[BTS] News: BOTM 180 - Deity! - Starts 20 July

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 180: Napoleon of France.

It's deity. What more can I say! I playtested it long enough to found a second city and found I was already in a hole. Good luck!

Because this is deity, and because of recent issues with the BOTM release dates, you have just over 6 weeks to play this one.

Oh - and if this all looks a bit much, there is an easier adventurer save.

Game settings:
Playing as: Napoleon of France
Rivals: 7 AIs
Difficulty: Deity
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No barbarians, no goody huts, no random events+-
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Continents
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Tropical
Sea level: Medium
Map latitudes: -90°S to 90°N


Napoleon is Organized and Charismatic, and you start with The Wheel and Agriculture.

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

The Charismatic trait gives +1 happiness/city, and -25% experience required for unit promotions

Unique unit: Musketeer (replaces Musketman)
The Musketeer benefits from: 2 movement points. This compares with the Musketman which has: 1 movement point.

Unique Building: Salon (replaces Observatory)
Maybe not the most useful unique building... the only benefit over the observatory is that the salon gives you a free artist.

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:
You play on emperor level. And I've even been kind enough to remove some of the AI's deity starting units for you. On the adventurer save, all AIs start with one settler, one worker, one scout and two archers.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 20 Jul 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 Sep 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.

 

[lymond]

I thought this was supposed to be BOTM 178. Will 178 forever be a hole in the history of BOTMs? Will fanatics 100 years from now look back and wonder at the mystery of what happened to BOTM 178? Will they conduct serious discourse regarding the possible causes or world crises that lead to such a major gap in the series? Was it a war? Maybe some infamous world leader? What about that Brexit thing..did that not happen around that time?

 

[Deckhand]

botm 178 is still coming soon
we are going from a dearth to a surplus of botms

 

[Deckhand]

also, AlanH is traveling and the mac versions may be delayed

 

[Fippy]

It's not deity without barbs :-/
They are one of the main reasons that make deity difficult, sorry but i will not play without barbs.

 

[LowtherCastle]

It's not deity without barbs :-/
They are one of the main reasons that make deity difficult, sorry but i will not play without barbs.

To each his own. I have a deep respect and appreciation for those creating the BOTMs and any BOTM is better than none for me. That said, maybe they could make a challenger save for you with the setting Raging Barbarians.

 

[Fippy]

..so? Just posting my opinion for deity we need barbs, unlike you me and others play it regularly and feel like something major misses without them.
I would rather play Immortal otherwise.
If you see this as disrespect for botm mapmakers, your problem.

 

[LowtherCastle]

..so? Just posting my opinion for deity we need barbs, unlike you me and others play it regularly and feel like something major misses without them.
I would rather play regular Immortal otherwise.
If you see this as disrespect for botm mapmakers, your problem.

I play almost every one, but rarely finish and because I have CIV installed on a computer that isn't connected to the Internet (viruses) and it's a hassle to download the save and upload it on another computer. I realize I should take the time to do that and apologize to the group for not doing so.

I tried my utmost in my above post to not offend you. No Barbarians is just another setting provided by CIV. Mapmakers create variety in a number of ways, including using different settings.

Expressing your preferences is obviously fine. Mapmakers find that useful. No hard feelings. I don't want to hurt your feelings any more than the mapmakers.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

I'll play this. (Well, I'll try to.)
I'm fine with no barbs, because I'm a RExer at heart and barbarians are my N°1 cause of death.
No Barbs make it a RExing game. And, sometimes, no barbs is actually more difficult than with barbs. It could be because AIs have the easiest time expanding, themselves, or because Player cannot promote units against barbs. Unlocking the Heroic Epic against Barbarians before going into Classical/Medieval warfare has been a busted move.

Anyway, I agree. Whatever the settings. (1800 land tiles is more hurtful to me.)

I might settle SE.

 

[WastinTime]

yay! No barbs.
Barbs can be fun and definitely give you a scare on Deity, but it's nice to remove that distraction and concentrate on the rest of the game once in a while.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

To each his own. I have a deep respect and appreciation for those creating the BOTMs and any BOTM is better than none for me. That said, maybe they could make a challenger save for you with the setting Raging Barbarians.

Haha, a deity challenger save with raging barbarians is definitely an interesting idea. Sadly, probably too much work to add it to this game now at this stage though. (Sorry @Fippy)

 

[krikav]

First of all, <3 to all botm staff for listening to feedback for more tougher games!

My personal preference is absolutely with barbs too, but will play anyway and I'm sure it will be a lovely time!
The first BOTM I tried out was one with Capac a while ago, and that was w/o barbs, I remember I built quite a few fogbusters just out of habit.

Really busy period for me, so the 6 weeks are appreciated.

 

[High King J.J.]

I might start this (but what's the point?) Definitely won't finish this. Maybe in the ancient days I might have tried. Oh well, GOTMs aren't for me anymore.
Just ignore the unlisted charismatic trait benefits, it's deity so we'll die anyway.

 

[Termitnik]

10 years ago I would also be confused by no barbs deity game, but now, after civ5 & civ6 turned out to be a disaster I just enjoy the competition.

 

[Deckhand]

I might start this (but what's the point?) Definitely won't finish this. Maybe in the ancient days I might have tried. Oh well, GOTMs aren't for me anymore.

just take the Emperor Adventurer save, that's what I usually do.
but I'm thinking I ought to be able to win at deity some time if I play well enough.

Just ignore the unlisted charismatic trait benefits, it's deity so we'll die anyway.

thought of those immediately since my last game was charismatic too

 

[BornInCantaloup]

I might start this (but what's the point?) Definitely won't finish this. Maybe in the ancient days I might have tried. Oh well, GOTMs aren't for me anymore.
Just ignore the unlisted charismatic trait benefits, it's deity so we'll die anyway.

It's Continents, though. So a Culture or Apostolic Palace win might be very accessible...


And, confirmed : no warrior will get a woodsman II promotion against barbarians.
Building a Barracks, declaring war and then killing a scout is a line of play but... it doesn't necessarily seem like a profitable one

 

[lymond]

Building a Barracks, declaring war and then killing a scout is a line of play but... it doesn't necessarily seem like a profitable one

Attacko would disagree!

 

[krikav]

If you enjoy winning, then the adventurer save will be helpful.
I usually play at deity, but I don't always win. In fact I have lost every single deity game in botm since the pericles (162).
I like the fact that I lose if I don't bring my absolute best play forward.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Options: No barbarians, no goody huts, no random events+-

Is there some significance to the +- or is that a typo?

 

[LowtherCastle]

It's Continents, though. So a Culture or Apostolic Palace win might be very accessible...


And, confirmed : no warrior will get a woodsman II promotion against barbarians.
Building a Barracks, declaring war and then killing a scout is a line of play but... it doesn't necessarily seem like a profitable one

WOuldn't it be cool if Barbs had scouts?