HOTW7 Set up thread

[Metaliturtle]

That's 4am for me!! on Sunday no can do...

[OmnipotentTrout]

I've studied the timezone map:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/world_tzones.html

The most likely time that we can use to accomodate the US, Europe and Oz is:

Saturday 21:00 UTC (9 PM)

This results in
Metaliturtle having to play around 15:00 local time Saturday
deity having to play around 08:00 or 09:00 local time Sunday
"Europeans" having to play at about 23:00 local time Saturday

As you can see, this is a'bit complicated....

The downside is that Europeans will have to play into Saturday night, and deity will have to get up before the Kangaroos on a Sunday

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The original plan was for Metaliturtle to play after church on Sunday, and for the Euros to play late in the Sunday evening.

What do you guys think?
(Let me know if I got your -/+ UTC local times wrong)

[OmnipotentTrout]

Summer issues:

OmnipotentTrout: 17th - 27th July

Thrar: 31th July - 11th August

Toni: No Worries

LzPrst: 12th June --> 12th July???

Metaliturtle: ?

deity: ?

Sabrdrak: ?

[OmnipotentTrout]

Map issues:

Terra
Size (depending on no. of players)
Start at 4000 BC
Speed: Epic (compromise)


Pick any civ/leader you want (collisions with same civ/leader will be solved in role playing thread i.e. make up a nation that does not exist in Civ 4) Edit: such as Wales or Sweden or other world renound empires! Create your own destiny

[LzPrst]

I vote for marathon. even if I'm not in the game

the first turns fly away and giving time to do stuff in an era before it all goes obsolete is imo much better for diplogames. marathon for the win!

[Metaliturtle]

(my time would be 1400 GMT now because of DST) If the game is on Saturday, I can't play for 3 weeks due to a combo of the SPDG, fiancee, and little brother's graduation. If you guys want to start June 25th maybe I could pull it off, but 2pm in the summer is a really unfun time for me to be playing Civ, either family stuff will get in the way with CIV here, or my family will have an intervention because I play CIV too much, neither of these seem beneficial to me.

If it's a big deal I could always wait for the next one...

[OmnipotentTrout]

I guess an option would be to wait with a full blown HOTW until summer issues are over, around the end of July. Then LzPrst, deity, Metaliturtle and most likely Ozzy too could play, since HOTWV should be finished by then.

Another option is to play:

Friday 23:00 UTC (11 PM)

This is cutting it close...

Metaliturtle: Right after work at 16:00 local time (don't know if you're done then)
Euros: It's gonna be late on friday: 01:00-04:00
deity: You get a nice 10:00 on saturday

Metaliturtle, please let me know how many hours I missed on your working hours...

[Sabrdrak]

Marathon's a bit TOO long, but I do like a game that lays itself out well. As far as map sizes go, I like something a little more sized to the past maps in the Civ series - a little bit of elbow room. Plus, having it on a more lengthly time scale greatly increases the 'per year' ground coverage of units, so it permits greater land usage as well.

Epic and Huge are my votes for this.

[Metaliturtle]

I don't have a steady source of income right now, just been doing odd jobs around the Church and for people in the Church.

Too much or not enough experience at these places.

[OzzyKP]

I second Lz's recommendation for Marathon. It might not be your cup of tea for SP games, but I really think its worth it for Diplogames. Especially when the tech starts flying by in the modern age, at least Marathon keeps it somewhat reasonable. Remember Diplogames are all about hte journey, not the destination. Marthon makes the journey all the more interesting. I think its contributed a lot to the fun of HOTW V.

As for me joining in... by July Warlords will be out. So whenever HOTWV ends (I'm thinking like july/august/september) I'll be up for another Diplo, but I'll definitely want to play it on Warlords. Lots of neat stuff in the expansion that'll be cool to see in a diplogame. Unique Buildings will add more flavor, new civs, new leaders, new traits, new wonders... it'll be fun.

But yea, most likely August for HOTW, I really wouldn't put my money on July. September seems more likely than July for HOTWV ending. Especially as lag increases in the modern age and we start doing less turns.

btw Sabrdrak, generally the issue with really big maps is that if you have too much elbow room then everyone builds peacefully and there is no friction. Friction = fun.

Otherwise they turn into build fests which aren't as entertaining.

[OmnipotentTrout]

Good discussion on game length and map size!

We have had good experiences with a marathon + moderated map size. it gives friction, that needs to be solved diplomatically or with the fire of war

About the playing time:

I suggest that we play on Fridays, if Metaliturtle can start early in the afternoon (about 14:00 (2 PM)). The Euros won't have to play into the next morning

Fridays at 21:00 UTC (9 PM)

That means that deity gets an early rise on Saturday at about 8 or 9 am.

deity: can you let us know if 21:00 UTC on Friday (Saturday morning for you) is OK?

[Sabrdrak]

btw Sabrdrak, generally the issue with really big maps is that if you have too much elbow room then everyone builds peacefully and there is no friction. Friction = fun.

Otherwise they turn into build fests which aren't as entertaining.

That's surprising. Even with this many Civs in the game, I'd expect some clashing on Huge. It'd be nice to at least have a large map, then, but, eh ... I dunno, considering the massive area taken up by the sea on the map ... *shrug* I'd still prefer at least Large, but I guess I'm outnumbered.

Oh, and in regards to OmnipotentTrout... I have no times when I'll be away from my computer for more than a day, save for when I move into my apartment in the next month.

[OzzyKP]

Well HOTW V uses a large terra map. But we started with 10 players. I think its a perfect size for us. The distribution of the civs wasn't really balanced, but if we were well spaced (and maybe we were 9 instead of 10) then I think it'd be absolutely perfect.

Less players should try smaller. A huge map would maybe be appropriate for like 13 or 14 players I guess.

[deity]

Originally posted by OmnipotentTrout
Good discussion on game length and map size!

We have had good experiences with a marathon + moderated map size. it gives friction, that needs to be solved diplomatically or with the fire of war

About the playing time:

I suggest that we play on Fridays, if Metaliturtle can start early in the afternoon (about 14:00 (2 PM)). The Euros won't have to play into the next morning

Fridays at 21:00 UTC (9 PM)

That means that deity gets an early rise on Saturday at about 8 or 9 am.

deity: can you let us know if 21:00 UTC on Friday (Saturday morning for you) is OK?

Currently that's the time slot for HOTW5.

The same deal 2 hours later might work but like ozzy maybe the next one I'm in is Warlords. So don't go out of way for my time slot. I'll keep an eye on the thread

[OmnipotentTrout]

I'm thinking that we should postpone the start date for HOTW7 until we get our hands on Warlords, and when we can have enough people for a game with 9-10 players.

Perhaps wait until after the summer issues have died down, and we can sit down and have a real game
Waiting will also give some more time for discussions, and testgames


Any thoughts about postponing?