new SMAX PBEM game?

[arborman]

I am also now to PBEM, but I am looking to set up or join a game soon. I can play at any level, though I generally play thinker. SMAC or SMAX are fine, though I like SMAC better, it seems more balanced. I'm not fussy about settings, except I prefer to avoid the settings that favour one faction over another. My email is nickist@home.com.

[Bella Hella]

new PBEM game still offered!

thanks, everybody, for all the help! i appreciate the info. i think i have a much better idea of what's going on here, and i have officially taken my first turn in a PBEM game (exciting!).

i'd like to get back into the original message of the thread - new PBEM game! the original offer still stands (see my first message for details and stuff).

arborman - if you'd like to be a player, awesome! i want to stick with SMAX if that's ok because of the variety of factions to choose from (and because i enjoy playing those factions ). i know what you mean about settings that favor certain factions, so we'll keep native life on average and not include the pirates or aliens. sound good?

uhm, and how many more players should we get? i think it would be cool to have 4 human players.

[Master Devlin]

Greetings Bella

I'm interested in the game you mentioned in the first thread...but like you, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, so you'll have to let me know the details when you figure them out.

Adieu

"you talk to me like i'm an infant"

[Bella Hella]

right on, another player!

MD - you just totally weirded me out with your quote, but i just read your e-mail... and i know who you are!!!!!!

and i know where you live, too.

so there's me, arborman and master devlin. perhaps we should see if we can get one more player and then start it up?

also, what factions would you guys like to be?

[Googlie]

Master Devlin:

can you just send me an e-mail to:

linfrew@aol.com

so that I have your e-mail addy for sending out passwords, etc. (I also have a play-by-e-mail primer that I'll send you on the protocols for playing by e-mail, special diplomacy screens etc)

Googlie

[Googlie]

So, some start up decisions:

Difficulty level? - BH suggested Thinker level in the opening thread, and I think that's a good choice

AI or no AI? - again, with 4 human players having an untweaked AI can be fun - easy tech steals and conquest - I'll give the AI some strategy thru the editor, but won't be strong as it is in some games where i have set up a master/submissive relationship

Factions to play: You have suggested no Pirates or Aliens - good move. PKs, Gaians and Hive are always good factions, as are Drones and Consciousness. Cult, Morgan and Believers are tough in multiplay situations. Uni and Sparta are OK factions. I've not seen many PBEMs where Roze has been played well, although in a couple where she is an AI faction she's doing OK even without the crawlers that the AI never builds

Worldsize: Standard or large (not a lot of difference between them) will give you a few years of isolation before you make contact. 50% to 70% water is the default for maps of planet (and Earth falls into this category). Average everything else I'd suggest.

Custom game rules: With 4 players, to avoid a 3 on 1 ganging up, I'd suggest turning off co-operative victory. I'd put directed research on, spoils of war on and turn off random events (the game's way of knocking you down a peg when yopu are too far ahead in single-play games - prolly unfair in multiplay where you want to reward infrastructure and energy credits build up)

Gameplay rules: I suggest my list that appears earlier in this thread. Not quite Tau Ceti's tourney rules - less restrictive - but more in line with the other 2 forums and the non-tourney games in this forum.

Anything else? (except for that 4th player)

Googlie

[Bella Hella]

startup decisions

googlie - here are my thoughts on settings:

level: thinker (or librarian if i get word that that's preferred)

ai: yes! 4 humans and 3 ais. or, if no 4th player, 3 humans and 4 ais.

factions: human players can be anything except aliens or pirates. i've decided i'd like to play the conciousness. we can see what others would like to be, and we can leave out the cult, morgans and believers (unless a human player wants to be one of these).

map: large would be a good choice. i was thinking 70-90% water to give everyone a good chance of getting their own continent. does this seem reasonable, or do you think it would be uncool since there's also a chance of starting on a dinky island? you obviously have more experience with MP games than i do, so if it would be better to have 50-70%, that's ok by me. average everything else.

i agree whole-heartedly with the custom rules you suggested.

the general rules make sense to me, except for the "declare vendetta if you want to probe someone" option. shouldn't you be able to probe others, and then they have the option of declaring war if they get mad? also, let's say i want to send a probe team to infiltrate someone's datalinks or something. would i first call them to declare war?!?!? LOL.... "hello, zak? hi, how you doin'? that's nice.... listen, i'm real sorry, but i'm gonna have to declare vendetta on you. i know, i know, me neither, but i want to infiltrate your datalinks."

i don't know how this usually works in MP. can you explain?

thanks so much for your help!

[Googlie]

BH:

The map specs really aren't that important (re % water) asd I can always tu=inker with the map thru the scenario editor to ensure that no-one starts on dinky island. It's really how much do you want to play with land bases rather than sea bases that's dictated by the diff between the 50-70% and the 70-90% coverage. The latter slows the game down as it takes longer to build sea bases or to move land colony pods by transport to finad another island to plop it on.

re the "declare vendetta" rule - there's a programming bug in the PBEM protocols that gives the option to the prober instead of the probee.

In SP games, when you are probed, you have the choices of:

> ignore and be probed
> interrogate the probe team then return them unharmed
> declare vendetta and destroy the team

in multiplay games it the faction doing the probing that is given this message

So the generally accepted PBEM convention is to declare vendetta before initiating the probe action unless prior approval has been given. (e.g. - If it is a pactmate (let's say you want to steal a tech during sunspot activity) you therefore would lose the commerce income for the duration of the sunspot activity unless you'd cleared in advance that this was acceptable during such periods)

Of course, wily PBEM veterans will sometimes just declare vendetta out of the blue, and then you become paranoid that you've been probed .....

You'll have gathered that probe activity is a huge part of PBEM gaming (which makes the Empath Guild and being Governor much sought after)

G.

[Black Sunrise]

What's teh deal with stockpile energy after a military unit?
I never understood this one...
Indra

[arborman]

The game

I'd love to get into this game. My only concern: Spoils of War favours the warlike factions. I like playing Uni and it definitely doesn't favour them, since it makes them a target (low on tech, take a couple Uni cities) However, if it is a must I'll simply play something else. nickist@home.com. Let me know when we start,
arborman

[Bella Hella]

arborman - we can turn off spoils of war. as aki, i get techsteal when conquering a base anyway and will hopefully be doing all right techwise even without it.

groovy.

googlie - about the probe team vendetta option - that's weird! since i've never played MP before i didn't know about that. guess i'll have to get used to it! i was just envisioning calling someone up and informing them that i was randomly declaring war and thought it was pretty funny. probably just me.

map: if we can make sure the map setup is fair, then i have no problem with less water.

who else is in? we could still use a 4th player! then we'll be ready to go.

[Black Sunrise]

I'm in.
Any faction.
indra@blacksunrise.com


Indra
ps, I roleplay

[Googlie]

re the stockpile energy situation (also applies to single player games):

when you have it in the build queue after a military unit (or top of the queue when building one) the game engine uses enough minerals to complete the unit then gives you the whole mineral value converted to energy for that turn.

example: say you are building a whatsit, and it needs 22 minerals to complete (44 energy) and your base produces 18 minerals per turn (36 energy). without stockpile in the queue, you partially hurry build (costs 8 energy) and your whatsit is completed next turn with no minerals carried foreward and no energy credit. With stockpile in the queue, you pay your 8, and then get the whatsit completed next turn plus the full value for that base as if you had been stockpiling energy all along (36 minus your inefficiency losses)

Advantage to using stockpile in the queue is that you don't end up overproducing whatsits when the need for them has long gone (mostly just befoe signing off on the turn, hit the F2 screen and checjk that no bases have stockpile in the production slot. Big help when you have fifty or sixty bases)

So we have 4 players - OK - I'll get to setting up the game - still need Master Devlin's e-mail addy

Googlie

Googlie

[Bella Hella]

cool! let's do it!

so far i still want to be aki. the rest of you ill-tempered humans still have to choose your factions.

googlie - i'll e-mail you master devlin's address. i know it'll be ok - i've known master devlin for a long time.

black sunrise - thanks for "signing up"! hopefully it'll be a good game! re: roleplaying - you mean in communications with each other, getting into the character and not saying "dude," etc.? i like that idea. please forgive me for being a total MP newbie, but that IS what you mean, correct?

peace (for now)

[Black Sunrise]

Check out "Turns of Roleplay" here in the MP forum for an incredible example of roleplaying.
I'm not that good at writing, but
"turn sent, nothing new"
just doesn't strike me as being as interesting as:
"This year, our people focused on growth, as we expect a population increase in our major city. Our other city, pit of workers hell, continues to be a less than popular vacation resort. Perhaps we shall turn it into a penal colony"

I don't require it, but boy does it make things more interesting!
Indra
Black Sunrise
(googlie, you can just pick a faction for me out of a hat, or whatever you think would be interesting with the other players. Factions I don't like will just be a challenge)