I tried coming up with a new and interesting challenge for you, but once again I underestimated the skill of our players and you handled the challenge with ease. Why did I bother giving you Writing as an extra advantage? 
One of the challenges of this game was having to switch focus somewhere in the middle of the game. You'd need a strong military (at least for a defensive campaign, if not for offense), but when the warmongers were eliminated, you'd be limited to peaceful means to achieve a victory. I wondered if anyone would find a way to score a Conquest victory and Jimmy Thunder came very close. I'm sorry the game mechanics tripped you up. In my own playtesting, the peaceful AI would sometime peace vassal to me, but then they had the annoying habit of renouncing their vassalage when the threat from the warmongers was eliminated. Conquistador 63 and greatbeyond both got their spaceships sabotaged by the game mechanics, which is something that I can't recall ever being reported in a BOTM before. At least those had nothing directly to do with the particular configuration of this game. greatbeyond, to have played the game all the way out to 2036, about a century longer than anyone else playing this game, only to have this happen to you...I wish I had more than a red ambulance to offer to you.
Incidentally, most of my playtesting involves using the AIAutoPlay mod to let the computer play against itself. Obviously, that play isn't as skillful as what a human player can produce, but it does let me run an entire game in about half an hour. Repeat that a few times, and I can judge if the game in unbalanced in favor of one leader or not. I juggled the number of warmongers vs. peacekeepers, to find a combination that didn't seem too hopeless. I also started with the plan of making the warmongers Minor Civs (copying the idea used in BOTM 283, but upping their numbers). That had some side effects that I though were best to avoid. For instance, while the game doesn't allow a Minor Civ to win the game and doesn't display their scores, it apparently is secretly keeping track of those scores. If a game reaches turn 500, when a Time Victory would ordinarily be awarded, but when a Minor Civ actually had the highest score, then the game would just continue...possibly forever!
Rather than warning you about that possibility, I changed my plan to make the warmongers Major Civs. Oddly enough, that seemed to make them easier to beat.
Congratulations and condolences (in appropriate measures) to all! And thanks for playing my game.
Summary of Medal Winners:
Bemep42: 1160 AD Domination Victory, 267,807 points.
Jovan Kukic: 1290 AD Domination Victory, 202,072 points.
hhhawk: 1400 AD Domination Victory, 199,616 points.
Fastest Finish Award Winners:
Conquistador 63: 1715 AD Domination Victory, 165,326 points.
BornInCantaloup: 1080 AD Diplomatic Victory, 161,853 points.
Kime11: 1795 AD Religious Victory, 82,767 points.
Count of Holland&Zeeland: 1923 AD Cultural Victory, 53,799 points.
The Dude Esq: 1937 AD Spaceship Victory, 34,443 points.
Other Award Winners:
Falabello: 1838 AD Diplomatic Victory, 83,303 points.
High King J.J.: 1846 AD Domination Victory, 61,261 points.
donsig: 1908 AD Religious Loss, 6,852 points.
greatbeyond: 2036 AD Spaceship Loss, 5,977 points.
>> See the full results here.
>> See the updated global rankings here.
>> See the latest Pantheon of Heroes here.
>> You can see and compare graphic replays of all the submissions here.
>> Award symbols are listed here.
One of the challenges of this game was having to switch focus somewhere in the middle of the game. You'd need a strong military (at least for a defensive campaign, if not for offense), but when the warmongers were eliminated, you'd be limited to peaceful means to achieve a victory. I wondered if anyone would find a way to score a Conquest victory and Jimmy Thunder came very close. I'm sorry the game mechanics tripped you up. In my own playtesting, the peaceful AI would sometime peace vassal to me, but then they had the annoying habit of renouncing their vassalage when the threat from the warmongers was eliminated. Conquistador 63 and greatbeyond both got their spaceships sabotaged by the game mechanics, which is something that I can't recall ever being reported in a BOTM before. At least those had nothing directly to do with the particular configuration of this game. greatbeyond, to have played the game all the way out to 2036, about a century longer than anyone else playing this game, only to have this happen to you...I wish I had more than a red ambulance to offer to you.
Incidentally, most of my playtesting involves using the AIAutoPlay mod to let the computer play against itself. Obviously, that play isn't as skillful as what a human player can produce, but it does let me run an entire game in about half an hour. Repeat that a few times, and I can judge if the game in unbalanced in favor of one leader or not. I juggled the number of warmongers vs. peacekeepers, to find a combination that didn't seem too hopeless. I also started with the plan of making the warmongers Minor Civs (copying the idea used in BOTM 283, but upping their numbers). That had some side effects that I though were best to avoid. For instance, while the game doesn't allow a Minor Civ to win the game and doesn't display their scores, it apparently is secretly keeping track of those scores. If a game reaches turn 500, when a Time Victory would ordinarily be awarded, but when a Minor Civ actually had the highest score, then the game would just continue...possibly forever!
Rather than warning you about that possibility, I changed my plan to make the warmongers Major Civs. Oddly enough, that seemed to make them easier to beat.Congratulations and condolences (in appropriate measures) to all! And thanks for playing my game.
Summary of Medal Winners:
Fastest Finish Award Winners:
Other Award Winners:
>> See the full results here.
>> See the updated global rankings here.
>> See the latest Pantheon of Heroes here.
>> You can see and compare graphic replays of all the submissions here.
>> Award symbols are listed here.
