Could have sworn we had a thread for this but couldn't find it.
Anybody have as particular recommendations for books to read?
Specifically I was half thinking about reading a few in the Star Wars universe. Anybody know what one would be best to start with (or if any are any good?)
One of the greatest sources of acrimony in PBEM and pitboss games has been the behavior of players who, rightly or wrongly, perceived themselves as having no chance at winning the game. If several other players want to keep the game going, the "no-chance" player usually feels obligated to continue devoting a considerable amount of time and effort to the losing cause. There seem to be several options, none of which is really satisfactory:
1) Pick your worst enemy, do your best to make him lose. This tactic has probably caused the most bad feelings. The choice of worst enemy is often arbitrary.
2) Pick your best friend, do your best to make him win. Or, vassalize yourself. Again, the choice is likely to be arbitrary.
3) Defend your territory. Usually the least time-intensive option. Stack up units in your cities, make someone pay if they invade your territory. The problem with this approach is that the "no-chance" player is typically behind in tech, and it will be cheap and easy for someone with much more advanced units to gobble up his cities. Less hedgehog, more balloon. >pop<!
4) Resign to AI. This lets the game go on without forcing someone to keep participating in a game he has no interest in playing. Disadvantage: we're playing an MP game because the AI is predictable and easily exploited.
5) Virtual resignation. Strip your cities of units, allow yourself to be eliminated. Unfair because the geography will make it easier for one player to conquer the bulk of your territory.
Maybe part of the pre-game rules discussion should include this topic? I don't think there's an easy answer, but it might help if players knew at the start of the game what they were committing themselves to.
Hi everybody. I found Master of Orion several years ago and have been playing it off and on, and recently got into it again.
Looking around on the 'net, people have generally knocked MoO for having inferior graphics, despite its quality gameplay.
My question is, have people made any attempts at modifying the graphics? I *assume* (though I haven't really looked into it) that the graphics are stored in the .lbx files, so it would be a matter of deciphering the files and figuring out what goes where, to then potentially allow for user-created images to be inserted.
Although I doubt there could be major changes, this would raise the possibility of for example making customized ship icon designs the way the user wants them, as opposed to the preset designs based on color and size. It would still be the same ships (until you change the .lbx files again) but then people could make up whatever ship theme they might want.
I looked around but haven't really found anything along this vein, such as a graphics editor, although I did find this.
Civ/Leader Restrictions: Normal snake pick with no restrictions.
Wonder bans: No bans.
Spy bans: Missions banned.
Other bans: Nukes. WE. Naval Blockades.
Map: Hand made, balanced but not mirrored. ~30% water, some ignorable islands, everyone on same landmass. Size: Standard, 60x32 toroid. Difficulty: noble. Speed: quick. Huts, events, TT, vassal states all off, Always War.
Turn order:
Serdoa [Joao of Inca]
Novice & ShootTheMoon [Pacal of Egypt]
Gaspar, Zakalwe, Lewwyn, WarriorKnight [Huyana Capac of Mali]
SevenSpirits [Willem of China]
Mackoti [Augustus of India]
So, yeah. I've taken a few months off since my Pyrrhic victory in PBEM38 left an incredibly sour taste in my mouth towards Civ4, multiplayer games and RB in general but I'm mostly over that now and miss having a save in my inbox regularly. As the thread title indicates, I'm aware a few others are looking to start games but I have a fairly specific setup I'm looking for and if there isn't enough interest then no big deal. Rather than ramble on, here's what I'd like:
4-5 players of a similar skill level (I.E. I don't want to get my teeth kicked in by the top 5 players on the site nor do I want to noob bash - I reserve the right to reject players based on this - if this makes you think I'm an ass, I'm ok with that, but I'm interested in a competitive game not winning any "RB'er of the Year" awards)
4-5 players who can vouch for their ability to play at least one turn almost everyday, and more than one turn on some days (Different category, but I'm not looking for a game where someone who is a noted non-turnplayer and/or game quitter can rehabilitate their reputation. Again, sorry for being a dick but FFH17 was a painful lesson to me in ignoring that different people have different expectations when it comes to regular turnplaying.)
In terms of the game itself:
Regular snake pick, either no or few bans. I think my last 3-4 games have had one restriction or another placed on them, at this point Pacal of India would actually be variety for me. I'm open on what specifically we restrict or not, but I'd prefer lighter to heavier.
Always War, absolutely no diplo of any kind.
Ban Spies, Nukes, War Elephants. That's probably all I'd like to see banned.
I'm pretty open on the map though I would prefer something at least hand-edited if not hand-drawn. Prefer to keep other map-related settings to the discretion of the mapmaker. Certainly I'd prefer not worrying about getting Mortiused but beyond that, pretty malleable.
Note - game settings with exception of diplo I'm very willing to debate, while the player-specific requests are not.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff but that's the base expectation. I fully expect to get slaughtered since I've not so much as opened Civ4 in a couple months and haven't even read any of the gamethreads around here in a while, but I miss messing around with the game. I intend to take a fairly casual approach to the game but I don't mind if opponents are knee-deep in spreadsheets, like I said, I have no expectations beyond fairly regular turnplaying and keeping a thread of some sort. Anyway, if you're interested, you know what to do...
![[Image: 25-i%20will%20wrestle%20you%20for%20food.jpg]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16500814/PBEM47/25-i%20will%20wrestle%20you%20for%20food.jpg)
![[Image: marquez-pacquiao-meme-photo_m.jpg]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16500814/PBEM47/marquez-pacquiao-meme-photo_m.jpg)
