1st Apolyton CtP2 Tournament: 23 April - 23 May 2002

[Maquiladora]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
True. *goes to find the Ai files*

thats actually one of the reasons i tried to get into modding this game, at the time i played alot of MP games and i (perhaps foolishly) thought i could gain some advantage by 'knowing' the game inside and out. Didnt work of course, i still got beat plenty. In the end its experience that shows. ill look forward to see how well i fair, its been a long time.
Not sure about the 'score' result, but ill be concentrating on the year i think.

[Locutus]

centrifuge,
Hmm, can't be a language problem then, I have a US version as well... Oh well, as long as the /reloadslic fixes it, it doesn't matter too much...

DeanToth,
Don't worry about installing the mods: the "hassle" isnt too bad but might seem a little overwhelming if you've never done it before. You probably won't understand what the big deal is once you have done it once or twice...

You only need to submit your last turn, not the whole folder. The thought of having to weed through 20x50 (or whatever) savegames alone...

Sorry about the thing with the folder name. I will probably use your suggestion of putting the file into a folder already for next tourny...

Can someone explain to me what's wrong with the dates? They look fine to me... It's roughly 3 weeks: I took one month (23-4 to 23-5) and substracted 7 days. That's a little more than 3 weeks, but that seems wise because there's always some problems with timezones at the beginning and end of such periods. If you want to be safe, make sure you send me the file on the 15th or earlier (regardless of time-zone). I'll be flexible when it comes to files that are sent in on the 16th and 17th (because of the timezones), but the earlier the better of course...

TheArsenal,
Good point about Apolyton Pack, we'll probably go for that next tourny and for MedMod the tourny after that or something...

About knowing the game: yes, I do think modmakers have an advantage over regular players, they (we) understand the game mechannisms quite well and this can help a lot. However, MPers in turn have a considerable advantage over modmakers as they are used to playing much, much stronger opposition...

[DeanToth]

So the cut off date is definitely May 16 right?

So as long as I submit my save file by midnight May 16 GMT then I'm fine?

And my other question: when I submit it, this the thread where I attach it right?

I want to add that everyone can call me Dean - - -

Toth is my last name and I use "deantoth" as my login on tons of different forums only for consistency (i can't remember all those logins otherwise).
=========================
Once again I'd like to say that after ALL THIS TIME i am very happy to find an active CTP community!! I have just about gotten sick with Meier-only fanatics who can find no fault with CivIII and think that CTP is just a bastard "copy cat" rather than the proper evolution of the civilization games that it really is.

It is CivIII that is the bastard copy-cat! Take it easy all. (sorry to any civIII lovers who read this....)

[Dinner]

There is an enherit weakness with this set up. What is to stop me from playing the game through then restarting, knowing where every civ is as well as the geography, and totally wiping them out? A person could also save before battle and restart if he loses and continue if he wins.
The tournament then becomes a contest of who has the most spare time on his hands.

[centrifuge]

Originally posted by Oerdin
The tournament then becomes a contest of who has the most spare time on his hands.

Good point, how could it be changed so that this isn't the case? I don't see a decent way to resolve this issue.

[hexagonian]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
The Big Modding Guns on the whole seem to play quite little of the actual game, just mod it. Its the multiplayers such as Oerdin who'll probably do best.

True, most of my playing has been more along the testing aspect. The game I got going now is probably the first time in the last 6 months that I have actually sat down and concentrated on what I am doing.

Besides, I have to balance playing time between CTP2, EU2 and Pharaoh - and with a family, that's kind of hard to do. At this point in time, I'm at about 500 turns, averaging 10-20 turns a night when I do get to play.

I'd get my clocked cleaned in any multi-play.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Oerdin
There is an enherit weakness with this set up. What is to stop me from playing the game through then restarting, knowing where every civ is as well as the geography, and totally wiping them out? A person could also save before battle and restart if he loses and continue if he wins.
The tournament then becomes a contest of who has the most spare time on his hands.

What stops any of the SLIC programmers from writing some code that gives them a free unit every turn? What stops anyone from entering the scenario editor and cheating that way? What stops programmers from hacking the savegames?

There are many ways to cheat, in CtP2, in Civ3, in any other game (but in CtP2 more than in other games - the one disadvantage of its customizability). That's why this is a casual contest: everyone (implicitly) promises to play fair and we'll take their word for it. There are no prizes to be won except honor, and how much honor is there in a victory accomplished by cheating? These Tournaments are not just about the competion, they are also (maybe even more so) about the fun of comparing your skills with other people's and of (hopefully) discussing strategies and maybe learning from it...

BTW, the savegame trick won't work, the outcome of the same battle will always be the same (same with goody huts and other random events); the CtP2 programmers were smart enough to learn from one of Civ1/2's biggest mistakes in this respect.

[DeanToth]

yes, as far as reloading battles and such, I can vouch personally to that fact... I think every great now and then, IF you reload the game a couple turns or more in advance of a battle, then depending on what you do in the surrounding terrain, etc, there MAY be a different outcome to said battle...

Usually, though, the battles come out the same no matter how many times you reload (i've tried). Goody huts - there is no argument... they ALWAYS have the same result!

As far as playing the game once and then replaying it with advance knowledge... well, this can work... but if someone has this much time and drive, then more power to them. (more "call to power" to them? :-)

Anyway, I am about to break the industrial age in my own tourny game and I am kicking butt. I hope all you other tourny players are having as much fun with the un-modded game as I am.

Yes it has the old weaknesses, but this being my first time pitting my game against others, I find an extra tension in every move I make.

I've had CTP1 and 2 since they came out but have never played multiplayer so this is fun for me! (no one else I knew had the game.... so BLESS Apolyton!)

Take it easy.

[Andyinkuwait]

Hi All

1) Is there a way of protecting against slavers?? (apart from the abolitionist which is some way in the future to acquire)

2) What do the trumpeting trumpets mean which occur every so often with opposition troops?

3) With this AI how do you stop trade embargos....do you have to negotiate a cease fire with them and how is that done (position of strength? .... after sucessfully attcking them?? It seems that all civs are warlike and at war with Spain.....any help for a newbie would be much appreciated....don't worry I'll still be at the bottom of the ranking!!

Andy in Kuwait

[Immortal Wombat]

1) Build City Walls

2) Usually that they have pillage a tile improvement, or pirated a trade route. If its a diplomat they may have created an embassy or something, and if its another non-combat unit, it could be an expulsion. (Those were listed in order of likelihood)

3) er... Build an army, and kick their arses before they have a chance to negotiate peace
(In other words, I don't know)

[Locutus]

Dean,
Yes, if you reload a game of more than 1 turn ago or fight the battle in a different location, you can indeed can different results. Although these differences are minor, they certainly can make a difference. The difference between 5 killed units and 5 badly damaged units (which can quickly be repaired in a city or fortress) for example (yes, this actually happened to me once when the game crashed shortly after I had won such a Pyrrhus victory and had to reload an old savegame)...

It's good to hear you're having so much fun though

Originally posted by Andyinkuwait
1) Is there a way of protecting against slavers?? (apart from the abolitionist which is some way in the future to acquire)

In addition to what IW said, you can also keep a slaver or some other unconventional unit in your cities. Then you can usually see the enemy slavers coming and expel or even kill them.

3) With this AI how do you stop trade embargos....do you have to negotiate a cease fire with them and how is that done (position of strength? .... after sucessfully attcking them?? It seems that all civs are warlike and at war with Spain.....any help for a newbie would be much appreciated....don't worry I'll still be at the bottom of the ranking!!

When you're at war with an AI they always embargo you, so yes, you would have to negotiate a cease-fire/peace and usually the embargo should be lifted then. Most of the time, if you conquer a few cities from an AI he'll soon be begging for cease-fire or at least accept one if you offer it...

[francois]

tournament completed


one question,do i send the autosave right before the victory or the one right after it?
Francois

[Maquiladora]

I would think the one before, no need to carry on playing.

[francois]

fogot to zip the file,here it is
Francois

[DeanToth]

Long ago, I once played a single player game INTO THE GROUND... my nation was so powerful i was just sitting there, hitting the "next turn" button over and over

Finally the game ended with my victory (I didn't even do anything, just had a huge nation at peace with everyone - they all had smiley faces at me)

MY QUESTION IS: does the game always end at the same year? I think it was 2300 or 2500 a.d. when my game ended.

And will the tourny game also end this way? I am at around 2190ad in my game and wonder how I should prioritize my last few centuries.