Keygen's Classic - Turns

[Keygen]

The players are:

1. Lady Stuntman19 of the Gaians (mgr@dmi.net)
2. Chairman Yang of the Hive (Computer)
3. Provost Keygen of the Univercity (costas_ctp@yahoo.com)
4. CEO Nanuk of the Morganites (jeff.madore@sympatico.ca)
5. Colonel Deimos of the Spartans (deimos@civgaming.net)
6. Sister Miriam of the Believers (Computer)
7. Brother Black Sunrise of the Peacekeepers (indra@blacksunrise.com)

Good luck!

[stuntman19]

Our life pod has landed and we have founded our first city, Duke's Landing. We have begun to search the surrounding area for signs of the others.

Duke Stuntman19
Conversations with Planet

turn 2101 to Provost Keygen

[Keygen]

MY 2101 to CEO Nanuk

At last! Planetfall has been made successfully.
Our first base on Planet is a fact. Scientists has builded University Base, their headquarters on Planet.
We will soon try to get contact with the other factions but in the meanwhile we shall secure the area from the native life & work on the development of our very first base.

Provost Keygen

[Nanuk]

MY2101 sent to Spartans

First and second base established!! Just kidding.

[Deimos]

MY2101 to Peacekeepers

[Black Sunrise]

In the interests of Unity, our first base has been established.
Efforts to explore are underway.
Who shall say what dangers this strange new world offers?

Move sent on, hope it will be received. Transmission equipment possibly damaged by crash landing.

[Black Sunrise]

I started with a colony pod and a scout patrol. Possibly the difficulty level?
Black Sunrise

[stuntman19]

Ok, thats what I figured, thanks Black Sunrise.

[Keygen]

I got 2 colony pods and 1 scout patrol.
As far as I know there is a chance to get the above or just 1 colony pod and 1 scout patrol as you and Black Sunrise did.
I guess some are lucky and some are not

MY 2102 to CEO Nanuk

[stuntman19]

Well it appears that some got two colony pods and some only one. This is not luck, but a bug that is very unbalancing for a MP game. The added colony pod gives much faster potential growth and research. Also 20 turns down the road the ability to start SP's while the others cannot yet without shutting down expansion.
I am for a restart at a higher level to insure fairness since we are so early in the game. I would like to know how the others feel and will not do the start of turn 3 until we can come to some agreement.

[Black Sunrise]

With some factions, I would suspect a special advantage, but I dont think that's not a university power (I would have guessed Lal would be more likely to have extra people).
Can anyone confirm this is a bug? If it is, I agree it is unbalancing (not that I get really excited over issues like fairness. RL isn't ever fair, anyway).
If it's not a bug, continue. If it is, I'd be willing to continue, and if I get beaten, I'll just use that as an excuse.
Maybe the conputer is compensating for nearness to Landmarks or something like that?
Black Sunrise
[This message has been edited by Black Sunrise (edited October 07, 2000).]

[stuntman19]

I know that tourny games start on 2102 with a CMN who assigns passwords and insures everyone starts the same. He does not move anything or found bases obviously, but insures an equitable start.

[stuntman19]

On my first turn I started with this:

one colony pod
one scout patrol

Normally starts have been this:

one base
one colony pod
one scout patrol

or

two colony pods
one scout patrol

Is this normal for difficulty where playing? and how everyone else started?

Thanks

2102 on to Keygen

[Nanuk]

2102 sent to Deimos

Morganites have started with two pods , one scout. I would agree that it may seem unfair , but can we confirm that it is a bug? Or if we do restart then can we get a CMN to ensure a fair start , otherwise we may end up with the same situation.

[Deimos]

MY2102 to Black Sunrise

I started off with 2 pods, 1 rover. I think that the number of pods at the start is random, because even in single player, sometimes I get 1, sometimes it is 2.

In tourney games, isn't the CMN a neutral 3rd party? In a friendly game, having the CMN, who is also a player, start everything off equally would give that individual knowledge where everyone starts. Later in the game this doesn't matter at all, but in the early game, it could give this individual an advantage in deciding which way to explore/settle and in deciding early research priorities.

If you all want a restart, that's ok by me. In this game, even though I have 2 pods, I wouldn't call my starting position stellar(lots of fungus), but maybe that is part of the equation: good starting position = 1 pod, poor starting position = 2 pods.

By the way, I know that the CMN is the person who starts/sets up a MP game, but I do not know what the acronym means. Could you enlighten me?
[This message has been edited by Deimos (edited October 08, 2000).]