[BTS] PBEM The New Times

[Phylhom]

PBEM: THE NEW TIMES​

http://recentr.com/2016/01/06/der-trick-mit-dem-die-hohe-politik-den-linkskurs-in-deutschland-beibehalten-will/​

1. First of all:

I am not an English speaker, so, my domain of the language is limited. The text, probably, will present some errors. If you find any grammatical error, please, notify me and I will correct it.


2. About the Game

2.1. Intention

I intended to make a game with the focus on the diplomatic questions, exploring the players capacities to negotiate, to demand, to cede, to solidarize with the others.

The creativity of the players will be stimulated. It will be expected the celebration of written treaties and the formation of geopolitical blocks, to ensure common interests and to administrate diplomatic crises.

The stronger and more developed nations will be responsible for the weak and less developed ones.

The maintain of influence areas will be the center of the geopolitical strategies.

The posting of images and interesting texts will be appreciated.


2.2. The Mod

The game will be played with the mod Realism Invictus 3.4 (download it here).

On the site of the mod you can obtain more information about it (access it here).

The mod has many differences when compared with the original BTS and the other mods.

It is very important to read the manual (download it here) to familiarize yourself with the mod concepts and mechanics (I didn’t it yet, too).


2.3. Warnings

The following warnings are present on the “before installing” section of the mod’s manual.

Spoiler Warnings :

Requirements

Since this is a mod for Civilization 4, all the requirements that apply to the game itself apply to the mod too, of course. Still, due to the advanced nature of the mod, its requirements are a bit higher than these of vanilla1 game. While the game itself can run on videocards not supporting 2.0 shaders, you will need a SM2.0-capable videocard to run our mod without trouble. This means that we cannot guarantee that our mod will run on Intel onboard videocards (often found on laptops).

In addition, due to much more content and functionality compared to vanilla game, it is hungrier for RAM, VRAM and CPU performance. This is especially true for larger maps and for the bundled scenarios.

Our mod is designed to be run on Beyond the Sword or Civ 4 Complete patched to latest available version (3.19). Note that Civ 4 Complete ships without the latest patch and has to be patched after its installation!

Our installer is designed to be compatible with Steam version of the game as well. Be sure to clean your CustomAssets folder before (or after) installing – it is a common source of troubles with mods in general.

A common source of problems during the installation is Civ 4 located at a non-default install path. In most cases, our installer can handle that, but when there are nonstandard latin symbols in the path or when Civ 4 is installed to Program Files or another protected folder, there can be problems.


Game settings

Generally, you are free to choose any game settings you are comfortable with, graphical settings high or low depending on your performance. One important notice: our mod does not function well with “Frozen animations” option, so it will be disabled with no way of activating it while running our mod. You can turn it back on when you play other mods or unmodded game later.

MAF error The memory allocation error (MAF error) is, unfortunately, the harsh reality we cannot really do anything with. This is the error inherent in the game itself; moreover, it is not even Civ4-specific. I encountered it while playing Half-Life 2 mods! Basically, this error happens due to the way 32-bit operating systems handle memory. The more memory the system needs to allocate, the more likely the dreaded Memory Allocation Failure is to occur. On 32-bit systems, in Civ4 it begins happening when save game size hits 1 Mb.

There is no real solution for this error on 32-bit systems, although there are certain methods that allow postponing it. Our mod incorporates a special solution called “Graphics Paging” that might mitigate this issue, if not solve it outright. It can be turned on in game options, under graphics section. Warning: only do it if you are already experiencing MAFs, as it can cause visual glitches and instability. It is not recommended to keep it on all the time.

64-bit systems (and OSes: a 32-bit OS installed on a 64-bit system will have exactly same problems as a 32-bit system) are much luckier here – for BtS, no action is required at all; you will simply not run into MAF errors until your save games get ridiculously big (over 4 Mb). If you do, the same advice as above regarding turning paging on applies.

If you play our mod on 32-bit systems on larger maps, you will likely run into MAFs eventually. The only permanent solution for those is upgrading to 64 bit; nevertheless, you can postpone those until much later in game if you choose smaller map sizes and use graphical paging – late enough for the game to be decided at that point anyway. If you have a decent 32-bit system, there are certain methods that you can use to play without errors longer. For these, I am directing you to CFC:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=225205

Once again, to drive the point home: If you run a 32-bit OS, and play a big map, your game will crash, sooner or later.

Another important warning:

Spoiler Warnings :

If you face the message "The save file you have selected is protected to ensure that the assets in your mod folder have not been changed", when trying to open the saved file, Admin Password has nothing to do with it, even though error message leads you to believe otherwise. This is a known problem -- when one does not have clean install of BTS and/or of the particular mod -- it will give you this error message. If one does not remember which files where modified the only solution is to reinstall BTS and/or the mod. (Tigranes, http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=547649&page=3, post #47).

2.4. Players and Civilizations

The game will be played with all the 34 playable civilizations of the mod. It includes human and AI players.

List of Playable Civilizations:

Spoiler List of Playable Civilizations :

1. America

2. Arabia

3. Armenia

4. Austronesia

5. Aztec

6. Berbers

7. Carthage

8. Celtia

9. China

10. Dravida

11. Egypt

12. England

13. Ethiopia

14. France

15. Germany

16. Greece

17. India

18. Hungary

19. Inca

20. Japan

21. Korea

22. Mali

23. Maya

24. Mongolia

25. Nguni

26. Persia

27. Poland

28. Rome

29. Russia

30. Scandinavia

31. South China

32. Spain

33. Transoxiana

34. Turk

Each player will lead a civilization randomly chosen by the game.


2.5. Settings

Spoiler Settings :

Map: RI_EarthEvolution3_ EarthlargeDefault

Size: Huge

Climate: Rocky

Sea level: Medium

Era: Ancient

Speed: Realistic

Replace Uranium with Oil: No

Features: Preset

Resources: Random

Starting Techs: On

Difficult: Noble

2.6. Options

Spoiler Options :

City Flipping after Conquest

No technology Trading

No Technology Brokering

Technology Transfer

Per-City Research Cost

Unit Cost Scaling

Holy City Migration

AI Plays to Win

See the mod’s manual to understand the new options and mechanics.


2.7. Victory Conditions

Spoiler Victory Conditions :

Conquest

Domination

Cultural

Space Race

Diplomatic

2.8. Considerations

I think the chosen map (RI_EarthEvolution3_ EarthlargeDefault) provides an interesting mixture of Continents, Oceans, Islands, Environments, and the possibility to explore a known, but very challenging world.

All the civilization starts on the real location (approximately, sure). So, you will recognize, since the first turns, your location and your neighbors.

The huge size and the high number of 34 players (Humans + AI -- Let's see how many players will be interested) provides a dynamic game with early contacts and diplomacy. The players will need a cooperative relationship with your neighbors to share and to trade resources, units, cities, areas and interests. There will be little room for so many civilizations!

I have in mind about 10 human players, but it can be reviewed (a greater or lesser number of players may be adopted). Despite to extend and slows down the game, it ensures a very interesting interaction between them, increasing the chances of conflicts and diplomatic negotiations.

The rocky climate provides an earthier planet with glaciers, tundra, deserts, ice, and more, that will be useful with the new buildings and features of the mod.

Finally, the intention of the game is not to give to the players the same initial chance, with equal resources, equivalent terrains or starting units, but to stimulate the diplomacy, cooperation and trading between the several nations, making the game and the necessities of the players much more interconnected and globalized.

I think the most fun and pleasurable part of the game will not be to reach the victory condition itself, but interact with other civilizations, sharing common interests and goals and opposing it to your rivals. Cooperation will be the key to survive!

Several strategies will be tested, and a vast content will be worked!

It is recommendable to test and familiarize yourself with the new universe of the mod. Many things must be rediscovered and understood.

This will be an exciting and challenging pbem game!

Everyone is welcome!


2.9. Technical Questions

The saves will be sent to the players via automatized tracker e-mail and placed here: https://1drv.ms/f/s!As65vd-Dy1nxbzb2MH2dsHtf6cE.

It will allow the monitoring of the turns and the time each player takes to play them.

 

[Phylhom]

List of confirmed players:

1. Phylhom
2. Ant opop

 

[Phylhom]

Reserved.

 

[Phylhom]

Reserved.

 

[Ant opop]

I would like to play. It will take a long time but sounds great!

 

[Phylhom]

I would like to play. It will take a long time but sounds great!

Hi, Ant opop! Welcome to my game!

I would like to make an interesting game, focused on diplomacy and geopolitics. I like to read about international relations and geopolitical issues. So, my intention is to bring to the game some related concepts and ideals.

I will invite some players on the next days.

Wait for news, soon.

Regards.

 

[sinimusta]

Not a sign up, but how slow is "realistic"? Slower than marathon?

 

[Phylhom]

Not a sign up, but how slow is "realistic"? Slower than marathon?

Well, I don't know.

The game speed screen shows the options:

Realistic (recommended)
Legendary (x0,5)
Semi-Realistic (x1,5)
Fast-paced (x2)

The mod was balanced having in mind the realistic speed. But we can change it.

Come on, Sinimusta. Join the game. You will not regret it.

 

[Ant opop]

Sorry, I may have caused some doubt. When I said "it will take a long time" I was referring to the time each turn will take as each player waits on the next. I have only just finished my first 2 player PBEM game recently and it took several months. So with more players in different time zones each turn will probably take a day. Having said that playing a large game with lots of human players will be far superior to a fast game against the AI. It will be very interesting and challenging and well worth the time investment.

 

[sinimusta]

I know that, I've played pbems that take years, I'm just not familiar with the mod and speeds and pbem at marathon speed would be a bad idea. I'll think about it and try to familiarize myself with the mod.

 

[Phylhom]

Having said that playing a large game with lots of human players will be far superior to a fast game against the AI. It will be very interesting and challenging and well worth the time investment.

I believe it. The higher the number of human players, the higher the probability of interactions, demands and conflicts, despite it to slow down the game's evolution.

I like to play making notes, naming geographical elements like rivers, mountains, seas, bays, gulfs etc.
So, a reasonable part of my time playing, is spent doing that. I have more fun with this procedure.