One-Armed Bandits

[Rommel2D]

Herein lies discussion of a new 6 slot, two-a-day game.

The slots and players so far:

• Slot A : 07-09 BST (12-02 EDT) : Trip (NeroTrip TA comcast TOD net)
• Slot B : 09-11 BST (02-04 EDT) : Moonbars (James TA McQuiggan TOD demon TOD co TOD uk)
• Slot C : 11-01 BST (04-06 EDT) : self biased (self dot biased [at] gmail dot com )
• Slot D : 01-03 BST (06-08 EDT) : snoopy369 (snoopy369 TA yahoo TOD com)
• Slot E : 03-05 BST (08-10 EDT) : Theseus (richard TA podos TOD net)
• Slot F : 05-07 BST (10-12 EDT) : Rommel2D (jwala AT fastmail DOT fm)

(BST = British Summer Time = GMT+1)
Each player is expected to play their turn sometime during the 2 hour slot, both AM and PM, every weekday.

Standard size continent map, with 80% water
Roaming Barbarians
Climate/Temp/Age: Normal/Temperate/4 billion
Monarch level
All Victory Conditions but Wonder
Culture linked starts off
Culture conversions and SGLs on
NoAIPatrol=0

Moonbars has China
self biased has Japan
Trip has Maya
Rommel2D has Netherlands
Theseus has Egypt
snoopy369 has Ottomans

BTW- Kudos to alexman for the original 'slot' idea

[Rommel2D]

As far as rules/setup goes, I'd suggest using the two stage tribe selection we pioneered in the Double Blind game. Basically, each player nominates a number of tribes they think are the worst for that game's settings, then they pick one to play with from what the other players have nominated. It works out to be an interesting test of general Civ knowledge, with the answer key revealing itself in the subsequent game.

Double Blind was set up with a Pangaea. I'd like to try the same deal on a small archipelago map (with 60% water?) to look at the tribes from a completely different angle...

[self biased]

i could fill slot c, provided i got my turns on or ideally before four am/pm.

[self biased]

oh. yeah. self dot biased [at] gmail dot com

[Rommel2D]

Originally posted by self biased
i could fill slot c, provided i got my turns on or ideally before four am/pm.

We will expect no less from Moonbars. So, are you planning to suffer some long-term jetlag after your journey here from the olde country self biased? ;-)

[Rommel2D]

Ok, the slots have been filled rather quick and painlessly. Does anyone care to weigh in with suggestions on the game's set-up?

[self biased]

the only bones i really have is difficulty level... i'm more of a recreational civer... prince or regent would be sufficent. i don't like the idea of taking on penalties just so the computer has an easier time.

[self biased]

Originally posted by Rommel2D


We will expect no less from Moonbars. So, are you planning to suffer some long-term jetlag after your journey here from the olde country self biased? ;-)

i'll be working 5pm- 1am [est] for the near future. depending on when i get my turn, i can play before i leave for work, and before i go to bed.

[Rommel2D]

Originally posted by self biased
the only bones i really have is difficulty level... i'm more of a recreational civer... prince or regent would be sufficent. i don't like the idea of taking on penalties just so the computer has an easier time.

There are no AI's in the game- they are too easily exploited by whoever happens to start near them. The only differences you'll notice in PBEMs without AI tribes is the number of happy citizens each town starts with, and how tough the barbarians are in combat. I favor the higher levels if only because the barbarians actually can win a battle here and there. I think even at 'Emperor' human players receive a 50% combat bonus...

[Moonbars]

I should be sending my turns fairly early in the slots, assuming they arrive on time. There will be 1 week every 5 when even a 15 minutes delay will force me to miss either work or the morning save

I'd be wanting to use the Iron Civ rules, with combat reports on.

Map wise.. Standard? 2 islands of 3 players each?

[Paddy]

looks like a great game

let me know if any of you need to drop out and thus require a replacement

[snoopy369]

Iron civ rules, with at least combat reports-2 if not higher. Perhaps standard or whatever's 1 larger than standard, continents, 60% water? Monarch is a good compromise, and doesn't have too much corruption, which i hate.

And I'll note that i'll be playing towards the end of my range, right about now each day for my AM slot. I'll miss the morning one every so often, for which i'll apologize in advance, but not more than once a week i hope.

[Theseus]

I'm about to commence another PBEM set for archipelago... anyone mind if we do continents instead (maybe with a lot of water)?

[self biased]

or perhaps pangea with 70% water?

[Rommel2D]

I'm in mostly pangaea games now- the setting compromise would look to be: Standard/Continents/80% water.

Would everyone be Ok with the Two-Stage Civ selection?