New EitB succession game

[Miguelito]

This was born out of the discussions for a new PBEM. It appears that there are a few people who are interested in the mod but don't want to throw themselves into an MP FFA right away.
It's meant to be a vanilla SG as much as that's possible with Fall from Heaven, to get people introduced to the basics.

From the PBEM thread I gathered as interested:

1. Ginger()
   
2. Mr. Cairo
   
3. Amicalola
   
4. DaveV
   
5. Brian Shanahan
   
6. shallow_thought
   
7. BING_XI_LAO
   

Please confirm signups. If we have as many players I will happily roll a map for you and maybe occasionally throw in something that I would think a newbie might find useful (I myself have very limited experience, but the PB 90 thread is unfulfilling right now ).

[Brian Shanahan]

I'll confirm. I'll be able to play from Tuesday, was meant to go up home this week to do some house work (painting) for my parents but had to jiggle around my schedule because I have a promotion interview at work tomorrow.

[Mr. Cairo]

Sounds good to me, I'm in.

What modmod are we thinking of using? Just EitB, since it's what we use for PBEM? I'll also reiterate my recommendation for using the mapscript ErebusContinent. It generates much better maps than Erebus. I'll also recommend turning on the following settings:
Wildlands (more animals)
Blessing of Amathaon (more bonus resources, without it even ErebusContinent creates pretty resource-scarce maps)
Living World (more events)
All Unique Features (because they're neat)

[shallow_thought]

Sounds good to me, I'm in.

What modmod are we thinking of using? Just EitB, since it's what we use for PBEM? I'll also reiterate my recommendation for using the mapscript ErebusContinent. It generates much better maps than Erebus. I'll also recommend turning on the following settings:
Wildlands (more animals)
Blessing of Amathaon (more bonus resources, without it even ErebusContinent creates pretty resource-scarce maps)
Living World (more events)
All Unique Features (because they're neat)

I'm in. I'd say EitB is the easy option - it's a known, it's easy to install, it balances out some of the mess (although the mess is part of the FfH appeal); it's not got the best AI, but I'd go with it unless people are keen on entering installation / choice hell (I play MNAI myself). And yeah, if this is a warmup for people who want to try MP (not me!) EitB makes even more sense.

Erebus Continent is my goto map so big +1 on that - I'd consider reducing jungle, mountains and maybe tundra as part of the choices, but it's no big deal.

I like the other settings suggestions with the possible exception of Wildlands - my understanding is that it makes scouting and some early settling even harder, but can actual reduce the number of non-animal barbarians which might actually make the game less stressful. YMMV, I've not tried it.

I was also going to suggest turning off lairs because the early game "oh crap, someone has spawned an endgame death unit on my doorstep" can wreck games, but IIRC EitB fixes a lot of that by making it impossible to explore lairs with low-level units.

EDIT: oops, forgot to say I'm on holiday next week (back for 22 May), but I doubt that will impact anything much.

[Amicalola]

I'm in. Cairo's suggestions all sound great.

[DaveV]

I'll play. Someone mentioned Malakim as a not-too-complicated civilization? Elohim or Bannor would also be good choices, I think.

Anything below Monarch difficulty is pretty easy, and nerfs the barbs pretty hard. Units built in AI cities (including barb cities) get bonus XP at higher difficulty levels: Prince 1, Monarch 2, Emperor 4, Immortal 6, Deity 8. An extra promotion or two makes a big difference in the threat level of barbarian invaders, who will almost never have bronze weapons.

Another setup question: Orthus and Acheron. I vote for Orthus and against Acheron. The latter ends up making a fairly large area of the map an effective no-go zone. Whoever is unlucky enough to have him spawn in their backyard will be severely handicapped.

Also, tech trading is an absolute deal breaker for me (I won't play if it's enabled). The game is completely different when you can extort techs out of the AIs, or talk them into uneven exchanges.

I think EitB 12.1 is the best choice for mod.

[shallow_thought]

Another setup question: Orthus and Acheron. I vote for Orthus and against Acheron. The latter ends up making a fairly large area of the map an effective no-go zone. Whoever is unlucky enough to have him spawn in their backyard will be severely handicapped.

Also, tech trading is an absolute deal breaker for me (I won't play if it's enabled). The game is completely different when you can extort techs out of the AIs, or talk them into uneven exchanges.

Agree with the no Acheron; strongly agree with no tech trading. it never occurred to me that anyone would want it on.

Except ...

I feel that turning tech trading on but saying the player cannot initiate or negotiate, only accept or reject trades involving tech can be a way to make the game more challenging without turning up the base level too much. But I think we're trying to keep this simple, rather than design a variant right?

[Ginger()]

From the PBEM thread I gathered as interested:

1. Ginger()
   
2. Mr. Cairo
   
3. Amicalola
   
4. DaveV
   
5. Brian Shanahan
   
6. shallow_thought
   
7. BING_XI_LAO
   

I’ll happily lurk this SG, but don’t want turnplaying responsibilities. Currently in 3 PB and dedlurking the new EitB PBEM is enough Civ for me. Got to play it safe with the burnout

[Brian Shanahan]

Any update with this game?

If people want, I could crack on with rolling a start.

[shallow_thought]

Any update with this game?

If people want, I could crack on with rolling a start.

I'd be happy with that.