MFO is hosting a Big Huge Smackdown "Lite" tournament. The Lite refers to "less money," but there is still money. Date is Sat, January 17, 2004, 04:00 pm EST. Settings are:

1vs1
Map style: East Indies
Map size: Small
Choose your nation, but neither Maya nor Spanish
Start with: Small town
Resources: x2
Start age: Gunpowder Age
End age: Modern Age
Elimination: Sudden Death Capital
Victory: Conquest

This looks pretty interesting. Sudden Death capital victory on East Indies map ensures quite a bit of naval power and some sneak attack attempts. Ending in Modern Age would seem to make Germans the dominant civ on this map, although I wouldn't rule out the British.

Go sign up!

UPDATE: Great point in the comments. What about Aztecs with their free LI per new barracks? You could quickly make a dock and some new barracks and send those troops over in about 2:00. Ouch! Or Mongols. Or Turks.

UPDATE II: BTW, as the founder of MFO SMACKDOWN! I feel compelled to say this: The original intent was to have wacky settings but to NOT advertise them, so people had to play them "cold." Settings were announced as the tournament started, not a week ahead of time. The idea was to have tournaments where pretty much anyone could compete as long as they were creative in adapting to the wackiness. IMO, I think MFO should go back to the original Old School concept. Harrrrrumph!

UPDATE III: Chinese seem to be a good civ for this as well. They can keep pace economically with the British and Germans because of their instant citizens, giving them a nice headstart on wood AND metal.
posted by Tim at 1:52 PM