New FFH2 PBEM?

[Saruman the Foolish]

My preferences

EITB or FFH: FFH
Human takeover for Hyborem/Basium: Yes
Compact Enforced: No
Last Days: Off
Mapscript: WorldofErebus, Ringworld
Game Speed: Normal
Difficulty: Monarch
Barbarians: Raging
Orthus: On
Acheron: preplaced.
Lairs: On
Huts: No Preference
Living World: No Preference
Vassals/Permanent Alliances: No preference
Tech trading: No Preference
Diplomacy: Players can make whatever agreements they so choose, no mass gifting cities or any silliness like that though.
Bans: I'll follow the groups lead in this. Clan of Embers should not be allowed to cast For the Horde
Tower of Mastery: don't care, I'm not buildin that thing.

As far as number of players go, the more the merrier. I really don't mind a turn every other day. Is it possible to start with extra units though/ maybe even settler so the first 50 turns arent mind numbing?

[Mardoc]

Echoing Bob here. The problem with 6+ in a PBEM is that you rarely get a turn/day pace, unless everyone involved can and will play at all hours of the day. And worse, that often leads to a bad spiral: if it's been 2 days since you've seen the turn, and you're busy, 'well, I'll just get it in the morning'. Pretty soon you're at 2-3 turns/week. And then someone loses interest, and the game dies.

In theory, you just have to be ok with a slower game. But in practice, there aren't many people who can stay enthusiastic about a game for a year if it's not part of their daily routine. And remember, it only takes one weak link.

The BtS games solve that by changing to Pitboss, but spells aren't balanced in FFH Pitboss - too many things that make you really really want to go first every turn.

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But, well, it's your game, I'm just a lurker. Maybe you guys will be an exception.

[Tasunke]

Echoing Bob here. The problem with 6+ in a PBEM is that you rarely get a turn/day pace, unless everyone involved can and will play at all hours of the day. And worse, that often leads to a bad spiral: if it's been 2 days since you've seen the turn, and you're busy, 'well, I'll just get it in the morning'. Pretty soon you're at 2-3 turns/week. And then someone loses interest, and the game dies.

In theory, you just have to be ok with a slower game. But in practice, there aren't many people who can stay enthusiastic about a game for a year if it's not part of their daily routine. And remember, it only takes one weak link.

The BtS games solve that by changing to Pitboss, but spells aren't balanced in FFH Pitboss - too many things that make you really really want to go first every turn.

-----

But, well, it's your game, I'm just a lurker. Maybe you guys will be an exception.

To be honest I feel like the problem with the PBEM I was in earlier was that there were too many barbs per player (I don't want to say too much land per se .. because a lot of the land seemed unusable ... but yea ...) That, and that one of the players, that is, who occupied a HUGE sect of land (as each player got a lot of land, which was okay ... but ... that one of them died, and was then adjacent to the favorite ... eh .... it gave a lot more expansion possibility for the Svart, and took away any Two-Front pressure possibilities.

Also I feel its more about the people and the schedules ... if all are lazy-ish it doesn't matter as much, if all are ocd it doesn't matter as much, but if 1 is ocd, a few are lazy, and a few are somewhere in-between ... well that can certainly lead to a PYFT war or two ahahaha.

Anyways, That game had only 5 players, but a HUGE map compared to how many people were involved. If you want a large map you should have a lot of people imho. It makes diplomacy more important (imho) when there are more people, although admittedly the most important part imho is to have an appropriate amount of land, and numbers of barbarians, per person. Imho there were simply wayyyy too many barbarians in that one game. I mean I was fine with it, relatively speaking, but it gave the game perhaps a different feel than I think was intended ... b/c lairs don't follow normal barb spawn rules (I think) ... or maybe they just spawned more b/c it was huge map ... but still LOTS of barbarians.

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Judging by people that have posted settings, we currently have 5 people

[Saruman the Foolish]

I count
Starting Players:
Elimist,
Hiding Kneel
Kragroth
Tasunke
Saruman
North Star (yet to post preferences but started the thread so a def)

Summon:
Dreylin
Possibly qqqqqq?
Six with two possible summons seems a solid number.

[Qgqqqqq]

Not offering myself as a summon. I'll either dedlurk (in which case I could be Basium) or just go global for once.

[Saruman the Foolish]

my bad Qqqq. I took the time to compile our preferences and here is what it looks like so far.
Northstar, I apologize if I mispoke for you, feel free to correct anything. Sorry this is so long.

EITB or FFH: FFH2
Elimist: FFH
HidingKneel: No preference
Kragroth: FFH
Tasunke: No preference
Saruman: FFH
Northstar: FFH

Variant:
Elimist: None

Human takeover allowed for Infernals / Basium: YES
Elim: Yes, but only if it's not too much trouble
HK: no preference
Tsnk: Yes
Sar: Yes
N S: Yes

Compact Enforced: NO
Everybody: No

Last Days:
Elim: No
HK: No preference
Krag: Yes
Tsnk: No
Sar: Yes
N S: No

Map parameters:
Elim: Mapamaker's discretion, but something pangaea-ish and midsized would be fine.
HK: Mapmaker discretion
Krag: Erebus-like modify flavorstart
Tsnk: Mirrorland Lakes standard
Sar: Mapmakers discret, WorldofErebus, Ringworld,
N S: mapmaker place resources with lore in mind (very rebalanced erebus map)

Game Speed: QUICK
Elim: No preference.
HK: Quick
Krag: Quick
Tsnk: Quick
Srmn: No pref
N S: Normal, okay with Quick


Difficulty: MONARCH
Elim: Mapmaker's discretion, but notify the players before picks are submitted
HK: No preference
Krag: Monarch
Tsnk: Monarch
Sar: Monarch

Barbarians:
Elim: On. No preference between normal/raging or wildlands on/off
HK: On. Raging fine
Krag: On. Raging
Tsnk: On. Raging
Sar: On. Raging fine
N S: On. NOT Raging

Preplaced barbarian cities: 1 for Acheron
Elim: No.

Orthus: YES
Elim: No preference.
HK: No preference
Krag: Yes
Tsnk Yes
Sar: Yes
NS: Yes

Acheron: PREPLACED
Elim: Off or preplaced
HK: Off or preplaced
Krag On. Preplaced
Tsnk: preplaced
Sar: preplaced
NS: preplaced

Lairs: ON
Elim: Mapmaker's discretion
HK: On
Krag: On
Tsnk: On
Sar: On
NS: On

Huts: ON (provided Tasunke is OK w/ it)
Elim: No preference
HK: On
Krag: On
Tsnk: OFF
Sar: no preference
NS: On, placed by mapmaker

Start Era:
Elim: Ancient
Kragroth: Thaw
North Star: Thaw

Additional starting bonuses:
Elim: No
Sar: worker/extra units?

Living World: ON (provided Tasunke is OK w/ it)
Elim: On
HK: On
Krag: On
Tsnk: OFF
Sar: No preference
NS: On?

Wildlands:
North Star: On

Blessings of Amatheon:
Krag: On
Sar: No pref
NS: ON

Vassals or permanent alliances: OFF
All: Off

Tech trading: OFF (provided North Star is OK with it)
Elim: Off
HK: Off
Krag: Off
Tsnk: Off
Sar: No pref
NS: On

Diplomacy:
Elim: May only send messages on your own turn. Otherwise unrestricted.
HK: AI
Krag: Full
Tsnk: AI
Sar: no mass gifting cities
NS: no NAPs

Unique Features:
Elim: Mapmaker's discretion
Kragroth: all on
North Star: all on

Advanced Start:
Elim: Off
Krag: On


Bans:
Elim: Keelyn
HK: Keelyn, okay to Ban Clan
Krag: prefer not ban clan but amenable
Tsnk: Clan, Keelyn, and Illians
Sar: prefer not to ban Clan. disallow ForTheHorde and maybe Rantine?
NS: not Keelyn, Clan (okay if 6 players)

Victory condition restrictions:
Elim: Omniscience tech required to build the final Tower of Mastery
Tsnk: ^
North Star: None

[Kragroth]

Thanks for compiling this. Please add these votes for Kragroth.

All unique features: On
Advanced Start: On
Era: Thaw

[Northstar1989]

For my preferences:

Last Days = NO

Barbarians = ON (strong preference AGAINST Raging), Wildlands on, Acehron/Orthus ON, 1 preplaced (central) city for Acheron to spawn in

Start Era = Thaw

Blessings = ON, this is one of my top 3 must-have preferences (the others are All Unique Features ON, and Flavor Start if applicable)

All Unique Features = ON

Flavor Start = ON (if applicable to game version selected)

Victory Condition Restrictions = None

Bans= Prefer not to ban Keelyn, prefer to ban Clan but amenable with 6 players (*NOT* amenable with 5 players or less- Clan strongly preferred ban...)


Ellmist also expressed a preference for FFH2 over EitB before, and I believe at least 1 or 2 other players expressed an interest in Wildlands...

[Bobchillingworth]

Hmm. You guys look about split on Keelyn. Figure that one out, and then send me your picks.


Clan will be allowed based on current voting.

[HidingKneel]

I think I'll just lurk this one.