So I will have 3 weeks straight of PTO from 11/16 to 12/6.  My thought was go to Europe and do stuff.  Some friends are telling me I'm crazy because the weather will suck.  I don't really mind cold, although cold+rain sucks.  What say ye that live in Europe, good idea or bad idea?

Darrell

Anyone want to play a game of codenames?


List:
1. Lewwyn
2. Dp101
3. Bob
4. rho21
5. Sunrise
6. DaveV
7. Pjabrony
8. Warriorknight
9. David Coperial
10. Azoth

That's ten

Hey everyone

I'm very sorry to report that the server hosting company that have provided our free hosting solution for a long time now has run into some economic difficulties and has had to downscale their server park. As a result I come with some bad news. I've received a notification today that either he needs to start charging some cash for the server hosting, or the server will be shut down on October 9th, 23:00 GMT+2.

I checked out some similar services, and found that OVH offers a server hosting solution (VM-based as well) where it would cost $26.99 per month for these specs: OpenStack KVM,SLA 99.99%,2 vCore(s),3.1 GHz,4 GB RAM,50 GB,High Availability (Ceph)

The offer we have been given is to retain the current server at a minimum of $20, a maximum of $25, per month (Which, given our available specs and resources, which is superiour to the OVH server, is a very generous offer).

Now, there may be someone in the community who is willing and have the opportunity to step up and take over the hosting - which is of course a great idea. But if there isn't, would the members of the community be willing to chip in a buck or two each month to pay for this? I can set up a specific Patreon or something for it, and I will of course make sure that the invoices and receits for payment are available for everyone to see for transparency. The server would be invoiced to me personally, so I would have to pay it personally, and report back to you guys.

If someone is willing to take over the hosting instead of a community payment service, the current server can be stopped, saved and downloaded as a VMWare disk image, and I can provide the image for anyone who wants it - just for the record.

Is anyone playing this game at the moment? With a Metacritic score of 94, reviewers are rating this game amazingly high.
Current opinion seems to be that this is one of the best RPGs of all time, so I would be interested to hear some input from forum members in case anyone is playing this right now.

IGN review 9.6:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/09/21/d...n-2-review

(September 21st, 2017, 09:12)Krill Wrote: Also aren't most of the posters on this site scientists by training? I think I am one of the few that works in a different field but I've still got that chemistry degree.

My current CS class is currently requiring students to do some research on our ideas for projects that we have come up with, and that includes talking to potential users of the projects we wish to make. Currently, I'm planning on adding an AI and procedural generation to a kinda-crappy civ clone I made last year, and I feel that RB would be a good place to get feedback on what kinds of ideas/design philosophies people want to see in 4x/civ style gameplay. Posting this here rather than in the gaming table because most of the questions are designed from a perspective of trying to make a game similar to civ, I hope that's ok. Survey is here. If you have any questions about any of the questions, let me know.

Race: Sakkra
Difficulty: Impossible
Game Version: 1.04m
Galaxy Size: Medium
Opponents: 5
Color: Green

The goal of this game is to take control of the galactic council.  As the Sakkra we are rated Excellent in Planetology meaning that we can get controlled environments sooner and grow into our colonies faster.  Our goal should be to reach a veto block of votes as soon as possible, and to use all of our political analysis skills to read galactic diplomacy and take whatever steps we can to swing the vote in our favor, or at least against our enemies.

Starting save attached.  Report for 2300-2320 to follow.

Attached Files

  OSG-31_2300.GAM (Size: 57.65 KB / Downloads: 5)

I searched for 'crash' in the forum to see if there was a thread or way to report crashes but didn't find anything.

I have a Hard game going well (for the first time) but I've run into a turn where it consistently crashes on an AI turn. First Lo Pan goes, then I see Jafar's units start moving and the game crashes. I've turned on all sounds just in case, and it still happens.

I'm running v4.01 and the year is 1419. I have attached it to this post. Please let me know if there's anything I can try or do to help. Thank you.

This is the planning and discussion thread for FFH2 AI Survivor, Season 1, an idea inspired by Sullla's gratifying Civ4 AI Survivor series.     

Since this is the first time trying something like this, I will simply play these games at my leisure and write up reports for them that I will post here as PDF files with screenshots.  If there is interest for a "Season 2," then I can replicate Sullla's system of collecting predictions, scoring them for points, livestreaming the matches, etc. for Season 2.  But consider this first season "experimental."  

For this season, I will be using unmodded FFH2 with the latest patch.  (In doing a couple of brief test-runs, I was reminded of how much screwy stuff is in unmodded FFH2, such as how the Clan's "For the Horde" spell can recruit Sons of the Inferno).  If we do additional seasons, we can talk about desired mods.  

There are 36 leaders in FFH2 if you count Decius thrice (once for his Bannor version, once for his Calabim version, and once for his Malakim version).  

The plan is, first, to whittle down the field in a series of four 9-player playoff games.  

One slight complication is that I'd prefer not to have multiple copies of any civ in any one game.  It just intuitively seems like things could get screwy with world-spells being re-used.  Therefore, I've developed a spreadsheet that sorts leaders into non-overlapping categories and randomly selects them from these non-overlapping pools.  

The results of my random selections are as follows:

Playoff Game 1:
Capria of the Bannor
Valladelia the Even of the Amurites
Charadon of the Doviello
Ethne the White of the Elohim
Tasunke of the Hippus
Hannah the Irin of the Lanun
Cassiel of the Grigori
Auric Ulvin of the Illians
Cardith Lorda of the Kuriotates

Playoff Game 2:  
Sabathiel of the Bannor
Flauros of the Calabim
Amelanchier of the Ljosalfar
Perpentach of the Balseraphs
Decius of the Malakim
Einon Logos of the Elohim
Rhoanna of the Hippus
Falamar of the Lanun
Sandalphon of the Sidar

Playoff Game 3: 
Decius of the Calabim
Arendel Phaedra of the Ljosalfar
Dain the Caswallan of the Amurites
Keelyn of the Balseraphs
Jonas Endain of the Clan of Embers
Arcturus Thorne of the Khazad
Beeri Bawl of the Luchiurp
Tebryn Arbandi of the Sheaim
Faeryl Viconia of the Svartalfar

Playoff Game 4:
Decius of the Bannor
Alexis of the Calabim
Thessa of the Ljosalfar
Varn Gosam of the Malakim
Sheelba of the Clan of Embers
Mahala of the Doviello
Kandros Fir of the Khazad
Garrim Gyr of the Luchiurp
Os Gabella of the Sheaim

The winner and runner-ups of each game will advance to the championship game, UNLESS there are multiple leaders from the same civ that are eligible for advancing.  Only one representative from each civ will be allowed in the championship game.  If there are multiple eligible contenders for the championship game from a single civ, then winner with the earlier victory date (if both are winners), or the runner-up with the higher score at finish (if both are runner-ups), will advance.  (If one was a winner and the other merely a runner-up, then the winner will advance).  

In addition, any surviving civs from the playoff games that finished lower than the runner-ups will go to a wildcard game (with the same rules applying here about only one representative from each civ being allowed in the wildcard game—the tiebreaker will be the leaders' scores at the end of their playoff games).  The winner of the wildcard game will go on to the championship (unless, once again, there is already a representative of that civ in the championship; if the other representative was a winner from a playoff game, then the playoff game winner will advance; if the other representative was a runner-up from a playoff game, then the winner of the wildcard game will advance).  

Thus, the championship game will have, at maximum, 9 players, although it may have fewer (if some of the winners and runner-ups of the playoff games are of the same civ, making some of them ineligible).  

All games will be played on randomly-generated maps with the following settings:
Deity Difficulty
Tectonics 
Pangaea
Small size
Wet rainfall
Raging Barbarians ON
Aggressive AI ON
End of Winter ON
Culture-flipping after conquest ON
Tech Trading OFF
Vassal States OFF
Tribal huts ON
Wildlands ON
Blessing of Amathaon ON
Living World ON
Last Days ON
All Unique Features ON

Starting positions will NOT be changed whatsoever, except for relocating the spectator civ from the mainland to an impregnable mountainous island.  

Victory Conditions:  ALL ENABLED
*HOWEVER, note that the AI doesn't really know how to pursue some of the victories, such as the Altar, Tower of Mastery, or Religious victories.  

I foresee the possibility of AIs occasionally eliminating all of the opposing alignment and then falling into a late-game lovefest before any single AI reaches the domination threshold.  Therefore, in order to prevent a static endgame of having to wait out the turns until a time victory, I will be making the following worldbuilder intervention:

ANY TIME AN AI LEADER COMPLETES THE RESEARCH OF STRENGTH OF WILL, I WILL GO INTO WORLDBUILDER AND GIVE THAT AI ALL FOUR OF THE LESSER TOWERS IN THAT AI'S CAPITAL SO THAT THE AI CAN START ON BUILDING THE TOWER OF MASTERY.  

This basically turns the Tower of Mastery victory into more of a generic "spaceship-type" victory, but I think it is a necessary tweak to save me from potential boredom.  I am NOT going to play a game through until turn 700 to observe a time victory!

=============================

One last thing:  I will try to attach a PDF with screenshots of the starting positions for Game 1.  I will play it and write up a report for it hopefully within about a week or so.  In the meantime, feel free to speculate about the outcome!

Home Sweet Home, 250 years after the Second Tiberium War and the Great Tiberium Seeding:




Diary of Crystous, Emperor of the 25th Tiberium Council
Cryslon, Nod 31st, 2300

Though my outer crust may sparkle with seeming optimism for the cameras, in truth I feel a sense of foreboding about my new election to the High Seat of the Tiberium Council.  Just 74 years ago I was but a fragile carbuncle, and now even at my young age the Tiberium Council expects me to draft two consecutive 10-year executive plan for the Silicoid Empire for the next 20 years to come!  

I do not know if I am up to the task.  If only I could have inherited an empire not splintering at every fault line.  I remember stories from my grandparents of how the Silicoid Empire was once a majestic force in its earliest years after the Tiberium Triumph (Kane lives in death). Back then our fleshy meatbag ancestors, the "humans" as historians call them, were just beginning the wonders of divination.  The energy-harnessing properties of the Tiberium crystals were new and wondrous to them.  They built great crystal palaces, and even Cryslon-orbiting ships (back when they still called our planet Cryslon "Earth" out of ancient custom).  Then we became complacent.  Slow.  Tired.  Though I fear myself treading close to heresy, I cannot help but think that we lost something after the Tiberium Triumph (Kane lives in death).  Legend has it that our human ancestors used to have veritable litters of offspring nearly every other year.  Now it takes decades to sire a single heir.  Or so they say.  I wouldn't know.  My pearl is still working on our first little carbuncle (may his roots grow to be strong as the mountains!)  

How times have changed!





If only more of our youth understood the uniqueness of our new Silicoid biology in the galaxy.  If they only understood their duty to propagate it over the many still-empty plains of Cryslon...and beyond, onto the rocky shores of distant star systems!  But instead, they feel content to frolic about the crystal gardens of San Francisco Bay, sucking on hematite salt licks and zoning out on Cryslon Central's eye-numbing strobe-globe shows.  

Well, if our youth think they can continue dallying around like little carbuncles skipping down a hillside, they are mistaken.  I have already consulted the Tiberium Council, and they have approved a new civilian draft for all youth over 42 years of age.  The shipyards and the factories need their help. They need everyone's help.  Time is running out!  

It has not been publicly revealed yet, but soon I will address the Silicoid people to reveal the truth:  the Tacitus was not complete.  There were vital components missing all along—components that have recently caught the attention of some vile foreign races in the galaxy about which we know all-too little.  And just recently we have heard rumor that these components remain scattered in several pieces throughout the nearby quadrant of the galaxy, just waiting to be scooped up by foreign interlopers! We did not want to shake the peoples' confidence in the Technology of Peace, but now we must reveal the truth of the missing components, and rally them to the cause. The time for complacency is over!  We MUST begin to finally fulfill our destiny and expand our Tiberium crystals throughout the galaxy.  And if we could but retrieve the final components of the Tacitus rumored to be scattered in the ruins of nearby planets, our mastery of the galaxy—TIBERIUM'S mastery of the galaxy—would be all but assured!  

======================

Imperium 44 Settings and Scoring

Race:  Silicoids
Difficulty:  Impossible
Map Size:  Large
Opponents:  5
Events:  On
Note:  playing with kyrub's 1.4 patch is recommended. 

Scoring:  

+10 base starting points.
+1 point for being the first to scout an artifacts world and obtain technology from it (defeating the Guardian counts for this as well). 
+1 point for being the first to colonize an artifacts world (colonizing Orion counts as well).  
-1 point for every council vote that elapses without the player achieving victory.  (Note:  it might be in the player's interest to purposefully delay colonizing planets so as to delay the first council vote.  Alternatively, destroying enough planets so that the council stops meeting is also a legitimate tactic.  What matters is the number of council votes without a player victory, not now many years elapse).  
-5 points if the player wins a council vote without oneself already having at least 50% of the votes (cheap early council cheese wins discouraged).  

Players have until 11:59 GMT on Saturday, October 14th to submit a score and (optionally) a game report.  

The save and starting map are attached.  Good luck!

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
   

  RBO-Imperium44-2300.GAM (Size: 57.65 KB / Downloads: 11)