Give me 18, but not on Earth - new PBEM

Nighthawk419

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Oct 12, 2011
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Give me 18, but not on Earth​

Welcome to the game tracking and role playing thread for this new 2012 PBEM game!

Please use this thread to discuss strategy, track the status of the game, and of course any in-game roleplaying and story-telling is welcome!

Settings:

Players: 18 Humans
Skill Level: Varied
Map: Huge Techtonics, Earth-like, 60% water
Speed: Normal
No Tech Trading
Restricted Leaders
Cities can convert peacefully back to their owner
New Random Seed on Reload - NO
Huts - YES
Random Events - YES
Espionage - YES
Barbs - YES, but normal levels
Victory Conditions - all except Time
Ancient Era start
Advanced Start - 500 points

These are the settings I believe is Civ 4: BTS as its meant to be played in a mass multiplayer game. This game is meant to be for FUN - so yes starts may not all be equal and random events will throw a curveball into the game. :cool: It's not meant to be a test where everyone has the same everything and whoever wins is the guaranteed best. Rather its more of a realistic alternate-world type of atmosphere, where you may get screwed and you will need to use your leadership skills to survive and find a way to win among the many available options. ;)

Along those lines, there is a bit of a role-play optional side to this. There is definitely no requirement or scoring or anything related to "staying in character" during the game, however it is encouraged on this thread and in-game once the game gets started. I find that makes for a more fun game and keeps plotlines developing, rather than have lifelong allies turn on each other in 1850 simply because one got rifling before the other and wants to take advantage. :mischief: Of course that may well happen, however if we get the committed type of players I am hoping for, there may be a bit of an international backlash... :nuke:

I will also be playing the role of game narrator, posting anything from international news stories to stories of your citizens. Even if you have no interest in role-playing yourself, check this thread often for updates of the goings on in the world, you might gain some valuable in-game information!

As for the level of play in this game - We have a variety of players that can beat Civ IV anywhere from Noble to Immortal. Be prepared. Anything can happen, including the lower Noble level players ganging up on an Immortal superpower. International diplomacy is only limited by your imagination (and no tech trading! :lol:)

Now some logistics and warnings:

1) THIS IS A VERY LARGE AND TIME CONSUMING GAME. Based on some research and questioning on this site, I fully expect this game could take 3-4 years+ :eek: to finish to its final completion. Commitment is KEY. Vacations are fine and expected, however all players are expected to commit to keep the game rolling to the best of their ability. If you think there is a chance you will give up on the game simply because the early turns are "boring" and it takes 2 days for you to get your next turn - please leave, this isnt the game for you. :D

2) Replacements: Assuming there will be at least one person who reads the disclaimer and still drops after 2 turns anyway, we will do our best to replace quitters with other human players on the replacement list, through this forum, or any other means necessary. However for the sake of keeping the game moving, if we go too long without finding anyone, we will simply have the AI at Noble level replace the player who left and deal with whatever consequences and plan of action in-game.

3) Timing: Again, with the goal of keeping it moving, please do your best to take your turn and pass on to the next player as soon as physically possible. It doesn't take long to do a turn and will keep it going if turns are done as soon as possible! :goodjob: We are currently set up on a 3 day rotation, 6 players a day, so your turn should come around every 3 days - don't mess up the schedule or it will cause delays for everyone!

4) Tracking: This game is currently up on www.PBEMtracker.com under the name "Give me 18, but not on Earth". Everyone is currently signed up to the website, and use of the website is mandatory. Once the game is launched, check out the settings and if possible, set up an alert to remind you when your turn is ready to play. Turns are loaded onto the website server and the status is tracked for us.

I will also be acting as "turn police" to make sure it keeps moving. I am not afraid to contact you by all outlets and means necessary!

Player Info:
1) Nighthawk419 - Sitting Bull of the Native Americans - aka Night Hawk, War-Vassal of Sinimusta
2) Phisportsfan - Ragnar of the Vikings - aka Phisportsfan
3) Bathsheba666 - Huyana Capac of Inca - aka ZootHornRollo
4) D!CK VII - Charlemagne of Holy Rome - aka King Dick VII (REPLACED by Imp Knoedel, Peace-Vassal of Ruff Hi)
5) ParadigmShifter - Asoka of India - aka Paradigm Shifter (REPLACED by Aeonian Lion)
6) Majic - Mansa Musa of Mali - aka Majic (REPLACED by Nighthawk, War-Vassal of ZootHornRollo)
7) Michkov - Hatsheput of Egypt - aka Michkov
8) Eclipse4449 - Shaka of Zulu - aka Eclipse
9) Espirito - Catherine of Russia - Espirito (REPLACED by Mitiu Ioen)
10) Ruff_hi - Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia - aka Ruffster John
11) themdg - Hannibal of Carthage - aka the mdg
12) Imp. Knoedel - Gilgamesh of Sumeria - aka Dumuzid the Sheperd
13) chasbolt - Darius of Persia - aka Chasbolt (REPLACED by Tigranes)
14) bjarkekr - Willem van Oranje of the Dutch - aka bjarkekr
15) tdy99 - Elizabeth of England - aka tdy99 (REPLACED by Natuland)
16) Calanthian - Wang Kon of Korea - aka Dangun Wanggeom
17) Tudaio - Montezuma of Aztec - aka Tudaio (REPLACED by Sinimusta)
18) Count1 - Augustus Ceaser of Rome - aka Count
 
There is also the possibility of someone else making the game map.
Ensuring resources have a good spread and making possibly tier-1 positions for high level players (emperor), tier-2 positions and tier-3 positions.

This person could be me. I am experienced in that area ;)

And if I do, I'll abstain from playing, obviously.
 
Calanthian I appreciate the efforts and its a good idea. I will keep you in the back of my mind and if we do get a truly wide-spread response when it comes to difficulty that could be a good option.

I would rather you play a part in the game though! "fairness" of the map is very overrated in my opinion... generally the maps created by the game makes your first city pretty incredible, which is all you need to kick it off and the rest is on you. Resource spreading is also overrated I think... If you are in the desert and have half of the worlds oil supply, yes its unfair, but on the same hand - so is OPEC!

Let's see what the interest brings first...
 
I don't believe this game will survive, but I have a fetish for huge maps, so count me in...
If you're willing to retire players, it could work...

How are you going to do the follow the sun thing ?
 
I don't believe this game will survive, but I have a fetish for huge maps, so count me in...
If you're willing to retire players, it could work...

How are you going to do the follow the sun thing ?

Bathsheba I hope you are wrong! You are probably right, but its worth a shot...

Yes, I am totally fine with retiring people to the AI should we not be able to find a replacement in a reasonable amount of time.

And generally I'm going to put the order to be east-to-west... so theoretically turns follow the sun around the world and people are available as the turns come in. Putting in times generally available to play is a huge factor, that will determine the turn order and hopefully it will move briskly... for an 18 man PBEM game haha. If we can do a turn every other day, I will consider that a win.

Give me some info so I can include you in my sign-up list!
 
One thing I tried in Chi, was to accept that there was little possibility of a complete round the world in 24 hours. If you have too many people in one timezone, the prospect of them all passing it on within their slot seems minimal.

So I instead split the players and instead aimed for twice round the world in two days, covering half the players each day. This makes it almost impossible to get a full turn in one day, but makes it more likely that a full circuit in two is possible.

However, I cheated, and only invited people with a track record on fast turnaround, so we are going pretty well at present.

That was 10 players, so with 18 you have a different calculation.

I am London based, and tend to confine my playing to the times:
8-10am, 12-14pm, 20pm-2am

These days I seem to play under the name Zoot Horn Rollo
 
bathsheba - your system makes sense, I am attempting to do something similar - 1 turn every 2 days. Like you said though, with 18 it may be tough - we will see what happens with this game. If its like any of the PBEM games I've read about and experienced, it seems like over time it will get into its own routine and flow (I hope!).

D!CK - you are in.

I will need approx skill level for each of you as well as Leaders/Civs. Feel free to take your time with the choices, we have a long way to go!
 
Signing in.

Same timezone as bathsheba666 (GMT), I can play 8AM-9AM and 7PM onwards evening.

EDIT: As for tiers go, I'm a HoF QM so better put me in the top tier. I'm not doing that great in all my PBEM games though ;)
 
Paradigm, you are in. Thanks for the info, I'll look forward to getting my ass kicked by you in 800BC. Feel free to take over running the game once that happens.

Only 13 more players needed! Spread the word folks!
 
I'm crap at warmongering though - I haven't won a conquest or domination game above Monarch I think ;) My deity game was AP cheese win, my Immortal games have been culture or space, which don't really get started in MP ;)
 
Not sure what to say about skill level.

I don't really have time for Civ, so Civ2 was the last time I played complete games against the computer.
I only ever played pbem since then, as it comes in neat slices....

And its only relatively recently I broadened out against more than just the two regular opponents.

I am no novice.
 
Paradigm, if you've won anything EVER on Diety then I will be looking up to you. I tried it once or twice I think just to laugh at what happened... I could barely deal with Barbs, Cathy crushed my soul around 1000BC for laughs. I'll call you Immortal level.

and bathsheba... we will leave you as ??? for now.

Rankings only really matter for the purposes of us Noble players knowing whos boots we need to lick... and for the purposes of choosing civs, which I really don't expect to be a major problem. I'm sure there are constant favorites, but in a game thats already a wide mix of talent and definitely NOT meant to be 100% serious competition, I'm sure you experienced players won't mind trying someone different!
 
I'll join, GMT+1 here. I can usually play 6pm-2am, depending on day on week. I beat monarch comfortably with most leaders/maps.

How about unrestricted leaders? Give me a random one.
 
Unrestricted leaders can get pretty unbalanced I think.
 
BTS game, yes. ver 3.19, no mods

Majic you are in, random leader

And yes I am personally not a fan of unrestricted leaders... mostly because it just seems silly and its hard enough to keep track of who is what civ and what is going on in the world. Throw in Ganghis Khan leading Egypt and all kinds of weird combos and my simple Noble mind just gets confused!
 
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