The PBEM Info Thread

[Keygen]

Beta,

here's my email so you can contact me: marc13-at-otenet.gr
Simply replace -at- with @ and you're done

I was in the process of releasing a new, improved version of the rules but work responcibilities held me back.
Would love to work on this with you

[richthur]

Thanks. This helps us newbies a lot!

Now, as for opponent finding...?

Getting in alittle practice somewhere?

[MarkG]

archival saver post

[OzzyKP]

For those interested in playing a Civ3-PBEM with rich storytelling, roleplaying, character development, and diplomacy, I encourage you to check out the DiploFAQ. Located here:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=118046

[Rommel2D]

A few helpful ideas that should be compiled:

1. For the quickest load time, don't switch to another window while the save is loading. (as reported by a third party)

2. To gain a more powerful (standard Windows) file manager for save files during the game, change "WindowsFileBox=0" to "WindowsFileBox=1" in the conquests.ini file. [The default Civ3 filebox does have some nice features of it's own, however.]

3. In order to have barbarians that wander around (PTW style) as opposed to predictably fortifying in place, the last player in the turn order should add "NoAIPatrol=0" to their conquests.ini file.

4. The Scientific Golden Age produced by SGLs is broken. It looks like it is working in the advisor's screen, but the actual figures do not correlate. Since rushing Great Wonders is seen as an imbalancing random factor, disallowing SGLs in the setup screen should be considered for PBEMs.

5. When loading a scenario that includes a map for PBEM, choose the difficulty setting you wish from the setup screen before loading the scenario (.biq) file- that will be the setting used and displayed in the info box upon loading the turn.

[Modo44]

How to declare war in a PBEM?

There is no obvious "Declare War" option in the diplomacy screen, when talking to a human player in a PBEM. Because of this, many think it is not possible without actually attacking the other guy.

But it is. To declare war upon a player without attacking, you need to do the following:
1. Contact the player you want to declare war upon.
2. In the diplomacy screen, click the "Active" button, to get to the active deals. It is in the lower part of the screen.
3. Click on the "Peace Treaty" option.
4. The game will ask, if you are sure you want to "renegotiate peace". Choose "Yes".
5. You can, if you want, try to renegotiate peace at this moment. By clearing the table and exiting the screen, war will be declared immediately.

[Paddy]

Modo

ok regarding general post information

many games get lost and confusing when a player has been awol for a while... trying to find who had the last save etc can be quite time consuming.

a simple remedy is to post the game date and the player you are sending the save to, such as:

4000BC to Beta

[Aqualung71]

Re: How to declare war in a PBEM?

Originally posted by Modo44
There is no obvious "Declare War" option in the diplomacy screen, when talking to a human player in a PBEM. Because of this, many think it is not possible without actually attacking the other guy.

But it is. To declare war upon a player without attacking, you need to do the following:
1. Contact the player you want to declare war upon.
2. In the diplomacy screen, click the "Active" button, to get to the active deals. It is in the lower part of the screen.
3. Click on the "Peace Treaty" option.
4. The game will ask, if you are sure you want to "renegotiate peace". Choose "Yes".
5. You can, if you want, try to renegotiate peace at this moment. By clearing the table and exiting the screen, war will be declared immediately.

I know this is possible as some players have done it to me....but I've tried it and found it cannot be done on occasions.

This indicates to me the system is not as perfect as it should be.

[Rommel2D]

For information on succession games, go here.

[Modo44]

A bug in scenarios with the "Skip 1st Turn" flag

For reasons of laziness, I started a PBEM with all players set to "Skip 1st Turn" (the downloaded scenario was like this). This is a flag that can be set in the editor, but there is a bug going with it. If all players start with the field checked, nobody will be able to move his units, ever. So, at least one civ must start with the "Skip 1st Turn" flag turned off, or there will be no game. Now you know.

EDIT: This is in C3C 1.22, of course.