News: COTM 118 Spain. Pre-game Discussion

[AlanH]

Your November C3C COTM is presented by GreatBeyond. Here is his description of the scenario ...

You play as the Spanish at Deity level on a large size map with 13 aggressive opponents. You will see from the screenshot all the landmass is revealed to you at the start. The AI aggressiveness has been set to the maximum. To make things even worse the AIs are locked in a coalition alliance against you. This means they will cooperate fully to eliminate you, and not each other! The only victory conditions are Space and Conquest wins. This is a change from the original plan but due to the unique nature of the game, the AI was able to score domination and cultural wins well before the human player had a chance of winning. The human does get one bonus, they start with the knowledge of all techs, Republic for a government, a Settler, Worker, Conquistador, and a Mech Infantry. Please see GreatBeyond's post in this thread for the story behind the scenario.

Good Luck!

Starting Location

Click for a larger image.



Scope of the Game

The normal changes to the Conquests rules apply to this game: Iron locations are fixed, and Workers insted of Settlers can be popped from Goody Huts.

Civilization|Spanish - Religious, Seafaring
Difficulty|Deity
Map size|Large 130 X 130
Map topology|Archipelago
Rivals|Thirteen pre-selected
Enabled victory conditions|Conquest, Space
Required victory condition|None

The starting save is available now on the Release Page, and the closing date for submissions is December 23.

 

[greatbeyond]

It is the year 2525 and the Astronave Santa Maria is on its way to settle a new world on a distant planet. Unfortunately it has suffered serious difficulties and must land its precious cargo on a nearby planet. It appears to be a world similar to what they left behind, a temperate climate, a bounty of goods and luxuries, and lots of land. Though they are able to land safely, their ship is damaged beyond any hope of fixing it. Enjoying the freedom of the open spaces after the close confines of the colony ship, the travelers give no thought to leaving this new world.

The new world is not uninhabited though and during a survey of the world Queen Isabella meets with the indigenous people who share a primitive form of collective consciousness. Queen Isabella's haughty manner and harsh treatment of the people she meets goes horribly wrong. She has angered and insulted them. Their prophets tell of one who will come and destroy their world and enslave them all. If the invaders are not destroyed their world will be consumed in a ball of fire.

The people agree to unite and destroy the threat to their way of life. WAR is declared! The Queen is barely able to escape back to the lush island that the Spanish people have made their home. Unfortunately the shuttle Isabella used is also lost. The situation that seemed so ideal has turned and now they must either fight and somehow win against overwhelming odds or flee the planet.

 

[greatbeyond]

Details of the game:

You start with a Settler, Worker, Conquistador, and a Mech Infantry. You also start with Republic for a government and it has been changed to be your favorite. You also have full knowledge of the new world, thanks to a solitary satellite you have placed in orbit. Because you are and advanced race from space, you have knowledge of all technologies. This means you can build anything you have the resources for. Plan well.

Your enemies are legion. 13 AI civs are locked in a coalition against you. This means they will not fight each other and will unite to destroy the human payer. In addition, because of Queen Isabella, the AI aggression has been raised to the maximum. They know where you live and will be coming for you! In addition as this is a strange new world, the Black Death may come visiting you as well as sickness and disease which were left at the game default level.

I checked the setting for no barbarians, but they still appear in the game and I could not find what the issue was.

The only two victory conditions available are Space and Conquest. I know this is different from the original plan for COTM118. The reason is that in testing the AI was able to easily get both a domination and cultural victory well before the human had a chance of winning. Diplomatic was also out because the AI will always win. You can't negotiate with the AI.

I tested this several times fine tuning it to make sure the human player has a chance of winning. The AI will come at you hard and fast even if the units they send are inferior you can still lose. I had a regular Rifleman lose to both an Archer and a Swordsman. A veteran Rifleman lost to an Med Inf. A Destroyer losing to a Caravel.
Who was it that said quantity has a quality all it's own?

I will answer general questions and post any other info I have forgotten.

I know this is a different type of game and hope it is enjoyable. It should also have good replay value after you have submitted your game. Time requirements for this game should not be excessive. I was able to finish in a few hours, of course I played it several times, fast and a little reckless, just to make sure it could be done. I don't see anybody going for a time victory.

 

[Kuningas]

Seems interesting. I go for conquest, but don't know with units to use. We have iron, horses and coal. Propably no other resources on the island.

 

[hth]

I checked the setting for no barbarians, but they still appear in the game and I could not find what the issue was.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=10548388&postcount=7

In scenarios the barb setting is the same as in the last game with a random map. If you want the barb setting to be something special you can start a new game with that setting, stop in the first turn and then start the scenario.

 

[templar_x]

indeed. sounds interesting.
however, the introduction on the game site is not correct.
t_x

 

[AlanH]

indeed. sounds interesting.
however, the introduction on the game site is not correct.
t_x

Sorry, fixed. Somehow my editor is having trouble uploading the edited version of a file.

 

[Più Freddo]

It's difficult to say anything about strategy before one has opened the save and located all the resources. I will be going for Space, as I don't think I'll have time to kill off 13 Deity AI:s on a large map in only six weeks. Not even with Knights (if needed for Saltpeter), Cavalry and Modern Armour.

 

[Lord AJ]

Looks like this will be VERY interesting to play. I'll go for space. I wonder though with all techs already available, only getting super production cities and a GA is all that a space win will need, won't it be too quick? All we really need to worry about is defending cities from horses, archers and swords. A question : Are we already at war with everyone?

 

[templar_x]

with all these hostile Deity troops landing on our island, I plan to rush all my factories with MGLs
t_x

 

[greatbeyond]

I wanted the screen shot to show the whole island, so here it is. From this you should be able to see all the resources available to you on the starting island. Please keep this in mind. There are resources required to build the spaceship such as uranium and aluminum. There aren't any on your island. Once you open the save, you will be able to see the whole world and locations of AIs and resources. I changed the values for aluminum, uranium, and oil so they will not disappear on you. There aren't any goody huts on the island, but there are on the rest of the world. This means the AI will get them and advance a little more rapidly.

You start the game at war with everyone. There is no way to even talk to the AI.
Even though you have the knowledge to build anything, some have resources that are required before you can build them.

I am sure that some of you will come up with strategies to make this seem way too easy. Too be fair to those who choose the Conquest option, it will take a long time if you can even be successful.

 

[Lord AJ]

Is it possible to make peace at any time in the game or will all the AI be always at war?

 

[AlanH]

I guess if you can't even talk to them, you can't offer a peace treaty.

 

[Più Freddo]

I suppose War Unhappiness will be raging after some time, and there's going to be nothing much to do about it.

 

[templar_x]

sure. start that spaceship!
t_x

 

[Kuningas]

I suppose War Unhappiness will be raging after some time, and there's going to be nothing much to do about it.

Revolt government. Communism is the best option without War Weariness?

EDIT:Monarchy may be better. We have the tiny island thus can money rush buildings.

 

[Più Freddo]

So will the war start at once or only after we meet the first AI?

Could we (theoretically) ward them off with Privateers and Submarines and never meet until we need to claim resources on their land?

 

[greatbeyond]

You have contact with all AIs right from the start. It will just take them a little while to research Map Making to build galleys to get to you. I had pondered gifting them MM but that might have guaranteed the demise of the human race.

AlanH is right; "No talk, No Peace" just keep chanting this while playing.

HTH: Thanks for the tip about the barbs.

Even though the barbs are raging, if you use your Conquistador wisely, you should be able to keep them from gaining a foothold on your island. A word of warning though. Several times in testing the Conquistador was killed trying to attack a barb warrior.

 

[Lord AJ]

I see 6 luxes from the screenshot. That would help cope with the ww for some time (at least till all cities are up to specs) but switching to monarchy later would be unavoidable . Switching early could save a few turns but the extra income from Republic will be lost. What do you guys think?

 

[Lanzelot]

Something is wrong with this game: usually war weariness starts to kick in only after you have lost a few battles or cities. In this game however, WW kicks in as soon as Madrid grows to size 2! The first citizen is content, as it should be on Deity, and when the second citizen is born, both of them turn unhappy and the unhappiness causes are:
66%: All we are sayin' is give peace a chance!
33%: It's just way too crowded.

How can that be? There hasn't been any battle yet, and just being at war with someone does not cause war weariness! Is everybody else seeing the same? Should I play on or can we expect a "patch"?