Mad Scientist's RPC summary

[TRJS]

The Russian spy sounds interesting.

 

[absimiliard]

I've done an EE a couple of times myself. It's intriguingly different.

I'd be interested in seeing Peter.

-abs

 

[madscientist]

I have modified the OP to include the finished Willem game, and add another to the list of possible RPCs

Tokugawa, the Isolationist where we get an isolated start on a continent map (Need someone willing to donate a map via world builder) and never open borders. TEch trading or at least tech brokering would be turned off.

I have an off-line game I am playing out so I'll start the next RPC when that is done. I am still undecided which to do, most likely Shaka the Man of Culture or Peter the Russian Spy. After having the entire world hate us so much in the MONTY and Willem games I am leaning towards some Diplomacy in the Russian game as Shaka'a gonna have to breaks some heads proving his cultural elegance as well as getting 2 AI capitals for legendary cities!

I need to read a little more up on how to run a good OCC before I tackle Rome. I want to put on a good show for that (Come now, Rome is the One civilization that cannot fail) and would likely bump the difficulty down to Prince.

 

[Puzzlemaker]

I vote for the EE game. That would be interesting to see!

 

[Kanorin]

How about a game which leverages the power of corporations and moneymaking? You must found and spread as many corporations as possible and buy more than 50% of your technology with cash.

Pacal/Mansa/Darius the Entrepreneur?

 

[Charou]

about this entrepreneur thing,

since you don't have access to corps until the late game,
why not trying to have monopolies over some ressources in the meantime,

or is it going to be counterproductive when you finally hit designated corporations ?

 

[madscientist]

This may not be a bad idea. Focus the game on establishemnt of 2 corps, one food the other production. Focus efforts to lockup as many of those resources early.

But to what point? The power of corps can and Have been shown in the past, and can be added to any game.

Perhaps one approach is a financial monster game. Build gold, trade for techs, save required GPs, pop the corps, then perform corporate espionage by bankrupting the AIs by spreading essentially useless corps since you have a monopoly.

Perhaps we could swing this partly into the Peter game (corporate espionage, Peter is philosophical) but could also fit into another GOLD for TECH game.

Good ideas.

 

[r_rolo1]

I have modified the OP to include the finished Willem game, and add another to the list of possible RPCs

Tokugawa, the Isolationist where we get an isolated start on a continent map (Need someone willing to donate a map via world builder) and never open borders. TEch trading or at least tech brokering would be turned off.

I have an off-line game I am playing out so I'll start the next RPC when that is done. I am still undecided which to do, most likely Shaka the Man of Culture or Peter the Russian Spy. After having the entire world hate us so much in the MONTY and Willem games I am leaning towards some Diplomacy in the Russian game as Shaka'a gonna have to breaks some heads proving his cultural elegance as well as getting 2 AI capitals for legendary cities!

I need to read a little more up on how to run a good OCC before I tackle Rome. I want to put on a good show for that (Come now, Rome is the One civilization that cannot fail) and would likely bump the difficulty down to Prince.

I have some thoughts about this:

Isolationist toku : In the lonely hearts club we already played Tokugawa and ( at least with the map I gave, that was a pretty bad one ) it is quite hard to maintain a decent teching with Toku, and that forces you to enter in slash and burn mode just to have any chance of even compete... quite fun for a warmonger game, but nerve wrecking. I don't think that your restrictions will make much of diference in that scenario ( if you only choose tech brokering off.. no tech trading is antihistorical an a warranty of game failure IMHO )

And i can get the map for that ( I have some maps reserved for every LHC, and I think that I still have one or two of toku ), if you want to

The glory of Rome: for that one I suggest you to check a SG, the Many leaders game 5 ( diferent players ,same map ,diferent leaders ) , that was aimed at a OCC conquest victory in Agg AI prince ( haven't finished mine yet... time is scarce ). One of the players used Augustus as leader ( berserks01 IIRC ), so you can take some ideas from there

 

[madscientist]

I have some thoughts about this:

Isolationist toku : In the lonely hearts club we already played Tokugawa and ( at least with the map I gave, that was a pretty bad one ) it is quite hard to maintain a decent teching with Toku, and that forces you to enter in slash and burn mode just to have any chance of even compete... quite fun for a warmonger game, but nerve wrecking. I don't think that your restrictions will make much of diference in that scenario ( if you only choose tech brokering off.. no tech trading is antihistorical an a warranty of game failure IMHO )

And i can get the map for that ( I have some maps reserved for every LHC, and I think that I still have one or two of toku ), if you want to

The glory of Rome: for that one I suggest you to check a SG, the Many leaders game 5 ( diferent players ,same map ,diferent leaders ) , that was aimed at a OCC conquest victory in Agg AI prince ( haven't finished mine yet... time is scarce ). One of the players used Augustus as leader ( berserks01 IIRC ), so you can take some ideas from there

Thanks for the input rolo. I agree with the tech brokering thing. I appreciate the map offer (that's what I was hoping for ) as long as the speed is set to marathon. I'll ask for it when I get arround to that challenge.

Thanks for the link to the OCC games, that's what I was looking for.

Thanks again!!!

 

[Halt]

I was thinking about a cool role-playing twist to the Espionage Economy scenario, "Evil Corporation" or as USA President Eisenhower called it the “Military Industrial Complex”.

Espionage would be a big part because as a corporation it is always cheaper to steal the technology and then crush your competition rather than invent a new product yourself.

Your Civics would need to be limited to:

Police State or Representation

Caste System or Emancipation

Mercantilism or Free Market

Any religion civic except Pacifism, which is bad for business.

Another part of this would include establishing as many Corporations as possible.

Philosophical leader would be best.

You must declare war on any other Civilization that establish a corporation and maintain that war until you have defeated them or taken over the corporation headquarters or raised the city.

Any Civilization that uses the State Property Civic requires you to send spies to change the Civic.

Sounds like fun!

 

[madscientist]

I was thinking about a cool role-playing twist to the Espionage Economy scenario, "Evil Corporation" or as USA President Eisenhower called it the “Military Industrial Complex”.

Espionage would be a big part because as a corporation it is always cheaper to steal the technology and then crush your competition rather than invent a new product yourself.

Your Civics would need to be limited to:

Police State or Representation

Caste System or Emancipation

Mercantilism or Free Market

Any religion civic except Pacifism, which is bad for business.

Another part of this would include establishing as many Corporations as possible.

Philosophical leader would be best.

You must declare war on any other Civilization that establish a corporation and maintain that war until you have defeated them or taken over the corporation headquarters or raised the city.

Any Civilization that uses the State Property Civic requires you to send spies to change the Civic.

Sounds like fun!

Actuually I am thinking espioange can open up Peter to use any civics to get things done. Diplomacy is prime and switching civics are a valuable part.

it's mostly about leveraging the espionage thing, but I like your idea of corps. Definitely emphasize corps.

I am seeing a minimu % espionage on the slider, allowing us to tech as needed. Still working on it, keep the ideas coming.

 

[madscientist]

OK, I am going to move ahead with Peter the Russian Spy. As I do not have the rules and guidelines worked out yet I'll post what I do have here as sort of a pregame thread. Please advise

General: This is to be a game heavy on diplomacy using the espionage feature of BTS and requires mandatory use of corps for ourselves and economic espionage of the AIs (by spreading it). Of course, war is the ultimate diplomatic tool!!!

Rules:
1) Once we tech alphabet to open up spies, the espionage slider must be at a minimum of 20% the rest of the game. We can go higher if we want.
2) We must give diplomacy a chance against any AI, meaning we must try to open borders and direct a minimal amount of EPs towards them.
3) Great Spies can only be used for Scotland yard. If all cities are filled with Scottland yards (doubtful, but possible) we have to settle. No sendiong off to spy missions against one AI.

Guidelines.

1) We can still tech with the science slider, but minimally. The lower the better.
2) All types of economies are open, CE, SE, TE RE, whatever the map dicatates. Peter is Philosophical and I see no problems popping GS's for bulbing and subsequent trading.
3) Tech trading is encouraged at all times although no specific rules.
4) We should try for as many corps as possible, even the ones that contradict each other (Sid's vs Cereal). GMs, GEs, GAs should be saved for the corps however the GSs are easier to get and thus can be used earlier if it helps Peter's cause. Once we get corps they must be spread to other AIs
5) Peter can try and monopolize certain resoruces for a certain corp (we will see wha't possible with the maps). This can be via war if favorable to us.
6) Regarding war, Peter can declare war against anyone he wants if there is a clear diplomatic positive. What we do not want to do is steamroll everyone (like MONTY and Willem) unless that is the only path to victory.
7) Civics: All are in play except State property because of the Corp conflict. I like the idea of forcing and AI into switching civics out of SP, good idea. Free Market should be the preferred civic and there had better be a very good reason to go to environmentalism (Doubtful as Peter is Expansive) or Mercantilism (doubtful again as we plan a diplo friendly game).

As far as map, I'll leaning towards Big/little, random everything except water level which will be at low (I really hate sending spied via ocean and I have had enough of that with Willem).

SO how does this sound? Alot of guidelines and few rules

 

[absimiliard]

Okay, now I'm feeling really dumb.

CE = Commerce/Cottage Economy
SE = Specialist Economy

I'll guess TE means Trade Economy, like say with a seagoing leader and the Great Lighthouse.

I've also heard of EE, Espionage Economy, and SSE, Settled Specialist Economy, (I've even seen SSE referred to as a WE for Wonder Economy).

But what's an RE?

-abs

{edit}Doh! I'll guess RE = Religious Economy. Sorry, apparently two cups of coffee aren't enough today. *goes off to get another cup*{/edit}

 

[madscientist]

Okay, now I'm feeling really dumb.

CE = Commerce/Cottage Economy
SE = Specialist Economy

I'll guess TE means Trade Economy, like say with a seagoing leader and the Great Lighthouse.

I've also heard of EE, Espionage Economy, and SSE, Settled Specialist Economy, (I've even seen SSE referred to as a WE for Wonder Economy).

But what's an RE?

-abs

{edit}Doh! I'll guess RE = Religious Economy. Sorry, apparently two cups of coffee aren't enough today. *goes off to get another cup*{/edit}

Yep, Religious economy.

Of course a Hybrid economy is viable and likely in this game

 

[Puzzlemaker]

I think a Pangaea map would work the best for this type of game, actually. Plus a RE/EE economy might work really well, especially for a diplomatically heavy game. Especially since you can influence religions with spies.

All wars should start with a specific resources in mind, and once you get this resource the war should be stopped if possible.

IMHO wars shouldn't be a high priority at all, and most production should be put towards missionaries/spies/executives.

 

[madscientist]

I think a Pangaea map would work the best for this type of game, actually. Plus a RE/EE economy might work really well, especially for a diplomatically heavy game. Especially since you can influence religions with spies.

All wars should start with a specific resources in mind, and once you get this resource the war should be stopped if possible.

IMHO wars shouldn't be a high priority at all, and most production should be put towards missionaries/spies/executives.

A big/little map with low sea levels will 95% of the time (settings I play my off line games) produce a map where all 6 AIs can be met early on. It also opens up colonies which may have an interesting angle or problem on this EE game as I would need to divert some eps towards them.

I like the wars idea although a premptive strike against agressive AIs are viable. Still I will force myself to justify any war to you all. There must be a clear economic, diplomatic, or self-defense reason.

I agree on the priority. Enough for defense, say we cannot be the highest on the power graph. The lower in the pwoer graph we are the most prestigous.

So our ideal win

UN diplo or space (both equal)
The more corps we have the better
Lower Powergraph numbers
As minimal science on the slider as possible.

Failure means a winter vacation in Siberia.

 

[GeneralGab]

Re: Rule #3

It seems a bit of a waste to put all Great Spies as Scotland Yards, rather than settling them. You could get an espionage super-city by getting a Scotland Yard and then settling all subsequent Great Spies in that city. You'd get more espionage points total that way (since a settled Great Spy is +12). I know you're not trying for a Espionage Economy, but it still seems like a waste.

 

[madscientist]

Re: Rule #3

It seems a bit of a waste to put all Great Spies as Scotland Yards, rather than settling them. You could get an espionage super-city by getting a Scotland Yard and then settling all subsequent Great Spies in that city. You'd get more espionage points total that way (since a settled Great Spy is +12). I know you're not trying for a Espionage Economy, but it still seems like a waste.

I know the settled GS is powerful with an existing scotland but my vision for the game is to have multiple commerce cities which would be getting alot of eps via the slider. Several towns later in the game will be getting more income from scotland yard that the stationary +12 early on. It's a matter of an instant but satble +12 (doubled to 24) versus antoher city where it starts lower but will eventually outgrow the settled GP. I will change it to a suggestion rather than a flat rule which would give us more flexibility (spying requires alot of flexibility).

 

[Rex rgis of Ter]

When will the next RPG start?

Also, another idea:
Pericles the Philosopher

Overall the game would be a SE focused on Artists and Scientests
You must build the GL and as many wonders that were historically greek as possible
War is avoided
GPs are too be maximized, so you must run pacificsm
Religions are in the way of clear minded thinking, so they must be avoided

You would try to win a Cultural or Diplomatic victory, though Space Victory would be ok.

 

[madscientist]

When will the next RPG start?

Also, another idea:
Pericles the Philosopher

Overall the game would be a SE focused on Artists and Scientests
You must build the GL and as many wonders that were historically greek as possible
War is avoided
GPs are too be maximized, so you must run pacificsm
Religions are in the way of clear minded thinking, so they must be avoided

You would try to win a Cultural or Diplomatic victory, though Space Victory would be ok.

Ask, and you shall find!!! New RPC with Peter has been posted.

The Cultural Pericles certainly sounds like an interesting game. I did do HOLY SAL and Shaka ia up next for cultural, so Pericles would go to the back of the Que for a bit.

I like the general idea and I would likely play it as a three city challenge game. Athens/Sparta/Corinth, yeah that's the ticket. I am not so sure of limiting wonders to the early age, but we can certainly but a priority on them.