[BTS] News: BOTM 171 Holy Roman Prince Charles starts 2March

[Deckhand]

BOTM 171: Charles of Holy Rome.

Charles I the Great, King of the Franks, King of the Lombards, and Holy Roman Emperor united much of western and central Europe. He was Holy (canonized by an antipope), Roman (this is dubious as he didn't build any Wonders) and an Emperor (but this game is Prince level). I'm certain the Player can build an Empire even bigger than the Caroligian one. No vassals for you though. And this game the player is encouraged to capture wonders rather than building them.

Game settings:
Playing as: Charles of Holy Rome
Rivals: 9 AIs
Difficulty: Prince
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No vassal states, 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


Charles is Imperialistic and Protective, and you start with Mysticism and Hunting.
The Imperialistic trait gives +100% great general emergence and +50% production of settlers

The Protective trait gives free City Garrison I and Drill I promotion for archery and gunpowder units and double production speed of Castle and Walls

Unique unit: Landsknecht (replaces Pikeman)
The Landsknecht benefits from: 100% combat bonus against mounted units, 100% combat bonus against melee units. This compares with the Pikeman which has: 100% combat bonus against mounted units.

Unique Building: Rathaus (replaces Courthouse)
Most people don't have a good place to store their rats. This leads to inefficiency as they clog the sewers and take up space in basements. Charlemagne solved this problem by building rat houses. These provide an amazing -75% city maintenance reduction. Truly an extraordinary building.

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.


To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 2 Mar 2019, 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 2 Apr 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 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.

 

[Kaitzilla]

That's a lot of forests and AI.

 

[Deckhand]

That's a lot of ... AI.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

Is that a coast 2E of the settler?

 

[Pangaea]

Aren't Tectonics maps gigantic? Probably not even all that crowded with 9 AIs.

Gotta love those starting techs though: yelling and club painting... or marginally less awful :/ I do wonder about the clean tile near the settler. Hopefully metal? And I kinda hope there is a Deer or something nearby, so his starting techs won't feel like a complete waste.

Will probably watch this one from the sidelines, but as for warrior move, I suppose onto the hill is the only sensible move. Hard to reveal much with so many forests nearby, but at least it's somewhat clear in that direction. Would probably just SIP here anyway - unless something sick shows up. Don't like losing a turn by moving into forests, unless I KNOW it will be worth it.

 

[High King J.J.]

but as for warrior move

I'm fairly sure that's a scout, not a warrior.

 

[lymond]

I'm fairly sure that's a scout, not a warrior.

No, it is a multi-class Ranger

 

[Deckhand]

No, it is a multi-class Ranger

a special unit that only moves one space on its first turn, but two thereafter

 

[Pangaea]

a special unit that only moves one space on its first turn, but two thereafter

An upgraded chess pawn. I like it!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

a special unit that only moves one space on its first turn, but two thereafter

I think that unit is the super-special variety that is exempt from the first turn one-space restriction PROVIDED it starts by moving NE

 

[Kaitzilla]

Most people don't have a good place to store their rats. This leads to inefficiency as they clog the sewers and take up space in basements. Charlemagne solved this problem by building rat houses.

-- On the evolution of German cuisine

 

[Berolsaurus]

I haven't tried one of these before but I am thinking of giving it a shot. I have read some of the forum posts about what is allowed and not allowed so I believe I know how it works.

It appears you have discussion threads over the month so you can discuss and you can learn and get better. Since Prince is near the top of my skill level is there a point to turning in my final save? While I will still enjoy discussion and getting better I'm just not sure what the save is for if I lose.

 

[Pangaea]

Most people don't have a good place to store their rats. This leads to inefficiency as they clog the sewers and take up space in basements. Charlemagne solved this problem by building rat houses. These provide an amazing -75% city maintenance reduction. Truly an extraordinary building.

You're joking of course, and I love that name too for the same reason. Of minor interest (perhaps?), a city/town hall in Norwegian is called a "rådhus". It's interesting to see how many similarities there are between languages. Both in German and Norwegian it quite literally means "advice house".

 

[justjohn]

I haven't tried one of these before but I am thinking of giving it a shot. I have read some of the forum posts about what is allowed and not allowed so I believe I know how it works.

It appears you have discussion threads over the month so you can discuss and you can learn and get better. Since Prince is near the top of my skill level is there a point to turning in my final save? While I will still enjoy discussion and getting better I'm just not sure what the save is for if I lose.

The people making these "Game of the month"s would like you to submit your final save. They put a lot of work into making this friendly competition possible, and it makes their jobs more meaningful if there are many submissions and players that are having fun with the games they prepare.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I haven't tried one of these before but I am thinking of giving it a shot. I have read some of the forum posts about what is allowed and not allowed so I believe I know how it works.

It appears you have discussion threads over the month so you can discuss and you can learn and get better. Since Prince is near the top of my skill level is there a point to turning in my final save? While I will still enjoy discussion and getting better I'm just not sure what the save is for if I lose.

Hi Berolsaurus, welcome to the games! I hope you have fun in the competition!

To add to JustJohn's remarks (thanks JustJohn), I'd suggest you aim to submit.

• Firstly, if you plan to submit, even if you lose (or retire), then you have that extra motivation to play by the rules. If you start the game thinking, 'I won't submit because I'll probably lose' then the first time you make a mistake, you'll be much more tempted to just reload the way you might do if it wasn't a competition game. Then you might not improve as quickly.
• Secondly, submitting will probably make you feel more like part of the community. You'll be able to discuss your game how you played, and other people will be able to look at your game log and so on to learn from it.
• Thirdly, if people only submit when they win, then that will distort everyone's impressions of how difficult a game was. Seeing a fair few losses submitted may be useful to alert staff that - for example - maybe a particular map didn't work out the way we planned - which may impact how we design future games.
• If you're feeling charitable to others, submitting a defeated (or retired) game will probably make the people who did win feel even happier about their own achievements
• As justjohn pointed out, us staff would much rather you submitted. how many submissions we get is a pretty big factor in our deciding that it's worth the effort in continuing to produce the games.
• And finally, Civ is not an easy game to play. You have to make all sorts of tactical and strategic decisions based on lots of competing factors, learn a lot about game mechanics, and think very logically and carefully, to play it well. So getting through even the easiest games usually takes some skill. If you get to the end and lose, even that is an achievement. You may as well get that recorded for posterity You may even win one of our highly coveted ambulance awards

By the way, I'm about to publish the results of BOTM 168 - a deity game that almost no-one won. Imagine what those results would've looked like if only the winners submitted.

Enjoy the games!

 

[Berolsaurus]

Alright, thanks for the clarification from both of you. I am ready for the discussion thread to appear, this game has been quite interesting so far!

 

[Deckhand]

Hi Berolsaurus, welcome to the games! I hope you have fun in the competition!

Spoilers are up.

 

[Berolsaurus]

I noticed there is a rule of no reloading, which I haven't. However I do sometimes load a save and then not play it and then load it again later. For example I could not remember if I was past 1ad in the current game, for posting in the spoiler thread. So I loaded it, looked at the date and then closed the game without playing it. Later when I go back to play, I will have to load the same save game. Will this cause a problem? Thanks.

 

[Deckhand]

I noticed there is a rule of no reloading, which I haven't. However I do sometimes load a save and then not play it and then load it again later. For example I could not remember if I was past 1ad in the current game, for posting in the spoiler thread. So I loaded it, looked at the date and then closed the game without playing it. Later when I go back to play, I will have to load the same save game. Will this cause a problem? Thanks.

No Problem.
If it is current save, then no issue at all.
Even if it is an older save, loading it doesn't case any problems; provided you don't take any irreversible actions. (ok examples: counting cities, checking tech rate, checking wonder dates)
Just always play from latest save.
There is a Buffy option to save upon exit. I recommend you enable this. And set autosave interval to 1 (every turn). If there is a crash, let us (game designer) know by PM and replay from latest.

 

[Pangaea]

I don't load old saves because I'm worried about doing something that will turn out to be wrong and bannable, but one thing I got thinking about, related to 1AD updates. Lets say I've played past 1AD, and loaded up the 1AD save to check. Tech rate is at 60% or whatever, then I tick the + to put it at 100% to see the full tech rate. Is this an "irreversible action"?