Tech Thread for FFH PBEM XX

[Ravus Sol]

Still here.

I typed up my preferences but while doing so it feels like a chore. I guess I feel ambivalent about this game... Bob if you ever get that Advanced start/classical era game going give me a shout that's more what I want to try.
Perhaps pull me out if you have 5 people? I can play but I don't feel I will be giving it my all, 5 is enough to play with. If a sixth person can magically appear now would be the time to do it.

-

May as well leave the Preferences here seeing as I typed it but feel free to ignore it If everyone is happy playing with 5 people instead of 6. I don't mind playing helpful Ded-lurker to someone or being the #2 spot in summoned players. (although last time I offered to play Summoner Ellimist Eliminated everyone before I could be summoned :neenernee)

Preference layout stolen from Weezel;

Varients
All players start with a flesh golem- No
All players start with a free shade(can be settled as a great person)- No
All players start with Exploration, Crafting, Ancient Chants, and Agriculture- Yes
All players start with a bonus settler- Yes
All players start with a bonus worker- Yes

Diplo + Options
Diplomacy - Public

Leader/Civ Bans- None
Acheron- Off
Orthus- On
Barbarians- Normal
Living world(double events)- On
Vassals- Off
World spells- On
Tech trading- NTT
Wildlands- Off
Exploits- Don't even know how to use "known" Exploits and don't care to find out so i'm going with "no" on this one.

Map
Unique features- Mapmakers discretion.
Unique Units - Mapmakers decision
Lairs- On
Huts- On

I have only one request if it's a new-ish map-maker; get people to double check! I don't mind waiting an extra week to get lurkers to glance over the map. I've messed up map making myself so I know that the checking stage is important.

Preferance for no pre-placed improvements. Apart from that I don't care about size or shape.

[HidingKneel]

So, my votes:

All players start with a flesh golem - no.
All players start with a free shade - yes.
All players start with 4 techs - no.
All players start with a bonus worker - yes.
All players start with a bonus settler - yes, plus an extra scout and warrior
(so we settle the second city immediatelyish).

Diplo: Full
Acheron: Off or preplaced.
Orthus: On
Barbarians: Normal
Living World: On
Vassals: Off
World Spells: On
Tech Trading: No
Wildlands: No preference.
Exploits: Fine with banning them. Maybe someone should make a list of what is considered an exploit?

Unique features: In, not near starting locations.
Huts: On
Lairs: On
General thoughts on map: As long as it's not overly biased towards particular players or playstyle, I have no objections to anything a mapmaker cooks up.

As for leader bans:

Why ban Hannah and Cardith?
Keelyn is bannable because she's totally broken. Auric/Illians are bannable because they're not all that fun to play against. Calabim because they're ridiculously powerful.

A lot of leaders/civs are strong, but we're not looking to ban every strong choice. Rhoanna is strong, sure. So is Cardith, Hannah, etc. But we're not looking for a dregs game.

If the rest of the players want to ban additional leaders, then fine. But do we really want to restrict the picks down to Sandalphon/Mahala/Os-Gabella/Ethne?

I certainly don't want to play only with the worst leaders. I just think with Hannah there is way too much synergy between the financial trait and the Lanun coastal bonuses.

In general I'd prefer not to think that I need to play a financial leader in order to keep up with the pack. Financial's just too big an advantage to have without some offsetting handicap. I think it's fine on the dwarves, or as an adaptive pick for Cassiel or Cardith (sprawling and agnostic are both huge handicaps). But the other financial leaders seem much stronger to me than Alexis, say.

So my ban votes: Flauros, Auric (or at least Auric can't use stasis),
Keelyn, Hannah, and Rhoanna.

[Yell0w]

Thanks for your private message Ellimist
My votes:

Variant:

All players start with a flesh golem - It feels like a flesh golem would nullify all early problems with barbs and lairs. Which I dislike. But I don't have a better idea so I'll abstent from voting.
All players start with a free shade(can be settled as a great person) - Yes
All players start with Exploration, Crafting, Ancient Chants, and Agriculture - No
All players start with a bonus settler- Yes
All players start with a bonus worker- No

Diplomacy:

In game diplo- Can send messages using in game methods(trade screen, etc.)

More settings to vote on:

Leader/Civ Bans: I vote Illians and Hippus
Acheron - Off
Orthus - don't care
Barbarians - standard settings
Living world - don't care
Vassals - Off
World spells - On
Tech trading - No Technology Brokering
Wildlands - don't care
Exploits - I don't know any exploits. What is the "bare map unique features" thing?

Map stuff:

Unique features Mapmakers discretion. Not too close to start areas though.
Lairs - On
Huts - don't care
All players on same continent
Creative maps are sure nice and I'd like to play on one, but playability and balance should come first, though we playing a variant game so balance might be off anyways.

[Ellimist]

Exploits - I don't know any exploits. What is the "bare map unique features" thing?

I only mention it because it's been used in some games where it wasn't mentioned. I found out about it unintentionally in FFH-9.

If you enable "bare map" mode and zoom out to the "sky view" with the clouds, you can see every preplaced sign on the map. So you could know from turn 1 where all the unique features are, plus any other signs the mapmaker might have placed.

The other one I mentioned is using a spell like maelstrom to declare a war when the game won't let you declare war directly(due to a recent peace treaty.)

[Tholal]

All players start with a flesh golem- Yes/No
All players start with a free shade(can be settled as a great person)- Yes/No
All players start with Exploration, Crafting, Ancient Chants, and Agriculture- Yes/No/Less
All players start with a bonus settler- Yes/No
All players start with a bonus worker- Yes/No

I like all of these options!

Diplomacy options, choose one of the following

I vote for in-game diplo. That way players can still exchange detailed messages, but it will limit communication a bit (and now noone can hold up the turn with the excuse that they're waiting to hear back from another player) without being restricted to the semi-awkward AI diplo.

[Tasunke]

How does In-game diplo work?

You can PM people as long as its during your turn? ...

I think the actual "chat to player" function is a bit buggy for PBEM (and pitboss) games ... is it not?

[Ellimist]

I believe you can send messages via the diplo screen. And of course there's unit/city naming.

It's not a great way to communicate, but that's kinda the point.

[Tasunke]

Ah. I didn't think sending messages via diplo was possible unless a 'trade' was sent as well.

Which led to my regrettable "peace" in a Pitboss to not be named ...

[Ellimist]

Okay, tallying the votes...

Bonuses:

No flesh golem
Yes shade
No free techs
yes bonus settler
yes bonus worker

Also, do we want to give an extra warrior to defend city #2? Are there any objections to something like this?

Previously decided:

Base FFH2 mod
Game speed quick
Restricted leaders
Last days off
ToM victory off

Diplomacy:

Weezel- abstain
Ravus- public
Hiding- full
yell0w- in-game
tholal- in-game
ellimist- in-game

So it looks like in-game it is.

Leader/Civ Bans:

Ellimist- Keelyn/Illians/Calabim
Weezel- Keelyn/Illians/Calabim
Ravus- no bans
Hiding- Flauros/Auric/Keelyn/Hannah/Rhoanna
yell0w- Illians and hippus
tholal- no stated preference

I'm going to interpret this as Keelyn/Flauros/Illians unless there are objections.
It seems a bit tricky to add this one up. Maybe Rhoanna(with two votes) too?

Other:

Acheron- Off
Orthus- Off
Barbarians- Normal
Living World- On
Vassal- Off
World Spells- On
Tech Trading- Off
Wildlands- Weezel votes on. Ravus votes off, but I don't think he's playing. The rest abstain.
Exploits- Banned, as expected.
Lairs- On
Huts- On

The rest of the map preferences are probably best pulled directly from the posts. I can pull the relevant quotes together if requested.

Teacher says, "Show your work!"
Ellimist obliges:

All players start with a flesh golem- Yes/No
Weezel- No
Ravus- No
HidingKneel- No
Yellow- Abstain
Tholal- Yes
Ellimist-

All players start with a free shade(can be settled as a great person)- Yes/No
Weezel- Yes
Ravus- No
HidingKneel- yes
Yellow- Yes
Tholal- yes
Ellimist-


All players start with Exploration, Crafting, Ancient Chants, and Agriculture- Yes/No/Less
Weezel- No
Ravus- yes
HidingKneel- No
Yellow- No
Tholal- yes
Ellimist-


All players start with a bonus settler- Yes/No
Weezel- Yes
Ravus- yes
HidingKneel- Yes
Yellow- Yes
Tholal- yes
Ellimist-

All players start with a bonus worker- Yes/No
Weezel- Yes
Ravus- yes
HidingKneel- Yes
Yellow- No
Tholal- yes
Ellimist-

Okay, so it looks like the consensus is:
No flesh golem
Yes shade
No free techs
yes bonus settler
yes bonus worker

Base FFH2 mod
Game speed quick
Restricted leaders
Last days off
ToM victory off

Diplomacy
Weezel abstain
Ravus public
Hiding full
yell0w in-game
tholal in-game
ellimist in-game

Leader/Civ Bans-
Ellimist- Keelyn/Illians/Calabim
Weezel- Keelyn/Illians/Calabim
Ravus- no bans
Hiding- Flauros/Auric/Keelyn/Hannah/Rhoanna
yell0w- Illians and hippus
tholal- no stated preference


Acheron-
Ellimist- Off or preplaced without Sons
Weezel- Off
Ravus- off
Hiding- off or preplaced
yell0w- off
tholal-

Orthus-
Ellimist- Off
Weezel- Off
Ravus- on
Hiding- on
yell0w- abstain
tholal-

Barbarians-
Ellimist- The usual
Weezel- normal
Ravus- normal
Hiding- normal
yell0w- normal
tholal-


Living world(double events)-
Ellimist- On
Weezel- on
Ravus- on
Hiding- on
yell0w- abstain
tholal-

Vassals-
Ellimist- Off
Weezel- off
Ravus- off
Hiding- off
yell0w- off
tholal-

World spells-
Ellimist- On
Weezel- on
Ravus- on
Hiding- on
yell0w- on
tholal-


Tech trading-
Ellimist- Limited or Banned
Weezel- none
Ravus- none
Hiding- none
yell0w- none
tholal-

Wildlands-
Ellimist- No preference
Weezel- on
Ravus- off
Hiding- abstain
yell0w- abstain
tholal-

Exploits-
Ellimist- No using known exploits, including the the bare map unique features exploit and breaking unbreakable peace treaties with spell damage.
Weezel- no using known exploits
Ravus- ban
Hiding- ban
yell0w- _____
tholal-

Unique features-
Ellimist-
Weezel-
Ravus-
Hiding- not near start positions
yell0w- not near start positions
tholal-

Lairs-
Ellimist-
Weezel- on
Ravus- on
Hiding- on
yell0w- on
tholal-

huts-
Ellimist-
Weezel- on
Ravus- on
Hiding- on
yell0w- abstain
tholal-

Can we get a new forum?

[Yell0w]

Yeah, nice work Ellimist.

I think warrior or not doesn't matter, since we got a worker already you can build right away. But I'm fine with 2nd warrior too.

Diplomacy:
seems like ingame without ANY techtrades. I voted for "No Technology Brokering" not no trading at all. But I think the votes for no trading at all are more anyways.

Would be happy with Rhoanna ban. Don't need it though.