News: BOTM 27 - Starts 17 February

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 27: Egypt

Game Details:

This time you get to play on a single continent with fewer (and therefore, most likely, bigger) rivals than usual

Game settings:
Civilization: Hatshepsut of the Egyptians
Rivals: 3 AIs
Difficulty: Immortal
Map: Arboria
Mapsize: Standard
World wrap: Cylindrical
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No random events, no goody huts
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Hatshepsut:
Hatshepsut is Cultural and Spiritual and starts with Agriculture and The Wheel.The Cultural trait gives +2 culture/turn in each city and double production speed of library, theatre and colosseum. Spiritual means you can change civics without anarchy, and you get double production speed of temples.

Unique unit: War Chariot(replaces Chariot
The war chariot starts with a higher base strength than normal chariots - 5 instead of 4 - and is also immune to first strikes. Both chariot varieties have a 10% withdrawal chance and +100% attack against axemen, but do not get defensive bonuses.

Unique building: Obelisk(replaces monument)
The obelisk can turn two citizens into priests, but is otherwise the same as a monument.

Starting screenshot

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




Adventurer Class bonuses:
Game will be played on Emperor level. Note that AI starting units still match Immortal level.

Challenger Class Equalizers:
Game will be played on Deity level, but will still be scored as if it was an immortal level game. Note that AI starting units still match immortal level.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 17 February 2010, 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 17 March 2010.

Civ version

This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Warlords or vanilla Civ), patched to version 3.19. Also, Windows players you must play using the BUFFY mod, version 3.19.003, which you can download here. You must also be playing with administrator privileges on your local machine - if you try to start the game under an account without sufficient privileges, BUFFY will display a dialog pointing out that your game will be invalid for GOTMs - if you see that dialog, pay attention to the information on it, otherwise your game will get rejected! Mac players must use the MACBUFFY mod, which you can get 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.

 

[Jbourne]

Wow 3 rivals? I feel the pain of having 3 powerful AI nearby to overcome. New map type too.

EDIT: Just read up on the map. This is going to be a fun game with all the available forest chops. Did you add the gold DS? It look out of place. Are Gems nearby?

 

[Mutineer]

Map: Arboria

Anyone know what kind of map is that????

 

[Jbourne]

Anyone know what kind of map is that????

I found this. It is a type of pangea without deserts-> so no flood plains but seem to have many deer.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=296760

Hope this help.

 

[cas]

Wow 3 rivals? I feel the pain of having 3 powerful AI nearby to overcome. New map type too.

I'd prefer having at least one close...depending which AI. Hard to block/stop their expansion if they are all far away.

I don't think the gold resource is normal on Arboria maps...if so, very rare. Map-maker edit, I'm assuming.

Deer are the main food resource on Arboria, but the opening screen only shows 1. I want to move to settle on the dye (+1 ) which grabs the gold, but still leaves min 2 mountains in the BFC. Plus the additional deer might be in the east fog. 4 non-forested tiles (3 grass, 1 hill) in the opening screen...lots of opportunity for a hidden strategic resource.

Normal speed can't waste turns looking for a better spot. Epic speed, I'd have happy feet and try to ditch the mountains headed west.

Hunting-mining first techs. Hatty doesn't start with the right techs for this type of map.

edit: Great Wall probably going to be important with that much open space on immortal...unless we are in a very strategic spot near the coast with an AI close.

cas

 

[Deckhand]

How useful do y'all think the War Chariots will be? They will only move 1 tile per turn thru the forests and are likely to be obsolete by the time they arrive at a neighboring AI - the AIs will probably be much further away than usual.

Barbarians could be a problem: immortal level and AIs not fogbusting our immediate area.

 

[Niklas]

Hmm, very interesting start this. I share Deckhand's worries about the War Chariot being less than useful, but I like the Cultural-Spiritual combo for this setup.

 

[PutCashIn]

Definatly Adventurer save for I, Aboria seems to play really fast, I find the AI build massive stacks, probably due to alot of slavey whipping from the abundant food, I've had Aboria games with 38 deer resources towards the end.

Aboria isnt the largest of maps either, Copper is very rare but Horses and Iron are plentiful.

Will be very interested to read up on the good players write ups, I havent played this map above prince level but even then, damn, it plays **fast**

Oh, and look out for plains hills (not many, but a good chance of Aluminium) and Jungle for Oil, without deserts I've had Aboria games where the only Oil was offshore.

(PS: Wotm28 *Cha Cha Cha*, Wotm28 *Cha Cha Cha*)

 

[Mutineer]

Well I started a few games in this settings and all of them had all 3 AI starting right next to me.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Anyone know what kind of map is that????

Yeah, I do

 

[Mutineer]

Yeah, I do

An example of technically correct but absolutely useless answer!

 

[Grifftavian]

Worst Case Scenario for War Chariots; opponents are Greeks, Mayans & Romans

• War Chariot vs. Phalanx = you lose!
• War Chariot vs. Holkan = you lose!
• War Chariot vs. Praetorian = you lose!

Might have to team up workers to build roads quickly through the forest & jungle tiles. Maybe a good game to go with the Serfdom Civic, which I rarely use.

I'll move the Warrior E or SE to bust some fog and see what I can see, but most likely settle in place to eliminate the jungle where the settler starts.

 

[Mutineer]

Worst Case Scenario for War Chariots; opponents are Greeks, Mayans & Romans

• War Chariot vs. Phalanx = you lose!
• War Chariot vs. Holkan = you lose!
• War Chariot vs. Praetorian = you lose!

You forgot Impi and ever annoying Skirmisher.
That add Zulu and Mali.

 

[Grifftavian]

You forgot Impi and ever annoying Skirmisher.
That add Zulu and Mali.

Yes, WC vs. Impi = instant death as well. Hmmm... Alexander, Julius Caesar & Shaka, all are fairly aggressive warmongers. No need for more than 3 opponents with those three

Skirmishers, while generally a pain in the posterior, are maybe no so bad against a War Chariot, which is immune to their extra first strikes. Both units have +1 Strength over their generic counterparts.

I've never played an Arboreal map before. Anyone have any idea how prevalent Horses are on this type of map?

 

[shyuhe]

Man, only 3 AI? I wish we were organized so that we could spam cities endlessly. It's a pity deer don't count for either of the food corporations Depending on the neighbors, maybe I'll try for culture...

 

[kcd_swede]

Religious VC with Hatty will go in the BC years, I predict. Only 3 AI to infect and you really should only need 1 to actually vote for you for the victory. And to prevent the conq/dom "elite" crew from stomping the opponents in a few nanoseconds, I'd bet that the opponents we get will be ones well-suited to religious overtures (and freindly bonus via shared religion/shared war).

Obelisks will get us plenty of GPro's (if we want them) to bulb our way to Theology well ahead of anyone.

Its almost TOO cheezy. Depends on the opponents, of course.

Then again... at Immortal level just surviving the barb onslaught will be challenge enough for me. (Chop chop chop the Great wall... ?).

 

[beestar]

Hmm, some interesting modifications. Can I REX to prevent the AIs from expanding to become monsters, or should I just stay small and efficient to race up the tech tree?

According to the map creation guide, Arboria is like Pangaea in that it still has coast - maybe still some seafood resources on the coasts.

Does it have all other normal resources?

 

[budweiser]

War chariots will eat barbs.

The ais should normally spend a lot of time expanding, leaving you alone for a bit.

 

[shyuhe]

Religious VC with Hatty will go in the BC years, I predict. Only 3 AI to infect and you really should only need 1 to actually vote for you for the victory. And to prevent the conq/dom "elite" crew from stomping the opponents in a few nanoseconds, I'd bet that the opponents we get will be ones well-suited to religious overtures (and freindly bonus via shared religion/shared war).

Obelisks will get us plenty of GPro's (if we want them) to bulb our way to Theology well ahead of anyone.

Its almost TOO cheezy. Depends on the opponents, of course.

Then again... at Immortal level just surviving the barb onslaught will be challenge enough for me. (Chop chop chop the Great wall... ?).

Getting the missionaries safely to the opposing AI may be rather difficult if there's lots of open terrain.

 

[lymond]

Anyone doing a test save?