July tourney ideas?

[nbarclay]

Any ideas for the "official" unofficial July tourney? Seeing as tournament-of-the-month is more or less a tradition around here, I may as well keep it going unless someone else wants to take it over this time.

Nathan

[Txurce]

I enjoyed playing something other than my perennial standard-everything settings. The only downside to the archipelago scenario for me was that I wasn't used to it, and so took a conservative approach. That said, I would enjoy more of the unusual settings, be they young or old worlds, pangaeas or archipelagoes. It could be interesting to play with one of the more unpopular civs as well.

[alva]

Aeson's map holds some challenge.
Hmm , it is a bit 'spoiled' though, still might use it to pick up a few idea's

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=53686

[Jawa Jocky]

I'm not even sure I want to start another Tourney until the next patch is released.

Of course I'm only 1/2 way through mini III so its easy for me to put it off for a while.

[DrFell]

Just as long as it's not a huge map, anything will do for me.

[DaveV]

I've concluded that the monthly format definitely suits the amount of time I have to devote to the game. I've barely reached the Middle Ages in MiniTourney III, and the spoiler thread is three pages!

My votes: nothing larger than a standard map (my computer is right at the minimum specs), no huts, Monarch or Emperor level (a decent start position is important in the latter case). For something different: I've had some interesting games playing with civ-specific abilities disabled (in which case, we should play a non-expansionist civ, so we can't build scouts).

[Jawa Jocky]

Oh yeah.

I think we should play Emperor.

The last couple of tournaments have been on Monarchy. While I'm not good enough to challenge everyone that plays, I am good enough to win every time. It's not as fun when you know you are going to win

If it is on Monarchy, lets use some difficult map settings and a civ that isn't used often.

[DrFell]

I think we should try deity

[Jawa Jocky]

Originally posted by DrFell
I think we should try deity

Since only a handful of people can win on this level, I may be able to make the top ten with a embrassing defeat

[nbarclay]

When I set up the June game, I did a poll to see what difficulty levels prospective players prefer. Monarch had by far the largest number of votes, and the split between Regent and Emperor was pretty even. That being the case, and especially considering how much easier it is to play down a level than it is to play up a level (or especially up two levels), I think I'll keep it at Monarch this time around. I'd actually find Emperor more challenging myself, but I can keep Monarch games interesting for me by trying not just to win but to win big. Maybe in another month I'll re-run the poll and see if players have gotten enough better for a larger percentage of prospective players to want an Emperor-level game.

Here's an idea for a game that would be a bit off the beaten path:

- Archipelagos again, but this time with maximum land instead of minimum.
- Civ-specific abilities disabled. (I've never even tried that yet, so maybe it's about time. )
- Dry, Cold, and 3 billion years, probably about as bad as it gets for long-term productivity from the land. (But at least the AIs are stuck with the same settings, and oil certainly shouldn't be a problem!)
- Random non-expansionist civs, both for us and for our opponents. (How do I get that? With good old-fashioned dice.)
- No barbarians/huts, to avoid the huge role an early settler or early barbarians can play in people's success or lack thereof.
- In deference to players who normally prefer Regent, I won't stick us starting in the middle of a big desert or tundra (although bordering the edge of one is fair game). Also, after last time, a river would be nice.

Comments, anyone?

Nathan

[Theseus]

Any game themes?

In the mini-tourney, Sir Ralph proposed industrial invasion, although the map didn;t play out that way particularly.

Given the proposed settings, how about medieval invasion?

(or Aeson-like survival)

I know not everyone likes to fight, so maybe something more balanced, but appropriate to the settings... exploration?

Just brainstorming.

[nbarclay]

How about "roughing it" since this will be (at least in my opinion) the worst possible terrain combination? That gives a theme of sorts without suggesting that people should play their games any particular way. (Assuming no one comes up with a better idea for a set-up.)

Nathan

[sugar daddy]

Inspired and awed by Aesons thread, 'So very cold...' I would suggest the worst possible starting location. But make the difficulty Emperor to give us mortals a slight chance of winning..

[DaveV]

A note on playing with civ-specific abilities disabled: you can still generate a golden age by building the appropriate wonder(s). I've probably mentioned this enough times to be tiresome already, but it's an important piece of information for everyone to know at the start.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by DaveV
A note on playing with civ-specific abilities disabled: you can still generate a golden age by building the appropriate wonder(s). I've probably mentioned this enough times to be tiresome already, but it's an important piece of information for everyone to know at the start.

Thanks. I don't read all the threads around here, so I hadn't picked up on that one before.

On a different topic, I think a map along the lines of Aeson's "so cold" game is specialized enough that it would be better suited to a mini-tourney than to a tournament of the month. Different people have different playing styles, and a map like that is only interesting for people who are interested in using the playing styles necessary to win (or even survive) on such a map. (Imagine even attempting it with an isolationist, builder mentality!) Another consideration is how much bigger the luck factor is when your fate is so heavily in the hands of how the AIs choose to behave. Of course if someone wants to come up with a map like that (only on a difficulty level accessible to mere mortals ) and post it as a mini-tourney, you're more than welcome to.

Other than that, my "Roughing It" concept seems to be the only specific proposal on the table at the moment. So unless other ideas arise, I'll try to get the game started sometime tomorrow night (U.S. time).

Nathan