Next AU course

[Theseus]

First off, let me say that I am indeed still working on my DARs for 504, and will get them up,hopefully soon.

Otherwise... ummm, could this forum be more dead??

My suggestion: The hands-down, no-question-about-it, unbelievably-most-active forum is... PBEMs. I am still blown away by how quickly posts go there.

So, let's co-opt that activity. The latest game I look to be joining will hopefully be with the AU Mod, anyway.

Having done 1-on-1 PBEMs for 601, let's move on to 602, and run all-human PBEMs!!

Course objectives?
Number of players per game?
Civ choices?
Tournament format?
Invitations? (e.g., CFC, Ladder, RBC, etc.)

[punkbass2000]

Re: Next AU course

Originally posted by Theseus
My suggestion: The hands-down, no-question-about-it, unbelievably-most-active forum is... PBEMs. I am still blown away by how quickly posts go there.

Agreed on all counts.

So, let's co-opt that activity. The latest game I look to be joining will hopefully be with the AU Mod, anyway.

Having done 1-on-1 PBEMs for 601, let's move on to 602, and run all-human PBEMs!!

Course objectives?

I don't know.

Number of players per game?

I would vote 4.

Civ choices?

Uh, Portugal, Hitties, Spain, Vikings.

Tournament format?

Whatever.

Invitations? (e.g., CFC, Ladder, RBC, etc.)

Sure, why not?

[Tassadar500]

Wow. I really blame this forum losing activity because of me. Basically, I just couldn't take the fact that the person who was supposed to make the AU website for Apolyton, bailed out on me without notifying me. I thought it would be better if I just left, and didn't bring it up. I guess I was wrong.

[Theseus]

Nonono, NM... doesn't work that way. This is a place for all of us, those with this interest, and it is up to all of us to keep it alive and OF interest.

We don't all do that which we should... e.g., my not doing DARs as well expected of me as part of this community... but we can always redress.

So, no harm no foul on anyone's part... what is next? I say, admittedly biased by mine own recent activity/interest: human PBEM.

[Rhothaerill]

That's something I can get behind as my own Civ3 activity shifted to almost solely PBEMs. I can probably handle one more.

Many recent AUers are also PBEMers such as Paddy (the monster PBEMer), Beta (his apprentice), conmcb25 (the evil Beta clone), etc.

[Tassadar500]

A possible idea would be to have some sort of tournament, involving people from a few sites, and seeing who wins.

[Tassadar500]

Oh yes, and I know that's more competitive than AU has traditionally been, but we need to put some life back into this forum.

[JimiD]

oh no...

If i'm struggling to find time to play a SP game, sure cant commit to an PBEM game.

Make sure those DARs are up to date for some AU by proxy...

Still. Theres plenty of older courses to get through.....

[Aqualung71]

I'm with Theseus. I rarely play SP these days, and if I do it's usually to decide what civ to pick for a new PBEM game (I think I was the "etc" in Rhoth's post, since I was exposed as no. 3 PBEM'er in Beta's 2004 Census )

So if we're going to do an AU602, it should be at least 3 and preferably 4 players. In fact, we could make it the next tournament game along the lines of the Iron Civer tournament. To retain AU flavour, we must use the AU mod, and I would suggest using higher difficult levels (probably Deity). No AI this time. (This last condition will probably turn off any AU regulars who don't already play PBEM, since it cuts the last link with normal AU play). I also realised that not having AI kind of defeats the purpose of using the AU mod, but what the hell

As for getting more AU regular players involved, I think we've probably maxed out with AU player involvement. Quite a few of us are already there, and other regulars either can't commit the time or are not interested for various reasons.

Still, we can always hope

[Paddy]

ok, so how do I get some action here?

[Modo44]

Originally posted by Aqualung71
As for getting more AU regular players involved, I think we've probably maxed out with AU player involvement. Quite a few of us are already there, and other regulars either can't commit the time or are not interested for various reasons.

If you check the last AU course, there were many people playing it. And not only PBEM regulars, but also people who like to play the SP game. Might be my paranoia, but wouldn't a strictly PBEM AU course stop some people from participating?

If it's going to be another tournament, why call it an AU course? Call it a tournament and be done with it.

[Aqualung71]

Originally posted by Modo44

If you check the last AU course, there were many people playing it. And not only PBEM regulars, but also people who like to play the SP game. Might be my paranoia, but wouldn't a strictly PBEM AU course stop some people from participating?

If it's going to be another tournament, why call it an AU course? Call it a tournament and be done with it.

I don't disagree with you Modo......I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I appreciated seeing you and some other new "faces" during AU504. In fact, to some extent it was the AU newcomers who kept AU504 alive.

But what Theseus is referring to, and with which I agree, is that many AU players are now spending most of their civ time playing PBEM games for various reasons. A few of us have tried to get this link going between AU and PBEM (refer some of the topped threads I've started in both forums), and in my view (and Theseus' and some others here), the future of Civ3 AU is inexorably linked with the PBEM format of the game.

But what I think PBEM is lacking is the learning experience....the improvement in players' games that is the theme and philosophy behind AU. What I (and hopefully others too) would like to see is an overall improvement in people's games. The PBEM forum is increasingly the place where Civ3 players are playing Civ3, and I believe it is only natural for the AU forum to migrate/gravitate towards the PBEM forum.

The difficulty with the transition of course, is that players who are used to the SP format will often find PBEM too slow for their tastes. I had the same view. But when I finally took the plunge I realised that the overall PBEM experience, which is largely about interaction with other people coupled with the normal SP skills of working the game engine to your maximum advantage, just adds a dimension to the experience you will never get from playing SP alone.

And as evidence in support of this theory I offer you our very own acknowledged stalwart and quasi-god Theseus! An accredited AU member and player of the highest order, who has contributed much and drifted in and out over a long period of time, but somehow will always be there....and has recently embraced the PBEM cult. Just as ducki one day "got" the concept of Settler pumps in his groundbreaking thread (and I might say dragged a lot of us along with him)....Theseus and some others of us eventually "got" the ultimate civ3 experience that the PBEM format gave us!

So after all that verbal (written?) diarrhoea, I can only encourage you to join in and partake of the delights, frustrations, triumphs, tragedies, boastings and embarrassments that are PBEM.

My apolgies to Theseus for using his hallowed name so many times during this passionate (and, it must be said, only half sober) promotion of PBEM!

But in the words of our PBEM guru, Paddy the Scot.....ah, it is all good!

[Harovan]

Originally posted by The pirate
oh no...

If i'm struggling to find time to play a SP game, sure cant commit to an PBEM game.

The need of time for SP and PBEMs is different. For a SP game you need several hours of contiguous time in one piece; if you have less time, it gets hopeless hackly. However, if you have 10 or 15 minutes of time per day, it suffices for a PBEM by all means. So if you have just a little time, but on a regular basis, play PBEM.

[Krill]

Course objectives?

[list=1][*] Win, by any means possible (usually, this means domination/conquest. Humans never get along...)

Number of players per game?

[*] 4. Any more and the game takes too long, any less and you need AI to balance the map,

Civ choices?

[*] Let people chose, otherwise use a set group (ie Greece, Rome, Carthage, Egypt). The problem with this is if we use the same map for all games, then we would have to move the start position for all SEA civs. SR did not do this last time. No complaints, although it did give Rome an advantage of no crowding...(Remember i played this on Demi, against Dom, so my view is going to be skewed...)

Tournament format?

[*]Don't know what you mean, although Iron civer rules should apply, allow out of game contact upon meeting the other players, etc. Winner takes all.

Invitations? (e.g., CFC, Ladder, RBC, etc.)

[*] Only if we can get their best to play, so that we can finally find who is the best in the world...[/list=1]

[Tassadar500]

Applying the AU mod would still tweak things regarding improvements and such. So it isn't totally useless for MP.