News: WOTM18 Pregame Discussion

[Thrallia]

WOTM18: Rome

[img=right]http://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/wotm18civ.jpg[/img]

Game Details:

Game settings:
Civilization: Rome (Leader: Augustus Caesar; Traits: Organized, Creative)
Rivals: 6 AIs
Difficulty: Deity!
Map: Fractal
Climate: Tropical
Sea Level: Medium
Mapsize: Standard
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Epic
Options: None
Victory Conditions: all enabled

Augustus Caesar:
Augustus Caesar is Organized and Creative; starting with fishing and mining. Organized gives you -50% upkeep for civics and double production speed of Courthouses and Lighthouses. Creative gives you +2 per city and double production speed for theatre, colisseum, and library.

Unique unit: Praetorian(replaces Swordsman)
The Praetorians were the elite members of the Roman Legions, protecting the Emperor himself. They have a strength of 8, rather than the normal 6 of swordsmen, and cost slightly more than a swordsman(45 vs 40 on normal speed...not sure on epic, anyone want to help on that?)

Unique building: Forum(replaces Market)
The Forum replaces the market, costing the same, but adding a bonus to your great people production of 25%

Starting screenshot
This is the start of the game (click for a bigger image):



Adventurer Class bonuses:

1. Gifted Sages: Your people have learned knowledge of Hunting from a passing shaman.
2. Hard Workers: One of your tribesmen has volunteered to be a worker(same tile as settler).
3. Hunter: One of your hunters has taught your warrior to use a bow and arrow(warrior is replaced with an archer).

Challenger Class Equalizers:

1. Amnesia: Your people are suffering from amnesia and have lost all knowledge of technology.

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open on 27 May2008. From that date, you'll be able to get the starting saves at here. Use the same URL to submit your completed entry, which you must do by 22 July 2008.

Civ version

This game MUST be played in Warlords (NOT Beyond the Sword or vanilla Civ), patched to version 2.13, as modified by BtS version 3.13, and with the HOF mod version 2.13.002 installed. You can download the HOF mod here. Any Windows players who have not installed BtS will need to update the relevant DLL files in order to match the Locked Assets checks. These are available here

Mac players will require the new 2.13 patch, with a new HoF Mod, HOF-Mac-2.13.001.

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.

Finally, if you have any problems while playing this game(crashes, etc) please notify either AlanH or myself via pm.

 

[Lexad]

Первыйнах! Let's do it!

 

[Gnejs]

Yeah! Deity!

PS. Is it possible to turn on the resource bubbles? It's kind of difficult to see the resources in the SS...

 

[PutCashIn]

Even with that start I'm taking the adventurer save!

 

[Erkon]

Excellent! Thank you!! This may very well turn out into a mass defeat

 

[Jove]

Wow, nearly two months to complete this one. If I'm smart I'll do some Deity homework first- I'm not very confident at this level.

Anyone thinking of saving those metals for a 2nd town? Looks like they're stuck in jungle...

 

[AndySir]

Ouch. I think we've had a little run of Emperor or higher games since I made the jump to Civ4 (they're done in cycles, right?), the result being I've yet to submit a completed game before my frustration level goes through the roof.

I'll give it a bash, though. Settle in place seems sound, four or five archers before founding the second city I read and it struck me as sound advice. Other than that I'll just toddle off and have my first attempt at the deity level.

 

[pjdodd]

Is this WOTM actually going to use the 2.13 patch?

 

[cas]

1 or 2 of the AI will be mired in jungle and that will slow them down a bit. I'm hoping we don't have iron and the map is not pangea fractal. Even though I will get my arse handed to me, the writeups and info in the savegames of the better players will be more interesting. The praet rush thing is so played out.

cas

 

[LowtherCastle]

Whoopie!!!

IW or Alpha bee-line? The pigs and ivory suggest Alpha. But if we don't have enough trading partners, then we're screwed.

 

[Lexad]

AI tend to research IW early in the jungle - let's hope there will be a willing trading partner with IW and Calendar. After that beeline towards Astro if there is no galley way - for elephant-prat-cat combo there is no counter untill knights (or ultra mass cats, but AI is rarely capable of such move).

 

[Thrallia]

Is this WOTM actually going to use the 2.13 patch?

the WOTM has used the 2.13 patch for over 8 months now.

 

[AlanH]

Is this WOTM actually going to use the 2.13 patch?

I assume you mean the Mac version? I hope to get the HoF Mod for 2.13 complete in time for game release, so the answer is, hopefully, yes.

Just in case your question implies a complaint, please note that there has only been one WOTM since the Mac version 2.13 was released - WOTM 13. That game started within a week or so of the Mac 2.13 release, and there was at least one Mac player who expressed a preference to stick with v2.08 for it. In the event, we received no Mac submissions for that game, and the last Mac submission for any WOTM was in WOTM 13.

 

[Erkon]

Thrallia, would it be possible for you to publish the results of WOTM17 before the new game begins? There are a couple of us who would like to know in order to select proper victory condition (in case this map is winnable )

 

[erikthecelt]

This start looks short of to me. What do people think about moving 1SE,1S and settling on the elephant? An IW beeline or an Alpha beeline are both possible. It will be more attractive if the warrior goes 1SE and spies seafood for the BFC.

 

[Lexad]

What do people think about moving 1SE,1S and settling on the elephant?

I think that thus you're losing health bonus from lake (which is vital on Deity) and get into jungle. I'd better settle on southern forest, despite losing the hammers. Abundance of food calls for fast settler to settle forested and, hopefully, more hammer abundant NW regions. Later - whip loads of prats and phants and cats

 

[Lexad]

As for optimal start, it seems we have to go as non-jesusin(tm) as ever - if we target directly Alphabet, there might be too huge development delay. So Bronze and Alph from Oracle might be a viable start. Than trade for IW, Maths and Calendar while going military.

 

[Erkon]

I'm considering settling on the W corn sugar or SSW corn. The extra food in city is worth one turn delay (worker takes 18 turns instead of 23 to build). The western corn sugar has the advantage of one less turn delay, a bit more food and potentially another hill (looks like hill 3W). The southern corn gets the gems in FC, but has the disadvantage that it blocks AI units from bypassing capital from west to east. This may prevent neighbors to let go of their perceived monopoly techs. Hmm. Tricky. First move with warrior is 1SE. If no super tiles are revealed, I'm leaning towards 1W and gamble on horsies NW

 

[Lexad]

There is only SSW corn, the rest 2 are sugar

 

[srad]

I am thinking about settling 1S on the forest and heading for IW supported by the gems. This would be the fastest way to get some prats out, but if there is no iron...
Maybe it is safer to beeline Alpha. Hm, don't know what to do