I propose we meet up at gamespy on a weekend day, preferably Saturday & play TAM with the following settings:

Normal Map
Simultaneous Turns
No Turn Timer.

We would play each weekend, or weekdays if all can play, & continue until we finish our game.

Post here if you wanna sign up with your available days & time.

It'll be refreshing a change playing against fellow humans, plus its more interesting:p

Sure. I'm the in US Eastern time zone, available for a few Saturdays (flexibly) and maybe other evenings (not Wednesdays) if there's interest. I'm at Monarch and have played a lot of TAM, but no multiplayer.

I don't feel strongly about it, but I'd suggest handicaps for balance, such as Germanic/Dacia/Scythia/Kolchis/Iberia/Illyria = Warlord, Rome/Babylon/Carthage = Prince.

Another possibility might be to start every civ with two javelineers instead of the usual warrior. Otherwise javelineer vs. warrior rushes could be unpleasantly unbalancing.

What game speed do you propose, Dux_?

I'm at a lower level than you, I play mostly Prince, but I've never tried Monarch.

Normal speed sounds good to me.

For my part I'd be happy to take a handicap level and/or civ proportional to everyone's usual handicap level (I'd take a harder one if most people usually played Prince, for example). That (and starting javelineers... _if_ we want to do either) is easy to change in the WorldBuilderSave file.

Come on, everybody, it'll be fun!

I'd like to, but have no time at the moment (until September, basically).

I will probably have some free time on August 26th & 27th. If I gain any additional free time I will let you guys know. I am in NYC; can play at any level; and usually play as Egypt or Nubia. Thamis will be free in September so if you want a big game then I propose we wait a couple of weeks. :)

I have played up to Emperor, but don't enjoy the extra work involved, if you know what I mean. Prince is easy for me, so I'm alright if you want to put me at Monarch. This is a human game though, so I'd suggest keeping everyone at Prince, unless you truly are godly in this game and love micromanaging.

I agree with giving some civs a slight leg up (warlord vs. Prince for example.)

Normal map, yes.

Speed epich please, but I can adjust to normal...might take practice.

I'd say we let the AI play Rome, heck turn Rome into a monster Civ, allow them to play at Warlord for example. This will make it so no Human can use the Legion on another Human (quick game) and will give us a reason not to leave a flank open (other than the other humans). I would also like to see a more aggressive Scythian and Illyrian pressence.

I'm not a massacist, but it's strange how it usually turns into a game of me trouncing one civ after another with one flank wide open and barely defended.

As for availability: I'm in San Diego next week on travel, no kids, muahahah, no wife with me either...so if you want to get a jump start that would be a great time. Other than that, I'm going to Disney World the first week of September. After that, I'm on travel again, bah...but again, I'll be available every night :) So, I will be back to normal-ness starting the second week of September.

P.S.
Is PBEM totally out of the realm of possibility? I know it's slower, but we might get more consistent play that way. If not, I'm good with a solid couple hours here and there, especially Tuesdays and Thursdays. Weekends are iffy.

I think Gamespy is better because trades are far easier there IMO. All we need is strong commitment. If Thamis can start early September, we could start then, or on August 26th as someone else suggested he has lots of free time then. it's a matter of searching common free time.

Also, anyone willing to join the game after it started will be allowed to take over an AI, but I'm not sure if we should let people take over AIs if they're killed, or just played a lousy game & want a new start.

Anyway, keep the ideas coming guys.

Start the game without me, because I'm going to be on holidays and also at a conference in September. :)

So how does an August 26th start sound for you guys?

I would suggest playing all evening after eating...

So how does an August 26th start sound for you guys?

I would suggest playing all evening after eating...

I can only devote a couple hours on any given night, just let me know what days, sans Sundays.

Free and flexible on the 26th.

So how does an August 26th start sound for you guys?

I would suggest playing all evening after eating...
There is some kind of glitch with my videocard. Games with intensive 3D crash unexpectantly. Will try to have it fixed prior to the 26th. Will be able to devote a few hours to the game.

As for myself, I'm free everyday, monday to thursdays... I'm in Motreal (US easterm -5:00), so I of course would like to take part in that august 26th game, but until then, if anyone has time to play a little MP before that, I'd be glad ti join!

I suggest playing with a random "Inland Sea" map. It plays out very well in multyplayer.

Dux_, I'd like to make plans (especially for the weekends after the 26th), so would you mind proposing the specifics soon? Mainly the times, but maybe also the game details just to get it done. From what people have said I'd guess that we could do a 3 hour this Saturday night and another 3 hour on Tuesday night, and that's probably it, but I leave it to you.

I would like to give this a try.

I normally play monarch and have never tried multi-player.

Any old empire will do. :)

I play multiplayer all the time with my wife. So I strongly suggest inland sea again (large map, 9-10 players). It's funnier in MP because you don't know already the location of everyone and their resources, possible tactics etc. Since I played this kind of map several times with TAM I can guarantee it works quite well :)

About the time, how does this Saturday 7pm EST sound for you guys? It should let us play 3 hours without it being too late for anyone.

Game speed I would suggest normal.
Simultaneous turns is a must IMO, really speeds turns up.


The map, I would like to play the normal TAM map, but if everyone else wants Inland Sea, then so be it. I know that knowing the resources, tactics, etc, will be a advantage, but don't we all know the resources locations? Also, we humans act quite different from the AI, so you cant count out surprises:mischief:

I went to Gamespy a few times and have failed, so far, in finding where one would join a multiplayer CIV game.

Anyone have a link that explains how to get into the game? I would hate to be the one that delays a 7:00pm start till 8:00.

I went to Gamespy a few times and have failed, so far, in finding where one would join a multiplayer CIV game.

Anyone have a link that explains how to get into the game? I would hate to be the one that delays a 7:00pm start till 8:00.
7pm EST sounds like a plan. I second the request for a link as I have only played PBEM with Civ and have had only bad experiences at GameSpy. Thanks.

you shouldn't go to Gamespy. Just use the game interface...
Civ4's internet lobby is for sure the best I've tried so far.

you shouldn't go to Gamespy. Just use the game interface...
Civ4's internet lobby is for sure the best I've tried so far.
Thanks, will do.

I like this idea and would prefer playing the normal map. Here's the thing: right now my plans for Saturday are up in the air and I may have to do something else. Would it be a problem if I gave a soft rather than hard commitment? Certainly start without me if I'm not there.

I know there is no time limit, but what is the norm? I've never done MP before. Is there any way to tell if everyone else is done and people are just waiting for you? I'm worried I would slow things down without knowing it.

When you finish your turn you press enter, & once everyone finished their turn it automatically moves to the next turn. Queing up builds also makes your turns faster. The no time limit is so there's no pressure, but I do hope we don't take too long per turn.

I'm in for Sat at 7pm EST.

But Dux_, could you please point us to instructions for what to do? I think at least 3 of us haven't used Gamespy (or whatever we should use) before.

You load your Civilization IV game, then load TAM, after that click on Multiplayer, Internet Games, Create New Account, & after that log in. It should be the only game on the list.

there isn't a game list, you just enter in the Civ4 lobby once you log in from within Civ4.

Ok I set up a game spy account (SrWilliam) and I got into the lobby. Hopefully I won’t have any firewall issues.

It sounds like we are playing standard default games settings. I have a few questions.

We are playing 1.96, correct?

Will a Javelineer rush upon the AI first turn be considered legal?

At what difficulty level will we be setting ourselves and the AI players?

Who plays which empire? If we are choosing I’ll take the Scythian Empire. Other choices would be the Babylonian Empire or the Gallic Empire.

We agreed to play on Prince level for us, what I level should the comps be?? Monarch maybe??

As for which civ we play, that will be arrange in game.

For firewall issues, check this thread http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146735

if you want a fair game I suggest random inland sea (mediterranean :P) map with Monarch human and Noble AI. I'm not sure you can change the diff. for AI btw.
Too bad I will be out for the weekend, enjoy

Sorry Guys....I just got dragooned into dropping off the wife to one of her friend's B.S. get togethers....just unreal! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: So I go from having all of Saturday off without interference and/or obligations and then bingo; if you don't do it then there is an argument that will last on into next week.:( :( :( Sorry about the late cancel, could not be helped. Have a great game guys.:)

SORRY! - I can't start until 7:15-7:20 - please start w/o me, if possible please I'd like to take over for an AI at that time, any civ, if not possible that's OK I understand - OK gotta run, be back in a few minutes

I can't get this to work.

I load up Civ 4.

I load up the Mod.

I click multi-player. Then I go to internet games. I tried to create an account there. When I hit "create account" it just paused for a second and then the world kept on spinning. I created an account on gamespyid and tried using that. Similarly, when I hit "login" the world just keeps on spinning after stopping for a second -- nothing happens.

Any thoughts? Love to play if I can get on...

-- David

My nick is HarryHaller, look for me online...

The name of the game will be:

TAM

Password: medit

We're trying direct ip, here's my IP:

201.114.218.209

Join there.

I can't contact your IP address -- it keeps on giving error messages. I'll try again. It says "connection to host timed out."

-- David

Damn, I don't have a firewall as far as I know...

Lets meet on the Gamespy Network to talk.

I'm getting timeouts trying to connect too.

@Hypnotoad, trying to register for GameSpy I got a similar problem, my problem was that I was trying to create an account name that already existed. Not that the user interface told me that, but that's what another post elsewhere said.

Jet:

We are back in the internet lobby trying to get a game started. None of us can see a game when we show up.

I'm "David_Ebrey"
Then there is SrWilliam and HarryHaller

Maybe I'm too late...
I'LL try to connect anyways... hpefully see you inside

Dux had some server problems so it looks like I'm hosting a direct IP game. PM me for the address if you'd still like to join, I have the forum open on another machine and will try to keep hitting refresh.

Help, how do you use the ingame chat?

You click tab, the message & then enter.

Oh, crap. If anyone is reading this, please connect again.

Ok, cya there.

Btw, this is my msn, just in case to keep in touch: dux.cogitoergosum@gmail.com

Game was quite fun, we're planning on continuing next saturday, same hour.

Anyone is welcome to take over an AI. It was a blast, thx to everyone who played.

How much longer did you play? How'd Phonecia do?

Phoenecia is at war with Hittites, I'm not sure how it is doing.

I'm broke, or sort of, I hope to to end such state soon...

Besides Saturday, can anyone play sometimes during the week.

Also, anyone else who wants to play TAM multiplayer is free to add me over MSN & we'll set a game up there.

My mail's a few posts below.

It was a good gentlemanly game last night. I am not looking forward to the Roman Praetorian Legions or the Carthaginian Elephants. Hopefully we can overcome the connection issues and get more players next time.

In the future we may want the AI played nations set to a higher difficulty level. I think AI settings are the opposite of the human settings, the AI will fair much better and be a tougher opponent at Monarch then at Noble.

Is it still too late to get in on this? I would be available to play next weekend and my schedule is pretty open during the week as well.

No, you're free to join us next week.

We hope to see you this Saturday 7pm EST

No, you're free to join us next week.

We hope to see you this Saturday 7pm EST
Yeah Dux when did you guys knock off? I connected through multiplayer and created my account at around 11:30pm, and I was looking for the TAM game. I guess maybe you guys had retired the game by then:sad:. Will try to hook up this weekend.

We werent on gamespy, we played via direct ip. We played until 1am EST.

We werent on gamespy, we played via direct ip. We played until 1am EST.
Great! Please give me the info on how to connect this way. If it is explained previously just direct me to the post number and I will look it up. Thanks.

P.S. Don't be confused by the new avatar; I have been using the same one since CIV II. I thought it was time for an upgrade.

Yes that game was nice guys!

What year are you at now? I also got a pretty open schedule, so if anyone is planning on continuing it during the week, or even maybe start a new one, I'd be please to rule Rome once again!

Last Saturday was my first civ game against other players. Connection issues aside, the game flowed much better than I imagined it would. With simultaneous turns, the early part of the game moved nearly as fast as a standard vs. AI game.

Though we did not fight each other, the threat of an intelligent human-run stack appearing on one’s boarder put a totally different spin on the game. Playing TAM with 16 real players would be totally insane!

Should we continue the same game next week, I think Agamemnon was doing well, run by the AI for the entire first session. As Gaul I never met the easternmost AI empires. I know the Germans and Iberians are not faring too well. :)

There may be 8 decent empires in the current game. Should we get too many firm commitments, I think we should consider a new game. I should be free next Saturday.

Laurino, add me on MSN & maybe we can start a new game for weekdays.

As for how to connect via IP. You go to Multiplayer, Direct Ip & on Network you put the ip of the host, & connect. We'll meet up in Gamespy so you'll get the IP number there.

the problem with the GameSpy lobby is that it takes a while and several refreshes for the new game to appear to everyone. But eventually it will, it's just a matter of patience. At least that's my experience.
On the other hand, even after seeing the game not always the lobby game will work, because of network problems with some people, while the direct connection more often does work.

I'm probably most available on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I do play on the other days, but my times are all over the map.

PM me if you plan to play this game tonight.

Bump, I remind you guys, we're playing this Saturday 7pm EST, who's gonna be able to make it?

In. !

I should be there

I should be there.

I think I'll be there, unl;ess there's a super big emergency... If I can't make it in time, Dux, please send me an email if you can with the ip;) You guys plan on starting a new one, or continuing last week game?

Are you guys going for it? Timed out on Direct IP connection at 201.114.218.209; also looked over at Gamespy. Give me a heads up please if the game is still going on.

Look for me on Gamespy, my nick is HarryHaller

We will start now, post here & I'll PM you guys the IP.

so what's the ip?;)

hehe need the ip... closed the windows...

ank? dux? i'm hosting...

please post here if you're having connect problems

Akhenathon? you coming?

ank we're going to continue the game now but please keep trying to reconnect, you can still take over for an AI

ank we're going to continue the game now but please keep trying to reconnect, you can still take over for an AI
I keep trying to connect to the host; but other than the time I got an out of sync error it won't let me connect. Will keep trying

cool let us know if we can help....? although I don't know... ?

cool let us know if we can help....? although I don't know... ?
Yeah I am going to try for about another 15-20 minutes. I have turned off everything (anti-virus, spam, have checked firewall). The only thing that I can think of might be a problem was that when I was originally trying to come on; the computer was telling me that I and Dux's firewall connections wee incompatible. I will keep trying.

I am on Verizon DSL. Sometimes the signal drops below 130kbs. Perhaps that is the problem?

Tried game on regular Gamespy was able to connect and played through for about 50 turns. The Direct IP seems to be a problem for me. Oh well enjoy the game guys.

Tried game on regular Gamespy was able to connect and played through for about 50 turns. The Direct IP seems to be a problem for me. Oh well enjoy the game guys.bummer, hope we can figure out something in future

bummer, hope we can figure out something in future
I don't know what happened? Maybe we can all play a locked TAM game on Gamespy next time. I played through 2 vanilla games. The first one I held off two numerically superior foes; they also had the technology edge. And the second I proceeded to systematically build up my infrastructure and then proceeded to pick off the weak. After about 5 hours of play; I was the sole survivor. :king: But it was so boring. I never play Vanilla. I will try to figure out what happened during the direct IP games. It was frustrating it would begin to connect through everyone except Dux; then the game would crash.

We were only four unfortunately, Dux playing Hittites, Julianus the Romans, Jet was Agamemmnon and myself starring as Egypt. It was fun and thrilling, my first multiplayer game in CIV, even though i had few contact with other human players it was interesting to measure oneself against these. We played until approximately 1700 BC when Julianus suddenly lost connection, and i quitted due to advanced time. I don't know if the others continued to play after...

Sorry about my no-show but last night became a date night. Sunday nights are more reliable gaming nights for me.

We were only four unfortunately, Dux playing Hittites, Julianus the Romans, Jet was Agamemmnon and myself starring as Egypt. It was fun and thrilling, my first multiplayer game in CIV, even though i had few contact with other human players it was interesting to measure oneself against these. We played until approximately 1700 BC when Julianus suddenly lost connection, and i quitted due to advanced time. I don't know if the others continued to play after...
Sorry Dux I thought you had taken my beloved Egyptians....so if I was able to connect we would have to split Schlappi between us, since I was playing Carthage. :lol: Maybe we should play on the big map on GameSpy next time. That way if some one grabs Egypt, I can play as Nubia. Glad you guys had a good time...but I think the Direct IP connection is the issue. Lets continue to look at it. I remember OneDreamer mentioning that he preferred GameSpy; maybe he has had more experience with the connection issues that we faced last night. :crazyeye:

So who's up for some TAM love this Saturday at 7pm EST?

So who's up for some TAM love this Saturday at 7pm EST?
I am. Wanna try GameSpy first to see if it works for all of us? That sure was an exercise in frustration for me last week. :mad: :mad:

Sure, as always, we meet on Gamespy at 7pm EST, I'm hoping this will become a weekly thing :)

Can't make it this week. Or, if I can, just for the first couple of hours. Have fun.

Sure, as always, we meet on Gamespy at 7pm EST, I'm hoping this will become a weekly thing :)
That would be great. Some of the gamers who play vanilla civ and now warlords can be a little off putting. The arrogance and the "you can't join this game because its a ladder game b.s." can get on your nerves. Half of these people could be my kids. Then like a lot of multiplayer games you have people who put down "noobs" (like they never were) and you have a lot of creeps who apply what I would call cheap strategies that do not really employ any skill. I must say I enjoy kicking a$$, as I have been playing civ since Civ1. Playing against my fellow TAMers will be more of a gentleman's game. See ya there on GameSpy.

Sorry, couldn't make it this time.

Sorry, couldn't make it this time.
No problem, Jet and I played a multiplayer on vanilla civ after an attempt at IP connection for TAM. We came across a good group of players and it was interesting trying to remember the techs and strategies needed to win in the vanilla game. Though hopefully next week we will have another go at TAM. :mischief: :mischief: :mischief:

anyone in the house tonight?

This Saturday was Independence day here, so the celebration extended into the late hours of morning, so I was tired all Saturday. Anyway, next Saturday we can try to play some. Who's up to it?

Sure, I am a go, so far.

This Saturday was Independence day here, so the celebration extended into the late hours of morning, so I was tired all Saturday. Anyway, next Saturday we can try to play some. Who's up to it?


Depends on time, i will be at home 12 am CET the earliest, but i'd certainly like to join...

So who's gonna make it?

See you guys today on gamespy at 7pm EST.

May have childcare issues today; but will try to make it at seven... Dux I think I may have figured out the reasons why I could not connect to the direct IP. I played a game with Jet and I on Gamespy (vanilla Civ) and we seemed to have figured out the issue. So here goes nothing.:p

It depends on how much work I get done in the next four and a half hours...

But I'm a maybe.

just me and Ank so far. Ank said he'd probalby try again at 8:00, I may also.