"Randomness is Good" turn tracking thread

SebP · March 28, 2006, 01:58

turn to humphrey

No coop victories, ok. with only 4 factions this is probably mandatory...

flubber, we will most likely be the 2 underdogs who will team up at some point... i have exactly 1 rainy rolling square and a 3 tiles river, which is enough for now. problem is, my island (which is really just a snaky winded strip of land) seems to be ending already... 3rd base might be hard. and no great luck with pods...

Flubber · March 28, 2006, 03:11

Originally posted by SebP

No coop victories, ok. with only 4 factions this is probably mandatory...

It appears we are agreed . . . so its every man for himself

Flubber · March 28, 2006, 03:18

Originally posted by SebP
turn to humphrey

flubber, we will most likely be the 2 underdogs who will team up at some point... i have exactly 1 rainy rolling square and a 3 tiles river, which is enough for now. problem is, my island (which is really just a snaky winded strip of land) seems to be ending already... 3rd base might be hard. and no great luck with pods...

Quite possibly . .. While its nice to think you can turn around a position, the reality is that that can be very difficult , assuming all the other humans share an equal skill level.

However, I like a challenge so lets see what we can make of our positions. AS I said, I have had some good pod pops but then again, at this stage the only bad one is a fungal pop .. . I would even like an earthquake if it gets me more land

SebP · March 28, 2006, 13:07

i really hoped for an earthquake in 2110's pod, because it would have connected me to land the relief of which i could see, but i only got a mindworm

Flubber · March 28, 2006, 13:11

Originally posted by SebP
i really hoped for an earthquake in 2110's pod, because it would have connected me to land the relief of which i could see, but i only got a mindworm

Which in the early game should mean a handy 10 ec !!

I would have liked an earthquake as well !! UNless of course it would connect me to one of those evil AI

Flubber · March 28, 2006, 13:12

Oh and I see I have been sent the turn but it will be another 5 hours before I can play it

SebP · March 28, 2006, 13:35

Originally posted by Flubber
Which in the early game should mean a handy 10 ec !!

hm. how? been a while since i played smac often, but won't the worm probably attack me? (slightly hurt and in the fungus, too...)
i admit i have kill quite a few other worms already though. this really helped

Flubber · March 28, 2006, 15:34

Originally posted by SebP

hm. how? been a while since i played smac often, but won't the worm probably attack me? (slightly hurt and in the fungus, too...)
i admit i have kill quite a few other worms already though. this really helped

Sorry I was thinking as a HIver where you usually have numerous units and can usually have two units present for a pop

Flubber · March 28, 2006, 19:28

2111 on to bluetemplar

Flubber · March 28, 2006, 22:13

Originally posted by Humphrey
It takes more time to download, unzip, zip, upload the turn than it does to play the turn. Which is 'fun'. Sent.

Very true-- There are some early turns where NOTHING of interest happens. I find the real fun begins in the 2130s or so when you can realistically have diplomacy going and start making strategic decisions apart from the obvious early beelines

SebP · March 29, 2006, 01:29

2111 to humphrey for another 10 seconds of fun

Humphrey · March 29, 2006, 09:42

sent.
I've made a shortcut to my saves folder on the desktop now, that saves a bit of time at least.

Flubber · March 29, 2006, 11:33

Originally posted by Humphrey
sent.
I've made a shortcut to my saves folder on the desktop now, that saves a bit of time at least.

yup.

AS usual-- I see the turn but have to spend the day making a living first

Flubber · March 29, 2006, 19:52

21112 on to blue

bluetemplar · March 29, 2006, 22:40

2112 to SebP

SebP · March 30, 2006, 00:27

2112 to Humphrey. i don't know about you others, but i think 1 turn a day is a good speed, and smac games don't take too many turns. i'm now 2 weeks and 4 turns in an 8 player civ4 game, and those usually take at least 350 turns... and nothing much happens in the first 60 or so!

Flubber · March 30, 2006, 08:04

Originally posted by SebP
2112 to Humphrey. i don't know about you others, but i think 1 turn a day is a good speed,

I agree-- Most games take a day per player on average so getting the turn twice a week is pretty normal. At OUR rate we will be into interesting gameplay in a couple of weeks.

Of course there may be occasions when diplomacy slows down the turn. Sometimes a person's response is KEY to how you play your turn and in that situation IMHO the turn may have to sit.

SebP · March 30, 2006, 09:28

Originally posted by Flubber
Of course there may be occasions when diplomacy slows down the turn. Sometimes a person's response is KEY to how you play your turn and in that situation IMHO the turn may have to sit.

I agree. And this is probably my most important reason to be against hard time limits. Sacrificing part of the experience of the game just for speed doesn't appeal to me.

This is not to to say that i am any good on all things diplomacy btw

Humphrey · March 30, 2006, 10:06

Sent

Flubber · March 30, 2006, 10:52

Originally posted by SebP

I agree. And this is probably my most important reason to be against hard time limits. Sacrificing part of the experience of the game just for speed doesn't appeal to me.

This is not to to say that i am any good on all things diplomacy btw

Plus the hard limits originally proposed were draconian.

I mean 3 HOURS??? As fast as we have been, almost everyone has been way over 3 hours at some point The way we have the game set up Humphrey almost aways posts the turn at 9am my time when I cannot play until after 6pm . If he could play before 7am my time though I could play immediately. But darn-- gotta go earn a living

bluetemplar · March 30, 2006, 11:41

Ok, I agree, It was a bit too harsh...
But I was really desperate seeing that some games going a the turn speed of 2 turns per month!

I still think that this kind of limit could be achieved in setting up an automatic process (which could be delayed for diplomacy purposes or the like...).
The main problem is that if one player loses interest for the game and delays the turn, after some time the other players will also lose interest (because the game is too slow), and the turn rate will drop to 1 every 2 weeks or worse... A hard limit would force this uninteressed player to play faster his turn (or skip it if really he doesn't care), thus keeping a fast pace for the 3 other players!
(and I know that in the 3-9 months that this game will last, I most likely WILL get desinteressed for this game for at least a week...)

And hard limits can always be stretched for dimplomacy purposes, RL stuff, etc... as long as it doesn't take too long...

SebP · March 30, 2006, 12:36

Originally posted by bluetemplar
The main problem is that if one player loses interest for the game and delays the turn, after some time the other players will also lose interest (because the game is too slow),

sadly this is true... it has happened in 2 of the 4 pbems that i played

(culprit wasn't me)
however, i think it happens most often with players who are in only one pbem, and i think we are all in several

well, i'll at least follow your example and finally send my password to... uhm, who do we send it to?

bluetemplar · March 30, 2006, 12:50

In the first post...
EDIT: 2 times
EDIT2: well i'll put it here also:
smacpbem@archives.civgaming.net

(I think they won't frown upon us doing this, even if we don't have a CMN... (that's the reason for sending passwords is VERY important: if one password is missing, the game is dead!))

Flubber · March 30, 2006, 14:41

hmmm

I have been a contributing member of this community for 5 years so I doubt I'll lose interest

That said -- there may come a time when a vacation or work committments may require me to be unavailable for a period of time-- I will most likely ask someone like Darsnan to fill in for me in such a situation ( I will fill in for him in some of his games when he goes away so I expect he would return the favor) although if the situation is particularly tense I may prefer to have the game held for a few days.

Flubber · March 30, 2006, 22:01

2113 to bluetemplar

Oh and the turns ARE less interesting now that I have run out of pods -- I guess I'll have to be satisfied with just THREE mark2 ogres

bluetemplar · March 31, 2006, 02:08

Only three? I had three by 2105!

EDIT: 2113 to SebP

SebP · March 31, 2006, 03:01

are the both of you serious?
2113 to humphrey.

EDIT: ok, mark 2, i guess i'll go over there and check my irony detectors

Humphrey · March 31, 2006, 09:23

sent. My pods are boring so far, but I do see some more to go for.

Flubber · March 31, 2006, 09:59

Originally posted by Humphrey
sent. My pods are boring so far, but I do see some more to go for.

ahhh-- it must be nice to have some land

Flubber studies the darkened map and wonders on which of them Humphrey may be found

Oh and boring can be good if it means a few ec, a monolith or a nut bonus-- I even like worms asince killing them is easy

In fact--- in the early game I think the only BAD pop is a fungal pop

Flubber · March 31, 2006, 10:01

Oh and in case you guys haven't figure out the pattern-- I'm at the start of my workday and can't play for another 8-10 hours.

Even though our pace is relatively fast, I can't help think how amazingly fast it could be if only the pass from Humprey to me didn't come right at the start of my workday