One-Armed Bandits

[Jon Shafer]

Standard/Continents/80 is fine with me.

2-stage civ selection?

[self biased]

:gives a curious look:

[snoopy369]

I don't think 2-stage is really necessary ... i'm fine with plain old normal "I want to play X". Or, random. That's fun too, as long as you can ask for a restart based on the civ.

[Rommel2D]

I'm considering trying the 2-stage selection (described in the second post above) in the next Iron Civer, so I'm looking for any chance to test and streamline the process. If we don't use it here I'll look at starting another game with it.

I don't care much for random especially if you can restart with the same tribe. Among other things, it makes Ag even more ridiculously overpowered.

I lead a deprived childhood and never learned to enjoy the "I called it" honor system. How about ranking our top 5 Civ selections and doing a selection from those like we did for just the second stage in the double blind game? If two players choose the same tribe at the same rank, neither gets them and we move down to the next rank.

[Jon Shafer]

That works for me, as long as I don't get friggin' England...

[self biased]

:blinks twice and gives a blank stare:

"why yes, i do speak fluent navajo.

[Rommel2D]

Originally posted by Trip
That works for me, as long as I don't get friggin' England...

Didn't I drop you enough hints that you were supposed to use a restart in a situation like that?

self biased, are you requesting the Iroquois, or perhaps a better description of the ranking deal?

[Jon Shafer]

I figured I could pull through it, but my luck in that game was abysmal...

[snoopy369]

lol ... Ranking would work ok, I suppose. I'm just generally for simpler = better.

I'm pretty sure the Navajo are in no way related to Iroquois. The Iroquios were a group of tribes in the northern US (great lakes region) including tribes like the Mohawk. The Navajo are one of the largest tribes in the US, based on a reservation in northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico, Farmington region (and always have been west, afaik).

[Rommel2D]

They're related because they are the closest tribe (geographically and temporally) in the game.

So, how about:
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

If this is Ok with everyone, PM me a list of the top 5 tribes (1-5, #1 being the preferred one) you would like to play. I'll leave the PMs unopened in my box until after everyone has sent them and I list my chioces here. Anyone can verify this through message tracking.

If any two players give the same tribe the same rank, that tribe is discarded and those players move to their next choices. Simple enough?

[Theseus]

Civ choices PMed to Rommel2D

[Moonbars]

I am fine with settings as in Rommel's post - but maybe less water? 70%?

I will mail my top 5 asap.

[Moonbars]

How are we going to handle restarts?? I did some test generation of the map settings we are talking about, and in all 10 maps I generated, I'd be wanting a restart on at least 2 and normally 3 of the 8 locations the map generated.

[Rommel2D]

Oh yeah, restarts might affect Civ selection. Normally we've been playing that each player may call for a restart once per game, before the end of either their first or second turn. The basic idea is to decrease the odds of a jungle/swamp/mountain start since the map is purely done by the RNG. As I mentioned above, allowing someone with an Agricultural tribe this option, giving them a chance to restart if they don't start on a river, gives them an advantage they don't need at all. So the simplest and fairest option I think is to allow any tribe but those with ag a chance to restart once before the end of their first turn.

If this is Ok with everyone, it is important to keep in mind the map settings. I'm suggesting 80% water because that will produce just the right amount of land for 6 players on a standard map, while bringing a trait normally not that important in PBEMs, seafaring, more into play. However, as Moonbars mentions, these settings are likely to produce starts that don't look as good as a normal game- It's up to the player to judge the odds of a better versus a worse start given these settings. This is a one-shot deal- once you call for it, you must use the resulting start or another player's restart if they use theirs.

Feel free to reevaluate your choices in light of any new information...

[Moonbars]

works for me..