News: BOTM 105 - Alexander, Emperor - Starts 10 April

BOTM 105: Alexander the Great of Greece.

In ancient times, Alexander conquered vast swathes of the Middle East, creating an empire that was as vast as it was short lived. This is your chance to repeat his success - battling against many of the same civilizations, can you conquer all, and have an empire that lasts for - say - until the end of the game?

Game settings:
Playing as: Alexander the Great of Greece
Rivals: 4 AIs
Difficulty: Emperor
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Options: City culture-flipping after conquest, no tech trading, no goody huts, no random events
Victory Conditions: All enabled

Map settings:
Map: Tectonics
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Mapsize: Small
Climate: Temperate
Sea level: Medium


Alexander the Great is Philosophical and Aggressive, and you start with Fishing and Hunting.

The Philosophical trait gives +100% great people birth rate and double production speed of University

The Aggressive trait gives free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units and double production speed of Barracks and Drydock

Unique unit: Phalanx (replaces Axeman)
The Phalanx benefits from: 100% defence bonus against chariot. This compares with the Axeman which has: no directly comparable benefits. Vanilla/warlords players be aware: The phalanx in BtS is not remotely the same as the phalanx in vanilla/Warlords.

Unique Building: Odeon (replaces Colosseum)
The odeon is considerably more powerful than the colosseum. Instead of +1 happy, you get +2 happy AND +3 culture/turn. It can also turn 2 citizens into artists, and gets an additional +1 happiness from hit singles. I'm not quite sure why, since I'm fairly sure there was no such thing as a hit single in ancient Greece, but there you go... Oh, and just like the colosseum, the odeon gives +1 happy per 20% culture rate. EDIT: Following a suggestion from Dhoomstriker, which you'll see later in this thread, you'll also find one or two hit singles on the map somewhere, so you can take full advantage of the odeon!

Starting screenshot

This is the start of the game (click for a bigger image):




Note that in this game, any espionage-culture victories will be counted as cultural victories. Not that anyone ever really goes for espionage-culture victories, but just in case...

To Enter the Competition:

This competition will open at 00:01 am on 10 Apr 2016, server local time (UTC-6:00). From that date and time, you'll be able to get your chosen starting save >>>here<<<.

Submit the save after your victory (or defeat) here, by 10 May 2016.

Here is a link to a list of the differences between Vanilla, Warlords and BtS.

Software Versions

Windows: This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Civ4 Vanilla or Warlords), patched to version 3.19, and with the BUFFY mod version 3.19.003 installed. You can download the BUFFY mod here. Players using Windows Vista or Windows 7 are encouraged to read the notes on Vista fixes here.


Macintosh: This game MUST be played in Beyond the Sword (NOT Civ4 Vanilla or Warlords), patched to version 3.19, and with the Mac BUFFY mod version 3.19.003 installed. You can download the Mac BUFFY mod here.

While playing...

Remember - for your entry to be accepted, it MUST be your first attempt to play this game, and you MUST NOT replay any turns. If you make a mistake while playing, you have to live with it, learn from it, and carry on the game without replaying.

We will open 'spoiler' threads during the month for players to discuss what happens in their games. Do not discuss any details of your game outside those threads.

DynamicSpirit said:

there was no such thing as a hit single in ancient Greece

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You lyre.

DynamicSpirit said:

Options: No city culture-flipping, city culture-flipping after conquest...

Click to expand...

I may be wrong, but I would think that enabling both of these settings would be similar to using the No Barbarians and Raging Barbarians settings together... the Barbs still won't be Raging if there aren't any at all. Similarly, from my understanding, a City won't Culture-flip after conquest if it can't Culture-flip at all.

Yay for a Small map!

DynamicSpirit said:

there was no such thing as a hit single in ancient Greece

Click to expand...

It's not too late for you to add one to the map. Settling on top of one or building a Fort on top of one within one's Culture that gets placed on the map results in the Happiness bonus.


Dye without Jungle makes for a nice Resource. One could settle on top of it, but it's also similar to getting a semi-early Town after Calendar has been researched.

With the Food Resources so close to each other, there are a lot of settling possibilities. It might be nice to stay in place for the 2 Plains Hills squares.

Maybe... send the Scout 1SW G Riv, 1S G, to see if we'd pick up another Resource by settling 1S. If nothing appears then accept settling in place or else consider moving 1NW P Riv, giving up the 2 PH squares in hopes of getting something else, possibly then moving back to the starting location or moving to the G Riv For that is 1N of the starting location.


Or, forget about settling 1S, as there are less River squares that way and send the Scout 1SW G Riv, 1NW G Riv Pig. If any Hills get revealed to the west or north-west, then moving the Settler 1NW P Riv would equal a more calculated decision. You might still end up "wasting" the 2 PH squares, though, as there might not be another Food Resource with which to work them.

Dhoomstriker said:

I may be wrong, but I would think that enabling both of these settings would be similar to using the No Barbarians and Raging Barbarians settings together... the Barbs still won't be Raging if there aren't any at all. Similarly, from my understanding, a City won't Culture-flip after conquest if it can't Culture-flip at all.

Click to expand...

Oooops, something went wrong there, thanks for pointing that out. I've removed the no-culture-flipping option, and also removed the random personalities option which also somehow slipped in by mistake. Edited the starting post to show the correct set of options which is now: City culture-flipping after conquest, no tech trading, no goody huts, no random events

Dhoomstriker said:

It's not too late for you to add one to the map. Settling on top of one or building a Fort on top of one within one's Culture that gets placed on the map results in the Happiness bonus.

Click to expand...

You know, that is an excellent idea. And because you're right, it's not too late, I've just done exactly that. It's not in the starting area, but you'll find one or two hit singles somewhere on the map...

LowtherCastle said:

You lyre.

Click to expand...

lol! Very funny!

Looking at the start I could wish for more food and not loosing a forest. move the warrior 1N maybe and then maybe settle NW which may give more river and other good stuff.

DynamicSpirit said:

options which is now: City culture-flipping after conquest, no tech trading, no goody huts, no random events

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I read this as those settings are mandatory, not optional. Sorry for being unfamiliar with Botm, Hof and other arranged setups.

Major Tom said:

I read this as those settings are mandatory, not optional. Sorry for being unfamiliar with Botm, Hof and other arranged setups.

Click to expand...

From what I understand you're confusing Gotm games with Hall of Fame. No need to feel sorry, these can be
HoF games are different, when you start one you select things like maptype and worldsize etc. and start your own unique game that you can submit to HoF after you have won.
Gotm games give you a ready-made savegame file that you load and play. Everyone starts with the same save and submits their final save after winning (or losing). We are also encouraged to post on the spoiler threads once we reach the required date in game, first is usually at 1 AD and the second is after submitting the finished game.

Hope this clarifies things (or at least doesn't confuse more, I'm not good at explaining).
Oh, and welcome to the world of Gotm

Ahh, yes. I see, options are preset i Botm. Thanks for clarifying, High King.

Major Tom said:

Ahh, yes. I see, options are preset i Botm. Thanks for clarifying, High King.

Click to expand...

Not just the options, the whole map is pre-made. Glad I could be of (some limited) service.

DynamicSpirit said:

but you'll find one or two hit singles somewhere on the map...

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What, you already forgot how many you added?

That's odd that you can add them as resources.

AI leaders?

Has to include the loser Darius of course. Could include Justinian, Hammurabi, Ramesses, Gilgamesh or Asoka. Other ideas?


Edit: Hannibal.

.

Hmmm..I highly doubt Byz will be in this

India definitely will be in this ..

Rome maybe

only 4 AIs.

I'd go with India, Persia, Egypt and Rome. Rome mainly from influence. Persia was the major rival and covers a considerable amount of the conquered territory.

Horse Manure

Not sure if this provides us any clues, but...

Does this tell us the location of Hannibal's hit?

Persia, Sumeria, Babylon, Egypt

No Tech Trading on Emperor level will be challenging.

Worker stealing and choking your nearest rival is probably a good idea.

Deckhand said:

No Tech Trading on Emperor level will be challenging.

Click to expand...

Choosing a tech path will be interesting too.

Is stealing techs ok?

Major Tom said:

Is stealing techs ok?

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It is. The no tech trading is just information of the options enable in the save. Yopu may still use any game mechanics available.

Spoiler threads are up!