Unofficial May Tourney game

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by gus_smedstad
I don't really see how you get a domination victory before 1200 AD. Sure, it's easy enough to get your own continent under control well before then. The issue is getting Navigation or Magnetism for the cross-ocean attack early enough.

- Gus

The key is to avoid the temptation to do too much conquest too early at the expense of building and research. With plenty of rivers near home, you should be pushing research hard beginning with your second tech. I normally beeline for Republic or Literature and count on tech trading to get things like Iron Working and Horseback Riding.

With lots of libraries, Republic, and then later plenty of marketplaces, research goes at a fast clip, making riders available that much sooner. And oh boy does the tech roll in during a golden age with a good number of libraries and marketplaces!

Of course, playing a republic, you have to make sure you win your wars quickly. But that's what riders and cavalry are for, right?

Oh, one last thing. I do quite a bit of micromanagement to keep the computer from doing stupid things with the laborers in my cities that hinder my growth. Someone who doesn't do much micromanagement is at a huge disadvantage trying to compete with someone who does!

Nathan

[BillChin]

Okay folks, I would like input on the June game. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome, but unless someone else wants to run the show (which would be fine by me), I'll make the call after getting input.

The April game was Monarch level as Zulu
The May game was Regent level as Chinese

Both were random maps, standard size maps, random civ, standard rules. I played the May game a bit to make sure the map was more forgiving than the April map.

Most of the names I see submitting games also participate in the GOTM on Civfanatics. For May, I purposely waited until their game was posted before deciding on a difficulty level. When I saw Deity level on Civfanatics, I knew I wanted a relatively easy game here. So I decided on Regent level AND testing the map. If people want to wait until they see the Civfanatics game before chiming in here, that is okay. I did okay with posting the file on May 3rd or so. Maybe a day or two headstart for Civfanatics is a good way to go, because their tournament is so much more popular.

So far I see seven submitted May games. In alphabetical order:
BillChin, Carcajou, gus_smedstad, hallumj, La Fayette, nbarclay, watorrey

I'll soon tally the results and post two sets of rankings, one by highest score and one by fastest date. More than that with seven participants is a bit much.
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For procrastinaters, there is still time to submit the May game. A good player might be able to start and finish the game in about 12 hours of playing time. This is an "unofficial" game. The "unofficial" deadline is midnight June 2, in whatever time zone you are in

[watorrey]

For an unofficial game, i wouldn't want it to be too hard, but rather a fun level. Maybe post one without testing the map first. Plus easier games might get more ppl involved.

[nbarclay]

If you'd like me to handle the game this month, I'm willing. I really don't care much one way or the other. I just posted a poll to see what level or levels people are interested in; that's probably a useful thing to do whoever runs the tournament. Since I want to see what other people think, I'll wait a little while to post on the matter myself.

Nathan

[BillChin]

Originally posted by nbarclay
If you'd like me to handle the game this month, I'm willing. I really don't care much one way or the other. I just posted a poll to see what level or levels people are interested in; that's probably a useful thing to do whoever runs the tournament. Since I want to see what other people think, I'll wait a little while to post on the matter myself.

Nathan

That would be great Nathan, thanks. I've been feeling a bit down over personal matters, so I appreciate one less thing to think about. With the current level of participation, the tourney pretty much runs itself. I do check in about once a day or so, just to see if anything strange (like the file being unavailable), or people posting detailed spoilers a day after I post the game (please wait a week or two even if you finish the game in a day or two).

I see that Civfanatics has a Monarch level game as Germany for June. One idea in my mind is maybe run the same level (Regent or Monarch), and try one of the more popular MODs out there, or making a few minor tweaks of my own (like MarkG did by taking out goody huts). Just an idea to keep from the game a bit fresh and interesting, without ratcheting up the difficulty level. Now that the BIC file is saved with the save game this is a lot easier to do without having people backup and copy files.

I look forward to seeing the June game.

Footnote: For those who want to see the May results in a ranked format instead of browsing through the thread, I'll post final results for the May game in a day or two. (I did say players have until midnight June 2nd, in their local time zone).

[nbarclay]

I don't suppose there's a way to remove the huts without looking at the map, is there? Without that, I couldn't remove the huts and still play the game on a fair basis, and I definitely want to play!

That leaves a choice of either turning barbarians off (no barbarians, no huts, as best I can tell) or leaving both the barbarians and the huts. I'm not thrilled with either approach; no barbarians removes one of the early strategic trade-offs, but the huts introduce a huge luck factor into who does how well. (I wish the contents of the huts - allowing for differences in what tech a civ is ready for - were (or could be) written into the map!)

As for setting up mods, I personally prefer to play the game straight, but I might be willing to give mods a try if a consensus forms that people want them. On the other hand, I have another idea for a change of pace, which I'll post on my poll thread.

Nathan

[BillChin]

I think you can turn off the huts with the editor. I believe this is how MarkG did it. He is still around (but no longer involved with the tourney) so maybe email him direct if you need details.

Another way to limit the luck is to preserve the random seed (check box) when starting up the game and creating the map. That way most people will get similar results from the huts and early combat. Overall, I do not have strong feelings about huts one way or the other.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by BillChin
I think you can turn off the huts with the editor. I believe this is how MarkG did it. He is still around (but no longer involved with the tourney) so maybe email him direct if you need details.

Another way to limit the luck is to preserve the random seed (check box) when starting up the game and creating the map. That way most people will get similar results from the huts and early combat. Overall, I do not have strong feelings about huts one way or the other.

Thanks for the thought about the editor; I've never tried using it thus far so I don't know much about what it can do. Regarding using the same seed, that ensures that players who do the same thing won't get different results, but if players pop a hut on different turns and the AIs generate random numbers in the meantime, preserving the seed is irrelevant.

Nathan

[BillChin]

Unofficial May Results, thanks to all participants. Nbarclay is hosting the June game.

By points:
1. watorrey space race in 1764 AD, score of 4763
2. BillChin domination victory in 1295, score of 4472
3. nbarclay domination victory in 1160 AD, score of 4271
4. gus_smedstad Domination 1670 AD, 3794 points
5. La Fayette domination in 1265 AD, score 3747
6. hallumj space (or United Nations?), 1868 AD, 2460 pts
7. Carcajou Diplomatic win in 1766 AD with 2302 points

By date of finish:
1. nbarclay domination victory in 1160 AD, score of 4271
2. La Fayette domination in 1265 AD, score 3747
3. BillChin domination victory in 1295 AD, score of 4472
4. gus_smedstad Domination 1670 AD, 3794 points
5. watorrey space race in 1764 AD, score of 4763
6. Carcajou Diplomatic win in 1766 AD with 2302 points
7. hallumj space (or United Nations?) in 1868 AD, 2460 pts