Us Vs. Them PBEM

[polarnomad]

xboxstrwrs55 hasn't posted at apolyton since the 23rd of nov... so shall we just get started?

[John-SJ]

I agree.

All right then, unless I hear any objections I will start a game after work. Settings, 4 against 4, standard map, Noble difficulty, balanced map, all other settings default.

The time is near, please raise any concerns now if you have any.

[polarnomad]

Not really an objection, but since we're playing as a team against the AI shouldn't we give it a little advantage and play on Prince difficulty? Originally you had wanted to play on Monarch.

[Finarfin]

In general, how do the difficulty settings work in multiplayer? If you give one player a lower difficulty setting I guess it would make it easier for him, but how does the difficulty rating for the computer opponents work? If you give it a Settler rating does that make it easier for the human or the computer?

[John-SJ]

Polarnomad,
Yes, Prince, I mistyped when I said Noble. After playing a few games I think Monarch may be a little too rough, but I am willing to try it if we have general agreement on that difficulty level.

Finarfin, honestly, I am not sure how that works. My plan was to put us all at the same level, Prince or MOnarch, whatever is agreed to.

[polarnomad]

I'm fine with either Prince or Monarch. I will rough it out if Monarch is the way we go. I tried Prince and it seemed accessible.

[Scowler]

Either Prince or Monarch would be fine with me too.

[Finarfin]

I plan on getting hiding behind my partners anyway so any level is fine with me.

[John-SJ]

Okay, the game is made and the first turn played by me and forwarded.

The city of Washington has been founded in what will prove to be a hostile world.

Player order is:
John-SJ
polarnomad
Scowler
Finarfin

to take best advantage of time zones.

We are on the world described earlier at Monarch ( ) difficulty.

Just one last confirmation, everyone is now patched, right?

[Finarfin]

Aye.

[polarnomad]

EDIT: Nice! You can actually tell what everyone in the team is building and researching. I guess we should use this forum to develop tactics if anyone thinks of any.

Feeling a little lonely and oh so far away from y'all (in the game that is)...

Oh, the amount of turns to discover new techs seems rather high. 25 turns for meditation?! Is that because we're playing on monarch or have I just not noticed it until now?

[Scowler]

I assume it's adjusted to take account of the fact that we will be collaborating in research. You will notice that the time for Meditation has gone down to 12 turns now that I've selected it as well and will drop further when the others join in.

[polarnomad]

Ok, I wasn't aware that was how it would work. Anything else that differs from non-collaborative play?

[John-SJ]

I didn't realize it worked that way either. But that means we can prioritize research. Absolute must have now techs we can all 4 research, less important techs we can research 2, 3, or even 4 at once.

For our first few priorities, what resources do we have visible from our starting positions, we can start to assemble a tech research queue.

[Finarfin]

Am I the only one that hasn't received the turn yet? There are 4 of us, right? It sounds like you 3 have already loaded the game.