Anyone for a (hopefully) casual pbem/pitboss game?

[Twinkletoes89]

Hey Guys,

I haven't played Civ much in a while but I've been reading through some of the old games and threads and it has made me want to play another game of MP with you guys. I have enough intense stuff in my life and I'd like to just have a relatively relaxed, friendly game (as much as possible).

This is what I personally would like:

1) Tech Trading on - I don't think we do it enough and I think it might prolong the game further and keep it 'interesting' than if we have a couple of early runaways and everyone else just ends up mailing turns in until they are dead or the game is over. I would love to see another 'Munro' type late comeback and I think Tech Trading provides that.

2) In-Game diplo unrestricted or at least SP-style with an out-of-game diplo/banter thread as a supplement. Not too much diplo, but Tech Trading necessitates some and you don't have the problem of lots of emails and chats distracting you from life (or university coursework...)

3) Random unrestricted combos - Play the hand you are dealt. I really liked that about the last 'casual' pitboss game

4) Random fractal map with no edits - again, just play what you have and see how the game/story develops.

5) If enough interest for pitboss - sequential not simultaneous! Not having double move issues near this game.

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

I understand that a lot of you may be looking for more 'competitive' gaming but I just want to have some fun with Civ again and I think that it could be a good game to play and hopefully an interesting one to lurk too. I am even prepared to do a proper thread this time and try and maintain it as best as possible!

But the test is, are any of you guys interested?

[Dantski]

Hey Guys,

I haven't played Civ much in a while but I've been reading through some of the old games and threads and it has made me want to play another game of MP with you guys. I have enough intense stuff in my life and I'd like to just have a relatively relaxed, friendly game (as much as possible).

This is what I personally would like:

1) Tech Trading on - I don't think we do it enough and I think it might prolong the game further and keep it 'interesting' than if we have a couple of early runaways and everyone else just ends up mailing turns in until they are dead or the game is over. I would love to see another 'Munro' type late comeback and I think Tech Trading provides that.

2) In-Game diplo unrestricted or at least SP-style with an out-of-game diplo/banter thread as a supplement. Not too much diplo, but Tech Trading necessitates some and you don't have the problem of lots of emails and chats distracting you from life (or university coursework...)

3) Random unrestricted combos - Play the hand you are dealt. I really liked that about the last 'casual' pitboss game

4) Random fractal map with no edits - again, just play what you have and see how the game/story develops.

5) If enough interest for pitboss - sequential not simultaneous! Not having double move issues near this game.

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

I understand that a lot of you may be looking for more 'competitive' gaming but I just want to have some fun with Civ again and I think that it could be a good game to play and hopefully an interesting one to lurk too. I am even prepared to do a proper thread this time and try and maintain it as best as possible!

But the test is, are any of you guys interested?

To what might be the dismay of lurkers everywhere, I have been somewhat interested in playing another Civ game, I'm really not sure on how committed I am though so will have to think on it.

[AutomatedTeller]

I'd be interested. I'm fine with tech trading, though I think that tech brokering really should be off, either game enforced or with an honor system that we don't trade techs within 10 or 20 turns of us getting them. it seems reasonable that if I traded for archery in 2000 BC that I can probably trade it in 1000 AD when someone is looking to build LB.

Sequential pitboss is ok, though slower than simultaneous.

[antisocialmunky]

I think a pot luck with terrible leaders would be pretty amusing. Or make a multi-player version of a variant such as the greatest person/1 free tech/2 wonders of choice.

Standard PB is getting dull.

[Jowy]

Standard PB is getting dull.

Players create the drama

[Twinkletoes89]

Noone else fancy giving this a go?

@Jowy, I think giving players more options allows them to create more drama. You could have 5 top teams/players and if one runs away early then there ain't much drama going on there. Hence my support of Tech Trading with some restricted diplomacy

[Jowy]

Noone else fancy giving this a go?

@Jowy, I think giving players more options allows them to create more drama. You could have 5 top teams/players and if one runs away early then there ain't much drama going on there. Hence my support of Tech Trading with some restricted diplomacy

I'm not up-to-date with my meta-game knowledge so perhaps this isn't relevant anymore, but aren't you forced to join a tech bloc in a "tech trading on" game or else you'll just fall behind a ton? It sounds more limiting in a way, but NTT of course has it's own bad sides.

Thinking about the voting blocs actually gave me an intriguing variant idea for Pitboss... What if you had a 5v5 teamer PB? War would be worth it because there's no third side to benefit from the two of you battling each other. Skill differences would not be a problem at all because each team could have for example two beginners and three experts, balancing it out. And it would take a whole new level of teamwork to maneuver a five man team, especially if you throw in a limited diplo variant to make the players more independent and make it feel more like a 5v5 than 1v1. Sounds really fun actually. On paper at least :P EDIT: Oh oh, more good things, it would also remove double moves. It's easy to split a turn between only two sides.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Ha, that could be amusing. A 5v5 AW setup but with individual players controlling their civs having their own possible individual (non-team) victory condition possible? Example, we're supposed to do a massive team invasion of Oceania (we've always been at war with Oceania) and then one of our alliance's civs does something else that gives it a particular advantage (starts wonderwhoring or launching culture bombs or whatever) pursuing its own victory path.

That would be fun except your allies would be a bit pissed about it and, facing your civ approaching an individual victory (as opposed to a team victory which would maybe be conquest/domination?) there would have to be some way to bring an errant ally to heel. Probably that would have to be done outside of game enforced team mechanics because I assume it would involve an alliance civil war or something devious. Maybe that way diplomacy within your own alliance becomes relevant. I dunno, this could all be interesting if it can be worked into the game mechanics. To retain the possibility of taking action against a deviant ally you would have to not use permanent alliance or create two actual teams (so you could war dec an ally to bring them back in line with the team), but the players would only act in the half of the turn their team belongs to and a simultaneous timer could still be used.

I guess it would get sticky in the weird situation where you actually did have to fight an ally, being on the same slice of the clock would reintroduce clock shenanigans, maybe slice the clock into thirds for that or something. I don't know, this is all pretty far out there anyway, details aren't required for now.

[BRickAstley]

I don't think he was suggesting individual win conditions, just the team ones.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Right, but individual VCs would be a wild variant. That's all I'm saying.