Do not worry Newbyman, you are still first alternate and first for the next game (though if you land a place on this game and prove a shabby player then I will have to question my second offer).
If those three miscriants would come, there would be no more waiting...
Since they give no word for a lenghty while and all are anxious to play and we now have two alternates, I will give them (GoJeero, DDay and the Flatlander) three more days to comply, which is twice the amount since I mailed them notices of urgency concerning the gamestart. This might mean that we only play with 6, but that is an acceptable number and anyway, only one of them needs to show to fill the player's table.
As for the map, it was outlined (the continents) by someone else. Those were just shapeless scribbles meant to resemble landmasses which I then took and outlined in the mapeditor as best I could, trying not to be creative with this aspect (this part of the process making the biggest difference of all) and then drew all the terrain from a zoomed up view where the specific locations of things in relation to everything else became disoriented, especially since I hid the corner map. The Barbarian territories in the scenario editor were done much the same way, and the final step, placing the players down, was the second instance in which i saw the map in full, putting the where there was least barbarian danger all across the globe. Considering the size of the map (32,696 to be exact) and the extent and variety of the different terrain I would say I would almost be in the same complete loss as you will be upon starting. Before we start, I will give you the list of nations and one of you will pick one for me. Of course, i might've given one person a huge advantage hoping you'd pick them for me, but then if you didn't someone else would unknowingly get the best land in the game and win because of it and I would have to admit defeat lest I should confess to cheating, so banish the thought, it doesn't work.
As for my DM-ing, it will be quite limited. I've added a new aspect to the game which is most interesting...leaders. Now these are not the leaders (I should say generals) from civ 3. (If they were really leaders you'd have to worry about insurgencies and mutiny when giving them an army and tons of other forces, but you don't, which sucks, and even many a roman general became emperor anyway) but more like...rulers.
(As copied from the players pamphlet I prepared)
You start out with 4 units, 2 settlers and 2 warriors, all NONE's, one of each set a veteran. The veteran status of the one settler has only slight and negligible strategic value but the veteran status of the one veteran warrior is immense. He is you. Of course, you may need to use him very early on if you are immediately threatened, but rulers used to also be warriors way back when, so it works. The other warrior, though, if you do not lose him, is the only other NONE unit you'll ever have besides the veteran warrior, and one of the settlers if you choose to keep him and not build with it, and he too has a leader role. He is completely innefective, UNLESS, you should make him a veteran. If you do you then have two rulers and one being taken will not affect you at all. Beware though, for if you lose him in the attempt you will lose him forever and then you will only have one ruler!
This is how it works. Firstly, I would say that there is no bribing of a city that holds an enemy ruler, for that would be most lame, but that is your capital!, and if you are so brave as to keep yourself anywhere else then you deserve such a lame end...but it is not the end of your kingdom. If you have one veteran NONE warrior and the other NONE (though not veteran) warrior still left, then only a third of your kingdom is parted in the struggle for power if the veteran is taken, but if you only have one veteran ruler left and he is taken then half your empire is wrested from you in the struggle for power. Here's the deal; if your ruler gets taken but you still have another non-veteran NONE warrior then you must draw a line across your empire (zoom out and use a straight edge) that has to touch your capital but cordons off a third of your empire, you can choose which third, and you will then disband all the units in those cities immediately your turn next comes up after losing your ruler (if your ruler was in your capital then you use your new capital for orientation), and you will give me the DM, all the coordinates of all the cities in the one third of your land that was taken (simply right click on them and it should give you the coord's at the top of the unit viewing screen on the right) and the game will then be saved, I will enter the game and place 3 barbarian units (equivalent to your average infantry at the time (no elite units) ) directly next to each revolting city so that they may be taken. This will be done in the darkness, of course, unless I have already discovered your territory and the cities of which you speak, in which case I will tell you so and things may be made easier (though I still want the coordinates and nothing else, since you might give away a city recently built that I haven't seen). this will be done at the very beginning of a player's turn, without the exception of even a single move made, and the game will thus be reloaded so that the unfortunate player may have a full turn to begin to deal with the situation. He will also give me the coords of his capital, wherever it might now be, so that in the off time I may also place a new veteran NONE warrior in his new palace. If only a third of your empire gets taken and you have a regular warrior still left, then wherever he is you will disband him, first taking him out any city so as not to gain any shields, and I will replace him with a Veteran copy in your capital. If a city gets sacked in which both rulers are residing, if you have two, then...alas, my friend, you should've had more foresight; your empire gets divided in half. Note that this is THE ONLY exception to not moving anything before all this happens; when you have an alternate non-veteran warrior and you must move him out of a city and disband him, if that's where he is.
All of this procedure is only valid if you have more than 10 cities, otherwise the kingdom is too small to be broken apart and your heir automatically reclaims the throne in its entirity. If your empire is so big that the computer automatically splits it up then I will do not do anything further to it except replace your lost rulers, which you should still tell me about whether your empire qualifies as being either too small or too big.
The third and half fractions will be decided by counting your cities (actual cities, naval stations, army bases, fort cities, anything and everything) and applying the appropriate division, but counting UP if there is a remainder. For example: 7 is a third of 21, but if you have 23 cities then 8 cities will be seized, given the first scenario, and 12 in the second scenario since 11 is only half of 22.
It becomes very interesting, since you can choose to be on the safe side and not attempt battle to veteranize your second warrior, but then your empire is still threatened by the chance of your ruler getting taken, but if you risk it you could lose him and be stuck with an ever bigger threat. Also, if you have two warriors, it would be wise to place them in separate positions, but one of those positions may not always be as safe as the first, for instance, the capital, but if you place them both in one safehaven disaster could follow.
All this is entirely based on honor, hence an 'honor code' (in which more rules besides this one find their home), and I am assuming that if you are one of my players that you have come this far with pure heart and no intent to cheat. If you are just strolling along and happen to read this and are saying to yourself how ridiculous it all is, and how easy it would be to fool everyone into thinking nothing happened, then I wish to have a sixth sense fine enough to detect such a treadherous spirit and ban you form my games, which are, as shall soon be proven, the best of the best.
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