So we've got a quiet week here with no Epics/Adventures completing, and as a result it's time for me to pitch another one of the ideas that I've had floating around in my head for awhile. Back when we were testing Civ4 pre-release, we ran a number of multiplayer games with humans teamed up playing co-op style against teams of AI civs. My first-ever Multiplayer game of Civ4 was paired up with two humans against a team of three Emperor AI civs, and it was such an entertaining game that we ended up playing until 2am that night. 
I expected that there would be a great deal of interest in co-op play online when Civ4 came out, but that has not proved to be the case. Pretty much everyone playing online is playing against humans, and there has not been nearly the interaction between the SP and MP worlds that I expected.
Frankly, that's a darn shame. What I want to do here is pitch something we used to run in testing; that is, a large-scale humans vs. AIs Always War game. In testing, we could never finish these games because a new version would be out every week, but now that we're under no such constraints, I see a great deal of potential for a truly "epic" game spanning several weeks as our team of humans battles against a large team of AIs. To be a little more specific, here's the scenario concept:
Realms Beyond Epic MP Game: Axis vs. Allies
Large Great Plains Map
6 Humans vs. 6 Monarch/Emperor AIs (TBD)
Always War
Axis Team
Nazi Germany (Germany/Bismarck)
Fascist Italy (Rome/Caesar)
Imperialist Japan (Japan/Tokugawa)
Fascist Spain (Spain/Isabella)
Occupied Greece (Greece/Alexander)
Vichy France (France/Louis)
Allied Team
British Empire (England/Victoria)
Soviet Union (Russia/Peter)
United States (America/FDR)
Nationalist China (China/Mao)
British India (India/Gandhi)
Free France (France/Napoleon)
The premise of the game is simply humans vs. AIs in an Always War match, but I thought it would be more interesting to come up with some kind of a historical theme. We can certainly ditch this if desired, but I think it will be more fun this way. Some of these may be a bit of a stretch historically, but overall it fits decently and both teams get a good mix of traits and unique units from different eras. Which side to play as will be entirely up to you guys, neither would particularly bother me. In addition, more civs can be added if we want to have 7 players, or we can take out civs if there isn't enough interest for 6, but ideally we will want to keep this in the 5-7 players range.
In order to avoid confusion and delays (see the fate of RB8 Multiplayer Madness), this game will be played at the same time each week without interruption. If someone cannot make it that week, they will be skipped and the game will go on regardless with an AI taking over their civ. This could be disastrous in an Always War game, so we need to be careful in choosing the roster and the time slots. I am thinking of running this game at one of four different times: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday night from 8pm to 11pm Eastern Standard Time. I understand that this makes things difficult for our European members, so I apologize for that. If you don't mind being an insomniac, however, we'll be more than happy to have you. :zzz:
For anyone interested in taking part in this game, please post your availability for these four times as either Good, OK, Bad, or Out. Bad is a night you would not prefer but can make if your choices are that night or nothing at all. Out means no chance for that night. I will do my best to pick a time that works well for the largest number of people. Once we get a night and time worked out, they will remain unchanged until the game is completed. We can work out civ choices once the roster and time have been set.
There is also a special spot set aside for Sirian (and also ME0003, if he's interested) due to prior history. Is there any chance I can tempt you to join a CW-style game running this summer?
I hope that we'll have enough interest to get this moving relatively soon. Thanks!
I expected that there would be a great deal of interest in co-op play online when Civ4 came out, but that has not proved to be the case. Pretty much everyone playing online is playing against humans, and there has not been nearly the interaction between the SP and MP worlds that I expected. Frankly, that's a darn shame. What I want to do here is pitch something we used to run in testing; that is, a large-scale humans vs. AIs Always War game. In testing, we could never finish these games because a new version would be out every week, but now that we're under no such constraints, I see a great deal of potential for a truly "epic" game spanning several weeks as our team of humans battles against a large team of AIs. To be a little more specific, here's the scenario concept:
Realms Beyond Epic MP Game: Axis vs. Allies
Large Great Plains Map
6 Humans vs. 6 Monarch/Emperor AIs (TBD)
Always War
Axis Team
Nazi Germany (Germany/Bismarck)
Fascist Italy (Rome/Caesar)
Imperialist Japan (Japan/Tokugawa)
Fascist Spain (Spain/Isabella)
Occupied Greece (Greece/Alexander)
Vichy France (France/Louis)
Allied Team
British Empire (England/Victoria)
Soviet Union (Russia/Peter)
United States (America/FDR)
Nationalist China (China/Mao)
British India (India/Gandhi)
Free France (France/Napoleon)
The premise of the game is simply humans vs. AIs in an Always War match, but I thought it would be more interesting to come up with some kind of a historical theme. We can certainly ditch this if desired, but I think it will be more fun this way.
Some of these may be a bit of a stretch historically, but overall it fits decently and both teams get a good mix of traits and unique units from different eras. Which side to play as will be entirely up to you guys, neither would particularly bother me. In addition, more civs can be added if we want to have 7 players, or we can take out civs if there isn't enough interest for 6, but ideally we will want to keep this in the 5-7 players range.In order to avoid confusion and delays (see the fate of RB8 Multiplayer Madness), this game will be played at the same time each week without interruption. If someone cannot make it that week, they will be skipped and the game will go on regardless with an AI taking over their civ. This could be disastrous in an Always War game, so we need to be careful in choosing the roster and the time slots. I am thinking of running this game at one of four different times: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday night from 8pm to 11pm Eastern Standard Time. I understand that this makes things difficult for our European members, so I apologize for that. If you don't mind being an insomniac, however, we'll be more than happy to have you. :zzz:
For anyone interested in taking part in this game, please post your availability for these four times as either Good, OK, Bad, or Out. Bad is a night you would not prefer but can make if your choices are that night or nothing at all. Out means no chance for that night. I will do my best to pick a time that works well for the largest number of people. Once we get a night and time worked out, they will remain unchanged until the game is completed. We can work out civ choices once the roster and time have been set.
There is also a special spot set aside for Sirian (and also ME0003, if he's interested) due to prior history. Is there any chance I can tempt you to join a CW-style game running this summer?
I hope that we'll have enough interest to get this moving relatively soon. Thanks!
. I will however read your (and others') report of each session 
