#4 is done and #6 is almost over. Let's open up #7. I'm in so 9 spots open.

1. Lewwyn
2. AdrienIer
3. Rowain
4. DaveV
5. Aurorarcher
6. Old Harry
7. Jkaen
8. El Grillo
9. Sunrise
10. Gazglum (waiting for confirm)

I'm surprised no one had mentioned "Stars in Shadow" here yet. In my opinion it's very suited for a MOO fan. Gives you familiar (even nostalgic) feelings, but still new and exiting.
It's being developed by two people - a programmer and an artist, - both very talented, skilled and quality oriented.
The playability is already good despite the fact that technically it's an alpha. There is no diplomacy yet (despite basic deals with marauders and "don't attack my scouts and I wont declare you a war"), the strategic map needs improvements, the tactical combat controls are quite raw, but everything together feels right!
It's true turn based, and there are no star-lanes. There are seven quite unique playable races and several more "natives" (the humans are very not generic for a change), marauders and pirates, up to 99 stars. A lot of planet types, each divided to different climate zones, each more suitable to different races - so multiracial colonies is "the must" - should get really interesting after the morale is implemented. Three types of resources - money, food and metal. The research tree is OK (both military and not), and getting better.
The graphics is very good and very original. Races are unfamiliar (for a MOO fan), but that could be a good thing.
   
It's using OpenGL, so pretty much OS agnostic (in theory, but only Win32 is compiled so far). A decent graphic processor is required. It seems like for now you shouldn't bother lower that Radeon 3000 or GeForce 9000 with the latest drivers from AMD or Nvidia (not from Microsoft). For me it barely works (almost doesn't) on Radeon HD 2400XT and works fine with minor errors on GeForce 9200M GS (the mouse is lagging, but bearable, you just need to wait a few seconds and than press for a second and a half). The author promises to make options lowering the graphics "appetites" - I think he does it sooner if more people with mid-range graphic cards gets really interested.

The site: http://stars-in-shadow.com. There is a forum.
The one of interviews/previews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgRHK28hjcc

For $20 you can preorder, which automatically enters you into the beta program (you probably can get into the beta by just asking nicely, but supporting the project is a good thing). Developers are very responsive and nice.

I believe there are not enough "mage type" random hero abilities in the game. In fact, Sage, Prayermaster and Arcane Power are the only three while there are 7 fighter abilities.

I don't know if I'll be able to add more or not (icons would be especially problematic) and I definitely won't start this in the near future, but as a long term plan, I'm considering the addition of some or all of these :

Capacity - Unit has +1 Ammo per 2 experience levels.
Battlemage - Unit gains +1 MP per experience level when using a melee attack
AEther Mastery - Unit produces +4 SP to the owner's Skill pool per experience level.
Guiding Beacon - All units stacked with this unit gain +1 ranged attack per 3 levels of experience (including missile and magic ranged)
Ritual Mastery - Unit produces +10 Power per turn.
Monster Trainer - All fantastic units stacked with this unit gain +1 melee, ranged and defense per 3 levels of experience.
All of these would have the usual +50% bonus for super level.

Battlemage could instead be a preset ability in Power Drain's slot which is unused.

Welcome to my spoiler thread!

This is my second game here at Realms Beyond. My first was Pitboss 27. I don't think that it's much of a spoiler to say that, as of this posting, I'm not doing so well in that one... here's an artist's impression:



So I've decided to try to apply some of the lessons I learned from the mistakes I made and make less this time. If you've been following my PB27 thread, you know I've been very meticulous in my reporting, giving commentary on every individual turn (even if the 'commentary' is often just me saying what's in the screenshot). I'm not sure I'll be doing that his time around, although I hope to, and it's not too time consuming if I stay on top of it.

Perhaps Necro as a naming theme? Doubt I'll get far.

Necromancer
Necropolis
Necromonger
Necrolyte
Necrocomicon

Maybe I'll just need 5 cities?

Nah, I think I'll name them after Official Codenames ™ clue words.

Goals for this game: Obtain an award.
I've already won a Lichtenstein award: "Lowest-scoring surviving nation at huge pitboss game end".
Also the Troy award: "First city capture in a huge pitboss game"

The first duel:



Went for the jugular and got a concession at T40.

But it shouldn't work this time..

I realize that there's still currently one ongoing, but it appears to be stalled. I'm happy to wait for it to complete before launching a new game if that'll ensure 4+ players.


Anyway, I've got three ideas for EitB SGs I'd like to run.


Idea The First:

Most Extreme Elimination Challenge

Concept- High-to-Low + Increasing Difficulty + Raging Barbs + Final Five.

It can be done (I've managed twice), but it's a brutal setup- and a lot of fun! Success definitely not guaranteed.



Idea The Second:

Loki Challenge

Concept- OCC + Require Complete Eliminations (necessary to prevent a T1 elim) and we don't start with a Settler. The only cities the team can keep are those it manages to steal with Loki.



Idea The Third:

From Humble Beginnings

Concept- Similar to the Loki Challenge, including playing as the Balseraphs, except instead of starting with Loki we have an Adept with Channeling III, Mind III, and Perfect Sight (to defend against Spiders). Oh, and we aren't allowed to ever possess any cities- all units must be captured.



Of course I could turn any of the above into an Adventure instead, if there's interest.

Lurkers, request your theme.

Poll: It's time to stop bullying BRick about settling on deer. or

First post settings stuff:

Poll: A variant idea - you conquer a civ and the players formerly running that civ become your vassals, forced to do your micro and reporting for you? or

I've finally got a bit of an itch to play a game of Civ again, but I want something lightweight since I don't quite have the time that I used to. Any interest in a revival of the 4 player AW small map game style? Something akin to PBEM34, which was a really fun setup.

Basic Pitch:
*PBEM (or sequential Pitboss)
*Quick speed
*4 players
*Always War
*Map: 4 fully mirrored plots of land. Room for roughly 4-5 cities per player max - very tight. Reasonably lush so the game doesn't take forever. All strategic resources available in each mirrored plot.
*Snake pick (any sort of random rolling could very possibly decide the game on T0)

Other stuff like vanilla vs mod or ban lists I could go either way about.

Anyone have interest in playing (or map-making) this game?