Traditionally, turn chats have been limited to 10 turns. The first one would probably go incredibly fast because normally it's move worker, mine or irrigate, hit enter 3-5 times depending on how many shields, and then 2-4 turns of worker building road and warrior moving. Afterwards there have not been enough changes for real forum discussion, and we would end up playing another 10 turns with essentially the same instructions as the 1st session.

What do you think about playing 20 turns the first session? That would let us make some real progress and have something to discuss.

I believe we should keep it at 10 turns. I think it will be good training wheels for people that have not been at a Turn Chat before. Turn Chats are limited to 10 turns for a reason. Let's keep the same rules from the first turn to the last.

NEWBIE QUESTION!!

How does the TurnChat work??

I think it should be kept at 10 turns.

I think a compromie could be 15 turns, as the first TV is very slow, bnothing really happens, I would ideally go fro 20, so all Depts could work with something.
We need a solid start, as this election may or may not have created some fatigue.

I suggest that we keep it to 10 turns. The longer we get the game to run, the better. And, by the way, we might encounter some problems in 20 turns, such as barbarians, other civs, ... Furthermore, in 20 turns time, we should have founded at least one other city, or even two if we're very lucky.

NEWBIE QUESTION!!

How does the TurnChat work??

A turnchat works by elected officials posting instructions in a Turn Chat Thread, in which the DP (designated player) follows. The turnchat is held once every few days, with the DP and other citizens attending. The DP uses the chatroom as a log for their in-game actions, as well as posting screenshots for the people to decide what to do next. Gameplay typically lasts for 10 turns. It can go up to 13+ if the DP wants to get a certain tech, or be able to renegotiate a certain deal (i.e., trade deal, war, peace). But, if something like meeting a civ, or war being declared on us, then the chat can be stopped early.

@FC - yeah, remember DG2? We nearly lost our worker to roaming barbs!!

I agree with Provolution. 15 turns should be good. By that point we'd probably get our settler (if we go warrior-settler), or our third warrior. We'd also get to work on about 3/4 tiles with our worker.

Generally I would say going with the established tradition is the best way. However in this case I would say some sort of clause should be put in allowing a vote from the various ministries to decide to move on after 10 turns. The ministers themselves should be able to decide whether or not the people would support this, after all they are elected officials who are supposed to have at least a basic idea of what the people want.

Basically I think the normal 10 turns should be played then a show of hands from the ministries (for or against) should decide the issue.

I do wish to point out that I am new this whole demogame thing and my advice should probably be looked at with that in mind.

DaveShack, please play as many turns as you believe to be prudent. Basically, just go until something actually happens. Don't limit it to 10 turns because of 'tradition' - if you did, we'd be stuck in T1 for a long time.

That's what you said last game Oct. If I remember correctly, we had some major disturbances right at the start of the game. Then we had a very difficult time expanding because there was so much discussion on where to plant our Settlers. There are tons of things that need to be discussed during the first ten turns, and between the first ten turns and the second ten turns. Just because you get yourself involved in many other things and don't follow the Demogame that closely, doesn't mean that those of us here arn't very active trying to get things done. You may not have a lot to say after ten turns, but I sure will. And btw, we will be in Term 1 for 1 calendar month, regardless of how many turns we play a t/c. It may seem slower to you, but those days will be filled to others.

I say 15 turns the first time Just because I like the idea and have no good reason why we should or shouldn't :crazyeye:

:D Good answer, mhcarver.

Since we lost some progress the first time, we should probably go 20 turns ahead, and I will post some instructions to be polled on. These 20 turns will cover exploration and the development of the first city, and maybe the other one.

Chieftess says we can do max 65-70 turns this term, well, I would say we can do more, now that we know that last DH had 17b hour long turnchats last term. Now is the chance to equalize this workload by putting some even distribution of terms throughtout the game. Everyone knows that there are fewer moves first term, and very few units and cities to administer. I would say we should go for 100 turns in August, which is 33 % more than this estimate. Campaigns were so hard that at least we should get some minimum work out of it but a meager 70 turns.

I would suggest first turnchat 20 turns, then 15 turns again the second, third, fourth, and fifth, ending with a conclusive turnchat of 10 turns the last term. By this time, there should be enough units and cities to justify 10 turn turnchats in term 2.

I would like to have a vote on this.

If I remember correctly, in DaveShack's campaign promise for a t/c schedule, he said he would try to schedule a t/c every 3 days. If he doe this, because this month has 31 days, 10 turn t/cs will give us a max of 100 turns. Simple math. If you run the first four t/cs at a 15 turn clip each, you will have burned through 60 turns, where traditionally we would have only used 40 turns. Basically that's 20 turns (or two traditional t/cs) with no immediate instruction. These opening moves are vital to the development of any Civ game. Blindly allowing 20 turn chats with no input from the forums is a very bad idea.

This discussion hasn't even run 24 hours yet, and you want to run a poll on it? Is this really Boots? :lol: j/k Wait on the poll.

We shouldn't as Domestic cannot give the instructions needed for twenty turns.

Ok, Iagree, and surrender that idea, it is just frustrating to prepare so mucj for only 10 turns. If we get to 100 turns in this month , I am satisfied.

It's a moot point. Something's bound to happen that will require a forum discussion, long before we get to 20 turns. :D

Stay with ten turns.

My question is: "What's the hurry?"

The fun of a demogame is in the playing, not in how quickly we get to the finish line.

One thing to do: play until 15 turns, but have the DP end the the chat should we build a settler or meet another civ before that. Then we could discuss at length what to do next.

Good discussion so far! Suppose the plan was to continue until a decision point is reached, or n turns is reached, whichever comes first. I was looking for permission to set n higher than 10. Focusing again on the idea that we're not necessarily going on to 20 turns, just until a decision point comes up -- further comments with that clarification?

Agreed Dave, it makes sense

Good discussion so far! Suppose the plan was to continue until a decision point is reached, or n turns is reached, whichever comes first. I was looking for permission to set n higher than 10. Focusing again on the idea that we're not necessarily going on to 20 turns, just until a decision point comes up -- further comments with that clarification?

Who is deciding when a decision point is reached?

Sounds good. Since we have no ideas about the surroundings, the natural first decision point would be the settler, so we can decide where to put him. And he shouldn't pop up too long after turn 10.

I don't like the idea, Mr. President. Just keep n as 10 and hope you get that far.

Again, I ask "what is the hurry?"

Sure, the first 10 turns will likely fly by quicker than donsig can say 'Take it to the forums', but why must we try to get more than 10 in on the first day?

Consider this.... The more turns the DP plays, the less input the citizenry has on the game. Decisions like which direction to explore in, where to send our second (and possibly third) warrior will likely be made by either the DP or the attendees of the chat instead of by the general populace.

Now, I agree that the ten turn limit should not be held fast. I think that the DP should be able to play an extra turn or two if appropriate (ie. one more turn til the next settler is built, etc.). However, the further we go beyond the 10th turn, the more we risk depriving our people of their most treasured right in the demogame - the right to contribute to the decision-making process.

Moreover, I believe that extending the generally accepted limit of 10 turns for even the first chat would be setting a dangerous precedent. I strongly encourage everyone to adhere to the established policy of 10 turns per chat.

40J has always put into words far better than I.