SGOTM 12 - Smurkz

[AlanH]

Welcome to your SGOTM 12 team thread. Please use it for all internal team communication, turn logs and discussions. Subscribe to it to receive notifications, and do not visit the other team threads for this game until you have finished. Please also subscribe to the Maintenance Thread for this game here, where teams and staff may post non-spoiler information of general interest. I hope you enjoy the game.

The starting saves will become available on the SGOTM Progress and Results page on February 9th, at midnight, server local time.

This time we have an archipelago on a standard size map with 30 rivals (yes, that's every Civ in the book, so you know who they are), and everyone is destined to remain feudal for the entire game. You start with a settler and a worker as usual, and the AI all start with two settlers a lots of Deity units .... also as usual. But since there's not a lot of room for expansion, no one can build any more settlers.

Seafaring and Scientific Theodora finds herself in a world with 30 other civilizations. She and her Dromons are on a mission to bring civilized diplomacy to the masses ... whether they like it or not. The winners of this game will be the succession team that reaches a Diplomatic Victory by the earliest game date. All victory conditions are enabled, but only a UN vote in your favour will bring the laurels. Thanks once more to Gyathaar for the concept and map.

Here's the start.

​

Map Parameters
Playable Civ - Byzantine
Difficulty - Deity
Opponents - 30
World - Standard, Archipelago, 70% water, 4 billion years old, warm and wet
Barbarians - Roaming

The map is handbuilt, and therefore may not have a standard configuration.

Knowing Gyathaar as we do, the map may have been tweaked

Game mods:
We shall use the default rules as defined in the SGOTM Reference Thread, with the following changes specific to this game:

- All Civs start in Feudalism, and cannot adopt another form of government.
- No Civ can build Settlers.
- As city counts are limited, all Civs get ten extra free units in Feudalism.

The SGOTM Mediterranean resources are included. If you have played previous C3C SGOTMs then you will be ready. Other players will need to download and unzip this small graphics mod pack. Details are provided in the SGOTM Reference Thread..

Please ensure that you have included the line: NoAIPatrol=0 in your conquests.ini text file:

A 'fix' for the Barbarians!:
As many of you know, the barbarians in C3C are 'broken'. This can be fixed by going to your \Conquest\ folder, and opening your Conquests.ini file, and adding a line noaipatrol=0 to the file. Whilst we cannot force people to do this, it will make the game a bit more interesting if you do. If you are not comfortable editing your .ini file, you can download a utility here to do it automatically.

Players running Civ3 Complete for Macintosh should contact me if they have any problems with the mod. If they are not running the Rev A version they will need to use FileValet to compress their saves for upload, and they may also need to use it to 'clean' downloaded saves before playing.

Please visit the following links to ensure that you are adequately prepared, skipping references to PtW or Vanilla versions of Civ3.

The GOTM Reference Thread.
The SGOTM Reference Thread.

Notes:

A. ONLY Conquests version 1.22 (C3C) is supported for this SGOTM. All teams will compete for a single award set.

B. All teams must play the sponsored variant - the laurels will be awarded for the fastest Diplomatic victory. The wooden spoons will go to the team with the lowest final Jason score, having completed the game one way or another.

C. All saved game files uploaded to the server are parsed through software that extracts and archives data about your save, including reload count for each turn set.

Have fun

 

[CommandoBob]

I took today as a sick day just so I could have the first post (again)!

Well, I did take today off sick, but having the first post was not on my mind. I was feeling puny and didn't want to get any punier. But it hasn't helped much. Just not sick enough to stay in bed and rest, but not well enough to do much else.





What a way to start an SGOTM!

@ControlFreak: did dojoboy leave the CIV Smurkz team, too?

 

[Niklas]

How would CF know, he doesn't play CIV! But yes, dojoboy signed up as a lurker only for the latest CIV SGOTM, he hasn't been around for a while. Too bad, hope he comes back.

Anyway, CB, you know what first post means don't you? All the nice MMing that comes with the first 20 turns.

Anyway, signing in, and boy what a game this will be!

 

[ControlFreak]

Hey,all. My usual weekend restrictions exist so only count me as the third poster if it doesn't mean I'm delaying a potential player from playing the weekend.

sercer88 ... welcome to our team thread (when you get here). Niklas is our captain and usually sets up the initial roster (play order) based on the order we post here. I will use subsequent posts to talk about my advice I promised in the signup thread.

Niklas@ I'm not sure we want to play 20 turns even on the first turn. The rational is that with 30 civs and an extremely crowded map, we may already miss out on some trading discussions within the first 20 turns. (Of course, CB usually stops at discussion points even if it is his turn, so nevermind.)

Can't wait to talk about this one, but time is short for me now so I may wait until tomorrow.

EDIT: Latest Roster -> Check my signature.

 

[McLMan]

Checking in.

Glad to be back in the saddle. My schedule's eased a lot so I'm really looking forward to this one.

I'm going to throw out a couple of thoughts to get us started:

1. I see no reason to not settle in place. With the crowded map we'll need to get up and running ASAP, losing a turn could have a big impact.
2. We're not far off from the center of the map. Getting a couple of curragh's out (one East, another West) should be a priority. Since this is an Archipelago map I'd be willing to bet we're alone, lessening the need for a bunch of early defenders.

 

[CommandoBob]

I've never played a One City Challenge (OCC) and here we are at Diety with a super competitive OCC.

Shazam!

Stating the Obvious

We start with one settler, the AIs (all 30 of them) start with two.

A max of 61 cities.

The AIs will consistently out research us, since we are at Diety.

We need at least 3 civs to hold a UN vote (I think).

We have an archipelgo map, so AI to AI contact might be limited, allowing us to be a tech broker.

We can build workers, but no settlers. But after we max out our starting area, what's a worker to do? The best they could do would be to road to another civ, but we don't expect that to happen.

We will need a harbor to trade overseas, but given that the AI is roaming, we may want to wait until we Magnetism or Navigation before we trade overseas. As I understand it, until we can cross the ocean tiles safely, all trade routes are coastal, so a wandering barb galley could cut our trade route and we take the rep hit.

Our starting government is Feudal and cannot change.
This means we can pop rush.

Each civ gets 10 units supported free of charge. Since this is for all civs, this is something of a break in our favor.

Since we have only one city ( ) we will not be able to 'wing-it' on our builds. We will have to communicate our building plans (and probably have them in place for the entire turnset).

We have six very good tiles we can use right away: 4 Ivory and 2 cows. And we can easily grow to size 12.

 

[zyxy]

checking in.

Good to see you all again! And welcome sercer88!

Random initial thoughts:
- I would really consider moving 1 tile SE. Elephants are a nice source of income, and we need all the gold we can get. The City Centre gets 5 gpt anyway, IIRC. In this case, I would probably let the worker improve (road?) the tile where he is. An alternative is to join the worker back into the town - not sure if that's any good, probably not.
- agree with curraghs first. Then some defense.
- there seems to be another cow E-SE. No lack of food it seems.
- remember: no despotism penalties.
- one city wonders will be a lot more interesting. Colossus maybe? Or Mausollos? Do we have a shot at this? Cops and Newtons would be great of course...
- If we start wonder building, a second city would be safer. Perhaps conquer a weakling...
- Elephants => Ancient Cavs .
- problem early game is to keep up with the pack (although buying techs will probably be cheap, because n-fers should be easy to get). Later we'll have to conquer and take over the tech lead. But when?
- ideally 3 civs left standing at the end. Then the usual war/ally trick.
- poprushing is probably a bad idea unless at max pop. Getting to size 12 asap is probably good. This will be a spreadsheet game I think.

...I will use subsequent posts to talk about my advice I promised in the signup thread.

Note the plural .

On another note: I'll be away from tomorrow until next thursday (inclusive). I might be able to post, but not to play.

 

[sercer88]

I'm here. I guess I'm signing in.

About the 6 readily workable tiles, it looks like we actually have 7. There is another cow SE of the E Ivory. (it looks like a cow's head) I still think we should move our worker first (somewhere SE) to make sure we aren't missing out on anything, though.

I have a few questions, though. I don't have the Medit... resources graphics mod pack. How do you install graphics mod-packs?

Also, about the barbarian fix: I don't have a conquests.ini file, but I do have a configuration settings file, is that the same? In there, I do not see a NoAIPatrol command line...do I have to add it myself? If so, do I add it anywhere I can???

This, my first SGOTM, will certainly be a challenge, but, one I hope to learn a bunch from.

 

[ControlFreak]

I see zyxy and sercer88 posted while I was typing. Forgive me if it seems out of context now.

In reply to CB...
I definitely do NOT plan on playing this as an OCC. The way I'm looking at this, Gyathaar solved my usual problem of deciding between REX (rapid expansion) and RAX (barRAX that is). Without settlers available, we start right into building units.

I do agree that exploratory units are the key to the first part of the game. The sooner we meet the AIs the quicker we take control over what happens.

To win...
The UN officially requires three civs (including us). The civs that are eligible to be voted for are the ones that contain at least 25% land OR 25% population. If there aren't two civs that meet that criteria, the game will pick the two civs that are the "best" (probably by power or score). If more than two civs meet the criteria, they are all eligible to be voted for. Typically a civ that is eligible to win will vote for themselves. So to best control the outcome you want to reach the Modern Age with one big civ that is hated and one small civ that like you. When the vote is held, it should go 2 to 1 in favor of whoever the smallest civ likes most.

Long Term Strategy...
Fastest UN win usually means fastest team to hit 4-turns per tech. It also means finding the best way to get the AI to help you research required techs. At Diety, the AI would normally to research all of the Ancient Age techs for you. However, with the restrictions on settlers, the AI research strength is going to be severely hampered in several ways.

• They will immediately start building units and when available buildings. The maintenance and support costs will skyrocket forcing them to lower their science rate to compensate. (Hopefully the "free unit" increase will offset some of that.)
• They will have difficulty acquiring luxuries (although based on our start Gyathaar may have planted luxuries in all the civs starting spots). Without being able to adjust the luxury slider with any intelligence, they will start hiring entertainers which cuts into their total science output for their two non-corrupt cities
• Without building settlers their city sizes will grow very large. Which exacerbates the luxury problem.
• With 30 civs in the world, the cost of each tech is very high.

To help us get faster researching I recommend the following:

• Find all the civs as quickly as possible.
• Rank the civs in terms of most capable researchers. Scientific civs and Commercial civs have the upper hand. After that, any civ who has a lot of coast/river/luxuries. Also factored in are civs with UU in the Middle or Industrial Ages if we can time their GA properly.
• Civs near us are going to be acquired by us as soon as they stop researching faster than us. We can make better use of the land than they can.
• Civs near to the big researchers need to be eliminated and their towns given to the big researchers.

In the beginning when we're behind, we want a lot of civs to know the techs since we're going to buy them for cheaper that way. When we catch up we want fewer civs left in the world because research costs are based on how many civs are left alive.

Keep in mind that we do want everyone mad at the biggest civ. We don't care if a civ doesn't like us if we're planning on eliminating them.

Other factors that affect AI attitude towards us are:

• How often we declare war. The less the better. On Deity, it should be easy to convince the AI to declare on us if need be.
• How often we raze a town with foreign citizens. The less the better. But that goes without saying. Any SGOTM team that loses a city from the world will be worse off than those that don't so don't raze cities and try to keep the AI from razing cities also.
• At the time of the vote, do we have ROP, MA, Pact? The more the better. (Don't bother with these before the vote because they are a liability if broken.)
• Do we have a lot of culture. Does our opponent have more culture. Culture is good for the civ that has more.
• Is Feudalism the preferred government of the civ. If yes that's good, if not that's bad because we're always going to be in Feudalim. (Anyone know which civs prefer Feudalism?)

I really don't think any of this matters as long as there's one civ left that we haven't harmed during the game and one civ left that is big enough to be our competition and mean enough that the little civ doesn't like him. We can always declare war on the bigger civ right before the UN is built and MA with little guy to make sure he votes for us.

Opening moves...
Haven't looked at our start tiles but I agree with zyxy that gold is good and a spreadsheet may be a necessity. Curaughs are for sure the way to go.

Literature should be our focus because we want the AI to build libraries. I don't know with 30 civs if we can get there first, but it wouldn't hurt trying. I would also be OK shutting off research completely for the AA, knowing the Diety civs will be kicking our butt.

 

[ControlFreak]

I'm here. I guess I'm signing in.

About the 6 readily workable tiles, it looks like we actually have 7. There is another cow SE of the E Ivory. (it looks like a cow's head) I still think we should move our worker first (somewhere SE) to make sure we aren't missing out on anything, though.

I have a few questions, though. I don't have the Medit... resources graphics mod pack. How do you install graphics mod-packs?

Also, about the barbarian fix: I don't have a conquests.ini file, but I do have a configuration settings file, is that the same? In there, I do not see a NoAIPatrol command line...do I have to add it myself? If so, do I add it anywhere I can???

This, my first SGOTM, will certainly be a challenge, but, one I hope to learn a bunch from.

Welcome sercer88! (can I truncate to sercer or serc?)

The graphics modpack should come with good directions, but I think you just need to unzip it into the Civ3 Scenarios folder.

You should have a conquests.ini file installed in the Civ3/Conquests directory. (where the Conquests executable is.) You will need to add NoAIPatrol=0 to the file.

How much advice are you looking to get? (I don't want to come across as lecturing, but I tend to have long winded posts as you can probably tell already.)

Did you get answers on your "Newbie Questions" in that thread? Specifically your question on the need for defenders in all your towns. Our team has learned to leave most of their towns undefended. And we build offensive units over defensive units everytime. (In a previous SGOTM, zyxy said "What's a spear?") I'm going to assume that the "defense" he recommend we build after the curaugh is an archer or warrior to be upgraded to sword.

Your other question about Democracy being the best government...Our team has a preference for Republic and not Democracy mostly because of the second anarchy required. For these SGOTMs pulling a 5 turn versus 2 turn anarchy could be the difference between first and second place. However, that's not an issue this game.

 

[sercer88]

Welcome sercer88! (can I truncate to sercer or serc?)

The graphics modpack should come with good directions, but I think you just need to unzip it into the Civ3 Scenarios folder.

You should have a conquests.ini file installed in the Civ3/Conquests directory. (where the Conquests executable is.) You will need to add NoAIPatrol=0 to the file.

How much advice are you looking to get? (I don't want to come across as lecturing, but I tend to have long winded posts as you can probably tell already.)

Did you get answers on your "Newbie Questions" in that thread? Specifically your question on the need for defenders in all your towns. Our team has learned to leave most of their towns undefended. And we build offensive units over defensive units everytime. (In a previous SGOTM, zyxy said "What's a spear?") I'm going to assume that the "defense" he recommend we build after the curaugh is an archer or warrior to be upgraded to sword.

Your other question about Democracy being the best government...Our team has a preference for Republic and not Democracy mostly because of the second anarchy required. For these SGOTMs pulling a 5 turn versus 2 turn anarchy could be the difference between first and second place. However, that's not an issue this game.

I think I have learned, though not experimented very much on my own, that offensive units are better than the defensive ones in your army, even for MP duty. And about governments, well, we will stay feud the whole game, so, as you said, no conflicts here.

I think I am learning, but I can't see any immediate results, yet. Maybe after this I will be more experienced with higher level play, so as far as advice goes, I will need some guiding through my sets, and I will read through and through all of anybody's posts in this thread.

Thanks for the info about the technical stuff, I hope I did it right

Oh, and people who know me call me sercer, and some even call me serc(e), it's my last name, so I will understand either.

 

[ControlFreak]

Random initial thoughts:
- I would really consider moving 1 tile SE. Elephants are a nice source of income, and we need all the gold we can get. The City Centre gets 5 gpt anyway, IIRC. In this case, I would probably let the worker improve (road?) the tile where he is.

I'm confused about this. I thought founding the city square on the elephant adds the two bonus commerce to the city center. That would mean founding on it will add two extra commerce every turn, regardless of where our citzens are assigned. Moving off of it means we'd need a citizen assigned to it every turn to pay off. That's not likely until we're at size 5 or 6. Is there a difference between PTW and Conquests that I'm missing?

Also moving is guarenteed to bring us closer to the AI. That in itself isn't bad, but if we're truly packed like sardines, I'm afraid that moving closer to an AI will make him settle his second and only other town to close to his capitol and rob him of some potential.

Of course, if we see that moving SE will gain us three hills instead of the three coastal tiles, I'm all for a move. Or better yet, if the cow is really at E,SE then we should move to get a grassland cow in the first radius for faster initial growth. I'm not a fog gazer so someone else will have to let me know.

If there isn't the phantom cow, I recommend moving the worker S to the cow first which would show hills to the SE if they are there. If not, then we settle in place and the worker would start improving the cow. I'm actually thinking about mining the plains cow right off the bat. We're going to quickly end up with surplus food which is great for growth but useable as we get bigger. At size two we'll be at +5food working the two cows.

If there really is another cow in the fog, then moving 1SE is worth the added intial growth. Plus we'll be at +7 working the three cows which is three turn growth with no granary. That's without irrigating any of the cows. Since we're forced into sheild-only builds (no food required), We might as well start mining cows from the get go.

 

[McLMan]

I'm confused about this. I thought founding the city square on the elephant adds the two bonus commerce to the city center. That would mean founding on it will add two extra commerce every turn, regardless of where our citzens are assigned. Moving off of it means we'd need a citizen assigned to it every turn to pay off. That's not likely until we're at size 5 or 6. Is there a difference between PTW and Conquests that I'm missing?

You are right. The city square would produce 2 food, 1 shield, and 3 gold if we were to settle on the elephant.


I believe that is a grassland cow at E-SE. This is what I get out of my limited fog-gazing skills.





I still think we should settle in place though. The crowding issue ControlFreak brought up is another good reason. We could possibly be moving away from unseen seafood too.

EDIT: on second thought SW of the cow (visible) is more likely a plains tile

 

[ControlFreak]

Hi McLMan. I see your new found freedom is already paying us dividends.

I agree with your foggazing. Having a cow E,SE would help us grow a little faster than the plains cow if we moved 1SE. However, I don't think it's worth it unless we can get some hills with it. Moving loses us 2gpt, plus 3f on the first turn. Plains cow can grow us in 7 turns. Grass cow can grow us in 5 turns but the movement cost another turn which gives us growth in 6. Considering that the grass cow will be in range on turn 10 that really only gives us 4 extra food, but loses at least 20g (probably much more since every turn is -2gpt from sitting on the ivory). Being a science game and not being able to build settlers, I think we should stay put.

It's still worth moving the worker South first. If there are hills South or SouthEast of the phantom cow, we should be able to see them.

 

[CommandoBob]

(Bear with me on this. This story got a bit long so I put it into two posts. Of course, it won't affect how we play the game any at all. We still don't know!)

​

The sign was actually somewhat new, but that wasn’t very obvious. The old signs were gone; retired and replaced. The new one had been rescued from a rubbish heap earlier in the day. The paint was still damp and the wood had a faint, unpleasant odor.

The old lady sniffed. ‘Art thou surest this is the proper place?’ she asked.

‘Yes, Majesty. This is the home of Team Smurkz, according to the great mage Gyathaar.’

‘And Gyathaar is never wrong, is that what I am hearing? Might we be so fortunate as to witness his first mistake?’

‘I’ve never know the great mage Gyathaar to be exactly wrong, Majesty. Misunderstood and full of mischief, oh, yes. A mistake, perhaps, depending on how one interprets his words. But on such a base matter as this, I, like your Majesty, fear that the great mage is correct, however ill-advised his counsel seems to us. Trickery at the start is not his style.’

‘So you trust him?’ asked the aged ruler.

‘Hardly. I am merely duly concerned that the counsel we seek will not be found inside yonder hovel.’

‘Then we think alike. Let us enter forthwith and be done with this charade. Guards! Open that door!’

In less than a minute the sign was ripped from the sign post and the post made into an impromptu battering ram. The four guards carried it towards the door and began swinging the post back and forth to the cadence of the head guard. To get the proper feel, the post had to touch the door they were trying to break down. On the first tap, the door opened. It had not been shut all the way.

‘Enter, you fools!’

The guards entered first, followed by the head guard, the old woman and her retainers. Inside the found a group of people sitting around a large wooden table who had just now noticed their entrance.

‘Yes,’ said one, rising to his feet, ‘Can we help you?’

‘Mayhaps. I am looking for the group of advisors known as Smurkz. They are reputed to be wise beyond their years, having learned the secrets of the atom and dominating the world in ages past. But I see no gray in thine hair so such tales cannot apply to thee. We beg thee to forgive the intrusion into thy revelries. We shall depart.’

‘Hey, babe,’ said another voice in the room, from a different direction, next to the bar. ‘What you see is what you get. This is the Smurkz. Didn’t you see the sign out front?’

‘And who art thou?’

‘How about ControlFreak?’ was the reply.

‘Well, knowest this, Mr. HowAboutControlFreak, that I am ruler of a great realm and my every whim is law. And I decree that such a gang of ruffians have not the wit to advise me in this hour of great need.’

‘I don’t care how big your realm is, Aged Queen T’pau, or what you do on Vulcan. You’re on earth, you’re in the SmurkZ’s Bar and Grill and if you need advice this is the place to be.’

‘My name is not Tapow and Vulcan is a but a heathen Roman god to me. I have need of great wisdom for I must compete with 30 rivals to become the one true world leader. Like me, these 30 are all deities, but they have great advantages. Each one of their peoples will be twice as large as mine, for I shall only have one city. We shall be sundered from each by vast stretches of ocean and sea. The world is uncharted and I know it not. Yet I know that each of us shall govern the same way, the feudal way. Thinkest thou can help me?’

HowAboutControlFreak looked to the group at the table and asked, ‘Guys, what do you think?’

‘Diety. Hmm, that’s a new level.’

‘Thirty competitors, that’s novel.’

‘Gotta be a diplomatic victory.’

‘And only one city.’

‘One city to start with. I bet we can capture others.’

‘We start with Feudalism and stay Feudalistic the whole game? That’s out of the ballpark.’

‘Yep, this has got Gyathaar’s fingerprints all over it.’

‘Wow.’

‘Yep, just too interesting to ignore.’

The one standing addressed the old lady. ‘We accept the challenge.’

This not was expected.

‘What? Ruffians such as yourselves seek to advise me?’

‘That’s what you asked for.’

‘Well, prove your worthiness to me before I accept thine advice. Defeat my champions and I shall listen such advice as thou mayest offer.’

HowAboutControlFreak rolled his eyes. ‘Okay, where are your champions and what has to be done?’ Though outwardly appearing rather bored, he was curious about this contest.

‘I have five champions. They are all here; my personal bodyguards, loyal to me these many years. Each has survived many years of warfare and lived to tell the tale. I present to you Jan, Petr, Mikulas, Pavel and the head guard Reinhold.’

As their names were called each one guard grinned a little. Each one was over 6 foot tall, big, strong and cranky.

The Smurkz standing at the table looked at HowAboutControlFreak and raised his eyebrows, deftly passing the buck to HowAboutControlFreak.

‘Okay,’ said HowAboutControlFreak, ‘our champions are Kazuha, Elanor, Edita, Laura and their leader is Cathrin. They were determined last year to be the most beautiful women of their respective lands.’

That really made the old lady mad.

‘You hide behind pretty women? You think that will affect my champions? They shall have to be careful not to break them in two, these wenches that you hide behind! My champions will not use the shield nor the sword, yet the issue will soon be decided. And you seek to give me counsel! Where are these precious champions of yours, in the dressing chamber being attended to by their servants, adorning themselves with scented oils and crushed alabaster?’

‘They are here now. Ladies, if you will stand.’

‘Wha-, they are not even dressed in proper undergarments. Their influence is corrupting and..’

‘They are our champions. Do you yield now?’

‘Yield? To you, to them ? Never!’ spat out the old lady.

‘Ladies, are you okay with this?’

Five heads nodded together.

‘Well, you know the house rules. Niklas says if you break it, you pay for it. And it doesn’t matter which of you broke it; you or him. So be careful with the furniture.’

The Smurkz standing said, ‘Ah, yes. If we are going to be Feudalistic, let’s go outside and have a joust, and do things properly. That way nothing gets damaged inside.’

HowAboutControlFreak looked at the old lady.

‘A joust it shall be, howbeit a short one. And no sport it in at all.’

 

[CommandoBob]

In short order everyone was outside in the hot sun.

The standing Smurkz approached HowAboutControlFreak and asked, ‘Are you sure about this? They could get hurt.’

‘Who, the girls? No way, Niklas. These guys won’t know what hit them. Just wait.’

Niklas approached the old lady. ‘Ma’am,’ he said, ‘the day is at the hottest. I suggest that the four lesser compete first, saving the champions for last, if such a contest is needed. We would soon be back inside.’

‘I grant that request. Let them so assemble. I shall give the word to begin. Are all in their places? Good. Then…begin.’

As one the four men ran towards their female opponents who just stood waiting. The men thought the fight was over, until the women dodged away and kicked their legs out from underneath them and they dropped in the dust. The men growled and tried to rise, but only one finally got to his feet. The others were pummeled by kicks and punches to the sides and head as they tried to rise. The unexpected assault by such petite things elicited grunts of surprise and pain. With the men on the ground the advantage went to the more mobile females. The one who did manage to stand attacked again, only to be thrown onto his back and then suffer the ignominy of having his wind stomped out of him. In a matter of seconds, the four men were helpless. And the women were not even breathing very hard.

The old lady was stunned and almost speechless.

‘I’ve have never seen any fight with the witching ways as yon vixens do. I yield to Smurkz.’

‘And we accept the yield and offer our services to you’, said Niklas.

‘I do not accept the yield,’ broke in the head guard, Reinhold. ‘I have seen the witching ways fought beforetimes and I do not fear it.’

‘But,’ said the old lady, ‘fear or no fear, the deed is done and four of your comrades have fallen. Can you avenge them all?’

‘Nay, I cannot. But while they have fought the fairer sex and lost, how can I lead if I refuse to fight? I cannot lead such men as these and run from a fair maiden like a shy farmboy.’

HowAboutControlFreak went over and looked at Reinhold. ‘Do you really want to fight?’ he asked softly.

‘The contest is not till the death and if I am bested am I any worse than they who fought before me? If your champion subdues me or if I subdue her, the issue is already decided, and that is of no import to me. But not to fight where they have fought and lost; I cannot do that.’ said Reinhold.

‘I understand. Let’s wake your men so they can see you fight.’

The victorious ladies threw cold water upon the unconscious warriors and they soon revived; bruised, black eyed and with headaches. When they learned that Reinhold was to fight they as one urged him not to. Even the unnamed old lady got involved, begging both Reinhold and Niklas not to let the fight commence.

But Reinhold was steadfast that the fight occur.

HowAboutControlFreak spoke with Cathrin, who had not yet fought. ‘This guy wants to fight you so he can look good to his men. I know you can take him; that’s not the issue.’

‘Just don’t embarrass him?’ asked Cathrin. ‘Well, the others lasted maybe five seconds. What if I give him ten?’

‘Go for it.’

Reinhold and Cathrin lined up across from each other and sized each other up.

The old lady said ‘Begin’.

And they did. Instead of rushing at her, Reinhold feinted instead, first to the left, then the right. He was spry on his feet and did not let himself get planted to the ground. Cathrin matched his moves and they circled each other. She realized he was treating this as a knife fight and not a brawl and thought him clever for that insight. He tried to reach out and grab her hands, but she evaded. And while Cathrin expected him to tire, given his bulk, he did not. He kept circling her, forcing her to adapt to his moves and not giving her time to plan her own. As she watched his moves she recognized a slight pattern that she might be able to exploit. She feinted right just be sure and saw that she was. As they eyed each other and measured each other she planned her moves. Then, the time was right.

Cathrin feinted right and Reinhold matched her move and the moment was hers. Instead of ending her feint by backing to the right, her previous pattern, she shifted to her left and moved around him at the same time spinning and landing a sidehouse kick on his midsection. Except that she slipped and hit his right hip instead of his right kidney. As she lost her balance she realized that she was getting winded and needed to get up quickly before he turned on her.

Except that was not necessary.

When the kick landed and Cathrin was falling, Reinhold emitted a loud, high pitched scream of pain that even Cathrin felt. She rolled away a few times away from him and quickly got to her feet. Reinhold was still on the ground; his eyes wide open in shock, his face pale, holding his right hip. He was not breathing well.

‘Reinhold!’ screamed the old lady, running to his side and kneeling down. ‘Has the lady hurt you? Oh, my son, what has she done?’

Cathrin and others stood around the fallen and crying fighter, not sure what to do. Finally Cathrin got the nerve to ask what everyone was thinking.

‘I don’t understand how that kick could hurt him so. It wasn’t that strong of a blow and it was off target. What happened?’

Reinhold answered between gulps of air. ‘My, geni, talia, misplaced, on, hip, from, birth.’

Everyone uttered a sympathy groan at that news, even Cathrin.

‘I told you, Reinhold.’

‘Yes, Mama, you did. But, I had to, try. Padding, must have, slipped.’

‘Ah, yes, all that moving around you did.’

‘Okay, everybody, break it up,’ said a new voice. ‘Let’s get this man inside, feed him some painkiller medicine or whiskey, which ever we have more of, call 9-1-1 and see if we can get a local quack to get this man’s plumbing fixed. Guys, you’re his companions, help pick him and carry him inside. Come on, we’ll get you some pain medicine too and check your thick skulls, you might have a concussion. Ladies, you help too. We all want to get in out of this hot sun….’

Soon only a few were left standing outside.

‘zyxy is efficient as ever.’ muttered Niklas. Then he turned to face the now much older looking lady.

‘Your Majesty, I am Niklas, the leader of Team Smurkz.’

‘And I am Theodora, Ruler of the Fief of Byzantium. Can you help us?’

‘Yes, I think we can.’

‘Thank you. As you can understand, I am torn between my duty to state and my duty to family. But, as always, state must come first. Even now as my only son is in great pain.’

‘Your Majesty,’ said Cathrin, ‘it does not have to be so. Let me suggest a plan…’

Inside the building now and much cooler, the real ControlFreak was talking to HowAboutControlFreak.

‘Not bad at all, my friend, but next time let me know before you start using my name. What if I hadn’t been here?’

‘Well….’

‘You know, of course, that now you are a Smurkz and you are with us on this one until the end. We can’t just ignore that bit of quick thinking.’

‘You are really being too kind…’

‘Hey, McLMan, come meet sercer88, our newest Smurkz inductee.’

‘Welcome aboard sercer88, or should I say HowAboutControlFreak? That was priceless. But, man, how did you know who to select? I was freaking out thinking that it might take all five of us to bring down just one of them. How did you do it?’

'Well, if you guys ever got outside any, you would see a dojo next door.'

'A dojo? Here?'

'Yes, and I’m the sensei. I own it.’

‘And the five you selected..?’ asked McLMan, sensing what was coming and knowing that he would like it.

‘Were at least third degree black belts.’

‘Oh Ho! so you play dirty too,’ said ControlFreak. ‘I like that. Don’t give the other person a break. Yes, you will do well with Team Smurkz, my clever little friend. Come; let me tell you the fun we had with Zulus not too long ago…’

But before he got any further, an ear-piercing whistle cut through the noise and confusion. It was Cathrin, standing on the bar.

‘Okay, people, may I have your attention. There has been a slight change in plans.

‘As of now, I am the sole ruler of Byzantium. Theodora has given her crown to me while she stays here and helps her son get better. This is only temporary. Once she leaves, everything reverts back to her. Mrs. CommandoBob has offered to help her scrapbook her life’s story and even offered to put a quilt together for her. I’ve invited her to attend some of our less vigorous workouts.

‘So Team Smurkz are you present?

‘zyxy?’

‘Here.’

‘sercer88?’

‘Here.’

‘Niklas?’

‘I’m here.’

‘McLMan?’

‘Present.’

‘ControlFreak?’

‘Here I am. Over here.’

‘CommandoBob?’

Silence.

‘CommandoBob?’

One of the wives spoke up.

‘He’s on the rooftop writing poetry. Or songs. Or something.’

‘I think we can pass on CommandoBob,‘ said Niklas.

‘Team Smurkz, as the new leader of Byzantium, what is your answer to my plea for aid and assistance and guidance in the pursuit of a diplomatic victory at Deity with all Civs enabled, on a standard world with lots of islands?’

Niklas climbed up to the bar beside Cathrin.

‘My lady, the answer to your question is this…

‘Team Smurkz, Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!’

 

[Niklas]

I'll comment more tonight, off to celebrate dad turning 60 today.

But one comment I have is that I tested last night in the editor, and it does seem that without the despotism penalty our capitol would indeed make 4 commerce in the city center regardless of whether we settle on the dumbo or not. This clearly speaks in favor of a move SE.

 

[Methos]

First off I'd like to say good luck guys and wow, deity!! This should be tough and very interesting.

I've never played a One City Challenge (OCC) and here we are at Diety with a super competitive OCC.

It's been a while since I played Civ3, but I do recall how much fun OCC games are. If your curious about OCC games check my Civ History link in my sig for some of my previous SG OCC games. Luckily you're at least allowed to capture AI cities. It looks like whomever captures the most cities will win this one since no one can build them.

- I would really consider moving 1 tile SE.

I agree.

Just letting you know that I've updated our Team Smurkz History thread. Edit: BTW, the first post was getting way too long so I separated it into three posts; Introduction, Civ3, and Civ4.

Good luck!

Edit: Great story CB! With any luck (and a little prodding) maybe you can spin a tale in SGOTM4.

 

[ControlFreak]

But one comment I have is that I tested last night in the editor, and it does seem that without the despotism penalty our capitol would indeed make 4 commerce in the city center regardless of whether we settle on the dumbo or not. This clearly speaks in favor of a move SE.

OK I did a little test and here's what I think.

In Feudalism, the minimum city center earns 4g. Since the +2g from ivory and the +0g from plains are both less than the 4g, we would stay at 4g. But since we're seafaring, we get an additional commerce from coastal towns which puts us at +5 in both spots. If the bonus was a gold (+4), when we settle the town on it, it gets an automatic road which would be +5, so the city center would earn +5, plus the seafaring bonus would bring it to +6. If the gold tile was on a river, it would bring the total to +7.

Note that if the Ivory (+2) was on a river (+1) settling the town (road +1) would be the same as the minimum and the city would still make +4 (or +5 if on the coast).

Anyway, in our case both tiles will earn the same under the city, so yes it makes sense to move SE. Plus then we can start using the grassland cow immediately.

So now my recommendation is to move the settler SE. The worker can road the ivory for the happiness and then move to the grass cow to irrigate.

As far as tech, since we start with Alphabet, I would beeline for Literature at max. I'm hoping we can beat everyone there and broker for most of the first and second tier techs. If nothing else, we'll at least get to make embassies relatively early and start our way in global politics.

I'm a big fan of building cheap things first. So I'm thinking a warrior first and curaugh second. There looks to be at least enough land to justify a warrior scouting S. If it turns out to be a small island he can end up at home as MP or disbanded. The second curaugh, while delayed in build order, will build faster since the town will be larger by then. (Growth will be on turn 6.)

CB, are you working on a spreadsheet, first-poster?

 

[ControlFreak]

BTW,

Including this double post, we're 6th in team posts so far. Let's pickup the discussion!

Also, I've almost completed my Civ Simulator. It's a massive Excel sheet that lets me run most scenarios through in terms of OCC build. It's not very user friendly yet so I don't want to publish it at the moment, but I plan to run it through it's paces for this game and then release it as a utility. I don't see much difference in build dates between warrior first or warrior second.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Nikas Senior.