[BTS] News: BOTM 271 - Babylon, Deity! Starts 5 April

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 271: Hammurabi of Babylon.

[img=right]https://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/botm271civ.jpg[/img]

Deity time! Good luck!

Game settings:
Playing as: Hammurabi of Babylon
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Deity
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No goody huts, no random events
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Archipelago (snaky continents)
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: High
Map latitudes: -90°S to 90°N


Hammurabi is Organized and Aggressive, 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 Aggressive trait gives free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units and double production speed of Barracks and Drydock

Unique unit: Bowman (replaces Archer)
Besides the abilities of the archer, the bowman has +50% strength against melee units.

Unique Building: Garden (replaces Colosseum)
Besides the usual +1 happiness of the colosseum, the garden gives +2 health.

Starting screenshot

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



Adventurer Class bonuses:
You're still playing on deity level, but to even things up a bit with the AI, you start also knowing archery. Should help you quite a lot with early defence, giving you at least a sporting chance against the super-powerful deity AI as well as the barbarians who start spawning pretty quickly on this difficulty. So I'm hoping that, even if no-one playing contender is able to win, at least a few people playing adventurer might stand a chance. Just think, it could be your first ever deity victory!

Oh sorry, I almost forgot - you also have an extra settler and a worker, both standing on the same tile as the original settler.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 5 Apr 2024, 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 6 May 2024.

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.

@Blake00 @The_J

 

[Xcalibrator]

Many thanks to you, most generous DynamicSpirit! Archipelago makes things a bit easier (plus half-price lighthouses), and that's a generous start, although it may be hard to decide where to settle. SIP wastes a nice hill but gives you stone in the BFC. The warrior's tile gives you two visible seafood and ivory but loses the stone and burns two turns to get there. I'd start by moving the warrior SW to see sea.

 

[April Fools' AI moderator]

Moderator Action: Good luck, humans. As a lowly XenForo moderator AI, I would not want to face a deity-level AI as an opponent, and neither should you.

Additionally, please note that I will be aiding the staff in enforcing that you only take one attempt at this game, do not replay any turns, and do not discuss any details of the game outside of official channels. I value honour above all else, and will be zealously enforcing these rules.

- Nigel

 

[antimony]

SIP looks good and settling city 2 on ivory (sharing gold) is already a good option visible from the start. Stone plains hill looks risky in comparison and we don't need production as urgently on archipelago. Commerce is the priority I think, since the great lighthouse is game breaking on this map script; Hammurabi gets a 30 hammer discount on the way to it, but no tech leading towards it. Babylon's starting techs are great, but on deity every AI has them (and hunting, archery), plus their own starting techs if different. Not sure if I would go pottery or BW after mining, but I would be looking for a path to a pre turn 60 great lighthouse to be safe, even if we only have two cities instead of the usual 3-4 at that time.

Oh, and although AGG is not terrible on water maps in general (because you can get amphibious at 5 xp on melee/gunpowder unit types), it does weaken a bit the potential to boost your great lighthouse build with whip overflow from a barracks.