1BC Civ Forums / Civilization IV Discussion / CivIV GOTM: BTS Game in Progress / Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword / Latest Posts

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:29:53 GMT

Thanks, guys.

You were easier on me this last month. Reachable scores this past month. Some months, you can score astronomically high and still not win the GOTM. :P

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Bolan Longpants — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:55:45 GMT

Congrats on the nice win!

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Scipio Africanus — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:50:10 GMT

Congrats Cow!

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

mongoose201 — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:18:00 GMT

Belated Congrats to Nuclearcow... December GOTM Champion..

Oh.. and January's game now has it's own thread, thanks again.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:10:09 GMT

No, no... thank YOU, sir.

Is a huge map too big for anyone's PC? I hope not. :crying:

I was a little surprised while setting that up that we cannot create any custom names for leaders. Have we been unable to do that since CIV III? lol. I don't know. Maybe I just haven't tried in ages. I was trying to make one with names of political candidates.

Ah, well. On to that game then. Thanks, Leo and 'Goose.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

mongoose201 — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:13:13 GMT

This one will work just fine.. I'll set it up in it's own thread today.

Thanks a lot!

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Leo — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 11:59:15 GMT

Let's do it! I hereby dub this here Nuclearcow thing the Official Unofficial GotM for January. You probably don't want to play mine. And ain't nobody else jumpin' up with one.

So...Normal GotM rules...all victories is good fer ya...whoever got da highest score come...what...ooooo I know...come Valentine's Day (February 14) wins.

I'm off to lose again! *races out the door with a swizzle stick and a bike helmet*

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:14:33 GMT

I was hoping to see some official word in here today so I could start playing. :P Can we get some consensus on a game?

Bueller? Bueller?

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:01:49 GMT

We don't have to do that one. I saved one just to get it started.

I think whatever we officially do, we should do, or agree on, etc before we miss the month totally.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Zigeuner — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:44:38 GMT

I won't have time for epic speed and huge map. Not sure everyone's compu will pull off a huge map either... Other than that, it looks like a powerhouse capital. :)

(I also wish we'd stop using permanent alliances. You just butter up to one neighbor, join hands quickly and the game's won.)

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:27:04 GMT

I think that game, or any other, would have to have that month duration minimum. Like be due Feb. 18th, or whatnot.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Leo — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:12:26 GMT

That might be a bit long for less than two weeks...

But I've already been blown out of the GotM that I put forth :)

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:32:32 GMT

Without scrolling back, I *think* I had the high score for December. Can I claim spoils of the victor and create January's?

If thats okay, then I created one. Sean of 1BC (looks conspicuously like Asoak of India ;) )

Settings:
Prince difficulty
Terra
Huge
Temperate
Medium sea-level
Epic speed

Advanced starting ON
NO tech trading (zero)
Permenant Alliances on

IF you drop a city on that little red circle for recommended location, it would be here (see below). Please note the decent city location of food and hills.

We haven't had an advanced starting point game in a while. I prefer marathon games, but I went between the typical setting and my favorite and came up with Epic speed. ALL victory conditions are on. The winner of the game will be based on score.

What do you guys think? Is this doable? Shall we run this for January's GOTM?

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Leo — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:51:35 GMT

Yeah, and I'm only doing mediocrely in it, so it meets all requirements for a GotM :angry:

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Zigeuner — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:40:51 GMT

Hey goose, Leo put up a nice-looking game, why not adopt that one? It's right [url=http://www.1bcciv.com/Topic2247940-75-1.aspx]here[/url]. :)

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

mongoose201 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:37:19 GMT

I may need help with this months game guys... I'm completely swamped at work... If someone has an idea for a game by all means set it up and post the screenshots/save with whatever rules you want to play with and we'll make it official.

Profuse apologies...

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 01:53:00 GMT

That sounds fair to me as well.

But, if you start a game on January 14th, for example (hint hint!), you still could start February's game early in February, but only declare the winner of January 14's game on Feb. 14th.

I think the majority is done with the GOTM in a couple weeks, so having 2 active ones at once isn't a bad thing.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Bolan Longpants — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:14:40 GMT

Still standing by... :P

I would also suggest to give every one a month of play time for every game. So if you post a game on the 14th set the end date on the 14th so every one has enough time to finish it. Some of the games you posted only lasted 2-3 weeks which is rather short IMHO.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

mongoose201 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:11:31 GMT

I'm going to try and get the game going tonight when I get in from work...

Stand by....

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:48:53 GMT

Talk to me Goose!

Are we close to another game, sir?

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Bolan Longpants — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:13:56 GMT

Ha, it looks like we have 2 more tough competitors for next month's game. Bring us the january game My Goose, Sir!

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Leo — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:41:56 GMT

Ooo ooo...put up the new game now! I'm ITCHING to recover from my humiliation and/or fugue! Let me at 'em! Rawr!

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

GarrisonFord — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 05:28:26 GMT

I did managae to finish this game. Embarassed by an 11k point victory. Time for me to bone up and get back into the swing of things if I am to compete with you hostiles:cool:

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

mongoose201 — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:43:45 GMT

About 24 hours left to go if anyone is still playing this one... January's game will be up soon after.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Zigeuner — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 15:19:07 GMT

Hah, that sounds more like it! :D

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Leo — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:18:59 GMT

Holy cow this might be my silver bullet!

Thank you Zigeuner, for pointing me to that.

I just finished a 10 hour normal game as the Knights Templar (Elizabethan English, to get both traits the guy recommends), and was in the middle of slaughtering my opponents for the heck of it when I won a culture victory.

Yes, it was only Noble, but I [b]won[/b]. Not only did I win, but I felt like I was in control and understanding how the game was working the entire way. Maybe there's hope. I got a culture victory in the 1980s and got a score of 17,000ish on Noble, so I was pretty happy with the score; highest win in BtS so far.

Things I've learned:

The first few turns when nothing appears to be happening in your city are hugely important.

Specialists in your cities, especially early on are giant.

The special bonuses for spaces are not gained if you settle on them.

Religion, which I'm shamelessly hooked on, will *#$@ you hard, avoid them until you are powerful and then take them away from those less deserving.

Now...in following the strategy, I did the best I could but the Romans popped two city radii from me. My capital had just gotten its second culture expansion when Augustus plopped Antium next to me. So, being [b]extremely lucky[/b] in having copper pop within my capital radius, I axe-rushed the Romans and then the Spaniards who were fairly close too.

That left me a continent all my own...which made the tech race rough at the beginning but let me expand to my little builder's heart's content.

Man, I needed a good win. This strategy might not work all the time, but it gives me some baseline to work with that I know is sound. Woot!

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Zigeuner — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:41:25 GMT

[quote]Also I don't see the need to go for archery very early. I think I would prefer bronze working first and try to hook up copper. Of course this depends on the available resources.[/quote]A game on deity (teamed up with another civvie) will change your mind. Barbs coming at you VERY early, butchering your warriors one after another. You won't have time to get bronze working [i]and[/i] animal husbandry, so archers are the safest bet.

On prince/ monarch you have a lot more leeway (such as getting the great wall), so you don't need to follow the strategy too closely (better to settle great scientists than to bulb techs for example). Two things that [i]are[/i] very powerful on any level: build all those workers early on, and settle aggressively towards your neighbor(s). Just play the first 50 turns a couple of times to get used to it, before you try it in the GOTM...

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Bolan Longpants — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:27:13 GMT

I think some people are forgetting about military strength. I check the demographic screen on a regular base in my games and try to make sure my soldiers ranking is 3rd or even higher. I am quite positive that being ranked above the AI will prevent them to declare war (maybe except for some agressive civs).

You also have to check which AI is the most dangerous one. To me it was clear The Koreans were the most dangerous civ out there and that's why I decided to go to war with them. Taking Seoul with it's wonders was the key to victory in my game.

Congrats to Nuclear Cow for the impressive score.

Edit: I just read that strategy post of civfanatics and I don't agree with all the things mentioned there. The worker first is of course a must but depending on the trade output in your capitol adding a great scientist may be better than building an academy. Especially when you want to run a specialist economy under representation later on.

Also I don't see the need to go for archery very early. I think I would prefer bronze working first and try to hook up copper. Of course this depends on the available resources.

I was really amazed I could outresearch the AI like I did in this game on this level. I would have beaten them on emperor too considering the 10 tech lead I had in the end.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Leo — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:29:13 GMT

*latches on to the strategy*

What the heck...I'll give it a shot.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:12:14 GMT

I took some screen shots from this game for a Member submitted guide on catapults/trebuchets. Check it out if you want. :)

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:50:19 GMT

Done in 1968.

Quick summary. I built up 20 Ballista Elephants to go whup Peter, but he kept becoming more advanced and Churchhill was pretty far behind, so I ended up taking him out instead and making him my vassal with just a couple island cities left. Eventually I permanently allied with Peter.

I had 21 Great People in this game (4 being generals). Not too shabby. Thats my 1st Space Race victory in BTS and maybe my last unless another GOTM calls for it. :P

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Zigeuner — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 12:25:27 GMT

I tried to follow [url=http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=248435]this strategy[/url] in my game (as far as it went anyway), and had 5 good cities, very rapidly, with room for one or two more up north. My second city was founded far south, with the gold, iron, elephants and cattle. A gamble perhaps, but I got there first.

The biggest difference on higher levels seems (to me) that early on you cannot taunt the AIs diplomatically--at all. This means you have to give in to demands. It also means that you should not commit to a religion until you know it's safe. (In my game buddhism and hinduism had spread to my lands, but in not choosing one or the other, I set my neighbors up to become mortal enemies.)

I'm amazed at the many strategies possible in civ4. Rapid Early Expansion is just as viable as the wonder sprawl I used last month, and next time perhaps an early rush is called for, or a coastal trade economy. I'm playing the Fall from Heaven mod almost exclusively now (the 2 hours a week I call my spare time) and find it perfect for Specialist Economies (due to some very interesting civics). Anyway, I hope I have time to give January a run. I hope you'll keep at it as well Leo. :)

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 23:59:46 GMT

I could be wrong, but I think the latest patch made things even tougher. Maybe its just me.

I was playing a multi-player game with a friend a week ago and was being a nice neighbor and was attacked by an AI and within about 10 turns, I was fighting 5 computer AIs. 5! I was nice to my neighbors and had the same religion as at least a couple of my nearest neighbors and had a strong military too, or so I thought. Craziness.

Anyways, it seems like things got tougher to me at least.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Leo — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:16:25 GMT

I continue my trend of losing the GotM

It is monarch so I guess I should feel okay...

I had the Pyramids and whatever the one for religion is. In fact, I was kicking butt on wonders and had four cities...start location, 5 due north, 5 due west, one up in the desert on the bay.

I was having a great time. Then Peter and his Koreans declared war on me. I had no chance. I had been building military units but not fast enough.

So, having lost, I restarted...to see if I could win the game at all.

Nope. 3x I lost on this map, and the first was the best. I was a total raving jerkwad in my latest one...and simply could not keep units equivalent in tech or strength.

It's games like this one that make me think of quitting. I cannot take losing all the $*%$#%* #$%$**@@* @#$#@#^%^@# 32$#*#$%@# time.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Bolan Longpants — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:22:06 GMT

I finished this game about 2 days ago. To me surprise my research was way faster compared to the AI. At the end I was about 10 techies ahead of the rest and I only had 10 cities. Another thing I learned this game: The Great Lighthouse is much more powerful than The Colossus.

My score isn't very impressive: 18.8k launched my ship at 1944AD and it arrived at 1954AD. I just wanted to see if I could research faster than the AI.

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 01:57:01 GMT

I finally started this one a couple nights ago. Decent start, decent game so far. I'm probably right around year 1700, but I don't recall.

I'm working a lot for the next couple of days, but I'll probably have it finished about Jan 3rd as a guess. Good luck. :)

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Bolan Longpants — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:11:15 GMT

Nine turns left in this game.

Major Bolan to ground control.

'We expect to launch our ship in 1944. The AI is eating dust and are about one age behind. Does it matter if I only build one engine?'

10... 9... 8... 7...:)

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

mongoose201 — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:57:02 GMT

Since there have not yet been any submissions, I'll push back the deadline to Jan 7.... The January game might be up and running before the conclusion to this one, so you may be able to go straight from one game the the next...

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Nuclearcow — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 05:24:51 GMT

I haven't started this one yet, so I might just miss December's. :crying:

RE: Dec. 07 GOTM - Beyond the Sword

Bolan Longpants — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 05:09:24 GMT

It's the year 1804AD now and we are still in the lead.

[spoiler]We have 3 major cities out of 10 cities in total: One financial centre with 3 super merchants, one super prophet, Wall Street, the Cristian Shrine, Sid's Sushi and the National Epic. We make almost 300 gold each turn in this city. This is also the largest producer of great people (80+ great people points per turn).

Our capitol is producing most of the science beakers (400+) with an academy, the +100% science wonder and a lot of wonders. We just finished The Statue of Liberty here

Our third city is our power house with Iron Works and The Heroic Epic. We can produce one unit each turn here.

Still concerning soldiers we are 4th in the demographics screen so this is still a concern. Concerning techies; we are about 3-4 techies ahead of the AI.[/spoiler]

I am not sure if I can finish the game before the end of the year.