[BTS] News: BOTM 236 - China, Prince - Starts 1 June

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 236: Mao-the-wanna-be-somebody of China.

[img=right]https://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/botm236civ.jpg[/img]

Here's your chance to play at being Mao! If you like, for maximum realism, you could do your own long march and take your troops somewhere to settle. Then as soon as you discover Bronze Working, you can use slavery to do your own Cultural Revolution and starve your own population into the ground. After that, you could have a look around the neighbouring territories, and declare them all a part of Greater China - which means if you invade and suppress the local populations, it's not really invading is it, because you always had a right to rule over them in the first place... Have fun!

Game settings:
Playing as: Mao-the-wanna-be-somebody of China
Rivals: 8 AIs
Difficulty: Prince
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: None
Victory Conditions: All enabled

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


Mao-the-wanna-be-somebody is Expansive and Protective, and you start with Agriculture and Mining.

The Expansive trait gives +2 health/city and +25% hammers for worker production and double production speed of Granary and Harbor

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: Cho-Ko-Nu (replaces Crossbowman)
The cho-ko-nu has two first strikes against the crossbowman's single one. But the twist is that it also causes up to 60% collateral damage - so a stack of cho-ko-nu's can be deadly!

Unique Building: Pavilion (replaces Theatre)
The pavillion gives even more culture than the theatre - an extra +25%/turn as well as the fixed +3/turn of the theatre.

Starting screenshot

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




Challenger Class Equalizers:
You play on emperor level, and with Raging Barbarians on, but Random Events switched off. And the AI still starts with prince level starting units.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 1 Jun 2022, 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 4 Jul 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.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Welcome home, DS!

The Challenger save may be worth the raging barbs just to turn off events. Add on better tech trading and the contender saves seems more “challenging.”

 

[WastinTime]

The Challenger save may be worth the raging barbs just to turn off events

Just the opposite for me. I'd have to play the Prince save so I can get events ON.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Just the opposite for me. I'd have to play the Prince save so I can get events ON.

May the forge be with you.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Random events list.

 

[Implo]

@WastinTime I agree on the events! I never play with huts on deity but as often as possible i have events on! The events adds a bit of flavor and often create unique games.

I will probably still try for the challenger save.

@LowtherCastle nice list! Thanks
There is actually a lot of nice events you should secure that you have the prerec for.Could almost want a new more compromised list of the easy to reach and what prereq to aim for.
A lot of small chances combined is actually a force to be recon with.

Regards to the map. Sip and 10 turn worker! have agg and mining only need BW. Guess the REX will be fast!
Could also consider settling on wine.. for the extra comerce and river tiles. But it gives up the 10 turn worker (12 turns). and the coast and clams.. so I guess Sip is superior.
Dont see why we should "walk around" I dont like that..

 

[lymond]

I can do without slave revolts and random tile destruction.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Techs cost us 10% more on emperor than prince.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Poetry by Mao Zedong:
Snowfall pressures white cotton winter clouds to dissipate
10 000 flowers wilt in the sparse season
High in the sky a cold air current rapidly surges on
The Earth gives off a slight blast of delicious warm aim

Our valiant hero chases away the panthers and the lions
Even the fiercest of Barbarian invaders does not instil fear
As far as the eye can see, there is wintersweet delight
Wonderfully, death has been kept at bay


Prince Difficulty should allow Protective Cho-Ko-Nus to dominate in the hands of even a casual player, as long as said player is patient enough to build up a bit of a stack before using them. Go in with twice as many Units plus 1 as you thought that you needed and you'll thank me later. Use Marble to grab The Oracle for Metal Casting and you'll be well on your way. Don't save up for Oracling Machinery; early Metal Casting means being able to lay down some early Forges, which can help if you're blocked in by the extra AIs and need a way to break out.

Sometimes, people talk about avoiding Fishing to be able to Lightbulb, what was it, Machinery with a Great Scientist? Don't bother. The Clam is too nice, and there will likely be a Magical Fish just around of the corner.

Even if there isn't a Fish near the Marble, settling for a shared Cow and Marble, plus an eventual Whale, is okay, with the investment of having to build a Monument to get early access to the Marble. Probably save the Whale location for City #3, and try to block off more land with City #2, since there should still be time to get The Oracle. Some of the other techs to get will include Mysticism, The Wheel, Masonry, Pottery (a pre-requisite of Metal Casting), and Priesthood.

As LowtherCastle has advised in the past, after teching your initial Worker techs (probably Fishing and/or Bronze Working), go a few turns with the Commerce Slider at 100% on Gold, to store up some Gold to spend on saving Forests that might otherwise burn down. We need to be environmentally conscious.

For Challenger, probably skip The Oracle and focus on laying out heroic Warrior fog-busters to allow the Barbs to harass the AIs more than you. Remember the 2-square-radius rule for no Barb Units spawning around of any other Unit, including AI Units and other Barb Units, although you have to consider the timing of when the Barbs spawn... I believe that the AIs move first and then the Barbs spawn, since we're Player 1, followed by the AIs playing their respective turns, and thus you want to predict where the AIs will move their Units if you're going to rely on their spawn-busting support.

Also, Barb Cities are only busted from appearing when the fog is busted (when the squares are visible and are not in the fog) and thus Barb Cities can spawn within that 2-square-radius of your Units, depending upon the visibility of your Units.

 

[LowtherCastle]

As LowtherCastle has advised in the past, after teching your initial Worker techs (probably Fishing and/or Bronze Working), go a few turns with the Commerce Slider at 100% on Gold, to store up some Gold to spend on saving Forests that might otherwise burn down. We need to be environmentally conscious.

Judging strictly by the events description (game might function differently), I noted the following:

Event1 Forest fire: 10g saves the fat cross forest fire
Event5 washed out: 20 gold saves a road or railroad from getting washed out
Event10 Careless apprentice: 50 gold saves the Forge (optimization problem: while building The Colossus, 50g protects your forge)

Event12 slave revolt: requires being in the slavery civic and City at pop4 or greater. 10g lessens the hit.

Event15 Farm bandits: apparently requires the improved farm tile to have a road and a nearby unit. Solution(?): 1. Avoid roading the tile. (E.g., the river corn in this game.) 2. In outlying low-population cities, leave ungarrisoned.

Event34 Monsoon: requires inland city with nearby jungle. Chop that jungle!

 

[LowtherCastle]

This event seems interesting:

Event11:
Famine
Prereq: None
Obsolete: None
Active/Weight: 70/100
Result:
1.Nothing
2.your city looses 50% of food storage AND you gain +1 Attitude with one AI
3.you pay 10 gold AND your city looses 100% of food storage AND you gain +3 Attitude with one AI

=======

So evidently if you have 10 gold you can get +3 attitude with one neighbor.

 

[MirrorGuard]

Poetry by Mao Zedong:

Keep in mind that Mao is by no means a poet. His words made the nation tremble. The poetry you cite was written in late 1962, months after he was criticized for causing a famine that cost tens of millions of lives. He had to delegate some of his power to his ministers to save China on brink of collapse. But he probably never agreed that he had made a mistake.
Given the context, you should see that the translation is not even wrong. For example the last line should be: The wintersweet(referring to himself, a common usage in China poetry) is glad to see snowflakes that bring frozen deaths to buzzing flies(referring to those people who make a "noise"). Perhaps the guy who did the translation job had no idea of Mao's mindset.

 

[DizzKneeLand33]

According to the game description, we should all march 10 tiles NW to settle.

 

[LincolnOfRome]

Techs cost us 10% more on emperor than prince.

I think it will be easier with an emperor game to get a better date. You have to wait so long for prince-level AI's to get anything decent to trade. The raging barbs might even cripple a few AI's.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Spoiler threads are now up (sorry for the delay doing that)