How active is the team game?

[MrWhereItsAt]

OK, I found myself recently longing for a SMAC/X DG, and so was considering joining a team and seeing if I could catch up.

Then Darkness' Edge turned up in chat (right now!) and we started discussing the idea of a REAL DG again. No crap teams, no subforums - just a game like the first one.

There is a lot of scope here - many untried factions, many victory conditions unexplored.... so what do people think? If you just want to have a good ole' traditional DG like everywhere else on the site, let us know, and we'll see if there's enough interest to sort out a new one.

Should we go without SPs this time? Or without certain SE choices? Or do we have to win a certain way? No crawlers..?

[Darkness' Edge]

I'd really like to see this happen. I've got a lot of spare time at the moment, and I'd like to get another game going along the lines of the original.

Different faction, for starters. No crawlers, no SPs...would make things more challenging.

Anyone else interested?

[Kody]

It would certainly start the public forum moving again.

Maybe you could enlist a few people, then run it in the main forum. I'm sure that some people from the ACDG2 will play while they're waiting for the turns.

[GeneralTacticus]

Yes, if you could find a way to make this work alongside the current team DG, I'd be up for it - and commandeering the main forum might at least induce the Hive to stop spamming it with their endless issues of Pravda...

[Kody]

Yeah some of the pravda issues are pretty desperate.

Although it's better than having an inactive forum.

[Drogue]

I'm up for it too

I'd keep SPs in, they're good. How about simply getting Googlie tp beef up the AI a lot. Normal DG, but with very hard AI?

Although nothing that will take away from the team ACDG2. I don't think it will, but I just wanted to say

[Kody]

What could be interesting would be having a few human players playing some of the opponents, and then having one faction being run by the ACDG.

The human players will be much more challenging.

[Vev]

I wonder if the play & switch scheme is workable under ACDG in order to help give the AI some solid base.

[Darkness' Edge]

What I'm proposing (and I believe MWIA is with me on this) is to create a new forum if need be (I'd prefer this one was renamed to "Team DG" or something to match other games, but whatever), and run an original-style game alongside this one. I'd be against having any human teams in that - lets leave them for the team game.

Harder AI would be cool. I also like the idea of disallowing crawlers as well though.

[Drogue]

I agree with DE on all but the name. Not sure about disallowing crawlers with harder AI. Have you seen how souped up Googlie can do them?

[Vander]

Whatever we do, I'm up for joining in on the fun.

[Snowflake]

Sounds like fun!

[Maniac]

and commandeering the main forum might at least induce the Hive to stop spamming it with their endless issues of Pravda...

Well I prefer endless issues of Pravda over no issues of the PUT newspaper. But sometimes I agree they are emphasizing quantity over quality too much.


Anyway, I don't think I would be participating in another original-style ACDG. Not only would the low level of AI competition make it way more boring than a team game, I also wouldn't like to play a plain SMAC ACDG, which I assume it would be if Darkness' Edge joins. Therefore, if you guys want me, I would be available to play a rival faction (on my own, so not as another team), giving you some more serious competition than the AIs. Sure, the AI could be beefed up a little as well, but they would only be competitive because they can cheat so much.

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Maniac
Sure, the AI could be beefed up a little as well, but they would only be competitive because they can cheat so much.

Well - now there's a challenge for a scenario designer (assuming, of course, that you're not equating "beefing up" with "cheating" .... )

eg: a scenario'd PBEM can be created whereby an AI Morgan is almost a sure lock to corner the energy market, or where Santiago will make a mid 2200's chop and drop attack on an enemy faction

It all depends on how humiliated the human players want to be

G.

[Drogue]

As humiliated as possible I like a challenge