CivIV: Diplogame - Development Thread

[dot80]

Recently in the CivV Stories forum we tried to start a semi-diplogame (it wasn't a true diplogame b/c the winning system was just based on a win ingame). It eventually failed b/c the GM couldn't do it anymore (he would play the turns and send the team pictures of their turn). Even though we didn't get very far and it was far from a true diplogame it still made me want to play one.

So let's start a new diplogame here in the CivIV forum. I am going to change the winning system though. Now ingame there is only a time victory. When a player is eliminated ingame or the game ends all the players' scores are added to their RP points. RP points are given every two weeks by vote and they are equal to the average points gained ingame for that session. The person who gets the points is the person with the majority vote of all the players. This is up for debate and can be changed based upon what the players want. All the details to be decided: the map, civ limitations (for fairness), victory condition, mods, ect.

We also need to decide pitboss or PBEM.

EDIT:

Current Settings:

Map: Terra
Misc: No tribal huts, no random events,
Turns: Epic
Game Type: PBEM
Victories: Time, Conquest, Culture (+rp scoring)
RP scoring: The person with the most votes gets rp points equal to the average gain in score

Story Thread: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=445470

Roster:
Dot80
Jehoshua
Mayor
Tambien
NEED SUB
Yoshiegg
General Olaf
Danger Bird

 

[Jehoshua]

VICTORY CONDITIONS

I would disagree with you on allowing only a time victory, you should at least enable conquest victory to reward the exceptional person who is able to conquer everyone else, I would also include culture for the challenge. Domination I would cut out since its sort of a cop out of conquest anyway, and space I would also cut out since its sort of counterintuitive that someone could win, and the very next turn their empire could be utterly obliterated by nukes.

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RP POINTS

As to RP points firstly what are they for? If they grant some tangible reward I would disagree with making it a vote since that just opens the door for political bias instead of a genuinely representative representation of ones RP merit.

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OTHER DETAILS

map: should be pangaea for maximum player interaction and to prevent the trauma of an isolation start, or two people in a death struggle on a paradisaic island utopia.
civ limitations: none, the world isn't fair so just deal the hand your given
mods: none
mode: PBEM
other: random civs, I think it would be interesting to have that factor of chance in the game. People should be able to work with the hand they are given and alter their strategy based on the civ they get. Furthermore this excludes the possibility of fighting over one or anther civ that people want to play.

 

[dot80]

I chose time victory only for two reasons. For one, it will prevent people from warmongering for no reason but to win. Secondly, it will base victory on score. The reason the victory needs to be based on score is so we can be rewarded for good RP. A big part of a diplogame is to win not based on the game but based on your stories and incharacter diplomacy. That way everyone has a fighting chance no matter their skill.

Pangea or Terra old world start would be best.
I disagree with random civs. It can be hard to RP a culture your not familiar with.

 

[Tambien]

I vote for Tetta map. PBEM is good with me, as long as someone fan explain how it works to me.

 

[Yoshiegg737]

I vote for Tetta map. PBEM is good with me, as long as someone fan explain how it works to me.

Yeah, a comparison (explanation) between PBEM and Pitboss sounds good to me

I also second Terra

 

[LordNwahs6]

I vote for Tetta map. PBEM is good with me, as long as someone fan explain how it works to me.

Someone has to make a 'tetta' map generator thing

 

[Jehoshua]

I chose time victory only for two reasons. For one, it will prevent people from warmongering for no reason but to win. Secondly, it will base victory on score. The reason the victory needs to be based on score is so we can be rewarded for good RP. A big part of a diplogame is to win not based on the game but based on your stories and incharacter diplomacy. That way everyone has a fighting chance no matter their skill.

Fair enough, I won't argue the point, although of course I expect anyone who gets Genghis Khan to attempt to conquer the world

Pangea or Terra old world start would be best.

Both are fine, we don't have that nasty polynesia civ like there is in civ V which can colonise the new world obscenely early.

I disagree with random civs. It can be hard to RP a culture your not familiar with.

The internet??? it shouldn't be that hard to do your research.

Either way if you insist on not doing random civs, I reserve and claim Huayna Capac and the glorious empire of Tahuantinsuyu

 

[Optical]

I'll play this one. PBEM works best for me (y'know, the whole other side of the world thing etc etc )

Terra is a personal favourite...

and I'll be playing a Rags/Viking game, if nobody objects

 

[dot80]

PBEM is play be email, so after our turn we email it to the next player (I think the game does this automatically but I'm not sure, even so pming the save will also work), in pitboss someone basically runs a "server" that everyone can connect and disconnect to. The pitboss client is not very demanding as I understand. If we do pitboss someone will either have to leave their pc on at all times (if somone has an old one they could do this with, that would be great). We could all just take turns running the pitboss (like we change very session) The later is preferable because than if someone stops playing it won't delay the game (turn timer).

I know Jehoshua won't want this, but we can always request someone to make a map for us. A talented map maker could make a more interesting, balancd map than any generator. Other than that, maybe the perfect world generator. I used it once, and I think i really liked the map.

If we choose our civs I want the good o'le Brits

Oh, I also suggest we do no random events, no tribal huts, no espionage (always hated it), limited religions. I was thinking of mods, and maybe we could use the realistic names mod (changes name based on civics/size/culture). If we get a map where colonization will be a big thing we could get a mod to reduce the cost of oversea colonies, and we could get a mod where forts give off culture (to claim land similar to the europeans). Just ideas.

EDIT: It might be a good idea to mod in more resources to allow for complex trade relationships.

 

[Jehoshua]

I would tolerate an outside non-player map creator made map so long as they guaranteed balance. Although I would prefer a randomly generated terra or pangaea.

I agree on your suggestions except for limited religions [I don't see any real overriding practical reason for it].

I also disagree with any and all mods, I don't want to have to go installing mods just for this game and in any case it is better to go with the ideology of "keep it simple stupid" and avoid making it overly complex with mods. Oh, and no superabundant resources, that is quite frankly simply ridiculous and degrades from the reality of trade.

 

[mayor]

If I understand correctly this will be a PBEM game with RP?

EDIT: I must say I agree with Jehoshua on all points

 

[Jehoshua]

yes, we play our turns through email, and do RP on a thread. Now as presumably it will take a while to go through substantial turns, this will force people to be creative in creating RP to keep the thread going (namely not just spewing out stories only on things you did in the turns)

 

[mayor]

hmm that should be fun... sort of an CIV based NES

 

[dot80]

Yeah, So everyone is aware, this game is RP based. To win you will have to participate in the RP (unless you just run away with the score). Perhaps we could change the scoring system so second and third place in votes also gets points. Also maybe to avoid voter bias we can send our votes in anonymously to an outside person via pm.

 

[Seron]

This sounds quite interesting. I will reserve the russians. Though I may not have as much rp as I would like to since I have I&B Redux and a hell of a lot of homework and tests.

 

[dot80]

It's quality over quantity. You should be able to stay competitive with 1-2 stories per week (or however long a session is)

With Seron that is 7. 10+ would be optimal but we have enough to start whenever we get all the details worked out.

Right now the settings (based on most popular options) are:
Map: Terra
Misc: No tribal huts, no random events, limited religions
Turns: Marathon
Game Type: PBEM
Victories: Time (+rp scoring)
RP scoring: The person with the most votes gets rp points equal to the average gain in score

When everyone agrees on the settings I'll start a new thread

 

[mayor]

I'm pro random civs

 

[Seron]

I should be able to manage that.

 

[Yoshiegg737]

Wait...Marathon speed?!? Considering this is PBEM, Marathon will take an eternity to finish

 

[Jwitti]

I'm not a stellar mapmaker, but I can make interesting maps. So, If no one has a problem... I can make one, I don't care whether or not you play it. I'll have it up tomorrow or day after....