Realms Beyond Emperor: The DSG's

I'm opening a new line of Succession Games: all Deity, all the time. These games will be open only to those who have BEATEN Deity level at least once, on their own or as part of a succession game. Any Deity victory on any map size with any civ qualifies: the point is that there is little margin for error, and we want to ensure that players are bona fide ready for this level of challenge, so as not to see a whole game suffer for someone biting off more than they can chew. Mistakes and lost games are not a problem, but players should at least have the experience behind them to enable them to compete at this level. They should also have the temperament to deal with adverse situations without exploding in frustration or arguing constantly with others.

All Exploits listed at Realms Beyond as tactics forbidden during Epics play will also be forbidden during all DSG's. This means players will be required to be familiar with these exploits and agree not to use any of them as a precondition to participation.


All games will involve ten-turn rounds, with the first player or two having some flexibility at game start to play extra in many cases to get the ball rolling. If interest builds, we may depart from the usual standard game to deity variants or scenerios, but I plan to start with your normal Civ III game and see how that holds up.

As soon as we have at least four confirmed qualified players, I plan to start the first RBE DSG. (That's Deity Succession Game).


I plan to keep a list of qualified Deity veterans here in this thread, to update it, add to it, maintain it. You must make this list to be allowed to play in one of these DSG's. Once again, all you need to qualify is a verified/known victory at Deity level, either solo or as part of an SG team. This list is not meant to be all-inclusive of everyone who has ever defeated Deity level, but only to mark those who play or may play Succession Games, who qualify for the RBE series.

Here's the list of qualified players as of:

September 23, 2002


Sirian
Arathorn
Jaffa Tamarin
Charis
Zed-F
Sulla
Toecheese3
Sirp
Iteean
T-hawk
Gotag
Xarin
Urugharakh
smegged
croald


I know of several other strong players who have expressed some interest in DSG's, but I believe it's in the best interest of these games to adhere strictly to some kind of qualification. Get some Deity experience under your belts, win at least one game somehow somewhere, and you'll be good to go. And of course, the RBE games hold no exclusive rights to Deity level, so nobody needs to qualify here to play Deity. They just have to qualify to play in the RBE Deity SG's.

Win or lose, it's going to be glorious! Glorious!

[plasma] :rocket3:

:scout: :rocket:


- Sirian

I think it's a great idea, and I'd definitely be interested. I'm pretty new to succession games, having missed out on the "early" days of them, but I'd like to give this a go.

There hasn't been a Deity SG here since Sirian, Arathorn, and others won LOTR1 and Charis, Zed, and others won that ridiculous OCC Deity game. And those were back in April! I've been staying away from SGs recently because I wanted to work more on my website (and frankly have been somewhat burned out on them), but this is very interesting indeed. Sirian, when you are ready to start one of these games, just let me know.

Heh, you might yet convince me to reinstall Civ3. I'll keep an eye out for the parameters of these games and see if any crop up that my comp's processor and my patience can handle. By then I should hopefully have had enough of a break that it will all be good again...

I'd like to play, but... I don't qualify.

I have played two Deity games into winning position (tech and city count parity in the Industrial Age), but finished neither (first one was lost to a nasty disk crash on that machine, and Sirian knows about the second.) But I do regularly rip Emperor to shreds.

I'd go ahead and play a Deity game to win.. but simply don't have time to get it done anytime soon. Got a vacation next week, and will be moving at the end of August. It'll have to be either that or Epic Eight.

Are you going to at least stagger the starts over a few weeks, or are you going to kick off a bunch together?

Bring it on

No time right now. I'm buried in the Epics -- loving every minute of 6 and 8.

If LotR3 dies (it looks like it might), I might well be interested.

I've only done deity 'pelago once and I would like to do/see that again (depending on whether the interest is there before I'm ready to play or not).

Should be glorious and fun whether I'm watching or playing!
Arathorn

T-Hawk,

I think the RB crew has now figured out that starting a bunch of games at the same time just leads to massive feast-days and subsequent burnout. So I fully expect staggered starts.

Zed is right; there was a good reason why I made it a rule never to be in more than two succession games at once!

I have now played and won a solo Deity game (it was as Persia, so just as well I missed out on DSG1. ) So I'd like to take part in a DSG or two as more get started.

And I have to say I absolutely *love* the new tech rates in 1.29. Instead of a mad rush where you miss half the features of the game, Deity games are fun now. I'm much more gung-ho on Deity now than I was during Epic Four, so bring it on!

I win at diety more then I lose. Of course you have to take my word for it.

Actually epic 4 was quite the eye opener. Losing that with the boffo starting position was probably the best thing that ever happened for my gameplay. I am now far less inclined to take for granted the way the game will shape. This in turn leads to more rigorous play.

In addition after reading Sirian's report I am now inclined to really keep a close eye on the tech relationships between the AIs as opposed to over focusing on between myself and the AIs. I missed some nice opportunities I think.

I have a theory that succession games at diety will actually turn out to be far far easier then single play. Despite the possibilities of miscues and a multiplicity of foci there is no denying that people will try harder with their peers watching. Also with only 10 turns to play it is much less taxing to really drill down in a position to make the most of it.

Also frankly, Emperor is getting kinda boring.

Gotag

Hey Gotag. Sounds good. DSG2 will probably be a smaller map, and much more squeezed than this blockbuster building game we have started with. That sound good to you? If so, I'll reserve you a spot.

One thing, though. While I do take you at your word, it wouldn't be difficult for you to show you've beaten a Deity game. We have visual proofs for everyone already qualified (T-hawk's got a full report up on his page about his recent Deity win, for example, and the rest have Epic reports or SG reports posts), and it would only take you a minute or two to provide some for yourself, too. Pull up your Hall of Fame, take a screenshot, with at least one Deity victory showing, paste that into any image program (MS Paint if nothing else) and then copy the line with the deity victory into another small image file and upload/attach it here.


- Sirian

It would look like this:

Damn I feel like a padawan learner here.

I now know how to take a screenshot from the game and even how to crop it using paint!!!! Let's now see if I can figure out how to attach it here...

Gotag

PS: edited after posting, well what do you know it works!!! [dance] now how do I place the image where ever I want to?

PPS: smaller map sounds fine btw.

Originally posted by Sullla
Zed is right; there was a good reason why I made it a rule never to be in more than two succession games at once!

Click to expand...

Good rule. Do you mind if I steal it?

Gotag: yes, there's another way to put the image where you want it. CivFanatics has a file server, which you need to learn to use to participate in the RBE games anyway. Directions for using the file server are in the PROD threads. (Everyone looking to play in the DSG's take note! And save me having to repeat all this. )

- Sirian

My Deity report isn't up just yet; will have time to do it in a day or two. Need to grab a couple more screenshots from the saves; I didn't take many.

EDIT: It's up now, at the address in my sig.

This looks like fun. I'd like to get in on the next game.

I had to reinstall my CIV III for 1.29 and lost my HOF (computer rebuild). So I'm actually playing the same starting conditions as your first DSG - The uncanny X-men so I can get a Diety victory and join. In the process I used an interesting technique that is an artifact of the Scientific trait and nationalism. If anyone is interested I posted my findings on the strategy forum for everyone to critique. I'm still not doing all that well in this game (only 14 cities and no good place for a FP may kill me) but I think my Nationalism Slingshot might give me eventual victory.

Nationalism Slingshot Thread

Who's interested in starting an RBE4/RBE5? Any suggested parameters?

Well, the burning question is whether to go with PTW. I haven't gotten it yet, and am not really interested until they get through a couple rounds of patches. Also, the AI is quite improved in some aspects (I've heard they no longer over-irrigate, for example), so a Deity PTW game could turn out quite a bit harder. I guess the compromise would be to start one PTW game and one Civ3 game...

I'll semi-seriously float the idea of going Beyond Deity; set the AI Cost Factor to 50% in the editor. Another idea is to set the tech costs way down (say, small map costs on a standard 40% map), and try to replicate the 1.21 mad tech race Deity experience.

I'm interested in pretty much any game, of course