Rah's saturday game II

[rah]

I had a crappy start land wise, no trade except for sea based so I spent a lot of early turns building work boats. Once they're all out it's not bad, but it does lead to slower type start. It does eliminate some of the early wonders potential. Someday I'll find flood plains early or have gold or gems nearby. And too much jungle. You have to research Iron works just to clear some of it away. Especially before it multiplies.

And I'm sure if you ganged up, I would have had problems, but I was prepared and it would have been quite costly. All my friends were dead.
It was fun watching zylka go out in a blaze. I almost split a gut when he couldn't understand why he couldn't attack my city. He kept contacting me thinking there was a declare war on me option.
The extra three or four turns that it took for him to get back after he actually declared war gave me enough time to easily repulse the attack.
Once he gets a few more of the basics down, he should be a fun addition. (hopefully learning a few more basics will also help his turns go faster)

[snoopy369]

I should be there next week.

Honour systems don't work, and do more damage than they prevent. Just pay attention in the game

[Krill]

The reason I wouldn't play was that it was normal speed. Then the "No Turn Timer" means I could end up sitting infront of the screen waiting for someone to finish a 5 minute turn when it takes me 30 seconds.

Then you come up with a no double move rule?

Sorry, but I'll go play a game I'll actually enjoy, and fyi that isn't a quick speed blazing timer small map kill-a-thon, even though I can and do play them from time to time.

If you guys want to play a game with some basic rules along the lines of medium timer and no tech trading then I'm up for that, but most extra rules cut down on the strategy. And if you want to know the basics about how to cope with the turn timer in war I'll gladly post about it.

[Pinchak]

I would have to agree as far as the speed issues.

Last one i played in started around 6-7 and didn't end till 3. We were only up to gunpowder by then.

A set starting time would be a nice addition. Last week I showed up at five min till 7 (7 was the posted starting time) and the game had already started.

[Gibsie]

If you mean the last game it only said in this thread that 7 is the time it usually starts, doesn't mean we won't start earlier if we have enough people, and the thread did say it can be earlier. Hell, we start early to AVOID people having to stay up so late (I went to bed after 6a.m. so don't complain about "3a.m." to me!).

Most Gamespy games I've played are Quick speed but I tend to find it's more fun and epic when it's normal, though having long waits can be a pain (It doesn't happen so often these days). We generally try to come up with strategies that don't revolve around double-moving (Mostly to avoid whining to be honest), and the restriction that rah came up with only applied on the turn of declaring war anyway, not that big a deal!!

[Pinchak]

We'll wait to the top of the hour, and see who makes it.

I interperate that to mean 7 o'clock. Call me old fashioned, but when someone says they are going to wait, that is what i expect.

I understand wanting to start earlier to save time, but if the desire is to start earlier, then you should just post an earlier time. If not enough people show up for that time, THEN you wait.

The other way around just doesn't make sense. Why make people wait in a game lobby because the game might start early? I don't know about you, but i value my free time too much. That is why i show up on time... not late, not early.

[snoopy369]

We really need to play with a turn timer. Frankly it's annoying to not have one, and there's no reason not to. We can still have pauses when people need breaks, that's not a problem, but having no turn timer allows certain people to take way too long on their moves. This isn't HOTW people

[Snotty]

Normally the lobby games I play have a turn timer, but wouldnt think of playing with a turn timer with my friends as I understand there is a mutual respect for each others time, even if it does mean the slow guys gets a ribbing.

I can play blazing games because Ive had a lot of practice, not everyone can keep up with a turn timer consistantly and I think a turn timer makes the game less inclusive for newer to multiplayer/slower people, especially if they end up with a big empire

Im hoping to make the game next week! fingers crossed

[Pinchak]

Turn timer is a mixed bag.

On one hand it keeps the game moving.

On the other hand, there are those certain turns where you just need more time. The invasion of a nation with a very large army being the one that first comes to mind.

For all the preparing and planning we do, it sort of sucks to have to rush the end product (the actual attack).

I'm not talking about spending a minute on each unit, im talking about having to feverishly click through your stack to make sure all the units that need to attack get to do so before the timer runs out.

[rah]

Pinchak, I apologize for the confusion.
When I post that the game is starting at the top of the hour, it references the current hour.

And yes, the games have been starting at different times. If there are 8 people ready to go, it's sometimes hard to hold them off for an additional hour.
With civ II it wasn't much of a problem since we were playing turn based so we never wanted more than 4-5 people. I'm still getting the hang of hosting 6-12 players and dealing with all the preasures to start, especially for those across the pond where dawn approaches earlier. I need to get better at it.

On a turn timer, I still up in the air on that on. I agree that there are a few turns where you need a little extra time. But we do need to keep the game moving. In our last game zylka was a little slow but it was just the second game he had played and was a little confused about some of the concepts. (LIKE HOW TO DECLARE WAR ) I don't want to exclude players that are learning but we don't want them to be too slow.
The trick is to continually harass those that move slow all the time, and make them preliminary targets, figuring that should be incentive enough to move faster

But if we continue to have the problem with the same players, they will probably find themselves not welcome or we'll be FORCED to go to a timer.

[Gibsie]

Originally posted by Pinchak
I interperate that to mean 7 o'clock. Call me old fashioned, but when someone says they are going to wait, that is what i expect.

It's a shame your mind took rah's quote out of context like that. There were several posts in the thread talking about starting earlier before rah said the game would start at the top of the hour.

"I WANT TO PLAY" is a BIG hint

[rah]

Yes, again, I apologize and hope you will give us another chance.

[Pinchak]

At 6:05 Krill asked if we were starting in 55 min. That, combined with people mentioning that it usually starts at 7 had me locked into assuming the time was 7.

Sometimes I skim threads, and sometimes it gets me in trouble.

At any rate, I would like to play again. A big improvment over going into a gamespy pickup game where half the people quit by 500BC.

My only request would be that perhaps you post a "earliest start time", so that I know how late i can show without risking missing the start.

[rah]

The last time I said, 4-6 people that were planning on showing around 6 figured they'd be too late and didn't bother showing up so we ended up waiting for two hours and didn't get any extra people. *sigh*
So there is still a little learning process hear.

[joncha]

I dislike turn timers immensely, but some folks could really use a good prodding to get their turns done in a reasonable amount of time.