Overview
This will be a Training Day Game for Always War Monarch (TDG-AWM). We will be the Russians, who are Scientific and Expansionist. Our Unique Unit is the Cossack, an improved Cavalry, which we get with Military Tradition.
On the turn we meet someone we must declare war. We can trade with them on that turn, as long as no deals involving gold per turn or resource trading is involved. By the end of that turn we must declare war.
Scoutsout will be helping us.
Civ III Conquests 1.22f
Level: Monarch
Opponents: random
Barbarians: raging
Land mass: continent
Water: 70%
Map size: standard
Age: 4 Gig, er 4 Billion
Climate: normal
Temperature: temperate
I am looking for about 4 or 5 other players who want to learn the Always War variant at the Monarch level. You do not need to have played a game at Monarch, much less won one, in order to sign up. I have one, and only one, completed, solo, game at Monarch; Im still playing number two. I have been part of several SGs and SGOTMs, and from experience I can say that your current level of playing is not an issue.
The first turnset will be 20 turns and then will drop to 10 turns each. At some later point we may have to drop down to 5 turns when the turns get real long to play and log.
I am considering have each player play 20 turns from the starting save and then we post, compare our results and decide which start to play from.
Lurkers and guest lecturers are welcome also.
Gameplay
A training game plays slow due to the teaching and discussion. An AW will bog down because the warfare slows down the game turns. And the players have a life outside the game, not to mention other SGs. As a result, the normal SG 24/72 standards for Gameplay are out the window. I think the game will still move along without a problem. I just dont want to force anyone into playing turns when they have questions about what they should be doing or some of the game concepts/implications/ramifications.
The idea is to learn and the best way to that is by discussion (theory; classroom time) and by doing (hands-on; Gameplay).
Once it is time to play, I think that 48 hours (2 days) to post a get is fine, followed by 96 hours (4 days) to play and post the results. After that, I may declare a skip and the game will move on. I know my schedule and have learned that I cannot keep the 24/72 pace that others can. This is certainly a more relaxed pace and can be extended when needed. Skips and swaps are allowed and encouraged when needed. And if everyone is busy and the game sets for a bit (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc) that is fine too.
I really do not expect to have to declare someone skipped.
CommandoBobs Semi-Standards
These things have helped me to focus my attention better on the game mechanics. I will be doing these things. I ask that anyone who wants to join be willing to do these their first two turnsets. The key is willing, not required.
Pre turn Strategy Post
This can be brief or elaborate, depending on the state of the game. We plan to win by conquest and we plan to always be at war, so mostly this would focus on plans for the current turn.
Military Strength
At the start and again at the end of a turnset, just report what our current military strength is. This can be gotten from the military advisor or from CivAssist II. It would look like this:
03 Warriors
16 Knights
10 Mace
The breakdown of conscript/regular/veteran/elite is not really needed here. I tend to just order the units as the Military Advisor does, so the order of what units comes first tends to change through out a game.
City Builds
For each city we have, list their name, size, growth in turns and build in turns. It would look like this:
London (4) grows in 4, spear in 2.
Paris (6) zero growth, temple in 4.
City Build Recap
This is just a list of what builds are being built by which city. The list would contain the name of the build, the count of how many are being built, followed by the names of the cities building that item. It would look like this:
Temple [2] (Paris and Rome)
rSpear [1] (London)
vSpear [3] (Mecca, Trondheim and Athens)
At some point in time both these city lists lose their importance. For an Always War game, we can ignore the City Build list when we get over twenty cities. I think the Recap would be good until we get around forty cities. After that they take more time than they are worth, especially since by the time we get to forty cities they will be making mostly fighting units anyway.
These lists do take extra time, but they have helped me to see things I might otherwise have missed, like building too many aqueducts or too few swords. So I would ask that the players try these for two turnsets.
And of course, all of these can be combined into one post. I tend to review the cities and military and then develop some plans for the turns that are upcoming.
And just to say it again, these semi-standards are suggestions. They have helped me and they might help you. Do not let them stop you for signing up.
After all, we're almost neighbors.
) It also costs 90 shields, 10 more than cavalry.
