News: COTM36 Pre-Game Discussion

[civ_steve]

COTM 36: Ottomans

It's always fun to play as the Ottomans, and stomp the AI with wave after wave of Sipahi. So you'll get your chance (probably ) in this month's COTM, but your Sipahi will have to be able to 'ride' the waves on this Monarch Level Archipelago game.

Here is the COTM36 game info:

Civilization: Ottomans
Rivals: 7 pre-selected.
Barbarians: Restless
Difficulty: Monarch
Land Form: Archipelago, 70% ocean, Standard map.
Geology:3 billion years old, Wet and Warm.
AI Aggression: Normal.

Conquest-Class Bonuses:

1. 
   Extra 2 Warriors at Start
   50 More Gold in Treasury
   Knowledge of Alphabet

Predator-Class Equalisers:

1. 
   AI Tweaked to do more Exploring
   AI Aggression upped a notch to More Aggressive
   No Knowledge of Bronzeworking

(Note: we are changing to a new GOTM server on Monday, April 30th. This may cause 'some' disruption so I am planning to extend the time period for this COTM by a few days to compensate for any delays. So please be patient - you will have at least a month to play in, even if there are some initial delays.)

 

[eldar]

First off, we do have a 4-turn factory in place, running size 5-7 with exactly 30 shields:
T1: Irrigated cow + 2 FPs for +5 food; Cow+mined sugar+1xIrrigated plains+city tile for 6 shields
T2: +2 shields on growth from mined plains for 8.
T3: Work an additional irrigated plains for 7.
T4: +2 shields on growth from mined plains for 9.
6+8+7+9 = 30.

How big is our island though? And we're not on the coast. And that factory will take a while to set up (2 mines = 8 worker turns, 5 irrigated tiles = 15 worker turns, for a total of 23, before even considering roading and moving) even with an industrious worker, so possibly pop a worker before a settler?

And do we need a 4-turn factory? We're not seafaring, will other islands be in Curragh range for early contacts, or will we need Galleys?

TGL is nearly always a good build on 'pelago maps, esp for non-seafaring Civs. At Monarch it should be doable.

So many questions....

 

[Chamnix]

It looks like a forest NE-NE, so you shouldn't have to mine a plains tile to be worked on growth.

70% water, 'pelago I'd definitely make an attempt at the Great Lighthouse if there is a halfway-decent spot for it.

I would think a 4-turn factory is worthwhile. Compared to building a settler every 8 turns, you don't need room for that many cities before the granary is worth building, but I agree that an early worker may be called for - we'll see what the spreadsheet says...

 

[eldar]

Yep I didn't spot the forest. However I may still want to chop the forest to speed up the granary, probably to buy a couple of turns to build MPs before hitting size 5.

It may be okay to run a 5 or 6-turn factory from 5-7 prior to getting the worker tasks done, that should suffice to fill the island.

 

[PaperBeetle]

Well, it's a slightly tenuous bit of fog-gazing, but I call another moo E,SE, which means we'll have shields coming out of our ears. Perhaps even the legendary 4-turn settler/axe combo would be possible, though such a thing would be of limited use if we are fairly isolated.

 

[eldar]

There _is_ something there. It might be a Cow. That would just be silly. Of course there'll only be room for 3 or 4 cities on our island now

 

[ignas]

Will try diplomatic victory in this game for sure

 

[Più Freddo]

Perhaps the second Sugar 2N is there to trick us to move away from the second Cattle?

 

[dbarandiaran]

the mystery tile e-se might also be wines... pretty hard to tell though

 

[civ_steve]

I'm having some problems getting all the game files loaded up and COTM36 officially started. And the forums were down for a while, but are back up. In the meantime, I've updated the first post with the Conquest and Predator modifiers, and I'll get the game files loaded up soon.

 

[eldar]

How does one "tweak" an AI to encourage them to explore more? Give them a free curragh each...? No BW is probably not a problem at all. Aggression level probably isn't either unless we have a particularly nasty neighbour.

 

[RFHolloway]

Make them think that their galleys can travel over ocean?

 

[civ_steve]

How does one "tweak" an AI to encourage them to explore more? ...

I checked the Build Often box for Naval Units and Explore in the Editor for each AI civ in the game. Note: I said 'encourage', which doesn't mean they'll actually explore more.

Saves are available, finally

 

[ottoman_freak]

What is that N-N? It looks like coast, or is it just another sugar? If you feel like a gamble, it may actually be worth moving before building Istanbul - having a capital on the coast in archipelago is worth more than starting next to the cow.

Nice choice of civs - I've actually already been expirementing with ottos on islands lately (is the industrialism worth the land-orientation?), so this should be fun...

 

[PaperBeetle]

It's another sugar. I'm pretty content to stay inland - the first town will out very quickly and can go to the coast. We can't put out a curragh until Alpha is researched anyway. Except that I'm thinking 20k. This is a very powerful site, but how strong will the best coastal site be?

 

[TheOverseer714]

I will settle in place. Second City on coast, with one sugar not shared with capital. Maybe this will be a large island, most likely not. Haven't played an archi map in awhile, so I may be a bit rusty. Monarch level is doable for me, so I will go open class. Ready to roll.

 

[Ansar]

Will try diplomatic victory in this game for sure

Well, I guess that means Space attempt for me if I want to have a chance.

Fog-gazing skills tell me that it is wines!

 

[BornSlippy]

Hi! This will be my first GOTM. Is this kind of the same thing as when you lose your sexual virginity? Or better?

Edit: Hey, hang on. What's COTM? :O

 

[denyd]

COTM = Conquests Game of the Month
GOTM = PTW Game of the Month
SGOTM = Succession Game of the Month (team game)
XOTM = Represents something to do with all of these games

Oh, BTW: Welcome to the CFC Forums