Corporate Competitions

[GeoModder]

Welcome to the discussion thread for a BtS PBEM!

People involved at this stage are (in alphabetic order) Beta, FeMme, GeoModder and RobWorham.

The options/preferences people brought forward sofar are:

City flipping after conquest ON
No tech brokering ON
Agressive AI ON
Raging barbarians ON
Choose religion ON
Permanent Alliances ON

Map settings:

Shuffle (meaning the game chooses between continents, fractal, pangaea or archipalego)
Large size
Climate random
Sealevel random
Speed quick (330 turns on a large sized map)

Miscalleneous

2AI/human
Crowded map
BtS leaders only

At current suggestions, this would give us 12 civs, which allows for some ferocious real-estate gathering from turn one, and also allows us to choose between the 12 most interesting BtS leaders.

So, how does this look?

[RobWorham]

Looking good

[RobWorham]

Monarch difficulty ??
Toroidal wrap ??
Standard resources ??
Random events ??
All win conditions ??

Multiple instances of same leader/civ??

If not I think the choice order should be :

Geo (did most work setting this up), FeMme (ladies first (well second ), Beta, RobWorham (can't think of a reason why I should choose before Beta )

[Beta]

Originally posted by RobWorham

If not I think the choice order should be :

Geo (did most work setting this up), FeMme (ladies first (well second ), Beta, RobWorham (can't think of a reason why I should choose before Beta )

Thank you dear sir!

I would be Ok with going last. Lots of leader choices these days.

[Beta]

Thanks for the set-up Geo. Just not sure about the quick setting. But to be honest, that is more ignorance than anything as I have never played a civ4 game on that speed.

I like the 2ai for each human player, as long as the limited tech trading is in place.

And Rob, I can still pick 3rd, but just tell me what civ you want and I won't pick it.

[RobWorham]

Originally posted by Beta
And Rob, I can still pick 3rd, but just tell me what civ you want and I won't pick it.

How civilized we are!! I wonder how long it will last ...........

[FeMme]

Yes, good work setting this all up Geo. Anyone would think you've been waiting eagerly for this since the last PBEM!!!

I too am concerned about the game speed. How set are you on that one Geo? I would prefer normal speed myself but am interested to hear what your reasoning is.

I'd be happy with adding all of Rob's setting suggestions to Geo's

Bring it on!

[GeoModder]

As on my proposal for quick play, I mostly did it because I thought the number of turns scaled up if larger map sizes were used. This seems not to be the case. Normal sized or large sized, the number of turns is still 500.
Is everybody okay with a game that can potentially last 1,5/2 years? That was my other reason to go for quick speed. 330 turns gives a fair chance for finishing it in a year.

Originally posted by RobWorham
Monarch difficulty ??

I can live with it, but have no specific preference for it. What do FeMme and Beta say?

Originally posted by RobWorham
Toroidal wrap ??

Sorry, but this really doesn't rock my boat, and a normal globe map gives subs this extra nifty effect.

Originally posted by RobWorham
Standard resources ??
Random events ??
All win conditions ??

Yes, of course.

Originally posted by RobWorham
Multiple instances of same leader/civ??

I suppose this can't happen if we want only BtS civs&leaders ingame. I have to put them in manually to be sure no Civ4&Warlords civ are included.

Originally posted by RobWorham
If not I think the choice order should be :

Geo (did most work setting this up), FeMme (ladies first (well second ), Beta, RobWorham (can't think of a reason why I should choose before Beta )

Nobody objects for this play order? In addition I plan to put 2 AI's between every human player. Makes you calculate if for instance a hostile player will move his/her units before your allied AI civ does.

Are their any BtS civs/leaders that people feel overpowered and should be excluded? Take a look at the list below:

Abe Lincoln (America)
Boudica (Celts)
Charles de Gaulle (France)
Darius I (Persia)
Pericles (Greece)
Suleiman the Magnificent (Ottoman)
Hammurabi (Babylon)
Justinian (Byzantium)
Willem van Oranja (Dutch)
Zara Yacob (Ethiopia)
Charlemagne (Holy Roman Empire)
Suryavarman II (Khmer Empire)
Pacal II (Mayan)
Sitting CattleBull (Native Americans)
Joao II (Portugal)
Gilgamesh (Sumeria)

Let's say everybody picks the four civs he doesn't want in and those which are mentioned most aren't in.

Does somebody feel we need an outside admin to preserve our passwords for RL-busy players? It was a reason WarOlords stalled from time to time.

And something optional: over at the Forum We Don't Mention here at 'poly I released an Ethnic Artstyles mod. It activates all the ethnic units that ship with the BtS disc but weren't xml'd yet. In addition I gave all artstyles their own sequence of city graphics. Nothing of the gameplay itself was altered, just the looks. A few more pics are in this post.
What say thy all?

[RobWorham]

No particular preference on who shouldn't make the cut......

I do like that Ethnic Artstyles mod Geo - I'd be happy to run with it!!! Nice work

[Hercules]

Sounds Interesting. Any room for another.

Other people have said the Dutch are a bit overpowered though.

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by Hercules
Sounds Interesting. Any room for another.

I have no objection to a fifth player, Hercules. But we do prefer people who, barring extreme circumstances, can deliver a turn/day, two days at the most. I remember from the good ol' SMAC days that you got a busy job for which you frequently needed to go abroad. Anything changed in that department?

Originally posted by Hercules
Other people have said the Dutch are a bit overpowered though.

Darn, you spoiled my easy win now!

Originally posted by RobWorham
No particular preference on who shouldn't make the cut......

Well, we need to cut 4 of them, can as well pick those you don't want any player to pick.

Originally posted by RobWorham I do like that Ethnic Artstyles mod Geo - I'd be happy to run with it!!! Nice work

Thanks. Now let's wait on the verdict of the others.

[Hercules]

Well yes there's the odd week here and there still. Like I have a week in Oct. 8-14.

But if you have already planned this as a 4 person Pbem, that's OK. There's always Pitboss.

[RobWorham]

OK, lets kick ....

Abe Lincoln (America)
Charles de Gaulle (France)
Willem van Oranja (Dutch)
Sitting Bull (Native Americans)

[FeMme]

Ethnic Art Styles

Monarch

Toroidal Map: don't really mind either way

Quick Speed: could be fun

Exclude for no particular reason:
Sitting Bull
Willem van Oranga
Lincoln
Darius I

Play order

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by Hercules
But if you have already planned this as a 4 person Pbem, that's OK. There's always Pitboss.

It was more or less planned as a 4 person PBEM, yes.
And if you would start a Pitboss game, I'll be glad to take a look and join if it looks interesting. Thing is if you host it you can always declare the game offline for the time you're gone.

[Hercules]

Ok Have fun.

Keep me in mind for any future game.

[GeoModder]

The Dutch and the Americans are gone for sure then, since I feel their "power" too.

Haven't decided for my two others yet.

Beta, you keep track of this?

Btw, could you guys post a playaddress too?

As on my civ choice, atm I can't decide between the Natives, Byzantium or the Persians.

Will have to make up my mind by the time Beta posts again.

[FeMme]

femme (dot) nz (at) hotmail (dot) com

[GeoModder]

GeoModder (ta) hotmail (tod) com

Or if the one after me uses a gmail address, I have one with that nick too.

[RobWorham]

robworham lives at a little place called hotmail which is followed by a dot and a com

[GeoModder]

Perhaps its time to PM Beta?

[GeoModder]

I've sent Beta a PM.

[Beta]

Been packing. All set to go.

Ok - I second Rob's exclusions. Lincoln, de Gaulle, van Oranga, and Sitting Bull.

I am Ok with the rest.

brucehynes57 tatatatata sympatico todtodtod ca

And when are we starting? I will need to use a replacement for the next 3 weeks, but let me know in the next couple of hours and I will get someone to stand in for me.

[RobWorham]

We could always start this when Beta returns - no uber rush after all......

[Beta]

Thanks. All my stand-in players are at their limit. I'm already pushing my luck.

Cheers! See you soon folks. I'll wave on my way by Rob and FeMme.

[GeoModder]

Okay then, starting is set somewhere at the end of August then. Please let us know if you get stuck forever in the mountains for some reason, Beta. We need a replacement in that case.

Happy travellin'.

So, it looks like Van Oranje, Lincoln, Sitting Bull and De Gaulle are out then. Those got the most votes.

IIRC, Beta had a preference for Pericles, so I'll leave that one open for him.

[GeoModder]

Oops, sorry guys, it seems my PM box was full.

[GeoModder]

/me drags this thread back from unlife.

Beta is still in, need to know his civ-of-choice.
FeMme is reported eager, but also need to know the civ she wants to lead.
Rob has been most exemplary, and already informed me of his civ.

[FeMme]

Rob!! Always the teacher's pet!!

I will PM you my choices Geo.

[RobWorham]

Originally posted by GeoModder
Rob has been most exemplary

I went from 'must try harder' to 'exemplary' in one small PM !!!!!