SGOTM 14 - Misfit Gypsy Nuts

AlanH

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Welcome to your BtS SGOTM 14 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, where teams and staff may post non-spoiler information of general interest.

You can find the Game Details in the first post of the Maintenance Thread. If any changes occur in the game settings or rules, I shall post them in that thread, and edit that post.

Please wait until your team leader/administrator/scribe has reserved a couple of top posts in this thread for game admin information. Then post here to let your team know you have arrived.

Good luck, and remember rule #1 - ENJOY THE GAME!
 
Welcome to our conglomeration of the Misfits/Gypsy Kings/Chokonuts for SG14. Let the games begin!

The following are the rules that have been passed down through many generations of SG competitors and competitions and modified as needed.

The following are the RULES for competing as a member of the Misfit Gypsy Nuts. All participants are EXPECTED to follow these rules, if you choose not to, please let me know which rules are at issue, and then we can discuss options.

1. All standard GOTM rules apply. Mainly, we get 1 shot, no replays, period!
2. No viewing other team threads, period!
3. Have FUN, compete fairly, argue your points until your fingers bleed, or you convince a majority that your plan is superior!


The following rules taken directly from Murky Waters! Edited as needed, all credit given to Erkon!

This time around, we shall have more fun, learn even more and perform better than ever!

The following rules apply to all players in the Misft Gypsy Nuts SGOTM 14 team.

Ensure that you have read and understood the rules provided by the administrators (C-IV SGOTM Reference Thread)* and follow any ongoing discussion at the SGOTM 14 Maintenance Thread

The next player shall post a ”got it” within 24 hours of the upload of the previous game. Else the next available player has the right to post the ”got it”. These rules replaces guideline 6 and 7 in the C-IV SGOTM Reference Thread. To ensure a smooth handover, please post the ”got it” within 24 hours. The rest of the team needs the in between 24 hours to solve who's next. It is mandatory to wait at least 12 hours after the "got it" before you play, and it's recommended to wait at least 24 hours after the ”got it” before you play. Else, the difference in time zones and busy work days may prevent players to post useful advice. If you for some reason have to "unget it", please post within 24 after the "got it" if possible. We aim to play two turn sets / week.

I would like us to use something that a lot of other teams practice: a pre-play-plan. Before you start playing, please post a short plan for your turns set, including the following topics: builds, military activity per theatre, tile improvements, research, civic switches, diplomatic actions and miscellaneously. You don't need to write a novel. A sentence or two for each topic will suffice. Lets take it from there and see how it falls out. Hopefully this will enable each player to feel more responsible and active. It is not intended to replace the incredible amount of interference advice from the rest of us.

One other thing I would like us to test is a mid-turn-set upload. If you are playing while others are online, please upload and the rest of us can review the save.

I don't want the above to be a burden, so feel free to use it and we can evaluate half way into the game if these ideas are good or not.

No-one is forced to play a turn set. You don’t need to announce the reason for skipping a turn set. Any players can swap turn sets if they announce the swap in time. Since the captain has a memory capacity of a demented gold fish, I urge you to make it clear when you intend to skip a turn. Please post as quick as possible to reduce unnecessary confusion and delays.

Please use smilies and emotes in your posts as much as possible. Jokes, humor, sarcasm and offensive language can and will be misinterpreted. Remember that written text is a poor method to convey feelings. Several of us are not native to the English language (R1 for example use's American English). The differences in culture is also a source for misunderstanding. If you get upset by a post, please wait a few hours before you respond. With this in mind I would like to encourage all and everyone to trash talk to your hearts content, particularly when dV screws up.

Don’t be afraid to post things that may appear stupid or evident. Each player have strengths and weaknesses. There are numerous examples in the SGOTM4, SGOTM5 and SGOTM6 thread when the most simple rule has been unknown to several of us (such as the difference between peace treaty and cease fire). Don’t be afraid that other members will think you are stupid. As a captain, I am obliged to post the most stupid questions to ensure that the rest of the team appear brighter.

Issues where we cannot reach consensus is resolved by the active player. If you run into a situation where you need advice, please upload the save and let the rest of us take a look. Or post a quick request for advice. It’s better to delay the game a day than build the Globe Theatre in the wrong city. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes though. We all screw up once in a while.

Don’t promote units until they are close to action (unless the promotion increases movement). If you are unsure of suitable promotions, don’t hesitate to bring that up for discussion. We all have very different experiences from promotions, for example barrage/CR for cats and combat vs other promotions.

Don’t play intoxicated (from alcohol, drugs or smoke). Don’t play when you are too tired. Or when you have your kids/wife screaming at you.

Try to keep track of the diplomatic events each turn, and visit each city regularly. It’s mandatory to check cities that grow or have a border expansion. Remember that the number of happy people will change due to changes in war weariness (WW), gained/lost resources etc. Keep track of specialists. We don’t want to pollute the great person pool. Please respect the micro management plans.

Please contact AlanH if your game crashes, even if you can repeat all your moves.

If you PM the team, please ensure every one receives a copy.

Remember that a lot of players read what we post. Don't be rude or disrespectful to any player not on our team.

Try to run a test game or two before we start. Your experience may either confirm or contradict some one else's, and is therefore valuable.

The goal for Team Misft Gypsy Nuts is to end among the top three teams. The ambition is to grab the GOLD!

This is the motto of the Captain: "We have an ambition to perform well and of course we want to win the gold laurel. We also want to have fun while playing and we want to learn more. It's more important to me to have fun than win the gold, and I think that it's the same for most players."

Ensure that your autosave config is set every turn. Don't forget to enable all HOF settings in case you lost them during a dual-install or whatever reason. And set the first-turn-setting to first turn = 0. This will reduce future confusion.

When you state the turn/year research is completed (or any other event), please use the turn/year that is stated by the event log. Research for example is completed at the end of a turn. The pop up thus shows the turn after the tech is learned.

When the game is over, and the staff has confirmed it's over, you are free to read other team threads. When their game is over, and the staff has confirmed it, you are free to post in their threads as well.

Ok, if you have bothered to read this far, you are eligible to either a) ignore this crap or b) provide valuable comments.

Mostly cut and pasted from last game....please ask/say if something doesn't feel right or you have a different idea!

The roster order is....

1) McArine -just played :goodjob:
2) Ronnie1 - UP NOW..GOT IT
3) Sleepless - on deck...assuming comp is working
4) Jericho Hill - in the hole
5) Ozbenno - waiting
6) Grifftavian - waiting

Advising only as of November 21st

Adrianj
Conquistador63
JonShaw
da_Vinci

AWOL
Mighty Dwarf
ngraner42
 
We're not in Kansas anymore

This thread gives you and the Staff somewhere to post about non-spoiler issues relating to the game. It is a way of communicating to the rest of the players outside your team, and with the staff about matters that affect your team or everyone. You can post about bugs, rule clarifications, problems with the roster etc., but please do not divulge information about your team's progress. Please subscribe to this thread so that you are kept up to date with new information as the game proceeds.

The team lists are at the end of this post.

Thanks for this scenario go to neilmeister, who has made the ultimate sacrifice of standing down from the competition in order to bring you this challenge.

In this game you are playing Dorothy of the Americans. Dorothy is Philosophical & Charismatic, as we all know.
A freak storm has occurred, and you and your trusty dog Toto, have been whisked away to the magical world of Oz. Except, there does not appear to be a road, yellow or otherwise, to follow. In order to get back to Kansas, you must not only win the game, but you must find and destroy the Wizard of Oz.

There are good witches, and wicked witches out there, so watch out.

Game Settings

Victory: The laurels will go to the team that can secure the fastest victory that is not Religious.
Level: Emperor.
Map Size: Standard.
Map Type: Mystery.
Game Speed: Normal.
Options: No Vassals, No Huts, No Events, Random Personalities. Barbs are at default setting.
Victory Conditions: All enabled (for the AIs).
Opponents: 8 AIs.
Special Condition: You must find and destroy the Wizard of Oz before you achieve the normal 'victory'. Any team not accomplishing this will not be considered for the Laurels. It might not be strictly what happened in the book or the movie, but he has it coming!

Starting screenshot
This is the start of the game (click for a bigger image):
http://gotm.civfanatics.net/civ4games/images/sgotm14clarge.jpg
Timetable

The game will start on August 10.

The completion deadline will be December 10.

Awards
The laurels will go to the teams that can secure a non-religious victory and destroy the Wizard of Oz with the earliest in-game dates.

Wooden spoons will go to the team who finishes the game (win or lose) with the lowest score.
 
Reserved....
 
Reserved......
 
Checking in and posting a practice game a snatched from a SG13 thread.
 
I also want to get opinions for using the 2 known and unbanned "exploits".

1) Flying Camera
2) Scout/Settler long move tile reveal
 
Checking in! :salute:

Attached is a test game I created. No guarantees, except that I believe I have the starting tiles correct (although my bifocals are a couple of years old now :crazyeye:)

For those I haven't played a SGOTM with before, I'm probably a Prince/Monarch level player. My first SG was SGOTM 10 with the Geezers :old: I've played SGOTMs 11 & 13 with Gypsy Kings, and since we didn't have quite enough players for SGOTM 12, some of us joined with X-Team for that game.

Looking forward to hunting down the Wizard with our new teamates!
 
Checking in....

Looking forward to playing with a new bunch of players and reuniting with some old friends. I have played every SGOTM, first as a Chokonut, then a ChokoMisfit, now a Misfit Gypsy Nut.

Will have a look at the rules and save and give some thoughts to this later.

One thought is that as we have quite a few players, we could play shorter turn sets, which means we could be more precise in our play.

Don't have a strong thought as to the two "exploits". We have never used them in previous SGOTMs and I'm not really all that sure how they work to be honest.
 
Checking in!

In the very unlikely event of our new merged team not getting along well, please blame me, it was my idea. :lol:

I don't like the idea of using the exploits, but it's only my vote. I prefer to play an honest and fun game and not get the gold medal than the other way around.

Also, I prefer to not play actual turnsets until I get my PC's crashes issue solved. But do count on me for discussions and playtesting. :)
 
Also, I prefer to not play actual turnsets until I get my PC's crashes issue solved. But do count on me for discussions and playtesting. :)

:blush:

I have just remembered to move that post (with STW's reply) to the Civ IV tech support forum, so hopefully you can get some better info to fixing your problem. Meant to do that at the time but forgot.

I also whole heartedly agree that having fun and learning more about the game is a much better goal than using dubious tactics to get a medal.
 
dV checking in! :goodjob:

I'd be perfectly happy to skip flying camera, or whatever the radar thing is that was mentioned (to Alan's ire) in the maint thread.

If these can't be enforced if prohibited, maybe the SGOTM answer is to play with fog of war off? (I am kidding ... or am I? :mischief: )

So, what if Wizzard of Oz is a Modern Armor, in a mountain ringed citadel, that only paratroopers can reach? How does that affect victory condition selection? Hmm, could you nuke him to death?

dV
 
Following extensive discussions in various threads, and a review by the GOTM Staff, I have been persuaded that two methods for gaining prior map knowledge are contrary to the spirit of the GOTM/SGOTM competitions. The use of these techniques will therefore be banned during this game.

- Players are NOT permitted to use the 'Flying Camera' to look for details under the fog.

- Players are NOT permitted to map invisible terrain using the Go To facility.

I have added these constraints to the rules section of the first post in the Maintenance thread.

Well thank goodness for that.
 
Hello All! I had a huge response and then I clicked on the wrong button. Darn.

I remain unconcerned about the Wizard for the moment.

Initial Thoughts;

1) Opening
The warrior should move 1S, 1SW. Our two possible 1st city sites seem, obviously, to be 1W on the plains or 1E on the plains hill. Since America starts with Agriculture and Fishing, we can build a worker first, be able to farm the corn on the pop change, and have a cow resources for extra food, plus an eventual commerce tile in our first city, with excellent production due to the forests. I am leaning west (This is America. Go west young man.) The obvious initial tech would be Animal Husbandry, though we can delay this since the first act of a worker would be on the corn. Perhaps wheel -> animal husbandry?

2) Game Winning Strategy
America's UU and UB and characteristics lend themselves to a great person, science oriented build. I would suggest a space race target.

Lifted from a GameFaq guide:

America
Starting techs: Agriculture, Fishing

Unique Building:

Mall- A Supermarket with +20% gold and +1 happiness from Hit
Musicals, Hit Singles, & Hit Movies. This a very good UB held back by the fact
that it comes so late in the game. Still, for a late-game war, the gold bonus
can be a significant help if you're rush-buying units with Universal Suffrage,
and more happiness is always welcome when dealing with war weariness.


Unique Unit:
Navy SEAL- A Marine with 1-2 first strikes plus the March promotion. Marines
are somewhat of a niche unit, but if you find yourself in a situation where you
want to launch amphibious strikes in the modern era, SEALs are a noticeable
upgrade. The March promotion means they can start healing right after they've
attacked instead of waiting a turn like most units, so stick a medic in the
transports with them and you'll be ready to attack again earlier than usual.

Good in some situations, but not a game-changing UU by any means.

Leaders:
Lincoln (Philosophical, Charismatic)- Two strong traits make Lincoln one of the
best leaders for running a specialist economy. Stonehenge is a particularly
attractive wonder for Charismatic happiness and early gpp. If you have stone or
marble you might choose to build wonders to help take advantage of
Philosophical's bonus (obviously go for the Pyramids if you have stone to help
your SE),
or you can build units instead and take advantage of Charismatic's
warmongering benefits. Or both. Unfortunately a specialist economy doesn't have
good synergy with America's UB, but like I said, it comes too late to make much
of a difference anyway.
 
Well done on get the ball rolling on strategy, JH!
I agree the wizard is irrelevant at this point.

Also agree that 1E or 1W are valid settling sites.
1W grabs all 3 food tiles (corn, sheep, cows), and has 3 fogged tiles W of the lake which should make up for the 3 forest we'll miss in the E. The FPH and 2 lake tiles are better than the 2 coast tiles we won't use and the desert hill.
1E obviously has the extra hammer for the PH and the oasis, but that's about it.

What I don't share is your view on VC. I love to play space race games, but in an Emperor level game, domination or conquest should get always the fastest finishes, in any mapscript. Diplo could have a chance, but with random personalities AI it would be a real pain.

In the last few weeks I have played a few games with Lincoln, for the current HoF major gauntlet (settings are goal:fastest conquest/emperor level/medium and small mapscript/normal speed/8 AI/normal speed/std map size). I have posted a 1170AD conquest victory there, which is only good for 4th place out of 7 submissions. I think that game's discussion thread, opened by our teammate Ozbenno is an enlightening read for ideas to use in this SGOTM.
 
@Conq

You present a valid point, that Dom or Conq are the fastest. I'd revise that plan I had then.I agree that Diplo and Cultural should be thrown out.

Great suggestion on the HoF . I'll read up on that.

I think 1W is sufficient to get us fast food for fast expansions, leaving our 2nd and 3rd cities as hammer powers...once we have food. I think you agree with me that settling 1W looks first-best.
 
1W definitely looks like the spot given what we can see now!

I would move the warrior NE to see if anything up there would sway me OFF the 1W position.

I also agree that Dom/Conq should be fastest.

I find this line interesting, but maybe reading to much into it.."There are good witches, and wicked witches out there, so watch out. "

Can I shorten Jericho Hill to "JH" and Ozbenno to "Oz" (may actually get confusing given the scenario) for this game?
 
Hi all, Sleepless checking in and saying hello to all team members old and new.

I'll have a little play with the tesg game put up before I mention any of my main thoughts but 1W looks huge for the starting city and makes a crab city more viable. Does look like there is land above the crabs though?

Agree conquest/domination should be the fastest victory options.
 
My initial impression on looking at the starting screen shot was that settling 1W would be best, so I concur with that. Settling 1W also allows us to found the Capitol on Turn 0; nice to have a 3-food site for the Capitol without having to wander for a turn or two!

Since our other two food resources for the Capitol are Cows & Sheep, I agree that Animal Husbandry is an early tech priority. Maybe we find some nearby Horses in case we need a Chariot rush. :mwaha:

Lots of ways to go for initial scouting. N & NW along the river to find a good 2nd city site that could get an early trade route with the Capitol. NE to find a coastal site near the visible Crab resource. SE along the other river.

@C63 - nice tip on that Major Gauntlet thread! :hatsoff: Interesting reading and a few new tactics as well. Based on the finish dates from that thread, I agree that we'll need to aim for a conquest/domination victory if we want a chance of getting on the podium. :trophy:

EDIT: cross-post with R1 & Sleepless
 
As for opening techs.....

If we do indeed go 1W to settle, then AH for the other 2 food resources seems right. Follow with Mining>BW so we can chop and whip and our opening is pretty well set.

I want to put in an early vote for more exploring units. IMO, our BIG mistake last game was not doing enough early exploring. We got "hooked" on the need for Astro, and it clouded our thinking in every respect going forward. Not saying we could have done better than Bronze anyway, but it did limit our options.
 
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