ROTQM12: Re-enactment Of The Queen Mother

[Ozbenno]

Welcome to the latest edition of the wildly (un)successful ROTQM series.

In the beginning there was just one lonely lady (Victoria) with 8 angry suitors (Alexander, Bismark, Genghis, Julius, Monty, Mao, Napoleon & Tokugawa).

To re-introduce pholkhero into the vagaries of Civ IV, we're going to recreate this game.

Difficulty: Noble
Map: Pangaea
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Temperate
Water level: Medium
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Epic
Victory Conditions: all enabled, but anything less than conquest is a loss!
Variant: Raging BARBS!! Always War!!

Spots are reserved for returning heroes but the more the merrier if anyone still inhabits this dusty part of the forum.

Roster:
pholkhero
ozbenno
ruff_hi
Nolition

DM SG Rules

Spoiler :

Alpha: The quality of your report outweighs the quality of your play. We'’re here to have fun, and, of course, winning is fun, but losing in style is preferable to a boring win. [see pholk's signature if you have any questions]

Bravo: Reports should be detailed, with screen shots and player commentary, explanations, musings, etc; an auto-log dump will not suffice.

Charlie: Punctuality rocks! “24/48” means post a "got it" within 24 hours of when the last save was posted, and play and post within 48 hours of that ‘got it.’ Waiting 47 hours to ask for a skip is lame. Punk out two times in a row, and you’ll be dropped from the roster. Skips and swaps are fine, but try to let us know sooner, rather than later. Looking at you here, pholk!

Delta: Major game decisions (war/peace declarations, city/district placement, Great People placement, I guess even builder improvements) should be arrived at via group consensus.
1. If the team disagrees with you, you can either argue your case better or do it their way. Do NOT just blow them off and do it your way because it's your turn. We're not all special little snowflakes, you especially.
2. If there’ is no consensus and you'’re up, do it your way and explain why. Conversely, if someone else is up, don't whine when they do it their way.
3. Similarly, overruling techs or city builds is rude [unless Greyfox comes back and plays after pholk] and should be done via consensus, barring an emergency.
4. In extraordinary situations, sometimes an opportunity presents itself that the group didn't foresee. If the consequences of it are great, players should stop, and refer the question to the group.

Echo: Be Excellent to Each Other. Being a better player does not give you the right to belittle anyone else or their play. Other people are going to disagree with you on major decisions; get used to the idea, and play nice. If not, take your ball and go home. Party On, Dude!

Foxtrot: Thread spam is good. We’'re here to play in a friendly environment. Trash talking, poking fun, gentle ribbing, virtual noogies, and generally horsing around are all encouraged, esp as many of us haven't been around in a while and haven't "seen" many of you in long time, if ever. However, don’t be jerk. Looking at you here, Rex!

Golf: Automate sparingly.
1. Use of the “Emphasis” buttons is fine, but let the group know and explain your reasoning (specialization is a major game decision). If you prevent growth in a city, let the group know and remind them to take it off.
2. Sending units on go-to routes that last beyond your set is acceptable only if they’re heading for a rally point or if you otherwise inform your teammates.

Hotel: NEVER fortify Great People. Is it so hard to push the spacebar 15 times??

India: Sign spamming is rude. Signs can be helpful reminders, but too many signs makes them easily ignored. Once a sign is no longer valid, delete it. [The only exception to this are city specialization signs.]

And if anyone cares to delve into other games in the series check out

Return of the Quantum Monkeys - Loss
Refrains of the Quatrain Mavens - Loss
Revenge on Those Queen Muthaz - Loss
Really OK Thanks For The Memories - Won
Rune Oaths Terrify Quarrying Midgets - Won
Raging Over The Quarreling Mountains - Won

 

[pholkhero]

Checking in, (mostly) healthy!

 

[ruff_hi]

Yawn. What?

 

[Ozbenno]

Yawn. What?

Excellent, you're in

Was thinking that we could use BUFFY-V3 mod for this, don't need to use all the HOF stuff but is has all the BAT and BULL goodness inside.

I'll roll up a start in the next day or so and we can get rolling after that.

 

[pholkhero]

I've got hte latest BAT but iirc, there's no compatibility issues btwn saves right?

 

[Nolition]

I'm looking forward to following along! This seems like a fun concept for a game.

 

[Ozbenno]

I'm looking forward to following along! This seems like a fun concept for a game.

Why not even join in?

I've attached a test save from BUFFYV3 Mod, can you check Mr pholk that you can open it? Once we have Mod compatibility, I'll roll us a start.

 

[Nolition]

Why not even join in?

I've attached a test save from BUFFYV3 Mod, can you check Mr pholk that you can open it? Once we have Mod compatibility, I'll roll us a start.

I would love to (it seems like a ton of fun), but I am currently trying to get BUFFY working, and having a great deal of problems. I've been working at it for months and am in the process of purchasing CivIV for the third time in order to try to get it to work.

 

[Nolition]

Update: that save file actually worked. Miracle of miracles - it seems my problem is actually just with the HOF and GOTM. If we don't need to submit it to HOF, I can play. And I'm definitely willing to take part! I have a new game posted in the Civ4 stories forum and an ongoing one in the Civ3 forum. Would you mind peeking over there and letting me know if that quality of report is adequate? I can be more detailed in my actions and give a more... turn-by-turn based summary in order to make it easier for the next player to pick up where I left off.

From a gameplay point of view, I've never played on Epic length, Always War or Raging Barbs (other than a joke game almost a decade ago). I may require some more strategic and tactical advice than the average player. I typically play on Monarch.

I tend to be in and out of these forums regularly and am definitely up to discuss game decisions. Additionally, I can be reached in real-time (particularly if it's just for people to bug me about posts that were made here). My messaging app of choice is Telegram, but I have been known to communicate using Steam's half-baked "chat" program.

I will be engaging in some inter-continental travel in about a month, but we'll deal with that when (if!) we get there.

 

[ruff_hi]

Nolition ... you are missing the whole concept of these games. These games (well, most of them) are about trashing how the other player left you the game, changing the tech, build lists and generally fixing all of the issues that you inherited. They are then setting up strategic directions that take 100 turns to come to fruition. Obviously, since we are only playing 10-15 turns per round ... you have more than ample evidence to trash the others for ruining your perfectly laid out strategy.

BTW - I opened the test turn and was disgusted to find that we only have a single resource ... and dry rice at that.

If your BUFFY issues are with the HOF / GOTM, check if you are running on a windows based machine (better / easier) and that you have modified assets checked.

 

[Nolition]

Nolition ... you are missing the whole concept of these games. These games (well, most of them) are about trashing how the other player left you the game, changing the tech, build lists and generally fixing all of the issues that you inherited. They are then setting up strategic directions that take 100 turns to come to fruition. Obviously, since we are only playing 10-15 turns per round ... you have more than ample evidence to trash the others for ruining your perfectly laid out strategy.

BTW - I opened the test turn and was disgusted to find that we only have a single resource ... and dry rice at that.

If your BUFFY issues are with the HOF / GOTM, check if you are running on a windows based machine (better / easier) and that you have modified assets checked.

I see!

This is what happens with the GOTM:

 

[Ozbenno]

BTW - I opened the test turn and was disgusted to find that we only have a single resource ... and dry rice at that.

Not the actual save, just a random one generated to see if people could open it.

I'll post an actual start tonight or tomorrow.

Nolition, welcome aboard!

 

[ruff_hi]

There should be an asset checker that you can run against your install that will tell you if you have the right version of BUFFY - try this link ... http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php?show=assetschecker

 

[Ozbenno]

There should be an asset checker that you can run against your install that will tell you if you have the right version of BUFFY - try this link ... http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/mod.php?show=assetschecker

This.

The probable cause of your issues Nolition is that the Assets have changed. Because GOTM and HOF games are played with the "Lock Modified Assets"option on, this means if the assets are changed from default it will not open the game (or be accepted in HOF case).

 

[Ozbenno]

OK, so game setup is like this

To give us this

And I rolled 3 starts (as a bonus to getting back into the swing of these games).

The first

Second

Third

Thoughts???

 

[Ozbenno]

For my 2c....

The first save looks inviting but potentially is food poor as you'd have to farm two grass tiles to be able to work the gold and stone as well as the sheep and cow. Potentially you could settle on the stone (for a +2h bonus to boot) and bring the wheat into range but it is dry wheat so still a problem and we'd lose the gold.

The second has plenty of production/chopping potential but the food sources won't be good until Calendar (for the banana) and Civil Service (for the Wheat).

The third looks nice. The stone/gold combination seems easier to work with the floodplains, with the cow you could even cottage them rather than farm (and we are financial) and work those tiles. The lake tiles aren't great though but we seem to be up against a coast which is one less front to defend.

For what its worth, the third seems best.

I'm off to now play a practise run and see how quickly I die...

 

[ruff_hi]

I'm very tempted by the 1st one. Is that stone on a plains hill? Put the capital there and we get a 3H city tile (IIRC).

 

[pholkhero]

i like 3 i think as well. 1 is nice; i think w the cows and sheep, you could move 1 nw and grab that wheat too for mining the hills. we lose the gold but gain teh wheat if we settle on stone, though we will lose out on the production longer term.

so that's no decision. I think 1 is good for a production have capital, but 3 is probably good in teh long term for commerce.

edit: forgot we are financial; i think 3 then. capital will be a later-game powerhouse, plus have fair stats in teh early game from the FPs letting us work those production tiles. warrior and mining first?

 

[Nolition]

Some thoughts:

Moving NW is an option on 1, but the benefit of dry wheat isn't that strong. Am I seeing correctly in the FoW that there's water 3N of our settler? We would not be able to build a lighthouse if we move NW, so that would be a sub-optimal 1 food coastal tile that we'd be stuck with for the entire game. My thinking is that trading the grassland (rivered) tiles is not worth it to gain wheat+poor coast. If we're going to be moving at all, I personally would favour W over NW, for the 3HPT capital. We'd lose the gold, though. I would argue that the early production benefit will outweight the long-term benefits of sticking a quarry on it and using our surplus food to work it.

3 is definitely easier to work the gold. Lots of floodplains. I'd have a slight preference for 3 over 1, as pholkhero pointed out: it's a good fit for Elizabeth's financial trait.

 

[Ozbenno]

OK looks like save 3 is the one.

I played two run throughs (one abandoned) and have a couple of thoughts.

As we have stone, Great Wall is a good option. I abandoned my first run through as the barbs were hard work and I wanted to try a run with Great Wall. It took 8 turns to build (speeded by chopping) which was OK. The Great Spy is good as well, we can use the EPs for stealing.

Also, as it is Noble, the AIs start without an archer and will use the starting scout or warrior for scouting and leave the capital undefended, allowing us to come in and destroy them in the first 10 turns (in both saves) and resettle later.

In general, we can get a pretty hefty tech advantage over the AI (leveraging our financial trait) and once I got to Knights, Trebuchets and then Curaissers the game was just a mop up exercise.

I would go Hunting -> Archery first and then Bronze Working and Masonry.