T1-4: Temple of Doom

[Jet]

Edit: I'm restarting this on page 3 due to technical problems, so this is not the final version. Not a spoiler, just obscured because it's not the version we're playing from:

Spoiler :

1. 4000 BC: Welcome, Doom Templars, to the Jungle:

Solid.

Scout moves SW to hill and reveals that our settler is 4 tiles from the bottom of the map.

I settle in place and go Poly / Scout, working the cows. In hindsight 1W might have been better, trading 2 flat plains and one forest for one flat grass and one grass hill, but in-place isn't bad. About the Scout, Oasis maps have a lot of land space, which means lots of huts (and lots of barbs.) Working the gems would shave one turn off Poly, but I take the chance.

As advertised this is Monarch, Epic, Oasis, Standard. It's a Flat map (no wrap), with Lock Modified Assets. I'm using the current version of Better AI, 2006-11-04.

2. 3970: a forest grows 1NW of Tenochtitlan. Nice. Scout moves N/NW, nothing interesting yet.

3. 3940: Scout moves W/SW, revealing hut.

4. 3910: hut:

I send the new scout 1NE to check that one fog tile, revealing not much. Planning to send one in a wide clockwise circle and the other in a tighter one.

5. 3880: ...

6. 3850: another hut revealed to the West.

7: 3820 A neighboring tribe introduces itself. Their leader is a jolly fellow named Qi- I mean, Kublai Khan, wearing a funny, overly warm hat:

Their proposal is agreeable. I can't see him in F5, so his scout must have run through our field of vision. I assume that means he is popping our huts, and so the only real choice is between a swift and merciful death, and a slow and agonizing one. Keshiks would be awesome in the jungle, but Oasis only puts horses at the top of the map. Bad luck, dude.

Western scout pops 27 gold, Northern scout finds Fur.

Press <ENTER> to end turn:

So now we'll take a majority vote on whether to continue or restart. If we restart, we can optionally do so with different settings. If you'd prefer different settings, please do discuss/propose. I vote to continue, though.

( Save deleted because I'm restarting ).

 

[Bede]

By all means play on. Nice soundtrack, too.

 

[Swiss Pauli]

I'd propose a re-roll:
1. 2006-11-07 is the current version of Blake's AI*,
2. We're on a map edge, [EDIT: Having rolled some starts, this seems quite likely so it's no biggie]
3. Low food for the demands of our variant.

*it has some relevant changes for us regarding AI workers.

 

[Jet]

It's not hard to restart, but...

I believe we could simply switch to the latest Blake starting now. He says it's save-compatible with unmodded 2.08, so different versions of Blake should be save-compatible with each other.

A more central start would make things easier, but since in Oasis you always start in the south, I don't think we can do *much* better; we might start 10 tiles up instead of 4. But too far north and we'll be on the edge of the desert, with a mix of flood plains and desert.

I agree that the food is low for us - not so much the plains, but the resources, compared to the pigs or rice we could get in a restart.

My vote is still to continue.

 

[angeleyes]

Do we need the perfect start to beat the AI? I think it looks very nice: gems on grass without jungle, my favourite tile for the capital, and our second city can take the furs.

Today i downloaded Blake 2006-11-04, didn't see the later version Swiss Pauli talks about

 

[Meatbuster]

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=178407

 

[Swiss Pauli]

Well that's three ayes to one ney, so on we go...

@Jet - do you want to take another 8 turns so that we're all on 15 for the first round?

'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.'

We need to remember this before the ceremony, else we risk an immediate foul!

 

[frankcor]

I'm good to go with the current start, as long as the mod version isn't an issue. I'd prefer to use the most current one, if possible.

 

[Swiss Pauli]

I tried to load up the save and I'm getting a CTD on loading after a message about 'save...protected...assets in mod folder'.

Can someone else try the save?

 

[Jet]

Rats. I tried replacing Better AI with the 11-07 version and got the same error. It appears that because I checked off Lock Modified Assets, the save will only load in the 11-04 version.

All right, revote. 2 choices:
1. Play on with this save and stick with the 11-04 mod release.
2. Restart with same settings (which nobody has strenuously objected to) but no Lock Modified Assets, so that we have the option of upgrading the mod as we go (we'll decide about that as we go). In this case I'll play the first 7 turns with the 11-07 mod version.
Edit: this one is also a majority vote, and (as implied) we will also take a majority vote after the first 7 turns. Sorry to be all bureaucratic about the startup, but we have to meet the needs of our bureaucracy.

I vote 1, but not very enthusiastically. It's more just, if people want to get on with the game, I support that.

 

[Jet]

This is not to argue the current vote one way or the other, but it's funny that the changes in the 11-07 version include:
- The AI will put more emphasis on priests in holy cities.

 

[angeleyes]

Same error. Do what you like Jet.

 

[Jet]

@Jet - do you want to take another 8 turns so that we're all on 15 for the first round?

'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.'

We need to remember this before the ceremony, else we risk an immediate foul!

No thanks, whether we keep this save or start a new one, I won't want to take another 8 turns after the first 7. Once we have a start we like, it'll be frankcor's turn.

Yeah, if it's not a holy city so that the first prophet can build a shrine, we're in big trouble. The premise is really is that we'll get Hind or worst case Jud, but we'll see.

 

[frankcor]

I vote for number 2 but I can live with either choice (gee, wouldn't it be great if I could say the same thing about the politicians I was forced to choose from?)

 

[Bede]

I for one would prefer to stay the course that Jet started and lock down the mod used.

so that means option 1

 

[Jet]

So we've got:
Jet - 1
frankcor - 2
Asperger - abstain / defer to me
Bede - 1

Well, even if Swiss Pauli votes 2, I as OP would want to break the tie to keep things moving, and I guess I'll say 1. It's done - let's play!

frankcor, you're up. 15 turn turnsets from now on.

 

[Swiss Pauli]

It appears that because I checked off Lock Modified Assets, the save will only load in the 11-04 version.

Re-installed 11-04 and still get the same CTD! I think we need to restart w/o Lock Modified Assets.

 

[Bede]

Re-installed 11-04 and still get the same CTD! I think we need to restart w/o Lock Modified Assets.

Where did you install it? If it goes inside the Mods folder located in the same tree as the Warlords executable it should go just fine. If you put it in the "Custom Assets" folder you will get the CTD error when trying to open Jet's save.

 

[Swiss Pauli]

Where did you install it? If it goes inside the Mods folder located in the same tree as the Warlords executable it should go just fine. If you put it in the "Custom Assets" folder you will get the CTD error when trying to open Jet's save.

It's in the Mods folder. Can you load OK, then?

 

[Bede]

No problem, but if I delete the BetterAI folder in the Mods folder and then put the DLL in Custom Assets I go right down the tube trying to load the save.

When you start the game and go "Advanced" then "Load a Mod" does the "BetterAI" appear as a choice in that screen?