Old pbem - TTT

[bdanv]

Originally posted by mmontgomery
Hopefully, the process I went through unstuck the game. I was able to finish my turn. bdanv, were you able to play normally?

Does Florin have at least one base in the save you sent me?

[mmontgomery]

No, Florin has been eliminated.

However, as I mentioned, I saved after the weirdness bug, then exited SMACX. Then I reloaded SMACX and loaded the save, and things worked normally.

So what I suggested is that you just load the save I sent, and see if you can proceed normally. If so, great. If not, I can go back and replay my turn, leaving Florin's base alive, with the understanding that Florin will take no action other than to destroy his last base.

[bdanv]

2180 to Alexx. Everything seem to be ok.

[mmontgomery]

2180 to Dan

[florin79c]

i was going to distroy my last base

Great game Mike.

Looks like i have much to learn about Pirates , and i'l not try them for some time

Hope i'l have the chance to play you again

[mmontgomery]

Florin, actually you did well with the Pirates. You were far stronger than the Drones or Morgan. From what I can tell, you played very well. You got the population advantage, made contact with each faction, and got elected, just as you should have. The only thing I can think of that you might could have done differently is try to probe more.

Honestly, I think tech stagnation favors the strong researchers, like University, Cybercon, and Morgan, who can get to some important fundamental technologies like Industrial Automation far earlier than the average researchers.

I was originally planning to play Hive (one of the slowest early researchers) until I found that the game had tech stagnation, so I switch to University.

Morgan would normally be good from a research standpoint, but abundent alien life can really mess up Morgan and Free Market. And Morgan is not worth playing if he can't use Free Market.

I think for a future tech stagnation game, you should ban University, Cybercon, and Morgan, so that there is technological parity.

As for this game, my feelings won't be hurt if we want to end the game. I know that Alexx is just hanging in there to keep the game going. So it is really up to bdanv.

So, do the Free Drones want to continue, or shall we look at kicking off another game?

[bdanv]

Originally posted by mmontgomery
So, do the Free Drones want to continue, or shall we look at kicking off another game?

I agreed. It's time for a new game. And maybe we should stick to our group of four. Drones are known for their late game kick, but I needed a longer war between Mike and Florin to let me built in peace my FM economy.

Anyway the setup of the game was all wrong:
- fast researchers should have been baned (as Mike said);
- I really missed the AIs;
- with all that fungus around, any probe mission was impossible, considering also that the distances between us were huge;
- going Green was the only way to keep in touch with Mike, and you know Drones can't do that.

[mmontgomery]

The only thing I would change with the setup of the game is to ban fast researchers and pirates. I think that would lead to a pretty balanced game. If we stick with abundant life, Gaia should also remain banned. Although the Prophets could benefit from the abundant alien life, I believe they have enough disadvantages that they should be allowed.

I don't like having AIs in the game. If they are regular AIs, they are cannon fodder for human players, that will give those starting close to an AI a strong advantage. If they are super AIs, they are overly belligerent, and force the human onto war footing that will weaken the human player. Having AIs is like have super random events, and normally random events are turned off.

We could agree to ban all attrocities, or just ban major attrocities, since one of the main purposes of the AI is to balance against using attrocities. The only attrocity I used was nerve stapling, but the gas is pretty bad if someone uses it.

Anyway, I could see playing a game just like what we had, with the restrictions above. But one thing I should mention is that I will be going on a cruise the last week of January, and may be out of touch for an entire week. It may be possible to get email, but I won't know until I get there. So I would understand if you want to get someone else.

[bdanv]

New game setup: my preferences

SMAX game v 2.0

_____________________________________
Preference	|	Settings

Map size	|	Standard, 40x80 / Vets map 
Ocean		|	50-70
Erosion		|	Average	
Life		|	Average
Clouds		|	Dense
Difficulty	|	Transcend

Transcend	|	Yes
Conquest	|	Yes
Diplomatic	|	Yes
Economic	|	Yes
Cooperative	|	No

Do or Die	|	Yes	
Flexible start	|	Yes
Tech stag	|	Yes	
Spoils of war	|	No
Blind research	|	No
Intense riv	|	No
No survey	|	Yes
No scatter	|	No
No rnd events	|	Yes
Time Warp	|	No
Iron man	|	No
Rand person	|	No
Rand social	|	No

Rules:
MULTIPLAYING RESTRICTIONS

Restrictions - general gameplay:

• A player may not restart a turn without good reason. The player should specify the reason in the game thread if he was not able to avoid reloading the turn. (Obviously, if a player has suffered some sort of crash during a turn, such a reload is unavoidable)
• A player is not permitted to establish contact with another faction prior to having met them in-game.
• If a player performs a probe team action other than to infiltrate against another player with whom (s)he is in a truce, treaty or pact, they must inform the probed player what it was they did and what they stole/sabotaged. They must also choose the 'declare vendetta/cancel pact' option when they perform the action.
• A player is not permitted to make more than one social engineering change per line, per turn. For instance, one is not permitted to start the turn in wealth, switch to power mid-turn for the extra disbanded minerals, and then switch back to wealth that same turn, getting the refund.
• A player is not permitted to use the 'demand withdrawal' feature against another player, leaving the AI the decision of whether to withdraw or not.
• A player may not accept a bribe from another player's AI during council sessions.
• A player may not perform multiple airdrops in a single turn with the same unit using the right-click menu.
• A player may not use the F4 screen when infiltrated to change an opponent's workers to specialists.
• Council notification - immediate broadcast to all players(Post in the thread and e-mail to all immediately by player who has called elections, citing candidates and votes. After each player's turn, post in the thread the running totals).
• If a player declares vendetta upon another player, either directly or indirectly, they must not accept a pending diplomatic agreement between the two factions in the same turn.
• A player may not make air drops using the right click "air drop to" function, when it is not possible to do so with the "i" button, ie. after already having moved or made a drop.
• A player may not use build queue manipulation or other loopholes to hurry production at a cost that would be lower than directly hurrying the item that one intends to build.
• A player may not use build queue manipulation or other loopholes to build something you could not directly add to the build queue.

Contentious issues

• A player may not upgrade a particular type of unit using the design workshop, and then attack with that unit in the same turn - THIS IS ACTUALLY POSSIBLE?
• I think we should ban copters from the game.
• No crawlers hurrying projects (AAs can be used).
• Tech trade alowed.

I will take: Drones if tech trade is allowed / DataAngels if not.

[bdanv]

Originally posted by mmontgomery
But one thing I should mention is that I will be going on a cruise the last week of January, and may be out of touch for an entire week. It may be possible to get email, but I won't know until I get there. So I would understand if you want to get someone else.

Better stalled for a week than having a game with a rate of 1 turn every 3-4 days.

[florin79c]

Sorry on this one Dan, but i'm for no tech trade...and i will let you know why personaly

I'l take PK's for this game

As for the rest of the rules, i'm ok

[mmontgomery]

I am presuming University, Cybercon, Morgan, and Pirates are banned?

I'll take the Drones if tech trading is disallowed, since bdanv will have DataAngels in that case. They are slow reserachers, but not as bad as Hive or Believers. I think I can make a go of them.

If tech trading is allowed, I'll take Gaia.

As for the contentious issues:

A player may not upgrade a particular type of unit using the design workshop, and then attack with that unit in the same turn - THIS IS ACTUALLY POSSIBLE?
-> Yes, this is possible, and I agree that it should not be allowed.

I think we should ban copters from the game.
-> I agree.

No crawlers hurrying projects (AAs can be used).
-> Usually the abuse with crawlers is people designing crawlers that cost a bundle, and then either getting a pod that builds the crawler, or rush building crawlers. So rather than to keep crawlers from hurrying projects, I would rather see:
1. No hurrying crawlers.
2. No design of anything other than basic crawlers until Fusion reacters. (With tech stagnation, game will probably be over by then.)

I can go either way with tech trading. I am presuming it is disallowed.

I don't want AI in the game. To balance, let's ban attrocities unless the council votes to premit them.

Alexx, are you in?

[bdanv]

NEW GAME SETUP

***UPDATED***

[bdanv]

Originally posted by mmontgomery
Alexx, are you in?

Alexx said he's not interested. He has too much work. So we need a replacement.

Originally posted by mmontgomery
No crawlers hurrying projects (AAs can be used).
-> Usually the abuse with crawlers is people designing crawlers that cost a bundle, and then either getting a pod that builds the crawler, or rush building crawlers. So rather than to keep crawlers from hurrying projects, I would rather see:
1. No hurrying crawlers.
2. No design of anything other than basic crawlers until Fusion reacters. (With tech stagnation, game will probably be over by then.)

Depending on the map I may need crawlers with special abilities and/or armor, and I really like hurrying things (especially crawlers), so I vote for: No crawlers hurrying projects.


Nobody interested in playing the Vets map?
It will be a longer game, but land masses are equal in every detail for all 4 players.

[mmontgomery]

I have never played a vets map before, but it sounds good to me. My only concern is if someone is already familiar with the map, and I am starting out blind, I would have a disadvantage. So if someone is already familiar with the map, to balance I would suggest that we change "no survey" to NO, so that we all know what the map looks like.

I'll vote to ban tech trading. It kind of makes sense for a tech stagnation game. Florin79c, your earlier comment makes me curious. Can you share with me why you prefer to ban tech trading?

bdanv, does your vote mean that you like to perform attrocities ?

Any idea who to recruit for a 4th?