What to do with AU?

[Konquest02]

I think that the "merge" between the two will come naturally. This is because the people in the strat forum are usually quite active in the AU. They will encounter problems and strategies and will want to apply this in a game, the Au will step up in a great way like it did with Civ3.

You should read the first thread by Theseus for the foundings of AU, you will get very well the spirit behind AU.

[Harrier UK]

Another point that needs to be considered is the production of an AU mod of the basic game.

I mentioned the problems about individuals modding seperate parts of the AI and others trying to combine them at CFC. (Basically no project manager.)

What I was trying to say was that each new AI mod was only a new version of the AI to the game. Some people seemed to think each new AI change by seperate modders would be additions to prevoius changes. {One big super AI mod}


This is one area where a AU mod would work the way a lot of people assumed it would anyway.

Because I assume a selected panel would decide what would be added to the mod and oversee any AI changes to ensure no conflicts.

I may not have made myself clear on this point, so if you do not understand what I am saying -say so and I will try to rephrase it.


P.S. I guess by now you can see I am interested in this project.


Hint: To advertise it - we could put a reference in our signatures - when the civ4 AU forum is created.

[Tassadar500]

If you are a regular at CFC, then I'd encourage you to bring people you know to the AU and our different projects, whether it be the AI project, making courses, or just brainstorming ideas. I don't post at CFC, so I'm not going to be much help in advertising there, since I won't be greeted too warmly if they see me with all of 10 posts.

[CanuckSoldier]

Originally posted by Lord Nuclear
If you are a regular at CFC, then I'd encourage you to bring people you know to the AU and our different projects, whether it be the AI project, making courses, or just brainstorming ideas. I don't post at CFC, so I'm not going to be much help in advertising there, since I won't be greeted too warmly if they see me with all of 10 posts.

I wouldn't worry about that, I post there and here with lower post counts and people still know who I am.....but maybe that's imfamous and not famous

CS

[polarnomad]

I just discovered Apolyton a few days ago, and after intensively digging around in the background to find out what you guys are all about, what has me most excited is the opportunity to participate in courses that you may have on offer through AU. So count me in as an enthusiastic pupil and avid supporter!

I have played various versions of Civ in the past, and absolutely love startegy, but I never felt that I was anywhere near an excellent player. Perhaps this time around will be different, with your help!

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Konquest02
I think that the "merge" between the two will come naturally. This is because the people in the strat forum are usually quite active in the AU. They will encounter problems and strategies and will want to apply this in a game, the Au will step up in a great way like it did with Civ3.

With Civ3, the AU came much too late for this process, most of the 'strat forum guys' already knew the game very well. Which is why many of them never made the transition to the AU. This time, it will be different.

You should read the first thread by Theseus for the foundings of AU, you will get very well the spirit behind AU.

Oh, but I know the AU quite well. like I said, I was involved in the MT games, which were the predecessor of the AU. It's just that the initial post mentions that there will be changes (and that's obvious given the new situation), so I was interested in how you are planning to deal with them.

Must-read threads compiled from different sources might work very well... but these were in the strat forum in Civ3 IIRC. Moving them to the AU might already be one of those changes.

DeepO

[DeepO]

Originally posted by polarnomad
I just discovered Apolyton a few days ago, and after intensively digging around in the background to find out what you guys are all about, what has me most excited is the opportunity to participate in courses that you may have on offer through AU. So count me in as an enthusiastic pupil and avid supporter!

I have played various versions of Civ in the past, and absolutely love startegy, but I never felt that I was anywhere near an excellent player. Perhaps this time around will be different, with your help!

Welcome, polarnomad. I hope you enjoy your time here, the AU is but one aspect why Apolyton is a great site. And don't worry about being excellent or not, what counts is both a will to learn and to share. You'd be suprised how much you can learn from people who, after 3 years of play, can only win on chieftain...

DeepO

[sabrewolf]

harrier,
some time ago i started this thread
here

[polarnomad]

Originally posted by DeepO


Welcome, polarnomad. I hope you enjoy your time here, the AU is but one aspect why Apolyton is a great site. And don't worry about being excellent or not, what counts is both a will to learn and to share. You'd be suprised how much you can learn from people who, after 3 years of play, can only win on chieftain...

DeepO

Thx DeepO! I'm sure I will enjoy my time here, especially once CivIV makes it to Finland.

*scuttles off so the experts can get back to their brainstorming*

[Fried-Psitalon]

Originally posted by CanuckSoldier


I wouldn't worry about that, I post there and here with lower post counts and people still know who I am.....but maybe that's imfamous and not famous

CS

I'm sorry? Who are you?

[Dominae]

Collating some of the great feedback so far:

1. AU forum should be for discussion of AU courses and the AU mod exclusively. Strategy articles and such should remain the domain of the Strategy forum. AU should not be responsible for maintaining a CIV strategy repository.

I think this makes sense. Efforts toward making the Strat forum more accessible (must-read threads, strat database, wiki, or whatever) can still be undertaken by interested AU people, but this would not be an AU "activity".

2. A list of AU students/members should be kept and a maintained.

I like this idea a lot. We can put a lot of cool info in this thread, like which games each person participated in, links to their reports, and their "score". It would also reinforce the sense of community.

We need a volunteer to be responsible for creating and maintaining the "members" thread. Anyone?

3. A "how-to" guide to game reports should be posted.

Another fine idea, which I'm surprised was never brought up before. I think that players should still be allowed to structure their reports as they see fit (otherwise it's more like work than play). Then again, a "style guide" for reports might make the task less daunting.

We need a volunteer to create (and maintain) a "how-to" thread for AU reports. Anyone?

This would involve taking a look at the DARs for the Civ3 AU courses in the "AU History 101" thread for some great examples of past reports.

4. Courses should be released on at most a monthly basis.

Personally I feel that anything longer than a month will cause a loss of interest. CIV games are shorter than Civ3 games to complete due to a more streamlined late-game.

5. The first set of courses should not be theme-based, but more or less random maps.

This makes sense, but it brings up the question of "random" settings: how will they be determined?

Maybe we could set up a few polls in the next couple of weeks asking what people are most interested in playing. Should there be a map maker for these first courses. If so, what should this role entail (guaranteeing a late-game challenge, guaranteeing a workable starting location, etc.)?

We need a volunteer to be responsible for setting up the first (few) AU course(s). Anyone?

6. The AU mod should be put on hold for a couple of months. Discussion for the AU mod should, however, begin immediately.

Makes sense!

We need a volunteer to be responsible for the AU mod. Anyone?

This involved implementing the changes into a scneario file and maintaning a versioned list of the changes. alexman did a great job of this with the Civ3 AU mod, but he's not available anymore.

7. A scoring system should be implemented for AU courses.

I'm glad there's general agreement on this point (it potentially could have caused a lot of debate). However, we still need to flesh out the actualy system: my draft in the original post is by no means final!

We need a volunteer to create the AU course scoring system. Anyone?

Certainly this will involve a few drafts, and a thread dedicated to discussing a fair (and fun) system.

---

Does this sound like a fair summary of the posts in this thread thus far? Anything I've left out?

[Dominae]

Originally posted by alexman
Count me in!

Let's start by playing a thematic single-player game as soon as possible, and all the rest will follow...

Oops, I must have missed this post. Glad to see you here alexman!

Are you still interested in being involved with the AU mod? I ask because it was your baby in Civ3. Do your commitments at Firaxis make this weird/impossible?

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Dominae
7. A scoring system should be implemented for AU courses.

I'm glad there's general agreement on this point (it potentially could have caused a lot of debate). However, we still need to flesh out the actualy system: my draft in the original post is by no means final!

I like the idea of an AU hof, based on participation and activity a lot. It will do wonders to the community feeling.

However, I also would like to point out that the system you currently have is going to scare off a large number of people: if the mere scoring system is so complex, what will the actual forum be then?

IMHO, you should go to something along the lines of:

1 point for filing a report
1 point for winning a course
2 points for starting a course

a poll on the best report decides which member get an extra point
a poll on the most helpfull guy that month gives a member another extra point.

Only 5 rules, and more or less the same effect

DeepO

[Fried-Psitalon]

What exactly is the point of the scoring system, per se? Are we here to learn or to compete? Those two goals are not always useful to one another.

[DeepO]

it's human nature to compete, and no matter how polite everyone is you can't surpress the feeling that some will do their best to show off, either in-game or in their reports. If you give an official 'competition', based on participation, you use that feeling in a positive way...

Call it 'motivating the kids', if you want

Besides, if you're not interested in that whole competition or recognition thing, you just don't read it. But others might, and what do they currently use? Postcounts. Bah.

DeepO