That's right! PBEM5 forum hijack alert! Well in the traditional first post nonsense, here's a silly (and pretty cheesy) story just in case of an accidental click:

Lawyer Story

A Mafia Godfather finds out that his bookkeeper has stolen ten million bucks from him. This bookkeeper is deaf. It was considered an occupational benefit, and why he got the job in the first place, since it was assumed that a deaf bookkeeper would not be able to hear anything he'd ever have to testify about in court.

When the Godfather goes to shakedown the bookkeeper about his missing $10 million bucks, he brings along his attorney, who knows sign language. The Godfather asks the bookkeeper, "Where is the $10 million bucks you embezzled from me?"

The attorney, using sign language, asks the bookkeeper where the $10 million dollar is hidden. The bookkeeper signs back: "I don't know what you are talking about."

The attorney tells the Godfather, "He says he doesn't know what you're talking about"

That's when the Godfather pulls out a 9 mm pistol, puts it to the bookkeeper's temple, cocks it, and says, "Ask him again!"

The attorney signs to the underling, "He'll kill you for sure if you don't tell him!"

The bookkeeper signs back, "OK! You win! The money is in a brown briefcase, buried behind the shed in my cousin Enzo's backyard in Queens!"

The Godfather asks the attorney: "Well, what'd he say?"

The attorney replies, "He says you don't have the nerve to pull the trigger.

Don't you just love lawyers?

-------------------------

First post coming up next

I like the fundamentals of the unrest system, but I don't like how it plays out for a few reasons:
- Sticking 8 spearmen in all but a few of your cities is not interesting.
- The value of a shrine is always the same, assuming there is a rebel to quell. This helps promote the trend of boring building plans for new cities.
- The jumps in the tax system are so big that you almost always use either 1.5gc or 2gc for most of your game.
- You're encouraged to micromanage your cities so there aren't rebels anywhere, rather than having rebels be a common part of the game. It shouldn't always be worthwhile appeasing rebels. A related problem is that once you've micro managed your cities carefully to ensure good rebel control, you have absolutely no incentive to change tax rates.

I propose the following changes:
1) No police effect from any units
2) Religious buildings lower the unrest% rather than simply calming one rebel. Example: You're using a tax rate of 1.5gc, leading to a 30% unrest rate. A shrine reduces unrest by 10%, lowering the unrest level for that city to 20%.
3) Revised tax/unrest table

Tax table

There are quite a few things about experience to play around with:
1) Stat gains per experience level
2) XP required to reach certain levels
3) XP gain for summoned creatures (DROPPED)

I know the last one is controversial, and it's not decided on by any means, so I'd prefer to leave that one be for now and focus on the other two.

Apparently it's quite easy from a technical perspective to mod stat gains and XP requirements. I'd like some feedback on what to change here, and why.

UPDATE

[EDIT: My report now posted in the usual spot! More later.]

Quick results summary:

Outcome: Extermination Victory, [EDIT: 2480] (+20)
Hostile Planets Owned: All 11 (+22)
Undecisive High Council Meetings: 4 (-20)
Silicon Glass Bonus: 10 (+10)

TOTAL SCORE: 32

More to come....

For those who didn't follow SG2-Wonders or Else!, Tatan, Nakor, and myself roughed up the Monarch AIs pretty bad. So now it's time to try our hand at Emperor. We could use an extra turn player or two. We move along pretty quickly. We got 325 or so turns played in four weeks, so this shouldn't be a SG that drags on too long. Lurker comments are again encouraged. But there won't be any variant this time, since Emperor is still pretty high up the skill level for us.

Players:
1. Gold Ergo Sum
2. Nakor
3. Tatan
4. Kyan
5. TT

I rolled four completely random starts in between watching the Heat v Celtics. The only setting is Vassal States off:



Zara of Germany:





Vicky of India:





Suryavarman of Greece:





Ghandi of Carthage:





Nakor has voted for Vicky of India. I like that start as well, but I am open to any of them.

I know it's possible to mod the costs of retorts to some extent, but don't know how much. Many retorts are quite useless as is, others can be balanced through cost changes.

I would like to increase the number of picks in order to make it possible to fine tune retort costs better. If # of picks and costs of everything were doubled, we'd effectively be able to increase retort costs in increments of half picks (using current cost levels).

Please offer feedback on cost and effect changes, I'll post some ideas later.

Source

Quote:Previously a subscription based massively multiplayer online game, Champions Online has announced plans to change their business model early next year, offering the game for free to anyone with an internet connection. Read the full press release below and thanks to SHH reader Simon for bringing the news to our attention:Atari Inc., one of the world's most recognized videogame publishers, and renowned MMO developer Cryptic Studios have announced today that their superhero MMORPG, Champions Online™, will be free to play beginning Q1 2011. Players will be able to download and enjoy the game at absolutely no cost.

Champions Online free-to-play also features additional premium content for purchase. Adventure Packs, items, powers and costume pieces can be selected a la carte inside Cryptic's innovative C-Store. Additionally, current players may continue subscribing as Gold members, while new players may also optionally upgrade to Gold status, which unlocks most of the game's content and includes extra features for a set price of $14.99 per month.

"Transitioning Champions Online to the free-to-play model is a great opportunity to reach a whole new audience of PC gamers that view subscription fees as a barrier to entry," said John Needham, CEO of Cryptic Studios. "By taking care of our current subscription-based community and welcoming the addition of new players through free-to-play, Champions Online is poised to build upon its success and to establish a new leadership position as the first free-to-play superhero MMO."

Champions Online has been lauded since its launch for the customization options it gives players. The switch to free-to-play gives players even more control over their gameplay:

* Unlimited Play Time – Play as much as you like, as long as you like, at absolutely no cost. No subscription or credit card required.
* Your Own Hero, Your Own Story – Become a hero, encounter his or her Nemesis, and advance to maximum level at no cost.
* Play Your Way – Utilize the optional web-based and in-game C-Store to purchase gameplay upgrades or additional premium content.

The Champions Online free-to-play closed beta test begins on November 9, 2010 and will be made available to a subset of current players, with potential openings for new users.

Champions Online brings epic heroism to the MMORPG genre with depth that challenges the most experienced online gamers, while its fast-paced action engages new entrants to the online superhero universe. Join with Defender and the legendary Champions to stop Dr. Destroyer and his minions in the ultimate showdown between good and evil.

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I colonize Dunatis.

Psilons colonize their 3rd world.

I colonize Galos.

I colonize Rhilus,

I meet Klackons (Aggressive Diplomats) with 2 colonies, sign 50 trade.

I colonize Collassa.

My scouts find Psilons on Escalon.

I colonize Rigel.

I meet Psilons (Honorable Expansionists) with 3 colonies, sign 100 trade.

Psilons colonize Primodius.

Psilons colonize Spica.

Klackons declare war on me.
I build alot of small laser ships and destroy Psyco every time Klackons colonize it.

I steal Shield2 from Klacons.

I meet Mrrshan (Xeno Technologists), sign 125 trade.

I steal IIT8 from Klacons.

I steal BCM2 from Psilons.

I steal Range5 from Klackons.

Mrrshans declare war on me.

I steal Range 6 from Klackons.

I colonize Tyr.
Elections.
Psilons are chosen to be the High Master.
Psilons are way ahead of me in techs and I cant steal anything from them, so I accept it.
Exiled from the known galaxy...


http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/attachmen...1288096545

CURRENT SUGGESTION
Through Serena's tweaker program you can change starting spells quite easily. First I wanted to go back to the system the game originally had, I've revised the suggestion as follows:

So its been 6 months since my last Orion game. I love the Silicoids and had some free time, so here we go!
Summary of Game:
Despite making many mistakes due to not playing in 6 months, this was a pretty easy win and I didn’t feel in danger of losing at any point. My goal was to prolong the first vote for as long as possible, and go to final war to prevent future votes as early as possible. This didn’t really work out as I made the following mistakes. 1. I didn’t realize the Bugs were below me, which allowed them to get several systems that I could have prevented with laser fighters etc. This was huge. 2. My ship designs were horrible (2 many Huge designs early) and became obsolete quickly. 3. I played it too safe and should have went to final war earlier. 4. I didn’t colonize Hostile planets as fast as I could. 5. I lost a planet and had to retake it. 6. I didn’t move Pop nearly as much as I should have, especially mid game. 7. My tech choices were horrible, I should have prioritized computers much earlier than I did. 8. My steals were bad. 9. I didn’t go Planet shielding10, which would have made defending my colonies much easier and I wouldn’t have lost one. 10. I built 2 many ships and not enough bases.

All the same, the Silicoids are just 2 strong (+ there were so many Rich worlds to feed my reserves). I don’t believe I have ever lost an Impossible game with them. I love having tons of worlds at half pop, half factories and constantly moving a couple million around until its time to fill them up 1 by 1. I didn’t do that this game and just cloned them all once I learned it and let them grow slowly after the initial load of 20 million Pop etc, which was dumb. I know I won’t get first place, and will probably get last place in this Imperium, but as I hadn’t played for awhile, my main goal was to win and have a positive score at the end.
I decide to go north for the purple star due to the increased chance of finding a rich world, build 4 scouts and 3 scouts the next turn. I colonize Dunatis a small size 10 world in 2303 and send 7 million over. I got lucky since Phyco was not hostile. I figured both would be hostile lol.
My scouts report that Rhilus/Galos/Collassas are hostile. The rest of planets within range are not. Rhilus and Galos are both rich. And Galos is now in range 3. I start a colony ship in 2310 which will be due in 6 years.

2311-Psilons retreat from Collassas. I'm going to need LR lasers there soon is my first thought, but since it is an inferno world, maybe they won't try so hard for it? I change my mind when I realize their world is probably range4 away anyways. Not playing in 6 months is making me rusty, but I'm a noob anyways.
2316-Colony ship is on route to Dunatis through RELOC and will then go to Galos. I put homeworld back on factory building and open tech on propulsion to see if I have cheap range4 with a few BC from Dunatis. And it is! I put homeworld on max research.
2320-Colonize Galos. Get the GGN 3 star system warning. Transfer 27 million from homeworld over and 5 million from Dunatis. I want that place up and running ASAP. My tech breakthrough is 16% so I drop it to 33 RP and start a colony ship due in 6 years. Brings my tech down to 11%
2322-Discover range 4, select only option for Nuclear Engines. Put a click in Computers/ Construction/ Planetology to see what is available. Lower research to 7 RP from homeworld and 9 RP from Dunatis
I decide on Deep Space Scanner, IIT9 (only option) and IT10 (only option) and switch my focus to IT10 while leaving a little in warp2 so I don't lose my bonus's.

2329-Big year. Klackon come with an invasion force and take Phyco. My scout couldn't stop him. I was very surprised as they would need range 7? to get that far over. Turns out they started south of me and I didn't even realize it!! I also discover IT10 and start on IT20 and move research into force fields 50%. I start a 25 BC trade agreement. Relations are uneasy. I design a small laser fighter and start building 3 a turn while terraforming. I have 117 factories on my homeworld, so already more than I need. I meant to stop at 100.
2330-Colonize Rhilus. Send 25 million from homeworld.
2334-I remember to check Klackons report. Aggressive Diplomat. I don't like the aggressive, but it is better than ruthless since I have no defense. Diplomat means hopefully he doesn't declare war on me. I notice he has about a trillion Sabre's going to and from Phyco.
2338-Galos maxes out and starts pumping into reserves. I start sending 2 million from homeworld to Rhilus until it maxes and then start feeding reserves into it as well.
2345-I survived, no attacks yet. Maybe this relationship will work out? I learn level2 shields and max out Rhilus. I move to research and start a slow 16 year base building project at both rich colonies. I even out the research and choose Hyper-V (only option)
2350-50 year report-I'm pulling 369 in BC trade and have emptied my reserves. I'm 8 years from bases on my rich planets, and 20 years on my homeworld. I'm not even bothering yet on my small planet. Relations are neutral with Bugs, but they overwhelm me in everything except planets. They even have more population than me.
2353-Learn warp2, start on range7. Following year I learn Deep Space Scanner and go for IRC3. The year after that I get IT20 and IIT9. I go for Duralloy and IT30.
2362-I learn Hyper-V and have 3 choices, I go for NPG since it is the cheapest and I have no war plans.
2367-Learn Personal shield and go for planet5. Next turn I learn IRC3 and go for Mark4.

2371-3PE Psilons meet me. I start trade at 30 BC, they have a lot to trade, but nothing I want and they want IRC3, so I don't opt for anything. 2 years later they send a colony ship to Zhardon. Thankfully it just had missiles and after firing them both retreated. I build a warp2 medium heavy laser with level2 shields from Galos and started sending them to Zhardan/Vulcan. It was at this time I realized Collassa was Hostile and in range4 lol. Started a colony ship at Rhilus.
2375-Colonize Collassa, meet the Cats. Start trade at 35. Call the bugs, up trade to 200. Send millions from homeworld to Collassa and start putting money in reserves and then feeding it to Collassa. I scout Tyr and fine it Hostile. Start a LR colony ship. I'm a little slow this game.

2385-Colonize Tyr-GNN 6 star system and trigger the high counsel. Everyone has 3 votes. Me vs Bugs. We both vote for the Bugs. (-5 points)
2388-I learn IT30 and go for the antidote. Later I get Mark4 and go for ECJ4
2394-I learn NPG and go for Merc Missiles. 4 years later I get Duralloy Armor and go for AutoRepair. I repel another colony ship attack from the Brains on Zhardon.

2399-The Vote occurs. This time the Brains cast their votes for the bugs. I have to abstain with my 4 votes. Everyone else has 3. I sign NAPS with everyone but Cats who refuse. I trade IRC3 for AutoRepair and go for Zortium armor. (-5 points again) I start spying with 1 click on everyone.
GNN states I'm the biggest. 2402-I learn Planet Shield 5. Start on Shield5.
GNN states I'm 3rd in tech with the Cats behind me.
2414-I learn ECJ4 and start on Advanced Scanner. Uggg I realize Klackon hold Zhardon. Forgot about the rules of the NAP. Once I get Merc's, it will be time to start thinking about War. I switch spies to espionage. My computer tech is pretty good compared to the other races and they have pulsars, mercs etc. I scrap every ship I have.
2417 I learn range7 and start on energy pulsar. Increase spying to 2 clicks.
2422-All my planets are maxed on people and factories.

2424-Vote goes the same (-15 total now) I up trade to max with Brain/Cats and make minor trades to improve my computer tech and give me less stupid options when I am successful. I move tech to 80% computers allocation. I shortly thereafter get Advanced Scanner and then start building LR colony ships warp2.
2430-Colonize Ajax. Send millions from homeworld. Pour reserves into it.
2432-Colonize Xendalla and Gion and get the 9 planet GNN message. Send over pop. Poor reserves into it. I learn Merc missiles.
2437-Colonize Selia, get the leaders are preparing to merge.
2440-Bugs break their Non-Aggression Pact. This isn't great, since I have no fighters. I start building Missile bases. I currently have 1 per world. Time to ramp up. I learn Zort armor, go for IT5.

2450-(-20 now) Me Vs Bugs. Everyone Abstains this time so I vote for the Bugs. I was thinking about final war here, but no option for it. Cats send weak attacks to several of my new colonies and the Klackon send something like 6000 ships to Collassa (I have no ships there). It turns out 5990 of them are carrying nukes and only 10 ships are a threat. I trade Biotoxin to the Cats for Inertia Stabilizers. I then trade ECJ4 for Sheilds4 with the Psilons. I trade Biotoxin to Klackon for Impulse drives. I also sign them up for a NAP for 1050 BC. I quickly design a medium Merc Ship and a Huge Blaster Ship and hope for the best The merc ships should be fine against the weak Cats and the Blaster Ship is for the counter attacks. I win all battles against the Cats (they retreated). Thanks to my shielding I win against the Klackons who retreated their 6k small nuke bomb ships and lost half of their Merc Missile ships before retreating only killing 2 of my 5 missile bases.

I learn IRC5, go for Mark8. I zero out my reserves during this time by continuing to beef up my new colonies and my old colonies refitting etc I send one of my new Blaster Ships to attack the Cats at Rigel and send 40 million from my homeworld there as well. I win the space fight easy. However my 40 against their 40, I lose. Even though my armor is 3 times better and I have a personal sheild, their rifles and defensive bonus carried it for them. I send 22 million from Collassa and trade Inertia Stabilizer for Battle suits with the Bugs. 2 of the 3 races tell me I am 2 big. My new battle suits were a big hit! I start with 22 vs 16 and win with 11 left over. I capture 78 factories and learn 3 outdated techs.

The Cats homeworld has been bombed to oblivion. This leaves the Cats with 1 planet, Primodius. Psilons have 3 and the Bugs have 6 and I have 11. I break my NAP with the Psilons and send my Blaster to Spica. They have 35 bases, but can't do enough damage to break my AutoRepair. I destroy all the bases and send an invasion force. The Klackon break their NAP with me. I steal HyperX from them. My invasion is 72 vs the Brain's 69. I win with 15 remaining and get 186 factories. I find at the ruins, Graviton Beam, Mark5, Shields6, IT40 and Mark6. Psilons declare War. I design a Hybrid Graviton/Blaster ship with improved computers and shields. I steal Range6 from Klackon and Ion Cannon from Psilons. I notice the Psilons are at war with everyone in the Galaxy. Cats retake Escalon, so I send a blaster there and destroy it.
2468-Brains genocide Cats. I send 1 Blaster to Rana and 1 to Mentar. My new Grav4 pop's out and I send it to Mentar as well. My Blaster at Rana destroys everything but the bases which have 2 much shielding. I sign the Bugs up to an alliance for Mark4 and up trade to 800. I design a small fusion bomber model and make a new Huge model hybrid of Graviton/Fusions. I defend a couple attacks here and there but my Blaster is unstoppable and with Impulse engines can be at any planet attacked. I learn shield5 and go for shield7. I steal Fusion drives from the Psilons.

We have the last vote of the game (which ended conclusively so no -5 this time.). Psilons vote for Klackons and so do I putting us at final war. I think I should be fine. 2 years later I lose a Blaster ship as the Psilons planets now have scatter pack 7, instead of HyperV. This isn't good. 2 turns later, Klackons capture Rigel with 22 million left over. Uh oh,

I send my own invasion force over and take it, and learn outdated tech. No Ion Rifle. I stop building Huge ships and bombers since I can't really fight against Missile bases yet. Attacks come left and right to different colonies. Wherever they send attacks, I mass missile bases with reserve spending. I learn Hard Beam and go for Omega V. Most of my fleet is at Rigel while I wait for it to remake its shield and bases.

2480-The attacks are getting stronger and stronger. So far my Missile Bases and Huge ships are barely winning. I'm regretting skipping planetshields10 as I could scrap all my ship and just focus on tech. Ship costs is 10% of my expenses. On a side note, I bomb Escalon/Fieras/Primodius every 3 turns or so and retreat. I learn Energy Pulsar and move to Stargates and reduce research to only 1 click in Propulsion.
2490- I finally learn Cloning and start ramping up my worlds that aren't full of my people. I go for IT50. The attacks are now getting weaker which is a relief. I prioritize computers/weapons/shields. I steal ECJ3 from Psilons.

2497-So much for weak attacks every turn. Klackons send 600 small fusion bombers to me with some Large ships thrown in. They take out 10 of my 32 bases at Galos before I destroy them all.
2502-I steal Ion rifle from the Psilons. The computer is very annoying with its repulser beam. Several battles take the max amount of turns after I hit auto at Fieras etc. The Enemy has sent their best attacks and come up short though. It looks like the beginning of the end for them. They have no battle computers on their fusion ships so they do almost no damage to me. Once I steal some better engines or teleporter, it will be over for them.

2505-I learn OmegaV and go Pulson. Bugs/Brains continue to fight a war of attrition on me where I destroy all their ships and they destroy some missile bases. This game is definitely over. Bugs have 5 planets and Brains have 2 planets. I have 12.
2511-I learn Mark8 and go IRC6. I learn Shield7 and go for 9 (skipping Planet15 shields)
2522-I learn Pulson and go for Herc Missiles. It is pretty lame that I haven't had a tech steal for 20 years when I have 5% of my income going to spying and always have at least 2 spies active in the Bug's operations. the last 20 turns have gone like this. I hit next turn. I fight a battle at 4-6 planets in which I click Auto in each battle and utterly destroy the opposition until they retreat. I hit next turn, repeat. Every 3 years I bomb Primodius etc.
2527-I learn IRC6 and go Mark10. 3 years later I steal Ion drives from the Bugs. Only took 30 years of 5% spending to steal a tech!!! This is with a higher level in computers then them significantly. Man I miss the Darloks.
2536-Steal ECJ6 from Bugs. 3 turns later steal Tritanium armor. I haven't been able to bomb the 3 colonies with no bases for awhile as they are actually defending it now. I increase spending in propulsion. I learn IIT5 go for IIT3
2542-Steal Cloak from the Psilons and Shields3 from the Bugs. Couple turns later I learn Herc Missile and go for Hellfire torp's. I soon learn Mark10 and go for Oracle Interface. I steal Repulser Beam from Bugs. Ugg, I notice they learned Planet15 shielding. I steal Stargates when my tech on it was at 7% lol. I go for Beam+3. By now all my ships have been scrapped or destroyed.

2560-I design a Huge with 52 OmegaV bombs and the latest shields/computers/engines and Autorepair. It does the trick and I destroy 2 of their 3 colonies again. At the 3rd colony 31 Scatter7 destroyed it. I steal Range9 from the Bugs and Shield9 from the Brains. Start on Shield11. Design a new Omega Huge ship and throw ECJ6 on it. SEnd it to Klackon Planets and start owning. I learn IT50 and go for IT60. I steal planetsheild15. I start bombing Antares and building a lot more "bomb3" ships. I steal ECJ5. I lose a Bomb3 ship to the Bug homeworld. I learn Oracle Interface and go Mark11.
2576-After 10 turns of bombing, Antaras is destroyed. My other ships are killing 1-2 base per volley, retreating back to a close world and returning 2 turns later until all bases gone (50-70 average per world). I learn Hellfire missiles and go TriPlasmaCannon. I build a Huge Hellfire design with 12 Hellfires and top shields/computer/etc. It ends up only doing 300 damage to other ships, so I scrap it.

10 years later Rana and Vulcan are destroyed. I lose a Bomber to 50 Knights who have 9 MegaBolt Cannons on them. Soon, I destroy Mentar, Zhardon and Phyco. To add insult to injury I steal IIT4 from the Psilons. Soon I genocide the Psilons and only the Bug homeworld is left and the retaken Antaras. Their knights are killing my Huge ships so I build a medium Herc gunboat and build them at all worlds except 1. Their whole force is at Antares so I try to destroy Kholdan. I am successful. Then for some reason they scrap their Knight ships lol. They sneak in to Rana and I destroy them everywhere else. I then Mass my Herc ships and destroy the Guardian at Orion. That will give me an extra point. I then destroy the last colony in 2618.
End score:
Winning:+20
4 inconclusive votes=-20
11 colonies on hostile worlds (12 planets-homeworld)=22 points
Ship in orbit over 11 non-hostile world=+11
Final score 33 points, Extermination.