Merovech Wrote:As an outside observer (I'd love to delurk if someone is interested; I think I qualify as a newbie ), I would highly recommend quick and barbs on. With normal speed, the early game is very slow, and with barbs off the balance between many nations is skewed.
Oh, yes, in a similar vein, turn Acheron off! Or at the very least, add a rule that Orcs can't keep Sons of the Inferno if they get them by worldspell.
Gamespeed: Quick
Difficulty: No opinion
Barbs: On
Orthus: On
Acheron: Off (or, if on, at least preplaced by mapmaker. His arrival can be a serious gamechanger if he's allowed to spawn randomly.)
Lairs: On
Huts: On
Start: Ancient
Wildlands: On
Living World: On
Diplomacy: Full with roleplaying.
Unique features: In, but not immediately accessible.
Leaders: Restricted
Map: Discretion of the mapmaker, assuming we can find one.
I'd also favor doing something to speed up the very early game. Like the free shade from XX and XXIII, or the advanced start in XXI.
HidingKneel Wrote:And I'd welcome dedlurkers of all stripes.
'sup.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
Can someone post a link to a download of the version we will be playing?
Currently I have only vanilla FFH2 and RifE installed.
As for settings,
Gamespeed: Depends on if you wanna do in as a live game that takes 1 day, or over a longer period of time.
Difficulty: We can probably play on prince, if we have all Human players, it should only affect barbs.
Barbs: ON, for the sake of xp. OM NOM NOM
Orthus: I WANT MY AXE!
Archeron: On (Steal dragon horde, while distracting him, trololol away)
Lairs: On
Huts: On (They are like Xmas presents, not having them makes everyone sad)
Start: Ancient
Wildlands, Living World: On
Vassals, Tech Trading: Off (Im not actually sure here, because I dont know how bad it can get...)
Diplomacy: Full, with roleplaying (RP, yes please)
All Unique Features: On
Map: Preferably having some water, for those who want to play the water Civs, and for the trade routes
Welcome aboard! Let me know your email, and we can start strategizing.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet: Hyborem/Basium.
Do we want to allow human takeovers? If so, we might want to line up some unspoiled players ahead of time, in case the summoning civs don't want to take over.
Also, if we're going to play a RP game, we should maybe clarify what we mean by it, before the game starts.
I take it to mean: we're encouraged to roleplay our diplomatic interactions, and encouraged to play our civs "thematically" (i.e., Amelanchier might be xenophobic and refuse to open borders to anyone, Tasunke might try to sell his services as a mercenary, Varn and Arendel are unlikely to convert to Veil just because ritualists are powerful, etcetera). But these should be taken just as loose guidelines, since who knows what kind of situation the game will throw us into...
I would prefer having the mapmaker preplace Archeron and Orthus, if we are going to use them. They can be unbalancing otherwise. I have no opinion on Hyborem/Basium.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
), I would highly recommend quick and barbs on. With normal speed, the early game is very slow, and with barbs off the balance between many nations is skewed.
