History of the World XI [Diplomacy Game] [Organization II]

[Toni]

Well the hell with this endless story.

SORRY

........................... (100x)

[bantams]

well ill be in lobby if needed hell ill even sub for my home country and fight the portuguese invadors :P

[Toni]

Welcome bantams.

thanks for subbing

[Robert]

Excellent! Now we can move forward!

@Bantams: your lobby name as 'Bantams' as well?

[Toni]

Well lets hope that others show some sportsmanship as well and apologies too !

[bantams]

Originally posted by CyberShy
Excellent! Now we can move forward!

@Bantams: your lobby name as 'Bantams' as well?

hmm Of Course lol I Thought everyone knew that

[Toni]

Hey Ban,

You did not msg me yesterday for a game

[deity]

Originally posted by Toni
Well the hell with this endless story.

SORRY

........................... (100x)

Thanks Toni, appreciate that

The thing I'm sorry for is using the c word btw.

[Toni]

The thing I'm sorry for is using the c word btw.

Well as i said last time in the aussie chat = we are ok mate - nothing has changed.

[Frank Johnson]

Guys...what's the situation look like this week?

I have been called up for work and don't know the situation due to day light savings time.

I might not be able to come because of this. Toni knows I was hard to get to join because I knew this would eventually happen.

Anyway I will accept whatever you guys choose to do.

[Toni]

Well i think we in the US are still showing up at the regular time - starting Sunday we will change time - so from next week we will have to decide when to start.

Is that right?

[Toni]

Well now i'm confused what time we playing Friday?

[deity]

Australia is already on Daylight Savings Time so if you start normal time that's fine as it will be 9:30am for me and 9am for Marcus.

[Beta]

I'll be here on Friday.

And I want to apologize for my lack of posting in the story thread. As some of you know - i had major eye surgery on both eyes in Sepetember - on Thursdays - the days before our games.

The first eye that was done end up being very farsighted, the other is pretty good. After the surgery - I then had to wait 3 weeks for any other 'natural' adjustments before getting a new prescription for glasses. I got my glasses just this week. Prior to that I was using a combo of my old reading glasses, and a pair of drug store ones. It was still pretty hard on the eyes. I gave up reading for a bit, and limited my 'heavy duty' writing here at Poly.

But with new glasses, Rome, and its isolationist foreign policy, MIGHT come to an end.

Thanks for your patience with me the last bit, CS.

As to the great debate - we do need some rules for AI civs. Trust me, I know - I had to deal with the Zulu in that last game. I think the answer is no trading or gifting of any kind with an AI civ. (existing time based deals end when they expire) And no invading them either. We will bust our butts to get a new player to take over. And if the AI declares war on you, well, as CS said, we have a solution for that. Someone (as in CS) takes over for a turn and declares peace. And I don't buy this idea that if you were planning and talking about a war, then it is OK. AI civs, IMHO, should be completely neutral and off limits.

As to the "alliance", my only observation is that it formed very naturally in the diplo game, therefore, it is ... well .. a naturally occurring diplo entity. As Lord A has said, it is not the homogenous, solid bloc you make it out to be.

My first contact was obviously with Arv, and although I knew Praetorians would give me a good early game advantage, we reached a quick peace deal and border agreement - although he did ask me for a city. That led to some early deals, but I also got behind quickly in tech relative to him. I met Nols a bit later - and she was generous in her tech trading with me. And then I think it was through Arv that I met Toni, and he proposed the loose tech alliance. Heck - as long as I was getting techs from it, was I to complain? So yes, there may be trading and gifting going on amongst a set of civs, but other than Nols, Arv, and Toni, I have had little discussion or dealings with the othres of the 'bloc'. In fact, the Native Americans turned down what to me appeared to be a pretty good trade offer.

So, does that make Toni the evil overlord? Nope. I was under no illusions as to what was going on. And I am not in this game to support Toni's victory, or Arv's. This will lead a bit into my next discussion, but Rome is in this for Rome (and the fun of course ). If I truly thought Rome would be better off completely neutral, or allied with other nations, then it would be so.

As to the victory conditions in diplo games, I guess I am one of the non-believers in the 'voting' and points system. It is only my second game, so maybe more experience will better educate me in these matters. But I personally like the idea of each civ (and player) trying to win for their own civ, according to the game's natural victory conditions. I do not see why that would diminish the diplo or role-playing element at all. It may lead to a more cut throat and war-mongering game - but that is not necesarily a bad thing.

The most interesting single-player MP game (as opposed to team demo games) that I am in is a pitboss game called Teach Alex. In that game an alliance of 5 nations (was 7 but two got killed off) are trying to pull down the Celtic behemoth that is Blake. He is playing a brilliant game - first to get himself into such a position of supremacy, and now in militarily taking on the entire world. There is (or was) dilpomacy going on, and a ton of strategizing. To me, there is not a great leap from that game to this. Obviously a more dedicated story line in the diplo game, but I like the idea that the big dog does not necessarily win. I would hate the idea of a diplo game if it were simply a case of seeing who the two strongest civs were, and then picking sides and hoping that your 'champion' wins. So, despite the stated victory conditions, I am still more or less playing this game for Rome to win. How that may or may not play out is yet to be seen.

That being said, I do acknowledge that there is a separate victory points system for this game. Guess I should revisit it.

And for the record - I did NOT enjoy last week's session and the heated words it involved.

Anyways - thanks for letting me say my two cents worth.

See you tomorrow night.

Strength and honour! ToxoXI of Rome.

[deity]

Excellent post Beta and i have to say I really agree with most of your points.