Civ 3 Classic GOTM 44 (Babylon, Warlord level)

Game started: 15 Jun 2005, finished: 15 Jul 2005

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

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

Sorry, starting saves are not currently available for this game. We're probably working on the problem.

version 0.0.0 last updated on June 14, 2005

You may choose to play the same game in one of two different program formats (Civ3 v1.29 or PTW v1.27f). Please do not attempt to play this game in any version of Civ3 Conquests. If you have the Civ3 Conquests Software you will definitely have the other two program choices available you just have to select and start with the appropriate software executable other than Civ3 Conquests.

Classic Gotm XLIV: Babylon

Built on the river Euphrates in what is now Iraq, Babylon was the heart of Mesopotamia. One of the most famous aspects of Babylon is that it was the site of one of the seven ancient wonders of the world: the Hanging Gardens. In order to form an alliance with the Medes (a tribe from what is now an area of western and northwestern Iran), Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon married Amyitis, daughter of the King of Medes. Amyitis came from a land of green mountains, and living in the sun-baked plains of mesopotamia made her very homesick. To make her happy, Nebuchadnezzar decided to recreate her homeland by building a rooftop garden and an artificial mountain. Whilst the gardens were extensively documented by such as the Greeks, there is to this day some doubt as to whether they really existed. However, despite the uncertainty, they are famous, and their effect on Amyitis is reflected in Civ3 where they work to create happiness.

There is another, lesser-known link between the game of Civilization and Babylon. The starting movie for Civ3 shows a depiction of the construction of the Tower Of Babel, and this is also reflected in the original box-art. The city of Babylon had great city walls, and inside these walls stood several other defensive structures. In particular, the "Tower of Jupiter Belus" is believed by many to have been the inspiration for the biblical accounts of the 'Tower Of Babel".

One of the most famous historic GOTMs was "Babylon's Deity Settlers", with an excellent write-up by Bamspeedy (click here or here) on how to set-up and maintain a 4-turn settler factory. This game had the player starting on a small sliver of land, on an island with a rapidly expanding, and very aggressive Persia. Hopefully, you'll find this months game slightly easier!

GOTM 44 starting position - Click for a wider view of the start position

Scope of the Game:

Civilization: Babylon
Difficulty: Warlord
World size: Standard
Landmass: Pangea, 80% Ocean
Geology: 5 billion years old
Environment: Cool, Wet
Barbarians: Raging
Rivals: 7 Preset
Upgrade Swordsmen/Longbows: ON
AI Respawn:: OFF
NOTE: Differential Naval Movement is OFF
NOTE: Iron location is fixed (will not disappear)
Submissions due by July 15, 2005. PLEASE NOTE THE DATE.

A SPECIAL NOTE: In recent classic GOTMs, there have been some changes made to provide a rule-set similar to that used in Civilization3: Conquests. This month's game is a 'classic' game, and hence most of these rule changes have been reversed. In particular, Map Trading is restored to being possible with Map Making, and communication trading with writing. Differential Naval movement is OFF. However, please note that some (minor) changes are still in-use. Some of the A/D/M value tweaks are continued, as is the lethal bombard and defensive free-shots for archers.

The Great Wall Wonder: now gives free walls in all your towns/cities on the continent
Explorers and equivalent unique units have been moved from Navigation to Astronomy.
Space Race - SS Stasis Chamber Has been moved from Synthetic Fibers to Robotics.
Republic Government Unit maintenance cost is now 2 gpt/unit with free unit support of 1/3/4 for t/c/m.
Archer/Bowmen added defensive freeshot at 1/0/1 (INCLUDES BABYLONIAN BOWMAN)
Longbowmen added defensive freeshot at 2/0/1.
Marines Increased attack strength from 8 to 12 and cost increased to 120 shields.
Radar Artillery Movement increased to 2 and rate of fire increased to 3.
Air Unit Operating Ranges most have been increased up to the maximum hardcoded limit in Civ3v1.29.
Lethal Sea Bombardment for all air units that can bomb targets.
Lethal Land Bombardment for all bombers and steath bombers.
F-15 stats increase to 8/4/1 (range of 8) with bombard at 6/0/2 lethal land & sea
Helicopter transport capacity has been increased to 3.
Stealth Fighter stats increased to 8/6/1 with bombard at 6/0/2.
Stealth Bomber stats increased to 0/5/1 with bombard at 18/0/3.

Being a 'classic' game, this month's game will not require any downloads for the Play The World version - It will play with the 'out of the box' PTW install.

For Civ3 and Mac players, you will require the install packs as for previous GOTM events. Note that custom resources are NOT used!
All-in-one installers are now available for Windows and Mac OS X. See this page for details of all download options for Windows and Mac Civ III v1.29.

If you have any questions regarding this set-up, then please let me know by PM or email.

ALL SPOILERS PROHIBITED: Do not post any messages or questions about this game in any forum until after about June 20th, 2005 when we open the first spoiler thread. Please do not discuss any aspect of this game prior to that date, and then only post in the official spoiler threads. Once you have started playing the game, you MAY NOT post in the pre-game discussion or game release threads!

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

You will have your choice of Playing Gotm 44 in one of three skill levels that most closely matches your current abilities - Conquest Class, Open Class, or Predator Class. The two software choices for this game do not have compatible setup files. You may only play the game in one software format and at one difficulty level for comparison to other players.

Conquest Class Game Details for Gotm 44

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% multiplier 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:

Extra Technology: Start with Alphabet in addition to normal starting techs.
Extra Gold: Starting with 100 gold.

Click on the image below to download the start Conquest-class save file for the version you want to play.

Open Class Game Details for Gotm 44

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 start Open-class save file for the version you want to play.

Predator Class Game Details for Gotm 44

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:

Technology: You are a backward people. You start with no technologies.

Click on the image below to download the start Predator-class save file for the version you want to play.