Domination of Barbarians [Diplo Game] [Organization Thread]

[Rome (DoB)]

Sorry for any confusion. France declared war on Rome last turn and invaded Rome capturing a worker (who did their animated little bow down before us and have been renamed Roman Refugees). As per your comment above, about an actual invasion, the original description is appropriate. Feel free to develop the storyline as you see fit and I will respond accordingly. I am merely presenting the French point of view. Welcome to the game.

Ah, then I understand. I was not aware of the war and lost worker! I will do my best to work around this then, including the information you just gave me.

So is this resolved then?

Absolutely!

[Spain (DoB)]

I think stealing a worker in the first turn a player gets the position isn't very sportsmanlike..
He didn't have any chance to move his worker away (or did he ? )

(just for clarity I am completely neutral in this, both France and Rome are respected neighbours)

[China (DoB)]

OOC ... the game is getting interesting it seems

[Sommerswerd]

Just a reminder that there is 1 week left to cast your diploscore votes for May!

So far 11 Civs have voted, 7 to go.

[Byzantium (DoB)]

I dont remember if i voted yet or not.

[France (DoB)]

I think stealing a worker in the first turn a player gets the position isn't very sportsmanlike..
He didn't have any chance to move his worker away (or did he ? )

7.0. IC actions should not be discussed OOC

OOC: I am not allowed to answer this question due to the above rule.

[France (DoB)]

I think stealing a worker in the first turn a player gets the position isn't very sportsmanlike..
He didn't have any chance to move his worker away (or did he ? )

7.1. Positive one-line comments are allowed. (ie.: "Good story Korea" or "Well played war Spain!")

OOC: I am POSITIVE that France's conduct was completely sportsmanlike.

[Sommerswerd]

Glad someone reads and follows the rules

[France (DoB)]

Just a reminder that there is 1 week left to cast your diploscore votes for May!

So far 11 Civs have voted, 7 to go.

That message is a little confusing. I assume this is the voting IN May for Storythread 1 - April, instead of voting for Storythread 2- May (which we are still posting stories in and will not be voting for until June).

[Sommerswerd]

That message is a little confusing. I assume this is the voting IN May for Storythread 1 - April, instead of voting for Storythread 2- May (which we are still posting stories in and will not be voting for until June).

Yes that is right. Good catch. Sorry about that.

[Rome (DoB)]

OOC: I am POSITIVE that France's conduct was completely sportsmanlike.

I can confirm that France did nothing wrong at all. The loss of the worker is annoying, of course - but completely within the rules of the game. And I have to actually commend you on giving us a great hook for storyline, France!

[France (DoB)]

OOC: Just curious is there anyone else who is even attempting to roleplay their civ according to their actual civics?

The story thread is full of anachronistic liberal pacifist Barbaric Despot Tribal Leaders and Slavers who are worried about the well being of their neighbors. There is too much peer pressure to conform to typical multiplayer game etiquette instead of actually roleplaying your civ for my taste therefore I am throwing out France's June challenge.

France will allocate all 5 of its roleplaying votes for the June storythread to the civ which best exemplifies it's actual civics!

Players Aid:

Civ4ScreenShot0007.jpg

[Sommerswerd]

Thanks for that reminder France! How well a Civ reflects their Civics is absolutely one of the voting criteria.

And just so that you know... since it bears on the conversation, I will go ahead and give a little spoiler for the April voting. Currently you, France, lead the voting... so obviously other players appreciate your faithful adherence to in-game civics... barbarism in particular.

[Sommerswerd]

BTW Great Job keeping IC arguments in story form everyone! Especially you France, I know it must have been tempting to go into a bunch of OOC rants

[France (DoB)]

OOC: Excellent barracks post Arabia!

[Sommerswerd]

I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for all of you participating in this game, volunteering to be subs, keeping identities secret, engaging in complex diplomacy, doing some fantastic roleplay, and particularly, intertwining and playing off of each other's stories. It really has been an honor to facilitate this game for such a wonderful crowd of players. I also want to express my appreciation for all of you sticking it out with the Marathon timer. I know that it was a real slog in the early turns, and I hope that you appreciate, as I do that it will be really nicer and nicer as we go along and make for a much richer game. In retrospect, I can admit that maybe Epic speed would have sufficed, but again I am so, so grateful to all of you for making this game so enjoyable.

Now, I would like to say, that as we enter this delicate 2nd stage of the game. Sh!t is gonna get pretty sporty. What I mean is, we are at long last coming close to entering the stage of this game that the title is based on, and that all the Measured War rules were designed for. This stage of the game is going to be exciting, tense, competitive, and emotions are going to be running high, whereas we have all mostly just been clicking 'End Turn' up to this point.

If you get p!ssed off or have some grievance, or just generally feel like your are being treated poorly and need to vent or just talk it out, PLEASE consider coming to me privately via PM about it as an alternative to going off the rails in some hybrid OOC/IC rant all over the threads. Stay in character in the story thread, and use the UN thread for administrative stuff (a little ranting or complaining is OK too). Don't let your emotions get the best of you. COME TO ME FIRST! I give you my word that I will do my absolute best to be as objective as I possibly can. Do not trouble yourself with trying to guess whether what Civ I control will bias my comments/decisions. I take my responsibility to all of you as the host/admin very seriously, and I know you have all put alot of trust in me, by playing in a game where I am simultaneously hosting, admining, and playing. Use me as a sounding board if you really need to get something off your chest, that is what an admin is for, to keep the game stable and functional. So that is my job and I will do my best to do it well.

This transition is going to be very painful at times and possibly even infuriating for some. We will use Cold Turkey time if needed, but remember, you can't be elimminated, and the rules are there to protect you. Use them if you need to. I don't know if any of you play Starcraft 2, but if you do "Use the Artifact's Nova!" when you are being overrun by the Zerg, dont just sulk out of some misguided sense of pride or ego.

Thanks again to all of you and GLHF

[2metraninja]

Hip-hip hooray for our Admin too!

[France (DoB)]

OOC: Wow some really good posts and storylines this month!

[Rome (DoB)]

There's a lot of good storylines this month indeed! I'm having a lot of fun!

@France: I loved how you incorporated Marcus' insult with the clubbing over the head in your storyline with the "Wine and Club diplomacy style".

I would like to ask, though, if it is possible to keep IG screenshots out of the IC-thread until we are in a more modern age? It's just a matter of personal preference, as I think it ruins a bit of the immersion of the IG stories considering we are barely in the bronze age. If you don't agree, just ignore me, as it's not a big deal at all.

[Japan (DoB)]

OOC: This month, as so many good storylines have been posted, it feels like such a nuisance that I can only give away five points. Good job everyone!

[England (DoB)]

OCC: French barbarism aside, I have always been one who believed in the noble savage—untouched by the wicked and evil ways of more “advanced” peoples.

[France (DoB)]

OOC: I am sure lots of Slavers throughout history have considered themselves Noble, I suspect not as many of their slaves held the same opinion.

[Sommerswerd]

France and England, both of those comments were more IC than OOC (despite you labeling them "OOC" )

Now is the time to vote for the May Diploscore winner.

Once again I have been too busy (arguing about the MTDG as some of you may have observed) to set up the voting progam, Everyone can just PM me your votes again. Each Civ has 5 points to allocate anyway you choose, except you can not vote for yourself. So you can give 1 point to five different Civs or 5 points to one Civ or anything in between. If you don't vote there is no penalty, but you can't use the votes later.

I'm not picky about which account you use to send your votes as long as you just don't give away what nation you are, and as long as you dont't be a scummy double voter. Also please don't vote for yourself if you are subbing for anyone.

So for example, if China is casting votes for China and Japan, then Japan should not be voting for China, and China should not be voting for Japan.

Once again, we will leave the voting open all month, and announce the results at the end of the Month at the same time that we open the voting for next month. That way everyone gets plenty of time to read, catch up, notice that voting is going on etc. I will send everybody a PM.

Happy Voting

Here are the Final Results of the April voting:
France: 11
Netherlands: 8
Ottomans: 7
England: 6
Spain: 6
China: 5
Vikings: 5
Celtia: 4
Japan: 4
Arabia: 3
Byzantium: 1

Congrats to France, the current score leader . Well done everyone and keep it up!

[France (DoB)]

Game is currently down.

[France (DoB)]

OOC: Handy IG tip. If Byzant... umm, anyone, wishes to view the amount of espionage two other known civs have applied to each other then the Foreign Advisor screen can tell you. Select the head of one of the civs in the Relations window and then move your cursor over another civ's head. The pop-up contains the espionage ratio between the two civs.

[Persia (DoB)]

Persia would like to take this opportunity to thank our admin for his hard work. It is purely coincidence that I needed to post one more message to be able to place links in my posts!

[Persia (DoB)]

Persia is using the real world list of kings by matching up the game date to the name of the king who really ruled Persia at that time.If you wish to address Persia by the name of the current ruler simply follow the link to determine who is ruling depending upon the game year. If we are in one of the parts of the timeline that does not list the exact date of the ruler then take your best guess. Of course, I will also answer to just being called Persia!

[France (DoB)]

OOC: I posted a response to the Dutch storyline this time however I intend to ignore future storylines from civs that are running the Slavery civic but claim to not be slavers. This goes against my understanding of the principle of a diplogame that players are to play their civics. I am not going to waste my time arguing over whether someone in a story is a slaver or not since that is not fun nor does it make for a good story.

[Vikings (DoB)]

When will the turn time be increased?

[Sommerswerd]

We increased it once but many players spoke up that they wanted it back to 12 hours. So I would say when there is broad support for a timer increase we will raise it again.