This game I will use less date timestamps and more of an informal report and include more of my thinking of what is going on at the time. Still being new to this game, I struggle with transcribing thoughts to paper. I started and finished this game in 1 sitting (less than 24 hours after the game was posted.) I added some varients of my own as well (see below.)

Variant per host is I am unable to research/invade or steal/trade shield techs without penalties. Shouldn’t be a problem as this is the tech field I prioritize the least in every game. No shield1 on ships either. Shouldn’t be an issue either.
Additional Variant: No spying EVER. We are proud birds, not shady shape shifters.
Additional Variant: No invasions ever. We are proud birds and will never use other people’s buildings. Bird buildings are the best! Glass and remake!
Additional Variant: No bases all game. We are flying birds. We do not fight in our nest! That is absurd!

Lets look at the map. 5 AI’s are located within 8 yellow stars. This gives it a high likelihood that 2 of the 3 yellow stars nearby hold our enemies. Will need to get a scout blockade up soon, but will wait till I can get 5 or so a turn (following Sirian's model.) There is only 1 world in range, so I send my colony ship there. Send my 2 scouts north to the red star and southwest to the green star.

Colonize Neptunus and it is fertile! Send 14 million over in 1 batch, and since it is fertile, I won’t be trickling it. I find the Guardian at the red star. That blows, I am down to 1 scout. Once I can build a 5 pack, I will pump out 10 scouts.

I scout a bunch of planets, 2 Radiated, 2 Barren, 1 asteroid field and 1 Dead planet. Then there are 4 planets I can settle; One within range, Two I will need range4, and One I will need range 6. Also of note is that Rha is not AI inhabited. I trickle back to my home planet and max population in 2321 and factories in 2324.

Research range4 by 2330 and go for range6. Colonize Crypto in 2332 and send 27 million from Neptunus. 2336 Silicoid are at 6 systems. Antares also has NO AI. Wow. This means the 5 AI are in the 6 other stars. I have an isolated start, which should translate into an easy win. Colonize Aurora in 2338 and in 2342 I scare a human scout away from Tau Cygni with my colony ship and colonize it. Send pop from Neptunus and Crypto.

2344 I learn range6 and go for warp3. It was a difficult choice, as I love warp2 cheap cost, but I won’t be going much more research into propulsion for a while as I will now be switching focus to Planetology which is IT10.

2347 I meet an armed Darlok fighter at Antares, which means my colony ship which will pop out next turn will need some support. In addition, this means they probably have settled the blue start a little to the NW. I considered sending it to Zhardan instead, but instead pumped out a fighter (mark1 computer) a turn from Crypto, which will mean I will have 2v1 and my defensive bonus should carry me. I scout Helos and the Darlok indeed have a dome there.

2350 IT10 hits at 41%. I go for Dead. Send a fighter to Zhardan. Scout humans at Qualye, even though a Silicoid dome is there. Obviously they are allied with half the map by now. It just seems so early! Silicoid own Trax as well.

What was funny about range6 is I got it so I could colonize Darrien, not realizing it was poor, and I actually didn’t send a ship there for several decades once I realized my mistake. I ended up utilizing range6 to poach Antares and Zhardan from the Silicoid though, so still worth it. I just hope I don’t lose Rha cause I didn’t go any LR lasers this game.

In 2354, I colonize Antares and meet 9PE Silicoid. WOW. 9 planets in 54 years. haha Sign up for 25 BC trade. They have Mark2, but want range6 for it and no way am I losing Rha that easily! According to a census, I am the leader in population followed by the Darlok. In 2358, Silicoid colonize Vox. This puts them in range of Rha. I am not going to get it.

In 2359, I colonize Zhardan. I also pumped 2 LR lasers out of my Homeworld and sent them to Rha. In 2363 we have the vote. Wow that is early. It is the Darlok and me. Everyone abstains and I throw my 4 votes for Darlok giving them 8/18. Shoot! Not enough for Final War. Just kidding. I switch all planets to research as Dead is at 9%. Next turn I will leave these worlds on research while I pre-build a dead ship from my home-world.

2365 I learn Dead@21% and am set to build a Dead Colony Ship in 2 turns. My 2 LR lasers reach Rha next turn as well. Things look good. I move research into Construction. Hopefully, I will get RIW. But I don’t. I get IIT9 instead. Choose IT30 from Planetology.

Horrible news! An armed colony ship from the Humans is at Rha. 2 medium lasers can’t beat it I think, so I retreat and they colonize Rha. I was thinking I only had to defend it against Silicoid because it was Dead, but turns out it is Barren and I wasn’t paying 2 close of attention. (Silicoid hadn’t armed their colony ships yet.) I meet the 5PE Humans and start 40BC trade (minimum.)
Unfortunately, both Humans and Silicoids are diplomats. This means I need a voting block ASAP because once those Silicoids fill those planets I will be in trouble. Hopefully the Darlok stay big for a while.

2372 Krypto maxes out factories and I learn IIT9 and go for my only choice, Duralloy armor. At 2374 we have the next vote and this time its me and the Darlok’s 5 votes each for Darlok so they get 10/21. Silicoid also have 5 votes, so they are catching up in population.

2375 Colonize Tao and Ryoun. Silicoid ask me to up trade to 275. I say no as my 25BC isn’t profitable yet and I want a relations boost from eventually going up, not a downswing. (At least from how I understand the trade system.) I sent 32 million to Tao from Neptunus. I want that planet up and running ASAP. I eventually send pop to Ryoun as well.

In 2382, I colonize Darrien. I learn Deep Space Scanner at 2% when Duralloy is at 20% and still not researched yet! I finally get it and there is no RIW in sight. I go for IIT7 instead of AutoRepair or Battle Suits and switch production over to Computers/Planetology. I should have just stayed in Planetology all game. As I have no more planets to colonize for a while, and have a total of 5 small fighters (I scrapped the 2 LR lasers the second they left Rha) I sign a NAP with Silicoid/Humans.

Research on Jammer2 finishes and I go for Mark4 instead of a better scanner. In 2392, Tao maxes out and I put it on reserve spending, and then pump that into Ryoun and Darrien as all my other planets are maxed. First event of the game! Antares goes fertile. Pretty much a worthless event, but better than bad.

2399 we have the vote and it is my race against the Silicoids. Everyone votes for them except the Darlok and I, for a final vote of 14/27 for them. Silicoid come to me and ask to up trade to 250 BC. This time I say yes. I still don’t pop my IT30 even though it is at 33% and I have been waiting forever!

IT30 pops next turn at 39% and I go for Soil Enrichment. I spend the next 10 turns playing SimCity with transferring pop from my 2 fertile planets everywhere and maxing out factories again and continue to transfer reserves, as needed everywhere. I up my trade agreement with the humans to 300 BC.

I get a “Withdraw or Die” message from the Humans. Some diplomats they are! I must be getting to big. I check the map and I have no ships at any of their planets and I check my relations and it fell from amiable to relaxed. Being that my weapons tech is still level 1 even though its past 2400. I’m not exactly prepared for war here. FARMERS GAMBIT FTW!

2412 I get Soil Enrichment and go for IT40. I can’t believe no waste cleanup techs yet I put some research into weapons and trade Jammer2 for hand lasers so I can start on a slightly higher tier and I go for HyperX Rockets.

2417 I get Mark4 and go for IRC4. I have no waste cleanup though, so I drop the spending in computers considerably. Warp3 is at 10% even though I have had no more than 1 click it in for the past 73 years! LOL Excellent in propulsion helps I guess.

2419 I learn HyperX and go for Neutron Blaster. In 2420, I learn warp3 and go for warp4. In 2423 I learn IIT7 and go for Zortium Armor. STILL NO RIW!!!!

Time for the vote. The Silicoids get 15 of 31 and I abstain with my 11. I have a veto. I am not sure if I can keep it for long though. I may need to go to war in about 100 years. I’m a little slow on the warmongering side of things. My poor planet finally maxes factories! All planets are on tech except Tau, which is on Reserve spending. I’d start building fighters if my neighbors weren’t calm/amiable and diplomats. I know Silicoid is aggressive, but I’m not worried. Haha.

I learn Neutron blaster and go for the cheaper Anti-Matter Bomb. I have been checking trade offers every 10 turns or so and now the Silicoid are offering Merc Missiles for Soil Enrichment. I take it, but don’t trade with the Humans. I love Merc Missiles. If my race ever decided to overthrow me and build bases they will have something decent on them. But that will not happen. I shouldn’t have spent any research points in Weapons lol.

I get IT40 and go for cloning. I didn’t realize earlier that I “went back” for IT40, otherwise I would have skipped it. This way at least I should maintain my veto. Gienah goes poor (Darlok.) Better than me! I get Zortium Armor and go Exoskeleton. STILL NO RIW! In 2441 the Silicoid ask me to up my trade agreement from 250 to 275. What are they smoking?? I’m making about 150 a turn from the trade and probably 25 years from maturity and they want to half the ratio for an extra 25BC? Morons! I am almost at 5k in reserves. I need to think of a way to spend this (poor it into research or war?)

2443 Meklar have been genocided by Darloks. I learn Cloning and Fusion Drives and go for GAIA and warp5. Everyone votes for the Silicoid again except me. 20/32. I learn IRC4 but don’t upgrade as I couldn’t handle the costs. I go for Advanced Scannor. I get Exoskeleton and go for Andrium armor. Still no RIW (sniff). I get a quake at Neptunus, which kills 21 million and destroys 80 factories.

I get anti-matter bombs and go for anti-matter torpedoes. I get GAIA and go for COMPLETE ECO RESTORATION!!! Finally. I get warp5 and go for range10. In 2474 the vote occurs and the Silicoids get 23 out of 36. WHEW! Exactly 2/3rd but not more than that. I get Eco Restration at 20% and my costs just went WAY DOWN!!! Sweet. I go for IT80. I spend 4k of my 13.5k reserves on factory buildings. I get the supernova event at Antares with a 12 year deadline. I put max reserve spending into the planet. Even with this my research output is more than double (was 1800 now is 3800) Once the supernova passes I will probably be at 4x what I was before Eco Restoration. A couple turns later and all my planets max factories and I’m pumping 6k worth of research out.

I build my solar reju and learn Advanced Scanner, go for mark6. Tech output is 7119. I increase my trade agreements (which are fully mature) with the Silicoids to 1750 and with the Humans to 550. I learn torpedoes and go for Phasors. I get IT80 and go back for Universal Antidote. I spend the rest of my reserves on population and factories. I learn Andrium and go for Tritanium Armor.

2499 Humans abstain in the next vote so Silicoids get 17/38. 2501 Tech output is 8500 with Tao back on reserve spending. This is compared to 1800 25 turns ago!!! All planets maxed pop/factories. I get range10 and meet the 8PE Darlok. I go for high energy focus and start up minimal trade 115BC with the shapeshifters. They refuse a NAP (maybe because I have 5 small 1-laser fighters and no bases haha) and relations are uneasy. I get the merchant event for 2k. Brings me from 6800 to 8800.

2510 I learn Mark6 go for Jammer7. I learn Phasor and start Herc Missiles. I learn Trit Armor and go for Battle Armor. The Humans tell me to cease expanding or else! I get High Energy Focus and go for Subspace teleporter. I get antidote and go for Advanced Cloning. I get the newest Jammer and go for hyperspace communications. I get Herc Missiles and go for Neutronium Bomb.

2524 The vote occurs and Humans abstain with their 5 votes. I have 18 out of 40 votes and abstain as well. Everyone else votes for Silicoids. I get the subspace teleporter and go for indictor. The Darlok warn me of Bird Madness. In 1993 did they know what avian flu was? H1N1 FTL. Their relations with me are neutral now.

I learn Advanced Cloning and go for Complete Terraforming. I get Armor and go for Complete Waste Elimination. I get Hyperspace communications and go IRC6. I get Herc missiles and go for Particle Phasor. Ryoun gets the irradiated event
Well it looks like the Silicoid have range to reach the 2 radiated planets by me and are sending a colony ship and a huge fleet of huge/large designs. I cancel the NAP and start pumping out small warp4 mark4 Phasors with subspace teleporter. In 3 turns I have 1300 waiting for them (reserve spending) at the planet and I win by 300 ships. 1000 birds died today, the first deaths since we met the Guardian. Silicoid declare war. I dial up the Darlok but they are unwilling to join me. The humans however join for 1975 BC.

I start pumping small designs of Phasors and a bomber and sending them to the front lines. It is time to start War! My people may be a bit sloppy and overconfident, but we can sure push out the numbers fast! We have the vote. I vote for myself and the humans join me for 23 out of 40 votes. After dialing up the Darlok every turn, they finally agree to War for Fusion drives. Haha. However the next turn, the Darlok declare war on us!!! Wow.

2553 was a big year for me. I bombed 4 planets and colonized 3 of them getting the 13 planet message. The following year bomb 3 more Silicoid planets and 1 Darlok planet. The Humans come to me to give me their undying loyalty, I accept! I learn Complete Terraforming and then start at the bottom of the tree. I get the next benchmark warning GNN message and meet the 3PE Kats.

2558 GENOCIDE SILICOID
2561 GENOCIDE DARLOK (also in news leaders preparing to merge message) I learn whatever weapons tech I was on and go for scatterparkX etc etc etc.

I take out the Guardian for revenge for killing my scout. This was our glorious fleet’s only loss in 2 centuries of our civilization until the war. I don’t learn any force field techs from it. I learn 1 day later, if I got a tech I would have been penalized. Way to include that late!!! lol No harm no foul. I colonize Orion and wait for the vote, which I win with 24/32.
GG 2575
Rename file from .doc to .gam to view

I seem to have a knack on Hard-with-variants Imperia of having seemingly good openings kill me at the first vote, and did it again here with all 5 AI's lining up against me while being a bit short of 1/3rd. Sigh. I've done my share of complaining already about the MOO metagame; maybe if I played this as a kid and hadn't learned Civ4 before MOO I'd be able to swallow pride and shamelessly exploit/bribe AI's to not vote against me.

It's a little early in my time zone, but since I lose 'net access for the day in fifteen minutes, I'll put this up nonetheless. Reports may be posted in the Tournament Reports subforum as always; my own should be up sometime late tomorrow or Tuesday. I hope everyone had fun with this one!

After playing my 2nd ever MP civ game last night with some of you guys, I was wondering if we could set up something more regular to maybe get a bit more MP experience for some of us.

Looking around gamespy, there are rarely any games for newbs like me and I was hoping we could use this thread as an 'announcement thread' for nights people can play.

I would like some more team games with new guys combined with experienced guys so that people like myself can learn multiplayer techniques and get more acquainted with it.

Late notice, but I'll be hosting a multiplayer game in Beyond the Sword for anyone interested in getting their feet wet. Any and all or no experience is okay!

Game will start in 2.5 hours, at 8:00pm EST. Hope to see you there!

I'm going to play an Always War game with 2 of my friends. We've set everything up and all that remains is to pick my civ/leader
Settings:
Always War
Small Snaky Archipelago
Quick Speed
Unrestricted Leaders
No Tribal Huts
No Random Events
No Barbs
Catch: I'm playing a 2 vs 1, and I'm the 1. They have decided to play as Peter of the Incans, and Kublai Khan of the Babylons.
Potential Civ/Leader for me?

Hey Civ Fans!

Fastmoves has now been up for three months and we´re hitting 50 articles. I´d like to use the opportunity to provide anyone interested in in-depth analysis of all sorts of strategies, game mechanics and other civ related aspects with an overview of the work done so far.

Work on the site´s relaunch containing lots of new features is currently underway...

[SIZE="4"]Introductions into Civilization Multiplayer[/SIZE]
Introductionary articles for players that are new to Civilization Multiplayer. They contain information on concepts of civilization that are not used in singleplayer but in multiplayer and introduce the common game formats in the multiplayer community.

A summary of the ways civ4 is played in multiplayer

Civilization Multiplayer: city elimination, simultaneous turns and timer

Useful Tools: Civ4Fans, Teamspeak and Hamachi


[SIZE="4"]General Articles on Civilization Multiplayer[/SIZE]
The Art of Attacking in Civilization Multiplayer
Extensive Article on how to attack best in Civ Multiplayer explaining underlying principles, the effects of terrain and culture. Shows and explains several strong ways of attacking, like direct hit, fork and culture bomb.

Defending in Civ MP
Counterpart of the article on attacking. Explains the importance of sentry network and culture, gives advice on how to plant your cities to provide good defense, block enemy moves and how to best counter approaching stacks.

Anti-Choke: Dealing with Warriors and Archers in Ancient
Guide on how to defend against units attacking you early in game. Gives detailed information on how to anticipate units coming for you and how to best protect your buildup.

Vision range and its role for offense and defense in civilization multiplayer
Describes the rules of vision range for units, which is very important for building up a sentry network for defense on the one hand and plan sneaky attacks on the other hand.

How to read the Power Graph in Demographics
Lists of power values of important units, average unit values in each era and guide on how to device the amount of enemy army from the demography screen.

Tricks #1: The Culture Bug
Explains the use of the so called culture bug, that allows you to build culture and a unit/building in the same turn. This is a common (and important) part of later era games.

The Art of Boating
Article on efficieny and different ways of attacks via sea (commonly called boating). Gives advice on when boating makes sense and how to do so best.

Putting a Great General to good use
Explains the diffent ways a Great Geneal can be used.

*NEW*The Happiness Cap*NEW*
Explanations of the concept of the "happiness cap" and its impact on the game and possible strategy.


[SIZE="4"]Ironman/ffa/cton[/SIZE]
Traits in ffa and Ironman
About the individual usefulness of traits for ffa and Ironman type games and how you have to adopt your game style to those traits in order to put them to full use.

Maps, Difficulty, Settings – how to adapt
Description of what impact different maps and other options like difficulty have on the game, how you need to adopt your game style to that and what influence that has on how good the different traits and civs are, with a special focus on choice of civ.

Interaction of traits and choice of leader
Article explaining how the traits interact with each other, why certain combinations aren´t good and two good traits dont make a good leader and what combinations can be useful in which situation.

When to attack and NOT attack
Guidelines on what circumstances are necessary for a war to make sense in a Ironman/cton/ffa game with special distinction from duels and teamers.


[SIZE="4"]Introductions into later Eras (non ancient start)[/SIZE]
Most players only know Civilization games starting in ancient era. However in multiplayer every era is used as starting era, to enjoy all parts civ while keeping games within a reasonable timeframe.
The buildup principles and strategies for later era starts are obviously very different from ancient (especially Renaissance and later). The articles of this category explain the basic buildup principles for their specific era and give an overview of common strategies in order to introduce players into those eras, that are new to them.

Renaissance Start, especially in Multiplayer Teamer

Modern and Future Start, especially in Multiplayer Teamers

*NEW*Introduction into Industrial*NEW*

*NEW*Introduction into Medieval*NEW*


[SIZE="4"]Other Strategy Articles[/SIZE]
About the Expansive Trait
Math behind and use of the strongest trait in ancient start, noble difficulty.

A Flop5 of Unique Units

A Top7 of Unique Units


[SIZE="4"]National Wonders[/SIZE]
National Wonders #1: Flop3
*NEW*National Wonders #2: Top3 *NEW*
*NEW*National Wonders #3: Good. Basic. Not Game Breaking.*NEW*


[SIZE="4"]Series Civics in Focus[/SIZE]
Each part explains one branch of the Civics menu. The articles contain the effects and requirements of each Civic, explain in which game formats and in which situations they can be used and give short introductions into how they can be put to their best effect.

I. Government
II. Legal
III. Labor
*NEW*IV. Economy*NEW*


[SIZE="4"]Series Good UB - Bad UB[/SIZE]
Series on Unique Buildings. Each Part evalutates two to 4 unique buildings, explaining in what situations they can be used and why they are useful there - or otherwise why they are not.

Introductory post of each Part:
There are no just good or just bad buildings
Even though the title suggests different, there are basically no just good or just bad unique buildings (and units). Every UB and UU has to be evaluated in the context of the game settings and overall strategy it´s supposed to be used in. A (fictional) unique unit archer that gets +100% against melee units is useless in an game played on Islands, where you have no (military) contact with your opponents until Astronomy is researched and archers are long obsolete. A unique building is good if it significantly supports a (playable) strategy.

#1 Research Institute, Terrace
#2 Salon, Hippodrome
#3 Mint, Ger
#4 Forum, Baray
#5 Pavilion, Stele, Rathaus, Ikhanda
#6 Assembly Plant, Mausoleum, Hammam, Ball Court
#7 Obelisk, Odeon
#8 Dun, Citadel, Totem Pole
#9 Apothecary, Garden, Dike
*NEW*#10 Cothon, Trading Post, Feitoria [b]*NEW*
*NEW*#11 Madrassa, Sacrificial Altar, Stock Exchange, Seowon, Mall, Ziggurat[/b]*NEW*


[SIZE="4"]The Fastmoves Challenge[/SIZE]
Fastmoves multiplayer related edition of the game of the month, with video analysis on the best possible approach afterwards.

#1 Robinson Crusoe´s thirst for knowledge
[url="http://fastmoves.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/fastmoves-challenge-1-the-video-solution/">Video Solution[/url]
#2 Montezuma´s Revenge
*NEW*#3 Smart Ragnar*NEW*


[SIZE="4"]Concept Ideas[/SIZE]
Articles on conceptional ideas for Civilization, like new functions for building or guidelines for mapskripting.

#1 Building: Assembly Line

#2 City Commerce and Specialization

#3 Mapdesign for Multiplayer Civ


[SIZE="4"]Fun and co[/SIZE]
Single Player Funkiness

4 city Ancient buildup with Shaka

*NEW*Report on CCC Playoff Match between clans [RUS] and [PPP]*NEW*


[SIZE="4"]Not Gameplay related Stuff[/SIZE]
Civilization Network – a commentary

*NEW* New Mapscript: fm_Mirror_Inland_Sea1*NEW*
Inland_Sea version with mirrored resources and starting positions.


[SIZE="4"]Echoes from the Civ World[/SIZE]
Echos from the Civ World #1

*NEW* Announcement of Civilization 5*NEW*

*NEW* Civilization 5: First info and screenshots *NEW*

*NEW* Civilization 5: "1-unt-per-tile" concept *NEW

*NEW* Civilization 5: trailer by 2k.Games *NEW*

Anyone install Moo2 in Win7 64 bit? I tried to copy the CD and run the setup in Win98/Win95/XP compat with no luck.

DosBox will not run it as it is not a dos app. Not sure if there is an install.bat to install in Dos mode and use Orion2 in DosBox. Never used the Dos version.

So ... what do we think of the NoScore mod so far? As I said somewhere else, this isn't the way I would have done it. I like the idea but think there is room for improvement ... so ... what would I improve ...

• I would have shown the players score
  
• other teams get a score of '1' and are shown in the scoreboard alphabetically
  
• score graph removed
  
• demographics included but 'max, min and average' columns removed - maybe include the average
  
• score victory condition doesn't show best opponent
  

If anybody wants to discuss this, maybe do it here instead of in various spoiler threads. Remember, no spoilers though...