Whither the University?

[Hermann the Lombard]

Returning to the AU after long absence, the halls of the university are eerily quiet. There seem to be no courses in progress and none in the offing. I see some activity in curriculum support (AU Mod development).

So what's up? Is everything "hanging fire" waiting for Civ4 to debut? Is AU on Spring Break?

I started playing AU506 (and taking notes) though I'm not sure it's worth posting my DARs at this point. [I can't promise to be *quite* as entertaining as back during the Byzantine Period of AU.] I'm more interested in AU504 because I just wrapped a German game that started with an archer rush...and ended with a panzer rush (which is quite a rush!)

-- HtL

[ZargonX]

I think we're in a bit of a lull right now, with Civ3 being a bit aged at the moment, and Civ4 lurking on the horizon...

[Hermann the Lombard]

Originally posted by ZargonX
...Civ4 lurking on the horizon...

...a bit like a barbarian ambush!

[Theseus]

I've been thinking about this, especially NM posted his thread. While interest in C3 had obviously waned, I'm *not* done with it, and therefore not done with AU whilst waiting for C4.

I am going to go back to the Ancient Civs version of the AU Mod that I was working on some months back, and see if I can't develop it sufficiently that we could have an interesting course with it.

Also, subject to no one objecting, I am going to start a thread in the PBEM forum about putting together a new AU MP course. I'll ask for suggestions, but I am leaning towards some kind of team course, with as many games as player interest can support.

[Theseus]

Voila:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=130824

[vmxa1]

I wonder if you would find some player, if you did a succession game. You could get maybe one other "trainer" and 3-4 "students and do one.

Since it is an AU mod game, I am not sure if you should go with emperor or demi. I would think several would want to get a training game at one of those levels.

If you got one of the "board" members to help you with the training aspect, it would lighten the load.

You could use a variant or not, depending on the students interest.

This would make it easy for NM to use as a story as those games are full of ideas.

[Theseus]

I was thinking that a team game could in effect work as well for training as a succession game... as long as we set up a good mechanism for team communication, each member of a team could comment / advise on the others' civs and territory.

For that matter, certain teams would hopefully develop different paradigms of play, i.e., some might treat it like a straightforward PBEM with alliances, while other might treat it like a demogame, and still others a succession,,, something for everyone! (I just thought that up in response to your comments, v... thanks, and it's starting to get me a bit pumped. )

In fact, depending on team format, we might even rope back in some of the departed, who wouldn't even necessarily even *play* but might comment as part of a team (yes, Jurgen, I am talking about YOU ).

Make sense?

I also would hope we could do both stock and mod versions, as we have taken to so doing in recent courses... the more participants the merrier!
__________________

'Nother idea: Set it up so that people can SP it as well, whether stock or mod.... try to orchestrate the AIs to follow the same 'teaming'.

[Hermann the Lombard]

I confess little interest in MP, though at the end there you mentioned the possibility of an SP option. I play so slowly and at such odd times and intervals that it wouldn't seem fair to team mates or foes.

It seems to me that the courses--by their very nature--act as "training games" for sharpening technique, with good feedback on the DARs and screenshots.

[nbarclay]

Previously, when we were mostly finished with one course but not quite ready to start the next yet, we generally had a lot of AU Mod discussion to keep things active. But the AU Mod is now mature enough that proposals for changes to it are a lot more sporadic, which makes it a lot easier to have periods of inactivity in the AU discussion area.

[Hermann the Lombard]

I started one game with the AU Mod, back around AU502 and just before I had to reformat that hard drive. Nothing to do with the mod, of course, but bad memories.

There are bad memories, and there are poor memories. For a casual player like me, the learning curve to keep track of the changes is a bit daunting. Mind you, this is from someone who played the hell out of the Cradle mod to CTP2...but then, I played nothing but Cradle for quite a while.

[nbarclay]

From what I understand, the Cradle mod to CTP2 is a vastly bigger departure from stock than the AU Mod is. There are a very few changes in the AU Mod that create significant potential for mistakes if players forget them - for example, the higher movement cost for sea tiles for curraughs and ocean tiles for galleys can result in players' moving the ships into dangerous waters and not having the movement left to get them back to safety. But for the most part, the fact that the AU Mod tries to mostly keep the feel of the stock game keeps the learning curve relatively small compared with more aggressive mods.

[Theseus]

I have posted a further suggestion for developing a next MP course here:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=3683113&t=2992#post3683113

[Hermann the Lombard]

Originally posted by nbarclay
From what I understand, the Cradle mod to CTP2 is a vastly bigger departure from stock than the AU Mod is.

You heard correctly, Cradle was a huge change (and huge improvement) on the stock game, changing the emphasis (well, skewing the emphasis) toward the early game. He didn't call it "Cradle of Civilization" for nothing! Several other good mods there too: MedMod (Medieval Mod, so slightly later emphasis), and another (name escapes me) that was "what the stock game should have been." Well, maybe I'll give the AU Mod a go after I complete my current AU game.

[vmxa1]

CTP2 was in desperate need of a mod, Civ3 was not. No I am not saying it is perfect, but you can at least have some fun.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Theseus
In fact, depending on team format, we might even rope back in some of the departed, who wouldn't even necessarily even *play* but might comment as part of a team (yes, Jurgen, I am talking about YOU ).

Who, me? I'm still here. Admittedly only lurking at times, but still...