CtP-Multiplayer Cafe

[FlameFlash]

Originally posted by faded glory
Ok lets move on.



In 2 Words...Summon up your CTP skills. 2 words. And then. Type in a sore point in your playing ability.

Sum up my CtP skills in two words?

mountain wookies... No... that doesn't work... newbie extrodinarie... No... I don't really think I can... Native Americans (I'm almost always playing them or the French.)

Sore point? The fact that I never realized about doing the little micromanaging stuff until recently thanks to my bulletproof mentor (Keygen) and I'm smacking myself around for not realizing the micromanage tricks until now (remember the sliders!!!!)

[Nimrod]

Total War Challenge

A little game idea Ive been working with:

All player start in predetermined locations on a premade well-balanced map. Everyone has ONE SETTLER/CITY ONLY. No ruins on this map to eliminate the luck factor. No one will be allowed to produce another settler or city. Which will mean once you lose your city you lose this game, but this is total war. Anyone interested?

[FlameFlash]

That game sounds impressive and expensive... though I recommend making a MOD that just deletes the ability to build settlers if that's possible, and otherwise use Keygen's MOD Lite to start the game with some protection and exploring factors (maybe lump all the starting units minus the settlers into one city.) This way if somebody stupidly chooses/finds a bad city starting point they're not totally SOL on production.

[Solver]

That's right, faded. I like the guy - called CancerMan or the Sigarette Smoking Man, played by William B. Davis. Cool one.

Vote for Solver to have him be interviewed here: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...495#post812256 .

Do not vote for Saddam, he'll give me too much job editing the interview .

[faded glory]

Originally posted by Gavrushka


That was a bad day for me, there were no ladies to scratch em for me....

This is great...I love this "Talk about anything you want" thread

Oh gav. Fear not for women my friend. One will come.
Until then, you can always have your Cat keep you company.

I feel foolish Keygen had promised to put his pic up too...

I think Keygen is really a Bot.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by FlameFlash
That game sounds impressive and expensive... though I recommend making a MOD that just deletes the ability to build settlers if that's possible.

Most of the people here could make such a mod in about 5 minutes - the problem is making the well balanced map and also the fact that with only one city you'd research so sloooowwwwly. It wouldn't be too hard to fiddle advance.txt and fix that, though. No doubt there would also be other less obvious side effects too.

Of course, if you're going for total war then you probably won't reach very far down the tech tree, unless the map was carefully designed so that there were narrow mountainous passes you could defend on the approaches to your city and such like.

Definately the map design would have to be done carefully (and it's so hard to do map design in CTP because of the whole having to do it with cheat mode thing...).

[faded glory]

Originally posted by Solver
That's right, faded. I like the guy - called CancerMan or the Sigarette Smoking Man, played by William B. Davis. Cool one.

Vote for Solver to have him be interviewed here: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...495#post812256 .

Do not vote for Saddam, he'll give me too much job editing the interview .

Oh big mistake. Your only speeding up your demise. One day ; we posters will indeed rise up against the moderator.


Down with the Solver Gestapo!


Btw: Jbtw I like that idea

[Nimrod]

Originally posted by J Bytheway


Most of the people here could make such a mod in about 5 minutes - the problem is making the well balanced map and also the fact that with only one city you'd research so sloooowwwwly. It wouldn't be too hard to fiddle advance.txt and fix that, though. No doubt there would also be other less obvious side effects too.

Of course, if you're going for total war then you probably won't reach very far down the tech tree, unless the map was carefully designed so that there were narrow mountainous passes you could defend on the approaches to your city and such like.

Definately the map design would have to be done carefully (and it's so hard to do map design in CTP because of the whole having to do it with cheat mode thing...).

I already have an idead for the map, if there were four poeple playing, make the land in a cross form. At each players starting point, the land in half grasslands, half mountains, all tiles that would be in the city radius have rivers and goods. maybe make the rest of the map grasslands? This would be a completly premade map to eleminate any unbalances. No ruins would be present in the land masses either.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by Nimrod I already have an idead for the map,

Well, I attach rules to let you play like this on a random map - I've just thrown them together so I'm not entirely sure that they work OK but I played for a few turns and nothing went amiss. I based it on the PBEM mod lite, as suggested, and it goes as follows:

I've given you a few techs and one fast-moving settler to start with, and then a free good, phalanx & mounted archer in the capital. You get 5000 PW and 10000 gold (which is almost certainly too much...).

I tried to change huts so you only got gold or barbarians (no techs, units, cities) but I appear to have eliminated huts altogether instead - but that doesn't matter, I suppose.

The main problem is that AI players crash the game as soon as they have a city (you can imagine what they're thinking - "OK, first we need a settler. What! No settlers . What do I do! I know, I'll crash the game... CRUNCH). This shouldn't matter for the mod since it's for multiplay, but it does make playtesting a drag because you have to play hotseat against yourself, which takes twice as long.

I also eliminated sea and space engineers.

Now you make that map of yours and we'll be ready to go. I recommend you don't make the whole of the rest of the map grassland, since a variety of terrains is what makes military campaigns so interesting. Just ensure the whole thing is symmetric.

[FlameFlash]

What? I actually had a good idea?

Rather than symetrical, why not just make a random map... make sure there are no islands, but some kind of land bridge, and then would it be possible to build into the Mod the mandate to use that one map, and go ahead and start each player in the balanced starting spot? That way we wouldn't even have one fast moving settler, we'd just have the balanced city at the get-go... or would that be more in the lines of a scenario rather than just a MOD?

Just as a nicety, maybe give the first city a city wall for every player... just to make things a little more interesting.

I know I'd certainly like to jump in on a game of it when it starts up, especially since we wouldn't be able to worry too much about advances, just use what we have (but maybe start with the ability to build archers, mounted archers, legions, knights, and phalanxs? Maybe one musketeer as the start unit just for challenge and fun... see what people do with him... risk him in battle, or let him sit on his duff and protect the city.

[Nimrod]

I was thinking leaving sea and space engineers in. Like you said J, advnces would be slow, imagine the later ones... But a game like this shouldn't last much past genetic anyway. "There can be only one" mentality with the game of one city only would be fast.
So if the game could last till a player can make engineers, more power to them Like a plot twist in a story.

[J Bytheway]

I forgot to mention - I made the advances cheaper too. Possibly a little too cheap.

I was wondering whether it would be better to have the cities coastal or not. Ships add another element but might make it too easy to conquer the city (what with bombardment and all).

I guess this should be an internet game rather than PBEM since it would go so fast, but I don't play internet. Can anyone say how easy it is to use mods with internet games?

[faded glory]

Originally posted by J Bytheway

I guess this should be an internet game rather than PBEM since it would go so fast, but I don't play internet. Can anyone say how easy it is to use mods with internet games?

Both parties should have the MOD. An the mod has to load via Scenario folder.

[Nimrod]

If anyone would be interested in playing a PBEM style game like this with or with out your mod let me know, and let me know if we should use a mod or whatever.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by faded glory
Both parties should have the MOD. An the mod has to load via Scenario folder.

Why do people keep writing 'MOD' in capital letters?

] Originally posted by Nimrod
If anyone would be interested in playing a PBEM style game like this with or with out your mod let me know, and let me know if we should use a mod or whatever.

I'd be interested - and I have another idea, why not let each player choose the terrain inside their city radius - that makes it fair in a whole different way.