CommandoBob
AbstractArt
Never assume those you recruit know as much as you do.
In a nutshell, a Multi-Team Demo Game (MTDG) is
Unlike a Succession Game, where someone plays a few turns, posts the results, talk about the results and future plans and then another person does the same thing, in a MTDG each team plays their ONE turn in order, passing the save from team to team. At the end of all human turns the barbarians, if any, get their turn. The key is the one turn per team.
Which means everybody on the team can discuss the in-game situation at just about anytime for any turn.
Generic Team Positions
Each team will have someone called a Turn Player. Their job is to execute the desires of the team in the game. Turn Players have the joy and responsibility of playing the game. They have to get the saved game via email, play the turn, make the proper log entries (both for the world and their team) and then save the game and send it on the the next team.
Early on, the Turn Player is the most important person in the game. Once other civs have been met, Foreign Ministers or Ambassadors become important as they represent your team to the other teams you have met. They handle negioations and treaty making and are generally bringers of good will. They are not required to be truthful.
Internally, most teams have a position called Military Advisor that focuses on the military strength, positioning and strategy. And a Domestic Advisor that oversees city production orders, worker allocation and the treasury.
Internal Team Structure
Some teams have no formal internal structure. They tend to let people gravitate towards positions and things they like. Other teams do have a formal structure, holding elections for their own set of internal and external offices on a regular basis. Which means that the Turn Players on Turn 0 may all change by Turn 100.
Most teams do have a formal structure, patterned on earlier Democracy games. In those games, one team (the Democracy) played the AIs.
In this game, each team determines their own structure, but are considered 'Democracies' even if they have no structure (after all, they had some sort of vote or decision making process to determine their structure!)
So What Can a Newbie Do?
Anything.
Just because a person has a position in the team doesn't mean they have all the answers. Some players are very methodical but not very creative in how they handle in-game issues. Others may be brilliant with their ability to wage war but can't keep the workers busy.
And most of all, sometimes they become too focused on a particular plan that they don't see any other options. And it may take a newbie to ask the all-important question of 'Why?' to wake them up.
If the team has elected positions, the current leadership may need to change due to something called Real Life (bills, work, families, etc), which opens up a chance for the new person to have some responsibility on how the game is played.
All of Which Means
In a nutshell, a Multi-Team Demo Game (MTDG) is
- A game played with C3C or Conquests, patched to 1.22.
- Played as a PBEM game.
- With a common understanding of what is allowed and what is not allowed.
- With no AI.
- With humans only.
- With some game parameters decided by the teams, some by the players as a group.
- Grouped into different teams (some players come by recruitment of a team, others by luck of the draw).
- Where each team has their own internal government (or lack of, if so desired).
- And each team has their own separate forum for in-team discussions, that is private for that team (no snooping).
- Where each team can be as truthful to the other teams as they see fit.
- Where each team is to trying to out-play, out-wit and out-last all the others.
Unlike a Succession Game, where someone plays a few turns, posts the results, talk about the results and future plans and then another person does the same thing, in a MTDG each team plays their ONE turn in order, passing the save from team to team. At the end of all human turns the barbarians, if any, get their turn. The key is the one turn per team.
Which means everybody on the team can discuss the in-game situation at just about anytime for any turn.
Generic Team Positions
Each team will have someone called a Turn Player. Their job is to execute the desires of the team in the game. Turn Players have the joy and responsibility of playing the game. They have to get the saved game via email, play the turn, make the proper log entries (both for the world and their team) and then save the game and send it on the the next team.
Early on, the Turn Player is the most important person in the game. Once other civs have been met, Foreign Ministers or Ambassadors become important as they represent your team to the other teams you have met. They handle negioations and treaty making and are generally bringers of good will. They are not required to be truthful.
Internally, most teams have a position called Military Advisor that focuses on the military strength, positioning and strategy. And a Domestic Advisor that oversees city production orders, worker allocation and the treasury.
Internal Team Structure
Some teams have no formal internal structure. They tend to let people gravitate towards positions and things they like. Other teams do have a formal structure, holding elections for their own set of internal and external offices on a regular basis. Which means that the Turn Players on Turn 0 may all change by Turn 100.
Most teams do have a formal structure, patterned on earlier Democracy games. In those games, one team (the Democracy) played the AIs.
In this game, each team determines their own structure, but are considered 'Democracies' even if they have no structure (after all, they had some sort of vote or decision making process to determine their structure!)
So What Can a Newbie Do?
Anything.
Just because a person has a position in the team doesn't mean they have all the answers. Some players are very methodical but not very creative in how they handle in-game issues. Others may be brilliant with their ability to wage war but can't keep the workers busy.
And most of all, sometimes they become too focused on a particular plan that they don't see any other options. And it may take a newbie to ask the all-important question of 'Why?' to wake them up.
If the team has elected positions, the current leadership may need to change due to something called Real Life (bills, work, families, etc), which opens up a chance for the new person to have some responsibility on how the game is played.
All of Which Means
- First, this ain't your normal game of Civ. No way. You're playing against people that are just as sneaky and underhanded as you are AND you are trying to beat them fair and square (well, mostly fair and square).
- Second, you don't have to be a great Diety player to be on a team or hold a position in a team. In fact, that could be a real handicap, 'cos the AI has a limited role (barbarians only) in this game.
- If all you have is vanilla or PTW, you can still be on a team. You could not be the Turn Player, since that does require C3C, but a lot of vanilla and PTW still works in C3C. Building workers and settlers is not something that Conquests invented, and talking to people started a long time before this franchise began.
- You really ought to sign up now, even if the game has already started. It is never too late to join.
Excellent explaination CB! 
Impressive, what people find time to do when waiting for the save 
