News: GOTM59 Pregame Discussion

[civ_steve]

GOTM 59 - The Vikings

Civilization: Scandinavia
Rivals: 7 pre-selected.
Barbarians: Restless
Difficulty: Emperor
Land Form: Continents, 70% ocean, standard map.
Geology: 4 billion years old, warm, wet

Conquest-Class Bonuses:
TBD.


Predator-Class Equalisers:
Stronger Axes - Your Berzerks require Iron!!
... and that should be more than sufficient

(Special Note: this will be the LAST Civ3 GOTM supporting Civ3 Vanilla! Starting with GOTM60 we will drop support for Civ3 Vanilla and only support PTW, so all you Vanilla players should consider upgrading to Civ3 Complete (if you haven't already done so) and practicing in PTW. Perhaps with this GOTM ... )

 

[ionimplant]

GOTM58 we had:
"Barbarians: Raging
Difficulty: Emperor
Land Form: Continents, 70% ocean, small map.
Geology: 4 billion years old, Warm, Wet."

maybe a poorer starting position is the biggest difference between these two games.

 

[Niklas]

I'd say standard map instead of small would also qualify as a large difference...

 

[Più Freddo]

Nasty. If we want coast we lose river or get too far away from the Game tile. First send the Worker to the Game, then the Scout somewhere and then decide to either settle in place or 2NW or elsewhere. Build some more Scouts, cut the forest on the Game.

 

[Redbad]

I think civ-steve has turned the world upsidedown: vikings that far south?

 

[Redbad]

Yes, chop and irrigate the game. Make the capitol a research center which pops out regarly a settler. Prepare a rcp further north and jump the palace.

 

[Niklas]

I'm often wary of chopping games, the 2F 2S can be very useful early on. In this case I tend to agree though.

We are at least half-way surrounded by ocean. A Gilligan start?


So, what type of Predator Challenge would people be up for this game? First standard size map in a while, that means we won't see any ultra-fast conquests or dominations. Maybe we should return to one of those? Otherwise I really enjoyed playing a science game in 58, I'd be up for another if someone else wants to.

 

[Kulko]

Hmm I got the feeling IW will nt be one of our top priorities in this game

At least when I look at the ugly smilie up there.

 

[King Of America]

@Kulko either that or we need to rush to MM--if necessary build the Lighthouse--and then rush IW. If there's no Iron on our continent, we'd better find it on another one fast.

 

[archphoenix]

and that should be more than sufficient (and a evil smile.)
...
agree with Kulko,
I think this mean the iron is too hard to get.
so there are absolutly no iron on our continent.

 

[PaperBeetle]

Do archers upgrade to beserks?

 

[AndySir]

@PaperBeetle

Archer certainly do upgrade to Berserks in a normal game, I'm sure they do here too (with access to the apparently elusive Iron in Predator, of course).

No idea where to start in this position - looks as though some exploring will be required. I hold vain hope that there will be something that will make the decision clearer just a sqaure or two away.

As the low man here, I'll go along with whatever Predator challenge the more experienced guys decide on but I agree with Mr Niklas that a domination would be a considerably trickier victory to get. Perhaps even the now legendary Mr Klarius' animations of world conquest will seem sluggish in comparison to previous months. Also, I almost always play for one of the peaceful victories in my own games so I wouldn't mind a change of challenge.

 

[LowtherCastle]

We are at least half-way surrounded by ocean. A Gilligan start?

If we alone on an island, the civ_steve's middle name is sadistic. I was wondering about that, because I suppose to the left is a dead-end peninsula, but what if that's a lake up there? That's the first thing I want to know. Plus, how far to our first neighbor? That jungle up around the equator may slow our scouts to a crawl. But if we have a nearby neighbor already pasteuriziing our cows, it might be nice to treat him to a bow-and-arrow sandwich. If we really have no neighbors, then...yawn.

 

[klarius]

I don't think a coastal capital is much benefit.
So my decision where to settle will be based only on where I can get the best land tiles. In place may be the decision, if there is nothing to gain.
We should look to get at least two BGs in the capital.
If there are 2 BGs, I will mine one before cutting the tree (even if it is outside the initial culture). Get the granary before growing to three and put the chop in the first settler.
If it's really as bad as it looks currently, I will have to rethink and maybe build a settler first.

BTW, I will probably go for conquest.
Looks like this is a game, where we don't need to rush at neck-breaking speed (which I don't like) to get a competitive conquest date.

 

[Niklas]

Alright, I was leaning towards it myself. So we have ourselves a

Predator Conquest Challenge

Just like the good ol' days!

 

[Paul#42]

nice predator handycap.

What do Predators build after Invention when they got no Iron?
Archers or longbows?

(no matter what, berserks are too expensive (to build or rush) to train more than a few to initiate a GA and get some of those yummy one-tile-islands...)

 

[Wardancer]

Well hurray for that - count me in for the PCC.

 

[AndySir]

Predator Conquest Challenge accepted in a fit of foolish bravado. I might even try to figure out how to post one of Mr Klarius' map animations for the sole purpose of embarassing myself.

 

[PaperBeetle]

Alright, I was leaning towards it myself. So we have ourselves a

Predator Conquest Challenge

Just like the good ol' days!

I'm in.

 

[Abegweit]

I'm leaning towards settling in place and jumping the Palace later as Redbad suggested. This looks like a pretty good start location but the long-term potential is poor. Ideal for that combination.

Count me in for the PCC, although I often lack time to finish my games