Destiny of Empires [Diplo Game] [Setup Thread]

[OzzyKP]

I'll play if it is on an Earth map (not a randomly generated "Earth-like" map) or if mxproz & Capo both play.

[The Priest]

I'll play if ... mxproz & Capo both play.

Need to make sure there are some people you can beat?

[Robert]

I'll play if it is on an Earth map (not a randomly generated "Earth-like" map) or if mxproz & Capo both play.

We'll take that as a 'yes'

[amarriner]

I'm in! Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Been out of it for a bit, but I'm in for the game.

[Robert]

Thanks amarriner!

That's 15 confirmed.
That's a good number! Tomorrow we start to vote.

1. Dubhghlas
2. Hercules
3. Pinchak
4. St Jon
5. BranksDilly
6. Toni
7. WarningU2
8. Rempedaalops
9. Black Knight 427
10. deity
11. The Priest
12. dacole
13. amarriner
14. 2metraninja
15. trev
16. Exploit
17. OzzyKP (if Earth map)
18. Robert Plomp

[OzzyKP]

Need to make sure there are some people you can beat?

I just like a challenge.

[St Jon]

If it is Earth then it must be Gigantic and none of the New World colony nonsense.

African and American Civs must have their cut and how about creating an Aboriginal Civ to test Australia? We must have enough of the men from down under to find names for all their Cities. If not then just nick the CTP1 datafile which had Australia in it anyway.

I believe Toroidal will still work on Earth but maybe I am wrong?

Great to have you in the game Oz but has anyone spoken to Capo in the last year? Having him play, I think, is somewhat unlikely.

[OzzyKP]

Toroidal would be silly on Earth.

And yea, with this many players we will definitely need to have civs in the the Americas.

I'm undecided about Australia though. In HOTW2 (back to ancient times, I know) deity was in the land of Oz and the game was super easy for him. No neighbors, no competitors, no one to grab land away from him. He could just peacefully build up the entire game. Then, later on, when he was running away with things, he was able to turn the entire continent into a fortress that no one could hope to touch.

Not to be condescending about this.. but it would only work if one of our poor civers had the spot.

Actually... there is a well known skill gap in our games. It really ends up defining each game we play. We never really acknowledge or try to handicap it, but it plays out the same every time. What do people think of the following proposal:

We be sure to place all the top players in Europe.
We place the more novice players in spots like China, Australia, South America, etc where they are more able to expand peacefully.

The top players will be far more cramped (i.e. a handicap) but... not to be racist here, but it could play out somewhat more like world history with the more successful civs being cramped in Europe and having to look overseas for foreign lands to exploit while the civs with lots of great resources and land are (face it, we know it'll happen) less developed and backwards.

So if we can get up to 16 civs:

America
Inca
Aztec/Maya
Native Americans

India
China
Mongolia
Japan/Korea

Mali
Zulu
Egypt/Carthage
Arabia/Babylon/Sumeria/Persia/Ottomans

England/Celts
France/Spain/Portugal
Germany/HRE
Russia

Have Toni, deity, The Priest, Robert and I in/near Europe. Put St Jon, trev & Hercules nearby to help hem us in. Ideally I'd like to add Rome or Greece or Vikings into the mix too and make Europe even more crowded with good players to keep each other in check. I worry most about Russia though. We'll need to make sure central Asia has some crappy land. Or perhaps we could put St Jon, trev or Herc in as Russia and keep Toni, deity, The Priest, Robert & I in the rest of Europe.

Just a thought experiment:

Toni - Germany
deity - Spain
The Priest - England
Robert - Rome (or Vikings)
Ozzy - France
St Jon - Ottomans
Hercules - Russia
trev - Egypt

[OzzyKP]

I'll reach out to Capo. I talk to him now and then, and have tried to get him to join other games and he said he isn't ready to come back yet. With this being the very last Civ4 diplogame, perhaps we can talk him into returning.

[OzzyKP]

The more I think about it the more I really, really like the idea of purposely clustering the top players in Europe.

In our games the top players are always jockeying for power. Much like the big European powers have jockeyed for power throughout all of history. In our games though, for us top players, it can be difficult to try and attack or hurt each other when we are on the other side of the globe. Having all of us right next to each other and cramped for space would be amazing.

Meanwhile the less skilled players would be clustered near each other and have a less stressful game. A total new player starting right next to deity is gonna be screwed. Why not cluster people by skill & continent?

I think it would not only make the game more historical & realistic, but also more enjoyable for both the top players and the rookies.

[Robert]

I love it.

[OzzyKP]

Just a thought experiment:

Toni - Germany
deity - Spain
The Priest - England
Robert - Rome (or Vikings)
Ozzy - France
St Jon - Ottomans
Hercules - Russia
trev - Egypt

Btw, if this happened... Hercules, you and I need to talk about Germany...

[Black Knight 427]

If your going to put all the "top" players in europe then at least make it anon so that the rest of use dont know who is who.

[OzzyKP]

It'll still be anon. In any anonymous game the top players rise to the top pretty quick and anyone can narrow down toni, deity, robert, etc to 4-5 choices. The only difference is those 4-5 choices will all be next to each other.

[Toni]

Btw, if this happened... Hercules, you and I need to talk about Germany...

I do not like your thinking Oz..

You do know guys that in Europe if you are lucky you can fit 2 cities the most. If this is the case, it would be wise to have a gig map and empty N & S america in order for us to have a chance to expand onto.