SGOTM Reference Thread

[mad-bax]

Work in Progress

Synopsis.

The aim of SGOTM is to provide a friendly competition is Succession Game format. It differs from a standard SG in that more than one team plays the same game in the event, and the teams compete to win the game in the fewest turns. All players of any ability are welcome to play.
In a Succession Game (usually referred to as an SG) a team of players each take it in turns to play a fixed number of turns in the same game, handing on the save to the next player in between sets of turns. Each player posts a log, describing what he did in his turns, along with pictures and advice if appropriate. More information on SG format may be found >>HERE<<

SGOTM is played to a prescribed variant, the rules for which will be posted in the games maintenance thread. The winning team will be the team that reaches the objective for the variant in the fewest turns. Note: The C3C version and the PTW/Vanilla version are essentially two different competitions with each version being played for a different award. The team acheiving the lowest Jason score will be awarded the wooden spoon.

Awards.
Two awards are made for each SGOTM. The awards are made to the individual members of a team, and not to the team itself.

The Classic Laurel

The Classic Laurel is awarded to the members of the "Vanilla" or PTW team that abides by the variant rules and achieves the prescribed victory condition in the fewest number of turns. In the event of a tie then the award will go to the members of all the teams involved in the tie.

The Conquests Laurel

The Conquests Laurel is awarded to the members of the Conquests team that abides by the variant rules and achieves the prescribed victory condition in the fewest number of turns. In the event of a tie then the award will go to the members of all the teams involved in the tie.

The Wooden Spoon

The Wooden Spoon is awarded to the members of the team that achieve the lowest Jason Score.

Game Mechanics.
The map and any rule modifications will be prescribed by the Game Administrator. About a week before the event begins, a "Sign Up" thread will be posted in the SGOTM sub-forum of the GOTM forum. The first post will give salient details about the game, and the sponsored variant. People who wish to play may post to that effect in this thread, and should clearly state the software version (1.29f, PTW 1.27 or C3C 1.22) that they wish to play, and the difficulty level they are comfortable playing (e.g. monarch). Additionally, they may if they choose, supply other information such as the desire to play in a team in which they have previously been a member, or whether or not they have previous experience with the variant. Such information helps the staff to meet the expectations of the partipants whilst constructing balanced teams.

On the day that the event begins, a Team Thread will be posted for each individual team. The purpose of the thread is to provide a private forum in which turnlogs and pictures can be posted, and discussions about the game can be conducted in private.

Each team will be provided with a starting save. Each save is tailored for the team, and only members of that particular team can load this save to the server. This signature remains with subsequent saves for the life of the game and the saves cannot be interfered with by third parties.

Also, before the start of the game, a Maintenance Thread will be posted. The purpose of the maintenance thread is to provide a single location in which any participant can post non-spoiler information that affects the event. Typically these include bug reports, rules discussions, team members dropping out and so on.

The performance of each team is recorded on a web page which may be accessed >>HERE<<. This web page (designed by the inimitable Alanh) has a lot of functionality, and participants are invited to explore it thoroughly.
One very important function of this page is that it is the location from which players download the saves from which they play. Similarly, players upload the saves they wish to pass on from >>THIS LINK<<. All required information is automatically extracted from the save file, without any intervention being required from the player. Other information (including reload count) is also extracted from the save and archived.

Play continues until all teams have completed their games, or until the guillotine date has been reached, at which time the awards will be made and posted on the games web page.

Those teams that post a save at 1000BC will have their QSC data extracted. A link to this data will be posted in the first Spoiler Thread for the game. Teams and individuals need to pass certain tests in order to access this thread, to prevent spoiler information being passed on. QSC is a mnemonic for Quick Start Challenge, and it measures the performance of the teams play over the first 80 turns. Discussion about how the QSC is scored may be found >>HERE<< and examples of QSC data from GOTM may be found >>HERE<<.

The First spoiler thread is limited to discussion of events occuring in a specific period only, and a nominated scribe from each team is required to post a synopsis of the teams game up to, but not beyond the scope of the spoiler. A further spoiler thread, but with different restrictions on access will be posted at a later date, where the rest of the game can be discussed. The specific conditions for reading and posting in a spoiler will be included in the first post of a spoiler, and also in the Maintenance Thread.

Once the result has been declared, a congratulations and commiserations thread will be opened, the purpose of which I think is self explanatory.

 

[mad-bax]

Rules of Gameplay (Mandatory)
SGOTM is run under the Game of the Month banner, and as such all of the rules that apply to GOTM apply in equal measure to SGOTM. These rules may be found >>HERE<<. Please take the time to read them, and to visit the list of links at the bottom of the page. Because of the nature of SG game play some other rules are also required and are described below.

1. The decision of the SGOTM administrator is final.
2. In the event of the SGOTM administrator being misinformed, incompetent or otherwise wrong, see rule 1.
3. Teams may be formed either by their members or the GOTM staff. Self appointed teams may be vetoed or have members added to at the discretion of the staff for balancing purposes.
4. Teams that have played together previously may stay together if they so wish. However, teams that have won Three laurels will be broken up automatically.
5. A team captain will be appointed by the staff, and the team will be named after the captain. If the team wish to appoint a different captain, or give themselves a different name they can, but this must be done before the start save is posted.
6. The team captain will be responsible for maintaining the roster, and skipping people. He will also be responsible for the nomination of a scribe. He will act as a conduit between the team and the staff. For your team, he is the law.
7. Saves must be transferred by uploading to the >>SUBMISSIONS PAGE<< and downloading through the >>RESULTS PAGE<< This enables statistics to be collated and presented to the world, and it offers some protection for your game.
8. Access to opponents Game Threads is expressley forbidden. Unauthorised access to game threads will incur a penalty which can include permanent exclusion from the GOTM forum and all associated events, and disqualification of the entire team from the current event. Please note: This is not an idle threat. All SGOTM threads are monitored on a 24/7 basis. The staff is confident that it is not possible to lurk in opponents threads undetected.


Ettiquette and Behaviour. (Guidance only)
1. Ask to be skipped, or play your turns on time. Please don't just go missing in action.
2. Do not automate workers without first discussing with your team.
3. Do not use city governors without first discussing with your team.
4. Do not leave units on goto orders that extend beyond your set of turns. If for some reason this happens, then be sure to inform your team as to what the unit(s) is/are going.
5. Finish all your turns and upload the game saved at the END of the last turn.
6. When it is your turn to play, it is normal to pick the game up within 24 hours of the new save being made available, and to post a new save within 48 hours of that (so 72 hours in total). If you cannot meet the deadline then your team captain may grant you an extension or skip you at his discretion.
7. Only post a "got it" message once you have downloaded the save and actually opened it in the game. It is not unusual for something to happen that prevents the save being opened.
8. Post a turnlog which describes your set of turns. Provide enough information, not only on what you did, but what your intent was for the next few turns. "Where is that galley going?" and "Oops that palace build was actually a pre-build for TOE" are not uncommon comments in the threads.
9. Respect your team mates, and demand their respect. Take care of your writing style, accept that people whose first language is not English will use English in a different way than you are used to. Disagree by all means, but don't make it personal, and don't take it personally.
10. SG's are team games. Be a good team member. Post your ideas, argue your corner and encourage and praise your team mates. Don't be afraid to post in your game thread. That is what it's for.
11. Have fun.

 

[mad-bax]

Setting Up To Play.
Anyone who has not played SGOTM5 or later, OR is using a different version of the software for this game needs to follow at least one of the steps set out below. Please read the post carefully and follow the step(s) that are relevent to you. If you mess it up, don't panic. Just e-mail me at S_GOTM@gotm.civfanatics.net or PM me or any of the GOTM staff. We will help you.

SGOTM Setup for ALL PTW Players

Those people wishing to play SGOTM using the PTW software need to download >>THIS<< file. Unzip this file into your Civilization/Civ3PTW/Scenarios directory. If you do this correctly you should find a new SGOTM folder in your Scenarios directory. If you wish to mess around with the resources files, then there is a readme file in this new directory that tells you how. Otherwise, you can just go ahead and play the game with the set of resources graphics I have provided by default.

People who have previously played PTW need to rename the folder in their Civ3PTW\Scenarios directory from SGOTM4 or SGOTM5 to plain SGOTM It just gives me one thing less to check for future games.

SGOTM Setup for CivIII 1.29f players (including Mac) who have not setup to play GOTM25 or later.

If you are playing Civ III 1.29f and have not played GOTM40 or beyond, then you need to download and install the latest GOTM modification files.

Players can get the install packs at the following links:


Mac OS X players with CivIII v.1.29b2 must use this single installer:
http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/saves/GOTM_Mac_Installer.dmg.zip

MS Windows players using 1.29f must now use a single installer too.
http://gotm.civfanatics.net/games/saves/GOTM_Full_Mod.exe

All you need to do is download these and run the executable file. The key point is to make sure that when the installer asks where you want to install to, that you make sure that it installs to the directory where you installed Civ to in the first place.

Resources and PediaIcons setup for ALL Conquests players.

You must have Conquests patched to 1.22 in order to play.
Download >>THIS<< file and unzip it into your Civilization/Conquests/Scenarios Directory. If you do this correctly you should find a Folder named SGOTM in this directory which contains the GOTM resources and the files that enable to the software to handle them.

If you have any problems with either the installation of these files, changing the resources.pcx files or any error messages playing the game of the month, then please don't hesitate to e-mail or send a PM to myself or one of the GOTM staff.

Test Saves

Download and open the appropriate save from the following list. [These were SGOTM 7 start positions].

CivIII 1.29f (Vanilla) or Mac
Vanilla test save

CivIII PTW
PTW test save.

CivIII Conquests
C3C Test Save

You should see sheep and oysters near the start position for each software version. If you see a different graphic then you probably have the "old" GOTM resource pack installed. If you see no bonus at all then you probably have the default "out of the box" resources installed.


The SGOTM Mod.
The SGOTM mod is based on the GOTM23 setup. But there are various changes that players need to be aware of.

1.29f/PTW Equivalency changes.
1. All the Civs that are included in PTW but are missing from 1.29f have been added to 1.29f.
2. Medievel Infantry (Mace) and Guerilla (Rambo) have been added to 1.29f.
3. All Starting workers are now called eqWorker in both versions of the software. Eqworkers cannot be built, traded or disbanded. The standard Worker has not changed in any respect, and has exactly the same functionality as in 1.29f. (See 4 below).
4. Outposts, airfields and Radar Towers cannot be built by the PTW workers, or by any other method.
5. All flavour units have been removed from both versions of the software.
6. All flavour civilisations have been removed from both versions of the software.
7. Most Modern units have been given the same stats as in C3C or as near as the limit of the hardcoded values in 1.29f allow. It is worth consulting the civilopedia for a full list of changes.
8. The Mongolian UU is now A/D/M 3/2/2 with zone of control. It costs 40 shields to build, requires horses and horseback riding. It gets no movement bonus on mountains, but upgrades to knight. Unfortunately this change is forced, since it is not possible to implement the movement bonus for the standard Keshik in 1.29f.

C3C
1. Added GOTM Resources.
2. Removed C3C Specific Resources
3. Goody Huts give workers instead of settlers.
4. Differential Naval Movement implemented.
5. Statue of Zeus requires Ivory (bug fix).
6. Scientific Leaders have been turned off.
Everything else is the same as the out of the box version of the game.



Gameplay Equalisation.
1. War mobilisation has been reinstated for all versions of the software. It becomes available with the discovery of Nationalism as in the original game.

2. Differential Naval Movement is engaged by default. To discover more about this feature hit >>THIS<< link.

3. It is not possible to pop a settler from a hut in SGOTM. You may however be lucky enough to find an eqworker within one of these establishments.


A full listing of changes and bug fixes for all software versions is posted below. All such changes may be found in the relevent Civilopedia entries.

From time to time games may be offered where the in-game rules will differ from those listed in this thread. In such circumstances any rule changes will be announced before the game begins. Detailed information on GOTM rules and discussions of the various modifications and exploits are contained in >>THIS THREAD<< and is recommended reading.

Reporting of errors and ommissions and proposals for change to the Constitution is welcomed. Such comments should be posted in the current games' Maintenance Thread.

Open Issues List
1. Celtic and Mongol UU is not built by AI in PTW/1.29f(Seen in SGOTM5). Possible resolution to decrease cost from 50g to 40g as C3C. (Fixed)
2. Differential Naval movemement not engaged for C3C. Implement for SGOTM7 (fixed)
3. 1.29f/PTW Leader implementation is poor. Reduces gameplay experience. No Solution identified. (Solution on trial)
4. Cities may be popped from goody-huts. Temporary work-around - Place goody huts close to human start on mountains.
5. Variation in anarchy periods is unfair for cultural victory conditions. Temporary workaround - Use religious Civ for cultural games.
6. Progress graphs on Download page not relevent for all variants. Addition of graphs for Culture, surplus food, shield production,net income,city count,total unit count (perhaps)) to be added. (Culture graph added).
7. Separation of C3C from other games not possible in download page. Software to be recoded.(fixed)
8. Download page references Gold and Green Laurels. Needs updating.
9. Coding required in submission software to check diplomacy. Required for AW variant scrutiny.
10. Rules, change history and bug list need updating and placing in single location.
11. Team strength moderation may be inadequate. Community evaluation required.
12. Playtesting check list inadequate, not enough time for thorough approach. Solution - Release the clean bic/bix/biq to the playing community.
13. Reducing number of new variants - disparity between builder/warmonger variants.
14. Agreed Sanctions for rule breaking to be solidified. Continue to monitor cross-lurking and reloading to identify extent of problem.
15. Civilopediae are not completely accurate.

 

[mad-bax]

SGOTM Scenario Files

The following files are those used in the SGOTM event to generate the scenarios in which each game is played. Participants are invited to download these files and generate their own maps, either for pleasure, or in order to playtest the mods and help seek out any remaining bugs.

Please do not report bugs to this thread, but instead notify the staff in the current games' maintenance thread.

"Vanilla" 1.29f
Scenario File v1.3

New Vanilla Civilopeadia
>>FILE<<

"PTW" 1.27
Scenario File v1.3

"C3C" 1.22
Scenario File v1.4

Change History.

1.29f

V1.3 SGOTM8
Fixed Cossack upgrade bug
Fixed Mongol UU upgrade bug
Reset some internal parameters to allow user defined scenario properties.

V1.2 SGOTM8
Returned all city and leader names to default values.


V1.1 SGOTM7
Re-ordered resources in bic for easier portability between sofware versions.
Removed bug whereby "rocks" resource could be added to hills.

Previous changes
Armies - Added Radar.
European Swordsman - shield cost reduced from 50 to 40.
Korchin - Shield cost reduced from 50 to 40
Heroic Epic - Returned to game default.
Leader - Returned to game default.
F15 - Changed Bombard to 6/0/2
Man-O-War - Changed ADM to 4/2/10 and bombard to 4/1/2
EqWorker - Changed shield cost from 40 to 10
Added "Open" resource to resolve a security issue.
Updated Civilopedia - but still needs work.
Standard Map size - All settings returned to default.
Fixed Jet to F15 upgrade bug
Fixed Legionary to Immortals upgrade bug
Fixed Immortals to Frankish Axeman upgrade bug
Fixed Cavalry to Balkan Dragoon Upgrade bug

PTW

V1.3 SGOTM8
Fixed Cossack Upgrade bug.
Fixed Keshik Upgrade bug.
Reset some internal parameters to allow user defined scenario properties.

V1.2 SGOTM8
Returned all city and great leader names to default.
Changed Marine stats in line with vanilla and C3C version (Bug fix)

V1.1 SGOTM7
Re-ordered resources in bix for easier portability between sofware versions.
Removed bug whereby "rocks" resource could be added to hills.

Previous changes
Armies - Added Radar.
Gallic Swordsman - shield cost reduced from 50 to 40.
Keshik - Shield cost reduced from 50 to 40
Keshik - Added "Zone of Control" for parity with 1.29f. (Bug fix).
Heroic Epic - Returned to game default.
Leader - Returned to game default.
F15 - Changed Bombard to 6/0/2
Man-O-War - Changed ADM to 4/2/10 and bombard to 4/1/2
EqWorker - Changed shield cost from 40 to 10
Added "Open" resource to resolve a security issue.
Standard Map size - All settings returned to default.

C3C

V1.4 SGOTM14
Fixed a bug where all ships ignored movement cost in Sea. This affected differential naval movement, making speed in Sea the same as in Ocean. Previous games were hex edited to fix this, but the SGOTM 14 start files were built using the fixed .biq. Bugs reported during SGOTM 14:

- Carrack movement had not been doubled in line with differential naval movement requirements. This was hex edited in the team saves, and is fixed in the attached V1.4 file.

V1.3 SGOTM8
Upsuffix to keep revision level in line with the other scenario files.

V1.2 SGOTM8
Changed wealth cost from 8 to 4 (in line with out of the box version)

V1.1 SGOTM7
No Changes - version upsuffix to keep in line with other scenario files.

Previous changes
Implemented Differential Naval Movement.
Standard Map size settings restored to default.
Statue of Zeus - Now requires Ivory. (Bug fix).
Added "Open" resource to resolve a security issue.
Upgrade cost - Returned to game default of 3 (from 2).

Note: For C3C it is necessary to decide on the setting for the game prior to opening the scenario file and to start a "standard" game using these settings. So you must start a game with world size, barb settings etc. all set, exit the game and then start the scenario. If you do not do this then the in-game tech rates and corruption parameters may be different to those intended.