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With the consent of Kobayashi, I have been allowed to reprint his PBEM FAQ initially written for the now died-out Civfanatics PBEM community. Some adjustments and additions has been made by myself.
PBEM FAQ
1. What is PBEM?
PBEM is an acronym for Play By E-Mail, which is how people used to play non-live multiplayer games before forum members were allowed to attach saved games to their posts on the forum. Now it is more common to use a forum thread rather than sending saved games by e-mail from player to player.
2. What version of Civ2 do I need?
You must have MGE (Multiplayer Gold Edition) and this should be upgraded with the latest patch so all players have the same version number (i.e. ver 1.3).
If you own TOT or an earlier release of Civ2, have no fear. Look no further than HERE (CivFanatics) to solve your problems (under 'Patches/Updates').
3. What kind of scenarios are suitable?
The initiator of a game would normally pick a scenario that was made either for MGE or FW (Fantastic Worlds) after playing it as a single player first. This PBEM scenario should satisfy the following criteria:
1. More than one of the tribes can be played – so something like Cruel Sea would be out of the question.
2. All the tribes being played should be balanced – scenario designers typically include at least one super-powerful AI tribe that should be excluded.
3. There is only one set of files – a scenario with multiple stages, a different events.txt for each tribe or seasons is possible but very messy.
4. Don't use scenarios which start with only one or a few cities - it will take forever before the game becomes interesting. For this reason, it is possible but not common to play a standard Civ2 game via PBEM.
4. How do you start a game (forum procedure)?
Begin a new thread titled “X PBEM” where X is the name of the scenario. In the first post, include the full name of the scenario you have chosen and the version number. Tempers will flare when players discover they are playing different versions. If there is no difficulty level mentioned, it is assumed the difficulty level recommended by the author will be used. At this stage you should also set house rules like “No nukes” or “Do not take any advance other than the one the AI offers you in negotiation”. If there is more than one option for the events.txt or rules.txt, state the version to be used. Then list down all the tribes for the scenario in the order that they appear in the actual scenario, like so
Federation – Me
Klingons – Open
Romulans – Open
Neutrals – AI
Orions – AI
Borg – AI
Other posters will indicate their interest to play as certain tribes and after a while the game can start.
Note: As PBEM games are slow, it is often better not the have the full number of players. 3 or 4 would be optimal.
5. How do you start a game (game procedure)?
The player who plays the tribe highest in the list starts a new multiplayer game and pretends that he is starting a scenario on a Network (a one player network is still a network). There are a few other menus where you need to pick options but they are more or less irrelevant. Just to be consistent, always choose Network game with TCP/IP. Then start the game without waiting for other players.
As PBEM playing is based on the honour system, it is optional whether you want to assign a password to your civ.
When the first player finishes his turn (the 'wait at end of turn' MUST be toggled on for all players) he saves the game. The save file is then attached to a post on the PBEM thread and later downloaded by the second player.
The downloaded file must then be saved in the folder of the scenario being played together with all the other scenario files. For instance if you are playing 'Hellas', the downloaded save file must reside in the folder called 'Hellas'. The procedure for playing is the same as for starting the game except you choose 'MP game - Network game - TCP/IP - Load a saved MP game'.
Do not fiddle around with bonus settings e.g. double movement or double production. It cannot be undone during the same turn and it will affect every other player and you may be accused of cheating. If the first player has already chosen the bonus settings (usually none), nobody should need to adjust them any further.
6. Why does the AI move my units?
Two things need to be done to ensure this never happens. Firstly, the sequence of players must match the list when the scenario starts or else the AI will step in and mess things up. Secondly, at the end of your turn, you must activate a unit that was fortified or asleep for your entire turn and then press CTRL-N before you save. Otherwise the AI will still have the option to move all units which you have not moved yet. This must be done at the end of every turn and by everyone.
7. Why does the AI change my production orders?
This is triggered when you lose a city and your AI makes emergency changes to concentrate on defense. To prevent this, use the Yaroslav's Civ2PBEM Diplomacy (v3.0) tool (Download link from CivFanatics). If in doubt on how to use the tool, ask the players of the PBEM for help.
8. What about Negotiations?
Usually players will agree to negotiate manually (PM, MSN, e-mail or even just posting in the thread) rather than letting the AI negotiate on their behalf.
If you agree to trade technology A for technology B with another player. You can give A as a gift to your counter-party after which he will give you B in the same game cycle. Unless agreed, contacting another player’s AI representative is considered cheating.
Civ Diplomacy 3.0 is also available, which today is the preferred tool for diplomatic exchanges (link above).
9. What should I call the saved game?
The name should be a conjunction of the scenario abbreviation, tribe and turn to avoid confusion. For example: ZWKAllies24.net.
10. At what speed should a PBEM be played?
Players can agree beforehand how long they have to post their move from the time the previous player posted his save game. A typical time limit would be either 24 hours or 48 hours. If this limit is set too long, the game will go on for a very long time.
11. What if a player drops out?
If a player knows he will be away for a while, he can request a temporary recess for a predetermined period or arrange for another person to play on his behalf (after giving him the player password if one is set). If a player disappears for a prolonged period (say twice the allotted time interval) without any warning, the other players have the right to let his ally, a neutral outsider or the AI take over his tribe until he returns if they so desire.
If you for whatever reason know you will be unable to play your turns for a while, then please post in the Notification of Leaving and Returning Thread , so that the other players will be informed of any hold up's.
12. What do I have to do if I trigger an event message during my turn?
If you trigger event messages which are important, it is you duty to mention it in the PBEM thread as the other players will not know about the event automatically.
13. What if i have a MAC version of Civ2?
Please refer to the PBEM FAQ at CivFanatics, which is more extensive.
14. How do I relate to the various House Rules?
Many PBEM's rely on house rules to implement realism to the game. These are often discussed before the game starts, and will be listed in the first post in the thread. Failiure to comply with the house rules is regarded as cheating, and may lead to dramatic consequences such as exclusion from the game.
There are some generally accepted house rules by the PBEM community, that even though not stated by the scenario creator, applies to all PBEM games (unless spesifically allowed by the creator). To be on the safe side, do not use any of the game machine's flaws to your advantage, and ask the other players if in doubt. Think about whether a specific action is realistic in real life or not. Here are some of the most important generally accepted house rules:
-No reloading.
-No rehoming of trade units.
-No 'square stealing' from the AI.
-No air protected land/sea stacks.
-No "freezing" of airplanes to gain longer ranges than set by the rules.
-No ship chains.
-No building of new cities. Only re-creating razed ones alowed.
-No airbases in adjecent to each other or a city.
-No artificial creating of ZOC with units
15. What are the essential PBEM tricks I need to know?
Many of the players currently playing PBEMs have done so for many years, and are very cunning and accustomed to the various tricks that will allow for an explosive growth of one's civ. Here are some examples of tricks that are essential if you want to keep up and maybe win the game:
1. Start mass producing trade units and ship them to high trade cities early on.
-This will allow for a massive cash income to be used on military expansion and industrialization, but also allow for a quick advancement down the tech tree. On a world map New York will almost always end up beeing a great city to drop off goods, regardless of demand. Disband units if you have to, you will produce them back in no time once a steady trade route is established.
2. Sell off useless city improvements early on, or save them for a potential war situation where international trade will drop to a minimum.
-This only if you are a large civ. If not you need any cash you can get to spend on trade units.
Do this on the first turn of the game, and spend them on trade units and transporters to ship them around globally.
3. Use the incremental rush building technique.
-Rush buy the cheapest unit available, change production to the second cheapest unit and rush build it. Continue doing this all the way to the unit you want build, and you will realise the unit will end up costing only 1/10 of what it would have cost had you bought it right away.
4. Don't save money earned from tax/trade revenues.
-Spend all of it, and only keep the little surplus cash you might have left for next turn's buying frenzie.
5. Turn citizens into tax collectors.
-Starve your people if you must, just make sure you turn citizens into tax collectors where it's possible.
6. Maximise the tax/luxery rate.
-Don't bother turning up the science rate unless you control a very advanced civ, that can allow for a new tech every 2nd turn (very rare). Maximise luxery and tax, and rely on trading as your main source of science (and cash) progress. Pick a worthless city (preferably size 5, which is the minimum required for turning citizens into entertainers) and make a citizen into a scientist. This scientist will create 3% science points, which will be enough to get a new tech the next turn, once the trade has filled up the science bar.
16. I'm interested, how can I join a PBEM?
You can either check out the Players Needed Thread for any open spots, or you can visit the various PBEMs individually and announce your interest.
17. Where can I learn more about scenarios?
You can visit the Scenario League section where new scenarios are born every day.
PBEM FAQ
1. What is PBEM?
PBEM is an acronym for Play By E-Mail, which is how people used to play non-live multiplayer games before forum members were allowed to attach saved games to their posts on the forum. Now it is more common to use a forum thread rather than sending saved games by e-mail from player to player.
2. What version of Civ2 do I need?
You must have MGE (Multiplayer Gold Edition) and this should be upgraded with the latest patch so all players have the same version number (i.e. ver 1.3).
If you own TOT or an earlier release of Civ2, have no fear. Look no further than HERE (CivFanatics) to solve your problems (under 'Patches/Updates').
3. What kind of scenarios are suitable?
The initiator of a game would normally pick a scenario that was made either for MGE or FW (Fantastic Worlds) after playing it as a single player first. This PBEM scenario should satisfy the following criteria:
1. More than one of the tribes can be played – so something like Cruel Sea would be out of the question.
2. All the tribes being played should be balanced – scenario designers typically include at least one super-powerful AI tribe that should be excluded.
3. There is only one set of files – a scenario with multiple stages, a different events.txt for each tribe or seasons is possible but very messy.
4. Don't use scenarios which start with only one or a few cities - it will take forever before the game becomes interesting. For this reason, it is possible but not common to play a standard Civ2 game via PBEM.
4. How do you start a game (forum procedure)?
Begin a new thread titled “X PBEM” where X is the name of the scenario. In the first post, include the full name of the scenario you have chosen and the version number. Tempers will flare when players discover they are playing different versions. If there is no difficulty level mentioned, it is assumed the difficulty level recommended by the author will be used. At this stage you should also set house rules like “No nukes” or “Do not take any advance other than the one the AI offers you in negotiation”. If there is more than one option for the events.txt or rules.txt, state the version to be used. Then list down all the tribes for the scenario in the order that they appear in the actual scenario, like so
Federation – Me
Klingons – Open
Romulans – Open
Neutrals – AI
Orions – AI
Borg – AI
Other posters will indicate their interest to play as certain tribes and after a while the game can start.
Note: As PBEM games are slow, it is often better not the have the full number of players. 3 or 4 would be optimal.
5. How do you start a game (game procedure)?
The player who plays the tribe highest in the list starts a new multiplayer game and pretends that he is starting a scenario on a Network (a one player network is still a network). There are a few other menus where you need to pick options but they are more or less irrelevant. Just to be consistent, always choose Network game with TCP/IP. Then start the game without waiting for other players.
As PBEM playing is based on the honour system, it is optional whether you want to assign a password to your civ.
When the first player finishes his turn (the 'wait at end of turn' MUST be toggled on for all players) he saves the game. The save file is then attached to a post on the PBEM thread and later downloaded by the second player.
The downloaded file must then be saved in the folder of the scenario being played together with all the other scenario files. For instance if you are playing 'Hellas', the downloaded save file must reside in the folder called 'Hellas'. The procedure for playing is the same as for starting the game except you choose 'MP game - Network game - TCP/IP - Load a saved MP game'.
Do not fiddle around with bonus settings e.g. double movement or double production. It cannot be undone during the same turn and it will affect every other player and you may be accused of cheating. If the first player has already chosen the bonus settings (usually none), nobody should need to adjust them any further.
6. Why does the AI move my units?
Two things need to be done to ensure this never happens. Firstly, the sequence of players must match the list when the scenario starts or else the AI will step in and mess things up. Secondly, at the end of your turn, you must activate a unit that was fortified or asleep for your entire turn and then press CTRL-N before you save. Otherwise the AI will still have the option to move all units which you have not moved yet. This must be done at the end of every turn and by everyone.
7. Why does the AI change my production orders?
This is triggered when you lose a city and your AI makes emergency changes to concentrate on defense. To prevent this, use the Yaroslav's Civ2PBEM Diplomacy (v3.0) tool (Download link from CivFanatics). If in doubt on how to use the tool, ask the players of the PBEM for help.
8. What about Negotiations?
Usually players will agree to negotiate manually (PM, MSN, e-mail or even just posting in the thread) rather than letting the AI negotiate on their behalf.
If you agree to trade technology A for technology B with another player. You can give A as a gift to your counter-party after which he will give you B in the same game cycle. Unless agreed, contacting another player’s AI representative is considered cheating.
Civ Diplomacy 3.0 is also available, which today is the preferred tool for diplomatic exchanges (link above).
9. What should I call the saved game?
The name should be a conjunction of the scenario abbreviation, tribe and turn to avoid confusion. For example: ZWKAllies24.net.
10. At what speed should a PBEM be played?
Players can agree beforehand how long they have to post their move from the time the previous player posted his save game. A typical time limit would be either 24 hours or 48 hours. If this limit is set too long, the game will go on for a very long time.
11. What if a player drops out?
If a player knows he will be away for a while, he can request a temporary recess for a predetermined period or arrange for another person to play on his behalf (after giving him the player password if one is set). If a player disappears for a prolonged period (say twice the allotted time interval) without any warning, the other players have the right to let his ally, a neutral outsider or the AI take over his tribe until he returns if they so desire.
If you for whatever reason know you will be unable to play your turns for a while, then please post in the Notification of Leaving and Returning Thread , so that the other players will be informed of any hold up's.
12. What do I have to do if I trigger an event message during my turn?
If you trigger event messages which are important, it is you duty to mention it in the PBEM thread as the other players will not know about the event automatically.
13. What if i have a MAC version of Civ2?
Please refer to the PBEM FAQ at CivFanatics, which is more extensive.
14. How do I relate to the various House Rules?
Many PBEM's rely on house rules to implement realism to the game. These are often discussed before the game starts, and will be listed in the first post in the thread. Failiure to comply with the house rules is regarded as cheating, and may lead to dramatic consequences such as exclusion from the game.
There are some generally accepted house rules by the PBEM community, that even though not stated by the scenario creator, applies to all PBEM games (unless spesifically allowed by the creator). To be on the safe side, do not use any of the game machine's flaws to your advantage, and ask the other players if in doubt. Think about whether a specific action is realistic in real life or not. Here are some of the most important generally accepted house rules:
-No reloading.
-No rehoming of trade units.
-No 'square stealing' from the AI.
-No air protected land/sea stacks.
-No "freezing" of airplanes to gain longer ranges than set by the rules.
-No ship chains.
-No building of new cities. Only re-creating razed ones alowed.
-No airbases in adjecent to each other or a city.
-No artificial creating of ZOC with units
15. What are the essential PBEM tricks I need to know?
Many of the players currently playing PBEMs have done so for many years, and are very cunning and accustomed to the various tricks that will allow for an explosive growth of one's civ. Here are some examples of tricks that are essential if you want to keep up and maybe win the game:
1. Start mass producing trade units and ship them to high trade cities early on.
-This will allow for a massive cash income to be used on military expansion and industrialization, but also allow for a quick advancement down the tech tree. On a world map New York will almost always end up beeing a great city to drop off goods, regardless of demand. Disband units if you have to, you will produce them back in no time once a steady trade route is established.
2. Sell off useless city improvements early on, or save them for a potential war situation where international trade will drop to a minimum.
-This only if you are a large civ. If not you need any cash you can get to spend on trade units.
Do this on the first turn of the game, and spend them on trade units and transporters to ship them around globally.
3. Use the incremental rush building technique.
-Rush buy the cheapest unit available, change production to the second cheapest unit and rush build it. Continue doing this all the way to the unit you want build, and you will realise the unit will end up costing only 1/10 of what it would have cost had you bought it right away.
4. Don't save money earned from tax/trade revenues.
-Spend all of it, and only keep the little surplus cash you might have left for next turn's buying frenzie.
5. Turn citizens into tax collectors.
-Starve your people if you must, just make sure you turn citizens into tax collectors where it's possible.
6. Maximise the tax/luxery rate.
-Don't bother turning up the science rate unless you control a very advanced civ, that can allow for a new tech every 2nd turn (very rare). Maximise luxery and tax, and rely on trading as your main source of science (and cash) progress. Pick a worthless city (preferably size 5, which is the minimum required for turning citizens into entertainers) and make a citizen into a scientist. This scientist will create 3% science points, which will be enough to get a new tech the next turn, once the trade has filled up the science bar.
16. I'm interested, how can I join a PBEM?
You can either check out the Players Needed Thread for any open spots, or you can visit the various PBEMs individually and announce your interest.
17. Where can I learn more about scenarios?
You can visit the Scenario League section where new scenarios are born every day.