Newbie EitB Game?

[Druxee]

Mist - you forgot Religious victory; I'd probably put it between Conquest and Culture on your scale.

Druxee - if you have Acheron in the game, I'd strongly recommend banning the Clan.

Ok, how about:
Anyone wants Clan, Acheron off.
No one wants Clan, Acheron on.

That seems simpler.

[Mardoc]

I'll be watching this one, ready to answer any game mechanics questions people have. Just remember RB etiquette - global lurkers are allowed to answer direct questions, about rule mechanics, but we're not allowed to give advice about strategy.

To slow Tower - you really need to strongly limit mana, to a point where you can't build it without doing some conquest. Which means arcane civs have trouble showing off all their tricks. Slowing tech speed helps some too, but is generally harder to pull off - increasing difficulty is about the only way to do that. Or, you need house rules. Things like 'no rushing towers by any means, may only build one at a time, may not use the Tower of Divination for Arcane Lore or Strength of Will. That last is one of the major reasons a Tower victory comes so quick, the only really expensive tech needed can be towered.

And if Mist wants a second pair of eyes on his map, I'm good for that too.

[Mist]

I'll be watching this one, ready to answer any game mechanics questions people have. Just remember RB etiquette - global lurkers are allowed to answer direct questions, about rule mechanics, but we're not allowed to give advice about strategy.

Well, if they agree to solicited advice in the threads, we can probably offer this too ( not to HK, though, he does not need it ). It is a very green game after all.

To slow Tower - you really need to strongly limit mana, to a point where you can't build it without doing some conquest. Which means arcane civs have trouble showing off all their tricks. Slowing tech speed helps some too, but is generally harder to pull off - increasing difficulty is about the only way to do that. Or, you need house rules.

Yeah, either very few nodes on the map, or no raw nodes and limited access to metamagic. Everything else does not have quite enough impact or affects other victory conditions too.

And if Mist wants a second pair of eyes on his map, I'm good for that too.

Always appreciated.

Mist - you forgot Religious victory; I'd probably put it between Conquest and Culture on your scale.

Nah, religious is outright impossible, every other type is at least probable.

[Druxee]

Banning Divination for Arcane Lore or Strength of Will seems like the easiest option, then. I'd be in favour of that.
Oh, I could do with a dedlurker, or I will die a horrible horrible death, if anyone is willing.

Also, I'll edit the first post to be up to date with agreed settings.

[DaveV]

Banning Divination for Arcane Lore or Strength of Will seems like the easiest option, then.

Don't forget to ban the Infernal Grimoire for the same things, for those "letter of the law" types.

Oh, I could do with a dedlurker, or I will die a horrible horrible death, if anyone is willing.

It might be better to do things the way Mist suggested, where the global lurkers are a bit more free with advice than normal. The danger of having veteran dedicated lurkers in a greens game is that the game ends up being a battle between the ded lurkers. Especially since some of our veterans have *ahem* strong personalities.

[superjm]

Suggestions from a bit more experienced player and questions from potential mapmaker :

• I'd advise Orthus off, or at least mapmapker placed. The axe is a really strong item that can decide games, having it randomly fall to one player is usually bad for long-term game health.
  I have no problems with this
  
  
• Huts are no fun when one of the six players pulls half a dozen of early techs, consider having them off or at least garrisoned.
  Either way is fine with me. I usually prefer them on in my FFH games and off in my BTS games, but in multi they are pretty strong regardless.
  
  
• Goblin forts can seriously break a game with clan present and are generally part of the strength of Barbarian trait. Decide if you want them present, and keep the fact in mind while picking civs.
  Removing goblin forts if Clan is picked seems like the best idea to me
  
  
• On a typical run-of-the-mill map, Tower is both fastest and easiest to reach victory condition. Do you want it to be harder to reach and if yes, by how much.
  I don't care either way, but I do like the suggestion of banning SoW via tower
  
  
• Difficulty, World Size and World Wrap influence tech rate and maintenance. How fast do you want to tech and expand? Fast teching seriously weakens civs that are strong early.
  I'm not really privy to the exact effect the difficulty level would have in this regard. I guess Monarch/Emperor would be considered good "middle-ground" difficulties? Yes/no?
  
  
• Do you want a lush, resource rich map, a barren, resource-poor one or some sort of a mix?
  As long as no one player has an advantage in terrain I can adapt to whatever is given. Although weird variants like that nearly waterless map in EitB XXI might be a bit much
  
  
• Decide on how do you want Basium and Hyborem handled. Compact enforced?Human takeover? AI for one of the sides?
  Hyborem I don't have an opinion on as he has his own strengths and weaknesses no matter what. Human basium however seems incredibly strong and a tough nut to crack for any civ. I'd be wary about allowing that, especially in a newbie game.
  
  
• How cutthroat do you want the early game to be? Players spaced far apart or in knife-fight distances?
  I'd prefer being spaced apart, but then that's just me and someone's going to get the short end of the stick either way.
  
  
• There's very few interesting ways of placing Unique Features that don't break a MP map. Some of them have little use outside aesthetic ( Maelstorm ). Do you mind not having all of them present / having more than one copy of others?
  Whatever you feel works for an MP game. I like unique features in general so do what you must!
  

Also I'd appreciate any lurker advice (ded- or otherwise) people can give me. I've mostly functioned without issue with just treskies in my BTS PBEM due to being familiar with that system's mechanics, but I'm likely going to be far more lost with what works and doesn't work in EitB.

[Druxee]

I put this in the first post preliminarily, but what if we just said Strength of Will cannot be rushed in any way? Any objections? Does this include bulbing?

Not sure what to do with Basium/Hyborem.

[Tasunke]

If I could play, I think I'd like either Sheebs, Jonas, or Rhoanna. (heck, maybe Cassiel too)

Also, pangea is a fun map I think

[Druxee]

Sure.
I would love to see Cassiel for once. Quick question, does a unit have to be an Archmage to get Twincast? If not, Cassiel could spam Twincast mages which would be pretty cool.

[Mardoc]

I'm afraid someone's got to ask: Tasunke, are you certain you'll be around for the whole game? Your track record isn't too encouraging - maybe it'd be better if you teamed up with one of the others.