Christmas PBEM

[sunrise089]

You could do a 120t pitboss game for Dec on a 6 hour timer. 120t on quick (or 100t if you prefer) was popular for 'CTON' mp games.

[yuris125]

is 6 hour timer realistic? we do need to sleep sometimes

[sunrise089]

is 6 hour timer realistic? we do need to sleep sometimes

Not if there's going to be lots of fighting since double- or triple- moves are too strong.

Long ago I played a 6-hour full-length pitboss outside of RB and versus far inferior competition. In that game the idea was to use a fast timer to mix things up, but play on marathon speed and with a ton of land per civ to make missed turns hurt less. While the game was fun I don't think it would translate to our crowd.

But if the goal is shoehorning a game into December when people have more time, and since 50t games have their own issues, I offer this as an option. You'd just need to put some thought into the map and the other settings, and then of course you'd have to market the game as something more casual where a missed turn wouldn't cause strokes.

EDIT: 100t @ 8 hours per turn allows a luxurious pace

[plako]

Maybe try a community pitboss with 8-10h timer - teams consisting of 2-3 players from america/pacific and 2-3 from rest of the world. Map could be random pangaea with random leaders 5-6 teams small/low sea, 7-8 Standard/high sea...(or maybe Ice age for christmas theme ) Idea is that there would be no detailed micro planning and communication between team members. All turns should be played and finished in 1 sitting unless there are techincal glitches (i.e. no logging out simulating battle results - You play using your gut feeling). If in war or you're going to declare, wait 2h between playing the turns (all double moves are otherwise ok - PB7 was fun, wasn't it ). Everyone could write turn reports, but they should contain only little or no planning for the future i.e. focusing on telling what was done. It would be ideal, if the team would contain couple of veterans and couple of greener players. AI diplo, I think. Every team member has same rights and should play whenever he notices that turn has rolled. Also queuing things up is good idea since there would be no pauses and sometimes it might be no one from the team is available to play.

This would be fast and furious and would include lot of luck concerning the winner, but I suspect it could be quite fun assuming every team ends up having at least 2 active turn players. I'd be happy to join Team 1 in such a game. Also if winner is clear after 40T it is no shame to admit it and start another or consider this format disfunctional. This is the best part of the fast game. It doesn't take long to find out, if it works.

If there is intrest, I think new sign-up thread would be good idea. I hope teams are filled in sign up order i.e. when signing up please pick the 1st slot that you feel suitable for you. If you feel being intermediate player just pick the slot you feel most comfortable with.

Team 1
Eurasia-veteran: Plako
Eurasia-green:??
PacificAmerica-veteran:??
PacificAmerica-green:??
Other members:...Fill this up after filling up at min 5 teams

Team 2
Eurasia-veteran:??
Eurasia-green:??
PacificAmerica-veteran:??
PacificAmerica-green:??
...

Anyone else? Sunrise can you host and maybe even play?

[NobleHelium]

I'd play with you plako. If you don't mind me putting up a bunch of signs trying to tell everyone what to do...

[plako]

Great. This started fast. Maybe this could work:

Team 1
Eurasia-veteran: Plako
Eurasia-green:??
PacificAmerica-veteran: NobleHelium
PacificAmerica-green:??
Other members:...Fill this up after filling up at min 5 teams

Team 2
Eurasia-veteran:??
Eurasia-green:??
PacificAmerica-veteran:??
PacificAmerica-green:??

[sunrise089]

Sunrise can you host and maybe even play?

Yes. I have some thoughts on settings (inland sea, always war, ANONYMOUS) but that could probably be figured out later.

I'm unsure on the signup-order teams though. I get what you're going to do , but if you have a good-faith don't-over-micro rule I think there's a case for solo teams if people want and/or teams of people who like playing with one another.

EDIT: particularly if you have 4 person teams I favor turns shorter than 8-10 hours in order to keep it a December Holiday Pitboss.

[T-hawk]

You could mod the game for a speed faster than quick, say costs as low as 40% or 33% of normal speed. That would get you to more of the game in fewer turns without the skewed nature of a late era start.

[Qgqqqqq]

Sure I'll play, but I can't reliably cover the last half of December. For obvious reasons I'd go on Team 2, PacificAmerica, Green.

[BaII]

I can probably sign up for this Pacific America Green obv on team 1. Although I won't be able to cover for the last 2 weeks fo December.