Follow the instructions step-by-step and you will find the game simple to setup and easy to play.
You must have PTW installed on a PC computer and patched to v1.14f or v1.21f in order
to play this version of the game. This game version will not run properly
in any prior version of Civ3. This game requires additional modifications
to correct compatibility discrepencies in the
European, French, German, and other localized language versions of PTW before you
can be sure the game will function in any version other than the US version of PTW.
A bonus civilization
has been added to both the PTW and Civ3 versions
of the game and named the "Minoans". The
leader for the Minoans is King Volak and he has a preference for
good wine and rich seafood and as a result is only moderately aggressive when
dealt with fairly. The diplomatic
support for this civilization was fully installed two months ago
in your Gotm19 game pack but the Gotm21 gamepack is required to
provide the leaderhead graphics courtesy of the work of
CivFanatics members Gael and pdescobar. The Minoans are militaristic and expansionist.
The
Unique Unit (UU) for the Minoans is
the bronze age javelineer or Peltast, which replaces the spearman
but has similar characteristics (2/2/1) to the Babylonian Bowman that you are
well familiar with in Civ3. Part of the Peltast's unique ability is the extra skill
to defend each other in groups by hurling javelins into the face of onrushing attackers
whenever they can defend as part of a group of other units. The Peltast unit comes to
us courtesy of the very professional unit design work of CivFanatics member Kryten.
(Note that this section of information only covers those changes that are required
to make PTW functional in the Single Player mode for Gotm21-Mediteranean Melee. Other required
changes may be discussed in future months if they are not fixed in expected patches from Firaxis.)
PTW includes two new units (Mace and Rambo) that
allow for upgrades of the ancient age units of swordsmen and archers/longbows. This upgrade
sequence seems to reduce the need for strategic decision making and also may not be
effectively programmed for use by the AI in Single Player games. This upgrade
sequence has been converted to a game setup preference and was turned off in
all versions of Gotm17-Carthage and Gotm18-Celts. The option to upgrade Swordsmen and Longbows
is turned on for all civilizations in Gotm19-Ottomans, Gotm20-Spanish and Gotm21-Melee.
The
"Outpost" feature of Multiplayer is disabled and does not appear in any version of
the GOTM Games.
Two features of PTW that are not incorporated
into the V1.29f equivalent game at this time are Radar Towers and Airfields.
Not including equivalent options for these PTW features
at this time is designed to provide better testing
of the differences between a game that includes the features versus a game that does
not include the features. Our initial testing indicates that these features have no value
in Single Player game score except in those cases when a player may be avoiding an impending
defeat late in the game. Players who are in command of a balanced game will probably obtain
no scoring or victory timing advantage from these features.
War Mobilization that normally
becomes available with Nationalism has been disabled to prevent a game killer exploit.
All of these features are built into your game and you need not do anything
special to make them function during game play. If you would like to
discuss the details
of implementing the Single Player features of the PTW Expansion Pack, we have an open
discussion thread for those topics in the Civ3 GOTM discussion forums.
Significant feature modification.
The base worker task turns required to build Airfields have been increase from 1 up to
288. This effectively sets the time required for an individual worker to build
an airfield at three times the number of turns required for the same worker to clear the jungle
from a terrain square in the early game. Airfields are also restricted to only being built on
Desert, Plains, Grassland, and Tundra. You may stack workers in crews to build airfields
in less elapsed time but the first worker will still die in a construction accident
when the Airfield is completed.
Significant feature modification.
The base worker task turns required to build Radar Towers have been increase from 1 up to
48. This effectively sets the time required for an individual worker to build
a Radar Tower at eight turns in the modern age. You may stack workers in crews to build Radar Towers
in less elapsed time but the first worker will still die in a construction accident
when the Radar Tower is completed.
Loading the Graphics Packages
If you have not previously installed additional
unit graphics into your Civ3 game, do not be concerned that is process may alter
or change your regular games. Additional unit graphics can only be recognized by
those game files where the units have been inserted internally into the game rules.
The Game Graphics for Gotm21 are divided into Six pieces
(or you may download all the pieces in a single package from a link at the bottom of
this page AFTER you read the instructions.):
The "Squid" unit graphics first
used in Gotm16 are now potentially required for all GOTM games. If you already have
this unit installed from Gotm16 and you have played Gotm17 in Civ3v1.29 or PTW then
need to do nothing else for the squid to function. If you need to install the squid, you may
download that unit independently by clicking on this link.
Unit graphics for Gotm17-Carthage are
cummulatively required to support this game and all future GOTM games for PTW.
If you do not have these unit graphics installed,
you may download the folder (361kb) clicking on this link and then
following the directions described in the readme_ptw.txt file that is included in
the download zip folder.
Unit graphics for Gotm18-Celts are
cummulatively required to support this game and all future GOTM games for PTW.
If you do not have these unit graphics installed,
you may download the folder (368kb) clicking on this link and then
following the directions described in the readme_ptw.txt file that is included in
the download zip folder.
Every player must install
the Gotm19 graphics files that are included in the Gotm19 setup zip folder.
(~1.2MB)
clicking on this link and then
following the directions described in the readme.txt file that is included in
the download zip folder. This graphics package includes
several equivalent unit implementations that help to replace the appearance of
some Christian icons on units for historically Muslim civilizations just as
a courtesy and in an effort to bring the game more in line with a truer historic
presentation and feel.
Every player must install
the Gotm20 graphics files that are included in the Gotm20 setup zip folder.
(~271KB)
clicking on this link and then
following the directions described in the readme.txt file that is included in
the download zip folder. This graphics package included
the units and features that made it possible to offer the games at three different levels.
If you are new to the GOTM games and would like to download and install all
the
game packs at one time including the additions for this month, you will find that link at the bottom
of this page. Please read and follow the instructions in the readme.txt files that are included with your game download pack before you attempt to load and play the game.
Beginning Play for the Gotm21-Mediteranean Melee
Prior to July 1st, when you download the Gotm21-Mediteranean Melee game pack, you will have
all the components that you need to setup the game but you will not have the starting save game file.
You must read the instructions included in the Readme.txt file for your version of the game to
properly locate the download location for the starting game file that will match or installed
graphics version.
The starting game files will not be available until June 1st to help us avoid risk of spoilers while
allowing players to freely discuss what they think the game announcement means
and how they expect to use certain strategies in the game. If you would like to carefully read
the Gotm21-Mediterranean Melee game announcement, then you may participate in the
Pregame Discussion thread in
in the CivFanatics Discussion Forums. Once you open the starting save game file to begin play,
you must either be very careful not to spoil the Pregame discussion or you must choose to
no longer participate in the Pregame discussion in any way. This is a player courtesy to
all the other players who may not have started their games and who do not want to have their games
spoiled or disrupted in any way by release of any information about the surprise
features of the game.
If you need any assistance with getting your game to play or if you have any questions
about what you may post of discuss about the Gotm21-Mediteranean Melee game, you may contact a knowledgable
GOTM staff representative by email at one of three email addresses:
gotm@civfanatics.net
gotm_submit@civfanatics.net
quick_start@civfanatics.net
You may not post any messages or questions related to internal content of the game
in any public discussion forum outside of the Civ3 Game Of The Month discussion
forum on CivFanatics.com as long as the game is open for play by other players. This
prohibition is designed to protect you and other players from inadvertent spoilers or
leaks that could disrupt your enjoyment of the game.
You may freely discuss features of the games, strategy, and tactics in the spoiler discussion threads in the Civ3 Game Of The Month discussion Forum when those discussions
have been opened by a moderator and when you meet the tests of being far enough along
in your game to join in the discussion of events that have already taken place. Spoiler discussion
threads ARE NOT designed to provide you with tips and cheats to help you play your current game.
Gotm21-Mediterranean Melee is a mediterranean style map game on Monarch base difficulty.
The first spoiler discussion thread will
not open until July 5th, 2003 and this initial discussion will require that you have
revealed full world map visibility and gain contact with all the other civilizations in the
world via exploration, diplomacy, and/or trading.
Additional resources
have been added to this game to specifically adapt to conditions of the
mediteranean terrain and culture. Similar additional resources will be available to you in the
Civ3-Conquests game exapnsion when it becomes available to purchase later in this year. You may
review details of these additional resources in the updated Civilopedia that is included in your
game pack of by viewing the Mediterranean Resources section of
the special game features page of Gotm21. The following list briefly summarizes the
added resources for Gotm21:
- Lambs: bonus; +2 food (found on Hills and Plains)
- Sheep: bonus; +2 food +1 shield (found on Hills and Plains)
- Wool: luxury; +2 food +1 shield + 1 commerce (found on Hills and Plains)
- Oysters: bonus; +2 food + 1 commerce (found in Coast)
- Pearls: bonus; +2 food + 3 commerce (found in Coast)
- Coastal Rocks: bonus; +1 shield + 1 commerce (found in Coast)
- Goats: bonus; +2 food +1 shield (found on Desert, Hills, Mtns)
- Menudo (young goats): bonus; +2 food (found on Desert, Hills, Mtns)
- Olives: bonus; +2 food +1 commerce (found on Desert, Hills, Mtns)
- Cotton: luxury; +1 shield +2 commerce (found on Desert and Plains)
Goody Hut locations
for this map game were randomly generated by the Civ3 map generator and
pre-evaluated in an attempt to reduce that random variable difference between games of
different players who other wise play similar games. The opening Goody Hut results provide
nothing of value to the human players in the Open and Predator class games.
(Players in the Conquest Class game begin the game with a free warrior and 50 extra gold as
part of their equalizing bonuses.)
Note that pre-assignment of these benefits is not meant to imply that it will or will
not be important for you to explore your surroundings on the map.
These will still be decisions that you will need to make in order to succeed at this game.
The upgrade path for Swordsmen and Longbows is TURNED ON in your game for all civilizations
just exactly as implemented in the current standard patched version of PTW.
In order to preserve some of the historic rivalries that might be associated with the Mediterranean,
this game includes a number of civilizations that would have been given the Scientific trait by the original
Firaxis design paramaters. The PTWv1.21 patch alters the impact of potentially having more than one civ
in the game with the scientific trait and this patch fix has not been made available to all players. In
order to balance this effect civs that normally would have been Scientific have retained the starting tech bonuses
but have been reassign to have some other appropriately tested trait. With some investigation you should
easily figure out these changes and you will observe that, in combination with other map features, the shift
in civ traits is not a significant issue as long as a broad balance has been maintained. This same
effect could have been obtained by switching to civilizations that did not belong in the game from a historic
or regional perspective, but this would have reduced the quality of the game experience.
Again you will help the discussion a great deal if you plan ahead for
this first discussion break and try to preserve save files and/or
screenshots that correspond to the time periods just before and just after events when you make contact
with new civilizations. For some players these contacts will be direct encounters and
for other players they will be sequences of contact trades and/or map trades.
Try to save map views of the world immediately before
you gain contact with any of your rivals and then immediately following any events where
contacts or maps or partial maps of the world may be traded.
The discussion of these events of discovery will again be very enlightening and if you can help us discuss
the status of your rivals at specific time points in the game it will help to put the progress
of your game into a clearer perspective.
Participation and reports posted in the discussion threads are one of the elements that other
players come to value very highly as they try to get to know each other and explore
the different levels on which each game can be played. We also look to these
contributions to help us nominate players who may be
eligible for the own personal Player Profile page as well as recognition in a news announcement
on the frontpage of the CivFanatics web site.
Quick Start Challenge: If you would like to participate in the optional QSC
portion of the GOTM competitions you will need to prepare a timeline of events
covering the details of your game and your decisions up to the end of the 1000bc turn.
To participate in the QSC, you must submit your timeline and a copy of your 1000bc save file to
quick_start@civfanatics.net prior to July 20th, 2003.
If you would like more details on how the QSC event is processed as a separate competitive learning
event, you may view
the QSC Information Pages. Plus you may
view the
recent discussion of scoring updates that will remain in effect for review of results
for Qsc21-Mediteranean Melee.
Good luck in playing the Gotm21-Mediteranean Melee and we hope you find the game and enjoyable
and exciting opportunity to share your Civ playing experiences with other CivFanatics.
Remember that discussing and sharing your experiences in the GOTM games are an important part of what
continues to make the GOTM on Civfanatics one of the premier Civilization gaming
experiences in the world. If you have not previously played the Civ3 GOTM games on CivFanatics you will need to click on the full download pack to install all the features
that will expand your game to be compatible with all other players worldwide. If
you played Gotm20-Spain then all you will need is the add-on
features for the Gotm21 only.
We are attempting a bit of an experiment this month in an attempt to be more user friendly. The
game-packs for Gotm21 are self-extracting, self-installing setup programs that all
you should need to is download and then click and point to your "Civilization III" folder. Be
extra carful to make sure that you point to the "Civilization III" folder and NOT THE "CIV3PTW"
folder or the files will not install properly.
Full PTW Download (3.1 MB)
add-on only PTW (1.47 MB)
Your 1st visit to
Code of Conduct
Classic 37 - Iroquois
Submit by December 15
