Request for a Civ4: BtS "Intermediate" Succession Game

[Jamesds]

Hey,

I thought that since there are some people that want to get better at their Civ game, and Beyond the Sword has just been released and there are more strategies to be discovered, what better way is there for us to develop at our Civ:BtS game than to take part in a Succession game!

A succession game is basically where you play a certain number of turns (like 15) and send in your save. The 'moderator' compiles all the data from them and then everyone discusses their tactics and the way forward. This continues to a certain date, or until everyone feels satisfied that it is finished. This helps all the players develop and become better players (I know I was able to jump up a level soon afterwards in the last one I did with cracker and handyandy). This is especially helpful for tips on starting a game, and how to get a civ up and running.

This SG is starting Thursday 16th August. Make sure random# from 1 - 100 000 is sent to me by 1430 hours GMT, so I can have the save ready by 1500 hours GMT.

Round Index

Index of First Round (Turns 0 - 40)
Index of Second Round (Turns 41 - 80)
Index of Third Round (Turns 81 - 110)
Index of Fourth Round (Turns 111 - 140)
Index of Fifth Round (Turns 141 - 170)


Current News

Deadlines & Dates

• Round 5 discussion ends and votes to placed Monday 17th September

Save History

First Round: Turns 0 - 40 - Remember to read all this first post before starting the SG
Second Round: Turns 41 - 80 (pawelo)
Third Round: Turns 81 - 110 (frob2900)
Fourth Round: Turns 111 - 140 (jamesds)
Fifth Round: Turns 141 - 170 (Erathelix)

Starting Position

Here's the starting position:



Game Details

- Players -

Jamesds (Leader)
frob2900 (Historian)
Putchuco
pawelo
Erathelix
asaegyn
pigswill

- Game Config -

Map Size: Standard with 7 Civs
Map: Big & Small (without small islands)
Climate: Temperate
Sea Level: Low
Difficulty: Prince
Game Speed: Normal
Civ: Babylonians

- Civ Selection -

0. Babylonians (Agg, Org)
1. Byzantines (Spi, Imp)
2. Dutch (Cre, Fin)
3. Ethiopian (Cre, Org)
4. HRE (Pro, Imp)
5. Khmer (Exp, Cre)
6. Maya (Exp, Fin)
7. Native American (Phi, Pro)
8. Portuguese (Exp, Imp)
9. Sumerian (Cre, Pro)

The final Civ will be chosen from the last digit of the sum of all the random numbers you send me - thanks frob2900 for this ingenious idea:

OK, rand#'s received in order:
Zetetic Apparat: 672
pawelo: 68
frob: 314159
rrau: 12651
Total = 327 550

Last digit is 0, so civ is the Babylonians! Not played as them yet, so should be interesting.

-- A Basic Outline of this SG --

1. I post the beginning save, you all download it and play the stated number of turns
2. At the end of the turn at which the limit has been set (e.g. the 40th turn for first round) you save it and post it here
3. Write a brief description of what you did with the post, screenshots are good too
4. We discuss how it went, and using the collated data for the submitted saves, we decide whose game to continue with
5. Download that save and play the stated number of turns
6. Goto 2 until end of game is reached

- Rounds -

The first round will be 40 turns. This will probably be decreased as the game continues to 10 turns per round, but we will decide what to do at the end of every round - this isn't laid in stone. Once you have reached the 40th turn, complete it, but do not end your turn! After we have all posted our saves and a brief description of what we did, and what happened, we will embark on a discussion - this is the part where we will learn the most.

When posting, please include your name, and the turn the game is at. e.g. Jamesds_Turn40.

We will all continue our games from one player's save at the beginning of each round so as to make comparisons between moves and tactics used in a round more meaningful. The chosen save will be a democratic vote, with no voting for self. The data collated from the posted saves, and the account of each player's game, will help in deciding the chosen save.

The idea is to not rush this, and even if it takes a month to finish, as long as we learn as much as we can from eachother's styles, we have succeeded in our aim.

- Compatibility -

The version of Beyond of Sword you are using does not matter, since no gameplay elements have been modified by either 3.02 or 3.03. I am using 3.03, you may use whichever version you choose, preferably 3.02 due to the crashes reported elsewhere on the forums which I haven't yet experienced.

We will all be required to use Solver's Unofficial Patch which fixes some badly balanced game-play elements such as the city killing espionage missions. To install Solver's Unoffical Patch visit this thread: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=235067 and download it. Copy all the files in the zip into the CvGameCoreDLL directory in the Beyond the Sword directory in the Civilization 4 folder. For me, this is located in: C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\CvGameCoreDLL\ . This should be the same for you unless you changed the install folder during installation. Simply replace the files unless you are able to create a mod for it (I'll leave that to you). This will affect all your Civ4 games, but it fixes many things that the first proper patch should fix when it is released.

- Discussion -

To discuss the game together, we will generally use this thread. Posting screenshots is great, and annotating them to show your strategies is excellent. However, try and put them in spoiler tags to avoid the pages becoming too big. Also, though it is not obligatory, downsizing them a little will help those on small bandwidths and it will help your CFC private storage from filling too soon. Remember, that just pressing Print Screen a few times in the game is all that is required to get some screenshots - they are stored in My Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\ScreenShots as jpegs for easy manipulation and upload.

When possible, it would be great to be able to have a live chat. For this purpose, IRC on Freenode would be perfect. To be able to discuss the game 'live', you have two possibilities:

1. Download an IRC Client, such as X-Chat or mIRC (google them to find them). Then join Freenode, and go to channel #bts_sg.
2. Go to http://java.freenode.net//index.php?channel=bts_sg and you will be connected in a java client - by far the easiest option.

If we feel that an IRC chat is necessary, it should be planned in advance to ensure as many as possible can make it.

 

[frob2900]

I'd be interested if it's at Monarch level. I should have a lot of free time coming up next week

 

[chopstyx]

Interested in taking part but as it'll be my first succession game I don't know too much about them.

I usually play at Noble but would be interested in any level above that.

 

[Jamesds]

Personally, since I play on Noble currently, I would be interested in a Noble game and a Prince game.

However, if there are a few people interested in leading these games, there can always more than one SG.

Don't worry if you haven't played one before - I hadn't when I played my last one, and it is easy enough to grasp.

 

[pawelo]

If it's a noble/prince game, count me in please.
Best time span between posts would be 50 turns I think.
Have you already thought about what settings would it be ? Personally, I like large/epic on new big/small maps, but a marathon on a huge one could be a nice try Any of the new civ would do, although a many leaders game could be great ( i.e. each player chooses his own leader but starts at the same spot ).
Keep me posted as soon as you start one! And move the thread into Civ 4 / Stories and Tales / SG.

 

[Jamesds]

ok pawelo, we'll count you in. chopstyx and frob2900 too. That's 4 players currently. frob2900 - would you be still interested if the game was at a Prince level?

Now, is anyone prepared to lead us? We can accept some more players too...

Also, could a mod move this to the correct forum? Thanks!

 

[Zetetic Apparat]

I'd love to play, Noble would perfect but Prince & Monarch would be fine too.

Does moderation/leading just involved presenting data from the save to everyone? (State of the Civ, basically?) I'd be happy enough to do that (something to take my mind off impending exam results) and I have webspace to store images on.

 

[Jamesds]

I'd love to play, Noble would perfect but Prince & Monarch would be fine too.

Does moderation/leading just involved presenting data from the save to everyone? (State of the Civ, basically?) I'd be happy enough to do that (something to take my mind off impending exam results) and I have webspace to store images on.

Thanks for volunteering, Zetetic Apparat. Yes, leading the game would involve collating data from all the saves. However, usually a very proficient civ player will lead, since he can also act as the 'teacher' or 'tutor'. However, as long as we have at least one high level player with us, then it would be fine.

So, it's looking like Prince so far, possibly Monarch. I think that would suit us all. I would prefer a small-standard map, being that my laptop might get kinda slow in later dates. However, large might be alright since we probably won't play that far into the future anyway.

Please look at this link to see what the CivIII SG went like, with some of us beginners (and experts) many years ago. It was great fun.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36486

 

[Methos]

in the last one I did with cracker and handyandy.

Moderator Action: Cracker huh? Yeah, it has been a while since you've played a SG.

Moved to the SG forum.

 

[Jamesds]

Moderator Action: Cracker huh? Yeah, it has been a while since you've played a SG.

Moved to the SG forum.

Thanks Methos. Yes, it was nearly 5 years ago now. I see Cracker hasn't been in the forums for 3 years now...

 

[rrau]

I'd be interested. In warlords, playing at monarch level, but less than that on BtS as I haven't figured out too well the new war stragegies. (used to just spam cats and use mainly them for war, but can't do that anymore)

 

[Jamesds]

rrau, since we currently propose to play on Prince, it seems you will fit in nicely. I will add you to the list in the first post.

 

[chopstyx]

All sounds good to me.

My preference is that we play on a standard map in normal speed, but any configuration apart from Duel is okay with me.

 

[Jamesds]

ok, here's a possible config:

Map Size: Standard
Map: Continents
Climate: Temperate
Sea Level: Low
Difficulty: Prince
Game Speed: Normal

Now for the Civ, we can either choose different Civs (no fighting) or all use the same Civ. Personally, I think using the same Civ would lead to better discussion of the beginning strategy, since we are all 'in the same boat'.

If that's the case, then which Civ? Should we choose one to suit an early war strategy, or a peaceful strategy?

 

[chopstyx]

That config sounds perfect to me.

As for the civ, I reckon that we use a new BtS civ, and I favour a war strategy, but again I'm cool with anything.

I just want to learn how other people play the game so I can improve my own skill level.

 

[Jamesds]

That config sounds perfect to me.

As for the civ, I reckon that we use a new BtS civ, and I favour a war strategy, but again I'm cool with anything.

I just want to learn how other people play the game so I can improve my own skill level.

Yeah, same here - I just want to improve my game by seeing how others play in the same situation. As I said, I am not even a great Noble player, but I can win if I get a good start, so that's what I want to improve on.

So, what about the Dutch? I just played as them, they've got a great UB for coastal cities, and the UU is good (especially for colonising). Creative is a great trait too.

As for the number of turns we should play before submitting, I think somewhere between 10-20 would be good. At the start, there isn't much to do compared to later in the game, so we can progressively shorted the turn span from, say, 20 - 10 and 5 turns if we get to the Modern Era.

 

[pawelo]

Great choice dutch. Actually, if we played with different civs, I would actually have chosen them. Eager to discover their uniqueness

 

[chopstyx]

So how does it actually work, do we all play the agreed amount of turns, and then we discuss why we've made those decisions?

And then going forward do we all use the 'best' persons save game as the reload or do we continue our own separate saved games?

Thanks.

 

[Jamesds]

Great choice dutch. Actually, if we played with different civs, I would actually have chosen them. Eager to discover their uniqueness

Yes, I think the Dutch could be a good choice. We'll see what the others have to say first.

So how does it actually work, do we all play the agreed amount of turns, and then we discuss why we've made those decisions?

And then going forward do we all use the 'best' persons save game as the reload or do we continue our own separate saved games?

Thanks.

Well, yes - you've got the general idea. We play say 15 turns, save our games at the end of the 15th turn, and submit them here. Then probably post a log of what happened each turn. In doing this, we can compare everyone's gameplay tactics.

We don't have to use the best person's save, I think if we do a parallel SG where we all continue our own game, we can see how all our strategies work out.

But that is open to discussion. This is the reason I'd like an experienced SG leader/player, someone who can help on these issues, since I have only played in one of these, and that was years ago when I was 13. Check out the link in an earlier post to see what we did. You'll see what I mean about turn-logs and such.

 

[pigswill]

If you haven't done so already you could check out the current many leaders game hosted by Ozbenno. You could also check out the Save the Trash Game threads which operate on parallel games from a comon starting position.

15 turns per set could potentially make it a very long game. By the time people play their games, post their reports, discuss and anaylze each other games etc it could easily take 3-5 days per set(maybe longer).