[BTS] News: BOTM 297: Kublai Khan, Prince - Starts October 15

[kcd_swede]

BOTM 297: Kublai Khan of Mongolia​

Play as Kublai Khan of the Mongolian Empire at Prince difficulty level. Perhaps an unusual combination of settings to make it spooky.

Game settings:
Playing as: Kublai Khan of Mongolia
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Prince
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: No city razing, city culture-flipping after conquest, no vassal states, no goody huts, no random events
Victory Conditions: All enabled

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


Kublai Khan is Aggressive and Creative, and you start with The Wheel and Hunting.

The Aggressive trait gives free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units and double production speed of Barracks and Drydock

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

Unique unit: Keshik (replaces Horse Archer)
The much-feared keshik can travel very fast, since it ignores terrain movement costs. It also has a first strike, which the horse-archer lacks, but on the other hand it doesn't have the horse-archer's immunity to first strikes.

Unique Building: Ger (replaces Stable)
The ger is a super-charged stable: It gives +4XP instead of +2XP to mounted units. As if keshiks weren't scary enough already!

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 15 Oct 2025, server local time (UTC-6:00). From that date and time, you'll be able to get your chosen starting save >>>here<<<.

If that doesn't work, try this link as provided by Nocho in Post #8 of this thread:
https://gotm.civfanatics.net/download.php?file=civ4botm297contender.CivBeyondSwordSave


Submit the save after your victory (or defeat) here, by 15 Nov 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.

 

[kcd_swede]

Ok... we are going live with BOTM 297 which you can download from the server on (or after) the start date. Let me know (PM preferred) if anyone experiences problems.
Good luck, and HAVE FUN!

 

[Mitchum]

Does anyone know what the option city culture-flipping after conquest actually does? In most BOTMs, no random events and no good huts are the only two options and I know I've had a city revolt due to cultural pressure but I'm not 100% sure I've seen one flip back to the original owner. I think it's happened to me but I'm not sure. Maybe I just imagined this.

That starting location has a ton of food but I'm sure that it can be shared with nearby cities. I'm not sure if it's worth a delay of 2 turns (and walking away from one of the corns to climb a plains hill and settle there... Lost worker turns to farm the wet corn would be a PITA as well.

 

[nocho]

Does anyone know what the option city culture-flipping after conquest actually does? In most BOTMs, no random events and no good huts are the only two options and I know I've had a city revolt due to cultural pressure but I'm not 100% sure I've seen one flip back to the original owner. I think it's happened to me but I'm not sure. Maybe I just imagined this.

That starting location has a ton of food but I'm sure that it can be shared with nearby cities. I'm not sure if it's worth a delay of 2 turns (and walking away from one of the corns to climb a plains hill and settle there... Lost worker turns to farm the wet corn would be a PITA as well.

I think city culture-flipping after conquest means that the city can indeed flip back to the previous owner if with another city that civ still culturally occupies the conquered city square. So basically you'd have to mop up more cities before vassaling a civ only leaving it with some unconnected backwaters.

I'm tempted to go NE of the wet corn with the settler, still at least two corns, 3 hills and riverside, so that would still look like a decent capital, leaving the clams for the second or third city, then we can postpone fishing a bit as well. Only risk might be settling 1 of the coast. So surely I'll go scout NE first to get a better idea. NNE rather than ENE with the settler might be good too.

 

[LowtherCastle]

The river to the northeast definitely looks enticing. That Plains Hill looks like a prime location for copper. It would be a bummer to settle on copper or even move away from it for that matter. But how likely is the SIP fat cross to have two corns, two clams and copper?

Curious about the spooky settings…

 

[Conquistador 63]

Curious about the spooky settings…

Maybe Humbaba will make a comeback?

 

[LowtherCastle]

Maybe Humbaba will make a comeback?

Right? And start with 500,000 culture.

 

[nocho]

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 15 Oct 2025, server local time (UTC-6:00). From that date and time, you'll be able to get your chosen starting save >>>here<<<.

The save isn't available yet, though it's 9:20 european time, 7:20 UTC. I'll patiently, and eagerly , wait, but maybe the server time isn't quite right yet or something isn't properly working yet with the scheduling process, just to let you know.

 

[nocho]

Ah cool, the link to the save actually does work if you adapt it for the new game ID: https://gotm.civfanatics.net/download.php?file=civ4botm297contender.CivBeyondSwordSave

It's just that the GOTM page says that it isn't available yet.

 

[Frederiksberg]

Ah cool, the link to the save actually does work if you adapt it for the new game ID: https://gotm.civfanatics.net/download.php?file=civ4botm297contender.CivBeyondSwordSave

Yeah, don't even think you can stand between the GOTM save and a civ-hungry player. We will hack our way in @nocho

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Yeah, don't even think you can stand between the GOTM save and a civ-hungry player. We will hack our way in @nocho

Hahaha!

Well done @nocho on figuring out how to use the direct download link to get to the starting save.

I'm investigating why the game release page isn't showing correctly. (First ever game on the new server.... of course something had to go wrong.... )

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Does anyone know what the option city culture-flipping after conquest actually does? In most BOTMs, no random events and no good huts are the only two options and I know I've had a city revolt due to cultural pressure but I'm not 100% sure I've seen one flip back to the original owner. I think it's happened to me but I'm not sure. Maybe I just imagined this.

@nocho has the correct answer. My understanding is that, in a normal game, a city that you conquer cannot culture-flip back to its old owner, even if it's under cultural pressure that would normally mean it stands a chance of flipping. With culture-flipping after conquest, that protection is switched off, so that if you conquer a city, it's still subject to all the usual culture flipping rules if its original owner manages to put pressure on it (which is actually quite likely if the original owner still owns nearby cities).

 

[kcd_swede]

Hahaha!

Well done @nocho on figuring out how to use the direct download link to get to the starting save.

I'm investigating why the game release page isn't showing correctly. (First ever game on the new server.... of course something had to go wrong.... )

I was just about to PM... but I guess our eager beavers not only beat me to it but found a work-around!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The game release page at https://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/index.php?month=70297 is now working.

 

[Mitchum]

@nocho has the correct answer. My understanding is that, in a normal game, a city that you conquer cannot culture-flip back to its old owner, even if it's under cultural pressure that would normally mean it stands a chance of flipping. With culture-flipping after conquest, that protection is switched off, so that if you conquer a city, it's still subject to all the usual culture flipping rules if its original owner manages to put pressure on it (which is actually quite likely if the original owner still owns nearby cities).

I guess "culture flipping" is different than a city revolting. I've seen a city revolt due to cultural pressure. If you put enough units in the city, the chance of a city revolt goes to 0%.

So if the culture flip option is NOT selected, the city can revolt over and over but never flip back to the original owner. if the culture flip option is selected, upon a city revolt, there is a chance that it will flip to the original owner.

I could have sworn that I had a city revolt and then flip back to the original owner but maybe that was just a dream nightmare.

 

[Mitchum]

The save isn't available yet, though it's 9:20 european time, 7:20 UTC. I'll patiently, and eagerly , wait, but maybe the server time isn't quite right yet or something isn't properly working yet with the scheduling process, just to let you know.

That was VERY patient of you to wait a full 1 hour and 20 minutes for things to get sorted! I would have lasted maybe 20 minutes (if I was awake at 6:00 UTC, that is).

 

[Conquistador 63]

The game release page at https://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/index.php?month=70297 is now working.

Slightly off-topic, I was trying to submit one of the old games (deadline today), but the link for submitting them is not working properly. Not a big problem as it is an unfinished game, but just wanted to let you know...

 

[nocho]

That was VERY patient of you to wait a full 1 hour and 20 minutes for things to get sorted! I would have lasted maybe 20 minutes (if I was awake at 6:00 UTC, that is).

I left home just before 8:00 am (6 UTC), didn't arrive to my office until 9:15 (traffic is horrible in this town in the mornings), grabbed a coffee, and checked. You may call that patient.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Slightly off-topic, I was trying to submit one of the old games (deadline today), but the link for submitting them is not working properly. Not a big problem as it is an unfinished game, but just wanted to let you know...

Thanks for letting me know. Do you remember anything about what happened when you tried to submit it, that might help identity the problem? If you can't submit it, please PM me the file

 

[Mitchum]

I left home just before 8:00 am (6 UTC), didn't arrive to my office until 9:15 (traffic is horrible in this town in the mornings), grabbed a coffee, and checked. You may call that patient.

Well, at least you got your coffee first!! haha