Earth 18 Civs: Triumvirate Uprising PBEM

Hello everyone, in a sleep-less night the other night spent thinking of nothing but my PBEM games, I had a revelation on what could be a fun twist to a common scenario, did some research and determined that I can in fact pull it off.

The "Earth 18 civs" scenario is a lot of fun and a pretty popular scenario that comes with BTS. Don't worry - I'm not going to propose starting another 18 human PBEM game! However read below, because this will not be just any Earth 18 game, none like you've ever seen...

Here's the outline:

Scenario: Earth 18 Civs
Players: 6, each controlling 3 civs
AI: 0
Victories: All except Time
Advanced Start (see below)
Raging Barbs
Choose Religions
No Tech Trading/Brokering
NO Huts
NO Random Events

Here's how it will work:

Using the power of worldbuilder and only the tiniest bit of knowledge on how to modify the XML/Python code, I've figured out how to modify this scenario to be able to start it up as a new PBEM game where each player will control 3 civs. I can switch up the order of the game so that each players' 3 civs will follow one another to do each turn in a block. I also can do some quick worldbuildering to give everyone a small advanced start to move us past those first 20 turns of moving a warrior and hitting enter.

This isn't just first-come, first-serve where the first player in gets Rome, Aztec and Persia and wins the game. There is a twist to selecting civs...

All 18 civs have been divided into 3 pools as follows:

Pool A - Europe
England - Eclipse
France - Jon the Gun, replaced by Imp. Knoedel
Germany - sohleks
Spain - Quikboy
Rome - Nighthawk
Greece - Inky, replaced by Hercules90

Pool B - Europe's Outliers
Mali - Nighthawk
Egypt - Inky, replaced by Hercules90
Arabia - Quikboy
Persia - Jon the Gun, replaced by Hercules90
Russia - sohleks
India - Eclipse

Pool C - Far East/Far West
Aztecs - Inky, replaced by Hercules90
America - Quikboy
Incans - Nighthawk
Mongols - Eclipse
China - Jon the Gun, replaced by Imp. Knoedel
Japan - sohleks

Each player can only hold 1 civ from each pool. There will also be a drafting of civs in snake fashion. The first pick will select any civ from any pool. Same with the second and so on. The sixth pick will select his civ from any pool, and then will get the first pick of the second round, choosing 2 civs from each of the remaining pools. Yes, the second round you choose your last two. So for example the first pick gets to choose whichever of the "power civs" he wants, however will also be stuck with the last 2 civs in the game. The 6th pick may not get one of the known top power civs, but will end up with 3 very good, solid choices.

Any players wishing to join can choose their draft position by joining the game. Yours truly will accept fate and take whatever draft position is left to me as the 6th player since I believe that generally the draft is fair and I'll be happy wherever I end up.

As you can see by the settings, there is no tech trading, per the usual PBEM settings. This also means your 3 civs, sort of on a team since they are controlled by you, also can't share techs once they meet. However they can share resources and gold and whatever else... however based on the positioning, they may or may not be near each other and you will be challenged by everyone else.

Lastly, for the advanced start: Using worldbuilder, every civ will start with: 1 settler, 1 worker, 1 scout, 2 warriors and 2 additional techs of the players choosing from the first ancient era column. Not archery or animal husbandry - the first level: hunting, agriculture, etc. I didn't want to give anyone the option of 2 cities off the bat since Europe is so crowded. However you can walk your settler wherever you please with some of the more... challenging... civs.

The first 5 players (and myself) will be taken and I'm limiting it to 6 of us... the 18 game is really slow and I don't want another slow game. Plus I think the setup I thought of with 6 of us is pretty even and solid.

I look forward to your interest and any comments are welcome! We can figure this out together, as long as it doesnt involve me messing with XML/Python too much!

Players:
Nighthawk419 - #2
sohleks - #6
Eclipse4449 - #1
inky13112 - #5
quickboy - #4
Jon the Gun - #3

The Draft
#1 - Eclipse - England
#2 - Nighthawk - Rome
#3 - Jon the Gun - Persia
#4 - quickboy - America
#5 - inky13112 - Aztecs
#6 - sohleks - Germany
#7 - sohleks - Russia
#8 - sohleks - Japan
#9 - inky13112 - Greece
#10 - inky13112 - Egypt
#11 - quikboy - Spain
#12 - quikboy - Arabia
#13 - Jon the Gun - France
#14 - Jon the Gun - China
#15 - Nighthawk - Incans
#16 - Nighthawk - Mali
#17 - Eclipse - Mongols
#18 - Eclipse - India

Turn Order
Nighthawk - Rome
Nighthawk - Mali
Nighthawk - Inca
Jon the Gun - Persia
Jon the Gun - France
Jon the Gun - China
sohleks - Germany
sohleks - Russia
sohleks - Japan
inky - Aztecs
inky - Greece
inky - Egypt
quikboy - America
quikboy - Spain
quikboy - Arabia
Eclipse - England
Eclipse - Mongolia
Eclipse - India

Edit: years later, the current remaining and revised playlisting...

Nighthawk - Mali
Nighthawk - Inca
Knoedel - China
Ruff-Hi - Germany
Knoedel - Russia
Quikboy - Japan
Hercules- Aztecs
Quikboy - America
Ruff-Hi - India

bumpity bump, no one interested??

Yes, count me in please. Pbem newbie here, I been looking for regular game for a little while. Started having civ fever again last month and played single player quite a bit. Now I found this and don't want to miss it. I have BTS patched to 3.19 so I'm ready I think. So I should have this scenario. Never looked at it as I always played generated maps. The resources would be stagnant right? Predictable if you played it before? That's fine, and I'm not asking for an isometric map or anything to enjoy a civ game. I usually play with a different civ each game so my heart's not set on any one in particular but I'll make my choices strategically. And don't worry. I know multiplayer is violent. I will make turns almost everyday.

sohleks said:

Yes, count me in please. Pbem newbie here, I been looking for regular game for a little while. Started having civ fever again last month and played single player quite a bit. Now I found this and don't want to miss it. I have BTS patched to 3.19 so I'm ready I think. So I should have this scenario. Never looked at it as I always played generated maps. The resources would be stagnant right? Predictable if you played it before? That's fine, and I'm not asking for an isometric map or anything to enjoy a civ game. I usually play with a different civ each game so my heart's not set on any one in particular but I'll make my choices strategically. And don't worry. I know multiplayer is violent. I will make turns almost everyday.

Click to expand...

Great to have you! Yes, I will not be changing the map one bit from the original scenario. I think its pretty even ground because anyone can start the scenario and then open up worldbuilder to see the map.

It's definitely a completely unbalanced map, thats why I added in the twists with the civs you own and the drafting process. Your individual civs definitely won't be fair, but as a whole everyone should have a fair chance.

I'm looking forward to this game, but have patience, I expect it will take another week (at least) to get players and get started.

Add me too Please
Ooo I hope I get England first round Hehe or whatever

Eclipse4449 said:

Add me too Please
Ooo I hope I get England first round Hehe or whatever

Click to expand...

Mr. Eclipse, good to see you again! You are in...

both of you can select your draft positions anytime you'd like.

OK if it works that way then England is my first draft choice

Eclipse4449 said:

OK if it works that way then England is my first draft choice

Click to expand...

No no - you select your draft position first (1 through 6) and then the actual draft is held. You can guarantee yourself England if you take the first pick... but then you'd also be left with the last 2 civs in the other 2 pools.

I almost understand
I select the first position #1
I care not that I must choose 2 lessor of greatness, they will still be mine.


"Triumvirate Uprising", nice name !

I'd like draft position #6 please. If I understand correctly the first 5 players will pick their first civ. Then after seeing where everyone's going I'll swoop in and pick all 3 of my civs. Mwuhaha.

We are doing this in a time span that is slow every year. So I'll say I'll be here as long as it takes

both of you are correct and locked in. thanks! Only need 3 more, shouldnt be too hard I hope!

Let there be 3 more players!

Sign me up as well. This scenario looks really cool, I expecially like the draft aspect. I guess you did it as 1 civ then 2 so that 1st wouldnt get 2 first picks like if you did 1 then 1 then 1?

Good to have you inky. Only 2 more players needed to play!

Regarding the draft, the way he described it it seems it goes like this, picking top to bottom.... Each number represents a player and his draft position.

.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
.6
--
.6
.6
.5
.5
.4
.4
.3
.3
.2
.2
.1
.1

In my opinion it may favor the high numbers. Maybe later in draft puts you later in the game's turn order. I don't know if that is much of a disadvantage.

Inky - you are in and welcome! Feel free to choose your draft position at any time, they are first come first serve.

Re: the draft, you guys have it exactly right. A three round draft gives an automatic advantage to the top seeds, so I wanted to change it up to be a little more challenging.

and sohlecks - at first glance it seems like you are right with the higher numbers (or later picks) having a slight advantage due to the early second round picks... but I also have studied the civs a decent amount and by my count there are 4-5 civs that are far and away the most powerful, so assuming they go in order, the 6th pick also won't get what I would call the "power civs" on this map... but then 3 in a row of the mid-tier civs. On the same token the top seed gets whatever civ he wants, but also the two consensus worst in the other two pools.

I actually thought through this a lot, did some self-mock-drafts and generally this came to be the most even of all the ways I could think through it. Between being forced to pick a civ from each pool and the drafting part, its nearly impossible for anyone to have such a significant advantage that the others cant overcome.

Then again, Eclipse already threw a monkey wrench into the whole thing picking #1 and making it clear he's choosing his love-child first!

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

2 more players please!

sohleks said:

In my opinion it may favor the high numbers. Maybe later in draft puts you later in the game's turn order. I don't know if that is much of a disadvantage.

Click to expand...

Oh also re: turn order - In order to make the game move at a decent speed, the turn order will be totally independant of the draft and civ selection. I will be lumping each person's 3 civs next to each other so each time you get a turn you play 3 civs back-to-back-to-back then send to the next player. I will also set the order based on time zones and when you generally are available to play in order to try and keep it moving smoothly.

Speaking of which - if you guys can PM me your emails, timezone and the hours you generally play (locally or in GMT) that will help speed this up.. thanks!

I'll go fifth.

EDIT: not sure how to PM on this forum. It says I don't have access when I use the contacts pop up and click send message, and otherwise I can't find any PM links at all

EDIT2: Ah, you have to be around for 5 days until you can PM apparently.

I'll be draft player number 4 I suppose.

As I said previously I'll take the 1st draft position