PBEM FAQ

[Misotu]

I have another question ... how do you cancel a treaty in PBEM? I can't see any way of doing it. I can cancel a pact, but not a treaty ...

Thanks

- Mis

[Sarxis]

Only the two factions with the highest vote counts are eligible for election.

I don't believe there is a way to cancel a treaty except by hostile action or when an AI faction asks you to do so in exchange for 'friendship'.

[WhiteElephants]

I was wondering what kind of settings PBEM games use. Blind research? Tech stagnation? Huge Map? Get a tech when you take a base? Unity Pod scattered?

[Enigma]

Read the PBEM rules that zsozso posted along time ago for details. Most of these are on a 66x66 map with large poles and 3 duplicate islands on equator. Directed research, and no cooperative victory. Everything else is standard.

[WhiteElephants]

What about non-tournament games?

[Misotu]

OK, so I'm not being stupid about treaties. That's annoying :-(

Regarding the council vote, it looks like the nominees aren't fixed in PBEM. I've now found out that the faction who voted for me subsequently built a new base in the same turn. Presumably, this just pushed them ahead of me in population, so when I received the game, the nominees had changed.

This should definitely count as a bug. Once the elections begin, the nominees should be fixed. Oh well ...

- Mis

[Grigger]

WhiteElephant: Whatever you want, it'll let you choose as you start it up.
Anunikoba: You may try this, have it saved before the second player hits end turn but after he/she's moved their units.

[Myronides]

I try to load a save file a fellow player sent me, and i get the message "Not a valid save/map file". I can't imagine what could that mean. We worked a lot to get in M.Y. 2129 in ACT011 for this to happen now, so plese, anyone, help!

[Myronides]

My fellow player mailed the turn once more, and this time everything is O.K. Thanks.

[MichaeltheGreat]

CANCELLING TREATIES IN MULTIPLAYER:

This is not always possible, but the faction AI is active in the background for human factions in certain diplomatic situations. Often, using the right-click menu from commlinks to "demand withdrawal" of enemy units will result in the background AI declaring vendetta, which the players can then amend to a truce. This depends on the AI attitude toward the other faction, which is independent of actual exchanges and gifts made by the human players.

The AI attitude is influenced by relative powerbar strength, compatibility of SE choices, prior violations and reputation, and inherent hostility of faction pairs such as UoP-Believers, Hive-PK, and Spartan-Morgan. In some cases, you'll get the wimpy "but I have no units in your territory" or "the {dumbass faction} appears to have complied" messages, the latter if they were actually slinking around in your territory.

Depending on the rules/settings for how often you can make SE changes, you may be able to make an SE choice (say to Free Market to piss off Deidre), demand withdrawal, get your treaty ended, then switch back. If the SE change rules/settings for your multiplayer game do not allow unrestricted SE choices, then this is a cheat.

[Misotu]

This is a question for Tau Ceti. I recently started a SMAX PBEM as the Angels and I was surprised to find that they didn't have Planetary Networks.

I realise that the game has been set up so that everyone starts with all the level 1 techs, but The University still gets its free tech on turn 1, so I assumed that the Angels would still have PN.

Without it, the Angels' two main advantages are gone - they can't run planned from day one and they can't infiltrate early before the other factions get their probes in place.

Since the free facilities (nodes for UoP, perimeters for Hive etc) are still available, seems that the Angels have really been scuppered. All they have left is their ability to get a tech known to three other factions - once they've scraped together enough points to research both PN *and* flexibility!

regards
- Mis

[Tau Ceti]

Misotu, the starting tech question was brought up by Zsozso earlier, and it was generally agreed upon (at least through a lack of objections) that all factions would simply start with all level 1 techs. The affected factions are the Angels, the Hive (who do not get Doctrine: Loyalty) and the Pirates (who do not get Doctrine: Flexibility). Also, everyone starts with the same units; the Spartans do not get scout rovers instead of patrols, the Angels do not get their extra probe team and the Cult (though nobody wants to play them) would not get the extra Mind Worm. That, at least, was my understanding.

The University's free tech is a separate ability and could only be removed by modifying univ.txt. In the same fashion, the free Network Nodes and Perimeter defenses are separate abilities and could only be removed in the same way. The starting techs are a different matter.

While you could certainly say that some factions have got a better deal than others (and I think the Pirates have it even worse, starting in the middle of an island with no Flexibility), it was felt, I believe, that this would create the most level playing field. That is the best answer I can give you at the moment. Also, I would not underestimate the techshare ability with the fairly large Progenitors at the poles. And they will get their Covert Ops Centres on the discovery of Pre-Sentient Algorithms.

While I do not think that the ability to run Planned economics early is an integral part of the Angels' faction profile, the Probe Teams certainly are. I also think that Doctrine: Loyalty is quite an important part of Hive 'culture' (Police State and Perim. Def.), and most of all Flexibility for the Pirates. Therefore, I was originally in favour of giving these factions their normal starting techs in addition. However, it could be viewed as unbalancing, I did not call the shots at the time, and I did not care that much one way or the other. Now that the games have already started the way they have, it kind of ties things up, as I would not want to arbitrarily change the setup from one game to the next. However, I can certainly be convinced to change this, and I would like to hear what others think.

[Misotu]

Hi Tau Ceti

Thanks for your reply. I've only just started playing by email, so apologies if I'm re-running an old discussion.

I did read the admin thread, and it says that all the factions get level 1 techs, but doesn't mention the fact that starting techs at level 2 are not given, so it just came as a bit of a shock! (Glad I didn't pick the pirates!) I think there's a strong case for reconsidering for future games or if not, future tournaments.

I don't know about the Hive - their research rate is very slow and so getting all the level 1 techs is a fair old boost for them anyway.

I think there's a case to be made for the Pirates and Angels retaining their starting techs, particularly in view of the fact that the University still gets a free tech on day 1. Given this, I don't see how it could be considered unbalancing.

Your comment about the techshare abilities with the Aliens is a fair one so I think I agree with you that the Pirates are the most disadvantaged by this arrangement.

Anyway, I'm still enjoying the game

Thanks for the explanation.

- Mis

[MichaeltheGreat]

Misotu - I'm playing Hive in two of these games, (ACT005 and ACT016) and UoP in one (the stalled ACT008). The UoP when I played it didn't get a free tech - it gets a slightly lower initial tech cost, reflecting that one of the initial techs was "free." The Hive loses the initial ability to do Command Nexus off the bat, but I'm leading as the Hive in both my games, so it wasn't an issue.

For the Angels, even though I'm not playing them (I'm not doing any Xfire games), I don't see a problem - the other factions will be founding bases early on, and it's still a bit of time before they'll prioritize defensive probes. Besides, you can always sacrifice a couple of probes to take out the defensive one, then use three or four more to repeatedly hit the same base. Nobody can stop the determined use of probe teams until they can invade you in force and give you something else to worry about.

[Tau Ceti]

MtG: I am quite certain that you did get the free tech. I set up the game, I still have the save, and I just checked . As far as I know the only way you would not get it would be if I edited univ.txt to remove the bonus. The University gets BOTH a bonus tech and reduced tech cost.