Pitboss 18 Organizing Thread (RB Mod 34 Civs)

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Also, I really like Krill's idea about the player awards from PB7. I think they're fun and give everyone an attainable goal. Everyone should aim for Plako's Perfect Gentleman of the Turn Timer Award, for example.

[Jowy]

setup like this will never be balanced, just sayin

[Commodore]

Okay, looking at this a bit; I think I'd like to make something 128x128, toroidal but otherwise "real world looking" (so no PB16 parkland-only), aiming at ~220 land tiles per person. It would be continentalish; I would set myself on fire before straining something like PB3 from my loins. If Krill could give me a mod to get started?

[scooter]

I'm in if this setup means we only have to manage a city or two before conquering our neighbors.

This sounds intriguing.

Map where everyone has room for like 4 noncontested cities before bumping borders in all directions?

I've played that map before - PB3. It was nasty and brutish.

Counterpoint: I've played that map before - PBEM34. It was such a cool concept that I played it twice.

Also, if you're signing up for this massive of a game and expecting balance, you should adjust your expectations. This type of game is all about having fun with a zany setup.

Couple stray thoughts:

1) I think you basically have to agree ahead of time that stuff like "Retire to AI" is a valid option. There's no other way a super-sized game lasts. It's not that hard to deal with - just don't do diplo with the AI. I understand some people are like philosophically and maybe even religiously opposed to that idea, but I don't see another choice.

2) I think I'm a little more interested in a wacky game with far too many people crammed onto the map than I am another game similar in size to PB13. That's just me, though. I don't have time to add a super serious game with 13 still going on, but a weird one where I don't have to play too seriously could be possible.

3) Kill tech trading with fire. Are there actually people who want this? I just see comments in this thread of everyone saying they won't play with it, and I haven't noticed anyone actually suggesting it.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

setup like this will never be balanced, just sayin

Total balance? Impossible, of course. Some effort at balance though makes the game more competitive than it otherwise might be. That means it is likely to remain enjoyable for more players for a longer period of time. Why not attempt to do that from the outset just because perfect balance is unattainable?

[Commodore]

Counterpoint to all worries:


Everything is awesome. This is going to happen. Everything is awesome. I'll make a pretty balanced map. Everything is awesome. People will enjoy this based on what they bring in with themselves. Everything is awesome. Nobody is tech trading. Everything is awesome.

Can I get the mod? Can't start a 34civ map without a different DLL.

[plako]

You can make the map with any mod supporting more than 34 players assuming Wbsave format hasn't any other change than added players (you should be able to find such a mod easily). Afterwards you might had to edit the save manually to contain the amount of slots Rbmod will contain.

[Catwalk]

I'm up for it if tech trading is off and everybody plays for themselves (team setup sounds like it'd take too much time), and I like having the map be super crowded. How should double moves be handled? I agree with retire to AI being a necessity, but I hope it will be used minimally. Moreover, if the map is highly crowded chances are good that losing players will be killed off rather than left to rot.

How about random civs and leaders, with the possibility of swapping with other players?

[spacetyrantxenu]

Double moves be damned or this game will die in a grease fire like PB7.

Edit: In case my opinion isn't clear, anyone intentionally engaging in double moving for advantage (or playing clock games for gain) should be modkilled at minimum and terrorized by any means necessary, online or in meat space, until they learn the error of their ways.

[Commodore]

I think part of the disjoint on size is from a real admiration of the PBEM 34 style, which is tons of fun. However, that more or less requires the conservatism of AW...which doesn't work with asynchronous format pitbosses.

You can play casual on bigger civs, no worries. I've done it myself, see PB9

Mardoc: of course
everyone's got different ideas on what are good settings
me: Noooo
Mardoc: and norms
me: I will set the settings!
And normalize the norms!
Mardoc: maybe if you rule with an iron fist and I like your rules, I'd consider it

I think Krill touched on this above; a 34 player Pitboss is weird enough as it is. I'd aim to make about as normal a map as possible, with about as normal settings as possible (PB5, 8, 13's wildly successful set), and we'd want everyone to try and be gentlemen about things.