PBEM - Dark Ages Always War

[ruff_hi]

A while back a couple of us created a Middle Ages mod (we even gave it a spin in a succession game) where the tech level was stuck in the middle ages (cats, knights, maces, crossbow, longbow, etc). No wonders, no great people, just blood and guts.

I am thinking of running an always-war PBEM game that is either ...

* 2 teams of 2 humans
* 4 teams of 2 humans

The map would be based on the TeamBattleField map (L v R with land bridge or 4 Corners depending on the number of teams) with balanced resources ON. Each team would have their land fully revealed and would be able to position their starting units prior to the start of the game. This game will be played using a mod (see upload below) on BtS. We will also be playing a few rounds of a dummy game to iron out any PBEM kinks.

Participation is by invitation only (ie you will not automatically get a seat by posting that you are interested here ... naturally, if I know you, that is a plus for you ... and if we have played in a PBEM before, that is a bigger plus), but, please, post here if you are interested or if you have any comments.

Mod Required for this game - see attached.
Edit: The file attached here is the latest Mod. Current mod description:

• Must start game in Renaissance era for mod to function correctly
• All leaders have no traits
• No UUs or UBs
• All techs in paper column and to right have been disabled
• workers cannot create cottages
• All wonders removed
• Library removed
• No specialists available
• Civic Changes
  • All Civics have low upkeep
  • Gov: Despotism, Hereditary Rule
  • Legal: Barbarism, Vassalage
  • Labor: Tribalism, Slavery, Serfdom
  • Economy: Decentralization
  • Religion: Paganism, Organized Religion, Theocracy
  • Vassalage unit limit increased to 25 units
  • Can rush with gold if in Hereditary Rule

Edit: Players
- ruff (admin)
- Mitchum
- Dazz (retired, played by Mitchum)
- Karhu (semi-retired, played by ruff)

 

[Karhu]

Thanks, Ruff. I'll try to give it a spin here within the next day or so.

 

[ruff_hi]

oh - forgot to mention, this mod is designed to be played by starting a custom game and setting the starting era to Renaissance.

Also, this mod has ...

• no unique units or buildings
• no traits
• no ability to dial up science (locked at 0%)
• any techs available at the Renaissance era have a huge beaker cost
• no wonders available
• no great people points accumulated
• no library
• workers cannot build cottages [oops - I think I forgot to do this part]
• limited civics

 

[Dazz_G]

I'm up for this one.

Hope to have a good look at the mod tomorrow, although I'm also gonna see Santa tomorrow - I'm taking my daughter, honest

Anyone know why winkycon looks like he has fallen asleep ?

 

[Karhu]

Winkycon's had a hard Christmas from overuse and has fallen asleep...

Loaded up the mod and passed a few turns without issue.

 

[ruff_hi]

so far we have 3 people interested. How about a game of 3 humans v 4 Emperor AIs - still PBEM?

 

[Karhu]

How's the AI going to cope when the fundamental mechanics have been changed so radically?

 

[ruff_hi]

The AI did ok in the SG that we played with this mod. In fact, they steam rolled us quite nicely.

 

[Mitchum]

Is this a mod for Vanilla? If so, I may be interested.

My ability to play and or read this thread will be limited during the next week. If you get 4 players and want to start sooner than I am able, feel free.

EDIT: Oops. I just noticed that the first thread said BtS. I'm out. Have fun!!

 

[ruff_hi]

@Mitchum - the mod was originally vanilla. I still have that so we can plan in vanilla if we want to.

I would prefer a human v human game.

 

[Mitchum]

Well, since you've removed many of the features, I guess it probably doesn't matter too much whether it is played in BtS or Vanilla. Like I said, if it's Vanilla, count me in.

Out of curiosity, how long do games on this scenario last? More than 100 turns? If so, I'd prefer to play with 2 teams of 2. My 4 teams of 2 humans PBEM game takes about 1 turn per month...

Mitch

 

[ruff_hi]

Ok - we have 4 humans willing to smash themselves to pieces in this game. We will be playing under vanilla so we miss out on ...

• spies
• great generals

... but we gain the benefit of

• cats that kill
• no flanking

I'll look at the vanilla version of the mod and try to get it posted tonight. Then I want to play a dummy game (1 or 2 turns) just to shake out the cobwebs. We need to decide ...

• teams
• map layout

My suggestions ...

• Teams: Ruff + Karhu v Mitch + Dazz
• Order of play: Team A Player 1, Team B Player 1, Team A Player 2, Team B Player 2
• Map - Team battleground Left v Right with land bridge, balanced resources
• All of your land revealed including the land bridge, none of opponent's land revealed
• no huts, barbs, events, etc
• noble difficulty

I'll see if I can scare up a map checker for us to set it up under WB and start the game as a scenario.

 

[Karhu]

this all looks good to me, but I need to warn everyone;

I'm entering packing mode, moving the 8th, and starting a new job on the 12th. I won't ever be "away" for more than 48 hours, but am not sure what the internet situation will be like in my new place. It shouldn't be a problem, but you never know until you're there.

 

[ruff_hi]

Mitch / Dazz - you ok with my suggestions? If so, I'll see to getting the game started. I was also thinking that we could start 2 team threads (no peeking into the other team's thread!) for the sake of lurkers and history. Comments?

 

[Dazz_G]

I'm fine with your suggestions.

Quite looking forward to this one.

 

[ruff_hi]

Here is the Vanilla Civ4 mod. Unzip this to your c:\prog files\civ4\mod directory. You need to start a custom game in the renaissance era for it to work.

I'll start a dummy game just to test that it is all working.

See first post for latest version of mod

 

[ruff_hi]

Here is a list of requirements for the map ...

• Civ4 Version: Vanilla
• map type: TeamBattleGround, Left v Right
• Size: Small or Tiny - how many cities do we want to have?
• Speed: Normal
• Era: Renaissance
• Teams start together
• Options: No Barbs, Always War

Steps in making map ...

1. start custom single player game with map setup as per above
2. 4 players, civs unimportant but I would like a nice color separation (or a story about why the two sides are fighting (ie France v England, or West Europe v East Europe)
3. Two teams playing in order: Team 1 Player 1, Team 2 Player 1, Team 1 Player 2, Team 2 Player 2
4. Start game
5. Open game in WB
6. create strip of desert between land masses in middle of map, 3 tiles wide
7. reveal left side of map plus desert strip to team on left
8. reveal right side of map plus desert strip to team on right
9. remove huts (best way of doing this is to save as WB save, edit resulting file in notepad (or similar) and search for 'goodie nut' and remove that line
10. check that both teams have 2xCopper, 2xIron, 2xHorses
11. save as WB save
12. return to main menu
13. load up 'Dark Ages' mod
14. select multiplayer
15. select PBEM
16. select start from scenario
17. select WB save from #11 above
18. enter player names: Ruff_Hi, Mitch, Karhu, Dazz_G
19. start game
20. enter 1234 as Ruff's password
21. save game and send save to Ruff

I think this list is complete but I will run through it to check that it works.

The only outstanding questions that the teams have to answer is the size of the map. Guys!! Spin up a TeamBattleGround LvR and take a look at the map, then get back to me re size.

 

[Mitchum]

Hi,

Sorry for the delay. I'm on a very busy business trip in Asia.

I think the teams are fine. I also think we should play on a small map. Tiny is just too tiny...

I loaded up a few test maps and in both cases, the resouces were not fairly balanced. One side had gold, gems, dyes and ivory while the other side had silver, sugar, incense and furs. Also, the first side had 12 happiness resources while the second side only had 8. I also noticed some differences in health resouces as well. I know it's a pain, but it would be nice if the map maker took a little time to try to balance things out a little better.

Regarding the science slider, it can be changed, but you'd be a fool to set it at anything other than 0%. At the beaker cost for the techs, you'll never be able to fully research a tech, so it would be foolish to convert a single commerce unit into a beaker.

Out of curiosity, how are starting units placed on the map if we get to choose where they go?. Do we look at the map and ask the map builder to put them where we want?

 

[ruff_hi]

I think the teams are fine. I also think we should play on a small map. Tiny is just too tiny...

A vote for small.

I loaded up a few test maps and in both cases, the resouces were not fairly balanced. One side had gold, gems, dyes and ivory while the other side had silver, sugar, incense and furs. Also, the first side had 12 happiness resources while the second side only had 8. I also noticed some differences in health resouces as well. I know it's a pain, but it would be nice if the map maker took a little time to try to balance things out a little better.

Good Point - will include in letter to map maker.

Regarding the science slider, it can be changed, but you'd be a fool to set it at anything other than 0%. At the beaker cost for the techs, you'll never be able to fully research a tech, so it would be foolish to convert a single commerce unit into a beaker.

This is now out of date. I reviewed the old mod and found that you could disable techs. All techs not known are not disabled so you don't even get an option to selected a tech.

Out of curiosity, how are starting units placed on the map if we get to choose where they go?. Do we look at the map and ask the map builder to put them where we want?

Placed by game. This will mean that the first player has their units slightly scattered while players 2 to 4 have their units on single tile (as if they were an AI). What do we want to do re this?

 

[Karhu]

I was also thinking that we could start 2 team threads (no peeking into the other team's thread!) for the sake of lurkers and history. Comments?

I'm fine with this idea, but....
There is the risk of a 3rd party being a jerk and writing comments regarding the other teams plans/actions. If we want to avoid this risk we should create private google groups (or some similar alternative).