[BTS] News: BOTM 277 - Gilgamesh, Noble - Starts August 1

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 277: Gilgamesh of Sumeria.

You will play as Gilgamesh of Sumeria on a global highlands map at Noble difficulty. I jump-started one of your opponents with worker techs, because Noble is too easy for you masters of the universe. There may be your nemesis Humbaba, but you won't have to worry about him for a while... probably.

Game settings:
Playing as: Gilgamesh of Sumeria
Rivals: 7 AIs
Difficulty: Noble
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No goody huts, no random events
Victory Conditions: All enabled

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


Gilgamesh is Protective and Creative, and you start with The Wheel and Agriculture.

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

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

Unique unit: Vulture (replaces Axeman)
The vulture is stronger than the axeman, with a base strength of 6 instead of 5. But beware - it only gets a +25% bonus against melee units, compared to the axeman's +50%.

Unique Building: Ziggurat (replaces Courthouse)
The ziggurat is cheaper than the courthouse - 90 hammers versus 120 hammers on normal speed. And it requires knowledge of priesthood instead of code of laws, so you may be able to build it earlier in the game if you want.

Starting screenshot

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




Adventurer Class bonuses:
N/A

Challenger Class Equalizers:
N/A

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 1 Aug 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 31 Aug 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.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

PH above the cow looks like a good spot to settle, pity we cannot have a scout to look what is around before moving the settler.

 

[Conquistador 63]

Sounds fun.
Too bad I'll be away (summer vacations) until Aug26, most likely I won't be able to finish it before deadline.

 

[LowtherCastle]

I’m glad you reminded me about ziggurats and priesthood. I’ve never played guild gilgamesh and used that so I’d forgotten all about it.

 

[MarleysGh0st]

PH above the cow looks like a good spot to settle, pity we cannot have a scout to look what is around before moving the settler.

The extra hammers from the PH is nice, but then the capital can't work the clams; the only way to use that would be to build a second city on the hill SW of the starting position. On the other hand, if we settle in place, we get the clams and an ocean port, plus fresh water from the lake. There's ocean N of the rice, but it's not clear if it extends E of that, where the PH could have access.

 

[Fine_Distinction]

The extra hammers from the PH is nice, but then the capital can't work the clams; the only way to use that would be to build a second city on the hill SW of the starting position. On the other hand, if we settle in place, we get the clams and an ocean port, plus fresh water from the lake. There's ocean N of the rice, but it's not clear if it extends E of that, where the PH could have access.

Yes, but we would have a ton of water tiles in the capitol - one cannot improve them further and Gilga is not even FIN, so not great longterm. And Clams are cool, but again require another tech early on, detracting eg. from BW to chop all these forests (although on Noble it is less of a problem). And definitely a 2nd city SW of the settler to catch the Clams - we are CRE so it will not be a problem.

 

[lymond]

Well, it is not a "ton" of water tiles. SIP is fine but the PH 1N of cows is probably solid and very probably coastal from what I can tell. Either way, each site leads to a production cap, not a commerce cap. North of cows gives a faster start. If SIP, clams can be ignored for some time.

 

[antimony]

I agree with @lymond that it's commerce limited and I would aim at early fishing for that reason. So something like SIP, Mining-BW-Fishing opening (BW should be finished right on time to chop after rice farm).

 

[antimony]

One interesting thing to consider here, about wonders. In BOTM 266, where @kcd_swede gave all Noble AIs all the Ancient techs, I was under the impression the wonders went out fairly late and I was able to get Great Lighthouse and Pyramids. I wasn't sure why, but I wonder if the AI is programmed to not go as much for a wonder if it doesn't get a headstart on the tech. If that's the case, this might be different here, and depending who the AI is and whether Masonry is given as a free tech, you might find some wonders to go really early for a Noble game.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

There's a limitation on those things. iirc, it's something like :
- AIs can't build more than one wonder at a time ;
- They have to wait until their third city is settled to start on a second one.

It is referenced somewhere, precisely. Hopefully someone will chime in and correct me.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I'm not fully certain, but I think there's also an issue that they won't build a wonder if they have gone far beyond that wonder in what tech they know.

 

[kcd_swede]