Humankind/Old World game?

[Kaiser]

did you open a channel on discord yet for this game?

As a short explanation, the game supports PBC setup only on the same platform, there is somewhere on the internet an explanation for why (I think it narrows down to account identification and possible overlap between user names/nicks) but most importantly for our game, I am the only one not playing from Steam (but Epic Games).
The game support inter-platform play in network mode and you can transform a game into a PBC game, so a workaround to the platform issue is starting a network game with all players logging in and then changing this game into PBC. (I do not know for certain, but believe all players have to be online in the game when you transfer it to PBC)

If I use my wife's game (Steam platform) we can setup a PBC game from the get got and do not need the network game step. I am however not sure if we can do a reverse player order pick, as I am not sure if the non-player 1 players can see their starting location before player 1 picked their their CIV and ended their turn. I think it should work, so it is an alternative way to set up a game.

Let us try in ~5 hours to get the game going with all players online and then we can use the PBC (pure Steam platform) option as the backfall plan

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I can play anytime on Monday, I'm off school as we work on plumbing issues in the building.

[Kaiser]

will you be able to join in ~ 4-5 hours for getting the game up?

[Bruindane]

The point of reverse pick order is to balance the advantage of playing first. As this isn't part of the game mechanics, I'd make an alternate suggestion to balance - if this is truly desired. Just to make this easier if we start a new game.

First player gets to pick and play first but can't use all of their orders on the first turn. As an example.

Bruindane: -3 orders
Kaiser: -2 orders
Ginger: -1 orders
CMF: Can use all of their orders

And just to confirm, we are supposed to pick and play in the network game, yes?

[Kaiser]

I am not sure if CMF is around, but we could try to get the network game rolling right now. I chatted earlier with Ginger, so he is still there I think.

The orders on the first turn are not really that impactful (it will end up in scout/unit disctance to capitol), the CIV picks are quite impactful and would be a nice way to balance the earlier turn order advantage. If you are online right now, we could also check the PBC option, maybe we can even load the existing save in PBC and pick then. As long as you know all other picks, that can even be sequential (Kaiser - in finalization, Ginger - Egypt, CMF - Persia)

[Ginger*]

Alright the game is up online on network mode now Bruindane. Kaiser and I are in right now and its working. If we all are in and we pick, we can move forward it to cloud

[Kaiser]

We were trying to get the network game going yesterday evening (my time) and had always at least one person having some kind of issue with logging into the network game.

I think we have to bite the bullet and rehost, directly as PBC (all on steam). Bruindane and me verified yesterday that it is possible to open the game even outside your turn by "ctrl" clicking on the game in the PBC overview. This means we can still go with reverse picking order, we just have to announce the choosen CIVs here in the forum so Player1 knows which 3 CIVs he cannot pick and so on.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I'm around today, will work with whatever I need to.

[Bruindane]

Can we be Steam friends?

Waiting on pending invites to Chevalier Mal Fet and Ginger. I believe it is a prerequisite for setting up the Cloud Game.

Since we are waiting, there are two options that got my attention, "Join as any player" and "Allow observe mode". The first may have helped on setting up the network game or for player substitutions, and the second feels like an option for those curious.

I have all the settings from the earlier spreadsheet and a screenshot of the network game.

[Bruindane]

Press control click on your name plate to enter the game outside your turn. I'll wait to play my turn until all picks are posted in this thread, and then good luck to all, with an extra dash of luck for my teammate.

All settings as before, except simultaneous play obviously.