[BTS] News: BOTM 282 - Khmer, Immortal - Starts December 1

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 282: Suryavarman of Khmer.

A completely random generated map (don't blame me, lol). You will play as Suryavarman of the Khmer at Immortal difficulty level. Enjoy!

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

Map settings:
Map: Arboria
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: Medium
Map latitudes: -50°S to 50°N


Suryavarman is Expansive and Creative, and you start with Hunting and Mining.

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

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

Unique unit: Ballista Elephant (replaces War Elephant)
This is a very unusual unique unit: It has exactly the same abilities as the war elephant, except that if it is attacking a stack outside cities, it will preferentially target any mounted units in the stack.

Unique Building: Baray (replaces Aqueduct)
Besides the health benefits of the aquaduct, the baray gives +1 food in the city in which it is built.

Starting screenshot

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





To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 1 Dec 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 Jan 2025.

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.

 

[Xcalibrator]

Thanks for the game, dude! It looks like there's a deer tile N of the scout, but no bubble. Move the settler 1N to get that extra food? But then you lose the two visible hills (for mines) and away from fresh water (not that health will be a problem for awhile with all those forests--but eventually it will if my recollection of a shortage of health resources on Arboria maps is correct). Or maybe settle on the plains forest to the SE hoping to pick up more resources? Probably move the scout SE and then... east?

 

[LowtherCastle]

Speaking of resource shortage, does arboria have elephants?

Anyway, good Christmas spirit map and the starting techs snd traits align perfectly for a nice present under the tree!

 

[kcd_swede]

Thanks for the game, dude! It looks like there's a deer tile N of the scout, but no bubble. Move the settler 1N to get that extra food? But then you lose the two visible hills (for mines) and away from fresh water (not that health will be a problem for awhile with all those forests--but eventually it will if my recollection of a shortage of health resources on Arboria maps is correct). Or maybe settle on the plains forest to the SE hoping to pick up more resources? Probably move the scout SE and then... east?

Yes, that is a deer site. The bubble highlighting it is missing because the bubble is more than 0% off-screen. And Arboria maps are missing about 8 different resources that are normally found in a random map. My goal was speed in getting you new game going, rather than clever application of evil.

My intention is to give you all a Christmas or New Year themed map on the 15th, too. It will be at a lower difficulty level. (However, between now and then I am going on a vacation to Cancun... so maybe some Aztec or Mayan inspirations are in your future).

 

[LowtherCastle]

I ran some arboria maps. Elephants appear sometimes.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Word of warning: this game could be pretty hard. The AIs start with a worker and could easily have three or four or more dear tiles in their fat cross. They could be settling their second and third cities pretty rapidly and it’s a small map relatively speaking. Barb’s miter might not be a problem before the map fills up. And so on.

Edit: finances are a serious problem too. Cylindrical map doubles the city expenses so if you have the opportunity to grab a nice location, that’s a little bit farther from your capital but blocks the opponent from getting that spot you start running into financial troubles. Pottery is quite a ways off with cottages.

 

[Conquistador 63]

I wasn't playing Civ4 at that time, but searched for Arboria in this forum and found out BOTM172 was an IMM game using said mapscript, so it could be useful to read its spoilers threads to get a glimpse of the players' experience and try to prepare a little for this game.