[BTS] News: BOTM 272: Darius, Noble level

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 272: Darius of Persia.

Ummm... this is kind of a rush job. I hope you do not get eaten by monsters. Sorry! j/k I am not at all sorry, though I would be if this game was delayed. It's Nobel level, give the King a high five, and have your way with it. Just a suggestion, Iron Working is a really useful technology (but the Internet is over-rated).

Game settings:
Playing as: Darius of Persia
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Noble
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: None
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Swedish Flag
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: Low
Map latitudes: -90°S to 90°N


Darius is Organized and Financial, and you start with Agriculture and Hunting.

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

The Financial trait gives +1 commerce on any plot that already has at least 2 commerce

Unique unit: Immortal (replaces Chariot)
The immortal gives you a better chance attacking archer-defended cities, since it has +50% strength against archers. And unlike chariots, it receives defensive bonuses.

Unique Building: Apothecary (replaces Grocer)
The apothecary has supercharged health benefits: It gives +2 health out of the box, in addition to the resource-dependant health benefits of the grocer.

Starting screenshot

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



Adventurer Class bonuses:
None

Challenger Class Equalizers:
None

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 15 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 15 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.

 

[Powerfaker]

Interesting start on a mystery map (Swedish flag??). 5T to scout as much as possible, we obviously can't settle here. There must be better areas somewhere right? Or find a gold mine to get IW asap? (dont't answer, we'll find out playing)

 

[High King J.J.]

We have a warrior, scout and worker? Is this intentional? Scout or goes 2W to the hill there. Warrior goes NE to see what's around and th see the hill N,NW. If nothing interesting is found worker and settler explore SE, SW.
Perhaps we find enough gold for Tre Kronor? Or at least there's wood for Tree Kronor? 1W kanske järn?
Which Nobel prize should we go for?

 

[LowtherCastle]

We have a warrior, scout and worker? Is this intentional? Scout or goes 2W to the hill there. Warrior goes NE to see what's around and th see the hill N,NW. If nothing interesting is found worker and settler explore SE, SW.
Perhaps we find enough gold for Tre Kronor? Or at least there's wood for Tree Kronor? 1W kanske järn?
Which Nobel prize should we go for?

Nobel War Prize of course!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Well to settle, we need to escape the jungle. Foggazing, it looks to me like the best chance of doing that is either North or South, since East and West mostly seem to be more jungle. Also, whichever way the settler moves is the direction we're probably going to have to settle in: That's because, unless we see something outstanding on pretty much the first turn, it'd take too long to move the settler one way then move him back across the jungle. From that, I would conclude the the first task is to use the other units to explore enough to decide whether the settler should head North or South. Therefore, my inclination would be: Warrior SE. If what he sees to the South doesn't look dreadful, then move scout W-SW. Then worker goes NE. It'd be nice if at this point I'll have an idea which way to move the settler, but I suspect we won't. In that case, keep the options open by moving the settler W-NW, and do one more turn of exploring with the other units.

 

[LowtherCastle]

 

[LowtherCastle]

Yellow jungle, blue not? Vice versa? Other?

 

[LowtherCastle]

Then there is this:

 

[LowtherCastle]

Yellow land, blue water?

Sounds likeliest if you are going to call it a Swedish flag map.

This may be a very low land-tile map. Or a very large map. Good to make note of on turn zero.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

This may be a very low land-tile map. Or a very large map. Good to make note of on turn zero.

Or the 'yellow' bands are much thicker than in the real Swedish flag

 

[Frederiksberg]

I'm definitely spending a couple of turns to get out of the jungle before settling. I imagine going either north or south would be the best strategy to get out of the tropical zone.

I notice we have some extra units (worker, warrior). @kcd_swede, has the AI also been given extra units to compensate?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

It just occurred to me that we missed the chance for a rather amusing challenger save... Ooops! Just miscommunicated an instruction to the settler - he's just founded your capital on the spot!

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

It just occurred to me that we missed the chance for a rather amusing challenger save... Ooops! Just miscommunicated an instruction to the settler - he's just founded your capital on the spot!

And watch the starting units die of malaria on T2.

 

[kcd_swede]

I'm definitely spending a couple of turns to get out of the jungle before settling. I imagine going either north or south would be the best strategy to get out of the tropical zone.

I notice we have some extra units (worker, warrior). @kcd_swede, has the AI also been given extra units to compensate?

We'll see!

 

[Nicol.Bolas]

Any chance to next time extending the playtime to include weekends , or generally extended? Weekend up, might have some time to play, but can´t.

Ages ago, 1 month seems like ample time, but as RL progressed, no longer

 

[kcd_swede]

Any chance to next time extending the playtime to include weekends , or generally extended? Weekend up, might have some time to play, but can´t.

Ages ago, 1 month seems like ample time, but as RL progressed, no longer

I'll try to remember to take that into consideration for future games.