PBEM Tournament announcements and discussion

[Viriato]

Hello everyone,

I'm reading this thread for the first time so I may be a little late. But I'll post my opinion anyway.

1) I like the accelerated start. It makes the games faster and diferent from other PBEM games I'm playing. Being a tournament I find that important, so I think we should keep it as it is.

2) Yes the map is very small. I think the island could be a little larger (about 20 % more area) and they should be further apart. That would make attacks more difficult, especially air attacks.

3) Transcend difficult level. Why not? That would mimimize the UoP's advantage because of the drones problem (along with the larger map providing more inneficience).

4) Add another player. 4 players would increase the diplomatic offers and would not make the game much slower. If 2 of the players join themselves to destroy the 3rd one he is in big trouble. With 4 players that would be more difficult to happen.

That's all I have to say. Now i'm going to try to find a way to win the games i'm in. I just realized that the UoP is present in both games. And for the first time I choose different factions .

[Enigma]

As far as leaving do or die off is concerned I like the idea of having cooperative victory on but with limits... worth less points etc. Also with restart you essentially lose game if you lose all bases in 1st 50 years.

[Tau Ceti]

Viriato:

1) The games on the tournament map will still have accelerated start, although with slightly reduced starting techs as suggested by korn469. If accelerated start and equal starting locations are your preferences, then the tournament map is for you. I am trying to cater for all tastes here. Time will tell if that is overstretching.

2) Greater separation - will be done. Greater land mass - possibly. I will have to see how it looks.

3) Mostly because some people are not used to it and do not want to play that high. That is why I introduced the difficulty preference thing. I will try to set up people with others who requested the same difficulty - but so far only 4 people have given me the new necessary info. I will need it before new games can be made, folks!

4) Could be done, since the map is not made yet... What do the people say? 3 or 4 players on the tournament map?

Enigma:
Certainly. The restart is only viable if you are wiped out in the first 10-15 turns. After that it becomes more of an annoyance. As I said, I did not expect it to be a popular option.

[EternalSpark]

Hey TC, sign me up as Librarian.

Anything above or below would be uncivilized!

[Garth Vader]

If you can fit 4 players in a reasonable sized map that would be good.

I would be against larger home continents. If anything the home continents should be smaller. That would force players to expand to the polar continents which would help offset the disadvantages the conquest factions have with an island setup.

[Paul]

The four factions idea definately sounds good to me. And having continents out of jet range from each other would be a good idea. Having continents out of drop range is nice, but you could still use X-jets or X-choppers to just obliterate your opponents bases when you get Air Power.

[Viriato]

OK Tau Ceti. You can put me in the transcend group.

What exactly is going to be the diference in the starting techs?

Garth Vader: you have a point there; I guess I can live with the small islands setup.

[Tau Ceti]

Paul: putting continents out of jet range would make the map very big, with a lot of quite useless ocean. And then the issue becomes putting them outside chopper range, which is quite a bit longer again. Such distances would also kill all hopes of an amphibious invasion, at least until Doctrine: Initiative. So I think out of drop range will have to do for the tournament map.

(If you know your opponent is out of drop range anyway then you do not really need garrisons in your cities, so you could leave them empty to prevent gassing.)

Viriato: Noted. Let me know if and when you want more games than the two you already have.

The new starting tech system is that everyone starts with the starting techs of all the factions in that particular game, so for example if the factions are Gaians, Morgan and Hive, they all start with Centauri Ecology, Industrial Base and Doctrine: Loyalty.

[Paul]

You are probably right that the map would be too big. But I think it should definately have 4 players and coop victory.

[EternalSpark]

Is there any way to eliminate the use of Gas Pods? Cuz like, many people have posted here saying something about how its simple to end the game by gassin'.

[Tau Ceti]

Sure, that is a simple alpha(x).txt edit, and can be done if enough people think it is a good idea. It would certainly change the game, but I am not sure it would necessarily be for the better...

A few other tidbits:
I am considering changing the communications setting so that human players can only contact each other once they have obtained each other's commlink frequencies by normal means on the random and Planet maps. Are there any opinions on/objections to this?

Is anyone interested in the leader reports? The data I have is quite incomplete, but if there is any demand, I can post what I have...

[Enigma]

On a 4 player map gas pods would be much less of an issue, and with 3 AI's around it would be even more difficult for a player to dedicate 100% of their resources to making gas bombers/choppers. It does not make a huge difference to me either way.

[Tau Ceti]

I will be away until next Tuesday (the 25th), but if anyone wants to reach me, send an email to tauc@hotmail.com . I will not be checking as often as I use to, but probably at least once a day. The tournament map will be delayed for at least that long. Sorry for the inconvenience.
[This message has been edited by Tau Ceti (edited April 20, 2000).]

[Viriato]

I totally agree with restricting comms until contact has been made.

About the use of gas pods I'm against eliminating it. Gas pods are part of the game and come with a price in commerce. With 4 players the pennalties hurt more. Besides there are ways of minimizing gas attacks like using minds worms as defenders. Or even researching better armor. An AAA silksteel garrison in a base with PD and AC is not easy to destroy.

I'm not sure if the map has place for 3 AI factions but if it can be made I'm not against it.

When I proposed 4 players I was not thinking in cooperative victory. In my opinion that should only be considered in games with the 7 factions to make it harder to achieve.

[Misotu]

I quite like the idea of co-op victory, especially in a tournament. It adds an extra strategic dimension to the game, in terms of pacting. And when the maps etc are random, it means that you always have one more option to avoid complete defeat if your starting position and the breaks really go against you ...

Why not? Keeps things interesting ...