[BTS] News: BOTM 165 Prince Peter the Russian Grinch starts 1 December

[Deckhand]

BOTM 165: Peter the Grinch of Russia.

Peter the Grinch of Russia. It's Russia, it's Winter. Play this map and find other reasons to be a grinch.

Game settings:
Playing as: Peter the Grinch of Russia
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Prince
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No goody huts, no random events
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Tectonics
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Worldsize_standard
Climate: Climate_temperate
Sea level: Sealevel_medium


Peter the Grinch is Philosophical and Expansive, and you start with Hunting and Mining.
The Philosophical trait gives +100% great people birth rate and double production speed of University

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

Unique unit: Cossack (replaces Cavalry)
The Cossack benefits from: 50% combat bonus against mounted units. This compares with the Cavalry which has: no directly comparable benefits.

Unique Building: Research Institute (replaces Laboratory)
Provides two free scientist specialist in addition to Laboratory benefits (+25% & +50% spaceship construction)

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 espionage victories. Be the first to get that in a botm. ("glwt" on this map)

Adventurer Class bonuses:
No Adventurer save.

Challenger Class Equalizers:
No Separate Challenger Save. Play the Challenger Challenge by not mining any gold or silver (capturing is ok) - those are reserved for DynamicSpirit.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 1 Dec 2018, 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 1 Jan 2019.

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 3.19.005 installed. You can download the BUFFY mod from the HOF page.
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]

Return of the evil mapmaker.

No events, No huts, No sugar,
Yes coal, Yes barbarians

Map edits: added gold and a fish to your land.
I asked DynamicSpirit for suggestions and he asked for some gold and silver only he could use. Thus the Challenger Challenge - y'all are challenged to not use them. And I gave everyone a gold that on one can use.

This is intended to be a hard Prince game. Post your gripes in the first spoiler.

 

[Deckhand]

BUFFY notes and questions.

Game requires Buffy 3.19.005. The announcement template text still has link to Buffy3. I changed text to mention HOF page instead of providing a link.

See starting screenshot. Am I using right version of Buffy5? It says unofficial.
So, I reinstalled Buffy5 before creating this game but still unofficial build 100. I haven't heard of any issues with other Buffy5 games I've created. Please tell me all is well.

 

[Major Tom]

Need to tech plastics and get an oil rig to drill for that gold.

 

[lymond]

Map edits: added gold

that was very nice of you nothing better than good ole lake gold

Initial reaction is to move 2E simply for all the green river tiles..seems no brainer really, but scout move first could change things. I think 2E is fine regardless based on fog scan, so I'm likely to move scout in a direct more west and south see if anything might be missed with the move. Scout 2S onto river grass hill seems best for most exposure.

Not sure what to make of lake gold other than providing a bit of a early commerce boost when one gets a citizen to work it. I can't tell if it gives more than 3C or not.

 

[Deckhand]

OK, I just tested it.

Need to tech plastics and get an oil rig to drill for that gold.

Offshore platform has no affect.

Not sure what to make of lake gold other than providing a bit of a early commerce boost when one gets a citizen to work it. I can't tell if it gives more than 3C or not.

With fishing, lake gives 3 commerce and 2 food.

So, I was actually nicer than I meant to be.
Hands off! Only DS can work that tile.
Anyone can use it starting Dec 25. It's a Christmas present.

Spoiler How could you? :

I hope no one opens their present early.

 

[krikav]

Just downloaded and wanted to drop a friendly reminder to the beloved staff, we have 1-3 mac BOTM players too, I'm sure that they have behaved all year along and deserve some sunken gold as well.

 

[krikav]

I need a 1AD thread!
Haven't opened any presents early!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Return of the evil mapmaker.

No events, No huts, No sugar,
Yes coal, Yes barbarians

Map edits: added gold and a fish to your land.
I asked DynamicSpirit for suggestions and he asked for some gold and silver only he could use. Thus the Challenger Challenge - y'all are challenged to not use them. And I gave everyone a gold that on one can use.

This is intended to be a hard Prince game. Post your gripes in the first spoiler.

Hahaha! Very funny! And oh, that is evil... gold on a lake!

But does this mean that I, DynamicSpirit, can take the challenger challenge and still use any other gold and silver? ;-)

OK, off to do some WB testing to see if there's any possible way that gold on a lake can get used.

that was very nice of you nothing better than good ole lake gold

Initial reaction is to move 2E simply for all the green river tiles..seems no brainer really, but scout move first could change things. I think 2E is fine regardless based on fog scan, so I'm likely to move scout in a direct more west and south see if anything might be missed with the move. Scout 2S onto river grass hill seems best for most exposure.

That was my initial reaction too when I saw the starting screenshot. I'm hesitating a little because of losing a turn to move, but I suspect I'll end up moving 2E in the end.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

WorldBuilder testing says there's no possible way to mine that gold. I was hoping there would be some loophole in the rules that would let you, but there doesn't seem to be. The only way to get a worker onto that tile is in a galley, and if the worker is in the galley, he can't build a mine. The fact that there's gold on the tile doesn't seem to change the rules for worker movements at all.

Interestiingly, I found you can WorldBuilder a mine directly on a lake gold - and if you do that, normal trade route rules seem to apply, and you do get the gold, as well as the usual hammer/commerce bonuses from the gold Added to the +2 commerce from a coastal tile, that makes for an extremely high commerce tile! But of course that doesn't help us in this game. As far as I can tell, unless a mine has been pre-WorldBuildered in, there's just no way to get one on the tile.

 

[Deckhand]

Mac save is available.