Game Settings Discussion

Sullla

Patrician Roman Dictator
Joined
Feb 9, 2002
Messages
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Location
Baltimore MD
Hello, and greetings to Team 1! I've been asked to create the map for the Demogame, and before I get started I need to hear a consensus from each of the teams on some of the game settings. I would like you guys to discuss the following options, and come up with a team answer to the following six settings:

- Huts: On/Off
- Events: On/Off
- Vassal States: On/Off
- Barbarians: None, Normal, or Raging
- Tech Trading: Normal, No Tech Trading, No Tech Brokering
- Difficulty Level: Low (Noble/Prince), Medium (Monarch/Emperor), High (Immortal/Deity)

Be aware that difficulty level affects three main issues with no AIs in the game: research costs, inflation/maintenance, and barbarian strength. It might sound cool to be playing on Deity, but... the game balance frankly is not as good at the highest setting, and the game just generally runs better at the more moderate settings. And while I don't want to prejudice the voting, I would strongly recommend turning off Vassal States, which add little to the gameplay while opening up a number of gamey exploits. Of course, this is YOUR team, and you can tell me to screw off if you like. :D

I'm asking each team to come to a decision on these six settings by Wednesday, November 19th of next week. You can decide in any fashion your team chooses - how to go about doing so is up to you! Once all five teams have voted, I'll tally them up and see which options won. Each team as a whole has one vote, and 3/5 majority wins. For non-binary options like difficulty setting, I'll pick whatever setting is closest to the group vote (e.g. if there are three "Medium" and two "High" votes, I will choose Emperor as the difficulty level). Assume that any setting not listed here will be turned off for the game. Thus you won't see "No City Razing" or "Always War/Peace" or anything like that.

Good luck and happy voting! :king:
 
My Thoughts
A Medium difficulty should be fine. Everyone should feel comfortable enough with the game to be a Turn Player, if needed.

Huts: Depends on what they give. If it is Techs, I would prefer No. If it is gold, maps and / or units; that might be easier for everyone to accept.

Events and Vassal States I am not familiar with; no help there.

Barbarians: in my solo games I play with them Raging. I think that None is a bit too dull.

Tech Trading: Normal. Why not? The other two choices sound like a headache to enforce. Unless Tech Trading is very different in Civ 4 from Civ 3.
 
Let's leave the huts off and reduce the randomness of the game.

Vassal states I think should be on. This might help keep a team interested if it falls too far behind.

Normal barbs.

I don't know what events are and don't understand the tech trading thing yet.
 
My thoughts

- Huts: Off - having them on could be a great boon to any one team - random
- Events: Off - again this could be a great boon to any one team - random
- Vassal States: Off - based on the suggestion of Sullla
- Barbarians: Normal
- Tech Trading: Normal or Off - I don't have friend on other teams that I would trade with, but others might
- Difficulty Level: Low / Medium - speeds up tech

Jeff
 
I don't think you can remove Tech awards from the huts so I'd rather have them off.

I haven't played BTS in a while so I'm not exactly sure what kind of events BTS has. I wouldn't have a problem with them being on though (an example would be a lucky breakthrough in research or a setback). On or off is fine by me.

I'd have to agree with Sullla about Vassal States. I've always hated it personally.

Barbarians: Normal or Raging (Though I'd prefer Normal, because this is a multiplayer game and I'd rather focus my attention to human players instead of the AI).

Tech trading: No Tech Trading would mean you'd have to rely on your own research. It would decrease diplomacy. No Tech Brokering would be fine by me (it's enforced by the game itself, so there's no problem enforcing it btw) and so would Normal.

Difficulty: Prince/Monarch
 
Just to be clear, I don't want any limits on tech trading. Whether we learn it or buy, we should be able to sell it/gift it. You never know when you'll need friends.

I think that means Normal.
 
Here are my thoughts

- Huts: Off
- Events: On
- Vassal States: Off
- Barbarians: Normal
- Tech Trading: Normal
- Difficulty Level: Low to Medium
 
So we could not get a tech from Civ A and sell/gift to Civ B? That seems to limit our ablity to trade.
 
Do the tech trading options also limit giving (or getting) techs for peace? What about gifting techs?
 
Here's a summary of our choices so far. If someone stated a dual preference (like low/medium difficulty) I gave each a half point. Highest vote total in italics.

Huts
on: 1
off: 6

Events
on: 3
off: 1

Vassal states
on: 2
off: 4

Barbarians
None: 0
Normal: 5
Raging: 1

Tech trading
Normal: 4.5

No Tech Trading: 1
No Tech Brokering: 0

Difficulty
Low (Noble/Prince): 1.5
Medium (Monarch/Emperor): 2
High (Immortal/Deity): 0

So we are currently leaning towards:
Huts and vassal states off, events on, normal barbarians and tech trading and medium difficulty.
 
I can live with those settings.
 
Thanks again for the tally, donsig. I'm hearing a clear consensus from Team 1 for Huts Off, Normal Barbs, and Normal Tech Trading. You may want to discuss the other three settings in the remaining two days before the deadline, since the vote was much closer and there wasn't an obvious decision. I'd especially encourage a little more input on the nebulous difficulty setting. :)
 
My preference is to have all options on and to go with either Noble or Deity for difficulty level.
 
Thanks again for the tally, donsig. I'm hearing a clear consensus from Team 1 for Huts Off, Normal Barbs, and Normal Tech Trading. You may want to discuss the other three settings in the remaining two days before the deadline, since the vote was much closer and there wasn't an obvious decision. I'd especially encourage a little more input on the nebulous difficulty setting. :)

This wasn't Intended as a final vote total, only a snapshot of where we are in our thinking - and to have something put together if Wednesday rolled around without our making up our minds. :D

We do all seem happy with huts off and normal barbs and tech trading.

I'm not sure what events are. If they are random things like huts that might give one team an early advantage then they should be off like huts. I'll have to defer to someone who has actually played BtS for guidance on events.

I'm familiar with vassal states in Warlords single player games but not BtS multiplayer. So I don't know what exploits this could open up. I do know that in multiplayer games when a player begins losing their incentive to play wanes. Having a team of players doesn't necessarily mean a losing team will always have someone to play the turns. I'm thinking that having vassal states on might make it easier to keep a team playing their turns even if they will lose the game. Maybe it wouldn't. :dunno: If it did I have no idea if that benefit out weighs the potential exploits. Anyone on th eteam have pbem experience in this regard?

As for level, I'll stick with medium.
 
I am currently playing BTS 3.17.

Events are typical small things like
An increase in moose in the area +6 food
Finding a new resource

Or can be a quest for a bonus
Build a city on 12 different landmasses
Create 8 Musketmen

I don't believe that the events will make a big difference in the game.

Jeff
 
My choices:

- Huts: Off
- Events: On
- Vassal States: Off
- Barbarians: Normal
- Tech Trading: Normal
- Difficulty Level: Medium (Emperor pref)
 
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