T1-4: Temple of Doom

[Jet]

Leader: Montezuma
Difficulty: Monarch
Map: Oasis, standard size
Speed: Epic
Version: Warlords 2.08 with Blake's Better AI mod. We'll start with version 2006-11-04, and possibly upgrade if there's another release while we're playing. Currently we're using version 2006-11-07. Better AI installs cleanly in its own folder, changes only the AI, and is from the guy who designed the AI changes in the 2.08 patch.
Victory: All enabled, but we must win by Conquest.
Variant: Our first Great Prophet reveals a ceremony through which the Aztec Empire will conquer the known world. The ceremony will take millenia to complete. On the turn the Prophet is born we must change the name of Tenochtitlan to Temple of Doom and declare war on another Civ, in celebration. For the remainder of the game Temple of Doom must run one Priest or one settled Great Prophet for each city we own, except for Temple of Doom and any city whose culture touches Temple of Doom's, including at a corner.
Turns: The first turnset is 7 turns. After the first turnset we'll take a majority vote on whether to start from a new save. We can vote however we feel like, but the general intent is to get a decent start with 3 food resources, which is not unusual in Oasis. At this time we can also discuss the game settings, and restart with different settings if desired. We can restart any number of times. After the first turnset, turnsets are 15 turns.
Time: Please post "got it" within 24 hours, then narrative and save 48 hours after that, or "skip" any time.
Roster:
1. Jet
2. frankcor
3. Swiss Pauli
4. Bede
5. Asperger

Thanks to VoiceOfUnreason for suggesting a Temple of Doom in ALC #10.

T1-4 was, of course, the product code for the AD&D module Temple of Elemental Evil.

 

[Meatbuster]

Not a signup, but I had thought you based the title and concept on Indiana Jones and that 1-4 means first episode out of four... were there four movies?

 

[frankcor]

This sounds like fun and a tough challenge -- we're gonna be knee-deep in priests, I suspect.

Sign me up!

 

[Jet]

You're in, frankcor!

 

[Jet]

 

[Meatbuster]

Not to be a sour grape, but I think people don't want to install mods, even if it IS Blake's AI. Perhaps if you remove the "mod needed" people will be more inclined to join.

EDIT: Or you could encourage people to just put the DLL on their CustomAssets so no "mod" needed to be loaded.

 

[Swiss Pauli]

I'm up for this...dunno how I missed it. But I think Blake's updated since then - maybe state that we will play with the latest available mod version?

 

[Jet]

@Swiss Pauli, you're in!

@Robo Kai, could be. Maybe I'll pitch the mod better in the description.

 

[frankcor]

From what I have read, the 2.08 patch makes the AI better on it's own, without having to use a mod. Some folks suggest that playing with the patch bumps the AI up a level -- people used to playing on Monarch are struggling at Prince. Will the Blake mod make it feel like we're playing on pre-patch Emperor level or higher?

I'm happy for the challenge because like they say -- what doesn't kill you just makes you stronger. But Robo-Kai brings up a good point about the mod scaring people away.

 

[Swiss Pauli]

I'm gonna play a quick private game with Blake's mod and I'll let you know how I found it. Played one with 2.08 and it wasn't much harder than previously, though the AI could have got closer if I hadn't done some war-bribing.

EDIT: played up til I grabbed Liberalism in 1100ADish. The AI doesn't seem to be too bad, nor too good: none had Paper when I took Liberalism. However, I did start in the corner of the Oasis map, so I was able to grab all the land I fancied as the AIs weren't close to my starting position.

 

[Jet]

@Swiss Pauli: hmm, what settings/etc (unless you consider that beside the point)?

@frankcor: If you don't mind a little spoilage, you can read Blake's change log in the thread I linked to. To me it looks like a fun but minor improvement over 2.08.

 

[Bede]

Sign me in for this one. And I like the idea of a Small Map on Epic.

and to keep things cleaner I would suggest installing Blake's improved AI as a mod in its own folder in the Mods folder of the core game folders, not in Custom Assets. That keeps the while thing cleaner all around, does not affect any other games at all and if you start from the save file you don't go through the nonsense of reloading, except of course for the guy who starts the game.

 

[Swiss Pauli]

@Jet - same setting you suugested in the OP (aside from the Temple part, of course).

 

[Jet]

You're in, Bede, and respect from Boston!

 

[frankcor]

Jet, I agree, the changes look small but I think they'll make the challenge even tougher (and thus, more fun).

Welcome aboard, Bede! Thanks for the hint about using a mod folder. It looks almost too simple.

 

[Swiss Pauli]

For the remainder of the game Temple of Doom must run one Priest or one settled Great Prophet for each city we own, except for Temple of Doom and any city whose culture touches Temple of Doom's, including at a corner.

I think this might be a bit tricky, especially as we'd have to calculate the borders of Temple of Doom to work out which cities are touching it. How about some ritual sacrificing in ToD at the end of every turnset, and one Priest/Prophet per conquered civ?

Aside from that, anyone fancy kicking off this weekend? Maybe another player or two will sign up once we get going.

 

[angeleyes]

I would like to join. Since it is conquest with a limited amount of city's i concur with Bede on small map epic. Founding hinduism and a temple allows us already 4 prophets, that's about 8 city's. Further Stonehenge > Oracle > Chitzen Itza > Angkor Wat (3 extra prophets allowed!) and Spiral Minaret for lots of great prophets.

 

[Jet]

@Asperger, you're in, and that's five, woo-hoo!

@Swiss Pauli, I'd like to reassure you that looking at the borders isn't that hard. They expand in a known pattern up to a limited radius, except in the remote chance that there's an AI city in the way; but in that case we can assume/pretend that the AI city has no effect. And, well, since having to run tons of priests is half of the main concept, THAT is a rule I'd really prefer to keep.

To get things going I'll start a game with all settings as OP-ed, but Epic. I prefer size Standard so that there are more AIs for more interesting diplomacy, but without adding extra civs, and also so that the number of cities limit poses more of a challenge. I think the resulting game will be challenging, but I'm willing to give it a try. However, if we're Jonesin' for different settings (like size Small), that's totally OK -- let's discuss and debate it after the first turnset, when we're going to vote on whether to keep the start save anyway. Then if we vote "No", if desired we restart with different settings.

I'll post the first turnset, probably very soon. Only late last night did I realize I had the day off today - aw yeah!

 

[Swiss Pauli]

No worries - we had better roll a start like I had in my test game: 2 grass pigs and one grass cows in the capital's fat cross! The only reservation I'd have is that if we start in a corner, we'll have to assign lots more priests than we'd like. I think standard size is best; small might be a bit empty.

I'd quite like to add a sacrifice element, especially given Monty's UB.

 

[angeleyes]

If we play a toroidal map, we don't have to worry about starting in a corner!