New 1vs1 game (with 2 AI?)

[JustinSane]

2102 e-mailed to bluetemplar.

[Corvi #6]

I also recieved an email about this game. I'm interested in joining any new game thats set up.

[bluetemplar]

Would 3 players be enough or we need a 4th player?

[JustinSane]

I would be interested in playing in a 4 player game if you need another.

[bluetemplar]

I have some ideas for the game:
- Land rush (official scenario)
- Archipelago map : max sea, min gravity, rainy, few native life & one pirate AI (plus 2 aliens?)
- "Keep your secrets" map : governorship/empath guild banned, in case that the AI starts the elections, no votes can go for the players. (does the player pacted with this IA will still get the intel?)

[JustinSane]

Alright, sounds fun. I don't see this listed among the official downloads. What size is the map?

[bluetemplar]

there it is:
and for the other maps, I think standart is a good size... unless you want a HUGE 256*256 archipelago fight

[JustinSane]

Land Rush looks good except starting one faction in the Monsoon Jungle is way overpowered. It might be balanced if each location is tied to the starting faction, since the small map favors the spartans, who have the worst starting position, but are next to Morgan in the Jungle. If the start positions were tied to the factions, I'd be comfortable playing any of the four.

[Player99]

So what's happening now?

[bluetemplar]

I would like to do the "keep your secrets" game, but I experienced that a non-"boosted" start is really a pain, so either we need someone other to make a map, either we lose something like 20 turns, or I make a map and we'll play knowing our relative positions... and terrain info.

I have also another idea about either making 6 colony pods for each player and placing them randomly at the map... or placing them in one BIG transport (don't know if the latter is possible, i'm testing it right now...)

Tested: the player doesn't receive the infiltration information when pacted with a governor...

[JustinSane]

Should we see if we can find a CMN? That might be best. Everyone knowing the map lose something in the gameplay.

[bluetemplar]

CMN seem rare these days.
But...
I made some tests and now I know whant we can do:
I make a new scenario
I press Y so I can't see the map.
I randomly generate the map
I randomly generate 2 numbers for each player => starting coordinates.
On these coordinates I create one "Unity crash Pod" : Unity Transport Foil with X transport capability.
The I add all X units to the same square!
I think I will make all units hardened so that Santago don't receive the elite +1 movement bonus.

Not even I will see the map. Of course you have to trust me about the fact that I really didn't saw the map and that the placement is really random...

PS: The Planet Cult could maybe have a Slow Isle of the Deep instead of the transport foil...

For the Pirates: Since you can pretty much "guess" where is a large chunk of sea, I will place the Pirates there.

[JustinSane]

With rare native life, there is not much point in playing the Planet Cult, so I'd prefer, in descending order University, Morganites (if the starting units are independent), Data Angels or Spartans.

This is assuming that the Pirates are not allowed. I would think on such a map they would be over-powered because of the +1 mineral in shelf squares. Additionally, is it possible to disallow the Monsoon Jungle? That landmark, IMHO, imbalances random maps badly and distorts the game's results.

[bluetemplar]

I agree with you about monsoon.
And yes I can remove any of the landmarks without seeing the map.

I've experimented a bit with the worldbuilder,and found that this kind of map would be interesting to play on:
(Achipelago and Keep Your Secrets are not really compatible I think due to the fact that it's easy to probe anyone using probe foils/probes in transports. A land-based probe operation is harder to set up.)
In this scenario I think it's also interesting to forbid The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm and Data Angels.

#WORLDBUILDER
100, ; Land base (Seeded land size of a standard world)
300, ; Land modifier (additional land from LAND selection: x0, x1, x2)
200, ; Continent base (Base size of a land mass seed)
50, ; Continent modif. (Increased size from LAND selection: x0, x1, x2)
3, ; Hills base (Base # of extra hills)
2, ; Hills modifier (additional hills from TIDAL selection: x0, x1, x2)
4, ; Plateau base (Basic plateau size)
8, ; Plateau modifier (Plateau modifier based on LAND selection: x0, x1, x2)
8, ; Rivers base (Basic # of rivers)
12, ; Rivers rain mod. (Additional rivers based on RAIN selection)
14, ; Solar Energy (Latitude DIVISOR for temperature based on HEAT) Smaller # increases effect of HEAT selection
14, ; Thermal band (Latitude DIVISOR for thermal banding) Smaller # widens hot bands
8, ; Thermal deviance (Latitude DIVISOR for thermal deviance) Smaller # increases randomness
8, ; Global Warming (Latitude DIVISOR for global warming) Smaller # increases effect of warming
5, ; Sea Level Rises (Magnitude of sea level changes from ice cap melting/freezing)
5, ; Cloudmass peaks (Size of cloud mass trapped by peaks)
3, ; Cloudmass hills (Size of cloud mass trapped by hills)
1, ; Rainfall coeff. (Multiplier for rainfall belts)
15, ; Deep water (Encourages fractal to grow deep water)
10, ; Shelf (Encourages fractal to grow shelf)
15, ; Plains (Encourages highland plains)
10, ; Beach (Encourages wider beaches)
10, ; Hills (Encourages hills x TIDAL selection)
25, ; Peaks (Encourages peaks)
1, ; Fungus (Fungus coefficient based on LIFE selection)
3,6,12,18,24 ; Ratio (Continent size ratios)
36 ; Islands (Higher # increases island count)

With settings:
30-50% ocean coverage
Weak erosive forces
Average Native Life Forms
Dense Cloud Cover

I will try to place everyone on the same continent here rather than using random numbers.
I will post each player coordinates in the forum thread.

What do you think?

[JustinSane]

Sounds good. With everyone on the same continent, I think I'd prefer the Free Drones, unless someone else wants them, in which case I'd also be happy with the University or the Human Hive.

I look forward to the new game

Should we e-mail or PM the other players to let them know what is going on?