Hello all,

This is the recruiting thread for my second Pitboss (and first public Pitboss) game.

The game is going to start with an accelerated play session. On Saturday, July 8th at 10:00 AM CST (GMT -5:00) there will be an online play session lasting at least 1 hour. If you cannot play at this time on July 8th you will not be able to participate in this game. I apologize for those who cannot, but for those who can we'll get past the "press Enter to end turn" phase much more quickly. ;)

Please post here to claim your civ, and PM me with your email address. I'll keep this top thread updated with players. I won't post you in this top post until I get your PM!

Details will develop depending on how many people show interest and the wants of the group, but here are some basics:

1 turn per day.
Game will be at www.civstats.com so you can check up on turns.
Game will be played on normal speed.
Game will be generated by SmartMap, settings to depend on number of players. I'll post all of that here.
Tech trading on.


So, sign up now!

Okay, players so far:
Fosse - Cyrus
zenspiderz - Peter of Russia
Wing Wah - RANDOM
ERoy - England
portuga - Louis XIV
Dandridge - RANDOM
lplayer - India
Bernout1 - Caesar
Taok - Kublai Khan
L0B0 - RANDOM
mickeyj - Montezuma


11 players so far. :) If you posted below but I don't have you on this list, PM me your email and you'll be all set.

UPDATED INFORMATION:


PREGAME: I will soon be sending out a setting summary and email contact sheet to the players. Players may voice opinions about the settings and vote to change some of them (I may override some votes... I will not make it a 3 hour turn timer Marathon Speed game with Cultural Victory only, for example. :D ).
The game will launch on Friday, July 7. That means that as of July 7 there will be no new players added. Everyone will be able to log in, claim their civ, set passwords, and play their first turn on Friday or Saturday morning. Any player who does not sign in by 9:00 AM, CST on Saturday the 8th will be turned over to AI control.

THE ACCELERATED PLAY SESSION
Saturday, July 8. The accelerated play session will begin at 10:00 AM, CST (3:00 PM GMT). Please find out what time this will be for you so there is no confusion. We can begin to sign on at any time beforehand, and will be playing until 11:00 at least. If we can all assemble early, we will be able to begin play early, but that is not required. Any player who does not sign into the game by 10:00 will be KICKED from the game (their civ being turned over to an AI) so the session may start on time. If they arrive late but before 11:00 they may claim their civ and begin playing.

Any player who must leave before 11:00 will be turned over to an AI. At 11:00, any player having to leave will end the accelerated play session, and the game will revert to a 22 hour timer.

MISSING TURNS:
Any player who misses three turns in a row without contacting me beforehand will be turned over to an AI. After 5 days a replacement player will be sought. If the player returns they can reclaim from an AI, but if a player has taken over they will not be able to reclaim their civ.

GAME SETTINGS: *
Standard Map
Normal or Quick speed
Smart Map script... settings TBA.
No Barbarians

Turn timer: 22 hours
Victory: Spaceship, Time and Culture disabled. Diplomacy, Domination, Conquest enabled.


*Feel free to sound off about these and discuss them. I have chosen them all for various reasons but am open to change and compromise. I want the game to be fun for everyone.


HOUSE RULES:
No sharing of screenshots.
No out of game communication with civs you have not met in game (you can discuss the weather, connection issues, children, etc.. but not the game details themselves.).
Some effort to play as a nation is appreciated. We should all try to win, but keep an eye towards making the game fun for all.

Count me in.
I'll take Peter of Russia.

You know my email address from our other games.

zenspiderz

Sign me up, random civ...

I'm definitely in. Would prefer the English, but I'll take any civ.

PM sent.

I'm in!

Louis XIV of France for me, please.

I'm in. Random civ. Thanks.

Count me in. Ill take India

Okay, seven slots filled. Keep on joining everyone!

lplayer and ERoy, I need the specific leaders you want for those Civs. If you don't care I'll pick whichever one I think will have the bigger disadvantage against mine! ;)

Count me in please! :D

Caesar / Rome

Is there still space? If so, count me in. U may as well put me on random, as my first choices are already taken.

Btw, what happens if a) we don't/can't make it to the short online session? (A.I?), and b) if we miss a turn?

Also, I've not done a pitboss game before, so I might ask for help setting up, lol

Fosse, any particular settings in mind for the game? I've just started 3 24-hr-turn pitboss games recently, and they're all pretty much terra/pangea sorts, I suspect other folks here have played mostly the same.

Island map, perchance, or lakes or something?

Dougie, there is still space, and I'll sign you up for random a soon as you PM me your email address. I'll use that to communicate important game information to you.


Check the opening post soon for updated information about specifics.

IglooDude, I'm thinking of tweaking a Smartmap to create what I hope will be interesting gameplay. Nobody too isolated at the start, but nobody completely sure what the world has in store (as in Terra). If we stay under 10 people, which is looking likely, then Standard map with a lot of land might fit the bill.

Check to opening post for updated info!

Fosse: since you are having an accelerated start session, I'll give you some advice here. I tried it myself for my current game and had lots of stability problems, it ended up taking us two hours to get started and I think one or two people had to drop out since we couldn't get it working with them.

So I would suggest you use Hamachi (http://www.hamachi.cc/) to make a virtual LAN, in which case all your players will need the program, it's fairly easy to use though and requires no port forwarding. Then run the game as a normal LAN game (all the players connected to your Hamachi network will be able to see the game as though they were on the same LAN as you) and later convert it to a pitboss game.

If you decide to do this you should test this with someone first though to make sure it works (both Hamachi in order to run a LAN game, and converting a LAN game to pitboss). Also, please send me a PM telling me how it went so I know if it's a good idea for any future games I have.

One thing about Hamachi: the free version only allows a maximum of 16 people on a network (17 including the host I think), so if you were planning on having the maximum number of people in your Civ game (18) you may want to reduce that by one.

Also, make sure you pick a map which doesn't leave a chance of anyone ending up somewhere crappy like I did. I made the mistake of making my game Pangaea and although I don't want to go into specifics (in case any of the other players are reading this) my starting location sucks.

Useally when people saying that there starting location suck it mean they do not know how to use it.

My starting location had only one food one wines and still I am first in score at the moment.

if there is place for me, you can count me in

and random leader is good for me

Yes please Fosse,

I'd like to be the Aztecs.

I'll play, please. I'll give Kublai Khan a try.

Taok

Lobo and Mickey, please PM me your email addresses. Dougie, I still need yours too. I can't add you until I get those PMs because I have to communicate lots of game information through PM.

the oob: I might give that a shot, thanks for the information. It'll depend on if I have the time in the next few days to test it out.

GAME SIGN UP CLOSED!
Anyone still interested is welcome at this time to let me know, and you'll be put first in line as an alternate in case another player drops (which will likely happen). That makes this an 11 player game.

Dougie, if you can send me your PM in the next few hours I will put you into the starting game for 12. Otherwise I'm afraid you'll find yourself at the top of the alternate list. :(

A generous soul, alms66 at Apolyton has agreed to handcraft us an interesting and balanced map. His guidelines were: What I hope to get is a 10+ player game going, so what I would be looking for is an interesting Large map. I would like to to be continents with around 70% water, and temperate, but would ask to remain ignorant of any details whatsoever, including the . I would leave decisions about resources, precise number of landmasses, or a "terra" scenario to your discretion based on what you think would make a fun game.

Watch for a Test Server to be up and running soon, and keep your eyes on the inbox for emails with further info!

Map sounds very cool. Many thanks to alms66 at Apolyton for his craft. I can't wait for the kick off. :D:cool:

:gripe: I really should check the Civ 4 multiplayer forum more often... :( If possible, i would really like it if i could join.

Also, if i can join, the super-session would probably be less bad for me 1 hour earlier.

Map will be sent to me tonight, and game will be up before I go to bed.

Azzaman, I expect we'll experience dropouts, so you're definatly on the alternate list. :)

:woohoo: Dropout guy!

(yep, being up at 4:30 am really screws with your mind)

:lol: Don't WISH for dropouts!