[BTS] News: BOTM 227 - Kublai Khan, Immortal - Starts Dec 20

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 227: Kublai Khan of Mongolia.

In the true Christmas spirit, you get to play as the Mongols. I hope you'll be nice to your neighbours!

Game settings:
Playing as: Kublai Khan of Mongolia
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Immortal
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No goody huts, no random events
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Earth2
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: Medium
Map latitudes: -90°S to 90°N


Kublai Khan is Aggressive and Creative, and you start with The Wheel and Hunting.

The Aggressive trait gives free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units and double production speed of Barracks and Drydock

The Creative trait gives +2 culture/city each turn and double production speed of Colosseum, Library and Theatre

Unique unit: Keshik (replaces Horse Archer)
The much-feared keshik can travel very fast, since it ignores terrain movement costs. It also has a first strike, which the horse-archer lacks, but on the other hand it doesn't have the horse-archer's immunity to first strikes.

Unique Building: Ger (replaces Stable)
The ger is a super-charged stable: It gives +4XP instead of +2XP to mounted units. As if keshiks weren't scary enough already!

Starting screenshot

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




Adventurer Class bonuses:
Your scout discovered some friendly and highly skilled local tribes. They have provided you with a great spy and a great general, standing on the same tile as the settler.

Challenger Class Equalizers:
You play on deity level. And as a Christmas treat, it's 'proper' deity - the AIs each start with deity starting units (4 archers, 2 scouts, a worker and 2 settlers).

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 20 Dec 2021, 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 24 Jan 2022.

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.

 

[High King J.J.]

The bright side is there's no accursed snow on the starting location. The dark side is that it's Immortal which will soon prove at least my mortality. Can't even remember what Earth2 is.
I might not settle in place but seek a more favorable location nearby.

 

[nocho]

If I recall correctly Earth2 is a map script that generates roughly a real world-like map. By the looks of it we start in Spain, so here is to hoping Europe isn't very crowded or we'll be boxed in pretty soon. In that case maybe get sailing soon and settle north Africa a bit. I'd also hope to get horses on the empty plains tile, so we have other options to get some living space. SIP seems obvious.

 

[Fippy]

Hmm i don't really like coastal or rather cornered starts on deity, cows + river are an invitation to move NE and look around.
Unfortunately our scout took a nap in the forest and cannot help.

 

[MirrorGuard]

No +3 hammer tile in the starting area. No accessible luxuries. I doubt if I still play deity this time.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Hmm i don't really like coastal or rather cornered starts on deity, cows + river are an invitation to move NE and look around.
Unfortunately our scout took a nap in the forest and cannot help.

I tend to find building the first settler slower on coastal starts. Is that just me?

 

[Fippy]

I tend to find building the first settler slower on coastal starts. Is that just me?

Same, workers are less efficient and workboats cost precious which are often taken away from warriors. So coastal starts are also more dangerous in regards to barbs.

If we SIP here, worker first + AH leaves him with only roads to build after improving cows. Could get lucky with horsies but it still feels suboptimal.

No +3 hammer tile in the starting area. No accessible luxuries. I doubt if I still play deity this time.

I can't resist deity (especially if DS was so nice to add AI units) but agreed..things look complicated

 

[Pangaea]

Don't want to play on Deity, but I'm not a big fan of that SIP either. But since it looks like we are in "Spain", I suppose that moving inland can be a poisoned chalice.

Not a big fan of this map type, because a huge part of the early game excitement for me is to explore the map, and with Earth2, we more or less know what it looks like when we start.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

No way I'm trying Deity, so I'll be playing at Immortal. I could take the Contender save to stay eligible for an award--but who am I kidding?

So, the question is what to do with the Adventurer bonuses? I'll send the great spy to scout the old world, until it's time to use him for a golden age. The great general will probably be best used as an instructor in my capital, to give my units the experience bonus? Once a war begins, I'll get another general for a healer quickly enough.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Don't want to play on Deity, but I'm not a big fan of that SIP either. But since it looks like we are in "Spain", I suppose that moving inland can be a poisoned chalice.

Not a big fan of this map type, because a huge part of the early game excitement for me is to explore the map, and with Earth2, we more or less know what it looks like when we start.

The poisoned chalices are due east in Greece, right? I’m totally with you on early exploration but I spammed a bunch of earth2s and they vary quite a bit in the details, plus the resources vary a lot, and most important we don’t know whether the AIs are close or not. I’m game to see if I can make something of this map on immortal. Not interested in the deity either.

 

[MirrorGuard]

For a normal-size medium-sea-level Pangaea map, 9 tile corresponds to 1.1x% of the total land area. While in earth2, the percentage is about 0.75%. So earth2 has almost 1.5 times the number of tiles compared to Pangaea. Larger map means more turns to finish. I guess this time I will be playing a new dlc: Sid'Meier's Civilization 4 Modern Warfare(if not Future Warfare), instead of the one I used to play: the End of History and the Last Slave.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

For a normal-size medium-sea-level Pangaea map, 9 tile corresponds to 1.1x% of the total land area. While in earth2, the percentage is about 0.75%. So earth2 has almost 1.5 times the number of tiles compared to Pangaea. Larger map means more turns to finish. I guess this time I will be playing a new dlc: Sid'Meier's Civilization 4 Modern Warfare(if not Future Warfare), instead of the one I used to play: the End of History and the Last Slave.

Worth pointing out though that, the map script for Earth2 generally places all civilizations on the Old World (Europe-Asia-Africa), which means that all the land tiles in the New World (America) might be irrelevant for certain victory types.

Of course, that's what the map script does. I make no comment about what I might or might not have done with this particular map.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Worth pointing out though that, the map script for Earth2 generally places all civilizations on the Old World (Europe-Asia-Africa), which means that all the land tiles in the New World (America) might be irrelevant for certain victory types.

Of course, that's what the map script does. I make no comment about what I might or might not have done with this particular map.

LIAR!

 

[Pangaea]

We are probably in total isolation -- and have the entire old world to ourselves
(with a couple of barbs)

 

[LowtherCastle]

We are probably in total isolation -- and have the entire old world to ourselves
(with a couple of barbs)

Let's see...England, Ireland, Taiwan, Japan, Madagascar, and Philipines?

 

[High King J.J.]

Let's see...England, Ireland, Taiwan, Japan, Madagascar, and Philipines?

Are those the barbs? England I can believe. Football behaviour. Ireland? With enough Irish Coffee I guess. Taiwan? No way unless mainland invaded them first. Japan, believable. Madagascar, pure vanilla (they produce the stuff). Philipines, well they have a president who encourages random murder of anyone who someone claims to be a drug dealer, even Trump liked him so definitely barbarian.
Don't have a cow if you are from any of those places, I don't mean to insult you. (Unless you are Trump or his murderous friend.)

Now I'll download the save so goodbye on this thread.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

In a true Christmas. spirit, I think I will accept the map maker's gifts and play Adventurer's save this time. Starting with GSpy is always great , but here also solves the problem of ill-positioned scout, and GG will make already scary keshiks even more murderous ... providing @DynamicSpirit gave us horses

 

[NickTrofimuk]

I think I will try adventurer class as well. Great Spy might make this a fun game for espionage

 

[nocho]

Could we have spoiler threads, please!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Could we have spoiler threads, please!

Oh sorry, thanks the reminder! Spoiler threads are now up.