[BTS] News: BOTM 298 20th Anniversary game - Inca, Emperor - Starts Oct 31

[DynamicSpirit]

BOTM 298: Huayna Capac of the Incas.

Welcome to Civ 4 Game of the Month - BOTM 298
These games allow new and old GOTM fans to play Civ 4 single-player in a friendly competitive environment. For each game, everyone starts with the same map and starting save, and you play to see if you can get a better result than everyone else!

And welcome to the 20th anniversary game! Yes, Civ4 was first released exactly 20 years ago today! For this anniversary game, you're getting taken back down memory lane to one of our very early games. Yes, you're playing on the same map that people played for what was actually one of my favourite games from a long time ago - with a couple of tweaks.

ADDITIONAL RULES: If you can remember that far back and you recognise the game, then good for you! See if you can get a better result this time But we are trusting that you will not seek out any additional information about the map. The relevant forum threads are hidden for the duration of this competition.

You play as Huayna Capac of the Incas, on Emperor difficulty, against 6 AIs and with this start (click the image to see a bigger version):

Start Playing!	Submit your entry!
Competition opens 31 Oct 2025	Competition closes 15 Dec 2025
Once the competition is open, download the starting save >>>here<<< and start playing	When you've finished the game and before the competition closes, upload your victory (or defeat) >>>here<<<

Game and map information:

Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Epic
Options: No goody huts, no random events
Victory Conditions: All enabled
Map: Continents
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Medium
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: Medium
Map latitudes: -90 to 90

Your unique Civ:

Huayna Capac is Industrious and Financial, and you start with Mysticism and Agriculture.
The Industrious trait gives +50% wonder production and double production speed of Forge
The Financial trait gives +1 commerce on any plot that already has at least 2 commerce
Unique unit: Quechua (replaces Warrior)
The Quechua has double strength against archers - could be useful against early barbs!
Unique Building: Terrace (replaces Granary)
The terrace gives +2 culture/turn in addition to the usual granary benefits

New to GOTM? How to get set up for the game

To play the game, you must have Civ4 BtS installed and patched to 3.19. You also need to have installed the HOF/BUFFY mod version 3.19.005, which you can get here. You can only play on Windows. There's detailed info about getting set up and playing the competition game in this newbies guide.

Rules while playing...

Our cardinal rule is that 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. If we detect that you've broken these rules, we'll reject your competition entry.

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..

Adventurer and Challenger games:

As an alternative, for the GOTM competitions, we often (but not always) provide an easier 'adventurer' and a harder 'challenger' saves.
For this game:

• Adventurer: You play on monarch level (but the AI still starts with emperor level starting units: 2 archers, 2 scouts and a settler).
• Challenger: You play on immortal level. Your AI opponents start with 'immortal-lite' units: 2 archers, 2 scouts, a worker and a settler (Usually on immortal they'll have 3 archers).

The newbies guide has a full explanation of adventurer and challenger.

@Blake00 @The_J

 

[kcd_swede]

Thanks DS, and the extra time to submit is also appreciated!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

You'll need the extra time - this is an epic speed game!

btw as people may have noticed, the layout and wording of the game announcement has changed. We decided to change it after some feedback that the old announcement format wasn't very helpful to people who are new to GOTM. We're still experimenting a it with the layout, so it might get tweaked in future games. And we're open to feedback if anyone has any concerns/suggestions about it.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Oh boy! I very vaguely remember one Hyuana BOTM but I have no idea if this is the one and there are so many BOTMs I didn’t play because when I was playing SGOTMs I rarely played BOTMs. In any case, I definitely don’t remember anything about where to settle so i’m really basically playing from scratch no matter what. Which is actually better.

I do remember that I used to love playing epic games so this will be a fun change of pace.

Gold+FPs begs for cottages and a roaring economy and tech rate. The warrior could scout north for another gold tile or more food. Or southwest for more food or whatever. This looks a bit food scarce for a capital. Another good food tile would help a lot.

 

[Conquistador 63]

I did play that original GOTM (Vanilla) and got a space race win, but other than that, I (fortunately) don't remember any further details.
SIP looks good for a financial leader, with most likely +2 FP's in the fog to the S, that would get us to 7 (7*0.4=2.8 > 2 , not too bad).
However, if I send the warrior N or NW and he finds some food to work the gold mine, I would also consider settling the PH 1E.

Another question is, worker 1st or spam quechuas to rush the nearest neighbour? With such a rich start, probably the former, although Epic speed favors the latter.

 

[kcd_swede]

I did play that original GOTM (Vanilla) and got a space race win, but other than that, I (fortunately) don't remember any further details.
SIP looks good for a financial leader, with most likely +2 FP's in the fog to the S, that would get us to 7 (7*0.4=2.8 > 2 , not too bad).
However, if I send the warrior N or NW and he finds some food to work the gold mine, I would also consider settling the PH 1E.

Another question is, worker 1st or spam quechuas to rush the nearest neighbour? With such a rich start, probably the former, although Epic speed favors the latter.

I have some ideas on that, but I am really rusty so won't bias you (or give you a good laugh).

 

[DynamicSpirit]

It's quite rare for us to run Epic speed GOTMs so I'll just mention a bit about the setting, in case anyone isn't that familiar with it. Everything is slowed down by 50%, but in very good balance: Techs take 50% more beakers to research. Most things require 50% more hammers to build - but whipping and chopping gives you 50% more - for example, post-maths, you get 45 hammers instead of 30 for a forest chop. Whipping gives you 15 turns unhappiness instead of 10 turns. Within each era, there are about 50% more turns than normal, so in theory, you'll still build things and achieve things in the same game year.

Workers take 50% more turns to improve things (a road that takes 2 turns to build on normal speed takes 3 turns on epic) - that kind of thing may change your calculations of the optimum number of workers to have improving the same tile.

The one thing that isn't slowed down is your units get the same moves each turn. And they take the same number of turns to heal too. That means you get a lot more movement in the course of a game. If on normal speed it takes you 10 turns to research something, that takes you 15 turns on epic speed and your Quechua gets to move 15 tiles instead of 10 tiles in that time. So exploring and conquering takes less 'real' time, which can favour military tactics.

A consequence of that is that delaying a turn or two before you found your capital is less costly than on normal speed. And that brings me to the final point. This is something that I wouldn't normally divulge, but I don't want lots of people to feel frustrated: As @LowtherCastle has pointed out, settling in place doesn't have a lot of food. My view is that I think there's a good chance that anyone who immediately settles in place without bothering to explore their options is likely to regret their decision.

 

[Smiregal]

That is a generous tip indeed.

 

[kcd_swede]

I'm a fan of Epic speed, and Marathon speed makes me happy, too. The major benefit (IMHO) is that a mistake you see after hitting "enter" is a lot easier to overcome. Depends on the mistake, of course, because of the prime directive.

 

[LowtherCastle]

That is a generous tip indeed.

Well, I was planning to settle in place unless warrior Southwest revealed a reason to settle one or two tiles to the west. Now it seems I need a complete strategy..

 

[High King J.J.]

settling in place doesn't have a lot of food

A little fog-gazing and I think we have 2 extra FP to the south in addition to 5 revealed now. Yes, only hilly sheep visible but that's 7 FP out of the box (and we're FIN!) and several hills to mine including a gold hill. That's tempting neighbourhood to settle.
But what do I know? I'm and I forget did I say already? I in because is too cramped.

 

[LowtherCastle]

A little fog-gazing and I think we have 2 extra FP to the south in addition to 5 revealed now. Yes, only hilly sheep visible but that's 7 FP out of the box (and we're FIN!) and several hills to mine including a gold hill. That's tempting neighbourhood to settle.
But what do I know? I'm and I forget did I say already? I in because is too cramped.

You’re hilarious, HKJJ.

I agree that the current location is quite nice. Even the sheep ranch will be 3f2h3g! The main drawback to me is the slow pace of getting the first or second settler built. Another food resource to the west would be ideal. (Or flood plain corn to the south…)

 

[LowtherCastle]

Feedback on the new formatting:
I like it a lot! Especially the table with the information about when the game begins and ends and the links. The only feedback on that is almost trivial, but I would make all the borders in that table bolder or at least the border between the two columns.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Saves are now available to download! https://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/index.php?month=70298

Feedback on the new formatting:
I like it a lot! Especially the table with the information about when the game begins and ends and the links. The only feedback on that is almost trivial, but I would make all the borders in that table bolder or at least the border between the two columns.

Thanks LC! Yeah it not being easy to see the links was a particular criticism of the old format. I actually agree with you about the table borders. Unfortunately, for tables, we're restricted by the functionality of the Xenforo forums that this site runs on, so I'm not sure if it's possible to make the borders much different, but I'll double check.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Saves are now available to download! https://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/index.php?month=70298



Thanks LC! Yeah it not being easy to see the links was a particular criticism of the old format. I actually agree with you about the table borders. Unfortunately, for tables, we're restricted by the functionality of the Xenforo forums that this site runs on, so I'm not sure if it's possible to make the borders much different, but I'll double check.

Sure. Like I said, trivial. The new format is a big improvement!

 

[nocho]

Could you create the spoiler threads, please?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Could you create the spoiler threads, please?

Done

 

[Mitchum]

I may have to come out of retirement (for the 4th time!! ) to play this game. Looks like an interesting setup. It's been ages since I've played an Epic speed game but it sounds fun if I can find make the time.