Civ 3 Conquests COTM 16 (Zululand, Monarch level)

Game started: 1 Sep 2005, finished: 1 Oct 2005

This game has finished. Click here to see the results.

You can no longer submit a competition entry, but you can download any starting save below (click on an icon) to play for fun.

Open: (The standard save)	Starting save for
Conquest: (The easier save)	Starting save for
Predator: (The extra-hard save)	Starting save for

version 0.0.0 last updated on August 29, 2005

This is a C3C Game Of The Month. It MUST be played in Conquests Patch version 1.22f.

Conquest 16: Zulu

The Zulu are a tribe of Nguni-speaking people centered in what is now the Natal province of South Africa. They are a branch of the southern Bantu and have close ethnic, linguistic and cultural ties with the Swazi and Xhosa. Before they overwhelmed the neighboring tribes under their leader Shaka in the early 19th century to form an empire, the Zulu were only one of the many patrilineal Nguni clans in the Mtetwa empire. Traditionally grain farmers, the Zulu also kept large herds of cattle on the lightly wooded grasslands, replenishing their herds by raiding neighboring tribes. Boys in Shaka's militaristic society were initiated at adolescence in groups called age sets. Each age set constituted a unit of the Zulu army and was stationed away from home at royal barracks under direct control of the King. Formed into regiments (Impi), these men could marry and leave service only when the king gave permission to the age set as a whole.

On the death of the last Mtetwa emperor in 1817, Shaka (1816-28) established his clan's dominance over their neighbors and, using a well-disciplined and efficient fighting force, conquered most of the Natal region. During the reign of Shaka's successor, Dingane, Boer settlers, who formed an alliance with Dingane's brother and deposed him in 1840, penetrated the Zulu empire. The empires survived, but under King Mpande (1840-72) portions of Zulu territory were occupied by the Boers and by the British, who moved into Natal in 1838 and annexed it in 1843. War broke out in 1878 when Mpande's successor, Cetshwayo, refused to disband his Impi and to place himself under British control. Despite stiff resistance, the British defeated the poorly armed Zulu in July 1879, occupied the remainder of their country, and divided Zululand into 13 small kingdoms.

Zululand was made a British crown colony in 1887 under the Native Law of Natal, and bloody Zulu rebellions were put down in 1888 and 1906. By British edict in 1894, two-thirds of the Zulu's remaining land was confiscated, and they were confined to native reserves. The incorporation of Zululand into Natal in 1897 ended its separate existence. Under the apartheid system, a Bantu Homeland (later called a "black state") named KwaZulu was established for the Zulu in the 1970s and was composed of discrete areas of historical Zululand.

With the abolition of the apartheid system, KwaZulu in 1994 was reincorporated into Natal province. The Zulu were the single largest ethnic group in modern South Africa and now number about nine million.

The Zulus are expansionist and militaristic in Civ3. They start the game with Warrior Code and Pottery and build Impi instead of normal spearmen.

Scope of the Game:

Conquest 16 starting position - Click for a wider view of the start position

Civilization: Zulus
Difficulty: Monarch
World size: Standard
Landmass: Continents, 70% water
Geology: 5 billion years old
Environment: normal climate, warm
Barbarians: Restless
Rivals: 7 Preset, very ugly
Respawn: OFF
Scientific Great Leaders: OFF
Mobilisation: ON
Goody Huts: Provide WORKERS (not settlers)
Submissions due by October 1st, 2005. PLEASE NOTE THE DATE.

Goody Huts: Goody huts have caused some game balance issues previously, where some players have got settlers or cities from goody huts, and some have missed-out. This month, (on a trial basis) the game rules have been modified so that a hut that would have given a settler will instead give a worker (as discovered by Roland Ehnstr�m and TimBentley ).

ALL SPOILERS PROHIBITED: Do not post any messages or questions about this game in any forum until after about August 5, 2005. Please do not discuss any aspect of this game prior to that date.

As always, have fun playing the COTM and we hope you join us in the postgame discussions!

You will have your choice of Playing COTM 16 in one of three skill levels that most closely matches your current abilities - Conquest Class, Open Class, or Predator Class.

Conquest-Class Game Details for Conquest 16

Players who choose to play in the Conquest class game will receive a set of bonuses designed to help them focus on key early strategic decisions that may help them to get more enjoyment out of the specific conditions of this game. The bonuses ARE NOT designed to guarantee you a win without requiring some good early decisions to be made and without asking you to manage your Civilization properly.

Players who might be interested in playing the conquest class game could be those players who might only feel comfortable playing at Warlord or Regent difficulty.

For the purposes of global ranking and comparison to all other GOTM scores, the Conquest class games scores in the QSC and GOTM results will be weighted downward with an 85% multilpier to factor out the value of the additional starting bonuses.

Conquest Class Starting Bonuses:
Conquest class players will begin the game with following unit and game feature bonuses:

Starting Cash in Treasury: 25 units of gold
Extra Units: One extra worker, one extra warrior.
Technology: Alphabet to go with Warrior Code and Pottery.

Click on the image below to download the Conquest-class start save file.

Open Class Game Details for Conquest 16

Players who choose to play in the Open Class game receive no bonuses compared to a game that would be normally be played on this level.

For the purposes of global ranking and comparison to all other GOTM scores, Open class game scores will be ranked according to the Jason score which balances speed and scoring skills for a combined "Best Overall game" rating.

Open Class Starting Bonuses:

None

Click on the image below to download the Open-Class start save file.

Predator Class Game Details for Conquest 16

Players who choose to play in the Predator class game must overcome an extra set of obstacles built into their game to provide an extra level of challenge. The intent of these changes is to raise the difficulty without altering strategic play progress from that which you would see for comparison in the conquest class and open class games.

Players who might be interested in playing the Predator class game could be those players who have participated in the Elite or Leader divisions of the Medal Play Series or players who just want an extra level of excitement or challenge.

For the purposes of global ranking and comparison to all other GOTM scores, the Predator class game scores in the QSC and GOTM results do not receive any compensating scoring bonus for the added elements of challenge.

Predator Class Equalizing Obstacles:
The game features for Predator Class Games have been raised to provide the following obstacles:

AI unit support: Increased to Emperor level.
AI cost factor: Emperor level.

Click on the image below to download the Predator-Class start save file.