BOTM in the SGOTM forum.

It's a clever way to prove that there are enough players who are seriously camping out this sub-forum who can recruit enough teammates to be able to justify running yet another SGOTM.

Think i would move 1w (and probably settle there)

This suggestion does sound good. It does, however, leave open your first move with the Settler.
I.e. Should the Settler move:
A] 1 N G Pig, 1 SW PH or
B] 1 SW Flood Plains, 1 N PH?

To the Pig means revealing more Forested squares, although I'm not certain that there is a Forest on the square that is 1 NE of the G Pig (2 N of the Lake).

One could even burn a turn to move to one of those squares (1 NW, 1 N, or 1 NE of the G Pig) to see if there's something better to partner with the G Pig, and if not, return to your suggested PH square for only the cost of 1 turn.

The Warrior could even help out to reveal a couple of more squares in the north via his second turn of movement, before you'd have to decide where to send the Settler.


To the Flood Plains square has the possibility of revealing a Hills square that is a little bit further away, which might then open up the idea of settling 1 NW of that Flood Plains square (1 SW + 1 W of the G Pig) if a 3-Hammer square gets revealed or if that square that is 1 NW of the Flood Plains square ends up being a square where you'd get 2 Hammers from the City Centre, say, Plains Ivory (where Ivory is a reasonably-common Resource for Mehmed to start with in his big fat cross).

 

[Deckhand]

Interesting you should announce a BOTM in the SGOTM forum.

Looks fun anyway!

It is a very very rare xotm that I don't make a mistake in the creation process. Was going to say this was a first, but I now recall making this same error once before. I've asked leif to fix.

Regarding settling discussion - do you like the mystery or would you prefer I had revealed more tiles?

 

[kcd_swede]

probably worth a turn to check the area, even though i've not had good fortune in the past. with a random map, i'd be suprised if there is nothing else close by- we'll see.
i do like the mystery... leaves more varied strategies than if optimum is evident from the start.

 

[High King J.J.]

-Going to play this?
-Meh.

 

[Xcalibrator]

Thank you, DH! I feel like we should have an appreciative celebration for the timely arrival of this game. A thanksgiving of some sort.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

Thanks for offering an Adventurer Class start!

 

[LowtherCastle]

Cartoonists were the original boob jobbers.

 

[LowtherCastle]

-Going to play this?
-Meh.

With whom are you conversing? Oh, never mind. There are two me's in Mehmed.

 

[LowtherCastle]

So the question is, how to win space in the BCs, right?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

So the question is, how to win space in the BCs, right?

But that's easy isn't it? Don't you just research up to fusion, build a spaceship, and make sure you launch it at least 11 turns before 1AD? Or am I missing something?

 

[High King J.J.]

With whom are you conversing? Oh, never mind. There are two me's in Mehmed.

Meh.

One definition concerns your comment about multiple me(h)'s:
"Definition---
Indifference; to be used when one simply does not care; know how they are feeling; to feel nothing. ‘Meh’s can be strung together to highlight the intensity and severity of the unknown non-feeling(s). In this scenario the recipient of the meh meh meh syndrome can be mistakenly perceived as ‘depressed’."
Maybe this is but very much on topic with the image of this BOTM. Also expresses my feelings on this BOTM. Maybe doesn't do so with perfect clarity but... meh.

 

[High King J.J.]

The Expansive trait gives +2 health/city and +50% hammers for worker production and double production speed of Granary and Harbor

Actually gives +25% for worker production, as you can see looking at the starting screenshot.
I guess nobody bothers to update the ancient Civ4 info center to include the BtS changes to civics.

 

[Deckhand]

Actually gives +25% for worker production, as you can see looking at the starting screenshot.
I guess nobody bothers to update the ancient Civ4 info center to include the BtS changes to civics.

Thanks for the correction.
That text is extracted by DS's awesome tool that helps create the announcement thread (as well as the where-y'all-settled and more).
I've fixed it above, but doubt we can be bothered to always make sure it is correct - meh.

 

[kcd_swede]

I follow this discussion with a very passionate.... Meh.